The Sibylline Oracles 8

1GOD'S declarations of great wrath to come

2In the last age upon the faithless world

3I make known, prophesying to all men

4According to their cities. From the time

5When the great tower fell and the tongues of men

6Were parted into many languages

7Of mortals, first was Egypt's royal power

8Established, that of Persians and of Medes

9And also of the Ethiopians

10And of Assyria and Babylon,

11Then the great pride of boasting Macedon,

12Then, fifth, the famous lawless kingdom last

13Of the Italians shall show many evils

14Unto all mortals and shall spend the toils

15Of men of every land. And it shall lead

16The untamed kings of nations to the West,

17Make laws for peoples and subject all things.

18Late do the mills of God grind the fine flour.

19Fire then shall destroy all things and give back

20To fine dust the heads of the high-leafed hills

21And of all flesh. First cause of ills to all

22Are covetousness and a lack of sense.

23For there shall be love of deceitful gold

24And silver; for than these did mortals choose

25Naught greater, neither light of sun nor heaven,

26Nor sea, nor broad-backed earth whence all things grow,

27Nor God who giveth all things, of all things

28The Father, nor yet faith and piety

29Chose they before them. Of impiety

30A fount, and of disorder forward guide,

31An instrument of wars and foe of peace

32Is lack of sense, that sets at enmity

33Parents and children. And along with gold

34Shall marriage not be honorable at all.

35And the land shall have its borders and each sea

36Its watchers craftily distributed

37To all those that have gold; for ages thus

38Shall those who purpose to possess the land

39That feedeth many plunder laboring men,

40In order that, procuring larger space,

41They may enslave them by a false pretense.

42And if the huge earth from the starry heaven

43Held not her throne far off there had not been

44For men an equal light, but, bought with gold,

45It had belonged to rich men and God must

46For poor men have prepared another world.

47There shall come to thee sometime from above

48A heavenly stroke deserved, O haughty Rome.

49And thou shalt be the first to bend thy neck

50And be rased to the ground, and thee shall fire

51Destructive utterly consume, cast down

52Upon thy pavements, and thy wealth shall perish,

53And wolves and foxes dwell in thy foundations.

54And then shalt thou be wholly desolate,

55As if not born. Where thy Palladium then?

56What god shall save thee, whether wrought of gold

57Or stone or brass? Or then where thy decrees

58Of senate? Where shall be the race of Rhea,

59Of Cronus, or of Zeus, and of all those

60Whom thou didst worship, demons without life,

61Images of the worn-out dead, whose tombs

62Crete the ill-starred shall hold a cause of pride,

63And honor the unconscious dead with thrones?

64But when thou shalt have had voluptuous kings

65Thrice five, enslaving the world from the east

66Unto the west, there shall be then a lord

67Gray-headed, having name of the near sea,

68The world inspecting with a nimble foot,

69Bringing gifts, having large amount of gold

70And plundering hateful silver even more,

71And stripping it off he shall pick it up.

72And he shall have part in all mysteries

73Of Magian shrines, display his child as god,

74Abolish all things sacred, and disclose

75The ancient mysteries of deceit to all.

76Sad then the time when he himself, sad one,

77Shall perish. And yet shall the people say:

78"Thy mighty strength, O city, shall fall down,"

79At once perceiving that the evil day

80Is coming on. And, thy most piteous fate

81Foreseeing, fathers and young children then

82Shall mourn together; they alas, alas! Shall wail

83Beside the Tiber's lamentable banks.

84After him at the latest day of all

85Shall three rule, filling out a name of God

86The heavenly, of whom is the power both now

87And to all ages. One of them being old

88The scepter long shall wield, most piteous king,

89Who in his houses shall shut up and guard

90All the goods of the world, in order that,

91When from the utmost limits of the earth

92That man, the matricidal fugitive,

93Shall come again, he may bestow these things

94On all and furnish Asia with great wealth.

