The Prophecy of Daniel Seven

 

Daniel seven is one the greatest chapters of the Bible.  If one were to number the ten best known chapters, Daniel seven is likely to be among them.  Virtually all students of the Bible are familiar with its imagery.  In this article, we want to give a brief explanation of its imagery and historical fulfillment.

Daniel: A Book of Timelines 

One of the most important aspects of the book of Daniel is the timelines he provides to the kingdom and coming of Christ.  From the very garden itself, the coming of the Redeemer had been clearly foretold:  “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; it shall bruise they head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15).  However clear the promise of Christ’s coming may have been, the time when the Savior would appear was generally indistinct. One early exception was Balaam’s prophecy, which placed Christ’s coming in the days when “Chittim” was the world power:  

“I shall see him, but no now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Seth…Ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish forever” (Num. 24:24). 

The “Star” and “Sceptre” are obvious references to Christ, which Balaam clearly places in the days Moab was still extant.  According to the Septuagint of the Qumran community, Jerome, Adam Clarke, the and many other immanent commentators, Chittim refers to Rome.  "Eber" is generally thought to refer to the Jews.  Eber was the  father of the Hebrews, from whose name the term "Hebrew" is derived.  Abraham, the father of the Jews, was a descendant of Eber (Gen. 11:17, 26) and is called "Abraham the Hebrew" (Gen. 14:13). It is noteworthy at the outset that the appearing of the Messiah would entail a time of judgment: Moab would be smitten, Asshur (region of Assyria) would be afflicted, and Eber (the Jews) would perish “forever.”  Not coincidentally, Daniel also mentions both Chittim and Moab in the context of Christ’s appearance (Dan. 11:30, 41); he also devotes much of his book to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jews (Dan. 9:24-27; 12:7-13).   

However, while Balaam provides certain markers when the Messiah would appear, they are more in the form of veiled allusions than explicit statements or timelines.  Daniel alone among the Old Testament prophets provides actual timelines by which it could be know when the Messiah would appear.  His prophecies are so explicit that liberal commentators have imagined they were written ex eventu (after the fact).  Daniel’s final prophecy (Dan. 10-12) is so detailed we are actually able to trace battles and the shifting about of power between the Ptolemaic and Seleucid dynasties, the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes and the Maccabean revolt (Dan. 11:21-39), the appearance of the Pompey and Julius Caesar (Dan. 11:40-45), the coming of Christ and the persecution by Nero (Dan. 12:1), the general (Hadean) resurrection (Dan. 12:2), and the destruction of Jerusalem (Dan. 12:7-13). There is no other book like Daniel for its importance and contribution to our understanding of the kingdom and coming of Christ. 

Four World Empires – Count Down to the Messiah 

Daniel seven, like Daniel two, measures the time for Christ’s appearance against world events, placing his kingdom and coming in the days of the forth world empire. Both visions cover precisely the same period and events, but chapter seven provides greater detail.  Before looking directly at chapter seven, it will be useful to glace momemtarily at chapter two.   

The prophecy of chapter two portrays four world empires in the form of a human image or idol; the kingdoms are demarcated by various metals: the first division is a head of gold, the second chest and arms of silver, the third belly and thighs of brass, the fourth legs of iron and feet partly of iron and partly of clay.  We are expressly told that the head of gold is Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon.  With this piece of information, it is a small matter to trace the successive kingdoms to the time of Christ: 1) Babylon, 2) Mede-Persia, 3) Greece, and 4) Rome.  

The declension in the metals seems to point in the first instance to the declining glory of the monarchial power through its division and diffusion in the successive kingdoms.  Babylon had a sole monarch, but the Medes-Persian empire had peers to the crown and satraps with almost independent power; the kingdom of the Greeks was divided among Alexander’s generals; and Rome was a Republic ruled by a “senate and people.”  The Roman Republic ended about 49 B.C. with Julius Caesar’s civil war against the senate and Pompey.  Imperial Rome seems to be signified by the images feet and toes, which Daniel describes as “iron mingled with clay.”  The custom of Babylonians, the Mede-Persians, and Greeks was to allow subject peoples to retain their kings, who swore an oath of fealty to the conquering monarch and paid him tribute.  But the Roman practice was direct administration of conquered peoples by presidents and procurators, by which the iron rule of Rome was intermingled with the clay of conquered peoples.  The image’s toes almost certainly point to the ten senatorial provinces created by August Caesar in 27 B.C., which became a permanent identifying feature of the Roman Empire from then on.  A further interesting fact is that gold is incorruptible, silver slightly less so, but brass and iron are easily corrupted.  This may say something about the corruptible nature of popular governments (democracies and republics) over against monarchy and aristocracy.  The declining value of the metals seems also to point to the baseness of their rulers:  Babylon and the Mede-Persian Empire were friendly to the cause of God and his people: Nebuchadnezzar converted to the true faith and Cyrus and his successors made specific provision for rebuilding Jerusalem and its temple, bearing its cost and those of its sacrifices.  But the Greeks and Romans were overtly hostile to the worship of God, boasting Ptolemy Philopater, Antiochus Epiphanes, and Nero Caesar among those who persecuted the faith. 

