5. Anon., Sibylline Oracles, 18-19, 3 (1st cent. BCE - 5th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •nan Found in books: Xinyue, Politics and Divinization in Augustan Poetry (2022) 180, 181 | 3. ,O THOU high-thundering blessed heavenly One,,Who hast set in their place the cherubim,,I, who have uttered what is all too true,,Entreat thee, let me have a little rest;,5 For my heart has grown weary from within.,But why again leaps my heart, and my soul,With a whip smitten from within constrained,To utter forth its message unto all?,But yet again will I proclaim all things,10 Which God commands me to proclaim to men.,O men, that in your image have a form,Fashioned of God, why do ye vainly stray,And walk not in the straight way, always mindful,of the immortal Maker? God is one,,15 Sovereign, ineffable, dwelling in heaven,,The self-existent and invisible,,Himself alone beholding everything;,Him sculptor's hand made not, nor is his form,Shown by man's art from gold or ivory;,20 But he, eternal Lord, proclaims himself,As one who is and was erst and shall be,Again hereafter. For who being mortal,Can see God with his eyes? Or who shall bear,To hear the only name of heaven's great God,,25 The ruler of the world? He by his word,Created all things, even heaven and sea,,And tireless sun, and full moon and bright stars,,And mighty mother Tethys, springs and rivers,,Imperishable fire, and days and nights.,30 This is the God who formed four-lettered Adam,,The first one formed, and filling with his name,East, west, and south, and north. The same is he,Who fixed the pattern of the human form,,And made wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls.,35 Ye do not worship neither fear ye God,,But vainly go astray and bow the knee,To serpents, and make offering to cats,,And idols, and stone images of men,,And sit before the doors of godless temples;,40 Ye guard him who is God, who keeps all things,,And merry with the wickedness of stones,Forget the judgment of the immortal Saviour,Who made the heaven and earth. Alas! a race,That has delight in blood, deceitful, vile,,45 Ungodly, of false, double-tongued, immoral men,,Adulterous, idolous, designing fraud,,An evil madness raving in their hearts,,For themselves plundering, having shameless soul;,For no one who has riches will impart,50 To another, but dire wickedness shall be,Among all mortals, and for sake of gain,Will many widows not at all keep faith,,But secretly love others, and the bond,of life those who have husbands do not keep.,55 But when Rome shall o'er Egypt also rule,Governing always, then shall there appear,The greatest kingdom of the immortal King,Over men. And a holy Lord shall come,To hold the scepter over every land,60 Unto all ages of fast-hastening time.,And then shall come inexorable wrath,On Latin men; three shall by piteous fate,Endamage Rome. And perish shall all men,,With their own houses, when from heaven shall flow,65 A fiery cataract. Ah, wretched me!,When shall that day and when shall judgment come,of the immortal God, the mighty King?,But just now, O ye cities, ye are built,And all adorned with temples and race-grounds,,70 Markets, and images of wood, of gold,,of silver and of stone, that ye may come,Unto the bitter day. For it shall come,,When there shall pass among all men a stench,of brimstone. Yet each thing will I declare,,75 In all the cities where men suffer ills.,From the Sebastenes Beliar shall come,Hereafter, and the height of hills shall he,Establish, and shall make the sea stand still,And the great fiery sun and the bright moon,80 And he shall raise the dead, and many signs,Work before men: but nothing shall be brought,By him unto completion but deceit,,And many mortals shall be lead astray,Hebrews both true and choice, and lawless men,85 Besides who never gave ear to God's word.,But when the threatenings of the mighty God,Shall draw near, and a flaming power shall come,By billow to the earth, it shall consume,Both Beliar and all the haughty men,90 Who put their trust in him. And thereupon,Shall the whole world be governed by the hands,of a woman and obedient everywhere.,Then when a widow shall o'er all the world,Gain the rule, and cast in the mighty sea,95 Both gold and silver, also brass and iron,of short lived men into the deep shall cast,,Then all the elements shall be bereft,of order, when the God who dwells on high,Shall roll the heaven, even as a scroll is rolled;,100 And to the mighty earth and sea shall fall,The entire multiform sky; and there shall flow,A tireless cataract of raging fire,,And it shall burn the land, and burn the sea,,And heavenly sky, and night, and day, and melt,105 Creation itself together and pick out,What is pure. No more laughing spheres of light,,Nor night, nor dawn, nor many days of care,,Nor spring, nor winter, nor the summer-time,,Nor autumn. And then of the mighty God,110 The judgment midway in a mighty age,Shall come, when all these things shall come to pass.,O navigable waters and each land,of the Orient and of the Occident,,Subject shall all things be to him who comes,115 Into the world again, and therefore he,Himself became first conscious of his power.,But when the threatenings of the mighty God,Are fulfilled, which he threatened mortals once,,When in Assyrian land they built a tower;–,120 (And they all spoke one language, and resolved,To mount aloft into the starry heaven;,But on the air the Immortal straightway put,A mighty force; and then winds from above,Cast down the great tower and stirred mortals up,125 To wrangling with each