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"This prodigious apparatus of war, this mass of nations and of the whole East which you have assembled, may be terrible to your neighbours; Purple and gold shine so much among your troops, that they, who have not seen it, could not believe it. But the fierce and hardy troops of the Macedonians, with their shields and spears keep immoveably close together, and firmly maintain their ranks. Their phalanx is a body of foot that does not flinch. Man stands close and firm with man, arms with arms. Intent upon the signal of the commander, they well know how to follow their standards or to keep their ranks. All hear the word of command: nor are the officers more skilled than the common soldiers how to change, to flank, to run to the right or left, or to change their front and attack the enemy.

Nor do you imagine they are affected by a regard for gold and silver; for this their discipline has hitherto subsisted under the tuition of poverty. When fatigued the ground is their bed; when hungry, any food will satisfy them. They indulge in sleep but for a short time. Shall I believe then, that the Thessalian, Acarnanian, and Ætolian cavalry, troops invincible in battle, are to be repelled by slings, and by sticks hardened at the end by burning. You must have troops like them. You must send for auxiliaries from that country in which they were brought up. Employ, therefore this gold and silver to obtain such soldiers." w

From this speech, we may have a very clear idea of of the state of the Grecian and Persian armies. The former were well disciplined; few, but full of energy: and strength; firm and inpenetrable as a wall of brass

Q. Curt. Lib. 3 C. 5.

While the latter, were vast in number and gorgeous in dress; but ill disciplined, weak, and effeminate. But the propriety of the application of the term brass to the Grecian empire, will be still more evident from their armour; much of which had been, for many ages, made of that metal.

The arms of all the primitive Grecian heroes (Potter's Ant. B. 3. C. 4) were composed of brass, as appears from Homer. It is reported in Plutarch that when Cimon the son of Miltiades, conveyed the bones of Theseus from the isle of Scyros to Athens, he found interred with him a sword of brass, and a spear with a head of the same metal. Hesiod expressly says, that there was no such thing as iron in those days; but their arms, all sorts of instruments, and their very houses were made of brass :

Nor yet to men iron discovered was;

But arms, tools, houses were compos'd of brass. Several other metals were made use of; gold and silver were in great esteem among them-But they, whose whole armour was composed of them, are usually represented as more addicted to effeminate and delicate arts, than manly courage and bravery. Glaucus' arms were indeed made of gold, but the great Diomedes was content with brass. The Persians addicted to softness and pleasure, and richly adorned with gold and Jewels, soon became a prey to the rough and hardy Grecians.

In Homer a very common appellation for the Greeks is, "the brazen coated Greeks: " and Xenophon tells us ( Anabasis lib. I.) that in the expedition of Cyrus, the Greeks, "had all brazen helmets." Many other instances might be adduced of the great use of brass among the Greeks, but these are quite sufficient to

shew the propriety of the application of the term to them.

The second particular, by which the Grecian empire is distinguished, is its extent; for (v. 39) it "shall bear rule over all the earth."

The same observations which we made use of to explain the terms, by which the extent of the Babylonian empire is defined by Daniel, will also apply to these respecting the Grecian. The whole is put for a very large part; and still more, that which Alexander did conquer, and the people from whom he received acts of submission bore a very considerable proportion to the world as known by the ancients.

The extent of the Grecian empire is insisted upon by many authors. The writer of the first book of Maccabees (1 Mac. i. 3) says of Alexander, that he "went through to the ends of the earth, and took spoils of many nations, insomuch that the earth was quiet before him." Justin says, that he entered the mouth of the Indus, as in a chariot driven round the goal, having fixed the bounds of his empire, as far as the habitable parts of the earth would permit him to advance, or the sea was navigable. Ambassadors waited upon him from the most distant nations to own their submission, or to intreat his friendship. His dominion extended over much of Europe; more of Asia than had ever yielded to the Persian arms became subject to his sway, and the wilds of Africa as well as the fertile kingdom of Egypt formed a part of his empire.

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iv. But all human power must decay; the Grecian Phalanx was to be subdued by the Roman legion, and conquerors of the Persians were, in their turn, to

yield to the soldiers of Italy. For, "the fourth kingdom (v. 40) shall be strong as Iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise."

The properties, by which the fourth kingdom is described, are of such a nature, as clearly to prove that the Roman empire is the fourth kingdom. But to set this in a clear light, it may be necessary to give an abstract of those arguments, by which the great Master in those subjects, the very learned Mede, has proved that the fourth kingdom must be the Roman empire.

In the first ages of the church it was believed, without any known contradiction, for four hundred years, that the Roman was the fourth empire of Daniel: Nor was this opinion held only after the times of our Saviour; for it was maintained by the church of Israel prior to his coming upon earth. It is acknowledged without contradiction, that the kingdom which God was to set up, is the kingdom of the Messiah, or the dispensation of the Gospel. But this kingdom was to commence during the series of the four kingdoms; for (v. 44) "in the days of these kings, or kingdoms, shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed." Now who does not know, that Christ was born in the reign of Augustus, when all the world (Luke ii. 1) was ordered by him to be taxed, or enrolled? It is well known, that Christ was not born in the times of the Grecian, the third empire, but in the times of the Roman; and therefore the Roman must be the fourth empire. Thirty years before the birth of Christ, Egypt, the last remains of the Grecian empire, was reduced under the Roman yoke, and became a province of that iron empire; so that it is

plain, from the time in which the kingdom of the Messiah was to commence, that the Roman empire was Daniel's fourth kingdom, since the third had ceased to exist before Christ's birth. y

As iron is the metal, by which almost all other metals are wrought; so the Roman empire is compared to it, because of its strength and power, and of the grievous oppression it inflicted upon the nations of the earth. The histories, which the Romans themselves have left us of their affairs, clearly shew, that their constant object was to make Rome the mistress of the world. Power and conquest were incessantly aimed at under the various forms of government which they assumed. Every individual of distinction considered his own glory connected with the glory of the empire; and, therefore, felt anxious for its extension and duration. After the expulsion of Tarquin their last king, they appointed two annual consuls, whose very temporary power served as an incentive to the greatest exertions for obtaining personal glory to themselves, and increase of territory to the empire. They knew their time of office was short, and hence they were the more anxious to signalize themselves.

In the early times of the Roman empire, the severity of the people's manners and discipline made them like iron against their foes; and in the later periods, their vices of luxury, prodigality, and cruelty, made them the very grinders of the human race, for the provinces were plundered to maintain their extravagance. The description which Sallust has given of the Romans, both in the first and later ages of the commonwealth, might be considered as a comment almost purposely written to explain Daniel's words,

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