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By way of exercise, then, this 113 must be said, traversing a middle path for each part, that for a certain time, which the present revelation, using a certain mystical number, said was five months, the sinners will be punished most severely, as if a scorpion had struck them; but after this, more gently, though we will not be completely outside of punishment, and to such an extent as to seek death and not find it. For what need was there to seek death for those who are not punished at all? But death, he says, flees from them, for they live forever with the punishment. And the likenesses of the locusts were like horses prepared for war, and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men, and they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions; and they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle; and they have tails like scorpions and stings, and in their tails is their power to hurt men five months; they have a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek tongue he has the name Apollyon. The one woe is past; behold, two more woes are still to come. after these things the divine evangelist graphically and at the same time fearfully describes for us the matter of the worms. In each of the things said about them, one might marvel 114 at the precision of the account; for he did not say they had the teeth of lions and the tails of scorpions and the faces of men, but the "as" is placed in each case, revealing a certain likeness and a parabolic account, not the reality. Therefore, he either indicates their fearful and terrifying nature through these things, or he has truly sketched their form. And they have, he says, a king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek Apollyon. And the name is either fabricated and suitable for the things set forth for contemplation, or at least there are not only ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation according to the divine apostle, but also spirits sent for punishment for those worthy of punishment; such as was that one who in one night struck the one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Assyrians, and those who set fire to the five cities of Sodom. The one woe, he says, is past; behold, two more woes are still to come after these things. The "woe," being an adverb of lamentation, indicates the evils that are and will be for them. The one punishment, therefore, he says, has been spoken of; but two remaining ones will be spoken of. And the sixth angel sounded the trumpet; and I heard a great voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet: Loose the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. And the four 115 angels were loosed, who were prepared for the hour and day and month and year, to kill the third part of men. And the number of the armies of the cavalry was myriads of myriads; and I heard their number. And thus I saw the horses in the vision; and those who sat on them, having breastplates of fire and of jacinth and god-like; and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths; for the power of the horses is in their mouth and in their tails, like serpents having heads, and with them they do harm. When the angel sounded the trumpet, he says, I heard a voice from the horns of the altar. Horns of the altar, he says, means those who are prominent among the angels and who excel the others. And he calls the altar golden, because of its precious and divine nature, wonderfully depicting the altar from the precious material among us. Just as we understood the horns of the altar to be rulers of the angels. so also