other; therefore men,Gave to that city the name of Babylon);–,Now when the tower fell and the tongues of men,Turned to all sorts of sounds, straightway all earth,Was filled with men and kingdoms were divided;,130 And then the generation tenth appeared,of mortal men, from the time when the flood,Came upon earlier men. And Cronos reigned,,And Titan and Iapetus; and men called them,Best offspring of Gaia and of Uranus,,135 Giving to them names both of earth and heaven,,Since they were very first of mortal men.,So there were three divisions of the earth,According to the allotment of each man,,And each one having his own portion reigned,140 And fought not; for a father's oaths were there,And equal were their portions. But the time,Complete of old age on the father came,,And he died; and the sons infringing oaths,Stirred up against each other bitter strife,,145 Which one should have the royal rank and rule,Over all mortals; and against each other,Cronos and Titan fought. But Rhea and Gaia,,And Aphrodite fond of crowns, Demeter,,And Hestia and Dione of fair locks,150 Brought them to friendship, and together called,All who were kings, both brothers and near kin,,And others of the same ancestral blood,,And they judged Cronos should reign king of all,,For he was oldest and of noblest form.,155 But Titan laid on Cronos mighty oaths,To rear no male posterity, that he,Himself might reign when age and fate should come,To Cronos. And whenever Rhea bore,Beside her sat the Titans, and all males,160 In pieces tore, but let the females live,To be reared by the mother. But When now,At the third birth the august Rhea bore,,She brought forth Hera first; and when they saw,A female offspring, the fierce Titan men,165 Betook them to their homes. And thereupon,Rhea a male child bore, and having bound,Three men of Crete by oath she quickly sent,Him into Phrygia to be reared apart,In secret; therefore did they name him Zeus,,170 For he was sent away. And thus she sent,Poseidon also secretly away.,And Pluto, third, did Rhea yet again,,Noblest of women, at Dodona bear,,Whence flows Europus' river's liquid course,,175 And with Peneus mixed pours in the sea,Its water, and men call it Stygian.,But when the Titans heard that there were sons,Kept secretly, whom Cronos and his wife,Rhea begat, then Titan sixty youths,180 Together gathered, and held fast in chains,Cronos and his wife Rhea, and concealed,Them in the earth and guarded them in bonds.,And then the sons of powerful Cronos heard,,And a great war and uproar they aroused.,185 And this is the beginning of dire war,Among all mortals. [For it is indeed,With mortals the prime origin of war.],And then did God award the Titans evil.,And all of Titans and of Cronos born,190 Died. But then as time rolled around there rose,The Egyptian kingdom, then that of the Persians,And of the Medes, and Ethiopians,,And of Assyria and Babylon,,And then that of the Macedonians,,195 Egyptian yet again, then that of Rome.,And then a message of the mighty God,Was set within my breast, and it bade me,Proclaim through all earth and in royal hearts,Plant things which are to be. And to my mind,200 This God imparted first, bow many kingdoms,Have been together gathered of mankind.,For first of all the house of Solomon,Shall include horsemen of Phœnicia,And Syria, and of the islands too,,205 And the race of Pamphylians and Persians,And Phrygians, Carians, and Mysians,And the race of the Lydians rich in gold.,And then shall Hellenes, proud and impure,,Then shall a Macedonian nation rule,,210 Great, shrewd, who as a fearful cloud of war,Shall come to mortals. But the God of heaven,Shall utterly destroy them from the depth.,And then shall be another kingdom, white,And many-headed, from the western sea,,215 Which shall rule much land, and shake many men,,And to all kings bring terror afterwards,,And out of many cities shall destroy,Much gold and silver; but in the vast earth,There will again be gold, and silver too,,220 And ornament. And they will oppress mortals;,And to those men shall great disaster be,,When they begin unrighteous arrogance.,And forthwith in them there shall be a force,of wickedness, male will consort with male,,225 And children they will place in dens of shame;,And in those days there shall be among men,A great affliction, and it shall disturb,All things, and break all things, and fill all things,With evils by a shameful covetousness,,230 And by ill-gotten wealth in many lands,,But most of all in Macedonia.,And it shall stir up hatred, and all guile,Shalt be with them even to the seventh kingdom,,of which a king of Egypt shall be king,235 Who shall be a descendant from the Greeks.,And then the nation of the mighty God,Shall be again strong and they shall be guides,of life to all men. But why did God place,This also in my mind to tell: what first,,240 And what next, and what evil last shall be,On all men? Which of these shall take the lead?,First on the Titans will God visit evil.,For they shall pay to mighty Cronos's sons,The penal satisfaction, since they bound,245 Both Cronos and the mother dearly loved.,Again shall there be tyrants for the Greeks,And fierce kings overweening and impure,,Adulterous and altogether bad;,And for men shall be no more rest from war.,250 And the dread Phrygians shall perish all,,And unto Troy shall evil come that day.,And to the Persians and Assyrians,Evil shall straightaway come, and to all Egypt,And Libya and the Ethiopians,,255 And to the Carians and Pamphylians–,Evil to pass from one place to another,,And to all mortals. Why now