Page 123 - The Prophet-statesman a Drama of Daniel

do likewise. Standing unsteadily to his feet and holding aloft the bowl, he said with
voice and tongue thickened by intoxication: “My friends, my honored grandfather,
Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, and removed these vessels from the temple of

the Jews, erected to a god they call Jehovah! …..Ha! Ha! ..... (punctuated by gulps and
belches)…..but Nebuchadnezzar was a peculiar man. When he grew older and having
had a derangement of the mind, he turned himself to worship the god of the people
whom he had conquered, and seduced others of Babylon to do likewise. But now, O

Bel, and all ye gods of the Chaldean pantheon, I hereby proclaim that we have
returned to you and recognize your supremacy over the Jewish Jehovah, in token of
which we use the very vessels of Jehovah’s temple to drink toasts and give praise to
you! And it is you who have delivered us from the scourge of the Medes and

Persians.” At the conclusion of his speech there were loud shouts of approval, and
everyone who had a golden vessel, followed the blasphemous young king in raising it
to their lips.

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But there was another crowd who were not in any drunken and licentious feast.

They were the soldiers of King Cyrus, under the command of General Gobryas, busily
carrying out the brilliantly-conceived plan of Colonel Aspatha. Excellently
conditioned, ten thousand of them had come back by cover of night, marching with
rapid steps—their leaders, from Gobryas down, as well-conditioned as the

infantrymen. Each with a spade or a hoe over his shoulder and a sword hung in a
scabbard by his side, they came back to the shadow of the great walls of Babylon.

All had been carefully informed of the plan and moved with precision. Straight to

the point where the low, dry river bed met the high bank of the Ephrates, they came,
and immediately attacked the bank with their implements.

They worked rapidly in relays, some digging and others removing the earth in

baskets which they had secreted near at hand at the time of their departure. As they
excavated from the outside of the bank in toward the water line, a great breach
appeared as though by magic. The light of the moon was sufficient illumination by

which to work. They supported the thin inner margin of the bank with boards lest the
water break through too soon. When the wide opening into the old river-bed was
cleared out, the boards were removed and the water began to break through. Faster
and faster it poured down the earthen sluice as it cut ever deeper into the bank, yet
sufficiently gradual was the outflow that all was quiet.

Even as they worked, the Median soldiers could hear the shouts of revelry from