��������The Toes of the Image
While studying the � millennium, � which is Norse mythology; it is
obvious from study that the reformers didn � t subscribe to the idea that it would
transpire after the Messiah � s
second coming, but rather had already happened from 70 A.D., to approximately
the middle of the 10 hundreds A.D.
There are many adherents to the � Futurists � and � Preterists � positions as opposed to the � Historical � perspective of prophecy. Yahweh has
already announced His blueprints for the future by His prophets, and it � s going to unfold in His prescribed
manner regardless of our personal opinion. Under these circumstances, we should
study the origin of our persuasions. If we do, we might be surprised under what
conditions these doctrines came into being. We should not go so far as to
pronounce the � Preterists, � � Futurists � and � Idealists � views as being entirely incorrect
though. We must give them credit where credit is due. Therefore, in order to
get a handle on prophecy, we feel it is necessary to take a short walk through
Daniel and Revelation.
With this dissertation, we are going
to go into areas where few have ever gone. As wee start with Daniel, most of us
will be somewhat in agreement, but as we progress, complicated problems will
arise. Before we consider Revelation, it is imperative we first comprehend
Daniel as they cannot be treated separately because Daniel is a foundation for
Revelation. As we move along, you will understand why.
In order to set the stage for this
study, we will begin with Daniel � s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar � s dream in Daniel 2:31-45. It seems
that Nebuchadnezzar had a distressing dream for which his wise men,
astrologers, magicians, and soothsayers had no answer. After their failure to
make his dream known to him, Yahweh revealed it to Daniel along with its
interpretation which was as follows:
Daniel 2:31‑45:
31). Thou, O king, sawest, and behold
a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before
thee; and the form thereof was terrible.
32). This image's head was of fine
gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,
33). His legs of iron, his feet part
of iron and part of clay.
34). Thou sawest till that a stone was
cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron
and clay, and brake them to pieces.
35). Then was the iron, the clay, the
brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the
chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no
place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great
mountain, and filled the whole earth.
36). This is the dream; and we will
tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
37). Thou, O king, art a king of
kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength,
and glory.
38). And wheresoever the children of
men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given
into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of
gold.
39). And after thee shall arise
another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which
shall bear rule over all the earth.
40). And the fourth kingdom shall be
strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things:
and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
41). And whereas thou sawest THE feet
and TOES, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be
divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as
thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
42). And as THE TOES of the feet were
part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and
partly broken.
43). And whereas thou sawest iron
mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but
they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
44). And in the days of these kings
shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and
the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and
consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
45). Forasmuch as thou sawest that the
stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces
the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath
made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is
certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. �
Basically, Daniel was revealing to
Nebuchadnezzar that he represented the first of four kingdoms. Most Bible
scholars today recognize these as: (1) Babylonian Empire; (2) Medo-Persian
Empire; (3) The Grecian Empire, and (4) The Roman Empire. Another school of
thought proposes they are: (A) Babylon; (B) Media; (C) Persia, and (D) Greece.
According to The Jerome Biblical Commentary, page 451, the Babylonian, the
Medo-Persian, the Greco-Seleucid, and the Roman were formerly commonly
understood, but now � find
few modern Catholic exegetes to support it. �
In other words, originally Jerome held
that Rome was Daniel � s
fourth kingdom rather than Greece. If you have a Bible commentary claiming
Greece as the fourth kingdom, it � s probably coming from the � modern � Catholic Church. If you have a Bible
commentary making such an assertion, don � t discard it as it night have other
pertinent information. Be especially careful with The Interpreter � s Bible, both the one and twelve
volume editions. Another commentary which puts forth this claim is the Concise
Bible Commentary by Rev. W.K. Lowther Clarke and makes this statement about the
toes of Daniel � s
interpretation on page 582:
� ...The toes are the natural complement
of the feet and no stress is laid on them.. �
If one tries to force Greece into
Daniel � s
fourth kingdom, as the modern Catholic exegetes do, the toes would be quite
unimportant, but if applied to Rome, they become very significant.
