pagan and Rome papal.  The seven heads of Rome, therefore, signify the distinct forms of government that ruled successively in the empire, for they are represented, not as simultaneous powers, but as consecutive powers.  The five that had already fallen when John received the vision were the regal power, the consular, the decemvirate, the military tribunes, and the triumvirate.  “One is”—­the imperial.  The seventh, or future one, was the patriciate.

It is natural that the pagan Roman Empire should be represented as a dragon.  In the prophecy of Daniel the Grecian kingdom is represented by a he goat for no other apparent reason than the fact that the goat was the national military standard of the Grecian monarchy.  So also the dragon was the principal military standard of the Romans next to the eagle.  Arian, an early writer, mentions the fact that dragons were used as military standards by the Romans.  The dragon of Revelation 12 is also described as a red dragon.  The dragon standards of the Romans were painted red.  Ammianus Marcellinus mentions “the purple standard of the dragon.”  By this fabulous beast described as a great red dragon, then, is symbolically represented the heathen Roman Empire.

The ten horns, or kingdoms, which had not yet risen when the revelation was given, were the ten minor kingdoms that grew out of the Roman Empire during its decline and fall.  These are as follows:  1.  Anglo-Saxons; 2.  Burgundians; 3.  Franks; 4.  Huns; 5.  Heruli; 6.  Lombards; 7.  Ostrogoths; 8.  Suevi; 9.  Vandals; 10.  Visigoths.

The dragon is described with the horns, although they were not yet in existence and did not arise until about the time the dragon became the beast.  He is also represented with seven heads, although he really possessed only one head at a time and five had already fallen and one was yet to come.  He is described with all the heads and horns he had ever had or was to have.  The reason why the same general power is described under two forms—­first as the dragon and later as the beast—­will appear more clearly hereafter.

The fact that the dragon was called the devil and Satan has led some to think that the personal devil himself is meant.  The foregoing explanation concerning the heads and the horns shows conclusively, however, that by the dragon is meant the pagan Roman Empire, and not Beelzebub.  The Hebrews applied the term “Satan” to an adversary, or opposer, as can be seen by examining in the original the following and many other texts:  Num. 22:22; 1 Sam. 29:4; 2 Sam. 19:22; 1 Kings 11:25.  The term is also thus used in the New Testament, signifying merely an opposer.  “But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan” (Matt. 16:23).  “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils” (1 Cor. 10:20).  Paganism was the great opposer of Christianity; hence was a Satan to it, while the apostle Paul denominated its religious rites as devil-worship.  We must remember that the text does not say that the dragon was the devil and Satan, but that he was called the devil and Satan.  He partook of the nature and character of the personal devil, was the chief instrument through which the devil worked, and was therefore called by his name.