THE SIBYLLINE ORACLES

BOOK I.

{p. 14}

CONTENTS OF BOOK I.

Announcement, 1-5. Creation of the earth and man, 6-47. First sin and penalty, 48-81. Condition of the first race, 82-107. The second race of men, 108-129. Third and fourth races, 130-148. The race of giants, 149-153. Call and preaching of Noah, 154-243. Entrance into the ark, and the flood, 244-281. Abatement of the waters, 282-319. Exit from the ark, 320-343. The sixth race and the Titans, 344-386. Prophecy of Christ, 387-468. Dispersion of the Hebrews, 469-485.

{p. 15}

THE SIBYLLINE ORACLES.

BOOK I.

BEGINNING with the generation first
Of mortal men down to the very last
I'll prophesy each thing: what erst has been,
And what is now, and what shall yet befall
5 The world through the impiety of men.
    First now God urges on me to relate
Truly how into being came the world.
And thou, shrewd mortal, prudently make known,
Lest ever thou should'st my commands neglect,
10 The King most high, who brought into existence
The whole world, saying, "Let there be," and there was.
For he the earth established, placing it
Round about Tartarus, and he himself

(1-10.)

{p. 16}

Gave the sweet light; he raised the heaven on high,
15 Spread out the gleaming sea, and crowned the sky
With an abundance of bright-shining stars,
And decked the earth with plants, and mingled sea
With rivers, and the air with zephyrs mixed
And watery clouds; and then, another race
20 Appointing, he gave fishes to the seas
And birds unto the winds, and to the woods
The beasts of shaggy neck, and snakes that crawl,
And all things which now on the earth appear.
These by his word he made, and every thing
25 Was speedily and with precision done;
For he was self-caused and from heaven looked down
And finished was the world exceeding well.
And then thereafter fashioned he again
A living product, copying a new man
30 From his own image, beautiful, divine,
And bade him in ambrosial garden dwell,
That labors beautiful might be his care.
But in that fertile field of Paradise
He longed for conversation, being alone,
35 And prayed that he might see another form
Such as he had. And forthwith, from man's side
Taking a bone, God himself made fair Eve,
A wedded spouse, and in that Paradise
Gave her to dwell with him. And, when he gazed
40 Upon her, on a sudden filled with joy
Great admiration held his soul, he saw
A pattern so exact; and with wise words
Spontaneous flowing answered he in turn
For God had care for all things. For the mind
45 They darkened not with passion, nor concealed
Their nakedness, but with hearts far from evil

(11-36.)

{p. 17}

Even like wild beasts they walked with limbs exposed.
And afterwards delivering them commands
God showed them not to touch a certain tree;
50 But the dread serpent drew them off by guile
To go away unto the fate of death
And to gain knowledge of both good and evil.
But the wife then first traitress proved to God;
She gave, and urged the unknowing man to sin.
55 And he, persuaded by the woman's words,
Forgot the immortal Maker utterly,
And treated plain commandments with neglect.
Therefore, instead of good, received they evil
According to their deed. And then the leaves
60 Of the sweet fig-tree piercing they made clothes
And put them on each other, and concealed
The sexual parts, because they were ashamed.
But on them the Immortal set his wrath
And cast them out of the immortal land.
65 For their abiding now in mortal land
Was brought to pass, since hearing they kept not
The word of the immortal mighty God.
And straightway they, upon the fruitful soil
Forthgoing, with their tears and groans were wet;
70 And to them then the immortal God himself
A word more excellent spoke: "Multiply,
Increase, work constantly upon the earth,
That with the sweat of labor ye may have
Sufficient food." Thus he spoke; and he made
75 The author of deceit to press the ground
On belly and on side, a crawling snake,
Driving him out severely; and he sent
Dire enmity between them and the one

(37-61.)

{p. 18}

Is on the look-out to preserve his head,
80 But man his heel; for death is neighbor near
Of evil-plotting vipers and of men.
    And then indeed the race was multiplied
As the Almighty himself gave command,
And there grew up one people on another
85 Innumerable. And houses they adorned
Of all kinds and made cities and their walls
Well and expertly; and to them was given
A day of long time for a life much-loved;
For they did not worn out with troubles die,
90 But as subdued by sleep; most happy men
Of great heart, whom the immortal Saviour loved,
The King, God. But they also did transgress,
Smitten with folly. For with impudence
They mocked their fathers and their mothers scorned;
95 Kinsmen they knew not, and they formed intrigues
Against their brothers. And they were impure,
Having defiled themselves with human gore,
And they made wars. And then upon them came
The last calamity sent forth from heaven,
100 Which snatched the dreadful men away from life;
And Hades then received them; it was called
Hades since Adam, having tasted death,
Went first and earth encompassed him around.
And therefore all men born upon the earth
105 Are in abodes of Hades called to go.

(62-84.)

{p. 19}

But even in Hades all these when they came
Had honor, since they were the earliest race.
    But when Hades received these, secondly
[Of the surviving and most righteous men]
110 God formed another very subtile race
That cared for lovely works, and noble toils,
Distinguished reverence and solid wisdom;
And they were trained in arts of every kind,
Finding inventions by their lack of means.
115 And one devised to till the land with plows,
Another worked in wood, another cared
For sailing, and another watched the stars
And practiced augury with winged fowls;
And use of drugs had interest for one,
120 While for another magic had a charm;
And others were in every other art
Which men care for instructed, wide awake,
Industrious, worthy of that eponym
Because they had a sleepless mind within
125 And a huge body; stout with mighty form
They were; but, notwithstanding, down they went
Into Tartarean chamber terrible,
Kept in firm chains to pay full penalty
In Gehenna of strong, furious, quenchless fire.
130    And after these a third strong-minded race
Appeared, a race of overbearing men
And terrible, who wrought among themselves

(86-106.)

{p. 20}

Many an evil. And fights, homicides,
And battles did continually destroy
135 Those men possessed of overweening heart,
    And from these afterward another race
Proceeded, late-completed, youngest born,
Blood-stained, perverse in counsel; of men these
Were in the fourth race; much the blood they spilled,
140 Nor feared they God nor had regard for men,
For maddening wrath and sore impiety
Were sent upon them. And wars, homicides,
And battles sent some into Erebus,
Since they were overweening impious men.
145 But the rest did the heavenly God himself
In anger afterwards change from his world,
Casting them into mighty Tartarus
Down under the foundation of the earth.
And later yet another race much worse
150 [Of men he made, to whom no good thereafter]
The Immortal formed, since they wrought many evils.
For they were much more violent than those,
Giants perverse, foul language pouring out.
Single among all men, most just and true,
155 Was the most faithful Noah, full of care
For noblest works. And to him God himself
From heaven thus spoke: "Noah, be of good cheer
In thyself and to all the people preach
Repentance, so that they may all be saved.
160 But if, with shameless soul, they heed me not
The whole race I will utterly destroy

(107-131.)