Daniel two portrays the coming of Christ as a Stone, which smites the image upon its feet and toes. This provides a definite time for the appearing of Christ after the fall of the Republic and rise of the Empire and August’s creation of the ten senatorial provinces.  We believe that the Stone’s smiting the image is eschatological and points to Christ’s second coming and the world-events attending the “year of four emperors” which left Rome and Italy in ruins, and marked the coming of Christ’s kingdom in power. The fall of Jerusalem occurred at this same time, but is passed over in silence in Daniel two and seven, though it is treated of prominently in chapters nine through twelve.  Some fail to recognize the eschatological imagery of Daniel two, believing instead that the Stone smiting the image merely points to the first coming of Christ and the growth of his church through the spread of the gospel.  However, scripture always treats the first and second coming as an historical unit, and nowhere admits of a gap of several thousand years.  But if the second coming is unclear in Daniel two, it is abundantly clear in Daniel seven, where the “going away”  (ascension) of the Son of Man to receive a kingdom and return (Dan. 7:13; cf. Lk. 19:12) is set in clear apposition to his “coming again” (Dan. 7:22) to destroy the little horn persecuting the saints.  

The Imagery of Daniel Seven and the Little Horn 

The four kingdoms preceding the advent of the Messiah, which in Daniel two are portrayed in the human body, in chapter seven are represented by four beasts.  The beasts are 1) a lion with eagle’s wings, 2) a bear with three ribs in its mouth, 3) a leopard with four wings, and 4) a fourth beast with ten horns.  Under the law of Moses, each of these beasts were “unclean,” signifying that they are Gentiles powers.  In the law, certain animals were set aside as unclean and were not to be eaten by the Jews. The purpose in these restrictions was not health, but to separate the Jews from the pagan nations around them. The dietary restrictions prevented close communion or “table fellowship” with Israel’s neighbors, helping ensure the nation did not learn pagan ways.  Hence, when the prohibition against association with Gentiles was lifted and the gospel was to have free course among the nations, Peter was given a vision in which he was told to “slay and eat” unclean beasts and creeping things, signifying that all men were now acceptable by faith in Christ (Acts 10).  

Hosea specifically names the beasts of Daniel’s vision in a prophetic warning that God would chasten and scatter Israel and Judah among the nations for its sin.   

“Therefore I will be unto them as a lion: as a leopard by the way will I observe them: I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart, and there will I devour them like a lion: the wild beast shall tear them” (Hos. 13:7, 8) 

The connection between Hosea’s pre-captivity prophecy and Daniel, who wrote during the captivity, is important to show the historical context and fulfillment of the prophecy, and that it does not belong to modern times. Beasts are nations. The nations God used to chasten Israel and Judah are portrayed by Daniel as the world powers of their day.  There is no disagreement about the identity of the four beasts; virtually all commentators agree that Babylon, Mede-Persia, Greece and Rome are signified.  The only disagreement lies in the fourth beast, which futurists must somehow stretch into modern times to keep the prospect of the second coming “alive.” During the Reformation, this was done by interpreting the “little horn,” which arose out of the fourth beast, as the Papacy.  Doubtless this was tempting, given the Papacy’s seat in Rome, its involvement in world politics, and persecution of heretical sects.  However, almost no respectable scholarship believes this today. The ten horns are political divisions within the empire, not divisions of the empire after it has collapsed.  Hence, the little horn existed in the days of the empire, not after it.  But if the little horn is not the Papacy, and if Rome no longer exists, then the vision must belong to former times. Thus, it remains merely to give a solid account of the identity of the little horn to show that the prophecy is fulfilled and the second coming a past event.  Let’s take the relevant verses one at a time: 