The all Important Toes: We don � t really get into a lot of difficulty
with Nebuchadnezzar � s
image until we arrive at its toes. The reason the toes are important is because
they represent the ten provinces of the Roman Empire. When we begin to realize
this momentous fact, we can start to comprehend the accuracy of Daniel � s interpretation, and it doesn � t stop there. While Daniel does not
mention ten individual toes, if the image depicts a normal man, it is implied.
Sermons have been preached on Nebuchadnezzar image, but never any of them
explaining the meaning of the TOES! This is where it starts to get very
interesting!
Matthew Henry � s Commentary, volume 6, page 1160,
speaks of the ten provinces of Rome in relation to Revelation 12:3, and likens
them to the seven heads and ten crowns of the dragon:
� ...As having ten horns, divided into
ten provinces, as the Roman empire was by Augustus C � sar... �
Everyone is aware that horns are not
toes. As we proceed we will encounter various combinations of seven and ten.
While not fully agreeing with Henry and Clarke, presently our only objective is
to establish the fact that Rome was, indeed, divided into ten provinces.
Clarke � s Commentary, volume 6, page 604,
names the Roman provinces as follows:
� 1) The kingdom of the Huns; 2) The
kingdom of the Ostrogoths; 3) The kingdom of the Visigoths; 4) The kingdom of
the Franks; 5) The kingdom of the Vandals; 6) The kingdom of the Sueves and
Alans; 7) The kingdom of Odoacer; 9). The kingdom of the Saxon; and 10) The
kingdom of the Lombards... �
You will notice several German tribes
mentioned among these. Undoubtedly, these Israelite tribes are the toes � partly strong � of iron.
In the book A History Of The Ancient
World, by Chester G. Starr, page 522, brief mention is made of the ten
provinces:
� ...Partly to provide leaders for these
courts the number of praetors was increased from 6 to 8, and each praetor
thenceforth normally served one year in Rome and a second year as propraetor
(commonly called � Proconsul � ) n a province; the other 2 of the 10
provinces were governed by exconsuls. Besides Cisalpine Gaul, which was finally
made into a province, the others at this date [time of Sulla] were Sicily,
Sardinia-Corsica, the two Spains, Macedonia, Africa, Asia, Narbonensis Gaul,
and Cilicia (Cyrene being not yet fully organized). �
In the 1980 Collier � s Encyclopedia, volume 20, page 187,
under the topic � Rome,
Ancient, � it
addresses the period of Sulla saying:
� ...Both they and the consuls began
more regularly to exercise their functions in Rome before being assigned to
governorships in the ten provinces of that period... �
All of this evidence form these
various sources should amply verify there were basically ten province in the
Roman Empire. Further confirmation can be found in Edward Gibbon � s The History Of The Decline And Fall
Of The Roman Empire, volume 1, pages 241-249. While Gibbon says eleven, one of
the eleven provinces never quite got organized. Gibbon says the following on
page 241:
� We may remark that when Augustus
divided Italy into eleven regions the province of Istria was annexed to that
seat of Roman sovereignty. �
From pages 242 to 248, Gibbon lists
the provinces as:
� The Danube and Illyrian frontier; Rh � tia; Noricum and Pannonia; Dalmatla; M � sia and Dacia; Thrace, Macedonia, and
Greece; Asia Minor; Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine; Egypt; Africa... �
We should think Yahweh for this
testimony for it gives us another witness that our Bible is true.
Now that we have established that the
ten toes of Daniel � s
interpretation of the image are the ten provinces of the Roman Empire, let � s consider what is meant by the � seven heads. � While Daniel doesn � t allude to this in his image
interpretation, we need to consider this in passages where it might apply.
