374 G. Biguzzi According to Victorinus, then, Rev is written against the Rome of the seven hills, the seven emperors, and the Nero redivivus and redux. For Victorinus, who died as a martyr in the persecution of Diocletian († 304) (10), Rev’s Babylon was the Rome which persecuted the Christians. After Victorinus, the anti-Roman interpretation is documented both in the East (11), and in the West (12). It was, however, little by little, substituted by the moralistic, ahistorical interpretation spread by Tychonius and Augustine (see above interpretation of “Babylon” n. 2), that largely inspired the reading of Rev until Joachim of Fiore († 1202). The Calabrian abbot saw in Rev the chronological prophecy of the various epochs of the Church and such kirchengeschichtlich interpretation was used and abused in the epoch of the confessional controversies, as is well known (13). The number of the Beast was (10) This is the traditional date of the death of Victorinus but according to M. Dulaey (Victorin de Poetovio. Sur l’Apocalypse [SC 423; Paris 1997] 15-16), his commentary on Revelation seems to have been written around 258-260 A.D., under Gallienus, such that his martyrdom may be related to some persecution of M. Aurelius Numerianus, associate emperor in the years 283-284 a. C., and predecessor of Diocletian. The hypothesis was accepted for example by R. GRYSON, “Les commentaires patristiques latins de l’Apocalypse”, RTLouv 28 (1997) 485. (11) Cf. the authors hinted at by Andrew bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia (VI-VII century, PG 106, 373.D), who writes: “Hanc meretricem quidam veterem Romam (eij" palaia;n Rwvmhn) designare putant, utquae super septem colles exaedificata tradatur”. (12) Cf. the authors hinted at by Cassiodorus of Vivarium († 580 circa; PL 70, 1414.A). Cassiodorius writes: “… meretrix illa (…), quam nonnulli de Romana volunt intelligere civitate quae supra septem montes sedet, et mundum singulari dicione possidet…” (PL 70, 1414.A). The anti-Roman interpretation is also found for example in Primasius of Hadrumetum (scripsit around 540): “Romam quae super septem montes praesidet significans…” (PL 68, 899.C.), in Berengaudus (IX or better XII century): “… fornicariam Romam vocat” (PL 17, 1.000.D), and in the poet Commodianus (of a difficult dating between III century and V century): “Ex infero redit, qui fuerat regno praeceptus / Et diu servatus cum pristino corpore notus. / Dicimus hunc autem Neronem esse uetustum / Qui Petrum et Paulum prius puniuit in urbem. / … Urbis perditio Nero est, hic terrae totius…” (Carmen 825-828. 935; PL Suppl. I, 95. 98; CCL 128, 103. 107); “Cum fuerit autem Nero de inferno leuatus / … Tunc Babillon meretrix erit incinefacta fauilla” (Instructiones 41, 6.11; PL 5, 231; CCL 128, 33-34). (13) About this way of interpretation cf. the severe judgment of E.-B. ALLO, Saint Jean. L’Apocalypse (Paris 1921) CCXXXII: “De tous les systèmes exégétiques, c’est celui dont nous parlons qui méconnaît au plus haut degré le but et l’esprit de saint Jean”.