of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me. Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, and said, O man greatly beloved, fear not; peace be unto thee; be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me. Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone I forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. But I will show thee that which is noted in the Scripture of truth; and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince. I. 1.—Also I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and strengthen him. 2 And now will I shew thee the truth. Cambyses. B.C. 529. Smerdis. B.C. 522. Behold there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. Alexander the Great, B. C. 331. 3 And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. Cassander, B.C. 316. Lysimachus, B.C. 286. Ptolemy, B.C. 323; Seleucus Nicator, B.C. 312; kings of Macedon, Thrace, Egypt, and Syria. 4 And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others besides those. Ptolemy, king of the South, B.C. 305, and Seleucus, king of the North, B.C. 312, who annexed the kingdoms of Cassander and Lysimachus to his own, B.C. 281. 5 And the king of the south shall be strong, and one of his princes; and there shall be one strong above him, and have dominion, his dominion shall be a great dominion. The treaty of peace between Antiochus Theus and Ptolemy Philadelphus, by which the former agrees to divorce his sister and wife, Laodice, and marry Berenice the daughter of the latter, B.C. 252. On the death of Philadelphus, Theus, repudiating Berenice, takes back his former wife, Laodice, and is poisoned by her. Berenice and her young son, with many of her Egyptian at dants are slain by Callinicus, the son of Laodice, at instigation, B.C. 246; and her father, Philadelphus, o defended her, dies, B.C. 247. And in the end of years they shall join themselves together; for the king's daughter of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the power of the arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm but she shall be given up, and they that brought her, and whom she brought forth, and he that strengthened her in these times. Ptolemy Euergetes, Berenice's brother, slays Laodice turn, makes war upon Callinicus, takes from him hoenicia, Syria, Cilicia, and several of his Eastern pronces, carries back into Egypt 40,000 talents of silver d 2500 images of gods, among which were the gods Egypt carried away by Cambyses; survives Callinicus ur years. 7 But out of a branch of her roots shall one stand up in his stead, which shall come with an army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall 8 prevail; and shall also carry captive into Egypt their gods, with their molten images, and with their precious vessels of silver and of gold; and he shall continue more years than the king of the 9 north. So the king of the south shall come into his kingdom, and shall return into his own land. Seleucus Ceraunus and Antiochus Magnus, the sons f Callinicus raise a great army against the revolted king f Pergamos, B.C. 225. Seleucus being poisoned by two of his generals, Antiochus Magnus, B.C. 223, carrying on the war and having recovered almost all Asia-Minor, Media, Persia, and Babylonia, invades and recovers a great part of Cole-Syria, B.C. 221. In the year following, B.C. 220, he returns, marches to the frontier towns of Egypt, and beats the army of Ptolemy Philopator, who in B.C. 222, had succeeded his father Euergetes in Egypt. 10 But his sons shall be stirred up, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces: and one shall certainly come, and overflow, and pass through. Then shall he return, and be stirred up, even to his fortress. But Ptolemy Philopator coming out of Egypt with an army of 75,000 men, fights and routs Antiochus Magnus with his 78,000 men at Raphia near Gaza, between Palestine and Egypt, and recovers all Phoenicia and Cole-Syria. 11 And the king of the south shall be moved with choler, and shall come forth and fight with them, even with the king of the north and he shall set forth a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into his hand. Philopator, after his victory, lifted up by pride and presumption, visits Jerusalem, offers sacrifices in the temple, attempts to enter into the sanctuary, and, while passing through the inner court, falls speechless to the ground, and is carried off half dead. Departing with heavy displeasure against the Jews, his own subjects, he commenced, B.C. 216, a cruel and impolitic persecution against them, in which, according to Eusebius, 40,000 of them, or, according to Jerom, 60,000 were slain. 12 And when he hath taken away the multitude, his heart shall be lifted up; and he shall cast down many ten thousands: but he shall not be strengthened by it. Antiochus Magnus 12 years afterwards, after the death of Philopator, comes against his son, Ptolemy Epiphanes. 13 For the king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former, and shall certainly come after certain years with a great army and with much riches. About the same time the Egyptian provinces rebel against Ptolemy Epiphanes; Egypt itself is disturbed by seditions; Philip, king of Macedon, enters into a league with Antiochus to divide Ptolemy's dominions between them. The refractory Jews affect independence, but fall by Scopas the Egyptian general. 14 And in those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the revolters of thy people shall exalt themselves to establish the vision; but they shall fall. So Antiochus Magnus 12 years afterwards, after the death of Philopator, comes against his infant son, Ptolemy Epiphanes, seizes Phoenicia, Judea, and Cole-Syria, B.C. 203, and though he loses them again to Scopas the Egyptian general, B.C. 199, yet in the following year, B.C. 198, he recovers them, and takes Sidon, a fortified city, so that neither Scopas, nor the choicest troops sent against Antiochus, can prevail against him. His authority also becomes established in Judea, which flourishes under him. But desirous of seizing the whole kingdom of Egypt he gives his daughter, Cleopatra, to Ptolemy, B.C. 192, that she might betray her husband's interests to him; but she is more attached to Ptolemy than her father, and joins her husband in an embassy to |