239 from any of the numbers if the single article be used, or of 247 if the double, will not leave 666 for a remainder. For that this should be the case it is requisite that the nation numbered in Class II. should contain 913 or 905. It is also worthy of remark, that if even the word oλTeíα, which is used by Aristotle for government in general, be applied to all the nations in Class I. instead of Barrλeía, there is not one which will amount precisely to 666, whether expressed with the single or double article. This necessarily arises from the following circumstance, that no kingdom noticed in this Class contains 411 or 419. Hence no kingdom or republic set down in the preceding Tables contains the number of the Beast, whether it be written with one or two prepositive articles. And with respect to the two other forms used by the Greeks to express the name of a power, (a considerable number of examples of which have already been given in the preceding part of this chapter,) it is evident that the presence of the w, whose value is 800, is sufficient to prevent the number of the Beast from being found in either of these ways. Therefore in no form whatever, which has been used by the Greeks, can the number 666 be shewn to exist in any of the nations mentioned in the preceding Classes and Orders. But it has been already proved that the Beast is some kingdom; and the passage in the sixteenth chapter of the Revelation has been produced in which the very term Βασιλεία, or kingdom, is applied to the dominion of the Beast. This kingdom, therefore, can be no other than that which is purposely omitted in the first Order of the first Class; I mean, Ἡ Λατίνη βασιλεία, "The Latin Kingdom." It is thus numbered: H = 8 Having at length ascertained which is the kingdom of the Apocalyptic Beast, it may be deemed almost unnecessary to inquire further into the legitimacy of the Greek words just numbered, as AaTivos has been so largely treated of in a former part of this work, and shewn to be used both as a substantive and an adjective. But as this word has undergone a considerable alteration in its pos sessive form, it will be highly necessary to trace its history from the time it was first used, to the period in which the Greeks ceased to be a nation. It is hardly necessary here to notice, that this name originated in Latinus, king of the Aborigines, the people over whom he reigned being called Latins, about 1100 years previously to the commencement of the Christian æra. From this period till a considerable time after the apostolic age, every Greek writer extant, who has had occasion for the possessive of Latinus has used the adjective Λατῖνος, Λατίνη, Aatívov, in its different cases and genders, according as the occasion required; a considerable number of examples of which has already been given in pp. 54, 55, and to which may be added the four following out of Strabo, Τη Λατίνη φωνῇ, * Τη Λατίνη γλωττῇ, + “ the Latin tongue;” Τῆς Λατίνης ὁδοῦ, "the Latin way;" Ty Aatívy diaλexт, “the Latin dialect." The earliest example of the corruption of Λατῖνος, Λατίνη, Λατίνον, into Λατινικὸς, Λατινική, Λατινικόν, I believe is to be met with in Dio Cassius, who flourished about A. D. 230. The expression is Λατινικὰ ῥήματα, || "Latin words," instead of Aaríva puara. The Greek possessive of Latinus only occurs, I believe, three times more in Dio Cassius, all which examples are given in pp. 54, 55, and are free from the corrup * Pp. 201, 396. Edit. Amstel. 1707. + P. 242. P. 382. § P. 396. The adjective Azrin, with idòs, y, or xpa un derstood, is frequently used by this writer. P. 713, Hamburg, 1650. tion just mentioned. * From the time of Dio Cassius till the tenth century, I am not aware that the corrupted Greek possessive Aarixòs is to be 66 66 * The feminine possessive Ἡ Λατίνις, τῆς Λατινίδος, τῇ Λατινιδι, is applied to Latin women. Stephens, in his Thesaurus, gives us as an example Aarivis μoura, "The Latin muse ;" and I have met with Tuvai Aariviow, "Latin women," in the annals of Nicetas Choniates, Lib. iii. p. 304, Edit. Venet. p. 370, Edit. Paris. In the Pseudosibylline Oracles, Lib. v. I have met with Aarividos ains, " Latin country," at the end of an hexameter line. Λατινίδος ἔκγονε Ρώμης, “ descendant from Latin Rome,” occurs at the end of two hexameter lines; the first in the third and the other in the eighth book of the Pseudosibylline Oracles. In Nonni Dionysiacorum, Lib. xli. v. 160, is Aarvida déλTov," a Latin book." Nicetas Choniates has in one place (Lib. iii. p. 285. Edit. Venet.) Tous Ex quλwv Aarıvidwv, “ Nations of the Latin name;" and Dositheus, in his '15opla Tepì Tv Ev 'Iεpoσoλύμοις Πατριαρχευσάντων, p. 4, has Τῆς Λατινίδος φωνης, σε The Latin tongue." This possessive, however, is very rarely used; and I have met with only one ancient example, which is that given by Stephens. It is contained in the following epigram upon Apuleius, the Platonic philosopher, who flourished in the second century, in the reign of the Antonines: Εἰς ̓Απυλήϊον τὸν μάγον. Καὶ νοερῆς ἀφθεγκτα Λατινίδος ὄργια μούσης On Apuleius the magician. 66 And Apuleius, intently looking into the silent rites of the intelligent Latin muse, worshipped a certain priest whom the Ausonian syren of secret wisdom had nourished. Florilegii Variorum Epigr. Lib. v. Epigr. 59. Aarivos is the only Greek possessive of Latinus, of which I can find an example so old as the Apostolic age. met with even once; but after this time the possesi sive Aatīvos became almost entirely disused, and AaTivinds was the word adopted in its stead. * Yet even in the barbarous ages of the middle centuries, when the Greek language was almost entirely stripped of its ancient purity and elegance, the possessive Aativos was sometimes used; two noted examples of which are the following: Τῆς Λατίνης φυλῆς, " the Latin tribe;” and Τῆς Λατίνης τρατιάς, "the Latin army," both met with in the annals of Nicetas Choniates, respecting the emperor Isaac Angelus. To what has already been said in favour of the possessive Aarivos it may be added that Aarvinds is not in any lexicon that I have met with. Besides it would be absurd to suppose, that the name of the Beast would be counted in the barbarous Greek of the middle centuries, unless it could be proved that the name did not exist till that time, which we find was not the case. It therefore * See the Byzantine Historians. The following examples, out of a vast multitude which might be quoted, may be of use to those who have it not in their power to consult these writers: Aarivind sparepara, "Latin armies." Niceph. Greg. Lib. i. ε. 2. Πλούτε Λατινικοῦ, “ Latin wealth.” Ibid. Τοῦ Λατινικοῦ χειμώνος, “ the Latin tempest.” c. 3. Στρατὸν Λατινικόν, « Latin army." Lib. ii. c. i. Ts Aarıvınñs deλelas, "the Latin slavery." Ib. Tempeσiv duo Aarvinais, "two Latin Triremes." ε. 6. Τοῖς τε Ρωμαϊκοῖς καὶ Λατινικοῖς ἔθνεσιν, “ the Roman and Latin nations." Lib. iv. c. 5. 66 + Lib. i. p. 192. Edit. Venet. p. 234, Edit. Paris. and Lib. ii. p. 205, Edit. Venet. and p. 251, Edit. Paris. Byzant. Histor. Corpus. |