My LORD’s BibleThe Sibylline Oracles 3
1O THOU high-thundering blessed heavenly One,
2Who hast set in their place the cherubim,
3I, who have uttered what is all too true,
4Entreat thee, let me have a little rest;
5For my heart has grown weary from within.
6But why again leaps my heart, and my soul
7With a whip smitten from within constrained
8To utter forth its message unto all?
9But yet again will I proclaim all things
10Which God commands me to proclaim to men.
11O men, that in your image have a form
12Fashioned of God, why do ye vainly stray
13And walk not in the straight way, always mindful
14Of the immortal Maker? God is one,
15Sovereign, ineffable, dwelling in heaven,
16The self-existent and invisible,
17Himself alone beholding everything;
18Him sculptor's hand made not, nor is his form
19Shown by man's art from gold or ivory;
20But he, eternal Lord, proclaims himself
21As one who is and was erst and shall be
22Again hereafter. For who being mortal
23Can see God with his eyes? Or who shall bear
24To hear the only name of heaven's great God,
25The ruler of the world? He by his word
26Created all things, even heaven and sea,
27And tireless sun, and full moon and bright stars,
28And mighty mother Tethys, springs and rivers,
29Imperishable fire, and days and nights.
30This is the God who formed four-lettered Adam,
31The first one formed, and filling with his name
32East, west, and south, and north. The same is he
33Who fixed the pattern of the human form,
34And made wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls.
35Ye do not worship neither fear ye God,
36But vainly go astray and bow the knee
37To serpents, and make offering to cats,
38And idols, and stone images of men,
39And sit before the doors of godless temples;
40Ye guard him who is God, who keeps all things,
41And merry with the wickedness of stones
42Forget the judgment of the immortal Saviour
43Who made the heaven and earth. Alas! a race
44That has delight in blood, deceitful, vile,
45Ungodly, of false, double-tongued, immoral men,
46Adulterous, idolous, designing fraud,
47An evil madness raving in their hearts,
48For themselves plundering, having shameless soul;
49For no one who has riches will impart
50To another, but dire wickedness shall be
51Among all mortals, and for sake of gain
52Will many widows not at all keep faith,
53But secretly love others, and the bond
54Of life those who have husbands do not keep.
55But when Rome shall o'er Egypt also rule
56Governing always, then shall there appear
57The greatest kingdom of the immortal King
58Over men. And a holy Lord shall come
59To hold the scepter over every land
60Unto all ages of fast-hastening time.
61And then shall come inexorable wrath
62On Latin men; three shall by piteous fate
63Endamage Rome. And perish shall all men,
64With their own houses, when from heaven shall flow
65A fiery cataract. Ah, wretched me!
66When shall that day and when shall judgment come
67Of the immortal God, the mighty King?
68But just now, O ye cities, ye are built
69And all adorned with temples and race-grounds,
70Markets, and images of wood, of gold,
71Of silver and of stone, that ye may come
72Unto the bitter day. For it shall come,
73When there shall pass among all men a stench
74Of brimstone. Yet each thing will I declare,
75In all the cities where men suffer ills.
76From the Sebastenes Beliar shall come
77Hereafter, and the height of hills shall he
78Establish, and shall make the sea stand still
79And the great fiery sun and the bright moon
80And he shall raise the dead, and many signs
81Work before men: but nothing shall be brought
82By him unto completion but deceit,
83And many mortals shall be lead astray
84Hebrews both true and choice, and lawless men
85Besides who never gave ear to God's word.
86But when the threatenings of the mighty God
87Shall draw near, and a flaming power shall come
88By billow to the earth, it shall consume
89Both Beliar and all the haughty men
90Who put their trust in him. And thereupon
91Shall the whole world be governed by the hands
92Of a woman and obedient everywhere.
93Then when a widow shall o'er all the world
94Gain the rule, and cast in the mighty sea
95Both gold and silver, also brass and iron
96Of short lived men into the deep shall cast,
97Then all the elements shall be bereft
98Of order, when the God who dwells on high
99Shall roll the heaven, even as a scroll is rolled;
100And to the mighty earth and sea shall fall
101The entire multiform sky; and there shall flow
102A tireless cataract of raging fire,
103And it shall burn the land, and burn the sea,
104And heavenly sky, and night, and day, and melt
105Creation itself together and pick out
106What is pure. No more laughing spheres of light,
107Nor night, nor dawn, nor many days of care,
108Nor spring, nor winter, nor the summer-time,
109Nor autumn. And then of the mighty God
110The judgment midway in a mighty age
111Shall come, when all these things shall come to pass.
112O navigable waters and each land
113Of the Orient and of the Occident,
114Subject shall all things be to him who comes
115Into the world again, and therefore he
116Himself became first conscious of his power.
117But when the threatenings of the mighty God
118Are fulfilled, which he threatened mortals once,
119When in Assyrian land they built a tower;--
120(And they all spoke one language, and resolved
121To mount aloft into the starry heaven;
122But on the air the Immortal straightway put
123A mighty force; and then winds from above
124Cast down the great tower and stirred mortals up
125To wrangling with each other; therefore men
126Gave to that city the name of Babylon);--
127Now when the tower fell and the tongues of men
128Turned to all sorts of sounds, straightway all earth
129Was filled with men and kingdoms were divided;
130And then the generation tenth appeared
131Of mortal men, from the time when the flood
132Came upon earlier men. And Cronos reigned,
133And Titan and Iapetus; and men called them
134Best offspring of Gaia and of Uranus,
135Giving to them names both of earth and heaven,
136Since they were very first of mortal men.
