[1] See further, Bousset, _Religion des Judentums_, ed. ii. pp. 289 &c., 381 &c., 585 &c.
[2] See Gunkel, _Schöpfung und Chaos_ (1893).
[3] It is, of course, uncertain whether this phenomenon already occurs in 2 Cor. vi. 15, since here Belial might still be Satan; cf. however, _Ascensio Jesaiae_ iv. 2 &c.; _Sibyll_. iii. 63 &c., ii. 167 &c.
[4] It is not necessary to decide whether the epistle is by St Paul or by a pupil of Paul, although the former seems to the present writer to be by far the more probable, in spite of the brilliant attack on the genuineness of the epistle by Wrede in _Texte und Übersetzungen_, N.F. ix. 2.
[5] Cf. 2 Thess. ii. 8; the Targum also, in its comment on the passage of Isaiah, applies "the wicked" to Antichrist.
[6] See Bousset, _Kommentar zur Offenbarung Johannis_, on these passages.
[7] _Ibid._ ch. xvii.: and Charles, _Ascension of Isaiah_, lvii. sq.
[8] Harnack, _Chronologie der altchristlichen Literatur_, i. 573
[9] See Bousset, in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklop. für Theologie und Kirsche_ (ed. 3), xviii. 273 &c.
[10] Latin text by Sackur, cf. _op. cit._ 1 &c.; Greek text by V. Istrin.
[11] See Bousset, _Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte_, xx. p. 289 &c.
[12] Published in Merx, _Archiv zur Erforschung des Alten Testament_.
[13] See especially the _Ludus de Antichristo_, ed. W. Meyer.
ANTICLIMAX (i.e. the opposite to "climax"), in rhetoric, an abrupt declension (either deliberate or unintended) on the part of a speaker or writer from the dignity of idea which he appeared to be aiming at; as in the following well-known distich:--
"The great Dalhousie, he, the god of war, _Lieutenant-colonel to the earl of Mar_."
An anticlimax can be intentionally employed only for a jocular or satiric purpose. It frequently partakes of the nature of antithesis, as--
It is often difficult to distinguish between "anticlimax" and "bathos"; but the former is more decidedly a relative term. A whole speech may never rise above the level of bathos; but a climax of greater or less elevation is the necessary antecedent of an anticlimax.
ANTICOSTI, an island of the province of Quebec, Canada, situated in the Gulf of St Lawrence, between 49° and 50° N., and between 61° 40' and 64° 30' W., with a length of 135 m. and a breadth of 30 m. Population 250, consisting chiefly of the keepers of the numerous lighthouses erected by the Canadian government. The coast is dangerous, and the only two harbours, Ellis Bay and Fox Bay, are very indifferent. Anticosti was sighted by Jacques Cartier in 1534, and named Assomption. In 1763 it was ceded by France to Britain, and in 1774 became part of Canada. Wild animals, especially bears, are numerous, but prior to 1896 the fish and game had been almost exterminated by indiscriminate slaughter. In that year Anticosti and the shore fisheries were leased to M. Menier, the French chocolate manufacturer, who converted the island into a game preserve, and attempted to develop its resources of lumber, peat and minerals.