What followed upon opening six of the seals.
1 Foure seales of the seuen being opened, there folovv diuerse effectes against the earth. 9 vvhen the fifth seale vvas opened, the soules of martyrs desire that the iudgement may be hastened: 12 and at the opening of the sixt, there are signes shovved of the iudgement to come.
1And I saw that the Lamb had opened one of the seven seals: and I heard one of the four living creatures, as it were the voice of thunder, saying: Come and see.E vidi, come avea l'Agnello aperto uno de' sette sigilli, e sentii mio de' quattro animali, che diceva con voce quasi di tuono: vieni, e vedi.AND I savv that the Lambe had opened one of the seuen seales, and I heard one of the foure beastes, saying, as it vvere the voice of thunder, Come, and see.Et vidi quod aperuisset Agnus unum de septem sigillis, et audivi unum de quatuor animalibus, dicens tamquam vocem tonitrui: Veni, et vide. 2And I saw: and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow, and there was a crown given him, and he went forth conquering that he might conquer.E mirai: ed ecco un caval bianco, e quegli, che vi era sopra, aveva un arco, e fugli data una corona, e uscì vincitore per vincere.And I savv: And behold a vvhite horse, and he that sate vpon him had a bovv, and there vvas a crovvne giuen him, and he vvent forth conquering that he might conquer.Et vidi: et ecce equus albus, et qui sedebat super illum, habebat arcum, et data est ei corona, et exivit vincens ut vinceret. 3And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying: Come and see.E avendo aperto il secondo sigillo, udii il secondo animale, che disse: vieni, e vedi.And vvhen he had opened the second seale, I heard the second beast, saying, Come, & see.Et cum aperuisset sigillum secundum, audivi secundum animal, dicens: Veni, et vide. 4And there went out another horse that was red. And to him that sat thereon, it was given that he should take peace from the earth: and that they should kill one another. And a great sword was given to him.E usci un altro cavallo rosso: e a colui, che v'era sopra, è stato dato di togliere dalla terra, la pace, affinchè si uccidano gli uni gli altri, e fugli data una grande spada.And there vvent forth an other horse, redde: and he that sate thereon, to him it vvas giuen that he should take peace from the earth, and that they should kil one an other, and a great svvord vvas giuen to him.Et exivit alius equus rufus: et qui sedebat super illum, datum est ei ut sumeret pacem de terra, et ut invicem se interficiant, et datus est ei gladius magnus. 5And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying: Come and see. And behold a black horse. And he that sat on him had a pair of scales in his hand.E avendo aperto il terzo sigillo, udii il terzo animale, che diceva: vieni, e vedi. Ed ecco un cavai nero: e quegli, che era sopra, aveva in mano la stadera.And vvhen he had opened the third seale, I heard the third beast, saying, Come, and see. And behold a blacke horse, and he that sate vpon him, had a balance in his hand.Et cum aperuisset sigillum tertium, audivi tertium animal, dicens: Veni, et vide. Et ecce equus niger: et qui sedebat super illum, habebat stateram in manu sua.
6And I heard, as it were a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying: Two pounds of wheat for a penny, and thrice two pounds of barley for a penny: and see thou hurt not the wine and the oil.E udii come una voce trai quattro animali, che diceva: la chenice di grano un denaro e tre ellenici d'orzo un denaro, e non far male al vino, nè all'olio.And I heard as it vvere a voice in the middes of the foure beastes saying: Tvvo poundes of vvheate for a penie, and thrise tvvo poundes of barley for a penie, and vvine and oile hurt thou not.Et audivi tamquam vocem in medio quatuor animalium dicentium: Bilibris tritici denario et tres bilibres hordei denario, et vinum, et oleum ne læseris. 7And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying: Come and see.E avendo aperto il quarto sigillo, udii la voce del quarto animale, che diceva: vieni, e vedi.And vvhen he had opened the fourth seale, I heard a voice of the fourth beast, saying, Come, & see.Et cum aperuisset sigillum quartum, audivi vocem quarti animalis dicentis: Veni, et vide. 8And behold a pale horse: and he that sat upon him, his name was Death. And hell followed him. And power was given to him over the four parts of the earth, to kill with sword, with famine and with death and with the beasts of the earth.Ed ecco un cavallo pallido, e quella, che era sopra di esso, ha nome morte, e andavate appresso l'inferno, e fulle data potestà sopra la quarta parte della terra di uccidere per mezzo della spada, della fame, della mortalità, e delle fiere terrestri.And behold a pale horse: and he that sate vpon him, his name vvas death, and hel folovved him. and povver vvas giuen to him ouer the foure partes of the earth, to kil vvith svvord, vvith famine, and vvith death, and vvith beastes of the earth.Et ecce equus pallidus: et qui sedebat super eum, nomen illi Mors, et infernus sequebatur eum, et data est illi potestas super quatuor partes terræ, interficere gladio, fame, et morte, et bestiis terræ. 9And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.E avendo aperto il quinto sigillo, vidi sotto l'altare le anime di quegli, che erano stati uccisi per la parola di Dio, e per la testimonianza, che avevano,And vvhen he had opened the fifth seale: I savv vnder the altar the soules of them that vvere slaine for the vvord of God, and for the testimonie vvhich they had.Et cum aperuisset sigillum quintum, vidi subtus altare animas interfectorum propter verbum Dei, et propter testimonium, quod habebant:
10And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long, O Lord (Holy and True), dost thou not judge and revenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?E gridavano ad alla voce, dicendo: fino a quando, Signore santo, e verace, non fai giudizio, e non vendi chi il sangue nostro sopra coloro, che abitano la terra?and they cried vvith a loude voice, saying, Hovv long Lord, holy & true, iudgest thou not and reuengest thou not our bloud of them that dvvel on the earth?et clamabant voce magna, dicentes: Usquequo Domine (sanctus et verus), non judicas, et non vindicas sanguinem nostrum de iis qui habitant in terra ? 11And white robes were given to every one of them one; And it was said to them that they should rest for a little time till their fellow servants and their brethren, who are to be slain even as they, should be filled up.E fu data ad essi una stola bianca per uno: e fu detto loro, che si dian pace ancor per un poco di tempo, sino a tanto che sia compito il numero de' conservi, e fratelli loro, i quali debbon esser trucidati, com' essi.And vvhite stoles vvere giuen, to euery one of them one: and it vvas said to them, that they should rest yet a litle time, til their fellovv-seruātes be complete, and their brethren, that are to be slaine euen as they.Et datæ sunt illis singulæ stolæ albæ: et dictum est illis ut requiescerent adhuc tempus modicum donec compleantur conservi eorum, et fratres eorum, qui interficiendi sunt sicut et illi. 12And I saw, when he had opened the sixth seal: and behold there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair: and the whole moon became as blood.E vidi, aperto che ebbe il sesto sigillo: ed ecco, che seguì un gran tremuoto, e il sole diventò nero, come un sacco di Cilicia: e la luna diventò tutta sangue:And I savv, vvhen he had opened the sixt seale, and behold there vvas made a great earth-quake, and the sunne became blacke as it vvere sacke cloth of heare: and the vvhole moone became as bloud:Et vidi cum aperuisset sigillum sextum: et ecce terræmotus magnus factus est, et sol factus est niger tamquam saccus cilicinus: et luna tota facta est sicut sanguis: 13And the stars from heaven fell upon the earth, as the fig tree casteth its green figs when it is shaken by a great wind.E le stelle del cielo caddero sulla terra, come il fico butta i fichi acerbi, quand'è scosso da gran vento:and the starres from heauen fel vpō the earth, as the figge tree casteth her greene figges when it is shaken of a great vvinde:et stellæ de cælo ceciderunt super terram, sicut ficus emittit grossos suos cum a vento magno movetur:
14And the heaven departed as a book folded up. And every mountain, and the islands, were moved out of their places.E il cielo si ritirò come un libro, che si ravvolge: e tutti i monti, e le isole furono smosse dalla lor sede.and heauen departed as a booke folded together: and euery hil, and ilandes vvere moued out of their places.et cælum recessit sicut liber involutus: et omnis mons, et insulæ de locis suis motæ sunt: 15And the kings of the earth and the princes and tribunes and the rich and the strong and every bondman and every freeman hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of mountains:E i Re della terra, e i Principi, e i tribuni, e i ricchi, e i potenti, e tutti quanti servi, e liberi, si nascosero nelle spelonche, e ne' massi delle montagne:And the kinges of the earth, & princes, and, tribunes, and the riche, and the strong, and euery bond-man, and free-man hid them selues in the dennes and the rockes of mountaines.et reges terræ, et principes, et tribuni, et divites, et fortes, et omnis servus, et liber absconderunt se in speluncis, et in petris montium: 16And they say to the mountains and the rocks: Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.E dicono alle montagne, ed ai massi: cadete sopra di noi, e nascondeteci dalla faccia di colui, che siede sul trono, e dall'ira dell'Agnello:And they say to the mountaines and the rockes: Fall vpon vs, and hide vs from the face of him that sitteth vpon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lambe:et dicunt montibus, et petris: Cadite super nos, et abscondite nos a facie sedentis super thronum, et ab ira Agni: 17For the great day of their wrath is come. And who shall be able to stand?Imperocché è venuto il giorno grande dell'ira di essi: e chi potrà reggervi?because the great day of their wrath is come, and vvho shal be able to stand?quoniam venit dies magnus iræ ipsorum: et quis poterit stare ?
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Witham
I saw that the Lamb had opened one of the seven seals, or the first seal. The interpreters are much divided in expounding what is to be understood by the sealed up contents, and in applying them to such and such persecutions, persons, and events, by all which it appears that there is no certainty as to such applications and expositions, even of particular ancient fathers; though at the same time it is both certain and evident that many pretended interpretations, (that is, arbitrary inventions, from the private spirit of heretics) are both false and groundless, contradictory to the unexceptionable authority (to use Dr. W.'s words) of the primitive fathers, and inconsistent with the doctrine and belief of the Catholic Church, as I may have occasion to shew that the ridiculous fable is of this number, of so many popes being antichrist, and the beast of this Apocalypse. I shall, for the satisfaction of the Christian reader, as I hinted in the preface of this book, give a short account of those expositions that are not improbable. (Witham)
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Witham
A white horse, such as conquerors used to ride upon at a solemn triumph. This is commonly understood of our Saviour, Christ, who, by himself and by his apostles, preachers, martyrs, and other saints, triumphed over all the adversaries of his Church. He had a bow in his hand, the doctrine of his gospel, piercing like an arrow the hearts of the hearers; and the crown given him, was a token of the victory of him who went forth conquering, that he might conquer. (Witham)
Challoner
He that sitteth on the white horse is Christ, going forth to subdue the world by his gospel. The other horses that follow represent the judgments and punishment, that were to fall on the enemies of Christ and his Church: the red horse signifies war; the black horse famine; and the pale horse (which has death for its rider) plagues or pestilence. (Challoner)
Cornelius[Cornelius a Lapide?]
White horse; viz. Jesus Christ, who came to subdue all nations to the faith. The bow signifies the gospel, and the word of God, those powerful arms, of which St. Paul so often speaks, as being so necessary for all who are engaged in bringing souls to the faith of Christ. The crown marks the sovereign power of Jesus Christ, and the assurance of conquest. (Cornelius[Cornelius a Lapide?]; Bossuet; Du Pin)
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Witham
Opened the second seal, etc. portending wars and shedding of blood, and so he is said to have power to take away peace from the earth. (Witham)
Andraeas
Another red horse. This red horse signifies the cruel persecutions, which the Roman emperors carried on against the Christian religion. For this end, it is said immediately after, one sat thereon, to take peace from the earth, and kill one another; for this purpose was a great sword given to him. (Andraeas; Menochius; Grotius)
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Witham
The third seal....a black horse. This is also commonly expounded of wars and persecutions, and particularly of famine, by the scales in the rider's hand, and by two pounds of wheat being sold for a penny: a great price, considering the value of money at that time. (Witham)
Andraeas
The black horse represents the public miseries, famines, etc. which, particularly the latter, the Roman empire frequently experienced during the reign of the persecuting emperors. The balance, which the rider is said to hold in his hand, represents the strict manner in which people would measure out whatever they sold during the time of famine. (Andraeas; Hamm; Bossuet)
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Witham
The fourth seal....a pale horse, the rider's name death. It is also expounded of trials, afflictions, persecutions, and especially of plagues, over four parts of the earth, by which may be denoted the great power and extent of the Roman empire. In the Greek we read, over the fourth part of the earth; which some reconcile, by observing that the Roman empire had dominions under it in all the four parts of the world, east, west, north, and south; and that its dominions might be said to comprehend the fourth part of the world. (Witham)
Grotius
By the pale horse, and the rider, death, who sat upon it, followed by hell, are meant that dreadful mortality which ever attends famines, etc. He had power to kill with sword, with famine, etc. All these evils came upon the Roman people, and history has preserved the memory of them, to shew the truth of the prophecy here delivered by St. John. (Grotius; Calmet)
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Witham
etc. After the opening of the fifth seal, the souls of the martyrs under the altar cried aloud for justice, saying, how long, etc. Out of zeal for God's honour, and the good of the Church, they pray that the enemies of Christ, and of the Christian faith, may be humbled, and that all may acknowledge and fear the justice of God, by the punishment of his enemies, and the reward of his faithful servants. St. Jerome, by under the altar, understands Christ himself, under whom, as under their head, are all the martyrs. Some who doubted or held that the blessed were not admitted to see God, in heaven before the day of general judgment, have turned this expression, under the altar, or at least the expressions of some of the fathers upon these words, as if they were favourable to their error, which is sufficiently disproved, even by the words that follow, that white robes were given to each of them one, in which they are said to walk with him wherever he goeth. (Chap. 3:4. and Apocalypse 14:4.) (Witham)
Under the altar. Christ, as man, is this altar, under which the souls of the martyrs live in heaven: as their bodies are here deposited under our altars.
Challoner
Revenge our blood. They ask not this out of hatred to their enemies, but out of zeal for the glory of God, and a desire that the Lord would accelerate the general judgment, and the complete beatitude of all his elect. (Challoner)
Perer
These holy souls, who had been slain for the word of God, do not beg the Almighty to revenge their blood, through any hatred to their enemies, but through the great zeal with which they were animated, to see the justice of God manifested: that by this severity they might be moved to fear him, and be converted to him. Thus in the Scripture we often read of the prophets beseeching the Almighty to fill their enemies with confusion, to humble them, etc. (Perer; Bossuet; Du Pin, etc.)
And white robes. To console them, they each had given them a white robe, as a mark of their innocence, and as an assurance that on account of it they would in due time receive the full measure of beatitude. They should rest yet a little while, most probably to the day of final retribution, when the number of those destined to be their brethren in bliss should be completed. Then they should altogether receive full recompense, and their persecutors be covered with confusion. (St. Augustine, serm. xi. de sanctis; St. Gregory the great, lib. 2:Moral. cap. iv.)
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Witham
At the opening of the sixth seal....a great earthquake, etc. Many think that these dreadful signs, of the sun turning black, etc. are not to happen till the time of antichrist, a little before the end of the world. See Matthew xiv.; Luke xxi.; Isaias xiii. and xxxiv.; Ezechiel xxxiii.; Daniel xii.; etc. Others apply these prodigies to God's visible chastisements, on the heathen emperors and persecutors of the Christians, before the first Christian emperor Constantine. (Witham)
Victorin
And I saw. The sixth seal being opened, St. John sees painted before him the severe and terrible manner in which the Almighty would revenge himself on his enemies. It may refer either to the time of Constantine, when we behold the Christian religion triumphing on the ruins of paganism, and after his death, and that of his sons, the empire of Rome given up a prey to barbarians, Rome itself taken and pillaged, and all the provinces thrown into dreadful disorder and consternation; or it may likewise refer to the day of general judgment, when the Almighty will make sinners drink the wine of his indignation, in presence of all the just; of which dreadful time of vengeance all other particular judgments are only imperfect figures. (Victorin; Ven. Bede; Tichon)
Calmet
St. John, in imitation of the ancient prophets, makes use of the earthquake, etc. hyperbolically, to mark more strongly the dreadful and horrible evils with which the Roman empire, and its persecuting emperors, were to be overwhelmed. Rome itself was filled with wars and seditions, both at home and abroad. The emperors were all destroyed by the Almighty in a most singular manner; witness Maxentius, who was thrown headlong into the Tiber; Maximin Jovius, who, under a horrible and incurable disease, owned the hand of the Almighty afflicting him; Maximin Daia, who, being overcome in battle, fled away in disguise, and at last, seized with a strange disease, his bowels were all consumed, he lost his eyes, and died reduced to a mere skeleton. Witness likewise Licinius, who, being engaged with Constantine, was always beaten, and at length strangled. Maximian also, the rival of Constantine, who strangled himself in Marseilles, where he had been confined. (Calmet)
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Calmet
And every mountain. In the dreadful confusion of the Roman empire, in the time of Constantine, so great was the revolution, that mountains appeared, as it were, moved out of their places; islands shifted from their accustomed situations. We behold at one time seven persons, Maximin Galerius, Maxentius, Severus Caesar, Maximin, Alexander, Maximin Hercules, and Licinius, all aiming at the empire. The first six perished in nine years, from 305[A.D. 305] to 314: Licinius was strangled in 324. All these were enemies of the Christian religion. Constantine, who supported it, remained sole master of the empire. (Calmet)
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White horse.... He that sitteth on the white horse is Christ, going forth to subdue the world by his gospel. The other horses that follow represent the judgments and punishment that were to fall on the enemies of Christ and his church. The red horse signifies war; the black horse, famine; and the pale horse (which has Death for its rider), plagues or pestilence.
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Under the altar.... Christ, as man, is this altar, under which the souls of the martyrs live in heaven, as their bodies are here deposited under our altars.
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Revenge our blood.... They ask not this out of hatred to their enemies, but out of zeal for the glory of God, and a desire that the Lord would accelerate the general judgment, and the complete beatitude of all his elect.
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9. Vnder the altar.] Christ as man (no doubt) is this altar, vnder vvhich the soules of al Martyrs liue in heauen, Consecration of altars vvith Sainct⸢s⸣ relikes. expecting their bodies, as Christ their head hath his body there already. And for correspondence to their place of state in heauen, the Church saieth commonly their bodies also or relikes neere or vnder the altars, vvhere our Sauiour: body is offered in the holy Masse: and hath a special prouiso that no altars be erected or consecrated vvithout some part of a Saincts body or relikes. Con•. Asrican, can. 50. Carthag. 5. can. 14. See S. Hierom cont. vigilant c. 3. S. Augustine de ciuit. li. 8. c. 27. S. Gregorie li. 5. ep. 50. li. 1. ep. 52. li. 2 ep. 58. Vvher vnto the Prophet seemeth here to allude, making their soules also to haue their being in heauen, as it vvere vnder the altar. But for this purpose note vvel the vvordes of S. Augustine (or vvhat other auncient writer soeuer vvas the author thereof) Ser. 11 de Sanctis. Vnder the altar (saith he) of God I savv the soules of the slaine. What is more reuerent or honorable, then to rest vnder that altar on vvhich sacrifice is done to God, and in vvhich our Lord is the Priest: as it is vvritten, Thou art a Priest according to the order of Melchisedec? Rightly do the soules of the iust rest vnder the altar, because vpon the altar our Lordes body is offered. neither vvithout cause do the iust there call for reuenge of their bloud, vvhere also the bloud of Christ is shed for sinners. and many other goodly vvordes to that purpose.