137So there were three divisions of the earth
138According to the allotment of each man,
139And each one having his own portion reigned
140And fought not; for a father's oaths were there
141And equal were their portions. But the time
142Complete of old age on the father came,
143And he died; and the sons infringing oaths
144Stirred up against each other bitter strife,
145Which one should have the royal rank and rule
146Over all mortals; and against each other
147Cronos and Titan fought. But Rhea and Gaia,
148And Aphrodite fond of crowns, Demeter,
149And Hestia and Dione of fair locks
150Brought them to friendship, and together called
151All who were kings, both brothers and near kin,
152And others of the same ancestral blood,
153And they judged Cronos should reign king of all,
154For he was oldest and of noblest form.
155But Titan laid on Cronos mighty oaths
156To rear no male posterity, that he
157Himself might reign when age and fate should come
158To Cronos. And whenever Rhea bore
159Beside her sat the Titans, and all males
160In pieces tore, but let the females live
161To be reared by the mother. But When now
162At the third birth the august Rhea bore,
163She brought forth Hera first; and when they saw
164A female offspring, the fierce Titan men
165Betook them to their homes. And thereupon
166Rhea a male child bore, and having bound
167Three men of Crete by oath she quickly sent
168Him into Phrygia to be reared apart
169In secret; therefore did they name him Zeus,
170For he was sent away. And thus she sent
171Poseidon also secretly away.
172And Pluto, third, did Rhea yet again,
173Noblest of women, at Dodona bear,
174Whence flows Europus' river's liquid course,
175And with Peneus mixed pours in the sea
176Its water, and men call it Stygian.
177But when the Titans heard that there were sons
178Kept secretly, whom Cronos and his wife
179Rhea begat, then Titan sixty youths
180Together gathered, and held fast in chains
181Cronos and his wife Rhea, and concealed
182Them in the earth and guarded them in bonds.
183And then the sons of powerful Cronos heard,
184And a great war and uproar they aroused.
185And this is the beginning of dire war
186Among all mortals. [For it is indeed
187With mortals the prime origin of war.]
188And then did God award the Titans evil.
189And all of Titans and of Cronos born
190Died. But then as time rolled around there rose
191The Egyptian kingdom, then that of the Persians
192And of the Medes, and Ethiopians,
193And of Assyria and Babylon,
194And then that of the Macedonians,
195Egyptian yet again, then that of Rome.
196And then a message of the mighty God
197Was set within my breast, and it bade me
198Proclaim through all earth and in royal hearts
199Plant things which are to be. And to my mind
200This God imparted first, bow many kingdoms
201Have been together gathered of mankind.
202For first of all the house of Solomon
203Shall include horsemen of Phœnicia
204And Syria, and of the islands too,
205And the race of Pamphylians and Persians
206And Phrygians, Carians, and Mysians
207And the race of the Lydians rich in gold.
208And then shall Hellenes, proud and impure,
209Then shall a Macedonian nation rule,
210Great, shrewd, who as a fearful cloud of war
211Shall come to mortals. But the God of heaven
212Shall utterly destroy them from the depth.
213And then shall be another kingdom, white
214And many-headed, from the western sea,
215Which shall rule much land, and shake many men,
216And to all kings bring terror afterwards,
217And out of many cities shall destroy
218Much gold and silver; but in the vast earth
219There will again be gold, and silver too,
220And ornament. And they will oppress mortals;
221And to those men shall great disaster be,
222When they begin unrighteous arrogance.
223And forthwith in them there shall be a force
224Of wickedness, male will consort with male,
225And children they will place in dens of shame;
226And in those days there shall be among men
227A great affliction, and it shall disturb
228All things, and break all things, and fill all things
229With evils by a shameful covetousness,
230And by ill-gotten wealth in many lands,
231But most of all in Macedonia.
232And it shall stir up hatred, and all guile
233Shalt be with them even to the seventh kingdom,
234Of which a king of Egypt shall be king
235Who shall be a descendant from the Greeks.
236And then the nation of the mighty God
237Shall be again strong and they shall be guides
238Of life to all men. But why did God place
239This also in my mind to tell: what first,
240And what next, and what evil last shall be
241On all men? Which of these shall take the lead?
242First on the Titans will God visit evil.
243For they shall pay to mighty Cronos's sons
244The penal satisfaction, since they bound
245Both Cronos and the mother dearly loved.
246Again shall there be tyrants for the Greeks
247And fierce kings overweening and impure,
248Adulterous and altogether bad;
249And for men shall be no more rest from war.
250And the dread Phrygians shall perish all,
251And unto Troy shall evil come that day.
252And to the Persians and Assyrians
253Evil shall straightaway come, and to all Egypt
254And Libya and the Ethiopians,
255And to the Carians and Pamphylians--
256Evil to pass from one place to another,
257And to all mortals. Why now one by one
258Do I speak forth? But when the first receive
259Fulfillment, then straightway shall come on men
260The second. So the very first I'll tell.
261There shall an evil come to pious men
262Who dwell by the great temple of Solomon
263And who are progeny of righteous men.
