Aphrahat the Persian Sage : Now the fourth beast has swallowed up the third. And this third consists of the children of Japhet, and the fourth consists of the children of Shem, for they are the children of Esau. When Daniel saw the vision of the four beasts, he saw first the children of Ham, the seed of Nimrod, which the Babylonians are; and second, the Persians and Medes, who are the children of Japhet; and third, the Greeks, the brothers of the Medes; and fourth, the children of Shem, which the children of Esau are. For a confederacy was formed between the children of Japhet and the children of Shem. Then the government was taken away from the children of Japhet, the younger, and was given to Shem, the elder; and to this day it continues and will continue for ever. But when the time of the consummation of the dominion of the children of Shem shall have come, the ruler, who came forth from the children of Judah, shall receive the kingdom, when he shall come in his second advent. — DEMONSTRATIONS 5:10 Ephrem the Syrian : This is Alexander, king of the Greeks, and the prophet says that he is similar to iron, which is the hardest among metals. He adds that the beast is armed with iron teeth, and with this symbol he indicates Alexander's powerful armies, which nearly subdued all kings. Then he adds that it was seen while devouring or trampling all that came its way, while destroying everything. With these words he predicted that Alexander would have attacked the vastness of almost all provinces, would have robbed their inhabitants and would have abandoned their fields and estates to his soldiers for pillage and destruction, so that it seemed that he had squeezed the entire world and all its precious things under a press and had offered all this to his soldiers in order that they might trample it. — COMMENTARY ON Daniel 7:7 Hippolytus of Rome : And so after the Greeks ruled for three hundred years, the prophet signals to me again another kingdom. For he spoke in this way, "After this I was looking, and behold, a fourth beast fearful and terrible and exceedingly strong. Its teeth were iron and its nails bronze, and it was eating and grinding and the remainder it trampled with its feet. And it itself was exceedingly different from all the beasts which were before it, and there were ten horns on it. I was observing its horns, and behold, another smaller horn rose up in the midst of them and three horns which were before it were rooted out from its face. And behold, eyes as eyes of the man were on this horn and a mouth speaking great things. I was looking until thrones were set and the Ancient of Days sat and his clothes were white as snow and the hair of his head were as pure wool. His throne was a flame of fire, its wheels blazing fire. A river of fire gushed from before it. Thousand thousands attended him and myriad myriads stood before him. He set out judgment and the books were opened. Then I was looking at a voice of great words which that horn spoke, until the beast was killed and his body was destroyed and given to the burning of fire. And the dominion of the rest of the beasts ceased, and a length of life was given to them for a time." [Daniel 7:7-12] And so, after the kingdom of the Greeks, a kingdom arose none other than that which now rules which has also been established and this is clear to all. Which has iron teeth on account of the fact that it overpowers all and grinds with its own strength, just like iron, it tramples the remainder with its feet. On account of which another kingdom is no longer left after this one, except its ten horns which grow up from it and in the midst of them one small horn arises and it roots out three of the first horns. — Commentary on Daniel 4.4.1-5.2 Hippolytus of Rome : For the blessed Daniel, explaining the previous vision to Nebuchadnezzar, says, "I now speak concerning the dream of the image, which shows forth to be a golden head, then hands and arms and a silver chest, next a bronze stomach and thighs, then iron legs, next feet, in them part are iron and part are clay," so that in this it may be shown what he described is now described again in this vision. As the gold is the kingdom of the Babylonians, which was the lioness, the silver that of the Persians, which was the bear, next the bronze that of the Greeks, which Alexander of Macedon began, so that it may be shown as the leopard. After these things he says, "iron legs", so that he may signal the fearful and terrible beast, which has iron teeth, which are the Romans who rule now, who are strong as iron. In all events after the iron legs of the image, what remains, except the feet in which are ten toes and these being mixed with clay and iron, so that through the ten toes the ten horns may be signaled, and through the clay and iron, their discord may be signaled, when they shall be commingled in the seed of men, but they shall not be united with one another. For just as iron is not mixed with clay, in this way at that time men will not be able to agree with one another, but others from here and there shall carry disorder and divide the royal kingdom to themselves according to their nation. — Commentary on Daniel 4.7.2-6 Hippolytus of Rome : But since the grace of God richly teaches those who hope on him and who despise this world, we shall not pass over this. In a word, the blessed prophet named all kingdoms which were before, having likened them to beasts, but he did not declare the kingdom which now is instituted, as in what sort of animal it was. I will speak more clearly concerning it, so that one may better consider what has been stated. For after he was saying that the kingdom of the Babylonians was a lion and that of the Persians a bear and that of the Greeks a leopard, why does he not say that the kingdom of the Romans