(6) Then people saw I, who from out the river Lifted their heads and also all the chest; And many among these I recognised. Thus ever more and more grew shallower That blood, so that the feet alone it covered; And there across the moat our passage was. "Even as thou here upon this side beholdest The boiling stream, that aye diminishes," The Centaur said, "I wish thee to believe That on this other more and more declines Its bed, until it reunites itself Where it behoveth tyranny to groan. Justice divine, upon this side, is goading That Attila, who was a scourge on earth, And Pyrrhus, and Sextus; and for ever milks The tears which with the boiling it unseals In Rinier da Corneto and Rinier Pazzo, Who made upon the highways so much war." Then back he turned, and passed again the ford.

(6) But for his hideous sins upbraiding him, My Lady put him to as swift a flight As such a fleshless skeleton could bear. Then by the way that it before had come, Into the chariot's chest I saw the Eagle Descend, and leave it feathered with his plumes. And such as issues from a heart that mourns, A voice from Heaven there issued, and it said: "My little bark, how badly art thou freighted!" Methought, then, that the earth did yawn between Both wheels, and I saw rise from it a Dragon, Who through the chariot upward fixed his tail, And as a wasp that draweth back its sting, Drawing unto himself his tail malign, Drew out the floor, and went his way rejoicing. That which remained behind, even as with grass A fertile region, with the feathers, offered Perhaps with pure intention and benign, Reclothed itself, and with them were reclothed The pole and both the wheels so speedily, A sigh doth longer keep the lips apart. Transfigured thus the holy edifice Thrust forward heads upon the parts of it, Three on the pole and one at either corner.

(72) O how have all the Prophets written of thee, and yet thou knowest not thyself; thou ridest so upon thy fat pampered Beast, and that Riding pleases thee so well, that thou wilt rather go to the Devil into the Abyss of Hell, than that thou wilt light off thy Beast. What shall become of thee then, thou blind Babel? Do but light off from thy great ugly Beast, [which indeed is] thy Might, Pomp, State, and Pride. Behold! thy Bridegroom comes, and reaches forth his Hand to thee, and would lead thee out of Babel.

(37) And here is fulfilled that which King David descants upon; Detraction, Shame, or Disgrace, Thou shalt rejoice to see how the Wicked are recompensed; how the wicked Driver, [Hunter or Oppressor,] and P Incendiary of Malice and Wickedness, is tormented in his Prison; for the Sins that are washed away shall not appear in Heaven (as in the Abyss of Hell) in the Form of Fire; but as Isaiah said, Though thy Sins were as red as Blood [or Scarlet,] (if thou turn) they shall be like Wool, white as Snow; they shall stand in a heavenly Figure, for Men to sing of in a Hymn of Praise, and a Psalm of Thanksgiving, for their Deliverance from the Driver.

(32) Thou suppressest the Miserable and Needy under thy Feet, and thou constrainest him with Necessity, and makest him vain, [or carelessly wicked,] so that he runs after thy Beast, and gazes upon thee, and also becomes a Servant of the Opposer of Christ; thy Beast whereon thou ridest is thy Strength and Power, which thou usurpest to thyself, thou fattenest thy Beast with the Fatness of the Earth, and thou crammest it with the Sweat of the Needy; it is filled with the Tears of the Miserable, whose Sighs and Groans press in through the Gate of the Deep to God, and (with their Pressing in) they awaken the Anger of God in thy Beast; as the Blood of Abel did the Anger in Cain.

(1) Verily, the day arose for the horse as the sacrificial vessel which stands before. Its place is the eastern sea. Verily, the night arose for him as the sacrificial vessel which stands behind. Its place is the western sea. Verily, these two arose on both sides of the horse as the two sacrificial vessels. animal sacrifices in ancient India (described at length in Sat. Br. 13. 1-5), is interpreted, in this and the following Brahmana, as of cosmic significance — a miniature reproduction of the world-order. In the liturgy for the Horse-sacrifice (contained in VS. 22-25) there is a similar apportionment of the parts of the animal to the vanous parts of the world. Compare also a similar elaborate cosmic correlation of the ox at AV. 9. 7. symbolized cosmically by the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. Becoming a steed, he carried the gods; a stallion, the Gandharvas; a courser, the demons; a horse, men. The sea, indeed, is his relative. The sea is his place.

(34) Or shall not the Spirit set it down before thy Eyes, thou lascivious filthy Strumpet? Behold, how hast thou broken the State of Wedlock, and opened a Door to Whoredom, so that no Sin is regarded; hast thou not ridden i upon thy Beast, when every one gazed on thee, and rode after thee [in thy Train?] Or art thou not that fine painted [adorned Whore?] Dost thou suppose we set thee forth in vain? The Judgment stands over thee, the Sword is begotten, and it will devour. Go out [from] Babel, and thou shalt live; though we saw a Fire in Babel, and that Babel was burning, yet it shall not burn those that go out from kit.

