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;

270And there shall be a rising of the dead;

271The running of the lame shall be most swift,

272The deaf shall bear, the blind shall see, and those

273That talk not shall talk, and to all

274Shall life and wealth be common. And the land

275Alike for all, divided not by walls

276Or fences, shall bear more abundant fruits.

277And fountains of sweet wine and of white milk

278And honey it shall give. . . .

279And judgment of the immortal God (great king).

280But when God shall change times . . .

281Winter producing summer, then shall be

282Oracles (all fulfilled) . . .

283But when the world has perished . . .

284JESUS CHRISTI SON OF GOD, SAVIOUR, CROSS.

285And the earth shall perspire, when there shall be

286The sign of judgment. And from heaven shall come

287The King who for the ages is to be,

288Present to judge all flesh and the whole world.

289Faithful and faithless mortals shall see God

290The Most High with the saints at the end of time.

291And of men bearing flesh he judges souls

292Upon his throne, when sometime the whole world

293Shall be a desert and a place of thorns.

294And mortals shall their idols cast away

295And all wealth. And the searching fire shall burn

296Earth, heaven, and sea; and it shall burn the gates,

297Of Hades' prison. Then shall come all flesh

298Of the dead to the free light of the saints;

299But the lawless shall that fire whirl round and round.

300For ages. Howsoever much one did

301In secret, then shall he all things declare;

302For God shall open dark breasts to the light.

303And lamentation shall there be from all

304And gnashing of teeth. Brightness of the, sun

305Shall be eclipsed and dances of the stars.

306He shall roll up the heaven; and of the moon

307The light shall perish. And he shall exalt

308The valleys and destroy the heights of hills,

309And height no longer shall appear remaining

310Among men. And the hills shall with the plains

311Be level and no more on any sea

312Shall there be sailing. For the earth shall then

313With heat be shriveled and the dashing streams

314Shall with the fountains fall. The trump shall send

315From heaven a very lamentable sound,

316Howling the loathsomeness of wretched men

317And the world's woes. And then the yawning earth

318Shall show Tartarean chaos. And all kings

319Shall come unto the judgement seat of God.

320And there shall out of heaven a stream of fire

321And brimstone flow. But for all mortals then

322Shall there a sign be, a distinguished seal,

323The Wood among believers, and the horn

324Fondly desired, the life of pious men,

325But it shall be stumbling block of the world,

326Giving illumination to the elect

327By water in twelve springs; and there shall rule

328A shepherding iron rod. This one who now

329Is in acrostics which give signs of God

330Thus written openly, the Saviour is,

331Immortal King, who suffered for our sake;

332Him Moses typified when he stretched out

333Holy arms, conquering Amalek by faith,

334That the people might know him to be elect

335And honorable before his Father God,

336The rod of David and the very stone

337Which he indeed aid promise, and in which

338He that believes shall have eternal life.

339For not in glory, but as mortal man

340Shall he come to creation, pitiable,

341Unhonored, without seemly form, to give

342Hope to the pitiable; and he will give

343Fair form to mortal flesh, and heavenly faith

344To those without faith, and he'll give fair form

345To the man who was fashioned from the first

346By the holy hands of God, and whom by guile

347The serpent led astray unto the fate

348Of death to go and knowledge to receive

349Of good and evil, so that leaving God

350He serves the ways of mortals. For at first

351Receiving him as fellow-counsellor

352From the beginning the Almighty said:

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

354Stamping them with the impress of our image;

355I now by my hands, and thou by the Word

356In after time shalt for our form provide

357That we may jointly cause it to arise."

358Keeping in mind this purpose he shall come

359To the creation, to a holy virgin

360Bringing the likeness antitypical,

361Baptizing with water by the elders' hands,

362And by the Word accomplishing all things,

363And healing every sickness. By his word

364He winds shall he make cease, and with his foot

365Shall calm the raging sea, walking thereon

366In peaceful faith. And from five loaves of bread

367And a fish of the sea live thousand men

368Shall he fill in the desert, and then taking

369All the remaining fragments for the hope

370Of peoples shall he fill twelve baskets full.

371And the souls of the blessed he shall call,

372And love the pitiable, who, being mocked,

373Beaten, and whipped, shall evil do for good

374Desiring poverty. He who perceives

375All things and sees all things and hears all things

376Shall search the heart and bare it to conviction;

377For of all things is he himself the ear

378And mind and sight, and Word that maketh forms

379To whom all things submit, and he preserves

380Them that are dead and every sickness heals.

381Into the hands of lawless men, at last,

382And faithless he shall come, and they will give

383To God rude buffetings with impure hands

384And poisonous spittle with polluted mouths.

