ansgression of desolation, to give both the
sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto
two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed._
_Daniel_'s days are years; and these years may perhaps be reckoned either
from the destruction of the Temple by the _Romans_ in the reign of
_Vespasian_, or from the pollution of the Sanctuary by the worship of
_Jupiter Olympius_, or from the desolation of _Judea_ made in the end of
the _Jewish_ war by the banishment of all the _Jews_ out of their own
country, or from some other period which time will discover. Henceforward
the last horn of the Goat continued mighty under the _Romans_, till the
reign of _Constantine_ the great and his sons: and then by the division of
the _Roman_ Empire between the _Greek_ and _Latin_ Emperors, it separated
from the _Latins_, and became the _Greek_ Empire alone, but yet under the
dominion of a _Roman_ family; and at present it is mighty under the
dominion of the _Turks_.

This last horn is by some taken for _Antiochus Epiphanes_, but not very
judiciously. A horn of a Beast is never taken for a single person: it
always signifies a new kingdom, and the kingdom of _Antiochus_ was an old
one. _Antiochus_ reigned over one of the four horns, and the little horn
was a fifth under its proper kings. This horn was at first a little one,
and waxed exceeding great, but so did not _Antiochus_. It is described
great above all the former horns, and so was not _Antiochus_. His kingdom
on the contrary was weak, and tributary to the _Romans_, and he did not
enlarge it. The horn was a _King of fierce countenance, and destroyed
wonderfully, and prospered and practised_; that is, he prospered in his
practises against the holy people: but _Antiochus_ was frighted out of
_Egypt_ by a mere message of the _Romans_, and afterwards routed and
baffled by the _Jews_. The horn was mighty by another's power, _Antiochus_
acted by his own. The horn stood up against the Prince of the Host of
heaven, the Prince of Princes; and this is the character not of _Antiochus_
but of _Antichrist_. The horn cast down the Sanctuary to the ground, and so
did not _Antiochus_; he left it standing. The Sanctuary and Host were
trampled under foot 2300 days; and in _Daniel_'s Prophecies days are put
for years: but the profanation of the Temple in the reign of _Antiochus_
did not last so many natural days. These were to last till the time of the
end