The Vulgate translates Theod. very accurately ; the chief aeviation being the »ddition ol one verse »t the end ; And
kiiiir Astea-es was gathered to his fathers, and Cynis the Pe^ian took the kingdom.' This contradicts Dn I, where Daniel is '» young man' in 697, whereas Cyrus began to reign
'"•The' Pcshitta is given, as we have said, hy Ceriani, Lagarde, and \V Fesh. agrees in the main with Theodotion. The c ief exceptions are that in v.22'- Pesh. lengthens Susannas soliloquy and consec|uent repudiation ol the.r overtures ; and betiveen vv ■•« and -'' Pesh. inserts a verse which may well have droppe<I out from Theod., giving the testimony of the elders to the household which gathered when Susanna cned aloud. It l» aJui St m-(,««m with ar^n. Alter v.-', W presents a recension of Pesh., different from L,. L inserts, after the sen ence on Su.<au.ia these words: 'That all women may fear anc not do a"^n ac eonling to this shame.' This VV omits. L, adds after v^3 • concerning this which 1 have not done I am willing that they should ask me anything.' L. calls the first tree 'a pistio tree'- W, 'a terebinth.' The second tree, in L„ Lj is a pomegranate'; in W, 'a chestnut.' At the end of v.M L„ L and \V.. give a eulogy on Daniel, which W , omiU.
iLagarde gives, as we have said, a second Syriac recension, froni v.->2 and onwards (L.), which has several interesting read- ngs. Two are unique. After v.-" Susanna's prayer continues '..fppear for me and send a Redeemer froin before thee thaj thy truth may be believed by those that fear thee. In v." l^aiiiel says to the first elder: 'These things thou hast done and tliou^saidst: God is righteous, and th^'Sl^o™^ H^, »?'' not destroy ; and thou hast not obeyed what thou hast taught
'"Mucl^more important are the variations i° .Walton's jcond Svriac Version (WJ. It almost amounts to a distinct tradition. \V. suites that Daniel was 1'2 years old at the time : that the Byn.agogue was held in the house of Joakim : that Susan was a widow, having lost her husband after a married life ot a few days, and devoted herself to the Lord : that the names of the eldera were Amid and Abid, and they were chiefs of the syn^igngue : th.at before the trial Susan was in chains in prison tiiree .lavs : that the two elders were not witnesses, but judges of Susan": that it was decided that at the 9th hour Susan should be ca.st down a precipice : that a throne was hrouglit from the treasury tor Darnel to sit upon, but that he refused to sit upon it. iii. Its Origin.— There are several indications that the story before us cannot be regarded as historical. (1) The discrepancies in the several accounts, e.g. those just given froin W, (-) Uie iiiivirobability that in the first days of the Captivity, when Daniel was ' a young youth' (v.-»), any Jew in Babylon could be so alUuent as Joakim, or that so soon after the deportation of Jehoiachm the ,Iews should, in e.vile, possess the 7«s nccts. (3) The reasons for Susanna's condemnation are very llimsv, and the behaviour of the very youthful Daniel is, at least, arbitrary. He loudly condemns both culprits before he adduces any proof of their "uilt
Assuming that we have here an stlnoal mythus, can we find its origin and motip. Ball {Speakers Apocr. ii. 325 f.) has a probable tneory, borrowed in the main from Kabbi Briill (Das apokr. Susanna- Built). He adduces evidence from several sources of a tradition of two elders, who, in the Captivity, led astray silly women, by the persuasion, that, through them, they would become the mother of a great prophet, or of the Messiah. These stories are an amplification or embellishment of j'-r^f. ' . Avhere we rend of two prophets, Ahaband /odekiah, whom ' Nebuchadnezzar roasted in the fire because they committed folly in Israel, and committed adul- tery with their neighbours' wives. Ongen and Jeiome both knew of the elaborated form of this incident, and it occurs with sundry variations in iMiiliash Tanhumaon Leviticus; Bab. 1 aim. ,ban- licdnn 93 «; Boraitha of K. Eliezer, c. 33, and in Fesikta No. 2.5. Here we have materials for the former half of the story: but not for the trial. The reasons for the rehabilitation of the tradition, with the trial attached, are ingeniously supposed to have arisen about B.C. 100, when bimon ben Shetach was president of the Sanhedrin. feiinon was extremely anxious to introduce reforms into criminal procedure. It is said that his son was falsely accused of a capital oBence. On the w-ay to his execution the false witnesses confessed the crime, but the son said t« his father. If the salvation of Israel can be wrought through you, consider me the threshold over which you may pass.' Simon, the Juda-an Brutus, let the law
632
SUSANNA
SWALLOW
take its course, that by tlie death of one he miirht save the innocent lives of many. He advocated a more careful examination of tlie witnesses— his favourite dictum beinj; : ' Examine the witnesses abundantly' (Pirke Ahoth i. 9). He souylit also to suijpress perjury by insisting that he who swore falsely should, if detected, be [junished with the same penalty as he sought to inllict on another. (N.B.— The elders were put to death for see/cini/ to cause Susanna's death). The Sadducees, against Simon, interpreted the law, ' an ej'e for an eye,' etc., to mean that the false witness should be punished, if his crime were detected after the penalty had been inflicted on the innocent one. We must confess that the a|)pearance of our 'Histoiy' at such a juncture would be most opportune for Simon. There is, it seems to us, a further coincidence. The moral of the narrative is, in LXX, sunmied up thus : ' Because of this, young men are beloved in Jacob, by-virtue-of {if) their ingenuousness (dTrXiTijn) : and as for us, let us take heed that our youths be powerful ; for young men ^WU be pious, and there will be in them a spirit of knowledge and understanding for ever and ever.' Clearly, this is a eulogy on youth ; and m;iy well have been meant as a com- pliment to Alexander Janna-us, whose adviser Simon was, and who ascended the throne at the age of twenty-three.