Thoughts on Daniel—Chapter XI.
By Uriah Smith
VERSE 24. He shall enter peacefully even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches; yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strongholds, even for a time. The usual manner in which nations had, before the days of Rome, entered upon valuable provinces and rich territory, was by war and conquest. Rome was now to do what had not been done by the fathers, or the fathers' fathers, namely, receive these acquisitions through peaceful means. The custom, before unheard of, was now inaugurated, of kings' leaving by legacy their kingdoms to the Romans. Rome came into possession of a large portion of its provinces in this manner. And those who thus came under the dominion of Rome derived no small advantage therefrom. They were treated with kindness and leniency. It was like having the prey and spoil distributed among them. They were protected from their enemies, and rested in peace and safety under the ægis of the Roman power. To the latter portion of this verse, Bishop Newton gives the idea of forecasting devices from strongholds, instead of against them. This the Romans did from the strong fortress of their seven-hilled city. "Even for a time," doubtless a prophetic time, 360 years. From what point are these years to be dated? Probably from the event brought to view in the following verse. VERSE 25. And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand; for they shall forecast devices against him. By verses 23 and 24, we are brought down this side of the league between the Jews and the Romans, B. C. 161, to the time when Rome had acquired universal dominion. The verse now before us brings to view a vigorous campaign against the king of the south, Egypt, and the occurrence of a notable battle between great and mighty armies. Did such events as these transpire in the history of Rome about this time? They did. The war was the war between Egypt and Rome; and the battle was the battle of Actium. Let us take a brief glance at the circumstances that led to this conflict. Mark Antony, Augustus Cæsar, and Lepidus, constituted the Triumvirate which had sworn to avenge the death of Julius Cæsar. This Antony became the brother-in-law of Augustus, by marrying his sister Octavia. Antony was sent into Egypt on government business, but fell a victim to the arts and charms of Cleopatra, Egypt's dissolute queen. So strong was the passion he conceived for her, that he finally espoused the Egyptian interests, rejected his wife Octavia to please the latter, bestowed province after province upon the latter to gratify her avarice, celebrated a triumph at Alexandria instead of Rome, and otherwise so affronted the Roman people, that Augustus had no difficulty in leading them to engage heartily in a war against this enemy of their country. The war was ostensibly against Egypt and Cleopatra; but it was really against Antony, who now stood at the head of Egyptian affairs. And the true cause of their controversy was, says Prideaux, that neither of them could be content with only half of the Roman empire; for Lepidus having been deposed from the triumvirate, it now lay between them, and each being determined to possess the whole, they cast the die of war for its possession. Antony assembled his fleet at Samos. Five hundred ships of war, of extraordinary size and structure, having several decks one above another, with towers upon the head and stern, made an imposing and formidable array. These ships carried two hundred thousand foot, and twelve thousand horse. The kings of Libya, Cilicia, Cappadocia, Paphlagonia, Comagenia, and Thrace, were there in person; and those of Pontus, Judea, Lycaonia, Galatia, and Media, had sent their troops. A more splendid and gorgeous military spectacle than this fleet of battle ships, as they spread their sails, and moved out upon the bosom of the sea, the world has rarely seen. Surpassing all in magnificence, came the galley of Cleopatra, floating like a palace of gold beneath a cloud of purple sails. Its flags and streamers fluttered in the wind, and trumpets and other instruments of war, made the heavens resound with notes of joy and triumph. Antony followed close after a galley of almost equal magnificence. And the giddy queen, intoxicated with the sight of the warlike array, short-sighted and vainglorious, at the head of her infamous troop of eunuchs, foolishly threatened the Roman capital with approaching ruin. Cæsar Augustus, on the other hand, displayed less pomp, but more utility. He had but half as many ships as Antony, and only eighty thousand foot. But all his troops were chosen men, and on board his fleet none but experienced seamen; whereas, Antony, not finding mariners sufficient, had been obliged to man his vessels with artisans of every class, men inexperienced, and more calculated to cause trouble, than to do real service in time of battle. The season being far consumed in these preparations, Cæsar made his rendezvous at Brondusium, and Antony at Corcyra, till the following year. As soon as the season permitted, both armies were put in motion on both sea and land. The fleets at length entered the Ambracian Gulf in Epirus, and the land forces were drawn up on either shore in plain view. Antony's most experienced generals advised him not to hazard a battle by sea, with his inexperienced mariners, but to send Cleopatra back to Egypt, and hasten at once into Thrace or Macedonia, and trust the issue to his land forces, who were composed of veteran troops. But he, illustrating the old adage, Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat (whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad), infatuated by Cleopatra, seemed only desirous of pleasing her; and she, trusting to appearances only, deemed her fleet invincible, and advised immediate action. The battle was fought, September 2, B. C. 31, at the mouth of the gulf of Ambracia, near the city of Actium. The stake was the world for which these stern warriors, Antony and Cæsar, now played. The contest, long doubtful, was at length decided by the course which Cleopatra pursued. For she, frightened at the din of battle, took to flight when there was no danger, and drew after her the whole Egyptian fleet. Antony, beholding this movement, and lost to everything but his blind passion for her, precipitately