Home > Library > The Classics > Milton Spencer Terry > The Sibylline Oracles > Book V

Book V

Book V.

{p. 112}

Contents Of Book V.

Introduction, 1, 2. Rome's first emperors, 2-733. Grief of the Sibyl, 74-76. Inundation of Egypt, 77-84. Oracle against Memphis, 85-100. Idolatry and woes of Egypt, 101-147. Woes on various cities of the East and of Asia Minor, 148-169. Woe on Lycia, Phrygia, and Thessaly, 110-185. The vile and fearful king, 186-209. Oracle against Rome, 210-241. Lamentation over Egypt, 242-272. Britons and Gauls, 273-280. Ethiopians and Indians perish by conflict of the stars, 281-291. Doom of Corinth, 292-308. Oracle against Rome, 309-334. The blessed Jews, 335-345. The heavenly Joshua, 346-350. Lovely Judea, 351-382. Woe on western Asia and Ephesus, 383-398. God's wrath on the wicked, 399-410. Woes on Smyrna, Cyme, Lesbos, Corcyra, Hierapolis, and Tripolis, 411-434. Doom of Miletus, 433-439. Prayer for the land of Judah, 440-446. Wretched Thrace, Hellespont, and Italy, 447-463. Divine judgment and majesty, 464-484. Wars and woes of the last time, 485 517. Appeal to the wicked city, 518-555. Messianic day, 556-580. Fall of Babylon, 581-600. Woes of Asia, Crete, Cyprus, and Phœnicia, 601-615. Vast armies in Egypt, Macedon, and Asia, 616-624. Destruction of the Thracians, 625-629. Mankind made few by woes, 630-639. Final darkness, 640-648. Ruin of Isis and Serapis, 649-660. The temple in Egypt, 661-676. Sin and doom of the Ethiopians, 677-687. Battle of the constellations, 688-711.

{p. 113}

Book V.

But
come, now, hear of me the mournful time

Of sons of Latium. And first of all,

After the kings of Egypt were destroyed

And the like earth had downwards borne them all,

5 And after Pella's townsman, under whom

The whole East and the rich West were cast down,

whom Babylon dishonored, and stretched out

For Philip a dead body (not of Zeus,

Of Ammon not true things were prophesied
),

10 And after that one of the race and blood

Of king Assaracus, who came from Troy,

Even he who cleft the violence of fire,

And after many lords, and after men

To Ares dear, and after the young babes,

15 The children of the beast that feeds on sheep,

The very first lord shall be, who shall sum

Twice ten with the first letter of his name;

[1.
Next to the third, this fifth book is the longest in our present collection of oracles. It is clearly a composite of Jewish and Christian material, and as the three Antonines are referred to in line 72, we cannot suppose that the book in its present form existed prior to the middle of the second century of the Christian era.

5.
\"Pella's townsman".--Alexander the Great.

9. Not true things.--In this parenthetic way the Sibyl declares that the popular traditions of Alexander as having sprung from Zeus or from Ammon were proven untrue.

11.
\"Assaracus".--Ancestor of neas.

14.
\"Babes".--Romulus and Remus.

16.
\"The very first lord".--First in the line of Csars or emperors. This Sibylline writer, as well as Suetonius, the Roman historian, begins the list {footnote p. 113} with Julius Csar, who is designated by the numerical value of the initial letters of his name. The Greek letter Kappa (K) stands for twenty, and Iota (I) stands for ten.]

(1-12.)

{p. 114}

In wars exceeding powerful shall he be;

And he shall have the initial sign of ten;

20 And in like manner after him to reign

Is one who has the alphabet's first letter;

Before him Thrace and Sicily shall crouch,

Then Memphis, Memphis cast headlong to earth

By reason of the cowardice of rulers

25 And of a woman unenslaved who falls

Upon the wave. And laws will he ordain

For peoples and put all things under him;

But after a long time shall he transmit

His power unto another, who shall have

30 Three hundred for his first initial sign,

And of a river the beloved name,

And the Persians he shall rule and Babylon;

And then shall he smite Medians with his spear.

Then shall one rule who has the initial sign

35 Of the number three. And then shall be a lord

Who shall for first initial have twice ten;

And he shall come to Ocean's utmost water

And by Ausonia cleave the refluent tide.

[21.
\"First letter".--Alpha, initial of Augustus.

25.
\"Woman".--Allusion to Cleopatra of Egypt. Her falling upon the wave is ambiguous, and probably the text is an error. In the parallel in book xii, 29, the reading is "under the spear".

30.
\"Three hundred".--Represented by the letter T, the initial of Tiberius, as well as of the river Tiber.

35.
\"Three".--The letter {Greek "G"}, Greek initial of Caius (Gaios) Csar, commonly known as Caligula.

36.
\"Twice ten".--As in line 16, but here designating Claudius (Greek, "Klaudios").]

(13-27.)

{p. 115}

And one whose mark is fifty shall be lord,

40 A dreadful serpent breathing grievous war,

Who sometime stretching forth his hands shall make

An end of his own race and stir all things,

Acting the athlete, driving chariots,

Putting to death and daring countless things;

45 And he shall cleave the mountain of two seas

And sprinkle it with gore; but out of sight

Shall also vanish the destructive man;

Then, making himself equal unto God,

Shall he return; but God will prove him naught.

50 And after him shall three kings be destroyed

By one another. Then a great destroyer

Of pious men shall come, whom seven times ten

Shall point out clearly. But from him a son,

Whom the first letter of three hundred proves,

55 Shall take the power. And after him shall be

A ruler, of the initial sign of four,

A life-destroyer. Then a reverend man

Of the number fifty. Next, succeeding him

Who has the first mark of the initial sign

60 Three hundred, shall a Celtic mountaineer,

Into the strife of battle pressing on,

[39.
\"Fifty".--The letter N, here denoting Nero, and Nerva in line 58.

45.
\"Mountain of two seas".--Isthmus of Corinth, which Nero attempted to open to the two adjoining bodies of water.

