Ver. 4. ἐξέλθατε (cf. Apoc. Bar. ii.
1), which in the source referred to the.
Jewish community at Rome, is an artistic detail, retained like several in ch. xxi., although the historical meaning and ap- plication was lost in the new situation. Cf. the opening of Newman’s essay on. The Benedictine Centuries.
Ver. 5. Plutarch (de sera windict.
τ---ο. ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΜΙΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ 457 t ~ 6. ᾿ἀπόδοτε αὐτῇ ὡς καὶ αὐτὴ ἀπέδωκεν, t Jer. xvi. : » a 18, l. x καὶ διπλώσατε τὰ " διπλᾶ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῆς 29, Ps.” μι πα ανν exxxvii. 8, εν TW ποτηριῳ WwW ἐκέρασε, u Aésch., “i ye Ag. : κεράσατε αὐτῇ διπλοῦν. ares 2 ly suffi- 7. ὅσα " ἐδόξασεν αὐτὴν καὶ *éotpyviace, cient," rs - Isa. xl. 2, τοσοῦτον δότε αὐτῇ βασανισμὸν καὶ πένθος. Ixi. κ σ a a Zech, ix. ” Ότι ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτῆς λέγει ὅτι ΄ Κάθηµαι βασίλισσα, η καὶ χήρα οὐκ εἰμί καὶ πένθος οὐ μὴ ἴδω, Vests Q a a2 a ne , ba ε A A of rel.
8. διὰ τοῦτο "ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ " ἤξουσιν αἱ πληγαὶ αὐτῆς, pron. "θάνατος καὶ πένθος καὶ λιμός * xf pais of καὶ ἐν πυρὶ “xataKxauOyjcerar. ο pine ὅτι °icxupds Κύριος 6 Θεὸς 6 κρίνας αὐτήν. NET bl
ϱ. καὶ κλαύσουσιν καὶ κόψονται ἐπ᾽ ‘adthy οἱ © βασιλεῖς τῆς)γῆς, "ιο ο
οἱ pet αὐτῆς πορνεύσαντες καὶ στρηνιάσαντες, ὅταν βλέπωσι τὸν ο. z From Zeph. ii.
15, cf. Ovid., Met. vi. 193-195 (Niobe), 4 Esd. xi. 43. 509-510, Hec. 285, Ovid, Fastt, ii. 235; cf. Job i. 13-19, Isa. x. 17. e J
c Cf. on vi. 8. d xvii. 16, Jer. 1. 31-32. xviii. 3; of. Isa. xxiii. 5.
15) is strong upon the solidarity of a city, which is liable to be punished at any time for past offences.—koAAao@at (‘‘ Heaped up to the sky are her sins’’) in the familiar sense of haerere=to follow close upon, or to cleave, the idea being that the mass of sins actually presses on the roof of heaven. The figure would be different if, as Holtzm. conjectures, κολλ. referred to the gluing together of the leaves composing a roll; the record of Rome’s sins would form so immense a volume that when unrolled it would reach the very heavens. “Et ascendit contumelia tua ad altissimum, et superbia tua ad fortem”’ (4 Esd. xi. 43)- Ver. 6. The foes of Rome (unless ἀπόδοτε κ.τ.λ., is a rhetorical apostro- phe) are invited to serve her with the retribution promised to the first Babylon (see τεβ.).---διπλώσατε, cf. Oxyrh. Pap. iii, 520°. Ἐν τῷ ποτηρίῳ, κ.τλ. Cf. Apoc. Βατ. xiii. 8 (to Romans), ‘‘ Ye who have drunk the strained wine, drink ye also of its dregs, the judgment of the Lofty One who has no respect of per- sons”.
Ver. 7. It is probably at this point that the passage drifts over from the concep- tion of a voice heard (ver. 4) to that of direct utterance on the part of the pro- phet ; unless we are to suppose that the voice speaks till the close of ver. 20 (a similar instance in ch. xi.). Imperial Rome is imperious and insolent; haughty
a Lucret. iii. 898-899, Eur. Herc. Fur. b Isa, xlvii. 9, Ezek. xxviii. 18.
er. 1. 34. f Diff. sense, i. 7. 6 xvii. 2,
self-confidence is the sin of the second Babylon as of the first (see Isa. xlvii. 5, 7, 8, imitated in this passage). Cf. (bef. 80 a.D.) Sibyll. ν. 173, where the impious and doomed city is upbraided for vaunt- ing ‘‘I am by myself, and none shall overthrow me”. A similar charge of arrogance was brought by Ezekiel against the prince of Tyre (xxviii. 2 f., cf. xxvi., xxvil. throughout with the present pas- sage), and by the Jewish author of Apoc. Bar. xii. 3 against Rome. To the Semi- tic as to the Hellenic conscience, the fall of a haughty spirit always afforded moral relief. Nothing so shocked the ancient conscience as Overweening presumption in a state or an individual, which was certain ultimately to draw down upon it- se#f the crashing anger of heaven.