264Alike of all these also I will tell
265The tribe and line of fathers and homeland--
266All things with care, O mortal shrewd in mind.
267There is a city . . . on the earth,
268Ur of the Chaldees, whence there is a race
269Of men most righteous, to whom both good will
270And noble deeds have ever been a care.
271For they have no concern about the course
272Of the sun's revolution, nor the moon's,
273Nor wondrous things beneath the earth, nor depth
274Of joy-imparting sea Oceanus,
275Nor signs of sneezing, nor the wings of birds,
276Nor soothsayers, nor wizards, nor enchanters,
277Nor tricks of dull words of ventriloquists,
278Neither do they astrologize with skill
279Of the Chaldeans, nor astronomize;
280O For these are all deceptive, in so far
281As foolish men go seeking day by day
282Training their souls unto no useful work;
283And then did they teach miserable men
284Deceptions, whence to mortals on the earth
285Come many evils leading them astray
286From good ways and just deeds. But they have care
287For righteousness and virtue, and not greed,
288Which breeds unnumbered ills to mortal men,
289War and unending famine. But with them
290Just measure, both in fields and cities, holds,
291Nor steal they from each other in the night,
292Nor drive off herds of cattle, sheep, and goats,
293Nor neighbor remove landmarks of a neighbor,
294Nor any man of great wealth grieve the one
295Less favored, nor to widows cause distress,
296But rather aids them, ever helping them
297With wheat and wine and oil; and always does
298The rich man in the country send a share
299At the time of the harvests unto them
300That have not, but are needy, thus fulfilling
301The saying of the mighty God, a hymn
302In legal setting; for the Heavenly One
303Finished the earth a common good for all.
304Now when the people of twelve tribes depart
305From Egypt, and with leaders sent of God
306Nightly pursue their way by a pillar of fire
307And during all the day by one of cloud,
308For them then God a leader will appoint--
309A great man, Moses, whom a princess found
310Beside a marsh, and carried off and reared
311And called her son. And at the time he came
312As leader for the people whom God led
313From Egypt unto the. steel) Sinai mount,
314His own law God delivered them from heaven
315Writing on two flat stones all righteous things
316Which he enjoined to do; and if, perchance,
317One give no heed, he must unto the law
318Make satisfaction, either at men's hands
319Or, if men's notice he escape, he shall
320By ample satisfaction he destroyed.
321[For the Heavenly finished earth a common good
322For all, and in all hearts as best gift thought.]
323To them alone the bounteous field yields fruit
324A hundredfold from one, and thus completes
325God's measure. But to them shall also come
326Misfortune, nor do they escape from plague.
327And even thou, forsaking thy fair shrine,
328Shalt flee away when it becomes thy lot
329To leave the holy land. And thou shalt be
330Carried to the Assyrians, and shalt see
331Young children and wives serving hostile men;
332And every means of life and wealth shall perish;
333And every land shall be filled up with thee,
334And every sea; and everyone shall be
335Offended with thy customs; and thy land
336Shall all be desert; and the altar fenced
337And temple of the great God and long walls
338Shall all fall to the ground, since in thy heart
339The holy law of the immortal God
340Thou didst not keep, but, erring, thou didst serve
341Unseemly images, and didst not fear
342The immortal Father, God of all mankind,
343Nor will to honor him; but images
344Of mortals thou didst honor Therefore now
345Of time seven decades shall thy fruitful land
346And the wonders of thy temple all be waste.
347But there remains for thee a goodly end
348And greatest glory, as the immortal God
349Granted thee. But do thou wait and confide
350In the great God's pure laws, when he shall lift
351Thy wearied knee upright unto the light.
352And then will God from heaven send a king
353To judge each man in blood and light of fire.
354There is a royal tribe, the race of which
355Shall be unfailing; and as times revolve
356This race shall bear rule and begin to build
357God's temple new. And all the Persian kings
358Shall aid with bronze and gold and well-wrought iron.
359For God himself will give the holy dream
360By night. And then the temple shall again
361Be, as it was before. . . .
362Now when my soul had rest from inspired song,
363And I prayed the great Father for a rest
364From constraint; even in my heart again
365Was set a message of the mighty God
366And he bade me proclaim through all the earth
367And plant in royal minds things yet to be.
368And in my mind God put this first to say
369How many lamentable sufferings
370The Immortal purposed upon Babylon
371Because she his great temple had destroyed.
372Alas, alas for thee! O Babylon,
373And for the offspring of the Assyrian men!
374Through all the earth the rush of sinful men
375Shall some time come, and shout of mortal men
376And stroke of the great God, who inspires songs,
377Shall ruin every land. For high in air to thee
378O Babylon, shall it come from above,
379And out of heaven from holy ones to thee
380Shall it come down, and the soul in thy children
381Shall the Eternal utterly destroy.
382And then shalt thou be, as thou wast before,
383As one not born; and then shalt thou be filled
384Again with blood, as thou thyself before
385Didst shed that of good, just, and holy men,
386Whose blood yet cries out to the lofty heaven.
387To thee, O Egypt, shall a great blow come
388And dreadful, to thy homes, which thou didst hope
389Might never fall on thee. For through thy midst
390A sword shall pass, and scattering and death
391And famine shall prevail until of kings
392The seventh generation, and then cease.
393Alas for thee, O land of Gog and Magog
394In the midst of the rivers of Ethiopia!
