Among the captive tribes which hither came
To grace Nebassar's triumph, there was brought
A youth named Daniel, favour'd by high Heaven
With power to look into the secret page
Of dim Futurity's mysterious volume.
The spirit of the holy gods is in him;
No vision, so obscure, so deeply hid,

No sentence so perplex'd, but he can solve it;
He can unfold the dark decrees of Fate,
Can trace each crooked labyrinth of thought,
Each winding maze of doubt, and make it clear
And palpable to sense. He twice explain'd
The monarch's mystic dreams. The holy seer
Saw, with prophetic spirit, what befell
The king long after. For his wondrous skill
He was rewarded, honour'd, and caress'd,
And with the rulers of Chaldea rank'd:
Though now, alas! thrown by, his services
Forgotten or neglected.

Then, O Daniel ! If thou indeed dost boast that wondrous gift, That faculty divine; look there, and tell me! O say, what mean those mystic characters? Remove this load of terror from my soul, And honours, such as kings can give, await thee. Thou shalt be great beyond thy soul's ambition, And rich above thy wildest dream of wealth: Clad in the scarlet robe our nobles wear, And graced with princely ensigns, thou shalt stand Near our own throne, and third within our empire.

DANIEL

O mighty king, thy gifts with thee remain,
And let thy high rewards on others fall.
The princely ensign, nor the scarlet robe,
Nor yet to be the third within thy realm,
Can touch the soul of Daniel. Honour, fame,
All that the world calls great, thy crown itself,
Can never satisfy the vast ambition
Of an immortal spirit; I aspire
Beyond thy power of giving; my high hopes
Reach also to a crown-but 'tis a crown
Unfading and eternal.

First COURTIER.

Prepare to hear what kings have seldom heard;
Prepare to hear what courtiers seldom tell;
Prepare to hear-the truth. The mighty God,
Who rules the sceptres and the hearts of kings,
Gave thy renown'd forefather here to reign,
With such extent of empire, weight of power,
And greatness of dominion, the wide earth
Trembled beneath the terror of his name,
And kingdoms stood or fell as he decreed.
Oh! dangerous pinnacle of power supreme!
Who can stand safe upon its treacherous top,
Behold the gazing prostrate world below,
Whom depth and distance into pigmies shrink,
And not grow giddy? Babylon's great king
Forgot he was a man, a helpless man,
Subject to pain, and sin, and death like others?
But who shall fight against Omnipotence?
Or, who hath harden'd his obdurate heart
Against the Majesty of Heaven, and prosper'd?
The God he had insulted was avenged;
From empire, from the joys of social life,
He drove him forth; extinguish'd reason's lamp;
Quench'd that bright spark of deity within;
Compell'd him with the forest brutes to roam
For scanty pasture; and the mountain dews
Fell cold and wet, on his defenceless head,
Till he confess'd-let men, let monarchs hear!
Till he confess'd, pride was not made for man!

And quite outgone example; hast prophaned,
With impious hand, the vessels of the temple!
Those vessels sanctified to holiest use,

Thou hast polluted with unhallow'd lips,
And made the instruments of foul debauch.
Thou hast adored the gods of wood and stone,
Vile, senseless deities, the work of hands;
But He the King of kings, and Lord of lords,
In whom exists thy life, thy soul, thy breath,
On whom thy being hangs, thou hast denied.
First COURTIER (aside to the others.)
With what an holy boldness he reproves him!
Second COURTIER.

Such is the fearless confidence of virtue,
And such the righteous courage those maintain
Who plead the cause of truth; the smallest word
He utters had been death to half the court.

BELSHAZZAR.

Now let the mystic writing be explain'd, Thrice venerable sage!

DANIEL.

O mighty king! Hear then its awful import: Heaven has number'd Thy days of royalty, and soon will end them. Our God has weigh'd thee in the even balance Of his own holy lan, and finds thee wanting: And last, thy kingdom shall be wrested from thee; And know, the Mede and Persian shall possess it.

Wondrous man!

Our priests teach no such notions.

Nebuchadnezzar.

Enter Daniel and Jervs.

DANIEL.

BEL boweth down, and haughty Nebo stoops:
The idols fall; the god and worshipper
Together fall; together they bow down;
Each other, or themselves, they cannot save.
Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, meant to save,
O Babylon, where is thy refuge now?
Pervert thee, and thy blessing is thy bane.
Where are thy brutish deities, Chaldea?
Where are thy gods of gold? O Lord of life
Thou very God, so fall thy foes before thee.
First JEW.

So fell beneath the terrors of thy name

Isaiah xlvi.

The idol Chemosh, Moab's empty trust;
So Ammonitish Moloch sunk before thee;
So fell Philistine Dagon: so shall fall,
To Time's remotest period, all thy foes,
Triumphant Lord of Hosts!

DANIEL.

How chang'd our fate! Not for myself, O Judah! but for thee, I shed these tears of joy. For I no more Must view the cedars which adorn the brow Of Syrian Lebanon; no more shall see Thy pleasant stream, O Jordan; nor the flocks Which whiten all the mountains of Judea; No more these eyes delighted shall review Or Carmel's heights, or Sharon's flow'ry vales. I must remain in Babylon; so Heaven, To whose awards I bow me, has decreed. I ne'er shall see thee, Salem: I am old; And few and toilsomie are my days to come. But we shall meet in those celestial climes, Compared with which created glories sink; Where sinners shall have pow'r to harm no more, And martyr'd Virtue rests her weary head. Tho' ere my day of promis'd grace shall come, I shall be tried by perils strange and new; Nor shall I taste of death, so have I learn'd, Till I have seen the captive tribes restor'd.

