Chapter II.
THE ROMAN DOMINION.
An understanding of the Scriptures does not depend upon access to other books, or reference to historical records outside the limits of the Bible. The Word of God is its own interpreter, and all that is needed for our establishment in the faith is contained in its pages. On the other hand, the Bible throws light upon history not recorded therein, and it is with that in view that we give certain historical outlines in dealing with our subject.
The first part of the prophet's description of the fourth kingdom is as follows: "The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that crusheth all these, shall it break in pieces and crush" (v. 40). A similar description is given in his account of a subsequent vision, in which he saw four great beasts coming up from the sea. In this vision the Roman kingdom again was undoubtedly symbolised by the fourth beast. This beast he describes as "terrible and powerful, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet" (7. 7). So, again, in the words of the interpretation: "The fourth beast shall be a fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces" (v. 23). Now all this exactly depicts the Roman power in its subjugation and control of the nations which eventually composed its empire. In the light, then, of these prophecies we give a brief sketch of its rise and conquests.
The Rise and Progress of the Roman Empire.
The Romans, who early in the third century B.C. had become masters of all Italy, save in the extreme north, were drawn into a course of conquest beyond the limits of their own country by the rivalry of the rapidly advancing power of Carthage in North Africa. Carthage, a city founded some centuries earlier by Phœnician colonists from Tyre and Sidon, had at length become the capital of a great North African empire, stretching from Tripoli to the Atlantic Ocean, and embracing settlements elsewhere in countries and islands of the Mediterranean. These settlements included the greater part of Sicily, and that island, situated between the rival nations, became the first bone of contention between them. The precise cause of the struggle must not occupy us here, but the circumstances which decided the Roman Government, in 264 B.C., upon an invasion of Sicily were of the deepest significance in the history of the world. By the year 242 Sicily was subdued. In the following year the island was ceded by Carthage, and the extension of Roman dominion beyond Italy was begun. The war continued intermittently, with many vicissitudes, for a century, but eventually the Carthagians were overwhelmingly defeated by land and sea. "Think you that Carthage or that Rome will be content, after the victory, with its own country and Sicily?" said a Greek orator, while the issues of the struggle in its earliest stage were yet in the balance. Rome's vast ambition, and her abundant means of gratifying it, justified the orator's fears. The islands of Sardinia and Corsica were shortly afterwards seized.
Defeated in Sicily, Carthage extended her dominions in Spain and made that country a base for marching through Gaul to attack the Romans from the north. Though their renowned leader Hannibal met with success, their effort was doomed to failure. Meanwhile Roman armies had pushed into Spain. After a fierce struggle of thirteen years the Carthagians were completely overcome there, and Spain soon became a Roman province. By the decisive battle of Zama, in North Africa, in 202, Carthage and its territories became tributary, and thus all the western Mediterranean passed under the supremacy of Rome. Eventually in 146, as a result of a final war, Carthage was razed to the ground, and its North African kingdom was constituted a Roman province under the name of Africa. War with the Celts in North Italy, commencing the next year, resulted in the extension of the boundary to the Alps, and countries beyond began to feel the terror of the Roman name.
Eastward Extension.
The second century B.C. witnessed the spread of the iron rule eastward. The Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great, the third mentioned in Daniel's interpretation, had embraced all the countries surrounding the eastern half of the Mediterranean and had stretched far beyond the Euphrates. The disintegration of Alexander's empire after his death prepared the way for the Romans. Macedonia, the former seat of that empire, was their first great objective. A pretext for war was soon forthcoming, and war was actually declared in 200 B.C. A series of struggles ensued, and Macedonia was not finally subdued for over thirty years. Meanwhile matters had developed in Greece and Asia Minor. In the latter country Antiochus III., the Great, who had also conquered Syria and Palestine, was seeking to extend his dominions. Cities and states of Asia Minor, however, groaning under the tyranny of Antiochus, appealed to Rome for aid. The Romans declared war against him in 192 B.C. The first conflict occurred in Greece, which was largely under his influence. An early victory secured the submission of the Greek states. Antiochus retreated into Asia Minor, and was finally crushed at Magnesia in 190. The whole of Asia Minor was then surrendered to Rome. Actual possession was postponed and local government was largely granted both there and in Greece. But that policy proved impracticable, and the force of circumstances compelled a forward movement to universal empire. There was no such thing as the balance of power in the ancient world. Once a country became predominant there was nothing for it but the subjugation of its neighbours. The extension of Rome's dominions eastward was a fulfilment of a destiny beyond its own control. The reverent student of Scripture sees in the course of these events the unfolding of God's plans and the fulfilment of His Word.
