THE WORLD'S HISTORY IN A DREAM. (CONCLUDED.)

TWO

WO hundred and seven years have rolled away since Belshazzar's feast and the fall of Babylon, when we come to another of the great turning points of history.

The scene of the drama is shifted to the northwest about three hundred miles, to a wide plain on the east side of the Tigris river, not far from the site of the ancient Nineveh. It is early spring of the year 331 B. C. The vast plain is bare of trees, and varied only by gentle undulations, and covered, doubtless, with the luxuriant verdure and flowery bloom usual at this season of the year.

As the morning sun looks over the eastern hills its beams are flashed back from the polished armor of two embattled hosts. On one side stands Darius, the Persian monarch, surrounded by the armies of the empire, and confident in the force of superior numbers. He has suffered some reverses. Yet he is still the Great King, the successor of Cyrus the hero of the Orient; of Cambyses the conqueror of Egypt; of Darius Hystaspes the consolidator of the empire and the invader of Scythia and of India; of Xerxes the magnificent; of Artaxerxes 2d, who beheld

And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings... And behold another beast, like to a bear, and three ribs were in his mouth between his teeth: After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; ... After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, terrible and powerful and it had great iron teeth; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.-DANIEL vii. 3-8.

CHAPTER II.

THE WORLD'S HISTORY IN A DREAM. (CONCLUDED.)

TWO

WO hundred and seven years have rolled away since Belshazzar's feast and the fall of Babylon, when we come to another of the great turning points of history.

The scene of the drama is shifted to the northwest about three hundred miles, to a wide plain on the east side of the Tigris river, not far from the site of the ancient Nineveh. It is early spring of the year 331 B. C. The vast plain is bare of trees, and varied only by gentle undulations, and covered, doubtless, with the luxuriant verdure and flowery bloom usual at this season of the year.

As the morning sun looks over the eastern hills its beams are flashed back from the polished armor of two embattled hosts. On one side stands Darius, the Persian monarch, surrounded by the armies of the empire, and confident in the force of superior numbers. He has suffered some reverses. Yet he is still the Great King, the successor of Cyrus the hero of the Orient; of Cambyses the conqueror of Egypt; of Darius Hystaspes the consolidator of the empire and the invader of Scythia and of India; of Xerxes the magnificent; of Artaxerxes 2d, who beheld