The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
[The purple-robed father shall smite down his warrior sire,
struck himself by his own son, before another shoot is planted,
he shall fail; but the root shall flourish again afterward,
self-sprung; and from it a kindred stock shall spring forth.]
For there shall be a queen of the land by the streams of the Nile,
where the sea comes on through seven-mouthed channels,
and by the number twenty her name shall be much-beloved.
Countless things she shall demand and gather all manner of wealth,
gold and silver alike; but treachery shall come upon her
from her own men. Then again for you, blessed land,
there shall be wars and battles and the slaughter of men.
But when many shall begin to rule flourishing Rome,
not indeed those blessed ones foretold, but tyrants,
commanders born over thousands and over tens of thousands,
overseers of the lawful markets, and the greatest
Caesars shall rule, succeeding one another for all their days;
and the last of these shall rule, the tenth in number,
the last of the Caesars, stretching his limbs upon the ground,
struck down by dread Ares at the hand of an enemy man;
whom the sons of Rome, bearing him with their own hands,
shall piously bury, and heap up over him a tomb,
sharing in his memory for the sake of that friendship.
But when the term of the year's circling time shall come,
twice two hundred years fulfilled, and twice ten more,
from when your founder, child of a beast, first ruled you,
no longer shall the dictator be a ruler bound by measure;
but a lord and king shall arise, a man like unto god.
Know then, Egypt, that a king is coming upon you;
and truly there shall come dread Ares, flashing-helmed.
And then for you, widow, capture shall come afterward;
for terrible and ravening wars, by force, around the walls of the land
shall be, evil-working. And in these wars
you yourself, suffering grievously, over the freshly wounded
shall flee, wretched one; but afterward you shall come to the bed
of that same fearsome one; that marriage-bed shall be your final union.
Alas for you, ill-wedded maiden — the kingly rule
you shall give to the Roman king, and pay back all
that you once did through manly deeds of war;
you shall give your whole land as a dowry to that mighty man,
even to inner Libya and the dark-skinned men.
No longer shall you be a widow, but shall dwell with a lion,
a man-devouring, fearsome warrior of war.
And then, wretched one, unseen among mankind
you shall be to all, for you shall perish, holding a shameless spirit;
and a resounding tomb, circling around, shall seize your solemn form,
fitted alive within its barred confines at the topmost heights, cunningly wrought, and many a people shall weep for you,
and the king himself shall groan over you in dread lament.
And then Egypt, the much-toiling, shall become a slave,
she who for many years bore trophies over the Indians;
she shall serve in shame, and mingle tears with her river.