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From Sibylline Oracles, Translated from the Greek into English Blank Verse by Milton S. Terry; New York: Hunt & Eaton, Cincinatti: Cranston & Stowe’s, 1890; pp. 216-232.
BOOK X. (XII.)
[217]CONTENTS OF BOOK X. (XII.)
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BUT bring to me the lamentable time
Of the illustrious Latins, who were first
After the kings of Egypt were cut off,
And had all been borne down into the earth;
5
And also after Pella’s citizen,
Under whom all the East had been cast down,
And the rich West; whom Babylon disgraced
And gave a corpse to Philip; not of Jove
Nor Ammon truly boasted to have sprung;
10
And after him, who, from the race and blood
Of great Assaracus, went forth from Troy,
Even he who cleft the violence of fire;
And after many kings, and warlike men,
And after the young children of the beast
15
That feeds on sheep, and centuries six have passed,
And Rome two decades has dictator been,
Then shall arise a king pre-eminent
As from the western sea, and govern Rome,
Exceeding brave and warlike; and his name
20
Begins the letters of the alphabet;
And having bound thee he will hold thee fast
By man-destroying war, thou rich in fruit.
This book is a kind of reproduction of the fifth, and is probably the work of a Christian writer of the third century.
Lines 1-14. Substantially identical with the first fourteen lines of book v. where see notes.
Line 15. Centuries six. — Comp. book ix, 340.
Line 17. King pre-eminent. — Augustus Cæsar. Comp. book v, 20-26.
Line 22. Thou rich in fruit. — Addressed to Egypt. Comp. book ix, 373-394.
And thou shall expiate the shameful deeds
To which thou once didst freely give thyself.
25
For this great-souled one will excel in wars.
Him Thrace and Sicily and Memphis fear, —
Memphis, cast to the ground by wickedness
Of leaders, and a woman unsubdued,
Fallen by the spear; and he will institute
30
Laws for the people, and subdue all things;
With mighty glory he will long hold sway.
For not a little time will he bear rule,
When yet another scepter-bearing king
Not one hour longer than this one shall rule
35
The Romans, for to him God gave all things,
And showed forth seasons in the divine earth,
Great wonders unto them as signs he showed.
But when a lustrous star, all like the sun,
Appears from heaven in the midst of day,
40
Then shall the hidden Word of the Most High
Come bearing flesh like mortals. But with him
The might of Rome and of the famous Latins
Shall increase. But the mighty king himself
By his own predetermined fate shall die,
45
And to another give the royal power.
But after this one will a certain man
Famed as a powerful warrior take the lead,
Bearing the purple mantle on his shoulders;
Three hundred numbers he with his first sign.
50
The Medes and arrow-hurling Parthians
He will destroy, and by his mighty strength
Subvert the city of the lofty gates.
And upon Egypt will much evil come,
Line 38. Star. — The star of Bethlehem. Matt. ii, 2, 9.
Line 40. Word. — The Logos, as in John i, 1.
Line 49. Three hundred. — Designating Tiberius, as in book v, 29.
And on the Assyrians, and the Colchians,
55
And the Heniochi, and Germans dwelling
By the Rhine’s waves beyond the sandy shores.
And he himself will afterwards destroy
The city of the lofty gates beside
Eridanus, that evil things devised;
60
And then will he fall, struck by burning iron.
And after him another man will rule,
Deep versed in guile, and he will number three
And show it by the initial of his name.
And much gold he will gather, and of wealth
65
There will not be a large sufficiency;
But without sense of shame, collecting more,
Under the earth he will deposit all.
And peace shall come, and Mars shall cease from war.
But he by divination many things
70
Will make known, seeking things of greatest good
For life’s support. Yet on him there shall be
A great sign: out of heaven small drops of blood
Shall issue, and the king shall be destroyed.
He will do many lawless things, and place
75
Woes on the necks of Romans, putting trust
In divination. He will also slay
The heads of the assembly. And a plague
Shall seize Campanians, Thrace, and Macedon,
And the Italians; Egypt will alone
80
Feed numerous races. But the king himself
Will craftily destroy the virgin maid,
Deceiving her by means of mysteries.