95And then shalt thou mourn and shalt put aside

96The luster of the broad-striped purple robe

97Of thy commanders and wear mourning dress,

98O haughty queen, off spring of Latin Rome;

99The glory of that arrogance of thine

100Shall be for thee no longer, nor shalt thou,

101Ill-fated, ever be raised up again,

102But shalt lie prostrate. For the glory also

103Of eagle-bearing legions shall fall low.

104Where then thy power? What allied land shall be

105Subjected by thy follies lawlessly?

106For then in all earth shall confusion be

107Of mortals, when the Almighty shall himself

108To the tribunal come to judge the souls

109Of the living and the dead and all the world.

110And parents shall not be to children dear

111Nor children to their parents, on account

112Of their impiety and their distress

113Unlooked-for. Thine thenceforth shall gnashing be

114And scattering and conquest, and when the fall

115Of cities comes and yawnings of the earth.

116When a dragon charged with fire in both his eyes

117And with full belly shall come on the waves

118And shall afflict thy children, and there be

119Famine and war of kinsmen, near at hand

120Is the end of the world and the last day

121And judgment of the immortal God for them

122That are approved and chosen. And there shall

123Against the Romans first of all be wrath

124Implacable, and there, come a time

125Of drinking blood and wretched course of life.

126Alas, alas for thee, thou reckless land,

127Great barbarous nation; thou didst not perceive

128Whence naked and unworthy thou didst come

129To the sun's light, that to that place again

130Naked thou mightest withdraw and afterwards

131Come unto judgment, as unjustly judging. . . .

132With hands gigantic coming from on high

133Alone through all the world thou, shalt abide

134Under the earth. By naphtha and asphalt

135And brimstone and much fire thou utterly

136Shalt disappear and shalt be burning dust

137For ages; and each one who sees shall hear

138From Hades a great mournful bellowing

139And gnashing of teeth, and thee noisily

140Beating with thine own hands thy godless breast.

141For all together there is equal night;

142For rich and poor; and naked from the earth

143Naked again to earth they haste away

144And cease from life when they complete their time.

145No slave is there, nor any lord, nor tyrant,

146Nor king, nor leader having much conceit,

147Nor speaker learned in law, nor magistrate

148Judging for money; nor do they pour out

149The blood of sacrifices in libations

150Upon the altars; there sounds not a drum

151Nor cymbal. . . .

152Nor perforated flute that has a power

153To madden mind itself, nor sound of pipe

154That bean the likeness of a crooked snake,

155Nor trumpet, harsh-toned messenger of wars;

156Nor those made drunken in the lawless feasts

157Of revelry, nor in the choral dance;

158Nor sound of harp, nor harmful instrument;

159Nor strife, nor anger manifold, nor sword

160Is with the dead; but an eternity

161Common to all is keeper of the key

162Of the great prison before God's judgment-seat

163With images of gold and silver and stone

164Ye are ready, that unto the bitter day

165Ye may come to see your first punishment,

166O Rome, and gnashing of teeth. And no more

167Shall Syrian or Greek lay down his neck

168Beneath thy servile yoke, nor foreigner,

169Nor other nation. Plundered thou shalt be

170And made to suffer what thou didst exact,

171And in fear wailing thou shalt give, until

172Thou pay back all things; and thou for the world

173Shalt be a triumph and reproach of all.

174Then shall the sixth race of the Latin kings

175End life at last and scepters leave behind

176From the same race another king shall reign,

177Who shall rule every land and scepters wield;

178And having full power, and by the decrees

179Of God most mighty, shall his children rule,

180And of unshaken children is his race;

181For thus it is decreed while time moves round,

182When there shall be of Egypt thrice five kings.

183Thereafter when the limit of the time

184Of the Phenix shall come round, there shall a race

185Of peoples come to plunder, tribes confused,

186Enemy of the Hebrews. Then shall Ares

187Go plundering Ares; and he shall himself

188Destroy the haughty threatening of the Romans.

