And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings... And behold another beast, like to a bear, and three ribs were in his mouth between his teeth: After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four beads; ... After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, terrible and powerful and it had great iron teeth; and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.-DANIEL. vii. 3-8.

the fall of the younger Cyrus, his rival, at the battle of Cunaxa, and the retreat of the ten-thousand Greeks under the leadership of Xenophon; of Ochus, the stern warrior, who recovered Egypt and brought into subjection all neighboring powers; for these were the monarchs of Persia who, in succession, had stood forth as the lords of Asia, irresistible in power, and claiming the right to dictate laws to the whole known world.

Standing in the succession of such a line of kings, and on the very summit of earthly greatness, it is not to be wondered at that Darius had showed something of over confidence in the power of his kingdom and in the security of his position.

Besides, his efforts to gather an army whose numbers should be worthy of the vastness of his empire had not been unavailing. A magnificent host is marshalled around him. The most distant provinces have sent up their quotas. Persians, Medes, Babylonians, Susianians, from the center of the empire, are side by side in arms to vindicate the fame of the East. There are Syrians from the banks of the distant Orontes, Armenians from the foot of Ararat, Cadusians from the Caspian, and Albanians and Cappadocians from the shores of the Black Sea. From the banks of the upper Oxus, and from far off Jaxartes, the Bactrians and Sogdians come shouting to the fray. From the mountains of the north come the Aryans of Herat, the Arachosians from Cabul, and even the fierce Sacæ, from the very borders of the Gobi desert, and swarthy Indians from beyond the Indus.

Twenty-five nations, with streaming banners, followed the standards, and swelled the army of the great king. Ranged under his eyes in a double line are a round million of footmen, strengthened by the squadrons of forty thousand cavalry, while in