§ 1. Daniel prophesies in this manner: “And he will send his hand into the lands, and the land of Egypt will not escape; and he will rule over the treasures of gold and silver and all the precious things of Egypt; he will also pass through Libya and Ethiopia.”
None of these things agrees with the Pontiff, but the Lutherans and certain Calvinists attribute them all to Antichrist; therefore the Pontiff is not Antichrist. It has always been asked by our men: when did the Pontiff occupy Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia? When did he set up his tent between two seas?
As far as the word Apadno is concerned, the Greek retains it as ἀφαδνῷ; another reading is ἐφαδνῷ. Symmachus has τὴν σκηνὴν δ’ ἱπποστασίῳ, “the tent at the horse-station”; and the Greek scholia interpret τὸ ἱπποστάσιον as τὸ ἱππικὸν στρατόπεδον, “the cavalry camp.” Certainly a king’s retinue is mounted, and his principal power is in his cavalry. But because Antichrist will arise at Babylon, Daniel, when he speaks of his court and domestic camp, wished to use a Babylonian term. The same word is frequent among the Talmudists. Bruchthon maintains that this was done by Antiochus when, as he was about to set out for Persia, he entrusted his son to Lysias, together with the destruction of the Jews.
§ 2. But where will he set it up? On the holy mountain, between two seas. What mountain would Daniel call holy except the one which all the Jews would understand—the holy mountain, Mount Zion, between the Sea of Tiberias and the Phoenician Sea? The Pontiff did not come there.
Those who say that the Church is signified will never explain why it is placed between two seas, since it is spread throughout the whole world. But concerning these matters see Bellarmine, book 3, chapter 13, and his defender James Gretser.