50.
\"Three kings".--Galba, Otho, and Vitellius.

52.
\"Seven times ten".--This number is denoted by the Greek {Greek O}, initial of the Greek form of the name of Vespasian ({Greek "Ou?espasiano's"}).

54.
\"Three hundred".--Here denoting Titus.

56.
\"Four".--The letter A, initial of Domitian.

60.
Three hundred.--Here denoting Trajan, who was of Spanish origin, and so reckoned by the Sibyl as a "Celtic mountaineer," not accurately, but in a loose, general way as a Western.]

(28-43.)

{p. 116}

Escape not fate unseemly, but shall be

Worn weary unto death; him foreign dust,

But dust that of Nemea's flower has name,

65 Shall hide a corpse. And after him shall rule

Another man, with silver helmet decked;

And unto him shall be the name of a sea;

And he shall be a man the best of all

And in all things discreet. And upon thee,

70 Thou best of all, above all, dark-haired one,

And upon thy shoots shall be all these days.

After him three shall rule; but the third one

Shall at a late time hold the royal power.

Worn out am I, thrice-miserable one,

75 Sister of Isis, to lay up in heart

An evil message, and an inspired song

Of oracles. First Mnades shall dart

[64.
\"Nemea's flower".--Nemea in Argolis was the spot where biennial games were celebrated by the Greeks, and the victors were crowned with parsley, the Greek name of which is "selinon". The emperor Trajan died in Selinus, a city of Cilicia, in Asia Minor; hence the allusion of the Sibyl.

67.
\"Name of a sea".--The Adriatic (or Hadriatic), from which it is apparent Hadrian is referred to.

72.
\"Three".--The three Antonines, namely, Antonius Pius, M. Aurelius, and I.. Verus. This last named, being only seven years old at the time of his adoption, was thought by the Sibyl to be likely to come late to the throne. Comp. book viii, 85.

75.
\"Sister of Isis".--The Sibyl, who elsewhere (book iii, 1028) represents herself as a daughter-in-law of Noah, here assumes to be sister or friend ({Greek "gnwsth'"}) of the Egyptian goddess Isis, sadly prophesying the doom of Egypt, and especially of Memphis.

77.
\"First".--Lactantius seems to have had this passage in mind when he says: "First of all, Egypt shall stiffer punishment for her foolish superstitions, and will be covered with blood as if with a river. Div. Inst.", vii, 15 [l., 6, 786]. \"Mnades".--A name applied to the priestesses of Bacchus, who were wont to work themselves into mad frenzy, and are here named as avenging furies, fit to execute judgment. Comp. line 651.]

(44-54.)

{p. 117}

Around thy much-lamented temple's steps,

And thou shalt be in evil hands that day

80 When the Nile some time shall fill the whole land

Of Egypt even to sixteen cubits deep;

It shall wash all the land, and water it

For mortals; and the pleasure of the land

Shall be still and the glory of her face.

85 Memphis, thou most shalt over Egypt wail;

For of old ruling mightily the land

Thou shalt become poor, so that out of heaven

The Thunderer shall himself with great voice cry:

"O mighty Memphis, who didst boast of old

90 O'er craven mortals greatly, thou shalt wail

Full of pain and all-hapless, so that thou

Thyself shalt the eternal God perceive

Immortal in the clouds. Where among men

Is now thy mighty pride? Because thou didst

95 Against my God-anointed children rave,

And didst urge evil forward on good men,

Thou shalt for such things suffer penalty

In some like manner. No more openly

For thee shall there be right among the blessed;

[78.
\"Thy much-lamented temple". The temple of Isis is referred to.

79.
\"Evil hands". Allusion perhaps to the tearing in pieces of Pentheus by the hands of his mother and aunts, to whom Bacchus made him appear as a wild beast.

81.
\"Sixteen cubits".--The elevation of the Nile, in the vicinity of Memphis, is about twenty-three feet, according to Humboldt, which would be equivalent to the ordinary estimate of sixteen cubits. It is interesting to note that the famous piece of statuary in the Vatican, representing the Nile as a reclining human figure, has the childlike forms of sixteen genii climbing about it, as if to represent the sixteen cubits of the usual annual overflow.

85.
\"Memphis".--Ancient capital of lower Egypt. Comp. line 243.

95.
\"God-anointed children".--The Jewish people. Comp. Psa. cv, 16; Hub. iii, 13.]

(54-71.)

{p. 118}

100
Fallen from the stars, thou shalt not rise to heaven."

Now these things unto Egypt God bade me

Speak out for the last time, when men shall be

Utterly evil. But they labor hard,

Evil men evil things awaiting, wrath

105 Of the immortal Thunderer in heaven,

Worshiping stones and beasts instead of God,

And also fearing many things besides

Which have no speech, nor mind, nor power to hear;

Which things it is not right for me to mention,

110 Each one an idol, formed by mortal hands;

Of their own labors and presumptuous thoughts

Did men receive gods made of wood and stone

And brass, and gold and silver, foolish too,

Without life and dumb, molten in the fire

115 They made them, vainly trusting such things....

Thmois and Xois are in sore distress,

And smitten is the hall of Heracles

And Zeus and Hermes (king). And as for thee,

O Alexandria, famed nourisher

120 (Of cities) war shall not leave, nor (plague)...

For thy pride thou shalt pay as many things

As thou before didst. Silent shalt thou be

A long age, and the day of thy return...

.......


No more for thee shall flow luxurious drink...

.......

[100.
Comp. Isa. xiv, 12,13; Matt. xi, 23.

116.
\"Thmois and Xois".--Cities of Egypt, the former mentioned by Herodotus (ii, 166), the latter by Strabo (xvii, 1, 19).

117.
Heracles.--Son of Zeus, as was also "Hermes", and these deities are thus naturally associated in the Sibyl's thought with their halls or temples of worship in Egypt. The corruption in the Greek text of this passage is indicated by the lacun visible in the translation.]

(72-92.)