This place also the vvicked heretike Vigilantius (as S. Hierom vvriting against him vvitnesseth c. 2) abused to proue, Saincts be present at their tombes and relikes. that the soules of Martyrs and other Saincts vvere included in some certaine place, that they could not be present at their bodies and monuments (vvhere Christian people vsed in the primitiue Church to pray vnto them, as Catholike men doe yet) nor be vvhere they list, The Caluinistes heresie concerning the Saincts consuted by S. Hierom long agoe. or vvhere men pray vnto them. To vvhich the holy doctor ansvvereth at large, that they be vvheresoeuer Christ is according to his humanitie: for vnder that altar they be. Part of his vvordes be these, that you may see hovv this blessed father refuted in that Heretike the Caluinistes so long before they vvere borne. Dcst thou (saith he) pres••ribe savves to God? Doest thou fe•ter the Apostles, that they may be kept in prison til the day of iudgement, and be kept from their Lord, of vvhom it is vvritten, They folovv the Lambe vvhither soeuer he goeth. Apoc. 14. If the Lambe be in euery place, then they that he vvith the Lambe, must be euery vvhere. And if the diuel and vvicked spirites gadding abrode in the vvorld vvith passing celeritie, be present euery vvhere: shal holy Martyrs after the sheading of their bloud, be kept close vnder an altar, that they can not sturre out from thence? So ansvvereth this learned doctor.
Vvhich misliketh our Caluinistes so much, They vnlearnedly accuse S. Hierom a• an Vbiquiste. that they charge him of great errour, in that he saith, Christ according to his humanitie is euery vvhere, as though he vvere an Vbiquetarie Protestant. Vvhere, if they had any iudgement, they might perceiue that he meaneth not, that Christ or his Saincts should be personally present at once in euery place alike, as God is: but that their motion, speede, and agilitie to be vvhere they list, is incomparable, and that their povver and operation is accordingly. vvhich they may learne to be the holy doctors meaning, Hovv S. Hierō saith, Christ & his Saincts are euery vvhere. by the vvordes that folovv of the Diuel and his ministers: vvhō he affirmeth to be euery vvhere no othervvise but by their exceding celeritie of being and vvorking mischeefe novv in one place, novv in an other, and that in a moment. For though they be spirites, yet are they not euery vvhere at once according to their essence. And for our nevv Diuines it vvere a hard thing to determine, Iob. 1. hovv long Satan (that told our Lord he had circuited the earth) vvas in his iourney, and in the particular consideration and tentation of Iob: and hovv many men he assaulted in that his one circuite. No, no. such curious companions knovv nothing, nor beleeue nothing, but that they see vvith corporal eies, and teach nothing but the vvay to infidelitie.
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10. And they cried.] S. Hierom also against the said Vigilantius reporteth, that he vsed an argument against the praiers of Saincts out of this place, That Saincts pray for vs, S. Hierom proueth against the Heretike Vigilantius. for that these Martyrs cried for reuenge, and could not obtaine. But vve vvil report his vvordes, that you may see how like one heretike is to an other, these of our daies to those of old. Thou saiest in thy booke (saith S. Hierom c. 3.) that vvhiles vve be aliue, one of vs may pray for an other: but after vve be dead, no mans praier shal be heard for an other: specially seing the Martyrs asking reuenge of their bloud, could not obtaine. So said the Heretike. Against vvhich the holy Doctor maketh a long refu•ation, prouing that they pray much more after they be in heauen, then they did here in earth: and that they shal be much sooner heard of God, then vvhen they vvere in the vvorld.
But for the Heretikes argument framed out of these vvordes of the Apocalypse thus, These Martyrs did not obtaine, 〈◊〉 Saincts do not pray for vs: it vvas so friuolous, and the antecedent so manifestly false, that he vouchsaued not to stand about it. For it is plaine that the Martyrs here vvere heard, and that their petition should be fulfilled in time appointed by God (vvherevnto they did and do alvvaies conforme them selues:) for it vvas said vnto them, That they should rest yet a litle time, til &c. And that Martyrs praiers be heard in this case, our Sauiour testifieth Luc 18 saying, And vvil not God reuenge his elect that crie to him day and night? I say to you, he vvil quickly reuenge them. And if God do not heare the Saincts sometime nor graunt their requestes, is it therfore consequent that they do not or may not pray? Then Christ him self should not haue praied his father to remoue the bitter cuppe of death from him, because that petition vvas not graunted.
10. Reuengest thou not?] Hovv Martyrs crie for reuenge. They do not desire reuenge vpon their enemies for hatred, but of charitie and zeale of Gods honour, praying that his enemies and the persecutors of his Church and Saincts, that vvil not repent, may be confounded: and that our Lord would accelerate his general iudgement, that so they might attaine the perfect crowne of glorie promised vnto them, both in body and soule: vvhich is to desire the resurrection of their bodies, vvhich then shal triumph perfectly and fully ouer the persecutors that so cruelly handled the bodies of the elect, vvhich shal then appeare glorious to the enemies cōfusion.
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11. Til their fellovv seruantes be complete.] There is a certaine number that God hath ordained to die for the testimonie of truth and the Catholike faith, for conformitie of the members to the head CHRIST our cheefe Martyr, and til that number be accomplished, the general condemnation of the vvicked persecutors shal not come, nor the general reward of the elect.
This one stole signifieth the glorie or blisse of the soule onely. but at the day of iudgement they shal haue it doubled by adding the glorie of their body also.
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The tribulation that shal fall in the time of Antichrist.
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Concordance Osee. 10.
Concordance Lu. 23, 50.
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.21.3
… binding the feet, but not being bound; striving and conquering; grasping in his hand his adversary’s heel, that is, victory. For to this end was the Lord born, the type of whose birth he set forth beforehand, of whom also John says in the Apocalypse: “He went forth conquering, that He should conquer.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Chaplet, or De Corona 15
Keep for God His own property untainted; He will crown it if He choose. Nay, then, He does even choose. He calls us to it. To him who conquers He says, “I will give a crown of life.” Be you , too, faithful unto death, and fight you , too, the good fight, whose crown the apostle feels so justly confident has been laid up for him. The angel
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Modesty 20
… and when the Word of God has entered it, and has found “stains of red and green,” forthwith must the deadly and sanguinary passions “be extracted” and “cast away” out of doors—for the Apocalypse withal has set “death” upon a “green horse,” but a “warrior” upon a “red”
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Tertullian † AD 220 A Treatise on the Soul 8
… There is the selfsame difference in respect of the soul’s corporeality, which is (perhaps) invisible to the flesh, but perfectly visible to the spirit. Thus John, being “in the Spirit” of God, beheld plainly the souls of the martyrs.
Tertullian † AD 220 A Treatise on the Soul 55
… or in the air with Arius; or around the moon with the Endymions of the Stoics? No, but in Paradise, you tell me, whither already the patriarchs and prophets have removed from Hades in the retinue of the Lord’s resurrection. How is it, then, that the region of Paradise, which as revealed to John in the Spirit lay under the altar,
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 25
In the Revelation of John, again, the order of these times is spread out to view, which “the souls of the martyrs” are taught to wait for beneath the altar, whilst they earnestly pray to be avenged and judged:
Tertullian † AD 220 On the Resurrection of the Flesh 38
… and after all, they cannot but know full well what His capability has ever been, if they only make acquaintance with the writings of John. For unquestionably he, who has exhibited to our sight the martyrs’ hitherto disembodied souls resting under the altar,
Tertullian † AD 220 Scorpiace 12
… Who, pray, are these so blessed conquerors, but martyrs in the strict sense of the word? For indeed theirs are the victories whose also are the fights; theirs, however, are the fights whose also is the blood. But the souls of the martyrs both peacefully rest in the meantime under the altar,
Tertullian † AD 220 Five Books in Reply to Marcion 4
Upon their slaughter. There, meantime, is rest.
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Advantage of Patience 21
… And there were given to them each white robes; and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until the number of their fellow-servants and brethren is fulfilled, who afterwards shall be slain after their example.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.17
… And unto every one of them were given white robes; and it was said to them, that they should rest still for a short time, until the number of their fellow-servants, and of their brethren, should be fulfilled, and they who shall afterwards be slain, after their example.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin 4.34
… by which are also signified the things which come to pass in all time—present, past, and future. You make mistakes about these, not because they are in themselves deceptive, but because you do not accept them as they ought to be taken. For in the same apocalyptic vision where “the souls of the martyrs” are seen,
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 79.14
… but this the Lord hath set before us, to show that much more the just God will speedily make the judgment of His elect, who cry unto Him day and night. Thence is also that cry of the Martyrs under the altar of God,
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 1.14
… and on the contrary there are many who though they are dead in the body yet bless God in the spirit, and praise Him, according to this: “O ye spirits and souls of the righteous, bless ye the Lord:” and “every spirit shall praise the Lord.” And in the Apocalypse the souls of them that are slain are not only said to praise God but to address Him also.
Pseudo-Cyprian On the Glory of Martyrdom 30
… on high, and is not received except by His will, and moreover, can neither be expressed in words nor described by speech, nor can be satisfied by any kind of powers of eloquence, still such will be your benevolence, such will be your charity and love, as to be mindful of me when the Lord shall begin to glorify martyrdom in your experience. That holy altar
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Prayer 5
… Even if it had not been prescribed in the Prayer that we should ask for the advent of the kingdom, we should, unbidden, have sent forth that cry, hastening toward the realization of our hope. The souls of the martyrs beneath the altar cry in jealousy unto the Lord, “How long, Lord, dost Thou not avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 12.35
… and examine these passages along with the “taste.” In the Psalms, then, it is said, “What man is he that shall live and not see death?” And again, in another place, “Let death come upon them and let them go down into Hades alive;” but in one of the prophets, “Death becoming mighty has swallowed them up;” and in the Apocalypse, “Death and Hades follow some.”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Lapsed 18
… Under the altar of God the souls of the slain martyrs cry with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood upon those who dwell on the earth?”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against Vigilantius 6
… are martyrs, after the shedding of their blood, to be kept out of sight shut up in a coffin, from whence they cannot escape? You say, in your pamphlet, that so long as we are alive we can pray for one another; but once we die, the prayer of no person for another can be heard, and all the more because the martyrs, though they
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount 1.22
… for that, as has been said, was a prediction of things to come, not a wish for punishment: nor as it was offered by the apostle against Alexander; for respecting that also enough has been already said: but as we read in the Apocalypse of John of the martyrs praying that they may be avenged;
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 92.12
… “Mine eye also hath looked upon mine enemies: and mine ear shall hear his desire of the wicked that rise up against me.” When? In my old age. What is, in old age? In the last times. And what shall our ear hear? Standing on the right hand, we shall hear what shall be said to them that are on the left.
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 119.11
84. “How many are the days of Thy servant? when wilt Thou be avenged of them that persecute me?” ( ver. 84 ). In the Apocalypse,
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Tertullian † AD 220 Five Books in Reply to Marcion 4
Upon their slaughter. There, meantime, is rest.
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Anonymous A Treatise Against the Heretic Novatian by an Anonymous Bishop 17
… saying to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall upon us, and hide us from the sight of the Father that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: because the day of destruction cometh; and who shall be able to stand?”
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Tertullian † AD 220 Against Hermogenes 34
… For even as a vesture shall He change them, and they shall be changed.” Now to be changed is to fall from that primitive state which they lose whilst undergoing the change. “And the stars too shall fall from heaven, even as a fig-tree casteth her green figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin 4.34
… For in the same apocalyptic vision where “the souls of the martyrs” are seen, there is also beheld “a lamb as it were slain, having seven horns:” there are also horses and other animals figuratively described with all consistency; and lastly, there were the stars falling, and the earth rolled up like a book;
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St Hippolytus † AD 235 A discourse by the most blessed Hippolytus, bishop and martyr, on the end of the world, and on Antichrist, and on the second coming of our lord Jesus Christ 37
… For the river of fire shall come forth in fury like an angry sea, and shall burn up mountains and hills, and shall make the sea vanish, and shall dissolve the atmosphere with its heat like wax. The stars of heaven shall fall, the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood. The heaven shall be rolled together like a scroll:
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 13.15
16. Or who but Thou, our God, made for us that firmament of authority over us in Thy divine Scripture? As it is said, For heaven shall be folded up like a scroll;
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1. "And I heard one of the four animals." — "One," that is the first, namely the lion, as is evident from chapter IV, verse 7; for the second, third and fourth follow. Moreover the lion shows this vision of the white horse to St. John, saying: "Come, and see;" because Christ the rider and horseman is here introduced as a king, and conqueror of enemies, victor and triumphator, as will presently be made clear. Hence the voice of the lion indicating Christ is like thunder, which strikes down and prostrates all. Mystically Rupertus understands by thunder the doctrine of Christ resounding throughout the whole world: "A voice is heard," he says, "as of thunder, because namely not as shameful vanity whispers in corners, but openly to all the world does the fullness of the virgin birth love to be preached, so that it may deservedly be compared to thundering heavens."
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2. "And I saw: and behold a white horse." — From the four first seals of the sealed book there proceed four horses, namely the first white, the second red, the third black, the fourth pale. You will ask what these signify? First, Victorinus understands by the white horse the preaching of the Gospel, which subdued the world to itself and to Christ; by the three remaining ones he understands the wars, famines and plagues predicted by Christ in the Gospel. Second, Bede by the white horse and its rider understands the struggles and victories of the Apostles; by the red one, the passions of the Martyrs, who followed the Apostles immediately; by the black one, the deceits and malignity of hypocrites and false brethren; by the pale one, the cunning and frauds of heretics. Third, Andrew of Caesarea and Arethas agree with Bede in the first and second horse; by the third one, namely the black horse, they understand the apostasy of weak Christians from Christ and faith; by the pale one, however, they understand the punishment of these same. Fourth, Ambrose thinks that by the seven seals are portended those things which happened or will happen to the Saints and elect in the seven ages of the world. Whence he refers the four first seals to the Old Testament, namely to the deeds and acts which occurred in it; but the three last ones he refers to the New Testament: so that namely the fifth seal pertains to the Martyrs; the sixth, to the rejection of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles; the seventh, however, to the Antichrist. Fifth, Rupertus: The seven seals, he says, signify seven primary mysteries of the life of Christ, namely the nativity, the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, the sending of the Holy Spirit, the calling of the Gentiles and the universal judgment. Sixth, Alcazar by the four first seals, namely by the four horses and riders of different colors, thinks there is represented the conversion and happiness of the Jews, who will believe in Christ and submit themselves to him; by the three last ones, however, are signified the unhappiness and punishments of the Jews who are unbelieving in Christ and rebellious. Whence he himself notes here at verse 3: Four, he says, disordered loves dominated man and the world like tyrants: the first was excessive love of life and pleasures; the second, of riches; the third, of honor; the fourth, of one's own judgment and sense. From these four Christ rescued Christians, especially of the primitive Church. For he withdrew them from the dominion of their own judgment, when he subjected them to his faith, which is the foundation of spiritual life. Then he dispersed the study of honor, when he stirred them up to profess and preach the faith of Christ freely among so many reproaches and mockeries of the Gentiles. Third, through Evangelical and voluntary poverty, he extinguished in them the desire for riches. Fourth, he taught them to despise life and to love martyrdom: whence on the fourth pale horse sits "death," signifying the death and martyrdom of the Jews who followed Christ; on the third, namely the black one, sits poverty, which the poor suffer; the rider of the second red one is the very disturbance of peace, or boldness, which disturbs peace: whence a sword was given to him, that he might take peace from the earth; the rider of the first, namely the white one, is Christ, piercing hearts, according to that Psalm 44:6: "Thy arrows are sharp (peoples under thee shall fall) in the hearts of the enemies of the king," that is of those who were formerly enemies. The riders therefore of the four horses are faith and truth, boldness, poverty, death: which four disordered loves already mentioned destroy. Hence aptly the color of the first horse is white, which is the symbol of gentleness; the color of the second horse is red: for this is the symbol of boldness and ardor; the color of the third is black, which is the symbol of humility; of the fourth, it is pale, because it carries death, which makes pale. Moreover, aptly the white horse is assigned to faith, because the white color is proper to the tame and gentle horse: whence also white horses have hair that is soft and smooth like silk thread. Hence also white horses are weaker than others of other colors. Whence Virgil in the Georgics: "The color," he says, "is worst in white ones." Thus faith gently tames man's judgment and reason, and subdues it as it were weak to Christ. Again, faith is painted here as a rider bearing a bow, by prosopopoeia, just as through it Poets assign a bow and arrows to love, or Cupid, to signify the most efficacious force of love by which it strikes and wounds hearts, so that it draws and leads them, not where reason, but where love itself snatches them. Thus indeed faith snatched men into love of a wonderful and unaccustomed thing, namely the crucified Christ, so that they would place all their hope and happiness in him. Hence he bears a crown as a sign of victory. Whence St. John says, 1 Epistle, chapter 5, verse 4: "This is the victory which overcometh the world, our faith." But all these things are allegorical, not literal, and ingeniously invented for the apt accommodation of a preconceived sense, namely that it may be suitably adapted to each part of the vision: Add that the common opinion of the Fathers and Interpreters is that the rider of this horse is not faith, but Christ. Seventh, Aureolus and Viegas understand by each of these horses the Roman Empire, under different Emperors however, who are signified by the riders and horsemen, as Zacharias in chapter vi designates the four Monarchies by four chariots. The reason for this symbol is first, that a horse is an imperious and glorious animal, as is monarchy; second, that empires are governed by God like horses, with their reins loosened or tightened according to God's pleasure; third, that empires run swiftly like horses, and often fall, and throw off their riders and kings; fourth, that a horse is a warlike animal, likewise wanton and lustful: such also are empires. The first horse, namely the white one, signifies the Empire of C. Caligula, who did not hinder the Gospel of Christ, but raged against the Jews, enemies of Christ. The second horse, red, signifies the Empire of Nero, who has a great sword, because he was most cruel and most bloodthirsty. The third horse, black, signifies the Empire of Titus, who besieged Jerusalem and devastated it with terrible famine and the sword. To him it is said: "Hurt not the wine and the oil," that is, do not touch the Christians, who are compared to wine on account of charity, to oil on account of mercy. For Titus did not harm the Christians, but they escaped from Jerusalem to Pella, as Eusebius testifies, book III, chapter v. Titus holds in his hand a balance, that is, divine justice: for he himself was its executor. The pale horse signifies the Empire of Domitian, who by his persecution instilled great fear and paleness both in the Roman Senators and in the Christians, whom he despoiled partly of their goods, partly of their lives. Whence he himself is called here death: for which reason he himself also was slain by his own, and thrust down to hell on account of his crimes. Viegas rightly notes that death sits upon this horse, on account of the swiftness of its course, by which it not only overtakes men, but often runs ahead, when their hope, as if flying before, demolishes and cuts off. Again, that this horse is χλωρόν, that is pale, or, as Tertullian, in the book On Modesty, chapter xx, translates it, green: because death is pale to the impious, that is fearful and sad, and makes them livid; but to the good it is green, that is sweet and peaceful, and offers hope of the harvest of eternal life. The fifth seal bringing to light the souls of the slain signifies the Empire of Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus and the others following, up to Diocletian, who pertains to the sixth seal. Then therefore there were very many Martyrs, who cry out under the altar, and demand vengeance from God. The sixth seal signifies the most bitter persecution of Diocletian, in which the earthquake signifies the commotion of all the Roman magistrates, by his command, against the Christians. The sun, that is Christ, was then seen to be darkened and blackened among the infidels; the moon, that is the Church, became red; the stars, that is many distinguished men, fell from faith and heaven. The seventh seal, of which chapter VIII, signifies a great commotion of the Church, consolation, peace and joy under Constantine the Great, with the four evil angels, that is, four tyrants, overthrown. In it there was silence for half an hour, which signifies the hidden and silent persecution of Julian the Apostate, but very brief: for Julian reigned only for two years. Thus Aureolus. This opinion seems fitting and plausible from the very outcome of events: yet it appears to be opposed, first, because it embraces only future things in the Church from Christ up to Constantine, then leaps from Constantine to Antichrist: yet between the two many and wonderful things have occurred, equally worthy of note and prediction as the times of Constantine and the preceding Emperors. Second, because John saw only four horses, yet there have already been ten persecutions of the Church: therefore he ought to have seen ten horses. Third, because this exposition comprehends six persecutions in the fifth seal, which were from Trajan up to Diocletian, while to the other seals it assigns only single persecutions to each, yet those of Trajan and the following were equally fierce, indeed fiercer than the preceding ones. Fourth, it seems that John wished to comprehend all persecutions of the Church in the four horses: for after them in the fifth, sixth and seventh seals he brings forth not horses, but other visions. Why does he change horses into other visions, if he is dealing with the same persecutions? For one was most similar to the other in matter, manner, author, severity, etc. Since therefore the former are aptly denoted by horses, the latter also seem to have been to be designated by horses. I say therefore that the seven seals signify seven mysteries, equally as times, secrets and mysteries, appointed and sealed by God, by which the things contained in these seals, each in its own order, and in its own age successively, before and up to Antichrist and the end of the world (for things to come under Antichrist and at the end of the world are contained in the sealed book itself described) shall be made manifest and shall truly come to pass, so that one ending, immediately in its order the next succeeds, which follows next, for example, so that the ending of the second is the beginning of the third, and the ending of the third is the beginning of the fourth, as I taught in chapter V, verse 1. And so in the first seal Christ is introduced here, as it were a white-horsed rider, who with three following horses and riders, namely red, black and pale, shall successively contend, and as it were enter into combat, and finally shall prostrate and overcome each: namely the Gentiles, which the red horse signifies; heretics, which the black horse signifies; Turks and Saracens, which the pale horse signifies: so that he contends with every kind of enemies and men, conquers and triumphs. And so when in this first seal John says: "And behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him had a bow, and there was given to him a crown, and he went forth conquering that he might conquer," I answer, I explain and say that by this symbol of the white horse and rider is signified the most warlike and most victorious state of the primitive Church. For the horse first is a symbol of war; whence Virgil, in the third book of the Aeneid, says that Anchises, the father of Aeneas, upon seeing certain horses, exclaimed: "War, O hospitable land, you bear: With war the horses are armed, with war these herds are prepared." And Lucretius calls this the warlike offspring of horses. Hence the horse was sacred to Mars among the Gentiles, and they sacrificed it to Mars on the Ides of December. Plutarch relates, and from him Pierius in Hieroglyphics IV, that after the death of these, Horus appeared to Osiris, and when Osiris asked him what animal would be more useful in war, he answered, the horse. And when Osiris thought the lion superior, Horus answered that the lion could indeed be of help, but once it took to flight, it would go away irrevocably; whereas it would be necessary for a warrior sometimes to retreat, sometimes to attack the enemy again from an already broken line: for this reason the horse was more suitable and serviceable for all these duties. Aristotle in the Ethics praises especially that virtue in a horse, that it is fit for running and carrying a man, and is not at all fearful in attacking and awaiting the enemy. Hence also Zacharias in chapter VI represents the conflict of four monarchies through white, red, black and variegated horses; and these four horses and horsemen of St. John allude to them. Hence perhaps these same also allude to the four-fold charioteers of that age, namely to the four factions of the Circus charioteers, distinguished and named by four colors, which in the age of St. John were celebrated at Rome and elsewhere, and not rarely contended with each other: indeed afterwards often, and namely under the Emperor Justinian, they stirred up grave seditions and tumults in the republic, as Procopius testifies in the Anecdota of Justinian, Marcellinus in the Chronicle, Theophanes and Zonaras in Justinian; while each one drew many, even princes, to his faction, and incited them to slaughter against the opposing faction, as in the memory of our ancestors the Ghibellines and Guelphs did in Italy; for there were charioteers in the Circus, some dressed in white, others in red, others in green, others in blue, concerning all of which epigrams exist in book V of the Anthology, and in Dio in Domitian, book LIX, and in Suetonius in Vitellius, chapter XIV. The white-clad correspond to the white horse and horseman of St. John, the red-clad to the red, the green-clad to the black, the blue-clad to the pale. For the green color is leek-colored, or verdant, compounded of yellow and black, as Plato testifies in the Timaeus; the blue color was cyan, or cerulean, namely marine, says Vegetius, which approaches the pale. Moreover by these four colors they seem to have represented the four elements, and their mutual struggle and contention with each other, namely by red fire: for fire is red; by white air: for air appears white when it is clear; by blue, or cerulean, water and the sea; by green, or verdant, earth clothed in green grass. For these four elements are moderated by, and committed and tempered with each other by, the supreme charioteer God. Whence concerning the origin of the blue and green factions thus in the ancient Collections of Histories, Vatican Codex 96, we read: "Onomaus first invented the colors of the Circus, by which he represented as it were a contest between earth and sea. Lots were cast; whoever it fell to to act the part of earth in the contest, he put on a green garment; but a blue one, whoever acted the part of the sea. Onomaus established this contest on the 24th day of March. If the green color had won, all hoped for the fertility of the earth; if the blue, for a calm navigation of the sea. Wherefore farmers wished victory for the green color, sailors for the blue." Wherefore Plato, when he had mounted a horse at some time, immediately leaped to the ground, saying that he feared lest he be contaminated by some equine arrogance. Such were the Apostles, namely fierce in fighting against demons, the world and sins, and breathing fire. Secondly, on account of the office of the horse in carrying the rider; concerning which there is the saying: ἵππος με φέρει, βασιλεύς με τρέφει, the horse carries me, the king feeds me. For when a certain young man was serving under King Philip, he was advised to seek his discharge and renounce military service. He refused to do so, saying that he lived most comfortably, in that he walked on another's feet, namely the horse's, and was fed by another's money, namely the king's. Whence Horace in the Epistles, under the person of Aristippus, uses this: "It is far more splendid that the horse carry me and the king feed me." This was also the office of the Apostles; for the Apostles, as it were, bore Christ as a rider, both through holy action and through evangelical preaching. Therefore Christ's horse was Paul, Andrew, John, etc. Third, on account of the wonderful agility and swiftness of a horse. For similarly it is said of the Apostles: "Their sound hath gone forth into all the earth;" and: "He hath rejoiced as a giant to run the way, his going out is from the highest heaven. And his circuit even to the end thereof," Psalm XVIII, 7. Fourth, on account of the horse's patience and obedience, by which it allows itself to be ruled by the bridle and to be driven in any direction at the nod of the rider. For thus the Apostles followed the leading and impulse of Christ's grace in all things. Finally, because the horse is a symbol of salvation and happiness, obtained through warlike strength and victory. For thus the Apostles brought forth salvation and happiness to the world, striving against infidelity and impiety. Wherefore Zacharias, cap. X, vers. 3, says: "The Lord hath made the house of Juda as his glorious horse in the battle." And Prov. XXI, 31: "The horse is prepared for the day of battle: but the Lord giveth safety." And Habacuc, cap. III, 8: "Thou shalt ascend upon thy horses, and thy chariots are salvation." And Psalm LXVII, 18: "The chariot of God is attended by ten thousands," which, following St. Irenaeus, the first and ancient author of this explanation, all agree and conspire in one voice. Note: The Apostles are rightly compared to a horse, as Thomas Anglicus observes. First, on account of its alacrity and ferocity in battle, which Job describes most beautifully with these praises of it, cap. XXXIX, vers. 20: "The glory of his nostrils is terrible, he paweth in the earth with his hoof, he swalloweth the ground in his strength and rage, neither doth he stand still at the sound of the trumpet. As often as the trumpet soundeth, he saith: Ha, ha: and he smelleth the battle afar off, the encouraging of the captains, and the shouting of the army." And Virgil, VIII Aeneid: "With four-footed thunder shakes the crumbling plain." Second, the horse is a symbol of empire. When those digging the foundations of the walls of Carthage found it, Virgil says, I Aeneid., "the head of a fierce horse." From this they conjectured that the city would be warlike and ruling. Suetonius relates in Julius Caesar, cap. LXI, that a horse was born in Caesar's house with feet almost human, namely with hooves cleft in the manner of fingers; and the soothsayers answered that it portended the empire of the world for him in whose house such a horse was born. Caesar therefore nourished it with great care, and being unwilling to bear another rider, he himself first mounted it. He also gave to Aelius Pertinax, who seized the Empire after Commodus, a horse as a sign of invading the kingdom. For at the hour in which he was born, a dark horse climbed upon the tiles, and there remaining for a short space of time, both fell and died. Which was an omen to Pertinax of future elevation, though of brief duration. Finally, Suetonius in Nero, cap. XLVI, relates that his Spanish horse, in which he greatly delighted, was seen in a dream transformed in its hinder part into the form of an ape, with only the head remaining intact, uttering clear neighing: it was a portent, says Suetonius, that the ferocity of that horse would turn into the mockery of an ape. Third, the horse is a symbol of victory. Thus Virgil sings of Marcellus, lib. VI Aeneid.: "He shall stay the Roman state in great tumultuous fear with horses, shall lay low the Carthaginians." On the other hand, Flaminius the Consul, setting out against Hannibal, when he leapt upon his horse, the horse suddenly fell and threw the consul headlong over its head, a sign of an inauspicious beginning, says Plutarch; shortly after which he himself, with his army, was overcome and slain by Hannibal with a most shameful defeat at Lake Trasimene. I say therefore first: The white horse are the Apostles and other preachers of the Gospel, such as St. Ignatius, Polycarp, Dionysius, etc., through whom Christ conquered the world and subjected it to himself. Thus Aretas, Andreas, Haymo, Ticonius, Ribera, Pererius and others everywhere. Therefore for God, or Christ to mount upon a horse, is for him to hasten and proceed to the aid and salvation of his people, as it were a warrior against enemies. Thus angels guarding Elisha against the Syrians appeared in horses and war chariots, IV Kings VI, 17. Thus a horse terrible, fighting for the temple and the Jews, struck Heliodorus with its front hooves when he wished to invade the treasury of the temple, II Maccabees III, 25. Thus five angels appearing in shining horses, of whom two placed Judas Maccabeus in their midst, and hurling darts and thunderbolts against the forces of Antiochus on his behalf and that of the Jews, brought forth victory, book II Maccabees, X, 29. Thus often St. James, sitting upon a white horse and shining with radiant arms, brought aid and victory to the Spanish (as their Annals relate) when they invoked him, and namely to King Ramiro in the year of the Lord 834, when he himself, having suffered a defeat from the Moors, fleeing to Mount Clavijo, was warned in prayer by St. James to confess and communicate with his soldiers, and thus to attack the Moors again: for he himself would lead the camp; he said it, and it was done: for sitting upon a white horse he led the camp, and seventy thousand Moorish soldiers fell, the rest being either captured or escaping by flight. The same is told or fabled by Roman historians concerning Castor and Pollux, namely that appearing in white horses to the Romans, when reduced to the greatest straits, they brought aid and led the camp. And from this there seems to have flowed the ancient proverb, "To precede in white horses," which was wont to be said of those who are far superior in some matter: either because in antiquity white horses were held to be better, or because victors in triumph were wont to be carried in white horses, as Pomponius Laetus writes concerning the triumph of Diocletian and Maximian: "After the chariots of the triumphers made of gold and precious stones, which were drawn by four horses rivaling snow in whiteness," etc.; or because white horses were believed by the Gentiles to be more fortunate and auspicious. Finally, at Rome on the day of the greatest festival, when the new Pontiff is led to the Lateran to receive possession of the Pontificate, in the common applause of the city and the world, all the Bishops are wont to ride up to him on white horses. And this perhaps, as also many other things, was taken from the Apocalypse in this place, namely so that they might represent this white horse, whose rider is Christ, and the new Pontiff is his vicar and successor. "And he went forth conquering that he might conquer," — namely so that by fighting with the three horses following, as being hostile, he might conquer them. Secondly, so that through the Apostles and their successors he might gradually conquer and subjugate the whole world to his faith and obedience. For this phrase: "He went forth conquering that he might conquer," signifies that he would gradually progress from the victory of one nation to the conquest and victory of another, and that by a continuous progress and increase of victories. For although in the first age of the Apostles, through them he conquered and converted many, yet he conquered far more in the second and third centuries, namely from Trajan to Constantine; under whom he then conquered the whole world and made it Christian, so that Christ was publicly worshipped everywhere, and the temples of idols were closed by the edict of Constantine. The symbol of this victory is the white horse. Whence in Philostratus in the Heroics, we read that the Gentiles sacrificed a white colt of a horse to the Sun to obtain victory. I say secondly: The rider of this horse is Christ, as is evident from chapter XIX, verse 11, concerning whom Origen beautifully speaks, homily 2 in the Canticles, to that passage, "I have likened thee to the horsemen of Pharao's chariots": The horse, he says, and the horsemanship of God and Christ, are the Apostles and holy souls. The rider is the Word of God, whose bridle they receive, so that he may bend them whithersoever he will, so that they are led and brought back to all good not from themselves, but from the will of the rider, and are restrained from evil. This sitting, says Thomas the Englishman, is accomplished by the middle saddle, which is the justice of life, concerning which it is said in Psalm LXXXVIII: "Justice and judgment are the preparation of thy seat." The two spurs of this rider are: fear, by which evil is avoided; and love, by which good is perfected; the bridle is the virtue of prudence and discretion. I say thirdly: The bow of Christ is Sacred Scripture, or the word of God, from which proceed as many arrows as there are words and sentences. By this bow Christ slays others, namely the demon, death, sin, hell; He wounds others unto life. Or rather, this bow is Evangelical preaching, grace and calling, by which Christ prostrates enemies, and brings men wounded by salutary arrows to God and salvation. This is what Isaiah says in chapter XLIX, verse 2: "The Lord hath called me from the womb, and hath made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand he hath protected me, and hath made me as a chosen arrow, in his quiver he hath hidden me." See the remarks there. I say fourthly: This horse is white, to signify that this battle will be joyful and festive, as it is to have a certain victory as its end. Whence also Christ is marked with a crown, because he is king and victor. Victor, I say, not as a military commander among men, who subdues an enemy while he conquers him; but one who by subduing him makes him from an enemy a friend, from impious pious, indeed makes him his soldier, whom he uses as it were as a new arrow to strike and subdue others. For Christ from enemies prostrated and struck down by him, forges for himself new arrows, by which he pierces and subdues others and yet others with his love. For this is what this arrow does, namely the charity and love of Christ, so that those pierced by it are not content with their own salvation alone, but thirst for the salvation of all others, and eagerly procure it. Wherefore they strike and wound others with the same arrow by which they themselves are transfixed. Hence by Isaiah this is called a "chosen arrow." And the Psalmist says: "The arrows," he says, "of the mighty are sharp," Psalm CXIX; where St. Augustine says: "The arrows, he says, of the mighty are sharp" "are the words of God. Behold they are cast and pierce hearts, so that love is aroused, not destruction brought about. He shoots the heart of the lover so that he may help the beloved, he shoots so that he may make a lover"; and: "Thy arrows are sharp (therefore peoples shall fall under thee) in the hearts of the enemies of the King," Psalm XLIV, 6. Morally, this is beautifully adapted by St. Augustine to St. Vincent Ferrer, Doctor and Apostolic Preacher of the Order of St. Dominic, the author of his Life in chapter 1, which is found in Surius, April 5. "For," says the author, "Vincent conquered the errors of the world with unconquerable strength of spirit and miraculous wisdom; loves, with complete chastity of mind and body; terrors, with incredible fortitude and patience of spirit. He is compared to a horse, because by preaching he runs through the whole world, and to a white one, on account of the brightness, modesty and splendor of doctrine and the flashing of miracles. Upon this white horse Christ sat. For, as St. Augustine says, the grace of Christ is in the soul of a holy man, as a rider on a horse. This rider has a bow, which is the scripture of the Old and New Testament, by which the perfidy of the Jews is pierced, and the perversity of heretics, while Christian religion is defended. To this white horse was given a threefold crown: one from the stars, and this on account of the multitude of wonderful virtues; another from gold, on account of great learning and the clarity of doctrine, concerning which Ecclesiasticus XLV: A golden crown upon his head; a third from a precious stone, concerning which Psalm XX: Thou hast set upon his head a crown of precious stone. This horse went forth conquering the pleasures of the flesh, the delights of the world and the cunning of the demon. He went forth into the field of worldly tribulations, so that he might conquer the flesh by chastity, the world by poverty, the demon by humility, vices by perfect charity." Which things the author then narrates and confirms at length through examples in four books.
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3 and 4. "And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast" (having the form of a calf, cap. IV, vers. 7, and this fittingly: for it shows the victims of Martyrs, whose symbol and great part formerly was a calf: thus Andrew of Caesarea) "saying: Come, and see: and there went out another horse that was red." Note: The three following horses, namely the red, black and pale, are opposed to the first, as being white and fortunate, whose rider is Christ. For that the three others are not Christ's is evident, because the second, namely the red, disturbs the peace of the earth, the third black has a fraudulent balance, the fourth has death as its rider, and hell as its companion, which ones bring that slaughter. Thus teach Tyconius, Primasius, Bede, Haymo, Lyra, Thomas, Joachim, Aureolus, Pannonius, Ribera, Viegas, Pererius, although Ambrose, Aretas, Arias and Alcazar deny it, who hold that all these four horses have the same rider, namely Christ, and pertain to his salvation, redemption and victory. But the former opinion, as it is more common, so it is far more probable. Thus the three colors of these three horses, in order to oppose the two latter to the first, imitated Tamerlane, the most savage Emperor of the Scythians. For when he besieged cities, on the first day he used a white tent, on the second a red one, on the third a black one, so that by this terror he might compel the enemy to surrender. For by this thing he signified that, if they surrendered on the first day, they would have him merciful; if they persisted in resistance even to the second, they would pay the penalty with their blood; if they also endured even to the third, finally he himself would lay waste everything with smoke and fire. Now besides the expositions which I have brought forward vers. 1, and especially that of Alcazar, who hold that the rider of this horse is the boldness of the first Christians in promulgating their faith, who removed earthly peace from the earth, and substituted true peace of God (such as is the Gospel peace); whence Christ said of them: "I came not to send peace, but a sword; for I came to separate a man," etc. Matt. X, 34. The great sword of this horseman is the preaching of the Gospel, which brought great separation, discords and dissensions of the faithful from the unfaithful upon the world. But omitting this opinion, of which I spoke vers. 1, First, Haymo: The red horse, he says, is the body of the devil, namely the multitude of all the reprobate, which is opposed to the white horse of the elect. This is red, because stained with the slaughter of souls. Its rider is the devil, whose sword is the wicked suggestion of desires. Secondly, more particularly and more aptly Andreas of Caesarea, Ribera and others whom I cited in the first seal of the white horse, explain thus: Just as by the first white horse, namely the first, the Apostolic state of the Church is signified, so by the red horse is signified the second, succeeding immediately after the first, the state of Martyrs. The red horse therefore signifies the pagan people, namely Gentiles and infidels, persecutors of the Church, and thus the very ten bloody persecutions of Christians, which were from Nero to Constantine over a period of 250 years. For the first persecution was made by Nero, who killed the heads of the Church, Peter and Paul. The second by Domitian, who cast John into a vat of boiling oil, but sent him forth unharmed to Patmos. The third under Trajan, who cast St. Ignatius to the lions in the amphitheater at Rome. The fourth under Antoninus, who both elsewhere, as Eusebius writes in book V of his History, chapter 1, and at Rome at the arch of St. Vitus killed many thousands of Christians, whose bodies St. Praxedes and St. Pudentiana buried in their own houses, which were afterwards converted into temples, as we see and read inscribed in those very places. Wherefore then suffered St. Polycarp, Gervasius and Protasius, Felicity with her seven sons, Justin who had written an Apology for Christians to the Emperor, and others, until Antoninus in the Marcomanni war, in the extreme thirst of his army, obtained rain through the prayers of the Christian legion, which was therefore called the Thundering Legion, and ceased the persecution. The fifth was under Septimius Severus, who was truly severe and cruel: under him suffered Victor the Pontiff, Leonides, father of Origen, and Origen himself as a boy desired martyrdom, as Eusebius testifies, book VI, chapters II and III, and others: whence then Tertullian wrote an Apology for Christians. The sixth was under Julius Maximinus, whose arrogance matched the vastness of his body, so that he thought himself immortal and could not be killed; and his cruelty was such that some called him a Cyclops, others Busiris, others Sciron, others Phalaris, others Typhon, others Gigas: under him suffered Pontianus and Anterus the Pontiffs. See Orosius, book VII, chapter IX, and Eusebius, book VI, chapter XXI. The seventh was under Decius, under whom suffered St. Cornelius, Fabian, Babylas, St. Apollonia, St. Agatha. The eighth under Valerian, under whom suffered St. Lawrence, Cyprian and others, until by the just vengeance of God Valerian was captured by Sapor king of the Persians, and forced to offer his back like a footstool to him as he mounted a horse, and there miserably perished. The ninth was under Aurelian, under whom suffered Athenodorus, brother of Gregory Thaumaturgus; Pope Felix, Agapitus a boy of fifteen years, and others. The tenth, and that the most savage, was under Diocletian and Maximian, under whom suffered St. Sebastian, St. Maurice with his Theban legion, SS. Cosmas and Damian, St. Agnes, St. Eulalia, St. Vincent and very many others: so that in one month seventeen thousand Christians were slain. Whence Eusebius, book VIII. The rider of this horse is Trajan, Antoninus, Decius, Diocletian, and other Roman Emperors and tyrants. For these bear the sword, because they drew it against Christians. The red color suits them, which designates war, battles, slaughter: whence that passage of Isaiah LXIII, 1: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra?" and verse 2: "Why then is thy apparel red, and thy garments like theirs that tread in the winepress?" For the red color, fiery and inflamed, denotes wrath, zeal and slaughter: hence Alciatus, in Emblem 117: "But red raiment adorns armed horsemen." and Alexander ab Alexandro, book I of Genial., chapter XX, and Tiraquellus there, relate from Xenophon, Aelian, Plutarch and Valerius, that Persians and Lacedaemonians going to war were accustomed to be clothed in red garments. "And it was given," — that is, it was permitted by God. For nothing evil can they do in this world, unless given power and permission by God: just as in a well-ordered republic there cannot be usurers and pimps, unless they have received power from the prince.
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5. "And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature" (which was a man, as is evident from chapter IV, verse 7) "saying: Come, and see. And behold a black horse." First, Haymo understands by this horse again a multitude of the reprobate. For these were compared in the second seal to a red horse, on account of cruelty; but here, he says, they are compared to a black horse, on account of the foulness of vices. Yet these seals plainly signify other and different things and persecutions. Second, Alcazar holds that the rider of this black horse, by prosopopoeia, is the voluntary poverty and want of Christians of the primitive Church: whence he holds a balance in his hand, by which he weighs not wheat, but the necessity of each, and the coins which were to be distributed to individuals, so that according to the just measure of necessity they might be distributed, namely so that for daily labour each might receive a denarius at a bilibris, in Greek a choenix, that is a measure of wheat, which would suffice for purchasing daily food: for the denarius signifies the price which was paid daily to a labourer for his daily labour. This is what the Apostle teaches the faithful in I Timothy VI, 8: "Having food, and wherewith to be covered, with these let us be content." Furthermore, says Alcazar, "wine and oil," because in the Greek they have the article, are to be understood mystically, as if to say "Wine and oil do not harm," that is, we Christians beseech that in such great adversities and hardships we be not deprived of oil, that is of the light and knowledge of happiness, which is included in the holy poverty which we choose, nor let the unction of the Holy Spirit be absent, which may refresh and console us. Again, that wine of spiritual joy may be given to us, supported by which we may count the defect of temporal things as nothing. For, as Seneca says, book I, epistle 2: "Poverty is an honourable thing if it be cheerful. But if it be cheerful, it is not poverty." In the opening therefore of this third seal Christ teaches that the abundance of things which the Prophets foretold the Messiah would bring is not temporal, but spiritual, and therefore is not harmed but increased by voluntary poverty. Finally, it is signified here that a great dearth of provisions would befall Christians relegated to Patmos, namely so great that a bilibris, that is 24 ounces of wheat, would be bought for a denarius. Yet these are mystical, not literal: and they suppose this horse, equally as the first, to be Christ's, the contrary of which I have shown above from the common opinion of Interpreters. Third, Aureolus and Lyranus understand by this black horse Titus, who laid waste Jerusalem. He holds the balance of divine justice and vengeance, which he executes against the Jews, the slayers of Christ. Again the balance, they say, signifies and contains five Jews, on account of the five books of Moses, which it as it were represents: therefore a bilibris of wheat are ten noble Jews, who were sold by the Romans for one denarius; but three bilibres of barley are thirty of the ignoble and common Jews, who were likewise sold for one denarius. "Wine and oil do not harm," as if to say: You, O Titus, do not touch, do not afflict the faithful who have believed in Christ, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles, and who on account of charity are signified by wine, on account of mercy by oil. And so it came to pass. For Christians from Jerusalem, as the siege was imminent, at the warning of God migrated to Pella, as Eusebius relates in book III of his History, chapter V. Yet this laying waste of Jerusalem had already passed 25 years before, when John saw and wrote these things, and was most well-known and most common throughout the whole world: why therefore would he himself here signify it so obscurely, by the enigmas of bilibris, wheat, barley and denarius? Fourth, therefore, Thomas Anglicus, Joachim, Gagneius, Pererius and Ribera more aptly understand by the black horse heretics, who dwell in the black darkness of errors, and are enemies of truth. Whence they are opposed directly to the first horse, white, on which Christ sits. For the devil, seeing that he was not making progress against the Church through Gentile emperors and tyrants, but rather that the Church was growing and becoming more illustrious through persecutions, stirred up heretics, who vexed the Church more and did it greater harm: and especially soon in the time of Constantine the Great, who put an end to persecutions and gave peace to the Church, he raised up Arius and the Arians. Wherefore many understand by this horse the Vandals and Goths, who were Arians, and terribly laid waste the Church for more than three hundred years, as is evident from Victor of Utica in his work on the Vandals, Procopius, Baronius and others. These therefore are the black horse. For this color denotes and befits those who love darkness, flee the light, calumniate, and are wicked; such indeed are heretics, whose faith, conscience and morals are black. Thus Pythagoras warned: "Let us not taste of those whose tail is black;" by which he forbade associating with those who were black in the wickedness of their morals. And Horace: "This man is black, you, Roman, beware of him." Thus idolaters in Scripture are called Ethiopians, as in Amos IX, 7: "Are you not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel, saith the Lord?" Where St. Jerome says: "In all," he says, "the Scriptures, Ethiopians are called those who are utterly sunk in vices," such as are idolaters and heretics. Hence in Lamentations IV, 8, the Nazarites, whiter than snow when they purely worshipped God, afterwards turned to vices and idols, hear: "Their face is become blacker than coal." Hence also Saul, malicious and a calumniator and persecutor of David, is called Chus, that is, Ethiopian, in the title of Psalm VII. Hear also Cicero in his oration for Caecinna: "Sextus Clodius, whose name is Phormio, is neither less black nor less bold than that Phormio of Terence," as if to say, Sextus Clodius is equally wicked and bold as the Phormio of Terence. It is a common proverb: "I know not whether you are white or black." The rider of this horse is the devil, or the heresiarch himself, for example Arius. He holds a balance, that is, Holy Scripture, by which he wishes to weigh and examine all things; not in the mind, but in the hand, as if it were movable and flexible at will, so that he may twist and bend it to his errors as he pleases. Moreover, with Pererius, by the balance can be understood simulated and ostentatious justice, or simulated love of truth and rectitude. Thus Arius weighed the Son with the Father in the balance, teaching that it was unjust for the Son to be equal to the Father in duration, dignity and divinity. John is shown a third animal, namely a man, whose face it bears, which is an indication of reason and equity: because heretics feign the appearance of man and humanity, while they are ravenous wolves. Second, because almost all heresies have been opposed to the Son of Man, that is, to Christ, and have taken from him either his divinity, or his humanity, namely his body, or his mind, or his human will. Third, because man signifies the doctors and preachers who detect and refute heresies.
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6. "Two pounds of wheat for a penny, and three pounds of barley for a penny: and see thou hurt not the wine and the oil," — namely, thou, O horseman, and the black horse. For this the third animal, or the third Cherub having the appearance of a man, commands on behalf of God. For "two pounds," in Greek it is choenix, which is a measure of dry things containing only as much wheat as suffices for one day for one man for food. Whence the proverb: "Do not sit upon a choenix," that is, do not lean upon, do not trust in daily sustenance. Moreover, although choenices were various, and of various quantity and measure, yet the Attic and common choenix, as Alciatus teaches in his book On Weights and Measures, from Pollux and Suida, contained 27 ounces, that is two pounds, and moreover a fourth part of a pound. Whence our Interpreter translated "two pounds," which name is more known to the Latins than the Greek choenix; for a pound contains 12 ounces: two pounds therefore contains 24 ounces. For more on the choenix see Alcazar, note 7, where among other things he cites the words of Galen saying: "The choenix contains three cotyles;" and three cotyles, he himself says, hold exactly 25 ounces of water, but of common grain 24 ounces. I say common: for the best grain is of the same weight as water, as Prado teaches, and from him Alcazar. A penny is the price of a day's labor: for the daily wage of workers was a penny. Two pounds therefore signifies Holy Scripture (for this is the balance, as I said a little before), which is as it were twofold, namely of the New and Old Testament. This is the choenix, because it suffices the soul with nourishment for daily sustenance. A penny signifies the merit of sound faith, and of holy daily life. Wheat is the Gospel, barley is the harsh old law. Fittingly therefore wheat of one choenix for a penny, but three choenices of barley are valued at the same penny: because the price of wheat to barley is usually threefold; and such is the doctrine of the New Testament with respect to the Old, namely threefold better and more perfect, and thrice better and more nourishing to the soul. Wine and oil are the medicine of our Samaritan, Christ the Lord, as appears in Luke X, 34, namely they are the Holy Sacraments. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Do not fear this horse and black horseman, O my faithful; for although Arians and Vandals rage against you equally, indeed more, than Decius and Diocletian, yet I will be with you, I will nourish you, feed you and strengthen you. Even if they strive with all their might to snatch from you the doctrine and food of the soul, yet they will not be able to take away the supply of sacred doctrine, truth and faith, which suffices you daily for the sustenance and strength of the spirit: for I will procure it for you in the midst of heretics and enemies, if you constantly persist daily in the study and practice of Christian life, as you ought: thus Ribera. Moreover the words "two pounds" and "penny" signify that there will be great dearness of spiritual provisions, that is of the word of God, under the Arians, Goths and other heretics. For wheat is dear, when two of its pounds are sold for a penny, that is for ten asses, that is for ten Italian bajocchi, namely for one Julius, or a Spanish real, which among the Belgians is worth five stuivers; for this is the penny, which contains a drachm of silver, and is a fourth part of a stater, or shekel: for a shekel contains four drachms of silver, and is worth four reals, that is one Brabantine florin. He notes therefore the wonderful propagation and cruelty of Arianism against the Orthodox, by which through the Emperor Constantine, Ursacius, Valens and other Arians very many Bishops were deceived, or made Arians: so much so that in the general Council of Rimini, as also in others, the condemnation of the homoousios and the Nicene faith was proclaimed, and the whole world groaning marveled that it had become Arian, as St. Jerome says, so that the defense of the homoousios and true faith was reduced to almost one man, St. Athanasius; yet then Christ did not abandon his faithful, but through St. Athanasius and other priests and the Orthodox supplied to the faithful the necessary nourishment of the word of God, of the homoousios, and of true faith, and of the Holy Sacraments, though sparingly, and often secretly (as happens in places where heretics rule, as in England, Scotland, Holland), and only to necessity, not to abundance. Otherwise Pererius: Wheat, he says, are Prelates and holy men; barley is the faithful people. All these, if they persevere in faith, will be rewarded with the same penny of daily labor, namely eternal life, as we read in the parable of the laborers, Matt. XX, Christ having paid the same penny to each. Otherwise also Viegas, section 10: Wheat, he says, are the more distinguished Christians; barley are the more sluggish. These are seduced by heretics for one penny, that is for a brief and vile pleasure of this life, or for the license of morals, which heresy and heretics bring. But "see thou hurt not the wine and the oil," as if to say, Those eminent in charity, whom wine designates, and in mercy, whom oil designates, O heretic, thou wilt not be able to seduce.
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7 and 8. "And when he had opened the fourth seal, etc., And behold a pale horse." — The Greek χλωρός signifies the green color of herbs, and from this the squalor and pallor of the same herbs withering and drying up. Wherefore Chloris is placed by Ovid as the goddess of flowers: who, when she was a celebrated nymph and married to Zephyrus, received as a dowry from her husband, as it were, the power over all flowers: whence she herself says in Ovid, book V of the Fasti: "I was Chloris, who am called Flora: the Greek letter of our name has been corrupted into Latin sound." Hence χλωρὸν δέος is called a pale fear, because it makes men pale; and Constantius, the father of Constantine the Great, was surnamed Chlorus, on account of his pallor, as Zonaras says in his account of Diocletian. This sickly color suits this horse, inasmuch as Death itself sits upon it. Now first, Lyran and Aureolus understand by this pale horse the persecution of Domitian; Andreas of Caesarea, that of Diocletian; Ribera, that of Trajan, which according to Eusebius was most severe and killed many. Whence it is compared to a pale horse: for pallor is the mark of the dying. But all these persecutions are designated by the second horse, namely the red one, as I showed a little before. Secondly, Alcazar understands by this death the death both of Martyrs and of other faithful, namely of Jews converted to Christ. For Death, he says, is here introduced by prosopopoeia, as it were slaying Jews believing in Christ. Hell follows upon it: for those whom it slays, it soon devours, and shuts up in its subterranean caverns, namely the body in the sepulcher, the soul in limbo. For this was the common order of nature before Christ, and before Christ's grace, by which he opened heaven and brought his own there. By this seal therefore something new and unheard of appeared, namely Death as the minister of Christ sitting upon a horse, coming to the perfect salvation of Jews, who received Christ himself. By which is signified the savagery and slaughter of death wrought upon the servants of Christ, was not true death and destruction, and a way to the underworld, as the Gentiles thought; but was a way to their absolute happiness. Wherefore the first Christians did not fear death, but desired and sought it: for they knew from Paul that for the body to die and be buried in the faithful is the same as to be sown, so that it may be gloriously reborn and rise again in the resurrection. I Cor. XV, 42. Moreover, four kinds of death are named here, he says, by which the first Christians died. The first is the sword, which signifies the chastisement of the flesh and the restraint of affections, which Christ's Gospel teaches and commands. The second is famine, which signifies zeal for divine glory and emulation of the salvation of neighbors, concerning which Christ says Matt. V, 6: "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice." The third is death, by which God punished Christians who sinned severely, as he punished Ananias and Sapphira Acts V; and Paul I Cor. V, 5, says he delivered the fornicator to Satan for the destruction of the flesh; and I Corinth. XI, 30, he writes that many died because they approached the Eucharist unworthily. The fourth are beasts, by which martyrdom is signified: for many were indeed exposed to beasts. Alcazar then adds: I judge it simpler and more fitting, however, that by "sword, famine and death" are designated wars, famine and pestilence (for "death," or mortality, often signifies pestilence), which were sent by God not only upon the rebellious Jews, but also upon those who had received Christ; but the former went through these to hell, the latter to heaven and happiness. And in this way it was made clear how great is God's wisdom, by which he vivifies men by mortifying them, and saves by destroying, as is excellently depicted in Job cap. XXXIX and XL. But that this horse is not friendly and auspicious, but hostile and inauspicious, nor has Christ as its rider, or a minister of Christ, but an adversary and rival of Christ, I have taught above from the common opinion of the Interpreters. Add that this explanation is too narrow, because it restricts this seal, as also the preceding ones, to Jews alone; nor does it cohere sufficiently, because by death it understands both the death inflicted on Martyrs on account of the confession of faith, and on other Christians on account of sins, either their own or of the commonwealth inflicted by God. Finally, it mixes many things which are more tropological than literal. Thirdly, Thomas Anglicus, Dionysius, Gagneius, Richardus, Viegas and many others understand by this black horse hypocrites and wicked faithful, because their evil life and crimes are opposed to the Gospel, and by their perverse example they do no small harm to the Church (so that these three horses signify three enemies of the white horse, that is of the Church and Christ, namely the red signifies the world, the black the demon, the pale the flesh). These pale ones are so, because hypocrites by fastings and mortification of the flesh, or certainly by its paint and ostentation, make their faces pale, says Richardus and Hugo; or because they feign themselves to shine in charity and wisdom and by this very simulation they grow pale, says Dionysius; or because by their lust they have lost the fiery charity, and thus have grown pale. To this horse and horseman it is permitted to kill men "by the sword" of impious tongue, inciting others to sins; and "by famine," that is by want of the word of God; and "by death," that is by pestilential morals; and "by the beasts of the earth," that is by brutal and irrational vices. This sense is more general and more moral than literal: nor does it follow the preceding one in sufficiently fitting order, namely the third black horse. For in that time, namely in the time of heresies, indeed even in the time of persecutions by the Gentiles, and thus in any age there have been wicked and hypocrites in the Church. Fourth, therefore, and most excellently, Joachim, Seraphinus of Firmo, Pannonius and Pererius understand by this pale horse the sect of Mahomet, the Turks and Saracens, the most hostile and most celebrated enemies of Christians for now a thousand years. For after the Goths, Arians and other ancient heretics, they soon gravely infested the Church and continually infest it: and this is as it were the fourth age of the Church. This sect is rightly compared to a horse, because it is plainly irrational, brutal and carnal. Whence he shows it by the fourth animal, namely the eagle, which is sublime and celestial. This horse is pale, because it corresponds to its rider: for its rider is pale death. Again, paleness signifies the Saracens' envy, malice and hatred toward Christians (whence also many Turks aptly have a pale countenance), and their wickedness and malice, moreover their lust: in this indeed Mahomet excelled among his people, and permitted it in his law, indeed promised it: whence also he introduced polygamy. For lust exhausts spirit and blood, and thus makes men pale and livid. Finally, paleness marks their avarice, as we see the Turks to be most desirous of gold, and therefore among them laws are venal for gold. For the avaricious grow pale from cares and fears of gathering and preserving wealth. Wherefore Diogenes cleverly, when asked why gold grows pale, said: "Because it has many people coveting and plotting against it;" Laertius testifies, Book VI. The rider of this horse is death, that is, Mahomet, who, the sect of Arius failing, soon arose reigning under the Emperor Heraclius, in the year of Christ 630, and propagated his sect by the sword, namely by killing all who resisted him. For this was Mahomet's symbol, which the Saracens cry out daily in their Mosques or temples even to hoarseness: "There is no God but one, and Mahomet is his Apostle." Whoever would not receive and profess this was killed by him; but whoever received it was saved, and therefore they were called Musulmans, that is, saved and delivered from death (from the root שלם schalam, which in Hebrew and Arabic means to be safe, unharmed, prosperous): but these were killed by him in a worse, namely spiritual, death. Hell follows him, that is, Antichrist. For he himself is the precursor of Antichrist, who will be an abyss of vices, and as it were hell; and he prepares the way for him: for the sect of Mahomet is thought to last until Antichrist, says Firmanus; and so John Annius and others thought Mahomet himself to be Antichrist. Again, all hell and all demons seem to have concurred to help Mahomet and to propagate his sect. Third, properly hell follows him, because he himself thrust more into hell than the Goths and other heretics. For his sect by very many victories not only occupied Trebizond and Constantinople, the two empires of the East, but also the greater part of the world, and occupies more each day; so that recently greater Hungary and Transylvania were subdued, and now it threatens Germany, Italy and Poland, and this through the dissensions of Christian princes: for by these it grows; and Christians as if blinded do not see this, or do not care. Whence it is said here that he raged through four parts of the earth: to him therefore was given to kill by sword, famine, death and beasts of the earth the inhabitants of the world. For these are the four plagues of God, of which Ezekiel says, chapter XIV, verse 21: "If I shall send my four worst judgments, the sword and famine, and evil beasts, and pestilence (which John here calls death) upon Jerusalem, to kill man and beast out of it." For the Saracens killed many Christians by the sword, others by famine, others by hardships, and thence by consequent plague, others by other kinds of death, others also by throwing them to lions, bears and other beasts. Some add that the kingdom of the Turks is called death and hell, because its forces and soldiers consist of Scythians, especially those dwelling near the Cimmerian Bosphorus and the Euxine Pontus. For there is Mount Cerberion and a town, Cocytus, Phlegethon and Tartarus: wherefore Homer places the seat of hell among the Cimmerians, either on account of perpetual darkness, or on account of frequent mines of metals, or on account of very shady valleys and inaccessible to the winter sun; so that the Gentiles thought the gate of hell to be there. And thus they understand that passage of Isaiah xxviii, 15: "We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we have made a pact," namely with the Cimmerians, that is, with the Assyrians reigning in Pontus and the Bosphorus. To this pertains that of Tibullus: "May it be allowed once to know the Elysian fields, and the boat of Lethe, and the Cimmerian lakes," dark and infernal. To this also they think St. John alludes in cap. xx, vers. 14, when he says: "And hell and death were cast into the pool of fire;" for properly hell cannot be cast into a pool of fire, that is, into hell; but the Cimmerians, Turks and Scythians, who dwell in Pontus as if in hell, are fierce and cruel, and live as infernal men, will be sent there. This allusion is not incongruous, nor inelegant; yet St. John wishes more, as I said a little before. As therefore by the second horse, red, are signified the Gentiles and Pagans, persecutors of the Church; by the third, namely black, the Arians, Goths, Vandals and other heretics: so by the pale horse are signified the Saracens, Turks and Tartars (from whom Gog and Magog will come forth, of which cap. xx, vers. 7). For these, more than the other two, namely more than the Gentiles and Goths, have been and are the most fierce and continuous enemies, for ten centuries, of the first white horse and its rider, namely of Christ and Christians. Thus is signified here a keen, long and continuous struggle and war of the Church, equally as victory, with every kind of enemies and men. First indeed for three hundred years it struggled with the Gentiles and Roman Emperors: these at length it subdued, when Constantine and the following Emperors bent their necks to Christ and the Church. Secondly, it struggled with the Arians, Nestorians, Eutychians and other heretics for the same number, namely three hundred years following; but it either routed or extinguished these as well. Thirdly, it struggled, and still struggles with the Turks and Saracens: these also in their time it will scatter, especially when their monarchy begins to fall and collapse, whose ruins and omens we perceive. After all these, as if before runners and archers, will follow the fiercest enemy Antichrist, who, born from the Jews, will first through the Jews, then through Gog and Magog most grievously afflict Christians; but Christ will soon destroy him at his coming to judgment, when he will crown the Church militant after so many struggles and victories, and lead it triumphant to his heavenly kingdom. Then indeed "the saints of the Most High God shall receive the kingdom, and shall possess the kingdom for ever and ever," says Daniel, cap. vii, vers. 18. This is the matter, this the argument, this the order and series of the whole Apocalypse. For in the sealed book itself is contained the struggle and victory over Antichrist; but in the seals of the book are contained the preceding persecutions of all the Gentiles already mentioned. In like manner Daniel, cap. vii, vers. 4, compares the four monarchies, of which one after another in order sought the other in war and crushed it, and transferred the empire to itself, to four beasts, namely a lion, a bear, a leopard, and a fourth terrible, wonderful and unusual in form; and Zacharias, cap. i and cap. vi, compares the same to chariots and horses of various colors, equally as John here. From what has been said it follows that Saracenism is the fourth and last general persecution of the Church, and after it the end of the world will soon follow. For to that indeed St. John immediately passes in the sixth seal, vers. 12, and consequently it is approaching in this sixth thousand-year period of his: for the age of the world is six thousand years, as I shall show cap. xx, vers. 5. Hence also the Saracens and Turks cry out and boast as if it were an oracle, that their sect will last a thousand years.
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9. "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain." — Namely, of all the Martyrs, who were slain either by the Roman Emperors, or by the Goths, Arians and other heretics, or by the Turks and Saracens. For since in the first seal, the white horse signified the joyful and prosperous kingdom of Christ in the Church, immediately the three following seals opened three horses contrary to it, namely three general persecutions of the Church succeeding one another in order and lasting until the Antichrist: hence in this fifth seal there is aptly and consequently introduced the common voice of the faithful, who suffered in those persecutions, namely of the Martyrs desiring and praying for the end and termination of the persecutions, that God should namely terminate, forbid and stop them; and that He should crown the sufferers and Martyrs, but punish the persecutors and cast them into Tartarus: to which God responds, and commands that they rest yet a little while, until their fellow servants and their brethren are fulfilled, who are to be killed as they also were, namely by the Antichrist: for his time shall be short, in which the number of the Martyrs and the Elect shall be completed, and therefore soon the end of all things and universal judgment, and the glorious kingdom of Christ and His elect shall come. Therefore Alcazar thinks wrongly and too narrowly that in this seal there is only the voice of Christians slain by the Jews. You will ask, what is this altar? Some from this place thought that holy souls do not see God before the day of judgment, but are in certain places of rest and pleasantness, which are here called an altar; and first, Origen, in book II of the Periarcha, thinks that souls immediately after death are led to certain earthly places, where they are purified, and learn many things; thence they are led to aerial places, where they learn more; finally they are borne above heaven to Christ, and there they attain full knowledge of all things. Second, Victorinus thinks this altar to be certain subterranean places pleasant and similar to the Elysian fields. Third, Tertullian, in the book On the Soul, near the end, thinks this place of souls to be the earthly paradise, in which, he says, they attain Elijah and Enoch. Fourth, St. Bernard, sermon 4 on the Feast of All Saints, thinks that souls are immediately snatched up above heaven by death, and there dwell with Christ. Therefore they are "under the altar," that is, they enjoy the sight of the humanity of Christ, but not of the divinity. Thus also other Fathers, such as Irenaeus, Hilary, Ambrose, Origen, seem to deny that the souls of the Saints enjoy the vision of God before the day of judgment. But these are to be conveniently explained, namely so that they only wish to say that they do not enjoy the complete beatitude of the whole man, because namely they lack the glory of the body: they therefore have incomplete and perfect beatitude, and expect its completion in the resurrection. Wherefore wrongly from these, and from this place of the Apocalypse, the Greeks, Vigilantius and Calvin teach that souls after death rest under the altar, and as it were sleep, and do not see God, and this until the day of judgment. Whence St. Jerome, writing against Vigilantius, rightly calls him "Sleepy," and adds: "You awake sleep, and sleeping you write." For it is clear that these souls do not sleep, because they cry out, and ask for vengeance; and because they shall follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth, chapter xiv, verse 4. This therefore is error and heresy. For it is of faith that souls fully purged from sins, immediately from death see God, and are blessed. Thus the Council of Florence, the Council of Trent, and Benedict II, and Innocent III in the Decretals issued on this matter, define it. And John sufficiently signifies this here, when he says that these souls have white robes, and are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night, in the following chapter, verse 15. For this altar under which John saw them is next to the Holy of Holies, and therefore in Scripture is called the altar of the oracle, that is the Holy of Holies, which represented the empyrean heaven, and God residing in it: whence the veil between the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place, in which was this altar, being now torn by the death of Christ, they clearly see God residing in the Holy of Holies, as will be evident in chapter viii, verse 3. See Bellarmine, book I On the Beatitude of the Saints, chapter iii. The Orthodox therefore, who believe that holy souls now see God, interpret this altar variously. First, Ambrose, Haymo, Richard and Rivera, by the altar understand the care of Christ, or that fruition, by whom, through whom, for whom and over whom the holy Martyrs were immolated, and under whose protection they now live blessedly. Second, Joachim: The altar, he says, is the Roman Church, under whose faith and obedience many Christians in the fifth seal, that is in the fifth age of the Church, then, namely in the time when Joachim flourished, were slain by the Mahometans in Africa. Thirdly, Dionysius says that souls are under the altar, that is, they are in the most secure protection of God, according to that passage in Wisdom III: "The souls of the just are in the hand of God." But I respond that a twofold altar is signified here, namely the altar of holocausts, which was in the courtyard; and the altar of incense, which was in the Holy Place. For in the former, as it were immolated, and under it as it were buried, are the bodies of Martyrs: but in the latter, after death their souls transferred there, as it were rest, exhaling continuous incense of praise to God. I say therefore first that the altar of holocausts is alluded to and noted here. This is evident, because under it lie hidden the souls of those slain, that is, of those immolated at the altar; and because they cry out, demanding vengeance for their immolation. Concerning which note: The bodies of Martyrs, from ancient custom and the ordinance of Pope Felix I, were accustomed to be buried under the altar, as St. Augustine teaches, sermon 11 On the Saints, Anselm, Richard and others; because indeed Martyrs were immolated to God upon this altar like a holocaust, hence they were likewise buried under it. This was done first, so that they might honor the Martyrs in so sacred a place. Thus St. Ambrose, when he discovered the relics of St. Gervasius and Protasius by revelation of St. Paul, placed them under the altar, as he himself asserts in epistle 54 to his sister Marcellina: "Let," he says, "the triumphant victims succeed in the place where Christ is the victim. But he upon the altar, who suffered for all; these under the altar, who are redeemed by his passion. I had therefore predestined this place for myself. For it is fitting that the priest rest there, where he was accustomed to offer. But I yield the right portion to the sacred victims: this place was owed to the Martyrs." Secondly, so that the bodies and tombs of Martyrs might be a continual incentive to devotion and virtue and fortitude for those praying at the altar, which they might imitate. Thirdly, so that the Martyrs might offer their prayers for them before God and assist them. Hence the altar was called the Tomb of the Martyr, the Memorial of the Martyr, "Martyrium," or "Confession." For Martyrium in Greek is the same as Confession in Latin, namely testimony, as John here says, which the Martyr bore to the faith, and sealed with his death and blood. For "Martyr" is the same as "confessor," or witness of the faith. Hence in these their tombs and altars, when later, namely under Constantine, the Church obtained peace, they built a church or temple above them, which they likewise called Martyrium from this. Thus in the Council of Chalcedon the church of St. Euphemia is called Martyrium. Again, from this, the signification of the word being extended, any church was called Martyrium, because they transferred some relics of Martyrs, or certainly of Saints, to it, and placed them there, so that they might approach as much as possible the primitive custom of building altars and temples over the tombs of Martyrs. Hence by Canon Law it is ordained that an altar shall not be consecrated unless relics of a Martyr or some Saint are brought to it. Wherefore the priest approaching the altar prays and says: "We beseech thee, O Lord, by the merits of thy saints, whose relics are here." Thus the church of the Resurrection, erected at Jerusalem in Golgotha, was called Martyrium, says Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 14. See Baronius in the Martyrology, 6 July. And this is the origin and reason why at Rome in the basilicas of St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Lawrence, St. Sebastian, St. Cecilia, St. Susanna, and throughout other temples where they are buried, the altar is indicated to be placed in the basilicas: let us observe the steps and descents into crypts, or into chapels beneath them. For in these crypts the Martyrs were properly buried: hence the crypt itself or the tomb of the Martyr was called Confession, or Martyrium; above which they then built an altar and temple, which was likewise called Martyrium from this, as I said a little before. Moreover, from this we understand that phrase, which we read so often in the Lives of Saints and Martyrologies: "This Saint is buried in the Confession of St. Lawrence, St. Susanna, St. Prisca," etc.; for "in the Confession" is the same as in the crypt or tomb of St. Lawrence, St. Susanna, Prisca, etc.: for not the whole temple was called Confession, but Martyrium, as Baronius carefully noted. The meaning therefore of this place is, as if to say: I saw by a symbolic vision the souls of the Martyrs under the altar, because according to the body they are buried under it, who upon the altar as it were as whole burnt offerings offered their life to God: so that it is a synecdoche, namely that a part is put for the whole, to wit the soul for the man, namely for the Martyr. Thus in Genesis XLVI, seventy souls are said, that is men, who went forth from the thigh of Jacob. The Martyrs therefore cry out, that is, the souls of the Martyrs through their bodies; they cry out, I say, from this place of their Martyrdom and sepulchre for vengeance, just as the blood of Abel cries out the same, Genesis IV, 10. Whence it follows: "White robes were given to them," as it were in consolation and reward. For the matter is here concerning seals, which covered persecutions, and things to be done not in heaven, but on earth. In place therefore of souls he calls the altar: because where the body is, there the soul is reckoned to be. Secondly, because these souls, that is these Martyrs, are as it were victims which are burned in the altar, whose ashes through the grate fell under the altar, so that they appeared as it were to be buried under the altar: thus indeed also the bodies of Martyrs offered as it were in the altar, fallen under it and buried are; whence also in the consecration of the altar the Pontiff says: "Under the altar of God you have received a seat, intercede for us": thus Viegas, Ribera and others, and indeed St. Augustine, sermon 11 On the Saints, whom hear: "Rightly under the altar the souls of the just rest, because upon the altar the body of the Lord is offered. Nor is it undeserved that there the just demand vengeance by blood, where also for sinners the blood of Christ is poured out. Fittingly therefore, and as it were for a certain fellowship, there burial was decreed for Martyrs, where the death of the Lord is celebrated daily. Not undeservedly, I say, by a certain fellowship there a tomb is established for those slain, where the members of the Lord's slaying are placed, so that those whom the cause of one passion had bound with Christ, the reverence of one place also might couple together." I say secondly: Under this symbol, and symbolic vision of souls under the earthly altar of whole burnt offerings, in which the bodies of Martyrs were offered and buried, is signified the altar placed in which the souls of the Martyrs properly rest. For to this indeed after the offering and burial of the body in the altar of whole burnt offerings, their blessed souls were transferred: there indeed they received white robes, and continually praise God: whence that altar of theirs ought rather to be called an altar of incense, than of whole burnt offerings, as will presently be clear. This therefore altar is the more secret and heavenly sanctuary, namely the place of happiness and glory of the Martyrs in heaven. For that this altar is in heaven is evident first, from the fact that in the following chapter, verse 9, of similar souls it is said, that they are before the throne of God, and in the temple, namely heavenly, serve him day and night. I say similar: for both these and those are souls of the slain; and although those are to be in the last times of Antichrist, yet equally as these they will rest for a short time, until the number of their fellow servants is fulfilled. Secondly, the same will be evident more clearly in chapter VIII, verse 3, where an angel offers the incense of these souls, that is their prayers and praises, to God in the altar of incense. Under it therefore as it were they rest in heaven; but so that the veil drawn aside through Christ, which this altar and the Holy Place separated from the Holy of Holies, they see God residing in the Holy of Holies, as I shall show there: whence it is clear that they are already blessed. Thus just as the place of happiness of the Blessed is called the bosom of Abraham, on account of rest: so here it is called an altar, on account of the praise of God, and on account of the victim of martyrdom: for the proper place and sepulchre of Martyrs is the altar, as I have already said. It is also called a bed, because in it as it were on a couch they rest; this is indeed what the Psalmist says, Psalm CXLIX, 5: "The saints shall rejoice in glory, they shall be glad in their beds." Thus the first hemistich, namely: "The saints shall rejoice in glory," being recited by St. Evergisius, Archbishop of Cologne, entering the temple of St. Gereon and the Theban Martyrs, he afterwards heard it joined and responded to by those very ones: "They shall be glad in their beds," as Helinandus relates in the Life of St. Gereon. There therefore the very souls of the Martyrs themselves confess that they rest, and there they await the glory of rest and blessed eternity. Whence at Rome in the cemetery of St. Priscilla, this voice of theirs is read inscribed on the very threshold: "Here we await rest." Note: John alludes here, as also in some other places, to the fourth book of Esdras, chapter IV, verse 35, where the souls from the storehouses cry out to God almost the same thing as here. For Esdras says there: "Did not the souls of the righteous inquire about these things in their storehouses, saying: How long shall I hope thus? and when will come the fruit of the threshing-floor of our reward? And the archangel Jeremiel answered them, and said: When the number of seeds shall be fulfilled in you; because the world has been weighed in a balance, and the times have been measured by measure, and it has not moved, nor stirred, until the aforesaid measure be fulfilled." Although Esdras saw these storehouses of souls not in heaven, but in hell, or limbo, as he himself says in verse 41; for at that time all souls descended there, inasmuch as Christ had not yet come, who opened heaven to them. For this reason he calls them storehouses, that is, cellars, or crypts; and concerning these subterranean places he clearly says in chapter IV, verse 41: "In hell the storehouses of souls are made like unto the womb: for as that, etc., so also these hasten to return what has been committed to them." Wherefore Tertullian, in his work On the Resurrection of the Flesh, chapter XXVII, citing that passage from Isaiah, chapter XXVI: "Go, my people, enter into thy chambers (that is, sepulchres);" to which place Esdras alludes, as also John does here; for "chambers" he reads "open cellars," that is, storehouses, or pantries, "in which," he says, "flesh salted and laid up for use is kept, to be brought forth thence in its time: for thus also shall bodies come forth from the sepulchres, when the Lord shall command." For the third and fourth books of Esdras have their authority, although not canonical of Holy Scripture: whence they are also placed after the canonical books, and by the Church in the office of the Mass and in ecclesiastical matters many things from them are cited and recited; moreover, most of the Fathers not infrequently cite them, and namely St. Ambrose, in his book On the Good of Death, cites this passage concerning souls dwelling in the storehouses. Wherefore grave men place the third and fourth books of Esdras among the canonical books of the third order (which, namely, although they are not canonical, yet approach very near to them), as also the third and fourth books of the Maccabees, and the book of Hermes, which by the ancients is called the book of the Shepherd because in it an angel speaking and teaching in the form of a shepherd is introduced. Unjustly therefore Sixtus Senensis, and a few others, reject this book of Esdras as fabulous, as I have said in Esdras. Just as therefore before Christ the souls were said to be in storehouses, or cells in limbo, awaiting Christ and the blessed resurrection, so after Christ they are said to be under the altar, namely of incense in heaven; because they are the souls of those slain for Christ, hence, just as their body is said to be under the altar of holocausts on earth, so also the soul of the same is said to be under the altar of incense in heaven, awaiting union with the body, that clothed therein they may be elevated upon the altar as it were to perfect glory and consummated blessedness. For the altar of holocausts was in the court, which signified the earth: whence under it the earthly bodies of Martyrs buried are said to be. But the altar of incense was the altar of the oracle, that is, of the Holy of Holies, namely of the empyrean heaven: whence under it the blessed souls are placed, so that by this it may be symbolically signified that they are the souls of Martyrs, and that they await the reward of martyrdom, namely a glorious body, and also the vengeance of their murderers; because they are naked souls, hence as it were to cover their nakedness, they are said to be under the altar, and under it as it were to hide, and to be covered by it, that is, to be hidden from men, until in the resurrection, endowed and clothed with a glorious body, they may openly show themselves and their glory and the laurel of their martyrdom to the whole world. "Of those slain for the word of God" (and therefore of Martyrs), "and for the testimony which they had," — which they defended, namely the truth of faith and the innocence of life: for this is the testimony of martyrs; whence Alcazar: "For the testimony," he says, "that is, for the doctrine which they defended." For often "testimony" is put for doctrine. For "souls of those slain," some read, ψυχάς τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐσφραγισμένων, that is, souls of men sealed; but ours and others read, ἐσφαγμένων, that is, of those slaughtered, slain.
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10. "And they cried out with a loud voice." — "A great cry, a great desire;" for the words of souls are themselves desires: for the less anyone cries out, the less he desires. For if desire were not speech, the Prophet would not say: "Thy ear hath heard the desire of their heart," says St. Gregory, lib. II Moral., cap. IV. "Saying," — from zeal for justice, not vengeance, desiring namely that the kingdom of impiety and sin be destroyed, and that the pious be freed from it, and the impious be punished, and thus the kingdom of God come upon all, says St. Augustine in the place cited. "How long, O Lord (as thou art) holy and true," — that is, just and righteous, whose duty it is therefore to protect the holy and true, that is, the just; but to restrain and punish the impious and unjust, such as those who persecute and kill us thy faithful. "Holy" therefore "and true," is the same as "O Holy and Truthful One": for nominatives are put for vocatives in the Attic manner. Similar is what is sung in the Preparation: "Holy God, Holy Strong One, Holy Immortal One, have mercy on us;" "Holy," that is, "O Holy One." "Dost thou not judge, and dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth?" — Judgment pertains to the knowledge of the cause, vengeance to completing and executing the judged matter, or the sentence pronounced for the innocent against the injurer. You may ask, what judgment, what vengeance do the souls of the Martyrs seek from God? Alcazar first responds that they seek vengeance on the Jews who killed Christ and the persecutors of Christians, and that in this life, namely that God destroy them through Titus, Hadrian, etc. For, he says, they do not pray, nor do they wish to accelerate and anticipate by their prayers the day of final judgment appointed by God, but they seek the vengeance which the blood of Martyrs demanded of the persecutors. But truly this vengeance and this destruction had already been accomplished and passed away for 25 years: why therefore do they desire it as if not yet done, but future? Secondly, others commonly think that they seek vengeance to be pronounced and executed on the persecutors of the faithful on the day of judgment. But I say that these souls primarily seek not so much the punishment and condemnation of those who injure and persecute them, as the liberation of the innocent, namely themselves and their followers, from injury. For this is signified by the Hebrew Danakam, that is, to vindicate, when it is constructed with the preposition מן min, that is, from, out of; and the Greek ἐκδικέω, when it is constructed with the preposition ἐκ, as it is here: for they desire to be vindicated ἐκ τῶν κατοικούντων ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, that is, from those dwelling upon the earth. Thus in I Kings cap. XXIV, vers. 14, David says to Saul: "The Lord judge between me and thee, and the Lord avenge me of thee; but let not my hand be upon thee." "Avenge," that is, "free me from thy so bitter persecution": for he does not imprecate upon Saul death and God's vengeance. For he says: "Let not my hand be upon thee," as if to say, God forbid that I should kill thee, though I have had thee in my hand; for I do not wish and seek thy death, but my liberation and safety from thee. For he himself was most gentle: whence we sing of him, Psalm CXXXI, 1: "Remember, O Lord, David, and all his meekness." Thus in Luke XVIII, 3, the widow says to the judge: "Avenge," that is, "free," "me from my adversary." Thus the judges and avengers of Israel in the book of Judges are called Joshua, Gideon, Samson and others, who freed Israel from the rod of the Philistines and other nations, and brought them into liberty: although they often did this with the slaughter of enemies. Thus we commonly say that a prince avenged Christians from the hand of the Turks into liberty, when he snatched them from Turkish captivity and made them free. Thus says Simon Maccabaeus, lib. I Maccab. cap. XIII, vers. VI: "I will avenge," that is, "I will free my people and the holy things from the yoke and tyranny of Antiochus," "and our sons and wives: because all the nations are gathered together to crush us." The souls of the Martyrs therefore here desire vengeance, that is, their own liberation, and that twofold, namely first, that God restore to them their blood unjustly shed and their bodies unjustly killed, which still remain and are held in this unjust killing and death, and that the souls stripped of these cover and clothe themselves again: whence they receive a response from God, that for their bodies they receive white robes, with which they may cover and clothe themselves, until the number of their fellow servants is completed; for then they are to be clothed fully with a glorious body. Whence St. Gregory, lib. II Moral., cap. IV: "What," he says, "is it for souls to ask for vengeance, but to desire the final day of judgment and the resurrection of the dead bodies?" Secondly, they desire vengeance, that is, the liberation of the Church and the faithful from the tyranny of persecutors, so that God might restrain and stop it, and restore peace and quiet to the Church: to which God likewise responds that He will accomplish this shortly, but it is necessary to wait a little longer, until the number of Martyrs and the elect is completed. Secondarily, however, and consequently, they also desire vengeance properly so called from zeal for justice, as if to say: How long, O just Lord, dost Thou not do justice, that Thou mayest free us and the innocent Church, and punish the persecutors, so that all may praise and celebrate Thy justice toward both? For the blood of Martyrs demands this. For it is the same thing to say that souls demand vengeance as to say that their blood calls for it. He alludes to the fourth book of Esdras XV, 8: "Behold the blood of the innocent and just crieth to me, and the souls of the just cry out perseveringly." Whence St. Augustine, sermon 59 On the Seasons, vol. X, teaches that these souls desire the kingdom of sin to be overthrown. Thirdly, indirectly and as it were from afar they pray that the day of the final judgment be hastened: for on that day this full vengeance is to be done. Not as if they desire God's decree concerning this day, already fixed and established, to be changed and hastened: for this cannot happen; but in that they abstract from this decree and as it were anticipate it. For God, on account of the prayers of the Saints, decreed that the end of the world and the day of judgment should come sooner and be hastened, when otherwise He could have deferred it longer, and in fact would have deferred it longer, unless these prayers of the Saints had been foreseen and accepted by Him. In like manner, on account of the prayers of Daniel and the Prophets, the seventy weeks of the coming of the Messiah are said to have been shortened, Daniel IX, 20, joined with verse 24. These prayers therefore stand antecedently to this decree, not consequently: in the same way the prayers of the Saints stand to God's predestination, namely to the election of this one or that one to salvation and glory. Wherefore St. Augustine, sermon 11 On the Saints, rebukes the sloth of preachers and the faithful, in that it is the cause why the resurrection and the glorious kingdom of the Blessed is deferred. "You see," he says, "that because of us (while he says: Until the number of thy fellow servants be filled up) the vengeance of Martyrs is deferred. For while we delay, their blood remains unavenged. But this happens through our sloth, we who do not live religiously, who do not work piously, as is fitting. For if the justice of our good works should precede to the Lord, already the number of fellow servants, which is awaited, would be completed. Wherefore it behooves us, dearest brethren, because we venerate the firstfruits of Martyrs on this festival day, to think diligently of the eternal festival of Martyrs which is in the heavens, and following their footsteps, insofar as we are able, to take care that we ourselves become partakers of that heavenly festival," so that we may complete the number of citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, and thus hasten the glorious kingdom of Christ and the Saints. Morally St. Bernard, sermon 3 on the Feast of All Saints: "Whence comes this to thee, O wretched flesh, O foul and fetid, whence comes this? Holy souls whom God Himself has marked with His own image, desire thee; whom He has redeemed with His own blood, await thee; and without thee their joy cannot be filled, their glory perfected, their blessedness consummated. So vigorously does this natural desire flourish in them, that not yet does their whole affection freely proceed toward God, but is contracted in a certain way and makes a wrinkle, while they are inclined by desire for thee. Without spot therefore are they," as John says, chapter XIV, verse 5, "but not without a wrinkle."
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11. "And there were given to them every one white stoles," — that is, complete purity, rest and certain hope of blessedness, says Andrew of Caesarea and St. Bernard, in the place cited above. Truly I say: a white stole is the glory and blessedness of the soul, which the Martyrs received, namely the light of glory, the vision and enjoyment of God, and consequently the humanity of Christ, the Blessed Virgin, the holy Angels, and all the Blessed. For this glory, like a white stole, clothes and adorns the soul stripped and despoiled of the body. It is white, because it is bright and splendid, and because it is a symbol of the innocence and purity of the Martyrs, to which it was given as a reward. Hence also the face of Christ in the transfiguration shone as the sun, and his garments became white as snow, that is, gleaming and resplendent with wondrous light. This therefore is the white stole which Christ promised to him that overcometh in cap. III, vers. 5, saying: "He that overcometh shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life," See the things said there. Whence it is clear that these souls see God and are blessed: for this blessedness was promised to him that overcometh under the name of a stole, or white garment. For this reason also he says that white stoles were given to the Martyrs "every one." For each one received only one, namely the glory of the soul: for in the resurrection each shall receive two stoles: for the glory of the body shall be added to them. Moreover that white stoles are a symbol of glory and happiness is evident from the following cap., vers. 13 and 14, where to those dwelling before the throne of God palms and stoles are given. Thus St. Gregory in Psal. IV Penitent., vers. 10, and St. Anselm, Richard, Haymo, Bede here, and St. Augustine, serm. 11 On the Saints. For a stole was to the ancients the garment of an honorable and noble woman, let down to the very feet. Whence Horace, lib. I Serm., satyr. 2: "A stole let down to the ankles, and a pall wrapped around." And Martial: "Whoever, a despiser of stole or purple, has injured those whom he ought to revere, with impious verse." Hence a woman wearing a stole was called wealthy and of the first rank: on the contrary a woman wearing a toga was called plebeian and of the second class, as may be seen in Horace, in the place cited. For this reason a stole, especially a white and splendid one, is in Scripture a symbol of glory, immortality and happiness. Hence Pharao clothed Joseph in a stole of fine linen, Genesis XLI, 42; and I Paralipomenon cap. XV, vers. 27: "David was clothed in a stole of fine linen." Judith cap. XVI, vers. 10, after the victory "received a new stole." Mordecai was clothed in a stole and placed upon a horse by Haman at the king's command, who wished to honor him, Esther cap. VI, vers. 11. Of wisdom it is said Ecclesiasticus VI, 30: "Her chains shall be to thee a stole of glory;" and vers. 32: "Thou shalt put her on as a stole of glory." And cap. XLV, vers. 12, it says that Aaron by God's command put on a holy stole. And cap. L, vers. 11, it says that Simon the high priest received a stole of glory. Isaiah cap. LXIII, 1, of Christ the victor it is said: "This one is beautiful in his stole." I Maccabees VI, 15, Antiochus gave to Philip his intimate friend his stole and ring. Ibid. cap. X, vers. 21: "Jonathan clothed himself in a holy stole." Mark XII, 38: "Beware, says Christ, of the Scribes, who wish to walk in stoles;" and cap. XVI, vers. 5, women at the sepulcher of Christ saw an angel covered with a white stole. You will say: Burning hope which is deferred afflicts the soul: how therefore are these souls of Martyrs, ardently hoping and asking for the vengeance already mentioned, blessed? I answer: This hope is ordered, it is quiet and composed in the Blessed: for they acquiesce in the will of God; for they do not hope, nor do they wish that this vengeance be done immediately, but that what God has constituted and ordained be done in its time: they signify therefore only an immense desire for that, but resigned to God's will. Morally Tertullian, lib. On the Dress of Women, at the end, exhorts them from this place to adorn themselves with stoles, not of purple, fine linen, or gold, but of innocence, holiness and fortitude: "The times, he says, of Christians always, and now especially, are pierced through not with gold, but with iron: the stoles of martyrdoms are prepared, borne up by angels as bearers. Come forth now adorned with the ornaments of the Apostles, taking from simplicity whiteness, from modesty redness, painted with eyes of shame, and with the taciturnity of spirit, bringing into your ears the word of God, binding about your necks the yoke of Christ. Subject your head to husbands, and you shall be sufficiently adorned. Occupy your hands with wool, fix your feet at home, and they shall please more than in gold. Clothe yourselves in the silk of probity, the fine linen of holiness, the purple of modesty. Thus painted you shall have God as a lover." "And it was said to them that they should rest yet a little while, until their fellow servants should be filled up, that were to be killed as they also were." — Alcazar explains, "that they should rest," namely from the vision, not of God, but of vengeance upon enemies, namely upon the Jews, which they demand, as if to say: God immediately clothed the souls of the Martyrs with a robe of glory, but as to the petition for their vengeance, He commanded them here to rest a little while, signifying that vengeance to be deferred, until the number of Martyrs to be killed by them should be completed, which being completed He would punish and destroy them through Titus and the Romans. But truly, I have already said many times that these things are to be referred to all Martyrs, and to the end of the world. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Just as your bodies, O holy souls, and purpled with your blood, rest in their sepulchres (which are therefore called in Greek cemeteries, that is, sleeping-places) under the altar of burnt offerings, awaiting the glory of resurrection, so also do you likewise rest under the altar of incense in heaven, in your white robes, that is in your light of glory and blessedness, and wait a little while for the same resurrection: for shortly I will restore to you the body, which you here delivered to death for me, glorious, and at the same time I will avenge and punish your persecutors and murderers, condemning and driving them into tartarus; shortly, I say, namely after the number of your companions, namely of Martyrs, shall be completed, which will happen very soon through Antichrist. St. Augustine fittingly says in sermon 11. On the Saints: "In such manner," he says, "does almighty God speak to the Saints, as any father of a household having many sons, and to each returning from the field, and asking that he give them food, answers: Your refreshment is indeed prepared; but wait for your brothers, so that, when you are placed together in one place, you may all eat together in common." And St. Gregory, II Moral., IV: "To answer them (the souls) is, that they ought to wait for the gathering of their brothers, to infuse into their minds a willing expectation of delays, so that, while they desire the resurrection of the flesh, they may also rejoice in the increase of their brothers to be gathered."
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12. "And I saw when he had opened the sixth seal: and behold there was a great earthquake, etc." — First, Aretas refers these things to the prodigies wrought at the death of Christ; but these had long since passed, not were to come. Secondly, Ambrose and Rupert refer these things to the rejection and destruction of the Jews by Titus; just as the things which follow in chapter VII, they refer to the most joyful calling of the Gentiles. See Pererius applying individual points on page 462. To this Alcazar adds, who thinks that by this sixth seal is signified the dreadful threats by which God wished to forewarn the Jews before their destruction, and before the seven plagues of punishment, which are contained in the seventh seal: moreover these threats are compared with the prodigies which will threaten the approaching day of the final judgment, because these were the type of those: whence also Christ, Matthew XXIV, compares the destruction of the city of Jerusalem with the destruction of the world, and from that to this he immediately passes. Moreover these threats are seven. The first is an earthquake, which signifies a great change and disturbance of things, which happened to Jerusalem, when they stirred up sedition and war against the Romans. The second is the darkening of the sun: this signifies the signs and prodigies which were seen, testifying to God's indignation against the Jews. For God, about to inflict punishments, clothes himself as it were in mournful garb, in the manner in which the kings of Portugal of old, about to pass sentence of death, would put on sackcloth. The third is the blood of the moon, which denotes the greatest punishment which impended upon them for the blood of Christ poured out. The fourth is the falling of the stars, which symbolically indicates the death which they inflicted upon St. James, Stephen and other most holy men, which also threatened ruin to the Jews. The fifth is the folding up of heaven, which is a symbol of the departure of Christians from the city of Jerusalem, which was also no light threat to the city: for because God was signified by the sun, Christ by the moon, the Apostles and apostolic men by the stars; hence consequently the primitive Church, or the first Christians, are fittingly signified by heaven; concerning these Christ says: "The powers of heaven shall be moved." For the powers of heaven are the armies of heaven, namely the Church militant, which was able to defend Jerusalem from destruction, but abandoning it and depriving it of its protection, exposed it to the plunder of the Romans. Again in the book rolled up is noted the blindness of the Jews, as if all their wisdom had been rolled up and folded, so that they knew nothing, could find no means of saving themselves and the city. The sixth is the migration and withdrawal of mountains and islands, which portends that God removes and takes away all obstacles, difficulties and impediments to Titus and the Romans, and as it were levels the way into Judaea, so that they may subdue and overthrow it. The seventh is the fear and horror common to all, saying to the mountains: Fall upon us, which figures the great fear which had seized the Jews, evident proof that God was about to exercise the most severe vengeance upon them. But all these things had already passed, not were to come, and therefore are historical, not prophetical. But it is established that the Apocalypse is a prophecy concerning future things. Therefore this sense is an accommodation, and an adaptation rather than a genuine exposition. Add that in verse 15 kings are named, who are known not to have been in Jerusalem. Moreover, that they will say to the mountains: "Hide us from the face of the Lamb," does not suit the Jews, who did not acknowledge Christ nor the Lamb, but rather called him a bear and a wolf. Thirdly, Aureolus and Lyra refer these things to the persecution of Diocletian, when Christians, invoking the mountains, that is the Blessed in heaven, said: "Fall," that is, "protect us." But this exposition is violent and forced, as is evident: and it is also disordered. For the persecution of Diocletian, as also that of the other Emperors, was represented by the second seal, namely the red horse, as I showed in chapter VI, 2. I say therefore that St. John here passes over to the final times, and to the end of the world. This is evident from his very words, which properly cannot apply to any other time, especially if one compares them with the words of Christ in Matthew XXIV, 25 (where he describes the destruction of the world and the signs preceding it); for one will see almost the same things said here as Christ says there. For what is said here: "The sun became black," is said there: "The sun shall be darkened;" here it is said that the stars shall fall from heaven, there the same is said; here: "The moon became as blood," there: "The moon shall not give her light;" here it is said: "Heaven departed as a book rolled up," there: "The powers of heaven shall be moved;" here they say to the "mountains: Fall upon us," there they will say the same, as appears in Luke XXIII, 30. The order of the Apocalypse itself, and of the seven seals, demands this. For when St. John in the second, third and fourth seals represented three general and more illustrious persecutions of the Church, to last successively until the end of the world (whence in the fifth seal he introduced the common voice of the Martyrs, desiring the end): hence in this sixth seal he passes over to the same; indeed from this place onwards to the end of the book he speaks of the final times of the world. Therefore in this sixth seal he describes the ultimate vengeance of God upon the wicked, and the terrible signs which will precede and indicate that the final judgment is at hand. Thus Victorinus, Primasius, Ticonius, Haymo, Andreas, Bede, Ribera, Pererius and others. You will say: These signs will follow the Antichrist; for they will be nearest to the judgment: but these seven seals signify those things which will happen before the Antichrist: therefore they are different from those signs which come after the Antichrist. I answer: Some think that all these signs, as well as the other plagues to be inflicted upon the world in the seventh seal, which are recounted in chapters VIII and IX, will occur before the Antichrist: for they are contained in these seals, which must first be opened and unrolled, before the sealed book, that is the times of the Antichrist, can succeed and be seen. For thus in the best order this prophecy of the Apocalypse is sealed and proceeds, and it is as it were a prophetic history of things to come in successive time and order. Reason also favors this: for after the death of the Antichrist there will not be these sad prodigies, it seems to be proved from the fact that after the death of the Antichrist there will be the greatest peace and quiet in the world, as is shown in Daniel XII; whence also Christ in Luke XII, 40, and Matthew XXIV, 37, predicted that he would come unexpectedly and suddenly to judgment, when men will be occupied with eating and pleasures, as they were in the days of Noah: whereas concerning these signs he says that men will be dried up with fear and expectation of the other prodigies which will come upon the whole world. But it is hard and difficult to believe that all these signs will be completed before the Antichrist. For they are signs of the judgment at hand, and of the judge coming; whence the wicked say in verse 16, "to the mountains and rocks: Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath is come: and who shall be able to stand?" How will they say this, if between these signs and the day of judgment there intervene many years, namely the whole time of the reign or at least the monarchy of the Antichrist, which will be three and a half years? How are these signs called signs of the judgment, and of Christ the judge, when rather they should be called signs of the Antichrist coming? Secondly, in the following chapter, in the seventh seal we shall hear of the conversion of the Jews to Christ, which will take place at the end of the world, especially after the Antichrist is slain: therefore some of these seals will not be prior, but posterior to the Antichrist. The same is manifest from the fact that in the seventh seal the seventh angel, sounding the trumpet, is said to introduce the consummation of all things: which will certainly take place, not before, but after the Antichrist. For thus it is found in chapter X, verse 7, and chapter XI, verse 15. Thirdly, Christ, in Matthew XXIV, 29, says that these signs will be after the tribulation of those days, that is after the persecution of the Antichrist, as many say; but Ribera more truly thus expounds it, "after the tribulation," namely begun, but not yet completed. But this tribulation of the world will be begun before the Antichrist. For Christ in a few words touches upon and wraps up many things, which will happen successively over many years at the end of the world. Finally, concerning these signs Christ says there: "When you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors," namely the day of the Lord and the coming of Christ to judgment. Wherefore these signs will be, not before, but after the destruction of the Antichrist, is expressly taught by Francis Suarez, III part., Question LIX, disputation 56, section 3, and by very many others. I say therefore that these signs are to be begun before Antichrist, and therefore are placed among the seals; but they are to be perfected and completed after Antichrist, so that some of them shall occur before, and some, indeed more and greater ones, after Antichrist. St. John, in order to join all things together, as they tend to the same end, has embraced all things in the same seal: insofar as they will precede Antichrist, they pertain to the seals; but insofar as they will follow, they pertain to the sealed book. For since that desolation and destruction of the world will be the last and greatest, therefore God from afar, through many years before it happens, will begin to threaten it and to send plagues preceding it upon the world. Thus He did in the destruction of Jerusalem and of other cities and kingdoms. For He admonished and forewarned the impious Jews through Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, indeed through Elijah, Elisha and other Prophets for a hundred years concerning the future destruction by the Chaldaeans, that they might repent of their impiety and thus escape destruction. He did the same in the flood: for He commanded Noah in the five hundredth year of his age to build the ark, that through it he might foretell and threaten the impending flood to men, although He brought the flood only in the six hundredth year of Noah: He gave therefore a hundred years to the world for repentance. Why should He not do the same, or something similar, in the final destruction of the world, when not by waters but by a flood of fire the whole shall be overwhelmed and burned? Therefore before Antichrist impiety and the impious shall abound in the world, to whom God will threaten destruction; and therefore He will begin to send these signs preceding him, and plagues announcing his coming, namely unusual earthquakes, the roaring and overflowing of the sea, lightnings, thunders, eclipses, darkening of the sun, moon and stars: so that heaven, earth, sea and air may seem to rage against the impious and to threaten them with death and destruction; from which will follow famines, pestilences and wars, which Christ then predicted would occur; but the impious will despise them: therefore God will add plague to plague. Antichrist will come, who will be the head and summit of impiety. Wherefore God will hurl more severe punishments upon him and his impious followers from heaven, driving them into the depths; thence He will rage against the other impious and the whole world, and will bring upon it extreme evils, and among them a complete darkening of the sun, moon and stars; and finally will bring the last day upon the world through the fire of conflagration, and then Christ Himself will descend from heaven and will come to judgment: yet so that after the destruction of Antichrist and his followers, and the plagues of the impious, God will grant some time of peace to the world, in which Christians fallen in the persecution of Antichrist, Jews and all nations struck by so many plagues, may recover, be reconciled to God, be justified and be saved. At which time worldly men, like children when the rod is removed, will return to their nature, will marry and be given in marriage, will feast, as they did in the days of Noah, until God unexpectedly brings an end to the world and sends Christ as judge, as Christ predicted in Matthew xxiv, 37, and John in Apocalypse xiii and the following chapters, and Daniel cap. xii, vers. 12: "Blessed," he says, "is he that waiteth, and cometh unto the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days," that is, who shall live after the times and death of Antichrist, as I have shown there. Wherefore it is little probable what St. Jerome and St. Chrysostom hold in Matthew xxiv, and Eusebius of Emesa in his homily on the Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost, namely that these signs in the sun, moon and stars will be after the general resurrection at the very coming of the Lord, and therefore will not precede judgment but will be in judgment itself. Their argument is: Because, they say, immediately after these signs Christ adds: "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn." For "they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven." But this does not press. For Christ in St. Matthew joins and heaps together many things concerning the destruction of the city and the world, which nevertheless will not happen at the same time, but at a time very distant and separated; nay, St. Matthew, when he said that Christ would come with great power and majesty, adds: "And He shall send His angels with a trumpet;" although this is to happen not after, but before the coming of Christ to judgment. "And the sun became black." — You will ask whether these signs, as they sound, will happen literally? First, St. Augustine, epistle 80 to Hesychius, and from him Primasius, Andreas and Bede, interpret these signs mystically for the persecution of Antichrist, and thus explain them: The sun and moon, that is the Church, will be darkened; the stars, that is the illustrious Saints, will fall from faith, and consequently from heaven and salvation. But that this exposition is mystical, not literal, no one fails to see. Secondly, St. Chrysostom and St. Jerome and Bede in Matthew xxiv; Eusebius of Emesa, homily on the Sunday XXIV after Pentecost; Hilary, commentary 26 on Matthew; St. Thomas in Opuscule X, article 36, think that these signs will be on the very day of judgment itself, namely that Christ coming will shine with such great light, and will strike the whole world with his rays, so that by his brightness he will obscure the splendor of the sun, moon and stars. Thus also St. Augustine, sermon 130 On the Seasons, where he attributes this particularly to the brightness of the cross, which will be so great as to hide the sun. But I have already shown that these signs will be prior to the judgment, and consequently before the coming of Christ. Whence Joel clearly says at II, 10 and following: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, before the day of the Lord come." And Christ at Luke xxi, 26: "Men withering away for fear and expectation of what shall come upon the whole world." Thirdly, Origen, tract. 30 on Matthew, thinks that the sun, moon and stars will be darkened by smoke, which will proceed from the fire of the conflagration of the world. But these signs will be before the end of the world, which this conflagration will bring about; whence also Origen does not persist in this exposition: indeed Suarez in the place cited thinks that the fire of the conflagration of the world will be after the very day of judgment itself. Fourthly, Rabanus in Matthew xxiv, and this he reports, nor does St. Thomas disapprove it in IV, distinction XLVIII, Question I, article 4, question 2, thinks that the sun, and consequently the moon and other stars will be deprived by God of their intrinsic and connatural light. Fifthly, Dionysius the Carthusian takes these literally, but thinks they are said hyperbolically, just as the Prophets say that in the destruction of Jerusalem and Babylon the sun will be darkened. But because these destructions were only a type and a thin shadow of the destruction of the whole world, which will be most terrible and portentous, hence these signs are to be taken literally and in the highest sense. I say sixthly, that these are plainly to be taken literally, as they sound. At the end therefore of the world God will make the sun black like a sack of haircloth for the vengeance of sinners, which is black from black hairs and bristles, from which it is woven. Moreover this will happen partly from the density of clouds, which God will place between the sun and the earth, as Ribera and Dominicus Soto wish in IV, distinction 46, Question II, article 2; partly from miraculous eclipses, as Pererius wishes, which will arise from unusual motions of the heavens, which now more slowly, now more swiftly than usual will move. Whence Lactantius, book VII, chapter xvi, concerning the sun and moon thus says: "They will perform extraordinary motions, so that it will not be easy for man to know either the course of the stars, or the reckoning of times. For there will be either summer in winter, or winter in summer: then also the year will be shortened, and the month diminished, and the day will be compressed into narrowness." Which if true, it will be easy then to produce various eclipses. Thirdly, God will suspend not the light, but the illumination of the sun and stars, namely by denying to the light of the sun and stars its concurrence, without which it cannot spread its light and illuminate the world: whence from this will follow the densest and universal darkness throughout the whole world; and God will do this by the easiest action, and with the least change of things and nature: thus Francis Suarez, III part., Question LIX, article 6, disputation LVI, section 3. "The moon became as blood." — This will happen through the interposition of a cloud so disposed, that through the impression of the rays of the moon, it itself will be seen wholly blood-red, to signify the severity of divine judgment, says Suarez in the same place: for a reddish moon represents gore, that is the slaughter of the impious, on account of the blood of Christ either shed by them, or neglected and spurned; likewise on account of the blood shed of the Martyrs, especially of Elijah and Enoch, and of other faithful ones by the Antichrist and Antichristians. Again a reddish moon portends winds, storms and tempests of the wrath and punishments of God, which God will pour out upon sins and sinners; for "The pale moon rains, the reddish brings wind, the white brings fair weather." And Virgil, I Georgic: "But if she suffuses her virgin face with blush, there will be wind." For blood in Scripture is a symbol of sin. Whence Hosea says at IV, 2: "Blood hath touched blood." And Isaiah chapter I, verse 15: "Your hands are full of blood." See the things said there. There will be therefore then an unusual reddening of the sun, moon and stars, partly an obscuring, and as it were a failing. First, so that it may be signified that the joy of the impious is now obscured and ended. Secondly, the moon shall become red, so that it may appear as if blushing with shame at its own face, on account of the most foul and atrocious crimes of men, perpetrated especially at night when the moon shines, in beds and in darkness; for when so many and so enormous crimes of men, perpetrated from the beginning of the world even to the end, have been seen, the sun, moon and stars, as it were, blush, because they have served such impious masters, and have lent their light to their crimes. St. Antoninus gives this reason, in the fourth part of the Summa, title XIV, chapter xi, § 2. Thus in the martyrdom of Felix, Bishop of Africa, in the year of Christ 302, the moon was turned into blood, as his faithful Acts have it on the 24th of October, which Baronius cites and approves. Thirdly, the sun and stars, as if struck with fear of Christ the coming judge, shall withdraw their splendor: just as men in fear are accustomed to draw heat and blood inward, to the heart to strengthen it, and thus grow pale, says Maldonatus, on Matthew xxiv. For all these signs tend to this end, that vengeance may be taken upon impious men (such as most shall be then; for few shall then be faithful and pious, as Christ predicted in Luke chapter xviii), and that they themselves may be struck with fear and expect greater punishments.
6:13
"And the stars of heaven fell upon the earth." — First, some say: "They fell," that is, they set, suddenly snatched away to another hemisphere; for thus the Poets signify the setting of stars, saying they hurl themselves into the Ocean or sea. Whence Virgil, in the second book of the Aeneid: "And now moist night from heaven Hastens on, and the falling stars urge sleep." Thus at Rome, and elsewhere, those who dwell not far from the sea, in summer pleasantly behold in the evening the setting of the sun. For it seems to them that the sun balances itself between the waves repeatedly, and finally suddenly sinks into them. But here it is said: "The stars fell upon the earth," not into the sea, nor into another hemisphere. Secondly, Origen, tract. 30 on Matthew: "The stars," he says, "fell from heaven, that is, they lost their light when the fuel failed, and what remained terrestrial in them fell to the earth": for he himself thinks, according to the opinion of Plato in the Timaeus, that the heavens and stars are composed and made of elements, and therefore need nourishment like our fire or lamp: wherefore gradually as nourishment fails at the end of the world, the light of the stars also, or that which is fiery in them, shall fail; but what is terrestrial shall fall back to its elements and to the earth. But this rests on a twofold error: first, that the heavens and stars are elemental; secondly, that they need nourishment. Thirdly, Jansenius and Cajetan on Matthew xxiv: The stars, they say, shall withdraw their light and shall not be seen, so that they may appear to have fallen from heaven. They shall fall therefore not from their place, but from their light. Fourthly, Maldonatus in the same place thinks that the stars properly so called shall fall from heaven at the end of the world. For, he says, I assent more to Christ affirming this than to Aristotle denying it can happen. But thus the heaven would have to be split, indeed all the heavens of the Planets; and where would these stars fall? For each fixed star visible in the firmament to us is greater than the whole earth. Therefore Ribera and Pererius more rightly understand by "stars" comets, lightnings, falling fires, and other fiery meteors like stars, of which there shall be many at the end of the world, and they of new and prodigious magnitude, form, figure, motion and fall. For God shall hurl them, as it were horrible lightnings and thunders, and cast them down upon the earth, so that he may terrify men. "As the fig tree casts" (βάλλει, that is, casts away, overturns. Thus the Syriac. Therefore some read badly "casts") "its unripe figs" (ὀλύνθους, that is, unripe figs) "when it is shaken by a great wind." — It signifies that God, on account of crimes, shall impose an end to the world sooner than men think and than the nature of things would allow, whereas it could naturally last longer, as he did in the flood of Noah. For thus unripe figs fall from the fig tree before maturity untimely. Again, "unripe figs" indicate the most joyful and flourishing spring of blessedness, which the Blessed shall then begin. The Arabic version translates, "as the fig tree, when its grass has fallen from a great wind."
6:14
14. "And heaven departed as a book that is rolled up," — εἰλισσόμενος, that is, which is rolled up, or folded together; the Syriac, "the heavens are separated as a book which is rolled up;" the Arabic, "heaven shall be rolled up as parchment," as if to say: Just as a book rolled up in a cylinder after the manner of the ancients (as cloth is wound around a rod) could not be read with its letters hidden: so heaven and its stars, as if they were letters, shall be hidden by dark clouds and darkness, so that they cannot be seen, and may appear to have withdrawn into another world. Again, the known use of the heavens shall cease, their motion and splendor, the observation of the stars, and from them the conjecture and divination of prognostics; just as we cease to use a book and cannot read it when we fold it up or close it. He alludes to, indeed he cites, Isaiah xxxiv, 4, where Isaiah says the same thing: see what is said there. Whence St. Thomas and Suarez explain it thus, as if to say: Men and Astrologers shall no longer divine from the stars, as if from a prognostic book. Heaven, says Suarez, shall depart, not by local motion, but from the eyes of men, just as a rolled-up book is accustomed to depart, because its letters cannot be seen. Thus he himself in the place cited, and in book II On Superstition, cap. xi. St. Augustine gives another reason for this phrase, in book V On Genesis according to the Letter, cap. xx: God, he says, the ages, which when first created he brought forth as if folded up, he unfolds in the course of time; that is, through the motions of the heavens and the vicissitudes of times, he gradually unfolds the world wrapped up, namely by drawing forth now some, now other individuals from the capacity of species, now some, now other effects from the bosom of their causes, and especially from the motion and influence of heaven and sun. When therefore he ceases from this motion and this unfolding of his providence, and removes or suspends the individuals and effects flowing from it, as he will do on the day of judgment, then he is said by his providence to fold up and roll together the book and heaven. Contrarily does Andreas of Caesarea explain it: Heaven has departed, he says, from its former folding up and concealment of the things which it contained, because then eternal things shall be laid bare. For "heaven departed as a book that is rolled up," Christ says in Matthew xxiv: "The powers of heaven shall be moved." Where first, St. Chrysostom understands by these powers the angels, who, he says, shall be astounded at such great prodigies, and, as St. Thomas says, shall cease from the motion of the heavens. Whence also St. Augustine, sermon 130 On the Seasons: "Just as," he says, "when a prince is judging, not only the guilty, but also the offices, which have nothing conscious in themselves, are seized with fear and trembling on account of the terror of the judge: so also then, when mankind shall be judged, the heavenly ministers shall fear, and shall tremble at the terrible apparatus and horrible dread of the judge's gaze," that is, shall appear to tremble: for truly they cannot tremble; for they are blessed, upon whom fear does not fall, nor any passion or disturbance. Besides, enjoying heaven and God, they shall marvel at nothing under heaven and God, as being insignificant. Thus also the "wise man," says Seneca, "raising his mind above earth and moon, neither fears nor marvels at anything on earth." For this is the mark of magnanimity. Thus Cyrus, says Xenophon, was taught to marvel at nothing. Secondly, Cajetan, Titelmans and Pererius understand by these powers the influences of the heavens, which shall cease at the end of the world. Thirdly, Eusebius, in St. Thomas's Catena on Matthew xxiv, understands by these powers the gates of heaven, which shall be opened to Christ descending to judgment, and again ascending to the heavenly throne. Fourthly and genuinely, Jansenius says these powers are the stars of heaven: for these are called in Scripture the host of heaven; so that, just as he said a little before: "The stars shall fall from heaven," so here concerning the same, but the ethereal and heavenly ones, not however the aerial ones, as a little before, he says that they shall be moved and as if shall tremble. To this agree Hesselius and Maldonatus on Matthew xxiv: The powers, they say, of the heavens, are the poles and hinges of the heavens, as if to say: The very hinges and bases and foundations of the heavens shall be moved, so that the heavens appear to be shaken and torn from their hinges. This is indeed what Job says, cap. ix, vers. 6: "Who moveth the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof shall tremble." And cap. xxvi, vers. 11: "The pillars of heaven tremble, and are afraid at his reproof." Fifth, Francis Suarez, III part., Question LIX, art. 6, disp. LVI, sect. 3: The virtues of the heavens, that is to say the angels, will be moved; for they will move themselves and prepare themselves to become ministers of divine justice, who will move the heavens and elements, who namely will cause and effect all those wonderful changes and motions in the sun, stars, sea and earth. For they will be, as it seems, greater than such things as could be done by the influence of the stars alone, or by their virtue. They will therefore be done through angels, to whom that passage from Psalm CXLIX can rightly be applied: "Sharp swords in their hands, to execute vengeance upon the nations, rebukes upon the people, to execute upon them the judgment that is written." And to this also many things which are said in the Apocalypse can be referred, namely that St. John saw angels now sounding trumpets, now pouring out golden vials full of the wrath of God, and similar things, which can be read from chapter viii to xvi. Thus far Suarez. To this is added Lactantius, lib. VII, cap. xvi, who understands by these virtues the angels who move the heavens. These, he says, will be moved, because they will change the order and manner of moving the heavens, and will now accelerate it, now retard it, etc., as I have recalled above in his own words. Hence also follows: "And every mountain, and the islands, were moved out of their places," — properly as the words sound. For if the stars fall from heaven and the heaven departs as a book rolled up, what wonder if on earth mountains and islands are moved out of their places? For on that terrible day there will be, as it were, a setting of the world, and a complete inversion and overthrow of the whole Universe, so that all things go backwards upwards, downwards, forwards, backwards to ruin. Thus "in the consulship of L. Marcius and Sex. Julius," says Pliny, lib. II, cap. LXXXIII, "in the field of Mutina two mountains rushed together against each other, assaulting and receding with the greatest crash, between them flame and smoke going forth into the sky by day, watched from the Aemilian Way by a great multitude of Roman horsemen, servants and travelers. By this collision all the villages were crushed." And a little later: "No less wonderful a portent our age also knew, in the last year of Nero, when meadows and olive groves, with a public road between them, passed into opposite places, in the field of the Marrucini." And in the following chapter: "The greatest earthquake in the memory of mortals occurred in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when twelve cities of Asia were overthrown in one night." See the same lib. II, cap. xc and following, where he recounts lands exchanged with the sea by earthquake, swallowed up, absorbed. And cap. xciv, he says lands are always trembling in the field of Gabii and Reate. And cap. xcv: "Certain," he says, "islands always float, as in the field of Caecubus, and in the same Reate, Mutina, Statonium; in the lake of Vadimonis and at the waters of Cutiliae a dark forest, which is never visited in the same place day and night: in Lydia which are called Calaminae, driven not only by winds, but also by poles wherever one wishes. And there are in Nymphaeum small ones, called Saltuares, because in the singing of a symphony they are moved to the beats of the feet of those modulating. In the great lake of Tarquinii in Italy, two groves move about, now producing a triangular shape, now a round one by their embrace, driven by winds; never a square one." Such floating lands and islands are seen near Audomarople in Belgium, and they were once shown to me there. It is memorable what Gregory of Tours writes, lib. IV, cap. xxx: "The fortress Tauredunum in Gaul," he says, "is situated on a mountain above the Rhone. The mountain was heard to make a murmuring sound for more than sixty days, until at last, wonderfully split from another mountain near to it, with the whole fortress and all its inhabitants it fell headlong into the Rhone. This happened in the reign of Justinian." Something similar happened recently in the year of the Lord 1618, on the 4th of September. For when I was then in Italy, I learned for certain at Rome that the town of Piure in the Valley of Telina (which is subject to the Raeti, who are now called Grisons) situated not far from Como, at the foot of a mountain, by that mountain falling through an internal wind, which excited an earthquake, was completely crushed and buried, and all the inhabitants (numbering about three thousand) were likewise buried, only five escaping. A sign preceded it, the drying up of the river which flowed through the town; and two swarms of bees fighting so fiercely against each other that all on both sides fell dead. This horrible example struck the Grisons and all Italy. The damage was estimated at two million in gold. The ancient Historians relate that Sicily was once joined to Italy, afterwards separated by the waves of the sea, the land having become pervious to water, it was torn away and made an island. Thus Diodorus, lib. IV, cap. XIV. Second, from these words: "And every mountain and the islands were moved out of their places," some hold the opinion that at the end of the world mountains are to be leveled into valleys and made equal with them, so that the earth may be perfectly round, as it was created on the first day of the world. For on the third day, for the use of men and animals, God raised up the earth in one part and elevated it into mountains, in another part depressed and lowered it into valleys, as I taught in Genesis cap. I, 8. Therefore, when the use and life of men and animals shall cease, the earth seems to be returning to its original spherical form: which if it be true, therefore mountains will be depressed. Similarly they think that islands born in the sea are to be swallowed up by the sea at the end of the world, so that the sea may receive its full place and its bed, which it received at first in Genesis cap. I, vers. 9 and 10. What shall come to pass in this matter, experience and the end of the world will teach. For against this opinion it makes a case that mountains and islands contribute not a little to the beauty and variety of the Universe: whence not on the first day of the world, rude and unformed, but on the third, when the earth was formed and adorned, were they produced by God.
6:15
15. "Every servant and free," — every man of whatsoever condition, namely the impious. For this is the punishment of the impious, equally as the voice and groaning which follows. For then almost all will be unbelievers and impious, and soon, with Antichrist ruling, they will follow him as their king and monarch, both to escape his torments and to obtain riches and honors from him. For thus in this age we have seen, when a king becomes a heretic or schismatic, the whole kingdom and almost all subjects become heretics or schismatics. Few therefore will be faithful, who adhere to Elias and Henoch, fewer still who with them resist Antichrist to his face. This is what Christ says in Luke xviii, 8: "The Son of Man, when he cometh, thinkest thou, he shall find faith on earth?" And Matt. xxiv, 12: "And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold."
6:16
"And they say to the mountains and to the rocks" (great ones, says the Arabic, namely cliffs): "Fall upon us." — He cites the words of Osee cap. x, vers. 8, but in an allegorical sense. For Osee speaks literally of the captivity, desperation and extreme calamity of the ten tribes, when the city and kingdom of Samaria was cut off by Salmanasar, and the ten tribes were carried away by him into Assyria. In like manner the same will be said by men feeling the plagues of God at the end of the world, both before Antichrist and more under Antichrist, and especially after him, when Christ shall now be about to come to judgment. The same words are found in St. Luke, and he attributes them to the Jews in the destruction of Jerusalem; for both of these were a type of the destruction and consummation of the age. He also alludes to Isaiah II, 19, where concerning the same Jews besieged and oppressed he says: "They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of the majesty of him, when he shall rise up to strike the earth." "From the face of him that sitteth upon the throne" (the heavenly throne of his divinity, namely from the face of God), "and from the wrath of the Lamb," — namely of Christ the man coming to judgment: for although the unbelievers and impious, especially the Antichristian and persecutors of the faithful, at first will not believe in the power, vengeance and providence of God and Christ, yet when they shall hear the Martyrs in the courts continually proclaiming it and threatening it, and see them patiently and cheerfully suffering and dying for it, and when they shall soon feel their words verified in fact and the plagues and vengeance predicted by them inflicted upon themselves, they will perforce believe that these are inflicted upon them by God and Christ, and that more severe ones are soon to be inflicted. For thus Antiochus, mocking and slaying the Jews and ridiculing their sacred things and God, being struck by God, acknowledged his guilt and God's just vengeance upon him, II Mach. cap. ix, 8. Thus also Pharao in the Red Sea, seeing lightnings darting upon him from heaven and being overwhelmed by the sea, said: Let us flee from Israel, "for the Lord fighteth for them against us." Thus the Emperor Maximianus, a fierce persecutor of Christians, feeling sharp pains and foul diseases inflicted upon him by God, acknowledged that these were justly inflicted upon him by God for the Christians, and ceased his persecution. Thus Julian pierced by a heavenly weapon: "Thou hast conquered," he said, "Galilean, thou hast conquered."
6:17
17. "The wrath of them," — of God and the Lamb: in Greek αὐτοῦ, that is, of him. For God and the Lamb are one in divine nature. Leo the Great acutely conjectures how formidable the power of the angry Lamb will be from his very gentleness and meekness, Sermon I On the Passion of the Lord: "I am," he says (John xviii, 5), "and at his voice the multitude of the impious is prostrated. What then will his majesty be able to do in judgment, whose humility to be judged was able to do this?" And Gregory, Book XVII of the Morals, chapter xxi: "Who could bear his wrath, whose very meekness could not be borne?" Furthermore, so great will be the fear and so great the shame of the damned before Christ the judge, which will so strike and terrify their conscience, that they will wish to be buried and covered by mountains, indeed to be in hell rather than in the valley of Josaphat before an angry Christ. St. Basil rightly judges that the most bitter torment inflicted on the damned by the avenging flames of hell, is far lighter and more bearable than this shame and confusion. For weighing that most severe rebuke, Luke XII, 20: "Fool, this night do they require thy soul of thee; and the things that thou hast prepared, whose shall they be?" he thus says in the homily Against Rich Misers: "This mockery of folly surpasses eternal punishment." Read Cardinal Toledo, on Luke XII, annotation 39. Note: These same dreadful signs, preceding the judgment and destruction of the world, were foretold by other Prophets, partly in the literal sense, partly in the allegorical. Whence Tertullian, in the book On the Resurrection of the Flesh, chapter XXII, citing the words of Christ Matthew xxiv, concerning the destruction of the city and the world, thus says: "After he declared: And then shall Jerusalem be trodden down by the nations, from that point he now preaches to the world and to the age according to Joel and Daniel, and the whole council of the Prophets, the future signs in the sun, moon and stars." First therefore Joel chapter III, verse 2, concerning it in the literal sense thus says: "I will gather all nations into the valley of Josaphat, and I will plead with them there concerning my people;" and verse 14: "The day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their brightness." And chapter II, verse 1, under the type of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans: "The day of the Lord comes," he says, "a day of darkness and gloominess;" and verse 10: "Before his face the earth trembled, the heavens were moved. The sun and moon are darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their brightness. And the Lord gave forth his voice before the face of his army." And verse 30: "I will show wonders in heaven, and in earth, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes." Second is Isaiah, who chapter XIII, verse 9, speaking literally of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, allegorically, under it as a type, thus depicts the day of the destruction of the world: "Behold the day of the Lord shall come, cruel, and full of indignation, and of wrath and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not expand their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light. And I will visit upon the world the evils," etc. Third is Jeremiah, a follower of Isaiah, chapter XV, verse 9: "She that hath borne seven is weakened, her soul hath fainted away: her sun is gone down, while it was yet day, she is confounded and ashamed." Fourth is Amos, who likewise against the city of Jerusalem in the literal sense, against the world in the allegorical sense, threatens the final calamity, chapter VIII, verse 9: "And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that the sun shall go down at midday, and I will make the earth dark in the day of light; and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon every back of yours, and baldness upon every head of yours; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the latter end thereof as a bitter day." Fifth is Ezechiel, who literally describes the slaughter of Pharao and Egypt, allegorically of Antichrist and the impious and the world thus chapter XXXII, 7: "When thou shalt be extinguished, I will cover the heavens, and will make the stars thereof dark: I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light, all the lights of heaven I will make dark over thee; and I will set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord God, when thy wounded shall fall in the midst of the land." See concerning the horror of the last judgment St. Basil, sermon On Judgment, and St. Ephrem, sermon On the Holy Cross and On the Second Coming of the Lord, likewise sermon On the Fear of God, volume III. Morally, note that the punishment of evils is great and will be great, namely fear and terror, and anxious expectation of unknown and impending plagues. "Fear of war itself is worse than war." Thus often the condemned are afflicted more by fear and apprehension of the death to which they are condemned than by death itself: for at every moment they are so tormented that they seem to die a thousand times. Wherefore Seneca, in his book On the Happy Life, chapter IV and following, teaches that a miserable life consists in fear and desire, but a happy life consists in the contempt and victory of both. "The highest good," he says, "is a mind that despises fortune, rejoicing in virtue, which is not exalted by fortune nor broken by it; for which true pleasure is the contempt of pleasures. For what prevents us from calling blessed a free mind, upright and unafraid, and stable, placed outside fear, outside desire; for which one good is honesty, one evil is baseness? All other things are a vile crowd of things, neither detracting anything from the happy life nor adding to it. This mind thus founded must necessarily be followed, whether it will or not, by continuous cheerfulness and deep joy, and joy coming from on high. On the day when it shall be below pleasure, it shall also be below pain." And in chapter V: "He is blessed who neither desires nor fears by the benefit of reason. For then the mind is pure and freed from all evils, when it has escaped not only lacerations but also vexations, maintaining its position always where it has taken its stand, and will vindicate its seat even when fortune is angry and hostile. For as far as pleasure is concerned, although it surrounds us on all sides and flows in through every path, what mortal man, in whom any trace of humanity remains, would wish to be tickled day and night, and abandoning his mind to give himself over to his body?"
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
6:8
… Apocalypse of Abraham 21; etc. In the rabbinic era it would designate the lowest place in Gehenna (Midrash Tehillim 97:2; Qoheleth Rabbah 5:9). In Job 28:22 the term (joined with "death") is personified (like "Cyclos" in Dan. 4:23 and "Hades" in Rev. 6:8; 20:14). The Septuagint always translates it ἀπώλεια (except Job 31:12, where they read a text different from the Masoretic).
St. Paul, while emphasizing the principal role of Grace in the order of salvation and its absolute gratuitousness, affirms the value of the good works performed by the justified man. "A man will reap whatever he has sown... from the flesh corruption, from the spirit eternal life" (ibid. 6:8). "Each will receive his wages according to his own labor" (1 Cor. 3:8) and "from the Lord the recompense of the inheritance" (Col. 3:23) "on the day of the Revelation of the just …
6:9
Domitian, Titus Flavius (Imperator Caesar Domitianus Augustus), Roman Emperor
… In this same work, moreover, there is no lack of allusions to the persecution and to the martyrs of Asia Minor, among whom Antipas is expressly named (v. Apoc. 2, 8-13; 6, 9 ff.; 7, 13 ff.; 12, 11 ff.). …
nium quod habebant", that is, the martyrs (Rev. 6:9), and St. Jerome exclaims: "Male facit ergo Romanus episcopus, qui super mortuorum hominum Petri et Pauli, secundum nos ossa veneranda, secundum te vile pulvisculum, offert Domino …
… Nevertheless, even stripped of the body, the soul is not supposed to live in the sleep of še'ôl, but to dwell near the Lord (II Cor. 5, 8; Phil. 1, 23). And the fact that this separated soul is no longer only called ψυχή (Apoc. 6, 9; 20, 4), but also πνεῦμα (I Pt. 3, 19; Hebr. 12, 23), provides at least a precious indication in favor of its spiritual nature.
6:10
Abel (Hebrew Hēbel; Septuagint Greek Ἀβέλ)
… 12:24). A. is also remembered in the canon of the Mass, in which God is asked to "accept the new sacrifice as that of his just servant Abel." The blood of A. cries out from the ground to Yahweh (Gen. 4:10), from whom it demands vengeance (2 Macc. 8:3; Rev. 6:10).
6:11
Stole (More Antiquely Orarium)
… The word "stole" comes from the denomination used in Gaul and derived from Greek to designate not a feminine garment, but a distinctive garment in the scriptural sense (Rev. 6:11; 7:9, 14).
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Rheims 1582), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.