CENTURIA IV · QUATRAIN VIII
The Gates of Rome
La grand cite d'assaut prompt & repentin,
Surprins de nuict, gardes interrompus:
Les excubies & vieles sainct Quintin,
Trucides gardes & les pourtails rompus.
The great city by assault sudden and swift,
surprised by night, guards interrupted:
the night watches and old women of Saint Quentin,
guards slain and the portals broken.
THE MASTER SAYS…
In his times the great city was Rome. This quatrain concerns the destruction of Rome during the fall of the Antichrist. What does Saint Quentin mean? He is the Keeper of the doors in the Vatican. I found out that Saint Quentin lived in Rome in 286 AD. He was tortured and beheaded for refusing to renounce Christianity and worship Roman gods. There is a detailed legend about him, but I did not find any mention that he was considered the “keeper of the doors of the Vatican.” Perhaps he was called that in the time of Nostradamus? Today we consider St. Peter the keeper of the heavenly gates, and St. Quentin is little known. Translators attribute this quatrain to a city called St. Quentin, although it is pronounced differently. He does not understand. I said that translators, those who translated his quatrains in our time, connect this quatrain with a city called St. Quentin, but the modern name sounds somewhat different. He says: “Who are these people?” He is very angry. He does not want to hear about them. These are the people who are trying in our time to understand his quatrains, because they are like puzzles. Yes. He says that a spirit from the 23rd century told him about this. Certainly the thought of people who misinterpret his work angers him, even though he has not yet written these quatrains. So this quatrain relates to the fall of Rome in times of unrest.