Line 55. Heniochi. — A Sarmatian tribe, near Colchis.
Line 58. City. — Cremona seems intended, but the writer has here apparently confused Tiberius with Vespasian, who destroyed this city by fire.
Line 62. Three. — The letter Γ, denoting Gaius, or Caius Cæsar, commonly called Caligula, a monster of wickedness.
But her citizens in tearful grief
Will bury, but against the king they all
85
Will cherish anger. Ruin then will come
By a strong hand to blooming powerful Rome.
Again another of wide away shall reign,
Whose name the number twenty will denote.
And then shall wars and bitter sorrows come
90
Upon the Sauromations, and on Thrace,
And the Triballians that hurl the spear,
And all the Romans Mars will fiercely rend.
But while this one rules the Italian land
And the Pannonians, a dread sign shall be:
95
Dark night will come at the mid hour of day
Around them, and a shower of stones from heaven.
Then shall the Italians’ mighty prince and judge
By fate divine go into Hades’ halls.
Again another dire and dreadful man
100
Whose name the number fifty shows, shall come.
And many of those in wealth noblest born
Out of all cities he will put to death.
By nature a dire serpent; few his words
Whenever he extends his guiding hands,
105
Works ruin, and brings many things to pass.
Wrestling in contests, driving in the race,
Destroying many lives, and daring still
Ten thousand things. And he will cleave the mount
Of the two waters and with gore pollute.
110
But also to the Italians he will be
Doubly destructive; making himself God
He will reproach the willing populace.
Line 88. Twenty. — The letter K, denoting Claudius (Klaudios). Comp. book v, 34.
Line 99. Dire and dreadful. — Nero. See on book v, 38-47, and comp. book iv, 150-157.
But while he rules there shall be peace profound
And fears among men. By the Ausonian shores
115
The water, rushing from the ocean streams,
Shall come all out of place. Casting about
He will establish contests for the people
Many in number, and, himself presiding,
He will contend with voice and cithara,
120
Along with harp-string uttering a song.
But later, having left the royal power,
He will flee and be miserably destroyed,
Thus making expiation for his deeds.
And after him shall three reign, two of them
125
Obtaining by their names the number seventy,
And after them one, of the letter three.
And one by one shall they all perish, slain
Under the army’s hands by mighty Mars.
Thereafter shall a great destroyer come
130
Of pious men, a ruler of strong heart,
A warlike Mars, and seven times ten will show
His number clearly. He will overthrow
Phenicia, and will ruin Lydia.
Also a sword will come upon the land
135
Of Jerusalem, even to the utmost curve
Of the Tiberian sea. Woe, woe, to thee,
Phenicia! O how many things will suffer
That sorrow-laden one, with trophies bound!
And every nation shall upon thee tread.
140
Woe on the Assyrians shall come, and babes
Line 125. Seventy. — Represented by O, the initial of Otho and Vitellius ((Οὐïτέλλιος)).
Line 126. Three. — Γ, the initial of Galba.
Line 129. Great destroyer. — Vespasian. Comp. book v, 49-51. He began the destructive war which ended in the overthrow of Jerusalem.
Line 140. Assyrians. — Here denoting, as in book ix, 33, the Hebrews or Jews, who suffered unspeakable woes in the last siege of Jerusalem, and in subsequent exile.
Shalt thou see serving among hostile men
Along with wives, and all their sustenance
And all their wealth shall perish. For the wrath,
The wrath of God that causes bitter woe,
145
Shall come, because they did not keep his law,
But served all idols with unseemly arts.
And many wars and fights again shall be,
Slaughter of men, famines and pestilence,
And uproar in the cities. But the king
150
Old and of great soul, and excelling all,
Shall at life’s end fall by the army’s need.
Then shall two other princes rule, and love
The memory of their father, the great king,
Glorying in warriors fighting hand to hand.
155
And of these there shall be a noble man,
A ruler, whose name will three hundred show;
Yet he shall also fall by treachery
Even in the army, stretched upon the ground,
Struck in the plain of Rome by two-edged brass.
160
And after him a powerful warlike man,
Of the letter four, shall rule the mighty realm,
Whom all upon the boundless earth shall love,
And then shall war cease over all the world.