189For Rome's power perished then while in its bloom;

190An ancient queen with cities dwelling round,

191No longer shall the land of fertile Rome

192Prevail, when out of Asia one shall come

193To rule with Ares. And when he has wrought

194All these things, to the city afterwards

195Shall he come. And three times three hundred

196And eight and forty shalt thou make complete,

197When, taking thee by force, an ill-starred fate

198Shall come upon thee and complete thy name.

199Ah me, I the thrice wretched, shall I see

200Sometime that day to thee destructive, Rome,

201But to all Latins most? It honors him

202With counsels who goes, up on Trojan car

203With hidden children from the Asian land,

204Having a fiery soul. But when he shall

205Cut through the isthmus looking wistfully,

206Moving against all, passing o'er the sea,

207Then shall dark blood pursue the mighty beast.

208And a dog chased the lion which destroys

209The shepherds. And then shall they take away

210His scepter and to Hades he shall pass.

211And unto Rhodes shall come an evil last,

212But greatest, There shall also be for Thebes

213An evil conquest afterwards, And Egypt

214Shall perish by the wickedness of rulers,

215And he who, being mortal, even so

216Escaped headlong destruction afterwards,

217Thrice blessed was, even four times happy man.

218And Rome shall be a room, and Delos dull,

219And Samos sand. . . .

220Later again thereafter there shall come

221An evil to the Persians for their pride,

222And all their insolence shall come to naught.

223And then a holy Lord of all the earth

224Having raised up the dead shall wield the scepter

225Unto all ages. Thrice then unto Rome

226Will the Most High bring pitiable fate

227And unto all men, and by their own works

228They'll perish; but they would not be persuaded,

229Which would have been much more, to be desired.

230But when forthwith there shall increase for ill

231An evil day of famine and of plague

232And of intolerable battle-din,

233Even then again the former daring lord

234Shall, having called the senate, counsel take

235How he shall utterly destroy. . . .

236Dry land shall bloom together with the leaves

237Appearing; and the, heavenly firmament

238Shall bring to light upon the solid rock

239Rainstorm and flame, and much wind on the land,

240And over all the earth a multitude

241Of poisonous sowings. But with shameless soul

242Shall they again act, fearing not the wrath

243Of God or men, forsaking modesty,

244Longing for and greedy tyrants

245And violent sinners, false, insatiate,

246Workers of evil and in nothing true,

247Destroyers of faith, on foul speech

248In false words; they shall have no fill of wealth;

249But shamelessly will they strip off still more;

250Under the rule of tyrants they shall perish.

251The stars shall all fall forwards in the sea,

252All one by one, yet shall men see in heaven

253A brilliant cornet, sign of much distress

254About to come, of war and battle-strife.

255Let me not live when the gay woman reigns,

256But then when heavenly grace shall reign within,

257And when the holy child shall crush with bonds

258The mischievous destroyer of all men,

259Opening the depth to view, and suddenly

260The wooden house shall cover mortals round.

261But when the generation tenth shall be

262Within the house of Hades, afterwards

263The mighty sway of one of female sex;

264And God himself shall increase many evils

265When she with royal honor has been crowned;

266And altogether then an impious age.

267The sun obscurely looking shines by night;

268The stars shall leave the sky; and with much storm

269A hurricane shall desolate the earth;

270(184-205.)

271And there shall be a rising of the dead;

272The running of the lame shall be most swift,

273The deaf shall bear, the blind shall see, and those

274That talk not shall talk, and to all

275Shall life and wealth be common. And the land

276Alike for all, divided not by walls

277Or fences, shall bear more abundant fruits.

278And fountains of sweet wine and of white milk

279And honey it shall give. . . .

280And judgment of the immortal God (great king).

281But when God shall change times . . .

282Winter producing summer, then shall be

283Oracles (all fulfilled) . . .

284But when the world has perished . . .

285JESUS CHRISTI SON OF GOD, SAVIOUR, CROSS.

