note viii
Note: Rome has two phases, pagan and papal phase. The first direction of its wars were made against the earthly kingdoms then came the changed and pointed its war against the people of God. With its inherited power from the empire it continued the monstrous war of his predecessor against the people of God. represented by the host and stars, up to the time of the Protestant Reformers. Thus the expression, "cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them." This little horn in its papal phase shows to be the same little horn in chapter 7:25, "...shall wear out the saints of the highest", which describes the same character. Those two verses refer to none other but Rome. Record shows that great personages protected or bequeathed powers to the papacy that contributed to its unequal power:
"In the early fourth century, the Roman Emperor Constantine favored Christianity and protected it from persecution. He endowed the church with money, perhaps with the land in central Italy that would become the papal state, and certainly with buildings in the city of Rome." (101 Q&A on Popes and Papacy, p.16)
"When the Roman Empire collapsed, the bishop of Rome was in the position to take charge because Christianity was now protected and playing a leading role in religious and political matters." (ibid, p.17)
".., when Rome fell, church and state were merged into one-- just as paganism and Roman Empire had naturally gone together." (ibid, p.23)
"For several decades, Pepin and his descendants protected Zacharias and his successors by driving out invaders and then "giving" central Italy to the popes in a Donation of Pepin that mirrored the Donation of Constantine." (ibid, 24)
"In 534 Belisarius completely overthrew the Vandal kingdom, and the Vandals as a separate people disappeared from history. Twenty years later the armies of Justinian* wrested Italy from the Ostrogoths, and they too are heard of no more as a separate people." (Modern Times and the Living Past, p.217)
*It was Justinian the Great who called for the Council Constantinople II in 553 (A Guide to Church History, p.28)