followed, and yielded a victory to Cæsar, which, had his forces proved true to him, and had he proved true to his own manhood, he might have gained. This battle doubtless marks the commencement of the "time" mentioned in verse 24. And as during this "time" devices were to be forecast from the stronghold, or Rome, we should conclude that at the end of that period, western supremacy would cease, or such a change take place in the empire, that that city would no longer be considered the seat of government. From B. C. 31, a prophetic time, or 360 years, would bring us to A. D. 330. And it hence becomes a noteworthy fact that the seat of empire was removed from Rome to Constantinople, by Constantine the Great in that very year. See Encyclopedia Americana, art. Constantinople. VERSE 26. Yea, that they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow; and many shall fall down slain. The cause of Antony's overthrow was the desertion of his allies and friends, those that fed of the portion of his meat. First, Cleopatra, as already described, suddenly withdrew from the battle, taking sixty ships of the line with her. Secondly, the land army, disgusted with the infatuation of Antony, went over to Cæsar, who received them with open arms. Thirdly, when Antony arrived at Libya he found that the forces which he had there left under Scorpus to guard the frontier, had declared for Cæsar. Fourthly, being followed by Cæsar into Egypt, and his forces surrendered to Cæsar. Hereupon in rage and despair he took his own life. VERSE 27. And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper; for yet the end shall be at the time appointed. Antony and Cæsar were formerly in alliance. Yet under the garb of friendship, they were both aspiring and intriguing for universal dominion. Their protestations of deference to, and friendship for each other, were the utterances of hypocrites. They spoke lies at one table. Octavia, the wife of Antony and sister of Cæsar, declared to the people of Rome at the time Antony divorced her, that she had consented to marry him solely with the hope that it would prove a pledge of union between Cæsar and Antony. But that counsel did not prosper. The rupture came; and in the conflict that ensued, Cæsar came off entirely victorious. VERSE 28. Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land. Two returns from foreign conquests are here brought to view; the first, after the events narrated in verses 26 and 27, and the second, after this power had had indignation against the holy covenant, and had performed exploits. The first was fulfilled in the return of Cæsar, after his expedition against Egypt and Antony. He returned to Rome with abundant honor and riches; for, says Prideaux (ii 380), "At this time such vast riches were brought to Rome from Egypt on the reducing of that country, and the return of Octavianus [Cæsar] and his army from thence, that the value of money fell one-half, and the price of provisions and all vendible wares was doubled thereon." Cæsar celebrated his victories in a three days' triumph, a triumph which Cleopatra herself would have graced, as one of the royal captives, had she not artfully caused herself to be bitten by the fatal asp. The next great enterprise of the Romans after the overthrow of Egypt, was the expedition against Judea, and the capture and destruction of Jerusalem. The holy covenant is doubtless the covenant which God has maintained with his people, beginning it with Abraham, and renewing it, since Christ, with all believers in him. The Jews rejected Christ; and, according to the prophecy that all who would not hear that prophet should be cut off, they were destroyed out of their own land, and scattered to every nation under heaven. And while Jews and Christian alike suffered under the oppressive hands of the Romans, we think it was in the reduction of Judea especially that the exploits mentioned in the text were exhibited. Under Vespasian, the Romans invaded Judea and took the cities of Galilee, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum, where Christ had been rejected. They destroyed the inhabitants, and left nothing but ruin and desolation. Titus besieged Jerusalem. He drew a trench around it, according to the prediction of the Saviour. A terrible famine ensued, the equal of which the world has, perhaps, at no other time witnessed. Moses had predicted in the terrible calamities to come upon the Jews if they departed from God, even the tender and delicate woman should eat her own children in the straitness of the siege wherewith their enemies should distress them. Under the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, a literal fulfillment of this prediction occurred; and he, hearing of the inhuman deed, but forgetting that he was the one who was driving them to such direful extremities, swore the eternal extirpation of the accursed city and people. Jerusalem fell in A. D. 70. As an honor to himself, the Roman commander had determined to save the temple; but the Lord had said that there should not remain one stone upon another which should not be thrown down. A Roman soldier seized a brand of fire, and climbing upon the shoulders of his comrades, thrust it into one of the windows of the beautiful structure. It was soon in the arms of the devouring element. The frantic efforts of the Jews to extinguish the flames were seconded by Titus himself, but all in vain. Seeing that the temple must perish, Titus rushed in and bore away the golden candlestick, the table of show-bread, and the volume of the law wrapped in golden tissue. The candlestick was afterward deposited in Vespasian's Temple to Peace, and copied on the triumphal arch of Titus, where its mutilated image is yet to be seen. The siege of Jerusalem lasted five months. In that siege eleven hundred thousand Jews perished, and ninety-seven thousand were taken prisoners. The city was so amazingly strong that Titus exclaimed when viewing the ruins, "We have fought with the assistance of God." The city was completely leveled, and the foundations of the temple were ploughed up by Tarentius Rufus. The duration of the whole war was seven years, and one million four hundred and sixty-two thousand persons are said to have fallen victims to its fatal horrors. Thus this power performed great exploits, and again returned to his own land.