Book 14
1 O men, why do ye vainly think on things
2 Too lofty, as if ye immortal were?
3 And ye are ruling but a little time,
4 And over mortals all desire to reign,
5 Not understanding that God himself hates
6 The lust of rule, and most of all things hates
7 Insatiate kings fearful in wickedness,
8 And over them he stirs up what is dark;
9 Wherefore, instead of good works and just thoughts,
10 Ye all choose for your garments purple robes,
11 Desiring wretched fights and homicides;
12 Them God imperishable who dwells in heaven
13 Shall make short-lived, destroy them utterly,
14 And overthrow one here, another there.
15 But when there shall a bull-destroyer come
16 Trusting in his own might, thick-haired and grim,
17 And shall destroy all, he shall also tear
18 Shepherds in pieces, and no victory
19 Shall be theirs unless soon, with speed of feet
20 Pursuing eagerly through wooded glens,
21 Young dogs shall meet in conflict; for a dog
22 Pursued the lion which destroys the shepherds.
23 And then there shall be a lord confident
24 In his might, and named with four syllables,
25 And shown forth clearly from the number one;
26 But him shall brazen Ares quickly slay
27 Because of conflict with insatiate men.
28 Then shall two other princely men bear rule,
29 Both of the number forty; and with them
30 Shall great peace be in the world and to all
31 The people law and right; but them in turn
32 Shall men with gleaming helmet, needing gold
33 And silver, impiously put to death
34 For these things, catching them by their deft plans.
35 And then again a dreadful lord shall rule,
36 Young, fighting hand to hand, whose name shall show
37 The number seventy, life-destroying, fierce,
38 Who to the army basely shall betray
39 The people of Rome, slain by wickedness.
40 Because of wrath of kings, and he shall hurl
41 Down every city and hut of the Latins.
42 And Rome is no more to be seen or hoard,
43 Such as of late another traveler saw;
44 For all these things shall in the ashes lie,
45 Nor shall there be a sparing of her works;
46 For hurtful he himself shall come from heaven,
47 God the immortal from the sky shall send
48 Lightnings and thunderbolts upon mankind;
49 And some he will destroy by lightnings burned,
50 And others with his mighty thunderbolts.
51 And Rome’s strong children and the famous Latins
52 Shall then the shameless dreadful ruler slay.
53 Around him dead the dust shall not lie light,
54 But he shall be a sport for dogs and birds
55 And wolves, for he a martial people spoiled.
56 After him, numbering forty, there shall rule
57 Another, famous Parthian-destroyer,
58 German-destroyer, putting down dread beasts
59 That kill men, which upon the ocean’s streams
60 And the Euphrates press continuous on.
61 And then shall Rome again be as before.
62 But when there comes a great wolf in thy plains,
63 A ruler marching onward from the West,
64 Then shall he under powerful Ares die
65 Being cleft asunder by the piercing brass.
66 And o’er the very mighty Romans then
67 Shall there rule yet again another man
68 Of great heart, from Assyria brought to light,
69 Of the first letter, and he shall himself
70 By means of wars put all things under him,
71 And by his armies at once power display
72 And lay down laws; but him shall brazen Ares
73 Quickly destroy by treacherous armies falling.
74 After him three of haughty heart shall rule,
75 One having the first number, one three tens,
76 And the other with three hundred shall partake,
77 Cruel, who gold and silver in much fire.
78 Shall melt in statues of gods made with hands,
79 And to the armies they, equipped for war,
80 Will, for the sake of victory, moneys give,
81 Dividing many costly things and goods;
82 And in like manner, striving eagerly
83 After power, they shall harm disastrously
84 The arrow-shooting Parthians of the deep
85 And swift Euphrates, and the hostile Medes,
86 And the soft-haired warlike Massagetæ
87 And Persians also, quiver-bearing men.
88 But when the king shall his own fate unloose
89 Leaving unto his sons more fit for arms
90 The royal scepter and entreating right,
91 Then they, forgetful of their father’s words
92 And having their hands all prepared for war,
93 Shall rush in conflict for the royal power.
94 And then another lord, of the third number,
95 Shall rule alone, and smitten by a sword
96 Shall quickly see his fate. Then after him
