who art a native Hebrew, and a firm
believer in the God thou worshipest. Have not the Persians their
histories of their gods as well as ye?"

"They have, O king! But those histories are dark, indefinite, and without
date, which is a conclusive evidence that they are fiction, and not
history. If my lord the king hath aught to doubt in regard to the
correctness of our ancient historians concerning our God, what thinketh
he of those miraculous displays of Divine power witnessed by his servant
and by thousands more, during the last threescore years and ten?"

"Proceed, Daniel; the king is well pleased to hear thee!"

"Be it known to thee, O king, that all the calamities that of late have
befallen Babylon have come to pass in perfect accordance with the
predictions of God's prophets, some of whom prophesied over two hundred
years before these events transpired. When thou comparest these
prophecies with the actual occurrences, there remaineth no longer a place
for doubt. Even the draining of the Euphrates, O king, was spoken of by
the prophet of Jehovah over one hundred and fifty years before the
wonderful thing was conceived in thy mind."

"Enough, O Daniel! Enough!" cried Cyrus. "If thou art able to show me
this thing, I ask no more!"

The Hebrew sage, with a peculiar smile of satisfaction on his
countenance, rose from his seat, and took from a shelf what appeared to
be a scroll of ancient manuscript.

"Listen, O king, to the words of Jehovah's prophets in regard to the
taking of Babylon:

"'Make bright the arrows, gather the shields! The Lord hath raised up the
spirits of the kings of the Medes, for his device is against Babylon to
destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his
temple. Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand! Shout against her
round about! Behold, I will stir up the Modes against them, who shall not
regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it. Lift ye up
a banner upon the high mountain! Exalt the voice! shake the hand, that
they may go into the gates of the nobles! Go up, O Elam! Besiege, O
Media! Therefore shall evil come upon thee, and thou shalt not know from
whence it cometh. Desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou
shalt not know. I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken,
and thou wast not aware. O thou that dwellest upon many waters, I will
dry up her sea, and make her springs dry. A drought is upon her waters,
and they