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The Sibylline OraclesBook twelve A review of history But come, hear my woeful history of the Latin race. First of all, indeed, after the death of the kings of Egypt, all of whom the evenhanded earth took under, And after the citizen of Pella, to whom 5All the East and prosperous West were subjected Whom Babylon tested and held out as a corpse to Philip, Alleged, not truly to be descended from Zeus or Ammon, And after the one of the race and blood of Assaracus, Who came from Troy, who split the onslaught of fire, 10And after many princes, after warlike people, And after infants, children of the flock-devouring beast, And after the passage of six hundred years And two decades of the dictatorship of Rome, Augustus Will be the very first man from the western sea, 15Great lord of Rome and a brave warrior Who obtained the first of the letters. When he has shackled you, Land of splendid fruig, he will be sated with man-slaying war. You will make amends for the outage which you have willingly unleashed. For he, the great-spirited one, will be best in wars. 20Thrace will crouch in fear before him and Sicily and Memphis; Memphis, cast down headlong on account of the wickedness of its leaders And of an indomitable woman who fell beneath the spear. He will give laws to the peoples and subordinate all things. With mighty golry he will control dominions far and wide. 25For no other sceptre-bearing king of the Romans Will ever exceed this man, even for a little time, Not for one hour, because God approved all for this man; And indeed he manifested wonderful great times On the wondrous earth, and in them he showed signs. Christian insertion 30But whenever a bright star most like the sun Shines forth from heaven in midday, Then indeed the secret word of the Most High will come Wearing flesh like mortals. But with him The power of Rome will increase, and of the famous Latins, Death of Augustus 35But the great king himself will die by his own fate. Having handed on the royal dominion to another. Tiberius After this man there will be a certain mighty warrior. He will rule, wearing a purple cloak on his shoulders, And he will be of the number three hundred on his first initial, 40He will destroy Medes and also arrow-shooting Parthians. In his might he will destroy a city of high gates, And evil will come upon the city of Egypt and the Assyrians, Colchians, Heniochians, and the Germans who live by the streams Of the Rhine beyond the sandy banks, 45He will also sack thereafter the city with high gates Near the Eridanus, which was devising evils, And then he will fall, smitten with glittering iron. Gaius (Caligula) Thereafter another man, with deceitful locks, will rule, Who has obtained the number three. The initial will show 50His name. He will collect much gold. There will be no surfeit from much gold but shamelessly He will ravage more and deposit it throughout all the earth. There will be peace, and Ares will rest from wars. He will reveal many things, having the greatest faith 55In prophecies for the sake of livelihood and life. But on him There will come a most great sign.Bloody drops Will flow from heaven on the dying king. He will do many lawless things. Trusting in prophecies, He will place woes about the neck for the Romans. 60He will kill the heads of the senate. Famine will seize Campamians and Thracians, Macedonians, Italians. Egypt alone will nourish numerous tribes. The prince himself will deceitfully bring to ruin a virgin maiden, Having used the mystery in utter deception. But citizens 65will mourn and bury her. All will be in wrath Against the prince and will deceitfully maltreat him. A mighty man, he will perish at the hands of mighty men in flourishing Rome. Claudius Another lord will rule again of the number twice ten. Then wars and mournful cares will come upon 70The Sauromatae and Thracians and the javelin-throwing Triballi. The Roman Ares will destroy all. There will be a terrible sign when this man rules Over the land of the Italians and Pannonians. Around them There will be dark night in the mid-hour of day 75And rain of stone from heaven. But then A mighty lord and judge of the Italians Will go to the halls of Hades by his own fate. Nero Another man of the number fifty will come again, Terrible and frightful. He will destroy many 80Who are outstanding in wealth from all the cities, A terrible snake, breathing grevious war, who one day Will lay hands on his own family and kill them and perform many things As athlete, charioteer, murderer, one who dares ten thousand things. He will also cut the mountain between two seas and will defile it with gore. 85But he will be destructive to the Italians, even when he has disappeared. Making himself equal to God, he will convince a willing people. There will be seep peace when this man rules And quaking of men. Cleaving the tide under the Ausonians, He will reach the strange water from the streams of Oceanus. 