It has upon it a Greek inscription in the painter's own hand which runs in English as follows: "This picture I, Alessandro, painted at the end of the year 1500, in the troubles of Italy, in the half-time after the time during the fulfilment of the eleventh of St.John, in the second woe of the Apocalypse, in the loosing of the devil for three years and a half.

Afterwards he shall be confined, and we shall see him trodden down, as in this picture." The loosing of the devil was the three years and a half after Savonarola's execution on May 23rd, 1498, when Florence was mad with reaction from the severity of his discipline.

S.John says, "I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy"; the painter makes three, Savonarola having had two comrades with him.

The picture was intended to give heart to the followers of Savonarola and bring promise of ultimate triumph.
After the death of Savonarola, Botticelli became both poor and infirm.

He had saved no money and all his friends were dead--Piero de' Medici, Lorenzo, Giuliano, Lucrezia, Simonetta, Filippino Lippi, and Savonarola.