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γυμνασίᾳ οὖν τοῦτο 113 λεκτέον, μέσην τινὰ μέρους ἑκάστου διάττον τὴν τρίβον, ὅτι ἄχρι μέν τινος χρόνου ὃν πέντε μῆνας εἶπεν ἡ ἀποκάλυψις ἡ παροῦσα μυστικῷ τινι χρησαμένη τῷ ἀριθμῷ, σφοδρότατα κολασθήσονται οἱ ἁμαρτωλοὶ ὡς σκορπίου παίσαντος αὐτούς· μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο ὑφειμένως, οὐ μὴν παντελῶς ἔξω κολάσεως ἐσόμεθα, καὶ τοσοῦτον ὡς ζητεῖν τὸν θάνατον καὶ μὴ τυγχάνειν αὐτοῦ. τίς γὰρ ἦν ἀνάγκη ζητεῖν θάνατον τοῖς παντελῶς μὴ κολαζομένοις; φεύγει δέ φησιν ὁ θάνατος ἀπ' αὐτῶν, συνδιαιωνίζουσι γὰρ τῇ κολάσει. καὶ τὰ ὁμοιώματα τῶν ἀκρίδων ὅμοια ἵπποις ἡτοιμασμένοις εἰς πόλεμον, καὶ ἐπὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς αὐτῶν ὡς στέφανοι ὅμοιοι χρυσῷ, καὶ τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν ὡς πρόσωπα ἀνθρώπων, καὶ εἶχον τρίχας ὡς τρίχας γυναικῶν, καὶ οἱ ὀδόντες αὐτῶν ὡς λεόντων ἦσαν· καὶ εἶχον θώρακας ὡς θώρακας σιδηροῦς, καὶ ἡ φωνὴ τῶν πτερύγων αὐτῶν ὡς φωνὴ ἁρμάτων ἵππων πολ λῶν, τρεχόντων εἰς πόλεμον· καὶ ἔχουσιν οὐρὰς ὁμοίας σκορπίοις καὶ κέντρα, καὶ ἐν ταῖς οὐραῖς αὐτῶν ἡ ἐξουσία αὐτῶν ἀδικῆσαι τοὺς ἀνθρώπους μῆνας πέντε· ἔχουσιν ἀπ' αὐτῶν βασιλέα τὸν ἄγγελον τῆς ἀβύσσου· ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἑβραϊστὶ Βανδὼν καὶ ἐν τῇ Ἑλληνικῇ ὄνομα ἔχει Ἀπολ λύων. οὐαὶ ἡ μία ἀπῆλθεν· ἰδοὺ ἔρχονται ἔτι δύο οὐαί. μετὰ ταῦτα γλαφυρῶς ἡμῖν ἅμα καὶ φοβερῶς τὸ κατὰ τοὺς σκώληκας διαγράφει ὁ θεσπέσιος εὐαγγελιστής. ἐν ἑκάστῳ δὲ τῶν περὶ αὐτοὺς λεγομένων, θαυμάσειεν ἄν τις 114 τὸ ἀκριβὲς τοῦ λόγου· οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν ὀδόντας εἶχον λεόντων καὶ οὐρὰς σκορπίων καὶ πρόσωπα ἀνθρώπων, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὡς ἐν ἑκάστῳ κείμενον, εἰκασμόν τινα καὶ λόγον ἐκφαῖνον παραβολικόν, οὐκ ἀλήθειαν. ἢ οὖν τὸ φοβερὸν αὐτῶν καὶ καταπληκτικὸν αὐτῶν διὰ τούτων ἐνδείκνυται, ἢ ἀληθῶς ἐσκιαγράφησεν αὐτῶν τὴν μορφήν. καὶ ἔχουσί φησιν ἐπ' αὐτοὺς βασιλέα, τὸν ἄγγελον τῆς ἀβύσσου· ὄνομα αὐτῷ Ἑβραϊστὶ μὲν Βάδδον, Ἑλληνιστὶ δὲ Ἀπολλύων. καὶ τὸ ὄνομα ἢ πεποιημένον ἐστὶ καὶ κατάλληλον τῶν εἰς θεωρίαν προκειμένων, ἢ γοῦν οὐ μόνον εἰσὶ λειτουργικὰ πνεύματα εἰς διακονίαν ἀποστελλόμενα διὰ τοὺς μέλλοντας κληρονομεῖν σωτηρίαν κατὰ τὸν θεῖον ἀπόστολον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πνεύματα εἰς κόλασιν ἀποστελλόμενα διὰ τοὺς ἀξίους κολάσεως· ὁποῖος ἦν καὶ ἐκεῖνος ὁ ἐν μιᾷ νυκτὶ πατάξας τὰς ἑκατὸν ὀγδοηκονταπέντε χιλιάδας τῶν Ἀσσυρίων, καὶ οἱ πυρπολήσαντες τὰς πέντε Σοδομικὰς πόλεις. ἡ οὐαί φησιν ἡ μία ἀπῆλθεν· ἰδοὺ ἔρχονται ἔτι δύο οὐαὶ μετὰ ταῦτα. τὸ οὐαὶ ἐπίρρημα ὑπάρχον σχετλιασμοῦ τὰ ὄντα αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐσόμενα ἐνδείκνυται κακά. ἡ μία οὖν φησιν εἴρηται κόλασις· λεχθήσονται δὲ δύο λοιπαί. καὶ ὁ ἕκτος ἄγγελος ἐσάλπισε· καὶ ἤκουσα φωνὴν μεγάλην ἐκ τῶν κεράτων τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου τοῦ χρυσοῦ τοῦ ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, λέγουσαν τῷ ἕκτῳ ἀγγέλῳ, ὁ ἔχων τὴν σάλπιγγα· λῦσον τοὺς τέσσαρας ἀγγέλους τοὺς δεδεμένους ἐπὶ τῷ ποταμῷ τῷ μεγάλῳ Εὐφράτῃ. καὶ ἐλύθησαν οἱ τέσσαρες 115 ἄγγελοι οἱ ἡτοιμασμένοι εἰς τὴν ὥραν καὶ ἡμέραν καὶ μῆνα καὶ ἐνιαυτόν, ἵνα ἀποκτείνωσι τὸ τρίτον τῶν ἀνθρώπων. καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς τῶν στρατευμάτων τοῦ ἱππικοῦ μυριάδες μυριά δων· ἤκουσα δὲ τὸν ἀριθμὸν αὐτῶν. καὶ οὕτως εἶδον τοὺς ἵππους ἐν τῇ ὁράσει· καὶ τοὺς καθημένους ἐπ' αὐτῶν, ἔχοντας θώρακας πυρίνους καὶ ὑακίνθους καὶ θεοειδεῖς· καὶ αἱ κεφαλαὶ τῶν ἵππων ὡς κεφαλαὶ λεόντων, καὶ ἐκ τῶν στομάτων αὐτῶν ἐκπορεύεται πῦρ καὶ καπνὸς καὶ θεῖον. ἀπὸ τῶν τριῶν πληγῶν τούτων ἀπεκτάνθησαν τὸ τρίτον τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἐκ τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ ἐκ τοῦ καπνοῦ καὶ τοῦ θείου τοῦ ἐκπορευομένου ἐκ τῶν στομάτων αὐτῶν· ἡ γὰρ ἐξουσία τῶν ἵππων ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν ἐστι καὶ ἐν ταῖς οὐραῖς αὐτῶν, ὅμοιοι ὄφεων ἐχούσαις κεφαλάς, καὶ ἐν αὐταῖς ἀδικοῦσιν. σαλπίσαντός φησι τοῦ ἀγγέλου ἤκουσα φωνὴν ἐκ τῶν κεράτων τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. κέρατα θυσιαστηρίου, τοὺς ἐν ἀγγέλοις προὔχοντας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ὑπερεξέχοντάς φησι. χρυσοῦν δὲ λέγει τὸ θυσιαστήριον, διὰ τὸ ἔντιμον αὐτοῦ καὶ θεῖον, ἐκ τῆς παρ' ἡμῖν τιμίας ὕλης, τὸ θυσιαστήριον θαυμάσιον ζωγραφῶν. ὥσπερ δὲ τὰ κέρατα τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου ἄρχοντας τῶν ἀγγέλων ἐνοήσαμεν. οὕτως