Usually, when this subject is brought up, most will refer to the seven physical
hills on which Rome sits. While this is true, there is a deeper symbolic
meaning for these seven heads. Basically, they are the seven types of
government under which Rome was ruled during its long history. This is pointed
out by Adam Clarke � s
Commentary, volume 6, page 603, as being:
� 1) The regal power; 2) The consulate;
3) The dictatorship; 4) The decemvirate; 5) The consular power of the military
tribunes; 6) The triumvirate; and 7) The imperial government. �
It needs to be pointed out that sulla
or Augustus didn � t
sit down one day and decide to divide Rome into ten divisions. As Rome
conquered new areas, the newly subdued peoples became provinces. The first
Roman province was established in 241 B.C. For information concerning this, I
will now quote from Rome: It � s
Rise And Fall, by Philip Myers, page 154:
� ...The First roman Province and the
beginning of the Provincial System (241 B.C.) For the twenty-three years that
followed the close of the first struggle between Rome and Carthage, the two
rivals strained every power and taxed every resource in preparation for a
renewal of the contest.
� The Romans settled the affairs of
Sicily, organizing all of it, save the lands in the eastern part belonging to
Syracuse, as a province of the republic. This was the first territory beyond
the limits of Italy that Rome had conquered, and the Sicilian the first of
Roman provinces. But as the Imperial city extended her conquests, her
provincial possessions increased in number and size until they formed at last a
perfect cordon about the Mediterranean. Each province was governed by a
magistrate, at first one of the pr � tors, sent out from the capital. This
officer exercised both civil and military authority. Each province also paid an
annual tribute, or tax, to Rome, something that had never been exacted of the
Italian allies. �
From this same book on page 155, we
read of the second Roman province established in 227 B.C.:
� Rome acquires Sardinia and Corsica;
the Second Province (227 B.C.) The first acquisition by the Romans of lands
beyond the peninsula seems to have created in them and insatiable ambition for
foreign conquests. They soon found a pretext for seizing the island of
Sardinia, the most ancient, and after Sicily, the most prized of the
possessions of the Carthaginians... �
This should give us some idea of the
process of the formation of the provinces. It was a gradual process, and was in
a continual state of flux. There were provinces under the republic; provinces
under the empire; and some were known as public provinces. The number of
provinces increased and decreased with the continual changes taking place in
the political climate and military activities of Rome. On pages 313-314 of
Rome: Its Rise And Fall, by Myers, forty-four such annexations under both the
republic and empire are listed. Later, under Sulla, Julius and Augustus, these
forty-four entities were grouped into ten division called provinces. Isn � t it simply amazing how accurate
Daniel � s
prophecies were fulfilled? But this is the end.
The Material Substance of The Toes: We
are told these provinces (or toes) are part iron and part clay. If we could
imagine an iron casting with streaks of vitrified clay mixed in with iron, we
might envision the meaning of what Daniel is saying. We are sure if the engine
in an automobile were made up of such a casting, it wouldn � t get very far down the road. Daniel
2:43 is the answer to the mystery of the iron mixed with clay:
� And whereas thou sawest iron mixed
with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they
shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay. �
The word for � men � in this case is #606 and means enawsh
in Chaldee (same as #582 in Hebrew, enowsh; in other words, non-Adamic). We see
then, within the confines of the provinces of Rome, they had their own version
of multiculturalism (race mixing). It didn � t work then, and it is still just as
destructive today!
In the earlier periods of Rome
interracial marriages were, as a rule, not legal. In Sheldon � s General History, page 157 (speaking
of the incorporation of the Macedonians about 172 to 168 B.C.) It says this:
� Laws are given them by the Romans and
they are divided into four districts, between which there is to be no
intermarriage, no free trade in land. �
As time went on, and Rome came under
hard financial times, she decided to offer citizenship to more peoples in order
to gain additional taxpayers. In the book The Romans, by R.H. Barrow, it says
this on page 52:
� ...Her near neightbours were
incorporated as citizens into her body politic, to others she extended a
limited citizenship which conferred rights of trade, together with enforcement
of those rights at law, the FREEDOM OF INTER-MARRIAGE with Roman citizens... �
In order to fathom Daniel � s prophecy, it is important to
understand Roman history. If you are not familiar with Roman history, it is
highly recommended you go to some used book stores and buy several old books on
that subject. In order to understand Bible prophecy as a whole, you will also
have to acquire books of history covering all periods of time. Whether or not
you do this depends on how badly you want to comprehend all these things. It
seems like it � s
always someone who is not willing to research these things who is always
voicing the loudest opinions. In order to grasp the toes of Daniel, it is
necessary to have some knowledge of slave traffic during those years.�
Following are some passages concerning
slavery during the Roman period. From The Story of Civilization: Part 3, � Caesar And Christ, � by Will Durant we read the following:
On page 22: � ...In the sixth century B.C., when
Rome began her career of conquest, war captives were sold in rising umber to
the aristocracy, the business classes, and even to the plebeians; and the
status of the slave sank. �
On page 112: � Every week slave dealers brought their
human prey from Africa, Spain, Gaul, Germany, the Danube, Russia, Asia, and
Greece to the ports of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. It was not unusual
for 10,000 slaves to be auctioned off at Delos in a single day. In 177 B.C.,
40,000 Sardinians, in 167 B.C., 150,000 Epirotes, were captured by the Roman
armies and sold as slaves, in the latter case at approximately a dollar a head.
