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The Third Century
Quatrains 31 - 40

Quatrain 31

Aux champs de Mede, d’Arabe & d’Armenie,
Deux grans copies trois fois assembleront :
Pres du rivaige d’Araxes la mesgnie,
Du grand Soliman en terre tomberont.

On the fields of Media, of Arabia and of Armenia,
Two great armies three times will assemble:
The host near the bank of the Araxes,
The land of the great Suleiman will fall.

Time around Lepanto

The lands of Media and Arabia are the southern part of modern day Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, although many arabs would claim that Arabia extends into Mesopotamia and Syria. Armenia is the land around the Caucasus Mountains. This is the time around the battle of Lepanto, and the aftermath in the east. The Turkish Empire fought Iran after the battle of Lepanto. One of the major important aims was the lands of Armenia, which was one of the Shaw of Iran’s objectives. They also fought battles for Tabriz (Media) and Baghdad (Arabia, per arab claims). The last two lines refers to the battle of Lepanto which times this quatrain.

Quatrain 32

Le grand sepulcre du peuple Aquitanique,
S’approchera aupres de la Toscane :
Quand Mars sera pres du coing Germanique,
Et au terroir de la gent Mantuane.

The great tomb of the Aquitaine people,
Approaches near Tuscany:
When Mars will be in the German corner,
And in the land of the Mantuan people.

Second World War, Invasion of France

The Aquitaine was a large region in west central France. Before Nostradamus days it was famous for providing the wife of Henri II of England, Eleanor of Aquitaine. Here, it represents all of France. Tuscany stands for Italy. Mantua is a city in Lombardy, also standing for Italy. Germany is self-explanatory. When France was being attacked by the German forces, they dared not move any troops stationed on the Italian border, mainly because they feared that Mussolini would attack. This was born out in fact. While the Italians did not fare well, the mere threat had helped to weaken the French nation, speeding its doom to the German advance.

Quatrain 33

En la cité ou le loup entrera,
Bien pres de là ennemis seront :
Copies estrange grand pais gastera,
Aus murs & alpes les amis passeront.

In the city where the wolf will enter,
Very near there the enemies will be:
Foreign army will spoil a great country,
The friends pass at the walls and Alps.

World War II

The key is the first line. Adolf Hitler is the wolf. The name of Adolf means Noble Wolf, a fact Nostradamus would use consistently in the quatrains.

The city mentioned in line 1 is Paris. In 1940, Adolf Hitler came into Paris to celebrate his victory. Four years later, the Americans and the British, along with troops of the Free French and Canadians, landed in Normandy and swept across France. By the end of 1944, they had reached the dread Siegfried line. These friends of France, Eisenhower’s army, would eventually cross over, punching through the Siegfried line and cross into Germany in 1945. Allied forces coming from the South, made up of British, Americans, Poles, Brazilians, and other nations, reached the Po river valley. Both forces had also reached the Alpine mountains. These forces, Alexander’s army, would push through and cross part of the Alpine mountains, almost entering Austria when the war ended.

Quatrain 34

Quand le deffaut du soleil lors sera,
Sur le plain jour le monstre sera veu :
Tout autrement on l’interpretera,
Cherté n’a garde, nul n’y aura pourveu.

When the defect of the sun occurs,
The monster will be seen in the plane day:
He will be viewed quite differently,
Costly the guard, no one will have foreseen it.

Maximilian Robespierre

There are two ways to view the solar defect. One is an actual solar eclipse. The other is the French monarchy. Since it is impossible to see something in plane daylight during an eclipse, this must refer to the monarchy. That is the key to this quatrain.

The eclipse of the French monarchy occurred during the French Revolution. As the power of the monarchy waned, the power of the assembly increased. Chief among the leaders of the Assembly were Danton and Robespierre. After Louis was executed, Robespierre came to the forefront. Executing the larger but less powerful Danton, he ruled supreme. A noted contributor to that most notable document Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, he was a recognized follower of the philosopher Rousseau. Consequently, nobody foresaw what was about to happen.

As Robespierre gained more power, the executions he authorized began to increase in numbers. It seemed that he was constantly finding more enemies in and out of the government than were suspected. In fact, with his fanatical approach, anyone and everyone whose view deviated from his own was suspect. This lead to his being viewed in a most unfavorable light, which was quite different from the earlier view.

And as for the costliness of the guard, it must be pointed out that thousands died during his stewardship of the nation of France.

Quatrain 35

Du plus profond de l’Occident d’Europe,
De pauvres gens un jeune enfant naistra :
Qui par sa langue seduira grand troupe,
Son bruit au regne d’Orient plus croistra.

From the very depths of the west of Europe,
Of poor people will be born a young child:
Who with his language will seduce a great people,
His noise in the reign of the east will grow.

Adolf Hitler

Adolf Hitler was born in Austria, in a deep backwater area of Western Europe, to Alois Hitler, a poor customs official, and his wife Klara. Adolf would learn and develop the oratory skills that would propel him to the pinnacle of the leadership of the Third Reich. And his noise, his demands for lebensraum, would impel him to the fatal attack of the Soviet Union in 1941.

Note: This has been applied to Napoléon Bonaparte. The similarities between Bonaparte and Hitler are great. Both were born in the depths of Europe, Bonaparte on the Isle of Corsica, Hitler in Austria. Both were excellent orators and the noise both made increased the farther east their armies traveled. Before Hitler came about, Napoléon was the most likely candidate to fulfill this quatrain.

