1Beginning with the generation first 2 Of mortal men down to the very last 3 I’ll prophesy each thing: what once has been, 4 And what is now, and what will yet befall 5 The world through the impiety of men. 6 First now God urges on me to relate 7 Truly how into being came the world. 8 And you, shrewd mortal, prudently make known, 9 Lest ever you should my commands neglect, 10 The King most high, who brought into existence 11 The whole world, saying, “Let there be,” and there was. 12 For he the earth established, placing it 13 Round about Tartarus, and he himself 14 Gave the sweet light; he raised the heaven on high, 15 Spread out the gleaming sea, and crowned the sky 16 With an abundance of bright-shining stars, 17 And decked the earth with plants, and mingled sea 18 With rivers, and the air with zephyrs mixed 19 And watery clouds; and then, another race 20 Appointing, he gave fishes to the seas 21 And birds to the winds, and to the woods 22 The beasts of shaggy neck, and snakes that crawl, 23 And all things which now on the earth appear. 24 These by his word he made, and everything 25 Was speedily and with precision done; 26 For he was self-caused and from heaven looked down 27 And finished was the world exceedingly well. 28 And then thereafter fashioned he again 29 A living product, copying a new man 30 From his own image, beautiful, divine, 31 And told him in ambrosial garden dwell, 32 That labors beautiful might be his care. 33 But in that fertile field of Paradise 34 He longed for conversation, being alone, 35 And prayed that he might see another form 36 Such as he had. And forthwith, from man’s side 37 Taking a bone, God himself made fair Eve,[1] 38 A wedded spouse, and in that Paradise 39 Gave her to dwell with him. And, when he gazed 40 Upon her, all of a sudden filled with joy 41 Great admiration held his soul, he saw 42 A pattern so exact; and with wise words 43 Spontaneous flowing answered he in turn 44 For God had care for all things. For the mind 45 They darkened not with passion, nor concealed 46 Their nakedness, but with hearts far from evil 47 Even like wild beasts they walked with limbs exposed. 48 And afterwards delivering them commands 49 God showed them not to touch a certain tree; 50 But the dread serpent drew them off by guile 51 To go away to the fate of death 52 And to gain knowledge of both good and evil. 53 But the wife then first traitor proved to God; 54 She gave, and urged the unknowing man to sin. 55 And he, persuaded by the woman’s words, 56 Forgot the immortal Maker utterly, 57 And treated plain commandments with neglect. 58 Therefore, instead of good, received they evil 59 According to their deed. And then the leaves 60 Of the sweet fig-tree piercing they made clothes 61 And put them on each other, and concealed 62 The sexual parts, because they were ashamed. 63 But on them the Immortal set his wrath 64 And cast them out of the immortal land. 65 For their abiding now in mortal land 66 Was brought to pass, since hearing they kept not 67 The word of the immortal mighty God. 68 And straightaway they, upon the fruitful soil 69 Forthgoing, with their tears and groans were wet; 70 And to them then the immortal God himself 71 A word more excellent spoke: “Multiply, 72 Increase, work constantly upon the earth, 73 That with the sweat of labor you may have 74 Sufficient food.” Thus he spoke; and he made 75 The author of deceit to press the ground 76 On belly and on side, a crawling snake, 77 Driving him out severely; and he sent 78 Dire enmity between them and the one 79 Is on the lookout to preserve his head, 80 But man his heel; for death is neighbor near 81 Of evil-plotting vipers and of men. 82 And then indeed the race was multiplied 83 As the Almighty himself gave command, 84 And there grew up one people on another 85 Innumerable. And houses they adorned 86 Of all kinds and made cities and their walls 87 Well and expertly; and to them was given 88 A day of long time for a life much-loved; 89 For they did not, worn out with troubles, die, 90 But as subdued by sleep; most happy men 91 Of great heart, whom the immortal Savior loved, 92 The King, God. But they also did transgress, 93 Smitten with folly. For with impudence 94 They mocked their fathers and their mothers scorned; 95 Kinsmen they knew not, and they formed intrigues 96 Against their brothers. And they were impure, 97 Having defiled themselves with human gore, 98 And they made wars. And then upon them came 99 The last calamity sent forth from heaven, 100 Which snatched the dreadful men away from life; 101 And Hades then received them; it was called 102 Hades since Adam, having tasted death, 103 Went first and earth encompassed him around. 104 And therefore all men born upon the earth 105 Are in abodes of Hades called to go. 106 But even in Hades all these when they came 107 Had honor, since they were the earliest race. 108 But when Hades received these, secondly 109 Of the surviving and most righteous men 110 God formed another very subtle race 111 That cared for lovely works, and noble toils, 112 Distinguished reverence and solid wisdom; 113 And they were trained in arts of every kind, 114 Finding inventions by their lack of means. 115 And one devised to till the land with plows, 116 Another worked in wood, another cared 117 For sailing, and another watched the stars 118 And practiced augury with winged fowls; 119 And use of drugs had interest for one, 120 While for another magic had a charm; 121 And others were in every other art 122 Which men care for instructed, wide awake, 123 Industrious, worthy of that eponym 124 Because they had a sleepless mind within 125 And a huge body; stout with mighty form 126 They were; but, nevertheless, down they went 127 Into Tartarean chamber terrible, 128 Kept in firm chains to pay full penalty 129 In Gehenna of strong, furious, quenchless fire. 130 130And after these a third strong-minded race 131 Appeared, a race of overbearing men 132 And terrible, who wrought among themselves 133 Many an evil. And fights, homicides, 134 And battles did continually destroy 135 Those men possessed of overweening heart, 136 And from these afterward another race 137 Proceeded, late-completed, youngest born, 138 Blood-stained, perverse in counsel; of men these 139 Were in the fourth race; much blood they spilled, 140 Nor feared they God nor had regard for men, 141 For maddening wrath and sore impiety 142 Were sent upon them. And wars, homicides, 143 And battles sent some into Erebus, 144 Since they were overweening impious men. 145 But the rest did the heavenly God himself 146 In anger afterwards change from his world, 147 Casting them into mighty Tartarus 148 Down under the foundation of the earth. 149 And later yet another race much worse 150 Of men he made, to whom no good thereafter 151 The Immortal formed, since they wrought many evils. 152 For they were much more violent than those, 153 Giants perverse, foul language pouring out. 154 Single among all men, most just and true, 155 Was the most faithful Noah, full of care 156 For noblest works. And to him God himself 157 From heaven thus spoke: “Noah, be of good cheer 158 In yourself and to all the people preach[2] 159 Repentance, so that they may all be saved. 160 But if, with shameless soul, they heed me not 161 The whole race I will utterly destroy 162 With mighty floods of waters. Quickly now 163 An undecaying house I command you frame 164 Of planks strong and impervious to the wet. 165 I will put understanding in your heart, 166 And subtle skill, and rule of measurement 167 And order; and for all things will I care 168 That you be saved, and all who dwell with you. 169 And I am He who is, and in your heart 170 Do you discern. I clothe me with the heaven, 171 And cast the sea around me, and for me 172 Earth is a footstool, and the air is poured 173 Around my body; and on every side 174 Around me runs the chorus of the stars. 175 Nine letters have I; of four syllables 176 I am; discern me. The first three have each 177 Two letters, the remaining one the rest, 178 And five are mates; and of the entire sum 179 The hundreds are twice eight and thrice three tens 180 Along with seven. Now, knowing who I am, 181 Be you not uninitiated in my lore.” 182 Thus he spoke; and great trembling seized on him 183 At what he heard. And then, within his mind 184 Having contrived each matter, he besought 185 The people and began with words like these: 186 “O men insatiate, smitten with madness great, 187 Whatever things you practiced they shall not 188 Escape God’s notice; for he knows all things, 189 Immortal Savior overseeing all, 190 Who told me warn you, that you perish not. 191 Be sober, cut off evil, do not fight 192 By force each other with blood-guilty heart, 193 Nor irrigate much land with human gore. 194 Revere, O mortals, the supremely great 195 And fearless heavenly Creator, God 196 Imperishable, whose dwelling is the sky; 197 And do you all entreat him—he is kind— 198 For life of cities and of all the world, 199 And of four-footed beasts and flying fowls; 200 Entreat him to be gracious to all. 201 For when the whole unbounded world of men 202 Shall be destroyed by waters loud you’ll raise 203 A fearful cry. And suddenly for you 204 The air shall be disordered, and from heaven 205 The fury of the mighty God shall come 206 Upon you. And it certainly shall be 207 That the immortal Savior against men 208 Will send wrath if you do not placate God 209 And from this time repent; and nothing more 210 Fretful and evil lawlessly shall you 211 One to another do, but let there be 212 A guarding of oneself by holy life.” 213 But when they heard him each turned up his nose, 214 Calling him mad, a frenzy-smitten man. 215 And then again did Noah sound this strain: 216 “O men exceedingly wretched, base in heart, 217 Unstable, leaving modesty behind 218 And loving shamelessness, rapacious lords, 219 Fierce sinners, false, insatiate, mischievous, 220 In nothing true, stealthy adulterers, 221 Flippant in language, pouring forth foul words, 222 The wrath of God most high not fearing, kept 223 To the fifth generation to atone! 224 In no way do you wail, harsh men, but laugh; 225 Sardonic smile shall you laugh, when shall come 226 That which I speak—God’s dire incoming flood, 227 When Eve’s polluted race, in the great earth 228 Blooming perennial in impervious stem, 229 Shall, root and branch, in one night disappear, 230 And cities, men and all, shall the Earth-shaker 231 From the depths scatter and their walls destroy. 232 And then the whole world of unnumbered men 233 Shall die. But how shall I weep, how lament 234 In wooden house, how mingle tears with waves? 235 For, if this water bidden of God shall come, 236 Earth shall float, hills float, and even sky shall float; 237 Everything shall be water, and all things 238 Shall be destroyed by waters. And the winds 239 Shall stand still, and a second age shall come. 240 O Phrygia, you shall from the water’s crest 241 First rise up, and you first another race 242 Of men shall nourish, once again anew 243 Beginning; and you shall be nurse for all.” 244 But when now to the lawless generation 245 He had thus vainly spoken, the Most High 246 Appeared, and once more cried aloud and said: 247 “The time is now come, Noah, to proclaim 248 Each thing, even all which I that day to you 249 Did promise and confirm, and to complete, 250 Because of a people disobedient, 251 Throughout the boundless world even all the things 252 Which generations of a former time 253 Did practice, evil things innumerable. 254 But do you quickly enter with your sons 255 And their wives. Call as many as I bid, 256 Of tribes of beasts and creeping things and birds, 257 And in as many as I ordain for life 258 Will I then put a willingness to go.” 259 Thus spoke he; forth went Noah and aloud 260 Cried out and called. And then wife, sons and brides, 261 Entered the house of wood; then also went 262 The other things, as many as God willed 263 To shut in. But when fitting bolt was put 264 About the lid, and in its polished place 265 Was fitted sideways, then was brought to pass 266 Forthwith the purpose of the God of heaven. 267 And he massed clouds, and hid the sun’s bright disk, 268 And moon, and stars, and circle of the heaven, 269 Obscuring all things round; he thundered loud, 270 Terror of mortals, sending lightnings forth; 271 And all the winds together were aroused, 272 And all the veins of water were unloosed 273 By opening of great cataracts from heaven, 274 And from earth’s caverns and the tireless deep 275 Appeared the myriad waters, and the whole 276 Illimitable earth was covered over. 277 But on the water swam that wondrous house; 278 And torn by many furious waves, and struck 279 By force of winds, it rushed on fearfully; 280 But with its keel it cut the mass of foam 281 While the loud-babbling waters dashed around. 282 But when God deluged all the world with rains 283 Then also Noah took thought to observe 284 By counsels of the Immortal; for he now 285 Had had enough of Nereus. And straightaway 286 The house he opened from the polished wall, 287 That crosswise was bound fast with skillful stays. 288 And looking out upon the mighty mass 289 Of boundless waters Noah on all sides— 290 And ’twas his fortune with his eyes to see!— 291 Fear possessed and shook mightily his heart. 292 And then the air became a little calm, 293 Since it was weary wetting all the world 294 Many days; parting, then, it brought to light 295 How pale and blood-red was the mighty sky 296 And sun’s bright disk awearied; scarcely held 297 Noah his courage. And then forth afar 298 Sent he a dove alone, that he might learn 299 If yet firm land appeared. But with tired wing, 300 Flying round all things, she again returned; 301 For not yet had the water ebbed away; 302 For it was deeply filling every place. 303 But after resting quietly for days 304 He sent the dove once more, to learn if yet 305 Had ceased the many waters. And she flew 306 And flew on, and went over the earth and, resting 307 Her body lightly on the humid ground, 308 Again to Noah back she came and bore 309 An olive branch—of tidings a great sign. 310 Courage now filled them all, and great delight, 311 Because they hoped to look upon the land. 312 But then thereafter yet another bird, 313 Of black wing, sent he forth as hastily; 314 Which, trusting to its wings, flew willingly, 315 And coming to the land continued there. 316 And Noah knew the land was nearer now. 317 But when on dashing waves the craft divine 318 Had here and there over ocean’s billows swum, 319 It was made fast upon the narrow strand. 320 There is in Phrygia on the dark mainland 321 A steep, tall mountain; Ararat its name, 322 Because upon it all were to be saved 323 From death, and there was great desire of heart; 324 Thence streams of the great river Marsyas spring. 325 There on a lofty peak the ark abode 326 When the waters ceased, and then again from heaven 327 The voice divine of the great God this word 328 Proclaimed: “O Noah, guarded, faithful, just, 329 Come boldly forth, with your sons and your wife 330 And the three brides, and fill you all the earth, 331 Increasing, multiplying, rendering justice 332 To one another through all generations, 333 Until to judgment every race of men 334 Will come; for judgment will be unto all.” 335 Thus spoke the voice divine. Then from his couch 336 Noah, encouraged, hastened on the land, 337 And with him went his sons and wife and brides, 338 And creeping things, and birds and quadrupeds, 339 And all things else went from the wooden house 340 Into one place. And then went Noah forth 341 As eighth, most just of men, when on the waters 342 He had made full twice twenty days and one 343 Because of counsels of the mighty God. 344 Then a new stock of life again arose, 345 Golden first, which indeed was sixth, and best, 346 From the time when the first-formed man appeared; 347 Heavenly its name, because all things to God 348 Will be a care. O first race of sixth age! 349 O mighty joy which I thereafter shared, 350 When I escaped sheer ruin, by the waves 351 Much tossed, with husband and with brothers-in-law, 352 Stepfather and stepmother, and with wives 353 Of husband’s brothers suffering terribly. 354 Fitting things now will I sing: There will be 355 On the fig-tree a many-colored flower, 356 And afterward the royal power and sway 357 Will Cronos have. For three kings of great soul, 358 Men most just, will distribute portions then, 359 And many a year rule, rendering what is just 360 To men who care for toil and deeds of love. 361 And earth will glory in her many fruits 362 Self-growing, yielding much grain for the race. 363 And the foster-fathers, ageless all their days, 364 Will from diseases chill and dreadful be 365 Far aloof; they will die as fallen on sleep, 366 And into Acheron in the abodes 367 Of Hades they will go away, and there 368 Will they have honor, since they were a race 369 Of blessed ones, fortunate heroes, whom 370 The Lord of Sabaoth gave a noble mind, 371 And with whom always he his counsels shared. 372 But blessed will they be even when they go 373 In Hades. And then afterward again 374 Oppressive, strong, another second race 375 Of earth-born men, the Titans. All excel 376 In figure, stature, growth; and there will be 377 One language, as of old from the first race 378 God in their breasts implanted. But even these, 379 Having a haughty heart and rushing on 380 To ruin, will at last resolve to fight 381 Against the starry heaven. And then the stream 382 Of the great ocean will upon them pour 383 Its raging waters. But the mighty Lord 384 Of Sabaoth though enraged will check his wrath, 385 Because he promised that again no flood 386 Should be brought upon men of evil soul. 387 But when the great high-thundering God will cause 388 The boundless swelling of the many waters— 389 With their waves here and there rising high— 390 To cease from wrath, and into other depths 391 Of sea their measure lessen, setting bounds 392 By harbors and rough headlands round the land; 393 Then also will a child of the great God 394 Come, clothed in flesh, to men, and fashioned like 395 To mortals in the earth; and he does hear 396 Four vowels, and two consonants in him 397 Are twice announced; the whole sum I will name: 398 For eight ones, and as many tens on these, 399 And yet eight hundred will reveal the name 400 To men insatiate; and do you discern 401 In your own understanding that the Christ 402 Is child of the immortal God most high. 403 And he will fulfill God’s law, not destroy, 404 Bearing his very image, and all things 405 Will he teach. To him will priests convey 406 And offer gold, and myrrh, and frankincense; 407 For all these things he’ll also bring to pass. 408 But when a voice will through the desert land 409 Come bearing tidings to men, and to all 410 Will call to make straight paths, and from the heart 411 Cast wickedness out and illuminate 412 With water all the bodies of mankind, 413 That being born again they may no more 414 From what is righteous go at all astray— 415 And one of barbarous mind, by dances bound, 416 Cutting that voice off will bestow reward— 417 Then on a sudden there will be a sign 418 To mortals, when, watched over, there will come 419 Out of the land of Egypt a fair stone; 420 And on it will the Hebrew people stumble; 421 But by his guiding nations will be brought 422 Together; for the God who rules on high 423 They also will know through him, and the way 424 In common light. For to chosen men 425 Will he show life eternal, but the fire 426 Will be for ages on the lawless bring. 427 And then will he the sickly heal, and all 428 Who are blameworthy who will trust in him. 429 And then the blind will see, the lame will walk, 430 The deaf will listen, and the mute will speak. 431 Demons will he drive out, and of the dead 432 There will be an uprising; on the waves 433 Will he walk; also in a desert place 434 Will he five thousand satisfy with food 435 From five loaves and a fish out of the sea, 436 And with the remnants of them, for the hope 437 Of peoples, will he fill twelve baskets full. 438 And then will Israel, drunken, not discern, 439 Nor will they hear, oppressed with feeble ears. 440 But when the maddening wrath of the Most High 441 Will come upon the Hebrews, and take faith 442 Away from them, because they slew the Son 443 Of the heavenly God; then also with foul lips 444 Will Israel give him cuffs and spittle drugged. 445 And gall for food and vinegar unmixed 446 For drink will they, with evil madness smitten 447 In bosom and in heart, give impiously, 448 Not seeing with their eyes, more blind than moles, 449 More terrible than crawling poisonous beasts, 450 Fast bound by heavy sleep. But when his hands 451 He will spread forth and measure out all things, 452 And bear the crown of thorns, and they will pierce 453 His side with reeds, for which dark monstrous night 454 Will be for three hours in the midst of day, 455 Then also will the temple of Solomon 456 Bring to an end a mighty sign for men, 457 When he will to the house of Hades go 458 Proclaiming resurrection to the dead. 459 But when in three days he will come again 460 Into the light, and show his form to men 461 And teach all things, ascending in the clouds 462 Into the house of heaven will he go 463 Leaving the world a Gospel covenant. 464 And in his name will blossom a new shoot 465 From nations that are guided by the law 466 Of the Mighty One. But also after this 467 There will be wise guides, and then afterward 468 There will be a cessation of the prophets. 469 After that, when the Hebrew people reap 470 Their evil harvest, will a Roman king 471 Much gold and silver utterly destroy. 472 And afterward will other royal powers 473 Continuously arise as kingdoms perish, 474 And they will oppress mortals. But great fall 475 Will be for those men, when they will begin 476 Unrighteous arrogance. But when the temple 477 Of Solomon in the holy land will fall, 478 Cast down by barbarous men in brazen mail, 479 And from the land the Hebrews will be driven 480 Wandering and wasted, and among the wheat 481 They will much darnel mingle, there will be 482 Evil contention among all mankind; 483 And the cities suffering outrage will bewail 484 Each other, in their breasts receiving wrath 485 Of the great God, since they wrought evil work.
