Chapter 3

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OBSERVATIONS UPON THE PROPHECIES OF _DANIEL._

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OBSERVATIONS

UPON THE

Prophecies of _DANIEL_

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CHAP. I.

_Introduction concerning the Compilers of the books of the Old Testament._

When _Manasses_ [1] set up a carved image in the house of the Lord, and built altars in the two courts of the house, to all the host of Heaven, and us'd inchantments and witchcraft, and familiar spirits, and for his great wickedness was invaded by the army of _Asserhadon_ King of _Assyria_, and carried captive to _Babylon_; the book of the Law was lost till the eighteenth year of his grandson _Josiah_. Then [2] _Hilkiah_ the High Priest, upon repairing the Temple, found it there: and the King lamented that their fathers had not done after the words of the book, and commanded that it should be read to the people, and caused the people to renew the holy covenant with God. This is the book of the Law now extant.

When [3] _Shishak_ came out of _Egypt_ and spoil'd the temple, and brought _Judah_ into subjection to the monarchy of _Egypt_, (which was in the fifth year of _Rehoboam_) the _Jews_ continued under great troubles for about twenty years; being _without the true God, and without a teaching Priest, and without Law: and in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries, and nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city, for God did vex them with all adversity_. But [4] when _Shishak_ was dead, and _Egypt_ fell into troubles, _Judah_ had quiet ten years; and in that time _Asa_ built fenced cities in _Judah_, and got up an army of 580000 men, with which, in the 15th year of his reign, he met and overcame _Zerah_ the _Ethiopian_, who had conquered _Egypt_ and _Lybia_, and _Troglodytica_, and came out with an army of 1000000 _Lybians_ and _Ethiopians_, to recover the countries conquered by _Sesac_. And after this victory [5] _Asa_ dethroned his mother for idolatry, and he renewed the Altar, and brought new vessels of gold and silver into the Temple; and he and the people entered into a new covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers, upon pain of death to those who worshiped other Gods; and his son _Jehosaphat_ took away the high places, and in the third year of his reign sent some of his Princes, and of the Priests and Levites, to teach in the cities of _Judah_: and they had the book of the Law with them, and went about throughout all the cities of _Judah_, and taught the people. This is that book of the Law which was afterwards lost in the reign of _Manasses_, and found again in the reign of _Josiah_, and therefore it was written before the third year of _Jehosaphat_.

The same book of the Law was preserved and handed down to posterity by the _Samaritans_, and therefore was received by the ten Tribes before their captivity. For [6] when the ten Tribes were captivated, a Priest or the captivity was sent back to _Bethel_, by order of the King of _Assyria_, to instruct the new inhabitants of _Samaria_, in _the manner of the God of the land_; and the _Samaritans_ had the _Pentateuch_ from this Priest, as containing the law or _manner of the God of the land_, which he was to teach them. For [7] they persevered in the religion which he taught them, joining with it the worship of their own Gods; and by persevering in what they had been taught, they preserved this book of their Law in the original character of the _Hebrews_, while the two Tribes, after their return from _Babylon_, changed the character to that of the _Chaldees_, which they had learned at _Babylon_.

And since the _Pentateuch_ was received as the book of the Law, both by the two Tribes and by the ten Tribes, it follows that they received it before they became divided into two Kingdoms. For after the division, they received not laws from one another, but continued at variance. _Judah_ could not reclaim _Israel_ from the sin of _Jeroboam_, and _Israel_ could not bring _Judah_ to it. The _Pentateuch_ therefore was the book of the Law in the days of _David_ and _Solomon_. The affairs of the Tabernacle and Temple were ordered by _David_ and _Solomon_, according to the Law of this book; and _David_ in the 78th Psalm, admonishing the people to give ear to the Law of God, means the Law of this book. For in describing how their forefathers kept it not, he quotes many historical things out of the books of _Exodus_ and _Numbers_.

The race of the Kings of _Edom_, before there reigned any King over _Israel_, is set down in the book of [8] _Genesis_; and therefore that book was not written entirely in the form now extant, before the reign of _Saul_. The writer set down the race of those Kings till his own time, and therefore wrote before _David_ conquered _Edom_. The _Pentateuch_ is composed of the Law and the history of God's people together; and the history hath been collected from several books, such as were the history of the Creation composed by _Moses_, _Gen_. ii. 4. the book of the generations of _Adam_, _Gen._ v. i. and the book of the wars of the Lord, _Num._ xxi. 14. This book of wars contained what was done at the Red-sea, and in the journeying of _Israel_ thro' the Wilderness, and therefore was begun by _Moses_. And _Joshua_ might carry it on to the conquest of _Canaan_. For _Joshua_ wrote some things in the book of the Law of God, _Josh._ xxiv. 26 and therefore might write his own wars in the book of wars, those being the principal wars of God. These were publick books, and therefore not written without the authority of _Moses_ and _Joshua_. And _Samuel_ had leisure in the reign of _Saul_, to put them into the form of the books of _Moses_ and _Joshua_ now extant, inserting into the book of _Genesis_, the race of the Kings of _Edom_, until there reigned a King in _Israel_.

The book of the _Judges_ is a continued history of the _Judges_ down to the death of _Sampson_, and therefore was compiled after his death, out of the Acts of the _Judges_. Several things in this book are said to be done _when there was no King in _Israel__, _Judg._ xvii. 6. xviii. 1. xix. 1. xxi. 25. and therefore this book was written after the beginning of the reign of _Saul_. When it was written, the _Jebusites_ dwelt in _Jerusalem_, _Jud._ i. 21 and therefore it was written before the eighth year of _David_, 2 _Sam._ v. 8. and 1 _Chron._ xi. 6. The books of _Moses_, _Joshua_, and _Judges_, contain one continued history, down from the Creation to the death of _Sampson_. Where the _Pentateuch_ ends, the book of _Joshua_ begins; and where the book of _Joshua_ ends, the book of _Judges_ begins. Therefore all these books have been composed out of the writings of _Moses_, _Joshua_, and other records, by one and the same hand, after the beginning of the reign of _Saul_, and before the eighth year of _David_. And _Samuel_ was a sacred writer, 1 _Sam._ x. 25. acquainted with the history of _Moses_ and the _Judges_, 1 _Sam._ xii. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. and had leisure in the reign of _Saul_, and sufficient authority to compose these books. He was a Prophet, and judged _Israel_ all the days of his life, and was in the greatest esteem with the people; and the Law by which he was to judge the people was not to be published by less authority than his own, the Law-maker being not inferior to the judge. And the book of _Jasher_, which is quoted in the book of _Joshua_, _Josh._ x. 13. was in being at the death of _Saul_, 2 _Sam._ i. 18.

At the dedication of the Temple of _Solomon_, when the Ark was brought into the most holy place, there was nothing in it but the two tables, 1 _Kings_ viii. 9. and therefore when the _Philistines_ took the Ark, they took out of it the book of the Law, and the golden pot of Manna, and _Aaron_'s Rod. And this and other losses in the desolation of _Israel_, by the conquering _Philistines_, might give occasion to _Samuel_, after some respite from those enemies, to recollect the scattered writings of _Moses_ and _Joshua_, and the records of the Patriarchs and Judges, and compose them in the form now extant.

The book of _Ruth_ is a history of things done in the days of the _Judges_, and may be looked upon as an addition to the book of the _Judges_, written by the same author, and at the same time. For it was written after the birth of _David_, _Ruth_ iv. 17, 22. and not long after, because the history of _Boaz_ and _Ruth_, the great grandfather and great grandmother of _David_, and that of their contemporaries, could not well be remembered above two or three generations. And since this book derives the genealogy of _David_ from _Boaz_ and _Ruth_, and omits _David_'s elder brothers and his sons; it was written in honour of _David_, after he was anointed King by _Samuel_, and before he had children in _Hebron_, and by consequence in the reign of _Saul_. It proceeds not to the history of _David_, and therefore seems to have been written presently after he was anointed. They judge well therefore who ascribe to _Samuel_ the books of _Joshua_, _Judges_, and _Ruth_.

_Samuel_ is also reputed the author of the first book of _Samuel_, till the time of his death. The two books of _Samuel_ cite no authors, and therefore seem to be originals. They begin with his genealogy, birth and education, and might be written partly in his lifetime by himself or his disciples the Prophets at _Naioth_ in _Ramah_, 1 _Sam._ xix. 18, 19, 20. and partly after his death by the same disciples.

The books of the _Kings_ cite other authors, as the book of the Acts of _Solomon_, the book of the _Chronicles_ of the Kings of _Israel_, and the book of the _Chronicles_ of the Kings of _Judah_. The books of the _Chronicles_ cite the book of _Samuel_ the Seer, the book of _Nathan_ the Prophet, and the book of _Gad_ the Seer, for the Acts of _David_; the book of _Nathan_ the Prophet, the Prophecy of _Ahijah_ the _Shilonite_, and the visions of _Iddo_ the Seer, for the Acts of _Solomon_; the book of _Shemajah_ the Prophet, and the book of _Iddo_ the Seer concerning genealogies, for the Acts of _Rehoboam_ and _Abijah_; the book of the Kings of _Judah_ and _Israel_ for the Acts of _Asa_, _Joash_, _Amaziah_, _Jotham_, _Ahaz_, _Hezekiah_, _Manasseh_, and _Josiah_; the book of _Hanani_ the Seer, for the Acts of _Jehosaphat_; and the visions of _Isaiah_ for the Acts of _Uzziah_ and _Hezekiah_. These books were therefore collected out of the historical writings of the antient Seers and Prophets. And because the books of the _Kings_ and _Chronicles_ quote one another, they were written at one and the same time. And this time was after the return from the _Babylonian_ captivity, because they bring down the history of _Judah_, and the genealogies of the Kings of _Judah_, and of the High Priests, to that captivity. The book of _Ezra_ was originally a part of the book of the _Chronicles_, and has been divided from it. For it begins with the two last verses of the books of _Chronicles_, and the first book of _Esdras_ begins with the two last chapters thereof. _Ezra_ was therefore the compiler of the books of _Kings_ and _Chronicles_, and brought down the history to his own time. He was a ready Scribe in the Law of God; and for assisting him in this work _Nehemias_ founded a library, and _gathered together the Acts of the Kings and the Prophets, and of _David_, and the Epistles of the Kings, concerning the holy gifts_, 2 _Maccab._ ii. 13. By the Acts of _David_ I understand here the two books of _Samuel_, or at least the second book. Out of the Acts of the _Kings_, written from time to time by the Prophets, he compos'd the books of the Kings of _Judah_ and _Israel_, the _Chronicles_ of the Kings of _Judah_, and the _Chronicles_ of the Kings of _Israel_. And in doing this he joined those Acts together, in due order of time, copying the very words of the authors, as is manifest from hence, that the books of the _Kings_ and _Chronicles_ frequently agree with one another in words for many sentences together. Where they agree in sense, there they agree in words also.

So the Prophecies of _Isaiah_, written at several times, he has collected into one body. And the like he did for those of _Jeremiah_, and the rest of the Prophets, down to the days of the second Temple. The book of _Jonah_ is the history of _Jonah_ written by another hand. The book of _Daniel_ is a collection of papers written at several times. The six last chapters contain Prophecies written at several times by _Daniel_ himself: the six first are a collection of historical papers written by others. The fourth chapter is a decree of _Nebuchadnezzar_. The first chapter was written after _Daniel_'s death: for the author saith, that _Daniel_ continued to the first year of _Cyrus_; that is, to his first year over the _Persians_ and _Medes_, and third year over _Babylon_. And, for the same reason, the fifth and sixth chapters were also written after his death. For they end with these words: _So this _Daniel_ prospered in the reign of _Darius_ and in the reign of _Cyrus_ the_ Persian. Yet these words might be added by the collector of the papers, whom I take to be _Ezra_.

The Psalms composed by _Moses_, _David_, and others, seem to have been also collected by _Ezra_ into one volume. I reckon him the collector, because in this collection I meet with Psalms as late as the _Babylonian_ captivity, but with none later.

After these things _Antiochus Epiphanes_ spoiled the Temple, commanded the _Jews_ to forsake the Law upon pain of death, and caused the sacred books to be burnt wherever they could be found: and in these troubles the book of the _Chronicles_ of the Kings of _Israel_ was entirely lost. But upon recovering from this oppression, _Judas Maccabæus_ gathered together all those writings that were to be met with, 2 _Maccab._ ii. 14. and in reducing them into order, part of the Prophecies of _Isaiah_, or some other Prophet, have been added to the end of the Prophecies of _Zechariah_; and the book of _Ezra_ has been separated from the book of _Chronicles_, and set together in two different orders; in one order in the book of _Ezra_, received into the Canon, and in another order in the first book of _Esdras_.

After the _Roman_ captivity, the _Jews_ for preserving their traditions, put them in writing in their _Talmud_, and for preserving their scriptures, agreed upon an Edition, and pointed it, and counted the letters of every sort in every book: and by preserving only this Edition, the antienter various lections, except what can be discovered by means of the _Septuagint_ Version, are now lost; and such marginal notes, or other corruptions, as by the errors of the transcribers, before this Edition was made, had crept into the text, are now scarce to be corrected.

The _Jews_ before the _Roman_ captivity, distinguished the sacred books into the Law, the Prophets, and the _Hagiographa_, or holy writings; and read only the Law and the Prophets in their Synagogues. And Christ and his Apostles laid the stress of religion upon the Law and the Prophets, _Matt._ vii. 12. xxii. 4. _Luke_ xvi. 16, 29, 31. xxiv. 44. _Acts_ xxiv. 14. xxvi. 22. _Rom._ iii. 21. By the _Hagiographa_ they meant the historical books called _Joshua_, _Judges_, _Ruth_, _Samuel_, _Kings_, _Chronicles_, _Ezra_, _Nehemiah_, and _Esther_, the book of _Job_, the _Psalms_, the books of _Solomon_, and the _Lamentations_. The Samaritans read only the _Pentateuch_: and when _Jehosaphat_ sent men to teach in the cities, they had with them only the book of the Law; for the Prophecies now extant were not then written. And upon the return from the _Babylonian_ captivity, _Ezra_ read only the book of the Law to the people, from morning to noon on the first day of the seventh month; and from day to day in the feast of Tabernacles: for he had not yet collected the writings of the Prophets into the volume now extant; but instituted the reading of them after the collection was made. By reading the Law and the Prophets in the Synagogues, those books have been kept freer from corruption than the _Hagiographa_.

In the infancy of the nation of _Israel_, when God had given them a Law, and made a covenant with them to be their God if they would keep his commandments, he sent Prophets to reclaim them, as often as they revolted to the worship of other Gods: and upon their returning to him, they sometimes renewed the covenant which they had broken. These Prophets he continued to send, till the days of _Ezra_: but after their Prophecies were read in the Synagogues, those Prophecies were thought sufficient. For if the people would not hear _Moses_ and the old Prophets, they would hear no new ones, no not _tho they should rise from the dead_. At length when a new truth was to be preached to the _Gentiles_, namely, _that Jesus was the Christ_, God sent new Prophets and Teachers: but after their writings were also received and read in the Synagogues of the Christians, Prophecy ceased a second time. We have _Moses_, the Prophets, and Apostles, and the words of Christ himself; and if we will not hear them, we shall be more inexcusable than the _Jews._ For the Prophets and Apostles have foretold, that as _Israel_ often revolted and brake the covenant, and upon repentance renewed it; so there should be a falling away among the Christians, soon after the days of the Apostles; and that in the latter days God would destroy the impenitent revolters, and make a new covenant with his people. And the giving ear to the Prophets is a fundamental character of the true Church. For God has so ordered the Prophecies, that in the latter days _the wise may understand, but the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand_, Dan. xii. 9, 10. The authority of Emperors, Kings, and Princes, is human. The authority of Councils, Synods, Bishops, and Presbyters, is human. The authority of the Prophets is divine, and comprehends the sum of religion, reckoning _Moses_ and the Apostles among the Prophets; and _if an Angel from Heaven preach any other gospel_, than what they have delivered, _let him be accursed_. Their writings contain the covenant between God and his people, with instructions for keeping this covenant; instances of God's judgments upon them that break it: and predictions of things to come. While the people of God keep the covenant, they continue to be his people: when they break it they cease to be his people or church, and become _the Synagogue of Satan, who say they are _Jews_ and are not._ And no power on earth is authorized to alter this covenant.

The predictions of things to come relate to the state of the Church in all ages: and amongst the old Prophets, _Daniel_ is most distinct in order of time, and easiest to be understood: and therefore in those things which relate to the last times, he must be made the key to the rest.

Notes to Chap. I.

[1] 2 Chron. xxxiii. 5, 6, 7.

[2] 2 Chron. xxxiv.

[3] 2 Chron. xii. 2, 3, 4, 8, 9. & xv. 3, 5, 6.

[4] 2 Chron. xiv. 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12.

[5] 2 Chron. xv. 3, 12, 13, 16, 18.

[6] 2 Kings xvii. 27, 28, 32, 33.

[7] 2 Kings xvii. 34, 41.

[8] Gen. xxxvi. 31.

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CHAP. II.

_Of the Prophetic Language._

For understanding the Prophecies, we are, in the first place, to acquaint our-selves with the figurative language of the Prophets. This language is taken from the analogy between the world natural, and an empire or kingdom considered as a world politic.

Accordingly, the whole world natural consisting of heaven and earth, signifies the whole world politic, consisting of thrones and people, or so much of it as is considered in the Prophecy: and the things in that world signify the analogous things in this. For the heavens, and the things therein, signify thrones and dignities, and those who enjoy them; and the earth, with the things thereon, the inferior people; and the lowest parts of the earth, called _Hades_ or Hell, the lowest or most miserable part of them. Whence ascending towards heaven, and descending to the earth, are put for rising and falling in power and honour: rising out of the earth, or waters, and falling into them, for the rising up to any dignity or dominion, out of the inferior state of the people, or falling down from the same into that inferior state; descending into the lower parts of the earth, for descending to a very low and unhappy estate; speaking with a faint voice out of the dust, for being in a weak and low condition; moving from one place to another, for translation from one office, dignity, or dominion, to another; great earthquakes, and the shaking of heaven and earth, for the shaking of kingdoms, so as to distract or overthrow them; the creating a new heaven and earth, and the passing away of an old one, or the beginning and end of the world, for the rise and ruin of the body politic signified thereby.

In the heavens, the Sun and Moon are, by interpreters of dreams, put for the persons of Kings and Queens; but in sacred Prophecy, which regards not single persons, the Sun is put for the whole species and race of Kings, in the kingdom or kingdoms of the world politic, shining with regal power and glory; the Moon for the body of the common people, considered as the King's wife; the Stars for subordinate Princes and great men, or for Bishops and Rulers of the people of God, when the Sun is Christ; light for the glory, truth, and knowledge, wherewith great and good men shine and illuminate others; darkness for obscurity of condition, and for error, blindness and ignorance; darkning, smiting, or setting of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, for the ceasing of a kingdom, or for the desolation thereof, proportional to the darkness; darkning the Sun, turning the Moon into blood, and falling of the Stars, for the same; new Moons, for the return of a dispersed people into a body politic or ecclesiastic.

Fire and meteors refer to both heaven and earth, and signify as follows; burning any thing with fire, is put for the consuming thereof by war; a conflagration of the earth, or turning a country into a lake of fire, for the consumption of a kingdom by war; the being in a furnace, for the being in slavery under another nation; the ascending up of the smoke of any burning thing for ever and ever, for the continuation of a conquered people under the misery of perpetual subjection and slavery; the scorching heat of the sun, for vexatious wars, persecutions and troubles inflicted by the King; riding on the clouds, for reigning over much people; covering the sun with a cloud, or with smoke, for oppression of the King by the armies of an enemy; tempestuous winds, or the motion of clouds, for wars; thunder, or the voice of a cloud, for the voice of a multitude; a storm of thunder, lightning, hail, and overflowing rain, for a tempest of war descending from the heavens and clouds politic, on the heads of their enemies; rain, if not immoderate, and dew, and living water, for the graces and doctrines of the Spirit; and the defect of rain, for spiritual barrenness.

In the earth, the dry land and congregated waters, as a sea, a river, a flood, are put for the people of several regions, nations, and dominions; embittering of waters, for great affliction of the people by war and persecution; turning things into blood, for the mystical death of bodies politic, that is, for their dissolution; the overflowing of a sea or river, for the invasion of the earth politic, by the people of the waters; drying up of waters, for the conquest of their regions by the earth; fountains of waters for cities, the permanent heads of rivers politic; mountains and islands, for the cities of the earth and sea politic, with the territories and dominions belonging to those cities; dens and rocks of mountains, for the temples of cities; the hiding of men in those dens and rocks, for the shutting up of Idols in their temples; houses and ships, for families, assemblies, and towns, in the earth and sea politic; and a navy of ships of war, for an army of that kingdom that is signified by the sea.

