dance of
flesh, but the wickedness of these men, that provoked them [to destroy
the princes]; for if it so please God, that wickedness might, by even
those irrational creatures, be esteemed a plain foundation for their
punishment.

7. When therefore those that had intended thus to destroy Daniel by
treachery were themselves destroyed, king Darius sent [letters] over all
the country, and praised that God whom Daniel worshipped, and said that
he was the only true God, and had all power. He had also Daniel in very
great esteem, and made him the principal of his friends. Now when Daniel
was become so illustrious and famous, on account of the opinion men had
that he was beloved of God, he built a tower at Ecbatana, in Media:
it was a most elegant building, and wonderfully made, and it is still
remaining, and preserved to this day; and to such as see it, it appears
to have been lately built, and to have been no older than that very
day when any one looks upon it, it is so fresh [26] flourishing, and
beautiful, and no way grown old in so long time; for buildings suffer
the same as men do, they grow old as well as they, and by numbers of
years their strength is dissolved, and their beauty withered. Now they
bury the kings of Media, of Persia, and Parthia in this tower to this
day, and he who was entrusted with the care of it was a Jewish priest;
which thing is also observed to this day. But it is fit to give an
account of what this man did, which is most admirable to hear, for he
was so happy as to have strange revelations made to him, and those as to
one of the greatest of the prophets, insomuch, that while he was alive
he had the esteem and applause both of the kings and of the multitude;
and now he is dead, he retains a remembrance that will never fail, for
the several books that he wrote and left behind him are still read by us
till this time; and from them we believe that Daniel conversed with
God; for he did not only prophesy of future events, as did the other
prophets, but he also determined the time of their accomplishment. And
while prophets used to foretell misfortunes, and on that account were
disagreeable both to the kings and to the multitude, Daniel was to
them a prophet of good things, and this to such a degree, that by the
agreeable nature of his predictions, he procured the goodwill of all
men; and by the accomplishment of them, he procured the belief of their
truth, and the opinion of [a sort of] divinity for