their country. So these men were convicted, and cast
immediately into the fire, but were saved by Divine Providence, and
after a surprising manner escaped death, for the fire did not touch
them; and I suppose that it touched them not, as if it reasoned with
itself, that they were cast into it without any fault of theirs, and
that therefore it was too weak to burn the young men when they were
in it. This was done by the power of God, who made their bodies so far
superior to the fire, that it could not consume them. This it was which
recommended them to the king as righteous men, and men beloved of God,
on which account they continued in great esteem with him.

6. A little after this the king saw in his sleep again another vision;
how he should fall from his dominion, and feed among the wild beasts,
and that when he halt lived in this manner in the desert for seven
years, [19] he should recover his dominion again. When he had seen this
dream, he called the magicians together again, and inquired of them
about it, and desired them to tell him what it signified; but when none
of them could find out the meaning of the dream, nor discover it to the
king, Daniel was the only person that explained it; and as he foretold,
so it came to pass; for after he had continued in the wilderness the
forementioned interval of time, while no one durst attempt to seize his
kingdom during those seven years, he prayed to God that he might recover
his kingdom, and he returned to it. But let no one blame me for writing
down every thing of this nature, as I find it in our ancient books; for
as to that matter, I have plainly assured those that think me defective
in any such point, or complain of my management, and have told them
in the beginning of this history, that I intended to do no more than
translate the Hebrew books into the Greek language, and promised them
to explain those facts, without adding any thing to them of my own, or
taking any thing away from there.

CHAPTER 11. Concerning Nebuchadnezzar And His Successors And How Their
Government Was Dissolved By The Persians; And What Things Befell Daniel
In Media; And What Prophecies He Delivered There.

1. Now when king Nebuchadnezzar had reigned forty-three years, [20] he
ended his life. He was an active man, and more fortunate than the kings
that were before him. Now Berosus makes mention of his actions in the
third book of his Chaldaic History, where he says thus: "When his fathe