{p. 119}

12 5
For there shall come a Persian on thy dale,

And like hail shall he all the land destroy,

And artful men, with blood and corpses....

By sacred altars one of barbarous mind,

Strong, full of blood and raging senselessly,

130 With countless numbers rushing to destruction.

And then shalt thou, in cities very rich,

Be very weary. Falling on the earth

All Asia shall wail on account of gifts

Crowning her head with which she was by thee

135 Delighted. But, as he himself obtained

The Persian land by lot, he shall make war

And killing every man destroy all life,

So that there shall remain for wretched mortals

A third part. But with nimble leap shall he

140 Himself speed from the West, and all the land

Besiege and waste. But when he shall possess

The height of power and odious reverence,

He shall come, wishing to destroy the city

Even of the blessed. And a certain king

145 Sent forth from God against him shall destroy

All mighty kings and bravest men. And thus

Shall judgement by the Immortal come to men.

Alas, alas for thee, unhappy heart!

Why dost thou move me to declare these things,

150 The painful rule of Egypt over many?

Go to the East, to races of the Persians

Who lack in understanding, and show them

[125.
\"A Persian".--The allusion is uncertain. According to the scholium found in a Paris codex, he is one who is to be associated with the coming of antichrist. Much in the description corresponds to what is said of Nero in lines 39-49 above.

144-147. A
Messianic passage quoted by Lactantius, "Div. Inst.", vii, 18 6, 796].]

(93-114.)

{p. 120}

That which is now and that which is to be.

The river of Euphrates shall bring on

155 A deluge, and it shall destroy the Persians,

Iberians and Babylonians

And the Massaget that relish war

And trust in bows. All Asia fire-ablaze

Shall to the isles beam brightly. Pergamos,

160 Revered of old, shall perish from its base,

And Pitane among men shall appear

All-desolate. All Lesbos shall sink deep

Into the deep, and thus shall be destroyed.

Smyrna, whirled down her cliffs, shall wail aloud,

165 She that was once revered and given a name

Shall perish utterly. Bithynians

Shall over their own country, then reduced

To ashes, wail, and o'er great Syria,

And o'er Phœnicia that bas many tribes.

170 Alas, alas for thee, O Lycia;

How many evils does the sea contrive

Against thee, mounting up of its own will

Upon the painful land! And it shall dash

With evil earthquake and with bitter streams

175 On the rough Lycian land that once breathed perfume.

[156.
\"Iberians".--Those north of Armenia, and between the Euxine and Caspian Seas, are probably intended; but they, as well as the "Massaget" mentioned in the next line, were in no contact with the Euphrates. The Massaget were east of the Caspian, in Scythia.

161.
\"Pitane".--A city on the east coast of Mysia, southwest of Pergamos.

162.
\"Lesbos".--Large island near the coast of Mysia.

164.
\"Smyrna".--Well-known city on the coast of Lydia, distinguished for its commerce in ancient and modern times.

170.
\"Lycia".--Province on the southern coast of Asia Minor, having Phrygia to the north.]

(114-129.)

{p. 121}

And there shall be for Phrygia fearful wrath

Because of sorrow for which Rhea came,

Mother of Zeus, and there continued long.

The sea shall overthrow the Centaur race

190 And barbarous nation, and beneath the earth

Shall tear away the Lapithan land.

The river of deep eddies and deep flow,

Peneus, shall destroy Thessalian land,

Snatching men from the earth. Eridanus

185 (Pretending once to bear the forms, of beasts).

Hellas thrice wretched shall the poets weep,

When one from Italy shall smite the neck

Of the isthmus, mighty king of mighty Rome,

A man made equal to God, whom, they say,

190 Zeus himself and the august Hera bore

He, courting by his voice all-musical

Applause for his sweet Songs, shall put to death

With his own wretched mother many men.

From Babylon shall flee the fearful lord

195 And shameless whom all mortals and best men

Abhor; for he slew many and laid hands

Upon the womb; against his wives he sinned

And of men stained with blood had he been formed.

[177.
\"Rhea".--Comp. book iii, 165-182.

179.
\"Centaur race".--Fabulous race in Thessaly, represented as half man and half horse.

181.
\"Lapithan land".--The mountainous parts of Thessaly, so called from a fabulous people, the Lapith, who are said to have once dwelt there.

185.
The Greek text is here corrupt, and the words in parentheses are conjectural.

187.
\"One from Italy".--Another picture of Nero (comp. lines 39-49) who is here represented as the author of the Roman war which resulted in the overthrow of Jerusalem and the temple.]

(130-146.)

{p. 122}

And he shall come to monarchs of the Medes

200 And Persians, first whom he loved and to whom

He brought renown, while with those wicked men

He lurked against a nation not desired

And on the temple made by God he seized

And citizens and people going in,

205 Of whom I justly sang the praise, he burned;

For when this man appeared the whole creation

Was shaken and kings perished--and yet power

Remained among them, and they quite destroyed

The mighty city and the righteous people.

210 But when the fourth year a great star shall shine,

Which alone shall the whole earth overpower

Because of honor, which was first assigned

To lord Poseidon; then a great star shall come

From heaven into the dreadful sea and burn

215 The vasty deep, and Babylon itself,

And the land of Italy, because, of which

There perished many holy faithful men

Among the Hebrews and a people true.

Thou shalt be among evil mortals made

[210.
\"Fourth year".--Perhaps in allusion to the time, times, and dividing of time (three and a half years) in Dan. vii, 25, a symbolic number for a period of woe.

213.
\"To lord Poseidon".--Reading doubtful. Some MSS. read, Poseidon who is in the sea. Mendelssohn proposes the Homeric phrase, {Greek "E?nuali'wj a?ndrefo'nth"} the man-slaying, warlike one.

213, 214.
\"Star... into the... sea".--Comp. Rev. viii, 8; xvi, 3. This passage is an apocalyptic prophecy of judgment to come on Rome, and is so interpreted by Lactantius, "Div. Inst.", vii, 15 [l., 6, 790].

