[COLOR=black]The beast from the sea that had received plenitude of power from the dragon, or [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Satan[/COLOR][COLOR=black], is the Roman Empire, or rather, Caesar, its supreme representative. The token of the beast with which its servants are marked is the image of the emperor on the [/COLOR][COLOR=black]coins[/COLOR][COLOR=black] of the realm. This seems to be the obvious meaning of the passage, that all business transactions, all buying and selling were impossible to them that had not the mark of the beast ([/COLOR][COLOR=black]Apocalypse 13:17[/COLOR][COLOR=black]). Against this interpretation it is objected that the [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Jews[/COLOR][COLOR=black] at the time of [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Christ[/COLOR][COLOR=black] had no scruple in handling money on which the image of Caesar was stamped ([/COLOR][COLOR=black]Matthew 22:15-22[/COLOR][COLOR=black]). But it should be borne in mind that the horror of the [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Jews[/COLOR][COLOR=black] for the imperial images was principally due to the policy of Caligula. He confiscated several of their [/COLOR][COLOR=black]synagogues[/COLOR][COLOR=black], changing them into [/COLOR][COLOR=black]heathen[/COLOR][COLOR=black]temples[/COLOR][COLOR=black] by placing his [/COLOR][COLOR=black]statue[/COLOR][COLOR=black] in them. He even sought to erect an image of himself in the [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Temple of Jerusalem[/COLOR][COLOR=black] ([/COLOR][COLOR=black]Josephus[/COLOR][COLOR=black], Ant., XVIII, viii, 2). [/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]The seven heads of the beast are seven emperors. Five of them the [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Seer[/COLOR][COLOR=black] says are fallen. They are [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Augustus Tiberius[/COLOR][COLOR=black], Caligula, Claudius, and [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Nero[/COLOR][COLOR=black]. The year of [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Nero's[/COLOR][COLOR=black] death is A.D. 68. The [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Seer[/COLOR][COLOR=black] goes on to say "One is", namely [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Vespasian[/COLOR][COLOR=black], A.D. 70-79. He is the sixth emperor. The seventh, we are told by the [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Seer[/COLOR][COLOR=black], "is not yet come. But when he comes his reign will be short". Titus is meant, who reigned but two years (79-81). The eighth emperor is [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Domitian[/COLOR][COLOR=black] (81-96). Of him the [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Seer[/COLOR][COLOR=black] has something very peculiar to say. He is identified with the beast. He is described as the one that "was and is not and shall come up out of the bottomless pit" ([/COLOR][COLOR=black]17:8[/COLOR][COLOR=black]). In [/COLOR][COLOR=black]verse 11[/COLOR][COLOR=black] it is added: "And the beast which was and is not: the same also is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into destruction". [/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]All this sounds like [/COLOR][COLOR=black]oracular[/COLOR][COLOR=black] language. But the clue to its solution is furnished by a popular [/COLOR][COLOR=black]belief[/COLOR][COLOR=black] largely spread at the [/COLOR][COLOR=black]time[/COLOR][COLOR=black]. The death of [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Nero[/COLOR][COLOR=black] had been [/COLOR][COLOR=black]witnessed[/COLOR][COLOR=black] by few. Chiefly in the East a notion had taken hold of the [/COLOR][COLOR=black]mind[/COLOR][COLOR=black] of the people that [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Nero[/COLOR][COLOR=black] was still alive. [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Gentiles[/COLOR][COLOR=black], [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Jews[/COLOR][COLOR=black], and [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Christians[/COLOR][COLOR=black] were under the illusion that he was hiding himself, and as was commonly thought, he had gone over to the Parthians, the most troublesome foes of the empire. From there they expected him to return at the head of a mighty army to avenge himself on his enemies. The [/COLOR][COLOR=black]existence[/COLOR][COLOR=black] of this fanciful [/COLOR][COLOR=black]belief[/COLOR][COLOR=black] is a well-attested historic fact. Tacitus speaks of it: "Achaia atque Asia falso exterrit velut Nero adventaret, vario super ejus exitu rumore eoque pluribus vivere eum fingentibus credentibusque" (Hist., II, 8). So also Dio Chrysostomus: kai nyn (about A.D. 100) eti pantes epithymousi zen oi de pleistoi kai oiontai (Orat., 21, 10; cf. Suetonius, "Vit. Caes."; s.v. [/COLOR][COLOR=black]NERO[/COLOR][COLOR=black] and the SIBYLINE ORACLES). Thus the contemporaries of the [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Seer[/COLOR][COLOR=black]believed[/COLOR][COLOR=black]Nero[/COLOR][COLOR=black] to be alive and expected his return. The [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Seer[/COLOR][COLOR=black] either shared their [/COLOR][COLOR=black]belief[/COLOR][COLOR=black] or utilized it for his own purpose. [/COLOR]
[COLOR=black]Nero[/COLOR][COLOR=black] had made a name for himself by his cruelty and licentiousness. The [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Christians[/COLOR][COLOR=black] in particular had reason to dread him. Under him the first [/COLOR][COLOR=black]persecution[/COLOR][COLOR=black] took place. The second occurred under [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Domitian[/COLOR][COLOR=black]. But unlike the previous one, it was not confined to [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Italy[/COLOR][COLOR=black], but spread throughout the provinces. Many [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Christians[/COLOR][COLOR=black] were put to death, many were banished ([/COLOR][COLOR=black]Eusebius[/COLOR][COLOR=black], [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Church History III.17-19[/COLOR][COLOR=black]). In this way the [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Seer[/COLOR][COLOR=black] was led to regard [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Domitian[/COLOR][COLOR=black] as a second [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Nero[/COLOR][COLOR=black], "Nero redivivus". Hence he described him as "the one that was, that is not, and that is to return". Hence also he counts him as the eighth and at the same time makes him one of the preceding seven, viz. the fifth, [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Nero[/COLOR][COLOR=black]. The identification of the two emperors suggested itself all the more readily since even [/COLOR][COLOR=black]pagan[/COLOR][COLOR=black] authors called [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Domitian[/COLOR][COLOR=black] a second [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Nero[/COLOR][COLOR=black] (calvus Nero, Juvenal. IV, 38). The popular [/COLOR][COLOR=black]belief[/COLOR][COLOR=black] concerning [/COLOR][COLOR=black]Nero's[/COLOR][COLOR=black] death and return seems to be referred to also in the passage ([/COLOR][COLOR=black]13:3[/COLOR][COLOR=black]): "And I saw one of its heads as it were slain to death: and its death's wound was healed". [/COLOR]
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