The Sibylline Oracles 11

1O WORLD of men wide-scattered, and long walls,

2The cities huge and nations numberless,

3Throughout the east and west and south and north,

4Divided off by various languages

5And kingdoms; other things, the very worst,

6Against you I am now about to speak.

7For from the time when on the earlier men

8The flood came and the Almighty One himself

9Destroyed that race by many waters, then

10Brought he in yet another race of men

11Untiring; and they, setting themselves up

12Against heaven, built to height unspeakable

13A tower; and tongues of all were loosed again;

14And on them hurled came wrath of God most high,

15By which the tower unutterably great

16Fell; and against each other they stirred up

17An evil strife. And then of mortal men

18Was the tenth race since these things came to pass;

19And the whole earth was among foreign men

20And various languages distributed,

21Whose numbers I will tell and in acrostics

22Of the initial letter show the name.

23And first shall Egypt royal power receive

24Preeminent and just; and then in her

25Shall many-counseling men be governors;

26Moreover then a fearful man shall rule,

27Close-fighter very strong; and he shall have

28This letter of the acrostic of his name:

29Sword shall he stretch out against pious men.

30And while this one is ruler there shall be

31A fearful sign in the Egyptian land,

32Which, gladdening very greatly, shall with corn

33Souls perishing with famine then supply;

34The law-giver, himself a prisoner,

35The East and offspring of Assyrian men

36Shall nourish; and his name know thou . . .

37. . . of the measure of the number ten.

38But when there shall come from the radiant heaven

39Ten strokes of judgment upon Egypt, then

40Will I again proclaim these things to thee.

41Memphis, alas, alas for thee! alas,

42Great royal one! the Erythraean sea

43Shall thy much people utterly destroy.

44Then when the people of twelve tribes shall leave

45The fruitful land of ruin by command

46Of the Immortal, the Lord God himself

47Will also give a law unto mankind.

48And o'er the Hebrews then a mighty king

49Magnanimous shall rule, and have a name

50Derived from sandy Egypt, Theban man

51Of doubtful native land; and Memphis he,

52Dread serpent, will show outward signs of love,

53And he will watch o'er many things in wars.

54Now the tenth kingdom being twelve times complete

55Seven besides and even unto the tenth hundred,

56Others being altogether left behind,

57Then shall arise the Persian sovereignty.

58And then an evil shall befall the Jews,

59Famine and pestilence intolerable

60They do not make escape from in that day.

61But when a Persian shall rule, and a son

62Of his son's son shall lay the scepter down,

63While years roll round to five fours, and to these

64A hundred more, and thou a hundred nines

65Shalt finish and all things shalt thou repay;

66And then unto the Persians and the Medes

67Shalt thou be given over as a slave,

68Destroyed with blows by reason of hard fights.

69Straightway to Persians and Assyrians

70And to all Egypt shall an evil come,

71And to Libya and the Ethiopians,

72And to the Carians and Pamphylians

73And to all other mortals. And he then

74Shall to the grandsons give the royal power,

75Who again snatching the whole earth away

76Shall plunder races for their many spoils,

77Not having fellow-feeling. Mournful dirges

78Shall the sad Persians by the Tigris wail,

79And Egypt water many a land with tears.

80And then to thee, O Median land, a man

81Of wealth abundant and of Indian birth

82Shall many evils do, till thou repay

83All things which thou, possessed of shameless soul,

84Hast done before. Alas, alas for thee,

85Thou Median nation; thou shalt afterwards

86Be servant unto Ethiopian men

87Beyond the land of Meroe; wretched thou

88Shalt from the first seven and a hundred years

89Complete, and put thy neck beneath the yoke.

90And then an Indian of dark countenance

91And gray hair and great soul shall afterwards

92Become lord, who shall many evils bring

93Upon the East by reason of hard fights;

94And he shall treat thee more despitefully

95And shall destroy all thy men. But when he

96The twentieth and the tenth year shall be king,

97Among them, also seven and the tenth,

98Then every nation of a royal power

99Shall be mad and declare their liberty,

100And during three years leave their servile blood.

101But he shall come again and every nation

102Of valiant men shall put their neck again

103Under the yoke, serve the king as before,

104And of its own free will again obey.

105There shall be great peace throughout all the world.

