The Sibylline Oracles

Book Fourteen

Against the Pride of Kings

Men, why do you vainly think excessively proud thoughts
as if you were immortals, though your lordship is short,
and all wish to reign over mortals,
not perceiving that God himself hates
5the love of lordship, and especially insatiable kings,
terrible and impious. He stirs up darkness against these,
because instead of good deeds and righteous thoughts
they all prefer purple mantles and cloaks,
desiring the wars, woes, and murders.
10Imperishable God, who dwells in the sky, will utterly destroy these men
and make them short-lived, and will slay one here, another there.

Prophets of various rulers

But whenever the destroyer of bulls, trusting in his strength,
comes, with beautiful shaggy hair, and destroys all
and crushes the shepherds, they will have no strength
15unless the young dogs, with fleetness of feet, come to the strife
through the glens, eager to pursue.
The hound pursued the lion which was destroying the herdsmen.
Then there will also be a prince of four syllables, trusting in his strength,
manifest from a unit. Brazen Ares will quickly destroy him
20on account of the strife of insatiable men.
Thereafter two other men, princes, will rule,
both of the number forty. In their time there will be
great peace of the world and on all the people,
and law and justice. But men with gleaming helmets,
25in need of gold and silver, because of this
will kill them impiously, taking them in their hands.
Then again a terrible young warrior will rule,
a lord of the number seventy, a fiery destroyer of spirits,
who will impiously hand over to an army the people of Rome.
30which is being slain in wickedness on account of the wrath of kings,
when he has cast down the entire famous city of the Latins.
It is no longer possible to see Rome, nor is it possible to hear,
in such form as another bypasser saw her a short time before.
For all this will lie in ashes, and there will be no
35sparing of works. For the destructive one himself will come
from heaven. Immortal God will send lightning bolts and thunderbolts
from the sky against me. Some he will destroy
with blazing lightnings, others with fierce thunderbolts.
Then the infants of mighty Rome and the famous Latins
40will kill the dread shameless lord.
Nor will light dust lie around him when he is dead,
but he will be a plaything for dogs and birds and wolves,
because he despoiled a warlike people.
After him another famous man of the number forty will rule,
45a destroyer of Parthians and Germans, who unleashed
on the streams of the ocean and Euphrates.
And then Rome will be again as it was before.
But when a great wolf comes on his soil,
50a prince risen from the West will thereafter die,
cloven by sharp bronze in mighty war.
Then another Ares of mighty spirit will rule
the exceedingly mighty Romans, manifested from Assyria.
He will be of the first letter and will subordinate everything in wars.
55He and his armies simultaneously will display dominion
and establish laws. Brazen Ares will quickly destroy him
when he falls in the deceitful ranks.
After him three who have a proud heart will rule,
one with the number of a unit, one of three decades,
60the other, a prince, will share in three hundred.
Wretched ones, who will melt gold and silver
in a great fire, the statues of temples made by hands,
and they will give them to the armies, furnishing them
with money for the sake of victory, dividing great and noble treasures.
65Desiring base things, they will equally ravage
the arrow-shooting Parthians of the deep-flowing Euphrates
and hostile Medes and Massagetae, warriors with delicate hair,
and Persians, men who carry quivers.
But whenever the king comes to an end by his own fate,
70leaving his royal scepter to his younger sons
and imposing law, they will immediately forget
the injunctions of the father, arm their hands for war,
and set out for strife for royal dominion.
The another single prince of the number three will rule
75again, and he will quickly see fate, smitten with a spear.
After him, then, many will perish on top of each other,
mighty men, for royal dominion.
One great-spirited man will rule over the exceedingly mighty Romans,
an elderly man of the number four, and he will arrange all things well.
80Then war and strife will come upon Phoenicia
when the nations of the arrow-shooting Persians come near.
Alas, how much will fall at the hands of savage-speaking men;
Sidon and Tripoli and proud Beirut
will see each other amid corpses and blood.
85Wretched Laodicea, you will raise up about yourself
a great unsuccessful war through the impiety of men.
Alas, wretched Tyrians, you will reap the bad harvest
whenever the sun which gives light to men fails in the day,
and the disk does not shine. Bloody drops will come on the earth
90thick and frequent from heaven.
Then a king will die, betrayed by his companions.
After him many shameless leaders
will kill each other, carrying on wicked strife.