215.
\"Babylon".--Here used as a symbolic name for Rome.

219.
\"Thou".--Direct address to Rome.]

(114-162.)

{p. 123}

220
To suffer evils, but thou shalt remain

All-desolate whole ages by thyself

Hating thy soil; for thou didst have desire

For sorcery, adulteries were with thee

And lawless carnal intercourse with boys,

225 Thou evil city, womanish, unjust,

Ill-fated above all. Alas, alas!

Thou city of the Latin land, unclean

In all things, Mnad having joy in snakes,

Over thy banks a widow shalt thou sit

230 And the river Tiber shall lament for thee,

His consort thee, who hast a blood-stained heart

And impious soul. Didst thou not understand

What God can do, and what he doth devise?

But thou saidst, "I'm alone, and me no one

235 Shall sack.
" But now shall God, who ever is,

Thee and all thine destroy, and in that land

No longer shall thy ensign yet remain,

As of old, when the mighty God received

Thy honors. Stay, O lawless one, alone,

240 And mixed with burning fire inhabit thou

In Hades the Tartarean lawless land.

And now again, O Egypt, I bewail

Thy blind delusion; Memphis, first in toils,

Thou shalt be filled up with the dead; in thee

245 The pyramids shall speak a ruthless sound.

[221.
This line is in substance repeated in the codices and editions of the Greek text, but is so evidently a corruption that we omit the repetition from our text.

223, 224.
Cited by Clement of Alex., "Pd.", ii, 10 [g., 8, 616
].

229.
\"Widow".--Comp. Lam. i, 1.

242.
\"Again, O Egypt".--Comp. lines 74-100.]

(163-181.)

{p. 124}

O
Python, who wast justly called of old

The double city, be for ages silent,

So that thou mayest cease from wickedness.

Reckless in evils, treasury of toils,

250 Much-wailing Mnad, suffering, dire ills,

Much-weeping, thou a widow shalt remain

Through all time. Thou didst full of years become

While thou alone wast ruling o'er the world;

But when the white dress Barea round herself

255 Shall put on over that which is defiled,

Would that I neither were nor had been born

O Thebes, where is thy great strength? A fierce man

Shall slay the people; but thou, wretched one,

Grasping thy dusky dress shalt wail alone,

260 And thou shalt make atonement for all things

Which thou aforetime with a shameless soul

Didst perpetrate. They also shall behold

A mourning on account of lawless deeds.

And a mighty man of the Ethiopians

265 Shall overthrow Syene; by their might

[246.
\"Python".--This name seems to be here applied to Memphis as a symbolical name, equivalent to "oracle city," in allusion to the famous Delphic oracle in Greece.

250.
\"Mnad".--A raving priestess of Bacchus, Comp. lines 77 and 228.

254.
\"White dress".--According to Alexandre, the nomad population of Barca, in the northern part of Africa, were wont to put on a white garment over their sunburned and filthy bodies when about to go into battle.

257.
\"Thebes".--The ancient and famous capital of Upper Egypt, as Memphis was of Lower. The "fierce man" of this line and the "mighty man", of line 264 are both understood by Alexandre to refer to antichrist, but it is better perhaps to understand this whole passage as apocalyptic in the broad, general way, and so no particular person known in history need be supposed.]

(182-194.)

{p. 125}

Shall swarthy Indians occupy Teucheira.

Pentapolis, a man of mighty, strength

Shall burn thee whole. All-tearful Libya,

Who shall explain thy follies? And Cyrene,

270 Of mortals who shall pitiably weep

For thee? Thou shalt not even to the time

Of thy destruction cease thy hateful wail.

Among the Britons and among the Gauls,

Rich in gold, Ocean shall be roaring loud

275 Filled with much blood; for evil things

Did they unto God's children, when a king

Of the Sidonians, a Phœnician, led

A mighty Gallic host from Syria;

And he shall slaughter thee, thyself, Ravenna,

280 And unto slaughter shall he lead the way.

O Indians and great-hearted Ethiops,

Together fear; for when with these the course

Of Capricorn and Taurus in the Twins

Shall wind about the middle of the heaven,

285 Virgo then rising, and about his front

Fastening a belt the sun shall lead all heaven,

There shall be moving downwards to the earth

A mighty conflagration high in air,

[266.
\"Teucheira".--Doubtful reading.

273-280.
In these verses the Sibyl foretells punishment on the Britons and Gauls, who are supposed to have furnished soldiers for the legions led by Vespasian against the Jews. These last are to be understood by "God's children" in line 276. The Phœnician king is Vespasian, who led his forces out of Ptolemais in Syria to carry the war into Galilee. See Josephus, Mars, iii, vi, 2, 3, and Tacitus, "Hist.", iv, 39; v, 1. Ravenna, the great naval station of the Romans on the Adriatic, comes in for its share of the curse, for it was a chief city of Cisalpine Gaul, and was naturally associated with the military operations of Rome in the time of the Csars.

282-291.
Comp. the war of the constellations in lines 690-711 below.]

(195-211.)

{p. 126}

And a new nature in the warlike stars,

290 'so that the whole land of the Ethiops

Shall perish in the midst of fire and groans.

And weep thou, Corinth, the destruction sad

Which is ill thee; for when with pliant threads

The Fates three sisters, spinning shall aloft

295 Lead him who flees by guile against the voice

Of the isthmus, until all shall look at him

Who once cut out the rock with ductile brass,

He also shall destroy and smite thy land,

As it hath been appointed. For to him

300 God gave strength to accomplish that which could

No earlier of all the kings together.

And first with sickle cleaving off the roots

From three heads he shall give food in excess

To others, so that kings unclean shall eat

305 The flesh of parents. For unto all men

Slaughter and terrors are laid up in store

because of the great city and just people

Saved through all time, whom Providence held high.

O thou unstable one and ill-advised,

[294.
\"Fates".--These, according to popular mythology, were three sisters, named Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos, who are continually spinning out the destiny of mortals. Clotho, it was said, held the distaff, Lachesis spun out the thread of existence, and Atropos cut it off.

