Revelation

THE BOOK OF REVELATION: M. M. NINAN
TAXED. Severus lowered the taxes, reduced the price of provisions, and the interest on money. But all his
efforts to change the color of the horse were inadequate. The previous evils were too deeply planted to be
removed in a short time, and the army became discontented with the economy of Severus.
"And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I
looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And
power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with
death, and with the beasts of the earth" (6:7-8).
When he had opened the fourth seal (sun was pulled off crescent "underneath" by Aries), the fourth beast
(Scorpio or Serpens who are both poisonous) said, Come (6:7). A pale horse (Lunar crescent held by
Sagittarius at moonrise and before sunrise makes a pale color; "pestilences" -- Matt. 24:7): and the rider's
name was Death (Roman Augustus is"buried six feet under"-- under the horizon before sunrise since
constellation is "pale"; he holds the Grim Reaper's lunar crescent moon scythe of death in his hand; Aquila
[the Roman eagle] wounded), and Hell (Sagitta the arrow) followed with him. And power was given to
them over the fourth part of the earth (Rome is the fourth empire in succession after Babylon, Medo-Persia,
and Greece; also Diocletian divided the empire into quarters in 292 A.D. and the Italian quarter took the
brunt of these calamities: from 248 to 296 A.D.; also Scorpio has four sets of legs; also there are four
beasts: Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius), to kill with sword, hunger, death, and beasts (6:8).
Historically, the "FOURTH part" is a play on words. First, it is the FOURTH empire in succession from
Babylon -- namely the whole Roman Empire. Second, ONE QUARTER of the citizens from all parts of the
Roman Empire fell victim to war, famine, disease and wild beasts. Third, Diocletian divided the empire
into FOUR PARTS, called prefectures, over each of which a prince, or prefect, exercised authority in
subjection to the emperors. The four parts at this time were: 1. the East (including Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor
etc.); 2. Illyricum; 3. Gaul (France, Spain, Britain, etcetera) and 4. Italy. The principal or leading fourth was
the prefecture of Italy -- headquarters of the Roman Empire. The events of the FOURTH seal especially
affected this FOURTH section of the FOURTH empire. From 250 to 300 A.D., disastrous WARS raged
both within the Empire and against enemies on the borders. DISEASE followed the bloodshed. Also the
ruin of agriculture through excessive taxation brought inevitable FAMINES; and, as civilization waned, the
wild BEASTS which multiplied ravaged the inhabitants. During this time there were 39 emperors and not
one died a natural death. Virtually all were assassinated. Maximin had Severus assassinated. Once he
became emperor, he had 4000 nobles put to death. Commanders, governors and nobles were executed at the
slightest accusation. He confiscated taxes for his own use and the use of his army. He stripped temples of
gold and silver. This all led to public revolt and civil WAR. Finally Maximin was killed by his troops. The
early church historian Eusebius, writing of this period, says, "Death waged a desolating war with two
weapons, FAMINE and PESTILENCE ... Men, wasted away to mere skeletons, stumbled hither and thither
like mere shadows, trembling and tottering. They fell down in the midst of the streets ... then, drawing their
last gasp cried out, HUNGER! ... Some indeed were already the food of the dogs." Gibbon says, "From
A.D. 248 to the death of Gallienus there elapsed twenty years of shame and misfortune ... FAMINE was
followed by epidemical DISEASES, the effect of scanty and unwholesome food. Other causes must,
however, have contributed to the furious PLAGUE which, from the year A.D. 250 to the year 265, raged
without interruption in every Province, every city, and almost every family in the Roman Empire. During
some times, five thousand persons died daily in Rome ... So great was the mortality that we might expect
that war, PESTILENCE and FAMINE had consumed in a few years the half of the human species."
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