So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius
This Daniel, of whom so much has been said all the preceding
chapters, and who had been so lately and so wonderfully delivered
from the lions' den, the same flourished throughout the reign of
Darius the Mede; continued a favourite with the king; retained
his honour and dignity; and kept his posts and places of trust
and profit. Darius the Mede reigned two years; though Jarchi says
he reigned but one, and was slain in war; for which he refers to
Joseph ben Gorion, who has not a word of it. And in the
reign of Cyrus the Persian;
who, as Jacchiades says, was the son-in-law of Darius, and
inherited the kingdom after him; which is true, for he married
the daughter of Cyaxares or Darius who was his uncle, and
succeeded him as sole monarch of the empire: he reigned with him
the two years he had the government of the Babylonish monarchy;
and when he died, it solely devolved on him, who reigned seven
years after, as Xenophon F19 relates; but the canon of Ptolemy
ascribes nine years to his reign, which includes the two years he
was partner with Darius. Daniel was in the same favour with this
prince as the former, who in the first year of his reign
proclaimed liberty to the Jews to return to their country, and
build their temple; whether Daniel lived throughout his reign is
not certain; he was alive in the third year of it, as appears
from ( Daniel
10:1 ) , some take Darius and Cyrus to be one and the same
person, and render this last clause as explanative of the former,
"even", or, "that is, in the reign of Cyrus the Persian"
F20.
F19 Cyropaedia, l. 8. c 45.
F20 Vid Nicolai Abram. Pharus Vet. Test. l. 12. c. 24. p. 338.
