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from his father, but it belonged to the Medes from his mother; who took both nations with him and, making war on the Assyrians, destroyed their kingdom. The pair of these two nations is represented by the pair of hands. And he calls the third kingdom that of the Macedonians. And he compared this one to bronze as being more powerful, since it also destroyed the Persian rule. And through the belly the monarchy of Alexander is prefigured, but through the 1.181 thighs the division of the kingdom after his death and its partition. And he called the fourth kingdom that of the Romans, to which he assigned iron on account of its strength. And he depicted it with the shins because of its later time; for the Roman kingdom was later than the other great kingdoms, and the shins and the feet are the last parts of the body. The fact that the earthenware was mixed with the iron signifies that the kingdom is strong, but has within itself something fragile and weak; for such is the nature of earthenware, being composed of clay. If, then, one should wish to refer the vision to the former state of the Roman hegemony, when the senate and the dictators and the consuls and the tribunes and the people held on to the administration of political affairs, he will find the people in many places at variance with the senate and seditions arising, with the senate decreeing some things, but the populace introducing others, so that from this they fought with one another and for themselves, and affairs, through discord, sometimes inclined to what was worse and weaker. One might, then, represent the senate by iron on account of the strength of its judgment, but the multitude might be compared to earthenware, being mixed in with those in authority and the council, both on account of its rabble-like and lowly nature—for such is the clay from which earthenware is made—and on account of its fickleness and weakness of mind. For the multitude is accustomed to be unstable and is easily moved and changes its mind; these 1.182 things one will find to have happened very often in the Roman state, by going through the ancient writings about it. If, then, one were to refer the difference of the materials and their mixture to the former state of the Roman polity, he might perhaps reason thus; but if to the later one, when Roman affairs were transferred from aristocracy to monarchy, and to the subsequent state of the kingdom, then too he would find that the discord of the Romans with one another caused the greatest harm to the state. For Caesar, aspiring to monarchy, began civil wars against Pompey the Great and against the others who laid claim to the ancient liberty; and against those who killed him, Caesar Augustus and Antony again waged similar battles; then again these two, contending with each other for absolute power, stirred up heavy wars, with countrymen on both sides being destroyed in all the battles, and from this the Roman power was diminished. And not even in later times would one see the seditions having ceased. But if one compares the nature of the iron and the earthenware to the later kingdoms, he will find the Roman rule in one way strong, but in another way weak and having lost the greatest part of its former dominion, and now circumscribed to a small fraction of that former hegemony. So much, then, for the four kingdoms; but the remaining and indestructible one, which the stone represented that was cut without hands and ground to powder the materials from which the image was composed, and filled the 1.183 whole earth, which the prophet said will not be destroyed forever, would be the future epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ, which will appear when the iron kingdom has become weaker through the admixture of the earthenware; when all things will be subjected to him, and he will deem worthy of an unending and incorruptible kingdom those who have made themselves worthy of it. For Scripture is accustomed to call Christ a stone. and the

