654. For a thousand six hundred stadia, signifies mere falsities of evil. By "stadia" the like is signified as by "ways," because stadia are measured ways, and by "ways" are signified leading truths (n. 176), and, in the opposite sense, leading falsities; and by "a thousand six hundred" are signified evils in the whole complex, for by "a thousand six hundred" the like is signified as by sixteen, and by sixteen the like as by four, because sixteen is the product of four multiplied by itself, and four is said of good and of the conjunction of good and truth (n. 322), hence, in the opposite sense, of evil and the conjunction of evil and falsity, as here; and as the multiplying of any number by a hundred does not take away its signification, but exalts it, therefore, "for a thousand six hundred stadia" signifies mere falsities of evil. That all numbers in the Word signify things, may be seen above (n. 348), and that a number signifies the quality of a thing (n. 448, 608-610).