The final campaign against the Macedonians was opened in 169 B.C., and in the next year they were overwhelmed at the decisive battle of Pydna. Macedonia and the adjacent state of Illyria became tributary, and eventually were reduced to Roman provinces.
The Romans then felt the necessity of definitely annexing Greece. Seventy towns in that country were plundered and 150,000 inhabitants were sold into slavery. Antiochus IV., Epiphanes, was now king of Syria and Palestine, and had possessed himself of almost the whole of Egypt. Such was the effect of the battle of Pydna, however, that he was at once compelled to hand over Egypt to the conquerors, and that country became a Roman protectorate. Syria passed under Roman control at the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, in 164, and by the end of a few decades all the states of Asia Minor had been incorporated.
Thus by the middle of this century the Republic of Rome had gained ascendancy east and west. Its senate was recognised by the civilised world as "the supreme tribunal for kings and nations." Early in the next century Dalmatia and Thrace were subdued, and the latter was incorporated in the province of Macedonia. Wars with Mithradates, King of Pontus, Cappadocia and Armenia, resulted in the conquest of all his territories, and provinces were formed out of the states from thence westward to the Ægean sea.
Palestine Annexed.
This century saw the actual interference of Rome in the affairs of Judæa. Syria had been made a province in 65 B.C. by the Roman General Pompey, and from thence he intervened in a strife which had for some time been raging amongst the leaders of the Jews. In 63 he marched an army into Judæa and took Jerusalem. At the final assault upon the Temple 12,000 Jews perished. Judæa thus passed under the iron heel.
As a result of the wars of Cæsar in north-western Europe, in 58-51 B.C., what are now Switzerland, France, and Belgium were subdued and Britain was invaded. By Cæsar also Roman authority in Africa was consolidated across the entire length of the north of the continent. The conquests of Rome as a Republic were complete. The Mediterranean had become a "Roman lake."
The Empire Completed.
In 27 B.C. the purely Republican form of constitution was abolished, and the government of the Roman world was concentrated in the hands of an Emperor, the Cæsar Augustus of Luke 2.1. In his reign were fulfilled the prophecies foretelling the Birth of Christ. When the Prince of Peace was born in Bethlehem the din of strife was hushed throughout the empire, and Rome, under the restraining hand of God, ceased for a time its warring. By Augustus the northern territories of the empire were extended to practically the entire length of the Danube. The greater part of Britain became a province under Claudius. A later Emperor, Trajan, added, at the beginning of the second century A.D., the province of Dacia, covering what are now Transylvania and most of Roumania. Under Marcus Aurelius (161-180) a large part of Mesopotamia was finally annexed.
This completes the actual conquests of the Romans. We will now note certain characteristics of their method of subjugation, viewed in the light of Daniel's prophecy concerning the fourth kingdom, that, like iron, it would "break in pieces and crush."
The Crushing of the Nations.
The crushing process was evidenced in many ways, and especially by the establishment of a general system of slavery, which almost everywhere supplanted free labour. Slave-hunting and slave-dealing became a profession. To such an extent were they carried on at one period that certain provinces were well nigh depopulated. We are told that at the great slave-market in the island of Delos, off Greece, as many as ten thousand slaves were disembarked in the morning and bought up before the evening of the same day. Chained gangs worked under overseers and were confined in prison at night. To take an instance of the extreme rigour of the laws regulating the traffic, it is recorded by the historian Tacitus, that once, when the Prefect of Rome had been killed by one of his slaves, of whom he owned a vast number, the whole of his slaves, many of them women and children, were executed together, in accordance with an ancient law. That event took place about the time, apparently, at which the Apostle Paul arrived at Rome.
But not only were the nations ground down by slavery, the pages of Roman history abound in records of wholesale massacre and butchery. We may note, for instance, Luke's statement of Pilate's slaughter of Galilæans while they were sacrificing (Luke 13. 1). Records abound, too, of grossly burdensome taxation and financial exactions, in which the Romans outdid all tyrants that had preceded them. Usury flourished in the last century as it had never done before. Four per cent. per month was an ordinary exaction for a loan to a community. On one occasion a Roman banker, who had a claim on the municipality of Salamis, in Cyprus, kept its council blockaded until five of its members died of hunger.
