Book 5
1 But come, now, hear of me the mournful time
2 Of sons of Latium. And first of all,
3 After the kings of Egypt were destroyed
4 And the like earth had downwards borne them all,
5 And after Pella’s townsman, under whom
6 The whole East and the rich West were cast down,
7 Whom Babylon dishonored, and stretched out
8 For Philip a dead body (not of Zeus,
9 Of Ammon not true things were prophesied),
10 And after that one of the race and blood
11 Of king Assaracus, who came from Troy,
12 Even he who cleft the violence of fire,
13 And after many lords, and after men
14 To Ares dear, and after the young babes,
15 The children of the beast that feeds on sheep,
16 The very first lord shall be, who shall sum
17 Twice ten with the first letter of his name;
18 In wars exceeding powerful shall he be;
19 And he shall have the initial sign of ten;
20 And in like manner after him to reign
21 Is one who has the alphabet’s first letter;
22 Before him Thrace and Sicily shall crouch,
23 Then Memphis, Memphis east headlong to earth
24 By reason of the cowardice of rulers
25 And of a woman unenslaved who falls
26 Upon the wave. And laws will be ordain
27 For peoples and put all things under him;
28 But after a long time shall he transmit
29 His power unto another, who shall have
30 Three hundred for his first initial sign,
31 And of a river the beloved name,
32 And the Persians he shall rule and Babylon;
33 And then shall he smite Medians with his spear.
34 Then shall one rule who has the initial sign
35 Of the number three. And then shall be a lord
36 Who shall for first initial have twice ten;
37 And he shall come to Ocean’s utmost water
38 And by Ansonia cleave the refluent tide.
39 And one whose mark is fifty shall be lord,
40 A dreadful serpent breathing grievous war,
41 Who sometime stretching forth his hands shall make
42 An end of his own race and stir all things,
43 Acting the athlete, driving chariots,
44 Putting to death and daring countless things;
45 And he shall cleave the mountain of two seas
46 And sprinkle it with gore; but out of sight
47 Shall also vanish the destructive man;
48 Then, making himself equal unto God,
49 Shall he return; but God will prove him naught.
50 And after him shall three kings be destroyed
51 By one another. Then a great destroyer
52 Of pious men shall come, whom seven times ten
53 Shall point out clearly. But from him a son,
54 Whom the first letter of three hundred proves,
55 Shall take the power. And after him shall be
56 A ruler, of the initial sign of four,
57 A life-destroyer. Then a reverend man
58 Of the number fifty. Next, succeeding him
59 Who has the first mark of the initial sign
60 Three hundred, shall a Celtic mountaineer,
61 Into the strife of battle pressing on,
62 Escape not fate unseemly, but shall be
63 Worn weary unto death; him foreign dust,
64 But dust that of Nemea’s flower has name,
65 Shall hide a corpse. And after him shall rule
66 Another man, with silver helmet decked;
67 And unto him shall be the name of a sea;
68 And he shall be a man the best of all
69 And in all things discreet. And upon thee,
70 Thou best of all, above all, dark-haired one,
71 And upon thy shoots shall be all these days.
72 After him three shall rule; but the third one
73 Shall at a late time hold the royal power.
74 Worn out am I, thrice-miserable one,
75 Sister of Isis, to lay up in heart
76 An evil message, and an inspired song
77 Of oracles. First Mænades shall dart
78 Around thy much-lamented temple’s steps,
79 And thou shalt be in evil hands that day
80 When the Nile some time shall fill the whole land
81 Of Egypt even to sixteen cubits deep;
82 It shall wash all the land, and water it
83 For mortals; and the pleasure of the land
84 Shall be still and the glory of her face.
85 Memphis, thou most shalt over Egypt wail;
86 For of old ruling mightily the land
87 Thou shalt become poor, so that out of heaven
88 The Thunderer shall himself with great voice cry:
89 “O mighty Memphis, who didst boast of old
90 O’er craven mortals greatly, thou shalt wail
91 Full of pain and all-hapless, so that thou
92 Thyself shalt the eternal God perceive
93 Immortal in the clouds. Where among men
94 Is now thy mighty pride? Because thou didst
95 Against my God-anointed children rave,
96 And didst urge evil forward on good men,
