The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
perishing in the strife of monstrous men.
males who before were cowardly and without strength
will cling to peace through the wickedness of their rulers.
and the wrath of the great God will come upon the Assyrians,
and a river's flood will destroy them, coming
into Caesar's city, it will wrong the Canaanites.
the Pyramus will water Mopsus' city, where will fall
the Aegeans through the strife of overbearing men.
wretched Antioch, heavy Ares will not leave you
as the Assyrian war presses hard about you;
for in your halls a foremost man of men will dwell,
who will make war on all the Persians, the arrow-shooters,
he himself born of the royal power of the Romans.
now adorn yourselves, cities of the Arabs, with temples and racecourses
and broad marketplaces and splendor-shining wealth
and statues of gold and silver and ivory;
but of all things most of all, though skilled in astrology,
Bostra and Philippopolis, there you will come to great mourning;
for the exulting spheres will not help you,
the zodiac's circle, the Ram, the Bull, the Twins,
nor all the others that appear with them in heaven,
the stars that mark the hours, wretched one, in which you trusted so much,
when that day of yours draws near hereafter.
but now I will sing for the war-loving Alexandrians
the most terrible wars; and a great host will perish,
citizens destroyed by rival townsmen
fighting for the sake of hateful strife, and around these
fearsome-faced Ares, rushing in, will set war ablaze.
and then again the great-hearted one with his mighty son
will fall by treachery through the elder king.
after him again will rule over strong, flourishing Rome
another great-hearted lord skilled in warfare,
sprung from the Dacians, of the number three hundred;
he will come from the fourth of the horned line, and will destroy many;
and then indeed all his brothers and friends
the king will destroy, and when kings have perished,
at once there will be plunder and murders of the faithful
suddenly, on account of the former king.
then, when the man of crafty mind comes upon his couch,
a robber from Syria appearing, a hidden Roman,
he will draw near treacherously to the race of the Cappadocians
and, laying siege, he will fall, insatiate of war;
then indeed for you, Tyana and Mazaca, capture will come;
you will be enslaved, and beneath him you will bow your neck to the yoke;
and Syria would weep for her perishing people,
nor will the Moon-goddess then save the sacred city.
when, fleeing beforehand from Syria, the shameless one who circles round,
escaping the Romans through the streams of the Euphrates,
no longer like the Romans, but like the haughty,
venom-shooting Persians, then the lord of the Italians