Page 28 - The Prophet-statesman a Drama of Daniel

CHAPTER VI

THE IMPERIAL EXAMINATIONS

While the others toiled feverishly over their books during the final days of

preparation, the four friends walked leisurely in the expansive gardens of the temple
with apparent unconcern that they were to be examined shortly by the mighty monarch
Nebuchadnezzar himself. In fact they had set aside their books of science, language,
and economics, and when they sat under a tree or on a stone seat they would be seen to

listen as one read from a scroll which they seemed to have constantly in their possession.
This was the scroll containing the Law of Moses, the historic books and the Psalms.
They had also procured copies of some of the writings of the Prophet Isaiah and
fragments from Micah, Zephaniah and Jeremiah. These they carefully read, ceasing

from time to time for seasons of prayer.

So well had they husbanded their time in the three years of study, and so consistently
had they applied themselves, that they were free from the fear and desperation that

possessed their fellows. Due to the excellence of their academic records and the esteem
in which they were held, even the sharp tongues of such as Manoah and Adiel had been
silenced from ridicule.

Lord Ashpenaz had ordered that all the students should be provided with new outfits
of apparel before they appeared before King Nebuchadnezzar. No expense was spared
in either the making or material of the garments. The best tailors in Babylon were sent
to the college, two months before the day appointed for the imperial examinations, to

take the measure of each of the students. Another day was appointed to try the fit of the
garments, and they were delivered to the college and issued to each student five days
before the examinations commenced.

The day was a great day in Babylon. The King had given notice that he would come
to the college in the Fourth Temple and conduct the examinations, and the inhabitants
of the city were prepared to watch the Great One pass through the streets with his retinue

of guards and accompanied as well by the wisest scholars in the realm. He entered the
grounds on foot and went directly to the main assembly hall. Here the students stood at
attention resplendent in their new attire while he advanced to the platform to an ermine-
covered chair that had been prepared for him.

The examinations were to be written. The first day was to be devoted to natural
sciences and mathematics, the second day to language and literature and the third day