286And the earth shall perspire, when there shall be

287The sign of judgment. And from heaven shall come

288The King who for the ages is to be,

289Present to judge all flesh and the whole world.

290Faithful and faithless mortals shall see God

291The Most High with the saints at the end of time.

292And of men bearing flesh he judges souls

293Upon his throne, when sometime the whole world

294Shall be a desert and a place of thorns.

295And mortals shall their idols cast away

296And all wealth. And the searching fire shall burn

297Earth, heaven, and sea; and it shall burn the gates,

298Of Hades' prison. Then shall come all flesh

299Of the dead to the free light of the saints;

300But the lawless shall that fire whirl round and round.

301For ages. Howsoever much one did

302In secret, then shall he all things declare;

303For God shall open dark breasts to the light.

304And lamentation shall there be from all

305And gnashing of teeth. Brightness of the, sun

306Shall be eclipsed and dances of the stars.

307He shall roll up the heaven; and of the moon

308The light shall perish. And he shall exalt

309The valleys and destroy the heights of hills,

310And height no longer shall appear remaining

311Among men. And the hills shall with the plains

312Be level and no more on any sea

313Shall there be sailing. For the earth shall then

314With heat be shriveled and the dashing streams

315Shall with the fountains fall. The trump shall send

316From heaven a very lamentable sound,

317Howling the loathsomeness of wretched men

318And the world's woes. And then the yawning earth

319Shall show Tartarean chaos. And all kings

320Shall come unto the judgement seat of God.

321And there shall out of heaven a stream of fire

322And brimstone flow. But for all mortals then

323Shall there a sign be, a distinguished seal,

324The Wood among believers, and the horn

325Fondly desired, the life of pious men,

326But it shall be stumbling block of the world,

327Giving illumination to the elect

328By water in twelve springs; and there shall rule

329A shepherding iron rod. This one who now

330Is in acrostics which give signs of God

331Thus written openly, the Saviour is,

332Immortal King, who suffered for our sake;

333Him Moses typified when he stretched out

334Holy arms, conquering Amalek by faith,

335That the people might know him to be elect

336And honorable before his Father God,

337The rod of David and the very stone

338Which he indeed aid promise, and in which

339He that believes shall have eternal life.

340For not in glory, but as mortal man

341Shall he come to creation, pitiable,

342Unhonored, without seemly form, to give

343Hope to the pitiable; and he will give

344Fair form to mortal flesh, and heavenly faith

345To those without faith, and he'll give fair form

346To the man who was fashioned from the first

347By the holy hands of God, and whom by guile

348The serpent led astray unto the fate

349Of death to go and knowledge to receive

350Of good and evil, so that leaving God

351He serves the ways of mortals. For at first

352Receiving him as fellow-counsellor

353From the beginning the Almighty said:

354"Let both of us, O Son, make mortal tribes--

355Stamping them with the impress of our image;

356I now by my hands, and thou by the Word

357In after time shalt for our form provide

358That we may jointly cause it to arise."

359Keeping in mind this purpose he shall come

360To the creation, to a holy virgin

361Bringing the likeness antitypical,

362Baptizing with water by the elders' hands,

363And by the Word accomplishing all things,

364And healing every sickness. By his word

365He winds shall he make cease, and with his foot

366Shall calm the raging sea, walking thereon

367In peaceful faith. And from five loaves of bread

368And a fish of the sea live thousand men

369Shall he fill in the desert, and then taking

370All the remaining fragments for the hope

371Of peoples shall he fill twelve baskets full.

372And the souls of the blessed he shall call,

373And love the pitiable, who, being mocked,

374Beaten, and whipped, shall evil do for good

375Desiring poverty. He who perceives

376All things and sees all things and hears all things

377Shall search the heart and bare it to conviction;

378For of all things is he himself the ear

379And mind and sight, and Word that maketh forms

380To whom all things submit, and he preserves

381Them that are dead and every sickness heals.