(39) In the allegory of the four horsemen--according to the mysteries of philosophy--is set forth the condition of man during the stages of his existence. In his first and spiritual state he is crowed. As he descend into the realm of experience he carries the sword. Reaching physical expression--which is his least spiritual state--he carries the scales, and by the "philosophic death" is released again into the highest spheres. In the ancient Roman games the chariot of the sun was drawn by four horses of different colors and the horsemen of the Apocalypse may be interpreted to represent the solar energy riding upon the four elements which serve as media for its expression.

(5) Circling around it sang, and said: "As are My notes to thee, who dost not comprehend them, Such is the eternal judgment to you mortals." Those lucent splendours of the Holy Spirit Grew quiet then, but still within the standard That made the Romans reverend to the world. It recommenced: "Unto this kingdom never Ascended one who had not faith in Christ, Before or since he to the tree was nailed. But look thou, many crying are, 'Christ, Christ!' Who at the judgment shall be far less near To him than some shall be who knew not Christ. Such Christians shall the Ethiop condemn, When the two companies shall be divided, The one for ever rich, the other poor. What to your kings may not the Persians say, When they that volume opened shall behold In which are written down all their dispraises? There shall be seen, among the deeds of Albert, That which ere long shall set the pen in motion, For which the realm of Prague shall be deserted. There shall be seen the woe that on the Seine He brings by falsifying of the coin, Who by the blow of a wild boar shall die.

(15) Thy proud Horse [or Beast,] thou shameful Whore, shall ride no longer alone over the bended Knees; in that Time it will no more be said, The Power [Might or Authority] sticks in my Chest of Money; that Mineral [or Metal] becomes a Blossom in the Light; and the Tincture stands in the Blossom of the Lily; Stones are of as much worth [as that Metal is;] the Clothing of the Virgin is brighter than thy Pride. How finely does the Ornament of this World stand on Modesty and the Fear of God, if the Heart be humble? How does thy silken and golden Clothes adorn thee? Dost thou not appear in God's Deeds of Wonder? Who will call thee a false Woman, if thou be so very chaste? Dost thou not stand to the Honour of the Great God? Art thou not his Work of Wonder? Is there not a friendly laughter before thee? Who can say that thou art a wrathful Woman? Thy modest Countenance shines over Mountains and Valleys. Art thou not at the End of the World, and [will not] thy Glance [or Luster] be espied in Paradise? Wherefore stands thy Mother in Babel, and so very malicious? O! thou shameful Whore; get thee out, for Babel is % on Fire, or else thou wilt be burnt thyself.

(1) HERE we shall not be acceptable to the Antichrist, much less to his stout Horse [or stately Beast.] But seeing it thus appears to us in the Wonder, we will describe it for a Memorial to ourselves, and behold how the Beginning and End of every Thing is, that we also (in our Combat) may labour in the Gate of the Deep: although it is plain that we have nothing else to expect, in this World, for this Revelation [or Manifestation,] from Antichrist and his Beast, but Scorn, [Contempt,] Disgrace, and Danger of our temporal Life, yet we comfort ourselves with the eternal Conquest in our Saviour Christ, wherein we have to expect our great Recompense, the Glimpse of which appears to us here, a in the great Wonder; for which Cause we will proceed, and not look upon this World, but esteem that which is to come greater than all.

(5) Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks Of him the ferryman of the livid fen, Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame. But all those souls who weary were and naked Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together, As soon as they had heard those cruel words. God they blasphemed and their progenitors, The human race, the place, the time, the seed Of their engendering and of their birth! Thereafter all together they drew back, Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore, Which waiteth every man who fears not God. Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede, Beckoning to them, collects them all together, Beats with his oar whoever lags behind. As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off, First one and then another, till the branch Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils; In similar wise the evil seed of Adam Throw themselves from that margin one by one, At signals, as a bird unto its lure. So they depart across the dusky wave, And ere upon the other side they land, Again on this side a new troop assembles.

(7) And there will not be left any man that eateth blood. Or that sheddeth the blood of man on the earth, Nor will there be left to him any seed or descen- dants living under heaven ; For into Sheol will they go, And into the place of condemnation will they descend. And into the darkness of the deep will they all be removed by a violent death. v

(7) For the earth will not be clean from the blood which hath been shed upon it ; for (only) through the blood of him that shed it * will the earth be purified throughout all its genera- tions.

(5) Reader! to trace their forms no more I waste My rhymes; for other spendings press me so, That I in this cannot be prodigal. But read Ezekiel, who depicteth them As he beheld them from the region cold Coming with cloud, with whirlwind, and with fire; And such as thou shalt find them in his pages, Such were they here; saving that in their plumage John is with me, and differeth from him. The interval between these four contained A chariot triumphal on two wheels, Which by a Griffin's neck came drawn along; And upward he extended both his wings Between the middle list and three and three, So that he injured none by cleaving it. So high they rose that they were lost to sight; His limbs were gold, so far as he was bird, And white the others with vermilion mingled. Not only Rome with no such splendid car E'er gladdened Africanus, or Augustus, But poor to it that of the Sun would be,— That of the Sun, which swerving was burnt up At the importunate orison of Earth, When Jove was so mysteriously just.