295.
\"Him who sees".--The reference seems to be to Nero and his cleaving the isthmus (comp. lines 45 and 188). His return from the East as antichrist was a superstitious apprehension prevalent for some time after his death.

303.
\"Three heads".--Comp. Dan. vii, 8, 24; 2 Esdras xi, 23; xii, 22. Hippolytus, de Christo et Antichristo, lii [g., 10, 772].

307.
\"City... people".--Jerusalem and the Jews.

209-334. A
prophetic curse against Rome as the greatest source of misery to men.]

(212-228.)

{p. 127}

310
By evil fates surrounded, for mankind

Both a beginning and great end of toil,--

Of suffering creation and of part

Restored again,--thou leader insolent

Of evils, and for men a great curse, who

115 Of mortals wished for thee? Who has not been

Embittered from within? Cast down ill thee

A king his honored life lost. Evilly

Hast thou disposed all things and washed away

All that is fair, and by thee have been changed

320 The world's fair folds. In strife with us perhaps

Thou hast brought forward these unstable things;

And how dost thou say, "I will thee persuade,"

And "If in any thing thou blame me, speak?"

There was once among men the sun's bright light

325 The prophets' common ray being spread abroad;

Speech dripping honey, fair drink for all men,

Appeared and grew, and day arose on all.

Because of this, thou narrow-minded one

Leader of greatest evils, both a sword

330 And grief shall come in that day. For mankind

Both a beginning and great end of toil,--

Of suffering creation and of part

Restored again,--hear, O thou curse of men,

The bitter oracle intolerable.

335 But when the Persian land shall keep away

From war and plague and groaning, in that day

A race divine of blessed heavenly Jews

[335.
\"Persian land".--All western Asia, which the Roman and other wars destructive to the Jews had long ravaged, and which was also often visited with pestilence. In the midst of this land, namely, at Jerusalem, the re- stored Jewish race, according to the Sibyl, are to dwell in peace and glory.

337.
\"Heavenly Jews".--This line is cited by Lactantius, "Div. Inst.", iv, 20 [l., 6, 516].]

(228-249.)

{p. 128}

Shall offer prayer, who shall dwell round about

God's city in mid portions of the land,

340 And even as far as Joppa building round

A great wall they shall carry it aloft

Unto the gloomy clouds. No more shall trump

Sound battle--din nor by a foe's mad hands

Shall they be cut off; but they shall set up

345 Their trophies for an age of evil men.

And one shall come again from heaven, a man

Preeminent, whose hands on fruitful tree

By far the noblest of the Hebrews stretched,

Who at one time did make the sun stand still

350 When he spoke with fair word and holy lips,

No longer vex thy soul within thy breast

By reason of the sword, rich child of God,

Flower longed for by him only, goodly light

And noble branch, a scion much beloved,

355 Pleasant Judea, city beautiful,

Inspired by hymns. No more shall unclean foot

Of Greeks keep revel round about thy land,

Who held within their breast a lawless mind;

But thee shall glorious children honor much

360 [And be expert in songs and holy tongues],

With sacrifices of all kinds and prayers

Honored of God. All who endure the toils

Of small affliction and the just shall have

[338.
\"Shall offer prayer".--This reading, {Greek "eu?'ksetai"}, as in book xiii, 206 (Greek text, 153), Rzach now prefers to the {Greek "e?'ssetai"} of the MSS., and his own former conjecture of {Greek "a?rh'setai"}, shall he raised up.

346-350.
In this passage the Messiah is conceived as both Moses and Joshua coming down out of the heavens. The allusions are to Moses stretching out his hands with the wonder-working rod (comp. Exod. vii, 17-20, and xvii, 9-12), the rod that put forth buds and fruit (Num. xvii, 8), and Joshua commanding the sun to stand still (Josh. x, 12).]

(250-269.)

{p. 129}

More that is altogether beautiful;

365 But the wicked, who to heaven sent lawless speech,

Shall cease their speaking one against another,

And hide themselves until the world be changed.

And there shall be a rain of gleaming fire

From the clouds; and no more shall mortals reap

370 The fair corn from the earth; all things unsown

And unplowed, until mortal men shall know

The Lord of all things, the immortal God

Always existing, and no more revere

Mortal things, neither dogs nor vultures' nests,

375 And what things Egypt taught to magnify

With dumb months and dull lips. But all these things

The holy land of the only pious men

Shall bring forth, from the honey-dripping rock

A stream and from a spring ambrosial milk

380 Shall flow for all the just; for in one God,

One Father, who alone is glorious,

Having great piety and faith they hoped.

But why does the wise mind grant me these things?

And now thee, wretched Asia, piteously

385 I mourn and the race of Ionians

And Carians and Lydians rich in gold.

Alas, alas for thee, O Sardis; and alas

For Trallis much beloved; alas, alas,

Laodicea, city beautiful;

390 Thus shalt thou be by earthquakes overthrown

[376-380.
These lines are cited by Lactantius, "Div. Inst.", vii, 42 [l., 6, 811]; comp. Joel iii, 18.

383-398.
The Sibyl here pronounces woe on several well-known provinces and cities of Asia Minor, all which have been repeatedly shaken by earthquakes. Especially interesting is the mention of the famous temple of Artemis (Diana) at Ephesus. Comp. Acts xix, 24-28.]

(270-290.)

{p. 130}

And ruined, and be also changed to dust.

And to Asia gloomy....

Artremis' temple fixed at Ephesus...

By chasms, and earthquakes come headlong down

395 Sometime into the dreadful sea, is storms

Overwhelm ships. And up-turned Ephesus

Shall wail aloud, lament beside her banks,

And for her temple search which is no more.

And then incensed shall God the imperishable,

400 Who dwells on high, hurl thunderbolts from heaven

Down on the head of him that is impure.

