CHAPTER XXIV.

FURTHER NOTICES OF EGYPT IN DANIEL.

"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. Then he shall turn his face toward the fort of his own land; but he shall stumble and fall, and not be found. 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." (DANIEL, ch. xi., verses 18-20.)

In the prophetical Books of the Old Testament, and even in some of the historical ones (Gen. x. 5; Esth. x. 1), the expression translated "the isles" or "the islands," designates primarily the shores and isles of European Greece-the "maritime tracts" which invited the colonist and the conqueror to brave the terrors of the deep, and journey westward from Asia in search of "fresh woods and pastures new." Antiochus the Great, shortly after concluding his peace with Philopator, undertook an aggressive movement in this direction. Crossing the Hellespont in B. C. 197, he took possession of the Chersonese with its city of Lysimachia. Five years later, having made alliance

'See Liv. xxxv. 23, 43; Polyb. xviii. 32.

with the Etolians, he moved into central Greece, landing at Demetrias, and soon afterwards making himself master of Chalcis, thereby throwing out a challenge to the Romans, which they were not slow to accept. Rome could not allow the establishment of an Asiatic power in Europe; and her "prince" for the time being, the consul M. Acilius Glabrio, soon "caused the reproach" which Antiochus had "offered" the Romans, "to cease," turning it back upon Antiochus himself1 by the decisive victory of Thermopylæ.2 Antiochus was forced to quit Greece in haste,3 and "turned his face toward the fort" (i. e. the various strongholds)" of his own land," whither he retreated in the autumn of B. C. 191. But Rome followed up her advantage. The Roman admiral, Æmilius, swept the fleet of Antiochus from the sea.* 4 Her generals, the two Scipios, Asiaticus and Africanus, invaded Asia in force; and in B. C. 190 was fought the great battle of Magnesia, which at once and forever established the predominance of the Roman arms over those of the Syrian kingdom, and made Rome arbiter of the destinies of the East. At Magnesia Antiochus “ stumbled and fell" with a fall from which there was no recovery, either for himself or for his kingdom. It did not suit Rome at once to enter into possession; but from

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1 This seems to be the true meaning of the last clause of verse 18. (See "Speaker's Commentary," vol. vi., p. 379.)

2 Liv. xxxvi. 18, 19. 3 Ibid., xxxvi. 21.

4 Ibid., xxxvii. 30.

5 Polyb. xxi. 13; xxii. 8; Liv. xxxvii. 42; Appian, "Syriaca,"

8 33-37.

the date of the Magnesian defeat Syria lay at her mercy and was practically her vassal. Shortly afterwards (B. C. 187) Antiochus "was not found." He made an expedition into the Eastern provinces,1 to collect money for the payment of the Roman war contribution, and never returned from it. Rumour said that his exactions provoked a tumult in the distant Elymais, and that he fell a victim to the fury of the plundered people. He was succeeded by his son, Seleucus IV. (Philopator), who seems to be called “a raiser of taxes” on account of the burdens which the weight of the Roman indemnity compelled him to lay on his subjects, and "the glory of the kingdom" in derision.3 was a weak and undistinguished monarch, whose short reign of eleven years was wholly uneventful. His treasurer, Heliodorus, murdered him treacherously in cold blood, not having any grievance against him, but simply in the hope of succeeding to his dominions. Thus he was "destroyed, not in anger, nor in battle," by an ambitious subject.

He

"And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown before him; yea, also the prince of the covenant. And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully; for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. He shall

1 Porphyr. ap. Euseb. "Chron. Can." I. 40, % 12.

2 Justin, xxxii. 2; Strab. xvi., p, 744.

3 Our version gives "in the glory of the kingdom;" but the word "in" is wanting in the original.

Appian, "Syriaca," & 45.

enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers' fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches; yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strongholds, even for a time." (DAN. Xi. 21-24.)

Antiochus Epiphanes, who succeeded his brother, Seleucus IV., is almost certainly intended by the "vile person of this passage. He was a man of an extraordinary character. Dean Stanley calls him one of those strange characters in whom an eccentricity touching insanity on the left and genius on the right combined with absolute power and lawless passion to produce a portentous result, thus bearing out the two names by which he was known-Epiphanes-" the Brilliant," and Epimanes-" the Madman.": He was "" a fantastic creature, without dignity or self-control, who caricatured the manners and dress of the august Roman magistrates, startled young revellers by bursting in on them with pipe and horn, tumbled with the bathers on the slippery marble pavement, and in the procession which he organized at Daphné, appeared riding in and out on a hack pony, playing the part of chief waiter, mountebank, and jester." He was not the legitimate heir to the throne; and "the honour of the kingdom" was in no way formally conferred on him. Nor did he establish himself by force of arms. On the contrary, he came in peaceably," under the auspices of Eumenes of Pergamos,3 and "obtained the kingdom" by

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1 Stanley, "Lectures on the Jewish Church," Am. Ed., vol. iii., p. 254. 2 Ibid. Appian, 1. s. c.

2

bribes, cajolery, and "flatteries." He courted the favour of the Syrian lower classes, of Rome, and of the Hellenising party among the Jews. At a later date "with the arms of a flood" he "overflowed," and carried all before him, sweeping through Cæle-Syria and Palestine into Egypt,1 and receiving the submission of Jason, the High-Priest of the Jews, or "prince of the covenant," who "made a league" with him, engaging to support his interests in Judæa, and to pay him an annual tribute of 440 silver talents. Antiochus, however, after this league, "worked deceitfully," transferring the High Priesthood from Jason to his brother Menelaus on receipt of a bribe, and forcing Jason to become a fugitive from his country. After this he was able, through the support of Menelaus, to "become strong" in Palestine, without maintaining there more than a small" army. He entered peaceably upon the "fattest places of the province," his authority being generally recognized throughout the fertile tract between Syria Proper and Egypt, though it belonged of right to Ptolemy. That he maintained. his influence in the tract by means of a lavish expenditure of money, though not distinctly stated by profane historians, is probable enough, since it was certainly the method by which he soon afterwards maintained it in Egypt.*

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"And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred

11 Mac. i. 17; Appian, "Syriaca," & 66.

22 Mac. iv. 7-10.

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2 Mac. iv. 23-26.

Polyb. xxviii. 17.