(4) Thousands and thousands go about the moat Shooting with shafts whatever soul emerges Out of the blood, more than his crime allots." Near we approached unto those monsters fleet; Chiron an arrow took, and with the notch Backward upon his jaws he put his beard. After he had uncovered his great mouth, He said to his companions: "Are you ware That he behind moveth whate'er he touches? Thus are not wont to do the feet of dead men." And my good Guide, who now was at his breast, Where the two natures are together joined, Replied: "Indeed he lives, and thus alone Me it behoves to show him the dark valley; Necessity, and not delight, impels us. Some one withdrew from singing Halleluja, Who unto me committed this new office; No thief is he, nor I a thievish spirit. But by that virtue through which I am moving My steps along this savage thoroughfare, Give us some one of thine, to be with us, And who may show us where to pass the ford, And who may carry this one on his back; For 'tis no spirit that can walk the air."

(5) Upon his right breast Chiron wheeled about, And said to Nessus: "Turn and do thou guide them, And warn aside, if other band may meet you." We with our faithful escort onward moved Along the brink of the vermilion boiling, Wherein the boiled were uttering loud laments. People I saw within up to the eyebrows, And the great Centaur said: "Tyrants are these, Who dealt in bloodshed and in pillaging. Here they lament their pitiless mischiefs; here Is Alexander, and fierce Dionysius Who upon Sicily brought dolorous years. That forehead there which has the hair so black Is Azzolin; and the other who is blond, Obizzo is of Esti, who, in truth, Up in the world was by his stepson slain." Then turned I to the Poet; and he said, "Now he be first to thee, and second I." A little farther on the Centaur stopped Above a folk, who far down as the throat Seemed from that boiling stream to issue forth. A shade he showed us on one side alone, Saying: "He cleft asunder in God's bosom The heart that still upon the Thames is honoured."

(8) When that ass shall hold its neck in the ocean its ears will terrify (asahmêd), and all the water of the wide-formed ocean will shake with agitation, and the side of Ganâvad will tremble (shîvanêd).

(112) Thus thou continually murderest poor Abel two Manner of Ways, and givest him great Occasion of stumbling; by thy Pomp and Power thou drawest him away from God into the Spirit of this World, where he then grows stark blind, and so he will continually ride after thee; he will still sit upon thy Beast, and be Lord also, and ride over the bended Knees; and thus the Kingdom of this World is a right Den of Thieves, and in the Presence of God a Lake of Abominations. 1 13. The Spirit of thy stout Beast is the hellish Worm; the crowned Bride that sits upon it is the false Woman [or Whore] of Babel: She drinks only out of the Cup of Whoredom and Abominations, her Drink in that Cup is the Fierceness of the Anger of God, of which the People [or Nations] drink, and become drunk, and so in their Drunkenness they become Murderers, Robbers, Thieves, false perfidious Mockers, Jesters, Scorners, proud, high-minded, Self-honourers, stern malicious People, there is no End of the Number of those that hate one another; every one supposes his Way is right, and that he walks in the right Path; if his Brother and Sister go not in the same Way with him, he scorns them, and calls them Heretics; and so one Wolf bites another; his Way is in his own Opinion, as his Master teaches him, who yet never regards any Thing but his a Belly- God, that his Esteem and Glory may be great among Men; thus one Hypocrite deceives the other, and they are Scorners and Persecutors one of another among themselves; and one is a Wolf as well as another; and the poor Abel (who stands in true Resignation, and relies upon God) must continually be their Footstool, he is continually murdered in a two-fold Manner. 1 14. One is, that he is deceived, and goes along into Babel, and is murdered, as to the Kingdom of Heaven. The other is, that if he remains constant, then the Devil (with Cain) will not endure him, but murders him outwardly, as to the Body, or takes away his good Name and Credit, and covers him so that he may not be known, that so the Kingdom of Cain and the Antichrist may remain in Babel; of which we know well how to speak by our own Experience, if Wrath and Anger did please us. But it fares very well with our Abel, and our being scorned springs up in the Blossoming of the Lily, whereat we will rejoice well enough, when we return again from Jericho to Jerusalem to our Father Abel.

(24) The sixth to eleventh chapters inclusive are devoted to an account of the opening of the seven seals on the book held by the Lamb. When the first seal was broken, there rode forth a man on a white horse wearing a crown and holding in his hand a bow. When the second seal was broken, there rode forth a man upon a red horse and in his hand was a great sword. When the third seal was broken there rode forth a man upon a black horse and with a pair of balances in his hand. And when the fourth seal was broken there rode forth Death upon a pale horse and hell followed after him. The four horsemen of the Apocalypse may be interpreted to signify the four main divisions of human life. Birth is represented by the rider on the white horse who comes forth conquering and to conquer; the impetuosity of youth by the rider on the red horse who took peace from the earth; maturity by the rider on the black horse who weighs all things in the scales of reason; and death by the rider on the pale horse who was given power over a fourth part of the earth. In the Eastern philosophy these horsemen signify the four yugas, or ages, of the world which, riding forth at: their appointed times, become for a certain span the rulers of creation.