90Glancing about him, he will set up many contests for peoples, And he himself will compete as a contestant With voice and lyre, singing a song accompanied by strings. Later he will flee, abandoning the royal dominion. Perishing wretchedly, he will make amends for what he did. Galba, Otho, and Vitellius 95After him three will rule, two lords who have obtained In their names the number seventy, and in addition to these one Of the third letter. They will perish, one here, another there, In mighty war, at the hands of an army. Vespasian Then will come a certain lord, a great destroyer 100Of pious men, a man of mighty spirit, an Ares who wields the spear, Who will clearly show an initial seven times ten. He will destroy Phoenicia, and bring Syria to destruction. A sword will also come upon the land of Solyma As far as the last turning of the sea of Tiberias. 105Alas Phoenicia, how much you will endure, one of great sorrows. You will be bound with cords and every nation will trample you. Alas, you will come to the Assyrians and will see Infant children in slavery among hostile men, And wives also and your whole livelihood. Wealth will perish. 110For the anger of God will come upon you, one of great sorrows, because they did not keep his law but served All idols with disgraceful devices. There will be many ward, battles, and slaughters, Famines and pestilence, and upheavels of cities. 115At the end of life a noble great-spirited king, Excellent himself, will fall by compulsion of the army. Titus Thereafter two other princes will rule, Loving the memory of their father the great king, Winning much glory among spear-weilding warriors. 120One man of these will be a noble lord. He will have the name of three hundred, but he Will fall by deceit, stretched out, even among the ranks Smitten on the soil of Rome with double edged bronze. Domitian Also after him a certain man,, a mighty warrior, 125With an initial four will rule a great kingdom, Whom all mortals will love throughout the boundless earth. Then there will be respite from war throughout the whole world. From West to East all will serve this man Willingly, not by compulsion, 130And cities will spontaneiously be subject or subordinate. For heavenly Sabaoth, the imperishable God who dwells in the sky, Will especially confer glory on him. Then famine will diminish Pannonia and all The Celtic land, and will destroy them on top of each other. 135The Assyrians, whom the Orontes floods, Will have buildings and embellishment and anything that may seem greater. These the great king will love, and he will cherish them Beyond the other citizens. But he himself Will receive a great wound in the middle of his breast 140At the end of life, taken deceitfully by a companion. Within the wondrous, great palace of the kingdom He will fall, slain. After him will be a lord, Nerva A majestic man, of the number fifty who will destroy Many townsmen and citizens of Rome, for every reason. 145But he will have short rule, for on account of the formet king He will go, slain, thereafter, to the halls of Hades Trajan Then immediately there will be another king and mighty arriot Who has obtained the marked initial of three hundred. He will rule and ravage the diverse land 150Of the Thracians and the Germans who inhabit The savage extremities of the Rhine, and the arrow-shooting Iberians. Immediately another very great evil will come upon the Jews, And Phoenicia, after these things, will drink torrential slaughter. The walls of the Assyrians will fall with many warriots. 155Again a spirit-destroying man will destroy these. Thereafter will be the threats of the powerful God, Earthquakes adn great famines throughout the whole earth, And snowstorms out of season and fierce thunderbolts. Then also a king, the great Celtic mountaineer,, 160Rushing throught the tumult of war to the strife of battle, Will not escape an unseemly fate but will die. Foreign dust, which has the name of a Nemeian flower, Will cover him, a corpse. After him another will be prince, Hadrian A silver-headed man, He will have the name of a sea, 165Presenting the beginning of the alphabet, an Ares of four syllables. He will also dedicate temples in all cities, Inspecting the world on his own foot, bringing gfts. Gold and much alloy he will give to many. He will also master all the mysteries of 171The magic shrines, Indeed the thunderbolt Will give a much better ruler to men. There will be long peace when this prince Will be. He will also be a singer of splendid voice, Sharer in lawful things, and just legislator. 175He will fall, undone by his own fate. The Antonines After him three will rule, but the third will come to power late in life, Containing three decades. But another prince will rule Again, of the first unit. After him another lord, Of seven decades. They will have noble names. 180They will destroy much-spotted men, Britons and Moors, great Dacians and Arabs. But whernever the youngest of these perishes, Then indeed terrible Ares will come upon Parthis Again, who formerly woulnded it and will finally utterly destroy it. 185Then also the prince himself will be felled by a deceitful beast While exercising his hands. This is the alleged cause of death. Marcus Aurelius After him another man will rule, who knows many wise things, With the name of the first powerful king, Of the first unit. He will be good and great. 190A mighty man he will accomplish many things for the great Latins, For the sake of his father's memory. He will immedietely decorate The walls of Rome with gold and silver and ivory, Going in the marketplaces and temples with strong light. One day also a most terrible wound will spring up 195For the Romans in wars. He will utterly destroy The entire land of the Germans whenever the greatsign of God Appears from heaven, and saves bronze-helmeted men Who are being worn out on account of the piety of the king. For the heavenly God will indeed hearken to him in everything. 