(原版)澳大利亞語文第六冊 LESSON 54
LESSON 54 THE VISION OF BELSHAZZAR [1]
THE VISION OF BELSHAZZAR [1]
L ORD B YRON (1788-1824) was one of the greatest of English poets.
The king was on his throne,
The satraps [2] thronged the hall;
A thousand bright lamps shone
O'er that high festival.
A thousand cups of gold,
In Judah [3] deemed divine—
Jehovah's vessels [4] hold
The godless heathen's wine!
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!
The monarch saw, and shook,
And bade no more rejoice;
All bloodless waxed his look,
And tremulous his voice:
Let the men of lore [5] appear, The wisest of the earth, And expound [6] the words of fear, Which mar [7] our royal mirth.
Chaldea's [8] seers [9] are good,
But here they have no skill;
And the unknown letters stood
Untold and awful still.
And Babel's [10] men of age
Are wise and deep in lore;
But now they were not sage [11] —
They saw—but knew no more.
A captive [12] in the land,
A stranger, and a youth,
He heard the king's command,
He saw that writing's [13] truth.
The lamps around were bright,
The prophecy [14] in view;
He read it on that night—
The morrow proved it true:
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 [15] the stone; The Mede [16] is at his gate! The Persian on his throne!
—LORD BYRON (1788-1824)
* * *
[1] Belshazzar: The last king of the Chaldees at Babylon.
[2] satraps: Governors of provinces.
[3] Judah: The southernmost part of Palestine.
[4] Jehovah's vessels: The king and his courtiers drank out of the sacred vessels taken from the temple at Jerusalem.
[5] men of lore: Wise men.
[6] expound: Explain.
[7] mar: Spoil.
[8] Chaldea: The country of which Babylon was the capital.
[9] seer: One who foretells the future.
[10] Babel: Babylon.
[11] sage: Wise.
[12] captive: Daniel, the prophet.
[13] the writing: The words were "mene, mene, tekel upharsin"-"Thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting. Thy days are numbered."
[14] prophecy: Something foretold.
[15] canopy: Curtains, roof.
[16] Mede: Inhabitant of Media, an ancient kingdom south of the Caspian Sea.
