The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
For they will pay the penalty to the sons of mighty Cronus,
because they bound Cronus and his honored mother.
A second time, for the Greeks there will be tyrannies and arrogant,
haughty kings, overbearing and unholy,
adulterers, wicked through and through, and never again for mortals
will there be rest from war. The Phrygians will perish terribly,
all of them, and evil will come upon Troy on that day.
At once evil will come upon the Persians and the Assyrians too,
upon all Egypt, Libya, and the Ethiopians,
upon the Carians and Pamphylians, evil enough to shake them from their place,
and upon all mortals. Why should I proclaim it point by point?
But when the first things reach their end, at once there will come
second things upon mankind. And first of all I will cry aloud.
Evil will come upon righteous men, who around the great
temple of Solomon dwell, and who of just
men are the offspring; likewise I will cry aloud of these too,
their tribe and the generation of their fathers and the whole people —
all of it in full detail, you devious mortal, crooked in your scheming.
There is a city ..... beneath the earth, Ur of the Chaldeans,
from which is the race of the most righteous men,
whose care is always for good counsel and noble deeds.
For they do not concern themselves with the circling course of the sun nor of the moon,
nor the monstrous works beneath the earth,
nor the depth of the gray-green sea, of Ocean,
nor signs of sneezing, nor the birds of the bird-diviners,
no seers, no sorcerers, nor indeed enchanters,
no foolish deceits of tales from belly-talking ventriloquists,
nor do they read the stars for the prophecies of the Chaldeans
nor do they practice astronomy; for all these things are error,
whatever foolish men search after day by day,
exercising their souls in work of no use at all;
and indeed they taught wretched errors to mankind,
from which many evils come to mortals upon the earth,
causing them to wander from good paths and just deeds.
But those others are concerned with righteousness and virtue,
and not with love of money, which breeds countless evils
for mortal men, war and boundless famine.
For them just measures prevail in field and city alike,
and they do not commit thefts by night against one another,
nor do they drive off herds of cattle, sheep, and goats,
nor does neighbor move the boundary-markers of neighbor's land,
nor does any man grown rich distress the poorer man,
nor does he oppress widows, but rather he helps them,
always giving aid with grain, wine, and oil;
and always the wealthy man in the community, toward those who have nothing,
toward the destitute, sends a share of his harvest,
fulfilling the word of the great God, the lawful hymn;
for the Heavenly One made the earth common to all.
But when the twelve-tribed people shall leave Egypt
and journey on their path under god-sent leaders