200At his prayer he will shower rainwater out of season. But when those things of which I spoke are completed Then also the famous kingdom of the great pious prince Will fail with the revolving years. At the end of his life, having displayed his son 205Rising to kingship, he will die by his own fate, Commodus Leaving the royal dominion to a fair-haired lord, Who will have the name of two decades. A king from birth, He will receive dominion from his father. This man will contain all things with extradinary calculation. 210 He will emulate the very great-spirited mighty Heracles, And he will excel with mighty weapons, having The greatest glory in hunts with dogs and horse riding. He will live dangerously, quite alone. There will be a terrible sign when this man rules. 215On the soil of Rome there will be cloud and mist So that no one of mortals can see another who is near him. Then indeed there will be simultaneously wars and mournful cares, Whenever the rpince himself, the madman crazed with love, Will come shaming his race, base, on ill-advised 220Couches in unholy wedlock. Then indeed a great destructive man, concealed in bereavement, Incurring wrath, will suffer evil in the bath, A murderous man, shackled by deceptive fate. Confusion after the death of Commodus Know then that the destructive time of Rome is near 225Because of the passion of the ruler. Many will perish In the halls of the Palladium at the hands of Ares. Then Rome will be bereft and make amends for all That it alone did formerly in many ward. My heart weeps, it weeps within me. 230For from the time when the first king, proud Rome, A single man, gave a noble law to earthly men And the end of the nineteenth kingdom. The time of years has been fulfilled; twice a hundred, 235Twice twenty and twice two, plus six months. Then Pertinax The twentieth king will bereave the race, because in his dwelling He will shed his blood, smitten with a sharp bronze sword, Having an initial of the number eighty, which shows his name And grievous old age. But he will make a widow 240In a short time when there will be many warriors, Many destructions, and mursers and slaughters, Destructive strife and woes for the sake of conquest Of the lordship, and many horses and men in confusion Will fall on the ground, rent asunder by wars. Didius Iulianus 245Then another man will come, having the sign of his name Of the number ten, and he will inflict many Griefs and groanings, and he will fall In mighty war, smitten with glittering iron. Pescennius Niger 250Another warrior of the number fifty will come, Roused from the East for the sake of the lordship A warlike Ares, he will come as far as Thrace, But will flee thereafter and come to the plain of Bithynians And the soil of Cilicians. Brazen, spirit-destroying Ares 255Will quickly destroy him on the Assyrian plains. Septimius Severus Then a resourceful man who craftily knows what is expedient Will come to power, roused from the West. His name will have gthe sign of the number two hundred. Much more will he contrive war for the sake 260Of royal dominion, having gathered his whole army Against the men of Assyria, and he will subordinate everything. The great power will rule for the Romans. In his heart will be many a scheme, the wrath of destructive Ares. A terrible snake, grievous in war, who will destroy all 265Earthly men who have become exalted. Having killed noble men for the sake of wealth, like a star, And having ravaged the whole earth of perishing men, He will go to the East, and every deceit will be his. Alexander Severus Then when an infant Caesar reigns with him 270Having the name of the mighty Macedonian prince Of the first letter, there will be tumult around him. He will escape the dread deceit of the advancing king In the bosom of the army. But the temple-arden Ruler, of savage customs, will suddenly 275Perish in mighty was, overcome by glitterig iron. Even when he is dead the people will rend him in pieces. Then indeed the kings of the Persians will rise up ...A Roman Ares...A Roman prince. Phrygia of many flocks will also groan with earthquakes. 280Alas Laodideia, alas, wretched Hierapolis, For you first did the yawning earth receive.... ....will wail as men perish 285In the hands of Ares. But an evil fate of men Will come upon you. But then, as he hastens Through the eastern route to see Italy, he will fall, By glittering iron, stripped, having aroused hatred because of his mother. Conclusion For there are all sorts of seasons and each contains something different 290...but not all know it at once. For not all things belong to all. Only those Who honor God and forget idols will have joy. But now, prince of the world, king of every kingdom, Immortal one without falsehood - for you placed an ambrosial voice 295In my heart - stop my speech. For I do not know What I say. For it is you who utter everything in me. Let me rest a little and grant a pleasant refrain Of my heart. For my heart within is wearied Of oracular words, proclaiming royal dominions. | |||
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