And in the place of winter there shall be

In that day summer. And to mortal men

Shall then be great woe; for the Thunderer

405 Shall utterly destroy all shameless men

And with his thunders and with lightning-flames

And blazing thunderbolts men of ill-will,

And thus shall he destroy the impious ones,

So that there shall remain upon the earth

410 Dead bodies more in number than the sand.

For Smyrna also, weeping her Lycurgus,

Shall come unto the gates of Ephesus

And she herself shall perish even more.

And foolish Cyme with her inspired streams

415 Cast down by hands of godless men unjust

And lawless, shall to heaven not so much

As a word utter; but she shall remain

Dead in Cyman streams. And then shall they

Together weep, awaiting evil things.

[396-398.
These lines are cited by Clem. Alex., Cohort., iv [g., 8, 141].

414.
\"Cyme".--Situated some fifteen miles north of Smyrna. Its rough populace (line 420) is said by Strabo (xiii, iii, 6) to have been ridiculed for their stupidity.]

(291-312.)

{p. 131}

420
Cyme's rough populace and shameless tribe,

Having a sign, shall know for what they toiled.

And then, when they shall have bewailed their land

Reduced to ashes, by Eridanus

Shall Lesbos be forever overthrown.

425 Alas, Corcyra, city beautiful,

Alas for thee, cease from thy revelry.

Thou also, Hierapolis, sole land

With riches mixed, what thou hast longed to have

Thou shalt have, even a land of many tears,

430 Since thou wast angry towards a land beside

Thermodon's streams. Rock-clinging Tripolis,

Beside the waters of Mander, thee

Shall by the nightly surges under shore

God's wrath and foresight utterly destroy.

435 Take me not, willing, to the neighboring land

Of Phœbus; sometime shall a thunderbolt

Dainty Miletus from above destroy,

Because she seized on Phœbus' crafty song

And the wise care and prudent plan of men.

440 Father of all, be gracious to the land

Of Judah, well fed, fruit-abounding, great,

[423.
\"Eridanus".--Usually understood as a mythical name of the river Po; but in this passage it is apparently intended as the name of a destructive sea-god. Comp. Hesiod, "Theog.", 338.

425.
\"Corcyra".--City on an island of the same name off the coast of Epirus, identical with the modern Corfu.

427.
\"Hierapolis".--Phrygia, not far from Laodicea and Coloss.

431.
\"Thermodon".--River of Pontus, emptying in the Euxine, "Tripolis".--Northwest of Hierapolis, on the Mander.

437.
\"Miletus".--Said to have been founded by, and named after, a son of Phœbus (that is, Apollo; see note on book iv, line 5), and hence called land of Phœbus, as in this passage. According to Strabo (book xiv, i, 6), the Milesians invoke Phœbus as the dispenser of health and healer of diseases.]

(314-328.)

{p. 132}

In order that thy judgments we may see.

For thou, O God, in kindness didst regard

This land first that it might appear to be

445 Thy gracious gift unto all mortal men

And to hold fast what God put in their charge.

The works thrice wretched of the Thracians

I yearn to see, and wall between two seas

Trailed in the dust along beneath the mist,

450 Even like a river for the swimming fish.

O wretched Hellespont, sometime a child

Of the Assyrians shall throw a yoke

Across thee; battle of the Thracians comes

And shall despoil thy strength. And there shall rule

455 Over the land of Macedonia

A king of Egypt, and a barbarous clime

Shall waste the strength of captains. Lydians,

And the Galatians, and Pamphylians

With the Pisidians, all equipped for war

460 Shall in a mass bring evil strife to pass.

Thrice wretched Italy, then shalt remain

All-desolate, unwept, in blooming land

By deadly sting to perish utterly.

And sometime high in the broad heaven above

465 Like thunder-roaring shall God's voice be heard.

[447.
\"Works... of the Thracians".--Reference probably to the wall, mentioned in next line, built by Miltiades across the isthmus of the Thracian Chersonese. See Herodotus, book vi, 36.

452.
\"Assyrians".--Here put for Persians, who occupied the Assyrian territory. The reference is manifestly to Xerxes, who bridged the Hellespont, as described by Herodotus, book vii, 34-36.

456.
\"King of Egypt".--Lysimachus seems to be referred to, and is thought of as being Egyptian because of his marriage with Ptolemy's daughter. The provinces of Asia Minor named in lines 457-459 were all involved in the wars of Lysimachus.]

(329-345.)

{p. 133}

And the unwasting flames of the sun himself

Shall be no more, nor shall the brilliant light

Of the moon again be in the latest time,

When God shall bc the ruler. And dark gloom

470 Shall be o'er all the earth, and blinded men

And evil beasts and woe; that day shall be

A long time, so that men shall see that God

Himself is Lord, the overseer of all

In front of heaven. And then will he himself

475 Not pity hostile men, who sacrifice

Their herds of lambs and sheep and calves and goats

And bellowing golden-horned bulls, offering them

To lifeless Herm and to gods of stone.

But let the law of wisdom be your guide

480 And the glory of the righteous; lest sometime

The imperishable God incensed destroy

Each race of men and shameless tribe of life,

It doth behoove them faithfully to love

The Father, the wise God who ever is.

485 In the last time, at the turning of the moon,

There shall be raging through the world a war

And carried on with cunning, and in guile.

And from the limits of the earth shall come

Fleeing and pondering sharp things in his mind,

[478.
\"Herm".--statues surmounted with ahead of Hermes, the god of arts and of traffic. They were numerous in Athens and Rome, and many specimens are to be seen in the museums of Europe.

480-484.
Cited by Lactantius, "de Ira Dei", xxiii [l., 7, 144
].

488-490.
Reference to Nero, here conceived as returning from his flight beyond the Euphrates (see book iv, 156) and embodying the traits of the vile king described in Dan. viii, 23-25. This passage is quoted by Lactantius, "de Morte Persec.", ii [l., 7, 197], and he says that some persons of his own time understood it of Nero, who was supposed to be still living in Nero distant region whither he had been secretly conveyed.]

(346-364.)