97 Thou shalt for such things suffer penalty
98 In some like manner. No more openly
99 For thee shall there be right among the blessed;
100 Fallen from the stars, thou shalt not rise to heaven.”
101 Now these things unto Egypt God bade me
102 Speak out for the last time, when men shall be
103 Utterly evil. But they labor hard,
104 Evil men evil things awaiting, wrath
105 Of the immortal Thunderer in heaven,
106 Worshiping stones and beasts instead of God,
107 And also fearing many things besides
108 Which have no speech, nor mind, nor power to hear;
109 Which things it is not right for me to mention,
110 Each one an idol, formed by mortal hands;
111 Of their own labors and presumptuous thoughts
112 Did men receive gods made of wood and stone
113 And brass, and gold and silver, foolish too,
114 Without life and dumb, molten in the fire
115 They made them, vainly trusting such things.mw-parser-output .nowrap,.mw-parser-output .nowrap a:before,.mw-parser-output .nowrap .selflink:before{white-space:nowrap}…
116 Thmois and Xois are in sore distress,
117 And smitten is the hall of Heracles
118 And Zeus and Hermes (king). And as for thee,
119 O Alexandria, famed nourisher
120 (Of cities) war shall not leave, nor (plague) …
121 For thy pride thou shalt pay as many things
122 As thou before didst. Silent shalt thou be
123 A long age, and the day of thy return …
124 .mw-parser-output .wst-asterisks{display:block;margin:auto;text-align:center}…….
125 No more for thee shall flow luxurious drink …
126 …….
127 For there shall come a Persian on thy dale,
128 And like hail shall he all the land destroy,
129 And artful men, with blood and corpses…
130 By sacred altars one of barbarous mind,
131 Strong, full of blood and raging senselessly,
132 With countless numbers rushing to destruction,
133 And then shalt thou, in cities very rich,
134 Be very weary. Falling on the earth
135 All Asia shall wail on account of gifts
136 Crowning her head with which she was by thee
137 Delighted. But, as he himself obtained
138 The Persian land by lot, he shall make war
139 And killing every man destroy all life,
140 So that there shall remain for wretched mortals
141 A third part. But with nimble leap shall he
142 Himself speed from the West, and all the land
143 Besiege and waste. But when he shall possess
144 The height of power and odious reverence,
145 He shall come, wishing to destroy the city
146 Even of the blessed. And a certain king
147 Sent forth from God against him shall destroy
148 All mighty kings and bravest men. And thus
149 Shall judgment by the Immortal come to men,
150 Alas, alas for thee, unhappy heart!
151 Why dost thou move me to declare these things,
152 The painful rule of Egypt over many?
153 Go to the East, to races of the Persians
154 Who lack in understanding, and show them
155 That which is now and that which is to be.
156 The river of Euphrates shall bring on
157 A deluge, and it shall destroy the Persians,
158 Iberians and Babylonians
159 And the Massagetæ that relish war
160 And trust in bows. All Asia fire-ablaze
161 Shall to the isles beam brightly. Pergamos,
162 Revered of old, shall perish from its base,
163 And Pitane among men shall appear
164 All-desolate. All Lesbos shall sink deep
165 Into the deep, and thus shall be destroyed.
166 Smyrna, whirled down her cliffs, shall wail aloud,
167 She that was once revered and given a name
168 Shall perish utterly. Bithynians
169 Shall over their own country, then reduced
170 To ashes, wail, and o’er great Syria,
171 And o’er Phoenicia that has many tribes.
172 Alas, alas for thee, O Lycia;
173 How many evils does the sea contrive
174 Against thee, mounting up of its own will
175 Upon the painful land! And it shall dash
176 With evil earthquake and with bitter streams
177 On the rough Lycian land that once breathed perfume.
178 And there shall be for Phrygia fearful wrath
179 Because of sorrow for which Rhea came,
180 Mother of Zeus, and there continued long.
181 The sea shall overthrow the Centaur race
182 And barbarous nation, and beneath the earth
183 Shall tear away the Lapithæan land.
184 The river of deep eddies and deep flow,
185 Peneus, shall destroy Thessalian land,
186 Snatching men from the earth. Eridanus
187 (Pretending once to bear the forms of beasts).
