Hippolytus of Rome : And so in order that the sacredness of the holy writings may be kept in all places and the pure mouth of the blessed prophets may be proclaimed, for words we interpret words and for phrases we reckon phrases. For then while the elders plotted through wicked words to hide their desire and shamelessly said, "We saw them having relations with each other," [Susannah 39] the blessed Daniel examined what was both disgracefully and repulsively spoken by them, saying to them, "Under what tree did you see them lying with one another?" [Susannah 54, 58] For there is another sense of the phrase, "lying with someone," and another sense of "having relations with someone." — Commentary on Daniel 1.31.1-2 Jerome : Verses 54-59. "'Tell me under which tree thou sawest them conversing with each other.' And he answered, 'Under the mastic tree.' And Daniel said to him, 'Well hast thou lied against thine own head; for behold, the angel of God, having received His sentence from Him, shall cleave thee in twain.' And a little while later the other elder said, 'Under the holm tree.' And Daniel said to him, 'Well hast thou lied against thine own head; but the angel of the Lord waiteth with a sword to sever thee in twain.'" Since the Hebrews reject the story of Susanna, asserting that it is not contained in the Book of Daniel, we ought to investigate carefully the names of the trees, the skhinos and the prinos, which the Latins interpret as "holm-oak" and "mastic-tree," and see whether they exist among the Hebrews and what their derivation is - for example, as "cleavage" , and "cutting" or "sawing" is derived from "holm tree" in the language of the Greeks. But if no such derivation can be found, then we too are of necessity forced to agree with the verdict of those who claim that this chapter was originally composed in Greek, because it contains Greek etymology not found in Hebrew. But if anyone can show that the derivation of the ideas of cleaving and severing from the names of the two trees in question is valid in Hebrew, then we may accept this scripture also as canonical. — St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER THIRTEEN