Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The destruction and burning of Babylon is described, and thence the mourning and lamentation of the kings and merchants in verse 9. But the exultation of the saints in verse 20. There are therefore three parts of the chapter, according to the three persons and heavenly voices which are here introduced. For first, from verse 1 to 4, a glorious angel is introduced crying: "Babylon is fallen." Secondly, in verse 4, John hears a voice from heaven, by which it says: "Go out from her, My people, since the day of her punishment and destruction has come"; this voice is extended as far as verse 21, and describes in many ways the disaster of Babylon, and therefore the lamentation of the kings, merchants, and sailors. Thirdly, in verse 21, a strong angel casts a millstone into the sea, saying: "With this force shall Babylon be cast down, and shall be found no more, neither the voice of harpers, nor the voice of the bridegroom and the bride, nor the voice of the millstone, nor the light of the lamp."
Vulgate Text: Apocalypse 18:1-24
1 And after these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great power: and the earth was enlightened with his glory. 2 And he cried out with a strong voice, saying: Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen; and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every unclean spirit, and the hold of every unclean and hateful bird: 3 Because all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her; and the merchants of the earth have been made rich by the power of her delicacies. 4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Go out from her, my people; that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and the Lord hath remembered her iniquities. 6 Render to her as she also hath rendered to you; and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup wherein she hath mingled, mingle ye double unto her. 7 As much as she hath glorified herself, and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her; because she saith in her heart: I sit a queen, and am no widow; and sorrow I shall not see. 8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be burnt with the fire; because God is strong, who shall judge her. 9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication, and lived in delicacies with her, shall weep, and bewail themselves over her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning: 10 Standing afar off for fear of her torments, saying: Alas! alas! that great city Babylon, that mighty city: for in one hour is thy judgment come. 11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep, and mourn over her: for no man shall buy their merchandise any more: 12 Merchandise of gold and silver, and precious stones; and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner of vessels of ivory, and all manner of vessels of precious stone, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble, 13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. 14 And the fruits of the desire of thy soul are departed from thee, and all fat and goodly things are perished from thee, and they shall find them no more at all. 15 The merchants of these things, who were made rich, shall stand afar off from her, for fear of her torments, weeping and mourning. 16 And saying: Alas! alas! that great city, which was clothed with fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and was gilt with gold, and precious stones, and pearls. 17 For in one hour are so great riches come to nought; and every shipmaster, and all that sail into the lake, and mariners, and as many as work in the sea, stood afar off. 18 And cried, seeing the place of her burning, saying: What city is like to this great city? 19 And they cast dust upon their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying: Alas! alas! that great city, wherein all were made rich, that had ships at sea, by reason of her prices: for in one hour she is made desolate. 20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath judged your judgment on her. 21 And a mighty angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying: With such violence as this shall Babylon, that great city, be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. 22 And the voice of harpers, and of musicians, and of them that play on the pipe, and on the trumpet, shall no more be heard at all in thee; and no craftsman of any art whatsoever shall be found any more at all in thee; and the sound of the mill shall be heard no more at all in thee; 23 And the light of the lamp shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth, for all nations have been deceived by thy enchantments. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.
Verse 1: I Saw Another Angel Coming Down from Heaven
1. I Saw Another Angel Coming Down from Heaven, Having Great Power: And the Earth Was Illumined with His Glory — that is, by His brightness and splendor, as if to say: With such great brilliance did this angel shine forth, that he seemed to illumine the whole earth with his light and rays.
Thou wilt ask: Who was this Angel? First, Alcazar, just as by the angel of the preceding chapter, verse 1, he understands St. Paul, so by this glorious angel having great power he understands St. Peter, who, equally with Paul, foretells the mystical destruction of Babylon, that is, of pagan Rome, that is, her conversion from Heathenism to Christianity. Hence in verse 4 a heavenly voice arises, which signifies the preaching of the Church. For the Church is heaven, which from St. Peter's discourse and doctrine goes forth throughout the whole world, to take mystical retribution upon Babylon, that is, the Roman Empire, and to render like for like, namely by overturning paganism and exalting Christianity: for Peter is the glorious angel having the vicarious power of Christ throughout the whole earth. For he heard from Christ: "To thee I will give the keys of the kingdom of heaven."
Wherefore, says Alcazar, nothing could be more aptly inscribed at Rome on the doors of St. Peter's church than this title of this angel: "To the angel coming down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was illumined by his glory." Thus he always sings the same one song, and continually repeats and inculcates that in all these visions from chapter XII to the end of the Apocalypse, nothing else is signified than the Church's victory over the Gentiles and gentilism. For he says that all these things are nothing other than various symbols and enigmas, which signify one and the same thing, namely the destruction of gentilism.
Secondly, many take this angel to be Christ, who in His incarnation descended from heaven, and illumined the whole earth with the light of His Gospel. For He is the glorious angel of God, that is, the legate, having great power; whence at His birth angels shining with great brightness sang: "Glory to God in the highest": so Primasius, Rupertus, Richardus, and others.
But more properly and genuinely here, as also in the preceding passages, we shall take the angel to be a true angel, but one who is from among the foremost and most illustrious in the heavenly court; for he has great power, and seems to illumine the whole earth with his brilliance.
Verse 2: Babylon the Great Is Fallen
2. And He Cried Out with Might, Saying: Babylon Has Fallen, Has Fallen. — He cites allegorically Isaiah chapter XXI, verse 9: for the destruction of Babylon by Cyrus, which Isaiah describes in chapter XIII and chapter XXI, allegorically signified the destruction of pagan Rome (which is here called Babylon) at the end of the world, as if to say: As of old "Babylon, that glorious one among kingdoms, the renowned pride of the Chaldeans, fell; as the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah," as Isaiah says in chapter XIII, verse 19: Babylon, I say, which was "the hammer of the whole earth," as Jeremiah says in chapter L, verse 23: so shall Rome too fall, that renowned mistress of the world.
