The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
When winter turns to summer, then all the oracles are fulfilled.
But when three boys win victory at Olympia,
and if indeed they proclaim it, one shall speak god-inspired oracles,
purified first with the blood of a suckling four-footed beast,
then thrice shall the Most High bring on a dread fate,
not mournfully, when he stretches his long spear over all,
much barbarian blood shall then flow in the dust,
at the hands of inhospitable strangers, when the city is sacked.
Blessed is he who has died, and blessed is he who is childless;
for he shall set his neck beneath the slavish yoke,
he who once ruled renowned for his freedoms,
turning over counsels once celebrated in song;
such bondage the lord of many thrones shall impose.
And then straightway the ill-fated army of the Sicilians shall come,
bringing terror, when a great barbarian nation attacks;
when the crops have sprouted, they shall cut through the fields.
On them the high-thundering god shall give evil instead of good;
stranger shall ever plunder stranger for hateful gold.
But when all shall look upon the blood of the lion,
the raw-devouring lion, and a murderous lioness shall come upon the body,
down from his very head, and he shall cast the scepter from himself.
And as when at a beloved feast all the peoples in Egypt taste together,
and perform mighty deeds,
one holding back another, and great clamor rises among them;
just so shall terror come upon men
from raging strife, and many others too shall perish,
slaying one another in the mighty battle;
and then shall come one clad thick in dark-blue scales;
two others shall come, of one accord with each other,
and a third with them, a great ram out of Cyrene,
of whom I spoke before, fleeing the battle beside the streams of the Nile;
but not even so shall all of them finish their journey without toil.
And then, as the great years roll round,
there shall be long stretches of much peace; but afterward
war shall be set upon them again a second time in Egypt,
and there shall be a sea-battle, but victory shall not be theirs.
O wretched ones, the famous city shall be brought low,
and shall become the spoil of wars, but not for long.
And then men who share the borders of a great land
shall flee in cowardice, leading their grey-haired parents with them.
And again they shall meet a child holding great victory,
they shall destroy the Jews, men steadfast in war,
ravaging with wars as far as the grey sea,
both of them shepherds, fighting for fatherland and parents.
And he shall lay among the dead the race of trophy-bearing men.
Ah, how many men shall be swimming among the waves!
for many shall lie upon the sandy shores;
fair-haired heads shall fall to the birds of Egypt;
then indeed the mortal blood of the Arabs shall be avenged.
But when wolves in turn make firm their oaths with dogs
on a sea-girt island, then shall towers rise again,
and men shall dwell in the city that suffered much.
For no longer shall there be deceitful gold nor silver,
no possession of land, no toilsome slavery;
but one love and one way of life for the well-minded people;
all things shall be shared, and one equal light of life.
Evil shall sink into the earth, into the sacred sea.
And then near at hand shall be the harvest-time of mortal men.
A mighty necessity shall be laid upon these things to be fulfilled.
No other wayfarer meeting him shall then say,
how the race of mortal men, though perishing, shall ever find rest.
And then the holy nation shall hold the scepters of all the earth
for all ages, together with their mighty forebears.