 According to Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (c. 1704), this was "Divine vengeance" that first fell upon the Jews for having the Messiah crucified, then subsequently upon the persecuting Roman Empire.First, however, vengeance was deferred until a number elect, from the Jewish people, was accomplished.Bossuet viewed the "great Catastrophe of the Apocalypse" as the conquest of Pagan Rome by Alaric I.