And It Has Become the Habitation of Demons, and the Prison of Every Unclean Spirit, and the Prison of Every Unclean Bird. — He alludes allegorically again to what Isaiah says of Babylon destroyed in chapter XIII, verse 20: "It shall not be founded unto generation and generation: nor shall the Arab pitch his tent there, nor shepherds; but wild beasts shall rest there, and their houses shall be filled with dragons: and ostriches shall dwell there, and shaggy creatures shall dance there, and owls shall answer one another in her houses, and sirens in the temples of her pleasure." He says similar things about destroyed Idumaea in chapter XXXIV, verse 14: "Demons shall meet onocentaurs, and one shaggy one shall cry out to another: there has the lamia lain down," etc. By these phrases nothing else is signified than the supreme devastation and desolation of Rome to come, so much so that she shall be reduced to a desert, and shall become the dwelling of dragons and beasts. Whence the Sibyl in the words about to be cited foretold that Rome shall be a hamlet.
Mystically, by this phrase is hinted the idolatry, superstitions, and other crimes which shall rage at Rome at the end of the world, before her destruction: for through these she shall become the habitation of demons: so Primasius, Aretas, Ansbertus, and others.
Verse 3: The Kings and Merchants of the Earth
3. For All the Nations Have Drunk of the Wine of the Wrath of Her Fornication. — He calls the "wine of wrath" the cup of vengeance, punishment, and destruction, which God shall offer to Rome on account of her fornication — that is, her idolatry and crimes, and shall force her to drain and drink it. Furthermore, Rome shall offer this cup of wrath to other nations, because she shall derive her punishments upon them, by this very fact, that she shall impel them to imitate her idolatry and crimes, by which they shall provoke God's vengeance upon themselves, just as Rome shall.
Note: John here foretells the destruction of pagan Rome at the end of the world; but with her name kept silent, indeed changed: for he calls her Babylon. He does this lest he offend the Emperor Domitian and the Romans who at that time were still pagans, and stir them up and inflame them more against himself and the Christians. Moreover, John foretells this destruction of Rome for the consolation of the faithful and the Saints, who at that time under Domitian at Rome and elsewhere were marvelously harassed, and shortly afterwards under Trajan and the following Emperors were to be harassed more grievously, so that the Christians and Saints might know and think, in these so atrocious persecutions of theirs, that they were God's care, and that God would be the avenger of their blood; because indeed God at the end of the world shall punish not only present, but also long-past crimes and persecutions of Christians done at Rome, and in the Roman Empire in the time of Domitian and afterwards; for the Romans at the future end of the world shall praise and imitate the unbelief, tyranny, and impious customs of the ancient Romans: wherefore for the same things they shall be punished more grievously than they would be punished if those had not preceded, as shall be evident in verses 20 and 24. The Sibyls foretold the same destruction of Rome: for thus they sing in the VIII Sibylline Oracle:
"There shall come upon thee from heaven an equal, O Rome of upright neck, / A heavenly stroke, and thou shalt be the first to bend thy neck, / And thou shalt be dashed to the earth, and fire shall consume thee wholly, / And then thou shalt be deserted as if thou hadst never been."
And again: "Near indeed are the ends of the world and the last day; / But first there shall be the inevitable wrath of the Romans. / And thou shalt be a triumph to the world, and the reproach of all."
From these same Sibyls Lactantius in book VII, chapter XXV, says: "When that head of the world shall have fallen, and shall have begun to be a way, which the Sibyls say shall come to pass, who would doubt that the end has now come for human affairs and for the whole earth? For that is the city which still sustains all things, and we must pray to and worship the God of heaven, if indeed His decrees and decisions can be deferred, lest sooner than we think, that abominable tyrant come, who shall plot so great a crime, and dig out that light, by whose ruin the world itself shall fall." Tertullian teaches the same in his Apologeticum, chapter XXXII. For when the Gentiles objected against the Christians that they were enemies of Rome and of the Roman Emperors, inasmuch as they were Gentiles, Tertullian answers that this is false, but rather that Christians daily pray for the welfare and preservation of Rome and of the Roman Empire, because as long as it shall stand, the Church and the whole world also shall stand, and that the Christians had learned this from the oracles of their Prophets: "There is," he says, "yet another and greater necessity for us to pray for the emperors, and also for the whole state of the Empire and for Roman affairs, because we know that the very great force imminent over the whole world, and the very end of the age threatening horrible bitternesses, are delayed by the duration of the Roman Empire. Therefore we are unwilling to experience it, and while we pray that it be deferred, we favor the long duration of Rome." He teaches the same in his book to Scapula, chapter II. The others cited above at the end of chapter XVII teach the same. Some have therefore wrongly thought this to be the trifling opinion of Lactantius alone.
For this reason the ancients, equally with the moderns, call Rome eternal. To pass over others in silence, Jacobus Gutherius dedicates his work De Veteri Jure Pontificio "To eternal Rome, prince of cities, head of the world, mistress of virtues, vindicator of right and equity, venerable for the miracle of her antiquity, Victorious, Powerful, August, Pious, Happy, Eternally reborn, Eternally rising again." Thus Ammianus Marcellinus, in book XV, chapter XIV, calls Rome "eternal," "destined to live as long as men shall exist." And Virgil in St. Augustine, De Verbis Domini, sermon 29, speaking of the Romans and Rome:
"To these," says Jupiter, "I set no limits of things, nor times; / I have given empire without end."