188 Hellas thrice wretched shall the poets weep,
189 When one from Italy shall smite the neck
190 Of the isthmus, mighty king of mighty Rome,
191 A man made equal to God, whom, they say,
192 Zeus himself and the august Hera bore;
193 He, courting by his voice all-musical
194 Applause for his sweet songs, shall put to death
195 With his own wretched mother many men.
196 From Babylon shall flee the fearful lord
197 And shameless whom all mortals and best men
198 Abhor; for he slew many and laid hands
199 Upon the womb; against his wives he sinned
200 And of men stained with blood had he been formed.
201 And he shall come to monarchs of the Medes
202 And Persians, first whom he loved and to whom
203 He brought renown, while with those wicked men
204 He lurked against a nation not desired;
205 And on the temple made by God he seized
206 And citizens and people going in,
207 Of whom I justly sang the praise, he burned;
208 For when this man appeared the whole creation
209 Was shaken and kings perished—and yet power
210 Remained among them, and they quite destroyed
211 The mighty city and the righteous people.
212 But when the fourth year a great star shall shine,
213 Which alone shall the whole earth overpower
214 Because of honor, which was first assigned
215 To lord Poseidon; then a great star shall come
216 From heaven into the dreadful sea and burn
217 The vasty deep, and Babylon itself,
218 And the land of Italy, because of which
219 There perished many holy faithful men
220 Among the Hebrews and a people true.
221 Thou shalt be among evil mortals made
222 To suffer evils, but thou shalt remain
223 All-desolate whole ages by thyself,
224 Hating thy soil; for thou didst have desire
225 For sorcery, adulteries were with thee
226 And lawless carnal intercourse with boys,
227 Thou evil city, womanish, unjust,
228 Ill-fated above all. Alas, alas!
229 Thou city of the Latin land, unclean
230 In all things, Mænad having joy in snakes,
231 Over thy hanks a widow shalt thou sit
232 And the river Tiber shall lament for thee,
233 His consort thee, who hast a blood-stained heart
234 And impious soul. Didst thou not understand
235 What God can do, and what he doth devise?
236 But thou saidst, “I’m alone, and me no one
237 Shall sack,” But now shall God, who ever is,
238 Thee and all thine destroy, and in that land
239 No longer shall thy ensign yet remain,
240 As of old, when the mighty God received
241 Thy honors. Stay, O lawless one, alone,
242 And mixed with burning fire inhabit thou
243 In Hades the Tartarean lawless land.
244 And now again, O Egypt, I bewail
245 Thy blind delusion; Memphis, first in toils,
246 Thou shalt be filled up with the dead; in thee
247 The pyramids shall speak a ruthless sound.
248 O Python, who wast justly called of old
249 The double city, be for ages silent,
250 So that thou mayest cease from wickedness.
251 Reckless in evils, treasury of toils,
252 Much-wailing Mænad, suffering dire ills,
253 Much-weeping, thou a widow shalt remain
254 Through all time. Thou didst full of years become
255 While thou alone wast ruling o’er the world;
256 But when the white dress Barca round herself
257 Shall put on over that which is defiled,
258 Would that I neither were nor had been born!
259 O Thebes, where is thy great strength? A fierce man
260 Shall slay the people; but thou, wretched one,
261 Grasping thy dusky dress shalt wail alone,
262 And thou shalt make atonement for all things.
263 Which thou aforetime with a shameless soul
264 Didst perpetrate. They also shall behold.
265 A mourning on account of lawless deeds.
266 And a mighty man of the Ethiopians
267 Shall overthrow Syene; by their might
268 Shall swarthy Indians occupy Teucheira.
269 Pentapolis, a man of mighty strength
270 Shall burn thee whole. All-tearful Libya,
271 Who shall explain thy follies? And Cyrene,
272 Of mortals who shall pitiably weep
273 For thee? Thou shalt not even to the time
274 Of thy destruction cease thy hateful wail.
275 Among the Britons and among the Gauls,