395What pouring out of blood shalt thou receive,
396And house of judgment among men be called,
397And thy land of much dew shall drink black blood!
398Alas for thee, O Libya, and alas,
399Both sea and land! O daughters of the west,
400So shall ye come unto a bitter day.
401And ye shall come pursued by grievous strife,
402Dreadful and grievous; there shall be again
403A dreadful judgment, and ye all shall come
404By force unto destruction, for ye tore
405In pieces the great house of the Immortal,
406And with iron teeth ye chewed it dreadfully.
407Therefore shalt thou then look upon thy land
408Full of the dead, some of them fallen by war
409And by the demon of all violence,
410Famine and plague, and some by barbarous foes.
411And all thy land shall be a wilderness,
412And desolations shall thy cities be.
413And in the west there shall a star shine forth
414Which they will call a comet, sign to men
415Of the sword and of famine and of death,
416And murder of great leaders and chief men.
417And yet again there shall be among men
418Greatest signs; for deep-eddying Tanais
419Shall leave Maeotis's lake, and there shall be
420Down the deep stream a fruitful, furrow's track,
421And the vast flow shall hold a neck of land.
422And there are hollow chasms and yawning pits;
423And many cities, men and all, shall fall:--
424In Asia--Iassus, Cebren, Pandonia,
425Colophon, Ephesus, Nicaea, Antioch,
426Syagra, Sinope, Smyrna, Myrina,
427Most happy Gaza, Hierapolis, .
428Astypalaia; and in Europe--Tanagra,
429Clitor, Basilis, Meropeia, Antigone,
430Magnessa, Mykene, Oiantheia.
431Know then that the destructive race of Egypt
432Is near destruction, and the past year then
433Is better for the Alexandrians.
434As much of tribute as Rome did receive
435Of Asia, even thrice as many goods
436Shall Asia back again from Rome receive,
437And her destructive outrage pay her back.
438As many as from Asia ever served
439A house of the Italians, twenty times
440As many Italians shall in Asia serve
441In poverty, and numerous debts incur.
442O virgin, soft rich child of Latin Rome,
443Oft at thy much-remembered marriage feasts
444Drunken with wine, now shalt thou be a slave
445And wedded in no honorable way.
446And oft shall mistress shear thy pretty hair,
447And wreaking satisfaction cast thee down
448From heaven to earth, and from the earth again
449Raise thee to heaven, for mortals of low rank
450And of unrighteous life are held fast bound.
451And of avenging Smyrna overthrown
452There shall be no thought, but by evil plans
453And wickedness of them that have command
454Shall Samos be sand, Delos shall be dull,
455And Rome a room; but the decrees of God
456Shall all of them be perfectly fulfilled.
457And a calm peace to Asian land shall go.
458And Europe shall be happy then, well fed,
459Pure air, full of years, strong, and undisturbed
460By wintry storms and hail, bearing, all things,
461Even birds and creeping things and beasts of earth.
462O happy upon earth shall that man be
463Or woman; what a home unspeakable
464Of happy ones! For from the starry heaven
465Shall all good order come upon mankind,
466And justice, and the prudent unity
467Which of all things is excellent for men,
468And kindness, confidence, and love of guests;
469But far from them shall lawlessness depart,
470Blame, envy, wrath, and folly; poverty
471Shall flee away from men, and force shall flee,
472And murder, baneful strifes and bitter feuds,
473And theft, and every evil in those days.
474But Macedonia shall to Asia bear
475A grievous suffering, and the greatest sore
476To Europe shall spring up from Cronian stock,
477A family of bastards and of slaves.
478And she shall tame fenced city Babylon,
479And of each land the sun looks down upon
480Call herself mistress, and then come to naught
481By ruinous misfortunes, having fame
482In later generations distant far.
483And sometime into Asia's prosperous land
484Shall come a man unheard of, shoulder-clad
485With purple robe, fierce, unjust, fiery;
486And this man he who wields the thunderbolt
487Roused forwards; and all Asia shall sustain
488An evil yoke, and her soil wet with rain
489Shall drink much murder. But even so shall Hades
490Destroy the unknown king; and that man's offspring
491Shall forthwith perish by the race of those
492Whose offspring he himself would fain destroy;
493Producing one root which the bane of men
494Shall cut from ten horns, and plant by their side
495Another plant. A father purple-clad
496Shall cut a warlike father off, and Ares,
497Baneful and hostile, by a grandson's hand
498Shall himself perish; and then shall the horn
499Planted beside them forthwith bear the rule.
500And unto life-sustaining Phrygia
501Straightway shall there a certain token be,
502When Rhea's blood-stained race, in the great earth
503Blooming perennial in impervious roots,
504Shall, root and branch, in one night disappear
505With a city, men and all, of the Earth-shaker
506Poseidon; which place they shall sometime call
507Dorylaeum, of dark ancient Phrygia,
508Much-bewailed. Therefore shall that time be called
509Earth-shaker; dens of earth shall he break up
510And walls demolish. And not signs of good
511But a beginning of evil shall be made;
512The baneful violence of general war
513Ye'll have, sons of AEneas, Dative blood
514Of Ilus from the soil. But afterwards
515A spoil shalt thou become for greedy men.
516O Ilium, I pity thee; for there shall bloom
517In Sparta an Erinys very fair,
518Ever-famed, noblest scion, and shall leave
519On Asia and Europe a wide-spreading wave;
520But to thee most of all she'll bear and cause
521Wailings and toils and groans; but there shall be
522Undying fame with those who are to come.
