Commentary on the Apocalypse and commentary on the Book of Daniel
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1910
Belshazzar: Feast (Daniel 5:1-28) -- Daniel inscribed DANIEL CONTRASCRIPTURAM RESPICIENS, pearled nimbus, pointing to hand ARTICULOS SCRIBERRAS IN PARIETEM holding stylus, issuing from lighted candlestick inscribed CANDELABRUM.
Below, Belshazzar crowned, reclining on sigma couch with other men, two nimbed, at table set with bowl filled with loaves?; servant holding flask; architectural frame with inscription MANE THECEL PHARES; background inscribed MANE NUMERABIT REGNUM TUUM ET COMPLEBIT ILLUD. [...] EST MINUS HABENS. FARES DIUISUM EST REGNUM [...] ET DATUM EST MEDIS [...].
Text is Jerome, In Danielem, V.
Belshazzar, the king, made a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and each of them drank according to his age. And when they were drunk, he had the gold and silver vessels that his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had carried away from the temple of Jerusalem, so that all, including concubines, drank from them. In the same hour, there appeared fingers, as of the hand of a man, writing on the wall opposite the candlestick. And the king became disturbed, saying that he who could read and interpret the writing would be clothed with purple, wear a golden chain on his neck, and be third in his kingdom. The queen suggested that Daniel be summoned, who said that Belshazzar, like his father, has not humbled his heart. Daniel then interpreted the three words. mane: "God has numbered your kingdom and has finished it"; thecel: "you have been weighed on the scales and found lacking"; phares: "your kingdom has been divided and has been given to the Medes and the Persians." The same night that Daniel received his rewards Belshazzar was killed, and Darius the Mede succeeded to his kingdom. (Dan. 5)
The king and his guests recline in beds, as in ancient times, while eating. Most are frowning, having heard the foreboding interpretations of the three mysterious words inscribed on the large arch framing the room.