{p. 21}

With mighty floods of waters. Quickly now
An undecaying house I bid thee frame
Of planks strong and impervious to the wet.
165 I will put understanding in thy heart,
And subtile skill, and rule of measurement
And order; and for all things will I care
That thou be saved, and all who dwell with thee.
And I am He who is, and in thy heart
170 Do thou discern. I clothe me with the heaven,
And cast the sea around me, and for me
Earth is a footstool, and the air is poured
Around my body; and on every side
Around me runs the chorus of the stars.
175 Nine letters have I; of four syllables
I am; discern me. The first three have each
Two letters, the remaining one the rest,
And five are mates; and of the entire sum
The hundreds are twice eight and thrice three tens
180 Along with seven. Now, knowing who I am,

[175. Nine letters.--The connection shows that the name intended must be some title or designation of the Creator, but no word has been discovered that fully meets the conditions of the puzzle. The nearest solution is found in the word {Greek ?ane'kfwnows}. This word has nine letters, four syllables, and five mutes, or consonants. The first three syllables have two letters each, and the sum of all the letters taken at their numerical value is 1,696. But the number stated in the text is twice 800, plus three times thirty (= 90) and seven = 1,697. {Greek ?ane'kfwnows} must also be supposed to be a shortened form for {Greek ?anekfw'nhtos}, used in ecclesiastical Greek writers to denote the unutterable name, Jehovah. Another name proposed is {Greek Ðeo`s Swth'r}, but an obvious objection is that we have here two words, not, as the text suggests, one word of four syllables. Besides, these letters amount to only 1,692. There is, perhaps, an error in the text. If for the words with seven (line 180) we read with two, the numerical difficulty of the last-named solution would be met; or if we read with six, then the word {Greek ?ane'kfwnos} solves the problem. Comp. the similar puzzle in lines 395-399 of this same book, and the well-known {footnote p. 22} enigma of the number of the beast in Rev. xiii, 18. A like example is also found in Capella (book ii, 193), who thus addresses the sun: "Hail, thou veritable face and paternal countenance of God, eight and six hundred in number, whose first letter forms a sacred name, a surname, and a sign;" which Kopp explains by the letters {Greek frh} (= 608), representative of the Egyptian name of the sun. Comp. also the designation of the Roman emperors in book v, 16, and following.]

(131-145.)

{p. 22}

Be thou not uninitiate in my lore."
    Thus he spoke; and great trembling seized on him
At what he heard. And then, within his mind
Having contrived each matter, he besought
185 The people and began with words like these:
"O men insatiate, smit with madness great,
Whatever things ye practiced they shall not
Escape God's notice; for he knows all things,
Immortal Saviour overseeing all,
190 Who bade me warn you, that ye perish not.
Be sober, cut off badness, do not fight
Perforce each other with blood-guilty heart,
Nor irrigate much land with human gore.
Revere, O mortals, the supremely great
195 And fearless heavenly Creator, God
Imperishable, whose dwelling is the sky;
And do ye all entreat him--he is kind--
For life of cities and of all the world,
And of four-footed beasts and flying fowls;
200 Entreat him to be gracious unto all.
For when the whole unbounded world of men
Shall be destroyed by waters loud ye'll raise

(146-163.)

{p. 23}

A fearful cry. And suddenly for you
The air shall be disordered, and from heaven
205 The fury of the mighty God shall come
Upon you. And it certainly shall be
That the immortal Saviour against men
Will send wrath if ye do not placate God
And from this time repent; and nothing more
210 Fretful and evil lawlessly shall ye
One to another do, but let there be
A guarding of one's self by holy life."
    But when they heard him each turned up his nose,
Calling him mad, a frenzy-smitten man.
215 And then again did Noah sound this strain:
"O men exceeding wretched, base in heart,
Unstable, leaving modesty behind
And loving shamelessness, rapacious lords,
Fierce sinners, false, insatiate, mischievous,
220 In nothing true, stealthy adulterers,
Flippant in language, pouring forth foul words,
The wrath of God most high not fearing, kept
To the fifth generation to atone!
In no way do ye wail, harsh men, but laugh;
225 Sardonic smile shall ye laugh, when shall come
That which I speak--God's dire incoming flood,
When Eve's polluted race, in the great earth
Blooming perennial in impervious stem,
Shall, root and branch, in one night disappear,
230 And cities, men and all, shall the Earth-shaker

[225. Sardonic mile--Expression supposed to have originated from a Sardinian plant so bitter as to cause the face of the cater to writhe in pain, though he might attempt to laugh. Comp. Hom. Od., xx, 302.

230. Earth-shaker--the Greek poets an epithet of Poseidon (Neptune), the god of the sea, here evidently applied to the God of Noah.]

(164-187.)

{p. 24}

From the depths scatter and their walls destroy.
And then the whole world of unnumbered men
Shall die. But how shall I weep, how lament
In wooden house, how mingle tears with waves?
235 For, if this water bidden of God shall come,
Earth shall float, hills float, and even sky shall float;
Everything shall be water, and all things
Shall be destroyed by waters. And the winds
Shall stand still, and a second age shall come.
240 O Phrygia, thou shalt from the water's crest
First rise up, and thou first another race
Of men shalt nourish, once again anew
Beginning; and thou shalt be nurse for all."
    But when now to the lawless generation
245 He had thus vainly spoken, the Most High
Appeared, and once more cried aloud and said:
"The time is now come, Noah, to proclaim
Each thing, even all which I that day to thee
Did promise and confirm, and to complete,
250 Because of a people disobedient,
Throughout the boundless world even all the things
Which generations of a former time
Did practice, evil things innumerable.
But do thou quickly enter with thy sons
255 And the wives. Call as many as I bid,
Of tribes of beasts and creeping things and birds,
And in as many as I ordain for life
Will I then put a willingness to go."
    Thus spoke he; forth went (Noah) and aloud
260 Cried out and called. And then wife, sons and brides,
Entered the house of wood; then also went

(188-212.)

{p. 25}

The other things, as many as God willed
To shut in. But when fitting bolt was put
About the lid, and in its polished place
265 Was fitted sideways, then was brought to pass
Forthwith the purpose of the God of heaven.
And he massed clouds, and bid the sun's bright disk,
And moon, and stars, and circle of the heaven,
Obscuring all things round; he thundered loud,
270 Terror of mortals, sending lightnings forth;
And all the winds together were aroused,
And all the veins of water were unloosed
By opening of great cataracts from heaven,
And from earth's caverns and the tireless deep
275 Appeared the myriad waters, and the whole
Illimitable earth was covered o'er.
But on the water swam that wondrous house;
And torn by many furious waves, and struck
By force of winds, it rushed on fearfully;
280 But with its keel it cut the mass of foam
While the loud-babbling waters dashed around.
    But when God deluged all the world with rains
Then also Noah took thought to observe
By counsels of the Immortal; for he now
285 Had had enough of Nereus. And straightway
The house he opened from the polished wall,
That crosswise was bound fast with skillful stays.
And looking out upon the mighty mass
Of boundless waters Noah on all sides--

(218-235.)

