(5) Siege of Tyre. He next undertook the siege of Tyre (see TYRE), and after its destruc tion proceeded to Egypt, now distracted by inter nal contractions, and devastated or made himself master of the whole country from Migdol to Syene (according to the reading of the Seventy, Ezek. xxix :to; xxx :to), transferring many of the inhabitants to the territory beyond the Euphrates.
(6) The Prophet Daniel. have referred to the captivity of the prophet Daniel, and have to turn to the book which bears his name for the history of this prophet, who, from an exile. was destined to become the great protector of his na tion. In the second year of the reign of Nebu chadnezzar, Daniel, who was found superior in wisdom to the Chaldwan magi, was enabled not only to interpret, but to reveal a dream of Nebu chadnezzar, the very subject of which that mon arch had forgotten. (See DREA NI. ) This was the dream of the statue consisting of four different metals, which Daniel interpreted as four successive monarchies, the last of which was to be the reign of the Messiah. Daniel was elevated to be first minister of state, and his three friends were made governors of provinces.
The history of these events (Dan. ii :4, 8, 9) is written in the Chaldee language, together with the narrative which immediately follows (ch. iii), of the golden statue erected by Nebuchadnezzar in the plain of Dura. for refusing to worship which Daniel's three friends were thrown into a furnace, but miraculously preserved.
(7) judgment Upon Nebuchadnezzar. The fourth chapter, also written in Chaldee, contains the singular history of thc judgment inflicted on Nebuchadnezzar as a punishment for his pride, and which is narrated in the form of a royal proc lamation from the monarch himself, giving an ac count to his people of his affliction and recovery.
This affliction had been, by the monarch's ac count, predicted by Daniel a year before, in the interpretation of his fearful dream of the trce in the midst of the earth. While walking in his pal ace, and admiring his magnificent works, he tit tered, in the plenitude of his pridc, the remarkable words recorded in verse 3o: 'Is not this great Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty ?' He had scarce uttered the words, when a voice front heaven proclaimed to him that his kingdom was departed from him; that Ile should be for seven iillICS (generally supposed to mean years, although some reduce the period to fourteen months; Jahn, Intrad.) driven from the habita
tions of men to dwell among the beasts of the field, and made to eat grass as an ox, until lie learned 'that the Most Fligh ruleth in the king dom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever hc will.' The difficulties attending the nature of the dis ease and recovery of Nebuchadnezzar have not escaped the notice of commentators in ancient as well as modern times. Origcn's supposition that the account of Nebuchadnezzar's metamorphosis was merely a representation of the fall of Lucifer, is not likely to meet with many supporters. Be sides Origen's, there have been no less than five different opinions in reference to this subject. Bo din (in Demonoi.) maintains that Nebuchadnez zar underwent an actual metamorphosis of soul and body, a similar instance of which is given by Cluvier (Append. ad Epitom. Hist.) on the testi mony of an eye-witness. Tertullian (Dc Pa7nit.) confines the transformation to the body only, but without loss of reason, of which kind of met amorphosis St. Augustine (De Civ. Dci, :18) reports some instances said to have taken place in Italy to which he himself attaches little credit ; but Gaspard Peucer asserts that the transformation of men into wolves was very common in Livonia. Some Jewish Rabbins have asserted that the soul of Nebuchadnezzar, by a real transmigration, changed places with that of an ox (Medina, De rectd in Deism fid.); while others have supposed not a real, but an apparent or docetic change, of which there is a case recorded in the life of St. Macarius, the parents of a young woman having been persuaded that their daughter had been transformed into a mare. The most generally re ceived opinion, however, is that Nebuchadnezzar laLored under that species of hypochondriacal monomania which leads the patient to fancy him self changed into an animal, or other substance, the habits of which he adopts. Jerome probably leaned to this opinion. 'Who does not see,' he observes, 'that madmen live like brute beasts in the fields and woods, and in what is it wonderful that this punishment should be inflicted by God's judgment to show the power of God, and so humble the pride of kings? Greek and Roman histories relate much more incredible things, as of men changed into Scylla, the Chimera, and the Centaurs, into birds and bcasts, flowers, trees, stars, and stones?' (in Dan. iv :4). To this dis ease of the imagination physicians have given the name of Lycanthropy, Zoanthropy, or lnsania Canina. (SeC DISEASES OF THE JEWS, S.) W. W.