পাতা:দানিএল মুনির চরিত্র.djvu/২৪৫

240 a quarter of a mile broad, and twelve feet deep, yet Cyrus had determined to draw off its waters into the great lake that lky west of Babylon, and into the trench' which he had, as we have related, caused to be dug around the city. He therefore sent some of his men to break down the embankments between the river and the canal which connected it with the lake, and others to let out the water into the trench. A part soon rushed through the canal into the lake, and the rest, winding through the trench, emptied into its former channel below the city. Thus the bed of the river, within the Town, soon became dry, and the two divisions of Cyrus's army entering at opposite ends of the city, proceeded to the king's palace in the centre where they were to meet. Many of the inhabitants having been passing from one side of the river to the other to join in parties of pleasure, the gates leading from the river had, in the hurry and coufusion, been left open. By this oversight, the Persians found an unobstructed admittance, and as the citizens were of course unarmed, and many of them intoxicated or asleep,