Naturally, in a case of doubt, the seeker after truth in the matter of Babylonian history consults the record of the Babylonian historian Berosus. In the case of the taking of Babylon, however, there are such noteworthy differences, that one may well be excused for doubting his statements, notwithstanding his trustworthiness in other matters. He says that when Nabonnedus saw that Cyrus was coming to attack him, he met him with his forces, was beaten, and fled with a few of his troops to Borsippa. Cyrus then took Babylon, and gave order that the outer walls should be demolished, the city having proved very troublesome to him, and cost him much pains to capture. He then proceeded to besiege Nabonnedus in Borsippa, but the Babylonian king decided not to attempt to resist, and yielded. Cyrus therefore treated him kindly, and though he would not allow him to remain in Babylonia, he gave him Carmania as a place where he might dwell. “Accordingly Nabonnedus spent the rest of his time in that country, and there died.” The Babylonian Chronicle, however, says nothing about Nabonidus having taken refuge in Borsippa, nor of his being besieged there, nor of his having submitted at that place. On the contrary, he was taken in Babylon, which city had been captured without fighting, and there was on that account no immediate excuse for demolishing the walls, which, as native records tell us, were dismantled in the time of the Seleucidæ. The fact is, Berosus did not wish it to be thought that the Babylonians had allowed their country to pass into the hands of a foreign ruler without resistance, hence this statement as to the capital holding out. To all appearance, Berosus is truthful where it is not to his interest to be otherwise. The probability is, therefore, that “the son of the king,” Belshazzar, held out against the Persians in some part of the capital, and kept during that time a festival on the 11th of Marcheswan, when Gobryas pounced upon the place, and he, the rightful Chaldean king, was slain, as recorded in Daniel. In this case, Darius the Mede ought to be “Gobryas of Gutium,” who, like the former, appointed governors in Babylonia, and “received the kingdom” for Cyrus. If this be the case, Daniel would seem to have been in Belshazzar’s power, though his knowledge of what was going on on the Persian side gave him courage to reject that prince’s favours with scorn.