The second Beast was like a bear, and represents the Empire which reigned next after the Babylonians, that is, the Empire of the Persians. Thy kingdom is divided, or broken, saith Daniel to the last King of Babylon, and given to the Medes_ and Persians_, Dan. v. 28.  This Beast raised itself up on one side; the Persians being under the Medes at the fall of Babylon, but presently rising up above them. [2] And it had three ribs in the mouth of it, between the teeth of it, to signify the kingdoms of Sardes, Babylon, and Egypt, which were conquered by it, but did not belong to its proper body.  And it devoured much flesh, the riches of those three kingdoms.

The third Beast was the kingdom which succeeded the Persian; and this was the empire of the Greeks, Dan. viii. 6, 7, 20, 21.  It was like a Leopard, to signify its fierceness; and had four heads and four wings, to signify that it should become divided into four kingdoms, Dan. viii 22. for it continued in a monarchical form during the reign of Alexander the great, and his brother Aridaeus, and young sons Alexander and Hercules; and then brake into four kingdoms, by the governors of provinces putting crowns on their own heads, and by mutual consent reigning over their provinces. Cassander reigned over Macedon, Greece, and Epirus; Lysimachus over Thrace and Bithynia; Ptolemy over Egypt, Lybia, Arabia, Coelosyria, and Palestine; and Seleucus over Syria.

The fourth Beast was the empire which succeeded that of the Greeks, and this was the Roman.  This beast was exceeding dreadful and terrible, and had great iron teeth, and devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; and such was the Roman empire.  It was larger, stronger, and more formidable and lasting than any of the former.  It conquered the kingdom of Macedon, with Illyricum and Epirus, in the eighth year of Antiochus Epiphanes, Anno Nabonass.. 580; and inherited that of Pergamus, Anno Nabonass. 615; and conquered that of Syria, Anno Nabonass. 679, and that of Egypt, Anno Nabonass. 718.  And by these and other conquests it became greater and more terrible than any of the three former Beasts.  This Empire continued in its greatness till the reign of Theodosius the great; and then brake into ten kingdoms, represented by the ten horns of this Beast; and continued in a broken form, till the Antient of days sat in a throne like fiery flame, and the judgment was set, and the books were opened, and the Beast was slain and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flames; and one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Antient of days [3], and received dominion over all nations, and judgment was given to the saints of the most high, and the time came that they possessed the kingdom.