In the angel's interpretation of the vision Daniel was told: "The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia." Verse 20. "The higher came up last."
The two horns represented the dual character of the empire: first the Medes in ascendancy, then the Persians rising to yet greater power. "So that no beast might stand before him," says the prophecy.
History.—Xenophon says of Cyrus the Persian:
"He was able to extend the fear of himself over so great a part of the world that he astonished all, and no one attempted anything against him."—"The Cyropædia," book 1, chap. 1.
The line of Medo-Persian conquest was "westward, and northward, and southward," just as the prophet saw the ram pushing its way. As one pen wrote in the days of Persia's supremacy:
"He [Darius] showed the world arms glory-crowned."
"Towns untold before him fell."
"Burgs over sea ... heard from his lips their fate."
—"The Persians," by Æschylus.
But the ram pushing westward stirred up an antagonist that was eventually to overcome him. The prophet continues:
Prophecy.—"As I was considering, behold, a he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. And he came to the ram that had two horns,... and ran unto him in the fury of his power.... 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 none that could deliver the ram out of his hand." Verses 5-7.
The angel's interpretation continued: "The rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king." Verse 21.