himself, among the
multitude. He also wrote and left behind him what made manifest the
accuracy and undeniable veracity of his predictions; for he saith, that
when he was in Susa, the metropolis of Persia, and went out into the
field with his companions, there was, on the sudden, a motion and
concussion of the earth, and that he was left alone by himself, his
friends fleeing away from him, and that he was disturbed, and fell on
his face, and on his two hands, and that a certain person touched him,
and, at the same time, bid him rise, and see what would befall his
countrymen after many generations. He also related, that when he stood
up, he was shown a great rain, with many horns growing out of his head,
and that the last was higher than the rest: that after this he looked to
the west, and saw a he-goat carried through the air from that quarter;
that he rushed upon the ram with violence, and smote him twice with
his horns, and overthrew him to the ground, and trampled upon him:
that afterward he saw a very great horn growing out of the head of the
he-goat, and that when it was broken off, four horns grew up that were
exposed to each of the four winds, and he wrote that out of them arose
another lesser horn, which, as he said, waxed great; and that God showed
to him that it should fight against his nation, and take their city
by force, and bring the temple worship to confusion, and forbid the
sacrifices to be offered for one thousand two hundred and ninety-six
days. Daniel wrote that he saw these visions in the Plain of Susa; and
he hath informed us that God interpreted the appearance of this vision
after the following manner: He said that the ram signified the kingdoms
of the Medes and Persians, and the horns those kings that were to reign
in them; and that the last horn signified the last king, and that
he should exceed all the kings in riches and glory: that the he-goat
signified that one should come and reign from the Greeks, who should
twice fight with the Persian, and overcome him in battle, and should
receive his entire dominion: that by the great horn which sprang out
of the forehead of the he-goat was meant the first king; and that the
springing up of four horns upon its falling off, and the conversion
of every one of them to the four quarters of the earth, signified the
successors that should arise after the death of the first king, and the
partition of the kingdom among them, and that they should be neither his