11
The second wrote, The king is strongest.
12
The third wrote, Women are strongest: but above all things Truth beareth away the victory.
13
Now when the king was risen up, they took their writings, and delivered them unto him, and so he read them:
14
And sending forth he called all the princes of Persia and Media, and the governors, and the captains, and the lieutenants, and the chief officers;
15
And sat him down in the royal seat of judgment; and the writings were read before them.
16
And he said, Call the young men, and they shall declare their own sentences. So they were called, and came in.
17
And he said unto them, Declare unto us your mind concerning the writings. Then began the first, who had spoken of the strength of wine;
18
And he said thus, O ye men, how exceeding strong is wine! it causeth all men to err that drink it:
19
It maketh the mind of the king and of the fatherless child to be all one; of the bondman and of the freeman, of the poor man and of the rich:
20
It turneth also every thought into jollity and mirth, so that a man remembereth neither sorrow nor debt:
21
And it maketh every heart rich, so that a man remembereth neither king nor governor; and it maketh to speak all things by talents: