Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Seven Angels pour out upon the world the seven vials and the last plagues, namely: the first, verse 2, produces savage and most evil wounds; the second, verse 3, the sea; the third, verse 4, turns the rivers and fountains into blood; the fourth, verse 8, causes the sun to scorch men and the earth; the fifth, verse 10, makes the kingdom of Antichrist dark and painful, so that men chew their own tongues; the sixth, verse 12, dries up the Euphrates, that the kings may be gathered together, and slain by God at Armageddon; the seventh, verse 17, brings on lightnings, thunders, earthquakes, and hail of a talent's weight.
Vulgate Text: Apocalypse 16:1-21
1. And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels: Go, and pour out the seven vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. 2. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth, and there fell a sore and grievous wound upon men, who had the character of the beast: and upon them that adored the image thereof. 3. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and there came blood as it were of a dead man; and every living soul died in the sea. 4. And the third poured out his vial upon the rivers and the fountains of waters; and there was made blood. 5. And I heard the angel of the waters saying: Thou art just, O Lord, who art, and who wast, the Holy One, because Thou hast judged these things: 6. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. 7. And I heard another, from the altar, saying: Yea, O Lord God Almighty, true and just are Thy judgments. 8. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and it was given unto him to afflict men with heat and fire: 9. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, who hath power over these plagues, neither did they penance to give Him glory. 10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom became dark, and they gnawed their tongues for pain: 11. And they blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and wounds, and did not penance for their works. 12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon that great river Euphrates; and dried up the water thereof, that a way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun. 13. And I saw from the mouth of the dragon, and from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. 14. For they are the spirits of devils working signs, and they go forth unto the kings of the whole earth, to gather them to battle against the great day of the Almighty God. 15. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16. And he shall gather them together into a place, which in Hebrew is called Armagedon. 17. And the seventh angel poured out his vial upon the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple from the throne, saying: It is done. 18. And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and there was a great earthquake, such an one as never had been since men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, so great. 19. And the great city was divided into three parts; and the cities of the Gentiles fell. And great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the indignation of His wrath. 20. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21. And great hail, like a talent, came down from heaven upon men: and men blasphemed God for the plague of the hail: because it was exceeding great.
Verse 1: Go, and Pour Out the Seven Vials
Verse 1. "And I heard a great voice from the temple," — namely of God, who here commands the seven angels to bring the seven plagues upon the wicked Antichristians. Note: these plagues are similar to and prefigured in the plagues of Egypt, Exodus vii and following. For, as I said above and must here repeat, the first plague of Egypt was the conversion of the Nile and of the waters into blood; the second, of frogs; the third, of gnats; the fourth, of dog-flies, the art of every kind of fly; the fifth, the pestilence; the sixth, of ulcers; the seventh, of hail; the eighth, of locusts; the ninth, of darkness; the tenth, of the slaying of the firstborn; the eleventh, the drying up of the Red Sea, and the drowning of Pharaoh with his followers. These Egyptian plagues therefore were indications and examples of God's vengeance on sinners, especially on those contumacious and rebellious against God, such as was Pharaoh with his men: and allegorically they signified the plagues to be inflicted on the wicked and Antichristians at the end of the world; indeed, these are the very same as those. For the plague of the first angel here is the same as the sixth Egyptian; the plague of the second and third angels is the same as the first Egyptian; the plague of the fourth angel is the same as the fifth; the plague of the fifth is the same as the ninth; the plague of the sixth is the same as the eleventh and second; the plague of the seventh is the same as the seventh Egyptian.
Note: these seven angels, vials, and plagues are different from the seven angels, trumpets, and plagues which were treated of in chapters viii and ix. For those of chapters viii and ix were contained in the seventh seal, as is clear from chapter viii, verse 1; but these are contained in the very book sealed with seven seals. Therefore those will precede in time, these will follow; those will send plagues before Antichrist, these in the time of Antichrist. Wherefore most of the plagues in the two cases are different, yet in part either the same or similar, as the trumpet and first plague of hail, chapter viii, verse 7, is in part the same as the seventh plague here verse 21: for among other things which this plague brings, it brings also hail, but enormous, like a talent. So the trumpet and second plague of chapter viii, verse 8, is similar to the second plague here verse 3, in that the sea is turned into blood, but unlike in that, in chapter viii, a great mountain was cast into the sea, but here nothing of the kind is said. Again, in chapter viii, only the third part of the sea was turned into blood, and the third part of the fishes died: but here the whole sea was turned into blood, and all the fishes died. The third trumpet and plague of chapter viii, verse 10, took place in the rivers, as also the third here verse 4; but in chapter viii the waters were turned into wormwood; here, however, into blood. The fourth trumpet and plague of chapter viii, verse 12, was upon the sun, as also the fourth here verse 8; but in chapter viii the sun was struck with darkness and obscurity, here, however, with burning and heat. The fifth trumpet and plague of chapter ix, verse 2, is of locusts tormenting and bringing in darkness; the fifth plague likewise here verse 10 makes the kingdom of Antichrist dark and wretched, so that men for their pains blaspheme God and chew their tongues. The sixth trumpet and plague of chapter ix, verse 15, looses the four angels bound at the Euphrates, who being loosed bring forth into the line of battle two hundred million horsemen; in the sixth plague likewise here verse 12, the Euphrates is dried up, that the way may be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun. The seventh trumpet of chapter xi, verse 15, brings on the end and consummation of the world, and sings: "The kingdom of this world has become our Lord's and His Christ's." The seventh plague here verse 17 says: "It is done," and immediately brings on horrendous lightnings, thunders, earthquakes and hail. From what has been said it is clear that those seven angels with the trumpets are similar to these, but different and prior to these, and as it were forerunners: hence they bring lesser plagues, which these, as later, increase and complete. Except the seventh of chapter xi, verse 15, which brings the end of all, as I showed there.