By these methods the provinces of the empire were at one period reduced to a condition of unsurpassed misery. Nothing could more vividly describe the course of such a kingdom and the control exercised by it than the words of Daniel quoted above.
The Twofold Division.
This fourth kingdom was destined to be divided; and in two respects, territorial and constitutional. The territorial division was indicated by the symbolism of the legs and feet of the image of Nebuchadnezzar's vision; the constitutional division was declared in Daniel's interpretation concerning the iron and clay (v. 40). The former of these divisions claims our consideration first. Territorially the kingdom would be first divided into two parts corresponding with the legs of the image. This actually took place in the fourth century of the present era.
The Roman Empire had continued in a more or less united condition for over three centuries after the accession of its first Emperor, Augustus, in 27 B.C., though various signs of a coming division manifested themselves. It was not unusual, for instance, for an emperor to appoint an associate with himself in the imperial rank, and on one occasion Maximian, who thus became associated with Diocletian in A.D. 288, actually established his seat of government at Nicomedia, in Asia Minor. Constantine (323-337) united the empire under his sole rule, but paved the way for the final separation of east from west by founding, in 328, the city of Constantinople as a second Rome, after his own name, and establishing it as an eastern centre of government with its own legislative institutions. This arrangement was favoured by several conditions, national and otherwise, which characterised the countries of the eastern half as distinct from those of the western.
At the death of Constantine, in 337, his dominions were divided among his three sons, a division, however, which lasted but a brief time. The empire was in 353 again united under Constantius, the survivor of the three. The long impending division into two parts took place under Valentinian I., in the year of his accession, 364. Yielding to the wish of his soldiers that he should associate a colleague with himself, he placed his brother Valens in power in the east, with headquarters at Constantinople, he himself retaining control over the west.
The Tenfold Division.
Prophetic Scriptures show that the Roman Empire would be further divided. Now while the ten toes of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream have not improperly been regarded as indicative of a tenfold division, the fact that the image had ten toes would be insufficient of itself to signify this, for the toes are naturally essential to a complete human figure. Moreover, the hands and their fingers, equally essential parts, have no territorial significance attached to them. The conclusion regarding the toes is, however, justified when we find the tenfold division abundantly confirmed by other Scriptures.
Thus the fourth beast in the vision in chapter 7, which, as we have seen, likewise symbolised the Roman kingdom, is described as having ten horns (v. 7). The interpretation clearly tells us what these are: "And as for the ten horns, out of the kingdom (the fourth) shall ten kings arise" (v. 24). The Apocalypse gives us further information regarding this division, unfolding with increasing clearness the details connected with it. In one of the visions given to the apostle John, he sees "a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns" (Rev. 12. 3). The meaning of the ten horns is not there explained. We are told that the great dragon is "the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world" (v. 9). Turning now to the next chapter, we find another vision recorded, giving a fresh view of the same subject. A beast was seen "coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy" (chap. 13. 1). Again an explanation of the ten horns is withheld, but that they are identical with those of the twelfth chapter is undeniable. The Apostle receives, however, a further vision, recorded in chapter 17: "I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns" (chap. 17. 3). And now the symbolism of the horns is explained: "the ten horns that thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but they receive authority as kings, with the beast, for one hour. These have one mind, and they give their power and authority unto the beast" (vv. 12, 13).
We are now concerned, of course, solely with the tenfold division of the empire; other details of the visions just referred to remain for later consideration. We cannot fail to see that what is symbolised by the ten toes of the image, and by the ten horns of the fourth beast as revealed to Daniel, is identical with what is symbolised by the ten horns of the dragon and of the beast seen by John, namely, the Roman kingdom in its ultimately divided condition.
A Comparison of the Visions.
The following points are noteworthy in comparing these visions relatively to the tenfold division. First, there is a parallelism in the order of the revelations given to the two seers, Daniel and John. A preliminary vision is given to each—more than one in the case of John—in which, in the matter of this territorial partition, symbols occur without explanation. Each then receives a further vision, in the interpretation of which the eventual division into ten kingdoms is plainly disclosed. To Daniel it is said: "As for the ten horns, out of the kingdom shall ten kings arise;" and to John: "The ten horns that thou sawest are ten kings, ... which receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour."