523And there shall be an aged mortal then,
524False writer and of doubtful native land;
525And in his eyes the light shall fade away;
526Large mind and verses measured with great skill
527Shall he have and be blended with two names,
528Shall call himself a Chian and shall write
529Of Ilium, not truthfully, indeed,
530But skillfully; for of my verse and meters
531He will be master; for he first my books
532Will open with his hands; but he himself
533Will much embellish helmed chiefs of war,
534Hector of Priam and Achilles, son
535Of Peleus, and the others who have care
536For warlike deeds. And also by their side
537Will he make gods stand, empty-headed men,
538False-writing every way. And it shall be
539Glory the rather, widely spread, for them
540To die at Ilium; but he himself
541Shall also works of recompense receive.
542Also to Lycia shall a Locrian race
543Cause many evils. And thee, Chalcedon,
544Holding by lot a strait of narrow sea,
545Shall an AEtolian youth sometime despoil.
546Cyzicus, also thy vast wealth the sea
547Shall break off. And, Byzantium of Ares,
548Thou some time shalt by Asia be laid waste,
549And also groans and blood immeasurable
550Shalt thou receive. And Cragus, lofty mount
551Of Lycia, from thy peaks by yawning chasms
552Of opened rock shall babbling water flow,
553Until even Patara's oracles shall cease.
554O Cyzicus, that dwellest by Propontis
555The wine-producing, round thee Rhyndacus
556Shall crash the crested billow. And thou, Rhodes,
557Daughter of day, shalt long be unenslaved,
558And great shall be thy happiness hereafter,
559And on the sea thy power shall be supreme.
560But afterwards a spoil shalt thou become
561For greedy men, and put upon thy neck
562By beauty and by wealth a fearful yoke.
563A Lydian earthquake shall again despoil
564The power of Persia, and most horribly
565Shall the people of Europe and Asia suffer pain.
566And Sidon's hurtful king with battle-din
567Dreadful shall work a mournful overthrow
568To the seafaring Samians. On the soil
569Shall slain men's dark blood babble to the sea;
570And wives together with the noble brides
571Shall their outrageous insolence lament,
572Some for their bridegrooms, some for fallen sons.
573O sign of Cyprus, may an earthquake waste
574Thy phalanxes away, and many souls
575With one accord shall Hades bold in charge.
576And Trallis near by Ephesus, and walls
577Well made, and very precious wealth of men
578Shall be dissolved by earthquake; and the land
579Shall burst out with hot water; and the earth
580Shall swallow down those who are by the fire
581And stench of brimstone heavily oppressed.
582And Samos shall in time build royal houses.
583But to thee, Italy, no foreign war
584Shall come, but lamentable tribal blood
585Not easily exhausted, much renowned,
586Shall make thee, impudent one, desolate.
587And thou thyself beside hot ashes stretched,
588As thou in thine own heart didst not foresee,
589Shalt slay thyself. And thou shalt not of men
590Be mother, but a nurse of beasts of prey.
591But when from Italy shall come a man,
592A spoiler, then, Laodicea, thou,
593Beautiful city of the Carians
594By Lycus's wondrous water, falling prone,
595Shalt weep in silence for thy boastful sire.
596Thracian Crobyzi shall rise up on Haemus.
597Chatter of teeth to the Campanians comes
598Because of wasting famine; Corsica
599Weeps her old father, and Sardinia
600Shall by great storms of winter and the strokes
601of a holy God sink down in ocean depths,
602Great wonder to the of the sea.
603Alas, alas, how many virgin maids
604Will Hades wed, and of as many youths
605Will the deep take without funeral rites!
606Alas, alas, the helpless little ones
607And the vast riches swimming in the sea!
608O happy land of Mysians, suddenly
609A royal race shall be formed. Truly now
610Not for a long time shall Chalcedon be.
611And there shall be a very bitter grief
612To the Galatians. And to Tenedos
613Shall there a last but greatest evil come.
614And Sicyon, with strong yells, and Corinth, thou
615Shalt boast o'er all, but flute shall sound like strain.
616Now, when my soul had. rest from inspired song.
617Even again within my heart was set
618A message of the mighty God, and he
619Commanded me to prophesy on earth.
620Woe, woe to the race of Phœnician men
621And women, and all cities by the sea;
622Not one of you shall in the common light
623Abide before the shining of the sun,
624Nor of life shall there any longer be
625Number and tribe, because of unjust speech
626And lawless life impure which they lived,
627Opening a mouth impure, and fearful words
628Deceitful and unrighteous forth,
629And stood against the God, the King,
630And opened loathsome month deceitfully
631Therefore may he subdue them terribly
632By strokes o'er all the earth, and bitter fate
633Shall God send on them burning from the ground.
634Cities and of the cities the foundations.
635Woe, woe to thee, O Crete! To thee shall come
636A very painful stroke, and terribly
637Shall the Eternal sack thee; and again
638Shall every land behold thee black with smoke,
639Fire ne'er shall leave thee, but thou shalt be burned.
640Woe, woe to thee, O Thrace! So shalt thou come
641Beneath a servile yoke, when the Galatians
642United with the sons of Dardanus
643Rush on to ravage Hellas, thine shall be
644The evil; and unto a foreign land
645Much shalt thou give, not anything receive.