Verse 2: A Sore and Grievous Wound
2. "And the first angel went, and poured out his vial." — Note: that the angels here are said to have poured out their vials upon the sea, rivers, sun, etc., is not to be taken literally as it sounds, as if at the end of the world they will actually pour out their vials, but is to be understood symbolically. For by this phrase and symbol it is only signified that the angels will work and pour out into the sea, rivers, sun, etc., divine wrath and vengeance, contained as it were and represented in the vial: for example, they will cause that the waters of the sea and rivers be turned into blood, and that the sun should burn the wicked more fiercely than usual, etc.
"And there was a wound" (in Greek helkos, that is, ulcer. So Vatablus and others; yet it is called wound, because an ulcer, when it is opened, becomes a wound) "sore" (that is, dreadful and horrid; again "sore," that is raging, afflicting with pain and tormenting the Antichristians) "and grievous," — that is, most putrid, shameful and foetid. He alludes to the sixth plague of Egypt, Exodus ix, 10, of which it is said: "And there were made ulcers of swelling blisters;" and to the ulcers with which God struck the Philistines for the capture and carrying around of the ark of the Testament: of which it is said, I Kings v, 6: "The hand of the Lord was made heavy upon the Azotians, and He struck Azotus in the more secret part of the buttocks." And shortly afterwards, verse 9: "Their protruding extremities rotted." Of which it is also said in Psalm lxxvii, verse 66: "He struck His enemies in the back parts, He gave them an everlasting reproach." With a like plague therefore, shameful as well as painful, God will strike at the end of the world those who have the mark of the beast, that is, of Antichrist, of which I spoke in chapter xiii, verse 16: namely so that He may punish both their other crimes and the shameful lusts to which Antichrist and the Antichristians will give loose rein. So even now today God punishes the obscene and lustful with obscene and grievous ulcers and venereal disease, or the French disease, especially in the members of shame, with which they have sinned. For God "so orders sins themselves, that what were delights to the sinning man, may be instruments to the Lord punishing," says St. Augustine on Psalm vii.
For these ulcers, and the rest of the plagues, seem to be taken plainly as they sound, to the letter: although some explain them mystically, as does Alcazar, whose interpretation of each of these seven plagues I reviewed in the preceding chapter, verse 5. Of others I will give an account at the end of the chapter.
Verse 3: The Sea Became Blood as of a Dead Man
3. "And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and there was made blood as it were of a dead man," — as if to say: the second angel worked in the sea, and turned the water of the whole sea into blood. But what does the "as it were of a dead man" mean? First, some explain it of dark or congealed blood, which flows from the body of a dead man. But Alcazar rightly refutes this. For it can happen that blood flowing from a dead man is red and bright, as appears in the blood of a kid. Nor indeed is the blood spurting from the cut vein of a living man either of a different color, or less congealed, than the gore flowing from a corpse.
Secondly, others think that there is an allusion to the Dead Sea, into which Sodom on account of its crimes was changed: for the waters of that sea are bituminous, and thence dark: for of them Tacitus, book V, says: "A liquid dark by its very nature." In like manner this angel at the end of the world will make the waters of the sea dark, and as it were dead; whence follows: "And every living soul died."
Thirdly, Alcazar refers the "of a dead one" to the victims, whose blood, when they were sacrificed, was received in a vessel which was half-full of water, so that the blood mingled with water might be more fluid, and when poured out into the trench which was beside the base of the altar, it might flow off more easily and not stick by the altar and stain it. Mystically, however, it signified that from Christ on the cross, who was to be the victim of the whole world, would flow blood and water. The sense therefore is, as if to say: the water of the sea was turned into blood, just as in a basin into which the blood of the slain animal was put, the water itself was tinged with bloody color. Furthermore, Alcazar thinks that by this blood is signified the blood of the Martyrs, which made red the sea of paganism, and converted it into blood, that is, subjected it to itself and to Christ, and sanctified it. Hence St. Isidore in Questions on Exodus, chapter x: "The waters," he says, "turned into blood signify the peoples converted to faith in the blood of Christ;" thence the fish, that is the faithful, dead, that is given up to death by the Emperors persecuting them.
Fourthly and best, others refer this to the abundance of blood. For when a man, or another animal, is killed, very much blood flows out, as if to say: the water of the sea was turned into blood, just as if there had been made in it slaughters of men, and many had been killed and were dead, and therefore all the fishes, which in the sea live not on blood but on water, likewise died. For the singular genitive nekrou, that is, "of a dead one," is put for the plural nekrōn, that is, "of the dead," as if to say: the water of the sea was made as it were the blood of the slain and of the dead. So it is said, IV Kings iii, 22: "The Moabites saw the waters red as blood, and they said: It is the blood of the sword; the kings have fought against one another, and they have been mutually slain." The cause he adds in verse 5, saying: "Thou art just, O Lord," who punishest them in that wherein they sinned, and what they unjustly inflicted on others, Thou justly repayest and measurest back to them: "For they shed the blood of the Saints and the Prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink: for they are worthy." Thus Thou changedst the water of the Egyptians into blood, because they themselves had contaminated it with the blood of the Hebrew infants whom they were drowning in the waters, Exodus vii, 19.
