Alcuin of York, on Rev 9:17

“And thus I saw the horses in the vision: and they that sat on them, had breastplates of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions: and from their mouths proceeded fire, and smoke, and brimstone.”

“And thus I saw the horses in the vision: and they that sat on them, had breastplates of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone. These horses, that is preachers of errors, in whom the seduced people are also understood, have demons as riders, not to guide them, but to make them fall headlong. By the name of breastplates are symbolized the torments of the wicked, hard and impossible to get rid of with any prayer. By of hyacinth we should understand "of smoke," for out of fire comes smoke. The very color of hyacinth also indicates this, as it has the appearance of air. And the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions. The heads of the horses are initiators of errors, who are both strong at crushing the weak and full of bad smells; whence it is rightly said after that, and from their mouths proceeded fire, and smoke, and brimstone. By these three plagues was slain the third part of men, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. This is because bad people's preaching prepares eternal torments for its followers, and these torments are metaphorically symbolized by this preaching, the effect being represented by the cause.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.

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