After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon its back four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
Read Chapter 7
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Leopard, a small spotted beast, may denote the size and disposition of Alexander, as well as his rapid conquests. When he was asked how he had subdued so many, he answered, "by never putting off. "(Calmet)
Four. He led his forces on all sides; (Haydock) and after his death, his empire was divided into four, (Worthington) Egypt, Syria, Asia, and Macedon, (Theod.) as he had united in his person the empire of the Chaldeans, Medes, Persians, and Greeks. (Calmet)
And, lo, another beast like a leopard. In mentioning a leopard, he means the kingdom of the Greeks, over whom Alexander of Macedon was king. And he likened them to a leopard, because they were quick and inventive in thought, and bitter in heart, just as that animal is many-coloured in appearance, and quick in wounding and in drinking man's blood.
The beast had also four heads. When the kingdom of Alexander was exalted, and grew, and acquired a name over the whole world, his kingdom was divided into four principalities. For Alexander, when near his end, partitioned his kingdom among his four comrades of the same race, viz., Seleucus, Demetrius, Ptolemy, and Philip; and all these assumed crowns, as Daniel prophesies, and as it is written in the first book of Maccabees.
The third kingdom was that of the Macedonians, of which we read in connection with the image, "The belly and thighs were of bronze." It is compared to a leopard because it is very swift and hormetikos [impetuous], and it charges headlong to shed blood, and with a single bound rushes (p. 530) to its death. "And it had four wings...." There was never, after all, any victory won more quickly than Alexander's, for he traversed all the way from Illyricum and the Adriatic Sea to the Indian Ocean and the Ganges River, not merely fighting battles but winning decisive victories; and in six years he subjugated to his rule a portion of Europe and all of Asia. And by the four heads reference is made to his generals who subsequently rose up as successors to his royal power, namely Ptolemy, Seleucus, Philip [i.e., Philip Arrhidaeus, an illegitimate brother of Alexander, who was proclaimed king upon Alexander's death, but never exercised genuine power, and died after seven years], and Antigonus [the ...