Verse 4: The Rivers and Fountains Became Blood
4. "And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters, and there was made blood." — Just as the second angel turned the sea into blood, so this third one likewise turns the rivers and fountains into blood. So just as in Egypt under Pharaoh, all water was turned by Moses into blood, and all fishes died: so towards the end of the world throughout the whole world, the entire sea and all rivers will be turned into blood, and all fishes will die. For what once happened in Egypt was a type and prelude of what is to come at the end of the world. Yet just as in Egypt that change did not last more than eight days, lest men should perish from thirst, so likewise it seems that this change will not last very long, lest all should perish, but after some time the sea and the rivers will have to be restored to their nature, color and taste, as was done in Egypt. It is also probable that this plague of the waters will not harm the faithful, just as it did not harm the Hebrews in Egypt; for this plague will be sent upon the wicked, to avenge the blood of the Saints which the wicked will then pour out. As to the fishes, it is not necessary that they revive, because the world will soon end; and perhaps fishes will not be lacking in pools, lakes and fish-ponds: for of those waters it is not said that they will be converted into blood. So P. Lessius, book XIII On the Divine Perfections, chapter xviii.
Verse 5: I Heard the Angel of the Waters
5. "And I heard the angel of the waters." — Note: from this passage it is clear that certain angels have been appointed by God to preside over certain creatures, and that the individual elements have their own presiding angel. For if the waters have their own angel, why should not the earth and the air with equal right have theirs? For God distributes these lower things through angels, that they themselves may individually take care of them. So teaches Origen, homily 14 on Numbers; St. Augustine, book LXXXIII Questions, question lxxix, where he says: "Every visible thing in this world has an angelic power set over it;" St. Thomas, Part I, Question cx, article 1; Gabriel Vasquez, Part I, tome II, disputation 245, number 6, where besides Origen and St. Augustine, he cites Andrew and Aretas, and even Plato. For what Alcazar understands by the angel of the waters as Moses, and by the angel of the altar as Elijah, is mystical and symbolic, not literal nor genuine.
Furthermore this angel, the president of the waters, praises God's justice, in that He has punished the wicked who abused waters, by changing them into blood. He therefore says: "Thou art just, O Lord, who art, and who wast, the Holy One, who hast judged these things; because they shed the blood of the Saints and Prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink." The Syriac translates: "Just is He who is, and He who was, and pious (or indulgent), because Thou hast judged these things," etc. For the angels rejoice when the creatures over which they are set commend and praise God and God's justice. Note: in these final plagues of the world there shines forth not only the justice but also the mercy of God; for they are applied gradually and with moderation, that sinners may be invited through them to penance and amendment. Hence they do not always last, but some succeed others, that they may notice it is the hand of God chastising, not natural causes, or some fate of the stars.
Verse 7: And I Heard Another from the Altar
7. "And I heard another angel." — Read with the Romans and the Greeks: "And I heard another from the altar," namely going forth from the place of the Martyrs seeking vengeance, and "saying: Yea, O Lord, etc., true and just are Thy judgments;" "another," understand: angel.
Verse 8: Upon the Sun, to Afflict Men with Heat and Fire
8. "And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun," — namely, because he caused the sun more intensely and sharply to scorch the wicked. Hence follows: "And it was given to him (the sun) to afflict men with heat and with fire." Here the "and" is a hen dia dyoin, or explicative; "with heat and with fire," that is, with fiery heat, with intense and burning heat like fire. So says the Poet: "gold and reins," that is, "he champed" golden reins. For it signifies that men will burn with such heat, that this heat will seem to them to be fire, and they will seem to themselves to be in the fire and to be roasted. For in Greek it is kaumatisai anthrōpous en pyri, that is, "it was given to him to make burn, or scorch men in fire."
So the Poets feign that Phaethon, when he did not know how to drive the sun's chariot, scorched the lands and the heaven. Whence also Phaethon is said to be from apo tou phaous, that is, "from light," and alba, that is "I burn," says Servius on that line of Aeneid V: "The horses of Phaethon were already drawing the dawn with light."
And Cicero, book III On Duties, narrates the fable thus: "To his son Phaethon the sun said that he would do whatever he wished; he chose to be lifted up into his father's chariot: he was lifted up; and before he came to a stop, he was burnt up by a stroke of lightning. How much better it would have been if in this case his father's promise had not been kept?"
Tropologically St. Gregory, book XXXIV of the Morals, chapter xii: "To pour out a vial," he says, "upon the sun is to inflict the punishments of persecution upon men shining with the splendor of wisdom. And it was given to him to afflict men with heat and with fire, because while wise men, overcome by tortures, are touched by the error of evildoing, the weak, persuaded by their example, are inflamed with temporal desires. For the ruins of the strong supply increases to the perditions of the weak."
Verse 10: Upon the Seat of the Beast
10. "And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast," — that is, upon the kingdom and subjects of Antichrist: whence his kingdom became dark, both literally, and symbolically "dark," that is, unhappy, wretched and calamitous with plague, famine, diseases, and other troubles and misfortunes, so that the Antichristians chew, that is bite, their own tongues, as if rabid they wished to chew and devour them because of pains and torments. It is a hyperbole and catachresis; for darkness is the symbol of adversity and troubles, as light of prosperity and joy; and "to chew" is taken for "to bite."
