Thoughts on the Book of Daniel.
By Uriah Smith
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 a 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 and won 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, B. C. 44. 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 her 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. U. S.