7 – After this I in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it:  

The fourth kingdom to rule the inhabited earth was the strongest of all.  The Roman power grew up slowly, gradually gaining strength and renown. Rome’s rival in the west was the Carthaginians; in the east, Antiochus III the Great, followed by Mithridates IV of Pontus. Rome defeated Carthage in the Second Punic War (218-202 B.C.), ending Carthage as a threat to Roman power.  Antiochus III next made a bid for world dominance, but was defeated by Rome at the battles of Thermopylae and Magnesia (191-190 B.C.). Antiochus sued for peace and by the treaty of Apamea (189 B.C.) was forced to abandon all Europe and Asia Minor west of Taurus, and to pay 15, 000 Euboic talents damages to Rome, forever prostrating his kingdom. Mithidates was defeated by Pompey in the third Mithridatic war (65 B.C.). Pompey went on to depose Antiochus Asiaticus and to capture Jerusalem (64-63 B.C.). Egypt, ruled by the Greek dynasty of the Ptolemies, was brought under Roman rule by Julius Caesar (47 B.C.). 

and it was diverse from the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 

Daniel says that the fourth beast was “diverse from the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.”  This is an explicit reference to Rome’s republican beginnings and the ten senatorial provinces established by Augustus Caesar in 27 B.C.  All other kingdoms were monarchies; Rome alone was a republic.  After Caesar’s civil war with the Roman senate and Pompey, Rome ceased to be a republic and came under sole power of Caesar, who declared himself dictator for life.  Following Caesar’s assassination (44 B.C.), power was shared in a triumvirate between Octavian (Augustus), Marc Antony, and Lepidus, but by 31 B.C. Augustus emerged as sole emperor of Rome.  The Roman people historically associated political liberty with the senate and viewed monarchy as a form of slavery.  Thus, in 27 B.C. Augustus set aside the provisional forms the government had operated under since the death of Caesar and settled the government upon a more permanent foundation.  Under pretense of restoring the republic and surrendering the principate, Augustus returned the government of the empire to the senate.  However, not all provinces were handed over.   The senate was given charge of the provinces that were in a settled and peaceful condition, and required no legions, while Augustus retained the government of those upon the empire’s borders.  Augustus thus controlled the military power of the empire and preserved himself as absolute monarch, while the senate was given the outward show of sovereignty, but none of the substance.  Dio Cassius explains:  

“His professed motive in this was that the senate might fearlessly enjoy the finest portion of the empire, while he himself had the hardships and the dangers; but his real purpose was that by this arrangement the senators will be unarmed and unprepared for battle, while he alone had arms and maintained soldiers.”[1]   

The division of the empire into imperial and senatorial provinces became an identifying feature of imperial Rome from and after Augustus. The number of provinces ceded to the senate was ten.[2]  It is these ten provinces that are symbolized by the ten horns in the beast, and answer the ten toes of the image in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. 

8 – I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. 

A “little horn” is a king. This is seen in chapter eight, where the identical phrase is used of Antiochus Epiphanes (Dan. 8:9).  The horn is not “little” compared with the other horns. All the beast’s horns are little (viz., they are not large like antlers, but small like the horns of sheep, goats, and oxen).   Thus, it is another little horn among the other little horns comprising the political powers of the beast.  Specifically, it is the imperial power embodied in the emperor over against the power of the senate and provincial governors.  The description of the horn saying it had “eyes like a man and a mouth boasting great things” points to the blasphemy of the Caesars, who claimed to be gods and entitled to worship by men.  Daniel says the saints were delivered into the power to the little horn for a “time, times, and the dividing of time” or 42 month or 3 ½ years (v. 21, 25). This is the same period the beast in Revelation made war against the saints (Rev. 13:5, 7; cf. 11:7, 11).  The beast in Revelation is widely recognized as referring to the persecution under Nero.  He was the sixth “king” in succession from Julius Caesar (Rev. 17:10) and his name adds up to “666” the mystic number of the beast (Rev. 13:18).  Thus, it is to Nero the little horn refers and who the early church recognized as the “antichrist.”  St. Jerome noted in his commentary on Daniel: 

"And so there are many of our viewpoint who think that Domitius Nero was the Antichrist because of his outstanding savagery and depravity." 

