There shall stand up yet three kings— They were to stand up yet; that is to say, after Cyrus, the founder of the empire, who was then reigning. These three kings, were Cambyses, the son of Cyrus; Smerdis the Magian, who pretended to be another son of Cyrus, but was really an impostor; and Darius, the son of Hystaspes, who married the daughter of Cyrus. The fourth, who shall be far richer than they all, was Xerxes, the son of Darius, of whom Justin remarks, that "He had so great an abundance of riches in his kingdoms, that though rivers were dried up by his numerous armies, yet his wealth remained unexhausted." Herodotus informs us, that Pythius the Lydian entertained Xerxes and all his army, and offered him two thousand talents of silver, and three millions nine hundred and ninety-three thousand pieces of gold, with the stamp of Darius, towards defraying the charges of the war; but the king, so far from wanting supplies, rewarded Pythius for his liberality, and presented him with seven thousand darics, to make his number a complete round sum of four millions. Each of these darics was worth more than a guinea of our money. See Newton.
And by his strength, &c.— Herodotus, who lived in that age, assures us, that Xerxes' army, which was collected from various parts of the continent, amounted to five millions two hundred and eighty-three thousand two hundred and twenty men: and, not content with stirring up the east, he engaged the Carthaginians in his alliance, who raised an army of Africans and mercenaries from Spain, Gaul, and Italy, which consisted of three hundred thousand men, besides a fleet of two hundred ships. Xerxes was the principal author of the long wars between the Greeks and Persians; and, being the last king of Persia who invaded Greece, is mentioned last. The Grecians in their turn invaded Asia: and, Xerxes' expedition being the most memorable on one side, as Alexander's was on the other, the reigns of these two kings are not improperly connected together, though no less than nine kings intervened betwixt them. See Newton. Houbigant renders this clause, And, relying on his riches, he shall stir up all things against the kingdoms of Greece.