2Now while I much entreated God restrained 2 My wise song, also in my breast again 3 He put the charming voice of words divine. 4 In my whole body terror-stricken these 5 I follow; for I know not that I speak, 6 But God impels me to proclaim each thing. 7 But when on earth come shocks, fierce thunderbolts, 8 Thunders and lightnings, storms, and evil blight, 9 And rage of jackals and of wolves, manslaughter, 10 Destruction of men and of lowing cattle, 11 Four-footed cattle and laborious mules, 12 And goats and sheep, then will the ample field 13 Be barren from neglect, and fruits will fail, 14 And there will be a selling of their freedom 15 Among most men, and robbery of temples. 16 And then will, after these, appear of men 17 The tenth race, when the earth-shaking Lightner 18 Will break the zeal for idols and will shake 19 The people of seven-hilled Rome, and riches great 20 Will perish, burned by Vulcan’s fiery flame. 21 And then will bloody signs from heaven descend— 22 But yet the whole world of unnumbered men 23 Enraged will kill each other, and in tumult 24 Will God send famines, plagues, and thunderbolts 25 On men who, without justice, judge of rights. 26 And lack of men will be in all the world, 27 So that if anyone beheld a trace 28 Of man on earth, he would be wonderstruck. 29 And then will the great God who dwells in heaven 30 Savior of pious men in all things prove. 31 And then will there be peace and wisdom deep, 32 And the fruit-bearing land will yield again 33 Abundant fruits, divided not in parts 34 Nor yet enslaved. And every harbor then, 35 And every haven, will be free to men 36 As formerly, and shamelessness will perish. 37 And then will God show mortals a great sign: 38 For like a lustrous crown will shine a star, 39 Bright, all-resplendent, from the radiant heaven 40 Days not a few; and then will he display 41 From heaven a crown for contest to men 42 Who wrestle. And then there will be again 43 A mighty contest of triumphal march 44 Into the heavenly sky, and it will be 45 For all men in the world, and have the fame 46 Of immortality. And every people 47 Will then in the immortal contests strive 48 For splendid victory. For no one there 49 Can shamelessly with silver buy a crown. 50 For to them will the pure Christ award 51 That which is due, and crown the ones approved, 52 And give his martyrs an immortal prize 53 Who carry on the contest to death. 54 And to chaste men who run their race well 55 Will he the incorruptible reward 56 Of the prize give, and to all men allot 57 That which is due, and also to strange nations 58 That live a holy life and know one God. 59 And those who have regard for marriages 60 And keep themselves far from adulteries, 61 To them rich gifts, eternal hope, he’ll give. 62 For every human soul is God’s free gift, 63 And ’tis not right men stain it with vile deeds. 64 Do not be rich unrighteously, but lead 65 A life of probity. Be satisfied 66 With what you have and keep yourself from that 67 Which is another’s. Speak not what is false, 68 But have a care for all things that are true. 69 Revere not idols vainly; but the God 70 Imperishable honor always first, 71 And next your parents. Render all things due, 72 And into unjust judgment come you not. 73 Do not cast out the poor unrighteously, 74 Nor judge by outward show; if wickedly 75 You judge, God hereafter will judge you. 76 Avoid false testimony; tell the truth. 77 Maintain your virgin purity, and guard 78 Love among all. Deal measures that are just; 79 For beautiful is measure full to all. 80 Strike not the scales one side, but draw them equal. 81 Forswear not ignorantly nor willingly; 82 God hates the perjured man in that he swore. 83 A gift proceeding out of unjust deeds 84 Never receive in hand. Do not steal seed; 85 Accursed through many generations he 86 Who took it to scattering of life. 87 Indulge not vile lusts, slander not, nor kill. 88 Give the toilworn their hire; do not afflict 89 The poor man. To orphans help afford 90 And to widows and the needy. Talk with sense; 91 Hold fast in heart a secret. Be unwilling 92 To act unjustly nor yet tolerate 93 Unrighteous men. Give to the poor at once 94 And say not, “Come tomorrow.” Of your grain 95 Give to the needy with perspiring hand. 96 He who gives alms knows how to lend to God. 97 Mercy redeems from death when judgment comes. 98 Not sacrifice, but mercy God desires 99 Rather than sacrifice. The naked clothe, 100 Share your bread with the hungry, in your house 101 Receive the shelterless and lead the blind. 102 Pity the shipwrecked; for the voyage is 103 Uncertain. To the fallen give a hand; 104 And save the one who stands without defense. 105 Common to all is suffering, life’s a wheel, 106 Riches unstable. Having wealth, reach out 107 To the poor your hand. Of what God gave to you 108 Bestow you also on the needy one. 109 Common is the whole life of mortal men; 110 But it comes out unequal. When you see 111 A poor man never banter him with words, 112 Nor harshly accost a man who may be blamed. 113 One’s life in death is proven; if one did 114 The unlawful or just, it will be decided 115 When he to judgment comes. Disable not 116 Your mind with wine nor drink excessively. 117 Eat not blood, and abstain from things 118 Offered to idols. Gird not on the sword 119 For slaughter, but defense; and would you might 120 Neither lawlessly nor justly use it: 121 For if you kill an enemy your hand 122 You do defile. Keep from your neighbor’s field, 123 Nor trespass on it; just is every landmark, 124 And trespass painful. Useful is possession 125 Of lawful wealth, but of unrighteous gains 126 It’s worthless. Harm not any growing fruit 127 Of the field. And let strangers be esteemed 128 In equal honor with the citizens; 129 For much-enduring hospitality 130 Will all experience as each other’s guests; 131 But let there not be anyone a stranger 132 Among you, since, you mortals, all of you 133 Are of one blood, and no land has for men 134 Any sure place. Wish not nor pray for wealth; 135 But pray to live from few things and possess 136 Nothing at all unjust. The love of gain 137 Is mother of all evil. Do not long 138 For gold or silver; in them there will be 139 A double-edged and soul-destroying iron. 140 A snare to men continually are gold 141 And silver. Gold, source of evils, of life 142 Destructive, troubling all things, would that you 143 Were not to mortals such a longed-for bane! 144 For wars, because of you, and pillaging 145 And murders come, and children hate their sires, 146 And brothers and sisters those of their own blood. 147 Plot no deceit, and do not arm your heart 148 Against a friend. Keep not concealed within 149 A different thought from what you speak forth; 150 Nor, like rock-clinging polyp, change with place. 151 But with all be frank, and things from the soul 152 Speak you forth. Whoever willfully 153 Commits a wrong, an evil person is he; 154 But one who does it under force, the end 155 I tell not; but let each one’s will be right. 156 Pride not yourself in wisdom, power, or wealth; 157 God only is the wise and mighty one 158 And full of riches. Do not vex your heart 159 With evils that are past; for what is done 160 Can never be undone. Let not your hand 161 Be hasty, but ferocious passion curb; 162 For many times has one in striking done 163 Murder without design. Let suffering 164 Be common, neither great nor overmuch. 165 Excessive good has not brought forth to men 166 That which is helpful. And much luxury 167 Leads to immoderate lusts. Much wealth is prowl, 168 And makes one grow to wanton violence. 169 Passionate feeling, creeping in, effects 170 Destructive madness. Anger is a lust, 171 And when it is excessive it is wrath. 172 The zeal of good men is a noble thing, 173 But of the base is base. Of wicked men 174 The boldness is destructive, but renown 175 Follows that of the good. To be revered 176 Is virtuous love, but that of Cypris works 177 Increase of shame. A foolish man is called 178 Very agreeable among his fellows. 179 With moderation eat, drink, and converse; 180 Of all things moderation is the best; 181 But trespass of its limit brings to grief. 182 Be not envious, faithless, or abusive, 183 Or evil-minded, or a false deceiver. 184 Be prudent and abstain from shameless deeds. 185 Imitate not what’s evil, but leave you 186 Vengeance to justice; for persuasion is 187 A useful thing, but strife engenders strife. 188 Trust not too quickly ere you see the end. 189 This is the contest, these are the rewards; 190 These are the prizes; this the gate of life 191 And entrance into immortality, 192 Which God in heaven to most righteous men 193 Appointed a reward for victory; 194 And through this gate will gloriously pass 195 Those who will then receive the victor’s crown. 196 But when this sign will everywhere appear— 197 Children with gray hair on their temples born— 198 And human sufferings, famines, plagues, and wars, 199 And change of times, and many a tearful wail, 200 Ah! of how many parents in the lands 201 Will children mourn and piteously weep, 202 And with shrouds bury flesh and limbs in earth, 203 Mother of peoples, with the blood and dust 204 Themselves defiling. Oh you wretched men 205 Of the last generation, evildoers, 206 Terrible, childish, not perceiving this, 207 That when the tribes of women do not bear 208 The harvest time of mortal men is come. 209 Near is the ruin when impostors come 210 Instead of prophets speaking on the earth. 211 And Beliar will come and many signs 212 Perform for men. And then of holy men, 213 Elect and faithful, there will be confusion, 214 And pillaging of them and of the Hebrews. 215 And there will be upon them fearful wrath 216 When from the east a people of twelve tribes 217 Will come in search of kindred Hebrew people 218 Whom Assyrian shoot destroyed; and over these 219 Will nations perish. But they afterward 220 Will over men exceedingly mighty rule, 221 Elect and faithful Hebrews, and enslave 222 Them as before, since their power never will fail. 223 He that is highest of all, the all-surveying, 224 Dwelling in heaven, will scatter sleep on men, 225 Covering the eyelids over. O blessed servants 226 Whom when the Master comes he finds awake! 227 And they all watch at all times and expect 228 With sleepless eyes. For it will be at dawn 229 Or eve or midday; but he surely will come, 230 And it will be as I say, it will be, 231 To them that sleep, that from the starry heaven 232 The stars at midday will to all appear 233 With the two lights as the time hastens on. 234 And then the Tishbite, urging from heaven 235 His chariot celestial, and on earth 236 Arriving, will to all the world display 237 Three evil signs of life to be destroyed. 238 Alas for all the women in that day 239 Who will be found with burden in the womb! 240 Alas for all who nurse tender babes! 241 Alas for all who will dwell on the waves! 242 Alas for women who will see that day! 243 For a dark mist will hide the boundless world, 244 East, west, and south, and north. And then will flow 245 A mighty stream of burning fire from heaven 246 And every place consume, earth, ocean vast, 247 And gleaming sea, and lakes and rivers, springs, 248 And cruel Hades and the heavenly sky. 249 And heavenly lights will break up into one 250 And into outward form all-desolate. 251 For stars from heaven will fall into all seas. 252 And all the souls of men will gnash their teeth 253 Burned both by sulfur stream and force of fire 254 In ravenous soil, and ashes hide all things. 255 And then of the world all the elements 256 Will be bereft, air, earth, sea, light, sky, days, 257 Nights; and no longer in the air will fly 258 Birds without number, nor will living things 259 That swim the sea swim any more at all, 260 Nor freighted vessel over the billows pass, 261 Nor cattle straight-guiding plow the field, nor sound 262 Of furious winds; but he will fuse all things 263 Together, and will pick out what is pure. 264 But when the immortal God’s eternal angels 265 Arakiel, Ramiel, Uriel, Samiel, 266 And Azael, they that know how many evils 267 Anyone did before, will from dark gloom 268 Then lead to judgment all the souls of men 269 Before the judgment-seat of the great God 270 Immortal; for imperishable is 271 One only, himself the almighty, One, 272 Who will be judge of mortals; and to them 273 That dwell beneath will then the heavenly One 274 Give souls and spirit and voice, and also bones 275 Fitted with joints to all kinds of flesh, 276 And both the flesh and sinews, veins and skin 277 About the body, and hair as before; 278 Divinely fashioned and with breathing moved 279 Will bodies of those on earth one day be raised. 280 And then will Uriel, mighty angel, break 281 The bolts of stern and lasting adamant 282 Which, monstrous, hold the brazen gates of Hades, 283 Straight cast them down, and to judgment lead 284 All forms that have endured much suffering, 285 Chiefly the shapes of Titans born of old, 286 And giants, and all whom the deluge whelmed, 287 And all that perished in the billowy seas, 288 And all that furnished banquet for the beasts 289 And creeping things and fowls, these in a mass 290 Will he summon to the judgment-seat; 291 And also those whom flesh-devouring fire 292 Destroyed in flame, even these will he collect 293 And place before the judgment-seat of God. 294 And when the high-thundering Lord of Sabaoth 295 Making an end of fate will raise the dead, 296 Sit on his heavenly throne, and firmly fix 297 The mighty pillar, then amid the clouds 298 Christ, who himself is incorruptible, 299 Will come to the Incorruptible 300 In glory with pure angels, and will sit 301 At the right hand on the great judgment-seat 302 To judge the life of pious and the way 303 Of impious men. And Moses, the great friend 304 Of the Most High, will come enrobed in flesh 305 Also great Abraham himself will come, 306 Isaac and Jacob, Joshua, Daniel, 307 Elijah, Habakkuk and Jonah, and 308 Those whom the Hebrews slew. But he will destroy 309 The Hebrews after Jeremiah, all 310 Who are to be judged at the judgment-seat, 311 That worthy recompense they may receive 312 And pay for all each did in mortal life. 313 And then will all pass through the burning stream 314 Of flame unquenchable; but all the just 315 Will be saved; and the godless furthermore 316 Will to all ages perish, all who did 317 Evils before, and committed murders, 318 And all who are accomplices therein, 319 Liars and thieves, and ruiners of home, 320 Crafty and terrible, and parasites, 321 And marriage-breakers pouring forth vile words, 322 Dread, wanton, lawless, and idolaters; 323 And all who left the great immortal God, 324 Became blasphemers, did the pious harm, 325 Destroying faith and killing righteous men 326 And all that with a shamelessness deceitful 327 And double-faced rush in as presbyters 328 And reverend ministers, who knowingly 329 Give unjust judgments, yielding to false words 330 More hurtful than leopards and wolves 331 And more vile; and all that are grossly proud 332 And usurers, who gain on gains amass 333 And damage orphans and widows in each thing; 334 And all that give to widows and to orphans 335 The fruit of unjust deeds, and all that cast 336 Reproach in giving from their own hard toils; 337 And all that left their parents in old age, 338 Not paying them at all, nor offering 339 To parents filial duty, and all who 340 Were disobedient and against their sires 341 Spoke a harsh word; and all that pledges took 342 And then denied them; and the servants all 343 Who were against their masters, and again 344 Those who licentiously defiled the flesh; 345 And all who loosed the girdle of the maid 346 For secret intercourse, and all who caused 347 Abortions, and all who their offspring cast 348 Unlawfully away; and sorcerers 349 And sorceresses with them, and these wrath 350 Of the heavenly and immortal God will drive 351 Against a pillar where will all around 352 In a circle flow a restless stream of fire; 353 And deathless angels of the immortal God, 354 Who ever is, will bind with lasting bonds 355 In chains of flaming fire and from above 356 Punish them all by scourge most terribly; 357 And in Gehenna, in the gloom of night, 358 Will they be cast ’neath many horrid beasts 359 Of Tartarus, where darkness is immense. 360 But when there will be many punishments 361 Enforced on all who had an evil heart, 362 Yet afterward will there a fiery wheel 363 From a great river circle them around, 364 Because they had a care for wicked deeds. 365 And then one here, another there, will sires, 366 Young children, mothers, nursing babes, in tears 367 Wail their most piteous fate. No fill of tears 368 Will be for them, nor piteous voice be heard 369 Of them that moan, one here, another there, 370 But long worn under dark, dank Tartarus 371 Aloud will they cry; and they will repay 372 In cursed places thrice as much as all 373 The evil work they did, burned with much fire; 374 And all of them, consumed by raging thirst 375 And hunger, will in anguish gnash their teeth 376 And call death beautiful, and death will flee 377 Away from them. For neither death nor night 378 Will ever give them rest. And many things in vain 379 Will they ask of the God that rules on high, 380 And then will he his face turn openly 381 Away from them. For he to erring men 382 Gave, in seven ages for repentance, signs 383 By the hands of a virgin undefiled. 384 But the others, all to whom right and fair works 385 And piety and thoughts most just were dear, 386 Will angels, bearing through the burning stream, 387 Lead into light and life exempt from care, 388 Where comes the immortal way of the great God 389 And fountains three—of honey, wine, and milk. 390 And equal land for all, divided not 391 By walls or fences, more abundant fruits 392 Spontaneous will then bear, and the course 393 Of life be common and wealth unportioned. 394 For there no longer will be poor nor rich, 395 Tyrant nor slave, nor any great nor small, 396 Nor kings nor leaders; all alike in common. 397 No more at all will one say, “night has come,” 398 Nor “tomorrow comes,” nor “yesterday has been”; 399 Nor will there be many days of anxious care, 400 Nor spring, nor winter, nor the summer-heat, 401 Nor autumn be, nor marriage, nor yet death, 402 Nor sales, nor purchases, nor set of sun 403 Nor rising; for a long day will God make. 404 And to the pious will the almighty God 405 Imperishable grant another thing, 406 When they will ask the imperishable God: 407 That he will suffer men from raging fire 408 And endless gnawing anguish to be saved; 409 And this will he do. For hereafter he 410 Will pluck them from the restless flame, elsewhere 411 Remove them, and for his own people’s sake 412 Send them to other and eternal life 413 With the immortals, in Elysian field, 414 False manifestly; for the penal fire 415 Will never cease from those who are condemned. 416 For also I might pray to have it thus, 417 Branded with greatest scars of trespasses, 418 Which need more kindness. But let Origen 419 Of his presumptuous babble be ashamed, 420 Saying there will be end of punishments. 421 Where move far-stretching billows of the lake 422 Of ever-flowing Acheron profound. 423 Ah, miserable woman that I am! 424 What will I be in that day? for I sinned— 425 Being busy foolishly about all things, 426 Caring for neither marriage-bond nor reason; 427 But even in my wealthy husband’s house 428 I shut the needy out; and formerly 429 I knowingly performed unlawful things. 430 But, Savior, though I shameless things performed, 431 Do you from my tormentors rescue me, 432 A shameless woman. And I pray you now 433 Make me to rest a little from my song, 434 Holy Giver of manna, King of the great realm.
3O you high-thundering blessed heavenly One, 2 Who have set in their place the cherubim, 3 I, who have uttered what is all too true, 4 Entreat you, let me have a little rest; 5 For my heart has grown weary from within. 6 But why again leaps my heart, and my soul 7 With a whip smitten from within constrained 8 To utter forth its message unto all? 9 But yet again will I proclaim all things 10 Which God commands me to proclaim to men. 11 O men, that in your image have a form 12 Fashioned of God, why do you vainly stray 13 And walk not in the straight way, always mindful 14 Of the immortal Maker? God is one, 15 Sovereign, ineffable, dwelling in heaven, 16 The self-existent and invisible, 17 Himself alone beholding everything; 18 Him sculptor’s hand made not, nor is his form 19 Shown by man’s art from gold or ivory; 20 But he, eternal Lord, proclaims himself 21 As one who is and was once and shall be 22 Again hereafter. For who, being mortal, 23 Can see God with his eyes? Or who shall bear 24 To hear the only name of heaven’s great God, 25 The ruler of the world? He by his word 26 Created all things, even heaven and sea, 27 And tireless sun, and full moon and bright stars, 28 And mighty mother Tethys, springs and rivers, 29 Imperishable fire, and days and nights. 30 This is the God who formed four-lettered Adam, 31 The first one formed, and filling with his name 32 East, west, and south, and north. The same is he 33 Who fixed the pattern of the human form, 34 And made wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls. 35 You do not worship nor do you fear God, 36 But vainly go astray and bend the knee 37 To serpents, and make offering to cats, 38 And idols, and stone images of men, 39 And sit before the doors of godless temples; 40 You guard him who is God, who keeps all things, 41 And merry with the wickedness of stones 42 Forget the judgment of the immortal Savior 43 Who made the heaven and earth. Alas! a race 44 That has delight in blood, deceitful, vile, 45 Ungodly, false, double-tongued, immoral men, 46 Adulterous, idolatrous, designing fraud, 47 An evil madness raving in their hearts, 48 For themselves plundering, having shameless soul; 49 For no one who has riches will impart 50 To another, but dire wickedness shall be 51 Among all mortals, and for sake of gain 52 Will many widows not at all keep faith, 53 But secretly love others, and the bond 54 Of life those who have husbands do not keep. 55 55But when Rome shall over Egypt also rule 56 Governing always, then shall there appear 57 The greatest kingdom of the immortal King 58 Over men. And a holy Lord shall come 59 To hold the scepter over every land 60 Unto all ages of fast-hastening time. 61 And then shall come inexorable wrath 62 On Latin men; three shall by piteous fate 63 Endamage Rome. And perish shall all men, 64 With their own houses, when from heaven shall flow 65 A fiery cataract. Ah, wretched me! 66 When shall that day and when shall judgment come 67 Of the immortal God, the mighty King? 68 But just now, O you cities, you are built 69 And all adorned with temples and race-grounds, 70 Markets, and images of wood, of gold, 71 Of silver and of stone, that you may come 72 Unto the bitter day. For it shall come, 73 When there shall pass among all men a stench 74 Of brimstone. Yet each thing will I declare, 75 In all the cities where men suffer ills. 76 From the Sebastenes Beliar shall come 77 Hereafter, and the height of hills shall he 78 Establish, and shall make the sea stand still 79 And the great fiery sun and the bright moon 80 And he shall raise the dead, and many signs 81 Work before men: but nothing shall be brought 82 By him unto completion but deceit, 83 And many mortals shall be led astray 84 Hebrews both true and choice, and lawless men 85 Besides who never gave ear to God’s word. 86 But when the threatenings of the mighty God 87 Shall draw near, and a flaming power shall come 88 By billow to the earth, it shall consume 89 Both Beliar and all the haughty men 90 Who put their trust in him. And thereupon 91 Shall the whole world be governed by the hands 92 Of a woman and obedient everywhere. 93 Then when a widow shall over all the world 94 Gain the rule, and cast in the mighty sea 95 Both gold and silver, also brass and iron 96 Of short-lived men into the deep shall cast, 97 Then all the elements shall be bereft 98 Of order, when the God who dwells on high 99 Shall roll the heaven, even as a scroll is rolled; 100 And to the mighty earth and sea shall fall 101 The entire multiform sky; and there shall flow 102 A tireless cataract of raging fire, 103 And it shall burn the land, and burn the sea, 104 And heavenly sky, and night, and day, and melt 105 Creation itself together and pick out 106 What is pure. No more laughing spheres of light, 107 Nor night, nor dawn, nor many days of care, 108 Nor spring, nor winter, nor the summer-time, 109 Nor autumn. And then of the mighty God 110 The judgment midway in a mighty age 111 Shall come, when all these things shall come to pass. 112 O navigable waters and each land 113 Of the Orient and of the Occident, 114 Subject shall all things be to him who comes 115 Into the world again, and therefore he 116 Himself became first conscious of his power. 117 But when the threatenings of the mighty God 118 Are fulfilled, which he threatened mortals once, 119 When in Assyrian land they built a tower;-- 120 And they all spoke one language, and resolved 121 To mount aloft into the starry heaven; 122 But on the air the Immortal straightway put 123 A mighty force; and then winds from above 124 Cast down the great tower and stirred mortals up 125 To wrangling with each other; therefore men 126 Gave to that city the name of Babylon;-- 127 Now when the tower fell and the tongues of men 128 Turned to all sorts of sounds, straightway all earth 129 Was filled with men and kingdoms were divided; 130 And then the generation tenth appeared 131 Of mortal men, from the time when the flood 132 Came upon earlier men. And Cronos reigned, 133 And Titan and Iapetus; and men called them 134 Best offspring of Gaia and of Uranus, 135 Giving to them names both of earth and heaven, 136 Since they were very first of mortal men. 137 So there were three divisions of the earth 138 According to the allotment of each man, 139 And each one having his own portion reigned 140 And fought not; for a father’s oaths were there 141 And equal were their portions. But the time 142 Complete of old age on the father came, 143 And he died; and the sons infringing oaths 144 Stirred up against each other bitter strife, 145 Which one should have the royal rank and rule 146 Over all mortals; and against each other 147 Cronos and Titan fought. But Rhea and Gaia, 148 And Aphrodite fond of crowns, Demeter, 149 And Hestia and Dione of fair locks 150 Brought them to friendship, and together called 151 All who were kings, both brothers and near kin, 152 And others of the same ancestral blood, 153 And they judged Cronos should reign king of all, 154 For he was oldest and of noblest form. 155 But Titan laid on Cronos mighty oaths 156 To rear no male posterity, that he 157 Himself might reign when age and fate should come 158 To Cronos. And whenever Rhea bore 159 Beside her sat the Titans, and all males 160 In pieces tore, but let the females live 161 To be reared by the mother. But when now 162 At the third birth the august Rhea bore, 163 She brought forth Hera first; and when they saw 164 A female offspring, the fierce Titan men 165 Betook them to their homes. And thereupon 166 Rhea a male child bore, and having bound 167 Three men of Crete by oath she quickly sent 168 Him into Phrygia to be reared apart 169 In secret; therefore did they name him Zeus, 170 For he was sent away. And thus she sent 171 Poseidon also secretly away. 172 And Pluto, third, did Rhea yet again, 173 Noblest of women, at Dodona bear, 174 Whence flows Europus’ river’s liquid course, 175 And with Peneus mixed pours in the sea 176 Its water, and men call it Stygian. 177 But when the Titans heard that there were sons 178 Kept secretly, whom Cronos and his wife 179 Rhea begat, then Titan sixty youths 180 Together gathered, and held fast in chains 181 Cronos and his wife Rhea, and concealed 182 Them in the earth and guarded them in bonds. 183 And then the sons of powerful Cronos heard, 184 And a great war and uproar they aroused. 185 And this is the beginning of dire war 186 Among all mortals. For it is indeed 187 With mortals the prime origin of war. 188 And then did God award the Titans evil. 189 And all of Titans and of Cronos born 190 Died. But then as time rolled around there rose 191 The Egyptian kingdom, then that of the Persians 192 And of the Medes, and Ethiopians, 193 And of Assyria and Babylon, 194 And then that of the Macedonians, 195 Egyptian yet again, then that of Rome. 196 And then a message of the mighty God 197 Was set within my breast, and it bade me 198 Proclaim through all earth and in royal hearts 199 Plant things which are to be. And to my mind 200 This God imparted first, how many kingdoms 201 Have been together gathered of mankind. 202 For first of all the house of Solomon 203 Shall include horsemen of Phœnicia 204 And Syria, and of the islands too, 205 And the race of Pamphylians and Persians 206 And Phrygians, Carians, and Mysians 207 And the race of the Lydians rich in gold. 208 And then shall Hellenes, proud and impure, 209 Then shall a Macedonian nation rule, 210 Great, shrewd, who as a fearful cloud of war 211 Shall come to mortals. But the God of heaven 212 Shall utterly destroy them from the depth. 213 And then shall be another kingdom, white 214 And many-headed, from the western sea, 215 Which shall rule much land, and shake many men, 216 And to all kings bring terror afterward, 217 And out of many cities shall destroy 218 Much gold and silver; but in the vast earth 219 There will again be gold, and silver too, 220 And ornament. And they will oppress mortals; 221 And to those men shall great disaster be, 222 When they begin unrighteous arrogance. 223 And forthwith in them there shall be a force 224 Of wickedness, male will consort with male, 225 And children they will place in dens of shame; 226 And in those days there shall be among men 227 A great affliction, and it shall disturb 228 All things, and break all things, and fill all things 229 With evils by a shameful covetousness, 230 And by ill-gotten wealth in many lands, 231 But most of all in Macedonia. 232 And it shall stir up hatred, and all guile 233 Shall be with them even to the seventh kingdom, 234 Of which a king of Egypt shall be king 235 Who shall be a descendant from the Greeks. 236 And then the nation of the mighty God 237 Shall be again strong and they shall be guides 238 Of life to all men. But why did God place 239 This also in my mind to tell: what first, 240 And what next, and what evil last shall be 241 On all men? Which of these shall take the lead? 242 First on the Titans will God visit evil. 243 For they shall pay to mighty Cronos’s sons 244 The penal satisfaction, since they bound 245 Both Cronos and the mother dearly loved. 246 Again shall there be tyrants for the Greeks 247 And fierce kings overweening and impure, 248 Adulterous and altogether bad; 249 And for men shall be no more rest from war. 250 And the dread Phrygians shall perish all, 251 And unto Troy shall evil come that day. 252 And to the Persians and Assyrians 253 Evil shall straightaway come, and to all Egypt 254 And Libya and the Ethiopians, 255 And to the Carians and Pamphylians— 256 Evil to pass from one place to another, 257 And to all mortals. Why now one by one 258 Do I speak forth? But when the first receive 259 Fulfillment, then straightaway shall come on men 260 The second. So the very first I’ll tell. 261 There shall an evil come to pious men 262 Who dwell by the great temple of Solomon 263 And who are progeny of righteous men. 264 Alike of all these also I will tell 265 The tribe and line of fathers and homeland— 266 All things with care, O mortal shrewd in mind. 267 There is a city ... on the earth, 268 Ur of the Chaldees, whence there is a race 269 Of men most righteous, to whom both goodwill 270 And noble deeds have ever been a care. 271 For they have no concern about the course 272 Of the sun’s revolution, nor the moon’s, 273 Nor wondrous things beneath the earth, nor depth 274 Of joy-imparting sea Oceanus, 275 Nor signs of sneezing, nor the wings of birds, 276 Nor soothsayers, nor wizards, nor enchanters, 277 Nor tricks of dull words of ventriloquists, 278 Neither do they astrologize with skill 279 Of the Chaldeans, nor astronomize; 280 O For these are all deceptive, in so far 281 As foolish men go seeking day by day 282 Training their souls unto no useful work; 283 And then did they teach miserable men 284 Deceptions, whence to mortals on the earth 285 Come many evils leading them astray 286 From good ways and just deeds. But they have care 287 For righteousness and virtue, and not greed, 288 Which breeds unnumbered ills to mortal men, 289 War and unending famine. But with them 290 Just measure, both in fields and cities, holds, 291 Nor steal they from each other in the night, 292 Nor drive off herds of cattle, sheep, and goats, 293 Nor neighbor remove landmarks of a neighbor, 294 Nor any man of great wealth grieve the one 295 Less favored, nor to widows cause distress, 296 But rather aids them, ever helping them 297 With wheat and wine and oil; and always does 298 The rich man in the country send a share 299 At the time of the harvests unto them 300 That have not, but are needy, thus fulfilling 301 The saying of the mighty God, a hymn 302 In legal setting; for the Heavenly One 303 Finished the earth a common good for all. 304 Now when the people of twelve tribes depart 305 From Egypt, and with leaders sent of God 306 Nightly pursue their way by a pillar of fire 307 And during all the day by one of cloud, 308 For them then God a leader will appoint— 309 A great man, Moses, whom a princess found 310 Beside a marsh, and carried off and reared 311 And called her son. And at the time he came 312 As leader for the people whom God led 313 From Egypt unto the steel Sinai mount, 314 His own law God delivered them from heaven 315 Writing on two flat stones all righteous things 316 Which he enjoined to do; and if, perhaps, 317 One give no heed, he must unto the law 318 Make satisfaction, either at men’s hands 319 Or, if men’s notice he escape, he shall 320 By ample satisfaction be destroyed. 