But him even from the West unto the East
165
Will all serve willingly, not of constraint,
And cities of themselves will subject be.
For to him will the heavenly Sabaoth,
God the imperishable, who abides
Above the sky, abundant glory bring.
Line 152. Two . . . princes. — Titus and Domitian.
Line 156. Three hundred. — Represented by T, initial of Titus. Comp. book v, 53.
Line 157. By treachery. — This does not accord with the accredited history of Titus.
Line 161. Four. — Δ, initial of Domitian.
170
And then will wasting famine much impair
Pannonia, and all the Celtic land,
And they will perish one upon another.
And it shall be with the Assyrians
As though Orontes with creations flowed,
175
And splendor, and whatever better seems.
And these the great king will admire, and love
Some other things far more. But he’ll receive
A great wound in the middle of his breast,
Being taken at the end of life in guile.
180
By a friend in the sacred royal house,
And he shall fall pierced. After him shall be
A ruler and a venerable man,
Fifty his number, who withal shall slay
Great numbers of the citizens of Rome;
185
But he shall briefly rule; for afterwards,
On account of the king that went before,
Shall he go wounded into Hades’ halls.
Forthwith then shall another king arise,
A warrior, whose rule has the signal mark
190
Three hundred. He shall reign and desolate
The Thracian’s varied land, and those that dwell
On the far barbarous borders of the Rhine,
Line 171. Pannonia — Region north of Illyricum on the upper waters of the Danube. The Celtic land was the region now known as France.
Line 173. Assyrians. — Comp. line 140, note.
Line 181. Pierced. — Domitian was assassinated in his own house by a band of conspirators.
Line 183. Fifty. — Represented by N, and here designating Nerva. He was a venerable senator of sixty-four years when proclaimed emperor.
Line 187. Wounded. — With a keen sense of wrong and disgrace in being forced to give public approval to certain acts which he was unwilling to sanction.
Line 190. Three hundred. — T, designating Trajan here as in book v, 57-63, where see notes.
The Germans, and Iberians that hurl
The arrow. To the Jews shall also come
195
Another great disaster, and with them
Phenicia shall a shower of murder drink.
And the walls of the Assyrians shall fall
By many warriors, and again shall these
By a life-destroying man cut off.
200
And then shall there be threatenings of God’s rule,
Earthquakes and pestilence in every land,
And snow-storms out of season, and fierce lightnings.
And then a king, great in the toil of war,
A Celtic warrior, hastening to the strife
205
Of battle, shameful fate shall not escape,
But he shall die, and foreign dust shall hide
His carcass, having for his name a flower.
And after him another man shall lead,
Of silver helmet; of the sea his name,
210
And the beginning of the alphabet,
And of four syllables, a very Mars.
And priests and temples he will dedicate
In all the cities; traversing the world,
With his own foot, and bringing gifts, he will
215
Furnish gold and much amber unto many.
He also will withhold all mysteries
Of the magicians from the sacred temples,
And what is much more excellent for men
Will place . . . [ruling] [thunderbolt] . . .
220
And blessed peace shall be when this king comes,
And he shall also be a rich-voiced bard,
Line 197. Assyrians. — Trajan overran Armenia and Mesopotamia, and nearly all the country of the old Assyrians.
Line 208. Another. — Hadrian, Greek Ἀδριανός, a word of four syllables. Comp. book v, 63-39, and viii, 63-80.
Line 219. Will place. — Lacuna in the original text here leaves it impossible to complete the sentence, or even indicate the thought with any certainty.
A law observer, and a righteous judge;
But he shall fall destroyed by fate divine.
After him three shall rule, but the third long
225
Shall be in power, three decades holding on.
But known from the first unit yet again
Another king shall rule; and after him
Another ruler, numbering seven times ten;
Honored shall be their names. They shall destroy
230
Men marked by many a brand, the mighty Moors,
The Britains, Dacians, and Arabians.
But when of these the youngest is destroyed,
Then shall dire war to Parthia come again;
And he wounded them before at last
235
Shall also plunder. Then the king himself
Shall fall, even by the treachery of a beast,
Baring his hands — a cause itself of death.
