invisible (καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν) was to reappear from the abyss, only to be crushed finally (καὶ eis ἀπώλειαν ὑπάγει). In its present form the oracle announces that the downfall of the empire is to be heralded by the reappearance after Titus of one belonging to the seven em- perors (ἐκ τῶν ἑπτά ἐστιν) who, on the traditional scheme of the heads, were to see the rise and ruin of the State. Here a literary problem of some nicety emerges, for, while ver. 10 implies the reign of Vespasian, ver. 11 points to an eighth emperor (evidently Do- mitian). The solution is either that the writer of both throws himself back in thought into Vespasian’s age, representing history under the form of apocalyptic prophecy, or that ver. 11 (Domitian recalling and playing the part of Nero) represents a later addition,} inserted in order to bring the source up to date. In either case the final standpoint is Domitianic, however, and this tallies with the general evidence of the rest of the book.”
It also tallies with second-century tradition. In describing the persecution of Christians by Domitian, that worthy successor of Nero, Eusebius (H. £. iii. 18) quotes the following words from Irenaeus on the name of Antichrist ; εἰ δὲ ἔδει ἀναφανδὸν ἐν τῷ νῦν καιρῷ κηρύττεσθαι τοὔνομα αὐτοῦ, δι ἐκείνου ἄν ἐρρέθη τοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν ἑορακότος. οὐδὲ γὰρ πρὸ πολλοῦ χρόνου ἑωράθη, ἀλλὰ σχεδὸν ἐπὶ τῆς ἡμετέρας γενεᾶς, πρὸς τῷ τέλει τῆς Δομετιανοῦ ἀρχῆς. The attempts to turn the force of this pass- age by supposing that Irenaeus confounded Domitian’s actual reign with his temporary regency in 70 Α.Ρ., or by referring ἑωράθη to the seer instead of to the vision, are ingenious but quite unconvincing. The tradition must be taken as it stands. Originally, as πρὸς τῷ τέλει
1**To me it seems that there are two distinct notes of time in the passage, and that we are almost compelled to suppose that what was written at one date has been adapted to another” (Dr. Sanday in Fourn. Theol. Studies, viii. 492).
2 This kind of elusive, enigmatic reckoning is illustrated by the Jewish Domitianic apocalypse in 4 Esd, iii-.xiv. and by Barn. iv. Inthe former, the Roman empire is an eagle with three heads (i.e. the Flavian dynasty: Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian), the first of which rules the earth oppressively, the second of which is devoured by the third (alluding to the belief that Domitian had made away with his brother), while the third is to be challenged and vanquished by messiah (a parallel to John’s prediction). The Christian writing, in order to prove the nearness of the end, quotes Dan. vii. 7-8 and 24 for the purpose of showing that from the beast (i.e. the’ Roman empire) ten horns were to spring (i.e. the Caesars from Julius to Vespasian or Domitian) and from them a little horn by way of excrescence (παραφυάδιον, {.ο. Nero antichrist) which will abase three of the great horns (i.e. the Flavian dynasty) Similarly Daniel’s addition of the 11th horn to the traditional ro illustrates John’s apocalyptic revisal of the 7 heads. The only σοφία of the Apocalypse is the knack of solving puzzles in this province of religious arithmetic (xiii. 18, xvii. 9).