Rev 7:1

“Although these things are thought by some to have occurred long ago to the Jews at the hands of the Romans … how much more will these things occur at the coming of the antichrist, and not only partially in the land of the Jews but over the whole world at whose four corners the angels stand fulfilling a service assigned to them by God, but unknown to us. The holding back of the winds reveals clearly the dissolution of the good order of creation and the inevitability of evil. For by means of wind the plants of the earth are nourished and ships sail the sea.”

“After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. That is, the four principal kingdoms, namely, those of the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. For just as in the previous seals, after witnessing the manifold conflicts of the Church, he saw the joys of the triumphant souls; so also now, he is about to prove with examples what victory follows the kingdom of the Antichrist, succeeding the preceding kingdoms of the world, which have already yielded to the rule of Christ's Church. For great causes must be confirmed by greater arguments.”

“Holding the four winds of the earth, etc. By their own power, they, in a way, suffocate everything, allowing no one to breathe freely under their jurisdiction. The diversity of provinces on land, the islands in the sea, and the various qualities and conditions of men in the trees are signified. Alternatively, the four angels are to be understood as the same as the four winds, according to the prophecy of Daniel saying: Behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came up from the sea (Dan. 7).”

“And after these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor on any tree. It should be noted that he seems to have kept the order all the way from the first to the sixth seal, but, omitting the seventh, he comes back to the beginning of Christ's incarnation and briefly recapitulates with different allegorical symbols the things he had already related, and then he concludes these same two narrations with the seventh seal. Recapitulation is not always done in this way, but in various ways. So what do we understand to be symbolized by the four angels but the body of the old enemy? It is because of the four principal kingdoms of the world, namely that of the Assyrians, that of the Medes, that of the Persians or Macedonians, and that of the Romans, in which the Devil reigned through the cult of idolatry, that four angels are put into the reprobate category. This is why Nebuchadnezzar saw a statue whose head was of gold, but the breast and the arms of silver, and the belly and the thighs of brass, and the legs of iron; [Dan. 2:32-33] for the kingdom of the Assyrians is symbolized by gold, that of the Medes by silver, that of the Persians or Macedonians by brass, and that of the Romans by iron. It is not surprising that bad people are symbolized by angels, since it was said about Judas, One of you is a devil. [John 6:71] One should also know that the four angels are the same as the four winds, according to the prophecy of Daniel, who says, Behold the four winds strove upon the great sea, and four beasts, different one from another, came down out of the sea. [Variant of Dan. 7:2-3] Indeed he indicates that the winds and the beasts are the same, that is the four aforesaid kingdoms. Therefore when the angels hold the winds, they necessarily hold themselves; and since all people of this kind are the Devil's body, he himself is also understood in them. So what does it mean that the four angels held the four winds of the earth that they should not blow, if not that the hidden enemy and his whole body united and bound themselves together, and blocked the mouth of everyone in such a way that no one dared to breathe out the word of truth against the cult of idolatry? By the earth is represented the diversity of provinces, and by the sea the numerousness of islands. The trees as well, since he has mentioned no genus, because of their diversity, symbolize the various offices of people. Now since they were being choked by the Devil, they were saved by the coming of their Lord. Whence it soon follows:”

“From here, the events that occurred to the Jews in the war against the Romans are clearly shown to the evangelist, which became a cause for them regarding the cross and the mockery against the Lord. For the four angels who hold the four corners of the land of the Jews guarded so that none of the Jews worthy of death might escape, perhaps casting into them cowardice of flight or some difficulty or a longing for a foreign land and for their wives and loved ones, which is figuratively indicated by the holding of the four corners of Judea. As for the control of the four winds, which means that neither on the earth nor at sea nor upon any tree should they blow, it signifies that no relief or interval could be found for them in war, nor any easing of their hardships, neither for those fighting on land nor for those engaged in naval battles. For many naval battles were fought during the time of Josephus, nor did those attending to agriculture and the care of plants escape this fate. For all were utterly overtaken by calamities: cities set on fire, land ravaged, and crops destroyed. Josephus thoroughly details all these events in his account of the siege of Jerusalem.”