their courage fail them in the moment of attack; for if the aggressor advance within a few yards of the line, the rams dart upon him with irresistible impetuosity, and either lay him dead at their feet, or put him to instant flight. Against the attacks of single dogs or foxes, they are, in this situation, perfectly secure. A ram, regardless of danger, often engages a bull, and seldom fails to conquer him; for the bull, by lowering his head, without being sensible of his defenceless condition, receives between his horns the stroke of his adversary, which commonly brings him to the ground. The ram, therefore, is not so contemptible an enemy as inaccurate observers are apt to suppose. The account of his sagacity, firmness, and courage in the hour of danger, which has been now given, entirely justifies the inspired writers in comparing the rich and the powerful to the rams of the flock. When the prophet Ezekiel says in the name of the Lord: "Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he-goats," he intimates that the great men, by extortion and oppression, impoverished their neighbours, left them almost without subsistence, and were so vexatious to them, that they could not enjoy, with satisfaction, the little they were suffered to retain. Their oppressors were strong, and courageous, and impetuous, as the rams before the flock in the hour of danger; but it was not for the defence of the weak and helpless, but for their own aggrandizement, and the gratification of their own low and vicious propensities. The prophet alludes to the flock, in his figurative description of the vengeance which Jeho vah threatened to execute on the enemies of his church: "The sword of the Lord is filled with blood; it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats,

with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for the Lord hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea." The lambs and the goats, or the great body of the people, and the rams, by which the prophet means their princes and rulers, shall fall in the day of the Lord's anger, by one indiscriminate slaughter. "The great men and the mighty men, and the chief captains," shall become as easy a prey as the weakest and the most helpless of the community; "for who may abide the day of his coming; and who shall stand when he doth this?"

m

This animal, although generally simple and harmless, becomes, in a rich pasture, so petulant, as to occasion con siderable inconvenience, and even danger, to man and some other creatures. The ram, in particular, loves to strike with his horn; and many are the warnings in the strains of Grecian and Roman poets to beware of his attack. The vision of the ram, therefore, in the book of Daniel, perfectly accords with the character of that animal, which is no mean emblem of a warlike state. The prophet begins with a description of his form and position: "Then I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold there stood before. the river a ram which had two horns, and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last." His strength, activity, and courage are then brought within our view: "I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward: so that no beasts might stand before him: neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will and became great."" The two horns were the king

1 Isa. xxxiv, 6.

m Varro de Re Rust. lib. ii, c. 1. Elian de Nat. Animal. lib. xii, c. 31. . Dan. viii, 3, 4.

doms of Media and Persia; of which the latter, although of more recent date, was by far the most powerful and cele brated. The symbolical ram was seen pushing westward, in the direction of Babylon, Syria, and Greece; northward, in the direction of the Lydians, Armenians, and Scythians; and southwards, in the direction of Arabia, Ethiopia, and Egypt. On all these nations did the Persian empire at one time or other direct the force of her arms; and at last she became so great and powerful, that no nation was able to resist her numerous and well appointed armies. Her victorious banners floated on the banks of the Indus and the Nile, and more than once carried desolation and dismay into the heart of Greece itself. The kings of Persia "did according to their will;" they prospered in all their undertakings, and abroad and at home governed their prostrate subjects with absolute authority. None could escape the grasp of their power; none could save from destruction the victim of their displeasure. The extent of their dominions, the number of their subjects, the riches of their treasury, and the splendour of their court, had' seldom been equalled; certainly never surpassed.

But, like every thing human, this mighty empire completed the term of its duration, and passed away. Bending under its own weight, and enervated by luxury, it fell an easy prey to the king of Macedon, who is represented in the next verse by the he-goat, than which a more appropriate emblem is not to be found in the kingdom of na

ture.

"The goat is superior to the sheep both in sentiment and dexterity; he is stronger, lighter, and more agile than the ram; he is sprightly, capricious, and given to wander; and it is with difficulty he can be confined to a flock. He loves to retire into solitude, to climb steep and

rugged places, to stand, even to sleep, on the points of rocks, and the edges of the most frightful precipices. He is robust, and easily nourished; for he eats almost every herb, and is injured by a very inconsiderable number. Though he seems to feel the effects of severe cold, he is not afraid of rain, or storms, or too great a degree of heat; he cheerfully exposes himself to the sun, and without inconvenience sleeps under its most ardent rays. But he is inconstant in his passions, and irregular in his actions. He walks, stops short, runs, leaps, approaches, retires, shews and conceals himself, or flies off as if he were actuated by mere caprice, and without any other cause than what arises from an eccentric vivacity of temper. The suppleness of his organs, and the strength and nervousness of his frame, are hardly sufficient to support the petulance and rapidity of his natural movements." Such is the character of the he-goat, as delineated by the masterly hand of Buffon ;o and every one that recollects the history of the Macedonian hero, will at once see that it applies to his character and actions with admirable precision. It indicates with great justness the ardour, the activity, the patience, the fortitude, and the daring intrepidity of Alexander; the wild eccentricity of his temper, his delight in hazardous enterprize, and the amazing rapidity of his movements. prophet goes on: "And as I was considering the character and actions of the ram, behold, an he-goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground; and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes, and I saw him come close unto the ram; and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns, and there was no power in the ram

• Nat. Hist. vol. iii, p. 491.

The

to stand before him; but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him, and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand."

The surprising fecundity of the sheep has been celebrated by writers of every class. It has not escaped the notice of the royal Psalmist, who, in a beautiful ascription of praise to the living and the true God, entreats, that the sheep of his chosen people might "bring forth thousands and ten thousands in their streets." In another song of Zion, he represents, by a very elegant metaphor, the numerous flocks, covering like a garment the face of the field: "The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing." The bold figure is fully warranted by the prodigious numbers of sheep which whitened the extensive pastures of Syria and Canaan. In that part of Arabia which borders on Judea, the patriarch Job possessed at first seven thousand, and after the return of his prosperity, fourteen thousand sheep; and Mesha, the king of Moab, paid the king of Israel" a yearly tribute of an hundred thousand lambs, and an equal number of rams with the wool."s In the war which the tribe of Reuben waged with the Hagarites, the former drove away "two hundred and fifty thousand sheep." At the dedication of the temple, Solomon offered in sacrifice," an hundred and twenty thousand sheep." At the feast of the passover, Josiah the king of Judah, "gave to the people, of the flock, lambs and kids, all for the passover offerings, for all that were present, to the number of thirty thousand, and three thousand bullocks; these were of the king's sub

P Ps. cxliv, 13.

Ps. lxv, 13.

* 2 Kings iii, 4.

1 Chron. v, 21.