Verse 12: Upon That Great River Euphrates
12. "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon that great river Euphrates, and dried up its water, that a way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun." — For, as I said in Daniel chapters vii and xi, and shall say here in chapter xvii, of those ten kings who in the time of Antichrist will divide the empire of the world, three will be slain by Antichrist, and then the remaining seven, terrified, will submit themselves to him; and because some of them will be in the East, hence the Euphrates will be dried up by the angel, that they may easily be able to cross over to Antichrist, and that, fighting with him against Christ and the Church, they may be crushed by God, as is said in verse 14; and therefore this drying up of the Euphrates, which will be done by a good Angel, will not happen, nor turn out to the good and victory of Antichrist and the Antichristians, such as these kings will be, but of Christ and the Christians. He alludes to Darius and Cyrus, kings of the Persians and Medes, who from the East, that is from Persia and Media, came for the destruction of Babylon, and the Euphrates being diverted into other and many channels, sent their soldiers dry-shod into the city, and so unexpectedly captured it, as I said in Daniel v, 30. For this drying up of the Euphrates will be repeated again at the end of the world, and that not naturally by the work of men, as was done in the time of Cyrus, but miraculously by the work of this sixth angel.
Viegas here in section III holds (although in section II he said the contrary), as does Genebrardus on Psalm LXVII, 37, that these kings will come not for, but against Antichrist, and will fight for Christ and the Church: both because they are sent forth by a good Angel who dries up the Euphrates for them; and because Antichrist will prepare a vast army against them. For he adds that the dragon and the beast, that is, the devil and Antichrist, will send three unclean spirits who will call together all the other kings allied with them against them as their auxiliaries; but these will all be slain, not so much by the kings coming from the East, as by Christ, verse 16. This opinion seems plausible at first sight.
Yet the contrary seems more probable, namely that they will come on Antichrist's side against the Church. So Ribera and others hold, indeed Viegas himself in section II. For these things pertain to the final year of Antichrist, when he will already have subjected to himself all the kings of the world and will be monarch; whence he will institute a most savage persecution everywhere against Christians, and will summon this army against them, that through it he may search out, attack, and exterminate the faithful everywhere. For this will be the last war, the last persecution of Antichrist, in which he himself will be overthrown not by kings but by God and Christ (against whom he will fight) in a place which will be called Armageddon, as is said in verses 14 and 16, and chapter xix, 15, and xx, 9. This therefore will be among the last plagues both of the world and of Antichrist.
You will object: To what end such a vast number of soldiers for crushing the Christians, when these under Antichrist will be very few? I reply that they will be few if compared with the Antichristians; in truth however they will be many, especially those who will hide themselves in mountains, woods, and other hiding places. For if the number of the Hebrews going forth from Egypt rose to three million, as I showed at Exodus chapter xii, verse 37, how many millions of Christians do we suppose there will be in the whole world? Wherefore, just as Pharaoh, to subjugate the Hebrews, gathered all the forces of his kingdom, so Antichrist, to subjugate the Christians of the whole world to himself, will gather all his forces and troops; and just as Pharaoh perished with all his men, overwhelmed in the Red Sea, so Antichrist's army will perish overwhelmed by heavenly fire. With this counsel and aim therefore God will cause all these his armies to be gathered, that He may with one blow, and as it were one thunderbolt, blast and destroy them all gathered into one; just as for that reason He caused Pharaoh to gather all the warriors of Egypt, that He might destroy them all together and drown them in the sea.
Mystically, Laurentius Justinianus, and from him Alcazar (although he himself thinks this is literal): The drying up, he says, of the Euphrates is a symbol of earthly felicity, failing and forsaking worldly men in its very course. For the Euphrates signifies the most rapid torrent of pride, delights, and wealth, and perhaps also of human wisdom and eloquence, with which the Romans abounded, and by which they repelled the Gospel of Christ. But God dried these up in the Romans through Darius and Cyrus, that is, through Saints Peter and Paul: whereby it came about that they gradually broke into the illustrious families of Babylon, that is of Rome, and took possession of them. Whence Adam Sasbout, in the Prologue to Isaiah, relates that St. Jerome teaches that by the Medes and Persians are signified the Apostles and their successors, who overthrew Babylon, that is the confused world. For just as Cyrus and Darius occupied Babylon not by force or by arms, but secretly by diverting the Euphrates elsewhere (which the Babylonians, thinking it impossible, had not guarded against), so the Christian religion not by force but secretly, by creeping in, occupied the senatorial houses of Rome before the Romans noticed; so that suddenly one would discover his own wife was a Christian, another his daughter, another his brothers, another his relatives and kinsmen, and they would already see that Christianity had pervaded all Rome. This mystical sense fits Cyrus and Darius storming Babylon, but not these kings fighting against Christ and the Church.
Verse 13: Three Unclean Spirits Like Frogs
13. "And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet" (of whom it was spoken in chapter xiii) "three unclean spirits in the manner of frogs," — supply: come forth, or go out, as some manuscript codices read. You will ask, who are these? First, Prosper in The Midst of Time, chapter xi, holds that they will be three heralds of Antichrist, of whom he adds: "What was said in Daniel, 'Swarms shall arise from him,' is here openly said, that there go forth as his heralds three unclean spirits, as into the three parts of the world, Asia, Europe, and Africa, to persuade them that Antichrist is Christ."