276 Rich in gold, Ocean shall be roaring loud
277 Filled with much blood; for evil things
278 Did they unto God’s children, when a king
279 Of the Sidonians, a Phoenician, led
280 A mighty Gallic host from Syria;
281 And he shall slaughter thee, thyself, Ravenna,
282 And unto slaughter shall he lead the way.
283 O Indians and great-hearted Ethiops,
284 Together fear; for when with these the course
285 Of Capricorn and Taurus in the Twins
286 Shall wind about the middle of the heaven,
287 Virgo then rising, and about his front.
288 Fastening a belt the sun shall lead all heaven,
289 There shall be moving downwards to the earth
290 A mighty conflagration high in air,
291 And a new nature in the warlike stars,
292 So that the whole land of the Ethiops
293 Shall perish in the midst of fire and groans.
294 And weep thou, Corinth, the destruction sad
295 Which is in thee; for when with pliant threads
296 The Fates, three sisters, spinning shall aloft
297 Lead him who flees by guile against the voice
298 Of the isthmus, until all shall look at him
299 Who once cut out the rock with ductile brass,
300 He also shall destroy and smite thy land,
301 As it bath been appointed. For to him
302 God gave strength to accomplish that which could
303 No earlier of all the kings together.
304 And first with sickle cleaving off the roots
305 From three heads he shall give food in excess
306 To others, so that kings unclean shall eat
307 The flesh of parents. For unto all men
308 Slaughter and terrors are laid up in store
309 Because of the great city and just people
310 Saved through all time, whom Providence held high.
311 O thou unstable one and ill-advised,
312 By evil fates surrounded, for mankind
313 Both a beginning and great end of toil,—
314 Of suffering creation and of part
315 Restored again,—thou leader insolent
316 Of evils, and for men a great curse, who
317 Of mortals wished for thee? Who has not been
318 Embittered from within? Cast down in thee
319 A king his honored life lost. Evilly
320 Hast thou disposed all things and washed away
321 All that is fair, and by thee have been changed
322 The world’s fair folds. In strife with us perhaps
323 Thou hast brought forward these unstable things;
324 And how dost thou say, “I will thee persuade,”
325 And “If in any thing thou blame me, speak?”
326 There was once among men the sun’s bright light
327 The prophets’ common ray being spread abroad;
328 Speech dripping honey, fair drink for all men,
329 Appeared and grew, and day arose on all.
330 Because of this, thou narrow-minded one
331 Leader of greatest evils, both a sword
332 And grief shall come in that day. For mankind
333 Both a beginning and great end of toil,—
334 Of suffering creation and of part
335 Restored again,—hear, O thou curse of men,
336 The bitter oracle intolerable.
337 But when the Persian land shall keep away
338 From war and plague and groaning, in that day
339 A race divine of blessed heavenly Jews
340 Shall offer prayer, who shall dwell round about
341 God’s city in mid portions of the land,
342 And even as far as Joppa building round
343 A great wall they shall carry it aloft
344 Unto the gloomy clouds. No more shall trump
345 Sound battle-din nor by a foe’s mad hands
346 Shall they be cut off; but they shall set up
347 Their trophies for an age of evil men.
348 And one shall come again from heaven, a man
349 Preeminent, whose hands on fruitful tree
350 By far the noblest of the Hebrews stretched,
351 Who at one time did make the sun stand still
352 When he spoke with fair word and holy lips.
353 No longer vex thy soul within thy breast
354 By reason of the sword, rich child of God,
355 Flower longed for by him only, goodly light
356 And noble branch, a scion much beloved,
357 Pleasant Judea, city beautiful,
358 Inspired by hymns, No more shall unclean foot
359 Of Greeks keep revel round about thy land,
360 Who held within their breast a lawless mind;
361 But thee shall glorious children honor much
362 [And be expert in songs and holy tongues],