{p. 26}

290 And 'twas his fortune with his eyes to see!--
Fear possessed and shook mightily his heart.
And then the air became a little calm,
Since it was weary wetting all the world
Many days; parting, then, it brought to light
295 How pale and blood-red was the mighty sky
And sun's bright disk awearied; scarcely held
Noah his courage. And then forth afar
Sent he a dove alone, that he might learn
If yet firm land appeared. But with tired wing,
300 Flying round all things, she again returned;
For not yet had the water ebbed away;
For it was deeply filling every place.
But after resting quietly for days
He sent the dove once more, to learn if yet
305 Had ceased the many waters. And she flew
And flew on, and went o'er the earth and, resting
Her body lightly on the humid ground,
Again to Noah back she came and bore
An olive branch--of tidings a great sign.
310 Courage now filled them all, and great delight,
Because they hoped to look upon the land.
But then thereafter yet another bird,
Of black wing, sent he forth as hastily;
Which, trusting to its wings, flow willingly,
315 And coming to the land continued there.
And Noah knew the land was nearer now.
But when on dashing waves the craft divine
Had here and there o'er ocean's billows swum,
It was made fast upon the narrow strand.
320 There is in Phrygia on the dark mainland

(236-261.)

{p. 27}

A steep, tall mountain; Ararat its name,
Because upon it all were to be saved
From death, and there was great desire of heart;
Thence streams of the great river Marsyas spring.
325 There on a lofty peak the ark abode
When the waters ceased, and then again from heaven
The voice divine of the great God this word
Proclaimed: "O Noah, guarded, faithful, just,
Come boldly forth, with thy sons and thy wife
330 And the three brides, and fill ye all the earth,
Increasing, multiplying, rendering justice
To one another through all generations,
Until to judgment every race of men
Shall come; for judgment shall be unto all."
335 Thus spoke the voice divine. Then from his couch
Noah, encouraged, hastened on the land,
And with him went his sons and wife and brides,
And creeping things, and birds and quadrupeds,
And all things else went from the wooden house
340 Into one place. And then went Noah forth
As eighth, most just of men, when on the waters
He had made full twice twenty days and one
Because of counsels of the mighty God.
Then a new stock of life again arose,
345 Golden first, which indeed was sixth, and best,

(262-284.)

{p. 28}

From the time when the first-formed man appeared;
Heavenly its name, because all things to God
Shall be a care. O first race of sixth age!
O mighty joy which I thereafter shared,
350 When I escaped sheer ruin, by the waves
Much tossed, with husband and with brothers-in-law,
Stepfather and stepmother, and with wives
Of husband's brothers suffering terribly.
Fitting things now will I sing: There shall be
355 On the fig-tree a many-colored flower,
And afterward the royal power and sway
Shall Cronos have. For three kings of great soul,
Men most just, shall distribute portions then,
And many a year rule, rendering what is just
360 To men who care for toil and deeds of love.
And earth shall glory in her many fruits
Self-growing, yielding much corn for the race.
And the foster-fathers, ageless all their days,
Shall from diseases chill and dreadful be
365 Far aloof; they shall die as fallen on sleep,
And unto Acheron in the abodes
Of Hades they shall go away, and there
Shall they have honor, since they were a race

[348. Sixth.--" The Erythræan Sibyl says that she lived in the sixth age after the flood," writes Eusebius, Orat. ad Sanct., xviii [G., 20, 1285]. Here we note that she assumes to be a daughter-in-law of Noah. Comp. close of book iii.

855. Many-colored flower.--Here employed as an image of the fertility of the royal race of whom she is about to sing.

357. Three kings.--The three sons of Noah would seem to have been identified in the Sibyl's thought with Cronos, Titan, and Iapetus of the Greek mythology. Comp. book iii, 130.

366. Acheron was a river of the lower world. Verg., Æn., vi, 295.]

(285-303.)

{p. 29}

Of blessed ones, fortunate heroes, whom
370 The Lord of Sabaoth gave a noble mind,
And with whom always he his counsels shared.
But blessed shall they be even when they go
In Hades. And then afterward again
Oppressive, strong, another second race
375 Of earth-born men, the Titans. All excel
In figure, stature, growth; and there shall be
One language, as of old from the first race
God in their breasts implanted. But even these,
Having a haughty heart and rushing on
380 To ruin, shall at last resolve to fight
Against the starry heaven. And then the stream
Of the great ocean shall upon them pour
Its raging waters. But the mighty Lord
Of Sabaoth though enraged shall check his wrath,
385 Because he promised that again no flood
Should be brought upon men of evil soul.
    But when the great high-thundering God shall cause
The boundless swelling of the many waters--
With their waves hither and thither rising high--
390 To cease from wrath, and into other depths
Of sea their measure lessen, setting bounds
By harbors and rough headlands round the land;
Then also shall a child of the great God
Come, clothed in flesh, to men, and fashioned like
395 To mortals in the earth; and he doth hear

(304-326.)

{p. 30}

Four vowels, and two consonants in him
Are twice announced; the whole sum I will name:
For eight ones, and as many tens on these,
And yet eight hundred will reveal the name
400 To men insatiate; and do thou discern
In thine own understanding that the Christ
Is child of the immortal God most high.
And he shall fulfill God's law, not destroy,
Bearing his very image, and all things
405 Shall he teach. Unto him shall priests convey
And offer gold, and myrrh, and frankincense;
For all these things he'll also bring to pass.
But when a voice shall through the desert land
Come bearing tidings to men, and to all
410 Shall call to make straight paths, and from the heart
Cast wickedness out and illuminate
With water all the bodies of mankind,
That being born again they may no more
From what is righteous go at all astray--
415 And one of barbarous mind, by dances bound,
Cutting that (voice) off shall bestow reward--

(326-343.)

{p. 31}

Then on a sudden there shall be a sign
To mortals, when, watched over, there shall come
Out of the land of Egypt a fair stone;
420 And on it shall the Hebrew people stumble;
But by his guiding nations shall be brought
Together; for the God who rules on high
They also shall know through him, and the way
In common light. For unto chosen men
425 Will he show life eternal, but the fire
Will be for ages on the lawless bring.
And then shall he the sickly heal, and all
Who are blameworthy who shall trust in him..
And then the blind shall see, the lame shall walk,
430 The deaf shall hearken, and the dumb shall speak.
Demons shall he drive out, and of the dead
There shall be an uprising; on the waves
Shall he walk; also in a desert place
Shall he five thousand satisfy with food
435 From five loaves and a fish out of the sea,
    And with the remnants of them, for the hope
Of peoples, shall he fill twelve baskets full.
And then shall Israel, drunken, not discern,
Nor shall they hear, oppressed with feeble cars.
440 But when the maddening wrath of the Most High
Shall come upon the Hebrews, and take faith
Away from them, because they slew the Son
Of the heavenly God; then also with foul lips

[415. Dances.--See Matt. xiv, 6-10.

418. Watched over.--By God and angels, as told in Matt. ii.

419. Egypt.--See Matt. ii, 13-15, 21. Stone.--Comp. Matt. xxi, 42, 44, and I Pet. ii, 4-8; Zech. iii, 9.

424. Common light.--Comp. John i, 4-9.

429-437. Comp. book viii, 270-274 and 361-369. Cited also by Lactantius in Div. Inst. iv, 16 [L., 6, 493].]

(343-366.)

