VISIO DECIMA, cap. XXV
The Fading Glory of Rome
The Roman emperors will grow weak and corrupt, causing the empire to shrink and its subject peoples to break away and choose their own kings.
But in those days, the emperors of Roman standing, sinking from the strength with which they had once vigorously upheld the Roman empire, will become feeble in their own glory, so that by God's judgment the empire in their hands will gradually shrink and fail — because they, shabby and lukewarm, slavish and debased in their conduct, will be useless in every way; and though they want to be honored by the people, they will not seek the people's welfare, and therefore they will be unable to be honored or revered. Therefore the kings and rulers of many peoples who were once subject to the Roman empire will break away from it and will no longer allow themselves to be subjugated by it. And in this way the Roman empire will be scattered into ruin. For every nation and every people will then set up a king for themselves to obey, saying that the vast reach of the Roman empire was more of a burden to them than an honor.
The Shattering of Sacred Authority
Once imperial power is divided, apostolic dignity will also be fractured, and rival bishops will rise so that the pope's jurisdiction shrinks to little more than Rome itself.
But once the imperial scepter has been divided in this way and cannot be restored, then the dignity of apostolic honor will also be divided. For neither the rulers nor the rest of the people — of the religious life or of the secular order — will then find any reverence in the apostolic name; they will then diminish the dignity of that name. They will also set over themselves other teachers and archbishops under a different name in various regions, so that even the pope — his ancient authority diminished by the spread of that honor — will then scarcely hold Rome and the few places bordering it under his own jurisdiction.
War, Reform, and the Return to Discipline
Through both warfare and the shared resolve of religious and secular peoples, rulers and church leaders will be urged to govern and discipline their own communities to avoid further divine punishment.
These things will come about partly through the onslaught of wars, and partly through the common plan and agreement of both religious and secular peoples, since they will be urging every secular ruler to fortify and govern his own kingdom and people, and every archbishop or other religious leader to hold his subjects to right discipline — so that they may not be afflicted by those evils with which they were first struck down by God's decree.
Renewal and the Shadow of the Antichrist
When wickedness is crushed and justice returns, discipline and ancient traditions will be restored, prophets will arise, Scripture will be opened to the wise, yet heresies will also surge, heralding the near coming of the Antichrist.
Because once wickedness has been crushed and justice is gaining strength again, then the discipline of integrity will return, and the ancient laws and traditions of earlier times will spring up anew and be honored; many prophets will arise, and the hidden depths of the Scriptures will be laid open to the wise — even as, meanwhile, heresies surge up far and wide, which announce that the coming of the Antichrist is near.1234
Read the original Latin
In illis autem diebus imperatores Romanae dignitatis a fortitudine qua prius Romanum imperium strenue tenuerant descendentes, in gloria sua imbecilles fient, ita ut imperium in manibus eorum divino judicio paulatim decrescat et deficiat, quoniam ipsi squalidi et tepidi et serviles et turpes in moribus suis existentes, in omnibus inutiles erunt, et a populo quidem honorari volent; sed prosperitatem populi non quaerent, et ideo etiam honorari et venerari non poterunt. Quapropter etiam reges et principes multorum populorum, qui prius Romano imperio subjecti erant, se ab eo separabunt, nec ulterius ei subjici patientur. Et sic Romanum imperium in defectum dispergetur. Nam unaquaeque gens et quisquis populus regem sibi tunc constituet cui obediat, dicens quod latitudo imperii Romani magis sibi oneris prius fuerit, quam honoris. Sed postquam imperiale sceptrum hoc modo divisum fuerit, nec reparari poterit, tunc etiam infula apostolici honoris dividetur. Quia enim nec principes nec reliqui homines tam spiritalis quam saecularis ordinis in apostolico nomine ullam religionem tunc invenient, dignitatem nominis illius tunc imminuent. Alios quoque magistros et archiepiscopos sub alio nomine in diversis regionibus sibi praeferent, ita ut etiam apostolicus eo tempore dilatatione honoris pristinae dignitatis attenuatus, Romam et pauca illi adjacentia loca vix etiam tunc sub infula sua obtineat. Haec autem ex parte per bellorum incursionem evenient, ex parte quo que per commune consilium et consensum et spiritalium et saecularium populorum perficientur, illis hortantibus ut quisque saecularis princeps regnum et populum suum muniat et regat, ut quilibet archiepiscopus seu alius spiritalis magister subditos suos ad rectitudinem disciplinae constringat, ne deinceps malis illis affligantur, quibus divino nutu prius afflicti sunt.
Quod iterum tunc temporis iniquitate repressa, et justitia revalescente, disciplina honestatis, et antiquarum jura consuetudinum repullulabunt et observabuntur, et prophetae multi erunt, et occulta Scripturarum sapientibus patebunt, plurimis interim haeresibus passim ebullientibus, quae Antichristi vicinum denuntient adventum.
Notes
- 1 ↩Quod at the sentence opening is ambiguous between a causal conjunction ('because') and a relative pronoun ('which'); the causal reading is preferred here because the sentence picks up the thread from the preceding vision and explains what happens when wickedness is suppressed.
- 2 ↩revalescente is a rare form (likely from revalesco, 'to grow strong again / revive'); the sense is that justice is recovering strength after a period of suppression.
- 3 ↩repullulabunt is a rare verb meaning 'will sprout again / spring up anew'; it conveys the renewal of ancient customs and laws.
- 4 ↩ebullientibus agrees with haeresibus as an ablative absolute ('with heresies surging forth everywhere'), but its precise force is participial and somewhat uncertain; the translation captures the sense of eruption and spread.
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