Then there will be a majestic prince of many counsels,
95with a name of the number five, relying on great armies,
whom men will love for the sake of royal dominion.
Having a noble name, he will associate it with noble deeds.
There will be a terrible sign. When he holds sway
between Taurus and snowy Amanus,
100one certain city will perish from the land of the Cilicians,
a beautiful and strong city of a mighty river.
There will be many earthquakes in Propontis and Phrygia.
A famous king will lose his life
in a consumptive disease of death, by his own fate.
105After this ,am. two princely kings will rule,
the one presenting a number of three hundred, the other of three
Therefore he will also destroy many, for the city
of seven-hilled Rome, on account of the mighty kingdom.
Then evil will come upon the senate, and it will not escape
110when the angry king is in wrath against it.
There will be a sign among all earthly men.
There will be numerous showers of snow. Hail
will destroy the fruits of cattle on the boundless earth.
They themselves will fall overcome in wars
115by mighty Ares because of the war of Italians.
Then another resourceful king will rule,
having gathered the entire army and divided money
between those with bronze breastplates for the sake of war. But then
the Nile beyond fruitful Libya of the mainland
120will water for two years the black plain ot Egypt
and arable land. But famine will prevail over everything;
and war and bandits, murders and slaughters.
Many cities will be destroyed by warrior men
with demolitions at the hands of an army.
125He himself will fall by glittering iron, betrayed.
After him one who obtained an initial of the number three hundred
will rule the Romans and exceedingly powerful men.
He will stretch out a spirit-destroying spear against the Armenians,
Parthians, Assyrians, and Persioan, steadfast in battle,
130and then will the foundation of splendidly built Rome be
raised up with gold and alloy and silver
and ivory ornament. A great people of all the East
and prosperous West will live in her.
A king will impose other laws on her.
135Afterward wretched death and powerful fate
will receive him again on a huge island.
Another man will rule of ten times three, like to a beast
with beautiful shaggy hair. He will be from the Greeks by race.
Then the town of Phthia of the Molossians, which nurtures much,
140and Larissa will be laid low on the banks of the Peneius.
Then there will be an insurrection of horse-grazing Scythia
and a terrible war by the waters of Lake Maiotis,
on the streams by the furthest source of the spring
of Phasis, with moist foliage in the flowery meadow.
145Many will fall at the hands of mighty warriors
Alas, wretched ones, as many as Ares takes with bronze.
Then the king, having utterly destroyed the Scythian race,
will die by his own fate, having undone his life.
Another terrible man will rule thereafter, revealed
150by the number four, whom all the Armenians,
who drink the thick ice of the very swift-flowing Araxis,
and the great-spirited Persians will fear in wars.
In the midst of the Colchians and mighty Pelasgians
there will be terrible wars and slaughters.
155Also the Phrygian land and the towns of the land of Propontis,
baring double-edged swords from their scabbards,
will strike each other on account of grievous impieties.
Then God will show a great sign to mortal men
from heaven, with the revolving years
160a bat, a portent of impending evil war.
Then indeed the king will not escape the hands of the army
but will die, overcome by the hand with glittering iron.
After him another will reign again, of the number fifty,
manifested from Asia, a terrible cause of panic, a warrior,
165and he will wage war even against the splendid walls of Rome,
on Colchians, Heniochians, and milk-drinking Agathyrsians,
the Euxenian Sea, and the sandy Gulf of Thrace.
Then indeed the king will not escape the hands of the army. Even when he is dead, a corpse, they will rend him asunder.
170Then indeed when the king has perished, Rome, famed for men,
will be desolate, and a great people will perish.
Then a terrible and frightful man from most great Egypt
will rule and will destroy the great-spirited Parthians,
Medians, Germans, Bosporidans and Agathyrsians,
175Britons, Iernaeans and quiver-bearing Iberians,
crooked Massagetae, and overbearing Persains.
Then a splendid man will look upon all Greece
at enmity with Scythia and the windy Caucusus.
There will be a mighty sign. When he holds sway
180crowns will rise from heaven in south and north
very like shining stars.
Then he will leave the royal dominion to his son,
who is of the first letter, when by his own fate
the manly king goes in the halls of Hades.
185But when this man's son rules in the land of Rome,
manifested by a unit, there will be great, very lovely
peace throughout the whole earth. The Latins will love this king because of the honor of his father.
