Hippolytus of Rome : "And it happened as the maidens went out, the elders also rose and ran to Susannah and said, 'Behold, the doors of the garden are locked and no one sees us and we lust for you. Therefore consent to us and lie with us. But if not, we will testify against you that a young man was with you and on account of this you sent the maidens away from you.'" [Susannah 19-21] O lawless rulers and leaders who are filled with diabolical activity! Did Moses hand down these things to you? In this way, acknowledging the law do you teach other things? He who says to not commit adultery does he himself commit adultery? He who preaches not to murder, does he himself murder? He who says not to lust, do you wish to destroy your neighbor's wife? You say to me, rulers of Israel, "God, who has made all things, he does not see," do you not? The day and the sun, do they not see your work? And the earth, which is defiled by you, does it not cry out? Why do you, lawless ones, mislead a chaste and pure soul with lying words so that you might stir up your lust? You are characteristic of the story of Naboth the Israelite, who did not consent to give his vineyard to Ahab, so that he could have a vegetable garden, and on account of this the righteous man, after being accused, was unrighteously killed. [1 Kings 21:1-14] These things of yours from the beginning were shameless terrors on account of the deceiver who from the beginning was in you. For with her there really was a youth from heaven, who did not have intercourse with her, but came to her assistance. — Commentary on Daniel 1.20.1-8 Jerome : Verse 19. "Susanna sighed and said: 'I am straitened on every side.'" Anyone who has attained to the acme of perfect virtue never says that she is faced with a crisis of decision, when she is unable to escape the hands of adulterers who say, "Consent to us and have intercourse with us; for otherwise, if thou art unwilling, we will witness against thee that a young man was with thee and thou sentest away thy maidens from thee for this purpose." It is of course a characteristic of human frailty to fear a death which is inflicted upon one because of his uprightness. To be sure we might interpret her distress as arising not from the prospect of death but from the contumely and disgrace which would be heaped upon her by those accusers who would claim: "A young man was with her, and she sent away her maidens for that reason." — Commentary on Daniel