Judgment and the Second Coming
Origen of Alexandria, Letter to Africanus 2
You began by saying that when I discussed the matter with our companion Bassus and cited the Scripture of the younger Daniel who prophesied about Susanna, I acted as if unaware that this section of the book had been interpolated. You granted the passage a certain charm, yet you condemned it as a recent fabrication; you even compared its author to the mime Philistion, claiming he stitched the little work together by playing on the proximity of names — "prinos" to "prinos" and "schinos" to "schisis" — a wordplay that works in Greek but has no counterpart in Hebrew. So understand what we must decide: not only the status of the Susanna narrative, which circulates in every Greek church of Christ but is absent from the Hebrew tradition, nor merely the two appendices at the end of the book concerning Bel and the Dragon, which likewise do not appear in the Hebrew Daniel, but also countless other passages where, comparing our copies with the Hebrew texts, we have found divergences. For instance, in Daniel itself, regarding the burning furnace, the Hebrew reads simply "they were bound," whereas our copies contain a great many additional verses. In some manuscripts current in the churches the addition begins: "Ananias, Azarias, and Misael prayed and hymned the Lord," and runs on to "Bless the Lord, all you who fear the Lord God of gods. Hymn and give thanks, for his mercy endures forever and ever." Others give a different expansion: "And they walked in the midst of the fire, hymning God and blessing the Lord," concluding with "Bless the Lord, all you who fear the Lord God of gods. Hymn and give thanks, for his mercy endures for all ages." The Hebrew text, by contrast, inserts only: "And those three men, Sedrach, Misach, and Abednego, fell into the midst of the fire, bound," and "King Nebuchadnezzar was amazed, rose up in haste, answered, and said to his nobles." Aquila, adhering closely to the Hebrew wording, has published this version; the Jews trusted his translation above all others, and those who do not know the Hebrew dialect are accustomed to rely on it as the most accurate. The copies on our side — the one following the Seventy and the other virtually identical, as if drawn from both — both contain the Susanna story, which you call a fabrication, and the final sections of Daniel; these extra verses, as it were by chance, amount to about two hundred.
Greek
Καὶ πρῶτόν γε ἕφασκες, ὅτι ἡνίκα διελεγόμην τῷ ἑταίρῳ ἡμῶν Βάσσῳ, καὶ συνεχρώμην τῇ τοῦ Δανιὴλ νεωτέρου προφητεύσαντος περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σωσάνναν Γραφῇ, τοῦτο πεποίηκα, ὡς λανθάνοντός με τοῦ μέρους τοῦ βιβλίου κεκιβδηλευμένου ὅντος. Καὶ ἕλεγες τὴν περικοπὴν ταύτην ἐπαινεῖν μέν πως ὥς τι χαρίεν· ἔφασκες δὲ ψέγειν ὡς οὖσαν σύγγραμμα νεωτερικὸν καὶ πεπλασμένον· καὶ ὅτι, ὡς οὐδὲ Φιλιστίων ὁ μῖμος, ἐχρήσατο ἀναπλάσας τὸ συγγραμμάτιον τῇ τῶν ὀνομάτων γειτνιάσει, πρίνου πρὸς πρίσιν, καὶ σχίνου πρὸς σχίσιν· Ἅπερ κατὰ μὲν τὴν Ἐλλήνων φωνὴντοιαῦτα εἶναι δοκεῖ, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑβραίων οὐδαμῶς. Ἴσθι τοίνυν πρὸς ταῦτα, τί χρὴ ἡμᾶς πράττειν οὐ περὶ τῶν κατὰ Σωσάνναν μόνον, ἐν μὲν τῷ καθʼ Ἕλληνας Ἑλληνικῷ φερομένων ἐν πάσῃ Ἐκκλησίᾳ Χριστοῦ, παρὰ δὲ Ἑβραίοις μὴ κειμένων· οὐδὲ περὶ τῶν, ὡς ἔφασκες, ἄλλων δύο περικοπῶν τῶν ἐπὶ τέλει τοῦ βιβλίου περί τε τῶν κατὰ τὸν Βὴλ, καὶ τὸν δράκοντα ἀναγεγραμμένων, οὐδ’ αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ Δανιὴλ τῶν Ἑβραίων γεγραμμένων· ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ ἄλλων μυρίων, ἃ κατὰ τὴν μετριότητα ἡμῶν τοῖς Ἑβραῖκοῖς συγκρίναντες ἀντιγράφοις τὰ ἡμέτερα. πολλαχοῦ εὕρομεν. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ αὐτῷ τῷ Δανιὴλ περὶ τῆς καμίνου τῆς καομένης, τὸ « πεπεδημένοι » εὕρομεν· ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἀντιγράφοις περισσεύοντα παρὰ τὰ ἐν τοῖς Ἑβραϊκοῖς ἕπη οὐκ ὀλίγα, ὥν ἀρχὴ κατὰ μέν τινα τῶν φερομένων ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἦν οὕτως· « Προσηύξαντο Ἀνανίας, καὶ Ἀζαρίας, καὶ Μισαὴλ, καὶ ὕμνησαν τὸν Κύριον· » ἕως τοῦ « Εὐλογεῖτε πάντες οἱ σεβόμενοι Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν τῶν θεῶν. Ὑμνεῖτε καὶ ἐξομολογεῖσθε, ὅτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸ ἕλεος αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τῶν αἰώνων. Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἀκοῦσαι τὸν βασιλέα ὑμνούντων αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐθεώρει αὐτοὺς ζῶντας. » Κατὰ δὲ ἕτερα· « Καὶ περιεπάτουν ἐν μέσῳ τῆς φλογὸς ὑμνοῦντες τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ εὐλογοῦντες τὸν Κύριον· » ἕως τοῦ· « Εὐλογεῖτε πάντες οἱ σεβόμενοι τὸν Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν τῶν θεῶν. Ὑμνεῖτε καὶ ἐξομολογεῖσθε, ὅτι εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας τὸ ελεος αὐτοῦ.» Συνῆπτο δὲ ἐν τοῖς Ἑβραῖκοῖς τό· « Καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες ἐκεῖνοι οἱ τρεῖς Σεδρὰχ, Μισὰχ, Ἀβδενεγὼ, ἔπεσον εἰς μέσον τοῦ πυρὸς πεπεδημένοι· » τό τε « Ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁ Nαβουχοδονόσορ ἐθαύμασε, καὶ ἀνέστη ἐν σπουδῇ, καὶ ἀπεκρίθη, καὶ εἶπε τοῖς μεγιστᾶσιν αὐτοῦ.» Οὕτω γὰρ Ἀκύλας δουλεύων τῇ Ἑβραῖκῇ λέξει ἐκδέδωκεν εἰπών· φιλοτιμότερον πεπιστευμένος παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις ἡρμηνευκέναι τὴν Γραφήν· ᾧ μάλιστα εἰώθασι οἱ ἀγνοοῦντες τὴν Ἑβραίων διάλεκτον χρῆσθαι, ὡς πάντων μᾶλλον ἐπιτετευγμένῳ. Τὰ δὲ παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀντίγραφα, ὧν καὶ τὰς λέξεις ἐξεθέμην, τὸ μὲν ἦν κατὰ τοὺς Ο΄· τὸ δὲ ἕτερον καοτί καὶ ὥσπερ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἕκειτο τὸ περὶ τὴν Σωσάνναν, ὡς σὺ φὴς, πλάσμα, καὶ αἱ τελευταῖαι ἐν τῷ Δανιὴλ περικοπαί· οὕτω καὶ ταῦτα ἐν ἕπεσιν,ὡς τοχασμῷ εἰπεῖν, τυγχάνοντα διακοσίοις καὶ πρός.