Note.—Describing the Roman conquests, Gibbon uses the very imagery employed in the vision of Daniel 2. He says: “The arms of the republic, sometimes vanquished in battle, always victorious in war, advanced with rapid steps to the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and the ocean; and the images of gold, or silver, or brass, that might serve to represent the nations and their kings, were successively broken by the iron monarchy of Rome.”—“Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” chap. 38, par. I, under “General Observations,” at the close of the chapter.
18. What was indicated by the mixture of clay and iron in the feet and toes of the image?
“And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided.” Dan. 2:41.
19. In what prophetic language was the varying strength of the ten kingdoms of the divided empire indicated?
“And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken [margin, brittle].” Verse 42.
20. Were any efforts to be made to reunite the divided empire of Rome?
“And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.” Verse 43.
Notes.—Charlemagne, Charles V, Louis XIV, and Napoleon all tried to reunite the broken fragments of the Roman Empire, but failed. By marriage and intermarriage ties have been formed with a view to strengthening and cementing together the shattered kingdom; but none have succeeded. The element of disunion remains. Many political revolutions and territorial changes have occurred in Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 a.d.; but its divided state still remains.
This remarkable dream, as interpreted by Daniel, presents in the briefest form, and yet with unmistakable clearness, the course of world empires from the time of Nebuchadnezzar to the close of earthly history and the setting up of the everlasting kingdom of God. The history confirms the prophecy. The sovereignty of the world was held by Babylon from the time of this dream, b.c. 603, until b.c. 538, when it passed to the Medes and Persians. The victory of the Grecian forces at the battle of Arbela, in b.c. 331, marked the downfall of the Medo-Persian Empire, and the Greeks then became the undisputed rulers of the world. The battle of Pydna, in Macedonia, in b.c. 168, was the last organized effort to withstand a world-wide conquest by the Romans, and at that time therefore the sovereignty passed from the Greeks to the Romans, and the fourth kingdom was fully established. The division of Rome into ten kingdoms is definitely foretold in the vision recorded in the seventh chapter of Daniel, and occurred between the years 351 a.d. and 476 a.d.
21. What is to take place in the days of these kingdoms?