646Woe to thee, Gog and Magog, and to all,
647One after another, Mardians and Daians;
648How many evils fate, shall bring on thee!
649Woe also to the soil of Lycia,
650And those of Mysia and Phrygia.
651And many nations of Pamphylians,
652And Lydians, Carians, Cappadocians,
653And Ethiopian and Arabian men
654Of a strange tongue shall fall. How now may I
655Of each speak fitly? For on all the nations
656Which dwell on earth the Highest shall send dire plague.
657When now again a barbarous nation comes
658Against the Greeks it shall slay many heads
659Of chosen men; and they shall tear in pieces
660Many fat flocks of sheep of men, and herds
661Of horses and of mules and lowing kine;
662And well-made houses shall they burn with fire
663Lawlessly; and unto a foreign land
664Shall they by force lead many slaves away,
665And children, and deep-girded women soft
666From bridal chambers creeping on before
667With delicate feet; and they shall be bound fast
668With fetters by their foes of foreign tongue,
669Suffering all fearful outrage; and to them
670There shall not be one to supply the toil
671Of battle and come to their help in life.
672And they shall see their goods and all their wealth
673Enrich the enemy; and there shall be
674A trembling of the knees. And there shall fly
675A hundred, and one shall destroy them all;
676And five shall rout a mighty company;
677But they, among themselves mixed shamefully,
678Shall by war and dire tumult bring delight
679To enemies, but sorrow to the Greeks.
680And then upon all Hellas there shall be
681A servile yoke; and war and pestilence
682Together shall upon all mortals come.
683And God will make the mighty heaven on high
684Like brass and over all the earth a drought,
685And earth itself like iron. And thereupon
686Shall mortals all lament the barrenness
687And lack of cultivation; and on earth
688Shall he set, who created heaven and earth,
689A much-distressing fire; and of all men
690The third part only shall thereafter be.
691O Greece, why hast thou trusted mortal men
692As leaders, who cannot escape from death?
693And wherefore bringest thou thy foolish gifts
694Unto the dead and sacrifice to idols?
695Who put the error in thy heart to do
696These things and leave the face of God the mighty?
697Honor the All-Father's name, and let it not
698Escape thee. It is now a thousand years,
699Yea, and five hundred more, since haughty kings
700Ruled o'er the Greeks, who first to mortal men
701Introduced evils, setting up for worship
702Images many of gods that are dead,
703Because of which ye were taught foolish thoughts.
704But when the anger of the mighty God
705Shall come upon you, then ye'll recognize
706The face of God the mighty. And all souls
707Of men, with mighty groaning lifting up
708Their hands to the broad heaven, shall begin
709To call the great King helper, and to seek
710The rescuer from great wrath who is to be.
711But come and learn this and store in your hearts,
712What troubles in the rolling years shall come.
713And what as whole burnt-offering Hellas brought
714Of cows and bellowing bulls unto the temple
715Of the great God, she from ill-sounding war
716And fear and pestilence shall flee away
717And from the servile yoke escape again.
718But until that time there shall be a race
719Of godless men, even when that fated day
720Shall reach its end. For offering to God
721Ye should not make till all things come to pass,
722Which God alone shall purpose not in vain
723To be all fulfilled; and strong force shall urge.
724And there shall be again a holy race
725Of godly men who, keeping to the counsels
726And mind of the Most High, shall honor much
727The great God's temple with drink-offerings,
728Burnt-offerings, and holy hecatombs,
729With sacrifices of fat bulls, choice rams,
730Firstlings of sheep and the fat thighs of lambs,
731Sacredly offering whole burnt-offerings
732On the great altar. And in righteousness,
733Having obtained the law of the Most High,
734Blest shall they dwell in cities and rich fields.
735And prophets shall be set on high for them
736By the Immortal, bringing great delight
737Unto all mortals. For to them alone
738The mighty God his gracious counsel gave
739And faith and noblest thought within their hearts;
740They have not by vain things been led astray,
741Nor pay they honor to the works of men
742Made of gold, brass, silver, and ivory,
743Nor statues of dead gods of wood and stone
744[Besmeared clay, figures of the painter's art],
745And all that empty-minded mortals will;
746But they lift up their pure arms unto heaven,
747Rise from the couch at daybreak, always hands
748With water cleanse, and honor only Him
749Who is immortal and who ever rules,
750And then their parents; and above all men
751Do they respect the lawful marriage-bed;
752And they have not base intercourse with boys,
753As do Phœnicians, Latins, and Egyptians
754And spacious Greece, and nations many more
755Of Persians and Galatians and all Asia,
756Transgressing the immortal God's pure law
757Which they were under. Therefore on all men
758Will the Immortal put bane, famine, pains,
759Groans, war, and pestilence and mournful woes;
760Because they would not honor piously
761The immortal Sire of all men, but revered
762And worshiped idols made with hands, which things
763Mortals themselves will cast down and for shame
764Conceal in clefts of rocks, when a young king,
765The seventh of Egypt, shall rule his own land,
766Reckoned from the dominion of the Greeks,
767Which countless Macedonian men shall rule;
768And there shall come from Asia a great king,
769A fiery eagle, who with foot and horse
770Shall cover all the land, cut up all things,
771And fill all things with evils; he will cast
772The Egyptian kingdom down; and taking off
773All its possessions carry them away
774Over the spacious surface of the sea.
