moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns, and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him; and there was pone that could deliver the ram out of his hand.

Therefore the he-goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken: and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.

And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.

And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.

Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.

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.

Then I heard 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.

And it came to pass, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, and sought for the meaning, then, behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.

And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.

So he came near where I stood: and when he came

I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end shall be the vision.

Now as he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright.

And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end shall be.

The ram which thou sawest having two horns, are the kings of Media and Persia.

And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in his power.

And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people.

And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand: and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the PRINCE of princes: but he shall be broken without hand.

And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision: for it shall be for many days.

And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it.

ANNOTATIONS AND REFLECTIONS.

This prophecy evidently relates to the Persian and Grecian monarchies. The emblems here given of these kingdoms will appear highly proper, if we consider that a ram or a ram's head was the royal ensign of the Persians, and that the Greeks of Macedonia were called Egiada, or the people of the goat, for 200 years be fore the time of Daniel. Caraunus, their founder, settled in a place where there was a flock of goats, and from thence called his settlement goat's town, and made the figure of a goat his ensign. We shall soon see how literally this prophecy was accomplished.

Artaxerxes-Mnemon, one of the sons of DariusNothus succeeded him in the throne. The reign of this king is long, and full of interesting events; but we must confine ourselves to the Jewish history.

In the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes died Jehoiada the high-priest, who was succeeded by his son Jehonan, called also Jonathan, who held it thirty-two years. Je shua, his brother, by means of the governor of Syria, obtained a grant of the priesthood for himself, and went to take possession; which occasioned a great contention, and Jehonan killed Jeshua in the inner court of the temple. The governor of Syria was exceedingly enraged at this action, and, coming up to Jerusalem, obliged the priests to pay out of the public treasury a very considerable tax: but they were at his death relieved from it. Jaddua, the son of Jehonan, succeeded his father as high-priest of the Jews.

Towards the latter end of the reign of Artaxerxes, great disturbances arose in the Persian empire, occa sioned by the contentions of his sons about the succession; for he had a numerous family. At length the

poor old king, who was upwards of ninety-four years of age, died of grief.

throne.

Artaxerxes-Ochus, one of his sons, succeeded to the This monarch was the cruellest and worst of all the Persian kings.

The Sidonians, and other Phoenicians, revolted, and entered into a confederacy with the king of Egypt; but Artaxerxes subdued them all. The Sidonians were betrayed into his hands by their own king; and, finding there was no way to escape either by sea or land, they retired to their houses, and, setting fire to them over their heads, were all consumed to the number of forty thousand men, besides women and children. Artaxerxes, having no farther need of the king of Sidon, caused him to be put to death: there were vast riches in Sidon at the time of this calamity, which being all melted down by the flames, Artaxerxes sold the ashes for a considerable sum of money.

The Jews seem to have engaged with the Phoenicians against Artaxerxes: for, after the destruction of Sidon, he marched into Judea, besieged and took Jericho, and making many of the Jews captive, led them into Egypt and other parts.

Artaxerxes at length subdued all the revolted provinces, and then gave himself up to luxury and dissi pation, and left the management of public affairs to ministers. After he had reigned twenty-one years, he was poisoned by Bagoas his favourite.

Upon the death of Artaxerxes-Ochus, Arses, the son of that monarch was made king by Bagoas, who put all the king's sons to death. The name of king was all that remained to Arses, for the power and authority Bagoas reserved to himself.

About this time PHILIP of Macedon, was made commander in chief of all the Grecian cities and states for

carrying

carrying on a war against the Persians; but, before he could set out on the expedition, he was slain at home by a young nobleman, whose injuries he had neglected to redress; and was succeeded by his son Alexander, who was then about twenty-one years old.

Arses, king of Persia, was slain by the treachery of Bagoas, who then placed on the throne Darius the Third, distinguished in history by the name of Darius Codomanus.

Bagoas, not finding him such an one as would answer his purpose, resolved to poison him; but Darius being apprised of it, obliged him to drink the deadly potion himself, and became settled in the kingdom without any farther difficulty.

Darius Codomanus is said to have been the handsomest man in the Persian empire, very valiant, and of a mild and generous disposition: he was scarcely seated on the throne, before Alexander, king of Macedon, prepared to drive him from it.

The prophecy of Daniel, contained in this Section, respecting the conquest of Persia by the Greeks, gives one a lively image of the contest between the two kingdoms: one part of it evidently related to Alexander. The notable horn certainly meant Alexander the Great, as the following account of him, extracted from authentic authors, will evince.

Alexander, shortly after his father's death, was de. clared general of the Greeks; and marched into Persia with an army, consisting of no more than thirty thou. sand foot, and four thousand horse, furnished only with a sum sufficient to subsist his army for thirty days. He encountered the Persian army at the river Granicus, and gained a great victory over them, though they were five times his number, and got possession of several provinces, and a great deal of treasure. After this,