321 For the Heavenly finished earth a common good 322 For all, and in all hearts as best gift thought. 323 To them alone the bounteous field yields fruit 324 A hundredfold from one, and thus completes 325 God’s measure. But to them shall also come 326 Misfortune, nor do they escape from plague. 327 And even you, forsaking your fair shrine, 328 Shall flee away when it becomes your lot 329 To leave the holy land. And you shall be 330 Carried to the Assyrians, and shall see 331 Young children and wives serving hostile men; 332 And every means of life and wealth shall perish; 333 And every land shall be filled up with you, 334 And every sea; and everyone shall be 335 Offended with your customs; and your land 336 Shall all be desert; and the altar fenced 337 And temple of the great God and long walls 338 Shall all fall to the ground, since in your heart 339 The holy law of the immortal God 340 You did not keep, but, erring, you served 341 Unseemly images, and did not fear 342 The immortal Father, God of all mankind, 343 Nor want to honor him; but images 344 Of mortals you did honor. Therefore now 345 Of time seven decades shall your fruitful land 346 And the wonders of your temple all be waste. 347 But there remains for you a goodly end 348 And greatest glory, as the immortal God 349 Granted you. But do you wait and confide 350 In the great God’s pure laws, when he shall lift 351 Your wearied knee upright unto the light. 352 And then will God from heaven send a king 353 To judge each man in blood and light of fire. 354 There is a royal tribe, the race of which 355 Shall be unfailing; and as times revolve 356 This race shall bear rule and begin to build 357 God’s temple new. And all the Persian kings 358 Shall aid with bronze and gold and well-wrought iron. 359 For God himself will give the holy dream 360 By night. And then the temple shall again 361 Be, as it was before. . . . 362 Now when my soul had rest from inspired song, 363 And I prayed the great Father for a rest 364 From constraint; even in my heart again 365 Was set a message of the mighty God 366 And he bade me proclaim through all the earth 367 And plant in royal minds things yet to be. 368 And in my mind God put this first to say 369 How many lamentable sufferings 370 The Immortal purposed upon Babylon 371 Because she his great temple had destroyed. 372 Alas, alas for you! O Babylon, 373 And for the offspring of the Assyrian men! 374 Through all the earth the rush of sinful men 375 Shall some time come, and shout of mortal men 376 And stroke of the great God, who inspires songs, 377 Shall ruin every land. For high in air to you 378 O Babylon, shall it come from above, 379 And out of heaven from holy ones to you 380 Shall it come down, and the soul in your children 381 Shall the Eternal utterly destroy. 382 And then shall you be, as you were before, 383 As one not born; and then shall you be filled 384 Again with blood, as you yourself before 385 Did shed that of good, just, and holy men, 386 Whose blood yet cries out to the lofty heaven. 387 To you, O Egypt, shall a great blow come 388 And dreadful, to your homes, which you did hope 389 Might never fall on you. For through your midst 390 A sword shall pass, and scattering and death 391 And famine shall prevail until of kings 392 The seventh generation, and then cease. 393 Alas for you, O land of Gog and Magog 394 In the midst of the rivers of Ethiopia! 395 What pouring out of blood shall you receive, 396 And house of judgment among men be called, 397 And your land of much dew shall drink black blood! 398 Alas for you, O Libya, and alas, 399 Both sea and land! O daughters of the west, 400 So shall you come unto a bitter day. 401 And you shall come pursued by grievous strife, 402 Dreadful and grievous; there shall be again 403 A dreadful judgment, and you all shall come 404 By force unto destruction, for you tore 405 In pieces the great house of the Immortal, 406 And with iron teeth you chewed it dreadfully. 407 Therefore shall you then look upon your land 408 Full of the dead, some of them fallen by war 409 And by the demon of all violence, 410 Famine and plague, and some by barbarous foes. 411 And all your land shall be a wilderness, 412 And desolations shall your cities be. 413 And in the west there shall a star shine forth 414 Which they will call a comet, sign to men 415 Of the sword and of famine and of death, 416 And murder of great leaders and chief men. 417 And yet again there shall be among men 418 Greatest signs; for deep-eddying Tanais 419 Shall leave Mæotis’s lake, and there shall be 420 Down the deep stream a fruitful, furrow’s track, 421 And the vast flow shall hold a neck of land. 422 And there are hollow chasms and yawning pits; 423 And many cities, men and all, shall fall:— 424 In Asia—Iassus, Cebren, Pandonia, 425 Colophon, Ephesus, Nicæa, Antioch, 426 Syagra, Sinope, Smyrna, Myrina, 427 Most happy Gaza, Hierapolis, . 428 Astypalaia; and in Europe—Tanagra, 429 Clitor, Basilis, Meropeia, Antigone, 430 Magnessa, Mykene, Oiantheia. 431 Know then that the destructive race of Egypt 432 Is near destruction, and the past year then 433 Is better for the Alexandrians. 434 As much of tribute as Rome did receive 435 Of Asia, even thrice as many goods 436 Shall Asia back again from Rome receive, 437 And her destructive outrage pay her back. 438 As many as from Asia ever served 439 A house of the Italians, twenty times 440 As many Italians shall in Asia serve 441 In poverty, and numerous debts incur. 442 O virgin, soft rich child of Latin Rome, 443 Often at your much-remembered marriage feasts 444 Drunken with wine, now shall you be a slave 445 And wedded in no honorable way. 446 And often shall mistress shear your pretty hair, 447 And wreaking satisfaction cast you down 448 From heaven to earth, and from the earth again 449 Raise you to heaven, for mortals of low rank 450 And of unrighteous life are held fast bound. 451 And of avenging Smyrna overthrown 452 There shall be no thought, but by evil plans 453 And wickedness of them that have command 454 Shall Samos be sand, Delos shall be dull, 455 And Rome a room; but the decrees of God 456 Shall all of them be perfectly fulfilled. 457 And a calm peace to Asian land shall go. 458 And Europe shall be happy then, well fed, 459 Pure air, full of years, strong, and undisturbed 460 By wintry storms and hail, bearing all things, 461 Even birds and creeping things and beasts of earth. 462 O happy upon earth shall that man be 463 Or woman; what a home unspeakable 464 Of happy ones! For from the starry heaven 465 Shall all good order come upon mankind, 466 And justice, and the prudent unity 467 Which of all things is excellent for men, 468 And kindness, confidence, and love of guests; 469 But far from them shall lawlessness depart, 470 Blame, envy, wrath, and folly; poverty 471 Shall flee away from men, and force shall flee, 472 And murder, baneful strifes and bitter feuds, 473 And theft, and every evil in those days. 474 But Macedonia shall to Asia bear 475 A grievous suffering, and the greatest sore 476 To Europe shall spring up from Cronian stock, 477 A family of bastards and of slaves. 478 And she shall tame fenced city Babylon, 479 And of each land the sun looks down upon 480 Call herself mistress, and then come to naught 481 By ruinous misfortunes, having fame 482 In later generations distant far. 483 And sometime into Asia’s prosperous land 484 Shall come a man unheard of, shoulder-clad 485 With purple robe, fierce, unjust, fiery; 486 And this man he who wields the thunderbolt 487 Roused forwards; and all Asia shall sustain 488 An evil yoke, and her soil wet with rain 489 Shall drink much murder. But even so shall Hades 490 Destroy the unknown king; and that man’s offspring 491 Shall forthwith perish by the race of those 492 Whose offspring he himself would gladly destroy; 493 Producing one root which the bane of men 494 Shall cut from ten horns, and plant by their side 495 Another plant. A father purple-clad 496 Shall cut a warlike father off, and Ares, 497 Baneful and hostile, by a grandson’s hand 498 Shall himself perish; and then shall the horn 499 Planted beside them forthwith bear the rule. 500 500And unto life-sustaining Phrygia 501 Straightway shall there a certain token be, 502 When Rhea’s blood-stained race, in the great earth 503 Blooming perennial in impervious roots, 504 Shall, root and branch, in one night disappear 505 With a city, men and all, of the Earth-shaker 506 Poseidon; which place they shall sometime call 507 Dorylæum, of dark ancient Phrygia, 508 Much-bewailed. Therefore shall that time be called 509 Earth-shaker; dens of earth shall he break up 510 And walls demolish. And not signs of good 511 But a beginning of evil shall be made; 512 The baneful violence of general war 513 You’ll have, sons of Æneas, Dative blood 514 Of Ilus from the soil. But afterwards 515 A spoil shall you become for greedy men. 516 O Ilium, I pity you; for there shall bloom 517 In Sparta an Erinys very fair, 518 Ever-famed, noblest scion, and shall leave 519 On Asia and Europe a wide-spreading wave; 520 But to you most of all she’ll bear and cause 521 Wailings and toils and groans; but there shall be 522 Undying fame with those who are to come. 523 And there shall be an aged mortal then, 524 False writer and of doubtful native land; 525 And in his eyes the light shall fade away; 526 Large mind and verses measured with great skill 527 Shall he have and be blended with two names, 528 Shall call himself a Chian and shall write 529 Of Ilium, not truthfully, indeed, 530 But skillfully; for of my verse and meters 531 He will be master; for he first my books 532 Will open with his hands; but he himself 533 Will much embellish helmed chiefs of war, 534 Hector of Priam and Achilles, son 535 Of Peleus, and the others who have care 536 For warlike deeds. And also by their side 537 Will he make gods stand, empty-headed men, 538 False-writing every way. And it shall be 539 Glory the rather, widely spread, for them 540 To die at Ilium; but he himself 541 Shall also works of recompense receive. 542 Also to Lycia shall a Locrian race 543 Cause many evils. And you, Chalcedon, 544 Holding by lot a strait of narrow sea, 545 Shall an Ætolian youth sometime despoil. 546 Cyzicus, also your vast wealth the sea 547 Shall break off. And, Byzantium of Ares, 548 You sometime shall by Asia be laid waste, 549 And also groans and blood immeasurable 550 Shall you receive. And Cragus, lofty mount 551 Of Lycia, from your peaks by yawning chasms 552 Of opened rock shall babbling water flow, 553 Until even Patara’s oracles shall cease. 554 O Cyzicus, that dwell by Propontis 555 The wine-producing, round you Rhyndacus 556 Shall crash the crested billow. And you, Rhodes, 557 Daughter of day, shall long be unenslaved, 558 And great shall be your happiness hereafter, 559 And on the sea your power shall be supreme. 560 But afterwards a spoil shall you become 561 For greedy men, and put upon your neck 562 By beauty and by wealth a fearful yoke. 563 A Lydian earthquake shall again despoil 564 The power of Persia, and most horribly 565 Shall the people of Europe and Asia suffer pain. 566 And Sidon’s hurtful king with battle-din 567 Dreadful shall work a mournful overthrow 568 To the seafaring Samians. On the soil 569 Shall slain men’s dark blood babble to the sea; 570 And wives together with the noble brides 571 Shall their outrageous insolence lament, 572 Some for their bridegrooms, some for fallen sons. 573 O sign of Cyprus, may an earthquake waste 574 Your phalanxes away, and many souls 575 With one accord shall Hades hold in charge. 576 And Trallis near by Ephesus, and walls 577 Well made, and very precious wealth of men 578 Shall be dissolved by earthquake; and the land 579 Shall burst out with hot water; and the earth 580 Shall swallow down those who are by the fire 581 And stench of brimstone heavily oppressed. 582 And Samos shall in time build royal houses. 583 But to you, Italy, no foreign war 584 Shall come, but lamentable tribal blood 585 Not easily exhausted, much renowned, 586 Shall make you, impudent one, desolate. 587 And you yourself beside hot ashes stretched, 588 As you in your own heart did not foresee, 589 Shall slay yourself. And you shall not of men 590 Be mother, but a nurse of beasts of prey. 591 But when from Italy shall come a man, 592 A spoiler, then, Laodicea, you, 593 Beautiful city of the Carians 594 By Lycus’s wondrous water, falling prone, 595 Shall weep in silence for your boastful sire. 596 Thracian Crobyzi shall rise up on Hæmus. 597 Chatter of teeth to the Campanians comes 598 Because of wasting famine; Corsica 599 Weeps her old father, and Sardinia 600 Shall by great storms of winter and the strokes 601 of a holy God sink down in ocean depths, 602 Great wonder to those of the sea. 603 Alas, alas, how many virgin maids 604 Will Hades wed, and of as many youths 605 Will the deep take without funeral rites! 606 Alas, alas, the helpless little ones 607 And the vast riches swimming in the sea! 608 O happy land of Mysians, suddenly 609 A royal race shall be formed. Truly now 610 Not for a long time shall Chalcedon be. 611 And there shall be a very bitter grief 612 To the Galatians. And to Tenedos 613 Shall there a last but greatest evil come. 614 And Sicyon, with strong yells, and Corinth, you 615 Shall boast o’er all, but flute shall sound like strain. 616 Now, when my soul had rest from inspired song, 617 Even again within my heart was set 618 A message of the mighty God, and he 619 Commanded me to prophesy on earth. 620 620Woe, woe to the race of Phœnician men 621 And women, and all cities by the sea; 622 Not one of you shall in the common light 623 Abide before the shining of the sun, 624 Nor of life shall there any longer be 625 Number and tribe, because of unjust speech 626 And lawless life impure which they lived, 627 Opening a mouth impure, and fearful words 628 Deceitful and unrighteous forth, 629 And stood against the God, the King, 630 And opened loathsome mouth deceitfully 631 Therefore may he subdue them terribly 632 By strokes over all the earth, and bitter fate 633 Shall God send on them burning from the ground. 634 Cities and of the cities the foundations. 635 635Woe, woe to you, O Crete! To you shall come 636 A very painful stroke, and terribly 637 Shall the Eternal sack you; and again 638 Shall every land behold you black with smoke, 639 Fire never shall leave you, but you shall be burned. 640 Woe, woe to you, O Thrace! So shall you come 641 Beneath a servile yoke, when the Galatians 642 United with the sons of Dardanus 643 Rush on to ravage Hellas, yours shall be 644 The evil; and unto a foreign land 645 Much shall you give, not anything receive. 646 Woe to you, Gog and Magog, and to all, 647 One after another, Mardians and Daians; 648 How many evils fate shall bring on you! 649 Woe also to the soil of Lycia, 650 And those of Mysia and Phrygia. 651 And many nations of Pamphylians, 652 And Lydians, Carians, Cappadocians, 653 And Ethiopian and Arabian men 654 Of a strange tongue shall fall. How now may I 655 Of each speak fitly? For on all the nations 656 Which dwell on earth the Highest shall send dire plague. 657 When now again a barbarous nation comes 658 Against the Greeks it shall slay many heads 659 Of chosen men; and they shall tear in pieces 660 Many fat flocks of sheep of men, and herds 661 Of horses and of mules and lowing cattle; 662 And well-made houses shall they burn with fire 663 Lawlessly; and unto a foreign land 664 Shall they by force lead many slaves away, 665 And children, and deep-girded women soft 666 From bridal chambers creeping on before 667 With delicate feet; and they shall be bound fast 668 With fetters by their foes of foreign tongue, 669 Suffering all fearful outrage; and to them 670 There shall not be one to supply the toil 671 Of battle and come to their help in life. 672 And they shall see their goods and all their wealth 673 Enrich the enemy; and there shall be 674 A trembling of the knees. And there shall fly 675 A hundred, and one shall destroy them all; 676 And five shall rout a mighty company; 677 But they, among themselves mixed shamefully, 678 Shall by war and dire tumult bring delight 679 To enemies, but sorrow to the Greeks. 680 680And then upon all Hellas there shall be 681 A servile yoke; and war and pestilence 682 Together shall upon all mortals come. 683 And God will make the mighty heaven on high 684 Like brass and over all the earth a drought, 685 And earth itself like iron. And thereupon 686 Shall mortals all lament the barrenness 687 And lack of cultivation; and on earth 688 Shall he set, who created heaven and earth, 689 A much-distressing fire; and of all men 690 The third part only shall thereafter be. 691 O Greece, why have you trusted mortal men 692 As leaders, who cannot escape from death? 693 And wherefore bring you your foolish gifts 694 Unto the dead and sacrifice to idols? 695 Who put the error in your heart to do 696 These things and leave the face of God the mighty? 697 Honor the All-Father’s name, and let it not 698 Escape you. It is now a thousand years, 699 Yes, and five hundred more, since haughty kings 700 Ruled over the Greeks, who first to mortal men 701 Introduced evils, setting up for worship 702 Images many of gods that are dead, 703 Because of which you were taught foolish thoughts. 704 But when the anger of the mighty God 705 Shall come upon you, then you’ll recognize 706 The face of God the mighty. And all souls 707 Of men, with mighty groaning lifting up 708 Their hands to the broad heaven, shall begin 709 To call the great King helper, and to seek 710 The rescuer from great wrath who is to be. 711 But come and learn this and store in your hearts, 712 What troubles in the rolling years shall come. 713 And what as whole burnt-offering Hellas brought 714 Of cows and bellowing bulls unto the temple 715 Of the great God, she from ill-sounding war 716 And fear and pestilence shall flee away 717 And from the servile yoke escape again. 718 But until that time there shall be a race 719 Of godless men, even when that fated day 720 Shall reach its end. For offering to God 721 You should not make till all things come to pass, 722 Which God alone shall purpose not in vain 723 To be all fulfilled; and strong force shall urge. 724 And there shall be again a holy race 725 Of godly men who, keeping to the counsels 726 And mind of the Most High, shall honor much 727 The great God’s temple with drink-offerings, 728 Burnt-offerings, and holy hecatombs, 729 With sacrifices of fat bulls, choice rams, 730 Firstlings of sheep and the fat thighs of lambs, 731 Sacredly offering whole burnt-offerings 732 On the great altar. And in righteousness, 733 Having obtained the law of the Most High, 734 Blest shall they dwell in cities and rich fields. 735 And prophets shall be set on high for them 736 By the Immortal, bringing great delight 737 Unto all mortals. For to them alone 738 The mighty God his gracious counsel gave 739 And faith and noblest thought within their hearts; 740 They have not by vain things been led astray, 741 Nor pay they honor to the works of men 742 Made of gold, brass, silver, and ivory, 743 Nor statues of dead gods of wood and stone 744 Besmeared clay, figures of the painter’s art, 745 And all that empty-minded mortals will; 746 But they lift up their pure arms unto heaven, 747 Rise from the couch at daybreak, always hands 748 With water cleanse, and honor only Him 749 Who is immortal and who ever rules, 750 And then their parents; and above all men 751 Do they respect the lawful marriage-bed; 752 And they have not base intercourse with boys, 753 As do Phœnicians, Latins, and Egyptians 754 And spacious Greece, and nations many more 755 Of Persians and Galatians and all Asia, 756 Transgressing the immortal God’s pure law 757 Which they were under. Therefore on all men 758 Will the Immortal put bane, famine, pains, 759 Groans, war, and pestilence and mournful woes; 760 Because they would not honor piously 761 The immortal Sire of all men, but revered 762 And worshiped idols made with hands, which things 763 Mortals themselves will cast down and for shame 764 Conceal in clefts of rocks, when a young king, 765 The seventh of Egypt, shall rule his own land, 766 Reckoned from the dominion of the Greeks, 767 Which countless Macedonian men shall rule; 768 And there shall come from Asia a great king, 769 A fiery eagle, who with foot and horse 770 Shall cover all the land, cut up all things, 771 And fill all things with evils; he will cast 772 The Egyptian kingdom down; and taking off 773 All its possessions carry them away 774 Over the spacious surface of the sea. 775 And then shall they before the mighty God, 776 The King immortal, bend the fair white knee 777 On the much-nourishing earth; and all the works 778 Made with hands shall fall by a flame of fire. 779 And then will God bestow great joy on men; 780 For land and trees and countless flocks of sheep 781 Their genuine fruit to men shall offer—wine, 782 And the sweet honey, and white milk, and wheat, 783 Which is for mortals of all things the best. 784 But you, O mortal full of various wiles, 785 Do not delay and loiter, but do you, 786 Tossed to and fro, turn and propitiate God. 787 Offer to God your hecatombs of bulls 788 And firstling lambs and goats, as times revolve. 789 But him propitiate, the immortal God, 790 If haply he show mercy. For he is 791 The only God, and other there is none. 792 And honor justice and oppress no man. 793 For these things the Immortal does enjoin 794 On miserable men. But do you heed 795 The cause of the wrath of the mighty God, 796 When on all mortals there shall come the height 797 Of pestilence and, conquered, they shall meet 798 A fearful judgment, and king shall seize king 799 And wrest his land away, and nations bring 800 Ruin on nations and lords plunder tribes, 801 And chiefs all flee into another land, 802 And the land change its men, and foreign rule 803 Ravage all Hellas and drain the rich land 804 Of its wealth, and to strife among themselves 805 Because of gold and silver they shall come— 806 The love of gain an evil shepherdess 807 Will be for cities—in a foreign land. 808 And they shall all be without burial, 809 And vultures and wild beasts of earth shall spoil 810 Their flesh; and when these things are brought to pass, 811 Vast earth shall waste the relics of the dead. 812 And all unsown shall it be and unplowed, 813 Proclaiming sad the filth of men defiled 814 Many lengths of time in the revolving years, 815 And shields and javelins and all sorts of arms; 816 Nor shall the forest wood be cut for fire. 817 And then shall God send from the East a king, 818 Who shall make all earth cease from evil war, 819 Killing some, others binding with strong oaths. 820 And he will not by his own counsels do 821 All these things, but obey the good decrees 822 Of God the mighty. And with goodly wealth, 823 With gold and silver and purple ornament, 824 The temple of the mighty God again 825 Shall be weighed down; and the full-bearing earth 826 And the sea shall be filled full of good things. 827 And kings against each other shall begin 828 To hold ill will, in heart abetting evils. 829 Envy is not a good to wretched men. 830 830But again kings of nations on this land 831 Shall rush in masses, bringing on themselves 832 Destruction; for they’ll purpose to despoil 833 The great God’s temple and the noblest men. 834 What time they reach the land, polluted kings 835 Shall set around the city each his throne 836 And have his people that obey not God. 837 And then shall God speak with a mighty voice 838 To all rude people of an empty mind, 839 And judgment from the mighty God shall come 840 Upon them, and they all shall be destroyed 841 By his immortal arm. And fiery swords 842 Shall fall from heaven on earth; and great bright lights 843 Shall come down flaming in the midst of men. 844 And in those days shall earth, all-mother, reel 845 By his immortal arm, and shoals of fish 846 In the deep sea, and all wild beasts of earth, 847 And countless tribes of winged fowl, and all 848 The souls of men and every sea shall tremble 849 Before the face of the Immortal One, 850 And there shall be dismay. High mountain peaks 851 And monstrous hills shall he asunder break, 852 And to all shall dark Erebus appear. 853 And misty gorges in the lofty hills 854 Shall be full of the dead; and rocks shall stream 855 With blood and every torrent fill the plain. 856 And well-built walls of evil-minded men 857 Shall all fall to the earth, since they knew not 858 The law nor judgment of the mighty God, 859 But with a senseless soul all hurried on 860 Against the temple and raised up their spears. 861 And God shall judge all by war and by sword 862 And by fire and by overwhelming storm; 863 And brimstone there shall be from heaven, and stones 864 And great and grievous hail; and death shall come 865 Upon the quadrupeds. And then shall they 866 Know God, the Immortal, who performs these things; 867 And wailing, and upon the boundless earth 868 Shall be at once a shout of perishing men; 869 And all the unholy shall be bathed in blood; 870 And earth herself shall also drink the blood 871 Of the perishing, and beasts be gorged with flesh. 872 And all these things the great eternal God 873 Himself bade me proclaim. And that shall not 874 Be unaccomplished, or be unfulfilled, 875 Whatever only in my heart he put; 876 For truthful is God’s spirit in the world. 877 But children of the mighty God shall all 878 Again around the temple live in peace, 879 Rejoicing in those things which he shall give 880 Who is Creator, righteous Judge and King. 881 For he himself, great, present far and wide, 882 Shall be a shelter, as on all sides round 883 A wall of flaming fire. And they shall be 884 In cities and in country without war. 885 For not the hand of evil war, but rather 886 The Immortal shall himself be their defender 887 And the hand of the Holy One. And then shall all 888 The islands and the cities tell how much 889 The immortal God loves those men; for all things 890 Help them in conflict and deliver them 891 Heaven, and divinely fashioned sun, and moon. 892 And in those days shall earth, all-mother, reel. 893 Sweet word shall they send from their mouths in hymns: 894 “Come, falling on the earth let us all pray 895 The immortal King, and great eternal God. 896 To the temple let us in procession go, 897 Since he alone is Lord; and let us all 898 Meditate on the law of God most high, 899 Which is most righteous of all laws on earth. 900 And from the path of the Immortal we 901 Have wandered and with senseless soul we honor 902 Works made by hand and wooden images 903 Of dead men.” These things souls of faithful melt 904 Shall cry out: Come, having at the house of God 905 Fallen on our faces, let us with our hymns 906 Make joy to God the Father at our homes, 907 Supplied through all our land with arms of foes 908 Seven lengths of time in the revolving years; 909 Even shields and helmets and all sorts of arms, 910 And a great store of bows and arrows barbed; 911 For forest wood shall not be cut for 912 But, wretched Hellas, stop your arrogance 913 And be wise; and entreat the Immortal One 914 Magnanimous, and be upon your guard. 915 Send now against this city yet again 916 The people inconsiderate, who are come 917 Out of the holy land of the mighty One. 918 Do not move Camarina; for it is better 919 She be unmoved; a leopard from the lair, 920 Do you not let an evil meet with you. 921 But keep off, do not hold within your breast 922 An arrogant and overbearing soul, 923 Ready for mighty contest. And serve God 924 The mighty, that you may share those things; 925 And when that fated day shall reach its end 926 And judgment of the immortal God shall come 927 To mortals, judgment great and power shall come 928 Upon men. For all-mother earth shall yield 929 To mortals best fruit boundless, wheat, wine, oil; 930 Also from heaven a delightful drink 931 Of honey and trees shall give their fruit, 932 And fatted sheep and cattle there shall be, 933 Young lambs and kids of goats; earth shall break forth 934 With sweet springs of white milk; and of good things 935 The cities shall be full and fat the fields; 936 Nor sword nor uproar shall be on the earth; 937 No more shall earth groan heavily and quake; 938 Nor shall war longer be on earth, nor drought, 939 Nor famine, nor the fruit-destroying hail; 940 But great peace, shall be upon all the earth, 941 And king to king be friend until the end 942 Of the age, and over all earth common law 943 Will the Immortal in the starry heaven 944 Perfect for men, touching whatever things 945 Have been by miserable mortals done; 946 For he alone is God, there is no other; 947 And the stern rage of men he’ll burn with fire. 948 But change entirely the thoughts in your heart, 949 And flee unrighteous worship; serve the One 950 Who lives; guard against adultery 951 And deeds of lewdness; your own offspring rear 952 And do not murder; for the Immortal One 953 Is angry with him who in these things sins. 954 And then a kingdom over all mankind 955 Shall he raise up for ages, who once gave 956 Holy law to the pious, unto whom 957 He pledged to open every land, the world 958 And portals of the blessed, and all joys, 959 And mind immortal and eternal bliss. 960 And out of every land unto the house 961 Of the great God shall they bring frankincense 962 And gifts, and there shall be no other house 963 To be inquired of by men yet to be, 964 But what God gave for faithful men to honor; 965 For mortal temple of the mighty God 966 Shall call it. And all pathways of the plain 967 And rough hills and high mountains and wild waves 968 Of the deep shall be easy in those days 969 For crossing and for sailing; for all peace 970 On the land of the good shall come; and sword 971 Shall prophets of the mighty God remove; 972 For they are judges and the righteous kings 973 Of mortals. And there shall be righteous wealth 974 Among mankind; for of the mighty God 975 This is the judgment and also the power. 976 Be of good cheer, O maiden, and be glad; 977 For he who made the heaven and earth gave you 978 Joy in your age. And he will dwell in you; 979 And yours shall be immortal and wolves 980 And lambs shall in the mountains feed on grass 981 Together, and with kids shall leopards graze; 982 And bears shall lodge among the pasturing calves; 983 And the carnivorous lion shall eat chaff 984 At the manger like the cow; and little children 985 In bonds shall lead them; for he will make beasts 986 Helpless on earth. With babes shall fall asleep 987 Serpents, along with asps, and do no harm; 988 For over them shall be the hand of God. 989 Now tell I you a sign exceeding clear, 990 That you may know when the end of all things 991 On earth shall be. When in the starry heaven 992 Swords shall by night point straight toward west and east, 993 Straightway shall there be also from the heaven 994 A cloud of dust borne forth to all the earth, 995 And the sun’s brightness in the midst of heaven 996 Shall be eclipsed, and the moon’s beams appear 997 And come again on earth; by drops of blood 998 Distilling from the rocks a sign shall be; 999 And in the cloud shall you behold a war 1000 Of foot and horse, like the chase of wild beasts 1001 In the dense fog. This end of all things God 1002 Shall consummate, whose dwelling is in heaven. 1003 But all must sacrifice to the great King. 1004 These things I show you, I who madly left 1005 The long walls of Assyrian Babylon 1006 For Hellas to proclaim to all the wrath 1007 Of God, fire sent... 1008 And that I might to mortals prophesy 1009 Of mysteries divine. And men shall say 1010 In Hellas that I am of foreign Land, 1011 Of Erythre born, shameless; others say 1012 That I’m a Sibyl, born of mother Circe 1013 And father Gnostos raving mad and false; 1014 But at that time when all things come to pass 1015 You shall remember me, and no one more 1016 Shall call me mad, the great God’s prophetess, 1017 For he showed me what happened formerly 1018 To my ancestors; what things were the first 1019 Those God made known to me; and in my mind 1020 Did God put all things to be afterwards, 1021 That I might prophesy of things to come, 1022 And things that were, and tell them unto men. 1023 For when the world was deluged with a flood 1024 Of waters, and one man of good repute 1025 Alone was left and in a wooden house 1026 Sailed over the waters with the beasts and birds, 1027 In order that the world might be refilled, 1028 I was his son’s bride and was of his race 1029 To whom the first things happened, and the last 1030 Were all made known; and thus from my own mouth 1031 Let all these truthful things remain declared.
