25. Then he says: “A fourth beast, dreadful and terrible; it had iron teeth and claws of brass.” And who are these but the Romans? which (kingdom) is meant by the iron—the kingdom which is now established; for the legs of that (image) were of iron. And after this, what remains, beloved, but the toes of the feet of the image, in which part is iron and part clay, mixed together? And mystically by the toes of the feet he meant the kings who are to arise from among them; as Daniel also says (in the words), “I considered the beast, and lo there were ten horns behind it, among which shall rise another (horn), an offshoot, and shall pluck up by the roots the three (that were) before it.” And under this was signified none other than Antichrist, who is also himself to raise the kingdom of the Jews.  He says that three horns are plucked up by the root by him, viz., the three kings of Egypt, and Libya, and Ethiopia, whom he cuts off in the array of battle. And he, after gaining terrible power over all, being nevertheless a tyrant,61    For ὅμως = nevertheless, Gudius suggests ὠμός = savage. shall stir up tribulation and persecution against men, exalting himself against them. For Daniel says: “I considered the horn, and behold that horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, till the beast was slain and perished, and its body was given to the burning of fire.”62    Dan. vii. 21, 11.

[25] ἔπειτα, φησίν, ”θηρίον τέταρτον φοβερὸν καὶ ἔκθαμβον: οἱ ὀδόντες αὐτοῦ σιδηροῖ καὶ οἱ ὄνυχες αὐτοῦ χαλκοῖ.” τίνες οὗτοι ἀλλ' ἢ οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι: ὅπερ ἐστὶν ὁ σίδηρος, ἡ νῦν ἐνεστῶσα βασιλεία. „αἱ κνῆμαι γὰρ αὐτῆς„, φησίν, ”σιδηραῖ.” μετὰ γὰρ τοῦτο τί περιλείπεται, ἀγαπητέ, ἀλλ' ἢ τὰ ἴχνη τῶν ποδῶν τῆς εἰκόνος, ἐν οἷς „μέρος μέν τι ἐστὶ σιδηροῦν, μέρος δέ τι ὀστράκινον, ἀναμεμιγμένον εἰς ἄλληλα.„ μυστικῶς ἐδήλωσε διὰ τῶν δακτύλων τῶν ποδῶν τοὺς δέκα βασιλεῖς τοὺς ἐξ αὐτῆς ἐγειρομένους, ἅπερ λέγει Δανιὴλ ”προσενόουν τῷ θηρίῳ καὶ ἰδοὺ δέκα κέρατα ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ, ἐν οἷς ἀναβήσεται ἕτερον μικρὸν ὡς παραφυάδιον, καὶ τρία τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἐκριζώσει”, ὅπερ δέδεικται οὐχ ἕτερος ἀλλ' ἢ ὁ ἀντίχριστος ὁ ἐγειρόμενος, ὃς καὶ αὐτὸς τὴν Ἰουδαίων βασιλείαν ἀναστήσει. τρία δὲ κέρατα λέγων ὑπ' αὐτοῦ ἐκριζοῦσθαι, τοὺς τρεῖς βασιλεῖς δείκνυσιν Αἰγύπτου Λιβύων τε καὶ Αἰθιόπων, οὓς ἀνελεῖ ἐν παρατάξει πολέμου, ὃς κρατήσας πάντων, δεινὸς ὠμοτύραννος ὤν, θλίψιν καὶ διωγμὸν ἐπὶ τοὺς ἁγίους ἐποίει, ἐπαιρόμενος κατ' αὐτῶν. λέγει γὰρ Δανιὴλ „προσκατενόουν τῷ κέρατι καὶ ἰδοὺ τὸ κέρας ἐκεῖνο ἐποίει πόλεμον μετὰ τῶν ἁγίων καὶ ἴσχυε πρὸς αὐτούς„, ”ἕως ἀνῃρέθη τὸ θηρίον καὶ ἀπώλετο καὶ τὸ σῶμα αὐτοῦ ἐδόθη εἰς καῦσιν πυρός.”