one by one,Do I speak forth? But when the first receive,Fulfillment, then straightway shall come on men,260 The second. So the very first I'll tell.,There shall an evil come to pious men,Who dwell by the great temple of Solomon,And who are progeny of righteous men.,Alike of all these also I will tell,265 The tribe and line of fathers and homeland–,All things with care, O mortal shrewd in mind.,There is a city . . . on the earth,,Ur of the Chaldees, whence there is a race,of men most righteous, to whom both good will,270 And noble deeds have ever been a care.,For they have no concern about the course,of the sun's revolution, nor the moon's,,Nor wondrous things beneath the earth, nor depth,of joy-imparting sea Oceanus,,275 Nor signs of sneezing, nor the wings of birds,,Nor soothsayers, nor wizards, nor enchanters,,Nor tricks of dull words of ventriloquists,,Neither do they astrologize with skill,28 of the Chaldeans, nor astronomize;,O For these are all deceptive, in so far,As foolish men go seeking day by day,Training their souls unto no useful work;,And then did they teach miserable men,Deceptions, whence to mortals on the earth,285 Come many evils leading them astray,From good ways and just deeds. But they have care,For righteousness and virtue, and not greed,,Which breeds unnumbered ills to mortal men,,War and unending famine. But with them,290 Just measure, both in fields and cities, holds,,Nor steal they from each other in the night,,Nor drive off herds of cattle, sheep, and goats,,Nor neighbor remove landmarks of a neighbor,,Nor any man of great wealth grieve the one,295 Less favored, nor to widows cause distress,,But rather aids them, ever helping them,With wheat and wine and oil; and always does,The rich man in the country send a share,At the time of the harvests unto them,300 That have not, but are needy, thus fulfilling,The saying of the mighty God, a hymn,In legal setting; for the Heavenly One,Finished the earth a common good for all.,Now when the people of twelve tribes depart,305 From Egypt, and with leaders sent of God,Nightly pursue their way by a pillar of fire,And during all the day by one of cloud,,For them then God a leader will appoint–,A great man, Moses, whom a princess found,310 Beside a marsh, and carried off and reared,And called her son. And at the time he came,As leader for the people whom God led,From Egypt unto the. steel) Sinai mount,,His own law God delivered them from heaven,315 Writing on two flat stones all righteous things,Which he enjoined to do; and if, perchance,,One give no heed, he must unto the law,Make satisfaction, either at men's hands,Or, if men's notice he escape, he shall,320 By ample satisfaction he destroyed.,[For the Heavenly finished earth a common good,For all, and in all hearts as best gift thought.],A hundredfold from one, and thus completes,325 God's measure. But to them shall also come,Misfortune, nor do they escape from plague.,And even thou, forsaking thy fair shrine,,Shalt flee away when it becomes thy lot,To leave the holy land. And thou shalt be,330 Carried to the Assyrians, and shalt see,Young children and wives serving hostile men;,And every means of life and wealth shall perish;,And every land shall be filled up with thee,,And every sea; and everyone shall be,335 offended with thy customs; and thy land,Shall all be desert; and the altar fenced,And temple of the great God and long walls,Shall all fall to the ground, since in thy heart,The holy law of the immortal God,340 Thou didst not keep, but, erring, thou didst serve,Unseemly images, and didst not fear,The immortal Father, God of all mankind,,Nor will to honor him; but images,of mortals thou didst honor Therefore now,345 of time seven decades shall thy fruitful land,And the wonders of thy temple all be waste.,But there remains for thee a goodly end,And greatest glory, as the immortal God,Granted thee. But do thou wait and confide,350 In the great God's pure laws, when he shall lift,Thy wearied knee upright unto the light.,And then will God from heaven send a king,To judge each man in blood and light of fire.,There is a royal tribe, the race of which,355 Shall be unfailing; and as times revolve,This race shall bear rule and begin to build,God's temple new. And all the Persian kings,Shall aid with bronze and gold and well-wrought iron.,For God himself will give the holy dream,360 By night. And then the temple shall again,Be, as it was before. . . .,Now when my soul had rest from inspired song,,And I prayed the great Father for a rest,From constraint; even in my heart again,365 Was set a message of the mighty God,And he bade me proclaim through all the earth,And plant in royal minds things yet to be.,And in my mind God put this first to say,How many lamentable sufferings,370 The Immortal purposed upon Babylon,Because she his great temple had destroyed.,Alas, alas for thee! O Babylon,,And for the offspring of the Assyrian men!,Through all the earth the rush of sinful men,375 Shall some time come, and shout of mortal men,And stroke of the great God, who inspires songs,,Shall ruin every land. For high in air to thee,O Babylon, shall it come from above,,And out of heaven from holy ones to thee,380 Shall it come down, and the soul in thy children,Shall the Eternal utterly destroy.,And then shalt thou be, as thou wast before,,As one not born; and then shalt thou be filled,Again with blood, as thou thyself before,385 Didst shed that of good, just, and holy men,,Whose blood yet cries out to the lofty heaven.,To thee, O Egypt, shall a great blow come,And dreadful, to