{p. 32}

Shall Israel give him cuffs and spittle drugged.
445 And gall for food and vinegar unmixed
For drink will they, with evil madness smitten
In bosom and in heart, give impiously,
Not seeing with their eyes, more blind than moles,
More terrible than crawling poisonous beasts,
450 Fast bound by heavy sleep. But when his hands
He shall spread forth and measure out all things,
And bear the crown of thorns, and they shall pierce
His side with reeds, for which dark monstrous night
Shall be for three hours in the midst of day,
455 Then also shall the temple of Solomon
Bring to an end a mighty sign for men,
When he shall to the house of Hades go
Proclaiming resurrection to the dead.
But when in three days he shall come again
460 Unto the light, and show his form to men
And teach all things, ascending in the clouds
Unto the house of heaven shall he go
Leaving the world a Gospel convenant.
And in his name shall blossom a new shoot
465 From nations that are guided by the law
Of the Mighty One. But also after this
There shall be wise guides, and then afterward
There shall be a cessation of the prophets.
    After that, when the Hebrew people reap
470 Their evil harvest, shall a Roman king
Much gold and silver utterly destroy.
And afterward shall other royal powers
Continuously arise as kingdoms perish,

(366-390.)

{p. 33}

And they will oppress mortals. But great fall
475 Shall be for those men, when they shall begin
Unrighteous arrogance. But when the temple
Of Solomon in the holy land shall fall,
Cast down by barbarous men in brazen mail,
And from the land the Hebrews shall be driven
480 Wandering and wasted, and among the wheat
They shall much darnel mingle, there shall be
Evil contention among, all mankind;
And the cities suffering outrage shall bewail
Each other, in their breasts receiving wrath
485 Of the great God, since they wrought evil work.

(391-400.)

{p. 34}

{p. 35}

BOOK II.

{p. 36}

CONTENTS OF BOOK II.

Introduction, 1-6. A time of plagues and wickedness, 7-15. The tenth race, 16-28. A time of peace, 29-36. Great sign and contest, 37-63. A chapter of proverbs, 64-188. The contest, 189-195. Woes of the last generation, 196-222. Events of the last day, 223-263. Resurrection and judgment, 264-312. Punishment of the wicked, 313-383. Blessedness of the righteous, 384-403. Some saved from the fire, 404-415. The Sibyl's wail, 416-427.

{p. 37}

BOOK II.

    Now while I much entreated God restrained
My wise song, also in my breast again
He put the charming voice of words divine.
In my whole body terror-stricken these
5 I follow; for I know not that I speak,
    But God impels me to proclaim each thing.
But when on earth come shocks, fierce thunderbolts,
Thunders and lightnings, storms, and evil blight,
And rage of jackals and of wolves, manslaughter,
10 Destruction of men and of lowing kine,
Four-footed cattle and laborious mules,
And goats and sheep, then shall the ample field
Be barren from neglect, and fruits shall fail,
And there shall be a selling of their freedom
15 Among most men, and robbery of temples.
And then shall, after these, appear of men
The tenth race, when the earth-shaking Lightener
Shall break the zeal for idols and shall shake
The people of seven-hilled Rome, and riches great

(1-18)

{p. 38}

20 Shall perish, burned by Vulcan's fiery flame.
And then shall bloody signs from heaven descend--
      .     .     .     .     .
But yet the whole world of unnumbered men
Enraged shall kill each other, and in tumult
Shall God send famines, plagues, and thunderbolts
25 On men who, without justice, judge of rights.
And lack of men shall be in all the world,
So that if anyone beheld a trace
Of man on earth, he would be wonderstruck.
And then shall the great God who dwells in heaven
30 Saviour of pious men in all things prove.
And then shall there be peace and wisdom deep,
And the fruit-bearing land shall yield again
Abundant fruits, divided not in parts
Nor yet enslaved. And every harbor then,
35 And every haven, shall be free to men
As formerly, and shamelessness shall perish.
    And then will God show mortals a great sign:
For like a lustrous crown shall shine a star,
Bright, all-resplendent, from the radiant heaven
40 Days not a few; and then will he display
From heaven a crown for contest unto men
Who wrestle. And then there shall be again
A mighty contest of triumphal march

[21. There seems to be a lacuna of one line after this, containing perhaps a mention of omens and drops of blood, as in book xii, 73, where a similar thought is found.

43. Contest of triumphal march.--Allusion to the iselastic ({Greek ei'selastiko's}) contests, the victors in which were conducted into their own city through a broken part of the wall. See Pliny, book x, Epis. 119 and 120, in which these games are mentioned. Alexandre conjectures that this whole passage (lines 37-63) concerning contests and crowns was first written in a time of persecution to inspire to fidelity; but after persecution had ceased it was accommodated to the more common struggles of the Christian life.]

(19-39.)

{p. 39}

Into the heavenly sky, and it shall be
45 For all men in the world, and have the fame
Of immortality. And every people
Shall then in the immortal contests strive
For splendid victory. For no one there
Can shamelessly with silver buy a crown.
50 For unto them will the pure Christ adjudge
That which is due, and crown the ones approved,
And give his martyrs an immortal prize
Who carry on the contest unto death.
And unto chaste men who run their race well
55 Will he the incorruptible reward
Of the prize give, and to all men allot
That which is due, and also to strange nations
That live a holy life and know one God.
And those who have regard for marriages
60 And keep themselves far from adulteries,
To them rich gifts, eternal hope, he'll give.
For every human soul is God's free gift,
And 'tis not right men stain it with vile deeds.
    [Do not be rich unrighteously, but lead

(40-56)

{p. 40}

65 A life of probity. Be satisfied
With what thou hast and keep thyself from that
Which is another's. Speak not what is false,
But have a care for all things that are true.
Revere not idols vainly; but the God
40 Imperishable honor always first,
And next thy parents. Render all things due,
And into unjust judgment come thou not.
Do not cast out the poor unrighteously,
Nor judge by outward show; if wickedly
75 Thou judgest, God hereafter will judge thee.
Avoid false testimony; tell the truth.
Maintain thy virgin purity, and guard
Love among all. Deal measures that are just;
For beautiful is measure full to all.
80 Strike not the scales oneside, but draw them equal.
Forswear not ignorantly nor willingly;
God hates the perjured man in that he swore.
A gift proceeding out of unjust deeds
Never receive in hand. Do not steal seed;
85 Accursed through many generations he
Who took it unto scattering of life.
Indulge not vile lusts, slander not, nor kill.
Give the toilworn his hire; do not afflict
The poor man. Unto orphans help afford
90 And to widows and the needy. Talk with sense;
Hold fast in heart a secret. Be unwilling
To act unjustly nor yet tolerate
Unrighteous men. Give to the poor at once
And say not, "Come to-morrow." Of thy grain
95 Give to the needy with perspiring hand.

(56-79.)