Animals also and vegetables are put for the people of several regions and conditions; and particularly, trees, herbs, and land animals, for the people of the earth politic: flags, reeds, and fishes, for those of the waters politic; birds and insects, for those of the politic heaven and earth; a forest for a kingdom; and a wilderness for a desolate and thin people.

If the world politic, considered in prophecy, consists of many kingdoms, they are represented by as many parts of the world natural; as the noblest by the celestial frame, and then the Moon and Clouds are put for the common people; the less noble, by the earth, sea, and rivers, and by the animals or vegetables, or buildings therein; and then the greater and more powerful animals and taller trees, are put for Kings, Princes, and Nobles. And because the whole kingdom is the body politic of the King, therefore the Sun, or a Tree, or a Beast, or Bird, or a Man, whereby the King is represented, is put in a large signification for the whole kingdom; and several animals, as a Lion, a Bear, a Leopard, a Goat, according to their qualities, are put for several kingdoms and bodies politic; and sacrificing of beasts, for slaughtering and conquering of kingdoms; and friendship between beasts, for peace between kingdoms. Yet sometimes vegetables and animals are, by certain epithets or circumstances, extended to other significations; as a Tree, when called the _tree of life_ or _of knowledge_; and a Beast, when called _the old serpent_, or worshipped.

When a Beast or Man is put for a kingdom, his parts and qualities are put for the analogous parts and qualities of the kingdom; as the head of a Beast, for the great men who precede and govern; the tail for the inferior people, who follow and are governed; the heads, if more than one, for the number of capital parts, or dynasties, or dominions in the kingdom, whether collateral or successive, with respect to the civil government; the horns on any head, for the number of kingdoms in that head, with respect to military power; seeing for understanding, and the eyes for men of understanding and policy, and in matters of religion for [Greek: Episkopoi], Bishops; speaking, for making laws; the mouth, for a law-giver, whether civil or sacred; the loudness of the voice, for might and power; the faintness thereof, for weakness; eating and drinking, for acquiring what is signified by the things eaten and drank; the hairs of a beast, or man, and the feathers of a bird, for people; the wings, for the number of kingdoms represented by the beast; the arm of a man, for his power, or for any people wherein his strength and power consists; his feet, for the lowest of the people, or for the latter end of the kingdom; the feet, nails, and teeth of beasts of prey, for armies and squadrons of armies; the bones, for strength, and for fortified places; the flesh, for riches and possessions; and the days of their acting, for years; and when a tree is put for a kingdom, its branches, leaves and fruit, signify as do the wings, feathers, and food of a bird or beast.

When a man is taken in a mystical sense, his qualities are often signified by his actions, and by the circumstances of things about him. So a Ruler is signified by his riding on a beast; a Warrior and Conqueror, by his having a sword and bow; a potent man, by his gigantic stature; a Judge, by weights and measures; a sentence of absolution, or condemnation, by a white or a black stone; a new dignity, by a new name; moral or civil qualifications, by garments; honour and glory, by splendid apparel; royal dignity, by purple or scarlet, or by a crown; righteousness, by white and clean robes; wickedness, by spotted and filthy garments; affliction, mourning, and humiliation, by clothing in sackcloth; dishonour, shame, and want of good works, by nakedness; error and misery, by drinking a cup of his or her wine that causeth it; propagating any religion for gain, by exercising traffick and merchandize with that people whose religion it is; worshipping or serving the false Gods of any nation, by committing adultery with their princes, or by worshipping them; a Council of a kingdom, by its image; idolatry, by blasphemy; overthrow in war, by a wound of man or beast; a durable plague of war, by a sore and pain; the affliction or persecution which a people suffers in labouring to bring forth a new kingdom, by the pain of a woman in labour to bring forth a man-child; the dissolution of a body politic or ecclesiastic, by the death of a man or beast; and the revival of a dissolved dominion, by the resurrection of the dead.

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CHAP. III.

_Of the vision of the Image composed of four Metals._

The Prophecies of _Daniel_ are all of them related to one another, as if they were but several parts of one general Prophecy, given at several times. The first is the easiest to be understood, and every following Prophecy adds something new to the former. The first was given in a dream to _Nebuchadnezzar_, King of _Babylon_, in the second year of his reign; but the King forgetting his dream, it was given again to _Daniel_ in a dream, and by him revealed to the King. And thereby, _Daniel_ presently became famous for wisdom, and revealing of secrets: insomuch that _Ezekiel_ his contemporary, in the nineteenth year of _Nebuchadnezzar_, spake thus of him to the King of _Tyre_: _Behold_, saith he, _thou art wiser than _Daniel_, there is no secret that they can hide from thee_, Ezek. xxviii. 3. And the same _Ezekiel_, in another place, joins _Daniel_ with _Noah_ and _Job_, as most high in the favour of God, _Ezek._ xiv. 14, 16, 18, 20. And in the last year of _Belshazzar_, the Queen-mother said of him to the King: _Behold there is a man in thy kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of thy father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him; whom the king _Nebuchadnezzar_ thy father, the king, I say, thy father made master of the magicians, astrologers, _Chaldeans_ and soothsayers: forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same _Daniel_, whom the king named _Belteshazzar__, Dan. v. 11, 12. _Daniel_ was in the greatest credit amongst the _Jews_, till the reign of the _Roman_ Emperor _Hadrian_: and to reject his Prophecies, is to reject the Christian religion. For this religion is founded upon his Prophecy concerning the _Messiah_.

Now in this vision of the Image composed of four Metals, the foundation of all _Daniel_'s Prophecies is laid. It represents a body of four great nations, which should reign over the earth successively, viz. the people of _Babylonia_, the _Persians_, the _Greeks_, and the _Romans_. And by a stone cut out without hands, which fell upon the feet of the Image, and brake all the four Metals to pieces, and _became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth_; it further represents that a new kingdom should arise, after the four, and conquer all those nations, and grow very great, and last to the end of all ages.

The head of the Image was of gold, and signifies the nations of _Babylonia_, who reigned first, as _Daniel_ himself interprets. _Thou art this head of gold_, saith he to _Nebuchadnezzar_. These nations reigned till _Cyrus_ conquered _Babylon_, and within a few months after that conquest revolted to the _Persians_, and set them up above the _Medes_. The breast and arms of the Image were of silver, and represent the _Persians_ who reigned next. The belly and thighs of the Image were of brass, and represent the _Greeks_, who, under the dominion of _Alexander_ the great, conquered the _Persians_, and reigned next after them. The legs were of iron, and represent the _Romans_ who reigned next after the _Greeks_, and began to conquer them in the eighth year of _Antiochus Epiphanes_. For in that year they conquered _Perseus_ King of _Macedon_, the fundamental kingdom of the _Greeks_; and from thence forward grew into a mighty empire, and reigned with great power till the days of _Theodosius_ the great. Then by the incursion of many northern nations, they brake into many smaller kingdoms, which are represented by the feet and toes of the Image, composed part of iron, and part of clay. For then, saith _Daniel_, [1] _the kingdom shall be divided, and there shall be in it of the strength of iron, but they shall not cleave one to another._

_And in the days of these Kings_, saith _Daniel_, _shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; but it shall break in pieces, and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountains without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and the gold._

Notes to Chap. III.

[1] Chap. ii. 41, &c.

* * * * *

CHAP. IV.

_Of the vision of the four Beasts._

In the next vision, which is of the four Beasts, the Prophecy of the four Empires is repeated, with several new additions; such as are the two wings of the Lion, the three ribs in the mouth of the Bear, the four wings and four heads of the Leopard, the eleven horns of the fourth Beast, and the son of man coming in the clouds of Heaven, to the Antient of Days sitting in judgment.

The first Beast was like a lion, and had eagle's wings, to denote the kingdoms of _Babylonia_ and _Media_, which overthrew the _Assyrian_ Empire, and divided it between them, and thereby became considerable, and grew into great Empires. In the former Prophecy, the Empire of _Babylonia_ was represented by the head of gold; in this both Empires are represented together by the two wings of the lion. _And I beheld,_ saith [1] _Daniel_, _till the wings thereof were pluckt, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it_; that is, till it was humbled and subdued, and made to know its human state.

The second Beast was like a bear, and represents the Empire which reigned next after the _Babylonians_, that is, the Empire of the _Persians_. _Thy kingdom is divided_, or broken, saith _Daniel_ to the last King of _Babylon_, _and given to the _Medes_ and _Persians__, _Dan._ v. 28. This Beast _raised itself up on one side_; the _Persians_ being under the _Medes_ at the fall of _Babylon_, but presently rising up above them. [2] _And it had three ribs in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it_, to signify the kingdoms of _Sardes_, _Babylon_, and _Egypt_, which were conquered by it, but did not belong to its proper body. And it devoured much flesh, the riches of those three kingdoms.

The third Beast was the kingdom which succeeded the _Persian_; and this was the empire of the _Greeks_, _Dan._ viii. 6, 7, 20, 21. It was _like a Leopard_, to signify its fierceness; and had four heads and four wings, to signify that it should become divided into four kingdoms, _Dan._ viii 22. for it continued in a monarchical form during the reign of _Alexander_ the great, and his brother _Aridæus_, and young sons _Alexander_ and _Hercules_; and then brake into four kingdoms, by the governors of provinces putting crowns on their own heads, and by mutual consent reigning over their provinces. _Cassander_ reigned over _Macedon_, _Greece_, and _Epirus_; _Lysimachus_ over _Thrace_ and _Bithynia_; _Ptolemy_ over _Egypt_, _Lybia_, _Arabia_, _Coelosyria_, and _Palestine_; and _Seleucus_ over _Syria_.

The fourth Beast was the empire which succeeded that of the _Greeks_, and this was the _Roman_. This beast was exceeding dreadful and terrible, and had great iron teeth, and devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; and such was the _Roman_ empire. It was larger, stronger, and more formidable and lasting than any of the former. It conquered the kingdom of _Macedon_, with _Illyricum_ and _Epirus_, in the eighth year of _Antiochus Epiphanes_, _Anno Nabonass._. 580; and inherited that of _Pergamus_, _Anno Nabonass._ 615; and conquered that of _Syria_, _Anno Nabonass._ 679, and that of _Egypt_, _Anno Nabonass._ 718. And by these and other conquests it became greater and more terrible than any of the three former Beasts. This Empire continued in its greatness till the reign of _Theodosius_ the great; and then brake into ten kingdoms, represented by the ten horns of this Beast; and continued in a broken form, till the Antient of days sat in a throne like fiery flame, and _the judgment was set, and the books were opened, and the Beast was slain and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flames; and one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Antient of days_ [3], and received dominion over all nations, and judgment was given to the saints of the most high, and the time came that they possessed the kingdom.

_I beheld,_ saith [4] _Daniel_, _till the Beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flames. As concerning the rest of the Beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time_. And therefore all the four Beasts are still alive, tho the dominion of the three first be taken away. The nations of _Chaldea_ and _Assyria_ are still the first Beast. Those of _Media_ and _Persia_ are still the second Beast. Those of _Macedon_, _Greece_ and _Thrace_, _Asia_ minor, _Syria_ and _Egypt_, are still the third. And those of _Europe_, on this side _Greece_, are still the fourth. Seeing therefore the body of the third Beast is confined to the nations on this side the river _Euphrates_, and the body of the fourth Beast is confined to the nations on this side _Greece_; we are to look for all the four heads of the third Beast, among the nations on this side of the river _Euphrates_; and for all the eleven horns of the fourth Beast, among the nations on this side of _Greece_. And therefore, at the breaking of the _Greek_ empire into four kingdoms of the _Greeks_, we include no part of the _Chaldeans_, _Medes_ and _Persians_ in those kingdoms, because they belonged to the bodies of the two first Beasts. Nor do we reckon the _Greek_ empire seated at _Constantinople_, among the horns of the fourth Beast, because it belonged to the body of the third.

Notes to Chap. IV.

[1] Chap. vii. 4.

[2] Chap. vii. 5.

[3] Chap. vii. 13.

[4] Chap. vii. 11, 12.

* * * * *

CHAP. V.

_Of the Kingdoms represented by the feet of the Image composed of iron and clay._

_Dacia_ was a large country bounded on the south by the _Danube_, on the east by the _Euxine_ sea, on the north by the river _Neister_ and the mountain _Crapac_, and on the west by the river _Tibesis_, or _Teys_, which runs southward into the _Danube_ a little above _Belgrade_. It comprehended the countries now called _Transylvania_, _Moldavia_, and _Wallachia_, and the eastern part of the upper _Hungary_. Its antient inhabitants were called _Getæ_ by the _Greeks_, _Daci_ by the _Latins_, and _Goths_ by themselves. _Alexander_ the great attacked them, and _Trajan_ conquered them, and reduced their country into a Province of the _Roman_ Empire: and thereby the propagation of the Gospel among them was much promoted. They were composed of several _Gothic_ nations, called _Ostrogoths_, _Visigoths_, _Vandals_, _Gepides_, _Lombards_, _Burgundians_, _Alans_, &c. who all agreed in their manners, and spake the same language, as _Procopius_ represents. While they lived under the _Romans_, the _Goths_ or _Ostrogoths_ were seated in the eastern parts of _Dacia_, the _Vandals_ in the western part upon the river _Teys_, where the rivers _Maresh_ and _Keresh_ run into it. The _Visigoths_ were between them. The _Gepides_, according to _Jornandes_, were upon the _Vistula_. The _Burgundians_, a _Vandalic_ nation, were between the _Vistula_ and the southern fountain of the _Boristhenes_, at some distance from the mountain _Crapac_ northwards, where _Ptolemy_ places them, by the names of _Phrugundiones_ and _Burgiones_.[1] The _Alans_, another _Gothic_ nation, were between the northern fountain of the _Boristhenes_ and the mouth of the river _Tanais_, where _Ptolemy_ placeth the mountain _Alanus_, and western side of the _Palus Mæotis_.

These nations continued under the dominion of the _Romans_ till the second year of the Emperor _Philip_, and then for want of their military pay began to revolt; the _Ostrogoths_ setting up a kingdom, which, under their Kings _Ostrogotha_, _Cniva_, _Araric_, _Geperic_, and _Hermanaric_, increased till the year of Christ 376; and then by an incursion of the _Huns_ from beyond the _Tanais_, and the death of _Hermanaric_, brake into several smaller kingdoms. _Hunnimund_, the son of _Hermanaric_, became King over the _Ostrogoths_; _Fridigern_ over the _Visigoths_; _Winithar_, or _Vinithar_, over a part of the _Goths_ called _Gruthungi_ by _Ammian_, _Gothunni_ by _Claudian_, and _Sarmatæ_ and _Scythians_ by others: _Athanaric_ reign'd over another part of the _Goths_ in _Dacia_, called _Thervingi_; _Box_ over the _Antes_ in _Sarmatia_; and the _Gepides_ had also their King. The _Vandals_ fled over the _Danube_ from _Geberic_ in the latter end of the reign of _Constantine_ the great, and had seats granted them in _Pannonia_ by that Emperor, where they lived quietly forty years, viz. till the year 377, when several _Gothic_ nations flying from the _Hunns_ came over the _Danube_, and had seats granted them in _Mæsia_ and _Thrace_ by the _Greek_ Emperor _Valens_. But the next year they revolted, called in some _Goths_, _Alans_ and _Hunns_, from beyond the _Danube_, and routed the _Roman_ army, slew the Emperor _Valens_, and spread themselves into _Greece_ and _Pannonia_ as far as the _Alps_. In the years 379 and 380 they were checkt by the arms of the Emperors _Gratian_ and _Theodosius_, and made a submissive peace; the _Visigoths_ and _Thervingi_ returned to their seats in _Mæsia_ and _Thrace_, the _Hunns_ retired over the _Danube_, and the _Alans_ and _Gruthingi_ obtained seats in _Pannonia_.

About the year 373, or 374, the _Burgundians_ rose from their seats upon the _Vistula_, with an army of eighty thousand men to invade _Gallia_; and being opposed, seated themselves upon the northern side of the _Rhine_ over against _Mentz_. In the year 358, a body of the _Salian Franks_, with their King, coming from the river _Sala_, were received into the Empire by the Emperor _Julian_, and seated in _Gallia_ between _Brabant_ and the _Rhine_: and their King _Mellobaudes_ was made _Comes domesticorum_, by the Emperor _Gratian_. _Richomer_, another noble _Salian Frank_, was made _Comes domesticorum_, and _Magister utriusque Militiæ_, by _Theodosius_; and A.C. 384, was Consul with _Clearchus_. He was a great favourite of _Theodosius_, and accompanied him in his wars against _Eugenius_, but died in the expedition, and left a son called _Theudomir_, who afterwards became King of the _Salian Franks_ in _Brabant_. In the time of this war some _Franks_ from beyond the _Rhine_ invaded _Gallia_ under the conduct of _Genobald_, _Marcomir_ and _Suno_, but were repulsed by _Stilico_; and _Marcomir_ being slain, was succeeded in _Germany_ by his son _Pharamond_.

While these nations remained quiet within the Empire, subject to the _Romans_, many others continued so beyond the _Danube_ till the death of the Emperor _Theodosius_, and then rose up in arms. For _Paulus Diaconus_ in his _Historia Miscell._ _lib._ xiv. speaking of the times next after the death of this Emperor, tells us: _Eodem tempore erant Gothi & aliæ gentes maximæ trans Danubium habitantes: ex quibus rationabiliores quatuor sunt, Gothi scilicet, Huisogothi, Gepides & Vandali; & nomen tantum & nihil aliud mutantes. Isti sub Arcadia & Honorio Danubium transeuntes, locati sunt in terra Romanorum: & Gepides quidem, ex quibus postea divisi sunt Longobardi & Avares, villas, quæ sunt circa Singidonum & Sirmium, habitavere:_ and _Procopius_ in the beginning of his _Historia Vandalica_ writes to the same purpose. Hitherto the _Western Empire_ continued entire, but now brake into many kingdoms.

_Theodosius_ died A.C. 395; and then the _Visigoths_, under the conduct of _Alaric_ the successor of _Fridigern_, rose from their seats in _Thrace_ and wasted _Macedon_, _Thessaly_, _Achaia_, _Peloponnesus_, and _Epirus_, with fire and sword for five years together; when turning westward, they invaded _Dalmatia_, _Illyricum_ and _Pannonia_; and from thence went into _Italy_ A.C. 402; and the next year were so beaten at _Pollentia_ and _Verona_, by _Stilico_ the commander of the forces of the _Western Empire_, that _Claudian_ calls the remainder of the forces of _Alaric_, _tanta ex gente reliquias breves_, and _Prudentius_, _Gentem deletam_. Thereupon _Alaric_ made peace with the Emperor, being so far humbled, that _Orosius_ saith, he did, _pro pace optima & quibuscunque sedibus suppliciter & simpliciter orare_. This peace was ratified by mutual hostages; _Ætius_ was sent hostage to _Alaric_; and _Alaric_ continued a free Prince in the seats now granted to him.

When _Alaric_ took up arms, the nations beyond the _Danube_ began to be in motion; and the next winter, between A.C. 395 and 396, a great body of _Hunns_, _Alans_, _Ostrogoths_, _Gepides_, and other northern nations, came over the frozen _Danube_, being invited by _Rufinus_: when their brethren, who had obtained seats within the Empire, took up arms also. _Jerome_ calls this great multitude, _Hunns_, _Alans_, _Vandals_, _Goths_, _Sarmatians_, _Quades_, and _Marcomans_; and saith, that they invaded all places between _Constantinople_ and the _Julian Alps_, wasting _Scythia_, _Thrace_, _Macedon_, _Dardania_, _Dacia_, _Thessaly_, _Achaia_, _Epirus_, _Dalmatia_, and all _Pannonia_. The _Suevians_ also invaded _Rhætia_: for when _Alaric_ ravaged _Pannonia_, the _Romans_ were defending _Rhætia_; which gave _Alaric_ an opportunity of invading _Italy_, as _Claudian_ thus mentions.

_Non nisi perfidiâ nacti penetrabile tempus,_ _Irrupere Getæ, nostras dum Rhætia vires_ _Occupat, atque alio desudant Marte cohortes_.