97 Shall many perish at each other’s hands,
98 Being very valiant for the royal power.
99 Moreover a great-hearted one shall rule
100 The very mighty Romans, an old lord,
101 Of the number four, and manage all things well.
102 And then upon Phoenicia shall come war
103 And conflict, when there shall come nations near
104 Of arrow-shooting Persians; ah, how many
105 Shall before men of barbarous speech fall down!
106 Sidon and Tripolis and Berytus
107 The loudly-boasting shall bebold each other
108 Amid the blood and bodies of the dead.
109 Wretched Laodicea, round thyself
110 Thou shalt a great and unsuccessful war
111 Stir up through the impiety of men.
112 Ah, hapless Tyrians, ye shall gather in
113 An evil harvest; when in the day-time
114 The sun that lighteth mortals shall withdraw,
115 And his disk not appear, and drops of blood
116 Thiek and abundant shall flow down from heaven
117 Upon the earth. And then the king shall die,
118 Betrayed by his companions. After him
119 Shall many shameless leaders still promote
120 The wicked strife and one another kill.
121 And then shall there a reverend ruler be,
122 Of much skill, with a name that numbers five,
123 Confiding in great armies, whom mankind
124 Will fondly love because of royal power;
125 And having the good name he shall thereto
126 Add by good deeds. But while he reigns there shall
127 ‘Twixt Taurus and snow-clad Amanus be
128 A fearful sign. From the Cilieian land
129 A city new and beautiful and strong
130 Shall by the deep strong rivers be destroyed.
131 And in Propontis and in Phrygia
132 Shall there be many earthquakes. And the king
133 Of great renown shall under his own lot
134 By wasting deadly sickness lose his life.
135 And after him shall rule two lordly kings,
136 One numbering three hundred, and one three;
137 And many shall he utterly destroy
138 In defense of the seven-hill city Rome,
139 And for the sake of powerful sovereignty.
140 And then shall evil to the senate come,
141 Nor shall it from the angry king escape
142 While he holds wrath against it. And a sign
143 Shall then appear to all men upon earth;
144 And fuller shall the rains be, snow and hail
145 Shall ruin field-fruits o’er the boundless earth.
146 But they shall fall in wars, slain by strong Ares
147 In behalf of the war for the Italians.
148 And then again another king shall rule,
149 Full of devices, gathering all the army,
150 And for the sake of war distributing
151 Money to those with brazen breastplate clad;
152 But thereupon shall Nilus, rich in corn,
153 Beyond the Libyan mainland irrigate
154 For two years the dark soil and fruitful land
155 Of Egypt; but all things shall famine seize
156 And war and robbers, murders, homicides.
157 And many cities shall by warlike men
158 Be thrown down headlong by the army’s hands;
159 And he, betrayed, shall fall by gleaming iron.
160 After him one whose number is three hundred
161 Shall rule the Romans, very mighty men;
162 He shall stretch forth a life-destroying spear
163 Against the Armenians and the Parthians,
164 The Assyrians and the Persians firm in war.
165 And then anew shall a creation be
166 Of splendidly built Rome with gold and amber
167 And silver and ivory in order raised;
168 And in her many people shall abide
169 From all the East and from the prosperous West;
170 And the king shall make other laws for her;
171 But then shall death destructive and strong fate
172 In turn receive him in a boundless isle.
173 And there shall rule another, of ten triads,
174 A man like a wild beast, fair-haired and grim,
175 Who shall be a descendant of the Greeks.
176 And then a city of Molossian Phthia
177 Feeding much, and Larissa shall be bent
178 Down on Peneus’s overhanging brows;
179 And then too in horse-feeding Scythia
180 Shall be an insurrection. And dire war
181 Shall be hard by the waters of the lake
182 Mæotis at streams by the utmost month
183 Of the fount of watery Phasis on the mead
184 Of asphodel; and there shall many fall
185 By powerful warriors. Ah, how many men
186 Shall Ares with strong brass receive! And then,
187 Having destroyed a Scythian race, the king
188 Shall die in his own lot unloosing life.
189 And yet another of the number four
190 Shall rule thereafter, openly made known
191 A dreadful man, whom all Armenians,
192 Who drink the best ice of the flowing stream
193 Araxes, and the Persians of great soul
