Hippolytus of Rome : "And God gave Daniel mercy and favor before the chief eunuch. But the chief eunuch was saying to them, 'I myself fear my lord the king who has marked out your bread and your drink, lest he see that your face is sullen compared to the other youths at your assembly and you condemn my head to the king.'" [Daniel 1:9-10] And so what was spoken by Melgad was true. For he did not understand them because of their purposes, and was concerned that their appearance would seem sullen compared to the youths who were eating from the table of the king and that by this he, having been found culpable, would be put to death. — Commentary on Daniel 1.11.2-3 Jerome : Verse 9. "God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the prince of eunuchs..." He who was taken into captivity on account of the sins of his forebears received an immediate recompense for the magnitude of his own virtues. For he had purposed in his heart that he would not be denied by food from the king's table, and preferred humble fare to royal delicacies; therefore by the bounteous bestowal of the Lord he received favor and compassion in the sight of the prince of the eunuchs. By this we may understand that if ever under pressing circumstances holy men are loved by unbelievers, it is a matter of the mercy of God, not of the goodness of perverted men. — St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER ONE