And when _Alaric_ went from those parts into _Italy_, some other barbarous nations invaded _Noricum_ and _Vindelicia_, as the same Poet _Claudian_ thus writes:

----_Jam foedera gentes_ _Exuerant, Latiique auditâ clade feroces_ _Vendelicos saltus & Norica rura tenebant._

This was in the years 402 and 403. And among these nations I reckon the _Suevians_, _Quades_, and _Marcomans_; for they were all in arms at this time. The _Quades_ and _Marcomans_ were _Suevian_ nations; and they and the _Suevians_ came originally from _Bohemia_, and the river _Suevus_ or _Sprake_ in _Lusatia_; and were now united under one common King called _Ermeric_, who soon after led them into _Gallia_. The _Vandals_ and _Alans_ might also about this time extend themselves into _Noricum_. _Uldin_ also with a great body of _Hunns_ passed the _Danube_ about the time of _Chrysostom_'s banishment, that is, A.C. 404, and wasted _Thrace_ and _Mæsia_. _Radagaisus_, King of the _Gruthunni_ and succesor of _Winithar_, inviting over more barbarians from beyond the _Danube_, invaded _Italy_ with an army of above two hundred thousand _Goths_; and within a year or two, A.C. 405 or 406., was overcome by _Stilico_, and perished with his army. In this war _Stilico_ was assisted with a great body of _Hunns_ and _Ostrogoths_, under the conduct of _Uldin_ and _Sarus_, who were hired by the Emperor _Honorius_. In all this confusion it was necessary for the _Lombards_ in _Pannonia_ to arm themselves in their own defence, and assert their liberty, the _Romans_ being no longer able to protect them.

And now _Stilico_ purposing to make himself Emperor, procured a military prefecture for _Alaric_, and sent him into the _East_ in the service of _Honorius_ the _Western_ Emperor, committing some _Roman_ troops to his conduct to strengthen his army of _Goths_, and promising to follow soon after with his own army. His pretence was to recover some regions of _Illyricum_, which the _Eastern_ Emperor was accused to detain injuriously from the _Western_; but his secret design was to make himself Emperor, by the assistance of the _Vandals_ and their allies: for he himself was a _Vandal_. For facilitating this design, he invited a great body of the barbarous nations to invade the _Western Empire_, while he and _Alaric_ invaded the _Eastern_. And these nations under their several Kings, the _Vandals_ under _Godegisilus_, the _Alans_ in two bodies, the one under _Goar_, the other under _Resplendial_, and the _Suevians_, _Quades_, and _Marcomans_, under _Ermeric_, marched thro' _Rhætia_ to the side of the _Rhine_, leaving their seats in _Pannonia_ to the _Hunns_ and _Ostrogoths_, and joined the _Burgundians_ under _Gundicar_, and ruffled the _Franks_ in their further march. On the last of _December_ A.C. 406, they passed the _Rhine_ at _Ments_, and spread themselves into _Germania prima_ and the adjacent regions; and amongst other actions the _Vandals_ took _Triers_. Then they advanced into _Belgium_, and began to waste that country. Whereupon the _Salian Franks_ in _Brabant_ took up arms, and under the conduct of _Theudomir_, the son of _Ricimer_, or _Richomer_, abovementioned, made so stout a resistance, that they slew almost twenty thousand of the _Vandals_, with their King _Godegesilus_, in battel; the rest escaping only by a party of _Resplendial_'s _Alans_ which came timely to their assistance.

Then the _British_ soldiers, alarm'd by the rumour of these things, revolted, and set up Tyrants there; first _Marcus_, whom they slew presently; then _Gratian_, whom they slew within four months; and lastly _Constantine_, under whom they invaded _Gallia_ A.C. 408, being favoured by _Goar_ and _Gundicar_. And _Constantine_ having possessed a good part of _Gallia_, created his son _Constans Cæsar_, and sent him into _Spain_ to order his affairs there, A.C. 409.

In the mean time _Resplendial_, seeing the aforesaid disaster of the _Vandals_, and that _Goar_ was gone over to the _Romans_, led his army from the _Rhine_; and, together with the _Suevians_ and residue of the _Vandals_, went towards _Spain_; the _Franks_ in the mean time prosecuting their victory so far as to retake _Triers_, which after they had plundered they left to the _Romans_. The _Barbarians_ were at first stopt by the _Pyrenean_ mountains, which made them spread themselves into _Aquitain_: but the next year they had the passage betrayed by some soldiers of _Constans_; and entring _Spain_ 4 Kal. _Octob._ A.C. 409, they conquered every one what he could; and at length, A.C. 411, divided their conquests by lot; the _Vandals_ obtained _Boetica_, and part of _Gallæcia_; the _Suevians_ the rest of _Gallæcia_; and the _Alans_ _Lusitania_ and the _Carthaginian_ Province: the Emperor for the sake of peace confirming them in those seats by grant A.C. 413.

The _Roman Franks_ abovementioned, having made _Theudomir_ their King, began strait after their conquest of the _Vandals_ to invade their neighbours also. The first they set upon were the _Gauls_ of _Brabant_[2]: but meeting with notable resistance, they desired their alliance: and so those _Gauls_ fell off from the _Romans_, and made an intimate league with the _Franks_ to be as one people, marrying with one another, and conforming to one another's manners, till they became one without distinction. Thus by the access of these _Gauls_, and of the foreign _Franks_ also, who afterwards came over the _Rhine_, the _Salian_ kingdom soon grew very great and powerful.

_Stilico_'s expedition against the _Greek_ Emperor was stopt by the order of _Honorius_; and then _Alaric_ came out of _Epirus_ into _Noricum_, and requested a sum of money for his service. The Senate were inclined to deny him, but by _Stilico_'s mediation granted it. But after some time _Stilico_ being accused of a traiterous conspiracy with _Alaric_, and slain 10 Kal. _Sept._ A.C. 408; _Alaric_ was thereby disappointed of his money, and reputed an enemy to the Empire; he then broke strait into _Italy_ with the army he brought out of _Epirus_, and sent to his brother _Adolphus_ to follow him with what forces he had in _Pannonia_, which were not great, but yet not to be despised. Thereupon _Honorius_ fearing to be shut up in _Rome_, retired to _Ravenna_ in _October_ A.C. 408. And from that time _Ravenna_ continued to be the seat of the _Western_ Emperors. In those days the _Hunns_ also invaded _Pannonia_; and seizing the deserted seats of the _Vandals_, _Alans_, and _Goths_, founded a new kingdom there. _Alaric_ advancing to _Rome_ besieged it, and 9 Kal. _Sept._ A.C. 410 took it: and afterwards attempting to pass into _Africa_, was shipwrackt. After which _Honorius_ made peace with him, and got up an army to send against the Tyrant _Constantine_.

At the same time _Gerontius_, one of _Constantine_'s captains, revolted from him, and set up _Maximus_ Emperor in _Spain_. Whereupon _Constantine_ sent _Edobec_, another of his captains, to draw to his assistance, the _Barbarians_ under _Goar_ and _Gundicar_ in _Gallia_, and supplies of _Franks_ and _Alemans_ from beyond the _Rhine_; and committed the custody of _Vienne_ in _Gallia Narbonensis_ to his son _Constans_. _Gerontius_ advancing, first slew _Constans_ at _Vienne_, and then began to besiege _Constantine_ at _Arles_. But _Honorius_ at the same time sending _Constantius_ with an army on the same errand, _Gerontius_ fled, and _Constantius_ continued the siege, strengthned by the access of the greatest part of the soldiers of _Gerontius_. After four months siege, _Edobec_ having procured succours, the _Barbarian_ Kings at _Ments_, _Goar_ and _Gundicar_, constitute _Jovinus_ Emperor, and together with him set forward to relieve _Arles_. At their approach _Constantius_ retired. They pursued, and he beat them by surprize; but not prosecuting his victory, the _Barbarians_ soon recovered themselves; yet not so as to hinder the fall of the tyrants _Constantine_, _Jovinus_ and _Maximus_. _Britain_ could not be recovered to the Empire, but remained ever after a distinct kingdom.

The next year, A.C. 412, the _Visigoths_ being beaten in _Italy_, had _Aquitain_ granted them to retire into: and they invaded it with much violence, causing the _Alans_ and _Burgundians_ to retreat, who were then depopulating of it. At the same time the _Burgundians_ were brought to peace; and the Emperor granted them for inheritance a region upon the _Rhine_ which they had invaded: and the same, I presume, he did with the _Alans_. But the _Franks_ not long after retaking and burning _Triers_, _Castinus_, A.C. 415, was sent against them with an army, who routed them and slew _Theudomir_ their King This was the second taking of _Triers_ by the _Franks_. It was therefore taken four times, once by the _Vandals_ and thrice by the _Franks_. _Theudomir_ was succeeded by _Pharamond_, the Prince or King of the _Salian Franks_ in _Germany_. From thence he brought new forces, reigned over the whole, and had seats granted to his people within the Empire near the _Rhine_.

And now the _Barbarians_ were all quieted, and settled in several kingdoms within the Empire, not only by conquest, but also by the grants of the Emperor _Honorius_. For _Rutilius_ in his _Itinerary_, written in Autumn, _Anno Urbis_ 1169, that is, according to _Varro_'s computation then in use, A.C. 416, thus laments the wasted fields:

_Illa quidem longis nimium deformia bellis_;

And then adds,

_Jam tempus laceris post longa incendia fundis_ _Vel pastorales ædificare casas._

And a little after,

_Æternum tibi Rhenus aret._

And _Orosius_ in the end of his history, which was finished A.C. 417, represents now a general pacification of the barbarous nations by the words _comprimere_, _coangustare_, _addicere gentes immanissimas_; terming them _imperio addictas_, because they had obtained seats in the Empire by league and compact; and _coangustatas_, because they did no longer invade all regions at pleasure, but by the same compact remained quiet in the seats then granted them. And these are the kingdoms, of which the feet of the Image were henceforward composed, and which are represented by iron and clay intermixed, which did not stick one to another, and were of different strength.

Notes to Chap. V.

[1] Procop. l. 1. de Bello Vandalico.

[2] Galli Arborici: _whence the region was named _Arboricbant_, and by contraction _Brabant__.

* * * * *

CHAP. VI.

_Of the ten Kingdoms represented by the ten horns of the fourth Beast._

Now by the wars above described the _Western_ Empire of the _Romans_, about the time that _Rome_ was besieged and taken by the _Goths_, became broken into the following ten kingdoms.

1. The kingdom of the _Vandals_ and _Alans_ in _Spain_ and _Africa_. 2. The kingdom of the _Suevians_ in _Spain_. 3. The kingdom of the _Visigoths_. 4. The kingdom of the _Alans_ in _Gallia_. 5. The kingdom of the _Burgundians_. 6. The kingdom of the _Franks_. 7. The kingdom of the _Britains_. 8. The kingdom of the _Hunns_. 9. The kingdom of the _Lombards_. 10. The kingdom of _Ravenna_.

Seven of these kingdoms are thus mentioned by _Sigonius_. 1_Honorio regnante_, _in Pannoniam_ 2_Hunni_, _in Hispaniam_ 3_Vandali_, 4_Alani_, 5_Suevi_ & 6_Gothi_, _in Galliam_ 4_Alani_ 7_Burgundiones_ & 6_Gothi_, _certis sedibus permissis, accepti_. Add the _Franks_, _Britains_, and _Lombards_, and you have the ten: for these arose about the same time with the seven. But let us view them severally.

1. The Kings of the _Vandals_ were, A.C. 407 _Godegesilus_, 407 _Gunderic_, 426 _Geiseric_, 477 _Hunneric_, 484 _Gundemund_, 496 _Thrasamund_, 513 _Geiseric_, 530 _Gelimer_. _Godegesilus_ led them into _Gallia_ A.C. 406, _Gunderic_ into _Spain_ A.C. 409, _Geiseric_ into _Africa_ A.C. 427; and _Gelimer_ was conquered by _Belisarius_ A.C. 533. Their kingdom lasted in _Gallia_, _Spain_ and _Africa_ together 126 years; and in _Africa_ they were very potent. The _Alans_ had only two Kings of their own in _Spain_, _Resplendial_, and _Ataces_, _Utacus_ or _Othacar_. Under _Resplendial_ they went into _France_ A.C. 407, and into _Spain_ A.C. 409. _Ataces_ was slain with almost all his army by _Vallia_ King of the _Visigoths_ A.C. 419. And then the remainder of these _Alans_ subjected themselves to _Gunderic_ King of the _Vandals_ in _Boetica_, and went afterwards with them into _Africa_, as I learn out of _Procopius_. Whence the Kings of the _Vandals_ styled themselves Kings of the _Vandals_ and _Alans_; as may be seen in the Edict of _Hunneric_ recited by _Victor_ in his _Vandalic_ persecution. In conjunction with the _Chatti_, these _Alans_ gave the name of _Cathalaunia_, or _Catth-Alania_, to the Province which is still so called. These _Alans_ had also _Gepides_ among them; and therefore the _Gepides_ came into _Pannonia_ before the _Alans_ left it. There they became subject to the _Hunns_ till the death of _Attila_ A.C. 454, and at length were conquered by the _Ostrogoths_.

2. The Kings of the _Suevians_ were, A.C. 407 _Ermeric_, 458 _Rechila_, 448 _Rechiarius_, 458 _Maldra_, 460 _Frumarius_, 463 _Regismund_. And after some other Kings who are unknown, reigned A.C. 558 _Theudomir_, 568 _Miro_, 582 _Euboricus_, and 583 _Andeca_. This kingdom, after it had been once seated in _Spain_, remained always in _Gallæcia_ and _Lusitania_. _Ermeric_ after the fall of the _Alan_ kingdom, enlarged it into all _Gallæcia_, forcing the _Vandals_ to retire into _Boetica_ and the _Carthaginian_ Province. This kingdom lasted 177 years according to _Isidorus_, and then was subdued by _Leovigildus_ King of the _Visigoths_, and made a Province of his kingdom A.C. 585.

3. The Kings of the _Visigoths_ were, A.C. 400 _Alaric_, 410 _Athaulphus_, 415 _Sergeric_ and _Vallia_, 419 _Theoderic_, 451 _Thorismund_, 452 _Theoderic_, 465 _Euric_, 482 _Alaric_, 505 _Gensalaric_, 526 _Amalaric_, 531 _Theudius_, 548 _Theudisclus_, &c. I date this kingdom from the time that _Alaric_ left _Thrace_ and _Greece_ to invade the _Western Empire_. In the end of the reign of _Athaulphus_ the _Goths_ were humbled by the _Romans_, and attempted to pass out of _France_ into _Spain_. _Sergeric_ reigned but a few days. In the beginning of _Vallia_'s reign they assaulted the _Romans_ afresh, but were again repulsed, and then made peace on this condition, that they should on the behalf of the Empire invade the _Barbarian_ kingdoms in _Spain_: and this they did, together with the _Romans_, in the years 417 and 418, overthrowing the _Alans_ and part of the _Vandals_. Then they received _Aquitain_ of the Emperor by a full donation, leaving their conquests in _Spain_ to the Emperor: and thereby the seats of the conquered _Alans_ came into the hands of the _Romans_. In the year 455, _Theoderic_, assisted by the _Burgundians_, invaded _Spain_, which was then almost all subject to the _Suevians_, and took a part of it from them. A.C. 506, the _Goths_ were driven out of _Gallia_ by the _Franks_. A.C. 585, they conquered the _Suevian_ kingdom, and became Lords of all _Spain_. A.C. 713, the _Saracens_ invaded them, but in time they recovered their dominions, and have reigned in _Spain_ ever since.

4. The Kings of the _Alans_ in _Gallia_ were _Goar_, _Sambida_, _Eocharic_, _Sangibanus_, _Beurgus_, &c. Under _Goar_ they invaded _Gallia_ A.C. 407, and had seats given them near the _Rhine_, A.C. 412. Under _Sambida_, whom _Bucher_ makes the successor, if not the son of _Goar_, they had the territories of _Valence_ given them by _Ætius_ the Emperor's General, A.C. 440. Under _Eocharic_ they conquered a region of the rebelling _Galli Arborici_, given them also by _Ætius_. This region was from them named _Alenconium, quasi Alanorum conventus_. Under _Sangibanus_ they were invaded, and their regal city _Orleans_ was besieged by _Attila_ King of the _Hunns_, with a vast army of 500000 men. _Ætius_ and the _Barbarian_ Kings of _Gallia_ came to raise the siege, and beat the _Hunns_ in a very memorable battle, A.C. 451, _in campis Catalaunicis_, so called from these _Alans_ mixt with the _Chatti_. The region is now called _Campania_ or _Champagne_. In that battle were slain on both sides 162000 men. A year or two after, _Attila_ returned with an immense army to conquer this kingdom, but was again beaten by them and the _Visigoths_ together in a battle of three days continuance, with a slaughter almost as great as the former. Under _Beurgus_, or _Biorgor_, they infested _Gallia_ round about, till the reign of _Maximus_ the Emperor; and then they passed the _Alps_ in winter, and came into _Liguria_, but were there beaten, and _Beurgus_ slain, by _Ricimer_ commander of the Emperor's forces, A.C. 464. Afterwards they were again beaten, by the joint force of _Odoacer_ King of _Italy_ and _Childeric_ King of the _Franks_, about the year 480, and again by _Theudobert_ King of the _Austrian Franks_ about the year 511.

5. The Kings of the _Burgundians_ were, A.C. 407 _Gundicar_, 436 _Gundioc_, 467 _Bilimer_, 473 _Gundobaldus_ with his brothers, 510 _Sigismund_, 517 _Godomarus_. Under _Gundicar_ they invaded _Gallia_ A.C. 407, and had seats given them by the Emperor near the _Rhine_ in _Gallia Belgica_, A.C. 412. They had _Saxons_ among them, and were now so potent, that _Orosius_ A.C. 417 wrote of them: '_Burgundionum esse prævalidam manum, Galliæ hodieque testes sunt, in quibus præsumpta possessione consistunt_. About the year 435 they received great overthrows by _Ætius_, and soon after by the _Hunns_: but five years after had _Savoy_ granted them to be shared with the inhabitants; and from that time became again a potent kingdom, being bounded by the river _Rhodanus_, but afterwards extending much further into the heart of _Gallia_. _Gundobald_ conquered the regions about the rivers _Araris_ and _Rhodanus_, with the territories of _Marseilles_; and invading _Italy_ in the time of the Emperor _Glycerius_, conquered all his brethren. _Godomarus_ made _Orleans_ his royal seat: whence the kingdom was called _Regnum Aurelianorum_. He was conquered by _Clotharius_ and _Childebert_, Kings of the _Franks_, A.C. 526. From thenceforward this kingdom was sometimes united to the kingdom of the _Franks_, and sometimes divided from it, till the reign of _Charles_ the great, who made his son _Carolottus_ King of _Burgundy_. From that time, for about 300 years together, it enjoyed its proper Kings; and was then broken into the Dukedom of _Burgundy_, County of _Burgundy_, and County of _Savoy_; and afterwards those were broken into other lesser Counties.

6. The Kings of the _Franks_ were, A.C. 407 _Theudomir_, 417 _Pharamond_, 428 _Clodio_, 448 _Merovæus_, 456 _Childeric_, 482 _Clodovæus_, &c. _Windeline_ and _Bucher_, two of the most diligent searchers into the originals of this kingdom, make it begin the same year with the _Barbarian_ invasions of _Gallia_, that is, A.C. 407. Of the first Kings there is in _Labbe's Bibliotheca M.S._ this record.

_Historica quædam excerpta ex veteri stemmate genealogico Regum Franciæ_.

_Genobaldus, Marcomerus, Suno, Theodemeris. Isti duces vel reguli extiterunt à principio gentis Francorum diversis temporibus. Sed incertum relinquunt historici quali sibi procreations lineâ successerunt_.

_Pharamundus: sub hoc rege suo primo Franci legibus se subdunt, quas primores eorum tulerunt Wisogastus, Atrogastus, Salegastus_.

_Chlochilo. Iste, transito Rheno, Romanos in Carbonaria sylva devicit, Camaracum cepit & obtinuit, annis 20 regnavit. Sub hoc rege Franci usque Summam progressi sunt_.

_Merovechus. Sub hoc rege Franci Trevirim destruunt, Metim succendunt, usque Aurelianum perveniunt_.