194 Shall fear in wars. And between Colchians
195 And very strong Pelasgi there shall be
196 Wars, fights, and homicides. And those who hold
197 The cities of the land of Phrygia
198 And those of the Propontis, and make bare
199 From out their scabbards the two-edged swords,
200 Shall smite each other through sore impiousness.
201 And then shall God to mortal men display
202 From heaven a great sign with the rolling years,
203 A bat, the portent of bad war to come.
204 And then the king shall not escape stern fate,
205 But die by hand, slain by the gleaming iron.
206 After him, numbering fifty, there shall rule
207 Again another coming out of Asia,
208 A dreadful terror, fighting hand to hand;
209 And he shall set war on Rome’s stately walls,
210 And among Colchians, and Heniochi,
211 And the milk-drinking Agathyrsians
212 By Euxine sea, at Thraeia’s sandy bay.
213 And then the king shall not escape stern fate,
214 And they will tear in pieces his dead corpse.
215 And then, the king slain, man-ennobling Rome
216 Shall be a desert, and much people perish.
217 And then again one terrible and dread.
218 From mighty Egypt shall rule, and destroy
219 Great hearted Parthians and Medes and Germans,
220 And Agathyrsians of the Bosporus,
221 Iernians, Britons, and Iberians
222 That bear the quiver, bent Massagetæ,
223 And Persians thinking themselves more than men.
224 And then a famous man shall look upon
225 All Hellas, acting as an enemy
226 To Scythia and windy Caucasus.
227 And there shall be a dread sign while he rules:
228 Crowns altogether like the shining stars
229 Shall from heaven in the south and north appear.
230 And then shall he bequeath the royal power
231 To his son whose initial letter heads
232 The alphabet, when in the halls of Hades.
233 The manly king in his own lot shall go.
234 But when the son of this man in the land
235 Of Rome shall rule, shown by the number one,
236 There shall be over all the earth great peace
237 Much longed for, and the Latins will love him.
238 As king because of his own father’s worth;
239 Him, eager to go both to East and West,
240 The Roman people shall against his will
241 Retain at home and in command of Rome,
242 For among all there is a friendly heart
243 Felt for their royal and illustrious lord.
244 But baneful death shall snatch him out of life,
245 Short-lived, abandoned to his destiny.
246 But others afterwards again shall smite
247 Each other, powerful warriors, carrying on
248 An evil strife, not holding kingly power,
249 But being tyrants. And in all the world
250 Shall they bring many evil things to pass,
251 But chiefly for the Romans till the time
252 Of the third Dionysus, until armed
253 With helmet Ares shall from Egypt come,
254 Whom they shall surname Dionysus lord.
255 But when the famous royal purple cloak
256 A murderous lion and murderous lioness
257 Shall rend, together they shall grasp the lungs
258 Of the changed kingdom; then a holy king,
259 Whose name has the first letter, pressing hard
260 For victory, shall cast down hostile chiefs
261 To be the food of dogs and birds of prey.
262 Alas for thee, O city burned with fire,
263 O powerful Rome! How many things must thou
264 Needs suffer when all these things come to pass!
265 But the great far-famed king shall afterward
266 Raise thee all up again with gold and amber
267 And silver and ivory, and in the world
268 Thou shalt in thy possessions foremost be,
269 Also in temples, market-places, wealth,
270 And race-grounds; and then shalt thou be again
271 A light for all, even as thou wast before.
272 Ah, wretched Cecropes and Cadmeans
273 And the Laconians, who are situate
274 Around Peneus and Molossian stream
275 Thick grown with rushes, Tricca and Dodona,
276 And high-built Ithome, Pierian ridge
277 Around the summit of Olympian mount,
278 Ossa, Larissa, and high-gate Calydon.
279 But when God shall for mortals bring to pass
280 A great sign, day dark twilight round the world,
281 Even then to thee, O king, the end shall come,
282 Nor is it possible that thou escape
283 A brother’s piercing dart against thee hurled.
284 And then again shall rule a life-destroyer,
285 A fiery eagle from the royal race,
286 Who shall of Egypt’s offspring take fast hold,
287 Younger, but than his brother much more strong,
288 Who has for his first sign the number eighty.
