O WORLD of men wide-scattered, and long walls,
2The cities huge and nations numberless,
3Throughout the east and west and south and north,
4Divided off by various languages
5And kingdoms; other things, the very worst,
6Against you I am now about to speak.
7For from the time when on the earlier men
8The flood came and the Almighty One himself
9Destroyed that race by many waters, then
10Brought he in yet another race of men
11Untiring; and they, setting themselves up
12Against heaven, built to height unspeakable
13A tower; and tongues of all were loosed again;
14And on them hurled came wrath of God most high,
15By which the tower unutterably great
16Fell; and against each other they stirred up
17An evil strife. And then of mortal men
18Was the tenth race since these things came to pass;
19And the whole earth was among foreign men
20And various languages distributed,
21Whose numbers I will tell and in acrostics
22Of the initial letter show the name.
23And first shall Egypt royal power receive
24Preeminent and just; and then in her
25Shall many-counseling men be governors;
26Moreover then a fearful man shall rule,
27Close-fighter very strong; and he shall have
28This letter of the acrostic of his name:
29Sword shall he stretch out against pious men.
30And while this one is ruler there shall be
31A fearful sign in the Egyptian land,
32Which, gladdening very greatly, shall with corn
33Souls perishing with famine then supply;
34The law-giver, himself a prisoner,
35The East and offspring of Assyrian men
36Shall nourish; and his name know thou . . .
37. . . of the measure of the number ten.
38But when there shall come from the radiant heaven
39Ten strokes of judgment upon Egypt, then
40Will I again proclaim these things to thee.
41Memphis, alas, alas for thee! alas,
42Great royal one! the Erythræan sea
43Shall thy much people utterly destroy.
44Then when the people of twelve tribes shall leave
45The fruitful land of ruin by command
46Of the Immortal, the Lord God himself
47Will also give a law unto mankind.
48And o'er the Hebrews then a mighty king
49Magnanimous shall rule, and have a name
50Derived from sandy Egypt, Theban man
51Of doubtful native land; and Memphis he,
52Dread serpent, will show outward signs of love,
53And he will watch o'er many things in wars.
54Now the tenth kingdom being twelve times complete
55Seven besides and even unto the tenth hundred,
56Others being altogether left behind,
57Then shall arise the Persian sovereignty.
58And then an evil shall befall the Jews,
59Famine and pestilence intolerable
60They do not make escape from in that day.
61But when a Persian shall rule, and a son
62Of his son's son shall lay the scepter down,
63While years roll round to five fours, and to these
64A hundred more, and thou a hundred nines
65Shalt finish and all things shalt thou repay;
66And then unto the Persians and the Medes
67Shalt thou be given over as a slave,
68Destroyed with blows by reason of hard fights.
69Straightway to Persians and Assyrians
70And to all Egypt shall an evil come,
71And to Libya and the Ethiopians,
72And to the Carians and Pamphylians
73And to all other mortals. And he then
74Shall to the grandsons give the royal power,
75Who again snatching the whole earth away
76Shall plunder races for their many spoils,
77Not having fellow-feeling. Mournful dirges
78Shall the sad Persians by the Tigris wail,
79And Egypt water many a land with tears.
80And then to thee, O Median land, a man
81Of wealth abundant and of Indian birth
82Shall many evils do, till thou repay
83All things which thou, possessed of shameless soul,
84Hast done before. Alas, alas for thee,
85Thou Median nation; thou shalt afterwards
86Be servant unto Ethiopian men
87Beyond the land of Meroe; wretched thou
88Shalt from the first seven and a hundred years
89Complete, and put thy neck beneath the yoke.
90And then an Indian of dark countenance
91And gray hair and great soul shall afterwards
92Become lord, who shall many evils bring
93Upon the East by reason of hard fights;
94And he shall treat thee more despitefully
95And shall destroy all thy men. But when he
96The twentieth and the tenth year shall be king,
97Among them, also seven and the tenth,
98Then every nation of a royal power
99Shall be mad and declare their liberty,
100And during three years leave their servile blood.
101But he shall come again and every nation
102Of valiant men shall put their neck again
103Under the yoke, serve the king as before,
104And of its own free will again obey.
105There shall be great peace throughout all the world.