was an animal, but he says it was "fearful and exceedingly terrible, its teeth were iron and its claws bronze,"? [Daniel 7:7] Consider, O man, and glorify the Lord. For when the Babylonians ruled as one nation, they themselves then in those times resolved to rule all nations, he righteously names them as a lioness, as a creature of one form. Similarly also the Persians are one sordid nation, which only spoke with the one tongue. On account of this he likened them also to a bear. Likewise also the Greeks he said were a leopard. For all the Greeks were ruling all the world. But now the powerful beast is not one nation, but it is of many tongues and it gathers to itself from many races of men and prepares an army in a line of battle, and all are called Romans, though all are not from one country. — Commentary on Daniel 4.8.1-7 Hippolytus of Rome : But since a certain thought gnaws at the heart, we shall not abandon the indescribable itself, which is able to aid a soul. For when in the forty-second year of Caesar Augustus the Lord was born, when the kingdom of the Romans flourished, the Lord, through the apostles, summoned all nations and all tongues and made a nation of Christians who believe in the Lord and who carry a new name in heart, in the same manner this kingdom now is counterfeited by that which rules according to the operation of Satan, but similarly this kingdom also collects those born from all nations and prepares those who are called Romans for war. And on account of this also the first census happened under Augustus, when the Lord was born in Bethlehem, so that the men of this world, being registered in the earthly kingdom, were called Romans, but those who believe in the heavenly kingdom were named Christians, who on their forehead carry the trophy against death to the front line. — Commentary on Daniel 4.9.1-3 Jerome : Verse 7. "After this, I beheld in the night-vision, and behold, there was a fourth beast, terrible and wonderful and exceedingly strong. He had large iron teeth, devouring and crushing, and everything that was left he stamped to pieces under his feet." The fourth empire is the Roman Empire, which now occupies the entire world, and concerning which it was said in connection with the image, "Its lower legs were of iron, and part of its feet were of iron, and part of clay." And yet from the iron portion itself Daniel calls to mind that its teeth were iron, and solemnly avers that they were large in size. I find it strange that although he had set forth a lioness, a bear and a leopard in the case of the three previous kingdoms, he did not compare the Roman realm to any sort of beast. Perhaps it was in order to render the beast fearsome indeed that he gave it no name, intending thereby that we should understand the Romans to partake of all the more ferocious characteristics we might think of in connection with beasts. The Hebrews believe that the beast which is here not named is the one spoken of in the Psalms: "A boar from the forest laid her waste, and a strange wild animal consumed her" (Psalms 80:13). Instead of this the Hebrew reads: "All the beasts of the field have torn her." While they are all included in the one Empire of the Romans, we recognize at the same time those kingdoms which were previously separate. And as for the next statement, "...devouring and crushing, and pounding all the rest to pieces under his feet," this signifies that all nations have either been slain by the Romans or else have been subjected to tribute and servitude. "...But it did not resemble the other beasts which I had previously seen" (Vulgate: "...which I had seen before it"). In the earlier beasts he had seen various symbols of fright-fulness, but they were all concentrated in this one. "...and it had ten horns." Porphyry assigned the last two beasts, that of the Macedonians and that of the Romans, to the one realm of the Macedonians and divided them up as follows. He claimed that the leopard was Alexander himself, and that the beast which was dissimilar to the others represented the four successors of Alexander, and then he enumerates ten kings up to the time of Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, and who were very cruel. And he did not assign the kings themselves to separate kingdoms, for example Macedon, Syria, Asia, or Egypt, but rather he made out the various kingdoms a single realm consisting of a series. This he did of course in order that the words which were written: "...a mouth uttering overweening boasts" might be considered as spoken about Antiochus instead of about Antichrist. — St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER SEVEN John Chrysostom : Then he tells that the fourth beast would arrive in all sorts of different ways and nothing could be compared with it, it was so different. But at last it conquered all the other kingdoms. The other empires all got their strength from the speed by which they conquered, but this beast would have its strength in its teeth, made of iron. "And he trampled the rest with his feet." He understands many wars. — COMMENTARY ON Daniel 7 Theodoret of Cyrus : He calls the Roman Empire "the fourth beast," but he does not give it a name because the Roman state was forged together from very many nations and so acquired mastery over the whole world. First it was governed by kings, then by the people, then by the aristocracy, and at last it returned to the first mode of government, monarchy. He states that this beast is "fearsome and very awe-inspiring," because this was the mightiest kingdom of all the other kingdoms. And in the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw, he put down the fourth metal as iron. Just as iron crushes and breaks everything, so this empire would crush and break everything. — COMMENTARY ON Daniel 7:7