"MENE: God hath numbered thy kingdom, and fin

ished it.

"TEKEL: Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting.

"PERES: Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and the Persians."

In that night was Belshazzar, the king of the Chaldeans, slain.

41.-Vision of Belshazzar.

ex-pound', explain.

sāģe, wise.

sā'trăps, provincial governors. wǎxed, grew, became.

PREPARATORY NOTES.

This poetic picture of Belshazzar's "Vision," by Lord Byron (17881824), well shows his wonderful power of vividly conceiving a single situation. Swinburne says, "Byron possesses the splendid and imperishable excellence of sincerity and strength."

(4) Babel: i.e., Babylon. — (6) Mede... Persian: the people who inhabited the empire of Media and Persia.

1. The king was on his throne,
The satraps thronged the hall;
A thousand bright lamps shone
O'er that high festival.
A thousand cups of gold,

In Judah deemed divine,-
Jehovah's vessels hold

The godless heathen's wine!

2. In that same hour and hall, The fingers of a hand

Came forth against the wall,

And wrote as if on sand.
The fingers of a man

A solitary hand —

Along the letters ran,

And traced them like a wand.

3. The monarch saw, and shook,
And bade no more rejoice;
All bloodless waxed his look,
And tremulous his voice.
"Let the men of lore appear,
The wisest of the earth,
And expound the words of fear
Which mar our royal mirth.”

4. Chaldea's seers are good,

But here they have no skill, And the unknown letters stood Untold and awful still.

And Babel's men of age

Are wise and deep in lore;

But now they were not sage:
They saw, but knew no more.

5. A captive in the land,

A stranger and a youth,
He heard the king's command,
He saw that writing's truth.

6. "Belshazzar's grave is made,
His kingdom passed away:
He, in the balance weighed,
Is light and worthless clay:
The shroud his robe of state,
His canopy in stone;

The Mede is at his gate,

The Persian on his throne!"

LANGUAGE STUDY.

I. Write the analysis of: godless; bloodless; worthless; unknown; untold. From what parts of speech are the first three words formed? The last two?

II. All the sentences in the poen are of one kind: which kindsimple, complex, or compound?

III. It is interesting to bring this poem into comparison with the Bible account of "Belshazzar's Feast," as given in the preceding lesson. Select from the Bible account the statements on which Byron founds the following expressions:

"The king was on his throne,

The satraps thronged the hall."

"Jehovah's vessels hold

The godless heathen's wine."

"The fingers of a hand

Came forth against the wall."

Bring together all the other parallel passages.
Point out expressions not found in the Bible account.

42.-The Wisdom of Solomon.

eon-çēit', conception, opinion. eon-vēn'ient, suitable, fit. eỡny, a small, timid animal.

count'ed, accounted, considered.

fā'vor, good will.

pen'ū-ry, want, privation.
void, lacking, wanting.
who'sō, whosoever, whoever.

PREPARATORY NOTES.

These “apples of gold in pictures of silver" are selected from the Book of Proverbs. They phrase in beautiful imagery the benignant wisdom of the Eastern monarch.

1. My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

2. These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: a proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood; an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, a false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.

3. He that is void of wisdom despiseth his neighbor, but a man of understanding holdeth his peace. In all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tendeth only to penury. Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise; and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.

4. The poor is hated even of his own neighbor, but the rich hath many friends.

5. He that despiseth his neighbor sinneth; but he