In the city the lot of the slave was mitigated by humanizing contacts with his
master and by hope of emancipation; but on the large farms no human relation
interfered with exploitation...The wages of the slave on the great estates were
as much food and clothing as would enable him to toll from sunrise to sunset
every day... �
On page 81 it speaks of the � ethnic changes � brought about by all this:
� ...Immigration, the absorption of
conquered peoples, the influx, emancipation, and enfranchisement of slaves,
were already beginning the ethnic changes that by Nero � s time would make Rome the New York of
antiquity, half native and half everything. � (Today New York is more like 10%
white and 90% everything else)
From the Cyclopaedia Of Universal
History, by John Clark Ridpath, LL.D., volume 1, pages 752-753:
� One of the most marked results of the
great conquests made by the generals and armies of the Republic was to fill
Rome and all Italy with multitudes of slaves. The policy of selling into
servitude not only the soldier population, but all the inhabitants of conquered
countries was universally adopted. The slave-sale was looked for as a matter of
course after every victory won by the Roman armies. Among the upper classes of
society free labor was almost unknown. The last landed estates of the nobles
were cultivated by a servile race, driven mercilessly to their tasks, punished
whipped, starved, killed, with impunity. NOR WAS THERE ANY EDGE OF NATIONALITY,
COLOR, OR NATURAL INFERIORITY TO DISTINGUISH THE SLAVES FROM THE OTHER CLASSES
OF POPULATION. �
From the book Rome: Its Rise And Fall,
by Myers we read on page 523:
� Slavery. The number of slaves in the
Roman state under the later republic and the earlier empire was very great,
some estimates making it equal to the number of freemen. Some large proprietors
owned as many as twenty thousand. The love of ostentation (pretentious display
[or to keep up with the Jones family]) led to the multiplication of offices in
the households of the wealthy, and the employment of a special slave for every
different kind of work. �
From the book The Romans, by R.H.
Barrow, page 73, we find:
� A GREAT PROPORTION WAS OF FOREIGN
BIRTH, for Rome ATTRACTED MEN AND WOMEN FROM ALL COUNTRIES; and freed slaves
swelled the populace. These freedmen were a growing class whose influence was
increasing. There were also the slaves. Rome harbored ALL NATIONALITIES, and
more were yet to come within the next century, but already by the time of
Cicero there were very many; Greeks and Syrians and Egyptians and Jews and
Germans and Africans. Of course, not all these had the citizenship... �
In the course of time, Rome had its
preachers of � the
brotherhood of man �
and that all men were equal. As a result, many slaves were emancipated, and in
time became full citizens. One such case is spoken of in The Story of
Civilization: Part 3 � Caesar
And Christ, � by
Will Durant, page 398. Then on page 221 it speaks of the general result:
� ...Finally a great jurist of the third
century, Ulpian, proclaimed what only a few philosophers had dared suggest;
that � by
the law of Nature all men are equal. ��
� ...As the sons of freedmen
automatically became citizens, the emancipation of slaves and the fertility of
aliens combined with the low birth rate of the native stocks TO CHANGE THE
ETHNIC CHARACTER OF ROME... �
We find more on the slave reformation
movement in Rome from The Encyclopedia Britannica, ninth edition, volume 22,
page 142, under the topic of � slavery: �
� In the 2nd century of the
Christian era we find a marked change with the respect to the institution of
slavery, both in the region of thought and in that of law. Already the
principles of reason and humanity had been applied to the subject by Seneca
who, whatever we may think of him as a man, deserves our gratitude for the just
and liberal sentiments he expressed respecting the slave, who, he says, should
be treated as � humble
friends, � and
especially for his energetic reprobation of gladiatorial combats and of the
brutality of the public who enjoyed these sanguinary shows. But it was in the 2nd
century, as we have said, that � the
victory of moral ideas �
in this, as in other departments of life became � decisive...Dio Chrysostom, the adviser
or Trajan, is the first Greek writer who has pronounced the principle of
slavery to be contrary to the law of nature... �
While a considerable amount of the
slave trade of Rome ended in race-mixing many of the slaves were actually from
the White lost tribes of Israel. As many of the Romans were of the Tribe of
Benjamin, any mixing with the other Israelites, like the Germans of Greeks,
wouldn � t
have constituted a violation of Yahweh � s law of kind after kind.