382Into the hands of lawless men, at last,

383And faithless he shall come, and they will give

384To God rude buffetings with impure hands

385And poisonous spittle with polluted mouths.

386And he to whips will openly give then

387His holy back; [for he unto the world

388A holy virgin shall himself commit.]

389And silent he will be when buffeted

390Lest anyone should know whose son he is

391Or whence he came, that he may talk to the dead.

392And he shall also wear a crown of thorns;

393For of thorns is the crown an ornament

394Elect, eternal. They shall pierce his side

395With a reed that they may fulfill their law;

396For of reeds shaken by another spirit

397Were nourished inclinations of the soul,

398Of anger and revenge. But when these things

399Shall be accomplished, of the which I spoke,

400Then unto him shall every law be loosed

401Which from the first by the decrees of men

402Was given because of disobedient people.

403He'll spread his hands and measure all the world.

404But gall for food and vinegar to drink

405They gave him; this inhospitable board

406They'll show him. But the curtain of the temple

407Shall be asunder rent and in midday

408There shall be for three hours dark, monstrous night.

409For it was no more pointed out again

410How to serve secret temple and the law,

411Which had been covered with the world's displays,

412When the Eternal came himself on earth.

413And into Hades shall he come announcing

414Hope unto all the saints, the end of ages

415And the last day, and having fallen asleep

416The third day he shall end the lot of death;

417Then from the dead departing he shall come

418To light, the first to show forth to the elect

419Beginning of resurrection, and wash off

420By means of waters of immortal spring

421Their former wickedness, that, being born

422From above, they might be no more enslaved

423To the unlawful customs of the world.

424And first then openly unto his own

425Shall he as Lord in flesh be visible,

426As he before was, and in hands and feet

427Exhibit four marks fixed in his own limbs,

428Denoting east and west and south and north;

429For of the world so many royal powers

430Shall against our Exemplar consummate

431The deed so lawless and condemnable.

432Daughter of Zion, holy one, rejoice,

433Who hast suffered many things; thy king himself

434Mounted upon a foal is hastening on;

435Behold, meek he shall come, that he may lift

436Our slavish yoke, so grievous to be borne

437Lying upon our neck, and may annul

438Our godless laws and bonds compulsory.

439Know thou thy God himself, who is God's Son;

440Him glorify and hold within thy heart,

441From thy soul love him and extol his name.

442Put off thy former friends and wash thyself

443From their blood; for he is not by thy songs

444Nor by thy prayers appeased, nor does he give

445To perishable sacrifices heed,

446Being imperishable; but present

447The holy hymn of understanding mouths

448And know who this one is, and thou shalt then

449Behold the Father. . . .

450And then shall all the elements of the world

451Abide in solitude, air, earth, sea, light

452Of gleaming fire, and heavenly sky and night

453And all days into one shall run together

454And into outward form all-desolate.

455For from heaven shall the stars of light all fall.

456And there shall fly no longer in the air

457The well-winged birds, nor stepping be on earth;

458For wild beasts shall all perish. Nor shall be

459Voices of men, nor of beasts, nor of birds.

460The world shall hear no serviceable sound,

461Being disordered; but a mighty sound

462Of threatening shall the deep sea sound aloud,

463And swimming trembling creatures of the sea

464Shall all die; and no longer on the waves

465Shall sail the freighted ship. And earth shall groan

466Blood-stained by wars; and all the souls of men

467Shall gnash with their teeth, [of the lawless souls

468Both by loud crying and by fear,] dissolved

469By thirst, by famine, and by plague and murders,

470And they shall call death beautiful and death

471Shall flee away from them; for death no more

472Nor night shall give them rest. And many things

473Will they in vain ask God who rules on high,

474And then will he his face turn openly

475Away from them. For he to erring men

476Gave in seven ages for repentance signs

477By the hands of a virgin undefiled.