4People of boastful Asia and of Europe, 2 Hear how much, all too true, I am about, 3 Through a month many-toned, from my great hall 4 To prophesy; no oracle am I 5 Of lying Phœbus whom vain men called god, 6 And further falsified by calling seer; 7 But of the mighty God, whom hands of men 8 Formed not like speechless idols carved of stone. 9 For he has not for his abode a stone 10 Most dumb and toothless to a temple drawn, 11 Of immortals a dishonor very sore; 12 For he may not be seen from earth nor measured 13 By mortal eyes, nor formed by mortal hand; 14 He, looking down at once on all, is seen 15 Himself by no one; his are murky night, 16 And day, and sun, and stars, and moon, and seas 17 With fish, and land, and rivers, and the month 18 Of springs perennial, creatures meant for life, 19 And rains at once producing fruit of field 20 And tree and vine and oil. This God a whip 21 Struck through my heart within to make me tell 22 Truly to men what things have now befallen 23 And how much shall befall them yet again 24 From the first generation to the eleventh; 25 For he himself by bringing them to pass 26 Will prove all things. But do you in all things, 27 O people, to the Sibyl give all ear, 28 Who pours from hallowed mouth a truthful voice. 29 Blessed of men shall they be on the earth 30 As many as shall love the mighty God, 31 Offering him praise before they drink and eat; 32 Trusting in piety. When they behold 33 Temples and altars, figures of dumb stones, 34 Stone images and statues made with hands, 35 Polluted with the blood of living things 36 And sacrifices of four-footed beasts, 37 They will reject them all; and they will look 38 To the great glory of one God and not 39 Commit presumptuous murder nor dispose 40 Of stolen gain, which things most horrid are; 41 Nor shameful longing for another’s bed 42 Have they, nor vile and hateful lust of males. 43 Their manner, piety, and character 44 Shall other men, that love a shameless life, 45 Not ever imitate; but, mocking them 46 With jest and joke like babes in senselessness, 47 They’ll falsely charge to them as many deeds 48 Blameful and wicked as they do themselves. 49 For slow is the whole race of human kind 50 To believe. But when judgment of the world 51 And mortals comes which God himself shall bring 52 Judging at once the impious and the pious, 53 Then indeed shall he send the ungodly back 54 To lower darkness and then they shall know 55 How much impiety they wrought; but the pious 56 Shall still remain upon the fruitful land, 57 God giving to them breath and life and grace. 58 But these things all in the tenth generation 59 Shall come to pass; and now what things shall be 60 From the first generation, those I’ll tell. 61 First over all mortals shall Assyrians rule, 62 And for six generations hold the power 63 Of the world, from the time the God of heaven 64 Being wroth against the cities and all men 65 Sea with a bursting deluge covered earth. 66 Them shall the Medes overpower, but on the throne 67 For two generations only shall exult; 68 In which times those events shall come to pass: 69 Dark night shall come at the mid hour of day 70 And from the heaven the stars and circling moon 71 Shall disappear; and earth in tumult shaken 72 By a great earthquake shall throw many cities 73 And works of men headlong; and from the deep 74 They shall peer out the islands of the Sea. 75 75But when the great Euphrates shall with blood 76 Be surging, then shall there be also set 77 Between the Medes and Persians dreadful strife 78 In battle; and the Medes shall fall and fly 79 ’Neath Persian spears beyond the mighty water 80 Of Tigris. And the Persian power shall be 81 Greatest in all the world, and they shall have 82 One generation of most prosperous rule. 83 And there shall be as many evil deeds 84 As men shall wish away—the din of war, 85 And murders, and disputes, and banishments, 86 And overthrow of towers and waste of cities, 87 When Hellas very glorious shall sail 88 Over broad Hellespont, and shall convey 89 To Phrygia sorrow and to Asia doom. 90 90And unto Egypt, land of many furrows, 91 Shall sorry famine come, and barrenness 92 Shall during twenty circling years prevail, 93 What time the Nile, corn-nourisher, shall hide 94 His dark wave somewhere underneath the earth. 95 95And there shall come from Asia a great king 96 Bearing a spear, with ships innumerable, 97 And he shall walk the wet paths of the deep, 98 And shall sail after he has cut the mount 99 Of lofty summit; him a fugitive 100 From battle fearful Asia shall receive. 101 And Sicily the wretched shall a stream 102 Of powerful fire set all aflame while Etna 103 Her flame disgorges; and in the deep chasm 104 Down shall the mighty city Croton fall. 105 105And strife shall be in Hellas; they shall rage 106 Against each other, cast down many cities, 107 And fighting make an end of many men; 108 But equally balanced is the strife with both. 109 But, when the race of mortal men shall come 110 To the tenth generation, also then 111 Upon the Persians shall a servile yoke 112 And terror be. But when the Macedonians 113 Shall boast the scepter there shall be for Thebes 114 An evil conquest from behind, and Carians 115 Shall dwell in Tyre, and Tyrians be destroyed. 116 And Babylon, great to see but small to fight, 117 Shall stand with walls that were in vain hopes built. 118 In Bactria Macedonians shall dwell; 119 But those from Susa and from Bactria 120 Shall all into the land of Hellas flee. 121 It shall take place among those yet to be, 122 When silver-eddying Pyramus his banks 123 O’erpouring, to the sacred isle shall come. 124 And Cibyra shall fall and Cyzicus, 125 When, earth being shaken by earthquakes, cities fall. 126 And sand shall hide all Samos under banks. 127 And Delos visible no more, but things 128 Of Delos shall all be invisible. 129 And to Rhodes shall come evil last, but greatest. 130 130The Macedonian power shall not abide; 131 But from the west a great Italian war 132 Shall flourish, under which the world shall bear 133 A servile yoke and the Italians serve. 134 And you, O wretched Corinth, you shall look 135 Sometime upon your conquest. And your tower, 136 O Carthage, shall press lowly on the ground. 137 Wretched Laodicea, you sometime 138 Shall earthquake lay low, casting headlong down, 139 But you, a city firmly set, again 140 Shall stand. O Lycia Myra beautiful, 141 You never shall the agitated earth 142 Set fast; but falling headlong down on earth 143 Shall you, in manner like an alien, pray 144 To flee away into another land, 145 When sometime the dark water of the sea 146 With thunders and earthquakes shall stop the din 147 Of Patara for its impieties. 148 Also for you, Armenia, there remains 149 A slavish fate; and there shall also come 150 To Solyma an evil blast of war 151 From Italy, and God’s great temple spoil. 152 But when these, trusting folly, shall cast off 153 Their piety and murders consummate 154 Around the temple, then from Italy 155 A mighty king shall like a runaway slave 156 Flee over the Euphrates’ stream unseen, 157 Unknown, who shall sometime dare loathsome guilt 158 Of matricide, and many other things, 159 Having confidence in his most wicked hands. 160 And many for the throne with blood 161 Shall redden Rome’s soil while he flees over Parthian land. 162 And out of Syria shall come Rome’s foremost man, 163 Who having burned the temple of Solyma, 164 And having slaughtered many of the Jews, 165 Shall destruction on their great broad land. 166 And then too shall an earthquake overthrow 167 Both Salamis and Paphos, when dark water 168 Shall dash over Cyprus washed by many a wave. 169 But when from deep cleft of Italian land 170 Fire shall come flashing forth in the broad heaven, 171 And many cities burn and men destroy, 172 And much black ashes shall fill the great sky, 173 And small drops like red earth shall fall from heaven, 174 Then know the anger of the God of heaven, 175 For that they without reason shall destroy 176 The nation of the pious. And then strife 177 Awakened of war shall come to the West, 178 Shall also come the fugitive of Rome, 179 Bearing a great spear, having marched across 180 Euphrates with his many myriads. 181 O wretched Antioch, they shall call you 182 No more a city when around their spears 183 Because of your own follies you shall fall. 184 And then on Scyros shall a pestilence 185 And dreadful battle-din destruction bring. 186 Alas, alas! O wretched Cyprus, you 187 Shall a broad wave of the sea cover, you 188 Tossed on high by the whirling stormy winds. 189 And into Asia there shall come great wealth, 190 Which Rome herself once, plundering, put away 191 In her luxurious homes; and twice as much 192 And more shall she to Asia render back, 193 And then there shall be an excess of war. 194 And Carian cities by Mæander’s waters, 195 Girded with towers and very beautiful, 196 Shall by a bitter famine be destroyed, 197 When the Mæander his dark water hides. 198 But when piety shall perish from mankind, 199 And faith and right be hidden in the world, 200 Fickle ... and in unhallowed boldness 201 Living shall practice wanton violence, 202 And reckless evil deeds, and of the pious 203 No one shall make account, but even them all 204 From thoughtlessness they utterly destroy 205 In childish folly, in their violence 206 Exulting and in blood holding their hands; 207 Then know you that God is no longer mild, 208 But gnashing with fury and destroying all 209 The race of men by conflagration great. 210 Ah! miserable mortals, change these things, 211 Nor lead the mighty God to wrath extreme; 212 But giving up your swords and pointed knives, 213 And homicides and wanton violence, 214 Wash your whole body in perennial streams, 215 And lifting up your hands to heaven seek pardon 216 For former deeds and expiate with praise 217 Bitter impiety; and God will give 218 Repentance; he will not destroy; and wrath 219 Will he again restrain, if in your hearts 220 You all will practice honored piety. 221 But if, ill-disposed, you obey me not, 222 But with a fondness for strange lack of sense 223 Receive all these things with an evil ear, 224 There shall be over all the world a fire 225 And greatest omen with sword and with trump 226 At sunrise; the whole world shall hear the roar 227 And mighty sound. And he shall burn all earth, 228 And destroy the whole race of men, and all 229 The cities and the rivers and the sea; 230 All things he’ll burn, and it shall be black dust. 231 But when now all things shall have been reduced 232 To dust and ashes, and God shall have calmed 233 The fire unspeakable which he lit up, 234 The bones and ashes of men God himself 235 Again will fashion, and he will again 236 Raise mortals up, even as they were before. 237 And then shall be the judgment, at which God 238 Himself as judge shall judge the world again; 239 And all who sinned with impious hearts, even them, 240 Shall he again hide under mounds of earth 241 Dark Tartarus and Stygian Gehenna. 242 But all who shall be pious shall again 243 Live on the earth and shall inherit there 244 The great immortal God’s unwasting bliss, 245 God giving spirit life and joy to them 246 The pious; and they all shall see themselves 247 Beholding the sun’s sweet and cheering light. 248 O happy on the earth shall be that man.
5But come, now, hear from me the mournful time 2 Of sons of Latium. And first of all, 3 After the kings of Egypt were destroyed 4 And the like earth had downwards borne them all, 5 And after Pella’s townsman, under whom 6 The whole East and the rich West were cast down, 7 whom Babylon dishonored, and stretched out 8 For Philip a dead body (not of Zeus, 9 Of Ammon not true things were prophesied), 10 And after that one of the race and blood 11 Of king Assaracus, who came from Troy, 12 Even he who cleft the violence of fire, 13 And after many lords, and after men 14 Dear to Ares, and after the young babes, 15 The children of the beast that feeds on sheep, 16 The very first lord shall be, who shall sum 17 Twice ten with the first letter of his name; 18 In wars exceeding powerful shall he be; 19 And he shall have the initial sign of ten; 20 And in like manner after him to reign 21 Is one who has the alphabet’s first letter; 22 Before him Thrace and Sicily shall crouch, 23 Then Memphis, Memphis cast headlong to earth 24 By reason of the cowardice of rulers 25 And of a woman unenslaved who falls 26 Upon the wave. And laws will he ordain 27 For peoples and put all things under him; 28 But after a long time shall he transmit 29 His power unto another, who shall have 30 Three hundred for his first initial sign, 31 And of a river the beloved name, 32 And the Persians he shall rule and Babylon; 33 And then shall he smite Medians with his spear. 34 Then shall one rule who has the initial sign 35 Of the number three. And then shall be a lord 36 Who shall for first initial have twice ten; 37 And he shall come to Ocean’s utmost water 38 And by Ausonia cleave the refluent tide. 39 And one whose mark is fifty shall be lord, 40 A dreadful serpent breathing grievous war, 41 Who sometime stretching forth his hands shall make 42 An end of his own race and stir all things, 43 Acting the athlete, driving chariots, 44 Putting to death and daring countless things; 45 And he shall cleave the mountain of two seas 46 And sprinkle it with gore; but out of sight 47 Shall also vanish the destructive man; 48 Then, making himself equal unto God, 49 Shall he return; but God will prove him naught. 50 50And after him shall three kings be destroyed 51 By one another. Then a great destroyer 52 Of pious men shall come, whom seven times ten 53 Shall point out clearly. But from him a son, 54 Whom the first letter of three hundred proves, 55 Shall take the power. And after him shall be 56 A ruler, of the initial sign of four, 57 A life-destroyer. Then a reverend man 58 Of the number fifty. Next, succeeding him 59 Who has the first mark of the initial sign 60 Three hundred, shall a Celtic mountaineer, 61 Into the strife of battle pressing on, 62 Escape not fate unseemly, but shall be 63 Worn weary unto death; him foreign dust, 64 But dust that of Nemea’s flower has name, 65 Shall hide a corpse. And after him shall rule 66 Another man, with silver helmet decked; 67 And unto him shall be the name of a sea; 68 And he shall be a man the best of all 69 And in all things discreet. And upon you, 70 You best of all, above all, dark-haired one, 71 And upon your shoots shall be all these days. 72 After him three shall rule; but the third one 73 Shall at a late time hold the royal power. 74 Worn out am I, thrice-miserable one, 75 Sister of Isis, to lay up in heart 76 An evil message, and an inspired song 77 Of oracles. First Mænades shall dart 78 Around your much-lamented temple’s steps, 79 And you shall be in evil hands that day 80 When the Nile sometime shall fill the whole land 81 Of Egypt even to sixteen cubits deep; 82 It shall wash all the land, and water it 83 For mortals; and the pleasure of the land 84 Shall be still and the glory of her face. 85 85Memphis, you most shall over Egypt wail; 86 For of old ruling mightily the land 87 You shall become poor, so that out of heaven 88 The Thunderer shall himself with great voice cry: 89 “O mighty Memphis, who did boast of old 90 Over craven mortals greatly, you shall wail 91 Full of pain and all-hapless, so that you 92 Yourself shall the eternal God perceive 93 Immortal in the clouds. Where among men 94 Is now your mighty pride? Because you did 95 Against my God-anointed children rave, 96 And did urge evil forward on good men, 97 You shall for such things suffer penalty 98 In some like manner. No more openly 99 For you shall there be right among the blessed; 100 Fallen from the stars, you shall not rise to heaven.” 101 Now these things unto Egypt God bade me 102 Speak out for the last time, when men shall be 103 Utterly evil. But they labor hard, 104 Evil men evil things awaiting, wrath 105 Of the immortal Thunderer in heaven, 106 Worshiping stones and beasts instead of God, 107 And also fearing many things besides 108 Which have no speech, nor mind, nor power to hear; 109 Which things it is not right for me to mention, 110 Each one an idol, formed by mortal hands; 111 Of their own labors and presumptuous thoughts 112 Did men receive gods made of wood and stone 113 And brass, and gold and silver, foolish too, 114 Without life and dumb, molten in the fire 115 They made them, vainly trusting such things. . . . 116 Thmois and Xois are in sore distress, 117 And smitten is the hall of Heracles 118 And Zeus and Hermes king. And as for you, 119 O Alexandria, famed nourisher 120 Of cities, war shall not leave, nor plague . . . 121 For your pride you shall pay as many things 122 As you before did. Silent shall you be 123 A long age, and the day of your return . . . 124 No more for you shall flow luxurious drink . . . 125 5 For there shall come a Persian on your dale, 126 And like hail shall he all the land destroy, 127 And artful men, with blood and corpses. . . . 128 By sacred altars one of barbarous mind, 129 Strong, full of blood and raging senselessly, 130 With countless numbers rushing to destruction. 131 And then shall you, in cities very rich, 132 Be very weary. Falling on the earth 133 All Asia shall wail on account of gifts 134 Crowning her head with which she was by you 135 Delighted. But, as he himself obtained 136 The Persian land by lot, he shall make war 137 And killing every man destroy all life, 138 So that there shall remain for wretched mortals 139 A third part. But with nimble leap shall he 140 Himself speed from the West, and all the land 141 Besiege and waste. But when he shall possess 142 The height of power and odious reverence, 143 He shall come, wishing to destroy the city 144 Even of the blessed. And a certain king 145 Sent forth from God against him shall destroy 146 All mighty kings and bravest men. And thus 147 Shall judgment by the Immortal come to men. 148 Alas, alas for you, unhappy heart! 149 Why do you move me to declare these things, 150 The painful rule of Egypt over many? 151 Go to the East, to races of the Persians 152 Who lack in understanding, and show them 153 That which is now and that which is to be. 154 The river of Euphrates shall bring on 155 A deluge, and it shall destroy the Persians, 156 Iberians and Babylonians 157 And the Massagetæ that relish war 158 And trust in bows. All Asia fire-ablaze 159 Shall to the isles beam brightly. Pergamos, 160 Revered of old, shall perish from its base, 161 And Pitane among men shall appear 162 All-desolate. All Lesbos shall sink deep 163 Into the deep, and thus shall be destroyed. 164 Smyrna, whirled down her cliffs, shall wail aloud, 165 She that was once revered and given a name 166 Shall perish utterly. Bithynians 167 Shall over their own country, then reduced 168 To ashes, wail, and over great Syria, 169 And over Phœnicia that has many tribes. 170 Alas, alas for you, O Lycia; 171 How many evils does the sea contrive 172 Against you, mounting up of its own will 173 Upon the painful land! And it shall dash 174 With evil earthquake and with bitter streams 175 On the rough Lycian land that once breathed perfume. 176 And there shall be for Phrygia fearful wrath 177 Because of sorrow for which Rhea came, 178 Mother of Zeus, and there continued long. 179 The sea shall overthrow the Centaur race 180 And barbarous nation, and beneath the earth 181 Shall tear away the Lapithæan land. 182 The river of deep eddies and deep flow, 183 Peneus, shall destroy Thessalian land, 184 Snatching men from the earth. Eridanus 185 Pretending once to bear the forms, of beasts. 186 Hellas thrice wretched shall the poets weep, 187 When one from Italy shall smite the neck 188 Of the isthmus, mighty king of mighty Rome, 189 A man made equal to God, whom, they say, 190 Zeus himself and the august Hera bore 191 He, courting by his voice all-musical 192 Applause for his sweet Songs, shall put to death 193 With his own wretched mother many men. 194 From Babylon shall flee the fearful lord 195 And shameless whom all mortals and best men 196 Abhor; for he slew many and laid hands 197 Upon the womb; against his wives he sinned 198 And of men stained with blood had he been formed. 199 And he shall come to monarchs of the Medes 200 And Persians, first whom he loved and to whom 201 He brought renown, while with those wicked men 202 He lurked against a nation not desired 203 And on the temple made by God he seized 204 And citizens and people going in, 205 Of whom I justly sang the praise, he burned; 206 For when this man appeared the whole creation 207 Was shaken and kings perished—and yet power 208 Remained among them, and they quite destroyed 209 The mighty city and the righteous people. 210 210But when the fourth year a great star shall shine, 211 Which alone shall the whole earth overpower 212 Because of honor, which was first assigned 213 To lord Poseidon; then a great star shall come 214 From heaven into the dreadful sea and burn 215 The vasty deep, and Babylon itself, 216 And the land of Italy, because of which 217 There perished many holy faithful men 218 Among the Hebrews and a people true. 219 You shall be among evil mortals made 220 Fourth year 221 To lord Poseidon 222 ...Star... 223 ...into the ... sea 224 Babylon 225 You 226 To suffer evils, but you shall remain 227 All-desolate whole ages by yourself 228 Hating your soil; for you had desire 229 For sorcery, adulteries were with you 230 And lawless carnal intercourse with boys, 231 You evil city, womanish, unjust, 232 Ill-fated above all. Alas, alas! 233 You city of the Latin land, unclean 234 In all things, Mænad having joy in snakes, 235 Over your banks a widow shall you sit 236 And the river Tiber shall lament for you, 237 His consort you, who have a blood-stained heart 238 And impious soul. Did you not understand 239 What God can do, and what he does devise? 240 But you said, “I’m alone, and me no one 241 Shall sack.” But now shall God, who ever is, 242 You and all yours destroy, and in that land 243 No longer shall your ensign yet remain, 244 As of old, when the mighty God received 245 Your honors. Stay, O lawless one, alone, 246 And mixed with burning fire inhabit you 247 In Hades the Tartarean lawless land. 248 And now again, O Egypt, I bewail 249 Your blind delusion; Memphis, first in toils, 250 You shall be filled up with the dead; in you 251 The pyramids shall speak a ruthless sound. 252 O Python, who were justly called of old 253 The double city, be for ages silent, 254 So that you may cease from wickedness. 255 Reckless in evils, treasury of toils, 256 Much-wailing Mænad, suffering, dire ills, 257 Much-weeping, you a widow shall remain 258 Through all time. You did full of years become 259 While you alone were ruling over the world; 260 But when the white dress Barea round herself 261 Shall put on over that which is defiled, 262 Would that I neither were nor had been born 263 O Thebes, where is your great strength? A fierce man 264 Shall slay the people; but you, wretched one, 265 Grasping your dusky dress shall wail alone, 266 And you shall make atonement for all things 267 Which you aforetime with a shameless soul 268 Did perpetrate. They also shall behold 269 A mourning on account of lawless deeds. 270 And a mighty man of the Ethiopians 271 Shall overthrow Syene; by their might 272 Shall swarthy Indians occupy Teucheira. 273 Pentapolis, a man of mighty strength 274 Shall burn you whole. All-tearful Libya, 275 Who shall explain your follies? And Cyrene, 276 Of mortals who shall pitiably weep 277 For you? You shall not even to the time 278 Of your destruction cease your hateful wail. 279 Among the Britons and among the Gauls, 280 Rich in gold, Ocean shall be roaring loud 281 Filled with much blood; for evil things 282 Did they unto God’s children, when a king 283 Of the Sidonians, a Phœnician, led 284 A mighty Gallic host from Syria; 285 And he shall slaughter you, yourself, Ravenna, 286 And unto slaughter shall he lead the way. 287 O Indians and great-hearted Ethiops, 288 Together fear; for when with these the course 289 Of Capricorn and Taurus in the Twins 290 Shall wind about the middle of the heaven, 291 Virgo then rising, and about his front 292 Fastening a belt the sun shall lead all heaven, 293 There shall be moving downwards to the earth 294 A mighty conflagration high in air, 295 And a new nature in the warlike stars, 296 So that the whole land of the Ethiops 297 Shall perish in the midst of fire and groans. 298 And weep you, Corinth, the destruction sad 299 Which is in you; for when with pliant threads 300 The Fates three sisters, spinning, shall aloft 301 Lead him who flees by guile against the voice 302 Of the isthmus, until all shall look at him 303 Who once cut out the rock with ductile brass, 304 He also shall destroy and smite your land, 305 As it has been appointed. For to him 306 God gave strength to accomplish that which could 307 No earlier of all the kings together. 308 And first with sickle cleaving off the roots 309 From three heads he shall give food in excess 310 To others, so that kings unclean shall eat 311 The flesh of parents. For unto all men 312 Slaughter and terrors are laid up in store 313 Because of the great city and just people 314 Saved through all time, whom Providence held high. 315 O you unstable one and ill-advised, 316 By evil fates surrounded, for mankind 317 Both a beginning and great end of toil— 318 Of suffering creation and of part 319 Restored again—you leader insolent 320 Of evils, and for men a great curse, who 321 Of mortals wished for you? Who has not been 322 Embittered from within? Cast down in you 323 A king his honored life lost. Evilly 324 Have you disposed all things and washed away 325 All that is fair, and by you have been changed 326 The world’s fair folds. In strife with us perhaps 327 You have brought forward these unstable things; 328 And how do you say, “I will you persuade,” 329 And “If in anything you blame me, speak?” 330 There was once among men the sun’s bright light 331 The prophets’ common ray being spread abroad; 332 Speech dripping honey, fair drink for all men, 333 Appeared and grew, and day arose on all. 334 Because of this, you narrow-minded one 335 Leader of greatest evils, both a sword 336 And grief shall come in that day. For mankind 337 Both a beginning and great end of toil— 338 Of suffering creation and of part 339 Restored again—hear, O you curse of men, 340 The bitter oracle intolerable. 341 But when the Persian land shall keep away 342 From war and plague and groaning, in that day 343 A race divine of blessed heavenly Jews 344 Shall offer prayer, who shall dwell round about 345 God’s city in mid portions of the land, 346 And even as far as Joppa building round 347 A great wall they shall carry it aloft 348 Unto the gloomy clouds. No more shall trump 349 Sound battle-din nor by a foe’s mad hands 350 Shall they be cut off; but they shall set up 351 Their trophies for an age of evil men. 352 And one shall come again from heaven, a man 353 Preeminent, whose hands on fruitful tree 354 By far the noblest of the Hebrews stretched, 355 Who at one time did make the sun stand still 356 When he spoke with fair word and holy lips, 357 No longer vex your soul within your breast 358 By reason of the sword, rich child of God, 359 Flower longed for by him only, goodly light 360 And noble branch, a scion much beloved, 361 Pleasant Judea, city beautiful, 362 Inspired by hymns. No more shall unclean foot 363 Of Greeks keep revel round about your land, 364 Who held within their breast a lawless mind; 365 But you shall glorious children honor much 366 And be expert in songs and holy tongues, 367 With sacrifices of all kinds and prayers 368 Honored of God. All who endure the toils 369 Of small affliction and the just shall have 370 More that is altogether beautiful; 371 But the wicked, who to heaven sent lawless speech, 372 Shall cease their speaking one against another, 373 And hide themselves until the world be changed. 