385And he to whips will openly give then

386His holy back; [for he unto the world

387A holy virgin shall himself commit.]

388And silent he will be when buffeted

389Lest anyone should know whose son he is

390Or whence he came, that he may talk to the dead.

391And he shall also wear a crown of thorns;

392For of thorns is the crown an ornament

393Elect, eternal. They shall pierce his side

394With a reed that they may fulfill their law;

395For of reeds shaken by another spirit

396Were nourished inclinations of the soul,

397Of anger and revenge. But when these things

398Shall be accomplished, of the which I spoke,

399Then unto him shall every law be loosed

400Which from the first by the decrees of men

401Was given because of disobedient people.

402He'll spread his hands and measure all the world.

403But gall for food and vinegar to drink

404They gave him; this inhospitable board

405They'll show him. But the curtain of the temple

406Shall be asunder rent and in midday

407There shall be for three hours dark, monstrous night.

408For it was no more pointed out again

409How to serve secret temple and the law,

410Which had been covered with the world's displays,

411When the Eternal came himself on earth.

412And into Hades shall he come announcing

413Hope unto all the saints, the end of ages

414And the last day, and having fallen asleep

415The third day he shall end the lot of death;

416Then from the dead departing he shall come

417To light, the first to show forth to the elect

418Beginning of resurrection, and wash off

419By means of waters of immortal spring

420Their former wickedness, that, being born

421From above, they might be no more enslaved

422To the unlawful customs of the world.

423And first then openly unto his own

424Shall he as Lord in flesh be visible,

425As he before was, and in hands and feet

426Exhibit four marks fixed in his own limbs,

427Denoting east and west and south and north;

428For of the world so many royal powers

429Shall against our Exemplar consummate

430The deed so lawless and condemnable.

431Daughter of Zion, holy one, rejoice,

432Who hast suffered many things; thy king himself

433Mounted upon a foal is hastening on;

434Behold, meek he shall come, that he may lift

435Our slavish yoke, so grievous to be borne

436Lying upon our neck, and may annul

437Our godless laws and bonds compulsory.

438Know thou thy God himself, who is God's Son;

439Him glorify and hold within thy heart,

440From thy soul love him and extol his name.

441Put off thy former friends and wash thyself

442From their blood; for he is not by thy songs

443Nor by thy prayers appeased, nor does he give

444To perishable sacrifices heed,

445Being imperishable; but present

446The holy hymn of understanding mouths

447And know who this one is, and thou shalt then

448Behold the Father. . . .

449And then shall all the elements of the world

450Abide in solitude, air, earth, sea, light

451Of gleaming fire, and heavenly sky and night

452And all days into one shall run together

453And into outward form all-desolate.

454For from heaven shall the stars of light all fall.

455And there shall fly no longer in the air

456The well-winged birds, nor stepping be on earth;

457For wild beasts shall all perish. Nor shall be

458Voices of men, nor of beasts, nor of birds.

459The world shall hear no serviceable sound,

460Being disordered; but a mighty sound

461Of threatening shall the deep sea sound aloud,

462And swimming trembling creatures of the sea

463Shall all die; and no longer on the waves

464Shall sail the freighted ship. And earth shall groan

465Blood-stained by wars; and all the souls of men

466Shall gnash with their teeth, [of the lawless souls

467Both by loud crying and by fear,] dissolved

468By thirst, by famine, and by plague and murders,

469And they shall call death beautiful and death

470Shall flee away from them; for death no more

471Nor night shall give them rest. And many things

472Will they in vain ask God who rules on high,

473And then will he his face turn openly

474Away from them. For he to erring men

475Gave in seven ages for repentance signs

476By the hands of a virgin undefiled.

477All these things in my mind God himself showed

478And all that have been spoken by my mouth

479Will he accomplish; and I know the number

480Of the sands and the measures of the sea,

481I know the inmost places of the earth

482And gloomy Tartarus, I know the numbers

483Of the stars, and the trees, and all the tribes

484Of quadrupeds, and of the swimming things

485And flying birds, and of men who are now

486And of those yet to be, and of the dead;

487For I myself the forms and mind of men

488Did fashion, and right reason did I give

489And knowledge taught; I who formed eyes and ears,

490Who see and hear and every thought discern,

491And who within am conscious of all things,

492I am still; and hereafter will convict

493[And punishing what any mortal did

494In secret, and upon God's judgment seat

495Coming and speaking unto mortal men].

496I understand the dumb man and I hear

497Him that speaks not, and how great the whole height

498From earth to heaven is, and the beginning

499And end I know, who made the heaven and earth.

