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¹ In the first yeare off Balthasar kynge off Babilon, sawe Daniel a dreame, and a vision was in his heade vpon his bedde. Which dreame he wrote, and the summe of the matter is this:² Daniel spake, and sayde: I sawe in my vision by nyght, and beholde: the foure wyndes of ye heauen stroue vpon the see,³ and foure greate beestes came vp from the see, one vnlike another.⁴ The first was as a lyon, and yet had he Aegles wynges. I sawe, that his wynges were plucte from him, and he taken awaye from the earth: that he stode vpon his fete as a man, and that there was geuen him a mans herte.⁵ Beholde, the seconde beest was like a Beer, and stode vpon the one syde. Amonge his teth in his mouth he had iij greate loge teth and it was sayde vnto him: Arise, eate vp moch flesh.⁶ Then I loked, & beholde, there was another like vnto a Leoparde: this had wynges as a foule, euen foure vpon the backe. This beest had foure heades, ad there was power geuen him.⁷ After this I sawe in a vision by night, & beholde: the fourth beest was grymme and horrible, and maruelous stronge. It had greate yron teth, it deuoured, and destroyed, and stamped the residue vnder fete. It was farre vnlike the other beestes that were before it: for it had ten hornes, wheroff I toke good hede.⁸ And beholde, there came vp amonge the, another like horne, before whom there were thre of the first hornes pluckte awaye. Beholde, this horne had eyes like a ma, & a mouth speakynge presumptuous thinges.

⁹ I loked till the seates were prepared, ad till the olde aged sat him downe. His clothinge was as white as snowe, and the hayres of his heade like the pure woll. His trone was like the firie flame, and his wheles as the burnynge fyre.¹⁰ There drew forth a firie streame, & wente out from him. A thousand tymes a thousande serued him, x.M. tymes ten thousande stode before him. The iudgmet was set, and the bokes opened.¹¹ Then toke I hede there vnto, because of the voyce of the proude wordes, which that horne spake. I behelde, till the beest was slayne, and his body destroyed, & geuen ouer to be brent in the fyre.¹² As for the power of the other beestes also, it was taken awaye, but their lyues were prolonged for a tyme and season.¹³ I sawe in a vision by night, and beholde: there came one in the cloudes of heauen like the sonne of a man, which wente vnto the olde aged, before whom they brought him:¹⁴ Then gaue he him power ad dignite regall, that all people, trybes and tunges shulde serue him. His power is an euerlastinge power, which shal neuer be put downe: & his kyngdome endureth vncorrupte.

¹⁵ My herte was vexed, & I Daniel had a troubled sprete within me, ad the visions off my heade made me afrayed:¹⁶ till I gat me vnto one off them that stode by, to knowe the treuth, concerninge all these thinges. So he tolde me, and made me vnderstode the interpretacio of these thinges.¹⁷ These foure greate beastes, are foure kinges which shal aryse out of the earth.¹⁸ These shal take in the kyngdome off the sayntes of the most hyest, and possesse it still more & more for a longe season.¹⁹ After this I requyred diligently to knowe the treuth, concerninge the fourth beest, which was so farre vnlike the other beestes, and so horrible: whose teth were of yron, and his nales off brasse: which deuoured and destroied, and stamped the resydue vnder his fete.²⁰ I desyred also to knowe the treuth, as touchinge the ten hornes that he had vpon his heade, and this other which came vp afterwarde, before whose face there fell downe thre: which horne had eyes and a mouth that spake presumptuous thinges, and loked with a grimmer visage then his felowes.²¹ I behelde, and the same horne made battail agaynst the sayntes, yee ad gat the victory off them:²² vntill the tyme, that the olde aged came, that the iudgment was geue to the chefest sayntes: and till the tyme, that ye sayntes had the kyngdome in possession.²³ He gaue me this answere: That fourth beest shalbe the fourth kingdome vpo earth: it shalbe more then all other kyngdomes, it shall deuoure, treade downe ad destroye all other londes.²⁴ The ten hornes, are ten kynges that shal aryse out of that kyngdome, after who there shall stonde vp another, which shall be greater then the first.²⁵ He shall subdue thre kynges, and shall speake wordes agaynst the hyest off all: he shall destroye the sayntes of the most hyest and thynke, that he maye chaunge tymes and lawes. They shall be geuen vnder his power, vntill a tyme, two tymes, and halff a tyme.²⁶ But the iudgment shalbe kepte, so that his power shalbe taken from him, for he shalbe destroyed, and perish at the last.²⁷ As for the kyngdome, power and all might that is vnder the heauen: it shal be geuen to the holy people off the most hyest, whose kyngdome is euerlastinge, yee all powers shall serue and obeye him.²⁸ Thus farre extede ye wordes. Neuerthelesse, I Daniel was so vexed in my thoughtes, that my countenaunce chaunged, but the wordes I kepte still in my herte.