363 With sacrifices of all kinds and prayers
364 Honored of God. All who endure the toils
365 Of small affliction and the just shall have
366 More that is altogether beautiful;
367 But the wicked, who to heaven sent lawless speech,
368 Shall cease their speaking one against another,
369 And hide themselves until the world be changed.
370 And there shall be a rain of gleaming fire
371 From the clouds; and no more shall mortals reap
372 The fair corn from the earth; all things unsown
373 And unplowed, until mortal men shall know
374 The Lord of all things, the immortal God
375 Always existing, and no more revere
376 Mortal things, neither dogs nor vultures’ nests,
377 And what things Egypt taught to magnify
378 With dumb mouths and dull lips. But all these things
379 The holy land of the only pious men
380 Shall bring forth, from the honey-dripping rock
381 A stream and from a spring ambrosial milk
382 Shall flow for all the just; for in one God,
383 One Father, who alone is glorious,
384 Having great piety and faith they hoped.
385 But why does the wise mind grant me these things?
386 And now thee, wretched Asia, piteously
387 I mourn and the race of Ionians
388 And Carians and Lydians rich in gold.
389 Alas, alas for thee, O Sardis; and alas
390 For Trallis much beloved; alas, alas,
391 Laodicea, city beautiful;
392 Thus shalt thou be by earthquakes overthrown
393 And ruined, and be also changed to dust.
394 And to Asia gloomy…
395 Artemis’ temple fixed at Ephesus …
396 By chasms and earthquakes shall come headlong down.
397 Sometime into the dreadful sea, as storms
398 Overwhelm ships. And up-turned Ephesus
399 Shall wail aloud, lament beside her banks,
400 And for her temple search which is no more.
401 And then ineensed shall God the imperishable,
402 Who dwells on high, burl thunderbolts from heaven
403 Down on the head of him that is impure.
404 And in the place of winter there shall be
405 In that day summer. And to mortal men
406 Shall then be great woe; for the Thunderer
407 Shall utterly destroy all shameless men
408 And with his thunders and with lightning-flames
409 And blazing thunderbolts men of ill-will,
410 And thus shall he destroy the impious ones,
411 So that there shall remain upon the earth
412 Dead bodies more in number than the sand.
413 For Smyrna also, weeping her Lycurgus,
414 Shall come unto the gates of Ephesus
415 And she herself shall perish even more.
416 And foolish Cyme with her inspired streams
417 Cast down by hands of godless men unjust
418 And lawless, shall to heaven not so much
419 As a word utter; but she shall remain
420 Dead in Cymæan streams. And then shall they
421 Together weep, awaiting evil things.
422 Cyme’s rough populace and shameless tribe,
423 Having a sign, shall know for what they toiled.
424 And then, when they shall have bewailed their land
425 Reduced to ashes, by Eridanus
426 Shall Lesbos be forever overthrown.
427 Alas, Corcyra, city beautiful,
428 Alas for thee, cease from thy revelry.
429 Thon also, Hierapolis, sole land
430 With riches mixed, what thou hast longed to have
431 Thou shalt have, even a land of many tears,
432 Since thou wast angry towards a land beside
433 Thermodon’s streams. Rock-clinging Tripolis,
434 Beside the waters of Meander, thee
435 Shall by the nightly surges under shore
436 God’s wrath and foresight utterly destroy.
437 Take me not, willing, to the neighboring land
438 Of Phœbus; sometime shall a thunderbolt
439 Dainty Miletus from above destroy,
440 Because she seized on Phœbus’ crafty song
441 And the wise care and prudent plan of men.
442 Father of all, be gracious to the land
443 Of Judah, well fed, fruit-abounding, great,
444 In order that thy judgments we may see.
445 For thou, O God, in kindness didst regard
446 This land first that it might appear to be
447 Thy gracious gift unto all mortal men
448 And to hold fast what God put in their charge.
449 The works thrice wretched of the Thracians
450 I yearn to see, and wall between two seas