Now for _Genobaldus_, _Marcomer_ and _Suno_, they were captains of the _Transrhenane Franks_ in the reign of _Theodosius_, and concern us not. We are to begin with _Theudomir_ the first King of the rebelling _Salii_, called _Didio_ by _Ivo Carnotensis_, and _Thiedo_ and _Theudemerus_ by _Rhenanus_. His face is extant in a coin of gold found with this inscription, THEUDEMIR REX, published by _Petavius_, and still or lately extant, as _Windeline_ testifies: which shews that he was a King, and that in _Gallia_; seeing that rude _Germany_ understood not then the coining of money, nor used either _Latin_ words or letters. He was the son of _Ricimer_, or _Richomer_, the favourite of the Emperor _Theodosius_; and so being a _Roman Frank_, and of the _Salian_ royal blood, they therefore upon the rebellion made him King. The whole time of his reign you have stated in _Excerptis Gregorii Turonensis è Fredigario_, _cap._ 5, 6, 7, 8. where the making him King, the tyranny of _Jovinus_, the slaughter of the associates of _Jovinus_, the second taking of _Triers_ by the _Franks_, and their war with _Castinus_, in which this King was slain, are as a series of successive things thus set down in order. _Extinctis Ducibus in Francis, denuo Reges creantur ex eadem stirpe qua prius fuerant. Eodem tempore Jovinus ornatus regios assumpsit. Constantinus fugam versus Italiam dirigit; missis a Jovino Principe percussoribus super Mentio flumine, capite truncatur. Multi nobilium jussu Jovini apud Avernis capti, & a ducibus Honorii crudeliter interempti sunt. Trevirorum civitas, factione unius ex senatoribus nomine Lucii, à Francis captà & incensa est.--Castinus Domesticorum Comes expeditionem accipit contra Francos_, &c. Then returning to speak of _Theudomir_, he adds: _Franci electum à se regem, sicut prius fuerat, crinitum inquirentes diligenter ex genere Priami, Frigi & Francionis, super se crearunt nomine Theudemerum filium Richemeris, qui in hoc prælio quod supra memini, à Romanis interfectus est_; that is, in the battle with _Castinus_'s army. Of his death _Gregory Turonensis_ makes this further mention: _In consularibus legimus Theodemerem regem Francorum filium Ricimeris quondam, & Ascilam matrem ejus, gladio interfectos_.

Upon this victory of the _Romans_, the _Franks_ and rebelling _Gauls_, who in the time of _Theudomir_ were at war with one another, united to strengthen themselves, as _Ordericus Vitalis_[1] thus mentions. _Cum Galli prius contra Romanos rebellâssent, Franci iis sociati sunt, & pariter juncti, Ferramundum Sunonis ducis filium, sibi regem præfecerunt_. _Prosper_ sets down the time; _Anno 25 Honorii, Pharamundus regnat in Francia_. This, _Bucher_ well observes, refers to the end of the year 416, or the beginning of the next year, dating the years of _Honorius_ from the death of _Valentinian_; and argues well, that at this time _Pharamond_ was not only King by the constitution of the _Franks_, but crowned also by the consent of _Honorius_, and had a part of _Gallia_ assigned him by covenant. And this might be the cause that _Roman_ writers reckoned him the first King: which some not understanding, have reputed him the founder of this kingdom by an army of the _Transrhenane Franks_. He might come with such an army, but he succeeded _Theudomir_ by right of blood and consent of the people. For the above cited passage of _Fredigarius_, _Extinctis Ducibus, in Francis denuo Reges creantur ex eadem stirpe quâ prius fuerant_, implies that the kingdom continued to this new elected family during the reign of more Kings than one. If you date the years of _Honorius_ from the death of his father, the reign of _Pharamond_ might begin two years later than is assigned by _Bucher_. The _Salique_ laws made in his reign, which are yet extant, shew by their name that it was the kingdom of the _Salii_ over which he reigned; and, by the pecuniary mulcts in them, that the place where he reigned abounded much with money, and consequently was within the Empire; rude _Germany_ knowing not the use of money, till they mixed with the _Romans_. In the Preface also to the _Salique_ laws, written and prefixed to them soon after the conversion of the _Franks_ to the Christian religion, that is, in the end of the reign of _Merovæus_, or soon after, the original of this kingdom is thus described: _Hæc enim gens, quæ fortis dum esset & robore valida, Romanorum jugum durissimum de suis cervicibus excussit pugnando_, &c. This kingdom therefore was erected, not by invasion but by rebellion, as was described above. _Prosper_ in registering their Kings in order, tells us: _Pharamundus regnat in Francia; Clodio regnat in Francia; Merovæus regnat in Francia_: and who can imagine but that in all these places he meant one and the same _Francia_? And yet 'tis certain that the _Francia_ of _Merovæus_ was in _Gallia_.

Yet the father of _Pharamond_, being king of a body of _Franks_ in _Germany_ in the reign of the Emperor _Theodosius_, as above, _Pharamond_ might reign over the same _Franks_ in _Germany_ before he succeeded _Theudomir_ in the kingdom of the _Salians_ within the Empire, and even before _Theudomir_ began his reign; suppose in the first year of _Honorius_, or when those _Franks_ being repulsed by _Stilico_, lost their Kings _Marcomir_ and _Suno_, one of which was the father of _Pharamond_: and the _Roman Franks_, after the death of _Theudomir_, might invite _Pharamond_ with his people from beyond the _Rhine_. But we are not to regard the reign of _Pharamond_ in _Germany_: we are to date this kingdom from its rise within the Empire, and to look upon it as strengthened by the access of other _Franks_ coming from beyond the _Rhine_, whether in the reign of this King or in that of his successor _Clodio_. For in the last year of _Pharamond_'s reign, _Ætius_ took from him a part of his possession in _Gallia_: but his successor _Clodio_, whom _Fredigarius_ represents as the son of _Theudomir_, and some call _Clogio_, _Cloio_, and _Claudius_, inviting from beyond the _Rhine_ a great body of _Franks_, recovered all, and carried on their conquests as far as the river _Soame_. Then those _Franks_ dividing conquests with him, erected certain new kingdoms at _Cologn_ and _Cambray_, and some other cities: all which were afterwards conquered by _Clodovæus_, who also drove the _Goths_ out of _Gallia_, and fix'd his seat at _Paris_, where it has continued ever since. And this was the original of the present kingdom of _France_.

7. The Kings of _Britain_ were, A.C. 407 or 408, _Marcus_, _Gratian_, and _Constantine_ successively; A.C. 425 _Vortigern_, 466 _Aurelius Ambrosius_, 498 _Uther Pendraco_, 508 _Arthur_, 542 _Constantinus_, 545 _Aurelius Cunanus_, 578 _Vortiporeus_, 581 _Malgo_, 586 _Careticus_, 613 _Cadwan_, 635 _Cadwalin_, 676 _Cadwallader_. The three first were _Roman_ Tyrants, who revolted from the Empire. _Orosius_, _Prosper_ and _Zosimus_ connect their revolt with the irruptions of the _Barbarians_ into _Gallia_, as consequent thereunto. _Prosper_, with whom _Zosimus_ agrees, puts it in the year which began the day after that irruption. The just time I thus collect: _Marcus_ reigned not many days, _Gratian_ four months, and _Constantine_ three years. He was slain the year after the taking of _Rome_, that is A.C. 411, 14 Kal. _Octob._ Whence the revolt was in Spring A.C. 408. _Sozomen_ joins _Constantine_'s expedition into _Gallia_ with _Arcadius_'s death, or the times a little after; and _Arcadius_ died A.C. 408 _May_ the 1st. Now tho the reign of these Tyrants was but short, yet they gave a beginning to the kingdom of _Britain_, and so may be reckoned the three first Kings, especially since the posterity of _Constantine_, viz. his sons _Aurelius Ambrosius_, and _Uther Pendraco_, and his grandson _Arthur_, reigned afterwards. For from the time of the revolt of these Tyrants _Britain_ continued a distict kingdom absolved from subjection to the Empire, the Emperor not being able to spare soldiers to be sent thither to receive and keep the Island, and therefore neglecting it; as we learn by unquestionable records. For _Prosper_ tells us; _A.C._ 410, _Variane Cos. Hac tempestate præ valetudine Romanorum, vires funditùs attenuatæ Britanniæ_. And _Sigebert_, conjoining this with the siege of _Rome_, saith: _Britannorum vires attenuatæ, & substrahunt se à Romanorum dominatione_. And _Zosimus_ _lib._ 6. _The _Transrhenane Barbarians_ invading all places, reduced the inhabitants of the island of _Britain_, and also certain _Celtic_ nations to that pass, that they fell off from the _Roman_ Empire; and being no longer obedient to the _Roman_ laws_, [Greek: kat' heauton biateuein], _they lived in separate bodies after their own pleasure. The _Britons_ therefore taking up arms, and hazarding themselves for their own safety, freed their cities from the imminent _Barbarians_. In like manner all _Brabant_ and some other Provinces of the _Gauls_ imitating the _Britons_, freed themselves also, ejecting the _Roman_ Presidents, and forming themselves into a sort of commonwealth according to their own pleasure. This rebellion of _Britain_ and the _Celtic_ nations happened when _Constantine_ usurped the kingdom_. So also _Procopius_, _lib._ 1. _Vandal._ speaking of the same _Constantine_, saith: Constantine _being overcome in battle, was slain with his children:_ [Greek: Bretannian men toi Rômaioi anasôsasthai ouketi echon; all' ousa hypo tyrannous ap' autou emene.] _Yet the _Romans_ could not recover _Britain_ any more, but from that time it remained under Tyrants_. And _Beda_, l. 1. _c._ 11. _Fracta est Roma à Gothis anno 1164 suæ conditionis; ex quo tempore Romani in Britannia regnare cessaverunt_. And _Ethelwaldus_: _A tempore Romæ à Gothis expugnatæ, cessavit imperium Romanorum à Britannia insula, & ab aliis; quas sub jugo servitutis tenebant, multis terris_. And _Theodoret_, _serm._ 9. _de curand. Græc. affect_. about the year 424, reckons the _Britons_ among the nations which were not then in subjection to the _Roman_ Empire. Thus _Sigonius_: _ad annum 411, Imperium Romanorum post excessum Constantini in Britannia nullum fuit_.

Between the death of _Constantine_ and the reign of _Vortigern_ was an interregnum of about 14 years, in which the _Britons_ had wars with the _Picts_ and _Scots_, and twice obtained the assistance of a _Roman_ Legion, who drove out the enemy, but told them positively at their departure that they would come no more. Of _Vortigern_'s beginning to reign there is this record in an old Chronicle in _Nennius_, quoted by _Camden_ and others: _Guortigernus tenuit imperium in Britannia, Theodosio & Valentiniano Coss._ [viz. A.C. 425.] _& in quarto anno regni sui Saxones ad Britanniam venerunt, Felice & Tauro Coss._ [viz. A.C. 428.] This coming of the _Saxons_, _Sigebert_ refers to the 4th year of _Valentinian_, which falls in with the year 428 assigned by this Chronicle: and two years after, the _Saxons_ together with the _Picts_ were beaten by the _Britons_. Afterwards in the reign of _Martian_ the Emperor, that is, between the years 450 and 456, the _Saxons_ under _Hengist_ were called in by the _Britons_, but six years after revolted from them, made war upon them with various success, and by degrees succeeded them. Yet the _Britons_ continued a flourishing kingdom till the reign of _Careticus_; and the war between the two nations continued till the pontificate of _Sergius_ A.C. 688.[2]

8. The Kings of the _Hunns_ were, A.C. 406 _Octar_ and _Rugila_, 433 _Bleda_ and _Attila_. _Octar_ and _Rugila_ were the brothers of _Munzuc_ King of the _Hunns_ in _Gothia_ beyond the _Danube_; and _Bleda_ and _Attila_ were his sons, and _Munzuc_ was the son of _Balamir_. The two first, as _Jornandes_ tells us, were Kings of the _Hunns_, but not of them all; and had the two last for their successors. I date the reign of the _Hunns_ in _Pannonia_ from the time that the _Vandals_ and _Alans_ relinquished _Pannonia_ to them, A.C. 407. _Sigonius_ from the time that the _Visigoths_ relinquished _Pannonia_ A. C. 408. _Constat_, saith he, _quod Gothis ex Illyrico profectis, Hunni successerunt, atque imprimis Pannoniam tenuerunt. Neque enim Honorius viribus ad resistendum in tantis difficultatibus destitutus, prorsus eos prohibere potuit, sed meliore consilio, animo ad pacem converso, foedus cum eis, datis acceptisque obsidibus fecit; ex quibus qui dati sunt, Ætius, qui etiam Alarico tributus fuerat, præcipue memoratur_. How _Ætius_ was hostage to the _Goths_ and _Hunns_ is related by _Frigeridus_, who when he had mentioned that _Theodosius_ Emperor of the _East_ had sent grievous commands to _John_, who after the death of _Honorius_ had usurped the crown of the _Western Empire_, he subjoins: _Iis permotus Johannes, Ætium id tempus curam palatii gerentem cum ingenti auri pondere ad Chunnos transmisit, notos sibi obsidiatûs sui tempore & familiari amicitiâ devinctos_--And a little after: _Ætius tribus annis Alarici obses, dehinc Chunnorum, postea Carpilionis gener ex Comite domesticorum & Joannis curopalatæ._ Now _Bucher_ shews that _Ætius_ was hostage to _Alaric_ till the year 410, when _Alaric_ died, and to the _Hunns_ between the years 411 and 415, and son-in-law to _Carpilio_ about the year 417 or 418, and _Curopalates_ to _John_ about the end of the year 423. Whence 'tis probable that he became hostage to the _Hunns_ about the year 412 or 413, when _Honorius_ made leagues with almost all the barbarous nations, and granted them seats: but I had rather say with _Sigonius_, that _Ætius_ became hostage to _Alaric_ A.C. 403. It is further manifest out of _Prosper_, that the _Hunns_ were in quiet possession of _Pannonia_ in the year 432. For in the first book of _Eusebius_'s Chronicle _Prosper_ writes: _Anno decimo post obitum Honorii, cum ad Chunnorum gentem cui tunc Rugila præerat, post prælium cum Bonifacio se Ætius contulisset, impetrato auxilio ad Romanorum solum regreditur._ And in the second book: _Ætio & Valerio Coss. Ætius depositâ potestate profugus ad Hunnos in Pannonia pervenit, quorum amicitiâ auxilioque usus, pacem principum interpellatæ potestatis obtinuit._ Hereby it appears that at this time _Rugila_, or as _Maximus_ calls him, _Rechilla_, reigned over the _Hunns_ in _Pannonia_; and that _Pannonia_ was not now so much as accounted within the soil of the Empire, being formerly granted away to the _Hunns_; and that these were the very same body of _Hunns_ with which _Ætius_ had, in the time of his being an hostage, contracted friendship: by virtue of which, as he sollicited them before to the aid of _John_ the Tyrant A.C. 424, so now he procured their intercession for himself with the Emperor. _Octar_ died A.C. 430; for _Socrates_ tells us, that about that time the _Burgundians_ having been newly vext by the _Hunns_, upon intelligence of _Octar_'s death, seeing them without a leader, set upon them suddenly with so much vigour, that 3000 _Burgundians_ slew 10000 _Hunns_. Of _Rugila_'s being now King in _Pannonia_ you have heard already. He died A.C. 433, and was succeeded by _Bleda_, as _Prosper_ and _Maximus_ inform us. This _Bleda_ with his brother _Attila_ were before this time Kings of the _Hunns_ beyond the _Danube_, their father _Munzuc_'s kingdom being divided between them; and now they united the kingdom _Pannonia_ to their own. Whence _Paulus Diaconus_ saith, they did _regnum intra Pannoniam Daciamque gerere_. In the year 441, they began to invade the Empire afresh, adding to the _Pannonian_ forces new and great armies from _Scythia_. But this war was presently composed, and then _Attila_, seeing _Bleda_ inclined to peace, slew him, A.C. 444, inherited his dominions, and invaded the Empire again. At length, after various great wars with the _Romans_, _Attila_ perished A.C. 454; and his sons quarrelling about his dominions, gave occasion to the _Gepides_, _Ostrogoths_ and other nations who were their subjects, to rebel and make war upon them. The same year the _Ostrogoths_ had seats granted them in _Pannonia_ by the Emperors _Marcian_ and _Valentinian_; and with the _Romans_ ejected the _Hunns_ out of _Pannonia_, soon after the death of _Attila_, as all historians agree. This ejection was in the reign of _Avitus_, as is mentioned in the _Chronicum Boiorum_, and in _Sidonius, Carm. 7 in Avitum_, which speaks thus of that Emperor.

----_Cujus solum amissas post sæcula multa_ _Pannonias revocavit iter, jam credere promptum est._ _Quid faciet bellis._

The Poet means, that by the coming of _Avitus_ the _Hunns_ yielded more easily to the _Goths_. This was written by _Sidonius_ in the beginning of the reign of _Avitus_: and his reign began in the end of the year 455, and lasted not one full year.

_Jornandes_ tells us: _Duodecimo anno regni Valiæ, quando & Hunni post pene quinquaginta annos invasa Pannonia, à Romanis & Gothis expulsi sunt._ And _Marcellinus_: _Hierio & Ardaburio Coss. Pannoniæ, quæ per quinquaginta annos ab Hunnis retinebantur, à Romanis receptæ sunt_: whence it should seem that the _Hunns_ invaded and held _Pannonia_ from the year 378 or 379 to the year 427, and then were driven out of it. But this is a plain mistake: for it is certain that the Emperor _Theodosius_ left the Empire entire; and we have shewed out of _Prosper_, that the _Hunns_ were in quiet possession of _Pannonia_ in the year 432. The _Visigoths_ in those days had nothing to do with _Pannonia_, and the _Ostrogoths_ continued subject to the _Hunns_ till the death of _Attila_, A.C. 454; and _Valia_ King of the _Visigoths_ did not reign twelve years. He began his reign in the end of the year 415, reigned three years, and was slain A.C. 419, as _Idacius_, _Isidorus_, and the _Spanish_ manuscript Chronicles seen by _Grotius_ testify. And _Olympiodorus_, who carries his history only to the year 425, sets down therein the death of _Valia_ King of the _Visigoths_, and conjoins it with that of _Constantius_ which happened A.C. 420. Wherefore the _Valia_ of _Jornandes_, who reigned at the least twelve years, is some other King. And I suspect that this name hath been put by mistake for _Valamir_ King of the _Ostrogoths_: for the action recorded was of the _Romans_ and _Ostrogoths_ driving the _Hunns_ out of _Pannonia_ after the death of _Attila_; and it is not likely that the historian would refer the history of the _Ostrogoths_ to the years of the _Visigothic_ Kings. This action happened in the end of the year 455, which I take to be the twelfth year of _Valamir_ in _Pannonia_, and which was almost fifty years after the year 406, in which the _Hunns_ succeeded the _Vandals_ and _Alans_ in _Pannonia_. Upon the ceasing of the line of _Hunnimund_ the son of _Hermaneric_, the _Ostrogoths_ lived without Kings of their own nation about forty years together, being subject to the _Hunns_. And when _Alaric_ began to make war upon the _Romans_, which was in the year 444, he made _Valamir_, with his brothers _Theodomir_ and _Videmir_ the grandsons of _Vinethar_, captains or kings of these _Ostrogoths_ under him. In the twelfth year of _Valamir_'s reign dated from thence, the _Hunns_ were driven out of _Pannonia_.

Yet the _Hunns_ were not so ejected, but that they had further contests with the _Romans_, till the head of _Denfix_ the son of _Attila_, was carried to _Constantinople_, A.C. 469, in the Consulship of _Zeno_ and _Marcian_, as _Marcellinus_ relates. Nor were they yet totally ejected the Empire: for besides their reliques in _Pannonia_, _Sigonius_ tells us, that when the Emperors _Marcian_ and _Valentinian_ granted _Pannonia_ to the _Goths_, which was in the year 454, they granted part of _Illyricum_ to some of the _Hunns_ and _Sarmatians_. And in the year 526, when the _Lombards_ removing into _Pannonia_ made war there with the _Gepides_, the _Avares_, a part of the _Hunns_, who had taken the name of _Avares_ from one of their Kings, assisted the _Lombards_ in that war; and the _Lombards_ afterwards, when they went into _Italy_, left their seats in _Pannonia_ to the _Avares_ in recompence of their friendship. From that time the _Hunns_ grew again very powerful; their Kings, whom they called _Chagan_, troubling the Empire much in the reigns of the Emperors _Mauritius_, _Phocas_, and _Heraclius_: and this is the original of the present kingdom of _Hungary_, which from these _Avares_ and other _Hunns_ mixed together, took the name of _Hun-Avaria_, and by contraction _Hungary_.