thy homes, which thou didst hope,Might never fall on thee. For through thy midst,390 A sword shall pass, and scattering and death,And famine shall prevail until of kings,The seventh generation, and then cease.,Alas for thee, O land of Gog and Magog,In the midst of the rivers of Ethiopia!,395 What pouring out of blood shalt thou receive,,And house of judgment among men be called,,And thy land of much dew shall drink black blood!,Alas for thee, O Libya, and alas,,Both sea and land! O daughters of the west,,400 So shall ye come unto a bitter day.,And ye shall come pursued by grievous strife,,Dreadful and grievous; there shall be again,A dreadful judgment, and ye all shall come,By force unto destruction, for ye tore,405 In pieces the great house of the Immortal,,And with iron teeth ye chewed it dreadfully.,Therefore shalt thou then look upon thy land,Full of the dead, some of them fallen by war,And by the demon of all violence,,410 Famine and plague, and some by barbarous foes.,And all thy land shall be a wilderness,,And desolations shall thy cities be.,And in the west there shall a star shine forth,Which they will call a comet, sign to men,415 of the sword and of famine and of death,,And murder of great leaders and chief men.,And yet again there shall be among men,Greatest signs; for deep-eddying Tanais,Shall leave Mæotis's lake, and there shall be,420 Down the deep stream a fruitful, furrow's track,,And the vast flow shall hold a neck of land.,And there are hollow chasms and yawning pits;,And many cities, men and all, shall fall:–,In Asia–Iassus, Cebren, Pandonia,,425 Colophon, Ephesus, Nicæa, Antioch,,Syagra, Sinope, Smyrna, Myrina,,Most happy Gaza, Hierapolis, .,Astypalaia; and in Europe–Tanagra,,Clitor, Basilis, Meropeia, Antigone,,430 Magnessa, Mykene, Oiantheia.,Know then that the destructive race of Egypt,Is near destruction, and the past year then,Is better for the Alexandrians.,As much of tribute as Rome did receive,435 of Asia, even thrice as many goods,Shall Asia back again from Rome receive,,And her destructive outrage pay her back.,As many as from Asia ever served,A house of the Italians, twenty times,440 As many Italians shall in Asia serve,In poverty, and numerous debts incur.,O virgin, soft rich child of Latin Rome,,oft at thy much-remembered marriage feasts,Drunken with wine, now shalt thou be a slave,445 And wedded in no honorable way.,And oft shall mistress shear thy pretty hair,,And wreaking satisfaction cast thee down,From heaven to earth, and from the earth again,Raise thee to heaven, for mortals of low rank,450 And of unrighteous life are held fast bound.,And of avenging Smyrna overthrown,There shall be no thought, but by evil plans,And wickedness of them that have command,Shall Samos be sand, Delos shall be dull,,455 And Rome a room; but the decrees of God,Shall all of them be perfectly fulfilled.,And a calm peace to Asian land shall go.,And Europe shall be happy then, well fed,,Pure air, full of years, strong, and undisturbed,460 By wintry storms and hail, bearing, all things,,Even birds and creeping things and beasts of earth.,O happy upon earth shall that man be,Or woman; what a home unspeakable,of happy ones! For from the starry heaven,465 Shall all good order come upon mankind,,And justice, and the prudent unity,Which of all things is excellent for men,,And kindness, confidence, and love of guests;,But far from them shall lawlessness depart,,470 Blame, envy, wrath, and folly; poverty,Shall flee away from men, and force shall flee,,And murder, baneful strifes and bitter feuds,,And theft, and every evil in those days.,But Macedonia shall to Asia bear,475 A grievous suffering, and the greatest sore,To Europe shall spring up from Cronian stock,,A family of bastards and of slaves.,And she shall tame fenced city Babylon,,And of each land the sun looks down upon,480 Call herself mistress, and then come to naught,By ruinous misfortunes, having fame,In later generations distant far.,And sometime into Asia's prosperous land,Shall come a man unheard of, shoulder-clad,485 With purple robe, fierce, unjust, fiery;,And this man he who wields the thunderbolt,Roused forwards; and all Asia shall sustain,An evil yoke, and her soil wet with rain,Shall drink much murder. But even so shall Hades,490 Destroy the unknown king; and that man's offspring,Shall forthwith perish by the race of those,Whose offspring he himself would fain destroy;,Producing one root which the bane of men,Shall cut from ten horns, and plant by their side,495 Another plant. A father purple-clad,Shall cut a warlike father off, and Ares,,Baneful and hostile, by a grandson's hand,Shall himself perish; and then shall the horn,Planted beside them forthwith bear the rule.,500 And unto life-sustaining Phrygia,Straightway shall there a certain token be,,When Rhea's blood-stained race, in the great earth,Blooming perennial in impervious roots,,Shall, root and branch, in one night disappear,505 With a city, men and all, of the Earth-shaker,Poseidon; which place they shall sometime call,Dorylæum, of dark ancient Phrygia,,Much-bewailed. Therefore shall that time be called,Earth-shaker; dens of earth shall he break up,510 And walls demolish. And not signs of good,But a beginning of evil shall be made;,The baneful violence of general war,Ye'll have, sons of Æneas, Dative blood,of Ilus from the soil. But afterwards,515 A spoil shalt thou become for greedy men.,O Ilium, I pity thee; for there shall bloom,In Sparta an Erinys very fair,,Ever-famed, noblest scion, and shall leave,On Asia and Europe a