451 Trailed in the dust along beneath the mist,
452 Even like a river for the swimming fish.
453 O wretched Hellespont, sometime a child
454 Of the Assyrians shall throw a yoke
455 Across thee; battle of the Thracians comes
456 And shall despoil thy strength. And there shall rule
457 Over the land of Macedonia
458 A king of Egypt, and a barbarous clime
459 Shall waste the strength of captains. Lydians
460 And the Galatians, and Pamphylians
461 With the Pisidians, all equipped for war
462 Shall in a mass bring evil strife to pass.
463 Thrice wretched Italy, thou shalt remain
464 All-desolate, unwept, in blooming land
465 By deadly sting to perish utterly.
466 And sometime high in the broad heaven above
467 Like thunder-roaring shall God’s voice be heard.
468 And the unwasting flames of the sun himself
469 Shall be no more, nor shall the brilliant light
470 Of the moon again be in the latest time,
471 When God shall be the ruler. And dark gloom
472 Shall be o’er all the earth, and blinded men
473 And evil beasts and woe; that day shall be
474 A long time, so that men shall see that God
475 Himself is Lord, the overseer of all
476 In front of heaven. And then will he himself
477 Not pity hostile men, who sacrifice
478 Their herds of lambs and sheep and calves and goats
479 And bellowing golden-horned bulls, offering them
480 To lifeless Hermæ and to gods of stone.
481 But let the law of wisdom be your guide
482 And the glory of the righteous; lest sometime
483 The imperishable God incensed destroy
484 Each race of men and shameless tribe of life,
485 It doth behoove them faithfully to love.
486 The Father, the wise God who ever is.
487 In the last time, at the turning of the moon,
488 There shall be raging through the world a war
489 And carried on with cunning and in guile.
490 And from the limits of the earth shall come
491 Fleeing, and pondering sharp things in his mind,
492 A matricidal man who every land
493 Shall overpower and over all things rule,
494 And see all things more wisely than all men;
495 And that for whose sake he himself was slain
496 Shall he seize forthwith. And he shall destroy
497 Many men and great tyrants and shall burn
498 All of them, as none other ever did,
499 And he shall raise up them that are afraid
500 For emulation’s sake. And from the West
501 Much war shall come to men, and blood shall flow
502 Down hill till it becomes deep-eddying streams.
503 And in the plains of Macedonia
504 Shall wrath distil and give help from the West,
505 But to the king destruction. And a wind
506 Of winter then shall blow upon the earth,
507 And the plain be filled with evil war again.
508 For fire shall rain down from the heavenly plains.
509 On mortals, and therewith blood, water, flash
510 Of lightning, murky darkness, night in heaven,
511 And waste in war and o’er the slaughter mist,
512 And these together shall destroy all kings
513 And noblest men. Thus shall be made to cease
514 Then the destruction pitiable of war.
515 And no more shall one fight with swords or iron
516 Or even darts, which things shall not again
517 Be lawful. But wise people shall have peace,
518 Who were left, having made proof of wickedness,
519 That they might at the last be filled with joy.
520 Ye matricides, leave off your impudence
521 And evil-working boldness, who of old
522 Provided lawlessly lewd couch with boys,
523 And placed as harlots maidens pure before
524 In brothels by assault and punishment
525 And by much-laboring indecency.
526 For in thee mother with her child did hold
527 Unlawful intercourse, and daughter was
528 With her own father wedded as a bride;
529 And in thee kings have their ill-fated mouth
530 Polluted, and in thee have wicked men
531 Found couch with cattle. Be in silence hushed,
532 Thou wicked city all-bewailed, possessed
533 Of revelry; for by thee virgin maids
534 Shall care no longer for the fire divine
535 Of sacred wood that fondly nourisheth;
536 Before thee was a much-loved house of old
537 Extinguished, when I saw the second house
