et of his lords;
that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. Then the king went to
his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of
music brought before him: and his sleep fled from him. Then the king
arose very early in the morning, and went in haste unto the den of
lions. And when he came near unto the den to Daniel, he cried with a
lamentable voice: the king spoke and said to Daniel, "O Daniel,
servant of the living {209} God, is thy God, whom thou servest
continually, able to deliver thee from the lions?"

Then said Daniel unto the king, "O king, live for ever. My God hath
sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, and they have not
hurt me: forasmuch as before him innocency was found in me; and also
before thee, O king, have I done no harm."

Then was the king exceeding glad, and commanded that they should take
Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and
no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he had trusted in his
God. And the king commanded, and they brought those men which had
accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their
children, and their wives; and the lions had the mastery of them, and
broke all their bones in pieces, before they came at the bottom of the
den.

Then King Darius wrote unto all the peoples, nations, and languages,
that dwell in all the earth; "Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a
decree, that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear
before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and steadfast for
ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his
dominion shall be even unto the end: he delivereth and rescueth, and
he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in earth; who hath
delivered Daniel from the power of the lions."

So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of
Cyrus the Persian.

{210}

BABYLON

Pause in this desert! Here, men say, of old
Belshazzar reigned, and drank from cups of gold;
Here, to his hideous idols, bowed the slave,
And here--God struck him dead!
. . . . Where lies his grave?
'T is lost!--His brazen gates? his soaring towers,
From whose dark tops men watched the starry hours?
All to the dust gone down! The desert bare
Scarce yields an echo when we question "Where?"
The lonely herdsman seeks in vain the spot;
And the black wandering Arab knows it not.
No brick, no fragment, lingers now, to