geographical, fact: the Province of a magistrate might be the stating of law in Rome, or the superintendence

of a great road, or the administration of a region or district of the world; but it was not and could not be

(except in a loose and derivative way) a tract of country. From the Asian point of view the Province was the

aspect in which Rome manifested itself to the people of Asia. Conversely, the Province was the form under

which the people of Asia constituted a part o f the Empire.

Rome appeared to the Asians in a double aspect, and so the Province had a double character, i.e. two horns.

In the first place the Province of Asia was the entire circle of administrative duties connected with that

division of the Empire, which stood before the minds of the people of Asia (and among them of the writer of

the Apocalypse) as the whole body of officials, who conducted the administration, especially the Senate in

Rome acting through its chosen agent on the spot, the individual Senator whom the rest of the Senate

delegated to represent it and to administer its power in Asia for the period of a year, residing in official state

as Proconsul in the capital or making his official progress through the principal cities.

In the second place the Province was the whole circle of religious duties and rites, which constituted the

ideal bond of unity holding the people of Asia together as a part of the Imperial realm; and this ritual was

expressed to the Asian mind by the representative pries ts, constituting the Commune (or, as it might almost

be called, the Parliament) of Asia: the one representative body that spoke for the "Nation," i.e. the Province,

Again, the Province meant the status which a certain body of persons and cities occupied in the Roman

Empire. They possessed certain privileges in the Empire, in virtue of being provincials, and their rights and

duties were determined by "the Law of the Province," which was drawn up to regulate the admission of the

Province in the Empire. Thus, e.g., a Phrygian occupied a place in the Empire, not as a Phrygian, but as an

Asian or a Galatian (according as he belonged to the Asian or the Galatian part of Phrygia). A Phrygian was

a member of a foreign conquered race. An Asian or a Galatian was a unit in the Empire, with less privileges

indeed than a Roman Citizen, but still honoured with certain rights and duties. These rights and duties were

partly civil and partly religious: as an Asian, he must both act and feel as part of the Empire --he mu st do

certain duties and feel certain emotions of loyalty and patriotism--loyalty and patriotism were expressed

through the Provincial religion, i.e. the State cult of the majesty of Rome and of the Emperor, regulated by

the Commune.

The Province of Asia in its double aspect of civil and religious administration, the Proconsul and the

Commune, is symbolised by the monster described 13:11ff. This monster had two horns corresponding to

this double aspect; and it was like unto a lamb, for Asia was a peaceful country, where no army was needed.

Yet it spake as a dragon, for the power of Rome expressed itself quite as sternly and haughtily, when it was

unsupported by troops, as it did when it spoke through the mouth of a general at the head of an army.

The monster exerciseth all the authority of the first Beast in his sight; for the provincial administration

exercised the full authority of the Roman Empire, delegated to the Proconsul for his year of office.

It maketh the earth and all that dwell therein to worship the first Beast, for the provincial administration

organised the State religion of the Emperors. The Imperial regulation that all loyal subjects must conform to

the State religion and take part in the Imperial ritual, was carried out according to the regulations framed by

the Commune, which arranged the ritual, superintended and directed its performance, ordered the building of

temples, and the erection of statues, fixed the holidays and festivals, and so on--saying to them that dwell

on the earth that t hey should make an image to the Beast.

At this point occurs a remarkable series of statements, constituting the one contemporary account of the

Flavian persecution of the Christians in Asia. They are to the effect that the Commune attempted to prove

the truth and power of the Imperial religion by means of miracles and wonders: the monster "doeth great

signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven upon the earth in the sight of men; and he