9. The _Lombards_, before they came over the _Danube_, were commanded by two captains, _Ibor_ and _Ayon_: after whose death they had Kings, _Agilmund_, _Lamisso_, _Lechu_, _Hildehoc_, _Gudehoc_, _Classo_, _Tato_, _Wacho_, _Walter_, _Audoin_, _Alboin_, _Cleophis_, &c. _Agilmund_ was the son of _Ayon_, who became their King, according to _Prosper_, in the Consulship of _Honorius_ and _Theodosius_ A.C. 389, reigned thirty three years, according to _Paulus Warnefridus_, and was slain in battle by the _Bulgarians_. _Prosper_ places his death in the Consulship of _Marinianus_ and _Asclepiodorus_, A.C. 413. _Lamisso_ routed the _Bulgarians_, and reigned three years, and _Lechu_ almost forty. _Gudehoc_ was contemporary to _Odoacer_ King of the _Heruli_ in _Italy_, and led his people from _Pannonia_ into _Rugia_, a country on the north side of _Noricum_ next beyond the _Danube_; from whence _Odoacer_ then carried his people into _Italy_. _Tato_ overthrew the kingdom of the _Heruli_ beyond the _Danube_. _Wacho_ conquered the _Suevians_, a kingdom then bounded on the east by _Bavaria_, on the west by _France_, and on the south by the _Burgundians_. _Audoin_ returned into _Pannonia_ A.C. 526, and there overcame the _Gepides_. _Alboin_ A.C. 551 overthrew the kingdom of the _Gepides_, and slew their King _Chunnimund_: A.C. 563 he assisted the _Greek_ Emperor against _Totila_ King of the _Ostrogoths_ in _Italy_; and A.C. 568 led his people out of _Pannonia_ into _Lombardy_, where they reigned till the year 774.

According to _Paulus Diaconus_, the _Lombards_ with many other _Gothic_ nations came into the Empire from beyond the _Danube_ in the reign of _Arcadius_ and _Honorius_, that is, between the years 395 and 408. But they might come in a little earlier: for we are told that the _Lombards_, under their captains _Ibor_ and _Ayon_, beat the _Vandals_ in battle; and _Prosper_ placeth this victory in the Consulship of _Ausonius_ and _Olybrius_, that is, A.C. 379. Before this war the _Vandals_ had remained quiet forty years in the seats granted them in _Pannonia_ by _Constantine_ the great. And therefore if these were the same _Vandals_, this war must have been in _Pannonia_; and might be occasioned by the coming of the _Lombards_ over the _Danube_ into _Pannonia_, a year or two before the battle; and so have put an end to that quiet which had lasted forty years. After _Gratian_ and _Theodosius_ had quieted the _Barbarians_, they might either retire over the _Danube_, or continue quiet under the _Romans_ till the death of _Theodosius_; and then either invade the Empire anew, or throw off all subjection to it. By their wars, first with the _Vandals_, and then with the _Bulgarians_, a _Scythian_ nation so called from the river _Volga_ whence they came; it appears that even in those days they were a kingdom not contemptible.

10. These nine kingdoms being rent away, we are next to consider the residue of the _Western Empire_. While this Empire continued entire, it was the Beast itself: but the residue thereof is only a part of it. Now if this part be considered as a horn, the reign of this horn may be dated from the translation of the imperial seat from _Rome_ to _Ravenna_, which was in _October_ A.C. 408. For then the Emperor _Honorius_, fearing that _Alaric_ would besiege him in _Rome_, if he staid there, retired to _Millain_, and thence to _Ravenna_: and the ensuing siege and sacking of _Rome_ confirmed his residence there, so that he and his successors ever after made it their home. Accordingly _Macchiavel_ in his _Florentine_ history writes, that _Valentinian_ having left _Rome_, translated the seat of the Empire to _Ravenna_.

_Rhætia_ belonged to the _Western_ Emperors, so long as that Empire stood; and then it descended, with _Italy_ and the _Roman_ Senate, to _Odoacer_ King of the _Heruli_ in _Italy_, and after him to _Theoderic_ King of the _Ostrogoths_ and his successors, by the grant of the _Greek_ Emperors. Upon the death of _Valentinian_ the second, the _Alemans_ and _Suevians_ invaded _Rhætia_ A.C. 455. But I do not find they erected any settled kingdom there: for in the year 457, while they were yet depopulating _Rhætia_, they were attacked and beaten by _Burto_ Master of the horse to the Emperor _Majoranus_; and I hear nothing more of their invading _Rhætia_. _Clodovæus_ King of _France_, in or about the year 496, conquered a kingdom of the _Alemans_, and slew their last King _Ermeric_. But this kingdom was seated in _Germany_, and only bordered upon _Rhætia_: for its people fled from _Clodovæus_ into the neighbouring kingdom of the _Ostrogoths_ under _Theoderic_, who received them as friends, and wrote a friendly letter to _Clodovæus_ in their behalf: and by this means they became inhabitants of _Rhætia_, as subjects under the dominion of the _Ostrogoths_.

When the _Greek_ Emperor conquered the _Ostrogoths_, he succeeded them in the kingdom of _Ravenna_, not only by right of conquest but also by right of inheritance, the _Roman_ Senate still going along with this kingdom. Therefore we may reckon that this kingdom continued in the Exarchate of _Ravenna_ and Senate of _Rome_: for the remainder of the _Western Empire_ went along with the Senate of _Rome_, by reason of the right which this Senate still retained, and at length exerted, of chusing a new _Western_ Emperor.

I have now enumerated the ten kingdoms, into which the _Western Empire_ became divided at its first breaking, that is, at the time of _Rome_'s being besieged and taken by the _Goths_. Some of these kingdoms at length fell, and new ones arose: but whatever was their number afterwards, they are still called the _Ten Kings_ from their first number.

Notes to Chap. VI.

[1] Apud Bucherum, l. 14. c. 9. n. 8.

[2] Rolevinc's Antiqua Saxon. l. 1. c. 6.

* * * * *

CHAP. VII.

_Of the eleventh horn of _Daniel_'s fourth Beast._

[1]_Now Daniel, considered the horns, and behold there came up among them another horn, before whom there were three of the first horns pluckt up by the roots; and behold in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things,_--and [2] his _look was more stout than his fellows,--and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them_: and one who stood by, and made _Daniel_ know the interpretation of these things, told him, that [3] _the ten horns were ten kings that should arise, and another should arise after them, and be diverse from the first, and he should subdue three kings,_ [4] _and speak great words against the most High, and wear out the saints, and think to change times and laws: and that they should be given into his hands until a time and times and half a time_. Kings are put for kingdoms, as above; and therefore the little horn is a little kingdom. It was a horn of the fourth Beast, and rooted up three of his first horns; and therefore we are to look for it among the nations of the _Latin_ Empire, after the rise of the ten horns. But it was a kingdom of a different kind from the other ten kingdoms, having a life or soul peculiar to itself, with eyes and a mouth. By its eyes it was a Seer; and by its mouth speaking great things and changing times and laws, it was a Prophet as well as a King. And such a Seer, a Prophet and a King, is the Church of _Rome_.

A Seer, [Greek: Episkopos], is a Bishop in the literal sense of the word; and this Church claims the universal Bishoprick.

With his mouth he gives laws to kings and nations as an Oracle; and pretends to Infallibility, and that his dictates are binding to the whole world; which is to be a Prophet in the highest degree.

In the eighth century, by rooting up and subduing the Exarchate of _Ravenna_, the kingdom of the _Lombards_, and the Senate and Dukedom of _Rome_, he acquired _Peter_'s Patrimony out of their dominions; and thereby rose up as a temporal Prince or King, or horn of the fourth Beast.

In a small book printed at _Paris_ A.C. 1689, entitled, _An historical dissertation upon some coins of _Charles_ the great, _Ludovicus Pius_, _Lotharius_, and their successors stamped at _Rome__, it is recorded, that in the days of Pope _Leo_ X, there was remaining in the _Vatican_, and till those days exposed to public view, an inscription in honour of _Pipin_ the father of _Charles_ the great, in these words: _Pipinum pium, primum fuisse qui amplificandæ Ecclesiæ Romanæ viam aperuerit, Exarchatu Ravennate, & plurimis aliis oblatis_; "That _Pipin_ the pious was the first who opened a way to the grandeur of the Church of _Rome_, conferring upon her the Exarchate of _Ravenna_ and many other oblations." In and before the reign of the Emperors _Gratian_ and _Theodosius_, the Bishop of _Rome_ lived splendidly; but this was by the oblations of the _Roman_ Ladies, as _Ammianus_ describes. After those reigns _Italy_ was invaded by foreign nations, and did not get rid of her troubles before the fall of the kingdom of _Lombardy_. It was certainly by the victory of the see of _Rome_ over the _Greek_ Emperor, the King of _Lombardy_, and the Senate of _Rome_, that she acquired _Peter_'s Patrimony, and rose up to her greatness. The donation of _Constantine_ the Great is a fiction, and so is the donation of the _Alpes Cottiæ_ to the Pope by _Aripert_ King of the _Lombards_: for the _Alpes Cottiæ_ were a part of the Exarchate, and in the days of _Aripert_ belonged to the _Greek_ Emperor.

The invocation of the dead, and veneration of their images, being gradually introduced in the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th centuries, the _Greek_ Emperor _Philippicus_ declared against the latter, A.C. 711 or 712. And [5] the Emperor _Leo Isaurus_, to put a stop to it, called a meeting of Counsellors and Bishops in his Palace, A.C. 726; and by their advice put out an Edict against that worship, and wrote to Pope _Gregory_ II. that a general Council might be called. But the Pope thereupon called a Council at _Rome_, confirmed the worship of Images, excommunicated the _Greek_ Emperor, absolved the people from their allegiance, and forbad them to pay tribute, or otherwise be obedient to him. Then the people of _Rome_, _Campania_, _Ravenna_ and _Pentapolis_, with the cities under them, revolted and laid violent hands upon their magistrates, killing the Exarch _Paul_ at _Ravenna_, and laying aside _Peter_ Duke of _Rome_ who was become blind: and when _Exhileratus_ Duke of _Campania_ incited the people against the Pope, the _Romans_ invaded _Campania_, and slew him with his son _Hadrian_. Then a new Exarch, _Eutychius_, coming to _Naples_, sent some secretly to take away the lives of the Pope and the Nobles of _Rome_: but the plot being discovered, the _Romans_ revolted absolutely from the _Greek_ Emperor, and took an oath to preserve the life of the Pope, to defend his state, and be obedient to his authority in all things. Thus _Rome_ with its Duchy, including part of _Tuscany_ and part of _Campania_, revolted in the year 726, and became a free state under the government of the Senate of this city. The authority of the Senate in civil affairs was henceforward absolute, the authority of the Pope extending hitherto no farther than to the affairs of the Church only.

At that time [6] the _Lombards_ also being zealous for the worship of images, and pretending to favour the cause of the Pope, invaded the cities of the Exarchate: and at length, viz. A.C. 752, took _Ravenna_, and put an end to the Exarchate. And this was the first of the three kingdoms which fell before the little horn.

In the year 751 [7] Pope _Zechary_ deposed _Childeric_, a slothful and useless King of _France_, and the last of the race of _Merovæus_; and absolving his subjects from their oath of allegiance, gave the kingdom to _Pipin_ the major of the Palace; and thereby made a new and potent friend. His successor [8] Pope _Stephen_ III, knowing better how to deal with the _Greek_ Emperor than with the _Lombards_, went the next year to the King of the _Lombards_, to persuade him to return the Exarchate to the Emperor. But this not succeeding, he went into _France_, and persuaded _Pipin_ to take the Exarchate and _Pentapolis_ from the _Lombards_, and give it to St. _Peter_. Accordingly _Pipin_ A.C. 754 came with an army into _Italy_, and made _Aistulphus_ King of the _Lombards_ promise the surrender: but the next year _Aistulphus_, on the contrary, to revenge himself on the Pope, besieged the city of _Rome_. Whereupon the Pope sent letters to _Pipin_, wherein he told him that if he came not speedily against the _Lombards_, _pro data sibi potentia, alienandum fore à regno Dei & vita æterna_, he should be excommunicated. _Pipin_ therefore, fearing a revolt of his subjects, and being indebted to the Church of _Rome_, came speedily with an army into _Italy_, raised the siege, besieged the _Lombards_ in _Pavia_, and forced them to surrender the Exarchate and region of _Pentapolis_ to the Pope for a perpetual possession. Thus the Pope became Lord of _Ravenna_, and the Exarchate, some few cities excepted; and the keys were sent to _Rome_, and laid upon the confession of St. _Peter_, that is, upon his tomb at the high Altar, _in signum veri perpetuique dominii, sed pietate Regis gratuita_, as the inscription of a coin of _Pipin_ hath it. This was in the year of Christ 755. And henceforward the Popes being temporal Princes, left off in their Epistles and Bulls to note the years of the _Greek_ Emperors, as they had hitherto done.

After this [9] the _Lombards_ invading the Pope's countries, Pope _Adrian_ sent to _Charles_ the great, the son and successor of _Pipin_, to come to his assistance. Accordingly _Charles_ entered _Italy_ with an army, invaded the _Lombards_, overthrew their kingdom, became master of their countries, and restored to the Pope, not only what they had taken from him, but also the rest of the Exarchate which they had promised _Pipin_ to surrender to him, but had hitherto detained; and also gave him some cities of the _Lombards_, and was in return himself made _Patricius_ by the _Romans_, and had the authority of confirming the elections of the Popes conferred upon him. These things were done in the years 773 and 774. This kingdom of the _Lombards_ was the second kingdom which fell before the little horn. But _Rome_, which was to be the seat of his kingdom, was not yet his own.

In the year 796, [10] _Leo_ III being made Pope, notified his election to _Charles_ the great by his Legates, sending to him for a present, the golden keys of the Confession of _Peter_, and the Banner of the city of _Rome_: the first as an acknowledgment of the Pope's holding the cities of the Exarchate and _Lombardy_ by the grant of _Charles_; the other as a signification that _Charles_ should come and subdue the Senate and people of _Rome_, as he had done the Exarchate and the kingdom of the _Lombards_. For the Pope at the same time desired _Charles_ to send some of his Princes to _Rome_, who might subject the _Roman_ people to him, and bind them by oath _in fide & subjectione_, in fealty and subjection, as his words are recited by _Sigonius_. An anonymous Poet, publish'd by _Boeclerus_ at _Strasburg_, expresseth it thus:

_Admonuitque piis precibus, qui mittere vellet_ _Ex propriis aliquos primoribus, ac sibi plebem_ _Subdere Romanam, servandaque foedera cogens_ _Hanc fidei sacramentis promittere magnis_.

Hence arose a misunderstanding between the Pope and the city: and the _Romans_ about two or three years after, by assistance of some of the Clergy, raised such tumults against him, as gave occasion to a new state of things in all the _West_. For two of the Clergy accused him of crimes, and the _Romans_ with an armed force, seized him, stript him of his sacerdotal habit, and imprisoned him in a monastery. But by assistance of his friends he made his escape, and fled into _Germany_ to _Charles_ the great, to whom he complained of the _Romans_ for acting against him out of a design to throw off all authority of the Church, and to recover their antient freedom. In his absence his accusers with their forces ravaged the possessions of the Church, and sent the accusations to _Charles_; who before the end of the year sent the Pope back to _Rome_ with a large retinue. The Nobles and Bishops of _France_ who accompanied him, examined the chief of his accusers at _Rome_, and sent them into _France_ in custody. This was in the year 799. The next year _Charles_ himself went to _Rome_, and upon a day appointed presided in a Council of _Italian_ and _French_ Bishops to hear both parties. But when the Pope's adversaries expected to be heard, the Council declared [11] that he who was the supreme judge of all men, was above being judged by any other than himself: whereupon he made a solemn declaration of his innocence before all the people, and by doing so was looked upon as acquitted.

Soon after, upon _Christmas_-day, the people of _Rome_, who had hitherto elected their Bishop, and reckoned that they and their Senate inherited the rights of the antient Senate and people of _Rome_, voted _Charles_ their Emperor, and subjected themselves to him in such manner as the old _Roman_ Empire and their Senate were subjected to the old _Roman_ Emperors. The Pope crowned him, and anointed him with holy oil, and worshipped him on his knees after the manner of adoring the old _Roman_ Emperors; as the aforesaid Poet thus relates:

_Post laudes igitur dictas & summus eundem_ _Præsul adoravit, sicut mos debitus olim_ _Principibus fuit antiquis_.

The Emperor, on the other hand, took the following oath to the Pope: _In nomine Christi spondeo atque polliceor, Ego Carolus Imperator coram Deo & beato Petro Apostolo, me protectorem ac defensorem fore hujus sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ in omnibus utilitatibus, quatenùs divino fultus fuero adjutorio, prout sciero poteroque_. The Emperor was also made Consul of _Rome_, and his son _Pipin_ crowned King of _Italy_: and henceforward the Emperor stiled himself: _Carolus serenissimus, Augustus, à Deo coronatus, magnus, pacificus, Romæ gubernans imperium_, or _Imperator Romanorum_; and was prayed for in the Churches of _Rome_. His image was henceforward put upon the coins of _Rome_: while the enemies of the Pope, to the number of three hundred _Romans_ and two or three of the Clergy, were sentenced to death. The three hundred _Romans_ were beheaded in one day in the _Lateran_ fields: but the Clergymen at the intercession of the Pope were pardoned, and banished into _France_. And thus the title of _Roman_ Emperor, which had hitherto been in the _Greek_ Emperors, was by this act transferred in the _West_ to the Kings of _France_.

After these things [12] _Charles_ gave the City and Duchy of _Rome_ to the Pope, subordinately to himself as Emperor of the _Romans_; spent the winter in ordering the affairs of _Rome_, and those of the Apostolic see, and of all _Italy_, both civil and ecclesiastical, and in making new laws for them; and returned the next summer into _France_: leaving the city under its Senate, and both under the Pope and himself. But hearing that his new laws were not observed by the judges in dictating the law, nor by the people in hearing it; and that the great men took servants from free men, and from the Churches and Monasteries, to labour in their vineyards, fields, pastures and houses, and continued to exact cattle and wine of them, and to oppress those that served the Churches: he wrote to his son _Pipin_ to remedy these abuses, to take care of the Church, and see his laws executed.

Now the Senate and people and principality of _Rome_ I take to be the third King the little horn overcame, and even the chief of the three. For this people elected the Pope and the Emperor; and now, by electing the Emperor and making him Consul, was acknowledged to retain the authority of the old _Roman_ Senate and people. This city was the Metropolis of the old _Roman_ Empire, represented in _Daniel_ by the fourth Beast; and by subduing the Senate and people and Duchy, it became the Metropolis of the little horn of that Beast, and completed _Peter_'s Patrimony, which was the kingdom of that horn. Besides, this victory was attended with greater consequences than those over the other two Kings. For it set up the _Western Empire_, which continues to this day. It set up the Pope above the judicature of the _Roman_ Senate, and above that of a Council of _Italian_ and _French_ Bishops, and even above all human judicature; and gave him the supremacy over the _Western_ Churches and their Councils in a high degree. It gave him _a look more stout than his fellows_; so that when this new religion began to be established in the minds of men, he grappled not only with Kings, but even with the _Western_ Emperor himself. It is observable also, that the custom of kissing the Pope's feet, an honour superior to that of Kings and Emperors, began about this time. There are some instances of it in the ninth century: _Platina_ tells us, that the feet of Pope _Leo_ IV were kissed, according to antient custom, by all who came to him: and some say that _Leo_ III began this custom, pretending that his hand was infected by the kiss of a woman. The Popes began also about this time to canonize saints, and to grant indulgences and pardons: and some represent that _Leo_ III was the first author of all these things. It is further observable, that _Charles_ the great, between the years 775 and 796, conquered all _Germany_ from the _Rhine_ and _Danube_ northward to the _Baltic_ sea, and eastward to the river _Teis_; extending his conquests also into _Spain_ as far as the river _Ebro_: and by these conquests he laid the foundation of the new Empire; and at the same time propagated the _Roman_ Catholic religion into all his conquests, obliging the _Saxons_ and _Hunns_ who were heathens, to receive the _Roman_ faith, and distributing his northern conquests into Bishopricks, granting tithes to the Clergy and _Peter-pence_ to the Pope: by all which the Church of _Rome_ was highly enlarged, enriched, exalted, and established.

