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he calls them orders of demons, according to what is written about them: and to move mountains into the hearts of seas. And again he calls them islands as being exalted and lifted up by the vainglorious futility of their mind in the unstable and salty distractions of this life. And the kings of the earth, he says, and the great men and the chiliarchs and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and they say to the mountains and to the rocks: Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand? Again, kings and great men, and chiliarchs and rich and strong, he calls the wicked demons, as having begun to rule those on the earth through deceit and treachery; and slaves and free men, those among the demons who are prominent and those who are subordinate. And as for hiding themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and indeed 95 saying, "Fall on us and hide us," it is spoken tropologically; and it signifies them trying to become fugitives from the punishment brought upon them by Christ, for if some invisible chastisement and punishment were not brought upon them, what does what was said by the prophet Isaiah from the person of Christ mean: I trod the winepress alone, and of the nations there is no man with me, and I trod them down in my anger, and I crushed them in my wrath, and I brought down their blood to the earth; And what of the God-hated demons saying in Matthew: What have we to do with you, Son of God? Have you come to torment us? And one might understand these things said in the Apocalypse to be not only sufferings of demons, but also of the lawless Jews who fixed the cross for the Lord, who, being hard-pressed in the war against the Romans, became fugitives in the mountains and caves and holes of the earth, and were seized on all sides by want and strain. After this, he says, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, so that no wind should blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God, and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea and the trees, saying: Do not harm the earth nor the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the servants 96 of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of the sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand from every tribe of the sons of Israel. And then he says from each tribe, twelve thousand who were sealed; From this, clearly the circumstances surrounding the Jews in the war against the Romans are shown by the evangelist, which happened to them on the pretext of the cross and of the drunken violence against the Lord. For the four angels holding the four corners of the land of the Jews were guarding so that none of the Jews worthy of death should escape, perhaps casting into them a cowardice of flight or certain difficulties or an untimely longing for their fatherland and wives and loved ones, which things are tropologically signified, through the holding of the four corners of Judea. And the holding of the four winds, so that they should not blow either on the earth or on the sea or on any tree, signifies that no respite was found for them in the war, nor any consolation for their misfortunes, neither for those fighting on foot on the land, nor for those fighting at sea—for they fought many naval battles, according to Josephus—nor indeed for those attending to agriculture and the care of plants. For the evils seized them all completely, with cities being set on fire, land being ravaged, plants being cut down, all of which Josephus indeed recounts accurately in his history of the capture of Jerusalem. And I saw an angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God, and he cried with a loud voice to the 97