The Two Schools of Thought: Now that
we have established the ten toes of Daniel � s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar � s image, and that the slave trade of
Rome brought on mixing with � the
seed of men, � let � s return to the two schools of thought
concerning the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar � s dream. For this we will go to Halley � s Bible Handbook (1965), pages 341-342
under the topic � The
Book of Daniel: �
� The book itself represents Daniel as
its author (7:1, 28; 8:2; 9:2; 10:1-2; 12:4-5). Its genuineness was sanctioned
by Christ (Matthew 24:15). It was so accepted by the Jews and Early Christians.
Porphyry, an infidel of the 3rd century A.D., propounded the theory
that the book was a forgery of the period of the Maccabean revolt (168-164
B.C.) However, the traditional view that the book is a true historical document
dating from the days of Daniel himself persisted unanimously among Christian
and Jewish scholars, till the rise of modern criticism. And now the critics, in
the name of � modern
scholarship, �
have revived the theory of Porphyry, and put it forth as a settled fact, that
the book was written by an unknown author, who, living 400 years after the days
of Daniel, assumed Daniel � s
name, and palmed off on his own generation his own spurious work as the genuine
work of a hero long dead...We suspect that the real crux of the attempt to
discredit the book of Daniel is the unwillingness of intellectual pride to
accept the marvelous miracles and amazing prophecies recorded in the book. �
Continuing from this same book on page
342 under the title � The
Dream-Image: �
� ...The four World Empires here
predicted are generally understood to have been the Babylonian, Persian, Greek
and Roman. From the days of Daniel to the coming of Christ the world was ruled
by these Four Empires, exactly as Daniel had predicted...Critics who assign a
Maccabean date to the book of Daniel, in order to explain it as referring to
past events instead of being a prediction of the future, find it necessary to
place all four empires prior to the date of composition, and so call the
Persian Empire two Empires, Median and Persian, in order to make the Greek
Empire the Fourth. But as a matter of fact there was not a Median Empire and a
Persian Empire following the Fall of Babylon. To make it appear so is only an
effort to distort the facts of history to substantiate a theory. Medes and
Persians constituted One Empire under the rule of Persian kings. Darius the
Mede was only a sub-king, ruling for a little while, under Cyrus the Persian... �
In case you are wondering why all this
effort to clear up the proper order of Daniel � s four predicted empires. If we don � t get these empires in their proper
order, we will not be able to comprehend the rest of Daniel � s prophecies. Before we are finished
with this subject, we will see that Daniel � s prophecies go far beyond what we are
usually informed by an unwary and unlearned Judeo-Christian clergy. For more on
these four empires The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, volume 2,
pages 20-21 under the subtitle � Theology
and Interpretation: �
� The apocalyptic sections of the book
have been widely discussed partly because of the interpretation to be assigned
to the four kingdom of chapter 2, where critics have divided Medo-Persia into
two separate empires, making the kingdoms Babylonia, Media, Persia, and Greece
respectively. However the history of the Median kingdom precludes such a
division, so that the order of the empires would be Babylonia, Medo-Persia,
Greece and Rome. The identity of the fourth kingdom is important for later
visions of Daniel... �
In other words, if one cannot get the
2nd chapter of Daniel correct, one cannot understand the rest of his
prophesies in the succeeding chapters. One of the arguments used to designate
Greece as the fourth Kingdom of the image is to inaccurately identify our
Savior as the � stone...cut
out of the mountain without hands, � and they will cite 1 Corinthians 10:4
where Paul calls Yahshua a � Rock. �
