reserved, morose, and rigid to cruelty. The mouth of a lion, may indicate a voracious appetite; and it is said of Albinus, that he would eat at a breakfast, 500 figs, 100 peaches, 10 melons, 20 bunches of grapes, 100 small birds, and 400 oys ters.*

"And the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority." Albinus commanded the Roman legions in Britain, at the time of the death of Commodus, and so was in a situation to have contended with Severus for the

*The truth of this assertion, made by Capitolinus, has been questioned; but I consider what is said by the writer of the Apocalypse, as corroborating it. The Roman emperor Maximin, is said to have eaten 60lbs. of flesh daily. We read of a Mr, Mariot, the Cormorant, or great eater of Gray's Inn, about the year 1650, who eat 121bs, of meat daily.

empire, immediately on the death of Pertinax; but Severus craftily declared him Cæsar; and therefore is said to have given him his power, and his throne, and great authority.

"And I saw one of his heads as it were slain to death; and his deadly wound was healed." A premature report of the death of Commodus having been spread in Britain, Albinus proposed to restore the republican government; by which Commodus being exasperated, he sent Junius Severus to take command in Britain; but that officer did not arrive before the death of Commodus was known in that country.

"And the whole earth followed this beast with admiration." It is said by the writer of the life of Albinus, that no prince was ever so much beloved by the senate as he; the soldiers whom he com

manded were much attached to him; and he was universally esteemed by the people of Rome.

"And power was given him to continue forty-two months." Albinus continued in power, as Cæsar under Severus, from June 193, until December, 196,* when he was declared a publie enemy.

"No man might buy or sell, save he

* Caracalla was declared Cæsar by the army of Severus, at Viminacium on the Danube, on the return of Severus from the east in 196, and Albinus was declared a public enemy at the same time. It was probably in December, as Severus is said to have marched through snows and frosts, as he advanced to Gaul. It was at the games of the circus, a little before the Saturnalia, that is, about the middle of December, that the people of Rome manifested their great concern at the preparation for another civil war.

that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." Severus, in June 193, caused several medals to be struck with the name of Albinus, statues to be erected to him, and money to be coined with his image impressed thereon. No man could buy or sell without money.

"His number is 666." The name of Decimus Clodius Albinus, written in Greek, contains this number.*

CHAP. 14. "And I looked, and lo, a

Twenty-one letters in the name of Albinus, give the exact number. This is the proof required by the writer, that his enigma is solved. There can be no mistake. "The interpretation is sure."

LAMB stood on Mount Zion, and with him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having his name, and his father's name, written on their foreheads." This lamb is Caracalla, whom this writer represents as the Messiah. The one hundred and forty-four thousand, are the soldiers of Severus.*

"And the wine-press was trodden without the city; and blood came out of the wine-press, even unto the horse-bridles, by the space of sixteen hundred furlongs" After the death of Pertinax, Severus marched with his army to Rome, artfully drew out the traitorous prætorian guards, who had murdered that excellent prince, and sold the empire; he surrounded them

* Historians say that Severus commanded one hundred and fifty thousand men at the battle of Lyons.