wide-spreading wave;,520 But to thee most of all she'll bear and cause,Wailings and toils and groans; but there shall be,Undying fame with those who are to come.,And there shall be an aged mortal then,,False writer and of doubtful native land;,525 And in his eyes the light shall fade away;,Large mind and verses measured with great skill,Shall he have and be blended with two names,,Shall call himself a Chian and shall write,of Ilium, not truthfully, indeed,,530 But skillfully; for of my verse and meters,He will be master; for he first my books,Will open with his hands; but he himself,Will much embellish helmed chiefs of war,,Hector of Priam and Achilles, son,535 of Peleus, and the others who have care,For warlike deeds. And also by their side,Will he make gods stand, empty-headed men,,False-writing every way. And it shall be,Glory the rather, widely spread, for them,540 To die at Ilium; but he himself,Shall also works of recompense receive.,Also to Lycia shall a Locrian race,Cause many evils. And thee, Chalcedon,,Holding by lot a strait of narrow sea,,545 Shall an Ætolian youth sometime despoil.,Cyzicus, also thy vast wealth the sea,Shall break off. And, Byzantium of Ares,,Thou some time shalt by Asia be laid waste,,And also groans and blood immeasurable,550 Shalt thou receive. And Cragus, lofty mount,of Lycia, from thy peaks by yawning chasms,of opened rock shall babbling water flow,,Until even Patara's oracles shall cease.,O Cyzicus, that dwellest by Propontis,555 The wine-producing, round thee Rhyndacus,Shall crash the crested billow. And thou, Rhodes,,Daughter of day, shalt long be unenslaved,,And great shall be thy happiness hereafter,,And on the sea thy power shall be supreme.,560 But afterwards a spoil shalt thou become,For greedy men, and put upon thy neck,By beauty and by wealth a fearful yoke.,A Lydian earthquake shall again despoil,The power of Persia, and most horribly,565 Shall the people of Europe and Asia suffer pain.,And Sidon's hurtful king with battle-din,Dreadful shall work a mournful overthrow,To the seafaring Samians. On the soil,Shall slain men's dark blood babble to the sea;,570 And wives together with the noble brides,Shall their outrageous insolence lament,,Some for their bridegrooms, some for fallen sons.,O sign of Cyprus, may an earthquake waste,Thy phalanxes away, and many souls,575 With one accord shall Hades bold in charge.,And Trallis near by Ephesus, and walls,Well made, and very precious wealth of men,Shall be dissolved by earthquake; and the land,Shall burst out with hot water; and the earth,580 Shall swallow down those who are by the fire,And stench of brimstone heavily oppressed.,And Samos shall in time build royal houses.,But to thee, Italy, no foreign war,Shall come, but lamentable tribal blood,585 Not easily exhausted, much renowned,,Shall make thee, impudent one, desolate.,And thou thyself beside hot ashes stretched,,As thou in thine own heart didst not foresee,,Shalt slay thyself. And thou shalt not of men,590 Be mother, but a nurse of beasts of prey.,But when from Italy shall come a man,,A spoiler, then, Laodicea, thou,,Beautiful city of the Carians,By Lycus's wondrous water, falling prone,,595 Shalt weep in silence for thy boastful sire.,Thracian Crobyzi shall rise up on Hæmus.,Chatter of teeth to the Campanians comes,Because of wasting famine; Corsica,Weeps her old father, and Sardinia,600 Shall by great storms of winter and the strokes,of a holy God sink down in ocean depths,,Great wonder to the of the sea.,Alas, alas, how many virgin maids,Will Hades wed, and of as many youths,605 Will the deep take without funeral rites!,Alas, alas, the helpless little ones,And the vast riches swimming in the sea!,O happy land of Mysians, suddenly,A royal race shall be formed. Truly now,610 Not for a long time shall Chalcedon be.,And there shall be a very bitter grief,To the Galatians. And to Tenedos,Shall there a last but greatest evil come.,And Sicyon, with strong yells, and Corinth, thou,615 Shalt boast o'er all, but flute shall sound like strain.,. . . . . . . Now, when my soul had. rest from inspired song.,Even again within my heart was set,A message of the mighty God, and he,Commanded me to prophesy on earth.,620 Woe, woe to the race of Phœnician men,And women, and all cities by the sea;,Not one of you shall in the common light,Abide before the shining of the sun,,Nor of life shall there any longer be,625 Number and tribe, because of unjust speech,And lawless life impure which they lived,,Opening a mouth impure, and fearful words,Deceitful and unrighteous forth,,And stood against the God, the King,,630 And opened loathsome month deceitfully,Therefore may he subdue them terribly,By strokes o'er all the earth, and bitter fate,Shall God send on them burning from the ground.,Cities and of the cities the foundations.,635 Woe, woe to thee, O Crete! To thee shall come,A very painful stroke, and terribly,Shall the Eternal sack thee; and again,Shall every land behold thee black with smoke,,Fire ne'er shall leave thee, but thou shalt be burned.,610 Woe, woe to thee, O Thrace! So shalt thou come,Beneath a servile yoke, when the Galatians,United with the sons of Dardanus,Rush on to ravage Hellas, thine shall be,The evil; and unto a foreign land,645 Much shalt thou give, not anything receive.,Woe to thee, Gog and Magog, and to all,,One after another, Mardians and Daians;,How many evils fate, shall bring on thee!,Woe also to the soil of Lycia,,650 And those of Mysia and Phrygia.,And many nations of Pamphylians,,And Lydians, Carians, Cappadocians,,And