The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
Wide-spaced Hellas, and the tribes of many other nations,
Persians and Galatians, and all of Asia besides, transgressing
the sacred ordinance of the deathless God, transgressing it --
in return for this the Immortal will set upon all mortals
ruin and famine and sufferings and groaning,
and war and plague and tearful griefs,
because the immortal begetter of all mankind
they would not honor rightly, but honored idols instead,
worshiping things made by hand, which mortals themselves will fling away
hiding them in the clefts of rocks, out of shame,
when a new seventh king of Egypt shall rule
his own land, counted from the rule of the Greeks,
the rule which countless Macedonian men will hold --
then from Asia a great king shall come, a blazing eagle,
who will cover all the land with foot soldiers and horsemen,
and cut down everything, and fill everything with evils;
he will overthrow the kingdom of Egypt, and taking
all its wealth, he rides on over the broad back of the sea.
And then indeed they shall bend the knee to the great God, the king,
the immortal one, their white knee upon the all-nourishing earth;
and all the works made by hands shall fall into the flame of fire.
And then indeed God will give great joy to men;
for earth and trees and the countless flocks of sheep
will give to men their true fruit --
wine, and honey sweet, and milk pale as snow
and grain, which of all things is fairest to mortals.
But you, cunning mortal, do not delay, do not linger,
but turn back from your wandering and appease God.
Sacrifice to God hundreds of bulls and lambs
and firstborn goats, as the seasons come round.
But appease him, the immortal God, that he may show mercy.
For he alone is divine, and none exists beside him.
Honor justice, and oppress no one.
For these things the Immortal commands to wretched mortals.
But guard yourself against the wrath of the great God,
when the end of plague shall come upon all mortals,
and, overpowered, they meet the fearful outcome of judgment,
and king shall seize king and take away his land,
and nations shall ravage nations, and tribes their rulers,
and the leaders shall all flee into another land,
and the earth of mortals shall be changed, and a barbarian rule
shall ravage all Hellas and the rich land,
draining it of its wealth; and against one another
they shall come into strife for the sake of gold and silver; and there shall be
love of money, shepherding evils upon the cities.
In a foreign land, and all shall be left unburied,
and of them the vultures and the wild beasts of the earth
shall devour the flesh; and when these things are accomplished,
let the monstrous earth consume the remains of the dead.
and the whole land itself shall be unsown and unplowed.