The king rises and gives the toast: “For ever, Moloch, god of the Assyrians, live!”
A great clap of thunder is heard, darkness settles on the feast, and a fiery hand writes upon the wall the fatal “Mane, Thecel, Phares.”
Idolatry, Vanity, and Thought in turn fail to interpret the mysterious words, and the first named suggests that Daniel should be summoned.[57]
The prophet comes and explains the hidden meaning of the words, declaring that God’s wrath has been aroused by the misuse of the sacred vessels, which, until the law of grace reigns on earth, foreshow the Blessed Sacrament.
Baltassar and his wives tremble at the solemn words. Thought, an expression of the reproaches of his master’s conscience, turns against the king, who laments the desertion of his friends in the hour of need.
Death, during this scene, has been approaching nearer and nearer, and now draws his sword and stabs the unhappy monarch, who cries:
“This is death, then!
Was the venom not sufficient
That I drank of?”
Death. “No; that venom