“Enough, O Daniel!  Enough!” cried Cyrus.  “If thou art able to show me this thing, I ask no more!”

The Hebrew sage, with a peculiar smile of satisfaction on his countenance, rose from his seat, and took from a shelf what appeared to be a scroll of ancient manuscript.

“Listen, O king, to the words of Jehovah’s prophets in regard to the taking of Babylon: 

“’Make bright the arrows, gather the shields!  The Lord hath raised up the spirits of the kings of the Medes, for his device is against Babylon to destroy it; because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance of his temple.  Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is at hand!  Shout against her round about!  Behold, I will stir up the Modes against them, who shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.  Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain!  Exalt the voice! shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles!  Go up, O Elam!  Besiege, O Media!  Therefore shall evil come upon thee, and thou shalt not know from whence it cometh.  Desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.  I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, and thou wast not aware.  O thou that dwellest upon many waters, I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.  A drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up.  In her heat I will make their feasts, and I will make them drunken, that they may repose and sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the Lord.  Arise, ye princes, and anoint the shield!  Prepare slaughter for his children, for the iniquity of their fathers, that they do not rise and possess the land; for I will rise up against thee, saith the Lord of hosts, and cut off from Babylon the name and remnant, and son and nephew, saith the Lord.’

“These, O king, are some of the predictions of Jehovah against Babylon, by the mouths of his holy prophets.  And has not my lord the king been an eye witness to their fulfillment!”

“They have all come to pass to the letter, O Daniel!  Surely the God of Israel is the God of gods!  Why should I any longer doubt?  Thus it appears that Cyrus the Persian has been under the directions of the God of Israel, to bring about these wonderful events!”

“In this thou sayest truly, O king.  And strange as it may sound in thine ears, be assured that thy name was known in Israel for over one hundred and fifty years before thy birth.”

Here the Persian gazed on the Hebrew for awhile in silent wonderment; and it was evident from his countenance, that he had some doubt in regard to the truth of the sentence.

“Did the king rightly understand thy meaning?  Sayest thou that my name was known in Israel for one hundred and fifty years previous to my birth?”

“The king rightly understandeth his servant.  Thy name was carefully written in a book by one of our prophets two hundred and twenty years ago.  Happily, I have now in my possession a copy taken from the original, written by one of our scribes, and bearing date which maketh it over one hundred and seventy years old.  If the king desireth, thy servant will read.”