Daniel says three horns were “plucked up” before the little horn (Roman Emperor).  Note, they are not plucked up by the little horn, but before (in front of) it.  We believe this refers to the provinces and client kings that rebelled under Nero: Britain, Armenia, and Syria.  The uprising of these three powers is widely acknowledged by historians as among the more prominent events punctuating Nero’s reign:   “The peace and prosperity of the Empire remained undisturbed, save for the distant wars in Britain, on the Euphrates and in Judaea.”[3]  “Greater subjects than the Prince’s amours and revels and the life of Rome may claim greater attention from us…Wars in Britain, in Armenia, in Judaea; the battle of Christianity with the State…demand our notice.”[4]  Period historians Tacitus, Dio Cassius, and Suetonius provide details of these wars.  Suetonius summarizes them, saying, Nero’s reign was marked by  

“a disaster in Britain, where two important towns were sacked and great numbers of citizens and allies were butchered; a shameful defeat in the Orient, in consequence of which the legions in Armenia were sent under the yoke, and Syria was all but lost.”[5] 

A common preterist interpretation is that the little horn here is Flavius Vespasian. This premised on the belief that the three and a half year period the saints given into his hand speaks to the Jews’ war with Rome.  This is then coupled with the idea that the three horns subdued by the little horn (v.24) refers to Galba, Otho, and Vitellius.  However, this is untenable.  Vespasian put down only Vitellius, and had no hand at all in the fall of Galba or Otho. Moreover, Daniel says that after the destruction of the little horn, the time came when the saints received the kingdom (v. 27).  If the saints in v. 25 are the Jews, then the Jews receive the kingdom in v. 27!  But this is absurd. The Jews were not the saints in the latter half of the first century; they were the enemy and antichrist!  It is the church that received the kingdom and dominion, not the Jews. The Jews were destroyed. 

 9, 10  – I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did set, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.  A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. 

These verses bear an obvious resemblance to Rev. 20:4, 11-15, and show that the judgment here is eschatological and occurred at the time of the general resurrection.  Indeed, the language of John is almost identical to Daniel: 

“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them…and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Rev. 20:4, 12). 

In chapter 12:1, 2, Daniel makes explicit reference to the resurrection, tying it to the “great tribulation” (persecution under Nero) and Michael’s (Christ’s) vengeance upon his enemies. Therefore, although the general resurrection is passed over in silence here in chapter seven, it is clear from what we read elsewhere that it was joined in point of time to the destruction of the little horn (Nero). 

11, 12 – I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I held even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.  As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time. 

The little horn was destroyed by the coming of Christ (v. 22).  II Thessalonians agrees when it says that the “man of sin” and “son of perdition” (Nero) would be consumed by the spirit of Christ’s mouth and brightness of his coming (II Thess. 2:8).  Thus, if slaying the beast here is the fall of Rome in 476 A.D, Daniel is looking beyond the destruction of the little horn to the time when Rome itself would reach its appointed end.  This seems to be suggested contrast with the other beasts, whose lives were prolonged, even after losing their dominions.  On the other hand, the better view probably is that Daniel has in view the eschatological judgments of A.D. 68-70.  With the death of Nero in June 68, the empire was thrown into a series of civil wars that left Rome burned and Italy in ruins.  In the space of one year and 22 days, four emperors came to the throne: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian.  The history of this time was unprecedented in world annals and clearly marked Christ’s coming in judgment against the persecutors of his church. 

13, 14 – I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they thought him near before him.  And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. 

This is the ascension of Christ, when he was given dominion over earth’s people and sat down at the right hand of God.  John portrays these same events in Rev. 4, 5, and 12.  This “going away” is set over against Christ’s “coming” in v. 22.  Together these fulfill the parable of in Luke 19:12, “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.”  Christ received a kingdom as a matter of law at his ascension, he put his enemies beneath his feet and obtained the dominion as a matter of fact in the events of A.D. 68-70. 

17, 18 – These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.  But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever. 

The Jews mistook the prophets, believing that the Messiah would mark the end of the political and military dominion of Rome, but the kingdom and dominion would accrue to the saints another way.  Proclamation of the gospel and Christ’s providential government of the world and nations would guide history to the continuous increase of his kingdom, until the gospel covered the face of the earth. 

19, 20 – Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet: And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows. 

The horns which were “plucked up before” the little horn in v. 8 are here “fall” but in v. 24 are said to be “subdued.”  Following the rebellion of Britain, Armenia, and Syria, each was in turn subdued and brought back under Roman dominion.  The little horn was “more stout” than his fellows, meaning the imperial power was greater than that of the senate and Roman governors and presidents.  Notice also that the ten horns are contemporaneous with the empire and are not divisions after its collapse as is commonly argued by the “continuous historical” school, which sees the Papacy in the imagery here.  Horns would not be very useful to a dead beast.  They exist and have power only as long as the empire exists, not after its collapse. 

