Here is the final bit of the second-to-last section of Daniel, comprising the punishment of Nebuchadnezzar. I am almost finished with the complete Junius Manuscript with this section, with just about a hundred lines to go after today. Hopefully, I can finish that off before my second holiday trip begins on Friday.
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Then, on account of this boasting, the lord of men
became seized and departed into flight,
alone in his over-pride above all men.
So he went forth as men do in days of struggle,
upon the most bitter path in God’s punishment,
who, living through, soon regain their homeland,
and so did Nebuchadnezzar, after the enmity of God,
swift from the heavens, had punished him terribly. (612-21)
Seven winters together he suffered this torment,
and the wilderness of wild beasts, the king of the wine-city.
When the wretched man looked up,
with the wits of beasts, through the goings of clouds—
he was mindful then in his heart that the Measurer,
the High-King of Heaven, was for the sons of man
the only Eternal spirit. Then he soon turned from
madness in his wits, where he had before borne
widely, oppressing the heart and mind of the warrior. (622-28)
Then his spirit turned again to the memory of God,
his mind to humanity, once he understood the Maker.
Then the miserable man departed soon upon a journey,
a naked and needy traveler, enduring scorn,
an exotic exile and without clothing as well,
more moderate in his mind-thoughts, to mankind,
than when the warden of men was in his vaunting.
Middle-earth stood before the lord of men,
ground and home before that nobleman,
seven winters together, and it had not diminished
his realm beneath the stars until its leader had returned. (629-39)
Then he was soon reestablished in his lordship,
the guardian of Babylon, having better ways,
a lighter belief in the Origin of Life,
that God gave prosperity and punishment
to every man, just as he wished to do. (640-44)
Then the prince of peoples did not linger at the words
of prophets, rather he proclaimed abroad
the might of the Measurer wherever he held power,
He spoke unto his people of his journey,
his wide wanderings where he roamed with the wild animals,
until the constant counsel of the Lord God came
into his soul, when he peered upon the heavens.
These events occurred, and a miracle revealed,
the dream confirmed, and the torment overcome,
and the judgment decreed, just as Daniel had said—
that the folk-leader was to discover a wretched journey
on account of his overweening.
And so Daniel eagerly preached the good news
of the might of the Measurer before mankind
afterwards for a long while among the city-dwellers
of Babylon, speaking precepts and true judgments. (645-661a)
After the companion of beasts, the exile of the wild,
had come from his wanderings, from the scornful vengeance,
Nebuchadnezzar, then he guarded a great realm,
holding the treasures of men and their high city,
wise now, a surpassingly mighty leader of his people,
the Chaldean king, until his killing knocked him down,
since there was no rival to him across the earth,
no man until God himself wished to divest him
of that lofty realm through the crumbling of his body.
Afterwards his heirs distributed the prosperity there,
the weal and the wound gold, in that wide citadel,
the temple grounds of noblemen, steadfast,
the lofty hoarded riches, when their lord fell dead. (661b-74)
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