289 And then the whole world shall for honor’s sake
290 Bear in its lap the soul-distressing wrath
291 Of the immortal God; and there shall come
292 On mortal men, the creatures of a day,
293 Famines and plagues and wars and homicides,
294 And an incessant darkness o’er the earth,
295 Mother of peoples, and relentless wrath
296 From heaven, and disorder of the times,
297 And earthquake shocks, and flaming thunderbolts,
298 And stones and storms of rain and squalid drops.
299 And the high summits of the Phrygian land
300 Feel the shock, bases of the Scythian hills
301 Feel the shock, cities tremble, and all earth
302 Trembles at the cliffs of the land of Greece.
303 And many cities, God being very wroth,
304 Shall fall prone under burning thunderbolts
305 And with bewailings, and to shun the wrath
306 And make escape is not even possible.
307 And then the king shall by a strong hand fall,
308 Struck as if he were no one by his men.
309 After him of the Latins many men
310 Wearing the purple mantle on their shoulders
311 Shall be again raised up, who shall by lot
312 Desire to lay hold on the royal power.
313 And then upon the stately walls of Rome
314 Shall be three kings, two having the first number,
315 And one the eponym of victory
316 Bearing as no one else. They shall love Rome.
317 And all the world, concerned for mortal men;
318 But they shall not accomplish anything;
319 For God has not been gracious to the world
320 Neither will be be gentle with mankind,
321 Because they have done many evil things.
322 Therefore to kings shall he a mean soul bring
323 Still worse than that of leopards and of wolves;
324 For harshly seizing them with their own hands,
325 Like feeble women who are idly slain,
326 Shall men in brazen breastplate utterly
327 Destroy the kings together with their scepters.
328 Ah, wretched lofty men of glorious Rome,
329 Trusting in false oaths ye shall be destroyed.
330 And then shall many masters with the spear,
331 Men rushing not in order furious on,
332 Take away offspring of the first-born men
333 In their blood. .mw-parser-output .nowrap,.mw-parser-output .nowrap a:before,.mw-parser-output .nowrap .selflink:before{white-space:nowrap}… Therefore thrice
334 Shall the Most High then bring on dreadful doom,
335 And all men with their works shall he destroy.
336 But into judgment yet again shall God
337 Cause them to come that have a shameless soul,
338 As many as determined evil things;
339 And they themselves are fenced in, falling one
340 Upon another, and given over there.
341 Into that condemnation of wickedness.
342 .mw-parser-output .wst-asterisks{display:block;margin:auto;text-align:center}…….
343 All one by one, yet a brilliant comet
344 …….
345 Of much to come, of war and battle strife.
346 But at the time when one about the isles
347 Shall gather many oracles that speak
348 To strangers of fight and of battle strife,
349 And grievous harm of temples, he shall bid
350 One in great haste to gather in Rome’s halls
351 For twelve months wheat and barley in abundance,
352 And this most quickly. And in wretched plight
353 The city shall be those days, and straightway
354 Shall it again be prosperous not a little;
355 And rest shall be when that rule is destroyed.
356 And then the last race of the Latin kings
357 Shall be, and after it again shall grow
358 Dominion, children and the children’s race
359 Shall be unshaken; for it shall be known,
360 Since of a surety God himself is king.
361 There is a land dear, nourisher of men,
362 Situate in a plain, and round it Nile
363 Marks off the boundary and separates
364 All Libya and Ethiopia.
365 And Syrians short-lived, one from one place,
366 Another from another, from that land
367 Shall snatch away all movable effects;
368 A great and careful lord shall be their king,
369 Training up youth and sending off for men,
370 And planning something fearful about those
371 Most fearful, above all he shall send forth
372 A powerful helper of all Italy
373 The lofty-minded. And when he shall come
374 Unto the dark sea of Assyria
375 He shall despoil Phoenicians in their homes,
376 And fastening evil war and battle dire
377 Shall be one lord of the two lords of earth.
378 And now will I for Alexandrians sing
379 Their grievous end; alas, barbarians
380 Shall possess sacred Egypt, land unharmed,
381 Unshaken, when wrath from the gods shall come.
382 …….
