Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.
Verse 17. He shall also set his face to enter with the strength of his whole kingdom, and upright ones with him; thus shall he do: and he shall give him the daughter of women, corrupting her; but she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him. Bishop Newton furnishes another reading for the verse, which seems to express more clearly the sense, as follows: “He shall also set his face to enter by force the whole kingdom.” Verse 16 brought us down to the conquest of Syria and Judea by the Romans. Rome had previously conquered Macedon and Thrace. Egypt was now all that remained of the “whole kingdom” of Alexander, not brought into subjection to the Roman power; which now set its face to enter by force into that country. Ptolemy Auletes died B. C. 51. He left the crown and kingdom of Egypt to his eldest son and daughter, Ptolemy and Cleopatra. It was provided in his will that they should marry together and reign jointly; and because they were young, they were placed under the guardianship of the Romans. The Roman people accepted the charge and appointed Pompey as guardian of the young heirs of the throne of Egypt. A quarrel having not long after broken out between Pompey and Cæsar, the famous battle of Pharsalia was fought between the two generals. Pompey being defeated, fled into Egypt. Cæsar immediately followed him thither; but before his arrival, Pompey was basely murdered by Ptolemy, whose guardian he had been appointed. Cæsar thereupon assumed the appointment which had been given to Pompey, as guardian of Ptolemy and Cleopatra. He found Egypt in commotion from intestine disturbances, Ptolemy and Cleopatra having become hostile to each other, and she being deprived of her share in the government. Notwithstanding this, he did not hesitate to land at Alexandria, with his small force, 800 horse and 3,200 foot, take cognizance of the quarrel, and undertake its settlement. The troubles daily increasing, Cæsar found his small force to be insufficient to maintain his position, and being unable to leave Egypt on account of the north wind which blew at that season, he sent into Asia, ordering all the troops he had in that quarter to come to his assistance as soon as possible. In the most haughty manner he decreed that Ptolemy and Cleopatra should disband their armies, appear before him for a settlement of their differences, and abide by his decision. Egypt being an independent kingdom, this haughty decree was considered an affront to its royal dignity, at which the Egyptians, highly incensed, flew to arms. Cæsar replied that he acted by virtue of the will of their father Auletes, who had put his children under the guardianship of the Senate and people of Rome, the whole authority of which was now vested in his person as consul; and that, as guardian, he had the right to arbitrate between them. The matter was finally brought before him, and advocates appointed to plead the cause of the respective parties. Cleopatra, aware of the foible of the great Roman conqueror, judged that the beauty of her presence would be more effectual in securing judgment in her favor, than any advocate she could employ. To reach his presence undetected, she had recourse to the following stratagem: Laying herself at length in a bundle of clothes, Apollodorus, her Sicilian servant, wrapped it up in a cloth, tied it with a thong, and raising it upon his Herculean shoulders, sought the apartments of Cæsar. “Claiming to have a present for the Roman general, he was admitted through the gate of the citadel, entered into the presence of Cæsar, and deposited the beautiful Cleopatra at his feet. Cæsar was far from being displeased with the stratagem, and, being of a character described in 2 Pet. 2:14, the first sight of so beautiful a person, says Rollin, had all the effect upon him she had desired.” Cæsar at length decreed that the brother and sister should occupy the throne jointly, according to the intent of the will. Pothinus, the chief minister of State, having been principally instrumental in expelling Cleopatra from the throne, feared the result of her restoration. He therefore began to excite jealousy and hostility against Cæsar, by insinuating among the populace that he designed eventually to give Cleopatra the sole power. Open sedition soon followed. Achillas, at the head of 20,000 men advanced to drive Cæsar from Alexandria. Skillfully disposing his small body of men in the streets and alleys of the city, Cæsar found no difficulty in repelling the attack. The Egyptians undertook to destroy his fleet. He retorted by burning theirs. Some of the burning vessels being driven near the quay, several of the buildings of the city took fire, and the famous Alexandrian library, containing nearly 400,000 volumes, was destroyed. The war growing more threatening, Cæsar sent into all the neighboring countries for help. A large fleet came from Asia Minor to his assistance. Mithridates set out for Egypt with an army raised in Syria and Cilicia. Antipater, the Idumean, joined him with 3000 Jews. The Jews who held the passes into Egypt, permitted the army to pass on without interruption. Without this the whole plan must have failed. The arrival of this army decided the contest. A decisive battle was fought near the Nile, resulting in a complete victory for Cæsar. Ptolemy attempting to escape, was drowned in the river. Alexandria and all Egypt then submitted to the victor. Rome had now entered into, and absorbed, the whole of