Second, the ten kingdoms are seen to be contemporaneous, as is indicated by the co-existence of the ten horns of the beast, and further, by the fact that the ten kings mutually agree to a certain line of policy in handing over their authority to a supreme potentate (Rev. 17. 12, 13).
Third, it is evident that the fourth kingdom is the last of the Gentile world-powers, and that it will exist in its tenfold state at the end of the times of the Gentiles. We observed this above in the case of the image, from the fact that the stone, symbolising the kingdom of Christ, smote the image upon its toes. So now, in the vision of the four beasts, it is the fourth beast that is slain, his body destroyed, and given to be burned (Dan. 7. 11). The Personal Agent of this destruction is here made known: "I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of Heaven One like unto a son of man, and He came even to the Ancient of Days, ... and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him: His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed" (vv. 13, 14). The finality of the fourth kingdom is clearer still from the interpretation given in the remainder of the chapter. The final world-ruler is, of course, prominent in this vision; in his destruction is involved the destruction of his kingdom; his power and aggression are terminated when the Ancient of Days comes (v. 22); then it is that "the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him" (vv. 26, 27). Similarly, again, in Revelation 13 and 17, in the corresponding visions of the beast and its ten horns, the ten kings and their federal head, ruling at the time of the end, "shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and they also shall overcome that are with Him, called and chosen and faithful" (Rev. 17. 14).
The crushing of the image by the stone, the slaying of the fourth beast before the Ancient of Days, and the conquest of the ten kings and their chief by the Lamb, are therefore different views of the same event. The tenfold division of the fourth kingdom is obviously still future, and marks the condition of the world-government at the close of the times of the Gentiles, and immediately prior to the kingdom of Christ.
The Testimony of Early Christian Writers.
That the Roman Empire would in its final form be divided into ten kingdoms was held by Christian writers of the earliest post-apostolic times. Their opinions are here given, not as forming any basis of exposition, but as expressions of early Christian conception of the Scriptures under consideration.
What is known as "The Epistle of Barnabas," probably written early in the second century A.D., quotes from Daniel concerning the ten kingdoms to show that they would exist at the consummation of the present age. Irenæus (circa A.D. 120-202), a disciple of Polycarp, who had been a companion of the apostle John, observes that "the ten toes are ten kings, among whom the kingdom will be divided." Tertullian, a contemporary of Irenæus, remarks that "the disintegration and dispersion of the Roman State among the ten kings will produce Antichrist, and then shall be revealed that Wicked One, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the brightness of His manifestation." Hippolytus, who was a follower of Irenæus, and flourished in the first half of the third century, makes similar reference to the ultimate division. Lactantius, of the latter half of the third and the early part of the fourth centuries, writes as follows: "The Empire will be sub-divided, and the powers of government, after being frittered away and shared among many, will be undermined. Civil discords will then ensue, nor will there be respite from destructive wars, until ten kings arise at once, who will divide the world among themselves to consume rather than to govern it." Cyril (circa 315-386), who became bishop of Jerusalem in 350, quoting from Daniel, and speaking of the Empire and its future division, implies that teaching on the subject was customary in the churches. Jerome (342-420) observes that "at the end of the world, when the kingdom of the Romans is to be destroyed, there will be ten kings to divide the Roman world among themselves." Similarly writes Theodoret in the fifth century, and others of that time make more or less direct reference to the subject. While the views of these writers differ considerably on other points of detail, all are unanimous as to the eventual division of the Empire among ten contemporaneous potentates.
Processes at Work Since the Twofold Division.
The mediæval and modern history of the lands originally constituting the Roman Empire is a history of the formation of independent states in such a way as to point to the eventual revival of the Empire in the tenfold division we have been considering. The process has been a long and involved one, for the counsels of God have had a far wider range than the mere shaping of national destiny. It has been the Divine pleasure, for instance, that the Gospel should be spread among all nations for the purpose of taking out from among them a people for the Name of Christ, and for the formation thereby of His Church. In contradistinction to this, and from the standpoint of the world itself, which, though under God's control, remains in alienation from Him, there has been a gradual development of the political, social, and religious principles which are ultimately to permeate the nations.