“Trust the strong walls of Babylon, my king. They can mock all Cyrus’s thousands. There is yet time to assemble a great host. The warriors of Chaldea have not all waxed cowards. Meet the Persian fairly in the field, and if fortune there fail, Imgur-Bel and Nimitti-Bel will not fail. There is provision inside the walls for a siege years long. Before many months the Aryan hosts will be dissolved for lack of forage. Revolt will kindle in Cyrus’s provinces. The Pharaoh will take arms. Be bold and the gods will bless you. I speak not of myself, for is the king of Babylon a dog that he should submit to the commands of Cyrus or his envoys? Take my life, if so your Majesty will, but bow the knee to the Persian?—never!”
The king’s eyes were flashing. He had risen again on his throne.
“And the high priest counsels well!” cried Belshazzar, doubting no more. “We will put the might of Bel-Marduk to the test! Bel-Marduk against the puny god of the Persians and the Jews! Bel-Marduk, who rules forever, against the god who might not save Jerusalem to his servants, who shall not now save them Susa. In Darius we have a hostage that will make Cyrus hesitate long before taking the field against us. Away with all fears, my lords. I, the king, have spoken, and my word is ‘war’!”
That same day there went a letter to Gobryas, the new Persian envoy, who had just arrived outside the city, bidding him return to his land with all speed. “Belshazzar,” wrote the Babylonian ministers haughtily, “would not receive any embassy sent on so unfriendly an errand as this. The king would make due explanation to Cyrus for the detention of Darius; but if Cyrus would not accept it, let him be warned that the first hostile move on his part would be followed by the execution of the son of Hystaspes. And in the war that might ensue Belshazzar shunned no issue.”
That night also an order went forth for the arrest of Imbi-Ilu, chief priest of Nabu, on the ground that he had violated the terms of the amnesty, and was conspiring against the king; but the next morning found all Babylon astir with the news that the threatened pontiff had already escaped to the Persian envoy outside the walls. Gobryas had taken no risks of detention. The instant the letter of Belshazzar reached him he had started straight homeward, outstripping any chance of pursuit.
A second fugitive likewise fled with Gobryas. In the second Persian embassy Isaiah had beheld the opportunity divinely promised through Daniel; he should stand face to face with Cyrus the Aryan, and deliver the message of Jehovah. There was no longer any refuge at Borsippa for Ruth, but he counted her safe at the humble house of Dagan-Milki. Shaphat would be her guardian, and if needs be die, to save her from the hand of Belshazzar. Very beautiful and strong had been the smile on the Jewess’s face when she kissed Isaiah farewell.
“Go, beloved, go,” were the last words the young prophet carried on his journey; “who am I to give you care, when God has called you to His service?”
“Ah!” thought Isaiah, many times while on the way, “if the prayers of the pure and good avail anything with the great Lord God, I have already persuaded the king of the Aryans.”