Ethiopian and Arabian men,of a strange tongue shall fall. How now may I,655 of each speak fitly? For on all the nations,Which dwell on earth the Highest shall send dire plague.,When now again a barbarous nation comes,Against the Greeks it shall slay many heads,of chosen men; and they shall tear in pieces,660 Many fat flocks of sheep of men, and herds,of horses and of mules and lowing kine;,And well-made houses shall they burn with fire,Lawlessly; and unto a foreign land,Shall they by force lead many slaves away,,665 And children, and deep-girded women soft,From bridal chambers creeping on before,With delicate feet; and they shall be bound fast,With fetters by their foes of foreign tongue,,Suffering all fearful outrage; and to them,670 There shall not be one to supply the toil,of battle and come to their help in life.,And they shall see their goods and all their wealth,Enrich the enemy; and there shall be,A trembling of the knees. And there shall fly,675 A hundred, and one shall destroy them all;,And five shall rout a mighty company;,But they, among themselves mixed shamefully,,Shall by war and dire tumult bring delight,To enemies, but sorrow to the Greeks.,680 And then upon all Hellas there shall be,A servile yoke; and war and pestilence,Together shall upon all mortals come.,And God will make the mighty heaven on high,Like brass and over all the earth a drought,,685 And earth itself like iron. And thereupon,Shall mortals all lament the barrenness,And lack of cultivation; and on earth,Shall he set, who created heaven and earth,,A much-distressing fire; and of all men,690 The third part only shall thereafter be.,O Greece, why hast thou trusted mortal men,As leaders, who cannot escape from death?,And wherefore bringest thou thy foolish gifts,Unto the dead and sacrifice to idols?,695 Who put the error in thy heart to do,These things and leave the face of God the mighty?,Honor the All-Father's name, and let it not,Escape thee. It is now a thousand years,,Yea, and five hundred more, since haughty kings,700 Ruled o'er the Greeks, who first to mortal men,Introduced evils, setting up for worship,Images many of gods that are dead,,Because of which ye were taught foolish thoughts.,But when the anger of the mighty God,705 Shall come upon you, then ye'll recognize,The face of God the mighty. And all souls,of men, with mighty groaning lifting up,Their hands to the broad heaven, shall begin,To call the great King helper, and to seek,710 The rescuer from great wrath who is to be.,But come and learn this and store in your hearts,,What troubles in the rolling years shall come.,And what as whole burnt-offering Hellas brought,of cows and bellowing bulls unto the temple,715 of the great God, she from ill-sounding war,And fear and pestilence shall flee away,And from the servile yoke escape again.,But until that time there shall be a race,of godless men, even when that fated day,720 Shall reach its end. For offering to God,Ye should not make till all things come to pass,,Which God alone shall purpose not in vain,To be all fulfilled; and strong force shall urge.,And there shall be again a holy race,725 of godly men who, keeping to the counsels,And mind of the Most High, shall honor much,The great God's temple with drink-offerings,,Burnt-offerings, and holy hecatombs,,With sacrifices of fat bulls, choice rams,,730 Firstlings of sheep and the fat thighs of lambs,,Sacredly offering whole burnt-offerings,On the great altar. And in righteousness,,Having obtained the law of the Most High,,Blest shall they dwell in cities and rich fields.,735 And prophets shall be set on high for them,By the Immortal, bringing great delight,Unto all mortals. For to them alone,The mighty God his gracious counsel gave,And faith and noblest thought within their hearts;,740 They have not by vain things been led astray,,Nor pay they honor to the works of men,Made of gold, brass, silver, and ivory,,Nor statues of dead gods of wood and stone,[Besmeared clay, figures of the painter's art],,745 And all that empty-minded mortals will;,But they lift up their pure arms unto heaven,,Rise from the couch at daybreak, always hands,With water cleanse, and honor only Him,Who is immortal and who ever rules,,750 And then their parents; and above all men,Do they respect the lawful marriage-bed;,And they have not base intercourse with boys,,As do Phœnicians, Latins, and Egyptians,And spacious Greece, and nations many more,755 of Persians and Galatians and all Asia,,Transgressing the immortal God's pure law,Which they were under. Therefore on all men,Will the Immortal put bane, famine, pains,,Groans, war, and pestilence and mournful woes;,760 Because they would not honor piously,The immortal Sire of all men, but revered,And worshiped idols made with hands, which things,Mortals themselves will cast down and for shame,Conceal in clefts of rocks, when a young king,,765 The seventh of Egypt, shall rule his own land,,Reckoned from the dominion of the Greeks,,Which countless Macedonian men shall rule;,And there shall come from Asia a great king,,fiery eagle, who with foot and horse,770 Shall cover all the land, cut up all things,,And fill all things with evils; he will cast,The Egyptian kingdom down; and taking off,All its possessions carry them away,Over the spacious surface of the sea.,775 And then shall they before, the mighty God,,The King immortal, bend the fair white knee,On the much-nourishing earth; and all the works,Made with hands shall fall by a flame of fire.,And then will God bestow great joy on men;,780 For land and trees