But I say that these three spirits are unclean, and are demons; for St. John explicitly asserts this. Viegas holds that these three demons are sent by Antichrist in the visible form of men, as if of envoys, to gather the nations to himself. But this is uncertain, especially since here John compares them not to men but to frogs. This is certain, that these demons go forth out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, that is, are sent by the command and authority of the demon, of Antichrist and of his precursor, to solicit and gather the nations and soldiers to Antichrist. They go forth therefore, that they may by persuasion, and by signs and wonders, whether of themselves or through their magicians, induce and stir up the seven remaining and surviving kings to bring war against the Christians together with Antichrist, as follows. Wherefore John adds: "For they are spirits of demons working signs." Here "for" gives the reason for what precedes, as if to say: lest anyone, thinking all spirits are pure and good and holy angels, marvel at what I said to be "unclean spirits;" for there are truly such among spirits, and they are spirits of demons (for not all spirits are good angels), and they work signs and wonders.
Furthermore these spirits are compared to frogs, on account of their uncleanness, foulness, loquacity and stubbornness, with which by a great but vain and unwarlike noise they will rouse all to arms against the Christians. For the frog utters a hoarse, troublesome and importunate cry, but feeble, ineffective and unwarlike: wherefore the frog is called by the Greeks batrachos, from its harsh croak; for that Laconic saying fits the frog: "It is a voice, and nothing more."
Whence John, as it were mocking them and showing the foolishness of their plan to clamor against and resist Christ, asserts that there will be no other end of so great a gathering and conspiracy than that all the kings be gathered to battle on the great day of God Almighty, and there be all alike struck down and slain by Him, and so fulfilled in them be that of Psalm ii, 2: "The kings of the earth stood up, and the princes met together, against the Lord, and against His Christ: He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall deride them." And that of Isaiah viii, 9: "Gather yourselves together, O ye people, and ye shall be overcome." This therefore will be like a gigantomachy. For just as the proud Titanic giants, waging war against Jove, were driven by his thunderbolt into Tartarus: so will God do to these kings warring against Him. Wherefore all this their conspiracy will profit nothing else than that almighty God shall seize them all gathered together, and shall give the clearest proof of His might in their destruction, and shall do this by the same way and counsel by which they tried to assault and exterminate His Christ and the Christians. For He will gather them with Antichrist into one place, whose name will be Armageddon, that there gathered together He may with one stroke as it were and dart finish them off and slay them. Whence in chapter xvii, verse 14, it is said: "These shall fight with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them." Hence the day of so great power and victory is here called the great day of almighty God, namely on which God will give such slaughter that He calls all the birds of heaven to a great supper, as is said in chapter xix, verse 17.
Mystically, Alcazar (which however he himself offers as if literal): By these three frogs, he says, are signified the three enemies of the faithful: the devil, the world, the flesh; or rather their speech and suggestion, of which our Bernardinus Rossignolius treats fully and learnedly in book III On the Discipline of Perfection, chapter xv. For their threefold speech and suggestion, namely to pursue honors, wealth, and pleasures, comes forth from the mouth of the dragon, and of the sea-beast, and of the land-beast, of whom in chapter xiii, that is, from the mouth of the devil, the world, and the flesh; and they are as it were their breath, or breathing, indeed sneezing, just as one says the cat is a sort of sneeze of the lion or tigress. For to this symbol fit the frog's foulness, obscenity, and shape. For in the very mire in which it is born and always wallows, luxury and shameful lust are wonderfully represented. In the spots with which it is everywhere marked as if with little eyes, concupiscence of the eyes is signified. In its persistent raising of importunate cries, pride is adumbrated. On which subject there is a fable in Aesop, of the frog comparing itself by swelling to the vast bulk of an ox. The three frogs therefore are the three troublesome and clamorous suggestions of the devil, the world, and the flesh, namely of pride, avarice, and lust. Hence the frogs are also threefold, namely first, common marsh frogs; second, toads, which are terrestrial and venomous; and third, tree-frogs, which dwell among reeds and shrubs, according to Pliny, book VIII, chapter xxxi, and book XXXII, chapter x. The first you may not unfittingly adapt to the flesh, the second to the devil, the third to the world. Thus far Alcazar, but mystically. For literally John says these frogs are three unclean spirits, and are three demons.
Symbolically, the frog is shameless, clamorous, curious, obscene, stupid, and therefore loquacious; whence the proverb: "Wiser than a tadpole-frog." Of which Plato in the Theaetetus: "We," he says, "admired him as a god for his wisdom; he excelled in prudence no more than a tadpole-frog." It is called gyrina from the shape of its body, because it is rounded in a circle, so that it can easily bend and turn itself in any direction. Hence the frog signifies heresy and heretics — stupid, loquacious, curious and clamorous. Wherefore Fredericus Staphylus, in his book On the Concord of the Lutherans, and Gabriel Prateolus in his Catalogue of Heretics, fittingly adapt these three frogs to three sects which sprang from Luther. The first is that of the Anabaptists, whose father is Rothmann. The second is that of the Sacramentarians, whose author is Carlstadt, from whom Zwingli and Calvin sprang. The third is that of the Protestants, whose leader is Melanchthon.
