I just thought of something.

DCLXVI.

That's 666 to most of you. ("Adrian's Revenge!") Is it at all possible that the Book of Revelations chose this number because it incorporates, in descending order, every Roman numeral save M? From what I read in Everything Is Under Control, the conspiratorial pseudo-compendium by Robert Anton Wilson, Kabalistic interpretations of 666 are many and varied, which makes numerological arguments about the famous number dubious. This notion I just latched onto, however- courtesy of Orange Goblin's song "Quincy the Pigboy"- is simple enough to accomodate the theory that Revelations was some sort of hallucination, because it's not that uncommon for those suffering (or being blessed by) hallucinations to turn an otherwise ordinary notion, in this case descending Roman numerals, into something far more signficant than it is, or at least appears to be.

I'm sure someone else in history has noticed this amusing bit of trivia, so when I remember to do so, I'll look it up. Right now it's off to Catbirds.