500[For all things have proceeded from him, things

501From the beginning to the end he knows.]

502For I alone am God and other God

503There is not. They my image formed of wood

504Treat as divine, and shaping it by hand

505They sing their praises over idols dumb

506With supplications and unholy rites.

507Forsaking the Creator they were slaves

508To lewdness. Men possessing everything

509Bestow their gifts on things which cannot aid,

510As if they for my honors deemed these things

511All useful, with the smell of sacrifice

512Filling the feast, as if for their own dead.

513For they flesh and bones full of marrow burn

514Offering on altars, and they pour out blood

515To demons, and they kindle lights to me

516The giver of light, and as to a god

517That thirsts do mortals drunken pour out wine

518For nought to idols that can give no aid.

519I have no need of your burnt offerings,

520Nor your libations, nor polluted smoke,

521Nor blood most hateful. For in memory

522Of kings and tyrants they will do these things

523Unto dead demons, as to heavenly beings,

524Performing service godless and destructive.

525And godless they their images call gods,

526Forsaking the Creator, having faith

527That from them they derive all hope and life,

528Deaf and dumb, in the evil putting trust,

529But they are wholly ignorant of good.

530Two ways did I myself before them set,

531Of life and of death, and before them set

532Judgment to choose good life; but they themselves

533Hastened to death and to eternal fire.

534Man is my image, having upright reason.

535For him a table pure and without blood

536Make ready and with good things fill it up,

537And give the hungry bread, the thirsty drink,

538And to the body that is naked clothes

539From thine own labors with unsullied hands

540Providing. Recreate the afflicted man,

541And help the weary, and provide for me

542The living One a living sacrifice

543Sowing piety, that also I to thee

544Sometime may give immortal fruits, and light

545Eternal thou shalt have and fadeless life

546When I shall prove all by fire. For all things

547I shall fuse and shall pick out what is pure,

548Heaven will I roll up and the depths of earth

549Lay open, and then will I raise the dead

550Making an end of fate and sting of death,

551And afterward for judgment will I come

552Judging the manner both of pious men

553And impious; I will set ram close to ram,

554Shepherd to shepherd, calf to calf, for test,

555Close to each other; whosoever were

556Exalted, proven by trial, and who stopped

557The mouth of every one, that they themselves

558Vieing with them that lead a holy life

559May likewise bring them into slavery,

560Enjoining silence, urged by love of gain,

561Not proved before me, then shall all withdraw.

562No longer henceforth shalt thou grieving say

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

564Not many days of care, nor spring, nor winter,

565Nor summer then, nor autumn, nor sunset

566Nor sunrise; for a long day I will make.

567And unto ages there shall be the light

568Longed for of the great . . .

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

570Thou who art self-begotten, undefiled,

571True and eternal, measuring by thy power

572From heaven the fiery blast, and with rough torch

573From clashing doth the scepter keep, and calm

574The crashings of the heavy-sounding thunders,

575And driving earth into confusion dost

576Hold back the rushing noises. . . .

577And the fire-blazing scourges thou dost blunt

578Of lightnings, and the vast outpour of storms

579And of autumnal hail, and chilling stroke

580Of clouds and shock of winter. For of these

581Each one indeed is marked out in thy mind,

582Whatever seems good to thyself to do

583Thy Son nods his assent to, having been

584Begotten in thy bosom before all

585Creation, fellow-counselor with thee,

586Former of mortals and creator of life.

587Him with the first sweet utterance of mouth

588Thou didst address: "Behold, let us make man

589In a form altogether like our own,

590And let us give him life-sustaining breath;

591Him being yet mortal all things of the world

592Shall serve, and unto him formed out of clay

593We will subject all things." And thou didst speak

594These things by word, and all things came to pass

595According to thy heart; and thy command

596Together all the elements obeyed,

597And an eternal creature was arranged

598In mortal figure, also heaven, air, fire,

599And earth and water of the sea, sun, moon,

600Chorus of stars, hills . . .

601Both night and day, sleeping and waking up,

602Spirit and passion, soul and understanding,

603Art, might and strength, and the wild tribes

604Of living things both swimming things and fowls,

605And of those walking, and amphibia,

606And those that creep and those of double nature;

607For acting in accord with his own will

608Under thy leading he arranged all things.

609But in the latest times the earth he passed,

610And coming late from the virgin Mary's womb

611A new light rose, and going forth from heaven

612Put on a mortal form. First then did Gabriel show

613His strong pure form; and bearing his own news

614He next addressed the maiden with his voice:

615"O virgin, in thy bosom undefiled

616Receive thou God." Thus speaking he inbreathed