Daniel and the Stories Not in the Hebrew

As for Daniel, my answer will be that I did not say he was not a prophet. On the contrary, at the very beginning of the preface I declared that he was a prophet. But I wanted to show what opinion the Jews held, and what arguments they relied on to prove it. I also told the reader that the version read in the Christian churches was not that of the Septuagint translators but that of Theodotion. It is true that I said the Septuagint version of this book was very different from the original, and that it had been condemned by the right judgment of the churches of Christ. But the fault was not mine, since I only stated the fact; it belonged to those who read that version. We have four versions to choose from: those of Aquila, Symmachus, the Seventy and Theodotion. The churches choose to read Daniel in the version of Theodotion. What sin have I committed in following the judgment of the churches? [a]

But when I repeat what the Jews say against the story of Susanna, the Hymn of the Three Children, and the fables of Bel and the Dragon, which are not contained in the Hebrew Bible, the man who makes this a charge against me proves himself a fool and a slanderer. For I explained not what I thought, but what they commonly say against us. I did not answer their opinion in the preface, because I was aiming at brevity and was afraid I would seem to be writing not a preface but a book. So I said, “As to that, this is not the time to enter into discussion.” Otherwise, since I stated that Porphyry had said many things against this prophet, and called as witnesses to this Methodius, Eusebius and Apollinaris, who have answered his folly in many thousands of lines, my accuser will be free to charge me with not having written against Porphyry’s books in my preface. If anyone pays attention to silly things like this, I must tell him loudly and freely that no one is forced to read what he does not want to. I wrote for those who asked me, not for those who would scorn me; for the grateful, not the carping; for the earnest, not the indifferent. Still, I am amazed that a man should read the version of Theodotion, a heretic and a Judaizer, and scorn that of a Christian, however simple and sinful he may be.