106And then o'er the Assyrians there shall rule

107A mighty king, a man preeminent,

108And shall persuade all to speak pleasing things,

109Which God ordained according to the law;

110Then all kings arrogant with pointed spears

111Timid and speechless shall before him quail,

112And him shall very powerful rulers serve

113Because of counsels of the mighty God;

114For he will carry all things in detail

115By reason, and all things will he subject,

116And he the temple of the mighty God

117And lovely altar will himself erect

118In his might, and will hurl the idols down;

119And gathering tribes together, both the race

120Of fathers and the helpless little ones,

121He shall encompass the inhabitants;

122His name shall have two hundred for its number,

123And of the eighteenth letter show the sign.

124But when for rolling decades two and five

125He shall rule, going forwards towards the end

126Of his time, there shall be as many kings

127As there are tribes of men, as there are clans,

128As there are cities, and as isles and coasts,

129And fields and lands that bring forth goodly fruit.

130But one of these shall be a mighty king,

131A leader among men; and many kings

132Of lofty spirit shall submit to him,

133And to his sons and grandsons opulent

134Give portions on account of royal power.

135Decades of decades, eight ones upon these

136Of years shall they rule, and at last shall end.

137But when with cruel Ares there shall come

138A powerful wild beast, even then for thee,

139O queenly land, shall wrath spring forth again.

140Alas, alas for thee, then Persian land;

141What an outpouring of the blood of men

142Shalt thou receive when that stronger-minded man

143Comes to thee; then I'll shout these things again.

144But when Italian soil shall generate,

145Great wonder unto mortals, there shall be

146Moans of young children by a fountain pure,

147In shady cavern off spring of wild beast

148That feeds on sheep, who unto manhood grown

149Shall upon seven strong hills with reckless soul

150Hurl many headlong down, in numbers both

151Having a hundred, and their names shall show

152A great sign to them that are yet to be;

153And they shall build upon the seven hills

154Strong walls and wage around them grievous war.

155And then again shall there be growing up

156Revolt of men around thee, then great land

157Of fine ears, high-souled Egypt; but again

158I'll cry these things. And yet then shalt receive

159A great stroke in thy houses; and again

160Shall there be a revolt of thine own men.

161Now over thee, O wretched Phrygia,

162I weep in pity; for to thee from Greece,

163Tamer of horses, there shall conquest come

164And war and plague by reason of hard fights.

165Ilium, I pity thee; for there shall come

166From Sparta an Erinys to thy halls

167Mixed with a deadly sting; and most of all

168Shall she bring thee toils, troubles, groans, and wails,

169When well-skilled men the battle shall begin,

170By far the noblest heroes of the Greeks

171Who are to Ares dear. And one of these

172Shall be a strong brave king; of foulest deeds

173He for his brother's sake will go in quest.

174And they shall overthrow the famous walls

175Of Phrygian Troy; when of the rolling years

176Twice five shall be filled with the bloody deeds

177Of savage war, a wooden artifice

178Shall sudden cover men, and on thy knees

179Thou shalt receive this, not perceiving it

180To be an ambush pregnant with the Greeks,

181O cause of grievous woe. Alas, alas,

182How much in one night Hades shall receive,

183And what spoils of the old man weeping much

184Shall he bear off! But with those yet to come

185Shall be undying fame. And the great king,

186A hero sprung from Zeus, shall have his name

187Of the first letter of the alphabet;

188Homewards shall he in order go. And then

189Shall he fall by a treacherous woman's hand.

190And there shall rule a child sprung from the race

191And the blood of Assaracus, renowned

192Of heroes, both a strong and valiant man.

193And he shall come out of the mighty fire

194Of ravaged Troy, fleeing from fatherland

195By reason of the fearful toil of war;

196Bearing his aged father on his shoulders

197And also holding his son by the hand

198He shall perform a pious work of law,

199Who, looking cautiously about him, cleft

200The onset of the fire of burning Troy,

201And hurrying through the multitude in dread

202He shall pass over land and fearful sea.

203And he shall have a trisyllabic name,

204For the beginning of the alphabet

205Points out this highest man as not unknown.

206And then a city for the powerful Latins

207He will raise up. And in his fifteenth year,

208Destroyed by waters in the depths of sea,

209Shall he lay hold on the event of death.

210But him though dead the nations of mankind

211Shall not forget; for his race over all

212Shall rule hereafter even to Euphrates

213And river Tigris, throughout the mid land

214Of the Assyrians, where the Parthians

215Extended. For those who are yet to come

216It shall be, when all these things come to pass.