and countless flocks of sheep,Their genuine fruit to men shall offer–wine,,And the sweet honey, and white milk, and wheat,,Which is for mortals of all things the best.,But thou, O mortal full of various wiles,,485 Do not delay and loiter, but do thou,,Tossed to and fro, turn and propitiate God.,offer to God Your hecatombs of bulls,And firstling lambs and goats, as times revolve.,But him propitiate, the immortal God,,490 If haply he show mercy. For he is,The only God, and other there is none.,And honor justice and oppress no man.,For these things the Immortal doth enjoin,On miserable men. But do thou heed,795 The cause of the wrath of the mighty God,,When on all mortals there shall come the height,of pestilence and conquered they shall meet,A fearful judgment, and king shall seize king,And wrest his land away, and nations bring,800 Ruin on nations and lords plunder tribes,,And chiefs all flee into another land,,And the land change its men, and foreign rule,Ravage all Hellas and drain the rich land.,of its wealth, and to strife among themselves,805 Because of gold and silver they shall come–,The love of gain an evil shepherdess,Will be for cities–in a foreign land.,And they shall all be without burial,,And vultures and wild beasts of earth shall spoil,810 Their flesh; and when these things are brought to pass,,Vast earth shall waste the relics of the dead.,And all unsown shall it be and unplowed,,Proclaiming sad the filth of men defiled,Many lengths of time in the revolving years,,815 And shields and javelins and all sorts of arms;,Nor shall the forest wood be cut for fire.,And then shall God send from the East a king,,Who shall make all earth cease from evil war,,Killing some, others binding with strong oaths.,820 And he will not by his own counsels do,All these things, but obey the good decrees,of God the mighty. And with goodly wealth,,With gold and silver and purple ornament,,The temple of the mighty God again,825 Shall be weighed down; and the full-bearing earth,And the sea shall be filled full of good things.,And kings against each other shall begin,To hold ill will, in heart abetting evils.,Envy is not a good to wretched men.,830 But again kings of nations on this land,Shall rush in masses, bringing on themselves,Destruction; for they'll purpose to despoil,The great God's temple and the noblest men.,What time they reach the land, polluted kings,835 Shall set around the city each his throne,And have his people that obey not God.,And then shall God speak with a mighty voice,To all rude people of an empty mind,,And judgment from the mighty God shall come,840 Upon them, and they all shall be destroyed,By his immortal arm. And fiery swords,Shall fall front heaven on earth; and great bright lights,Shall come down flaming in the midst of men.,And in those days shall earth, all-mother, reel,845 By his immortal arm, and shoals of fish,In the deep sea, and all wild, beasts of earth,,And countless tribes of winged fowl, and all,The souls of men and every sea shall tremble,Before the face of the Immortal One,,850 And there shall be dismay. High mountain peaks,And monstrous hills shall he asunder break,,And to all shall dark Erebus appear.,And misty gorges in the lofty hills,Shall be full of the dead; and rocks shall stream,855 With blood and every torrent fill the plain.,And well-built walls of evil-minded men,Shall all fall to the earth, since they knew not,The law nor judgment of the mighty God,,But with a senseless soul all hurried on,860 Against the temple and raised up their spears.,And God shall judge all by war and by sword,And by fire and by overwhelming storm;,And brimstone there shall be from heaven, and stones,And great and grievous hail; and death shall come,865 Upon the quadrupeds. And then shall they,Know God, the Immortal, who performs these things;,And wailing, and upon the boundless earth,Shall be at once a shout of perishing men;,And all the unholy shall be bathed in blood;,870 And earth herself shall also drink the blood,of the perishing, and beasts be gorged with flesh.,And all these things the great eternal God,Himself bade me proclaim. And that shall not,Be unaccomplished, or be unfulfilled,,875 Whatever only in my heart he put;,For truthful is God's spirit in the world.,But children of the mighty God shall all,Again around the temple live in peace,,Rejoicing in those things which he shall give,880 Who is Creator, righteous Judge and King.,For he himself, great, present far and wide,,Shall be a shelter, as on all sides round,A wall of flaming fire. And they shall be,In cities and in country without war.,885 For not the hand of evil war, but rather,The Immortal shall himself be their defender,And the hand of the Holy One. And then shall all,The islands and the cities tell how much,The immortal God loves those men; for all things,890 Help them in conflict and deliver them,Heaven, and divinely fashioned sun, and moon.,[And in those days shall earth, all-mother, reel.],Sweet word shall they send from their mouths in hymns:,“Come, falling on the earth let us all pray,895 The immortal King, and great eternal God.,To the temple let its in procession go,,Since he alone is Lord; and let us all,Meditate on the law of God most high,,Which is most righteous of all (laws) on earth.,900 And from the path of the Immortal we,Have wandered and with senseless soul we honor,Works made by hand and wooden images,of dead men.” These things souls of faithful melt,Shall cry out: “Come, having, at the house of God,905 Fallen on our faces, let its with our hymns,Make joy to