In the forementioned _dissertation upon some coins of _Charles_ the great, _Ludovicus Pius_, _Lotharius_, and their successors, stamped at _Rome__, there is a draught of a piece of _Mosaic_ work which Pope _Leo_ III. caused to be made in his Palace near the Church of _John Lateran_, in memory of his sending the standard or banner of the city of _Rome_ curiously wrought, to _Charles_ the great; and which still remained there at the publishing of the said book. In the _Mosaic_ work there appeared _Peter_ with three keys in his lap, reaching the _Pallium_ to the Pope with his right hand, and the banner of the city to _Charles_ the great with his left. By the Pope was this inscription, SCISSIMUS D.N. LEO PP; by the King this, D.N. CARVLO REGI; and under the feet of _Peter_ this, BEATE PETRE, DONA VITAM LEONI PP, ET BICTORIAM CARVLO REGI DONA. This Monument gives the title of King to _Charles_, and therefore was erected before he was Emperor. It was erected when _Peter_ was reaching the _Pallium_ to the Pope, and the Pope was sending the banner of the city to _Charles_, that is, A.C. 796. The words above, _Sanctissimus Dominus noster Leo Papa Domino nostro Carolo Regi_, relate to the message; and the words below, _Beate Petre, dona vitam Leoni Papæ & victoriam Carolo regi dona_, are a prayer that in this undertaking God would preserve the life of the Pope, and give victory to the King over the _Romans_. The three keys in the lap of _Peter_ signify the keys of the three parts of his Patrimony, that of _Rome_ with its Duchy, which the Pope claimed and was conquering, those of _Ravenna_ with the Exarchate, and of the territories taken from the _Lombards_; both which he had newly conquered. These were the three dominions, whose keys were in the lap of St. _Peter_, and whose Crowns are now worn by the Pope, and by the conquest of which he became the little horn of the fourth Beast. By _Peter_'s giving the _Pallium_ to the Pope with his right hand, and the banner of the city to the King with his left, and by naming the Pope before the King in the inscription, may be understood that the Pope was then reckoned superior in dignity to the Kings of the earth.

After the death of _Charles_ the great, his son and successor _Ludovicus Pius_, at the request of the Pope, [13] confirmed the donations of his grandfather and father to the see of _Rome_. And in the confirmation he names first _Rome_ with its Duchy extending into _Tuscany_ and _Campania_; then the Exarchate of _Ravenna_, with _Pentapolis_; and in the third place, the territories taken from the _Lombards_. These are his three conquests, and he was to hold them of the Emperor for the use of the Church _sub integritate_, entirely, without the Emperor's medling therewith, or with the jurisdiction or power of the Pope therein, unless called thereto in certain cases. This ratification the Emperor _Ludovicus_ made under an oath: and as the King of the _Ostrogoths_, for acknowledging that he held his kingdom of _Italy_ of the _Greek_ Emperor, stamped the effigies of the Emperor on one side of his coins and his own on the reverse; so the Pope made the like acknowledgment to the _Western_ Emperor. For the Pope began now to coin money, and the coins of _Rome_ are henceforward found with the heads of the Emperors, _Charles_, _Ludovicus Pius_, _Lotharius_, and their successors, on the one side, and the Pope's inscription on the reverse, for many years.

Notes to Chap. VII.

[1] Chap. vii. 8.

[2] Ver. 20, 21.

[3] Ver. 24.

[4] Ver. 25.

[5] Sigonius de Regno Italiæ, ad Ann. 726.

[6] Sigonius ib. ad Ann. 726, 752.

[7] Sigon. ib. Ann. 750.

[8] Sigon. ib. Ann. 753, 754, 755.

[9] Sigon. ib. Ann. 773.

[10] Sigon. de Regno Ital. ad Ann. 796.

[11] Vide Anastasium.

[12] Sigon. de Regno Ital.

[13] Confirmationem recitat Sigonius, lib. 4. de Regno Italiæ, ad An. 817.

* * * * *

CHAP. VIII.

_Of the power of the eleventh horn of _Daniel_'s fourth Beast, to change times and laws_.

In the reign of the _Greek_ Emperor _Justinian_, and again in the reign of _Phocas_, the Bishop of _Rome_ obtained some dominion over the _Greek_ Churches, but of no long continuance. His standing dominion was only over the nations of the _Western Empire_, represented by _Daniel_'s fourth Beast. And this jurisdiction was set up by the following Edict of the Emperors _Gratian_ and _Valentinian.--[1] Volumus ut quicunque judicio Damasi, quod ille cum Concilio quinque vel septem habuerit Episcoporum, vel eorum qui Catholici sunt judicio vel Concilio condemnatus fuerit, si juste voluerit Ecclesiam retentare, ut qui ad sacerdotale judicium per contumeliam non ivisset: ut ab illustribus viris Præfectis Prætorio Galliæ atque Italiæ, authoritate adhibitâ, ad Episcopale judicium remittatur, sive à Consularibus vel Vicariis, ut ad Urbem Romam sub prosecutione perveniat. Aut si in longinquioribus partibus alicujus ferocitas talis emerserit, omnis ejus causæ edictio ad Metropolitæ in eadem Provincia Episcopi deduceretur examen. Vel si ipse Metropolitanus est, Romam necessariò, vel ad eos quos Romanus Episcopus judices dederit, sine delatione contendat.----Quod si vel Metropolitani Episcopi vel cujuscunque sacerdotis iniquitas est suspecta, aut gratia; ad Romanum Episcopum, vel ad Concilium quindecim finitimorum Episcoporum accersitum liceat provocare; modo ne post examen habitum, quod definitum fuerit, integretur_. This Edict wanting the name of both _Valens_ and _Theodosius_ in the Title, was made in the time between their reigns, that is, in the end of the year 378, or the beginning of 379. It was directed to the _Præfecti Prætorio Italiæ & Galliæ_, and therefore was general. For the _Præfectus Prætorio Italiæ_ governed _Italy_, _Illyricum occidentale_ and _Africa_; and the _Præfectus Prætorio Galliæ_ governed _Gallia_, _Spain_, and _Britain_.

The granting of this jurisdiction to the Pope gave several Bishops occasion to write to him for his resolutions upon doubtful cases, whereupon he answered by decretal Epistles; and henceforward he gave laws to the _Western_ Churches by such Epistles. _Himerius_ Bishop of _Tarraco_, the head city of a province in _Spain_, writing to Pope _Damasus_ for his direction about certain Ecclesiastical matters, and the Letter not arriving at _Rome_ till after the death of _Damasus_, A.C. 384; his successor _Siricius_ answered the same with a legislative authority, telling him of one thing: _Cum hoc fieri--missa ad Provincias à venerandæ memoriæ prædecessore meo Liberio generalia decreta, prohibeant_. Of another: _Noverint se ab omni ecclesiastico honore, quo indignè usi sunt, Apostolicæ Sedis auctoritate, dejectos_. Of another: _Scituri posthac omnium Provinciarum summi Antistites, quod si ultrò ad sacros ordines quenquam de talibus esse assumendum, & de suo & de aliorum statu, quos contra Canones & interdicta nostra provexerint, congruam ab Apostolica Sede promendam esse sententiam_. And the Epistle he concludes thus: _Explicuimus, ut arbitror, frater charissime, universa quæ digesta sunt in querelam; & ad singulas causas, de quibus ad Romanam Ecclesiam, utpote ad caput tui corporis, retulisti; sufficientia, quantum opinor, responsa reddidimus. Nunc fraternitatis tuæ animum ad servandos canones, & tenenda decretalia constituta, magis ac magis incitamus: ad hæc quæ ad tua consulta rescripsimus in omnium Coepiscoporum perferri facias notionem; & non solum corum, qui in tua sunt dioecesi constituti, sed etiam ad universos Carthaginenses ac Boeticos, Lusitanos atque [2] Gallicos, vel eos qui vicinis tibi collimitant hinc inde Provinciis, hæc quæ a nobis sunt salubri ordinatione disposita, sub literarum tuarum prosecutione mittantur. Et quanquam statuta sedis Apostolicæ vel Canonum venerabilia definita, nulli Sacerdotum Domini ignorare sit liberum: utilius tamen, atque pro antiquitate sacerdotii tui, dilectioni tuæ esse admodùm poterit gloriosum, si ea quæ ad te speciali nomine generaliter scripta sunt, per unanimitatis tuæ sollicitudinem in universorum fratrum nostrorum notitiam perferantur; quatenus & quæ à nobis non inconsultè sed providè sub nimia cautela & deliberatione sunt salubriter constituta, intemerata permaneant, & omnibus in posterum excusationibus aditus, qui jam nulli apud nos patere poterit, obstruatur. Dat. 3 Id. Febr. Arcadio & Bautone viris clarissimis Consulibus_, A.C. 385. Pope _Liberius_ in the reign of _Jovian_ or _Valentinian_ I. sent general Decrees to the Provinces, ordering that the _Arians_ should not be rebaptized: and this he did in favour of the Council of _Alexandria_, that nothing more should be required of them than to renounce their opinions. Pope _Damasus_ is said to have decreed in a _Roman_ Council, that _Tithes_ and _Tenths_ should be paid upon pain of an _Anathema_; and that _Glory be to the Father_, &c. should be said or sung at the end of the _Psalms_. But the first decretal Epistle now extant is this of _Siricius_ to _Himerius_; by which the Pope made _Himerius_ his Vicar over all _Spain_ for promulging his Decrees, and seeing them observed. The Bishop of _Sevill_ was also the Pope's Vicar sometimes; for _Simplicius_ wrote thus to _Zeno_ Bishop of that place: _Talibus idcirco gloriantes indiciis, congruum duximus vicariâ Sedis nostræ te auctoritate fulciri: cujus vigore munitus, Apostolicæ institutionis Decreta, vel sanctorum terminos Patrum, nullatenus transcendi permittas_. And Pope _Hormisda_ [3] made the Bishop of _Sevill_ his Vicar over _Boetica_ and _Lusitania_, and the Bishop of _Tarraco_ his Vicar over all the rest of _Spain_, as appears by his Epistles to them.

Pope _Innocent_ the first, in his decretal Epistle to _Victricius_ Bishop of _Rouen_ in _France_, A.C. 404, in pursuance of the Edict of _Gratian_, made this Decree: _Si quæ autem causæ vel contentiones inter Clericos tam superioris ordinis quam etiam inferioris fuerint exortæ; ut secundum Synodum Nicenam congregatis ejusdem Provinciæ Episcopis jurgium terminetur: nec alicui liceat, [4] Romanæ Ecclesiæ, cujus in omnibus causis debet reverentia custodiri, relictis his sacerdotibus, qui in eadem Provincia Dei Ecclesiam nutu Divino gubernant, ad alias convolare Provincias. Quod siquis fortè præsumpserit; & ab officio Clericatûs summotus, & injuriarum reus judicetur. Si autem majores causæ in medium fuerint devolutæ, ad Sedem Apostolicam sicut Synodus statuit, & beata consuetudo exigit, post judicium Episcopale referantur_. By these Letters it seems to me that _Gallia_ was now subject to the Pope, and had been so for some time, and that the Bishop of _Rouen_ was then his Vicar or one of them: for the Pope directs him to refer the greater causes to the See of _Rome_, according to custom. But the Bishop of _Arles_ soon after became the Pope's Vicar over all _Gallia_: for Pope _Zosimus_, A.C. 417, ordaining that none should have access to him without the credentials of his Vicars, conferred upon _Patroclus_ the Bishop of _Arles_ this authority over all _Gallia_, by the following Decree.

_Zosimus universis Episcopis per Gallias & septem Provincias constitutis_.

_Placuit Apostolicæ Sedi, ut siquis ex qualibet Galliarum parte sub quolibet ecclesiastico gradu ad nos Romæ venire contendit, vel aliò terrarum ire disponit, non aliter proficiscatur nisi Metropolitani Episcopi Formatas acceperit, quibus sacerdotium suum vel locum ecclesiasticum quem habet, scriptorum ejus adstipulatione perdoceat: quod ex gratia statuimus quia plures episcopi sive presbyteri sive ecclesiastici simulantes, quia nullum documentum Formatarum extat per quod valeant confutari, in nomen venerationis irrepunt, & indebitam reverentiam promerentur. Quisquis igitur, fratres charissimi, prætermissà supradicti Formatâ sive episcopus, sive presbyter, sive diaconus, aut deinceps inferiori gradu sit, ad nos venerit: sciat se omnino suscipi non posse. Quam auctoritatem ubique nos misisse manifestum est, ut cunctis regionibus innotescat id quod statuimus omnimodis esse servandum. Siquis autem hæc salubriter constituta temerare tentaverit sponte suâ, se a nostra noverit communione discretum. Hoc autem privilegium Formatarum sancto Patroclo fratri & coepiscopo nostro, meritorum ejus speciali contemplatione, concessimus_. And that the Bishop of _Arles_ was sometimes the Pope's Vicar over all _France_, is affirmed also by all the Bishops of the Diocess of _Arles_ in their Letter to Pope _Leo_ I. _Cui id etiam honoris dignitatisque collatum est_, say they, _ut non tantum has Provincias potestate propriâ gubernaret; verum etiam omnes Gallias sibi Apostolicæ Sedis vice mandatas, sub omni ecclesiastica regula contineret_. And Pope _Pelagius_ I. A.C. 556, in his Epistle to _Sapaudus_ Bishop of _Arles_: _Majorum nostrorum, operante Dei misericordiâ, cupientes inhærere vestigiis & eorum actus divino examine in omnibus imitari: Charitati tuæ per universam Galliam, sanctæ Sedis Apostolicæ, cui divinâ gratiâ præsidemus, vices injungimus_.

By the influence of the same imperial Edict, not only _Spain_ and _Gallia_, but also _Illyricum_ became subject to the Pope. _Damasus_ made _Ascholius_, or _Acholius_, Bishop of _Thessalonica_ the Metropolis of _Oriental Illyricum_, his Vicar for hearing of causes; and in the year 382, _Acholius_ being summoned by Pope _Damasus_, came to a Council at _Rome_. Pope _Siricius_ the successor of _Damasus_, decreed that no Bishop should be ordained in _Illyricum_ without the consent of _Anysius_ the successor of _Acholius_. And the following Popes gave _Rufus_ the successor of _Anysius_, a power of calling Provincial Councils: for in the Collections of _Holstenius_ there is an account of a Council of _Rome_ convened under Pope _Boniface_ II. in which were produced Letters of _Damasus_, _Syricius_, _Innocent_ I. _Boniface_ I. and _Cælestine_ Bishops of _Rome_, to _Ascholius_, _Anysius_ and _Rufus_, Bishops of _Thessalonica_: in which Letters they commend to them the hearing of causes in _Illyricum_, granted by the Lord and the holy Canons to the Apostolic See thro'out that Province. And Pope _Siricius_ saith in his Epistle to _Anysius_: _Etiam dudum, frater charissime, per Candidianum Episcopum, qui nos præcessit ad Dominum, hujusmodi literas dederamus, ut nulla licentia esset, sine consensu tuo in Illyrico Episcopos ordinare præsumere, quæ utrum ad te pervenerint scire non potui. Multa enim gesta sunt per contentionem ab Episcopis in ordinationibus faciendis, quod tua melius caritas novit_. And a little after: _Ad omnem enim hujusmodi audaciam comprimendam vigilare debet instantia tua, Spiritu in te Sancto fervente: ut vel ipse, si potes, vel quos judicaveris Episcopos idoneos, cum literis dirigas, dato consensu qui possit, in ejus locum qui defunctus vel depositus fuerit, Catholicum Episcopum vitâ & moribus probatum, secundum Nicænæ Synodi statuta vel Ecclesiæ Romanæ, Clericum de Clero meritum ordinare_. And Pope _Innocent_ I. saith in his Epistle to _Anysius_: _Cui_ [Anysio] _etiam anteriores tanti ac tales viri prædecessores mei Episcopi, id est, sanctæ memoriæ Damasus, Siricius, atque supra memoratus vir ita detulerunt; ut omnia quæ in omnibus illis partibus gererentur, Sanctitati tuæ, quæ plena justitiæ est, traderent cognoscenda_. And in his Epistle to _Rufus_ the successor of _Anysius_: _Ita longis intervallis disterminatis à me ecclesiis discat consulendum; ut prudentiæ gravitatique tuæ committendam curam causasque, siquæ exoriantur, per Achaiæ, Thessaliæ, Epiri veteris, Epiri novæ, & Cretæ, Daciæ mediterraneæ, Daciæ ripensis, Moesiæ, Dardaniæ, & Prævali ecclesias, Christo Domino annuente, censeam. Verè enim ejus sacratissimis monitis lectissimæ sinceritatis tuæ providentiæ & virtuti hanc injungimus sollicitudinem: non primitùs hæc statuentes, sed Præcessores nostros Apostolicos imitati, qui beatissimis Acholio & Anysio injungi pro meritis ista voluerunt_. And _Boniface_ I. in his decretal Epistle to _Rufus_ and the rest of the Bishops in _Illyricum_: _Nullus, ut frequenter dixi, alicujus ordinationem citra ejus_ [Episcopi Thessalonicensis] _conscientiam celebrare præsumat: cui, ut supra dictum est, vice nostrâ cuncta committimus_. And Pope _Cælestine_, in his decretal Epistle to the Bishops thro'out _Illyricum_, saith: _Vicem nostram per vestram Provinciam noveritis_ [Rufo] _esse commissam, ita ut ad eum, fratres carissimi, quicquid de causis agitur, referatur. Sine ejus consilio nullus ordinetur. Nullus usurpet, eodem inconscio, commissam illi Provinciam; colligere nisi cum ejus voluntate Episcopus non præsumat_. And in the cause of _Perigenes_, in the title of his Epistle, he thus enumerates the Provinces under this Bishop: _Rufo & cæteris Episcopis per Macedoniam, Achaiam, Thessaliam, Epirum veterem, Epirum novam, Prævalin, & Daciam constitutis_. And Pope _Xistus_ in a decretal Epistle to the same Bishops: _Illyricanæ omnes Ecclesiæ, ut à decessoribus nostris recepimus, & nos quoque fecimus, ad curam nunc pertinent Thessalonicensis Antistitis, ut suâ sollicitudine, siquæ inter fratres nascantur, ut assolent, actiones distinguat atque definiat; & ad eum, quicquid à singulis sacerdotibus agitur, referatur. Sit Concilium, quotiens causæ fuerint, quotiens ille pro necessitatum emergentium ratione decreverit_. And Pope _Leo_ I. in his decretal Epistle to _Anastasius_ Bishop of _Thessalonica_: _Singulis autem Metropolitanis sicut potestas ista committitur, ut in suis Provinciis jus habeant ordinandi; ita eos Metropolitanos à te volumus ordinari; maturo tamen & decocto judicio_.

_Occidental Illyricum_ comprehended _Pannonia prima_ and _secunda_, _Savia_, _Dalmatia_, _Noricum mediterraneum_, and _Noricum ripense_; and its Metropolis was _Sirmium_, till _Attila_ destroyed this city. Afterwards _Laureacum_ became the Metropolis of _Noricum_ and both _Pannonias_, and _Salona_ the Metropolis of _Dalmatia_. Now [5] the Bishops of _Laureacum_ and _Salona_ received the _Pallium_ from the Pope: and _Zosimus_, in his decretal Epistle to _Hesychius_ Bishop of _Salona_, directed him to denounce the Apostolic decrees as well to the Bishops of his own, as to those of the neighbouring Provinces. The subjection of these Provinces to the See of _Rome_ seems to have begun in _Anemius_, who was ordained Bishop of _Sirmium_ by _Ambrose_ Bishop of _Millain_, and who in the Council of _Aquileia_ under Pope _Damasus_, A.C. 381, declared his sentence in these words: _Caput Illyrici non nisi civitas Sirmiensis: Ego igitur illius civitatis Episcopus sum. Eum qui non confitetur filium Dei æternum, & coeternum patri, qui est sempiternus, anathema dico_. The next year _Anemius_ and _Ambrose_, with _Valerian_ Bishop of _Aquileia_, _Acholias_ Bishop of _Thessalonica,_ and many others, went to the Council of _Rome_, which met for overruling the _Greek_ Church by majority of votes, and exalting the authority of the Apostolic See, as was attempted before in the Council of _Sardica_.