478All these things in my mind God himself showed

479And all that have been spoken by my mouth

480Will he accomplish; and I know the number

481Of the sands and the measures of the sea,

482I know the inmost places of the earth

483And gloomy Tartarus, I know the numbers

484Of the stars, and the trees, and all the tribes

485Of quadrupeds, and of the swimming things

486And flying birds, and of men who are now

487And of those yet to be, and of the dead;

488For I myself the forms and mind of men

489Did fashion, and right reason did I give

490And knowledge taught; I who formed eyes and ears,

491Who see and hear and every thought discern,

492And who within am conscious of all things,

493I am still; and hereafter will convict

494[And punishing what any mortal did

495In secret, and upon God's judgment seat

496Coming and speaking unto mortal men].

497I understand the dumb man and I hear

498Him that speaks not, and how great the whole height

499From earth to heaven is, and the beginning

500And end I know, who made the heaven and earth.

501[For all things have proceeded from him, things

502From the beginning to the end he knows.]

503For I alone am God and other God

504There is not. They my image formed of wood

505Treat as divine, and shaping it by hand

506They sing their praises over idols dumb

507With supplications and unholy rites.

508Forsaking the Creator they were slaves

509To lewdness. Men possessing everything

510Bestow their gifts on things which cannot aid,

511As if they for my honors deemed these things

512All useful, with the smell of sacrifice

513Filling the feast, as if for their own dead.

514For they flesh and bones full of marrow burn

515Offering on altars, and they pour out blood

516To demons, and they kindle lights to me

517The giver of light, and as to a god

518That thirsts do mortals drunken pour out wine

519For nought to idols that can give no aid.

520I have no need of your burnt offerings,

521Nor your libations, nor polluted smoke,

522Nor blood most hateful. For in memory

523Of kings and tyrants they will do these things

524Unto dead demons, as to heavenly beings,

525Performing service godless and destructive.

526And godless they their images call gods,

527Forsaking the Creator, having faith

528That from them they derive all hope and life,

529Deaf and dumb, in the evil putting trust,

530But they are wholly ignorant of good.

531Two ways did I myself before them set,

532Of life and of death, and before them set

533Judgment to choose good life; but they themselves

534Hastened to death and to eternal fire.

535Man is my image, having upright reason.

536For him a table pure and without blood

537Make ready and with good things fill it up,

538And give the hungry bread, the thirsty drink,

539And to the body that is naked clothes

540From thine own labors with unsullied hands

541Providing. Recreate the afflicted man,

542And help the weary, and provide for me

543The living One a living sacrifice

544Sowing piety, that also I to thee

545Sometime may give immortal fruits, and light

546Eternal thou shalt have and fadeless life

547When I shall prove all by fire. For all things

548I shall fuse and shall pick out what is pure,

549Heaven will I roll up and the depths of earth

550Lay open, and then will I raise the dead

551Making an end of fate and sting of death,

552And afterward for judgment will I come

553Judging the manner both of pious men

554And impious; I will set ram close to ram,

555Shepherd to shepherd, calf to calf, for test,

556Close to each other; whosoever were

557Exalted, proven by trial, and who stopped

558The mouth of every one, that they themselves

559Vieing with them that lead a holy life

560May likewise bring them into slavery,

561Enjoining silence, urged by love of gain,

562Not proved before me, then shall all withdraw.

563No longer henceforth shalt thou grieving say

564"Morrow shall be," nor "yesterday has been;"

565Not many days of care, nor spring, nor winter,

566Nor summer then, nor autumn, nor sunset

567Nor sunrise; for a long day I will make.

568And unto ages there shall be the light

569Longed for of the great . . .

570(Christ Jesus, of ages) . . . .

571Thou who art self-begotten, undefiled,

572True and eternal, measuring by thy power

573From heaven the fiery blast, and with rough torch

574From clashing doth the scepter keep, and calm

575The crashings of the heavy-sounding thunders,

576And driving earth into confusion dost

577Hold back the rushing noises. . . .

