Exposition of the Oracles

Leo VI Roman Emperor · PG 107 · cols 1155–1165 · machine translation (AI, from the page scans)

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^A Figure 9.

^B Figure 10.

^C Figure 11.

^D Figure 12.

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Exposition of the Oracles

Figure 13. Figure 14. Figure 15. Figure 16.

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BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR

WHO IS BELIEVED TO BE FRANCESCO PATRIZI DA CHERSO

EXPLANATION OF THE ORACLES OF EMPEROR LEO

As translated from Greek into Latin and the vulgar Italian tongue, brought to light in Brescia, in the year 1596.

EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE I.

A. In the midst of the twin ravens and the flying creatures, you shall be consumed. B. And by linear figures noting the time in which the end of the patrimony shall remain, the destroyer of the bear is a wretched serpent alone: O when shall you be food for the monstrous ravens. C. The second offspring is another beast, and the serpent lying on its back toward the south, lying on its back, black, and the black lot, with the light cruelly taken from the ravens. For a race from an Eastern family, leading to an infamous and miserable slaughter. You will destroy yourself along with the city, and your groans will be summer and spring.

EXPLANATION.

^A In the three hundred and ninety-eighth year; for this reason, the emperors of Constantinople were afterwards called Eastern, but the Romans Western, who for some time ceased on account of the arrival of the Goths, and the empire was transferred into Gaul to Charlemagne; and thus unto Charlemagne, Valentinian reigned in the East after Theodosius the Younger, then thirdly Flavius Valerius Marcian, in whom the empire of Constantinople ceased, because after Marcian, Leo the First was created of the Greek lineage; whence the transition of the Eastern Roman emperors ceased in Marcian, and in this manner the third imperial transition in Greek blood began about the four hundred and sixtieth year in Leo the First, and thus through twenty-five emperors unto Nicephorus, that is, after the translation of the empire into Gaul; but after Nicephorus, this third Greek imperial transition continued even unto Mourtzouphlos, ^B (according to some) the sixtieth emperor of this third transition in Greek blood, and in him the empire of Greek lineage ceased; whence up to this point the Greek empire is shown under the figure of a serpent (and how long it would last) which is rendered blind by two flying creatures. For this reason, the Epigram says A: In the midst of the twin ravens and of the flying creatures you shall be consumed: as if it said: O Greek empire, you shall be consumed between two ravens, or flying creatures; that is, foreign powers who shall expel you; and thus the Egyptians understood by the raven an infamous expulsion, he says, because the expulsion will be of two ravens: and so it was; since one of them was Mourtzouphlos, who, believing he could occupy the Greek empire, killed the young emperor Alexius; but he himself was immediately captured by the Venetians and the Franks, and led to Byzantium, died by various torments, and was punished bitterly. But meanwhile, because Mourtzouphlos had taken flight, behold the second raven, that is, Baldwin, Count of Flanders, who took the lordship and the city, and thus was created emperor, as Egnatius says, and others.

Since the meaning of the serpent was held in the greatest veneration among the ancient Romans, and afterwards among the Greeks and Egyptians; because for that serpent they understood the god Aesculapius of Epidaurus: therefore the Greeks wished to show their dominion under a serpent depicted of a yellowish color, just as the Roman empire is shown under an eagle, and ^C the Turkish empire under three moons, which is the first sign of the great Sultan. For this reason, in the first figure where the serpent is seen, it signifies Greece afflicted, which after Leo the Philosopher, Emperor of Constantinople, was greatly troubled, both by internal, and by external, and by neighboring forces, and this for three hundred and three years, that is, from the nine hundred and fifth year from the birth of Christ unto the one thousand two hundred and eighth year, at which time, as Egnatius relates, there were thirty emperors, beginning from Leo himself unto Mourtzouphlos, the last Greek emperor, in the third transition of the empire, I say the third transition; because the first of the Greeks was when Alexander the Great brought the empire to them in the three hundred and twenty-sixth year before the birth of Christ, whence that transition, together with the imperial name, lasted until the death of Philip, namely for two hundred and thirty-five years, at which time the second imperial transition began under Roman dominion; at which time Constantine the Great transferred the Roman empire to Byzantium, and from him the city was called Constantinople; this Roman empire, which held the Oriental and Occidental rank, persevered until Emperor Theodosius, after whom the Roman empire was divided, ^D and to Arcadius was given the Eastern, and this division was in the year.

EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE II.

A. Double, triple, and indeed the bird is a horseman, the cross-bearing bird and the horse again horned. B. Greatest, and sole king of birds, here indeed taking the kingdom, he will have rested from the south on a horned horse, in one day, while the star of the day traverses the center of the pole.

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^C By the monad of twofold appellation, the first only by reason of numbers, you exist in a later time, as also a good part of the time, when you will hold the middle image of the cross, and are as bold as possible, and swift, and ready for wars. O race of Byzas, but at the end opportunity will make profit for fame.

EXPOSITION. The eagle with the cross denotes a new emperor, that is, the aforementioned Baldwin, who, around the year one thousand two hundred and eight, was created emperor of that place with the aid of the Venetians and the Gauls, since there was a pact between them, that if the Gauls created a temporal Lord, the Venetians would create a spiritual Lord; whence the Gauls created Baldwin of Gallic stock as Emperor of Constantinople, but the Venetians made Thomas Morosini patriarch of that city. This figure ^B shows the time of this empire in an external stock in those words of epigram A, *doubled tripled, etc.*; as if meaning to say, doubled tripled, that is to say, there will be six emperors with the sign of the eagle bearing a cross in the empire. And so it was, because under that cross-bearing eagle, which carries six feathers on its neck, six emperors are shown, that is, Baldwin, Henry, Peter, Robert, and John of Brienne, tutor to Baldwin according to some, and who was to succeed later. It appears in epigram B, where it is said: *The greatest of birds and only king, etc.*; as if meaning to say, he will be the great and only king of birds, who will take the Greek dominion, but having passed midday, that is, for another short time he will rest on a horned horse; and so it was, since the Eagle ceased in Baldwin the second.

EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE III. A. Sultan Mehmed, he who is to capture Constantinople. B. In humid places, and beyond hope you will fall; for in you is the beginning and the end of the horn. C. It is common gossip that you have ears; and you neigh without love of the reins, that is, with loosened reins.

EXPOSITION. It seemed that Greece, abandoning the external dominion of the Eagle in Baldwin the second, and receiving another new and native dominion in Michael Palaiologos (though with an imperial interval according to some of Alexios, Angelos, Theodore Laskaris, and John Vatatzes), was as a new bride, shown by that young woman dressed in the Greek fashion and joyful; but that joy was taken away from midday, just as was said by the horned horse, by which she was oppressed. Wherefore epigram B says to the young woman: *In humid places, and beyond hope you will fall, etc.*; as if it meant to say: In humid places, that is, in a happier time of your dominion, O Greece, which so exalts yourself, you will fall; but know that in you is the beginning and the end of the horn, that is, that in you was the beginning of the horn, that is, the dominion, in you also will be the end. But who this first horned horse was to be, epigram A declares, saying: *Sultan Mehmed who will take Constantinople*, that is, Sultan Mehmed will be the one who will occupy the Greek empire, which ceased in Constantine the fifth ^C the emperor after Michael Palaiologos in the year of the Lord one thousand four hundred and fifty-three, and this will persist for seven Ottoman emperors. Now, how that empire came to Mehmed, the Histories of the Ottomans, and of the Turks, and of the Greeks tell, that Michael Palaiologos left Andronikos, who having two sons, John and Emmanuel, left John Cantacuzenus as tutor, who bestowed his daughter in marriage upon John; but dissension having arisen between Cantacuzenus and his son-in-law, Cantacuzenus expelled his son-in-law, making himself emperor; but John having been restored to his state, penalized Cantacuzenus with exile, who made himself a monk. This John had Emmanuel, who after his father held the empire, and had seven sons, John, Andronikos, Theodore, Constantine, Demetrius, Thomas, and Michael. In the time of this emperor Emmanuel it happened that Mehmed, emperor of the Turks, after he had been put to flight by the Venetians at sea, and subsequently had peace with them, as he was to be attacked by his brother Mustafa, who thereafter fled to Thessaloniki: which Mehmed understanding, he sought Mustafa the governor with an army; who, when he had written to Emmanuel the Greek emperor about this, received a reply of this kind: that Emmanuel and Mehmed were in agreement; and he promised to keep Mustafa in prison, in which he remained until the death of Mehmed the first. Because of this action of the Greeks, love for Mehmed was so greatly increased that he assented to every request of theirs: whence Greece flourished so strongly in that tranquility, that she remained as a new bride in ease and quiet, had not the emperor Emmanuel divided the kingdom among his sons, whose dissensions were the cause of the increase of the Ottomans, and of their own destruction: because, Emmanuel having died, John the firstborn took the empire; and after him, when Constantine was established in peaceful dominion, and the Greeks had struck a treaty with Mehmed the second, it did not remain for long in that tranquility, because Mehmed, proud and envious, ^D not regarding treaties, with them put aside together with laws and oaths, erected a stronghold, which was called Bogazator, upon whose completion, he revealed himself as an enemy of the Greeks; for he began to harm the Constantinopolitan region; and when with a very large army he held the city under siege and with great bombards, in the year one thousand four hundred and fifty-three, he took the city and the dominion: for Mehmed was a fraudulent man, and a deceiver, because he would say that faith is to be kept only by merchants, not by princes desiring to become great: he was also a sagacious man, ingenious, and a most bitter enemy of the Christians.

EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE IV. A. Sultan Bayezid. B. The second ox, and the end of the Bear-keeper [Arctotrophos], that is, of the nurse, the figure shows the location and customs.

EXPOSITION. The fourth figure denotes the successor of Mehmed,

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who was Bayezid; wherefore epigram A says: Sultan Bayezid. Having taken the dominion after his father, he was greatly vexed by various princes; for everyone, seeing his peaceful spirit, dared to take up arms against him and to defect, just as the exiles of the Morea and Macedonia did, who restored themselves to their state through the mediation of Nicholas Zuppani and John Cernovich. These two provinces, drawn to defection, are shown by those two heads of young women, who remained in liberty for a short time. This emperor Bayezid was not shown by the symbolic figure of the ox without reason, because he was always a friend of peace, as a man of a peaceful mind and mild nature: he was an intelligent man, he applied himself to philosophy, and especially the works of Averroes pleased him, and he was an emperor and lord of good fame.

EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE V.

A. Another second bear, a cub-rearer, that is, a nurse of cubs, and entirely that, except that it is delineated with shadowy lines. B. Sultan Selim. C. Toward the rising sun, they bring the crown on both sides, a part of the whole empire. D. The movement of times will be untimely, for it is described from the highest to the highest. EXPOSITION. Just as the nature of Bayezid, the second emperor in Constantinople, was shown by the symbol of the ox in the fourth figure, so in this fifth figure, by the symbol of the bear with the head of a griffin and with four cubs, is shown the nature of the successor of Bayezid, and his name by epigram B, which says: Sultan Selim. He was truly as he is figured here. For he was so cruel that he leaned heavily toward exterminating all the Ottomans, his brothers, nephews, and blood-relatives; and although Selim was a murderer of his own blood, saying that nothing is so sweet as to rule without fear of blood-relatives, he was nevertheless a lover of justice, and of virtue and greatness; he was vigilant, fierce, and modest in his way of life. But in the increase of his victories, his strength failed: for an ulcer having arisen in his kidneys, he was seized by a pestilential fever and died. Therefore epigram B says: The movement of times, etc. As if it wished to say that, hoping to pass on to other trophies and victories, sickness took away his spirit and life.

EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE VI.