_Aquileia_ was the second city of the _Western Empire_, and by some called the second _Rome_. It was the Metropolis of _Istria_, _Forum Julium_, and _Venetia_; and its subjection to the See of _Rome_ is manifest by the decretal Epistle of _Leo_ I. directed to _Nicetas_ Bishop of this city; for the Pope begins his Epistle thus: _Regressus ad nos filius meus Adeodatus Diaconus Sedis nostræ, dilectionem tuam poposcisse memorat, ut de his à nobis authoritatem Apostolicæ Sedis acciperes, quæ quidem magnam difficultatem dijudicationis videntur afferre_. Then he sets down an answer to the questions proposed by _Nicetas_, and concludes thus: _Hanc autem Epistolam nostram, quam ad consultationem tuæ fraternitatis emisimus, ad omnes fratres & comprovinciales tuos Episcopos facies pervenire, ut in omnium observantia, data profit authoritas. Data 1-2 Kal. Apr. Majorano Aug. Cos._ A.C. 458. _Gregory_ the great A.C. 591, [6] cited _Severus_ Bishop of _Aquileia_ to appear before him in judgment in a Council at _Rome_.

The Bishops of _Aquileia_ and _Millain_ created one another, and therefore were of equal authority, and alike subject to the See of _Rome_. Pope _Pelagius_ about the year 557, testified this in the following words: [7] _Mos antiquus fuit_, saith he, _ut quia pro longinquitate vel difficultate itineris, ab Apostolico illis onerosum fuerit ordinari, ipsi se invicem Mediolanensis & Aquileiensis ordinare Episcopos debuissent_. These words imply that the ordination of these two Bishops belonged to the See of _Rome_. When _Laurentius_ Bishop of _Millain_ had excommunicated _Magnus_, one of his Presbyters, and was dead, [8] _Gregory_ the great absolved _Magnus_, and sent the _Pallium_ to the new elected Bishop _Constantius_; whom the next year [9] he reprehended of partiality in judging _Fortunatus_, and commanded him to send _Fortunatus_ to _Rome_ to be judged there: four years after [10] he appointed the Bishops of _Millain_ and _Ravenna_ to hear the cause of one _Maximus_; and two years after, viz. A.C. 601, when _Constantius_ was dead, and the people of _Millain_ had elected _Deusdedit_ his successor, and the _Lombards_ had elected another, [11] _Gregory_ wrote to the Notary, Clergy, and People of _Millain_, that by the authority of his Letters _Deusdedit_ should be ordained, and that he whom the _Lombards_ had ordained was an unworthy successor of _Ambrose_: whence I gather, that the Church of _Millain_ had continued in this state of subordination to the See of _Rome_ ever since the days of _Ambrose_; for _Ambrose_ himself acknowledged the authority of that See. _Ecclesia Romana_, [12] saith he, _hanc consuetudinem non habet, cujus typum in omnibus sequimur, & formam_. And a little after: _In omnibus cupio sequi Ecclesiam Romanam_. And in his Commentary upon 1 _Tim_. iii. _Cum totus mundus Dei sit, tamen domus ejus Ecclesia dicitur, cujus hodie rector est Damasus_. In his Oration on the death of his brother _Satyrus_, he relates how his brother coming to a certain city of _Sardinia_, _advocavit Episcopum loci, percontatusque est ex eo utrum cum Episcopis Catholicis hoc est cum Romana Ecclesia conveniret?_ And in conjunction with the Synod of _Aquileia_ A.C. 381, in a synodical Epistle to the Emperor _Gratian_, he saith: _Totius orbis Romani caput Romanam Ecclesiam, atque illam sacrosanctam Apostolorum fidem, ne turbari sineret, obsecranda fuit clementia vestra; inde enim in omnes venerandæ communionis jura dimanant_. The Churches therefore of _Aquileia_ and _Millain_ were subject to the See of _Rome_ from the days of the Emperor _Gratian_. _Auxentius_ the predecessor of _Ambrose_ was not subject to the see of _Rome_, and consequently the subjection of the Church of _Millain_ began in _Ambrose_. This Diocese of _Millain_ contained _Liguria_ with _Insubria_, the _Alpes Cottiæ_ and _Rhætia_; and was divided from the Diocese of _Aquileia_ by the river _Addua_. In the year 844, the Bishop of _Millain_ broke off from the See of _Rome_, and continued in this separation about 200 years, as is thus related by [13] _Sigonius_: _Eodem anno Angilbertus Mediolanensis Archiepiscopus ab Ecclesia Romana parum comperta de causa descivit, tantumque exemplo in posterum valuit, ut non nisi post ducentos annos Ecclesia Mediolanensis ad Romanæ obedientiam auctoritatemque redierit_.

The Bishop of _Ravenna_, the Metropolis of _Flaminia_ and _Æmilia_, was also subject to the Pope: for _Zosimus_, A.C. 417, excommunicated some of the Presbyters of that Church, and wrote a commonitory Epistle about them to the Clergy of that Church as a branch of the _Roman_ Church: _In sua_, saith he, _hoc est, in Ecclesia nostra Romana_. When those of _Ravenna_, having elected a new Bishop, gave notice thereof to Pope _Sixtus_, the Pope set him aside, and [14] ordained _Peter Chrysologus_ in his room. _Chrysologus_ in his Epistle to _Eutyches_, extant in the Acts of the Council of _Chalcedon_, wrote thus: _Nos pro studio pacis & fidei, extra consensum Romanæ civitatis Episcopi, causas fidei audire non possumus_. Pope _Leo_ I. being consulted by _Leo_ Bishop of _Ravenna_ about some questions, answered him by a decretal Epistle A.C. 451. And Pope _Gregory_ the great, [15] reprehending _John_ Bishop of _Ravenna_ about the use of the _Pallium_, tells him of a Precept of one of his Predecessors, Pope _John_, commanding that all the Privileges formerly granted to the Bishop and Church of _Ravenna_ should be kept: to this _John_ returned a submissive answer; and after his death Pope _Gregory_ ordered a visitation of the Church of _Ravenna_, confirmed the privileges heretofore granted them, and sent his _Pallium_, as of antient custom, to their new Bishop _Marinian_. Yet this Church revolted sometimes from the Church of _Rome_, but returned again to its obedience.

The rest of _Italy_, with the Islands adjacent, containing the _suburbicarian_ regions, or ten Provinces under the temporal Vicar of _Rome, viz._ 1_Campania_, 2_Tuscia_ and _Umbria_, 3_Picenum suburbicarium_, 4_Sicily_, 5_Apulia_ and _Calabria_, 6_Brutii_ and _Lucania_, 7_Samnium_, 8_Sardinia_, 9_Corsica_, and 10_Valeria_, constituted the proper Province of the Bishop of _Rome_. For the Council of _Nice_ in their fifth Canon ordained that Councils should be held every spring and autumn in every Province; and according to this Canon, the Bishops of this Province met at _Rome_ every half year. In this sense Pope _Leo_ I. applied this Canon to _Rome_, in a decretal Epistle to the Bishops of _Sicily_, written _Alippio & Ardabure Coss_. A.C. 447. _Quia saluberrime_, saith he, _à sanctis patribus constitutum est, binos in annis singulis Episcoporum debere esse conventus, terni semper ex vobis ad diem tertium Kalendarum Octobrium Romam æterno concilio sociandi occurrant. Et indissimulanter à vobis hæc consuetudo servetur, quoniam adjuvante Dei gratiâ, faciliùs poterit provideri, ut in Ecclesiis Christi nulla scandala, nulli nascantur errores; cum coram Apostolo Petro semper in communione tractatum fuerit, ut omnia Canonum Decreta apud omnes Domini sacerdotes inviolata permaneant_. The Province of _Rome_ therefore comprehended _Sicily_, with so much of _Italy_ and the neighbouring Islands as sent Bishops to the annual Councils of _Rome_; but extended not into the Provinces of _Ravenna_, _Aquileia_, _Millain_, _Arles_, &c. those Provinces having Councils of their own. The Bishops in every Province of the _Roman_ Empire were convened in Council by the Metropolitan or Bishop of the head city of the Province, and this Bishop presided in that Council: but the Bishop of _Rome_ did not only preside in his own Council of the Bishops of the _suburbicarian_ regions, but also gave Orders to the Metropolitans of all the other Provinces in the _Western Empire_, as their universal governor; as may be further perceived by the following instances.

Pope _Zosimus_ A.C. 417, cited _Proculus_ Bishop of _Marseilles_ to appear before a Council at _Rome_ for illegitimate Ordinations; and condemned him, as he mentions in several of his Epistles. Pope _Boniface_ I. A.C. 419, upon a complaint of the Clergy of _Valentia_ against _Maximus_ a Bishop, summoned the Bishops of all _Gallia_ and the seven Provinces to convene in a Council against him; and saith in his Epistle, that his Predecessors had done the like. Pope _Leo_ I. called a general Council of all the Provinces of _Spain_ to meet in _Gallæcia_ against the _Manichees_ and _Priscillianists_, as he says in his decretal Epistle to _Turribius_ a _Spanish_ Bishop. And in one of his decretal Epistles to _Nicetas_ Bishop of _Aquileia_, he commands him to call a Council of the Bishops of that Province against the _Pelagians_, which might ratify all the Synodal Decrees which had been already ratified by the See of _Rome_ against this heresy. And in his decretal Epistle to _Anastasius_ Bishop of _Thessalonica_, he ordained that Bishop should hold two Provincial Councils every year, and refer the harder causes to the See of _Rome_: and if upon any extraordinary occasion it should be necessary to call a Council, he should not be troublesom to the Bishops under him, but content himself with two Bishops out of every Province, and not detain them above fifteen days. In the same Epistle he describes the form of Church-Government then set up, to consist in a subordination of all the Churches to the See of _Rome_: _De qua forma_, saith he, _Episcoporum quoque est orta distinctio, & magna dispositione provisum est ne omnes sibi omnia vindicarent, sed essent in singulis Provinciis singuli quorum inter fratres haberetur prima sententia, & rursus quidam in majoribus urbibus constituti sollicitudinem sumerent ampliorem, per quos ad unam Petri Sedem universalis Ecclesiæ cura conflueret, & nihil usque à suo capite dissideret. Qui ergo scit se quibusdam esse præpositum, non moleste ferat aliquem sibi esse præpositum; sed obedientiam quam exigit etiam ipse dependat; et sicut non vult gravis oneris sarcinam ferre, ita non audeat aliis importabile pondus imponere_. These words sufficiently shew the monarchical form of government then set up in the Churches of the _Western Empire_ under the Bishop of _Rome_, by means of the imperial Decree of _Gratian_, and the appeals and decretal Epistles grounded thereupon.

The same Pope _Leo_, having in a Council at _Rome_ passed sentence upon _Hilary_ Bishop of _Arles_, for what he had done by a Provincial Council in _Gallia_, took occasion from thence to procure the following Edict from the _Western_ Emperor _Valentinian_ III. for the more absolute establishing the authority of his See over all the Churches of the _Western Empire_.

_Impp. Theodosius & Valentinianus AA. Aetio Viro illustri, Comiti & Magistro utriusque militiæ & Patricio._

_Certum est & nobis & imperio nostro unicum esse præsidium in supernæ Divinitatis favore, ad quem promerendum præcipue Christiana fides & veneranda nobis religio suffragatur. Cum igitur Sedis Apostolicæ Primatum sancti Petri meritum, qui princeps est Episcopalis coronæ & Romanæ dignitas civitatis, sacræ etiam Synodi firmavit auctoritas: ne quid præter auctoritatem Sedis istius illicitum præsumptio attemperare nitatur: tunc enim demum Ecclesiarum pax ubique servabitur, si Rectorem suum agnoscat Universitas. Hæc cum hactenus inviolabiliter suerint custodita, Hilarius Arelatensis, sicut venerabilis viri Leonis Romani Papæ fideli relatione comperimus, contumaci ausu illicita quædam præsumenda tentavit, & ideo Transalpinas Ecclesias abominabilis tumultus invasit, quod recens maximè testatur exemplum. Hilarius enim qui Episcopus Arelatensis vocatur, Ecclesiæ Romanæ urbis inconsulto Pontifice indebitas sibi ordinationes Episcoporum solâ temeritate usurpans invasit. Nam alios incompetenter removit; indecenter alios, invitis & repugnantibus civibus, ordinavit. Qui quidem, quoniam non facile ab his qui non elegerant, recipiebantur, manum sibi contrahebat armatam, & claustra murorum in hostilem morem vel obsidione cingebat, vel aggressione reserabat, & ad sedem quietis pacem prædicaturus per bella ducebat: His talibus contra Imperii majestatem, & contra reverentiam Apostolicæ Sedis admissis, per ordinem religiosi viri Urbis Papæ cognitione discussis, certa in eum, ex his quos malè ordinaverat, lata sententia est. Erat quidem ipsa sententia per Gallias etiam sine Imperiali Sanctione valitura: quid enim Pontificis auctoritate non liceret? Sed nostram quoque præceptionem hæc ratio provocavit. Nec ulterius vel Hilario, quem adhuc Episcopum nuncupare sola mansueta Præsulis permittit humanitas, nec cuiquam alteri ecclesiasticis rebus arma miscere, aut præceptis Romani Antistitis liceat obviare: ausibus enim talibus fides & reverentia nostri violatur Imperii. Nec hoc solum, quod est maximi criminis, submovemus: verum ne levis saltem inter Ecclesias turba nascatur, vel in aliquo minui religionis disciplina videatur, hoc perenni sanctione discernimus; nequid tam Episcopis Gallicanis quam aliarum Provinciarum contra consuetudinem veterem liceat, sine viri venerabilis Papæ Urbis æternæ auctoritate, tentare. Sed illis omnibusque pro lege sit, quicquid sanxit vel sanxerit Apostolicæ Sedis auctoritas: ita ut quisquis Episcoporum ad judicium Romani Antistitis evocatus venire neglexerit, per Moderatorem ejusdem Provinciæ adesse cogatur, per omnia servatis quæ Divi parentes nostri Romanæ Ecclesiæ detulerunt, Aetî pater carissime Augusti. Unde illustris & præclara magnificentia tua præsentis Edictalis Legis auctoritate faciet quæ sunt superius statuta servari, decem librarum auri multa protinus exigenda ab unoquoque Judice qui passus fuerit præcepta nostra violari. Divinitas te servet per multos annos, parens carissime. Dat. _viii._ Id. Jun. Romæ, Valentiniano A. _vi._ Consule_, A.C. 445. By this Edict the Emperor _Valentinian_ enjoined an absolute obedience to the will of the Bishop of _Rome_ thro'out all the Churches of his Empire; and declares, that for the Bishops to attempt any thing without the Pope's authority is contrary to antient custom, and that the Bishops summoned to appear before his judicature must be carried thither by the Governor of the Province; and he ascribes these privileges of the See of _Rome_ to the concessions of his dead Ancestors, that is, to the Edict of _Gratian_ and _Valentinian_ II. as above: by which reckoning this dominion of the Church of _Rome_ was now of 66 years standing: and if in all this time it had not been sufficiently established, this new Edict was enough to settle it beyond all question thro'out the _Western Empire_.

Hence all the Bishops of the Province of _Arles_ in their Letter to Pope _Leo_, A.C. 450, petitioning for a restitution of the privileges of their Metropolitan, say: _Per beatum Petrum Apostolorum principem, sacrosancta Ecclesia Romana tenebat supra omnes totius mundi Ecclesias principatum_. And _Ceratius_, _Salonius_ and _Veranus_, three Bishops of _Gallia_, say, in their Epistle to the same Pope: _Magna præterea & ineffabili quadam nos peculiares tui gratulatione succrescimus, quod illa specialis doctrinæ vestræ pagina ita per omnium Ecclesiarum conventicula celebratur, ut vere consona omnium sententia declaretur; merito illic principatum Sedis Apostolicæ constitutum, unde adhuc Apostolici spiritus oracula reserentur_. And _Leo_ himself, in [16] his Epistle to the metropolitan Bishops thro'out _Illyricum_: _Quia per omnes Ecclesias cura nostra distenditur, exigente hoc à nobis Domino, qui Apostolicæ dignitatis beatissimo Apostolo Petro primatum, fidei sui remuneratione commisit, universalem Ecclesiam in fundamenti ipsius soliditate constituens_.

While this Ecclesiastical Dominion was rising up, the northern barbarous nations invaded the _Western Empire_, and founded several kingdoms therein, of different religions from the Church of _Rome_. But these kingdoms by degrees embraced the _Roman_ faith, and at the same time submitted to the Pope's authority. The _Franks_ in _Gaul_ submitted in the end of the fifth Century, the _Goths_ in _Spain_ in the end of the sixth; and the _Lombards_ in _Italy_ were conquered by _Charles_ the great A.C. 774. Between the years 775 and 794, the same _Charles_ extended the Pope's authority over all _Germany_ and _Hungary_ as far as the river _Theysse_ and the _Baltic_ sea; he then set him above all human judicature, and at the same time assisted him in subduing the City and Duchy of _Rome_. By the conversion of the ten kingdoms to the _Roman_ religion, the Pope only enlarged his spiritual dominion, but did not yet rise up as a horn of the Beast. It was his temporal dominion which made him one of the horns: and this dominion he acquired in the latter half of the eighth century, by subduing three of the former horns as above. And now being arrived at a temporal dominion, and a power above all human judicature, he reigned [17] _with a look more stout than his fellows_, and [18] _times and laws were_ henceforward _given into his hands, for a time times and half a time_, or three times and an half; that is, for 1260 solar years, reckoning a time for a Calendar year of 360 days, and a day for a solar year. After which [19] _the judgment is to sit, and they shall take away his dominion_, not at once, but by degrees, _to consume, and to destroy it unto the end. [20] And the kingdom and dominion, and greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall_, by degrees, _be given unto the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him_.

Notes to Chap. VIII.

[1] _See the Annals of _Baronius__, Anno 381. Sect. 6.

[2] Populos Galliciæ.

[3] Hormisd. Epist. 24. 26.

[4] _The words, _sine auctoritate_, seem wanting._

[5] Vide Caroli a S. Paulo Geographiam sacram, p. 72, 73.

[6] Greg. M. lib. 1. Indic. 9. Epist. 16.

[7] Apud Gratianum de Mediolanensi & Aquileiensi Episcopis.

[8] Greg. M. lib. 3. Epist. 26. & lib. 4. Epist. 1.

[9] Greg. lib. 5. Epist. 4.

[10] Greg. lib. 9. Epist. 10 & 67.

[11] Greg. lib. 11. Epist. 3, 4.

[12] Ambros l. 3. de sacramentis, c. 1.

[13] Sigonius de Regno Italiæ, lib. 5.

[14] _See _Baronius__, Anno 433. Sect. 24.

[15] Greg. M. lib. 3. Epist. 56, 57. & lib. 5. Epist. 25, 26, 56.

[16] Epist. 25. apud Holstenium.

[17] Dan. vii. 20.

[18] Ver. 25.

[19] Ver. 26.

[20] Ver. 27.

* * * * *

CHAP. IX.

_Of the kingdoms represented in _Daniel_ by the Ram and He-Goat_.

The second and third Empires, represented by the Bear and Leopard, are again represented by the Ram and He-Goat; but with this difference, that the Ram represents the kingdoms of the _Medes_ and _Persians_ from the beginning of the four Empires, and the Goat represents the kingdom of the _Greeks_ to the end of them. By this means, under the type of the Ram and He-Goat, the times of all the four Empires are again described: _I lifted up mine eyes_, saith [1] _Daniel_, _and saw_, _and behold there stood before the river_ [Ulai] _a Ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high, but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.--And the Ram having two horns, are the kings of _Media_ and _Persia__: not two persons but two kingdoms, the kingdoms of _Media_ and _Persia_; and the kingdom of _Persia_ was the higher horn and came up last. The kingdom of _Persia_ rose up, when _Cyrus_ having newly conquered _Babylon_, revolted from _Darius_ King of the _Medes_, and beat him at _Pasargadæ_, and set up the _Persians_ above the _Medes_. This was the horn which came up last. And the horn which came up first was the kingdom of the _Medes_, from the time that _Cyaxares_ and _Nebuchadnezzar_ overthrew _Nineveh_, and shared the Empire of the _Assyrians_ between them. The Empires of _Media_ and _Babylon_ were contemporary, and rose up together by the fall of the _Assyrian_ Empire; and the Prophecy of the four Beasts begins with one of them, and that of the Ram and He-Goat with the other. As the Ram represents the kingdom of _Media_ and _Persia_ from the beginning of the four Empires; so the He-Goat represents the Empire of the _Greeks_ to the end of those Monarchies. In the reign of his great horn, and of the four horns which succeeded it, he represents this Empire during the reign of the Leopard: and in the reign of his little horn, which stood up in the latter time of the kingdom of the four, and after their fall became mighty but not by his own power, he represents it during the reign of the fourth Beast.