{p. 41}

He who gives alms knows how to lend to God.
Mercy redeems from death when judgment comes.
Not sacrifice, but mercy God desires
Rather than sacrifice. The naked clothe,
100 Share thy bread with the hungry, in thy house
Receive the shelterless and lead the blind.
Pity the shipwrecked; for the voyage is
Uncertain. To the fallen give a hand;
And save the man that stands without defense.
105 Common to all is suffering, life's a wheel,
Riches unstable. Having wealth, reach out
To the poor thy hand. Of what God gave to thee
Bestow thou also on the needy one.
Common is the whole life of mortal men;
110 But it comes out unequal. When thou seest
A poor man never banter him with words,
Nor harshly accost a man who may be blamed.
One's life in death is proven; if one did
The unlawful or just, it shall be decided
115 When he to judgment comes. Disable not
Thy mind with wine nor drink excessively.
Eat not blood, and abstain from things
Offered to idols. Gird not on the sword
For slaughter, but defense; and would thou might
120 It neither lawlessly nor justly use:
For if thou kill an enemy thy hand
Thou dost defile. Keep from thy neighbor's field,
Nor trespass on it; just is every landmark,
And trespass painful. Useful is possession
125 Of lawful wealth, but of unrighteous gains
'Tis worthless. Harm not any growing fruit
Of the field. And let strangers be esteemed
In equal honor with the citizens;

(80-104.)

{p. 42}

For much-enduring hospitality
130 Shall all experience as each other's guests;
But let there not be anyone a stranger
Among you, since, ye mortals, all of you
Are of one 'blood, and no land has for men
Any sure place. Wish not nor pray for wealth;
135 But pray to live from few things and possess
Nothing at all unjust. The love of gain
Is mother of all evil. Do not long
For gold or silver; in them there will be
A double-edged and soul-destroying iron.
140 A snare to men continually are gold
And silver. Gold, of evils source, of life
Destructive, troubling all things, would that thou
Wert, not to mortals such a longed-for bane!
For wars, because of thee, and pillaging
145 And murders come, and children hate their sires,
And brothers and sisters those of their own blood.
Plot no deceit, and do not arm thy heart
Against a friend. Keep not concealed within
A different thought from what thou speakest forth;
150 Nor, like rock-clinging polyp, change with place.
But with all be frank, and things from the soul
Speak thou forth. Whosoever willfully
Commits a wrong, an evil man is he;
But he that does it under force, the end
155 I tell not; but let each man's will be right.
Pride not thyself in wisdom, power, or wealth;
God only is the wise and mighty one
And full of riches. Do not vex thy heart
With evils that are past; for what is done
160 Can never be undone. Let not thy hand
Be hasty, but ferocious passion curb;

(105-129)

{p. 43}

For many times has one in striking done
Murder without design. Let suffering
Be common, neither great nor overmuch.
165 Excessive good has not brought forth to men
That which is helpful. And much luxury
Leads to immoderate lusts. Much wealth is prowl,
And makes one grow to wanton violence.
Passionate feeling, creeping in, effects
170 Destructive madness. Anger is a lust,
And when it is excessive it is wrath.
The zeal of good men is a noble thing,
But of the base is base. Of wicked men
The boldness is destructive, but renown
175 Follows that of the good. To be revered
Is virtuous love, but that of Cypris works
Increase of shame. A silly man is called
Very agreeable among his fellows.
With moderation eat, drink, and converse;
180 Of all things moderation is the best;
But trespass of its limit brings to grief.
Be not thou envious, faithless, or abusive,
Or evil-minded, or a false deceiver.
Be prudent and abstain from shameless deeds.
185 Imitate not what's evil, but leave thou
Vengeance to justice; for persuasion is
A useful thing, but strife engenders strife.
Trust not too quickly ere thou see the end.]
    This is the contest, these are the rewards;
190 These are the prizes; this the gate of life

(130-150.)

{p. 44}

And entrance into immortality,
Which God in heaven unto most righteous men
Appointed a reward for victory;
And through this gate shall gloriously pass
195 Those who shall then receive the victor's crown.
    But when this sign shall everywhere appear--
Children with gray hair on their temples born--
And human sufferings, famines, plagues, and wars,
And change of times, and many a tearful wail,
200 Ah! of how many parents in the lands
Will children mourn and piteously weep,
And with shrouds bury flesh and limbs in earth,
Mother of peoples, with the blood and dust
Themselves defiling. O ye wretched men
205 Of the last generation, evil doers,
Terrible, childish, not perceiving this,
That when the tribes of women do not bear
The harvest time of mortal men is come.
Near is the ruin when impostors come
210 Instead of prophets speaking on the earth.
And Beliar shall come and many signs
Perform for men. And then of holy men,
Elect and faithful, there shall be confusion,
And pillaging of them and of the Hebrews.

(160-170.)

{p. 45}

215 And there shall be upon them fearful wrath
When from the east a people of twelve tribes
Shall come in search of kindred Hebrew people
Whom Assyrian shoot destroyed; and over these
Shall nations perish. But they afterwards
220 Shall over men exceeding mighty rule,
Elect and faithful Hebrews, and enslave
Them as before, since their power ne'er shall fail.
He that is highest of all, the all-surveying,
Dwelling in heaven, will scatter sleep on men,
225 Covering the eyelids o'er. O blessed servants
Whom when the Master comes he finds awake!
And they all watch at all times and expect
With sleepless eyes. For it will be at dawn
Or eve or midday; but he sure shall come,
230 And it shall be as I say, it shall be,
To them that sleep, that from the starry heaven
The stars at midday will to all appear
With the two lights as the time hastens on.
And then the Tishbite, urging from the heaven
235 His chariot celestial, and on earth
Arriving, shall to all the world display
Three evil signs of life to be destroyed.
Alas for all the women in that day
Who shall be found with burden in the womb!

(170-191.)

{p. 46}

240 Alas for all who suckle tender babes!
Alas for all who shall dwell on the waves!
Alas for women who shall see that day!
For a dark mist shall hide the boundless world,
East, west, and south, and north. And then shall flow
245 A mighty stream of burning fire from heaven
And every place consume, earth, ocean vast,
And gleaming sea, and lakes and rivers, springs,
And cruel Hades and the heavenly sky.
And heavenly lights shall break up into one
250 And into outward form all-desolate.
For stars from heaven shall fall into all seas.
And all the souls of men shall gnash their teeth
Burned both by sulphur stream and force of fire
In ravenous soil, and ashes hide all things.
255 And then of the world all the elements
Shall be bereft, air, earth, sea, light, sky, days,
Nights; and no longer in the air shall fly
Birds without number, nor shall living things
That swim the sea swim any more at all,
260 Nor freighted vessel o'er the billows pass,
Nor kine straight-guiding plow the field, nor sound
Of furious winds; but he shall fuse all things
Together, and shall pick out what is pure.
    But when the immortal God's eternal angels
265 Arakiel, Ramiel, Uriel, Samiel,
And Azael, they that know how many evils

(191-216.)