And the Kings of the Earth Have Committed Fornication with Her, and the Merchants of the Earth Have Become Rich from the Strength of Her Delights. — Note: He here calls Rome first, harlot; second, merchant-woman; third, tavern-keeper, who with her wine intoxicates and maddens all. The reason is that the Hebrew zona signifies a tavern-woman, who indeed prostitutes both her house and her food, and herself or her women; or who deals in merchandise, tends a tavern, feasts, plays the wanton, that is, who earns her living, either by prepared provisions as a tavern-keeper, or by displayed wares as a harlot, or by prostitution of body, whether prostituting her own body or that of the brothel-women whom she keeps, like a procuress to guests for a price, who by antonomasia is called a harlot, although the name itself is common to all those just mentioned. For a harlot is the same as a money-getter, seller, merchant-woman. So also the Greek pernē, that is, harlot, signifies a saleswoman: for it is derived from pernamai, that is, "I sell." For this reason therefore Babylon here, and in the preceding chapter, is presented as a tavern-keeper, harlot, and merchant-woman. Therefore just as in Isaiah XXIII, 15, the trade of Tyre is called pandering and harlotry, to which John here alludes: so on the other hand, indeed equally, the harlotry of Babylon is here called by him commerce on account of the common analogy of both. For both the harlot and the merchant-woman earn their living, and expose and sell their wares: and because it was not rare then, as also now, that the same women were tavern-keepers, harlots, and merchant-women; and this is most fitting for pagan Rome, and shall be fitting at the end of the world. Hence the ancient Roman and civil laws presume that she who serves in an inn or tavern is not honorable. For as Cicero says in Book I of De Officiis: "In the old days a stranger or guest was called a hostis, but the manners of strangers and guests have brought it about that now hostis is taken for enemy"; so it seems also to have happened in the name of meretrix: of whom Plautus truly said in the Truculentus: "I think a harlot to be like the sea, which devours all, yet is never full."
Note second: The tavern is the living image and origin of any idolatry, as is evident in Numbers XXV, 1, and Exodus XXXII, 6. For the temples of idols were in caverns, like the cookhouses and brothels of the priests and people feasting, drinking together, and playing the wanton with their Venuses, just as their very gods whom they worshipped had done. In like manner heresy is spread from taverns and feasts, as we have seen in this age and we see, and idolatry shall be spread again at the end of the world. For this reason the harlot Babylon here signifies idolatrous Rome: so Hieronymus Prado in Ezechiel, volume 1, page 195, and others.
Alcazar adds that by the word merchant-woman, or harlot, are noted the Roman Emperors, Governors, and Judges, who for their own special gains haled Christians into court: for in order to seize their estates and possessions, they accused them of being Christians; thus when the Christians lost their cases in the tribunal of the Gentiles, as enemies of Christ, indeed when they were condemned to death, they themselves seized upon their goods. Again, in the courts they busied themselves with enticing Christian virgins to their lust, as Quintianus solicited St. Agatha: and if they refused, they condemned them to a brothel, that they might abuse them there. Whence the famous saying in Tertullian of the Gentiles lusting after the virgins: "Let the Christian virgin be condemned not to the lion, but to the pander"; as Symphorianus condemned St. Agnes to a brothel, so that there his son, mad with love, might enjoy her. Similarly at the end of the world the Romans, pagans, and tyrants shall gorge themselves on the wealth of the faithful, as greedy merchants, and as panders shall busy themselves to satisfy their insatiable lust with them. Rightly therefore are they called merchants, who like Judas shall, with the easiest of transactions, sell innocent blood for the sake of gaining wealth or pleasures, on this title alone, that they are Christians, as we now see being sold in England, Scotland, and other heretical or pagan kingdoms. For of these it is rightly said: "And the merchants of the earth have become rich from the strength of her delights." Although these things can also be taken in another way, more properly, namely "from the strength," that is, from the abundance, "of the delights" which "merchants" brought to Rome and sold dearly; for from the sale of these "they have been made rich." For the Hebrew hel, to which the Greek dynamis corresponds, and the Latin virtus, or potentia, signifies strength, fortitude, an army, abundance, wealth, and whatever is great, abundant, powerful, strong, or vigorous.
Again, by "delights" here is noted luxury in marbles and porphyry columns: in proud and magnificent temples to be erected to idols: in golden and silver images to be adorned with marvelous variety of sculpture and ornament: in most precious gems and pearls, with which they decorated Venus, Cupid, and other monsters of their gods: in gladiatorial games, comedies, and spectacles, and other similar things, by which as it were by delights and enticements the Romans of old enticed men to the worship of their gods, and shall entice at the end of the world. For these delights the merchants brought to Rome, and sold dearly, and so became rich, and shall again become so in the last times.
Verse 4: Go Out from Her, My People
4. And I Heard Another Voice from Heaven, Saying: Go Out from Her, My People. — He warns Christians to flee from pagan Rome at the end of the world, when she shall be overturned. So Isaiah, chapter XLVIII, verse 20, warns the Jews to depart from Babylon when it was about to be overturned by Cyrus: "Go out," he says, "from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans." And Zechariah II, 7: "O Sion, flee, thou who dwellest with the daughter of Babylon." And Jeremiah, chapter L, verse 8, and chapter LI, verse 6: "Flee from the midst of Babylon, and let each one save his own soul; do not be silent over her iniquity, for it is the time of vengeance from the Lord, He Himself shall render recompense to her"; to which St. John alludes here allegorically. Thus Christ forewarned the faithful, to flee from Jerusalem when it was to be besieged and devastated by Titus, Matthew chapter XXIV, verse 15: "When you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains": so Ribera, Viegas, and others.
Verse 5: Her Sins Have Reached unto Heaven
5. For Her Sins Have Reached Even unto Heaven. — For "have reached" the Greek has ēkolouthēsan, as if to say: The sins of Babylon, following one upon another, have grown into such a heap that they reach all the way to heaven; whence others read ekollēthēsan, that is, have stuck together, have grown together, have been gathered into a mass all the way to heaven, as if alluding to the builders of the tower of Babel saying: "Let us make for ourselves a city and a tower, whose top shall reach to heaven," Genesis XI, 4. The sense is, as if to say: The sins of Babylon are so many and so great that they cry to heaven for vengeance, which therefore I can no longer defer.
Verse 6: Render to Her as She Hath Rendered
6. Render to Her as She Has Rendered to You. — He alludes to Jeremiah L, 29, where it is said of Babylon to Cyrus, the Medes, and the Persians: "Render to her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do to her." And LI, 49: "And as Babylon caused that the slain should fall in Israel, so from Babylon shall the slain fall in the whole earth."