The proponents of this view theorize
that because the messiah was born during the Roman period Daniel � s prophecy must have culminated with
Greece. This is a false premise, for the � stone...cut out of the mountain
without hands � was
the German Teutonic tribes which continued to attack and pillage Rome until she
collapsed. By assuming this false premise, they come to a dead-end concerning
Daniel � s
prophecy, and there is much more to be considered. We haven � t, as yet, even elaborated the
splitting of the two legs. There again, Greece, after Alexander � s death split into four divisions, not
two. To show how impossible the view that Greece was the fourth kingdom is:
Greece would have to have had ten provinces, and Yahshua would of necessity had
to have destroyed the Grecian Empire during the lifetime of His First Advent.
The Crushing of the Toes: There isn � t enough room regaining to make a dent
in this story. Let � s
now look an interesting incident from the book A Short History of German, by
Mary Platt Parmele, pages 11-16:
� ...jut such men as were the northern
barbarians, who for five hundred years, terrorized Europe; men insensible to
fear, terrible, fierce, but with fine instincts for civilization... It is the
Teutonic branch of the Aryan family with which we have to do now, between whom
and their Keltci brothers there flowed the River Rhine...Gigantic in stature,
with long yellow, hair, eyes blue but fierce; what wonder that the people
thought they were scarcely human, and fled affrighted, leaving them to enjoy
the vineyards at their leisure...At the time of this first invasion the German
race was divided into tribes with no affinity for each other, who were indeed
much of the time in fierce conflict among themselves.
� One of these tribes, called the
Cherusci, occupied the southern part of what is now Hanover. Their chief,
Hermann, had in his youth been taken to Rome as a hostage, and there had been
educated...Hermann was the first to dream of German unity. While the infant
Christ was growing into boyhood in Palestine, this Hermann was studying Latin
and history at Rome; and as he read he pondered. He found that the romans had
achieved such tremendous power by combination.
� If his people would unite and stand as
one nation before the world, why might not they too become great/ These romans
were pleasure-loving and vicious. His Germans in their rude homes were just and
true. They did not laugh at vice; they were rough, but simple and sincere; love
bound the father and mother and the children together. The idea of German unity
took possession of Hermann. He resolved to devote his life to the
accomplishment, and to return to his country and try to inspire his race with a
sense of common brotherhood, and a comprehensive patriotism...Julius Caesar,
the great Roman general, was governor of Gaul, and with one eye fixed on
Britain and another on Germany, was steadily bringing Europe into subjection to
Rome.
� The task of subduing the stubborn
Teutons was given to Varus, a trusted general...In the year 9 A.D., Varus had
arrived with his great army in the heart of Germany. Little suspecting the
plans and purposes surging in the young man � s brain, eh leaned upon Hermann as his
guide and counselor in a new and strange land...Unsuspectingly he marched his
heavily-armed legions, as if for a holiday excursion, into the vastness of the
Teutoberger Forest, into which Hermann led him...When fairly entangled in the
dense wood, surrounded by morasses and wet marshes instead of roads, suddenly
there was a thundering war-cry, and barbarians swarmed down upon him from all
sides. Hundreds who escaped the rain of arrows were lost in the morasses. It
was not a question of victory, but of escape, for the entrapped and
heavily-armed legions. Only a handful returned to tell the story, and Varus,
unable to bear his disgrace, threw himself upon his sword...The great Emperor
Augustus clothed himself in mourning, let his beard and hair grow, and cried in
bitterness of his soul, � Varus,
Varus, give me back my legions! �� ���������