775And then shall they before, the mighty God,
776The King immortal, bend the fair white knee
777On the much-nourishing earth; and all the works
778Made with hands shall fall by a flame of fire.
779And then will God bestow great joy on men;
780For land and trees and countless flocks of sheep
781Their genuine fruit to men shall offer--wine,
782And the sweet honey, and white milk, and wheat,
783Which is for mortals of all things the best.
784But thou, O mortal full of various wiles,
785Do not delay and loiter, but do thou,
786Tossed to and fro, turn and propitiate God.
787Offer to God Your hecatombs of bulls
788And firstling lambs and goats, as times revolve.
789But him propitiate, the immortal God,
790If haply he show mercy. For he is
791The only God, and other there is none.
792And honor justice and oppress no man.
793For these things the Immortal doth enjoin
794On miserable men. But do thou heed
795The cause of the wrath of the mighty God,
796When on all mortals there shall come the height
797Of pestilence and conquered they shall meet
798A fearful judgment, and king shall seize king
799And wrest his land away, and nations bring
800Ruin on nations and lords plunder tribes,
801And chiefs all flee into another land,
802And the land change its men, and foreign rule
803Ravage all Hellas and drain the rich land.
804Of its wealth, and to strife among themselves
805Because of gold and silver they shall come--
806The love of gain an evil shepherdess
807Will be for cities--in a foreign land.
808And they shall all be without burial,
809And vultures and wild beasts of earth shall spoil
810Their flesh; and when these things are brought to pass,
811Vast earth shall waste the relics of the dead.
812And all unsown shall it be and unplowed,
813Proclaiming sad the filth of men defiled
814Many lengths of time in the revolving years,
815And shields and javelins and all sorts of arms;
816Nor shall the forest wood be cut for fire.
817And then shall God send from the East a king,
818Who shall make all earth cease from evil war,
819Killing some, others binding with strong oaths.
820And he will not by his own counsels do
821All these things, but obey the good decrees
822Of God the mighty. And with goodly wealth,
823With gold and silver and purple ornament,
824The temple of the mighty God again
825Shall be weighed down; and the full-bearing earth
826And the sea shall be filled full of good things.
827And kings against each other shall begin
828To hold ill will, in heart abetting evils.
829Envy is not a good to wretched men.
830But again kings of nations on this land
831Shall rush in masses, bringing on themselves
832Destruction; for they'll purpose to despoil
833The great God's temple and the noblest men.
834What time they reach the land, polluted kings
835Shall set around the city each his throne
836And have his people that obey not God.
837And then shall God speak with a mighty voice
838To all rude people of an empty mind,
839And judgment from the mighty God shall come
840Upon them, and they all shall be destroyed
841By his immortal arm. And fiery swords
842Shall fall front heaven on earth; and great bright lights
843Shall come down flaming in the midst of men.
844And in those days shall earth, all-mother, reel
845By his immortal arm, and shoals of fish
846In the deep sea, and all wild, beasts of earth,
847And countless tribes of winged fowl, and all
848The souls of men and every sea shall tremble
849Before the face of the Immortal One,
850And there shall be dismay. High mountain peaks
851And monstrous hills shall he asunder break,
852And to all shall dark Erebus appear.
853And misty gorges in the lofty hills
854Shall be full of the dead; and rocks shall stream
855With blood and every torrent fill the plain.
856And well-built walls of evil-minded men
857Shall all fall to the earth, since they knew not
858The law nor judgment of the mighty God,
859But with a senseless soul all hurried on
860Against the temple and raised up their spears.
861And God shall judge all by war and by sword
862And by fire and by overwhelming storm;
863And brimstone there shall be from heaven, and stones
864And great and grievous hail; and death shall come
865Upon the quadrupeds. And then shall they
866Know God, the Immortal, who performs these things;
867And wailing, and upon the boundless earth
868Shall be at once a shout of perishing men;
869And all the unholy shall be bathed in blood;
870And earth herself shall also drink the blood
871Of the perishing, and beasts be gorged with flesh.
872And all these things the great eternal God
873Himself bade me proclaim. And that shall not
874Be unaccomplished, or be unfulfilled,
875Whatever only in my heart he put;
876For truthful is God's spirit in the world.
877But children of the mighty God shall all
878Again around the temple live in peace,
879Rejoicing in those things which he shall give
880Who is Creator, righteous Judge and King.
881For he himself, great, present far and wide,
882Shall be a shelter, as on all sides round
883A wall of flaming fire. And they shall be
884In cities and in country without war.
885For not the hand of evil war, but rather
886The Immortal shall himself be their defender
887And the hand of the Holy One. And then shall all
888The islands and the cities tell how much
889The immortal God loves those men; for all things
890Help them in conflict and deliver them
891Heaven, and divinely fashioned sun, and moon.
892[And in those days shall earth, all-mother, reel.]
893Sweet word shall they send from their mouths in hymns:
894"Come, falling on the earth let us all pray
895The immortal King, and great eternal God.
896To the temple let its in procession go,
897Since he alone is Lord; and let us all
898Meditate on the law of God most high,
899Which is most righteous of all (laws) on earth.