the original kingdom of Alexander. By the “upright ones” of the text, are doubtless meant the Jews, who gave him the assistance already mentioned. Without this, he must have failed; with it, he completely subdued Egypt to his power B. C. 47. “The daughter of women; corrupting her.” The passion which Cæsar had conceived for Cleopatra, by whom he had one son, is assigned by the historian, as the sole reason of his undertaking so dangerous a campaign as the Egyptian war. This kept him much longer in Egypt than his affairs required, he spending whole nights in feasting and carousing with the dissolute queen. But, said the prophet, she shall not stand on his side, neither be for him. Cleopatra afterward joined herself to Antony, the enemy of Augustus Cæsar, and exerted her whole power against Rome. Verse 18. After this shall he turn his face unto the isles, and shall take many: but a prince for his own behalf shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; without his own reproach he shall cause it to turn upon him. War with Pharnaces, king of the Cimmerian Bosphorus, at length drew him away from Egypt. “On his arrival where the enemy was,” says Prideaux, “he without giving any respite either to himself or them, immediately fell on, and gained an absolute victory over them; an account whereof he wrote to a friend of his in these three words: veni, vidi, vici, I came, I saw, I conquered.” The latter part of this verse is involved in some obscurity, and there is difference of opinion in regard to its application. Some apply it farther back in Cæsar’s life, and think they find a fulfillment in his quarrel with Pompey. But we think that preceding and subsequent events, clearly defined in the prophecy, compel us to look for the fulfillment of this part of the prediction between the victory over Pharnaces, and Cæsar’s death at Rome as brought to view in the following verse. A more full history of this period might bring to view events which would render the application of this passage unembarrassed. Verse 19. Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land: but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found. After this conquest, Cæsar defeated the last remaining fragments of Pompey’s party, Cato and Scipio in Africa, and Labienus and Varus in Spain. Returning to Rome, the “fort of his own land,” he was made perpetual dictator; and such other powers and honors were granted him, as rendered him in fact absolute sovereign of the whole empire. But the prophet had said that he should stumble and fall. The language implies that his overthrow would be sudden and unexpected, like a person accidentally stumbling in his walk. And so this man, who had fought and45won five hundred battles, taken one thousand cities, and slain one million one hundred and ninety-two thousand men, fell, not in the din of battle and the hour of strife, but when he thought his pathway was smooth and strewn with flowers, and when danger was supposed to be far away; for taking his seat in the senate chamber, upon his throne of gold, to receive at the hands of that body the title of king, the dagger of treachery suddenly struck him to the heart. Cassius, Brutus, and other conspirators, rushed upon him, and he fell, pierced with twenty-three wounds. Thus he suddenly stumbled and fell, and was not found. Verse 20. Then shall stand up in his estate a raiser of taxes in the glory of the kingdom; but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle. Augustus Cæsar succeeded his uncle Julius, by whom he had been adopted as his successor. Being in a distant province engaged in the study of rhetoric and eloquence, when he heard of his uncle’s tragical death, he displayed marked ability in returning to Rome, placing himself at the head of the army, and establishing himself the successor to Julius, according to his design. He publicly announced his adoption by his uncle, and took his name, to which he added that of Octavianus. Combining with Mark Antony and Lepidus, to avenge the death of Cæsar, they formed what is called the Triumvirate form of government. Having subsequently firmly established himself in the empire, the senate conferred upon him the title of Augustus, the other members of the Triumvirate being now dead, and he being supreme ruler. He was emphatically a raiser of taxes. Luke, in speaking of the events that transpired at the time when Christ was born, says: “And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.” Luke 2:1. That taxing which embraced all the world, was an event worthy of notice; and the person who enforced it has certainly a claim to the title of “a raiser of taxes,” above every other competitor. And he stood up in the glory of the kingdom. Rome stood in his days at the pinnacle of its greatness and power. The “Augustan Age” is an expression everywhere used to denote the golden age of Roman history. Rome never saw a brighter hour. Peace was promoted, justice maintained, luxury curbed, discipline established, and learning encouraged. In his reign the temple of Janus was for the third time shut, since the foundation of Rome, signifying that all the world was at peace; and at this auspicious hour, our Lord was born in Bethlehem of Judea. After a reign of forty-four years, long according to human computation, yet seeming but a few days to the distant gaze of the prophet, Augustus died, not in anger nor in battle, but peacefully in his bed, at Nola, whither he had gone to seek repose and health, A. D. 14, in the 76th year of his age.