{p. 47}

Anyone did before, shall from dark gloom
Then lead to judgment all the souls of men
Before the judgment-seat of the great God
270 Immortal; for imperishable is
One only, himself the almighty, One,
Who shall be judge of mortals; and to them
That dwell beneath will then the heavenly One
Give souls and spirit and voice, and also bones
275 Fitted with joints unto all kinds of flesh,
And both the flesh and sinews, veins and skin
About the body, and hair as before;
Divinely fashioned and with breathing moved
Shall bodies of those on earth one day be raised.
280 And then shall Uriel, mighty angel, break
The bolts of stern and lasting adamant
Which, monstrous, bold the brazen gates of Hades,
Straight cast them down, and unto judgment lead
All forms that have endured much suffering,
285 Chiefly the shapes of Titans born of old,
And giants, and all whom the deluge whelmed,
And all that perished in the billowy seas,
And all that furnished banquet for the beasts
And creeping things and fowls, these in a mass
290 Shall (Uriel) summon to the judgment-seat;
And also those whom flesh-devouring fire
Destroyed in flame, even these shall he collect
And place before the judgment-seat of God.
    And when the high-thundering Lord of Sabaoth
295 Making an end of fate shall raise the dead,
Sit on his heavenly throne, and firmly fix
The mighty pillar, then amid the clouds
Christ, who himself is incorruptible,

(216-241)

{p. 48}

Shall come unto the Incorruptible
300 In glory with pure angels, and shall sit
At the right hand on the great judgment-seat
To judge the life of pious and the way
Of impious men. And Moses, the great friend
Of the Most High, shall come enrobed in flesh
305 Also great Abraham himself shall come,
Isaac and Jacob, Joshua, Daniel,
Elijah, Habakkuk and Jonah, and
Those whom the Hebrews slew. But he'll destroy
The Hebrews after Jeremiah, all
310 Who are to be judged at the judgment-seat,
That worthy recompense they may receive
And pay for all each did in mortal life.
And then shall all pass through the burning stream
Of flame unquenchable; but all the just
315 Shall be saved; and the godless furthermore
Shall to all ages perish, all who did
Evils aforetime, and committed murders,
And all who are accomplices therein,
Liars and thieves, and ruiners of home,
320 Crafty and terrible, and parasites,
And marriage-breakers pouring forth vile words,
Dread, wanton, lawless, and idolaters;
And all who left the great immortal God,
Became blasphemers did the pious harm,
325 Destroying faith and killing righteous men
And all that with a shamelessness deceitful
And double-faced rush in as presbyters
And reverend ministers, who knowingly
Give unjust judgments, yielding to false words
330 More hurtful than the leopards and the wolves
And more vile; and ill that are grossly proud

(241-268)

{p. 49}

And usurers, who gains on gains amass
And damage orphans and widows in each thing;
And all that give to widows and to orphans
335 The fruit of unjust deeds, and all that cast
Reproach in giving from their own hard toils;
And all that left their parents in old age,
Not paying them at all, nor offering
To parents filial duty, and all who
340 Were disobedient and against their sires
Spoke a harsh word; and all that pledges took
And then denied them; and the servants all
Who were against their masters, and again
Those who licentiously defiled the flesh;
345 And all who loosed the girdle of the maid
For secret intercourse, and all who caused
Abortions, and all who their offspring cast
Unlawfully away; and sorcerers
And sorceresses with them, and these wrath
350 Of the heavenly and immortal God shall drive
Against a pillar where shall all around
In a circle flow a restless stream of fire;
And deathless angels of the immortal God,
Who ever is, shall bind with lasting bonds
355 In chains of flaming fire and from above
Punish them all by scourge most terribly;
And in Gehenna, in the gloom of night,
Shall they be cast 'neath many horrid beasts
Of Tartarus, where darkness is immense.
360 But when there shall be many punishments
Enforced on all who had an evil heart,
Yet afterward shall there a fiery wheel
From a great river circle them around,
Because they had a care for wicked deeds.

(269-296.)

{p. 50}

365 And then one here, another there, shall sires,
Young children, mothers, nursing babes, in tears
Wail their most piteous fate. No fill of tears
Shall be for them, nor piteous voice be heard
Of them that moan, one here, another there,
370 But long worn under dark, dank Tartarus
Aloud shall they cry; and they shall repay
In cursed places thrice as much as all
The evil work they did, burned with much fire;
And all of them, consumed by raging thirst
375 And hunger, shall in anguish gnash their teeth
And call death beautiful, and death shall flee
Away from them. For neither death nor night
Shall ever give them rest. And many things in vain
Will they ask of the God that rules on high,
380 And then will he his face turn openly
Away from them. For he to erring men
Gave, in seven ages for repentance, signs
By the hands of a virgin undefiled.
But the others, all to whom right and fair works
385 And piety and thoughts most just were dear,
Shall angels, bearing through the burning stream,
Lead unto light and life exempt from care,
Where comes the immortal way of the great God
And fountains three--of honey, wine, and milk.
390 And equal land for all, divided not
By walls or fences, more abundant fruits
Spontaneous shall then bear, and the course
Of life be common and wealth unapportioned.
For there no longer will be poor nor rich,

(297-322.)

{p. 51}

395 Tyrant nor slave, nor any great nor small,
Nor kings nor leaders; all alike in common.
No more at all will one say, "night has come,"
Nor "morrow comes," nor "yesterday has been;
Nor shall there many days of anxious care,
400 Nor spring, nor winter, nor the summer-heat,
Nor autumn be [nor marriage, nor yet death,
Nor sales, nor purchases], nor set of sun
Nor rising; for a long day will God make.
And to the pious will the almighty God
405 Imperishable grant another thing,
When they shall ask the imperishable God:
That he will suffer men from raging fire
And endless gnawing anguish to be saved;
And this will he do. For hereafter he
410 Will pluck them from the restless flame, elsewhere
Remove them, and for his own people's sake
Send them to other and eternal life
With the immortals, in Elysian field,

(323-337.)

{p. 52}

Where move far-stretching billows of the lake
415 Of ever-flowing Acheron profound.
    Ah, miserable woman that I am!
What shall I be in that day? for I sinned--
Being busy foolishly about all things,
Caring for neither marriage-bond nor reason;
420 But even in my wealthy husband's house
I shut the needy out; and formerly
I knowingly performed unlawful things.
But, Saviour, though I shameless things performed,
Do thou from my tormentors rescue me,
425 A shameless woman. And I pray thee now
Make me to rest a little from my song,
Holy Giver of manna, King of the great realm.

(337-341.)

{p. 53}

BOOK III.

{p. 54}

CONTENTS OF BOOK III.