Into the Cup with Which She Has Mixed, Mix for Her Double. — It is a metaphor from the cup, which by the master of the feast was tempered and offered to each guest, according as he knew it would suit and please him; for so God tempers and offers to each one his own cup, that is, his lot, according to each one's merits. The cup therefore here, as also often elsewhere, signifies the measure of vengeance and tribulation, which God mixes for each sinner, that is, measures out and inflicts according to the measure of his sins. For the ancients used to mix water with wine in the cup which they gave or offered to each one, both for the sake of refreshment, and of health, and of sobriety: hence to mix is sometimes the same as to pour out and to offer, whether neat or diluted, as in Juvenal:
"The boy bought for so many thousands does not know / How to mix drink for the poor."
And in another: "Who, snatched up by the sacred bird, / Mixes pleasing cups for his lover."
So in Proverbs IX, 2, it is said: "She mixed," that is, poured out, "wine." Therefore "mix" here is the same as: pour out, offer to her the wine of God's wrath, that is, afflict her in "double," not double of what she has deserved: for God's punishment never exceeds man's fault, indeed God punishes below what is fitting; but in "double" of that with which she has afflicted you, as if to say: Afflict twofold the more, O My Saints and faithful, Babylon, that is, unfaithful Rome, more than she has afflicted you. For the fault by which she afflicted you, because it offended not only you but God Himself, and as it were wounded Him, and was therefore the crime of wounded divine majesty; hence she deserves not a simple, but a double, that is, grave and manifold, indeed not only earthly and temporal punishment, but also infernal and eternal. Afflict, I say, her, that is, rejoice and approve that she is afflicted by Me: for what I do for you, namely to avenge your wrongs, this you are reckoned to do, especially because you exact this just vengeance from Me, as is evident in chapter VI, verse 10, and I exercise it being led and moved by your prayers. Therefore because I afflict Babylon in your name and cause, hence you are reckoned to afflict her; and because you rejoice, and as it were insult her in her affliction, you also truly afflict her. So elsewhere often by Hebraism active transitive and real verbs are taken for mental actives: as "I do" for "I think to do, will, intend, desire, rejoice," as I said in canon 29, Proemium to the Prophets.
Verse 7: I Sit a Queen
7. As Much as She Has Glorified Herself, and Has Been in Delights, So Much Give Her Torment and Mourning. — The Syriac: "As much as it pleased her to be in delights, all this give her corruption and grief"; the Arabic elegantly: "The glory in which she was made and the sport, give it to her, turn it for her into sorrow of heart and mourning."
Note, "give as much," namely in this life: for he speaks of the destruction of Rome and the Romans in this life, as is evident from what follows; nevertheless the same can be taken of the future life; but then "as much" is to be taken and measured out not arithmetically, but geometrically, that is, not by equal but by proportional measure, as if to say: Give her as much of punishments as she has deserved by her unlawful delights, which were very great. For the punishment of hell is far greater than the delights of this life; nevertheless it corresponds to them proportionally, smaller for smaller, greater for greater, greatest for the greatest delights and sins. The same and more is to be said of heavenly glory, with respect to good works and merits. For God is more generous in rewarding good things than in punishing evil things: as therefore He punishes evils below what is fitting, so He rewards goods far above what is fitting. Hence Gregory of Valentia, in part III, On the Beatified and Damned Bodies, disputation 11, question 5, point 3, proves that the bodies of the damned must be tortured in their individual senses, because in each they had their deadly delights. Therefore their sight shall suffer from terrible spectacles and apparitions of demons; their hearing from wailings; their smell from sulphur and the worst stenches, which shall exist also in their own putrid bodies; their taste from some foul humor of the mouth; their touch from fire.
Morally, learn here how harmful and deceitful is pleasure, since it brings huge gall with a little honey. Olaus Magnus writes in Book XVIII of his Northern History, chapter XIV, that bears in Russia are caught and killed by this trick: "Bees," he says, "in Russia make honey in hollow trees; bears, since they are most greedy for honey, leap upon them: hunters suspend a wooden club studded with iron points above the opening through which the bees go out, from a higher branch: this, when struck by the climbing bear, falls, and crushes the bear's head, which it has very weak: thus by honey he brings death upon himself." So do voluptuaries. Again, just as beetles live in dung and die in roses, as Aelian testifies in Book IV, chapter XVIII: so also voluptuaries live in filth. Such was Constantine Copronymus, that is, dung-bearer, the Emperor, who so delighted in filth that he smeared himself with the dung of brute animals, and ordered his own to do the same, says Theostericus in his Life of Nicetas. Drinking clear water is most hateful to elephants, they drink turbulent and dirty water most greedily, says Aelian in Book XVII, chapter VII. So pleasure-hunters "live in mud, not in heaven." Third, Strabo, Book XII, writes that the Septempagani gather honey from the leaves of trees, which makes men insane: for when they had offered this to the soldiers of Pompey, they slew three of his cohorts who were out of their minds. Such is pleasure. "Wicked poisons lurk under sweet honey." It is also like the little spring of Geloum, which has clear waters, but whoever drinks from them soon dies, of which Aristotle speaks in his Mirabilia. Such is the wage of pleasure. Fourth, the symbol of pleasure is the Siren, who above bears the appearance of a beautiful woman and entices all to herself; but below ends in a horrible serpent and dragon, which entwines and kills with its tail those who approach. Again the symbol of the same is the leopard, or panther, which by its spotted hide and sweet odor entices to itself fawns, goats, and gazelles; it seizes and devours those who approach. "A wild beast," says Plutarch in his book Against Pleasure, "is pleasure, enslaving men to itself; but a gentle one: for if it openly fought, it would soon be caught. But now it is even more hateful for this reason, that it conceals enmity, putting on the garb of benevolence." Fifth, the symbol of the same is the lover-girl, who soothed Menippus with the hope of marriage, and busied herself with binding him to herself with all good offices, that she might catch and devour him: which the spectres called Empusae are said to do. The matter is told by Philostratus in Book VIII of