578And the fire-blazing scourges thou dost blunt

579Of lightnings, and the vast outpour of storms

580And of autumnal hail, and chilling stroke

581Of clouds and shock of winter. For of these

582Each one indeed is marked out in thy mind,

583Whatever seems good to thyself to do

584Thy Son nods his assent to, having been

585Begotten in thy bosom before all

586Creation, fellow-counselor with thee,

587Former of mortals and creator of life.

588Him with the first sweet utterance of mouth

589Thou didst address: "Behold, let us make man

590In a form altogether like our own,

591And let us give him life-sustaining breath;

592Him being yet mortal all things of the world

593Shall serve, and unto him formed out of clay

594We will subject all things." And thou didst speak

595These things by word, and all things came to pass

596According to thy heart; and thy command

597Together all the elements obeyed,

598And an eternal creature was arranged

599In mortal figure, also heaven, air, fire,

600And earth and water of the sea, sun, moon,

601Chorus of stars, hills . . .

602Both night and day, sleeping and waking up,

603Spirit and passion, soul and understanding,

604Art, might and strength, and the wild tribes

605Of living things both swimming things and fowls,

606And of those walking, and amphibia,

607And those that creep and those of double nature;

608For acting in accord with his own will

609Under thy leading he arranged all things.

610But in the latest times the earth he passed,

611And coming late from the virgin Mary's womb

612A new light rose, and going forth from heaven

613Put on a mortal form. First then did Gabriel show

614His strong pure form; and bearing his own news

615He next addressed the maiden with his voice:

616"O virgin, in thy bosom undefiled

617Receive thou God." Thus speaking he inbreathed

618God's grace on the sweet maiden; and straightway

619Alarm and wonder seized her as she heard,

620And she stood trembling; and her mind was wild

621With flutter of excitement while at heart

622She quivered at the unlooked-for things she heard.

623But she again was gladdened and her heart

624Was cheered by the voice, and the maiden laughed

625And her cheek reddened with a sense of joy,

626And spell-bound was her heart with sense of shame.

627And confidence came to her. And the Word

628Flew into the womb, and in course of time

629Having become flesh and endued with life

630Was made a human form and came to be

631A boy distinguished by his virgin birth;

632For this was a great wonder to mankind,

633But it was no great wonder unto God

634The Father, nor was it to God the Son.

635And the glad earth received the new born babe,

636The heavenly throne laughed and the world rejoiced.

637And the prophetic new-appearing star

638'Was honored by the wise men, and the babe

639Born was shown in a manger unto them

640That obeyed God, and keepers of the herds,

641And goatherds and to shepherds of the lambs;

642And Bethlehem called by God the fatherland

643Of the Word was chosen. . . .

644And in heart practice lowliness of mind

645And cruel deeds hate, and thy neighbor love

646Wholly, even as thyself; and from thy soul

647Love God and do him service. Therefore we

648Sprung from the holy race of the heavenly Christ

649Are called of common blood, and we restrain

650In worship recollection of good cheer,

651And walk the paths of piety and truth.

652Not ever are we suffered to approach

653The inmost sanctuary of the temples,

654Nor pour libations to carved images,

655Nor honor them with prayers, nor with the smells

656Much-pleasing of flowers, nor with light of lamps,

657Nor yet with shining votive offerings

658Adorn them, nor with smoke of frankincense

659That sends forth flame of altars; nor do thou,

660Adding unto the sacrifice of bulls

661And taking pleasure in defilement send

662Blood of sheep-slaughtering outrage, thus to give

663Ransom for penalty beneath the earth;

664Nor by the smoke of flesh-consuming pyre

665And odors foul pollute the light of heaven;

666But joyful with pure minds and cheerful soul,

667With love abounding and with generous hands,

668With soothing psalms and songs that honor God,

669We are commanded to sing praise to thee,

670The imperishable and without deceit,

671All-father God, of understanding mind,