374 And there shall be a rain of gleaming fire 375 From the clouds; and no more shall mortals reap 376 The fair corn from the earth; all things unsown 377 And unplowed, until mortal men shall know 378 The Lord of all things, the immortal God 379 Always existing, and no more revere 380 Mortal things, neither dogs nor vultures’ nests, 381 And what things Egypt taught to magnify 382 With dumb mouth and dull lips. But all these things 383 The holy land of the only pious men 384 Shall bring forth, from the honey-dripping rock 385 A stream and from a spring ambrosial milk 386 Shall flow for all the just; for in one God, 387 One Father, who alone is glorious, 388 Having great piety and faith they hoped. 389 But why does the wise mind grant me these things? 390 And now you, wretched Asia, piteously 391 I mourn and the race of Ionians 392 And Carians and Lydians rich in gold. 393 Alas, alas for you, O Sardis; and alas 394 For Trallis much beloved; alas, alas, 395 Laodicea, city beautiful; 396 Thus shall you be by earthquakes overthrown 397 And ruined, and be also changed to dust. 398 And to Asia gloomy... 399 Artemis’ temple fixed at Ephesus ... 400 By chasms, and earthquakes come headlong down 401 Sometime into the dreadful sea, as storms 402 Overwhelm ships. And upturned Ephesus 403 Shall wail aloud, lament beside her banks, 404 And for her temple search which is no more. 405 And then incensed shall God the imperishable, 406 Who dwells on high, hurl thunderbolts from heaven 407 Down on the head of him that is impure. 408 And in the place of winter there shall be 409 In that day summer. And to mortal men 410 Shall then be great woe; for the Thunderer 411 Shall utterly destroy all shameless men 412 And with his thunders and with lightning-flames 413 And blazing thunderbolts men of ill-will, 414 And thus shall he destroy the impious ones, 415 So that there shall remain upon the earth 416 Dead bodies more in number than the sand. 417 For Smyrna also, weeping her Lycurgus, 418 Shall come unto the gates of Ephesus 419 And she herself shall perish even more. 420 And foolish Cyme with her inspired streams 421 Cast down by hands of godless men unjust 422 And lawless, shall to heaven not so much 423 As a word utter; but she shall remain 424 Dead in Cymaean streams. And then shall they 425 Together weep, awaiting evil things. 426 Cyme’s rough populace and shameless tribe, 427 Having a sign, shall know for what they toiled. 428 And then, when they shall have bewailed their land 429 Reduced to ashes, by Eridanus 430 Shall Lesbos be forever overthrown. 431 425Alas, Corcyra, city beautiful, 432 Alas for you, cease from your revelry. 433 You also, Hierapolis, sole land 434 With riches mixed, what you have longed to have 435 You shall have, even a land of many tears, 436 Since you were angry toward a land beside 437 Thermodon’s streams. Rock-clinging Tripolis, 438 Beside the waters of Mæander, you 439 Shall by the nightly surges under shore 440 God’s wrath and foresight utterly destroy. 441 435Take me not, willing, to the neighboring land 442 Of Phœbus; sometime shall a thunderbolt 443 Dainty Miletus from above destroy, 444 Because she seized on Phœbus’ crafty song 445 And the wise care and prudent plan of men. 446 440Father of all, be gracious to the land 447 Of Judah, well fed, fruit-abounding, great, 448 In order that your judgments we may see. 449 For you, O God, in kindness did regard 450 This land first that it might appear to be 451 Your gracious gift unto all mortal men 452 And to hold fast what God put in their charge. 453 The works thrice wretched of the Thracians 454 I yearn to see, and wall between two seas 455 Trailed in the dust along beneath the mist, 456 Even like a river for the swimming fish. 457 O wretched Hellespont, sometime a child 458 Of the Assyrians shall throw a yoke 459 Across you; battle of the Thracians comes 460 And shall despoil your strength. And there shall rule 461 Over the land of Macedonia 462 A king of Egypt, and a barbarous clime 463 Shall waste the strength of captains. Lydians, 464 And the Galatians, and Pamphylians 465 With the Pisidians, all equipped for war 466 Shall in a mass bring evil strife to pass. 467 Thrice wretched Italy, then shall you remain 468 All-desolate, unwept, in blooming land 469 By deadly sting to perish utterly. 470 And sometime high in the broad heaven above 471 Like thunder-roaring shall God’s voice be heard. 472 And the unwasting flames of the sun himself 473 Shall be no more, nor shall the brilliant light 474 Of the moon again be in the latest time, 475 When God shall be the ruler. And dark gloom 476 Shall be over all the earth, and blinded men 477 And evil beasts and woe; that day shall be 478 A long time, so that men shall see that God 479 Himself is Lord, the overseer of all 480 In front of heaven. And then will he himself 481 Not pity hostile men, who sacrifice 482 Their herds of lambs and sheep and calves and goats 483 And bellowing golden-horned bulls, offering them 484 To lifeless Hermæ and to gods of stone. 485 But let the law of wisdom be your guide 486 And the glory of the righteous; lest sometime 487 The imperishable God incensed destroy 488 Each race of men and shameless tribe of life, 489 It does behoove them faithfully to love 490 The Father, the wise God who ever is. 491 485In the last time, at the turning of the moon, 492 There shall be raging through the world a war 493 And carried on with cunning, and in guile. 494 And from the limits of the earth shall come 495 Fleeing and pondering sharp things in his mind, 496 A matricidal man who every land 497 Shall overpower and over all things rule, 498 And see all things more wisely than all men; 499 And that for whose sake he himself was slain 500 Shall he seize forthwith. And he shall destroy 501 Many men and great tyrants and shall burn 502 All of them, as none other ever did, 503 And he shall raise up them that are afraid 504 For emulation’s sake. And from the West 505 Much war shall come to men, and blood shall flow 506 Down hill till it becomes deep-eddying streams. 507 And in the plains of Macedonia 508 Shall wrath distill and give help from the West, 509 But to the king destruction. And a wind 510 Of winter then shall blow upon the earth, 511 And the plain be filled with evil war again. 512 For fire shall rain down from the heavenly plains 513 On mortals, and therewith blood, water, flash 514 Of lightning, murky darkness, night in heaven, 515 And waste in war and over the slaughter mist, 516 And these together shall destroy all kings 517 And noblest men. Thus shall be made to cease 518 Then the destruction pitiable of war. 519 And no more shall one fight with swords or iron 520 Or even darts, which things shall not again 521 Be lawful. But wise people shall have peace, 522 Who were left, having made proof of wickedness, 523 That they might at the last be filled with joy. 524 You matricides, leave off your impudence 525 And evil-working boldness, who of old 526 Provided lawlessly lewd couch with boys, 527 And placed as harlots maidens pure before 528 In brothels by assault and punishment 529 And by much-laboring indecency. 530 For in you mother with her child did hold 531 Unlawful intercourse, and daughter was 532 With her own father wedded as a bride; 533 And in you kings have their ill-fated mouth 534 Polluted, and in you have wicked men 535 Found couch with cattle. Be in silence hushed, 536 You wicked city all-bewailed, possessed 537 Of revelry; for by you virgin maids 538 Shall care no longer for the fire divine 539 Of sacred wood that fondly nourishes; 540 Before you was a much-loved house of old 541 Extinguished, when I saw the second house 542 Cast headlong down and overwhelmed with fire 543 By an unholy hand, house ever flourishing, 544 God’s watchful temple, brought forth of his saints 545 And being always indestructible, 546 By the soul hoped for and the body itself. 547 For not without the rites of burial 548 Shall one praise God out of the unseen earth, 549 Nor did wise workman make a stone by them, 550 Nor had he fear of gold, cheat of the world 551 And of souls, but the mighty Father, God 552 Of all things God-inspired, did he revere 553 With holy offerings and fair hecatombs. 554 But now an unseen and unholy king 555 With multitude great and with men renowned 556 Rose into power and cast his dwelling down 557 And let it go unbuilt. But he himself 558 When he set foot on the immortal land 559 Destroyed the ground. And such a sign no more 560 Was wrought upon men, so that it appeared 561 That others the great city should destroy. 562 For there came from the heavenly plains a man, 563 One blessed, with a scepter in his hand, 564 Which God gave him, and he ruled all things well, 565 And unto all the good did he restore 566 The riches which the earlier men had seized. 567 And many cities with much fire he took 568 From their foundations, and he set on fire 569 The towns of mortals who before did evil, 570 And he did make that city, which God loved, 571 More radiant than stars and sun and moon, 572 And he set order, and a holy house 573 Incarnate made, pure, very fair, and formed 574 In many stades a great and boundless tower 575 Touching the clouds themselves and seen by all, 576 So that all holy and all righteous men 577 Might see the glory of the eternal God, 578 A sight that has been longed for. Rising sun 579 And setting day hymned forth the praise of God. 580 For there are then no longer fearful things 581 For wretched mortals, nor adulteries 582 And lawless love of boys, nor homicide 583 Nor tumult, but a righteous strife in all. 584 It is the last time of the saints when God 585 Accomplishes these things, high Thunderer, 586 Founder of temple most magnificent. 587 Alas, alas for you, O Babylon, 588 For golden throne and golden sandal famed, 589 Kingdom of many years and of the world 590 Sole ruler, who were great in olden time 591 And city of all cities, you no more 592 Shall lie in golden mountains and by streams 593 Of the Euphrates; you shall be laid low 594 By rout of earthquake. But the Parthians dire 595 Caused you to suffer all things. Hold you fast 596 Your unknown speech, impure Chaldean race; 597 Ask not nor be concerned how you shall lead 598 The Persians or how you shall rule the Medes; 599 For on account of your supremacy, 600 Which you had, sending hostages to Rome 601 And serving Asia, you that formerly 602 Did also think yourself a queen, shall come 603 Unto the judgment of antagonists, 604 Because of whom you have suffered baneful things; 605 And you shall give instead of crooked words 606 Bitter vexation to the enemies, 607 And in the last time shall the sea be dry 608 And ships no longer sail to Italy, 609 And Asia the great then, all-hapless, shall 610 Be water, and then Crete shall be a plain. 611 And Cyprus shall endure great misery 612 And Paphos shall bewail a dreadful fate, 613 So that even Salamis, great city, shall 614 Be seen to undergo great misery; 615 And now the dry land shall be fruitless sand 616 Upon the shore. And locusts not a few 617 Shall utterly destroy the Cyprian land. 618 Looking at Tyre, doomed mortals, you shall weep. 619 Phœnicia, dreadful wrath remains for you, 620 Until you to a worthless ruin fall, 621 So that even Sirens truly may lament. 622 In the fifth generation, when the ruin 623 Of Egypt has ceased, it shall come to pass 624 That shameless kings shall be together joined, 625 And races of Pamphylians shall encamp 626 In Egypt, and in Macedonia 627 And in Asia and among the Libyans 628 Shall in the dust be a world-maddening war 629 Exceeding bloody, which the king of Rome 630 And rulers of the West shall make to cease. 631 625When wintry storm shall drop down like the snow, 632 While frozen are great river and vast lakes, 633 Forthwith a barbarous race shall make their way 634 Into the Asian land and shall destroy 635 The race of dreadful Thracians, hard to quell. 636 And then shall mortals feeding lawlessly 637 Devour their parents, being by hunger worn, 638 And shall gulp down the entrails. And wild beasts 639 Shall devour from all houses table-food, 640 And they and birds all mortals shall devour. 641 The ocean with dead bodies shall be filled 642 From the river and be red with flesh and blood 643 Of the foolish ones. Then thus a feebleness 644 Shall be on earth, so that of men the number 645 May be seen and the measure of the women, 646 640And the dire race shall wail for myriad things 647 At last when the sun sets to rise no more, 648 But to remain submerged in Ocean’s waves; 649 For it beheld the wickedness unclean 650 Of many mortals. And a moonless night 651 Shall be a fame around the mighty heaven, 652 And no small mist shall hide the world’s ravines 653 A second time; then afterward God’s light 654 Shall guide the good men, who sang praise to God. 655 Isis, thrice wretched goddess, you alone 656 Shall on the waters of the Nile remain, 657 A Mænad out of order on the sands 658 Of Acheron, and no longer shall remain 659 Remembrance of you over all the earth. 660 And also you, Sarapis, who are placed 661 On many glistening stones, a ruin vast 662 Shall you in thrice unhappy Egypt lie. 663 But those whom love of Egypt led to you 664 Shall all lament you badly; but who put 665 Imperishable reason in their breast, 666 And who praised God, shall know you to be naught. 667 And sometime shall a linen-vested man, 668 A priest, say: “Come, let us raise up of God 669 A beautiful true temple; come, let us 670 The fearful law of our forefathers change, 671 Because of which they did not understand 672 That they were unto gods of stone and clay 673 Making processions and religious rites. 674 Let us turn our souls, giving praise to God 675 The imperishable, who himself is Father, 676 The everlasting One, the Lord of all, 677 The true One, the King, life-sustaining Father, 678 The mighty God existing evermore.” 679 And then shall there a great pure temple be 680 In Egypt, and the people made by God 681 Shall into it their sacrifices bring. 682 And to them God shall give life incorrupt. 683 But when the Ethiopians, forsaking 684 The shameless tribes of the Triballians, 685 Shall cultivate their Egypt, they will then 686 Begin their baseness, that the later things 687 May all occur. For they shall overthrow 688 The mighty temple of the Egyptian land; 689 And God shall rain down on the earth dire wrath 690 Among them, so that all the wicked ones 691 And all without sense perish. And no more 692 Shall there be any sparing in that land, 693 Because they did not keep that which God gave. 694 I saw the threatening of the shining Sun 695 Among the stars, and in the lightning flash 696 The dire wrath of the Moon; the stars travailed 697 With battle; and God gave them up to light. 698 For long fire-flames rebelled against the Sun; 699 Lucifer treading upon Leo’s back 700 Began the fight; and the Moon’s double horn 701 Changed its shape; Capricorn smote Taurus’ neck; 702 And Taurus took away from Capricorn 703 Returning day. Orion would no more 704 Abide his yoke; the lot of Gemini 705 Did Virgo change in Aries; no more shone 706 The Pleiads; Draco disavowed his zone; 707 Down into Leo’s girdle Pisces went. 708 Cancer remained not, for he feared Orion; 709 Scorpio down on dire Leo backwards moved; 710 And from the Sun’s flame Sirius slipped away; 711 And the strength of the mighty Shining One 712 Aquarius kindled. Uranus himself 713 Was roused, until he shook the warring ones; 714 And being incensed he hurled them down on earth. 715 Then swiftly smitten down upon the baths 716 Of Ocean they set all the earth on fire; 717 And the high heaven remained without a star.
6The great Son of the Immortal famed in song 2 I from the heart proclaim, to whom a throne, 3 To be held fast the most Father gave 4 Ere he was brought forth; then was he raised up 5 According to flesh given, washed, at the mouth 6 Of the river Jordan, which goes rushing on 7 Trailing its gleaming billows, from the fire 8 Escaping he first shall see God’s sweet Spirit 9 Descending with the wings of a white dove. 10 And a pure flower shall bloom, and springs be full. 11 And he shall show the ways to men, and show 12 The heavenly paths, and teach all with wise 13 And he shall come for judgment and persuade 14 A disobedient people while he boasts 15 Descent praiseworthy from a heavenly Sire. 16 Billows shall he tread, sickness of mankind 17 Shall he destroy, he shall raise up the dead, 18 And many sufferings shall he drive away; 19 And from one scrip shall be men’s fill of bread, 20 When the house of David shall bring forth a child; 21 And in his hand the whole world, earth, heaven, sea. 22 And he shall flash upon the earth, as once 23 The two begotten from each other’s ribs 24 Saw human form appearing. It shall be 25 When earth shall be glad in the hope of child. 26 But for you only, Sodomitic land, 27 Are evil woes laid up; for you yourself 28 Ill-disposed did not apprehend your God 29 Who mocks at mortal schemes; but from a thorn 30 Did crown him with a crown, and fearful gall 31 Did mingle unto insolence and spirit. 32 This shall bring evil woes about for you. 33 O the Wood, O so blessed, upon which 34 God was outstretched; the earth shall not have you, 35 But you shall look upon a heavenly house, 36 When you, O God, shall flash your eye of fire.
7Rhodes, you are unhappy; for first you, 2 You will I mourn; and you will be the first 3 Of cities, and first will you be destroyed, 4 Bereft of men, but of the means of life 5 Not wholly destitute. And you will sail, 6 Delos, and be unstable on the water; 7 Cyprus, a billow of your gleaming sea 8 Shall sometime you destroy; you, Sicily, 9 The fire that burns within you shall consume. 10 Nor heed God’s terrible and foreign water. 11 Noah sole fugitive from all men came. 12 Earth shall float, hills float, and even sky shall float, 13 Everything shall be water and all things 14 Shall be destroyed by waters. And the winds 15 Shall stand still and a second age shall be. 16 O Phrygia, first will you flame from the crest 17 Of the water; and first in impiety 18 You will deny God himself, courting favor 19 With false gods, which shall utterly destroy 20 You, wretched one, while many years roll round. 21 The hapless Ethiopians under pain, 22 Suffering things lamentable, shall by swords 23 Be smitten while they crouch upon the ground. 24 Rich Egypt ever caring for her corn, 25 Which Nilus by his seven swimming streams 26 Intoxicates, shall in intestine strife 27 Destroy; and from there men unexpectedly 28 Shall drive out Apis, not the god for men. 29 Alas, alas, Laodicea! you 30 Not ever seeing God will lie, bold one; 31 And over you shall dash a wave of Lycus. 32 He himself who is born the mighty God, 33 Who shall work many signs, shall through heaven hang 34 An axle in the midst, and place for men 35 A mighty terror to be seen on high, 36 Measuring a column with a mighty fire 37 Whose drops shall slay the races of mankind 38 That have dared evils. But a common Lord 39 There shall at some time be, and then shall men 40 Propitiate God, but shall not make an end 41 Of fruitless sorrows. And through David’s house 42 Shall all things come to pass. For God himself 43 Gave him the power and put it in his hand; 44 Under his feet shall sleep his messengers, 45 And some shall kindle fires, and some shall make 46 Rivers appear, and some shall rescue towns, 47 And some shall send forth winds. But furthermore 48 A grievous life shall come on many men, 49 Entering their souls and changing human hearts. 50 But when a new shoot shall out of a root 51 Put forth eyes, the creation, which to all 52 Once gave abundant food ... 53 And it shall with the times be full. But when 54 Others shall rule, a tribe of warlike Persians, 55 Bride-chambers straightway shall be terrible 56 Because of lawless deeds. For her own son 57 Will mother have as husband; son will be 58 The ruin of his mother; and with sire 59 Shall daughter lie down and shall put to sleep 60 This foreign law. But to them afterwards 61 Shall Roman Ares flash from many a spear; 62 And they shall mix much land with human blood. 63 But then a chief of Italy shall flee 64 From the force of the spear. But they shall leave 65 Upon the land a lance inscribed with gold, 66 Which as the signal ensign of their rule 67 The foremost fighters carry constantly. 68 And it shall be, when evil and ill-starred 69 Ilias shall piteously complete for all 70 A tomb, not marriage, then shall brides weep sore, 71 Because they knew not God, but always gave 72 By kettle-drums and cymbals boisterous sound. 73 Consult the oracle, O Colophon; 74 For a great fearful fire hangs over you. 75 75Ill-wedded Thessaly, the earth no more 76 Shall see you, nor your ashes, and alone 77 Escaping from the mainland you will swim; 78 Thus, O you wretched one, will you of war 79 Be melancholy refuse, having fallen 80 By swiftly flowing rivers and by swords. 81 And you, O wretched Corinth, will receive 82 Around yourself stern Ares, hapless one, 83 And you shall perish one upon another. 84 Tyre, you, unhappy, will be left alone; 85 For, made a widow by the feebleness 86 Of pious men, you will be brought to nothing. 87 Ah, Cœle-Syria, of Phœnician men 88 The last hold, upon whom the briny sea 89 Of Berytus disgorging is poured forth, 90 O wretched one, you did not know your God, 91 Who once in the mouth of Jordan washed himself, 92 —And the Spirit spread his wings in flight towards him— 93 Who before both the earth and starry heaven 94 Was, actual Word, begotten by his Father, 95 And by the Holy Spirit donning flesh 96 He quickly flew to his Father’s house. 97 And for him three towers did the mighty heaven 98 Establish, in which dwell God’s noble guides, 99 Hope, piety, and reverence much-desired, 100 Not having in gold or in silver joy, 101 But in the reverential acts of men— 102 Both sacrifices and most righteous thoughts. 103 And you will sacrifice to the immortal 104 And mighty God august, not melting grains 105 Of frankincense in fire, nor with the sword 106 Slaying the shaggy-haired lamb, but with all 107 Who bear your blood take wild fowls, offer prayer, 108 And fixing eyes on heaven send them away; 109 And you will sprinkle water on pure fire 110 Having cried: "As the Father did beget 111 You, the Word, Father, I sent forth a bird, 112 Swift messenger of words, with holy waters 113 Besprinkling your baptism, O Word, through which 114 You did make yourself manifest in fire." 115 115You will not shut your door, when there shall come 116 A stranger to you in need to curb 117 His hunger which comes from his poverty, 118 But taking hold of that man sprinkle him 119 With water and pray thrice; and to your God 120 Do you thus cry: "I do not long for wealth; 121 A suppliant I once publicly received 122 A suppliant; Father, you provider, hear." 123 When you have prayed you will give to him; 124 And the man went away thereafter... 125 Do not afflict me, holy fear of God 126 And righteous, as to birth pure, unenslaved, 127 Attested... 128 You do, O Father, make my wretched heart 129 Stand still; to you have I looked, to you, 130 The undefiled, whom hands did not produce. 131 Sardinia, weighty now, you will be changed 132 To ashes. You will be no more an isle, 133 When the tenth time shall come. Amid the waves 134 Shall sailors seek you when you are no more, 135 And o’er you shall kingfishers wail sad dirge. 136 Rugged Mygdonia, beacon of the sea 137 Hard to get out of, ages will you boast 138 And for ages will be all destroyed 139 With a hot wind, and rave with many woes. 140 140O Celtic land, on mountain range so great, 141 Beyond impassable Alp, you deep sand 142 Shall altogether bury; you will give 143 Tribute no more, nor corn, nor pasturage; 144 And you from peoples ever far away 145 Will be all-desolate, and becoming thick 146 With chill ice you will for an outrage pay, 147 Which you did not perceive, unholy one. 148 Stout-hearted Rome, you to Olympus will 149 Flash lightning after Macedonian spears; 150 But God will make you utterly unknown, 151 When you would to the eye seem to remain 152 Much more firm. Then to you such things I’ll cry. 153 Perishing you will then cry out and boil 154 In pain; a second time to you, O Rome, 155 Again a second time I am to speak. 156 And now for you, O wretched Syria, 157 Do I wail bitterly in pitying grief. 158 O Thebans ill-advised, an evil sound 159 Is over you while flutes speak out their tones; 160 For you shall trumpet sound an evil sound 161 And you shall see the entire land destroyed 162 Alas, alas for you, you wretched one; 163 Alas, alas you evil-minded sea! 164 You will be wholly eaten up by fire 165 And people with your brine will you destroy. 166 For there shall be such raging fire on earth 167 As flows like water, and it shall destroy 168 The whole land. It shall set the hills on fire, 169 Shall burn the rivers, and exhaust the springs. 170 The world shall be disordered while mankind 171 Are perishing. And then the wretched ones, 172 Burned badly, shall look to heaven inwrought 173 Not with stars, but with fire. Not speedily 174 Shall they be made to perish, but dissolved 175 From under flesh, and burning in the spirit 176 For age-long years, they shall know that God’s law 177 Is always hard to put to test and not 178 To be deceived; and then earth, seized by force, 179 Daring whatever god she did admit 180 To her altars, cheated, turned to smoke 181 Through the changed air; and they shall undergo 182 Much suffering who for gain shall prophesy 183 Shameful things, nourishing the evil time. 184 And the Hebrews who put on the shaggy skins 185 Of sheep shall prove false, in which race 186 Obtained no portion by inheritance, 187 But talking mere words over sorrows they 188 Are misers, who shall change their course of life 189 And not mislead the just, who through the heart 190 All-faithfully propitiate their God. 191 But in the third lot of revolving years, 192 Eighth the first, shall another world appear. 193 Night shall be all . . . long and without light. 194 And then shall pass around the dreadful stench 195 Of brimstone, messenger of homicides, 196 When they shall be by night and hunger slain. 197 Then a pure mind shall God beget in men, 198 And shall the race establish, as it was 199 Aforetime; longer shall not any one 200 Deep furrow cut with round plow, nor two oxen 201 Straight guiding dip the iron down; nor vines 202 Shall be nor ears of corn; but all shall eat 203 Together dewy manna with white teeth. 204 And then among them God shall also be, 205 And he shall teach them as he has taught me, 206 The sad one. For how many evil things 207 I did with knowledge once, and many things 208 Heedless I also wickedly performed. 209 Countless my couches, but no marriage-bond 210 Was cared for; and I, all-unfaithful, brought 211 To all a savage oath. I turned away 212 Those in need and among the foremost went 213 Into like glen and minded not God’s word. 214 Therefore did fire consume me and shall gnaw; 215 For I shall not live always, but a time 216 Of evil shall destroy me, when for me 217 Men shall beside the margin of the sea 218 Construct a tomb, and shall slay me with stones; 219 For lying with my father a dear son 220 Did I present him. Smite me, smite me all; 221 For thus shall I live and fix eyes on heaven.
