Chapter I: Front Matter

BELSHAZZAR

BELSHAZZAR

A TALE OF THE
FALL OF BABYLON

BY
WILLIAM STEARNS DAVIS

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY
LEE WOODWARD ZIGLER
DECORATIONS BY
J.E. LAUB.

NEW YORK
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO.
1902

COPYRIGHT, 1901, 1902,
BY JOHN WANAMAKER.

COPYRIGHT, 1902,
BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY.

PUBLISHED JUNE, 1902.

NORWOOD PRESS
J. S. CUSHING & CO.—BERWICK & SMITH
NORWOOD MASS. U.S.A.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. BABYLON THE GREAT 1

II. BELSHAZZAR THE KING 14

III. THE YOKE OF THE CHALDEES 31

IV. RUTH 48

V. THE TEMPLE OF NABU 60

VI. THE GLORY OF THE CHALDEES 75

VII. THE SPELL OF THE MASKIM 97

VIII. THE HAREM OF THE KING 117

IX. THE KING OF THE BOW 131

X. BEL ACCUSES 154

XI. NABU DEFIES THE KING 167

XII. THE WISE GUDEA PROSPERS 181

XIII. GUDEA FARES ON A JOURNEY 196

XIV. BELSHAZZAR CHOOSES HIS PATH 212

XV. DANIEL DELIVERS A MESSAGE 229

XVI. THE PROCESSION OF BEL 245

XVII. BEL TOTTERS 264

XVIII. AVIL-MARDUK GIVES COUNSEL 283

XIX. CYRUS, FATHER OF THE PEOPLE 297

XX. BELSHAZZAR’S GUESTS FORSAKE HIM 310

XXI. BELSHAZZAR PURSUES IN VAIN 325

XXII. THE KING AND THE FATHER 342

XXIII. BELSHAZZAR SECURES HIS PREY 354

XXIV. THE WARNING OF JEHOVAH 370

XXV. NABU BETRAYS BEL-MARDUK 387

XXVI. THE FULFILMENT OF JEHOVAH 397

XXVII. “BEL IS DEAD” 412

“The poet sang a marvellous song, full of all the flowery
flatteries of the East, praising the princess”
(page 82) _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

“Darius had proved his title, ‘King of the Bow’” 24

“Isaiah plucked him roughly by the robe. ‘Make your feet wings,
or I will aid you’” 104

“All the Persian’s skill could not save his horse” 150

“They did not know the lion spirit within the king, that made
him as steeled against fear as against mercy” 272

“The starlight touched something that glittered—a soldier’s
helmet” 318

“‘Here is only the king; within your father waits’” 348

“They saw terror flash across the king’s face as he looked
upward” 386