considered an act of madness on the part of Caligula, (and the act was quite isolated) to attempt to assume it. Abundant memorials still exist to show that at the time of Nerva, Trajan, and the Antonines the crown remained the badge of Roman emperors, the diadem of barbarous kings.' In fact not till about the time of Diocletian,2 or rather of his immediate predecessor Aurelian,3 near 200 years after St. John's banishment to Patmos, was the diadem adopted by Roman emperors: the innovation being accompanied both with the other insignia, and the adoration also, of eastern royalty. The change constituted an epoch in Roman history; and one markedly noticed, as will hereafter appear in the Apocalypse. (I append illustrative engravings.5)-Thus then about Diocletian's time, and thenceforward, but not till then, the diadem was the imperial badge ;-for a century or more conjointly with the laurel, then exclusively. So that whereas, with re

amictus toga purpurea, in sellâ aureâ, coronatus. Ascendis; accedis ad sellam ; diadema ostendis. Gemitus toto foro. Unde diadema ? Non enim abjectum sustuleras, sed attuleras domo; meditatum et cogitatum scelus. Tu diadema imponebas cum plangore populi; ille cum plausu rejiciebat." Cicero Orat. 2 in Antonium, C. 34.

1 Illustrations abound both historical and medallic. Eckhel on the cultus capitis of the Augusti, Vol. viii. p. 360, states that in the interval between Augustus and Domitian the only three persons that appear to have worn the imperial crown, besides the reigning emperors, were Claudius Drusus, L. Vitellius, and Domitian himself, previous to his accession. From after Domitian's accession however he says that it was an absolute distinctive. "Deinceps in legem abivisse ut nemo nisi Augustus laureâ præcingeretur numi luculentur docent."

On the other hand Spanheim, De Usu Numism. p. 832, &c, notices, as common Roman medals of the æra of Trajan and the Antonines, coins in which barbarian kings are represented as receiving a tiara or diadem from the Emperor; with the legends, Rex Parthis datus, Rex Quadis datus, &c.

So too Dion Cassius, Lib. xvii, tells how Domitian, in token of his having the disposal of that barbarian kingdom, or at least pretending to it, put the diadem on 2 Dacian king, (τῳ Διηγιδι διαδημα επέθηκε, καθαπερ ώς αληθως κεκρατηκως, Και Βασιλεα τινα τοις Δακοις δεναι δυναμενος.)

Herodian (B. viii.) illustrates the continuance of the imperatorial symbol of a crown, by an example of the date A.D. 238. When the Aquileians would intimate to their besiegers the two senatorial emperors acknowledged by them, they did so by exhibiting from the walls their portraits crowned with laurel.

2 So Gibbon, Vol. ii. p. 165.

3 So the younger Victor; "Iste (Aurelianus) primus apud Romanos diadema capiti innexuit, gemmisque et auratâ veste usus est."-See Spanheim, p. 680. 4 See my explanation of Apoc. xvii. 10, in Part iv. Ch. iv.

5 In the Plate opposite, the specimens of laureated and diademed emperors given, the one of Nerva, near the end of the first century, the other of Valentinian of the fourth,-are copied from Pitiscus' Edition of Victor.

6 Hence the laureated heads of the Constantinian emperors, for example,

ference to such a period as the close of the fourth century, it would have been an impropriety, and with reference to the sixth an anachronism, to represent the segavos, or laurel crown,' as a badge of empire, on an imperial or royal head,-just as much, and indeed still more, it would have been an anachronism to represent a Roman emperor of the two and a half first centuries with a diadem.

Thus the objection has only led us to see the more clearly the exact chronological propriety, as well as the personal distinctiveness, of this particular emblem in the first Seal's hieroglyphic. And I cannot but add that the very presentation of the crown to the emblematic rider on his going forth, was yet an additional point of resemblance in the symbolic picture to the imperial usages at Rome in the time of St. John. For an emperor's going forth to war was an occasion perpetually taken by the senate and others to express their good wishes, and their auguries (often in those cases falsified) of success; and, in token thereof, medals commemorative were struck ; depicting the Emperor galloping forth on horseback, and with the legend, "Profectio," or Expeditio Augusti."2 Yet more, supposing that success had already begun to favour him in the war, they had a mode of expressing the successes accomplished, as well as those that were anticipated for the future ;-the "conquering," as well as the to conquer." He was represented,-sometimes, it might be, on a triumphal arch, sometimes simply on terra firma,

as going forth between trophies and captives, and

often seen on the imperial medals of that period.-But the proper badge of royalty was at that time understood to be the diadem. Thus when Constantine's corpse lay in state, we read in Eusebius that it was arrayed in purple and with the diadem, as the royal insignia ; Βασιλικοις κόσμοις, πορφυρα τε και διαδήματι, De Vit. Const. iv. 66. See my Paper on the diadem in the Appendix to Vol. iii. In the Apocalypse the seven-headed dragon with diadems, Apoc. xii. 3, seems used in reference to the opening of the fourth century; the ten-horned diademed Beast, Apoc. xiii. 1, with reference to the sixth.

24 Equites Imperatores solebant Romani diverso more pro variis eorum gestis repræsentare. Cum aliquis solito equi grad i incedit, profectio est Augusti, accelerato passu ejus expeditio: captivum prosternens virtus Imperatoris; gradu lento adventus ejus in urbem." Rasche, ii. p. 724. See also on this subject Rasche, vol. iv. p. 179; and Spanheim, 705, 725. The crown was represented generally as offered, or borne before the Emperors, by Victory.

with Victory either crowning, or with a crown in hand preceding him. Such in part is the character of a medal of the emperor Claudius, with the exergue, "De Britannis," underneath:1 such, more exactly, the bas-reliefs on a triumphal arch erected to Claudius Drusus in the Appian way, after victories over the Germans. Of which latter an engraving is appended.2 And I think that after viewing it, and considering what has been also further observed respecting the crown and the white horse, the reader will deem me justified in expressing the persuasion I did at the beginning of this Chapter, to the effect that a person conversant, like St. John,3 with the Roman usages of the age, must at once have had suggested to his mind by the emblems of the first Seal just considered, the idea of a Roman emperor speeding forth to victory."

One objection however may still probably present itself, one difficulty seem to stand in the way of this our application of the symbol ;-I refer to the fact of the rider having a bow, in his hand. For the weapon represented in the hands of Roman emperors, on medals and other extant monuments of antiquity, is generally the javelin, sometimes the sword never, so far as I know, the bow. And hence indeed Vitringa,-though not unconscious of the general fitness of the emblem of a

1 Given by Ackerman in his work on Roman medals, i. 105. The horseman in it is speeding forth between trophies on a triumphal arch. I might add others from Rasche: such e. g. as one of Caracalla's that he describes ii. 716; "Eques Imperator dextram elevans à Victoriâ volitante coronatur: ante pedes equi captivus : &c.

2 It is described by Bellario, in his work on the Veteres Arcus Augustorum. Rome, 1824. The words, "De Germanis," appear inscribed on the top, and the following explanatory notice is subjoined at the bottom of the page; "Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus Imper. Caput Neronis Claudii. Arcus Druso Victori in expeditione Germanicâ : via Appiâ positus."-I should observe that in the plate opposite, the Victory has been added by me, by way of illustration, from another triumphal arch, adjoining this in Montfaucon's plate, vol. iv. p. 108.

3 Or like St. Paul. See this illustrated under the next Seal.

4 In fact the image was as familiar in this sense to the Romans then living, as that of a woman sitting by the sea, with a trident in hand and shield beside her, would be as a representation of Britannia to ourselves.