21, 22 – I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom. 

There are several parallel passages in Revelation: 

And when they have finished their testimony, the beat that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall over come them and kill them. Rev. 11:7

 

And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.  Rev. 13:7

 

These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord  of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen and faithful. Rev. 17:14

The Ancient of Days is Christ in his divinity.  The little horn’s persecution of the saints would end with the death of Nero in A.D. 68 by the coming of Christ in judgment upon the Jews and Romans.  Jesus’ first century coming was a prominent part of his teaching. Over and over, he told his disciples that he wold return in their lifetimes.  “But when they persecute you in this city flee ye into the next, for verily I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man be come” (Matt. 10:23).  “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man man according to his works.  Verily I say unto you, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Matt. 16:27, 28; cf. Matt. 24:31, 34; 26:64).  “Kingdom” carries the sense of “dominion.”  The dominion that was the beast’s would go over to Christ as sole monarch of the world, who rules the nations with a rod of iron.  Christ’s providential government of the world means that the saints will always mount higher and higher and remain in the ascendancy, even though they suffer temporary reversals, for they, too, must sometimes be chastened and corrected. 

23, 24 – Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. 

The “ten kings” that arise out of beast are in fact the provincial presidents and governors who persecute the church with Nero. John thus says: “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.  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.  These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is King of kings, and Lord of lords” (Rev. 17:12-14).  The provincial governors are not kings, but receive power “as kings” in the persecution, meaning that they hold the power of life and death in the war against the church.

25 – And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall ear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times, and the dividing of time. 

“Changing times and laws” signifies carnal aspirations to divinity.  This is precisely what St. Paul said of Nero in his epistle to the Thessalonians:  “Let no  man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God” (II Thess. 2:3, 4).  Nero’s ascription of divinity to himself set him on a collision course with Christ.  The Jews would thus accuse Christians to Nero and move him to persecute the church, and the “mystery of iniquity” that was restrained when Paul wrote would break out in a surfeit of blood.  Bishop Lightfoot comments upon this verse:  

The mystery of iniquity was already working,’ when the apostle wrote this Epistle, which cannot possibly be understood but of the Jewish nation; and so it is explained again and again.”[6] 

Nero’s persecution lasted from November A.D. 64 until his death June A.D. 68, 42 months or 3 ½ years – here described by Daniel as a “time, times, and the dividing of time.” 

26, 27 – But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take way his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end. And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. 

The kingdom is not the church. The kingdom is the inhabited earth.  The four kingdoms that occupy Daniel’s vision each ruled the inhabited earth.  This dominion, however, was given to Christ.  The saints enjoy the benefit of his reign, as he guides all things for the advancement of righteousness and his gospel. 

Summary & Conclusion 

The second coming is clearly set in the time of the “little horn” of Daniel seven.  Historical evidence plainly shows the little horn to have been Nero: He meets the criteria of having ascribed to himself divinity, persecuted the saints for 3 ½ years, and was destroyed by the coming of Christ’s kingdom in power to vindicate his gospel and avenge his saints.


[1]  Dio Cassius, LIII, ii-xii; Loeb ed.

[2] “Africa, Numidia, Asia, Greece with Epirus, the Dalmatian and Macedonian districts, Crete and the Cyrenaic portion of Libya, Bithynia with Pontus which adjoined it, Sardinia and Baetica were held to belong to the people and the senate; while to Caesar belonged the remainder of Spain,— that is, the district of Tarraco and Lusitania,— and all the Gauls,— that is, Gallia Narbonensis, Gallia Lugdunensis, Aquitania, and Belgica, both the natives themselves and the aliens among them.” Dio Cassius, LIII, xii; Loeb ed.

[3] W. T. Arnold, The Roman System of Provincial Administration to the Accession of Constantine the Great (Oxford, 1879; 2nd edition printed 1906), 104

[4] Bernard W. Henderson, The Life and Principate of the Emperor Nero (Oxford University Press, 1903), p. 15

[5] Suetonius, Nero, XXXIX; Loeb ed.

[6] John Lightfoot, Complete Works, Harmony of the New Testament (A.D. 1684), Vol. III, p. 232.

 

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