magicians said they could discover nothing, nor did understand it; the king was in great disorder of mind, and under great trouble at this surprising accident.* So he caused it to be proclaimed through all the country, and promised that to him who could explain the writing, and give the signification thereof, he would give a golden chain for his neck, and permission to wear a purple garment, as did the kings of Chaldea; and would bestow on him the third part of his own dominions. When the proclamation was made, the magicians ran together more earnestly, and were very ambitious to find out the import of the writing, but still hesitated about it as much as before. Now when the king's grandmother† saw him cast down at this acci

* The king's words are these,-Whosoever shall read this writing, and shew me the interpretation thereof, shall be clothed with scarlet, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom. Daniel v. 7. From whence it appears, that the kings of Babylon wore the same ornaments, and in rewarding their favourites, gave the same marks of honour that the kings of Persia and their successors did. For purple, we find, in several Greek authors, was the ordinary habits of the kings of Persia, and of the princes of their court that were in the highest posts of honour. The chain or collar of gold was one of the greatest marks of distinction that the Persian kings could bestow upon their subjects; and to be the third ruler of the kingdom, was the same sublime office that Darius the Mede put Daniel in, chap. vi. 1, 2. when he constituted him one of the presidents over the hundred and twenty princes that he had made governors over provinces. Xenophon's Cyropædia, lib. viii. Diodorus, lib. xviii. Josephus's Antiquities, lib. xi. c. 6. Brisson, De Regno Persar. lib. i. B.

+ This grandmother, or mother of Baltasar, the queen dowager of Babylon, (for she is distinguished from his queen, Daniel v. 10, 23.) seems to have been the famous Nitocris, who fortified Babylon against the Medes and Persians; and in all probability governed it under Baltasar, who seems to have been a weak and effeminate prince. Whether Baltasar were the son or grandson of the great Nebuchadnezzar, will be best understood by the following passage out of some observations I formerly made, when I carefully read over Mr. Hutchinson's excellent edition of Xenophon's Kuge Пadua, as follows. "Xenophon, who made his Persian expedition not till one hundred and twenty-eight years after the death of Cyrus, and never seems to have been at Babylon, nor ever names any king of Babylon; (as perhaps not knowing their names; always and only calling each of them T Aroupov, the Assyrian king, in agreement with Ptolemy's Canon ;) took the last king of Babylon to be the son of his predecessor, and the same that injured Gobryas and Gadates, page 307, 529 Berosus also, who lived still much later, took Niricassolassar for the sister's husband, and puts in Laborosoarchod, who is not in the Canon. Perhaps we bad better follow the Scripture, and the Canon, as elder, and indeed contemporary records; and say, that Ilvarodamus or Evil-Merodach was the son, and Niricassolassar the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar; and that Baltasar or Nabonadius was the uncle of Niricassolassar, and the son of Nebuchadnezzar, by another wife, Nitoeris. See Baruch i. 11. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 20. Vol. II.

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dent, she began to encourage him, and to say, that there was a certain captive who came from Judea, a Jew by birth; but brought away thence by Nebuchadnezzar, when he destroyed Jerusalem; whose name was Daniel; a wise man, and one of great sagacity in finding out what was impossible for others to discover, and what was known to God alone; and who brought to light and answered such questions to Nebuchadnezzar, as no one else was able to answer, when they were consulted. She therefore desired that he would send for him, and inquire concerning the writing; and to condemn the unskilfulness of those that could not find their meaning; and this although what God signified thereby should be of a melancholy nature.

When Baltasar heard this, he called for Daniel; and when he had expressed what he had learned concerning him and his wisdom, and how a divine spirit was with him, and that he alone was fully capable of finding out what others would never have thought of; he desired him to declare to him what this writing meant. That if he did so, he would give him leave to wear purple, and to put a chain of gold about his neck, and would bestow on him the third part of his dominion, as an honorary reward of his wisdom, that thereby he might become illustrious to those who saw him, and who inquired upon what occasion he obtained such honours. But Daniel desired, "that he would keep his gifts to himself; the effect of wisdom and of divine revelation admitting of no gifts; but bestowing its advantages on petitioners freely; but that still he would explain the writing to him. He said, it denoted that he should soon die; and this because he had not learned to honour God, and not to admit things above human nature, by what punishments his progenitor had undergone for the injuries he had of

Jer. xxvii. 7. Daniel v. 18, 22. And perhaps Laborosoarchod was no more than a first minister under Baltasar at first; as the queen mother Nitocris appears to have been the real regent afterwards; Baltasar being a weak and effeminate prince, as I have already noted, and as his history shews. N. B. It is plain that though Xenophon knew the history of Cyrus, yet did he not know his chronology, or how long he was in his war. He thought those wars, before the taking of Babylon, to have been over in a very few years; contrary to the strongest evidence elsewhere; though in contradiction to this, he knew Cyrus to be younger than Cyaxares, and a very old man before he died; which agrees with the other testimonies of antiquity."

fered to God; and because he had quite forgotton how Nebuchadnezzar was removed to feed among wild beasts, for his impieties, and did not recover his former life among men, and his kingdom, but upon God's mercy to him, after many supplications and prayers. Who did thereupon praise God all the days of his life, as one of almighty power, and who takes care of mankind. He also reminded him that he had greatly blasphemed against God, and had made use of his vessels amongst his concubines; that therefore God was angry with him, and declared by his writing beforehand what a sad conclusion of his life he should come to. And he explained the writing thus: "MANEH: this, if it be expounded in the Greek language, may signify Apuis, a number; because God hath numbered so long a time for thy life, and for thy government; and there remains but a small portion. THEKEL: this signifies rabus, a weight; and means that God hath weighed thy kingdom in a balance, and finds it going down already. PHARES: this also in the Greek tongue, denotes Kára, a fragment; God will therefore break thy kingdom in pieces, and divide it among the Medes and Persians."*

When Daniel had told the king that the writing upon the wall signified these events, Baltasar was in great sorrow and affliction, as was to be expected when the interpretation was so heavy upon him. However he did not refuse what he had promised Daniel, although he were become a foreteller of misfortunes; but bestowed it all upon him. As reasoning thus, that what he was to reward was peculiar to himself and to fate, and did not belong to the prophet; but that it was the part of a good and a just man to give what he had promised, although the events were to be of a melancholy nature. Now after a little while, both himself, and the city were taken by Cyrus king of Persia, who fought against him. For it was Baltasar, under whom Babylon was taken; when he had reigned seventeen years. And this is the end of the posterity of Nebuchadnezzar, as history informs us. But when Babylon was taken by Darius, and when he, with his kinsman Cyrus, had put an end to the dominion of the Babylonians, he was sixty

*Daniel v. 28.