When he is hastening to go to East and West
190the Romans will restrain him, even when he is not willing,
as lord of Rome, because all had a friendly spirit
for the king, the very illustrious prince.
But after a short time wretched death
will snatch him away from life, betrayed in his own fate.
195Thereafter again other mighty warriors
will smite each other, carrying on evil strife,
having, not a princely kingdom, but one of tyrants.
They will indeed perform many evil things in the whole world,
especially to the Romans, until the third Dionysus
200until an armed Ares comes from Egypt
whom they call by name Prince Dionysus.
But when a murderous lion and murderous lioness
rend the illustrious purple royal garment
the winds will snatch up the kingdom as it falls in ruins.
205Then a holy prince, who obtained the first of the alphabet,
pressing hard on hostile rulers for victory,
will abandon them to dogs and birds to eat.
Woe to you, city burned with fire, mighty Rome.
How many things you must suffer when all these things come to pass.
210But a great king, who is very famous for
gold and alloy and silver and ivory,
will rouse you up completely, and you will be first in the world
with possessions and temples, marketplaces, riches, and stadia.
then again you will be a light to all, as you were before.
215Alas, wretched Cecropians, Cadmeans, and Laconians,
who are around Peneius and Molossos, deep grown with rushes,
Trike, Dodona, and high-built Ithone,
the Piercan mountain pass around the great peak of olympus,
Ossa, Larissa, and Calydon of high gates.
120But when God performs a great sign for men,
a dark night over the world in daytime,
then, king, an end will come upon you and you will not escape
the swift bow of your brother shot at you.
Then a man will rule, spirit-destroying, unspeakable, fiery,
225of royal birth, who will have his race from Egypt.
Younger, but much better than his brother,
he has obtained the marked initial of the number eighty.
then the entire world will receive the grievous wrath
of the immortal God in its bosom, because of honor.
230For there will come upon articulate, ephemeral man
famines and pestilence, wars and slaughters
and inexhaustible darkness on the earth, mother of peoples,
and disturbance of times and implacable anger
from heaven, and earthquakes and burning thunderbolts
235and showers of stones and squalid drops.
The lofty hilltops of the Phrygian land shook.
The feet of the Scythian mountains were shaken, towns trembled,
the entire ground of the land of Greece shook with them,
and many cities will fall with headlong crashes
240under the blazing thunderbolts, and with lamentations
when God is greatly in wrath. It is not possible to flee the wrath or to escape it.
Then a king will fall, smitten by the hand of the army,
by his own men, like no one else.
After him many men of the Latins will again
245rise up draped with a purple cloak on their shoulders,
who will love to obtain the royal dominion as their lot.
Then there will be three kings on the splendid walls of Rome.
Two will have the first number.
but one will bear the name "strife"like no one else.
250They will love Rome and the whole world,
caring for me. But they will accomplish nothing.
For God was not propitious to the world, nor will he be
gentle to men, because they performed many evil things.
Therefore he will bring a disgraceful spirit upon kings
255much worse than leopards and wolves. For men with bronze breastplates,
taking them unsparingly in their own hands,
will destroy princes, complete with their scepters,
who are impotently subdued and strengthless like women.
Alas, wretched men, the cream of famous Rome,
260relying on false oaths, you will be destroyed.
Then many men who are lords of the spear
will launch an attack which is not proper and
will take away the offspring of the firstborn men with blood.
Then the Most High will bring upon them a fate twice as terrible
265and he will destroy all men by their own deeds.
But again God will lead those who have a shameless heart
to come to judgment, as many as have designed evils.
They are shut up, shooting at each other,
heading even to the judgment of evil.
269All stars will fall directly into the sea,
270many stars in turn, and men will call
a shining comet 'the star' a sign of
much impending toil, war, sand slaughter.
When he gathers many oracles from islands
which declare to strangers battle and grievous
strife and destruction of temples, he will tell them to gather
275with all speed wheat and barley in the houses of Rome
as he eagerly seeks abundance for twelve months.
The city will be wretched in those days. But immediately it will again be prosperous in no small way
There will be calm, whenever the dominating force is destroyed.
280Then the race of the Latins will be reigning last,
and no other kingdom will sprout after it.
Children and the race of children will be unshaken.
For it will be well known, since God himself will govern.