And after him another man shall rule
Famed for much wisdom, having for his name
240
The initial number of the first great king
Of the first unit; good and great is he.
And for the houses of the Latin people
Will this strong one accomplish many things
In memory of his father; and the walls
245
Of Rome will he adorn with gold and silver,
And ivory; and with a mighty man
Line 224. Three. — The Antonines. See book v, 70, and viii, 81.
Line 226. First unit. — A, here denoting Antoninus Pius.
Line 228. Seven times ten. — O, Greek initial of Verus (Οὐῆρος).
Line 230. Moors. — The Mauri, or Mauritanians, on the north-western coast of Africa.
Lines 233-237. The statements of these lines are inexplicably obscure. Dire war was carried on with the Parthians under command of L. Verus, but the statements of lines 235-237 are not applicable to any of the Antonines, either literally or metaphorically.
Line 241. First unit. — Designating Aurelius — that is, Marcus Aurelius.
Visit the market-places and the temples.
And then by Roman wars will he bring on
Most fearful wounds, and plunder all the land
250
Of the Germans, when there shall appear from heaven
A mighty sign of God; and he will save
For the king’s sake and for his piety
The brass-armed, wearied men; for in all things
The God of heaven will hear him when he prays,
255
And out of season send the rain of heaven.
But when these things are finished which I said,
Then also with the rolling years shall cease
The kingdom of this great and pious king.
And at the end of life will he exhibit
260
Coming into the palace his young child
And to that ruler with the golden hair
Leaving the royal power, he will expire
By his own fate. Twice ten shall note his name,
Who, having been born king from the royal race
265
Of his own father, shall receive the power.
This man will with superior judgment hold
All things, and the great-hearted Hercules
Will emulate, and be the best in arms
Among the mighty, and have highest fame
270
Both among huntsmen and in horsemenship.
But he will live in peril all alone.
But while he rules there shall appear to him
Line 251. Mighty sign. — The marvelous thunder-storm, by aid of which the emperor and his army gained a great victory over the Quadi, and which the Romans ascribed to Jupiter Tonans, who heard Aurelius’s prayer, but which the Christians of his army affirmed was in answer to their own prayers.
Line 260. Child. — Commodus, who succeeded him.
Line 263. Twice ten. — Represented by K, Greek initial of Commodus, specially famous for his skill with the bow and other arms, and boasting himself to be a rival of Hercules.
A fearful sign; within the plain of Rome
There shall be a great mist, so that a man
275
Will not discern his neighbor. Then shall wars
And dismal sorrows be when the king himself,
Maddened by love and furious, shall come
Shaming the young race in the nuptial couch,
Shameful with hymeneal songs impure.
280
Then in desertion hidden shall the great man
Destructive, giving himself up to wrath,
Rage in a bath-room, bound by treacherous fate.
Know, then, that Rome’s destructive time is near
Because of zeal for power, and by Mars’ hands
285
Shall many perish in Palladian homes.
And then shall Rome be desolate and make
Atonement for all things which she has done.
My heart laments, my heart within me mourns,
For from the time of thy first king, proud Rome,
290
Who gave good law to men upon the earth,
And the Word of the great, immortal God
Came to the earth, until the ending up
Of the nineteenth kingdom, there shall be complete
Two hundred and twice twenty and four years.
295
To these add six months more of other time.
Then to the widowed race comes the twentieth king,
When in thy houses, smitten by sharp brass
With sword he pours out blood. His name reveals
The number eighty, and he has old age.
Line 282. Bath-room. — Commodus was assassinated by suffocation in a bath-room.
Line 293. Nineteenth kingdom. — That is, the nineteenth reign, reckoning from Augustus. Comp. line 296.
Line 294. This computation is obviously erroneous, for Commodus was assassinated A. D. 192, to which if we add the thirteen years of Augustus before the date of our era we have only two hundred and five years.
Line 299. Eighty. — Represented by P, initial of Pertinax, who was sixty-seven years old when made emperor and lived only eighty-seven days thereafter.
300
And he will shortly make thee desolate
With many warriors, many overthrows,
And murders, homicides, and deadly feuds,
And sufferings for victorious leadership.