And, unrepining drank the bitter dregs
Of adverse fortune! Happier days await you.
O guard against the perils of success!
Prosperity dissolves the yielding soul,
And the bright sun of shining fortune melts
The firmest virtue down. Beware, my friends,
Be greatly cautious of prosperity!

Defend your sliding hearts; and, trembling, think
How those, who buffeted Affliction's wave
With vigorous virtue, sunk in Pleasure's calm.
He, who of special grace had been allow'd
To rear the hallow'd fane to Israel's God,
By wealth corrupted, and by ease debauch'd,
Forsook the God to whom he rais'd the fane;
And, sunk in sensual sloth, consumed his days
In vile idolatrous rites!-Nor think, my sons,
That virtue in sequester'd solitude

Is always found. Within the inmost soul
The hidden tempter lurks; nor less betrays
In the still seeming safety of retreat,
Than where the world her snares entangling
spreads,

More visible to sense. Guard every thought:
Who thinks himself secure is half undone;
For sin, unwatch'd, may reach the sanctuary:
'Tis not the place preserves us. Righteous Lot
Stemm'd the strong current of corruption's tide.
E'en in polluted Sodom; safe he lived,
While circumspective Virtue's watchful eye
Was anxiously awake; but in the shade,
Far from the obvious perils which alarm
With palpable temptation, secret sin
Ensnar'd his soul: he trusted in himself!
Security betray'd him, and he fell.
Second JEW.

Thy prudent counsels in our hearts shall live,
As if a pen of adamant had grav'd them.
First JEW.

The dawn approaches; let us part, my friend,
Secure of peace, since tyranny is fall'n.

DANIEL.

So perish all thine enemies, O Lord.
So, mighty God! shall perish all who seek
Corrupted pleasures in the turbid waves
Of life's polluted stream, and madly quit
The living fountain of perennial grace!

• Solomon.

Pharnaces, Soranus.

PHARNACES.

YES!-I have noted, with a jealous eye,
The pow'r of this new fav'rite! Daniel reigns,
And not Darius! Daniel guides the springs
Which move this mighty empire! High he sits,
Supreme in favour both with prince and people.
Where is the spirit of our Median lords,
Tamely to crouch and bend the supple knee
To this new god? By Mithras, 'tis too much!
Shall great Arbaces' race to Daniel bow-
A foreigner, a captive, and a Jew?
Something must be devised, and that right soon,
To shake his credit.

SORANUS.

Rather hope to shake The mountain pine, whose twisting fibres clasp The earth, deep-rooted. Rather hope to shake The Scythian Taurus from his central base. No-Daniel sits too absolute in pow'r, Too firm in favour, for the keenest shaft Of nicely aiming jealousy to reach him.

PHARNACES.

Rather he sits too high to sit securely.
Yes; he has reach'd that pinnacle of pow'r,
Which closely touches on Depression's verge.
Hast thou then liv'd in courts? hast thou grown gray
Beneath the mask a subtle statesman wears
To hide his secret soul, and dost not know,
That of all fickle Fortune's transient gifts,
Favour is most deceitful? "Tis a beam,
Which darts uncertain brightness for a moment:
The faint, precarious, sickly shine of power
Given without merit, by caprice withdrawn.
No trifle is so small as what obtains,
Save that which loses favour: 'tis a breath,
Which hangs upon a smile! A look, a word,
A frown, the air-built tower of fortune shakes,
And down the unsubstantial fabric falls!
Darius, just and clement as he is,

If I mistake not, may be wrought upon
By prudent wiles, by Flattery's pleasant cup,
Administer'd with caution.

SORANUS.

But the means!

For Daniel's life (a foe must grant him that)
Is so replete with goodness, so adorn'd
With every virtue, so exactly squared
By Wisdom's nicest rules, 'twill be most hard
To charge him with the shadow of offence.
Pure is his fame as Scythia's mountain snows,
When not a breath pollutes them. O Pharnaces,
I've seann'd the actions of his daily life
With all the industrious malice of a foe;
And nothing meets mine eye but deeds of honour
In office pure; for equitable acts

Renownd: in justice and impartial truth,
The Grecian Themis is not more severe.

PHARNACES.

By yon bright sun, thou blazon'st forth his praise, As if with rapture thou didst read the page Where these fair deeds are written!

SORANUS.

Thou mistak'st.

I only meant to show what cause we have
To hate and fear him. I but meant to paint
His popular virtues and eclipsing merit."
Then for devotion, and religious zeal,
Who so renown'd as Daniel? Of his law
Observant in th extreme. Thrice every day,
With prostrate reverence, he adores his God
With superstitious awe his face he turns
Towards his beloved Jerusalem, as if
Some local, partial god might there be found
To hear his supplication. No affair
Of state, no business so importunate,
No pleasure so alluring, no employ
Of such high import, to seduce his zeal
From this observance due!

PHARNACES.

There, there he falls! Enough, my friend! his piety destroys him. There, at the very footstool of his God, Where he implores protection, there I'll crush him.

SORANUS.

What means Pharnaces ?