217And there shall be an old man, minstrel wise,

218Whom all shall among mortals call most wise,

219By whose good understanding the whole world

220Shall be instructed; for his chapters he

221According to their power of thoughts will write.

222And wisely will he write most marvelous things,

223At times appropriating words of mine

224Measures and verses; for he shall the first

225My books unfold and after these things bide them

226And unto men bring them to light no more

227Until the end of baneful death and life.

228But when forthwith these things have been fulfilled

229Which I spoke, yet again the Greeks shall fight

230With one another; and Assyrians,

231Arabians and the quiver-bearing Medes,

232And Persians and Sicilians shall rise up,

233And Lydians, Thracians and Bithynians,

234And they who dwell in the land of fair corn

235Beside the streams of Nile; and among all

236Will God the imperishable put at once

237Confusion. But exceeding terribly

238Shall an Assyrian base-born fiery man

239Come suddenly, possessed of beastly soul,

240And looking cautiously about him cut

241Through every isthmus, going against all,

242And sailing o'er the sea. Then, faithless Greece,

243To thee shall happen very many things.

244Alas, alas for thee, O wretched Greece,

245How many things thou art obliged to wail!

246And during seven and eighty rolling years

247Thou shalt the miserable refuse be

248Of fearful battle among all the tribes.

249Then shall a Macedonian man again

250Bring forth for Hellas woe and shall destroy

251All Thrace, and toil of Ares on the isles

252And coasts and the war-loving Triballi.

253He shall among the foremost fighters be,

254And he shall share that name which shows the sign

255Of numbers ten times fifty. And short-lived

256Shall he be; but behind him he shall leave

257The greatest kingdom on the boundless earth.

258But by base spearman he himself shall fall

259While thought to live in quiet as none else.

260And afterwards shall a great-hearted child

261Of this one rule, beginning with his name

262The alphabet; but his race shall pass out.

263Not of Zeus, not of Amnion shall they call

264This one true son, yet still a bastard son

265Of Cronos as they all imagine him.

266And cities he of many mortal men

267Shall plunder; and for Europe shall shoot up

268The greatest sore. And also terribly

269Will he abuse the city Babylon,

270And every land the sun looks down upon,

271And he alone shall sail both east and west.

272Alas, alas for thee, O Babylon,

273Thou shalt serve triumphs, who wast called a queen;

274Down upon Asia Ares comes, he comes

275Surely and shall thy many children slay.

276And then shalt thou send forth thy royal man

277Named by the number four, expert with spear

278Among the mighty warriors, terrible,

279Shooting with bow and arrow. And then famine

280And war shall hold possession of the midst

281Of the Cilicians and Assyrians;

282But kings of lofty spirit shall embrace

283The dreadful state of heart-consuming strife.

284But do thou, fleeing, leave the former king,

285Be neither willing to remain nor fear

286To be unhappy; for on thee shall come

287A dreadful lion, a flesh-eating beast,

288Wild, strange to justice, wearing on his shoulders

289A mantle. Flee the thunder-smiting man.

290And Asia all shall bear an evil yoke,

291And many a murder shall the wet earth drink.

292But when a mighty city prosperous

293Ares of Pella shall in Egypt found,

294And it shall be named from him, fate and death,

295By his companions treacherously betrayed

296For barbarous murder shall destroy this man

297Around the tables when he shall have left

298The Indians and shall come to Babylon.

299Thereafter other kings, in a few years,

300Devourers of the people, arrogant

301And faithless, shall rule each by his own tribe;

302But a great-hearted hero, who shall glean

303All fenced Europe, from the time each land

304Shall drink the blood of all tribes, shall forthwith

305Abandon life, unloosing his own fate.

306And other kings there shall be, twice four men

307Of his race, and the same name to them all.

308And there shall be a bride of Egypt then

309Commanding and a noble city great

310Of Macedonian lord, queen Alexandria,

311Famed nourisher of cities, shining fair

312She alone shall be the metropolis.

313Let Memphis then upbraid them that command.

314And peace shall be deep throughout all the world;

315Then shall the land of black soil have more fruits.

316And then there shall come evil to the Jews,

317Nor shall they in that day make their escape

318From famine and intolerable plague;

319But the new world of black soil and fair corn,

320Divine land, shall receive much-wandering men.