538 Cast headlong down and overwhelmed with fire
539 By an unholy hand, house ever flourishing,
540 God’s watchful temple, brought forth of his saints
541 And being always indestructible,
542 By the soul hoped for and the body itself.
543 For not without the rites of burial
544 Shall one praise God out of the unseen earth,
545 Nor did wise workman make a stone by them,
546 Nor had he fear of gold, cheat of the world
547 And of souls, but the mighty Father, God
548 Of all things God-inspired, did he revere
549 With holy offerings and fair hecatombs.
550 But now an unseen and unholy king
551 With multitude great and with men renowned
552 Rose into power and cast his dwelling down
553 And let it go unbuilt. But he himself
554 When he set foot on the immortal land
555 Destroyed the ground. And such a sign no more
556 Was wrought upon men, so that it appeared
557 That others the great city should destroy.
558 For there came from the heavenly plains a man,
559 One blessed, with a scepter in his hand,
560 Which God gave him, and he ruled all things well,
561 And unto all the good did he restore
562 The riches which the earlier men had seized.
563 And many cities with much fire he took
564 From their foundations, and he set on fire.
565 The towns of mortals who before did evil,
566 And he did make that city, which God loved,
567 More radiant than stars and sun and moon,
568 And he set order, and a holy house.
569 Incarnate made, pure, very fair, and formed
570 In many stades a great and boundless tower
571 Touching the clouds themselves and seen by all,
572 So that all holy and all righteous men
573 Might see the glory of the eternal God,
574 A sight that has been longed for. Rising sun
575 And setting day hymned forth the praise of God.
576 For there are then no longer fearful things
577 For wretched mortals, nor adulteries
578 And lawless love of boys, nor homicide
579 Nor tumult, but a righteous strife in all,
580 It is the last time of the saints when God
581 Accomplisheth these things, high Thunderer,
582 Founder of temple most magnificent.
583 Alas, alas for thee, O Babylon,
584 For golden throne and golden sandal famed,
585 Kingdom of many years and of the world
586 Sole ruler, who wast great in olden time
587 And city of all cities, thou no more
588 Shalt lie in golden mountains and by streams
589 Of the Euplirates; thou shalt be laid low
590 By rout of earthquake. But the Parthians dire
591 Caused thee to suffer all things. Hold thon fast
592 Thy unknown speech, impure Chaldean race;
593 Ask not nor be concerned how thou shalt lead
594 The Persians or how thou shalt rule the Medes;
595 For on account of thy supremacy,
596 Which thou hadst, sending hostages to Rome
597 And serving Asia, thou that formerly
598 Didst also think thyself a queen, shalt come
599 Unto the judgment of antagonists,
600 Because of whom thou hast suffered baneful things;
601 And thou shalt give instead of crooked words
602 Bitter vexation to the enemies.
603 And in the last time shall the sea be dry
604 And ships no longer sail to Italy,
605 And Asia the great then, all-hapless, shall
606 Be water, and then Crete shall be a plain.
607 And Cyprus shall endure great misery
608 And Paphos shall bewail a dreadful fate,
609 So that even Salamis, great city, shall
610 Be seen to undergo great misery;
611 And now the dry land shall be fruitless sand
612 Upon the shore. And locusts not a few
613 Shall utterly destroy the Cyprian land.
614 Looking at Tyre, doomed mortals, ye shall weep.
615 Phœnicia, dreadful wrath remains for thee,
616 Until thou to a worthless ruin fall,
617 So that even Sirens truly may lament.
618 In the fifth generation, when the ruin
619 Of Egypt has ceased, it shall come to pass
620 That shameless kings shall be together joined,
621 And races of Pamphylians shall encamp
622 In Egypt, and in Macedonia
623 And in Asia and among the Libyans
624 Shall in the dust be a world-maddening war
625 Exceeding bloody, which the king of Rome
626 And rulers of the West shall make to cease.
