Chapter 88
1 What, then, is the reason that the queen came in and made mention of Daniel? For did not all the nobles and the friends of the king know him? Or did they not know what had happened in the case of Nebuchadnezzar—how he alone interpreted the dreams for him, and how the king appointed him ruler over the wise men of Babylon?
2 They themselves indeed knew it, but, being envious of him because he was adorned with heavenly wisdom, they were unwilling to declare anything to the king concerning him, lest, when he came and read the writing, they should afterward be put to shame.
3 Now this happened not only then in the case of Daniel, but it befalls many even to this day.
4 For whenever someone, having become worthy, obtains grace from God and is found wiser than the rest, immediately all, looking askance, hate him, persecute him, insult him, dishonor him, slander him, set him at naught—so that by this they themselves may seem to be something, though they are nothing.
5 For the like befell also the prophets, and the Lord, and the apostles. So too in the case of Daniel let us understand the things that happened in Babylon; for as the Scripture proceeds it will show that these things came about in this way.