Again, Alcazar by these three frogs understands Judaism, paganism, and heresy. See what I have said about frogs at Exodus viii, 3 and following.
Verse 15: Behold, I Come as a Thief
15. "Behold, I come as a thief," — both to the universal judgment, and to this battle and slaughter of Antichrist and the Antichristians, which will be a prelude to the judgment, and "as a thief," that is, secretly, unexpectedly and suddenly. Whence Varro, in book XIV, derives the name fur (thief) from furvo, that is, black, because through dark and black nights he steals; others from fraud; others from ferendo, that is, carrying off another's goods; others from the Greek phōr, that is, thief. So Gellius, book I, chapter xviii. By this comparison with a thief Scripture often designates the unexpected, secret and sudden coming of Christ to judgment, Matthew xxiv, 43; I Thessalonians v, 2; II Peter iii, 10; Apocalypse iii, 3, that He may keep men in suspense by perpetual and continual expectation and fear of Him; and so they themselves daily, indeed hourly and momentarily, with diligent and total effort of mind prepare themselves for Him. For, as St. Hilary says, canon 27 on Matthew, at the end: "It is fitting that we be ready, because ignorance of the day stirs up the intent solicitude of suspended expectation."
"Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments," — namely the grace of God and the virtues, with which the soul is adorned as with garments, lest its baseness appear, that is, its nakedness, namely concupiscence innate to it, and the original stain, and other vices and sins sprung from these.
Verse 16: Gathered into a Place Called Armageddon
16. "And he shall gather them together into a place which in Hebrew is called Armageddon." — So the Roman and Greek read, not Armageddon, but Armagedon, with a short penultimate. The Arabic also reads Armachadon. You will ask first, what it means in Hebrew, and where Armageddon is. First, St. Jerome in the Hebrew Names: "Armageddon," he says, "is interpreted the rising up of the roof, or the rising up to former things" (because, with Antichrist overthrown, the roof of the Church will again rise up to its pristine glory); "but better, mountain and robber, or rounded mountain," because, namely, there will gather the Antichristians, who will be thieves and robbers; for they will wish to rob God of His honor, and to despoil the Saints of life. Viegas adds that Armageddon signifies a mountain of apples or fruits: for meged signifies an apple.
Second, Tichonius in homily 43, and Ribera, think that Armageddon is Mageddo, which is a plain and city in the tribe of Manasseh, near Jezreel, where Josiah king of Judah was struck and slain by Pharaoh Necho, II Chronicles xxxv, 22. Nor is this dissimilar: for the Septuagint favors it who at Zechariah xii, 11, where we read: "As the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo," translate: "As the field of the pomegranate which is cut down in the field," as though in Mageddo the letter m were servile and prosthetic, and its root were gada, that is, "he cut down," which is also the root and etymology of Armagedon, as I shall presently say.
But because to Mageddo here is added Ar, which signifies not a field but a mountain, and it is called not Mageddo but Armageddon; and because nowhere else does Scripture, nor do the cosmographers, mention a place called Armageddon, hence it is probable that Armageddon is a new name of a place, which will be imposed on it by the event in the time of Antichrist. For Armageddon means in Hebrew "the deceit of gathering the army," or "the snares," or "the deceit of destruction." For it is derived from the root aram, that is, "he acted deceitfully, was cunning" (whence orme is deceit or cunning), and gadad, whence by crasis is made gad, that is, "he gathered an army," or from gada, that is, "he cut down," whence gidon is "a cutting down;" and so Gideon was so called because he cut down the altar of Baal, and was thereafter to cut down the Midianites. For the Hebrew gidon, the Greeks say gaden, because they cannot express the middle letter ain, which is in gidon. This place therefore is called Armageddon, because into it God will craftily and as it were by deceit gather these kings together with Antichrist, that He may destroy them all in one day: see chapter xix, verses 11 and following.
Or surely Armageddon signifies anathema, or the destruction of destruction, because, namely, there God will destroy Antichrist with his men with full destruction unto extermination; for cherem, or chorma, or as we say horma (concerning which Numbers xxi, 3) in Hebrew signifies anathema, or a thing devoted and consigned to destruction; gidon signifies cutting-down and destruction: for the letter chet, which is the first in cherem and chorma, since it is guttural, and is pronounced more harshly, because it is of deep aspiration, hence among the Greeks and Latins it dissolves and perishes, so that for chorma we say horma. The same happens in the names Orch, Enoch, Ezechias, etc., in which the first letter chet perishes and vanishes.
Furthermore, it is familiar to the Hebrews to impose a name from an event, especially a military one. For thus the place in which the Canaanites were slain by the Hebrews was called Hormah, Numbers xxi, 3 (to which perhaps St. John here alludes). Thus another place in which the Philistines were slain by the Jews was called the Stone of Help, I Samuel vii, 12. Another was called Baal-perazim, II Samuel v, 20. Another, where Samson with a jawbone slew a thousand Philistines, was thence called Ramat lechi, that is, "the lifting up of the jaw," Judges xv, 17.