627 When wintry storm shall drop down like the snow,
628 While frozen are great river and vast lakes,
629 Forthwith a barbarous race shall make their way
630 Into the Asian land and shall destroy
631 The race of dreadful Thracians, hard to quell.
632 And then shall mortals feeding lawlessly
633 Devour their parents, being by hunger worn,
634 And shall gulp down the entrails. And wild beasts
635 Shall devour from all houses table-food,
636 And they and birds all mortals shall devour.
637 The ocean with dead bodies shall be filled
638 From the river and be red with flesh and blood
639 Of the foolish ones. Then thus a feebleness
640 Shall be on earth, so that of men the number
641 May be seen and the measure of the women.
642 And the dire race shall wail for myriad things
643 At last when the sun sets to rise no more,
644 But to remain submerged in Ocean’s waves;
645 For it beheld the wickedness unclean
646 Of many mortals. And a moonless night
647 Shall be a fame around the mighty heaven,
648 And no small mist shall hide the world’s ravines
649 A second time; then afterwards God’s light
650 Shall guide the good men, who sang praise to God.
651 Isis, thrice wretched goddess, thou alone.
652 Shalt on the waters of the Nile remain,
653 A Mænad out of order on the sands
654 Of Acheron, and no longer shall remain
655 Remembrance of thee over all the earth.
656 And also thou, Sarapis, who art placed
657 On many glistening stones, a ruin vast
658 Shalt thou in thrice unhappy Egypt lie.
659 But those whom love of Egypt led to thee
660 Shall all lament thee badly; but who put
661 Imperishable reason in their breast,
662 And who praised God, shall know thee to be naught.
663 And sometime shall a linen-vested man,
664 A priest, say: “Come, let us raise up of God
665 A beautiful true temple; come, let us
666 The fearful law of our forefathers change,
667 Because of which they did not understand
668 That they were unto gods of stone and clay
669 Making processions and religious rites.
670 Let us turn our souls, giving praise to God
671 The imperishable, who himself is Father,
672 The everlasting One, the Lord of all,
673 The true One, the King, life-sustaining Father,
674 The mighty God existing evermore.”
675 And then shall there a great pure temple be
676 In Egypt, and the people made by God
677 Shall into it their sacrifices bring.
678 And to them God shall give life incorrupt.
679 But when the Ethiopians, forsaking
680 The shameless tribes of the Triballians,
681 Shall cultivate their Egypt, they will then
682 Begin their baseness, that the later things
683 May all occur. For they shall overthrow
684 The mighty temple of the Egyptian land;
685 And God shall rain down on the earth dire wrath
686 Among them, so that all the wicked ones
687 And all without sense perish. And no more
688 Shall there be any sparing in that land,
689 Because they did not keep that which God gave.
690 I saw the threatening of the shining Sun
691 Among the stars, and in the lightning flash
692 The dire wrath of the Moon; the stars travailed
693 With battle; and God gave them up to fight.
694 For long fire-flames rebelled against the Sun;
695 Lucifer treading upon Leo’s back
696 Began the fight; and the Moon’s double horn
697 Changed its shape; Capricorn smote Taurus’ neck;
698 And Taurus took away from Capricorn
699 Returning day. Orion would no more.
700 Abide his yoke; the lot of Gemini
701 Did Virgo change in Aries; no more shone
702 The Pleiads; Draco disavowed his zone;
703 Down into Leo’s girdle Pisces went.
704 Cancer remained not, for he feared Orion;
705 Scorpio down on dire Leo backwards moved;
706 And from the Sun’s flame Sirius slipped away;
707 And the strength of the mighty Shining One
708 Aquarius kindled. Uranus himself
709 Was roused, until he shook the warring ones;
710 And being incensed he hurled them down on earth.
711 Then swiftly smitten down upon the baths
712 Of Ocean they set all the earth on fire;
713 And the high heaven remained without a star.