A. Sultan Suleiman. B. This one, being the fourth from the bear with the sickle and the rose, is a man contending for the harvest. C. Sickle-bearer, I prescribe for you a three-month span, but with the sword you have overturned many first-fruits. D. You erect temples of idols in a short time, and living through three times three circles of life, you old man, depart into the underworld leaving two survivors. EXPOSITION. Such was the cruelty of Selim that when he was dead, and his son Suleiman had succeeded him (as is shown in the present figure by the symbol of the king), it seemed to everyone that a fierce lion, bear, or tiger had departed, and a gentle lamb had been left behind, so ^A externally did Suleiman show a most peaceful nature; in which many were deceived afterward, especially the unhappy Morea, shown by that head of a young girl, who, when she thought she would liberate herself from the yoke of the tyrant, joined herself to Gazelle, who, believing he would occupy the dominion of Syria contrary to his promised faith, advanced against Suleiman and was so crushed that the unhappy Morea was made even more unhappy. Truly, Suleiman was a rose, that is, the spring with a sickle, that is, with the harvest: therefore epigram B says: This one, being the fourth from the bear, etc., and in epigram C, Sickle-bearer, etc. That figure can be understood in this way, that since Emperor Suleiman was a man who wished to show the fame of vigilance and prudence, it was to be, as one who goes to the harvest with a sickle prepared, as if to say that, as he himself was the harvest, very few or no jurisdictions were to be added to his great empire by his successor: for the rose among the Egyptians signifies human fragility, and is a sign of fleeing good; therefore the ancients placed roses and flowers in the hands of the dead, and scattered them over the deceased and the sepulcher, and so the rose in the hand of the king in the present figure denotes the sign of fleeing good. It can also be said that the angel, as seen in the figure, predicted the end of the empire. For when it is said in epigram C: Sickle-bearer, I prescribe for you a three-month span, what else is it to say than that after your empire three emperors will reign, and then there will be the end of the entire Ottoman empire.

EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE VII.

A. Woe to the wretched. B. Alas, alas, wretched and burdened city, since you miserably corrupt your miserable light. The common people will obtain it for a short time; in you shall be many slaughters and shedding of blood, you shall not fail from the eleventh age in which you arise. And five first-fruits of the monarchy will tear apart the blood-guilty dragon, and will mince its thin flesh, and in war they will end the fierce race with the sword, an infinite number to six or seven thousand: and every one who is wicked, and sated with slaughter, an adulterer, a flatterer, and a plunderer, shall see this before the supreme light.

EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE VIII.

A. The third out of the wolf. B. Dissimulating friendship under a fox-skin, and bravely restraining his spirit, as if very old and wise, but coming to the islands, he dismissed the others twice, who destroyed each other by turns. C. And you have unfolded your hands of victory kindly in the shedding of blood, and have attained the prize at the end of the scepter.

EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE IX.

A. Woe to you, seven-hilled one, when the twentieth element shall be received with auspicious acclamations in your hand, then ruin and extreme calamity hang over your princes, and this by the iniquity of judges. B. The court of Byzantium and the houses of Constantine. Rome, Babylon, and Zion another new one. Three times three hundred and [ten] years, one new [era] excepted, when you shall gather the treasures of the nations, and shall give laws to all the surrounding principalities, but the highest fire shall burn up your whole yellow race, and shall dissolve your empire.

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EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE A.

A. Gathering all that is best, and afflicting the worst reward of injustice, at the time when the central star shall be seen blackened.

EXPOSITION.

In these four figures the ruin of the Ottoman empire is observed, thus it shows the seventh figure with Constantinople depopulated: wherefore in epigram B is seen the lamentation of the city, and thus the imperial seat will be left empty, as is seen in the ninth figure; but when this shall come to pass, epigram A of the ninth figure itself shows, saying: Woe to you, seven-hilled [city], when the twentieth element shall be received with auspicious acclamations within your walls; that is, Woe to you, seven-hilled Constantinople (she is called seven-hilled because Constantine the Great, when he had transferred the Roman empire there, also distributed the city into the same orders, tribes, and offices, just as Rome herself is, which has seven hills), when the twentieth element shall be seen in your walls, that is to say Tau or Taf, which element is a symbolic figure of the most holy cross, and for this reason the inhabitants of the city will be forced to cast themselves headlong into flight, which is openly said in the tenth figure in epigram A, where it is thus held: Gathering all that is best, and afflicting the worst reward of injustice, at the time when the central star shall be seen blackened, that is, when the black sun shall be seen, which is, Christ angered against the infidels. ^A

EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE XI.