the Life of Apollonius, chapter IV, and by Delrio in his Magical Investigations. Wherefore the Romans worshipped the goddess Volupia, as if mistress of pleasures and of men, as St. Augustine testifies in Book IV De Civitate Dei, chapter VIII. Sixth, Cicero, in his De Senectute: "Divinely," he says, "Plato calls pleasure the bait of evils. In the kingdom of pleasure, virtue cannot subsist." The same in his Partitiones: "Pleasure is most hostile to virtue, and adulterates the nature of the good by deceitful imitation." The same in Book III of De Officiis: "All pleasure is contrary to honor." The same in Book I of De Legibus: "Pleasure is the mother of all evils." Seventh, St. Ambrose in epistle 23 to the Church of Vercelli, says that pleasure is a most evil serpent, and was the first dart of the demon, with which tempting Christ he attacked Him, and drove Adam from paradise; where he also cites this saying of Epicurus: "Not immoderate banquets, not drinking-parties, beget the sweetness of pleasure, but a continent life." The same in Book VI on Luke says that voluptuaries are like swine, because they are suffocated in the waters. The same in Book VII: "There is," he says, "a certain noose of pandering pleasure, which fastens certain bonds upon the footsteps of our minds, so that if it has dulled the fiery vigor and purity of nature, and the senses for the sake of earthly matter, it places one addicted to luxury at the price of the secular under a certain auction of vices." Eighth, St. Chrysostom, homily 1 on Genesis: "Pleasure," he says, "is brief and temporary; but pain is perpetual and without end." The same, sermon 1 On Lazarus: "If anyone," he says, "in a hundred years had seen for one night a pleasant dream, and had enjoyed many delights through the dream, and were then to be punished for a hundred years: could he say of this that the one night in which he dreamed is to be equated with a hundred years? It is absurd to say. Now think the same about the future life. For what one dream is to a hundred years, that is the present life to the future life, indeed much less. What a tiny drop is to the immense ocean, that are a thousand years to that future enjoyment: and as much as there is between dreams and true things, so much is there between the state of this life and that." And a little after: "Pleasure is temporary, but pain is perpetual, fear on all sides and trembling, suspicion and anxiety, the soul fears corners, dreads even shadows," etc. When therefore pleasure solicits thee to her dainties, answer what the fox said to the lion inviting him to his cave: "I see many footprints of those entering, none of those returning." And what the donkey in Phaedrus, Book V, fable 85, said to his master ordering that the remains of the barley which the recently slaughtered piglet had not been able to consume be given to him:
"Gladly would I desire thy food, / Were it not that he who was nourished with it has been slaughtered."
I Sit a Queen. — Hence it is evident that Rome at the end of the world shall return to the former splendor of empire, wealth, strength, and pomp, so that she shall be, as she was of old, queen of the orb and mistress of the world. Whence she shall have the ten kings, lords of the world, either subject to herself or bound to herself, as is evident from verse 3, where she is said to sit upon and preside over the beast horned with ten horns (that is, kings), whom, and others, she has intoxicated with the wine of her fornication. These however shall afterwards assail and devastate her, and shall divide her empire, and shall subject themselves to Antichrist, as he said in chapter XVII, verse 16. Therefore unfaithful Rome says: "I sit a queen," as if to say: Although I have cast out the Pontiff, who was my husband, nevertheless I am not a widow, but full of people. Furthermore I lack a king, but the more I myself am queen, since so many kings obey me, I obey none. He alludes to ancient Babylon, of which Isaiah says the same thing in full at chapter XLVII, verse 8.
And I Shall Not See Mourning — I shall not feel, I shall not experience it. It is a catachresis. For it signifies the Greek hyperēphania, which Paul also uses in 1 Timothy chapter V, verse 11, where the Interpreter renders it, "when they have grown wanton against Christ, they wish to marry." These shall weep in death, when each one's delights, his lust, and as it were his idol, shall be taken away.
Verse 8: In One Day Shall Her Plagues Come
8. Therefore in One Day Her Plagues Shall Come, Death and Mourning and Famine — namely, that death may touch some of Babylon's citizens, mourning others, famine others: for famine cannot touch him whom death has already touched and slain, although whom famine touches, him death also touches. In this harlot, then, the old adage will be true: "Where the udder, there the swelling; where honey, there gall; where mountains, there valleys; where gold, there rust and dross," as if to say: Where lust, there pestilence; where pleasure, there pain; where pride, there contempt; where avarice, there filth; where satiety, there famine; where drunkenness, there death.
And Famine. — Note: A fitting and suitable punishment for Babylon's gluttony and luxuries is famine, both because God justly and fittingly punishes men in that wherein they have sinned, and because gluttony wears down and exhausts wealth, and reduces men to want and famine. Pliny relates that the flesh of a hen consumes gold. For thus he says in book XXIX, chapter IV: "I will not pass over a miracle of nature. If the limbs of hens be mixed with molten gold, they consume it into themselves; so this is the poison of gold." This is wonderful, if true; and it symbolically and aptly signifies that those who feast splendidly and delicately consume their gold and squander their patrimonies.
Because God Is Strong. — Some think the voice from heaven, which began in verse 4, ends here; and that John continues it in his own words and more fully explains the disaster and laments over the destruction of Rome. But it is truer and plainer that the heavenly voice, begun in verse 4, is continued here up to verse 21: for all these things are so connected, and the whole speech flows so smoothly, that it seems to be of one and the same speaker: so Alcazar.
Verse 9: The Kings of the Earth Shall Weep
9. And the Kings of the Earth Shall Weep and Bewail Themselves over Her. — "Kings," namely those ten who will lay waste and burn Rome, says Ribera. For great calamities and disasters are wont to bring compassion, mourning, and grief even to the victors themselves. Or rather, other kings and lesser princes who will exist at the end of the world. For although there will then be only ten chief and more powerful kings in the world, there will yet be many kings, that is, petty kings and princes, who, seeing Rome conquered and laid waste by the ten kings, will fear lest they themselves also be conquered and laid waste by them, and by Antichrist their lord, who is aiming at universal monarchy.