Introduction, 1-10. Unity and power of God extolled, 11-34. Oracle against idolatry and sin, 35-64. Coming and judgment of the great King, 55-76. Coming of Beliar, 76-90. Reign of the woman and end of the world, 90-111. All things subject to Christ, 112-116. The tower of Babel, 117-132. Cronos, Titan, and Iapetus, 132-154. Cronos, Rhea, and the Titans, 155-187. End of the Titans and rise of many kingdoms, 188-196. The Sibyl's message, 196-201. Rule of the house of Solomon, 202-207. Rule of the Hellenes, 208-212. The Western Kingdom, 213-235. The Sibyl's burden, 236-241. Woes on the Titans and on many nations, 242-260. The righteous race, 261-303. The exodus and giving of the law, 304-325. Desolation and exile, 325-351. Restoration from exile, 352-361. The Sibyl ceases and begins again, 362-371. Woe on Babylon, 372-386. Woe on Egypt, 387-392. Woe on Gog and Magog, 393-397. Woe on Libya, 399-412. Great signs and woes on many cities, 413-433. Retributive judgment on Rome, 434-450. Doom of Smyrna, Samos, Delos, and Rome, 461-456. Peace of Asia and Europe, 457-473. The Macedonian woe, 474-482. The unnamed rulers. 483-499. The sign for Phrygia, 600-615. The fate of Ilium, 516-522. gongs of the blind old man, 523-541. Woes of Lycia, Chalcedon, Cyzicus, Byzantium, Rhodes, Lydia, Samos, Cyprus, and Trallis, 642-582. Italy's tribal wars, 683-590. Woes of Laodicea, Campania, Corsica, and Sardinia, 591-607. Woes of Mysia, Chalcedon, Galatia, Tenedos, Sicyon, and Corinth, 608-615. The Sibyl ceases and begins again, 616-619. Woes of Phœnicia, Crete, Thrace, Gog, Magog, Maurians, Ethiopians, and provinces of Asia Minor, 620-656. Oracles against Greece, 657-723. The holy race, 724-756, Egypt subdued, 766-774. Time of blessedness, 775-783. Exhortation to worship God, 184-794. Time of judgment, 795-816. The god-sent king, 817-829. Fearful time of judgment, 830-871. The Sibyl's testimony, 872-876. A Jewish millennium, 877-911. Exhortation to the Greek s, 912-928. Day of prosperity and peace, 928-947. Exhortation to serve God, 948-953. The Messianic day, 954-988. Signs of the end, 989-1003. The Sibyl's account of herself, 1004-1031.

{p. 55}

BOOK III.

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

[1. This third book of the Oracles is the most interesting and important of the entire collection. It is by far the longest, containing in the Greek text 829 verses. It is believed to be mainly of Jewish origin. In its present form, however, it is obviously a compilation of several distinct groups of oracles, one of which, lines 117-361 (Greek text, 97-294), contains the oldest portion of the Sibylline Oracles as they now exist. Two quite extensive fragments which have been preserved by Theophilus are by him said to have stood at the beginning of the Sibyl's prophecy and probably formed an introduction to this section of our third book (see Appendix, p. 267). In place of this more ancient introduction the compiler of our collection has inserted the first 116 lines of this book, which may be again subdivided into three parts, which appear to be so many separate fragments; lines 1-75, 76-111, 112-116. In some editions the first 75 lines (Greek text, 1-62) are appended to the preceding book, and some MSS. preface this book with the words, "Again in her third tome she says these things from the second discourse concerning God." Other clearly distinguishable sections of this book are the following: lines 362-616, 616-1003, 1004-1031 (Greek text, 295-488, 489-808, 809-827). The last section purports to he a personal vindication of the Sibyl.]

(1-9.)

{p. 56}

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,

(10-29.)

{p. 57}

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.

(29-50.)

{p. 58}

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

[62. Three.--One most naturally thinks here of the famous triumvirate of Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus; but it is difficult to explain the "fiery cataract" (line 65) and other pictures of judgment in immediate connection with those historic names.

76. The Sebastenes are most naturally understood of the inhabitants of Sebaste, or Samaria, and a Jewish writer living in the time of Augustus might have been readily disposed to think of a Beliar--antichrist--as issuing from among the hated Samaritans. Comp. the miracle-working antichrist of Dan. vii 25; viii, 23-25; xi, 36; and also 2 Thess. ii, 8-10.]

(51-69.)

{p. 59}

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,

(70-90.)

{p. 60}

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;

[112-116. This fragment has no necessary connection with what precedes or follows, and the MSS. are defective at this point.

117-129. This passage is cited in Theophilus, ad Autol., ii, 31 [G., 6, 1101]; Josephus, Ant., i, iv, 3. Comp. Eusebius, Præp. Evang., ix, 14 [G., 21, 702, 703]. See Gen. xi, 1-9. It is one of the oldest portions of the Sibyllines, but begins abruptly, as if its natural preceding context had been omitted.

122. Winds.--"The idea that God threw down the tower by means of the winds was probably first written down by our poet, but it is really nothing but a subtile interpretation of Gen. xi, 7."--Ewald, p. 33.]

(91-107.)

{p. 61}

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,

[130. Generation tenth.--Cited by Athenagoras, Legatio pro Christianis, xxx. [G., 6, 960], and Tertul., ad Nationes, ii, 12 [L., 1, 603]. In citing this passage Tertullian thus speaks of the Sibyl: "The Sibyl was earlier than all literature, that Sibyl, I mean, who was the true prophetess of truth. In hexameter verse she thus expounds the descent and exploits of Saturn."

132. Cronos.--Greek name for the more familiar Latin title Saturn. The story of the Titans in the following lines (132-187) is familiar to students of Greek mythology, but the old myth exists with numerous minor variations, and, according to Hesiod (Theog., 453-500), the birth and preservation of Zeus were somewhat different from this story.]

(108-126.)

{p. 62}

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.

(127-146.)

{p. 63}

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

(147-170.)

{p. 64}

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,

[208. Hellenes.--The Græco-Macedonian kingdom is here evidently intended.

213. Another kingdom.--That of Rome, here called white, or brilliant, in allusion to the white toga worn by the Roman magistrates. Competitors for office were called candidati, because of the white robe in which they presented themselves. Martial (Epig., viii, 65, 6) speaks of candida cultu Roma--"Rome white in apparel," The epithet many-headed has been supposed to point to Rome while she was yet a republic and had her hundred or more senators as rulers. But there may be an allusion to the biblical symbolism of Dan. vii, 6, and Rev. xiii, 1.]

(170-190.)

{p. 65}

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--

(190-209.)

{p. 66}

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;

(209-230)

{p. 67}

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,

(231-256.)

{p. 68}

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.]
To them alone the bounteous field yields fruit
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

(256-279.)

{p. 69}

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. . . .

[345. Seven decades.--See Jer. xxv, 9-12.

352. The king here referred to is perhaps best explained of Cyrus, and the description should be compared with Isa. xliv, 28; xlv, 14. Ewald (p. 32) understands the king to be the Messiah, and, indeed, the language of lines 352 and 353 (Greek text, 286, 287), taken apart from the context, naturally suggests a supernatural ruler and judge. The poet may have intended to connect the advent of the Messiah with the restoration of the Jews and the rebuilding of their temple. But the context here and in the parallel passage, lines 817-826 below, points rather to Cyrus, whom Isaiah calls the anointed one of Jehovah and represents as the conqueror of nations, "saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid."

954. Royal tribe.--Judah, which returned from Babylonian exile, and under Zerubbabel, a descendant of the house of David (Matt. i, 12; Luke iii, 27), rebuilt the temple.

357, 358 Kings shall aid.--Comp. Ezra i, 4; vi, 8; vii, 15, 16, 22.

369. The holy dream.--Perhaps alluding to the visions and prophecies of Zechariah and Haggai (comp. Ezra v, i).]

(280-294.)

{p. 70}

    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

(295-314.)

{p. 71}

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,

[392. Seventh.--See line 233, and note.

393. Gog and Magog.--Names derived from Ezek. xxxviii, 2. Comp. Rev. xx, 8. Here apparently applied as symbolical names to the Ethiopians of the Upper Nile.

