Commentary Purg XXXII 109-117

The first tribulation of the new Church was to be persecuted by the emperors of Rome, beginning with Nero (54-68) while Peter was its first pope (and was crucified in the emperor's persecution of Christians ca. A.D. 68), and extending to the reign of Diocletian (284-305).

      While the eagle of Jove may signify variously, there is no doubt that here and through the rest of the pageant of the persecution of the Church Militant it represents the empire.