woe : but it marks the duration of the second woe once only, by an hour , and a day, and a month, and a year ; and in turn under that woe, instead of a second indication of time, it indicates the number of equestrian armies, that is, of the horsemen. The second woe is a period of about 207 years of men : therefore for every year (if there arose other or fresh horsemen every year) the immense body of
2.000. 000, or at least, if that dig is not satisfactory to any one,
1.000. 000 horsemen, are collected. When John adds, that their number was heard by him, he hints, that the certain number speci- fied, if it is put for an uncertain one, yet has not a wide uncertainty; and that the greatness of the number, however incredible it may appear, is still to be credited. At the last even a greater multitude springs forth : ch. xx. 8.
17. Uuptvovg xai vctxivQhovg xai iddeic, of fire, and of jacinth, and of brimstone) Lucretius joins together the same colours in another matter : lib. iv. —
Lutea russaque vela Et ferruginea —
(yellow, red, and black hangings). Ferruginea are the same as hyacin- thina. Virgil says , ferrugineos hyacinthos ; that is, according to Servius, of a dark colour. Wherefore in this passage, the breast-plates of jacinth and the smoke answer to one another; as the breast-plates of fire and the fire, and the breastplates of brimstone and the brimstone. Literal and figurative things are blended together in this and the following verses.
19. A / yd p oh pat auruv o/xoiai o<ps6iv, eyovtiai xstpaXag, xai sv abraTg ddtxoum, for their tails (are) like serpents, and have heads, and with them they do hurt) Such is the serpent, the amphisboena, d,a<pixdpr^og, of which Pliny speaks, lib. viii. c. 23 : The amphisboena has a double head, that is, one from the tail also , as though it were not enough that poison should be poured from one mouth . Lucan : And the dreadful amphisboena rising upon its double head. Solinus, ch. 30 : The amphisboena rises upon its two heads, of which the one is in its proper place, the other is in that part where the tail is ; by which it is occa- sioned, that by the leaning of the head on both sides it creeps along in circular trails. Add Nicander, and Hesychius, who says that it is eldog otpewg — rrjv ovpdv xo Xofiriv syov, x,ai ravrrj rroXXdxig rropslav rrcnod- /xevov, uffre nvdg dfi,<pi6$rirz?v, (Jj7\ dvo xs(paXag zyjn Of whatever kind the head in the tail of the amphisboena is, it illustrates this picture in the Apocalypse.
20, 21. Ours — xai ov) A Predicate of two members — in Latin, neque, neque (neither, nor). There are similar particles, John iv. 11 ;