106And then o'er the Assyrians there shall rule
107A mighty king, a man preeminent,
108And shall persuade all to speak pleasing things,
109Which God ordained according to the law;
110Then all kings arrogant with pointed spears
111Timid and speechless shall before him quail,
112And him shall very powerful rulers serve
113Because of counsels of the mighty God;
114For he will carry all things in detail
115By reason, and all things will he subject,
116And he the temple of the mighty God
117And lovely altar will himself erect
118In his might, and will hurl the idols down;
119And gathering tribes together, both the race
120Of fathers and the helpless little ones,
121He shall encompass the inhabitants;
122His name shall have two hundred for its number,
123And of the eighteenth letter show the sign.
124But when for rolling decades two and five
125He shall rule, going forwards towards the end
126Of his time, there shall be as many kings
127As there are tribes of men, as there are clans,
128As there are cities, and as isles and coasts,
129And fields and lands that bring forth goodly fruit.
130But one of these shall be a mighty king,
131A leader among men; and many kings
132Of lofty spirit shall submit to him,
133And to his sons and grandsons opulent
134Give portions on account of royal power.
135Decades of decades, eight ones upon these
136Of years shall they rule, and at last shall end.
137But when with cruel Ares there shall come
138A powerful wild beast, even then for thee,
139O queenly land, shall wrath spring forth again.
140Alas, alas for thee, then Persian land;
141What an outpouring of the blood of men
142Shalt thou receive when that stronger-minded man
143Comes to thee; then I'll shout these things again.
144But when Italian soil shall generate,
145Great wonder unto mortals, there shall be
146Moans of young children by a fountain pure,
147In shady cavern off spring of wild beast
148That feeds on sheep, who unto manhood grown
149Shall upon seven strong hills with reckless soul
150Hurl many headlong down, in numbers both
151Having a hundred, and their names shall show
152A great sign to them that are yet to be;
153And they shall build upon the seven hills
154Strong walls and wage around them grievous war.
155And then again shall there be growing up
156Revolt of men around thee, then great land
157Of fine ears, high-souled Egypt; but again
158I'll cry these things. And yet then shalt receive
159A great stroke in thy houses; and again
160Shall there be a revolt of thine own men.
161Now over thee, O wretched Phrygia,
162I weep in pity; for to thee from Greece,
163Tamer of horses, there shall conquest come
164And war and plague by reason of hard fights.
165Ilium, I pity thee; for there shall come
166From Sparta an Erinys to thy halls
167Mixed with a deadly sting; and most of all
168Shall she bring thee toils, troubles, groans, and wails,
169When well-skilled men the battle shall begin,
170By far the noblest heroes of the Greeks
171Who are to Ares dear. And one of these
172Shall be a strong brave king; of foulest deeds
173He for his brother's sake will go in quest.
174And they shall overthrow the famous walls
175Of Phrygian Troy; when of the rolling years
176Twice five shall be filled with the bloody deeds
177Of savage war, a wooden artifice
178Shall sudden cover men, and on thy knees
179Thou shalt receive this, not perceiving it
180To be an ambush pregnant with the Greeks,
181O cause of grievous woe. Alas, alas,
182How much in one night Hades shall receive,
183And what spoils of the old man weeping much
184Shall he bear off! But with those yet to come
185Shall be undying fame. And the great king,
186A hero sprung from Zeus, shall have his name
187Of the first letter of the alphabet;
188Homewards shall he in order go. And then
189Shall he fall by a treacherous woman's hand.
190And there shall rule a child sprung from the race
191And the blood of Assaracus, renowned
192Of heroes, both a strong and valiant man.
193And he shall come out of the mighty fire
194Of ravaged Troy, fleeing from fatherland
195By reason of the fearful toil of war;
196Bearing his aged father on his shoulders
197And also holding his son by the hand
198He shall perform a pious work of law,
199Who, looking cautiously about him, cleft
200The onset of the fire of burning Troy,
201And hurrying through the multitude in dread
202He shall pass over land and fearful sea.
203And he shall have a trisyllabic name,
204For the beginning of the alphabet
205Points out this highest man as not unknown.
206And then a city for the powerful Latins
207He will raise up. And in his fifteenth year,
208Destroyed by waters in the depths of sea,
209Shall he lay hold on the event of death.
210But him though dead the nations of mankind
211Shall not forget; for his race over all
212Shall rule hereafter even to Euphrates
213And river Tigris, throughout the mid land
214Of the Assyrians, where the Parthians
215Extended. For those who are yet to come
216It shall be, when all these things come to pass.
