XC. 1-5. Third Period—from Alexander the Great to the Graeco-Syrian Domination.
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Charles, R. H. (Robert Henry)
XC.
1. And I saw till that in this manner thirty-five shepherds undertook the pasturing (of the sheep), and they severally completed their periods as did the first; and others received them into their hands to pasture them for their period, each shepherd in his own period.
2. And after that I saw in my vision all the birds of heaven coming, the eagles, the vultures, the kites, the ravens; but the eagles led all the birds; and they began to devour those sheep, and to pick out their eyes and to devour their flesh.
3. And the sheep cried out because their flesh was being devoured by the birds, and as for me I looked and lamented in my sleep over that shepherd who pastured the sheep.
4. And I saw until those sheep were devoured by the dogs and eagles and kites, and they left neither flesh nor skin nor sinew remaining on them till only their bones stood there: and their bones too fell to the earth and the sheep became few.
5. And I saw until that twenty-three had undertaken the pasturing and completed in their several periods fifty-eight times.