The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
And to this man's children and to his most blessed grandsons
they shall give shares of kingly rule for the sake of dominion,
unto eight hundred years, and six more units beside them,
years he shall reign, and to the very last they shall contend for it.
When the mighty beast shall come together with strong Ares,
then for you, queen of the earth, wrath shall burst forth.
Woe to you, land of Persia, what floods you shall receive
of human blood, when that man shall come upon you,
the man of raging spirit; then again I shall cry these things to you.
But when Italy brings forth a great wonder for mortals,
the whimpering of infants beside an undefiled spring,
in a shadowy cave, the whelps of a sheep-devouring beast,
who, grown to manhood upon seven mighty hills,
shall cast down many who bear a shameless spirit,
both numbering a hundred, to whom a name shall show
a great sign of things to come; and upon the seven hills, walls
mighty they shall build, and around them heavy war
they shall set in motion. Then again there shall be an uprising of men
springing up around you, great land of the fair grain-ear,
great-hearted Egypt; but again I shall cry these things.
Toward a great blow besides, you shall take into your houses,
and again there shall be for you an uprising of your own men.
But now for you, wretched Phrygia, I mourn most piteously;
for capture shall come upon you from horse-taming Greece,
and dreadful war through mighty battles.
Ilium, I pity you; for out of Sparta a Fury
shall come to your halls, mingled with a deadly star;
and for you above all, toils and hardships and groaning and wailing
it shall bring, when men well skilled in war begin the battle,
heroes of the war-loving Greeks, by far the best.
And one of these shall be a king, a mighty spearman;
for the sake of his brother he shall pursue the vilest deeds.
And they themselves shall destroy the famous walls of Phrygian Troy;
when, twice five years having run their circle,
the son of Cronos shall fulfill the bloodstained works of war,
and suddenly a wooden house shall enfold men within it,
and you shall take it upon your lap, not knowing
that it is pregnant with an ambush of Greeks, O grief-laden city;
alas, in a single night how many shall Hades receive,
and how much plunder of the much-weeping old man
shall be carried off; but undying glory there shall be for those to come.
And a great king, a man sprung from Zeus, shall bear a name
beginning with that letter; and when he has won his homecoming,
then indeed he shall fall by the hand of a treacherous woman.
And one shall rule, of the race and blood of Assaracus,
a famous child of heroes, a mighty and valiant man.
He shall come from Troy, ravaged by great fire,
fleeing his fatherland through the fearsome toil of Ares;
bearing on his shoulders his aged father,
and holding by the hand his only son -- a pious deed