Moreover, he alludes to Ezekiel XXVII, 29, where at the end of the chapter the laments and dirges of princes, merchants, and sailors over the destruction of Tyre are similar. For Tyre, renowned for its riches, merchandise, and luxury, was a type of Rome. Tropologically, Alcazar says: In the kings, pride is noted; in the merchants, avarice; in the sailors, that is the lowest commoners, lust.
Verse 11: The Merchants of the Earth Shall Weep
11. And the Merchants of the Earth Shall Weep, Because No Man Shall Buy Their Merchandise Any More. — Not that other cities cannot buy many things from them, or will not buy them; but that no other city can consume or buy up so great a quantity of the most precious goods as Rome, so renowned, says Ribera.
Verse 12: Every Thyine Wood
12. And Every Thyine Wood. — "Thyinum," that is, fragrant, from thyō, that is, "I emit an odor," or "fumigate," so that it corresponds to the Hebrew almuggim, which our Vulgate at 3 Kings X, 2, renders as thyina; or, what seems to be the same by metathesis, algummim. For almuggim seems to be said from ela, that is, oak, or tree; and mog, that is, melting or distilling fragrant resin; while algummim is as it were ela, that is, tree, of gum or resin. For the Hebrews seem to have transferred the word gummi, like also sac, that is sack; keren, that is horn; abba, that is father, and many others, into all languages: although the word gummi itself does not exist in Hebrew in Sacred Scripture. Furthermore, our Interpreter with Josephus and the Septuagint at 2 Chronicles II, 8, renders algummim as pine, so that almoggim or algummim, and the Greek thyinon, is a general name, and signifies all fragrant and resinous woods, whether they be pine, cedar, cypress, or other. Whence the word "every" is added here; for he says, "every thyine wood." So Antonius Nebrissensis in his Quinquagena, chapter 1. Hence the Syriac, instead of "thyine wood," renders "wood of aromatic" or "of sweetness," that is of sweet odor.
Yet secondly, with Ribera, by thyinum may be understood a certain kind of wood, so called from thuia or thyia, a fragrant tree, which in form, leaf, trunk, and fruit is similar to the cypress: from whose wood, being immortal and incorrupt against all defects, the rafters of ancient temples were customarily made (as is still done among the Turks): so Theophrastus in book V of the History of Plants, chapter V, and Pliny, book XIII, chapter XVI. The recent author of the History of Plants, namely Rodivillius, lists four species of it in book 1, chapter XVI.
Verse 13: Cinnamon, and of Slaves and Souls of Men
13. And Cinnamon. — The Complutensian and other manuscripts add, "and amomum," which is a shrub in Assyria and Armenia, having a flower like a white violet, a color tending toward gold, reddish wood, and a most sweet odor. Whence Lactantius in his Phoenix:
"Cinnamon then, and the breath of the amomum exhaling its fragrance from afar, he heaps up,"
that with these he may build himself a nest and burn himself. Indeed Ovid, in book V of the Metamorphoses, says the phoenix lives on the juice of amomum. But the Roman Bible does not have amomum here, nor does the Greek.
And of Slaves. — In Greek sōmatōn, that is, of bodies. Thus slaves were called, as it were corporeal beasts of burden; but free men were called psychai, that is, souls, of whom he adds:
And of Souls of Men — that is, and of the lives of men, whom namely the Romans bought, and will again at the end of the world buy, that they may fight either with gladiators or with beasts in the circus. From all these things it is clear that Rome at the end of the world will again be most flourishing, most powerful, most opulent, and most luxurious.
Verse 14: The Fruits of the Desire of Thy Soul
14. And the Fruits of the Desire of Thy Soul Are Departed from Thee. — Alcazar by "fruits" understands occasion: for the Greek opōra properly signifies occasion and opportunity, and thence the time of fruits, that is autumn, and finally the fruits and apples themselves. Therefore he gives this sense, as if to say: "The fruits of desire," that is the fruit which the concupiscence of thy eyes preferred, has wholly dried up, and the occasion has slipped from thy hands. "And all things that were fat and goodly have perished from thee," that is, those best gains and profits of yours have now made shipwreck; nor will anything remain henceforth from which thou mightest suck out that desired juice with which thou thoughtest thou couldst grow fat and rich. But although the Greek opōra can be rendered "occasion," the Latin pomum cannot be so rendered. For who ever took an apple to mean an occasion? Furthermore, among Rome's other delights he numbers "fruits of desire," that is desirable things, because Italy and Rome abound in golden apples, lemons, pomegranates, peaches, citrons, and others, so that gardens planted with these recall the earthly paradise. For the leaves of the trees are continually green, both winter and summer, indeed they shine and glisten with their greenness like laurels; and they wonderfully put forth flowers fragrant like aromatics; and produce fruits which delight and feed the eyes with their green, saffron, and golden color, the nostrils with their most sweet odor, and the taste with their most pleasing flavor. And, what is wonderful, on one and the same tree at one and the same time will delight thee both the greenness and gleam of the leaves, and the color and odor of the flowers gleaming with white and rosy hue, and at the same time the appearance of these fruits budding, those becoming green, others ripening, others ripe — a varied and manifold beauty. I pass over the twice-bearing figs (for these too, and all soft-skinned fruits, are called pomes), olives, artichokes, melons, cucumbers, gourds, etc., in which Rome and Italy abound above other provinces; which are so pleasing to the Italians, even the leading men, that most prefer to eat them rather than meats. Thus Pompey in his triumph displayed a square golden mountain, with stags and lions, and fruits of every kind, surrounded by a golden vine, says Pliny, book XXXVII, chapter XI. Yet at last, slain on a foreign shore, he desired a clod of earth, who had displayed fruits and mountains, indeed golden worlds in his triumphs.
