e mouth of the
Medo-Persian bear.

Grecia

Yet another kingdom was to follow, and strikingly the symbol pictures
the characteristics of the Greek conquest.

_Prophecy._--"After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which
had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; and the beast had also
four heads; and dominion was given to it."

_History._--The third kingdom was Grecia. Under Alexander the Great, the
Greeks swept into Asia with the quickness of the leopard's spring. And
the four wings on the leopard must represent astonishing fleetness.
Plutarch speaks of the "incredible swiftness" of Alexander's conquests.
Appian wrote:

"The empire of Alexander was splendid in its magnitude, in its
armies, in the success and rapidity of its conquests, and it
wanted little of being boundless and unexampled, yet in its
shortness of duration it was like a brilliant flash of
lightning. Although broken into several satrapies, even the
parts were splendid."--_"History of Rome," preface, par. 10._

[Illustration: THE THIRD BEAST

"After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard." Dan. 7:6.]

Thus the ancient Roman writer pictured the career of Grecia just as
represented by the prophetic symbol--the fleetness, the great dominion
given it, the division of the empire into satrapies, as suggested by the
four heads of the leopard. Out of the conflicts following Alexander's
death, there came the fourfold headship of the empire. Rawlinson says,
"A quadripartite division of Alexander's domain was recognized." (See
"Sixth Monarchy," chap. 3.) The real situation is best represented, as
Dr. Albert Barnes says, by "one animal with four heads," just as the
prophetic symbol described it centuries before.

Thus the course of empire followed the outline of the "sure word of
prophecy" from age to age.

"Armies were ranged in battle's dread array:
They fought--their glory withered in its bud;
They perished--with them ceased their tyrants' sway;
New wars, new heroes came--their story passed away."

There was to be no abiding kingdom till the time came for God's glorious
kingdom to be set up.

[Illustration: THE FOURTH BEAST

"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast,
dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly." Dan. 7:7.]

Rome

As the prophet watched the moving panorama of history, foretold in
symbols, he said:

_Prophecy._--"After this I saw in