{p. 134}

490 A
matricidal man who every land

Shall overpower and over all things rule,

And see all things more wisely than all men;

And that for whose sake he himself was slain

Shall he seize forthwith. And he shall destroy

495 Many men and great tyrants and shall burn

All of them, as none other ever did,

And he shall raise up them that are afraid

For emulation's sake. And from the West

Much war shall come to men, and blood shall flow

500 Down hill till it becomes deep-eddying streams.

And in the plains of Macedonia

Shall wrath distil and give help from the West,

But to the king destruction. And a wind

Of winter then shall blow upon the earth,

505 And the plain be filled with evil war again.

For fire shall rain down from the heavenly plains

On mortals, and therewith blood, water, flash

Of lightning, murky darkness, night in heaven,

And waste in war and o'er the slaughter mist,

510 And these together shall destroy all kings

And noblest men. Thus shall be made to cease

Then the destruction pitiable of war.

And no more shall one fight with swords or iron

Or even darts, which things shall not again

515 Be lawful. But wise people shall have peace,

Who were left, having made proof of wickedness,

That they might at the last be filled with joy.

[493.
That for which he perished, and which the returning Nero would again seize, was the sovereignty.

501-503.
The exact import of these lines is quite unintelligible, except that by various concurring forces the Nero antichrist is to be destroyed.]

(365-385.)

{p. 135}

Ye matricides, leave off your impudence

And evil-working boldness, who of old

520 provided lawlessly lewd couch with boys,

And placed as harlots maidens pure before

In brothels by assault and punishment

And by much-laboring indecency.

For in thee mother with her child did hold

525 Unlawful intercourse, and daughter was

With her own father wedded as a bride;

And in thee kings have their ill-fated mouth

Polluted, and in thee have wicked men

Found couch with cattle. Be in silence hushed,

530 Thou wicked city all-bewailed, possessed

Of revelry; for by thee virgin maids

Shall care no longer for the fire divine

Of sacred wood that fondly nourisheth;

Before thee was a much-loved house of old

535 Extinguished, when I saw the second house

Cast headlong down and overwhelmed with fire

By an unholy hand, house ever flourishing,

God's watchful temple, brought forth of his saints

And being always indestructible,

540 By the soul hoped for and the body itself.

For not without the rites of burial

Shall one praise God out of the unseen earth,

Nor did wise workman make a stone by them,

Nor had he fear of gold, cheat of the world

[518.
\"Infanticides".--The Romans are thus addressed, as if they were conceived in the Sibyl's mind as so many Neros. Comp. line 490.

532.
\"Fire divine".--This was kept burning in the temple of Vesta at Rome, and attended by six virgin priestesses known as Vestal virgins. The safety of the city was believed to depend on keeping this fire ever burning.

534.
\"Loved house".--The temple in Jerusalem, laid waste first by the Chaldeans (2 Kings xxv, 8-11) and a second time by the Romans under Titus.]

(386-405)

{p. 136}

545
And of souls, but the mighty Father, God

Of all things God-inspired, did he revere

With holy offerings and fair hecatombs.

But now an unseen and unholy king

With multitude great and with men renowned

550 Rose into power and cast his dwelling down

And let it go unbuilt. But he himself

When he set foot on the immortal land

Destroyed the ground. And such a sign no more

Was wrought upon men, so that it appeared

555 That others the great city should destroy.

For there came from the heavenly plains a man,

One blessed, with a scepter in his hand,

Which God gave him, and he ruled all things well,

And unto all the good did he restore

560 The riches which the earlier men had seized.

And many cities with much fire he took

From their foundations, and he set on fire

The towns of mortals who before did evil,

And he did make that city, which God loved,

565 More radiant than stars and sun and moon,

And he set order, and a holy house

Incarnate made, pure, very fair, and formed

In many stades a great and boundless tower

Touching the clouds themselves and seen by all,

570 So that all holy and all righteous men

Might see the glory of the eternal God,

A sight that has been longed for. Rising sun

[548.
\"Unholy king".--The reference seems to be to Nero, under whom was begun the Jewish war which ended in the destruction of the temple. Comp. lines 187-209 above.

556-580. A
Messianic passage depicting the ideal period of future glory, a golden age to come.

664-565.
Cited by Lactantius, "Div. Inst.", vii, 24 [l., 6, 809].]

(406-427.)

{p. 137}

And setting day hymned forth the praise of God.

For there are then no longer fearful things

575 For wretched mortals, nor adulteries

And lawless love of boys, nor homicide

Nor tumult, but a righteous strife in all.

It is the last time of the saints when God

Accomplisheth these things, high Thunderer,

580 Founder of temple most magnificent.

Alas, alas for thee, O Babylon,

For golden throne and golden sandal famed,

Kingdom of many years and of the world

Sole ruler, who wast great in olden time

585 And city of all cities, thou no more

Shalt lie in golden mountains and by streams

Of the Euphrates; thou shalt be laid low

By rout of earthquake. But the Parthians dire

Caused thee to stiffer all things. Hold thou fast

590 Thy unknown speech, impure Chaldean race;

Ask not nor be concerned how thou shalt lead

The Persians or how thou shalt rule the Medes;

For on account of thy supremacy,

Which thou hadst, sending hostages to Rome

595 And serving Asia, thou that formerly

Didst also think thyself a queen, shalt come

Unto the judgment of antagonists,

[581.
\"Babylon".--Here put for Ctesiphon on the Tigris, the metropolis of the Parthian Empire. This empire was one of the great powers of the East, and, after long conflict with the Syrian king, spread its dominion over western Asia, and very successfully resisted the Romans until the third century of our era.

594.
\"Hostages to Rome".--A little while before the beginning of the Christian era the Parthian king Phraates sent four of his sons to Rome, and the Roman writers speak of them as hostages to Augustus. See Rawlinson, "Sixth Oriental Monarchy", chap. xiii.]

(428-444.)

{p. 138}

Because of whom thou hast suffered baneful things;

And thou shalt give instead of crooked words

600 Bitter vexation to the enemies,

And in the last time shall the sea be dry

And ships no longer sail to Italy,

And Asia the great then, all-hapless, shall

Be water, and then Crete shall be a plain.