321But marshy Egypt's eight kings shall fill up

322The numbers of two hundred years and three

323And thirty. Yet shall offspring perish not

324Of all of them, but there shall issue forth

325A female root, a bane of mortal men,

326Betrayer of her kingdom. But they shall

327According to their evil deeds perform

328Their wickedness thereafter, and one here

329Another there shall perish; son that wears

330The purple shall cut off his warlike sire,

331And he himself in turn by his own son,

332And ere he shall put forth another shoot

333He shall cease; but a root shall sprout again

334Thereafter of itself; and there shall be

335A race beside him growing. For a queen

336There shall be of the land by Nilus' streams

337Which comes down through seven mouths into the sea,

338And her name very lovely shall be that

339Of the number twenty; and she will demand

340Numberless things and gather up all goods

341Of gold and silver; but from her own men

342Shall treachery befall her. Then again

343For thee, O dusky land, shall there be wars

344And battles and great slaughter of mankind.

345When many over fertile Rome shall rule,

346Examples not at all of happy men,

347But tyrants, and there be of thousands chiefs

348And of ten thousands, and the overseers

349Of popular assemblies under law,

350Then shall the mightiest Caesars bear the rule

351Ill-fated all their days; and of these last

352Shall for initial have the number ten,

353Last Caesar stretching on the earth his limbs,

354Struck by dire Ares by a hostile man,

355Whom carrying in their hands the youth of Rome

356Shall. bury piously, and over him

357Pour out their token for his friendship's sake

358Rendering a tribute to his memory.

359But when thou shalt come to an end of time

360And hast completed twice three hundred years

361And twice ten, from the time when he shall rule

362Who is thy founder, child of the wild beast,

363There shall no longer a dictator be

364Ruling a measured period; but a lord

365Shall become king, man equal to the gods.

366Then, Egypt, know the king that comes to thee;

367And dreadful Ares of the glittering helm

368Shall surely come. For there shall be for thee,

369O widowed one, a capture afterwards;

370For round the walls of thy land there shall be

371Terrible raging mischief-working wars.

372But having suffered misery in wars

373Thou, wretched, shalt thyself flee from above

374Those lately wounded; and then to the couch

375Shalt thou come to the dreadful man himself;

376The wedlock, sharing one bed, is the end.

377Alas, alas for thee, ill-wedded bride,

378Thy royal power unto the Roman king

379Shalt thou give, and thou shalt repay all things,

380Which thou aforetime didst with masculine hands;

381Thou shalt give the whole land by way of dower

382As far as Libya and the dark-skinned men

383To the resistless man. And thou shalt be

384No more a widow, but thou shalt cohabit

385With a man-eating lion terrible,

386A furious warrior. And then shalt thou be

387Unhappy and among all men unknown;

388For thou shalt leave possessed of shameless soul;

389And thee, the stately, shall the encircling tomb

390Receive . . . is gone . . . living within . . .

391Adapted at the summits, beautiful,

392Wrought curiously, and a great multitude

393Shall mourn thee and the dreadful king shall make

394A piteous lamentation over thee.

395And then shall Egypt be the toiling slave

396Who many years against the Indians bears

397Her trophies; and she shall serve shamefully,

398And with the river, the fruit-bearing Nile,

399her tears, for haying gathered wealth

400And store of all good things, a nourisher

401Of cities, she shall feed sheep-eating race

402Of fearful men. All, to how many beasts,

403O very wealthy Egypt, thou shalt be

404Booty and spoil, but giving peoples laws;

405And formerly delighting in great kings

406Thou shalt to peoples be a wretched slave

407On account of that people, whom of old

408Piously living thou led'st to much woe

409Of toils and wailings, and didst put a plow

410Upon their neck and irrigate the fields

411With mortal tears. Therefore the Lord himself,

412The imperishable God who dwells in heaven,

413Shall utterly destroy and send thee on

414To wailing; and thou shalt make recompense

415For what thou didst unlawfully of old,

416And know at last that God's wrath came to thee.

417But I to Python and to Panopeus

418Of goodly towers shall go; and then shall all

419Declare that 1 am a true prophetess

420Oracle-singing, yet a messenger

421With maddened soul. . . .

422And when thou shalt come forward to the books

423Thou shalt not tremble, and all things to come

424And things that were ye shall know from our words;

425Then none shall call the God-seized prophetess

426An oracle-singer of necessity.

427But now, Lord, end my very lovely strain,

428Driving off frenzy and real voice inspired

429And fearful madness, and give charming song.