o God in the sight of them all; but the princes having met with the
occasion they so earnestly sought to find against Daniel, came presently
to the king, and accused him, that Daniel was the only person that
transgressed the decree, while not one of the rest durst pray to their
gods. This discovery they made, not because of his impiety, but because
they had watched him, and observed him out of envy; for supposing that
Darius did thus out of a greater kindness to him than they expected,
and that he was ready to grant him pardon for this contempt of his
injunctions, and envying this very pardon to Daniel, they did not become
more honorable to him, but desired he might be cast into the den of
lions according to the law. So Darius, hoping that God would deliver
him, and that he would undergo nothing that was terrible by the wild
beasts, bid him bear this accident cheerfully. And when he was cast into
the den, he put his seal to the stone that lay upon the mouth of the
den, and went his way, but he passed all the night without food and
without sleep, being in great distress for Daniel; but when it was day,
he got up, and came to the den, and found the seal entire, which he had
left the stone sealed withal; he also opened the seal, and cried out,
and called to Daniel, and asked him if he were alive. And as soon as he
heard the king's voice, and said that he had suffered no harm, the
king gave order that he should be drawn up out of the den. Now when his
enemies saw that Daniel had suffered nothing which was terrible, they
would not own that he was preserved by God, and by his providence; but
they said that the lions had been filled full with food, and on that
account it was, as they supposed, that the lions would not touch Daniel,
nor come to him; and this they alleged to the king. But the king, out of
an abhorrence of their wickedness, gave order that they should throw in
a great deal of flesh to the lions; and when they had filled themselves,
he gave further order that Daniel's enemies should be cast into the den,
that he might learn whether the lions, now they were full, would touch
them or not. And it appeared plain to Darius, after the princes had been
cast to the wild beasts, that it was God who preserved Daniel [25] for
the lions spared none of them, but tore them all to pieces, as if they
had been very hungry, and wanted food. I suppose therefore it was not
their hunger, which had been a little before satisfied with abun