900And from the path of the Immortal we
901Have wandered and with senseless soul we honor
902Works made by hand and wooden images
903Of dead men." These things souls of faithful melt
904Shall cry out: "Come, having, at the house of God
905Fallen on our faces, let its with our hymns
906Make joy to God the Father at our homes,
907Supplied through all our land with arms of foes
908Seven lengths of time in the revolving years;
909Even shields and helmets and all sorts of arms,
910And a great store of bows and arrows barbed;
911For forest wood shall not be cut for
912But, wretched Hellas, stop thy arrogance
913And be wise; and entreat the Immortal One
914Magnanimous, and be upon thy guard.
915Send now against this city yet again
916The people inconsiderate, who are come
917Out of the holy land of the mighty One.
918Do not move Camarina; for 'tis better
919She be unmoved; a leopard from the lair,
920Do thou not let an evil meet with thee.
921But keep off, do not hold within thy breast
922An arrogant and overbearing soul,
923Ready for mighty contest. And serve God
924The mighty, that thou mayest share those things;
925And when that fated day shall reach its end
926[And judgment of the immortal God shall come
927To mortals], judgment great and power shall come
928Upon men. For all-mother earth shall yield
929To mortals best fruit boundless, wheat, wine, oil;
930Also from heaven a delightful drink
931Of honey and trees shall give their fruit,
932And fatted sheep and cattle there shall be,
933Young lambs and kids of goats; earth shall break forth
934With sweet springs of white milk; and of good things
935The cities shall be full and fat the fields;
936Nor sword nor uproar shall be on the earth;
937No more shall earth groan heavily and quake;
938Nor shall war longer be on earth, nor drought,
939Nor famine, nor the fruit-destroying hail;
940But great peace, shall be upon all the earth,
941And king to king be friend until the end
942Of the age, and o'er all earth common law
943Will the Immortal in the starry heaven
944Perfect for men, touching whatever things
945Have been by miserable mortals done;
946For he alone is God, there is no other;
947And the stern rage of men he'll burn with fire.
948But change entirely the thoughts in thy heart,
949And flee unrighteous worship; serve the One
950Who liveth; guard against adultery
951And deeds of lewdness; thine own offspring rear
952And do not murder; for the Immortal One
953Is angry with him who in these things sins.
954And then a kingdom over all mankind
955Shall he raise up for ages, who once gave
956Holy law to the pious, unto whom
957He pledged to open every land, the world
958And portals of the blessed, and all joys,
959And mind immortal and eternal bliss.
960And out of every land unto the house
961Of the great God shall they bring frankincense
962And gifts, and there shall be no other house
963To be inquired of by men yet to be,
964But what God gave for faithful men to honor;
965For mortal temple of the mighty God
966Shall call it. And all pathways of the plain
967And rough hills and high mountains and wild waves
968Of the deep shall be easy in those days
969For crossing and for sailing; for all peace
970On the land of the good shall come; and sword
971Shall prophets of the mighty God remove;
972For they are judges and the righteous kings
973Of mortals. And there shall be righteous wealth
974Among mankind; for of the mighty God
975This is the judgment and also the power.
976Be of good cheer, O maiden, and be glad;
977For he who made the heaven and earth gave thee
978Joy in thy age. And he will dwell in thee;
979And thine shall be immortal and wolves
980And lambs shall in the mountains feed on grass
981Together, and with kids shall leopards graze;
982And bears shall lodge among the pasturing calves;
983And the carnivorous lion shall eat chaff
984At the manger like the cow; and little children
985In bonds shall lead them; for he will make beasts
986Helpless on earth. With babes shall fall asleep
987Serpents, along with asps, and do no harm;
988For over them shall be the hand of God.
989Now tell I thee a sign exceeding clear,
990That thou may'st know when the end of all things
991On earth shall be. When in the starry heaven
992Swords shall by night point straight toward west and east,
993Straightway shalt there be also from the heaven
994A cloud of dust borne forth to all the earth,
995And the sun's brightness in the midst of heaven
996Shall be eclipsed, and the moon's beams appear
997And come again on earth; by drops of blood
998Distilling from the rocks a sign shalt be;
999And in the cloud shalt ye behold a war
1000Of foot and horse, like the chase of wild beasts
1001In the dense fog. This end of all things God
1002Shalt consummate, whose dwelling is in heaven.
1003But all must sacrifice to the great King.
1004These things I show thee, I who madly left
1005The long walls of Assyrian Babylon
1006For Hellas to proclaim to all the wrath
1007Of God, fire sent. . . .
1008And that I might to mortals prophesy
1009Of mysteries divine. And men shalt say
1010In Hellas that I am of foreign Land,
1011Of Erythre born, shameless; others say
1012That I'm a Sibyl, born of mother Circe
1013And father Gnostos raving mad and false;
1014But at that time when all thing come to pass
1015Ye shall remember me, and no one more
1016Shall call me mad, the great God's prophetess,
1017For he showed me what happened formerly
1018To my ancestors; what things were the first
1019Those God made known to me; and in my mind
1020Did God put all things to be afterwards,
1021That I might prophesy of things to come,
1022And things that were, and tell them unto men.
1023For when the world was deluged with a flood
1024Of waters, and one man of good repute
1025Alone was left and in a wooden house
1026Sailed o'er the waters with the beasts and birds,
1027In order that the world might be refilled,
1028I was his son's bride and was of his race
1029To whom the first things happened, and the last
1030Were all made known; and thus from mine own mouth
1031Let all these truthful things remain declared.