But the differences dictate that Adolph Hitler and not Napoléon Bonaparte is the true fulfiller of this quatrain. Napoléon came from a fairly influencial family of ancient Italian nobility, his father was a solicitor and Napoléon had a fine education. Adolph Hitler was born of a very poor family, his father Alois was minor civil servant who died whie Adolph was still a minor – poverty controlled much of Adolph’s life. Also, Napoléon’s oratory skills were directed to his soldiers, he was less successful in seducing the peoples of other nations. His success with other nations laid not with his oratory skills but with the Code Napoléon, the unified civil code that France exported to the rest of Europe by force of arms. Adolph gave Europe no such blessing, all he had was his oratory which he used on both the German people and on anyone he met with extreme skill. Few were the people who could not walk away from a meeting with Hitler without believing Hitler’s sincerity and well-meaning. And his oratorical skills were used to sever his potential enemies before they could gather around him – Mussolini, Chamberlain, Daladier, Mannerheim and Tiso were among the leaders swayed by Hitler’s personal skills. Eva Braun, Geli Raubal and Mimi Reiter were distraught whenever Hitler left them. Even today people can listen to Hitler’s recorded speeches and be moved, even to tears, something Napoléon was never able to do with the common people.

Quatrain 36

Enseveli non mort apopletique,
Sera trouve avoir les mains mangees :
Quand la cité damnera l’heretique,
Qu’avoit leurs loix se leur sembloit changees.

Buried not dead but apoplectical,
Will be found to have eaten his hands:
When the city will damn the heretic,
Whom they thought had changed its laws.

Ambiguous

It is hard to tell if this has been fulfilled. I think it has notm still, it is hard to say. According to the quatrain, someone will be buried as if they were dead, yet they will be found to have been alive, having eaten their hands for nourishment – which will probably kill them. This discovery will most likely occur when a city condemns one they thought was a lawgiver or a law-changer, but who was nothing more than a self-serving individual. I suspect that the key will be the discovery of the tomb. Please note that Nostradamus does not say that the person will be buried, only that he was buried while alive, and when his tomb is opened it will be discovered he ate his hands. Because of this, the burial could easily predate Nostradamus.

Quatrain 37

Avant l’assaut oraison prononcée,
Milan prins d’aigle par embusches deceus,
Muraille antique par canons enfoncee,
Par feu & sang à mercy peu receuz.

The speech delivered before the attack,
Milan captured by the Eagle by deceptive ambushes:
Ancient wall driven in by cannons,
Through fire and blood mercy given to few.

Napoléon’s Italian Campaign, 1796

In a speech that would send shockwaves throughout the world, Napoléon (the eagle) rallied his troops before the attack of the city of Milan with a short speech that would send shockwaves throughout the world. The effect was electric. The French captured Milan with ease and proceeded to besiege Mantua. Napoléon was forced to lift the siege on July 31st to fight other battles, but resumed it on August 24th. The city was bombarded and forced to capitulate with frightful loss of life.

Quatrain 38

La gent Gauloise & nation estrange,
Outre le monts mors prins & profligés :
Au mois contraire & proche de vendange,
Par les siegneurs en acord rediges.

The Gallic people and a foreign nation,
Beyond the mountains dead captured and killed:
In the month contrary and approaching the vintage,
Through the lords drawn up in accord.

Crimean War

The major powers of the Crimean War were France and Britain on one side, and the Russian Empire on the other. (Though a nominal participant, the Turkish empire was also what the nations were fighting over.) The battleground was beyond the Alpine mountains. The major fighting occurred in the Crimean Peninsula and Sea of Azov, with fighting in the Baltic Sea and the Pacific Ocean. France had no real gain in the war except the fact that it was allied to the British and achieved an understanding with them, fulfilling the fourth line.

As anyone who studied the war understands, the war was an ineptly lead and executed war, the casualty figure was great and the cause stupid. France was the only victor in the war – she lost a lot of her manpower in a successful bid to make peace with the British, a peace that has held ever since.

Quatrain 39

Les sept en trois mis en concorde,
Pour subjuguer des Alpes Apennines :
Mais la tempeste & Ligure couarde,
Les profligent en subites ruines.

The seven in three months in agreement,
To subjugate the Alps Apennines:
But the tempestuous and cowardly Ligurian,
Destroys them in sudden ruines.

Unknown

The seven normally refer to the seven children of Henri II and Catherine de Medici, but in this case, that is uncertain. While the seven reigned, (and it must be pointed out that of the seven, only three actually reigned) the land of France was convulsed by the fury of the Religious Wars. They would and could not march on Italy (Alps and Apennines). Liguria is Northern Italy along the coast, it includes Genoa which is approximately in the middle of the region.

The first line may refer to something else: an alliance of seven countries or a conspiracy of seven people. The third line can be translated three ways. The second way is: But the tempest and cowardly Ligurian. The third way is: By the Tempestuous and the Cowardly Ligurian. I will have to leave this to the ingenuity of the reader to figure out.

Quatrain 40

Le grand theatre se viendra redresser,
Le dez jettez, & les rets ia tendus :
Trop le premier en glaz viendra lasser,
Par arcs prostraits de long temps ia fendus.

The great theater will be raised up again,
The die cast, and the nest spread:
Too much the first one in glass will come to bore,
By prostrate arches already a long time split.

Ambiguous

Note on Originals: The third word of the second line has an interesting problem. The 1555 Bonhomme has the word geté. The 1557 Du Rosne has the word getré. The 1568 Rigaud edition has the word jettez. You be the judge.

This does not seem to be a major event. I assume that this is one of the minor events Nostradamus occasionally includes in the quatrains, which serves to remind us that history is not dependant solely on great events but rather on the actions of people. Therefore, unless it refers to a future event or someone has already onto the event, it is likely it is an event we will never understand.