C A P. 17. A Tervelatsono f the Apocalypfe. 535 firft he teachethus what his heads are, both thofe which are perma- nent in this verfe, and thofe which paffe away fucceffively in the t o. and t F. verfes. That fowe might know certainly whar,and who, is this Whore both in refpe& of the place, and the time. Theft head are thefeven Mountains upon Which the Woman fitteth, that is, the feven hills of the City ofRome ; called in Latin, Pala- tinus, Luirinalus, Aventinus, Calius, Viminalts, "Affquilinus, 7a- nicularis, for which this City is famous through the whole world ; and is called of the Grecians the Seven-topped orfevers-Creftied city, andofVarro, the feven- beaded City, and that becaufe of thefe hills. And this pariphrafticall name feemed fitter tobe given Rome by the lofty fpeaking Poets,then to call her by herproper name, when they fpeakof her. As Virgil, Georgic. the fecond toward the end. Out ofqueftion Rome alfo u becomeone ofthe moigodly places in the World, bywanes of husbandry al the Which alone bath compafed for her fell, fèven ToWers Witha Wall round about. So likewife Ovid de Trift. Book t. Eleg. 4. It is no bafeplace ofhabitation, from Whence I am baniJhed, butfromRome, Which loolteth round about and over the Whole Worldfromherfeven lofty.hills,andWhere the Throne of the Em- pire, and the Temple of the Sodsgaud : and again , Book 3. de Trift. Eleg.7. My Books Jhall be perufed and read, as long as Martiallvillo- rious Rome ßall lookfrom her raven hills,over the WorldWhichJhe hath conquered. Neither would God have this matter teftified by the verfes of the Poets onely, but alfaby the publike folemnity that bath been kel t ofold at Rome. For the Romanes were wontto celebrate a Feaft called Septimontium, becaufe of the feventh Hill that was reared up,and joyned to the other Hills that were about the City, whereuponRome was made a City With feven hills, as Plutarch re- porteth in his book called, A Defcription of Romane Antiquities. Thefe things are fo manifcft, that the Papifts themfelves are now compelled,to confefs as much, will they null they. We have flaewed that Bellarmine loth prefer this opinion before the ref+, in his third Bookof the Pope o fRome,Chap. i 3. Ribera alfo the lefuite holds the fanae opinion,yea and confirmeth it withmany arguments,writing on the 14. Chapter of this Book of the Revelation, Number.3o. So that there could be no controverfie remaining about this matter, ifmen were intheir wits, but we have touched their madnefs before; who.disjoyn thofe things which are knit together infeparably. They confeffe Rome to be this Whore,andyet they will not endure tohave it to bee the Seat of dntichrif, as if thefe two could bee parted afimder,
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