8God’s declarations of great wrath to come 2 In the last age upon the faithless world 3 I make known, prophesying to all men 4 According to their cities. From the time 5 When the great tower fell and the tongues of men 6 Were parted into many languages 7 Of mortals, first was Egypt’s royal power 8 Established, that of Persians and of Medes 9 And also of the Ethiopians 10 And of Assyria and Babylon, 11 Then the great pride of boasting Macedon, 12 Then, fifth, the famous lawless kingdom last 13 Of the Italians shall show many evils 14 Unto all mortals and shall spend the toils 15 Of men of every land. And it shall lead 16 The untamed kings of nations to the West, 17 Make laws for peoples and subject all things. 18 Late do the mills of God grind the fine flour. 19 Fire then shall destroy all things and give back 20 To fine dust the heads of the high-leafed hills 21 And of all flesh. First cause of ills to all 22 Are covetousness and a lack of sense. 23 For there shall be love of deceitful gold 24 And silver; for than these did mortals choose 25 Naught greater, neither light of sun nor heaven, 26 Nor sea, nor broad-backed earth whence all things grow, 27 Nor God who giveth all things, of all things 28 The Father, nor yet faith and piety 29 Chose they before them. Of impiety 30 A fount, and of disorder forward guide, 31 An instrument of wars and foe of peace 32 Is lack of sense, that sets at enmity 33 Parents and children. And along with gold 34 Shall marriage not be honorable at all. 35 And the land shall have its borders and each sea 36 Its watchers craftily distributed 37 To all those that have gold; for ages thus 38 Shall those who purpose to possess the land 39 That feedeth many plunder laboring men, 40 In order that, procuring larger space, 41 They may enslave them by a false pretense. 42 And if the huge earth from the starry heaven 43 Held not her throne far off there had not been 44 For men an equal light, but, bought with gold, 45 It had belonged to rich men and God must 46 For poor men have prepared another world. 47 There shall come to you sometime from above 48 A heavenly stroke deserved, O haughty Rome. 49 And you shall be the first to bend your neck 50 And be razed to the ground, and you shall fire 51 Destructive utterly consume, cast down 52 Upon your pavements, and your wealth shall perish, 53 And wolves and foxes dwell in your foundations. 54 And then shall you be wholly desolate, 55 As if not born. Where your Palladium then? 56 What god shall save you, whether wrought of gold 57 Or stone or brass? Or then where your decrees 58 Of senate? Where shall be the race of Rhea, 59 Of Cronus, or of Zeus, and of all those 60 Whom you did worship, demons without life, 61 Images of the worn-out dead, whose tombs 62 Crete the ill-starred shall hold a cause of pride, 63 And honor the unconscious dead with thrones? 64 But when you shall have had voluptuous kings 65 Thrice five, enslaving the world from the east 66 Unto the west, there shall be then a lord 67 Gray-headed, having name of the near sea, 68 The world inspecting with a nimble foot, 69 Bringing gifts, having large amount of gold 70 And plundering hateful silver even more, 71 And stripping it off he shall pick it up. 72 And he shall have part in all mysteries 73 Of Magian shrines, display his child as god, 74 Abolish all things sacred, and disclose 75 The ancient mysteries of deceit to all. 76 Sad then the time when he himself, sad one, 77 Shall perish. And yet shall the people say: 78 “Your mighty strength, O city, shall fall down,” 79 At once perceiving that the evil day 80 Is coming on. And, your most piteous fate 81 Foreseeing, fathers and young children then 82 Shall mourn together; they alas, alas! shall wail 83 Beside the Tiber’s lamentable banks. 84 After him at the latest day of all 85 Shall three rule, filling out a name of God 86 The heavenly, of whom is the power both now 87 And to all ages. One of them being old 88 The scepter long shall wield, most piteous king, 89 Who in his houses shall shut up and guard 90 All the goods of the world, in order that, 91 When from the utmost limits of the earth 92 That man, the matricidal fugitive, 93 Shall come again, he may bestow these things 94 On all and furnish Asia with great wealth. 95 And then shall you mourn and shall put aside 96 The luster of the broad-striped purple robe 97 Of your commanders and wear mourning dress, 98 O haughty queen, offspring of Latin Rome; 99 The glory of that arrogance of yours 100 Shall be for you no longer, nor shall you, 101 Ill-fated, ever be raised up again, 102 But shall lie prostrate. For the glory also 103 Of eagle-bearing legions shall fall low. 104 Where then your power? What allied land shall be 105 Subjected by your follies lawlessly? 106 For then in all earth shall confusion be 107 Of mortals, when the Almighty shall himself 108 To the tribunal come to judge the souls 109 Of the living and the dead and all the world. 110 And parents shall not be to children dear 111 Nor children to their parents, on account 112 Of their impiety and their distress 113 Unlooked-for. Yours thenceforth shall gnashing be 114 And scattering and conquest, and when the fall 115 Of cities comes and yawnings of the earth. 116 When a dragon charged with fire in both his eyes 117 And with full belly shall come on the waves 118 And shall afflict your children, and there be 119 Famine and war of kinsmen, near at hand 120 Is the end of the world and the last day 121 And judgment of the immortal God for them 122 That are approved and chosen. And there shall 123 Against the Romans first of all be wrath 124 Implacable, and there come a time 125 Of drinking blood and wretched course of life. 126 Alas, alas for you, you reckless land, 127 Great barbarous nation; you did not perceive 128 Whence naked and unworthy you did come 129 To the sun’s light, that to that place again 130 Naked you might withdraw and afterwards 131 Come unto judgment, as unjustly judging. . . . 132 With hands gigantic coming from on high 133 Alone through all the world you shall abide 134 Under the earth. By naphtha and asphalt 135 And brimstone and much fire you utterly 136 Shall disappear and shall be burning dust 137 For ages; and each one who sees shall hear 138 From Hades a great mournful bellowing 139 And gnashing of teeth, and you noisily 140 Beating with your own hands your godless breast. 141 For all together there is equal night; 142 For rich and poor; and naked from the earth 143 Naked again to earth they haste away 144 And cease from life when they complete their time. 145 No slave is there, nor any lord, nor tyrant, 146 Nor king, nor leader having much conceit, 147 Nor speaker learned in law, nor magistrate 148 Judging for money; nor do they pour out 149 The blood of sacrifices in libations 150 Upon the altars; there sounds not a drum 151 Nor cymbal... 152 Nor perforated flute that has a power 153 To madden mind itself, nor sound of pipe 154 That bears the likeness of a crooked snake, 155 Nor trumpet, harsh-toned messenger of wars; 156 Nor those made drunken in the lawless feasts 157 Of revelry, nor in the choral dance; 158 Nor sound of harp, nor harmful instrument; 159 Nor strife, nor anger manifold, nor sword 160 Is with the dead; but an eternity 161 Common to all is keeper of the key 162 Of the great prison before God’s judgment-seat 163 With images of gold and silver and stone 164 You are ready, that unto the bitter day 165 You may come to see your first punishment, 166 O Rome, and gnashing of teeth. And no more 167 Shall Syrian or Greek lay down his neck 168 Beneath your servile yoke, nor foreigner, 169 Nor other nation. Plundered you shall be 170 And made to suffer what you did exact, 171 And in fear wailing you shall give, until 172 You pay back all things; and you for the world 173 Shall be a triumph and reproach of all. 174 Then shall the sixth race of the Latin kings 175 End life at last and scepters leave behind 176 From the same race another king shall reign, 177 Who shall rule every land and scepters wield; 178 And having full power, and by the decrees 179 Of God most mighty, shall his children rule, 180 And of unshaken children is his race; 181 For thus it is decreed while time moves round, 182 When there shall be of Egypt thrice five kings. 183 Thereafter when the limit of the time 184 Of the Phenix shall come round, there shall a race 185 Of peoples come to plunder, tribes confused, 186 Enemy of the Hebrews. Then shall Ares 187 Go plundering Ares; and he shall himself 188 Destroy the haughty threatening of the Romans. 189 For Rome’s power perished then while in its bloom; 190 An ancient queen with cities dwelling round, 191 No longer shall the land of fertile Rome 192 Prevail, when out of Asia one shall come 193 To rule with Ares. And when he has wrought 194 All these things, to the city afterwards 195 Shall he come. And three times three hundred 196 And eight and forty shall you make complete, 197 When, taking you by force, an ill-starred fate 198 Shall come upon you and complete your name. 199 Ah me, I the thrice wretched, shall I see 200 Sometime that day to you destructive, Rome, 201 But to all Latins most? It honors him 202 With counsels who goes, up on Trojan car 203 With hidden children from the Asian land, 204 Having a fiery soul. But when he shall 205 Cut through the isthmus looking wistfully, 206 Moving against all, passing o’er the sea, 207 Then shall dark blood pursue the mighty beast. 208 And a dog chased the lion which destroys 209 The shepherds. And then shall they take away 210 His scepter and to Hades he shall pass. 211 And unto Rhodes shall come an evil last, 212 But greatest. There shall also be for Thebes 213 An evil conquest afterwards, And Egypt 214 Shall perish by the wickedness of rulers, 215 And he who, being mortal, even so 216 Escaped headlong destruction afterwards, 217 Thrice blessed was, even four times happy man. 218 And Rome shall be a room, and Delos dull, 219 And Samos sand. . . . 220 Later again thereafter there shall come 221 An evil to the Persians for their pride, 222 And all their insolence shall come to nothing. 223 And then a holy Lord of all the earth 224 Having raised up the dead shall wield the scepter 225 Unto all ages. Thrice then unto Rome 226 Will the Most High bring pitiable fate 227 And unto all men, and by their own works 228 They’ll perish; but they would not be persuaded, 229 Which would have been much more, to be desired. 230 But when forthwith there shall increase for ill 231 An evil day of famine and of plague 232 And of intolerable battle-din, 233 Even then again the former daring lord 234 Shall, having called the senate, counsel take 235 How he shall utterly destroy... 236 Dry land shall bloom together with the leaves 237 Appearing; and the heavenly firmament 238 Shall bring to light upon the solid rock 239 Rainstorm and flame, and much wind on the land, 240 And over all the earth a multitude 241 Of poisonous sowings. But with shameless soul 242 Shall they again act, fearing not the wrath 243 Of God or men, forsaking modesty, 244 Longing for and greedy tyrants 245 And violent sinners, false, insatiate, 246 Workers of evil and in nothing true, 247 Destroyers of faith, on foul speech 248 In false words; they shall have no fill of wealth; 249 But shamelessly will they strip off still more; 250 Under the rule of tyrants they shall perish. 251 The stars shall all fall forwards in the sea, 252 All one by one, yet shall men see in heaven 253 A brilliant comet, sign of much distress 254 About to come, of war and battle-strife. 255 255Let me not live when the gay woman reigns, 256 But then when heavenly grace shall reign within, 257 And when the holy child shall crush with bonds 258 The mischievous destroyer of all men, 259 Opening the depth to view, and suddenly 260 The wooden house shall cover mortals round. 261 But when the generation tenth shall be 262 Within the house of Hades, afterwards 263 The mighty sway of one of female sex; 264 And God himself shall increase many evils 265 When she with royal honor has been crowned; 266 And altogether then an impious age. 267 The sun obscurely looking shines by night; 268 The stars shall leave the sky; and with much storm 269 A hurricane shall desolate the earth; 270 And there shall be a rising of the dead; 271 The running of the lame shall be most swift, 272 The deaf shall hear, the blind shall see, and those 273 That talk not shall talk, and to all 274 Shall life and wealth be common. And the land 275 Alike for all, divided not by walls 276 Or fences, shall bear more abundant fruits. 277 And fountains of sweet wine and of white milk 278 And honey it shall give... 279 And judgment of the immortal God great king. 280 But when God shall change times ... 281 Winter producing summer, then shall be 282 Oracles all fulfilled... 283 But when the world has perished... 284 JESUS CHRISTI SON OF GOD, SAVIOUR, CROSS. 285 And the earth shall perspire, when there shall be 286 The sign of judgment. And from heaven shall come 287 The King who for the ages is to be, 288 Present to judge all flesh and the whole world. 289 Faithful and faithless mortals shall see God 290 The Most High with the saints at the end of time. 291 And of men bearing flesh he judges souls 292 Upon his throne, when sometime the whole world 293 Shall be a desert and a place of thorns. 294 And mortals shall their idols cast away 295 And all wealth. And the searching fire shall burn 296 Earth, heaven, and sea; and it shall burn the gates, 297 Of Hades’ prison. Then shall come all flesh 298 Of the dead to the free light of the saints; 299 But the lawless shall that fire whirl round and round. 300 For ages. Howsoever much one did 301 In secret, then shall he all things declare; 302 For God shall open dark breasts to the light. 303 And lamentation shall there be from all 304 And gnashing of teeth. Brightness of the sun 305 Shall be eclipsed and dances of the stars. 306 He shall roll up the heaven; and of the moon 307 The light shall perish. And he shall exalt 308 The valleys and destroy the heights of hills, 309 And height no longer shall appear remaining 310 Among men. And the hills shall with the plains 311 Be level and no more on any sea 312 Shall there be sailing. For the earth shall then 313 With heat be shriveled and the dashing streams 314 Shall with the fountains fall. The trump shall send 315 From heaven a very lamentable sound, 316 Howling the loathsomeness of wretched men 317 And the world’s woes. And then the yawning earth 318 Shall show Tartarean chaos. And all kings 319 Shall come unto the judgment seat of God. 320 And there shall out of heaven a stream of fire 321 And brimstone flow. But for all mortals then 322 Shall there a sign be, a distinguished seal, 323 The Wood among believers, and the horn 324 Fondly desired, the life of pious men, 325 But it shall be stumbling block of the world, 326 Giving illumination to the elect 327 By water in twelve springs; and there shall rule 328 A shepherding iron rod. This one who now 329 Is in acrostics which give signs of God 330 Thus written openly, the Saviour is, 331 Immortal King, who suffered for our sake; 332 Him Moses typified when he stretched out 333 Holy arms, conquering Amalek by faith, 334 That the people might know him to be elect 335 And honorable before his Father God, 336 The rod of David and the very stone 337 Which he indeed did promise, and in which 338 He that believes shall have eternal life. 339 For not in glory, but as mortal man 340 Shall he come to creation, pitiable, 341 Unhonored, without seemly form, to give 342 Hope to the pitiable; and he will give 343 Fair form to mortal flesh, and heavenly faith 344 To those without faith, and he’ll give fair form 345 To the man who was fashioned from the first 346 By the holy hands of God, and whom by guile 347 The serpent led astray unto the fate 348 Of death to go and knowledge to receive 349 Of good and evil, so that leaving God 350 He serves the ways of mortals. For at first 351 Receiving him as fellow-counselor 352 From the beginning the Almighty said: 353 “Let both of us, O Son, make mortal tribes— 354 Stamping them with the impress of our image; 355 I now by my hands, and you by the Word 356 In after time shall for our form provide 357 That we may jointly cause it to arise.” 358 Keeping in mind this purpose he shall come 359 To the creation, to a holy virgin 360 Bringing the likeness antitypical, 361 Baptizing with water by the elders’ hands, 362 And by the Word accomplishing all things, 363 And healing every sickness. By his word 364 He winds shall he make cease, and with his foot 365 Shall calm the raging sea, walking thereon 366 In peaceful faith. And from five loaves of bread 367 And a fish of the sea five thousand men 368 Shall he fill in the desert, and then taking 369 All the remaining fragments for the hope 370 Of peoples shall he fill twelve baskets full. 371 And the souls of the blessed he shall call, 372 And love the pitiable, who, being mocked, 373 Beaten, and whipped, shall evil do for good 374 Desiring poverty. He who perceives 375 All things and sees all things and hears all things 376 Shall search the heart and bare it to conviction; 377 For of all things is he himself the ear 378 And mind and sight, and Word that makes forms 379 To whom all things submit, and he preserves 380 Them that are dead and every sickness heals. 381 Into the hands of lawless men, at last, 382 And faithless he shall come, and they will give 383 To God rude buffetings with impure hands 384 And poisonous spittle with polluted mouths. 385 And he to whips will openly give then 386 His holy back; for he unto the world 387 A holy virgin shall himself commit. 388 And silent he will be when buffeted 389 Lest anyone should know whose son he is 390 Or whence he came, that he may talk to the dead. 391 And he shall also wear a crown of thorns; 392 For of thorns is the crown an ornament 393 Elect, eternal. They shall pierce his side 394 With a reed that they may fulfill their law; 395 For of reeds shaken by another spirit 396 Were nourished inclinations of the soul, 397 Of anger and revenge. But when these things 398 Shall be accomplished, of the which I spoke, 399 Then unto him shall every law be loosed 400 Which from the first by the decrees of men 401 Was given because of disobedient people. 402 He’ll spread his hands and measure all the world. 403 But gall for food and vinegar to drink 404 They gave him; this inhospitable board 405 They’ll show him. But the curtain of the temple 406 Shall be asunder rent and in midday 407 There shall be for three hours dark, monstrous night. 408 For it was no more pointed out again 409 How to serve secret temple and the law, 410 Which had been covered with the world’s displays, 411 When the Eternal came himself on earth. 412 And into Hades shall he come announcing 413 Hope unto all the saints, the end of ages 414 And the last day, and having fallen asleep 415 The third day he shall end the lot of death; 416 Then from the dead departing he shall come 417 To light, the first to show forth to the elect 418 Beginning of resurrection, and wash off 419 By means of waters of immortal spring 420 Their former wickedness, that, being born 421 From above, they might be no more enslaved 422 To the unlawful customs of the world. 423 And first then openly unto his own 424 Shall he as Lord in flesh be visible, 425 As he before was, and in hands and feet 426 Exhibit four marks fixed in his own limbs, 427 Denoting east and west and south and north; 428 For of the world so many royal powers 429 Shall against our Exemplar consummate 430 The deed so lawless and condemnable. 431 430Daughter of Zion, holy one, rejoice, 432 Who have suffered many things; your king himself 433 Mounted upon a foal is hastening on; 434 Behold, meek he shall come, that he may lift 435 Our slavish yoke, so grievous to be borne 436 Lying upon our neck, and may annul 437 Our godless laws and bonds compulsory. 438 Know you your God himself, who is God’s Son; 439 Him glorify and hold within your heart, 440 From your soul love him and extol his name. 441 Put off your former friends and wash yourself 442 From their blood; for he is not by your songs 443 Nor by your prayers appeased, nor does he give 444 To perishable sacrifices heed, 445 Being imperishable; but present 446 The holy hymn of understanding mouths 447 And know who this one is, and you shall then 448 Behold the Father... 449 And then shall all the elements of the world 450 Abide in solitude, air, earth, sea, light 451 Of gleaming fire, and heavenly sky and night 452 And all days into one shall run together 453 And into outward form all-desolate. 454 For from heaven shall the stars of light all fall. 455 And there shall fly no longer in the air 456 The well-winged birds, nor stepping be on earth; 457 For wild beasts shall all perish. Nor shall be 458 Voices of men, nor of beasts, nor of birds. 459 The world shall hear no serviceable sound, 460 Being disordered; but a mighty sound 461 Of threatening shall the deep sea sound aloud, 462 And swimming trembling creatures of the sea 463 Shall all die; and no longer on the waves 464 Shall sail the freighted ship. And earth shall groan 465 Blood-stained by wars; and all the souls of men 466 Shall gnash with their teeth, of the lawless souls 467 Both by loud crying and by fear, dissolved 468 By thirst, by famine, and by plague and murders, 469 And they shall call death beautiful and death 470 Shall flee away from them; for death no more 471 Nor night shall give them rest. And many things 472 Will they in vain ask God who rules on high, 473 And then will he his face turn openly 474 Away from them. For he to erring men 475 Gave in seven ages for repentance signs 476 By the hands of a virgin undefiled. 477 All these things in my mind God himself showed 478 And all that have been spoken by my mouth 479 Will he accomplish; and I know the number 480 Of the sands and the measures of the sea, 481 I know the inmost places of the earth 482 And gloomy Tartarus, I know the numbers 483 Of the stars, and the trees, and all the tribes 484 Of quadrupeds, and of the swimming things 485 And flying birds, and of men who are now 486 And of those yet to be, and of the dead; 487 For I myself the forms and mind of men 488 Did fashion, and right reason did I give 489 And knowledge taught; I who formed eyes and ears, 490 Who see and hear and every thought discern, 491 And who within am conscious of all things, 492 I am still; and hereafter will convict 493 And punishing what any mortal did 494 In secret, and upon God’s judgment seat 495 Coming and speaking unto mortal men. 496 I understand the dumb man and I hear 497 Him that speaks not, and how great the whole height 498 From earth to heaven is, and the beginning 499 And end I know, who made the heaven and earth. 500 For all things have proceeded from him, things 501 From the beginning to the end he knows. 502 For I alone am God and other God 503 There is not. They my image formed of wood 504 Treat as divine, and shaping it by hand 505 They sing their praises over idols dumb 506 With supplications and unholy rites. 507 Forsaking the Creator they were slaves 508 To lewdness. Men possessing everything 509 Bestow their gifts on things which cannot aid, 510 As if they for my honors deemed these things 511 All useful, with the smell of sacrifice 512 Filling the feast, as if for their own dead. 513 For they flesh and bones full of marrow burn 514 Offering on altars, and they pour out blood 515 To demons, and they kindle lights to me 516 The giver of light, and as to a god 517 That thirsts do mortals drunken pour out wine 518 For nothing to idols that can give no aid. 519 I have no need of your burnt offerings, 520 Nor your libations, nor polluted smoke, 521 Nor blood most hateful. For in memory 522 Of kings and tyrants they will do these things 523 Unto dead demons, as to heavenly beings, 524 Performing service godless and destructive. 525 And godless they their images call gods, 526 Forsaking the Creator, having faith 527 That from them they derive all hope and life, 528 Deaf and dumb, in the evil putting trust, 529 But they are wholly ignorant of good. 530 Two ways did I myself before them set, 531 Of life and of death, and before them set 532 Judgment to choose good life; but they themselves 533 Hastened to death and to eternal fire. 534 Man is my image, having upright reason. 535 For him a table pure and without blood 536 Make ready and with good things fill it up, 537 And give the hungry bread, the thirsty drink, 538 And to the body that is naked clothes 539 From your own labors with unsullied hands 540 Providing. Recreate the afflicted man, 541 And help the weary, and provide for me 542 The living One a living sacrifice 543 Sowing piety, that also I to you 544 Sometime may give immortal fruits, and light 545 Eternal you shall have and fadeless life 546 When I shall prove all by fire. For all things 547 I shall fuse and shall pick out what is pure, 548 Heaven will I roll up and the depths of earth 549 Lay open, and then will I raise the dead 550 Making an end of fate and sting of death, 551 And afterward for judgment will I come 552 Judging the manner both of pious men 553 And impious; I will set ram close to ram, 554 Shepherd to shepherd, calf to calf, for test, 555 Close to each other; whoever were 556 Exalted, proven by trial, and who stopped 557 The mouth of every one, that they themselves 558 Vieing with them that lead a holy life 559 May likewise bring them into slavery, 560 Enjoining silence, urged by love of gain, 561 Not proved before me, then shall all withdraw. 562 No longer henceforth shall you grieving say 563 “Tomorrow shall be,” nor “yesterday has been;” 564 Not many days of care, nor spring, nor winter, 565 Nor summer then, nor autumn, nor sunset 566 Nor sunrise; for a long day I will make. 567 And unto ages there shall be the light 568 Longed for of the great . . . 569 Christ Jesus, of ages . . . . 570 You who are self-begotten, undefiled, 571 True and eternal, measuring by your power 572 From heaven the fiery blast, and with rough torch 573 From clashing do the scepter keep, and calm 574 The crashings of the heavy-sounding thunders, 575 And driving earth into confusion do 576 Hold back the rushing noises. . . . 577 And the fire-blazing scourges you do blunt 578 Of lightnings, and the vast outpour of storms 579 And of autumnal hail, and chilling stroke 580 Of clouds and shock of winter. For of these 581 Each one indeed is marked out in your mind, 582 Whatever seems good to yourself to do 583 Your Son nods his assent to, having been 584 Begotten in your bosom before all 585 Creation, fellow-counselor with you, 586 Former of mortals and creator of life. 587 Him with the first sweet utterance of mouth 588 You did address: “Behold, let us make man 589 In a form altogether like our own, 590 And let us give him life-sustaining breath; 591 Him being yet mortal all things of the world 592 Shall serve, and unto him formed out of clay 593 We will subject all things.” And you did speak 594 These things by word, and all things came to pass 595 According to your heart; and your command 596 Together all the elements obeyed, 597 And an eternal creature was arranged 598 In mortal figure, also heaven, air, fire, 599 And earth and water of the sea, sun, moon, 600 Chorus of stars, hills . . . 601 Both night and day, sleeping and waking up, 602 Spirit and passion, soul and understanding, 603 Art, might and strength, and the wild tribes 604 Of living things both swimming things and fowls, 605 And of those walking, and amphibia, 606 And those that creep and those of double nature; 607 For acting in accord with his own will 608 Under your leading he arranged all things. 609 But in the latest times the earth he passed, 610 And coming late from the virgin Mary’s womb 611 A new light rose, and going forth from heaven 612 Put on a mortal form. First then did Gabriel show 613 His strong pure form; and bearing his own news 614 He next addressed the maiden with his voice: 615 “O virgin, in your bosom undefiled 616 Receive you God.” Thus speaking he inbreathed 617 God’s grace on the sweet maiden; and straightway 618 Alarm and wonder seized her as she heard, 619 And she stood trembling; and her mind was wild 620 With flutter of excitement while at heart 621 She quivered at the unlooked-for things she heard. 622 But she again was gladdened and her heart 623 Was cheered by the voice, and the maiden laughed 624 And her cheek reddened with a sense of joy, 625 And spell-bound was her heart with sense of shame. 626 And confidence came to her. And the Word 627 Flew into the womb, and in course of time 628 Having become flesh and endued with life 629 Was made a human form and came to be 630 A boy distinguished by his virgin birth; 631 For this was a great wonder to mankind, 632 But it was no great wonder unto God 633 The Father, nor was it to God the Son. 634 And the glad earth received the newborn babe, 635 The heavenly throne laughed and the world rejoiced. 636 And the prophetic new-appearing star 637 Was honored by the wise men, and the babe 638 Born was shown in a manger unto them 639 That obeyed God, and keepers of the herds, 640 And goatherds and to shepherds of the lambs; 641 And Bethlehem called by God the fatherland 642 Of the Word was chosen... 643 And in heart practice lowliness of mind 644 And cruel deeds hate, and your neighbor love 645 Wholly, even as yourself; and from your soul 646 Love God and do him service. Therefore we 647 Sprung from the holy race of the heavenly Christ 648 Are called of common blood, and we restrain 649 In worship recollection of good cheer, 650 And walk the paths of piety and truth. 651 Not ever are we suffered to approach 652 The inmost sanctuary of the temples, 653 Nor pour libations to carved images, 654 Nor honor them with prayers, nor with the smells 655 Much-pleasing of flowers, nor with light of lamps, 656 Nor yet with shining votive offerings 657 Adorn them, nor with smoke of frankincense 658 That sends forth flame of altars; nor do you, 659 Adding unto the sacrifice of bulls 660 And taking pleasure in defilement send 661 Blood of sheep-slaughtering outrage, thus to give 662 Ransom for penalty beneath the earth; 663 Nor by the smoke of flesh-consuming pyre 664 And odors foul pollute the light of heaven; 665 But joyful with pure minds and cheerful soul, 666 With love abounding and with generous hands, 667 With soothing psalms and songs that honor God, 668 We are commanded to sing praise to you, 669 The imperishable and without deceit, 670 All-father God, of understanding mind