399. Daughters of the west.--Roman. cities lying west of Egypt on or near the Mediterranean sea.

405. Great house.--Obvious allusion to the temple at Jerusalem and its destruction by the Romans.

406. Iron teeth.--Comp. Dan. vii, 7, 19.]

(315-333)

{p. 72}

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

[412. Desolations.--Rzach's text here proposed the reading {Greek e?'pma}, support, prop; but in his Corrigenda he concedes that the reading {Greek e?'phma po'lmes}, proposed by Gomperz, is far preferable. Comp. Isa. i, 7.

414. Among most nations the appearance of a comet has been regarded by the superstitious as a sign of the evils here specified.

418. Tanais.--Ancient classic name of the Don, which empties into the modern sea of Azof, the ancient Lake Mæotis.

424-430. These names of cities are inserted in the translation in the order in which they stand in Rzach's text. Of course no rhythmic arrangement is practicable.

434-450. This prophecy of the subjugation of Rome by Asia is referred {footnote p. 73} to by Lactantius, Div. Inst., vii, 15 [L., 6, 787-790], who declares that "the Sibyls openly say that Rome shall perish, and that too by the judgment of God, because she held his name in contempt, was an enemy of righteousness, and slew a people that was a keeper of truth." Previously, in the same chapter, he says: "The Roman name by which the world is now ruled shall be taken from the earth, and the power will revert to Asia, and the East will again rule, and the West will be in subjection." The "virgin" addressed in line 442, being a "child of Latin Rome," cannot without unnatural violence be understood of "the virgin daughter of the true God, the community of Israel, which, while inflicting divine punishment, also contributes to the true welfare" (Ewald, p. 19), but is rather a poetical name for Rome herself. The "mistress," in line 446, is understood by Alexandre of the goddess Fortune, whom Horace (Od., i, 35) addresses as able "in a moment either to lift a mortal body from the lowest place, or to turn the noblest triumphs into funeral scenes."]

(333-350.)

{p. 73}

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

(351-364.)

{p. 74}

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,

[454, 455. These lines contain a notable play on the names Samos, Delos, and Rome. Comp. also book iv, 126, and viii, 218. Comp. also Tertullian, De Pallio, ii [L., 2, 1034]; Lactantius, vii, 25 [6, 812]; Palladius, Lausiaca, cxviii [G., 34, 1227].

474-482. This passage is most naturally explained as referring to the Macedonian rule of Alexander and his successors, who endeavored to appear as haughty, world-ruling sons of Cronos (Saturn), but were, as a matter of fact, of heathen origin, ignoble, and really a bastard race. Perseus, the last of them, was truly a bastard. So Ewald, Abhandlung, p. 12.]

(365-384.)

{p. 75}

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

(385-402.)

{p. 76}

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,

[507. Dorylæum.--Situated on the river Thymbris, in Phrygia, and noted for its hot baths. The entire region round about has suffered fearfully from earthquakes. That time, according to the poet, would be so noted for earthquakes as to take the title of the Earth-shaker himself.

517. An Erinys.--Here referring to Helen, wife of Menelaus of Sparta, who was the occasion of the Trojan war, and is called by Vergil (Æn., ii, 573) "the common Erinys of Troy and native land." Comp. book xi, 166.

523. Aged mortal.--Reference to the blind Homer.

627. Two names.--Besides his common name, Homer is also called "a {footnote p. 77} Chian" because the island Chios was said to be his birthplace. Possibly the reference is to Melesigenes and Mæonides, two names often applied to Homer.]

(403-422.)

{p. 77}

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

[653. Patara.--A chief city of Lycia and place of a very famous oracle of Apollo.]

(422-443.)

{p. 78}

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

[556. Rhodes.--The famous island off the southern coast of Caria, where now, as of old, it is said there is scarcely a day of the whole year in which the sun is not visible. Not mingling in the quarrels of Alexander's successors, Rhodes enjoyed a considerable period of peace and prosperity, and carried an extensive commerce with Egypt. Its subsequent enslavement and downfall were mainly due to the fact that it was such a tempting spoil for greedy conquerors.

577. Very precious wealth.--Mendelssohn's emendation approved by Rzach in his Corrigenda. The common reading of MSS. is, wealth of heavy-hearted men.]

(443-461.)

{p. 79}

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

(462-477.)

{p. 80}

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

[616. Here a new section begins, and has an exordium similar to those of lines 1-10, 196-201 and 362-371.

620. Phœnician men.--Famed for their extensive commerce. Ewald (p. 38) sees in this oracle an evidence of the bitter feeling of the author toward Phœnicia, chiefly on account of commercial rivalry.]

(419-497.)

{p. 81}

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

[647. Mardians and Daians.--The Mardians were a warlike tribe which occupied the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, and the Daians, or Dahæ, were a great Scythian people whose territory lay on the southeast of the same sea. They were naturally associated in thought with Gog and Magog. Comp. line 391 above.]

(498-518)

{p. 82}

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,

(519-540.)

{p. 83}

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.

(540-561.)

{p. 84}

    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,

(562-586.)

{p. 85}

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,

[741-750. Cited by Clem. Alex., Cohort., vi [G., 8, 176].

757. For the text see Rzach's Addenda et Corrigenda.

764. Young king.--Or new king; Ptolemy Philometer, the seventh from Alexander, including the latter, as the poet evidently intends.

168. Great king.--Antiochus Epiphanes, who invaded Egypt B. C. 170, and carried off Ptolemy Philometer as prisoner.]

(586-611.)

{p. 86}

A 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,

(611-636.)

{p. 87}

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

(637-660.)

{p. 88}

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

(661-682)

{p. 89}

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

(683-709.)

{p. 90}

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
Magnanimous, and be upon thy guard.

(709-733)

{p. 91}

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

[915. Send now against this city.--Several critics have proposed to read, "Send not," and understand the passage as an exhortation to the Greeks of Egypt not to send to Jerusalem an army of Alexandrine Jews, who might be excited by bad counsel to mix up with the Palestinian wars so constantly raging between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies. Such ill-advised action would be "moving Camarina," or provoking a fierce leopard in his lair. Another view is that the oracle dates about the beginning of the rise of the Maccabees, and is an exhortation to the Ptolemies to send to Jerusalem Jewish forces, numerous in Alexandria, to help their brethren in the Holy Land. But all the attempts to make the passage fit particular persons and events involve so much of fancy and conjecture that one may well hesitate to adopt any of them.

918. Camarina.--The allusion is to the well-known story of draining the marsh of Camarina, a city of southern Sicily. The inhabitants, disregarding the oracle, drained the neighboring marsh, which was believed to breed pestilence, and by so doing they opened a way for their enemies to come and destroy their city. Hence the proverb, "Move not Camarina," was equivalent to: Do not seek to remove one evil in a way that is likely to bring on another and greater one. Comp. Vergil, Æn., iii, 701.]

(734-745.)

{p. 92}

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

(746-773)

{p. 93}

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

[964. Cited by Lactantius, Div. Inst., iv, 6 [L., 6, 462].

976. Comp. Zech. ii, 10; ix, 9.

979-987. Comp. Isa. xi, 6-9. Cited also, with some verbal variations, by Lactantius, Div. Inst., vii, 24 [L., 6, 811].]

(774-797.)

{p. 94}

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

(798-817.)

{p. 95}

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.

(818-829.)

{p. 96}

{p. 97}