Again, Narses the eunuch, who defeated Totila, accused by his rivals, was recalled from the scepter to wool-spinning in the women's quarters by Sophia, the wife of Emperor Justin; he said to Justin and Sophia that he would begin a web for them which they could by no means unweave. Therefore inviting the Lombards from sterile Pannonia into the fertile fields of Italy, he sent from the same soil the choicest fruits, by the appearance of which the Lombards, captivated, penetrated into Italy with great forces. So Paul the Deacon, book I On the Deeds of the Lombards, chapter V. Although Baronius at the year of Christ 567 contends to weaken this story and to clear Narses of all charge of treachery.
The word "desire" hints at immense torment: for things greatly desired, if they perish, greatly torment; because what is possessed with love is lost with sorrow. Hence on the contrary, "there is no difficulty in lacking, except when there is desire in having; and therefore that alone is rightly loved, which is never well lost," says St. Augustine in his Sentences, number 264. Wherefore St. Bernard wisely warns in epistle 103: "Blessed," he says, "is he who has not gone after those things which when possessed weigh down, when loved defile, when lost torment."
Verse 17: In One Hour Are So Great Riches Come to Nought
17. Because in One Hour So Great Riches Have Been Made Desolate. — In Greek ērēmōthē ho ploutos, that is, so great wealth has been destroyed and reduced to nothing. So Aretas and Primasius. Secondly, Vatablus renders, "so great riches have been desolated"; and so our Vulgate renders in verse 19. Thirdly, our Vulgate renders here, "so great riches have been forsaken": "forsaken," that is bereft of their possessors, say Ribera and Alcazar; for when the possessor is slain or carried off, his possession, house, fields, and wealth are forsaken and abandoned.
And Everyone Who Sails in the Lake. — Of which sort there are many in Italy, and near Rome, whence fish are brought. For the Greek ploion signifies rather small vessels, such as are on lakes; and because shortly after concerning the sea it follows: "And those who work on the sea." Therefore our Vulgate rightly understands these things of lakes, although this is not expressly stated in the Greek.
Verse 20: Rejoice over Her, Thou Heaven
20. Rejoice over Her, O Heaven, and Holy Apostles and Prophets: For God Hath Judged Your Judgment on Her. — The Syriac renders: "Rejoice over her, O heavens, and angels, and Apostles and Prophets, because God judges your judgment on her," that is because for you and your suit and cause (for "judgment" signifies this metonymically, since suit and cause are conducted and treated in a judgment) He has pronounced a just sentence against her, as if to say: God by His just judgment has adjudicated the cause to you, and has determined your cause to be just, but that of Babylon, that is of the unbelieving Romans, unjust, namely that you, innocent and harmless, were slain by the unjust Roman tyrants. For at Rome were slain Sts. Peter and Paul, St. John was cast into a vat of boiling oil, and afterward many thousands of martyrs both at Rome and throughout the whole world by the edict of the Roman Emperors were slain. Because therefore Rome formerly persecuted the Apostles, Prophets (not the ancient Judaic ones, but those of the new law, such as were the Apostles and their successors) and the faithful, and again will persecute them with the Pontiff at the end of the world, hence God will cut her off: for He will punish the ancient sins of the Romans, their measure being filled at the end of the world; whence the future Romans will be more grievously punished than they would have been, if similar sins of the ancient Romans had not preceded. For they themselves will be the descendants of the ancients (as inhabitants and citizens of the same city of Rome, some even sprung from those ancients and their grandchildren) and their followers; because they will approve, praise, and indeed follow and imitate their crimes. For they will wish to emulate the deeds and glory of Caesar, Pompey, Trajan, Decius, Diocletian, and the smoke of ancient Rome, and the empty names of the Catos, as we see even now some are nourished and glory in these ancient Roman fumes. Wherefore God in them will punish the sins of their ancestors, because to them, on account of their approval and imitation, the sins of their ancestors will be imputed: therefore they will be more grievously punished than if they alone had sinned, because they will also sin more grievously, in that the crimes of their ancestors will please them, and they will wish to emulate them, that they may restore Rome's former splendor, pomp, and empire under paganism: therefore they will sin more boldly and shamelessly, since they will not fear to do those things which they observe to have displeased God in their ancestors. And because along with new ones, the old sins of Babylon also had to be expiated, John spoke as of a thing long ago done in chapter XVI, verse 19: "And great Babylon came into remembrance before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the indignation of His wrath." It came into remembrance, because her ancient crimes had been given to oblivion, on account of the faith of Christ which she had embraced; but afterward, new and similar ones being added, the former are recalled to God's memory. This is what he says here in verse 5: "For her sins have reached unto heaven, and the Lord hath remembered her iniquities." Wherefore as Jerusalem filled up the measure of the sins of her fathers, and was punished both for the ancient sins of the fathers and for her own new ones, when Titus destroyed her, as Christ foretold in Luke XIX, 42; so it shall be also with Rome. Thus the Jews, who do not descend from Cain, but because they imitated his parricide by killing Christ and the Apostles, heard from Christ: "And you, fill up the measure of your fathers, etc., that there may come upon you all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of just Abel even unto the blood of Zacharias." See what I said in a similar matter about the Amorrhites at Genesis XV, 16, and about the Jews at Deuteronomy V, 9.
Verse 21: A Mighty Angel Cast a Stone as a Great Millstone
21. And One Strong Angel Took Up a Stone as It Were a Great Millstone (in Greek lithon hōs mylon, that is a stone as a mill, that is a millstone) and Cast It into the Sea, Saying: With This Violence Shall Babylon, That Great City, Be Thrown Down, and Shall Be Found No More at All. — First, Alcazar: It is signified, he says, that Rome will never return to idolatry and paganism; for here she is called Babylon. So says Micah chapter VII, verse 19: "He shall cast all our sins into the depth of the sea."