_The rough Goat_, saith _Daniel, is the King of_ Grecia, that is, the kingdom; _and the great horn between his eyes is the first King_: not the first Monarch, but the first kingdom, that which lasted during the reign of _Alexander_ the great, and his brother _Aridæus_ and two young sons, _Alexander_ and _Hercules_. [2] _Now that_ [horn] _being broken off, whereas four_ [horns] _stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation_ [of the _Greeks_], _but not in his_ [the first horn's] _power_. The four horns are therefore four kingdoms; and by consequence, the first great horn which they succeeded is the first great kingdom of the _Greeks_, that which was founded by _Alexander_ the great, _An. Nabonass._ 414, and lasted till the death of his son _Hercules_, _An. Nabonass._ 441. And the four are those of _Cassander_, _Lysimachus_, _Antigonus_, and _Ptolemy_, as above.

[3] _And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a King_ [or new kingdom] _of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up: and his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power_. This King was the last horn of the Goat, the little horn which came up out of one of the four horns, and waxed exceeding great. The latter time of their kingdom was when the _Romans_ began to conquer them, that is, when they conquered _Perseus_ King of _Macedonia_, the fundamental kingdom of the _Greeks_. And at that time the transgressors came to the full: for then the High-priesthood was exposed to sale, the Vessels of the Temple were sold to pay for the purchase; and the High-priest, with some of the _Jews_, procured a licence from _Antiochus Epiphanes_ to do after the ordinances of the heathen, and set up a school at _Jerusalem_ for teaching those ordinances. Then _Antiochus_ took _Jerusalem_ with an armed force, slew 4000 _Jews_, took as many prisoners and sold them, spoiled the Temple, interdicted the worship, commanded the Law of _Moses_ to be burnt, and set up the worship of the heathen Gods in all _Judea_. In the very same year, _An. Nabonass._ 580, the _Romans_ conquered _Macedonia_, the chief of the four horns. Hitherto the Goat was mighty by its own power, but henceforward began to be under the _Romans_. _Daniel_ distinguishes the times, by describing very particularly the actions of the Kings of the north and south, those two of the four horns which bordered upon _Judea_, until the _Romans_ conquered _Macedonia_; and thenceforward only touching upon the main revolutions which happened within the compass of the nations represented by the Goat. In this latter period of time the little horn was to stand up and grow mighty, but not by his own power.

The three first of _Daniel_'s Beasts had their dominions taken away, each of them at the rise of the next Beast; but their lives were prolonged, and they are all of them still alive. The third Beast, or Leopard, reigned in his four heads, till the rise of the fourth Beast, or Empire of the _Latins_; and his life was prolonged under their power. This Leopard reigning in his four heads, signifies the same thing with the He-Goat reigning in his four horns: and therefore the He-Goat reigned in his four horns till the rise of _Daniel_'s fourth Beast, or Empire of the _Latins_: then its dominion was taken away by the _Latins_, but its life was prolonged under their power. The _Latins_ are not comprehended among the nations represented by the He-Goat in this Prophecy: their power over the _Greeks_ is only named in it, to distinguish the times in which the He-Goat was mighty by his own power, from the times in which he was mighty but not by his own power. He was mighty by his own power till his dominion was taken away by the _Latins_; after that, his life was prolonged under their dominion, and this prolonging of his life was in the days of his last horn: for in the days of this horn the Goat became mighty, but not by his own power.

Now because this horn was a horn of the Goat, we are to look for it among the nations which composed the body of the Goat. Among those nations he was to rise up and grow mighty: he grew mighty [4] _towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the pleasant land_; and therefore he was to rise up in the north-west parts of those nations, and extend his dominion towards _Egypt_, _Syria_ and _Judea_. In the latter time of the kingdom of the four horns, it was to rise up out of one of them and subdue the rest, but not by its own power. It was to be assisted by a foreign power, a power superior to itself, the power which took away the dominion of the third Beast, the power of the fourth Beast. And such a little horn was the kingdom of _Macedonia_, from the time that it became subject to the _Romans_. This kingdom, by the victory of the _Romans_ over _Persius_ King of _Macedonia_, _Anno Nabonass._ 580, ceased to be one of the four horns of the Goat, and became a dominion of a new sort: not a horn of the fourth Beast, for _Macedonia_ belonged to the body of the third; but a horn of the third Beast of a new sort, a horn of the Goat which grew mighty but not by his own power, a horn which rose up and grew potent under a foreign power, the power of the _Romans_.

The _Romans_, by the legacy of _Attalus_ the last King of _Pergamus_, _An. Nabonass._ 615, inherited that kingdom, including all _Asia Minor_ on this side mount _Taurus_. _An. Nabonass._ 684 and 685 they conquered _Armenia_, _Syria_ and _Judea_; _An. Nabonass._ 718, they subdued _Egypt_. And by these conquests the little horn [5] _waxed exceeding great towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the pleasant land. And it waxed great even to the host of heaven; and cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them_, that is, upon the people and great men of the _Jews_. [6] _Yea, he magnified himself even to the Prince of the Host_, the _Messiah_, the Prince of the _Jews_, whom he put to death, _An. Nabonass._ 780. _And by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down_, viz. in the wars which the armies of the _Eastern_ nations under the conduct of the _Romans_ made against _Judea_, when _Nero_ and _Vespasian_ were Emperors, _An. Nabonass._ 816, 817, 818. [7] _And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground, and it practised and prospered_. This transgression is in the next words called _the transgression of desolation_; and in _Dan._ xi. 31. _the abomination which maketh desolate_; and in _Matth._ xxiv. 15. _the abomination of desolation, spoken of by _Daniel_ the prophet, standing in the holy place_. It may relate chiefly to the worship of _Jupiter Olympius_ in his Temple built by the Emperor _Hadrian_, in the place of the Temple of the _Jews_, and to the revolt of the _Jews_ under _Barchochab_ occasioned thereby, and to the desolation of _Judea_ which followed thereupon; all the _Jews_, being thenceforward banished _Judea_ upon pain of death. _Then I heard_, saith [8] _Daniel, one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed._ _Daniel_'s days are years; and these years may perhaps be reckoned either from the destruction of the Temple by the _Romans_ in the reign of _Vespasian_, or from the pollution of the Sanctuary by the worship of _Jupiter Olympius_, or from the desolation of _Judea_ made in the end of the _Jewish_ war by the banishment of all the _Jews_ out of their own country, or from some other period which time will discover. Henceforward the last horn of the Goat continued mighty under the _Romans_, till the reign of _Constantine_ the great and his sons: and then by the division of the _Roman_ Empire between the _Greek_ and _Latin_ Emperors, it separated from the _Latins_, and became the _Greek_ Empire alone, but yet under the dominion of a _Roman_ family; and at present it is mighty under the dominion of the _Turks_.

This last horn is by some taken for _Antiochus Epiphanes_, but not very judiciously. A horn of a Beast is never taken for a single person: it always signifies a new kingdom, and the kingdom of _Antiochus_ was an old one. _Antiochus_ reigned over one of the four horns, and the little horn was a fifth under its proper kings. This horn was at first a little one, and waxed exceeding great, but so did not _Antiochus_. It is described great above all the former horns, and so was not _Antiochus_. His kingdom on the contrary was weak, and tributary to the _Romans_, and he did not enlarge it. The horn was a _King of fierce countenance, and destroyed wonderfully, and prospered and practised_; that is, he prospered in his practises against the holy people: but _Antiochus_ was frighted out of _Egypt_ by a mere message of the _Romans_, and afterwards routed and baffled by the _Jews_. The horn was mighty by another's power, _Antiochus_ acted by his own. The horn stood up against the Prince of the Host of heaven, the Prince of Princes; and this is the character not of _Antiochus_ but of _Antichrist_. The horn cast down the Sanctuary to the ground, and so did not _Antiochus_; he left it standing. The Sanctuary and Host were trampled under foot 2300 days; and in _Daniel_'s Prophecies days are put for years: but the profanation of the Temple in the reign of _Antiochus_ did not last so many natural days. These were to last till the time of the end, till the last end of the indignation against the _Jews_; and this indignation is not yet at an end. They were to last till the Sanctuary which had been cast down should be cleansed, and the Sanctuary is not yet cleansed.

This Prophecy of the Ram and He-Goat is repeated in the last Prophecy of _Daniel_. There the Angel tells _Daniel_, that [9] _he stood up to strengthen _Darius_ the _Mede_, and that there should stand up yet three kings in _Persia__, [_Cyrus_, _Cambyses_, and _Darius Hystaspis_] _and the fourth_ [_Xerxes_] _should be far richer than they all; and by his wealth thro' his riches he should stir up all against the realm of _Grecia__. This relates to the Ram, whose two horns were the kingdoms of _Media_ and _Persia_. Then he goes on to describe the horns of the Goat by the [10] _standing up of a mighty king, which should rule with great dominion, and do according to his will_; and by the breaking of his kingdom into four smaller kingdoms, and not descending to his own posterity. Then he describes the actions of two of those kingdoms which bordered on _Judea_, _viz_. _Egypt_ and _Syria_, calling them the Kings of the _South_ and _North_, that is, in respect of _Judea_; and he carries on the description till the latter end of the kingdoms of the four, and till the reign of _Antiochus Epiphanes_, when transgressors were come to the full. In the eighth year of _Antiochus_, the year in which he profaned the Temple and set up the heathen Gods in all _Judea_, and the _Romans_ conquered the kingdom of _Macedon_; the prophetic Angel leaves off describing the affairs of the kings of the _South_ and _North_, and begins to describe those of the _Greeks_ under the dominion of the _Romans_, in these words: [11] _And after him Arms_ [the _Romans_] _shall stand up, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength_. As [Hebrew: MMLK] signifies _after the king_, Dan. xi. 8; so here [Hebrew: MMNW] may signify _after him_: and so [Hebrew: MN-H'CHT] may signify _after one of them_, Dan. viii. 9. Arms are every where in these Prophecies of _Daniel_ put for the military power of a kingdom, and they stand up when they conquer and grow powerful. The _Romans_ conquered _Illyricum_, _Epirus_ and _Macedonia_, in the year of _Nabonassar_ 580; and thirty five years after, by the last will and testament of _Attalus_ the last King of _Pergamus_, they inherited that rich and flourishing kingdom, that is, all _Asia_ on this side mount _Taurus_: and sixty nine years after, they conquered the kingdom of _Syria_, and reduced it into a Province: and thirty four years after they did the like to _Egypt_. By all these steps the _Roman_ arms stood up over the _Greeks_. And after 95 years more, by making war upon the _Jews, they polluted the sanctuary of strength, and took away the daily sacrifice, and_, in its room soon after, _placed the abomination which made_ the Land _desolate_: for this abomination was placed after the days of Christ, _Matth._ xxiv. 15. In the 16th year of the Emperor _Hadrian_, A. C. 132, they placed this abomination by building a Temple to _Jupiter Capitolinus_, where the Temple of God in _Jerusalem_ had stood. Thereupon the _Jews_ under the conduct of _Barchochab_ rose up in arms against the _Romans_, and in that war had 50 cities demolished, 985 of their best towns destroyed, and 580000 men slain by the sword: and in the end of the war, A.C. 136, they were all banished _Judea_ upon pain or death; and that time the land hath remained desolate of its old inhabitants.

Now that the prophetic Angel passes in this manner from the four kingdoms of the _Greeks_ to the _Romans_ reigning over the _Greeks_, is confirmed from hence, that in the next place he describes the affairs of the _Christians_ unto the time of the end, in these words: [12] _And they that understand among the people shall instruct many, yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil many days. Now when they shall fall they shall be holpen with a little help_, _viz_. in the reign of _Constantine_ the great; _but many shall cleave to them with dissimulation. And some of them of understanding there shall fall to try them, and to purge_ them from the dissemblers; _and to make them white even to the time of the end_. And a little after, the time of the end is said to be _a time, times, and half a time_: which is the duration of the reign of the last horn of _Daniel_'s fourth Beast, and of the _Woman_ and her _Beast_ in the _Apocalyps_.

Notes to Chap. IX.

[1] Chap. viii. 3.

[2] Ver. 22.

[3] Ver. 23.

[4] Chap. viii. 9.

[5] Chap. viii. 9, 10.

[6] Ver. 11.

[7] Ver. 12.

[8] Ver. 13, 14.

[9] Dan. xi. 1, 2.

[10] Ver. 3.

[11] Dan xi. 31.

[12] Chap. xi. 33, &c.

* * * * *

CHAP. X.

_Of the Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks._

The Vision of the Image composed of four Metals was given first to _Nebuchadnezzar_, and then to _Daniel_ in a dream: and _Daniel_ began then to be celebrated for revealing of secrets, _Ezek._ xxviii. 3. The Vision of the four Beasts, and of _the Son of man_ coming in the clouds of heaven, was also given to _Daniel_ in a dream. That of the Ram and the He-Goat appeared to him in the day time, when he was by the bank of the river _Ulay_; and was explained to him by the prophetic Angel _Gabriel_. It concerns the _Prince of the host_, and the _Prince of Princes_: and now in the first year of _Darius_ the _Mede_ over _Babylon_, the same prophetic Angel appears to _Daniel_ again, and explains to him what is meant by the _Son of man_, by the _Prince of the host_, and the _Prince of Princes_. The Prophecy of the _Son of man_ coming in the clouds of heaven relates to the second coming of _Christ_; that of the _Prince of the host_ relates to his first coming: and this Prophecy of the _Messiah_, in explaining them, relates to both comings, and assigns the times thereof.

This Prophecy, like all the rest of _Daniel_'s, consists of two parts, an introductory Prophecy and an explanation thereof; the whole I thus translate and interpret.

[1] '_Seventy weeks are [2] cut out upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression, and [3] to make an end of sins, to expiate iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, to consummate the Vision and [4] the Prophet, and to anoint the most Holy_.

'_Know also and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to cause to return and to build _Jerusalem_, unto [5] the Anointed the Prince, shall be seven weeks_.

'_Yet threescore and two weeks shall [6] it return, and the street be built and the wall; but in troublesome times: and after the threescore and two weeks, the Anointed shall be cut off, and [6] it shall not be his; but the people of a Prince to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war, desolations are determined_.

'_Yet shall he confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in half a week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease: and upon a wing of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that which is determined be poured upon the desolate_.'

_Seventy weeks are cut out upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish transgression_, &c. Here, by putting a week for seven years, are reckoned 490 years from the time that the dispersed _Jews_ should be re-incorporated into [7] a people and a holy city, until the death and resurrection of _Christ_; whereby _transgression should be finished, and sins ended, iniquity be expiated, and everlasting righteousness brought in, and this Vision be accomplished, and the Prophet consummated_, that Prophet whom the _Jews_ expected; and whereby _the most Holy_ should be _anointed_, he who is therefore in the next words called the _Anointed_, that is, the _Messiah_, or the _Christ_. For by joining the accomplishment of the vision with the expiation of sins, the 490 years are ended with the death of _Christ_. Now the dispersed _Jews_ became a people and city when they first returned into a polity or body politick; and this was in the seventh year of _Artaxerxes Longimanus_, when _Ezra_ returned with a body of _Jews_ from captivity, and revived the _Jewish_ worship; and by the King's commission created Magistrates in all the land, to judge and govern the people according to the laws of God and the King, _Ezra_ vii. 25. There were but two returns from captivity, _Zerubbabel_'s and _Ezra_'s; in _Zerubbabel_'s they had only commission to build the Temple, in _Ezra_'s they first became a polity or city by a government of their own. Now the years of this _Artaxerxes_ began about two or three months after the summer solstice, and his seventh year fell in with the third year of the eightieth _Olympiad_; and the latter part thereof, wherein _Ezra_ went up to _Jerusalem_, was in the year of the _Julian Period_ 4257. Count the time from thence to the death of _Christ_, and you will find it just 490 years. If you count in _Judaic_ years commencing in autumn, and date the reckoning from the first autumn after _Ezra_'s coming to _Jerusalem_, when he put the King's decree in execution; the death of _Christ_ will fall on the year of the _Julian Period_ 4747, _Anno Domini_ 34; and the weeks will be _Judaic_ weeks, ending with sabbatical years; and this I take to be the truth: but if you had rather place the death of _Christ_ in the year before, as is commonly done, you may take the year of _Ezra_'s journey into the reckoning.

_Know also and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to cause to return and to build _Jerusalem_, unto the Anointed the Prince, shall be seven weeks_. The former part of the Prophecy related to the first coming of _Christ_, being dated to his coming as a Prophet; this being dated to his coming to be Prince or King, seems to relate to his second coming. There, the Prophet was consummate, and the most holy anointed: here, he that was anointed comes to be Prince and to reign. For _Daniel_'s Prophecies reach to the end of the world; and there is scarce a Prophecy in the Old Testament concerning _Christ_, which doth not in something or other relate to his second coming. If divers of the antients, as [8] _Irenæus_, [9] _Julius Africanus_, _Hippolytus_ the martyr, and _Apollinaris_ Bishop of _Laodicea_, applied the half week to the times of _Antichrist_; why may not we, by the same liberty of interpretation, apply the seven weeks to the time when _Antichrist_ shall be destroyed by the brightness of _Christ_'s coming?

The _Israelites_ in the days of the antient Prophets, when the ten Tribes were led into captivity, expected a double return; and that at the first the _Jews_ should build a new Temple inferior to _Solomon_'s, until the time of that age should be fulfilled; and afterwards they should return from all places of their captivity, and build _Jerusalem_ and the Temple gloriously, _Tobit_ xiv. 4, 5, 6: and to express the glory and excellence of this city, it is figuratively said to be built of precious stones, _Tobit_ xiii. 16, 17, 18. _Isa._ liv. 11, 12. _Rev._ xi. and called the _New Jerusalem_, the _Heavenly Jerusalem_, the _Holy City_, the _Lamb's Wife_, the _City of the Great King_, the _City into which the Kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour_. _Now_ while such a return from captivity was the expectation of _Israel_, even before the times of _Daniel_, I know not why _Daniel_ should omit it in his Prophecy. This part of the Prophecy being therefore not yet fulfilled, I shall not attempt a particular interpretation of it, but content myself with observing, that as the _seventy_ and the _sixty two weeks_ were _Jewish_ weeks, ending with sabbatical years; so the _seven weeks_ are the compass of a _Jubilee_, and begin and end with actions proper for a _Jubilee_, and of the highest nature for which a _Jubilee_ can be kept: and that since _the commandment to return and to build _Jerusalem__, precedes the _Messiah the Prince_ 49 years; it may perhaps come forth not from the _Jews_ themselves, but from some other kingdom friendly to them, and precede their return from captivity, and give occasion to it; and lastly, that this rebuilding of _Jerusalem_ and the waste places of _Judah_ is predicted in _Micah_ vii. 11. _Amos_ ix. 11, 14. _Ezek._ xxxvi. 33, 35, 36, 38. _Isa._ liv. 3, 11, 12. lv. 12. lxi. 4. lxv. 18, 21,22. and _Tobit_ xiv. 5. and that the return from captivity and coming of the _Messiah_ and his kingdom are described in _Daniel_ vii. _Rev._ xix. _Acts_ i. _Mat._ xxiv. _Joel_ iii. _Ezek._ xxxvi. xxxvii. _Isa._ lx. lxii. lxiii. lxv. and lxvi. and many other places of scripture. The manner I know not. Let time be the Interpreter.

_Yet threescore and two weeks shall it return, and the street be built and the wall, but in troublesome times: and after the threescore and two weeks the _Messiah_ shall be cut off, and it shall not be his; but the people of a Prince to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary_, &c. Having foretold both comings of _Christ_, and dated the last from their returning and building _Jerusalem_; to prevent the applying that to the building _Jerusalem_ by _Nehemiah_, he distinguishes this from that, by saying that from this period to the _Anointed_ shall be, not seven weeks, but threescore and two weeks, and this not in prosperous but in troublesome times; and at the end of these Weeks the _Messiah_ shall not be the Prince of the _Jews_, but be cut off; and _Jerusalem_ not be his, but the city and sanctuary be destroyed. Now _Nehemiah_ came to _Jerusalem_ in the 20th year of this same _Artaxerxes_, while _Ezra_ still continued there, _Nehem._