Page 141 - The Prophet-statesman a Drama of Daniel

CHAPTER XXXI

A PROPOSAL AND A PROCLAMATION

On the morrow King Darius sat on his throne, the first king of the silver kingdom

that had succeeded the golden empire set up by Nebuchadnezzar. Indeed the kingdom
was in comparative quality and value as silver is to gold. It was the same throne-room
in which the great autocrat had bellowed forth his mandates, and whose tiled floor had
been wet with the blood of Chaldea’s aristocracy on the fateful night of Belshazzar’s

feast.

A group of princes stood before Darius, of whom the leaders and spokesmen were
two of the presidents in the realm, Parmashta and Adalia.

“Oh King live forever,” began Parmashta. “We have gathered this morning in the
Royal Presence, by reason of the grace of Your Majesty, to make before the king an
expression and a request. Due to the well-known modesty of our sovereign, I am
constrained to believe that both the expression and request, which we are about to

make, will be a surprise.
“First let me say, that we are practical men and admire profoundly those things
which we can see and recognize to be of value. We are worldly men and not religious
men. We have no particular interest in the worship of gods, the very existence of

which we deem highly questionable. In fact we incline to the idea that worshipping
gods of any kind or invoking them is a deterrent to true patriotism and weakens our
unity by dividing allegiance between these gods and the king, who should receive all
of our loyalty. So extravagantly do we admire and revere thee, O King Darius, and so

fully convinced are we that thou art worthy of our total adulation and admiration (and
not of ours only but of all the citizens of the great kingdom of the Medes and Persians
to the most distant bounds of the empire) we are making this representation before the
king.” As Parmashta spoke, the king’s face reflected a variety of emotions. At the

outset he was suspicious and skeptical about the purpose of this visit of his presidents
and satraps. But as the fulsome praise of his king flowed from the lips of Parmashta, it
would have been difficult for a man of humility to combat the upsurge of self-

importance and vanity; much less a man, who, though possessing certain admirable
traits of character, was well known for his personal vanity and his love of praise. As
Parmashta’s flattering words continued to flow, it was as though he had put a silver
goblet to his lips containing a fierce intoxicant which deadens the moral senses. He
even swayed on his throne with a delightful inebriation of it all, and everything else

receded, as the king could see nothing but HIMSELF and contemplate nothing but his
own importance.