605 And Cyprus shall endure great misery

And Paphos shall bewail a dreadful fate,

So that even Salamis, great city, shall

Be seen to undergo great misery;

And now the dry land shall be fruitless sand

610 Upon the shore. And locusts not a few

Shall utterly destroy the Cyprian land.

Looking at Tyre, doomed mortals, ye shall weep.

Phœnicia, dreadful wrath remains for thee,

Until thou to a worthless ruin fall,

615 So that even Sirens truly may lament.

In the fifth generation, when the ruin

Of Egypt has ceased, it shall come to pass

That shameless kings shall be together joined,

And races of Pamphylians shall encamp

620 In Egypt, and in Macedonia

And in Asia and among the Libyans

Shall in the dust be a world-maddening war

Exceeding bloody, which the king of Rome

And rulers of the West shall make to cease.

625 When wintry storm shall drop down like the snow,

While frozen are great river and vast lakes,

Forthwith a barbarous race shall make their way

[615.
\"Sirens... lament".--Terrible indeed must be a destruction which moves the cruel Sirens to lamentation.

616-624.
This passage seems to refer to the series of wars in Europe, Asia, and Egypt which put an end to the Greek domination of the Orient.]

(445-466.)

{p. 139}

Into the Asian land and shall destroy

The race of dreadful Thracians, hard to quell.

630 And then shall mortals feeding lawlessly

Devour their parents, being by hunger worn,

And shall gulp down the entrails. And wild beasts

Shall devour from all houses table-food,

And they and birds all mortals shall devour.

635 The ocean with dead bodies shall be filled

From the river and be red with flesh and blood

Of the foolish ones. Then thus a feebleness

Shall be on earth, so that of men the number

May be seen and the measure of the women,

640 And the dire race shall wail for myriad things

At last when the sun sets to rise no more,

But to remain submerged in Ocean's waves;

For it beheld the wickedness unclean

Of many mortals. And a moonless night

615 Shall be a fame around the mighty heaven,

And no small mist shall hide the world's ravines

A second time; then afterwards God's light

Shall guide the good men, who sang praise to God.

Isis, thrice wretched goddess, thou alone

650 Shalt on the waters of the Nile remain,

A Mnad out of order on the sands

Of Acheron, and no longer shall remain

Remembrance of thee over all the earth.

And also thou, Sarapis, who art placed

655 On many glistening stones, a ruin vast

Shalt thou in thrice unhappy Egypt lie.

But those whom love of Egypt led to thee

[649.
\"Isis".--Comp. lines 75-84 above.

654.
\"Sarapis".--Another Egyptian deity, like Isis, and having many attributes of Osiris.]

(466-489.)

{p. 140}

Shall all lament thee badly; but who put

Imperishable reason in their breast,

660 And who praised God, shall know thee to be naught.

And sometime shall a linen-vested man,

A priest, say: "Come, let us raise up of God

A beautiful true temple; come, let us

The fearful law of our forefathers change,

665 Because of which they did not understand

That they were unto gods of stone and clay

Making processions and religions rites.

Let us turn our souls, giving praise to God

The imperishable, who himself is Father,

670 The everlasting One, the Lord of all,

The true One, the King, life-sustaining Father,

The mighty God existing evermore."

And then shall there a great pure temple be

In Egypt, and the people made by God

675 Shall into it their sacrifices bring.

And to them God shall give life incorrupt.

But when the Ethiopians, forsaking

The shameless tribes of the Triballians,

Shall cultivate their Egypt, they will then

680 Begin their baseness, that the later things

[673.
\"Temple".--Commonly supposed to refer to the Jewish temple at Leontopolis in Egypt. See Josephus, "Wars", vii, x, 2, 3; "Ant.", xiii, 3. Alexandre, however, controverts this explanation, and maintains that this writer, being subsequent to the closing of the temple at Leontopolis and the abolishing of its worship by order of the Roman emperor (Josephus, "Wars", vii, x, 4), could not have thus spoken of this temple, nor prophesied its overthrow by Ethiopians. Hence the plausible supposition that the entire passage about a temple in Egypt is a poetical amplification of the prophecy of Isa. xix, 18-22.

678.
\"Triballians".--These were a powerful and savage tribe near the Danube in Europe (comp. book xii, 91), and are here strangely associated with the Ethiopians. But probably both names are here used symbolically, like Gog and Magog in book iii, 193.]

(490-506.)

{p. 141}

May all occur. For they shall overthrow

The mighty temple of the Egyptian land;

And God shall rain down on the earth dire wrath

Among them, so that all the wicked ones

685 And all without sense perish. And no more

Shall there be any sparing in that land,

Because they did not keep that which God gave.

I saw the threatening of the shining Sun

Among the stars, and in the lightning flash

690 The dire wrath of the Moon; the stars travailed

With battle; and God gave them up to light.

For long fire-flames rebelled against the Sun;

Lucifer treading upon Leo's back

Began the fight; and the Moon's double horn

695 Changed its shape; Capricorn smote Taurus' neck;

And Taurus took away from Capricorn

Returning day. Orion would no more

Abide his yoke; the lot of Gemini

Did Virgo change in Aries; no more shone

700 The Pleiads; Draco disavowed his zone;

Down into Leo's girdle Pisces went.

Cancer remained not, for he feared Orion;

Scorpio down on dire Leo backwards moved;

And from the Sun's flame Sirius slipped away;

705 And the strength of the mighty Shining One

Aquarius kindled. Uranus himself

Was roused, until he shook the warring ones;

And being incensed he hurled them down on earth.

Then swiftly smitten down upon the baths

710 Of Ocean they set all the earth on fire;

And the high heaven remained without a star.

[688-711.
Comp. lines 282-291 and book viii, 261. Also Lactantius, "Div. Inst.", vii, 16 [l., 6, 192].]

(507-531.)

{p. 142}

{p. 143}

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