47ο
a From Sib. ἐν @etw. Or, iii, :
696-7. καθηµένου ἐπὶ τοῦ
αὐτοῦ: 3
inflicted on the opponents of Zoroas- trianism is that their corpses are given over to the corpse-eating birds, 2.6., Spe (Vend. iii. 20, ix. 49). Cf. Introd. $4 0.
The messiah who forms “ the central figure of this bloodthirsty scene,” written like the preceding out of the presbyter’s ““ savage hatred of Rome ” (Selwyn, 83) has a semi-political rather than a trans- cendental role to play. The normal Christian consciousness (cf. xxii. 12) viewed the return of Jesus as ushering απ the final requital of mankind; but in these special oracles (cf. xvii. 14) where a semi-historical figure is pitted against Christ on earth, the latter is brought down to meet the adversary on his own ground—a development of eschatology which is a resumption of primitive mes- sianic categories in Judaism. The messiah here is consequently a grim, silent, implacable conqueror. There is no tenderness in the Apocalypse save for the pious core of the elect people, nothing of that disquiet of heart with which the sensitiveness of later ages viewed the innumerable dead. Here mankind are naively disposed of in huge masses; their antagonism to the mes- siah and his people is assumed to have exposed them to ruthless and inexorable doom. Nor do the scenic categories of the tradition leave any room for such a feeling as dictated Plutarch’s noble de- scription (De Sera Uind. 555 E. F.) of the eternal pangs of conscience. Upon the other hand, there is no gloating over the torments of the wicked.
Now that the destructive work of mes- siah is over, the ground seems clear for his constructive work (cf. Ps. Sol. xvii. 26 f.). But the idiosyncracies of John’s outlook involve a departure from the normal tradition of Judaism and early Christianity at this point. Satan, who survives, as he had preceded, the Roman empire, still remains to be dealt with. The third vision of doom, therefore (xx. I-10) outlines his final defeat, in two panels: (a) one exhibiting a period of enforced restraint, during which (for 2, 3 and 4-7 are synchronous) messiah and the martyrs enjoy a halcyon time of tem- poral and temporary bliss, (b) the other sketching (7-10) a desperate but un- availing recrudescence of the devil’s