9O world of men wide-scattered, and long walls, 2 The cities huge and nations numberless, 3 Throughout the east and west and south and north, 4 Divided off by various languages 5 And kingdoms; other things, the very worst, 6 Against you I am now about to speak. 7 For from the time when on the earlier men 8 The flood came and the Almighty One himself 9 Destroyed that race by many waters, then 10 Brought he in yet another race of men 11 Untiring; and they, setting themselves up 12 Against heaven, built to height unspeakable 13 A tower; and tongues of all were loosed again; 14 And on them hurled came wrath of God most high, 15 By which the tower unutterably great 16 Fell; and against each other they stirred up 17 An evil strife. And then of mortal men 18 Was the tenth race since these things came to pass; 19 And the whole earth was among foreign men 20 And various languages distributed, 21 Whose numbers I will tell and in acrostics 22 Of the initial letter show the name. 23 And first shall Egypt royal power receive 24 Preeminent and just; and then in her 25 Shall many-counseling men be governors; 26 Moreover then a fearful man shall rule, 27 Close-fighter very strong; and he shall have 28 This letter of the acrostic of his name: 29 Sword shall he stretch out against pious men. 30 And while this one is ruler there shall be 31 A fearful sign in the Egyptian land, 32 Which, gladdening very greatly, shall with corn 33 Souls perishing with famine then supply; 34 The law-giver, himself a prisoner, 35 The East and offspring of Assyrian men 36 Shall nourish; and his name know you... 37 If the measure of the number ten. 38 But when there shall come from the radiant heaven 39 Ten strokes of judgment upon Egypt, then 40 Will I again proclaim these things to you. 41 Memphis, alas, alas for you! alas, 42 Great royal one! the Erythræan sea 43 Shall your much people utterly destroy. 44 Then when the people of twelve tribes shall leave 45 The fruitful land of ruin by command 46 Of the Immortal, the Lord God himself 47 Will also give a law unto mankind. 48 And over the Hebrews then a mighty king 49 Magnanimous shall rule, and have a name 50 Derived from sandy Egypt, Theban man 51 Of doubtful native land; and Memphis he, 52 Dread serpent, will show outward signs of love, 53 And he will watch over many things in wars. 54 Now the tenth kingdom being twelve times complete 55 Seven besides and even unto the tenth hundred, 56 Others being altogether left behind, 57 Then shall arise the Persian sovereignty. 58 And then an evil shall befall the Jews, 59 Famine and pestilence intolerable 60 They do not make escape from in that day. 61 But when a Persian shall rule, and a son 62 Of his son’s son shall lay the scepter down, 63 While years roll round to five fours, and to these 64 A hundred more, and you a hundred nines 65 Shall finish and all things shall you repay; 66 And then unto the Persians and the Medes 67 Shall you be given over as a slave, 68 Destroyed with blows by reason of hard fights. 69 Straightway to Persians and Assyrians 70 And to all Egypt shall an evil come, 71 And to Libya and the Ethiopians, 72 And to the Carians and Pamphylians 73 And to all other mortals. And he then 74 Shall to the grandsons give the royal power, 75 Who again snatching the whole earth away 76 Shall plunder races for their many spoils, 77 Not having fellow-feeling. Mournful dirges 78 Shall the sad Persians by the Tigris wail, 79 And Egypt water many a land with tears. 80 80And then to you, O Median land, a man 81 Of wealth abundant and of Indian birth 82 Shall many evils do, till you repay 83 All things which you, possessed of shameless soul, 84 Have done before. Alas, alas for you, 85 You Median nation; you shall afterwards 86 Be servant unto Ethiopian men 87 Beyond the land of Meroe; wretched you 88 Shall from the first seven and a hundred years 89 Complete, and put your neck beneath the yoke. 90 90And then an Indian of dark countenance 91 And gray hair and great soul shall afterwards 92 Become lord, who shall many evils bring 93 Upon the East by reason of hard fights; 94 And he shall treat you more despitefully 95 And shall destroy all your men. But when he 96 The twentieth and the tenth year shall be king, 97 Among them, also seven and the tenth, 98 Then every nation of a royal power 99 Shall be mad and declare their liberty, 100 And during three years leave their servile blood. 101 But he shall come again and every nation 102 Of valiant men shall put their neck again 103 Under the yoke, serve the king as before, 104 And of its own free will again obey. 105 There shall be great peace throughout all the world. 106 And then over the Assyrians there shall rule 107 A mighty king, a man preeminent, 108 And shall persuade all to speak pleasing things, 109 Which God ordained according to the law; 110 Then all kings arrogant with pointed spears 111 Timid and speechless shall before him quail, 112 And him shall very powerful rulers serve 113 Because of counsels of the mighty God; 114 For he will carry all things in detail 115 By reason, and all things will he subject, 116 And he the temple of the mighty God 117 And lovely altar will himself erect 118 In his might, and will hurl the idols down; 119 And gathering tribes together, both the race 120 Of fathers and the helpless little ones, 121 He shall encompass the inhabitants; 122 His name shall have two hundred for its number, 123 And of the eighteenth letter show the sign. 124 But when for rolling decades two and five 125 He shall rule, going forwards towards the end 126 Of his time, there shall be as many kings 127 As there are tribes of men, as there are clans, 128 As there are cities, and as isles and coasts, 129 And fields and lands that bring forth goodly fruit. 130 But one of these shall be a mighty king, 131 A leader among men; and many kings 132 Of lofty spirit shall submit to him, 133 And to his sons and grandsons opulent 134 Give portions on account of royal power. 135 Decades of decades, eight ones upon these 136 Of years shall they rule, and at last shall end. 137 But when with cruel Ares there shall come 138 A powerful wild beast, even then for you, 139 O queenly land, shall wrath spring forth again. 140 140Alas, alas for you, then Persian land; 141 What an outpouring of the blood of men 142 Shall you receive when that stronger-minded man 143 Comes to you; then I’ll shout these things again. 144 But when Italian soil shall generate, 145 Great wonder unto mortals, there shall be 146 Moans of young children by a fountain pure, 147 In shady cavern offspring of wild beast 148 That feeds on sheep, who unto manhood grown 149 Shall upon seven strong hills with reckless soul 150 Hurl many headlong down, in numbers both 151 Having a hundred, and their names shall show 152 A great sign to them that are yet to be; 153 And they shall build upon the seven hills 154 Strong walls and wage around them grievous war. 155 And then again shall there be growing up 156 Revolt of men around you, then great land 157 Of fine ears, high-souled Egypt; but again 158 I’ll cry these things. And yet then shall receive 159 A great stroke in your houses; and again 160 Shall there be a revolt of your own men. 161 Now over you, O wretched Phrygia, 162 I weep in pity; for to you from Greece, 163 Tamer of horses, there shall conquest come 164 And war and plague by reason of hard fights. 165 Ilium, I pity you; for there shall come 166 From Sparta an Erinys to your halls 167 Mixed with a deadly sting; and most of all 168 Shall she bring you toils, troubles, groans, and wails, 169 When well-skilled men the battle shall begin, 170 By far the noblest heroes of the Greeks 171 Who are to Ares dear. And one of these 172 Shall be a strong brave king; of foulest deeds 173 He for his brother’s sake will go in quest. 174 And they shall overthrow the famous walls 175 Of Phrygian Troy; when of the rolling years 176 Twice five shall be filled with the bloody deeds 177 Of savage war, a wooden artifice 178 Shall sudden cover men, and on your knees 179 You shall receive this, not perceiving it 180 To be an ambush pregnant with the Greeks, 181 O cause of grievous woe. Alas, alas, 182 How much in one night Hades shall receive, 183 And what spoils of the old man weeping much 184 Shall he bear off! But with those yet to come 185 Shall be undying fame. And the great king, 186 A hero sprung from Zeus, shall have his name 187 Of the first letter of the alphabet; 188 Homewards shall he in order go. And then 189 Shall he fall by a treacherous woman’s hand. 190 190And there shall rule a child sprung from the race 191 And the blood of Assaracus, renowned 192 Of heroes, both a strong and valiant man. 193 And he shall come out of the mighty fire 194 Of ravaged Troy, fleeing from fatherland 195 By reason of the fearful toil of war; 196 Bearing his aged father on his shoulders 197 And also holding his son by the hand 198 He shall perform a pious work of law, 199 Who, looking cautiously about him, cleft 200 The onset of the fire of burning Troy, 201 And hurrying through the multitude in dread 202 He shall pass over land and fearful sea. 203 And he shall have a trisyllabic name, 204 For the beginning of the alphabet 205 Points out this highest man as not unknown. 206 And then a city for the powerful Latins 207 He will raise up. And in his fifteenth year, 208 Destroyed by waters in the depths of sea, 209 Shall he lay hold on the event of death. 210 But him though dead the nations of mankind 211 Shall not forget; for his race over all 212 Shall rule hereafter even to Euphrates 213 And river Tigris, throughout the mid land 214 Of the Assyrians, where the Parthians 215 Extended. For those who are yet to come 216 It shall be, when all these things come to pass. 217 And there shall be an old man, minstrel wise, 218 Whom all shall among mortals call most wise, 219 By whose good understanding the whole world 220 Shall be instructed; for his chapters he 221 According to their power of thoughts will write. 222 And wisely will he write most marvelous things, 223 At times appropriating words of mine 224 Measures and verses; for he shall the first 225 My books unfold and after these things hide them 226 And unto men bring them to light no more 227 Until the end of baneful death and life. 228 But when forthwith these things have been fulfilled 229 Which I spoke, yet again the Greeks shall fight 230 With one another; and Assyrians, 231 Arabians and the quiver-bearing Medes, 232 And Persians and Sicilians shall rise up, 233 And Lydians, Thracians and Bithynians, 234 And they who dwell in the land of fair corn 235 Beside the streams of Nile; and among all 236 Will God the imperishable put at once 237 Confusion. But exceeding terribly 238 Shall an Assyrian base-born fiery man 239 Come suddenly, possessed of beastly soul, 240 And looking cautiously about him cut 241 Through every isthmus, going against all, 242 And sailing o’er the sea. Then, faithless Greece, 243 To you shall happen very many things. 244 Alas, alas for you, O wretched Greece, 245 How many things you are obliged to wail! 246 And during seven and eighty rolling years 247 You shall the miserable refuse be 248 Of fearful battle among all the tribes. 249 Then shall a Macedonian man again 250 Bring forth for Hellas woe and shall destroy 251 All Thrace, and toil of Ares on the isles 252 And coasts and the war-loving Triballi. 253 He shall among the foremost fighters be, 254 And he shall share that name which shows the sign 255 Of numbers ten times fifty. And short-lived 256 Shall he be; but behind him he shall leave 257 The greatest kingdom on the boundless earth. 258 But by base spearman he himself shall fall 259 While thought to live in quiet as none else. 260 260And afterwards shall a great-hearted child 261 Of this one rule, beginning with his name 262 The alphabet; but his race shall pass out. 263 Not of Zeus, not of Amnion shall they call 264 This one true son, yet still a bastard son 265 Of Cronos as they all imagine him. 266 And cities he of many mortal men 267 Shall plunder; and for Europe shall shoot up 268 The greatest sore. And also terribly 269 Will he abuse the city Babylon, 270 And every land the sun looks down upon, 271 And he alone shall sail both east and west. 272 Alas, alas for you, O Babylon, 273 You shall serve triumphs, who were called a queen; 274 Down upon Asia Ares comes, he comes 275 Surely and shall your many children slay. 276 And then shall you send forth your royal man 277 Named by the number four, expert with spear 278 Among the mighty warriors, terrible, 279 Shooting with bow and arrow. And then famine 280 And war shall hold possession of the midst 281 Of the Cilicians and Assyrians; 282 But kings of lofty spirit shall embrace 283 The dreadful state of heart-consuming strife. 284 But do you, fleeing, leave the former king, 285 Be neither willing to remain nor fear 286 To be unhappy; for on you shall come 287 A dreadful lion, a flesh-eating beast, 288 Wild, strange to justice, wearing on his shoulders 289 A mantle. Flee the thunder-smiting man. 290 And Asia all shall bear an evil yoke, 291 And many a murder shall the wet earth drink. 292 But when a mighty city prosperous 293 Ares of Pella shall in Egypt found, 294 And it shall be named from him, fate and death, 295 By his companions treacherously betrayed 296 For barbarous murder shall destroy this man 297 Around the tables when he shall have left 298 The Indians and shall come to Babylon. 299 Thereafter other kings, in a few years, 300 Devourers of the people, arrogant 301 And faithless, shall rule each by his own tribe; 302 But a great-hearted hero, who shall glean 303 All fenced Europe, from the time each land 304 Shall drink the blood of all tribes, shall forthwith 305 Abandon life, unloosing his own fate. 306 And other kings there shall be, twice four men 307 Of his race, and the same name to them all. 308 And there shall be a bride of Egypt then 309 Commanding and a noble city great 310 Of Macedonian lord, queen Alexandria, 311 Famed nourisher of cities, shining fair 312 She alone shall be the metropolis. 313 Let Memphis then upbraid them that command. 314 And peace shall be deep throughout all the world; 315 Then shall the land of black soil have more fruits. 316 And then there shall come evil to the Jews, 317 Nor shall they in that day make their escape 318 From famine and intolerable plague; 319 But the new world of black soil and fair corn, 320 Divine land, shall receive much-wandering men. 321 But marshy Egypt’s eight kings shall fill up 322 The numbers of two hundred years and three 323 And thirty. Yet shall offspring perish not 324 Of all of them, but there shall issue forth 325 A female root, a bane of mortal men, 326 Betrayer of her kingdom. But they shall 327 According to their evil deeds perform 328 Their wickedness thereafter, and one here 329 Another there shall perish; son that wears 330 The purple shall cut off his warlike sire, 331 And he himself in turn by his own son, 332 And ere he shall put forth another shoot 333 He shall cease; but a root shall sprout again 334 Thereafter of itself; and there shall be 335 A race beside him growing. For a queen 336 There shall be of the land by Nilus’ streams 337 Which comes down through seven mouths into the sea, 338 And her name very lovely shall be that 339 Of the number twenty; and she will demand 340 Numberless things and gather up all goods 341 Of gold and silver; but from her own men 342 Shall treachery befall her. Then again 343 For you, O dusky land, shall there be wars 344 And battles and great slaughter of mankind. 345 345When many over fertile Rome shall rule, 346 Examples not at all of happy men, 347 But tyrants, and there be of thousands chiefs 348 And of ten thousands, and the overseers 349 Of popular assemblies under law, 350 Then shall the mightiest Cæsars bear the rule 351 Ill-fated all their days; and of these last 352 Shall for initial have the number ten, 353 Last Cæsar stretching on the earth his limbs, 354 Struck by dire Ares by a hostile man, 355 Whom carrying in their hands the youth of Rome 356 Shall bury piously, and over him 357 Pour out their token for his friendship’s sake 358 Rendering a tribute to his memory. 359 But when you shall come to an end of time 360 And have completed twice three hundred years 361 And twice ten, from the time when he shall rule 362 Who is your founder, child of the wild beast, 363 There shall no longer a dictator be 364 Ruling a measured period; but a lord 365 Shall become king, man equal to the gods. 366 Then, Egypt, know the king that comes to you; 367 And dreadful Ares of the glittering helm 368 Shall surely come. For there shall be for you, 369 O widowed one, a capture afterwards; 370 For round the walls of your land there shall be 371 Terrible raging mischief-working wars. 372 But having suffered misery in wars 373 You, wretched, shall yourself flee from above 374 Those lately wounded; and then to the couch 375 Shall you come to the dreadful man himself; 376 The wedlock, sharing one bed, is the end. 377 Alas, alas for you, ill-wedded bride, 378 Your royal power unto the Roman king 379 Shall you give, and you shall repay all things, 380 Which you aforetime did with masculine hands; 381 You shall give the whole land by way of dower 382 As far as Libya and the dark-skinned men 383 To the resistless man. And you shall be 384 No more a widow, but you shall cohabit 385 With a man-eating lion terrible, 386 A furious warrior. And then shall you be 387 Unhappy and among all men unknown; 388 For you shall leave possessed of shameless soul; 389 And you, the stately, shall the encircling tomb 390 Receive... is gone... living within... 391 Adapted at the summits, beautiful, 392 Wrought curiously, and a great multitude 393 Shall mourn you and the dreadful king shall make 394 A piteous lamentation over you. 395 395And then shall Egypt be the toiling slave 396 Who many years against the Indians bears 397 Her trophies; and she shall serve shamefully, 398 And with the river, the fruit-bearing Nile, 399 Her tears, for having gathered wealth 400 And store of all good things, a nourisher 401 Of cities, she shall feed sheep-eating race 402 Of fearful men. All, to how many beasts, 403 O very wealthy Egypt, you shall be 404 Booty and spoil, but giving peoples laws; 405 And formerly delighting in great kings 406 You shall to peoples be a wretched slave 407 On account of that people, whom of old 408 Piously living you led to much woe 409 Of toils and wailings, and did put a plow 410 Upon their neck and irrigate the fields 411 With mortal tears. Therefore the Lord himself, 412 The imperishable God who dwells in heaven, 413 Shall utterly destroy and send you on 414 To wailing; and you shall make recompense 415 For what you did unlawfully of old, 416 And know at last that God’s wrath came to you. 417 But I to Python and to Panopeus 418 Of goodly towers shall go; and then shall all 419 Declare that I am a true prophetess 420 Oracle-singing, yet a messenger 421 With maddened soul.... 422 And when you shall come forward to the books 423 You shall not tremble, and all things to come 424 And things that were you shall know from our words; 425 Then none shall call the God-seized prophetess 426 An oracle-singer of necessity. 427 But now, Lord, end my very lovely strain, 428 Driving off frenzy and real voice inspired 429 And fearful madness, and give charming song.
10But come now, hear of me the mournful time 2 Of sons of Latium; and first of all 3 After the kings of Egypt were destroyed, 4 And the like earth had downwards borne them all, 5 And after Pella’s townsman, under whom 6 The whole East and the rich West were cast down, 7 Whom Babylon dishonored, and stretched out 8 For Philip a dead body, Of Ammon not true things were prophesied, 9 And after that one of the race and blood 10 Of king Assaracus, who came from Troy, 11 Even he who cleft the violence of fire, 12 And after many lords, and after men 13 To Ares dear, and after the young babes, 14 The children of the beast that feeds on sheep, 15 And after the passing of six hundred years 16 And decades two of Rome’s dictatorship, 17 The very first lord, from the western sea, 18 Shall be of Rome the ruler, very strong 19 And warlike, the initial of whose name 20 Begins the letters, and fast binding you, 21 O you of goodly fruit, he shall be full 22 Of man-destroying Ares; you will pay 23 The outrage which you willingly forced on; 24 For he, great soul, shall be the best in wars; 25 Before him Thrace and Sicily shall crouch, 26 With Memphis, Memphis cast headlong to earth 27 By reason of the wickedness of rulers 28 And of a woman unenslaved who falls 29 Under the spear. And laws will he ordain 30 For peoples and put all things under him; 31 Having great fame he shall wield scepter long; 32 For no short time shall he last nor shall ever 33 Be other greater scepter-bearing king 34 Than this one, over the Romans, not one hour, 35 For God did lavish all things upon him, 36 And also in the noble earth he showed 37 Great marvelous seasons, and with them showed signs. 38 But when a radiant star all like the sun 39 Shall shine forth out of heaven in the mid days, 40 Then shall the secret Word of the Most High 41 Come clothed in flesh like mortals; but with him 42 The might of Rome and of the illustrious Latins 43 Shall increase. But the mighty king himself 44 Shall under his appointed lot expire, 45 Transmitting to another royal power. 46 But after him a man, a warrior strong, 47 Wearing the purple mantle on his shoulders, 48 Shall bear rule, and with his initial be 49 Numbers three hundred, and he shall destroy 50 The Medes and arrow-hurling Parthians; 51 And he himself by his power shall subvert 52 The high-gate city; and again shall come 53 Evil to Egypt and the Assyrians, 54 And to the Colchian Heniochi, 55 And to those by the waters of the Rhine, 56 The Germans dwelling over the sandy shores. 57 And he himself shall ravage afterwards 58 The high-gate city near Eridanus 59 Which is devising evils. And then he 60 Shall forthwith fall down, struck by gleaming iron. 61 And afterwards shall rule another man 62 Weaving guile, and the initial of his name 63 Will show the number three; and he much gold 64 Shall gather; and with him there shall not be 65 Satiety of wealth, but plundering more 66 Recklessly he’ll put all things in the earth. 67 But peace shall come, and Ares shall desist 68 From wars; and he shall make known many things 69 In divination of the greatest things, 70 Inquiring for the sake of means of life; 71 Yet there shall be on him the greatest sign: 72 From heaven down on the king while perishing 73 There shall flow many little drops of blood. 74 And many lawless things will he perform, 75 And put around the neck of Romans pain 76 Trusting in divination; and the heads 77 Of the assembly he will also slay. 78 And famine shall seize Cappadocians, 79 And Thracians, Macedonians, and Italians. 80 And Egypt shall alone feed numerous tribes; 81 And the king himself beguiling secretly 82 Shall craftily destroy the virgin maid; 83 But her the citizens in tearful grief 84 Shall bury; and against the king they all 85 Holding wrath shall abuse him craftily. 86 While strong Rome blossoms the strong man shall perish. 87 And again there shall rule another lord 88 Of the number of twice ten; and then shall come 89 Unto the Sauromatians and to Thrace 90 And the Triballi, famed for hurling darts, 91 Wars and sad cares; and Roman Ares shall 92 Tear all in pieces. And a fearful sign 93 Shall there be when this man shall rule the land 94 Of the Italians and Pannonians; 95 And there shall be at the mid hour of day 96 Dark night around them and then from the heaven 97 A shower of stones; and thereupon the lord 98 And vigorous judge of the Italians 99 Shall go in Hades’ halls by his own fate. 100 Again another fearful man shall come 101 And dreadful, numbering fifty; and from all 102 The cities many noblest citizens 103 Born to wealth he shall utterly destroy, 104 A dreadful serpent breathing grievous war, 105 Who sometime stretching forth his hands shall make 106 An end of his own race and stir all things, 107 Acting the athlete, driving chariots, 108 Putting to death and daring countless things; 109 And he shall cleave the mountain of two seas, 110 And sprinkle it with gore. And out of sight 111 Shall also vanish the destructive man; 112 Then making himself equal unto God 113 Shall he return, but God will prove him nothing. 114 And while he rules there shall be peace profound 115 And not the fears of men; and from the ocean 116 Flowing, and cleaving by Ausonia, 117 Shall come untrodden water; and around 118 Looking with anxious care he will appoint 119 His very many contests for the people, 120 And he himself an actor will contend 121 With voice and cithara, and sing a song 122 Along with harp-string; later he will flee 123 And leave the royal power, and perishing 124 Illy will he repay the harm he wrought. 125 After him three shall rule and two of them 126 Shall have the number seventy by their names, 127 And in addition to these shall be one 128 Of the third letter; and one here, one there, 129 Shall perish by strong Ares’ sturdy hands. 130 Then shall a mighty ruler of men come, 131 Destroyer of the pious, strong-minded man, 132 Spear-wielding Ares, whom seven times the tenth 133 Shall point out clearly; he shall overthrow 134 Phœnicia and destroy Assyria. 135 A sword shall come upon the sacred land 136 Of Solyma even to the utmost bend 137 Of the Tiberian sea. Alas, alas, 138 Phœnicia, O how much shall you endure, 139 Grief-laden with your trophies tightly bound, 140 And every nation shall upon you tread. 141 Alas, alas, to the Assyrians 142 Shall you come and shall see young children serve 143 Among unfriendly men and with the wives, 144 And every means of life and wealth shall perish; 145 For on you God’s wrath causing grievous woe 146 Shall come, because they did not keep his law, 147 But served all idols with unseemly arts. 148 And many wars and fights and homicides, 149 Famines, and pestilences, and confusion 150 Of cities shall be. But the reverend king 151 Of mighty soul shall at the end of life 152 Himself fall by a strong necessity. 153 Then shall two other chief men, cherishing 154 The memory of their father, great king, rule, 155 And in contending warriors glory much. 156 And one of these shall be a noble man 157 And lordly, whose name shall three hundred hold; 158 Yet he shall also fall by treachery, 159 Not in the warring companies stretched out, 160 But struck in Rome’s plain by the two-edged brass. 161 And after him a powerful warlike man 162 Of the letter four shall rule the mighty realm, 163 Whom all men on the boundless earth shall love, 164 And then shall there be over all the world 165 A rest from war. Yet all, from west to east, 166 Shall serve him willingly, not by constraint, 167 And cities shall be under his control 168 And of themselves be subject. For to him 169 Shall heavenly Sabaoth much glory bring, 170 And then shall famine waste Pannonia 171 And all the Celtic land, and shall destroy 172 One here, another there. And there shall be 173 For the Assyrians, whom Orontes laves, 174 Structures and ornament and what may seem 175 Yet greater anywhere. And the great king 176 Shall have a fondness for these and love them 177 Above the others far and there are many; 178 But he himself shall in mid breast receive 179 A great wound, and seized at the end of life 180 Craftily, by a friend, in hallowed house 181 Of the great royal hall shall he fall down 182 Wounded; and after him shall be a ruler 183 Numbering fifty, venerable man, 184 Who above measure shall destroy from Rome 185 Many inhabitants and citizens; 186 But he shall rule few; for in Hades’ halls 187 For a former king’s sake he shall wounded go. 188 190But then another king, a warrior strong, 189 Who has three hundred for initial sign, 190 Shall bear rule and lay waste the Thracians’ land 191 Which is much varied, and he shall destroy 192 The powerful Germans dwelling by the Rhine 193 And the Iberians that shoot the arrow. 194 Moreover, there shall be unto the Jews 195 Another greatest evil, and with them 196 Bedewed with murder shall Phœnicia drink; 197 And the walls of the Assyrians shall fall 198 By many warriors. And again a man 199 Destroying life shall waste them utterly. 200 And then shall threatenings of the mighty God, 201 Earthquakes, and great plagues be on every land, 202 Untimely snow-storms, and strong thunderbolts. 203 And then the great king, mountain-roaming Celt, 204 Shall for the toil of Ares not escape 205 A fate unseemly, hastening eagerly 206 After the strife of battle, but worn out 207 Shall he be; foreign dust shall hide his corpse, 208 But dust that of Nemea’s flower has name. 209 And after him another shall arise, 210 A silver-headed man, and of the sea 211 Shall be his name, and of four syllables, 212 Ares himself first of the alphabet 213 Presenting. Temples he shall dedicate 214 In all the cities, watching over the world 215 By his own foot, and bringing gifts away, 216 Both gold and amber much will he supply 217 For many; and magicians’ mysteries 218 All will he from the sanctuaries keep; 219 And what is much more excellent for men 220 Will he place... ruling... thunderbolt; 221 And great peace shall be when he shall be lord; 222 And he shall be a minstrel of rich voice 223 And a participant in lawful things, 224 And a just minister of what is right; 225 But he shall fall, unloosing his own fate. 226 After him three shall rule, and the third late 227 Shall rule, three decades keeping; yet again 228 Of the first unit shall another king 229 Bear the rule; and another after him 230 Shall be commander, of tens numbering seven; 231 And their names shall be honored; and they shall 232 Themselves destroy men marked by many a spot, 233 Britons and mighty Moors and Dacians 234 And the Arabians. But when the last 235 Of these shall perish, fearful Ares then, 236 He that before was wounded, shall again 237 Against the Parthians come, and utterly 238 Shall he destroy them. And then shall the king 239 Himself fall by a treacherous wild beast 240 Training his hands—excuse itself of death. 241 And after him another man shall rule, 242 In many wise things skilled, and he shall have 243 Himself the name of the first mighty king 244 Of the first unit; and he shall be good 245 And mighty; and for the illustrious Latins 246 Shall this strong one accomplish many things 247 In memory of his father; and forthwith 248 Shall he adorn the walls of Rome with gold 249 And silver and ivory; and he shall go 250 Within the market places and the temples 251 With a strong man. And sometime direst wound 252 Shall shoot up like ears in the Roman wars; 253 And he shall sack the whole land of the Germans, 254 When a great sign of God shall be displayed 255 From heaven, and shall for the king’s piety 256 Save men in brazen armor and distress; 257 For God who is in heaven and hears all things 258 Shall wet him with unseasonable rain 259 When he prays. But when these things are fulfilled 260 Of which I spoke, then with the rolling years 261 Shall also the renowned dominion cease 262 Of the great pious king; and at the end 263 Of his life, having then proclaimed his son 264 Succeeding to the kingdom, he shall die 265 By his own lot and leave the royal power 266 To the ruler with the golden hair, 267 Who with two tens in his name, born a king 268 From the race of his father, shall receive 269 Dominion. This man with superior powers 270 Of mind shall grasp all things; and he shall rival 271 Great-hearted overweening Hercules, 272 And be the best in mighty arms and have 273 The greatest fame in chase and horsemanship; 274 But he shall live in peril all alone. 275 And while this man is ruler there shall be 276 A fearful sign: there shall be a great mist 277 Then in the plain of Rome, so that a man 278 May not discern his neighbor. And then wars 279 Shall come to pass along with mournful cares, 280 When the king himself, exceeding mad with love, 281 And weakly, shall come in the marriage-bed 282 Shaming his youthful offspring, infamous 283 For inconsiderate wedding-songs impure. 284 And then, in helpless loneliness concealed, 285 The mighty baneful man held under wrath 286 Shall in a bath-room suffer evil plight, 287 Man-slaying Ares bound by treacherous fate. 288 290Know then the fatal lot of Rome is near 289 Because of zeal for power; and by the hands 290 Of Ares many in Palladian halls 291 Shall perish. And then Rome shall be bereft 292 And shall repay all things, which she alone 293 Before accomplished by her many wars. 294 My heart laments, my heart within me mourns; 295 For from the time when your first king, proud Rome, 296 Gave good law to you and to men on earth, 297 And the Word of the great immortal God 298 Came to the earth, until the nineteenth reign 299 Shall have been finished Cronos shall complete 300 Two hundred years, twice twenty and twice two, 301 With six months added; then the twentieth king, 302 When smitten with sharp brass he with the sword 303 Shall in your houses pour out blood, shall make 304 Your race a widow, having in his name 305 The letter which the number eighty shows, 306 And burdened with old age; but he shall make 307 A widow of you in a little time, 308 When many warriors, many overthrows, 309 And murders, homicides, and deadly feuds 310 And miseries of conquests there shall be, 311 And in confusion many a horse and man 312 Shall, cleft by force of hands, fall in the plain. 313 315And then another man shall rule, and have 314 The sign of his name in the number ten; 315 And many sorrows shall he bring to pass, 316 And groans, and he shall plunder many men; 317 But he himself shall be short-lived and fall 318 By mighty Ares, struck by gleaming iron. 319 Another, numbering fifty, then shall come, 320 A warrior roused up by the East for rule; 321 A warlike Ares he shall come to Thrace; 322 And he shall flee thereafter and shall come 323 Into the land of the Bithynians 324 And the Cilician plain; but brazen Ares 325 The life-destroyer shall with speedy stroke 326 Utterly spoil him in the Assyrian fields. 327 And then again there shall rule craftily 328 A man skilled in fraud, full of various wiles, 329 Roused up by the West, and his name shall have 330 The number of two hundred. And again 331 Another sign: he shall contrive a war 332 For royal power against Assyrian men, 333 Raise a whole army and subject all things. 334 And he shall rule the Romans with his might; 335 But there is much contrivance in his heart, 336 Impulse of baleful Ares; serpent dire, 337 And violent in war, who shall destroy 338 All high-born men upon the earth, and slay 339 The noble for their wealth, and, robber like, 340 Stripping all earth while men are perishing, 341 He shall go to the East; and all deceit 342 Shall be to him... 343 Then shall a youthful Cæsar with him reign 344 Having the name of a puissant lord 345 Of Macedon, by the first letter known; 346 Bringing in broils around him he shall flee 347 The hard deception of the coming king 348 In the bosom of the army; but the one 349 Who rules by his barbaric usages, 350 A temple-guard, shall perish suddenly 351 Slain by strong Ares with the gleaming iron; 352 Him even dead shall people tear in pieces. 353 355And then the kings of Persia shall rise up; 354 And... Roman Ares Roman lord. 355 And Phrygia shall with earthquakes groan again 356 Wretched. Alas, alas, Laodicea; 357 Alas, alas, sad Hierapolis; 358 For you first once the yawning earth received. 359 Of Rome... immense Aus... 360 All things as many... 361 Shall wail... while men are perishing 362 In the hands of Ares; and the lot of men 363 Shall be bad; but then by the eastern way 364 Hastening to look down upon Italy, 365 Stripped naked he shall fall by gleaming iron, 366 Acquiring hatred for his mother’s sake. 367 For seasons are of all sorts; each holds back 368 The other... gleaming and this not at once all know; 369 For all things shall not be the lot of all, 370 But only those shall be for happiness 371 Who honor God and shun idolatry. 372 And now, Lord of the world, of every realm 373 Unfeigned immortal King—for you did put 374 Into my heart the oracle divine— 375 Make you the word cease; for I do not know 376 What things I say; for you are in me he 377 That speaks all these things. Now let me rest 378 A little and put from my heart aside 379 The charming song; for weary is my heart 380 Foretelling with divine words royal power.