God the Father at our homes,,Supplied through all our land with arms of foes,Seven lengths of time in the revolving years;,Even shields and helmets and all sorts of arms,,910 And a great store of bows and arrows barbed;,For forest wood shall not be cut for,But, wretched Hellas, stop thy arrogance,And be wise; and entreat the Immortal One,Magimous, and be upon thy guard.,915 Send now against this city yet again,The people inconsiderate, who are come,Out of the holy land of the mighty One.,Do not move Camarina; for 'tis better,She be unmoved; a leopard from the lair,,920 Do thou not let an evil meet with thee.,But keep off, do not hold within thy breast,An arrogant and overbearing soul,,Ready for mighty contest. And serve God,The mighty, that thou mayest share those things;,925 And when that fated day shall reach its end,[And judgment of the immortal God shall come,To mortals], judgment great and power shall come,Upon men. For all-mother earth shall yield,To mortals best fruit boundless, wheat, wine, oil;,930 Also from heaven a delightful drink,of honey and trees shall give their fruit,,And fatted sheep and cattle there shall be,,Young lambs and kids of goats; earth shall break forth,With sweet springs of white milk; and of good things,935 The cities shall be full and fat the fields;,Nor sword nor uproar shall be on the earth;,No more shall earth groan heavily and quake,Nor shall war longer be on earth, nor drought,Nor famine, nor the fruit-destroying hail;,940 But great peace, shall be upon all the earth,,And king to king be friend until the end,of the age, and o'er all earth common law,Will the Immortal in the starry heaven,Perfect for men, touching whatever things,945 Have been by miserable mortals done;,For he alone is God, there is no other;,And the stern rage of men he'll burn with fire.,But change entirely the thoughts in thy heart,,And flee unrighteous worship; serve the One,950 Who liveth; guard against adultery,And deeds of lewdness; thine own offspring rear,And do not murder; for the Immortal One,Is angry with him who in these things sins.,And then a kingdom over all mankind,955 Shall he raise up for ages, who once gave,Holy law to the pious, unto whom,He pledged to open every land, the world,And portals of the blessed, and all joys,,And mind immortal and eternal bliss.,960 And out of every land unto the house,of the great God shall they bring frankincense,And gifts, and there shall be no other house,To be inquired of by men yet to be,,But what God gave for faithful men to honor;,965 For mortal temple of the mighty God,Shall call it. And all pathways of the plain,And rough hills and high mountains and wild waves,of the deep shall be easy in those days,For crossing and for sailing; for all peace,970 On the land of the good shall come; and sword,Shall prophets of the mighty God remove;,For they are judges and the righteous kings,of mortals. And there shall be righteous wealth,Among mankind; for of the mighty God,975 This is the judgment and also the power.,Be of good cheer, O maiden, and be glad;,For he who made the heaven and earth gave thee,Joy in thy age. And he will dwell in thee;,And thine shall be immortal and wolves,980 And lambs shall in the mountains feed on grass,Together, and with kids shall leopards graze;,And bears shall lodge among the pasturing calves;,And the carnivorous lion shall eat chaff,At the manger like the cow; and little children,985 In bonds shall lead them; for he will make beasts,Helpless on earth. With babes shall fall asleep,Serpents, along with asps, and do no harm;,For over them shall be the hand of God.,Now tell I thee a sign exceeding clear,,990 That thou may'st know when the end of all things,On earth shall be. When in the starry heaven,Swords shall by night point straight toward west and east,,Straightway shalt there be also from the heaven,A cloud of dust borne forth to all the earth,,995 And the sun's brightness in the midst of heaven,Shall be eclipsed, and the moon's beams appear,And come again on earth; by drops of blood,Distilling from the rocks a sign shalt be;,And in the cloud shalt ye behold a war,1000 of foot and horse, like the chase of wild beasts,In the dense fog. This end of all things God,Shalt consummate, whose dwelling is in heaven.,But all must sacrifice to the great King.,These things I show thee, I who madly left,1005 The long walls of Assyrian Babylon,For Hellas to proclaim to all the wrath,of God, fire sent. . . .,. . . . . . . And that I might to mortals prophesy,of mysteries divine. And men shalt say,1010 In Hellas that I am of foreign Land,,of Erythre born, shameless; others say,That I'm a Sibyl, born of mother Circe,And father Gnostos raving mad and false;,But at that time when all thing come to pass,1015 Ye shall remember me, and no one more,Shall call me mad, the great God's prophetess,,For he showed me what happened formerly,To my ancestors; what things were the first,Those God made known to me; and in my mind,1020 Did God put all things to be afterwards,,That I might prophesy of things to come,,And things that were, and tell them unto men.,For when the world was deluged with a flood,of waters, and one man of good repute,1025 Alone was left and in a wooden house,Sailed o'er the waters with the beasts and birds,,In order that the world might be refilled,,I was his son's bride and was of his race,To whom the first things happened, and the last,1030 Were all made known; and thus from mine own mouth,Let all these truthful things remain declared. |
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