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δαιμόνων καλεῖ τάγματα, κατὰ τὸ γεγραμμένον περὶ αὐτῶν· καὶ μετατίθεσθαι ὄρη ἐν καρδίαις θαλασσῶν. νήσους δὲ αὐτοὺς πάλιν φησὶν ὡς ὑψουμένους καὶ ἐπαιρομένους τῇ τῆς διανοίας αὐτῶν κενοδόξῳ ματαιότητι ἐν τοῖς ἀστάτοις καὶ ἁλμυροῖς τοῦδε τοῦ βίου περισπασμοῖς. καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς φησι τῆς γῆς καὶ οἱ μεγιστάνες καὶ οἱ χιλίαρχοι καὶ οἱ πλούσιοι καὶ ἰσχυροὶ καὶ πᾶς δοῦλος καὶ ἐλεύθερος ἔκρυψαν ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὰ σπήλαια καὶ εἰς τὰς πέτρας τῶν ὀρέων, καὶ λέγουσι τοῖς ὄρεσι καὶ ταῖς πέτραις· πέσετε ἐφ' ἡμᾶς καὶ κρύψατε ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ καθημένου ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ ἀρνίου, ὅτι ἦλθεν ἡ ἡμέρα ἡ μεγάλη ἡ τῆς ὀργῆς αὐτῶν, καὶ τίς δύναται στῆναι; βασιλεῖς πάλιν καὶ μεγιστάνας, χιλιάρχους τε καὶ πλουσίους καὶ ἰσχυρούς, τοὺς ἀλιτηρίους καλεῖ δαίμονας, ὡς κατάρξαντας τῶν ἐν τῇ γῇ διὰ πάτης καὶ δόλου· δούλους δὲ καὶ ἐλευθέρους, τοὺς ἐν τοῖς δαίμοσι προὔχουντάς τε καὶ ὑποτεταγμένους. τὸ δέ γε κρύψαι ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὰ σπήλαια καὶ εἰς τὰς πέτρας τῶν ὀρῶν καὶ μέντοι καὶ 95 λέγειν πέσετε ἐφ' ἡμᾶς καὶ κρύψατε ἡμᾶς, τροπικῶς μὲν εἴρηται· αἰνίττεται δὲ φυγάδας αὐτοὺς πειρωμένους γίνεσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἐπαγομένης αὐτοῖς κολάσεως παρὰ Χριστοῦ, εἰ γὰρ μήτις αὐτοὺς ἀόρατος κόλασις ἐπήγετο καὶ τιμωρία, τί βούλεται τὸ τῷ προφήτῃ Ἡσαΐᾳ εἰρημένον ἐκ προσώπου Χριστοῦ· ληνὸν ἐπάτησα μονώτατος, καὶ τῶν ἐθνῶν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνὴρ μετ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ κατεπάτησα αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ θυμῷ μου, καὶ κατέθλασα αὐτοὺς ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ μου, καὶ κατήγαγον τὸ αἷμα αὐτῶν εἰς τὴν γῆν· τί δὲ καὶ τὸ λέγειν τοὺς θεοστυγεῖς δαίμονας παρὰ τῷ Ματθαίῳ· τί ἡμῖν καὶ σοί, ὑιὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ; ἦλθες βασανίσαι ἡμᾶς; ταῦτα δὲ ἄν τις νοήσοι τὰ τῇ ἀποκαλύψει εἰρημένα οὐ μόνον εἶναι δαιμόνων πάθη, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν τὸν σταυρὸν τῷ Κυρίῳ πηξάντων ἀνόμων Ἰουδαίων, οἳ τῷ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους πολέμῳ πιεζόμενοι, φυγάδες τε ἐγένοντο ἐν ὄρεσι καὶ σπηλαίοις καὶ ταῖς ὀπαῖς τῆς γῆς, καὶ πανταχόθεν ἀπορίᾳ συνείχοντο καὶ ἐκτάσει. μετὰ τοῦτό φησιν εἶδον τέσσαρας ἀγγέλους ἑστῶτας ἐπὶ τὰς τέσσαρας γωνίας τῆς γῆς, κρατοῦντας τοὺς τέσσαρας ἀνέμους τῆς γῆς, ἵνα μὴ πνέῃ ἄνεμος ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς μήτε ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης μήτε ἐπί τι δένδρον. καὶ εἶδον ἄλλον ἄγγελον ἀναβαίνοντα ἀπὸ ἀνατολῆς ἡλίου, ἔχοντα σφραγῖδα Θεοῦ ζῶντος, καὶ ἔκραζε φωνῇ μεγάλῃ τοῖς τέσσαρσιν ἀγγέ λοις οἷς ἐδόθη αὐτοῖς ἀδικῆσαι τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὰ δένδρα, λέγων· μὴ ἀδικήσετε τὴν γῆν μήτε τὴν θάλασσαν, μήτε τὰ δένδρα, ἄχρι σφραγίσομεν τοὺς δούλους 96 τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τῶν μετώπων αὐτῶν. καὶ ἤκουσα τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῶν ἐσφραγισμένων, ἑκατὸν τεσσαρακοντέσσαρας χιλιάδας ἐκ πάσης φυλῆς υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ. καὶ λέγει λοι πὸν ἀπὸ ἑκάστης φυλῆς, δώδεκα χιλιάδας τοὺς σφραγισθέντας· ἐντεῦθεν σαφῶς τὰ περιστάντα Ἰουδαίοις ἐν τῷ πρὸς Ῥωμαίους πολέμῳ δείκνυται τῷ εὐαγγελιστῇ, ἃ προφάσει γέγονεν αὐτοῖς τοῦ σταυροῦ καὶ τῆς κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου παροινίας. οἱ γὰρ τέσσαρες ἄγγελοι οἱ κρατοῦντες τὰς τέσσαρας γωνίας τῆς Ἰουδαίων γῆς ἐφρούρουν ὅπως μηδεὶς τῶν ἀξίων τεθνᾶναι Ἰουδαίων διαφυγῇ, δειλίαν ἴσως αὐτοῖς ἐμβάλλοντες τῆς φυγῆς ἢ δυσχερείας τινὰς ἢ ἔξωρον τῆς πατρίδος πόθον γυναικῶν τε καὶ φιλτάτων, ἅτινα τροπικῶς διασημαίνεται, διὰ τοῦ κρατεῖσθαι τὰς τέσσαρας γωνίας τῆς Ἰουδαίας. τὸ δέ γε τοὺς τέσσαρας ἀνέμους κρατεῖσθαι, ἐφ' ᾧ τε μὴ πνέειν μήτε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς μήτε ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης μήτε ἐπί τι δένδρον, ὑποσημαίνει τὸ μηδεμίαν αὐτοῖς ἀνάψυξιν εὑρᾶσθαι ἐν τῷ πολέμῳ, μηδέ τινα τῶν συμφορῶν παραψυχήν, μήτε τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς πεζομαχοῦντας, μήτε τοὺς ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ναυμαχοῦνταςπολλὰ γὰρ ἐναυμάχησαν κατὰ τὸν Ἰώσηππονμήτε μὴν τοὺς γεωργίᾳ καὶ φυτῶν ἐπιμελείᾳ προσανέχοντας· πάντας γὰρ ἄρδην κατέλαβε τὰ κακά, πόλεων μὲν πυρπολουμένων, γῆς δὲ δηουμένης, φυτῶν δὲ κειρομένων, ἃ δὴ πάντα ὁ Ἰώσηππος ἀκριβῶς ἐπεξέρχεται ἐν τῇ τῆς Ἱεροσολύμων ἁλώσεως ἱστορίᾳ. καὶ εἶδον ἄγγελον ἀναβαίνοντα ἀπὸ ἀνατολῆς ἡλίου, ἔχοντα σφραγῖδα Θεοῦ ζῶντος, καὶ ἔκραξε φωνῇ μεγάλῃ τοῖς 97