The Euphrates and the Fourth Kingdom of Rome

Rabbi Yudan and Rav Huna. Rabbi Yudan said: The Kevar is the same as the Euphrates [Perat]. It is called Perat because it is fruitful [parah] and clear [barah] until one crosses it by boat; Perat because its waters are fruitful and multiply [parin ve-rabin]; Perat because it divides and goes until it ends at the Magrefa. It is called Kevar [sieve] because its waters are light, so that its produce is coarse and does not pass through a sieve [kevarah]. Rav Huna said: The Kevar is a river by itself and the Euphrates is a river by itself. Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin said in the name of Rabbi Levi: They say to the Euphrates, "Why is your sound not heard?" It says to them, "I have no need; my works prove me. A man plants a sapling in me and it produces in thirty days; if he sows a vegetable in me it produces in three days." They say to the Tigris, "Why is your sound heard?" It says to them, "Would that my sound be heard and be noticed." They say to the fruit trees, "Why is your sound not heard?" They say to them, "We have no need; our fruits testify for us." They say to the barren trees, "Why is your sound heard?" They say to them, "Would that our sound be heard and be noticed." Rav Huna said: It is not for this reason, but rather the fruit trees, because they are heavy with their fruit, therefore their sound does not go; the barren trees, because they are light, their sound goes, as it is written, "as the trees of the forest are shaken before the wind" (Isaiah 7:2). "And the fourth river is the Euphrates" (Genesis 2:14) -- this is the fourth kingdom, which embittered [hefirah] and distressed His children, which embittered and distressed the world, which was fruitful and multiplied [parat ve-ravat] through the blessing of the elder, which He will in the end dig down for, Euphrates [Perat] named for its end, "I trod My winepress alone" (Isaiah 63:3).