ended his removal from the
kingly office for the space of seven years, in consequence of a curious
and very unusual kind of madness. This malady, which is not unknown to
physicians, has been termed "Lycanthropy." It consists in the belief
that one is not a man but a beast, in the disuse of language, the
rejection of all ordinary human food, and sometimes in the loss of the
erect posture and a preference for walking on all fours. Within a year
of the time that he received the warning, Nebuchadnezzar was smitten.
The great king became a wretched maniac. Allowed to indulge in his
distempered fancy, he eschewed human habitations, lived in the open air
night and day, fed on herbs, disused clothing, and became covered with
a rough coat of hair. His subjects generally, it is probable, were not
allowed to know of his condition, although they could not but be aware
that he was suffering from some terrible malady. The queen most likely
held the reins of power, and carried on the government in his name. The
dream had been interpreted to mean that the lycanthropy would not be
permanent; and even the date of recovery had been announced, only with
a certain ambiguity. The Babylonians were thereby encouraged to await
events, without taking any steps that would have involved them in
difficulties if the malady ceased. And their faith and patience met
with a reward. After suffering obscuration for the space of seven years,
suddenly the king's intellect returned to him. His recovery was received
with joy by his Court. Lords and councillors gathered about him. He once
more took the government into his own hands, issued his proclamations,
and performed the other functions of royalty. He was now an old man, and
his reign does not seem to have been much prolonged; but "the glory of
his kingdon," his "honor and brightness" returned; his last days were as
brilliant as his first: his sun set in an unclouded sky, shorn of none
of the rays that had given splendor to its noonday. Nebuchadnezzar
expired at Babylon in the forty-fourth year of his reign, B.C. 561,
after an illness of no long duration. He was probably little short of
eighty years old at his death.

The successor of Nebuchadnezzar was his son Evil-Mero-dach, who reigned
only two years, and of whom very little is known. We may expect that the
marvellous events of his father's life, which are recorded in the Book
of Daniel, had made a deep impression upon him, and that he was thence
incli