383 … making winter summer,
384 Then shall the oracles be all fulfilled.
385 But when three youths in the Olympian games
386 Shall conquer, and thou shalt bid them that know
387 The oracles that call on God to cleanse
388 First by the blood of sucking quadruped,
389 Thrice therefore shall the Most High then bring on
390 A fearful lot, and he shall over all
391 Brandish the mournful long spear; then much blood
392 Barbarian shall be poured out in the dust.
393 When the city shall be plundered utterly
394 By inhospitable strangers. Happy he
395 Who is dead, also happy any one
396 Who is without a child; for he who once
397 Was leader surnamed for them that are free,
398 Far-famed in song, no longer in his mind
399 Revolving earlier plans, shall place their neck
400 Under a servile yoke; such slavery,
401 Cause of much weeping, shall a lord impose.
402 And then straightway an army of Sicilians
403 Ill-fated shall come, carrying dismay,
404 When a barbarian nation shall again
405 Come suddenly; and the fruit, when it grows,
406 They from the field shall sever. Upon them
407 Shall God the lofty Thunderer bestow
408 Evil instead of good; continually
409 Shall stranger pluck from stranger hateful gold.
410 But now when all shall look upon the blood
411 Of the flesh-eating lion and there comes
412 Upon the body a murderous lioness,
413 Down from his head will he the scepter cast
414 Away from him. And as in friendly feast
415 In Egypt when the people all partake,
416 They perform valiant deeds, and one restrains
417 Another, and among them there is much
418 Shouting aloud; so also shall there be
419 Upon mankind the fear of furious strife,
420 And many shall be utterly destroyed
421 And others kill each other by hard fights.
422 And then one covered with dark scales shall come;
423 Two others shall come acting in concert
424 With one another, and with them a third
425 A great ram from Cyrene, whom before.
426 I spoke of as a fugitive in war
427 Beside the streams of Nile; but in no wise
428 An unsuccessful way do all complete.
429 And then the lengths of the revolving years
430 Shall be exceeding quiet; yet again
431 Thereafter shall a second war for them
432 In Egypt be stirred up, and there shall be
433 A battle on the sea, but victory
434 Shall not be theirs. Ah, wretched ones, there shall
435 A conquest of the famous city be,
436 And it shall be a spoil of war not long.
437 And then men having common boundaries
438 Of much land shall flee wretched, and shall lead
439 Their wretched parents. And they shall again
440 Having great victory light on a land,
441 And shall destroy the Jews, men staunch in war,
442 Wasting by wars far as the hoary deep,
443 On both sides, fighting in the foremost ranks
444 For father-land and parents. And a race
445 Of trophy-bearing men shall for the dead
446 Be reckoned. Ah, how many men shall swim
447 About the waves! For on the sandy beach
448 Many shall lie; and heads of golden hair
449 Shall fall beneath Egyptian winged fowls.
450 And then for the Arabians mortal blood
451 Shall go in quest. But when wolves shall with dogs
452 Pledge in a sea-girt island solemn oaths,
453 Then shall there be the raising of a tower,
454 And the city that suffered very many things
455 Men shall inhabit. For deceitful gold
456 Shall no more be nor silver, nor acquiring
457 Of the earth, nor much-laboring servitude;
458 But one fast friendship and one mode of life
459 With cheerful soul; and all things shall be common
460 And equal light among the means of life.
461 And wickedness shall sink down from the earth
462 Into the vast sea. And then near at hand
463 Is come the harvest-time of mortal men.
464 There is imposed a strong necessity
465 That these things be fulfilled. And at that time
466 There shall not any other traveler say,
467 In this conjecturing, that the race of men
468 Though perishable shall ever cease to be.
469 And then a holy nation shall prevail
470 And bold the sovereignty of all the earth
471 Unto all ages with their mighty sons.