Latin. I do not give either the decipherers or their reasons: I have not room for this; nor would I, if I could, bias my reader for one rather than another.
D. F. Julianus Cæsar Atheus (or Aug.); Diocles Augustus; Ludovicus; Silvester Secundus; Linus Secundus; Vicarius Filii Dei; Doctor et Rex Latinus; Paulo V. Vice-Deo; Vicarius Generalis Dei in Terris; Ipse Catholicæ Ecclesiæ Visibile Caput; Dux Cleri; Una, Vera, Catholica, Infallibilis Ecclesia; Auctoritas politica ecclesiasticaque Papalis (Latina will also do); Lutherus Ductor Gregis; Calvinus tristis fidei interpres; Dic Lux; Ludvvic; Will. Laud; Λατεινος; ἡ λατινη βασιλεια; εκκλησια ιταλικα; ευανθας; τειταν; αρνουμε; λαμπετις; ὁ νικητης; κακος ὁδηγος; ἀληθης βλαβερος; παλαι βασκανος; ἀμνος ἀδικος; ἀντεμος; γενσηρικος; ευινας; Βενεδικτος; Βονιβαζιος γ. παπα ξ. η. ε. ε. α., meaning Boniface III. Pope 68th, bishop of bishops the first! οὐλπιος; διος εἰμι ἡ ἡρας; ἡ μισσα ἡ παπικη; λουθερανα; σαξονειος; Βεζζα ἀντιθεος (Beza); ἡ ἀλαζονεια βιου; Μαομετις; Μαομετης β.; θεος εἰμι ἐπι γαιης; ἰαπετος; παπεισκος; διοκλασιανος; χεινα; βρασκι; Ιον Παυνε; κουποκς; (cowpox, ς being the vau; certainly the vaccinated have the mark of the Beast); Βοννεπαρτη; Ν. Βονηπαρτε; εὐπορια; παραδοσις; το μεγαθηριον.
All sects fasten this number on their opponents. It is found in Martin Lauter, affirmed to be the true way of writing the name, by carrying numbers through the Roman Alphabet. Some Jews, according to Mr. Thom, found it in ישו נצרי Jesus of Nazareth. I find on inquiry that this satire was actually put forth by some mediæval rabbis, but that it is not idiomatic: it represents quite fairly 'Jesus Nazarene,' but the Hebrew wants an article quite as much as the English wants 'the.'
Mr. David Thom's own solution hits hard at all sides: he finds a 666 for both beasts; ἡ φρην (the mind) for the first, and ἐκκλησιαι σαρκικαι (fleshly churches) for the second. A solution which embodies all mental philosophy in one beast and all dogmatic theology in the other, is very tempting: for in these are the two great supports of Antichrist. It will not, however, mislead me, who have known the true explanation a long time. The three sixes indicate that any two of the three subdivisions, Roman, Greek, and Protestant, are, in corruption of Christianity, six of one and half a dozen of the other: the distinctions of units, tens, hundreds, are nothing but the old way (1 Samuel xviii. 7, and Concordance at ten, hundred, thousand) of symbolizing differences of number in the subdivisions.
It may be good to know that, even in speculations on 666,