And in confusion many a horse and man,
305
Pierced through, shall fall in battles on the plain,
And then another, with the number ten
As the sign of his name, will come and work
Much woe and grief, and plunder many men,
But short-lived he himself shall be, and fall
310
By mighty Mars, struck by the burning iron.
Another, of the number fifty, comes,
A warrior, raised up in the East for rule.
As far as Thrace shall come the warlike Mars;
Then will he flee and come unto the land
315
Of the Bithynians, and the Cicilian plain;
But him shall brazen, soul-destroying Mars
Quickly in the Assyrian plains destroy.
Then shall one become ruler by deceit,
A man of wiles and knowing what is fit,
320
Being raised up from the West, and he shall have
Two hundred as the number of his name,
A sign far above that of royal power,
He will begin war on Assyrian men,
Line 306. Ten. — I, here referring to Julianus (Didius Julianus), who after the murder of Pertinax made the highest bid for the empire, but reigned only sixty-six days.
Line 311. Fifty. — N, designating Niger, who claimed the empire on the death of Pertinax, and was supported by the East, but being repeatedly defeated by the troops of his rival, Severus, he fled for Parthia, but was overtaken and slain.
Line 321. Two hundred. — Represented by Σ and designating Septimius Severus.
Line 322. Sign. — Alexandre explains this as meaning that the same initial appear in Σεβαστóς , Sebastos, the Greek equivalent of Augustus.
Assemble all the army, and all things
325
Put under him. The Romans he will rule
With mighty energy; but in his heart
Is much craft and the baleful wrath of Mars.
A dreadful serpent, terrible in war,
Who will destroy all lofty men on earth,
330
Slaughtering the noble to obtain their wealth,
Despoiling all the land of ruined men,
He will betake him to the Orient.
And with them shall be every artifice.
* * * *
Then shall a youthful Cæsar with him rule,
335
Having the name of a puissant king
Of Macedon, by the first letter known.
Diverting broils about him, he will fly
The arduous cunning of the comin king
In the bosom of the army, and the one,
340
Who in barbarian usage rules the temple,
Shall suddenly by mighty Mars be slain,
Cut down by burning iron; and even when dead
The people will abuse his lifeless form.
And then the kings of Persia shall arise
Line 336. First letter. — Alexander Severus is denoted, his name reminding the writer of Alexander the Great of Macedon.
Line 340. Rules the temple. — Heliogabalus (Elagabalus) seems to be here referred to, who was in early youth trained as a priest in the Temple of the Sun at Emesa, and who, after he was made emperor, was wont to wear his pontifical dress and tiara as high-priest of the sun. But he came before, not after, Alexander Severus.
Line 344. Kings of Persia. — The dynasty of the Sassanidæ, or kings of the later Persian Empire, founded by Ardechir Babegan, commonly called Artaxerxes.
The verse which follow are so fragmentary that no certain meaning can be made out of them. Lines 353-356 appear to refer to the death of Alexander Severus.
345
And Roman Mars [will smite] the Roman king.
And pastoral Phrygia shall with earthquakes groan.
Woe, woe, Laodicea; woe to thee,
Sad Hierapolis; for you the first
The yawning earth received . . .
350
Of Rome, vast Aus[onia?]
All things as many . . .
Shall wail . . . men destroyed
By the hand of Mars; but when by eastern roads
He hastens forth to look on Italy,
355
Smitten by burning iron, and all exposed
He will fall, hated for his mother’s sake.
* * * *
For horns . . . all things . . . restrains another, . . .
Burning . . . that all together do not know.
But not for all are all things; only those
360
Shall unto real felicity attain
Who honor God and shun idolatry.
And now, King of the world, of every realm
The monarch, pure, immortal, for thou hast
Into my heart set the ambrosial strain,
365
Cease thou the word, for I am not aware
Of what I say; for all things thou to me
Dost ever speak. But give me a brief rest,
And place thou in my heart a charming song.
For weary has my heart within me grown
370
Of words divine, foretelling royal power.
Line 362. King of the world. — Comp. this and the following lines with the conclusion of book ix.
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