The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
caring for mortal men; yet no fulfillment shall be theirs;
for God was not born gracious to the world, nor will he be
gentle to men, since they have wrought so many evils.
Therefore again he shall bring upon kings a monstrous fury,
far worse than that of leopards or of wolves; for these,
the bronze-corseleted men, seizing them with their own hands,
shall utterly destroy their lords upon their very scepters,
helpless, subdued, unmanned like women.
Ah, wretched men, foremost of glorious Rome,
persuaded by lying, deceitful oaths, you shall be utterly destroyed.
And then many spear-wielding lords, not in due order,
men rushing upon them shall tear away whole generations
with the blood of firstborn men . . . . . . . . .
twice such a thing, and not for the first time, shall that pitiable fate be led on,
and it shall destroy all men by their own deeds.
But again God shall bring those who have shameless hearts
to judgment, as many as have devised evil things;
they themselves shall contrive it, casting it upon one another,
reaching for their own downfall in their eagerness for wickedness.
{all the stars shall fall, facing the sea}
many stars in succession, and a radiant comet
{men shall call the star, a sign of travail}
of great war coming on, and of much slaughter and strife. —
And when again he gathers many oracles concerning islands,
devising with strangers battle and destruction
and grievous, sacred ruin, he shall declare most swiftly
that wheat and barley are gathered into the houses of Rome, hastening toward wealth for twelve months.
And the city shall be in misery in those days,
but at once it shall again be prosperous, not by a little;
and there shall be quiet, when that which now holds power perishes.
And then the race of the Latins, its last king ruling,
shall come to an end, and after it a kingdom shall spring up anew,
and children and the generation of children shall stand unshaken;
for it shall be known to him, since God himself is ruler.
There is a certain land, a dear nurse to men,
lying in a plain, and around it the Nile marks its bounds,
watering all Libya and Ethiopia,
and Syrians, creatures of a day, plunder it, now one, now another,
every furnishing out of this land; in it a great
and noble lord and king shall be, sending forth for his children and his men.
And devising terrible things, over all things most terrible,
a mighty helper to all of great-hearted Italy;
and when he comes upon the wine-dark sea of Assyria
and lays waste the Phoenicians in their own homes,
binding fast evil war and dreadful strife,
of the two dominions of the earth there shall be one ruler.
But now I will sing the toilsome end for the men of Alexandria;
and holy Egypt, unharmed, unshaken,
barbarians shall dwell in it, when envy comes from somewhere;
{but when God shall change the seasons . . . . . . . . . .}