The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
he will hear the pitiful wailing of one another, this one and that,
but far off, beneath dark and moldering Tartarus,
tormented, they will cry out; and in unholy places
they will pay three times over for the evil deed they committed,
burning in great fire; and they will gnash their teeth,
all wasting away from raging thirst and violence,
and they will call death a good thing, and it will flee from them.
For no longer will death give these men rest, nor night.
And often in vain they will beg the god who rules on high,
and then he will openly turn his face away from them.
For seven ages he gave days for repentance
to men who had gone astray, through the hand of a holy virgin.
But the others, all those who cared for justice and noble deeds
and piety too, and the most righteous reasonings,
angels will lift up through the burning river
and lead into light and into a life free of care,
where lies the immortal path of the great god,
and three springs, of wine and honey and milk.
And the earth, equal to all, with no walls and no enclosures,
divided among them, will then bear more abundant fruits
of its own accord, and life will be shared, and wealth without division.
For there will be no poor man there, no rich man, no tyrant,
no slave, and none great or small any longer,
no kings, no rulers; but all alike together.
And no one at all will ever say, "night has come," nor yet "tomorrow,"
nor "yesterday happened," nor will anyone fret over the run of days,
no spring, no summer, no winter, no autumn,
no marriage, no death, no selling, no buying,
no setting, no rising of the sun; for he will make one long day.
And to them the almighty, imperishable God will grant still more:
to the pious, whenever they ask the imperishable God,
out of the raging fire and from the undying gnashing of teeth,
he will grant that men be saved; and this he will do.
For having chosen them out again from the unwearied flame,
removing them elsewhere, he will send them, for his own people's sake,
into another life, everlasting, among the immortals,
to the Elysian plain, where for him roll the long waves
of the ever-flowing lake, deep-bosomed Acherusia.
Ah, wretched me, what will become of me on that day,
because I, foolish in mind, having labored over everything,
sinned, caring neither for marriage nor for right reasoning,
but even in the halls of my wealth-hoarding husband
shut out those in need; and lawless things I did before,
knowing it. But you, Savior, from my tormentors
rescue me, shameless creature that I am, though I acted without shame.
And here I beg you to let me rest a little from my song,
holy bestower of manna, sovereign of the mighty realm.