A. Verses which the angel is about to speak to the emperor. B. Dead in appearance, released, many know, although no one sees, as if awakened from sleep he will immediately occupy the queen’s scepter. C. A hidden herald will cry out three times: Go quickly to the western side of the seven-hilled city, you will find a familiar man, my close associate, lead him into the royal house.

EXPOSITION.

With the imperial seat left empty, behold, says the Angel in epigram B, Dead in appearance, released, etc. As if he meant to say, Behold, O Greece, dead in appearance, and released, whom many of your people have known, although they have not seen [him]; that is, the fame of him they have known, although with their eyes they have not seen; this man, as if awakened from sleep, will immediately occupy the scepter of the Queen of Greece; but where this man shall be found, epigram C shows, saying: A hidden herald will cry out, etc. Of this, various considerations could be made. For the epigram says that this man will not be in human consideration, and that he will be at the western side of the seven-hilled city, and a familiar man, that is, Catholic and faithful, and that he will be a friend, since he shall come from ancient and most noble blood. This man, the divine herald will say, seek in the west, and among the magnates; and that (as the figure says) he rests in sleep, dressed in funeral and ancient garb, upon two triform animals; that is, seek him in the west of the city, not in the east, because he will not be there; whom you will find, as above, in sleep as if ^B dead, and who shall draw his origin from your ancient and royal stock.

EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE XII.

A. Dweller of the rock, come here to me, guest, having left behind tears and a rustic and solitary life, and live, you who were dead and afflicted, return naked to those above.

EXPOSITION.

It is seen in the present figure, that when the man mentioned above is required, behold the afflicted seven-hilled [city], who grieving toward that maiden says, Dweller of the rock, etc., as if she meant to say, To me, the seven-hilled one who am shut up in this rock, that is, in this affliction, come, O stranger, having laid aside tears and a solitary life because of the Mahometan yoke, for which you live afflicted, and as one dead: then that maiden (who shows the stranger and pilgrim king) replies, Although you are naked, O Constantinople, and despoiled of a king, because of the slaughter which you have suffered, you shall nevertheless return again to the light, which light is none other than Jesus Christ, who said: I am the light of the world; therefore returning, O city, to the Christian religion, with the Mahometan expelled, you shall again be luminous under the radiant sun of Christ the Savior. ^C

EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE XIII.

A. Behold again a man from the first stock hidden for many countless years. Naked he comes forth from an obscure and dark tomb, and a second radiant life begins and comes. Image again of life most true.

EXPOSITION.

The explanation of Figure XI is confirmed by the demonstration of the present figure, saying in epigram A: Behold again a man, etc. As if he meant to say, Behold, Constantinople anew, but hidden for infinite years, one who draws his origin from your first stock, that is to say, when he shall have passed from one to another through many centuries, and [been] hidden in the imagination of men, who comes forth naked from the tomb, that is, who first comes forth from the most ancient states to new domains, whence a radiant second life, that is, when it is known that he is (as has been demonstrated) from the first royal stock of so many peoples, and as if resurrected to another life, that is, to an ancient status he begins to be known, and again to live according to the very true image of life, that is, to the principal rule of king and emperor. That man, however, from an ancient stock, since he ought to be in the west, can be understood as needing to be from the royal stock of the Austrians, who are to the west of the seven-hilled city. ^D

EPIGRAMS OF FIGURE XIV.

A. Behold the wolf which desired to devour the sheep, the shepherd will kill, and will find the man. B. Thus shall he be destroyed who occupied.

EXPOSITION.

From these things which have been said in the superior figures and from the present figure, the manifest destruction of the Ottomans is observed; it was said in the epigram C of the sixth figure: I prescribe to you a three-month space; by three months we must understand three emperors after Solomon; these however were Selimus, Amurathes, and Mechemetes who now reigns, and since he is the third month, by consequence there will be the end of the empire.