The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
The Twelfth Sibylline Oracle
But come, hear from me the doom-laden age of the sons of Latinus.
Truly, first, after the perishing kings
of Egypt, whom one same earth carried all down alike,
and after the citizen of Pella, beneath whom all
the East was struck down, and the rich West,
whom Babylon proved false, and gave his corpse to Philip —
no true son of Zeus, no true son of Ammon, as was rumored,
and after him of the race and blood of Assaracus,
who came from Troy, who split the onrush of fire,
and after many lords again, warlike men beloved of Ares,
and after infant children, the young of the sheep-devouring beast,
and after six hundred years have passed
and twice ten more, while Rome was ruled by dictators,
there shall be a first lord out of the western sea,
ruling Rome, greatly valiant and a warrior,
who obtained the first of the letters, and having fettered you
away from murderous war, he shall stand fast, O glory-fruited one;
you shall pay for the outrage you yourself let loose;
for he himself, great-hearted, shall excel in wars;
before whom Thrace shall cower, and Sicily, and after them Memphis,
Memphis brought low through the wickedness of her rulers
and of a woman, unenslaved, fallen by the spear;
and he shall ordain statutes for the nations and bring everything under his sway;
holding mighty glory, he shall rule long over the scepters;
for he shall not be surpassed by even a little time, nor shall any other
scepter-bearing king exceed him, of the Romans, not by one hour,
since God has ordained all things upon him;
and indeed he showed forth seasons upon the sacred earth,
great and wondrous, and upon them he displayed signs.
But when a star, wholly like the sun,
bright, shall appear from heaven in the midst of days,
then indeed the hidden Word of the Most High shall come,
bearing flesh like unto mortals; and with him
the might of Rome and of the glorious Latins shall increase,
yet he himself, the great king, by his own fate
shall die, handing over the royal power to another.
And after him another man, a mighty spearman,
shall rule, the purple robe cast about his shoulders,
he who bears, in the first stroke of the numbers, three hundred —
he shall destroy the Medes and the arrow-shooting Parthians together;
and he himself shall bring down the high-gated city by his might;
and evil shall come upon the city of Egypt, and upon the Assyrians,
the Colchians, the Heniochi, and the Germans who dwell by the streams of the Rhine, above the sandy shores.
he himself shall sack, thereafter, the high-gated
city near the Eridanus, plotter of evils.
and then he shall fall, struck down by gleaming iron.
and after him shall rule another man, a weaver of deceit,
who received the number of the three, and his name
the stroke of the letter shall reveal; and much gold shall he gather up.