It is probable that Armageddon will be near Jerusalem and the valley of Jehoshaphat, both because, as I said in chapter xi, and shall again say in chapter xvii, there will be the royal seat of Antichrist; and because in the valley of Jehoshaphat the judgment will take place, as is evident from Joel iii, 2; and because Armageddon is a Hebrew name: it will therefore be in Palestine and Judea. Furthermore, here are gathered the nations and kings to Armageddon, but gradually, those nearer more quickly, the more remote more slowly. Meanwhile occurs the destruction of Babylon, which is described in chapters xvii and xviii, then in chapter xix, verse 11, Christ with His own goes forth into battle line, who slays them at Armageddon. Therefore there is here no hysterology, as Ribera will have it, but the straight series and order of the matter to be done.
Verse 17: Upon the Air — It Is Done
17. "And the seventh angel poured out his vial upon the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple, saying: It is done." — As if to say: here is the end of the seven vials and the last plagues, and so likewise the end of the world and the day of judgment is at hand. Furthermore he poured out his vial upon the air, because in the air God was about to show His wrath, producing in it lightnings, and voices, and thunders. Viegas takes these voices to be articulate, as if they were voices of phantoms, namely of armies running about in the air, and shouting of slaughters and slayings; as before the siege of Jerusalem there appeared in the air armed battle lines, and a voice from the temple "Let us depart hence," according to Josephus, book VII of the Wars, chapter xii. It can secondly be a hendiadys, "voices and thunders," that is, thundering voices, or vocal thunders. If anyone thirdly prefer to take here other terrible voices from heaven, I shall not contradict.
Verse 18: A Great Earthquake Such As Never Was
18. "And there was an earthquake." — According to that of Psalm xvii, verse 8: "The earth shook and trembled: the foundations of the mountains were troubled, and were moved, because He was wroth with them."
Verse 19: The Great City Divided into Three Parts
19. "And the great city was made into three parts." — Alcazar takes this great city to be Babylon, which is called the great city in chapter xvii, verse 18, that is, Rome, which was divided into three parts when Constantine became Christian, namely into Christians, Pagans, and neutrals. By the voice proceeding from the throne, he understands the notification which St. Sylvester the Pontiff handed down to the whole Church concerning the decree of the Emperor Constantine, by which he publicly professed himself a Christian and commanded temples to be erected in honor of Jesus Christ. So he himself, after his manner, mystically and piously, applies it to the Roman Church.
I say therefore that literally this city will not be Babylon, that is Rome, because John will presently treat of it under the proper name of Babylon; but that it is Jerusalem: for this is called the great city in chapter xi, verse 8, and this will be greatest in the time of Antichrist: for it will be his royal seat, as I taught in chapter xi, verse 8. So Aretas, Viegas, Ribera, and others. The sense therefore is, as if to say: by this earthquake Jerusalem will be split into three parts, both as to its buildings and as to its walls: for so great will it be, that even islands and mountains shall be moved from their place, as follows; whence not only will the city be split so as to have pits and chasms between, but it will also be so divided, that the parts themselves are separated from one another and divided: which Pliny narrates to have once happened elsewhere, in book II, chapter lxxxiii.
Mystically, many understand by the great city the company and multitude of the impious, which will go away and be divided into three, that is, into various parts and schisms, both in this world and in hell. Whence Richard takes the three parts to be paganism, Judaism, and false Christianity. Again, others hold these three parts to be those of which St. John speaks, epistle I, chapter ii, verse 16: "Everything that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life."
"And great Babylon came in remembrance before God." — What this Babylon is, I shall say in the next chapter. Note: these things were shown to John together, although they are not to be carried into execution together.
Verse 20: Every Island Fled, and the Mountains Were Not Found
20. "And every island fled, and the mountains were not found." For since the element of earth after the day of judgment is to be constituted in another more perfect manner and figure, it is no wonder that beforehand it should begin to be agitated in that unusual and stupendous manner, and as it were by a universal motion of the whole earth. Whence what preceded: "And the cities of the Gentiles fell." Whereby also it will come to pass that a great part of men perish, and those who remain alive shall be struck with vast fear, says Francis Suarez, III part, Question lix, article 6, disputation 56, section iv.
Verse 21: Great Hail Like a Talent
21. "And great hail like a talent came down." — In Greek hōs talantiaia, that is, "as it were of a talent's weight," that is, of great mass and vast magnitude, says Erasmus; for this the Greeks call talantiaion, that is, "talentary," even if it does not precisely equal the magnitude and weight of a talent. Alcazar however thinks this hail precisely had the mass and weight of a talent. For it is unseen and unheard of in all ages. Whence, "men blasphemed God on account of the plague of the hail, because it was made exceeding great." Furthermore, the Attic talent contained 60 minae, that is, 62 1/2 Roman pounds, which make 750 ounces. But the ancient Hebrew talent was double the Attic, of which the Greeks and Latins are sometimes wont to speak, and of this John also seems here to speak, says Alcazar. Talent is so called from talanton, that is, "a balance, scale, weighing-instrument." Hence by metonymy the weight which is placed on it to be balanced and weighed, and properly that vast weight (which we call talent) is called by this name. So Nonius calls those ballistas "talentary," which, namely, hurled stones of a talent's weight.
Furthermore, examples of vast and portentous hail and stones I have recounted at Exodus chapter viii, verse 18, and Ezekiel chapter xxxviii, verse 22. These therefore are the seven last plagues, which will throw the whole world into confusion, and well-nigh overturn it. The Gentiles and Poets saw these things in shadow. Whence Lucan, at the beginning of book I of the Pharsalia, sings thus:
"Thus, when the framework is dissolved,
the last hour shall have brought together so many ages of the world,
and seeking again the ancient chaos, all things
shall rush, star confounded with star, the fiery
stars shall seek the sea, the earth shall refuse to extend its shores,
and shall shake off the strait; Phoebe shall go
opposite to her brother, and disdaining to drive her chariot
through the slanting orbit, shall claim the day for herself, and the whole discordant
framework shall disturb the bonds of the riven world."
