But the question of the date really depends upon the interpretation given to the Eagle Vision. Tlie details given al)out the reign of the several wings show that historic facts are here alluded to ; the interpretation which follows the vision is perhaps purposely ob.scure, and does not help much as to the solution of it. The vision describes the reign of 12 * feathered wings,' 8 subordinate wings, and 3 heads — in all, of 23 kings ; the attempt to take the %ving8 in pairs, each pair re- presenting a single king, their number being so reduced to 10 (Volkmar), is opposed to the inter- pretation given to Esdras (12'* ' regnabunt xii reges, unus post unum,' 12* ' exsurgent octo rejjes '). The follomng points are to be borne in mind in the interpretation (Schiirer, HJP III. ii. 100). (1) The autlior writes during the reign of the third head, in which the Me-ssiah is to appear ; the subsequent reign of the two last subordinate wings is not history, but prophecy. (2) The second wing reigns more than twice as long as any of the rest (11"). (3) Several wings do not get so far as to reign, and represent pretenders only. (4) The wings and heads all belong to one and the same kingdom. (5) The first head dies a natural death (12^) ; the second is murdered by the third, who al.to is to die by the sword (11*° 12^). Three main explanations are proposed — (i.) The wings repre- sent Uome under the Kings and the republic, and the 3 heads are Sulla, Pompey, and Caesar ; the date of the work is shortly after Ciesar's death (Laur enee, Van der Vlis, LUcke). This view has no probability. Early Roman history would have no interest to a Jew, and there is great diificulty in adapting the 8 minor wings to the period before Sulla, (ii.) Hilgenfeld's view, that tiie wings re- present the Greek empire reckoned from Alexander, either, as he first held, the line of the Ptolemies {Jud. Apokalyptik, 217 0".), or, according to his later theory, tiiat of the Seleucidoo (Mess. Jud. liv ff.) : in either case the three heads are Cffsar, Antony, and Octavian, anil the book was written directly after Antony's death in B.C. 30, thirty years after the capture of Jerus. by Pompey (cf. 2 Ks 3' ' in the thirtieth year'). It is true that in 2 Es 11" the eagle is compared to the fourth bea.st of Daniel (7' = the tJreek empire); but the fourth kingdom was often referred to the Romans. The chief objections to this view are — (I) The heads and the wings must all refer to a single kingdom, not to a combination of Roman and Creek rulers; (2) the rule of the second in the dynasty, whether Ptolemy I. Lagi or Seleucus i. Nikator, was not more than twice the length of any succeeding reign ; (3) Cnesar was assassinated,
and did not die in his bed, as the first head is said to have done.
(iii.) It is now the generally accredited view, and it has most arguments in its favour, that the book sliould be dated in the reign of Domitian (a.D. 81- 9U). So Gfrorer, Dillmann, Volkmar, Ewald, Schiirer, and others. Tlie eagle represents Im- perial Rome, the line of the emperors beginning with J. C;esar. The second wing is certainly to be identified with Augustus, who, reckoning from his first consulate, held rule for 56 years (B.C. 43- A.D. 14), i.e. more than twice the time of any of his successors. The three heads with equal pro- bability are referred to the Flavian emperors : Ves[«isiau died on his bed in torment (Suet. Vesp. 24 ; 2 Es 12-") ; Titus was commonly believed to have been murdered by Domitian. The difficulty lies in supplying the twenty rulers to precede Vespasian. The following proposals are made — (1) Gfrorer takes the twelve greater wings to be tlie first nine emperors, Caesar to Vitellius, with three usurpers, Vindex, Nymphidius, and Piso Licini- anus : the eight lesser wings are petty kings and leaders in Pal. (Herod the Great, Agrippa I., Eleazar, John of Gischala, Simon Bar Giora, John the IdumKan, Agrippa 11., and Berenice : the last two attached themselves to Rome in the war). (2) Schiirer agrees as to the twelve, but regards six of the lesser wings (the last two being matter of propliecy) as Roman generals who laid claim to the empire in the years of disorder, A.D. 68-70.
(3) Wieseler takes tne eight subordinate wings to mean the Herodian dynasty, vassals of Rome (Antipater, Herod I. and his three sons, Archelaus, Antipas, Philip, Agrippa I. and II., and Berenice).
(4) Ewald, who is followed by Drummond (Jetcish McsKiah, 107), takes the twelve wings to be the twelve emperors up to Domitian : the eight little wings are the eignt emperors among these who reigned less than ten years (Domitian included, for whom a short reign was anticipated), and the three heads are the Flavian princes, reckoned a third time under a difi'erent aspect. The double and triple repetition of the same names is unsatis- factory ; Schiirer's view (2) appears on the whole the most free from objection.
The simpler theory, on the other hand, of Gutschmid and Le Hir {Eludes lUbliques, i. 184(1".), that twenty-three actual emperors are intended, the three heads being Sept. Sevenis, Caracalla, and Geta, is shown to bo wrong by the fact that the book was quoted by Clem. Alex, at an earlier date than these emperors, and can be maintained only by supposing an interj>oIation, of which there is no sign in the Eagle Vision.