217And there shall be an old man, minstrel wise,
218Whom all shall among mortals call most wise,
219By whose good understanding the whole world
220Shall be instructed; for his chapters he
221According to their power of thoughts will write.
222And wisely will he write most marvelous things,
223At times appropriating words of mine
224Measures and verses; for he shall the first
225My books unfold and after these things bide them
226And unto men bring them to light no more
227Until the end of baneful death and life.
228But when forthwith these things have been fulfilled
229Which I spoke, yet again the Greeks shall fight
230With one another; and Assyrians,
231Arabians and the quiver-bearing Medes,
232And Persians and Sicilians shall rise up,
233And Lydians, Thracians and Bithynians,
234And they who dwell in the land of fair corn
235Beside the streams of Nile; and among all
236Will God the imperishable put at once
237Confusion. But exceeding terribly
238Shall an Assyrian base-born fiery man
239Come suddenly, possessed of beastly soul,
240And looking cautiously about him cut
241Through every isthmus, going against all,
242And sailing o'er the sea. Then, faithless Greece,
243To thee shall happen very many things.
244Alas, alas for thee, O wretched Greece,
245How many things thou art obliged to wail!
246And during seven and eighty rolling years
247Thou shalt the miserable refuse be
248Of fearful battle among all the tribes.
249Then shall a Macedonian man again
250Bring forth for Hellas woe and shall destroy
251All Thrace, and toil of Ares on the isles
252And coasts and the war-loving Triballi.
253. . . . . . .
254. . . . . . .
255He shall among the foremost fighters be,
256And he shall share that name which shows the sign
257Of numbers ten times fifty. And short-lived
258Shall he be; but behind him he shall leave
259The greatest kingdom on the boundless earth.
260But by base spearman he himself shall fall
261While thought to live in quiet as none else.
262And afterwards shall a great-hearted child
263Of this one rule, beginning with his name
264The alphabet; but his race shall pass out.
265Not of Zeus, not of Amnion shall they call
266This one true son, yet still a bastard son
267Of Cronos as they all imagine him.
268And cities he of many mortal men
269Shall plunder; and for Europe shall shoot up
270The greatest sore. And also terribly
271Will he abuse the city Babylon,
272And every land the sun looks down upon,
273And he alone shall sail both east and west.
274Alas, alas for thee, O Babylon,
275Thou shalt serve triumphs, who wast called a queen;
276Down upon Asia Ares comes, he comes
277Surely and shall thy many children slay.
278And then shalt thou send forth thy royal man
279Named by the number four, expert with spear
280Among the mighty warriors, terrible,
281Shooting with bow and arrow. And then famine
282And war shall hold possession of the midst
283Of the Cilicians and Assyrians;
284But kings of lofty spirit shall embrace
285The dreadful state of heart-consuming strife.
286But do thou, fleeing, leave the former king,
287Be neither willing to remain nor fear
288To be unhappy; for on thee shall come
289A dreadful lion, a flesh-eating beast,
290Wild, strange to justice, wearing on his shoulders
291A mantle. Flee the thunder-smiting man.
292And Asia all shall bear an evil yoke,
293And many a murder shall the wet earth drink.
294But when a mighty city prosperous
295Ares of Pella shall in Egypt found,
296And it shall be named from him, fate and death,
297By his companions treacherously betrayed
298. . . . . . .
299. . . . . . .
300For barbarous murder shall destroy this man
301Around the tables when he shall have left
302The Indians and shall come to Babylon.
303Thereafter other kings, in a few years,
304Devourers of the people, arrogant
305And faithless, shall rule each by his own tribe;
306But a great-hearted hero, who shall glean
307All fenced Europe, from the time each land
308Shall drink the blood of all tribes, shall forthwith
309Abandon life, unloosing his own fate.
310And other kings there shall be, twice four men
311Of his race, and the same name to them all.
312And there shall be a bride of Egypt then
313Commanding and a noble city great
314Of Macedonian lord, queen Alexandria,
315Famed nourisher of cities, shining fair
316She alone shall be the metropolis.
317Let Memphis then upbraid them that command.
318And peace shall be deep throughout all the world;
319Then shall the land of black soil have more fruits.
320And then there shall come evil to the Jews,
321Nor shall they in that day make their escape
322From famine and intolerable plague;
323But the new world of black soil and fair corn,
324Divine land, shall receive much-wandering men.