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πατρόθεν, τοῖς δὲ Μήδοις προσῆκεν ἐκ τῆς μητρός· ος αμφω τὰ εθνη συμπαραλαβὼν καὶ πολεμήσας τοῖς ̓Ασσυρίοις τὴν αὐτῶν βασιλείαν κατέλυσε. τῇ δυάδι δὲ τῶν χειρῶν ἡ τῶν ἐθνῶν τούτων ἀμφοῖν δυὰς εἰκονίζεται. τρίτην δὲ βασιλείαν τὴν τῶν Μακεδόνων καλεῖ. τῷ χαλκῷ δὲ ταύτην ἀπείκασεν ὡς δυνατωτέραν, οια καὶ τὴν Περσικὴν ἀρχὴν καταλύσασαν. καὶ διὰ μὲν τῆς κοιλίας ἡ ̓Αλεξάνδρου μοναρχία ὑποτυποῦται, διὰ δὲ τῶν 1.181 μηρῶν ἡ μετὰ θάνατον ἐκείνου τῆς βασιλείας διαίρεσις καὶ ὁ αὐτῆς μερισμός. τετάρτην δὲ βασιλείαν τὴν τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων ἐκάλεσεν, ῃ τὸν σίδηρον ἀπένειμε διὰ τὸ στερέμνιον. ταῖς δὲ κνήμαις αὐτὴν εἰκόνισεν διὰ τὸ μετάχρονον· τῶν γὰρ αλλων μεγάλων βασιλειῶν μεταγενεστέρα ἡ τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων, καὶ αἱ κνῆμαι δὲ καὶ οἱ πόδες τελευταῖα μέρη τοῦ σώματος. τὸ δὲ τῷ σιδήρῳ ἀναμεμῖχθαι τὸ οστρακον αἰνίττεται τὸ ἰσχυρὰν μὲν ειναι τὴν βασιλείαν, εχειν δὲ παρ' ἑαυτῇ καὶ ευθραυστόν τι καὶ αναλκι· τοιοῦτον γὰρ τὴν φύσιν τὸ οστρακον, συγκείμενον ἐκ πηλοῦ. Εἰ μὲν ουν πρὸς τὴν προτέραν κατάστασιν τῆς ̔Ρωμαίων ἡγεμονίας ἀναγαγεῖν τις βουληθείη τὸ οραμα, οτε ἡ γερουσία καὶ οἱ δικτάτωρες καὶ οἱ υπατοι καὶ οἱ δήμαρχοι καὶ ὁ δῆμος τῆς τῶν πολιτικῶν πραγμάτων ἀντείχοντο διοικήσεως, εὑρήσει πολλαχοῦ τὸν δῆμον τῇ γερουσίᾳ διαφερόμενον καὶ στάσεις ἐγειρομένας, αλλα μὲν τῶν τῆς βουλῆς διαταττομένων, αλλα δὲ τῶν τοῦ πλήθους ἀντεισαγόντων, ὡς ἐκ τούτου μάχεσθαί τε ἀλλήλοις καὶ σφίσι τὰ πράγματα διὰ τὴν διχόνοιαν εστιν ου ῥέπειν ἐπὶ τὸ χεῖρον καὶ ἀσθενέστερον. σιδήρῳ μὲν ουν αν τις εἰκονίσαι τὴν σύγκλητον διὰ τὸ τῆς γνώμης στερέμνιον, ὀστράκῳ δ' αν εἰκασθείη τὸ πλῆθος, ἀναμεμιγμένον ον τοῖς ἐν τέλει καὶ τῇ βουλῇ, διά τε τὸ συρφετῶδες καὶ τὸ χαμαίζηλον, τοιοῦτον γὰρ ὁ πηλὸς οθεν τὸ οστρακον γίνεται, καὶ διὰ τὸ εὐμετάβολον καὶ τὴν ἀσθένειαν τοῦ φρονήματος. ειωθεν γὰρ τὸ πλῆθος ἀστατεῖν ῥᾳδίως τε μετάγεσθαι καὶ μεταβουλεύεσθαι· ταῦτα 1.182 δέ τις εὑρήσει πλειστάκις τῇ ̔Ρωμαϊκῇ πολιτείᾳ συμβεβηκότα, ἐπιὼν τὰ περὶ ταύτης ἀρχαῖα συγγράμματα. Εἰ μὲν ουν πρὸς τὴν προτέραν κατάστασιν τῆς ̔Ρωμαϊκῆς πολιτείας ἀναφέροι τις τὴν διαφορὰν τῶν ὑλῶν καὶ τὴν μίξιν αὐτῶν, ταῦτ' αν ισως λογίσαιτο, εἰ δὲ πρὸς τὴν ὑστέραν, οτε πρὸς μοναρχίαν ἐξ ἀριστοκρατίας μετήνεκτο ̔Ρωμαίοις τὰ πράγματα, καὶ πρὸς τὴν εἰσέπειτα τῆς βασιλείας κατάστασιν, καὶ τότε πλείστην αν καταλάβοι τῇ πολιτείᾳ προξενήσασαν βλάβην τὴν πρὸς ἀλλήλους τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων διχόνοιαν. ο τε γὰρ Καῖσαρ τῆς μοναρχίας ὀριγνηθεὶς ἐμφυλίους πολέμους πρὸς τὸν Μάγνον Πομπήιον καὶ πρὸς τοὺς αλλους, οι τῆς ἐλευθερίας ἀντεποιοῦντο τῆς παλαιᾶς, συνεστήσατο, καὶ πρὸς τοὺς ἀνελόντας αυθις αὐτὸν ὁμοίας μάχας ὁ Καῖσαρ ὁ Αυγουστος καὶ ὁ ̓Αντώνιος συνεκρότησαν, ειτ' αυθις αμφω πρὸς ἀλλήλους ουτοι περὶ τῆς αὐταρχίας διαφερόμενοι πολέμους βαρεῖς κεκινήκασιν, ἀμφοτέρωθεν ἐν πάσαις ταῖς μάχαις φθειρομένων ὁμογενῶν, κἀντεῦθεν τῆς ̔Ρωμαϊκῆς ἐλαττουμένης δυνάμεως. καὶ οὐδ' ἐν τοῖς μετέπειτα τὰς στάσεις λωφησάσας ιδοι τις αν. Εἰ δέ τις πρὸς τὰς υστερον βασιλείας τὴν τοῦ σιδήρου καὶ τοῦ ὀστράκου φύσιν παραβαλεῖ, εὑρήσει πῇ μὲν ἰσχυρὰν τὴν τῶν ̔Ρωμαίων ἀρχήν, πῇ δ' ἀσθενοῦσαν καὶ τὸ πλεῖστον τῆς παλαιᾶς ἀποβεβληκυῖαν ἐπικρατείας, καὶ πολλοστῷ νῦν μέρει τῆς παλαιᾶς ἐκείνης περιγεγραμμένην ἡγεμονίας. Τὰ μὲν ουν τῶν τεσσάρων βασιλειῶν ἐν τούτοις· ἡ δὲ λοιπή τε καὶ ἀκατάλυτος, ην ὁ λίθος εἰκόνιζεν ος ανευ χειρῶν ἐτμήθη καὶ τὰς υλας ἐλέπτυνεν ἐξ ων συντέθειτο ἡ εἰκών, καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐπλήρωσεν 1.183 απασαν, ην εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας ὁ προφήτης ειρηκε μὴ διαφθαρήσεσθαι, ἡ μέλλουσα ἐπιφάνεια ειη αν τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν ̓Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ, ητις, τῆς σιδηρᾶς βασιλείας γενομένης ἀσθενεστέρας διὰ τὴν τοῦ ὀστράκου ἐπιμιξίαν, ἀναφανήσεται· οτε αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ὑποταγήσεται, καὶ βασιλείας ἀτελευτήτου τε καὶ ἀδιαφθόρου ἀξιώσει τοὺς ταύτης ἀξίους ἑαυτοὺς καταστήσαντας. λίθον γὰρ ειωθεν ἡ γραφὴ καλεῖν τὸν Χριστόν. ο τε