so well prepared for this
emergency that the numerous legions of Cyrus failed to alarm them. Their
walls they considered proof against any attack, and they had a sufficient
amount of provision in the city for twenty years. They laughed to scorn
the demand of the Persians, and loudly ridiculed them from the city
walls. Belshazzar and his counselors, considering themselves secure, gave
way to their depraved appetites. The palace was one scene of debauchery
and revelry by day and by night.

The Persian general soon saw that an assault on such formidable defenses
would be useless. A project was conceived in his mind. He made the
inhabitants believe that he intended to reduce the city by famine. To
this end he caused a line of circumvallation to be drawn quite around the
city with a large and deep ditch; and, that his troops might not be
over-fatigued, he divided his army into twelve bodies, and assigned to
each of them its month of guarding the trenches. The great ditch was
completed, but the reveling Babylonians little thought of its real
design.

Belshazzar, the king, made a feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank
wine before the thousand. This feast was one of great splendor. The most
spacious and magnificent rooms in the richest city in the world were
crowded with rank and beauty. Learning, aristocracy and royalty were
there. Precious stones and costly perfumery filled the salon with
dazzling luster and sweet fragrance. Wit sparkled with the sparkling of
the cups, and reason flowed with the flowing of the wine. They drank
toasts of enthusiastic patriotism; they sang songs of unbounded loyalty,
and shouted defiance to every foe. Strains of melody poured forth from an
hundred instruments, and hilarity and excessive mirth beamed forth from
every countenance. The high praises of the gods of Chaldea, with
rapturous shouts in honor to their king, mingled together and broke forth
from a thousand tongues. The besieging army and its commander, together
with the God of the Hebrews, were made the subjects of their keenest
sarcasm.

This feast was given in honor of Belshazzar's birth; and we may easily
judge that flattery without measure was poured into his willing ear. On
this occasion, from the very nature of the festival, much was expected
from the monarch himself, and it was very evident that he was fully
determined that in this they should not be disappointed. He spoke in this
vein:

"All hail, brave Babylonians! Welc