325But marshy Egypt's eight kings shall fill up
326The numbers of two hundred years and three
327And thirty. Yet shall offspring perish not
328Of all of them, but there shall issue forth
329A female root, a bane of mortal men,
330Betrayer of her kingdom. But they shall
331According to their evil deeds perform
332Their wickedness thereafter, and one here
333Another there shall perish; son that wears
334The purple shall cut off his warlike sire,
335And he himself in turn by his own son,
336And ere he shall put forth another shoot
337He shall cease; but a root shall sprout again
338Thereafter of itself; and there shall be
339A race beside him growing. For a queen
340There shall be of the land by Nilus' streams
341Which comes down through seven mouths into the sea,
342And her name very lovely shall be that
343Of the number twenty; and she will demand
344Numberless things and gather up all goods
345Of gold and silver; but from her own men
346Shall treachery befall her. Then again
347For thee, O dusky land, shall there be wars
348And battles and great slaughter of mankind.
349When many over fertile Rome shall rule,
350Examples not at all of happy men,
351But tyrants, and there be of thousands chiefs
352And of ten thousands, and the overseers
353Of popular assemblies under law,
354Then shall the mightiest Cæsars bear the rule
355Ill-fated all their days; and of these last
356Shall for initial have the number ten,
357Last Cæsar stretching on the earth his limbs,
358Struck by dire Ares by a hostile man,
359Whom carrying in their hands the youth of Rome
360Shall. bury piously, and over him
361Pour out their token for his friendship's sake
362Rendering a tribute to his memory.
363But when thou shalt come to an end of time
364And hast completed twice three hundred years
365And twice ten, from the time when he shall rule
366Who is thy founder, child of the wild beast,
367There shall no longer a dictator be
368Ruling a measured period; but a lord
369Shall become king, man equal to the gods.
370Then, Egypt, know the king that comes to thee;
371And dreadful Ares of the glittering helm
372Shall surely come. For there shall be for thee,
373O widowed one, a capture afterwards;
374For round the walls of thy land there shall be
375Terrible raging mischief-working wars.
376But having suffered misery in wars
377Thou, wretched, shalt thyself flee from above
378Those lately wounded; and then to the couch
379Shalt thou come to the dreadful man himself;
380The wedlock, sharing one bed, is the end.
381Alas, alas for thee, ill-wedded bride,
382Thy royal power unto the Roman king
383Shalt thou give, and thou shalt repay all things,
384Which thou aforetime didst with masculine hands;
385Thou shalt give the whole land by way of dower
386As far as Libya and the dark-skinned men
387To the resistless man. And thou shalt be
388No more a widow, but thou shalt cohabit
389With a man-eating lion terrible,
390A furious warrior. And then shalt thou be
391Unhappy and among all men unknown;
392For thou shalt leave possessed of shameless soul;
393And thee, the stately, shall the encircling tomb
394Receive . . . is gone . . . living within . . .
395Adapted at the summits, beautiful,
396Wrought curiously, and a great multitude
397Shall mourn thee and the dreadful king shall make
398A piteous lamentation over thee.
399And then shall Egypt be the toiling slave
400Who many years against the Indians bears
401Her trophies; and she shall serve shamefully,
402And with the river, the fruit-bearing Nile,
403her tears, for haying gathered wealth
404And store of all good things, a nourisher
405Of cities, she shall feed sheep-eating race
406Of fearful men. All, to how many beasts,
407O very wealthy Egypt, thou shalt be
408Booty and spoil, but giving peoples laws;
409And formerly delighting in great kings
410Thou shalt to peoples be a wretched slave
411On account of that people, whom of old
412Piously living thou led'st to much woe
413Of toils and wailings, and didst put a plow
414Upon their neck and irrigate the fields
415With mortal tears. Therefore the Lord himself,
416The imperishable God who dwells in heaven,
417Shall utterly destroy and send thee on
418To wailing; and thou shalt make recompense
419For what thou didst unlawfully of old,
420And know at last that God's wrath came to thee.
421But I to Python and to Panopeus
422Of goodly towers shall go; and then shall all
423Declare that 1 am a true prophetess
424Oracle-singing, yet a messenger
425With maddened soul. . . .
426And when thou shalt come forward to the books
427Thou shalt not tremble, and all things to come
428And things that were ye shall know from our words;
429Then none shall call the God-seized prophetess
430An oracle-singer of necessity.
431But now, Lord, end my very lovely strain,
432Driving off frenzy and real voice inspired
433And fearful madness, and give charming song.