And Ovid, I Metamorphoses:
"He remembers also that it is in the fates that a time will come,
in which the sea, the earth, and the seized palace of heaven
shall burn, and the laboriously-built mass of the world shall struggle."
And Seneca in Hercules Oetaeus:
"Now now, with the laws overwhelmed,
when day shall come upon the world,
the southern pole shall overwhelm
whatever lies through Libya:
the northern pole shall overwhelm
whatever lies beneath the axes.
Titan, trembling, shall shake from the pole
the lost day.
The palace of heaven shall fall,
and certain death shall drag it down:
and some death shall destroy
all the gods alike, and chaos,
and death shall set up
upon itself the latest fates."
Mystically, Richard and others by the talent-weight hail understand the hardening of the damned in hell: this is a most grievous punishment, and equally most just. But Alcazar takes it as the hardening with which some of the Gentiles were punished, when Constantine and Rome were converted to Christ. More generally you may take any hardening of the wicked, concerning which the saying of St. Augustine should be noted, sermon 3 On the Holy Innocents, volume X: "The sinner is struck with this punishment, that dying he forgets himself, who while living forgot God." The same, sermon 88 On the Time: "When," he says, "they begin to remain in their sins, from the multitude of sins despair is born, from despair hardening is generated." Whence, suggesting a remedy against it: "As often," he says, "as any sins steal upon us, without any delay let us hasten to provide for the wounds of our souls the medicine of almsgiving or of penance."
Finally, Aureolus, following the thread of his chronology, applies these seven angels, vials and plagues to events and deeds from Charlemagne up to Henry IV the Emperor. And so he holds the first Angel to be Adrian I the Pontiff, who in the II Nicene Synod condemned the Iconoclasts; by the second Angel, he takes the cruelty of certain Romans against Pope Leo, in the year of Christ 797; by the third, the chastisement of those same Romans through Charlemagne; by the fourth, the rebellion of Crescentius the Roman patrician against Pope Gregory V and against Otto III the Emperor; by the fifth, the chastisement of Crescentius through the Emperor Otto; by the sixth, the constancy of Pope Gregory VII against Henry IV the Emperor, and the lay investitures of princes in Ecclesiastical benefices, in the year of Christ 1073; by the seventh, the expedition of the Christians against the Turks and Saracens, or Crusade, when all the soldiers were signed with the cross, and under the leadership of Godfrey of Bouillon recovered Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and made Godfrey the first king of the Jerusalemites in the year of Christ 1096; for there gathered as it were a talent-weight hail six million Christians, though not all penetrated, nor in fact arrived in the holy land.
Mystically, Primasius, Richard, Ansbertus and Haymo (although these themselves offer this as if a literal sense): The first, they say, Angel signifies the Apostles, who threatened the earthly Jews with the wrath of God; whence there came upon them "a savage wound," that is, the grave sin of unbelief, and grave blinding, because they refused to receive Christ.
The second Angel signifies the Preachers, who threatened the wrath of God to the sea, that is to the Gentiles: whence they too on account of unbelief were rejected, and condemned to blood, that is, to eternal death.
The third Angel signifies the Preachers, who in like manner and sense denounce the wrath of God and "blood" against heretics.
The fourth Angel directs the wrath of God upon "the sun," that is, upon evil Prelates. These burn and afflict the people: whence the people afflicted and despairing blaspheme God.
The fifth Angel pours out the wrath of God "upon the seat of the beast," that is, upon the impious adhering to Antichrist.
The sixth signifies the Preachers, who will direct the wrath of God against the demons acting in this air, because they have helped Antichrist with his men.
Jerusalem and Babylon signify the reprobate; the splitting into three parts signifies the three kinds of unbelievers, namely Pagans, Jews, and false Christians, who will be punished one way and another according to each one's merits.
Symbolically, the seven capital vices are signified here. The first Angel therefore pours out the vial upon the earth, that is upon the envious, who from envy are of an earthen and muddy color. Whence in these arises a savage wound of grief and sickness of mind. For the envious man is consumed by sorrow, and wastes away at others' goods.
The second Angel pours out the vial upon the sea, that is upon the slothful, who waver like the sea; for they know not what they ought to do. For these are the sea on account of bitterness and weariness, by which all virtues die.
The third pours out the vial upon the rivers, that is upon the gluttons, who like rivers devour and swallow up all things; but they are turned into blood, because like the rich Glutton in hell they shall ask for a drop of water, and shall not obtain it, but shall drink their own blood.
The fourth, who kindles the sun, is wrath, which kindles the mind, and goads the angry to cursing and blasphemy.
The fifth, who touches the seat of the beast, is pride: for this is the seat of the demon and of Antichrist.
The sixth, who touches the Euphrates, is lust, which like the Euphrates delights, and sweeps and rolls down very many men with it: but the Euphrates is dried up, because this pleasure is turned into present and eternal torments.
The seventh, who touches the air, is avarice, which like the chameleon feeds on air: for it does not dare to use or enjoy its own goods.