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 the mystic title: "Babylon the Great, Mother of the Fornications and the Abominations of the Earth." It seems that Roman harlots often wore upon their fore heads a label whereon their names were conspicuously displayed. Here the name is a mystery showing that Babylon is used figuratively for Rome as in the Epistle of St. Peter and other early literature.

6, 7. The woman glutted with the blood of martyrs is a warning to the faithful of great persecutions at Rome and throughout the empire during the reign of Antichrist and his prophet.

8-11. The angel's interpretation bristles with difficulties. He says the beast was, and is not, but shall come forth from the abyss only to perish again after a short time. In verse 11 the beast is identified with one of the heads which shall be the eighth although it is one of the seven, and shall quickly go into destruction. Further on (v. 16), it is said that the ten horns of the beast (in Greek, "the ten horns and the beast) will fight against the harlot and destroy her by fire.

Those who take Nero to be the Antichrist find an explanation for these mysteries, which at first sight, seems quite plausible. They have recourse to a popular legend that Nero, after attempting suicide, fled to the East and would soon reappear with the Parthian armies