Conquest of Egypt by the Persians

There is a certain dear land, a nurturer for men
285lying in the plain. The Nile set limits all about it,
flowing by Libya and Ethiopia.
Short-lived Syrians will ravage hither and thither
all the spoil for this land. It will have a great
noble, princely king, eager to send evils upon thieves.
290With terrible thought he will bring mighty help
to all of the land of proud Italy
in the most terrible situations. When he comes on the wine-dark sea
from Assyria and destroys the Phoenicians in their homes
to fetter evil war and dread battle din,
295there will be one lord of the land of two lordships.
Now I will sing the laborious end of the Alexandrians.
The barbarians will inhabit sacred Egypt,
the carefree unshaken one, when envy comes from somewhere.
But when God changes times....
He makes winter summer; then all the oracles will be fulfilled.
300But when three children win Olympian victories,
even if he tells those who ponder to purify
first the famous oracles with the blood of a suckling animal,
the Most High, who stretches out a long spear of mourning against all,
will bring a fate three times more terrible.
305Much barbarian blood will then flow in the dust
when the city is sacked by unsociable guests.
Blessed whoever died, and blessed whoever is childless.
For then he who formerly ruled over free people, of which he was namesake.
will place his neck under the yoke of slavery.
310The prince, who was formerly very famous, will no longer
evolve plans but will incur such mournful slavery.

The recapture of Egypt by the Romans

Then indeed an ill-fated army of Sicilians will come immediately,
bringing terror, when a great barbarian nation advances.
If they grow fruit, they will ravage the fields.
315To these God, who thunders on high, will give evil instead of good.
Stranger will always plunder the hateful gold of stranger.

The Arab invasion

But when all see the blood of the flesh-eating lion
and the murderous lioness comes upon the body,
she will tear away the scepter from him, even from his head.
302All the peoples in Egypt will taste as at a friendly feast
and will accomplish mighty deeds.
One wards off another, but there will be a great cry of battle among them.
Similarly fear of raging strife will come
upon men and many others will perish,
325slaying each other by mighty battle.
Then one will come in agreement with each other
and third to them a great ram from Cyrene,
whom I previously mentioned as having fled from battle by the banks of the Nile.
330But not all will complete even an ineffectual journey.
Then with the great revolving years
there will be a great length of very peaceful time. But then
a second war will come upon them in Egypt again.
It will be a naval war, and they will not be victorious.
335O wretched ones, there will be a conquest of an illustrious city
and it will be spoiled in wars, but not for long.
Then neighboring men, wretched ones, will flee
from a great land, and will lead their gray-haired parents.
Again they will fall on a land, greatly victorious.
340The Jews will destroy men steadfast in battle,
ravaging in wars as far as the gray sea,
taking vengeance for fatherland and parents.
He will set a race of spoil-bearing men among the dead.
Alas, how many men will swim around the waves.
345for many will fall on the sandy shores.
Fair heads will fall to Egyptian birds.
Then the blood of mortals will be among the Arabs.
But whenever wolves pledge oaths to dogs
on the sea-girt island, then there will be a raising of towers.
350Men will inhabit the city which suffered much.

Eschatological prophecy

No longer will there be deceitful gold or silver
or acquisition of land, or laborious slavery,
but one friendship and one manner for a merry people.
All will be in common, and one equal light of life.
355On earth evil will sink into the wondrous sea.
Then the harvest of articulate men is near.
A strong necessity insists that these things be accomplished.
Then no other chance wayfarer will say
that the race of articulate men will cease to be, though they perish.
360Then the holy nation will hold sway over the whole earth
for all ages, with their mighty children.

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