11Great word divine he bids me sing again— 2 The immortal holy God imperishable, 3 Who gives to kings their power and takes away, 4 And who determined for them time both ways, 5 Both that of life and that of baneful death. 6 And these the heavenly God enjoins on me 7 Unwilling to bring tidings unto kings 8 Concerning royal power.... 9 And spear impetuous Ares; and by him 10 All perish, child and the old man who gives 11 To the assemblies laws; and many wars 12 And battles there shall be, and homicides, 13 Famines and pestilences, earthquake-shocks 14 And mighty thunderbolts, and many ways 15 Of the Assyrians over all the world, 16 And pillaging and robbery of temples. 17 And then an insurrection there shall be 18 Of the industrious Persians, and with them 19 Indians, Armenians, and Arabians; 20 And unto these again a Roman king 21 Insatiate in war and leading on 22 His spearmen against the Assyrians 23 Shall draw near, a young Ares, and as far 24 As the deep-flowing silvery Euphrates 25 Shall warlike Ares stretch his deadly spear 26 Because of... 27 For by his friend betrayed he shall fall down 28 In the ranks smitten by the gleaming iron. 29 And straightway coming out of Syria 30 There shall a purple-loving warrior rule, 31 Terror of Ares, and also his son, 32 A Cæsar, shall even all the earth oppress; 33 And the one name is unto both of them: 34 On first and twentieth there are to be placed 35 Five hundred. But when these in wars shall rule, 36 And laws shall be enacted, there shall be 37 A little rest from war, not for long time; 38 But when a wolf shall to a flock of sheep 39 Pledge solemn oaths against the white-toothed dogs, 40 Then, having misled, he will tear in pieces 41 The woolly sheep, and cast his oaths aside; 42 And then shall there be an unlawful strife 43 Of haughty kings in wars, and Syrians 44 Shall perish terribly, and Indians 45 And the Armenians and Arabians, 46 The Persians and the Babylonians 47 Shall one another by hard fights destroy. 48 But when a Roman Ares shall destroy 49 A German Ares ruinous of life 50 Triumphing on the ocean, then is war 51 Of many years for haughty Persian men, 52 But for them there shall not be victory; 53 For as a fish swims not upon the point 54 Of a high many-ridged and windy rock 55 Precipitant, nor does a tortoise fly, 56 Nor does an eagle into water come, 57 So also are the Persians in that day 58 Far off from victory, while the fond nurse 59 Of the Italians, in the plain of Nile 60 Reposing by the sacred water’s side, 61 Sends forth the appointed lot to seven-hilled Rome. 62 Now these things are; and while the name of Rome 63 Shall hold in numbers of revolving time, 64 So many years shall the great noble city 65 Of Macedon’s lord, willing, deal out corn. 66 Another much-distressing pain I’ll sing 67 For Alexandrians who are destroyed 68 By reason of the strife of shameful men. 69 Strong men who were aforetime terrible 70 Being then impotent shall pray for peace 71 By reason of the wickedness of chiefs. 72 And there shall come wrath of the mighty God 73 On the Assyrians and a mountain stream 74 Shall utterly destroy them, which shall come 75 To Cæsar’s city and harm Canaanites. 76 The Pyramus shall irrigate the city 77 Of Mopsus; then shall the Ægæans fall 78 Because of strife of very mighty men. 79 You, wretched Antioch, shall Ares strong 80 Leave not while around you an Assyrian war 81 Is pressing, for a chief of men shall dwell 82 Within your houses who shall fight with all 83 The arrow-hurling Persians, he himself 84 Having obtained of Romans royal power. 85 85Now, cities of Arabians, deck yourselves 86 With temples and with places for the race, 87 And with broad markets and with splendid wealth, 88 With images, gold, silver, ivory; 89 And you who are of all most fond of learning, 90 Bostra and Philippopolis, that you may come 91 Into great sorrow; and the laughing spheres 92 Of the zodiacal vault, Aries, 93 Taurus, and Gemini, and as many stars 94 Ruling hours as with them in heaven appear 95 Shall benefit you not; you, wretched one, 96 Have trusted many, when that very man 97 Shall afterwards bring near that which is yours. 98 And now for Alexandrians loving war 99 Will I sing wars most dreadful; and much people 100 Shall perish while their cities are destroyed 101 By citizens against each other matched 102 And fighting for the sake of hateful strife, 103 And round them horrid Ares, rushing on, 104 Shall cease from war. And then one of great soul 105 Along with his own mighty son shall fall 106 By treachery on the older king’s account. 107 And after him there shall rule powerfully 108 Over fertile Rome another great-souled lord 109 Versed in war, coming from the Dacians 110 And numbering three hundred; he shall have 111 Also the letter of the number four, 112 And many shall he slay, and then the king 113 Shall all his brothers and his friends destroy 114 Even while the kings are cut off, and straightway 115 Shall there be fights and pillagings and murders 116 Suddenly on the older king’s account. 117 Then, when a wily man shall summoned come, 118 A robber and a Roman not well known 119 From Syria appearing, he by guile 120 Into a race of Cappadocian men 121 Shall drive through and, besieging, shall press hard, 122 Insatiate of war. And then for you, 123 Tyana and Mazaka, there shall be 124 A capture; you shall be enslaved and put 125 Upon your neck again a fearful yoke. 126 Arid Syria shall mourn for men destroyed 127 And then Selenian goddess shall not guard 128 Her holy city. But when he by flight 129 From Syria shall before the Romans come, 130 And shall pass over the Euphrates’ streams, 131 No longer like the Romans, but like fierce 132 Dart-shooting Persians, then, fulfilling fate, 133 Down shall the ruler of the Italians fall 134 In the ranks smitten by the gleaming iron; 135 And close upon him shall his children perish. 136 But when another king of Rome shall reign, 137 Then also to the Romans there shall come 138 Unstable nations, on the walls of Rome 139 Destructive Ares with his bastard son; 140 Then also shall be famines, pestilence, 141 And mighty thunderbolts, and dreadful wars, 142 And anarchy in cities suddenly; 143 And the Syrians shall perish fearfully; 144 For there shall come upon them the great wrath 145 Of the Most High and straightway an uprising 146 Of the industrious Persians, and mixed up 147 With Persians shall the Syrians destroy 148 The Romans, but by the divine decree 149 They shall not make a conquest of their laws. 150 150Alas, how many with their goods shall flee 151 From the East unto men of other tongues 152 Alas, the dark blood of how many men 153 The land shall drink! For that shall be a time 154 In which the living uttering over the dead 155 A blessing shall by word of mouth pronounce 156 Death beautiful and death shall flee from them. 157 And now for you, O wretched Syria, 158 I weep in sorrow; for to you shall come 159 A dreadful blow from arrow-shooting men, 160 Which you did never think would come to you. 161 Also the fugitive of Rome shall come 162 Bearing a great spear, Crossing on his way 163 Euphrates with his many myriads, 164 And he shall burn you, and dispose all things 165 In a bad way. O wretched Antioch, 166 And you a city they shall never call, 167 When by your lack of prudence you shall fall 168 Under the spears; and stripping off all things 169 And making naked he shall leave you thus 170 Coverless, houseless; and when anyone 171 Sees he shall of a sudden weep for you. 172 And you shall be, O Hierapolis, 173 A triumph, also you, Bersa; weep 174 At Chalcis over lately wounded sons. 175 175Alas, how many by the steep high mount 176 Of Casius shall dwell and by Amanus 177 How many, and how many Lycus laves, 178 And Marsyas as many and Pyramus 179 The silver-eddying; for even to the bounds 180 Of Asia they shall treasure up their spoils, 181 Make cities naked, and bear idols off 182 And cast down temples on much-nourishing earth. 183 And sometime to Gauls and Pannonians, 184 To Mysians and Bithynians there shall be 185 Great sorrow when a warrior shall have come. 186 O Lycians, Lycians, there shall come a wolf 187 To lick your blood, when Sannians shall come 188 With city-wasting Ares and the Carpians 189 Shall draw near with Ausonians to fight. 190 190And then by his own shameless recklessness 191 The bastard son shall put the king to death, 192 And he himself for his impiety 193 Shall straightway perish. And again shall rule 194 After him yet another whose name shows 195 First letter; but he too shall quickly fall 196 By mighty Ares, struck by gleaming iron. 197 And yet again the world shall be confused, 198 Men perishing by pestilence and war. 199 And the Persians maddened by the Ausonians 200 Shall in the toil of Ares yet again 201 Force their way. And then there shall be a flight 202 Of Romans; and thereafter there shall come 203 The priest heard of all round, sent by the sun, 204 From Syria appearing and by guile 205 Shall he accomplish all things. And then too 206 The city of the sun shall offer prayer; 207 And round about her shall the Persians dare 208 The fearful threatenings of the Phœnicians. 209 But when two chiefs, men swift in war, shall rule 210 The very mighty Romans, one of whom 211 Shall have the number seventy, and the other 212 The number three, even then the stately bull, 213 That digs the earth with his hoofs and stirs up 214 The dust with his two horns, shall many ills 215 Upon a dark-skinned reptile perpetrate— 216 Which draws a trail with his scales; and besides, 217 Himself shall perish. And yet after him 218 Again shall come another fair-horned stag, 219 Hungry upon the mountains, striving hard 220 To feed upon the venom-shedding beasts 221 Then shall a dread and fearful lion come, 222 Sent from the sun, and breathing forth much flame. 223 And then too by his shameless recklessness 224 Shall he destroy the well-horned rapid stag, 225 And the most mighty venom-shedding beast 226 So dread, that sends forth many piping sounds, 227 And the he-goat that sideways moves along, 228 And after him fame follows; he himself 229 Sound, unhurt, unapproachable, shall rule 230 The Romans, and the Persians shall be weak. 231 But, Lord, King of the world, O God, restrain 232 The song of our words, and give charming song.
12O men, why do you vainly think on things 2 Too lofty, as if you immortal were? 3 And you are ruling but a little time, 4 And over mortals all desire to reign, 5 Not understanding that God himself hates 6 The lust of rule, and most of all things hates 7 Insatiate kings fearful in wickedness, 8 And over them he stirs up what is dark; 9 Wherefore, instead of good works and just thoughts, 10 You all choose for your garments purple robes, 11 Desiring wretched fights and homicides 12 Them God imperishable who dwells in heaven 13 Shall make short-lived, destroy them utterly, 14 And overthrow one here, another there. 15 15But when there shall a bull-destroyer come 16 Trusting in his own might, thick-haired and grim, 17 And shall destroy all, he shall also tear 18 Shepherds in pieces, and no victory 19 Shall be theirs unless soon, with speed of feet 20 Pursuing eagerly through wooded glens, 21 Young dogs shall meet in conflict; for a dog 22 Pursued the lion which destroys the shepherds. 23 And then there shall be a lord confident 24 In his might, and named with four syllables, 25 And shown forth clearly from the number one; 26 But him shall brazen Ares quickly slay 27 Because of conflict with insatiate men. 28 Then shall two other princely men bear rule, 29 Both of the number forty; and with them 30 Shall great peace be in the world and to all 31 The people law and right; but them in turn 32 Shall men with gleaming helmet, needing gold 33 And silver, impiously put to death 34 For these things, catching them by their deft plans. 35 And then again a dreadful lord shall rule, 36 Young, fighting hand to hand, whose name shall show 37 The number seventy, life-destroying, fierce, 38 Who to the army basely shall betray 39 The people of Rome, slain by wickedness 40 Because of wrath of kings, and he shall hurl 41 Down every city and hut of the Latins. 42 And Rome is no more to be seen or heard, 43 Such as of late another traveler saw; 44 For all these things shall in the ashes lie, 45 Nor shall there be a sparing of her works; 46 For hurtful he himself shall come from heaven, 47 God the immortal from the sky shall send 48 Lightnings and thunderbolts upon mankind; 49 And some he will destroy by lightnings burned, 50 And others with his mighty thunderbolts. 51 And Rome’s strong children and the famous Latins 52 Shall then the shameless dreadful ruler slay. 53 Around him dead the dust shall not lie light, 54 But he shall be a sport for dogs and birds 55 And wolves, for he a martial people spoiled. 56 After him, numbering forty, there shall rule 57 Another, famous Parthian-destroyer, 58 German-destroyer, putting down dread beasts 59 That kill men, which upon the ocean’s streams 60 And the Euphrates press continuous on. 61 And then shall Rome again be as before. 62 But when there comes a great wolf in your plains, 63 A ruler marching onward from the West, 64 Then shall he under powerful Ares die 65 Being cleft asunder by the piercing brass. 66 And over the very mighty Romans then 67 Shall there rule yet again another man 68 Of great heart, from Assyria brought to light, 69 Of the first letter, and he shall himself 70 By means of wars put all things under him, 71 And by his armies at once power display 72 And lay down laws; but him shall brazen Ares 73 Quickly destroy by treacherous armies falling. 74 After him three of haughty heart shall rule, 75 One having the first number, one three tens, 76 And the other with three hundred shall partake, 77 Cruel, who gold and silver in much fire 78 Shall melt in statues of gods made with hands, 79 And to the armies they, equipped for war, 80 Will, for the sake of victory, moneys give, 81 Dividing many costly things and goods; 82 And in like manner, striving eagerly 83 After power, they shall harm disastrously 84 The arrow-shooting Parthians of the deep 85 And swift Euphrates, and the hostile Medes, 86 And the soft-haired warlike Massagetæ 87 And Persians also, quiver-bearing men. 88 But when the king shall his own fate unloose 89 Leaving unto his sons more fit for arms 90 The royal scepter and entreating right, 91 Then they, forgetful of their father’s words 92 And having their hands all prepared for war, 93 Shall rush in conflict for the royal power. 94 And then another lord, of the third number, 95 Shall rule alone, and smitten by a sword 96 Shall quickly see his fate. Then after him 97 Shall many perish at each other’s hands, 98 Being very valiant for the royal power. 99 Moreover a great-hearted one shall rule 100 The very mighty Romans, an old lord, 101 Of the number four, and manage all things well. 102 And then upon Phœnicia shall come war 103 And conflict, when there shall come nations near 104 Of arrow-shooting Persians; ah, how many 105 Shall before men of barbarous speech fall down! 106 Sidon and Tripolis and Berytus 107 The loudly-boasting shall behold each other 108 Amid the blood and bodies of the dead. 109 Wretched Laodicea, around yourself 110 You shall a great and unsuccessful war 111 Stir up through the impiety of men, 112 Ah, hapless Tyrians, you shall gather in 113 An evil harvest; when in the daytime 114 The sun that lights mortals shall withdraw, 115 And his disk not appear, and drops of blood 116 Thick and abundant shall flow down from heaven 117 Upon the earth. And then the king shall die, 118 Betrayed by his companions. After him 119 Shall many shameless leaders still promote 120 The wicked strife and one another kill. 121 And then shall there a reverend ruler be, 122 Of much skill, with a name that numbers five, 123 Confiding in great armies, whom mankind 124 Will fondly love because of royal power; 125 And having the good name he shall thereto 126 Add by good deeds. But while he reigns there shall 127 ’Twixt Taurus and snow-clad Amanus be 128 A fearful sign. From the Cilician land 129 A city new and beautiful and strong 130 Shall by the deep strong rivers be destroyed. 131 And in Propontis and in Phrygia 132 Shall there be many earthquakes. And the king 133 Of great renown shall under his own lot 134 By wasting deadly sickness lose his life. 135 135And after him shall rule two lordly kings, 136 One numbering three hundred, and one three; 137 And many shall he utterly destroy 138 In defense of the seven-hill city Rome, 139 And for the sake of powerful sovereignty. 140 And then shall evil to the senate come, 141 Nor will it from the angry king escape 142 While he holds wrath against it. And a sign 143 Shall then appear to all men upon earth; 144 And fuller shall the rains be, snow and hail 145 Shall ruin field-fruits over the boundless earth. 146 But they shall fall in wars, slain by strong Ares 147 In behalf of the war for the Italians. 148 And then again another king shall rule, 149 Full of devices, gathering all the army, 150 And for the sake of war distributing 151 Money to those with brazen breastplate clad; 152 But thereupon shall Nilus, rich in corn, 153 Beyond the Libyan mainland irrigate 154 For two years the dark soil and fruitful land 155 Of Egypt; but all things shall famine seize 156 And war and robbers, murders, homicides. 157 And many cities shall by warlike men 158 Be thrown down headlong by the army’s hands; 159 And he, betrayed, shall fall by gleaming iron. 160 160After him one whose number is three hundred 161 Shall rule the Romans, very mighty men; 162 He shall stretch forth a life-destroying spear 163 Against the Armenians and the Parthians, 164 The Assyrians and the Persians firm in war. 165 And then anew shall a creation be 166 Of splendidly built Rome with gold and amber 167 And silver and ivory in order raised; 168 And in her many people shall abide 169 From all the East and from the prosperous West; 170 And the king shall make other laws for her; 171 But then shall death destructive and strong fate 172 In turn receive him in a boundless isle. 173 And there shall rule another, of ten triads, 174 A man like a wild beast, fair-haired and grim, 175 Who shall be a descendant of the Greeks. 176 And then a city of Molossian Phthia 177 Feeding much, and Larissa shall be bent 178 Down on Peneus’s overhanging brows; 179 And then too in horse-feeding Scythia 180 Shall be an insurrection. And dire war 181 Shall be hard by the waters of the lake 182 Mæotis at streams by the utmost mouth 183 Of the fount of watery Phasis on the mead 184 Of asphodel; and there shall many fall 185 By powerful warriors. Ah, how many men 186 Shall Ares with strong brass receive! And then, 187 Having destroyed a Scythian race, the king 188 Shall die in his own lot unloosing life. 189 And yet another of the number four 190 Shall rule thereafter, openly made known 191 A dreadful man, whom all Armenians, 192 Who drink the best ice of the flowing stream 193 Araxes, and the Persians of great soul 194 Shall fear in wars. And between Colchians 195 And very strong Pelasgi there shall be 196 Wars, fights, and homicides. And those who hold 197 The cities of the land of Phrygia 198 And those of the Propontis, and make bare 199 From out their scabbards the two-edged swords, 200 Shall smite each other through sore impiousness. 201 And then shall God to mortal men display 202 From heaven a great sign with the rolling years, 203 A bat, the portent of bad war to come. 204 And then the king shall not escape stern fate, 205 But die by hand, slain by the gleaming iron. 206 After him, numbering fifty, there shall rule 207 Again another coming out of Asia, 208 A dreadful terror, fighting hand to hand; 209 And he shall set war on Rome’s stately walls, 210 And among Colchians, and Heniochi, 211 And the milk-drinking Agathyrsians 212 By Euxine sea, at Thracia’s sandy bay. 213 And then the king shall not escape stern fate, 214 And they will tear in pieces his dead corpse. 215 And then, the king slain, man-ennobling Rome 216 Shall be a desert, and much people perish. 217 And then again one terrible and dread 218 From mighty Egypt shall rule, and destroy 219 Great hearted Parthians and Medes and Germans, 220 And Agathyrsians of the Bosporus, 221 Iernians, Britons, and Iberians 222 That bear the quiver, bent Massagetæ, 223 And Persians thinking themselves more than men. 224 And then a famous man shall look upon 225 All Hellas, acting as an enemy 226 To Scythia and windy Caucasas. 227 And there shall be a dread sign while he rules: 228 Crowns altogether like the shining stars 229 Shall from heaven in the south and north appear. 230 And then shall he bequeath the royal power 231 To his son whose initial letter heads 232 The alphabet, when in the halls of Hades 233 The manly king in his own lot shall go. 234 But when the son of this man in the land 235 Of Rome shall rule, shown by the number one, 236 There shall be over all the earth great peace 237 Much longed for, and the Latins will love him 238 As king because of his own father’s worth; 239 Him, eager to go both to East and West, 240 The Roman people shall against his will 241 Retain at home and in command of Rome, 242 For among all there is a friendly heart 243 Felt for their royal and illustrious lord. 244 But baneful death shall snatch him out of life, 245 Short-lived, abandoned to his destiny. 246 But others afterwards again shall smite 247 Each other, powerful warriors, carrying on 248 An evil strife, not holding kingly power, 249 But being tyrants. And in all the world 250 Shall they bring many evil things to pass, 251 But chiefly for the Romans till the time 252 Of the third Dionysus, until armed 253 With helmet Ares shall from Egypt come, 254 Whom they shall surname Dionysus lord. 255 But when the famous royal purple cloak 256 A murderous lion and murderous lioness 257 Shall rend, together they shall grasp the lungs 258 Of the changed kingdom; then a holy king, 259 Whose name has the first letter, pressing hard 260 For victory, shall cast down hostile chiefs 261 To be the food of dogs and birds of prey. 262 Alas for you, O city burned with fire, 263 O powerful Rome! How many things must you 264 Needs suffer when all these things come to pass! 265 But the great far-famed king shall afterward 266 Raise you all up again with gold and amber 267 And silver and ivory, and in the world 268 You shall in your possessions foremost be, 269 Also in temples, market-places, wealth, 270 And race-grounds; and then shall you be again 271 A light for all, even as you were before. 272 Ah, wretched Cecropes and Cadmeans 273 And the Laconians, who are situate 274 Around Peneus and Molossian stream 275 Thick grown with rushes, Tricca and Dodona, 276 And high-built Ithome, Pierian ridge 277 Around the summit of Olympian mount, 278 Ossa, Larissa, and high-gate Calydon. 279 But when God shall for mortals bring to pass 280 A great sign, day dark twilight round the world, 281 Even then to you, O king, the end shall come, 282 Nor is it possible that you escape 283 A brother’s piercing dart against you hurled. 284 And then again shall rule a life-destroyer, 285 A fiery eagle from the royal race, 286 Who shall of Egypt’s offspring take fast hold, 287 Younger, but than his brother much more strong, 288 Who has for his first sign the number eighty. 289 And then the whole world shall for honor’s sake 290 Bear in its lap the soul-distressing wrath 291 Of the immortal God; and there shall come 292 On mortal men, the creatures of a day, 293 Famines and plagues and wars and homicides, 294 And an incessant darkness over the earth, 295 Mother of peoples, and relentless wrath 296 From heaven, and disorder of the times, 297 And earthquake shocks, and flaming thunderbolts, 298 And stones and storms of rain and squalid drops. 299 And the high summits of the Phrygian land 300 Feel the shock, bases of the Scythian hills 301 Feel the shock, cities tremble, and all earth 302 Trembles at the cliffs of the land of Greece. 303 And many cities, God being very wroth, 304 Shall fall prone under burning thunderbolts 305 And with bewailings, and to shun the wrath 306 And make escape is not even possible. 307 And then the king shall by a strong hand fall, 308 Struck as if he were no one by his men. 309 After him of the Latins many men 310 Wearing the purple mantle on their shoulders 311 Shall be again raised up, who shall by lot 312 Desire to lay hold on the royal power. 313 And then upon the stately walls of Rome 314 Shall be three kings, two having the first number, 315 And one the eponym of victory 316 Bearing as no one else. They shall love Rome 317 And all the world, concerned for mortal men; 318 But they shall not accomplish anything; 319 For God has not been gracious to the world 320 Neither will he be gentle with mankind, 321 Because they have done many evil things. 322 Therefore to kings shall he a mean soul bring 323 Still worse than that of leopards and of wolves; 324 For harshly seizing them with their own hands, 325 Like feeble women who are idly slain, 326 Shall men in brazen breastplate utterly 327 Destroy the kings together with their scepters. 328 Ah, wretched lofty men of glorious Rome, 329 Trusting in false oaths you shall be destroyed. 330 330And then shall many masters with the spear, 331 Men rushing not in order furious on, 332 Take away offspring of the first-born men 333 In their blood.... Therefore thrice 334 Shall the Most High then bring on dreadful doom, 335 And all men with their works shall he destroy. 336 But into judgment yet again shall God 337 Cause them to come that have a shameless soul, 338 As many as determined evil things; 339 And they themselves are fenced in, falling one 340 Upon another, and given over there 341 Into that condemnation of wickedness. 342 All one by one, yet a brilliant comet 343 Of much to come, of war and battle strife, 344 But at the time when one about the isles 345 Shall gather many oracles that speak 346 To strangers of fight and of battle strife, 347 And grievous harm of temples, he shall bid 348 One in great haste to gather in Rome’s halls 349 For twelve months wheat and barley in abundance, 350 And this most quickly. And in wretched plight 351 The city shall be those days, and straightway 352 Shall it again be prosperous not a little; 353 And rest shall be when that rule is destroyed. 354 And then the last race of the Latin kings 355 Shall be, and after it again shall grow 356 Dominion, children and the children’s race 357 Shall be unshaken; for it shall be known, 358 Since of a surety God himself is king. 359 There is a land dear, nourisher of men, 360 Situate in a plain, and round it Nile 361 Marks off the boundary and separates 362 All Libya and Ethiopia. 363 And Syrians short-lived, one from one place, 364 Another from another, from that land 365 Shall snatch away all movable effects; 366 A great and careful lord shall be their king, 367 Training up youth and sending off for men, 368 And planning something fearful about those 369 Most fearful, above all he shall send forth 370 A powerful helper of all Italy 371 The lofty-minded. And when he shall come 372 Unto the dark sea of Assyria 373 He shall despoil Phœnicians in their homes, 374 And fastening evil war and battle dire 375 Shall be one lord of the two lords of earth. 376 And now will I for Alexandrians sing 377 Their grievous end; alas, barbarians 378 Shall possess sacred Egypt, land unharmed, 379 Unshaken, when wrath from the gods shall come. 380 ... making winter summer, 381 Then shall the oracles be all fulfilled. 382 But when three youths in the Olympian games 383 Shall conquer, and you shall bid them that know 384 The oracles that call on God to cleanse 385 First by the blood of sucking quadruped, 386 Thrice therefore shall the Most High then bring on 387 A fearful lot, and he shall over all 388 Brandish the mournful long spear; then much blood 389 Barbarian shall be poured out in the dust 390 When the city shall be plundered utterly 391 By inhospitable strangers. Happy he 392 Who is dead, also happy any one 393 Who is without a child; for he who once 394 Was leader surnamed for them that are free, 395 Far-famed in song, no longer in his mind 396 Revolving earlier plans, shall place their neck 397 Under a servile yoke; such slavery, 398 Cause of much weeping, shall a lord impose. 399 And then straightway an army of Sicilians 400 Ill-fated shall come, carrying dismay, 401 When a barbarian nation shall again 402 Come suddenly; and the fruit, when it grows, 403 They from the field shall sever. Upon them 404 Shall God the lofty Thunderer bestow 405 Evil instead of good; continually 406 Shall stranger pluck from stranger hateful gold. 407 But now when all shall look upon the blood 408 Of the flesh-eating lion and there comes 409 Upon the body a murderous lioness, 410 Down from his head will be the scepter cast 411 Away from him. And as in friendly feast 412 In Egypt when the people all partake, 413 They perform valiant deeds, and one restrains 414 Another, and among them there is much 415 Shouting aloud; so also shall there be 416 Upon mankind the fear of furious strife, 417 And many shall be utterly destroyed 418 And others kill each other by hard fights. 419 And then one, covered with dark scales shall come; 420 Two others shall come acting in concert 421 With one another, and with them a third 422 A great ram from Cyrene, whom before 423 spoke of as a fugitive in war 424 Beside the streams of Nile; but in no wise 425 An unsuccessful way do all complete. 426 And then the lengths of the revolving years 427 Shall be exceeding quiet; yet again 428 Thereafter shall a second war for them 429 In Egypt be stirred up, and there shall be 430 A battle on the sea, but victory 431 Shall not be theirs. Ah, wretched ones, there shall 432 A conquest of the famous city be, 433 And it shall be a spoil of war not long. 434 And then men having common boundaries 435 Of much land shall flee wretched, and shall lead 436 Their wretched parents. And they shall again 437 Having great victory light on a land, 438 And shall destroy the Jews, men staunch in war, 439 Wasting by wars far as the hoary deep, 440 On both sides, fighting in the foremost ranks 441 For father-land and parents. And a race 442 Of trophy-bearing men shall for the dead 443 Be reckoned. Ah, how many men shall swim 444 About the waves! For on the sandy beach 445 Many shall lie; and heads of golden hair 446 Shall fall beneath Egyptian winged fowls. 447 And then for the Arabians mortal blood 448 Shall go in quest. But when wolves shall with dogs 449 Pledge in a sea-girt island solemn oaths, 450 Then shall there be the raising of a tower, 451 And the city that suffered very many things 452 Men shall inhabit. For deceitful gold 453 Shall no more be nor silver, nor acquiring 454 Of the earth, nor much-laboring servitude; 455 But one fast friendship and one mode of life 456 With cheerful soul; and all things shall be common 457 And equal light among the means of life. 458 And wickedness shall sink down from the earth 459 Into the vast sea. And then near at hand 460 Is come the harvest-time of mortal men. 461 There is imposed a strong necessity 462 That these things be fulfilled. And at that time 463 There shall not any other traveler say, 464 In this conjecturing, that the race of men 465 Though perishable shall ever cease to be. 466 And then a holy nation shall prevail 467 And hold the sovereignty of all the earth 468 Unto all ages with their mighty sons.