and great authority." The fact that the
dragon was succeeded by the beast, who reigned in his stead, is proof
that the dragon does not signify the personal devil; for, as far as
we know, the archfiend has never resigned his position, but is still
doing his infernal business at the same stand.

In many respects the beast is similar to the dragon. In the
seventeenth chapter the beast appears again, and the explanation given
by the angel will enable us to understand the signification both of
the dragon and of the beast. "The beast that thou sawest was, and is
not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition
... and here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven
mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there are seven kings: five
are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he
cometh, he must continue a short space.... And the ten horns which
thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but
receive power as kings one hour with the beast" (verses 8-12).

With these facts before us and with our understanding of the nature of
symbols, it is easy to identify the dragon and the beast as the Roman
Empire, first under the pagan form and later under the papal form.
Although the beast was to succeed the dragon, yet in identifying the
heads of the beast, the angel informed John that in his day five had
already fallen, while one then existed and the other was future. This
proves, then, that the same heads served both for the dragon and for
the beast, thus establishing their essential identity. And it is a
fact well known that there is no essential difference between Rome
pagan and Rome papal. The seven heads of Rome, therefore, signify the
distinct forms of government that ruled successively in the empire,
for they are represented, not as simultaneous powers, but as
consecutive powers. The five that had already fallen when John
received the vision were the regal power, the consular, the
decemvirate, the military tribunes, and the triumvirate. "One is"--the
imperial. The seventh, or future one, was the patriciate.

It is natural that the pagan Roman Empire should be represented as a
dragon. In the prophecy of Daniel the Grecian kingdom is represented
by a he goat for no other apparent reason than the fact that the goat
was the national military standard of the Grecian monarchy. So also
the dragon was the principal military standard of the Romans next to
t