Drinking of the sweet liquors they ask favours of their gods, who, although dumb, are as highly praised “as if heaven were theirs.”
A marvel befals the feasters.
The king first saw it.
Upon the plain wall, “a palm with pointel in fingers” is seen writing.
The bold Belshazzar becomes frightened.
His knees knock together.
He roars for dread, still beholding the hand, as it wrote on the rough wall.
The hand vanishes but the letters remain.
The king recovers his speech and sends for the “book-learned;” but none of the scholars were wise enough to read it.
Belshazzar is nearly mad.