Revelation 17:16

upon the beast Read, and the beast: he (in his personal advent) and they will act together, against Babylon as well as against the Lamb.

shall hate the whore Though she had been the object of their unchaste love, Revelation 17:2, and will be of their passionate regret, Revelation 18:9. Nero's treatment of his mistress or wife Poppaea cannot be alluded to, but is a good illustration of the image, and vindication of its consistency with vicious human nature.

naked Cf. Isaiah 47:2-3; Ezekiel 16:37-39.

eat her flesh, and burn her with fire i.e. shall plunder and burn Rome. The threat was symbolised and almost fulfilled in the burning of the Capitol by the partisans of Vitellius, and the storming of Rome by those of Vespasian: it received a more complete fulfilment in the repeated disasters of the fifth century. The sack of Rome by Bourbon and the Germans was a less striking fulfilment: but the real and final one is no doubt still to come.

We should naturally understand from these words, that the judgement on Babylon described in the next chapter will be executed by the "kings of the earth," the ten States among which the Roman Empire is partitioned. But it is almost as remarkable as the view of Hippolytus noted on Revelation 17:12, that St Benedict is recorded (S. Greg. Dial.ii. 15) to have said, "Rome will not be destroyed by the nations, but be overthrown by thunderstorms, whirlwinds and earthquakes." We know what he did not, that Rome stands, like Pompeii, on volcanic soil, within a few miles of volcanos that, though not active now, were so to the verge of historical times, and may be again. This book does not tell us positively how Babylon willfall, and no one has the right to pretend to say: but it is at least suggestive to know that it mightfall by a convulsion which unbelievers would think quite "natural," while believers would see its place in the scheme of providence.