Secondly, Aureolus: This angel, he says, is Godfrey of Bouillon, who was the leader of the Crusade, that is, the army recovering the Holy Land. He drove the Saracen forces into the sea like a millstone, that they might be drowned in it. He took Babylon, that is Jerusalem, in which the Saracens reigned. Whence he was made the first Christian king of Jerusalem.
But I say that this angel was a true and proper one, who through a vision was seen by St. John casting the millstone with great force and violence into the sea, and saying: "With this violence shall Babylon be cast down," that is, the citizens of Babylon, namely the Romans, will be cast down with great violence, sound, and crash, such as is wont to be of a millstone falling into the sea. But where shall they be cast? Into the abyss, that is into hell. Whence the Arabic renders: "Thus shall Babylon fall by a fall, and shall be cast into a great, deep lake; and the great city shall not be found afterwards any more." Note: throughout this chapter St. John alludes, indeed allegorically cites, the things which Isaiah in chapter XIII, and Jeremiah in chapter LI, verses 6, 7, 8, 37, 43, 48, 51, 58, 63, 64, wrote about the destruction of ancient Babylon. Here, then, he alludes to verse 63, where he says: "And when thou shalt have made an end of reading this book, thou shalt tie a stone to it, and shalt throw it into the midst of the Euphrates, and shalt say: Thus shall Babylon be drowned, and shall not rise from the face of the affliction which I will bring upon her, and she shall be dissolved." Similar is what Herodotus writes in book I about the Phocaeans, that they devoted themselves with curses if ever they should think of returning to their homeland, namely that they sank a rock into the sea, and cursed themselves if they should return to their homeland before that rock floated up to the surface of the waters. So also the Romans swore by Jupiter Lapis; for holding and casting the stone they said: "If knowingly I deceive, then may Diespiter cast me out from my goods, the city and citadel being safe, as I cast this stone."
Verse 22: The Voice of the Millstone Shall Be Heard No More
22. The Voice of the Millstone Shall Be Heard No More at All in Thee — because there will be no one to grind, as if to say: in Rome there will be the utmost solitude and devastation; whence it follows: "The light of the lamp shall shine no more in thee; the voice of the bridegroom and the bride shall be heard no more in thee." For with these phrases and examples the Prophets are wont to signify the extreme desolation and devastation.
Verse 23: Thy Merchants Were the Princes of the Earth
23. For Thy Merchants Were the Princes of the Earth — as if to say: The foreign princes and kings of the earth sent their precious things to Rome for the sake of profit, namely that they might sell them there. So Ribera.
Secondly, as if to say: Thy princes, and consequently the princes of the world, devoted themselves to merchandise, served gain and profit, as Vespasian sought profit from any matter whatsoever, even base, repeating, "From any matter the smell of gain is good," as Suetonius testifies in his Life, chapter IV. Similar were Domitian, Nero, Caligula, Pertinax, and others. So Pineda, book IV On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter XXIII. Therefore he notes the insatiable avarice, wealth, and pride of the Gentile Emperors and Roman nobles, which was the first cause of Rome's destruction. He adds the second, saying: "Because in thy sorceries all nations have erred." Then he subjoins the third, when he says: "And in her was found the blood of Prophets and Saints."
Because in Thy Sorceries All Nations Have Erred. — He calls sorceries the allurements of sin, wealth, rewards, and honors, by which Pagan Rome bewitched all and enticed them to idolatry and other crimes. He alludes to the Sirens, who by their song; and to witches, who by their tricks and incantations fascinate, derange, and lead men to destruction.
Verse 24: In Her Was Found the Blood of Prophets and Saints
24. And in Her Was Found the Blood of Prophets and Saints, and of All Who Have Been Slain upon the Earth. — From the word "all," Bede, Aretas, and others contend that by Babylon ought to be understood not Rome, but the whole world, and the assembly of the impious; because, they say, not all the Saints were slain at Rome, but many elsewhere, and that scattered throughout the whole world. But I reply that the Romans are here said to have slain all, that is nearly all, the greater part of all the martyrs; because the Romans ruled the whole world, and through their governors and their edicts they carried out these slaughters throughout the whole world. They will do the same at the end of the world. For what one does through another, he is seen to do through himself, as the Rule of Law has it. Again, a prince who does not prevent evil and injury, when he can, is judged to have inflicted it himself. Therefore the Romans, lords of all things, not preventing the slaughter of Christians which was done throughout the whole world subject to them, indeed fostering and commanding it, are to be judged to have done it themselves.
Morally, see here how brief and unhappy is the end of the kingdom of Babylon, that is of unbelief, impiety, and the world. Where now is Julius Caesar? where Sulla? where Pompey? where Augustus? where Nero? where Trajan? where Decius? where Diocletian? Their memory has perished with a sound, and they descended living into hell. Where is Nineveh? where Babylon? where Ecbatana? where Susa? where Memphis? where Sparta? where Jerusalem? where Gentile Rome, mistress of the world? She has fallen, and Rome lies buried at Rome, namely Christian Rome has buried and treads upon Pagan Rome. So she shall trample upon her at the end of the world.
See how all pomp goes off into smoke, how glory ends in ignominy, wealth in nothing, applause in lamentation: how luxury turns to mire, indeed to mourning, delights to filth, pleasures to torments: namely, mourning seizes the end of joy. So passes the glory of the world. Babylon falls from heaven into mire, from mire into hell. Where now is her golden cup? where the wine of prostitution with which she made the nations drunk? where the fasces? where the scepters? where the horns? where the ten diadems? They have vanished, all have passed away as a shadow, become food for worms, fodder for demons, bellows and tinder of Gehenna. O how empty, how brief, how deceitful, how filthy, how deadly is every joy of the world! Thou who readest these things, who understandest, who art wise, beware the alluring voluptuous cup of Babylon, flee her honey which turns to gall, laugh at and despise the titles of honors and dignities which she offers, because they are nothing but the rattles and bubbles of children, indeed more vain and empty than bubbles and smoke. Live therefore, not for Babylon, but for the Church; live, not for pleasure, but for virtue; live, not for the world, but for God; live, not for time, but for eternity.