But having now done with this account of the
consummation, we shall turn our exposition to those matters which fall
to be stated by us next in order. I adduce, therefore, a witness
altogether worthy of credit,—namely, the prophet Daniel, who
interpreted the vision of Nabuchodonosor, and from the beginning of the
kings down to their end indicated the right way to those who seek to walk
therein—to wit, the manifestation of the truth. For what
saith the prophet? He presignified the matter clearly to
Nabuchodonosor in the following terms: “Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image standing before thee, whose head was of gold, its arms and shoulders of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, its legs of iron, its feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hand; and it smote the image upon its feet, which were part of iron and part of clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the clay, and the iron, and the brass, and the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floor; and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.”