The Sibylline Oracles

The Sibylline Oracles

Translated by Milton S. Terry

2nd century BC to 5th century AD

Twelve books of Greek hexameter oracles in the name of the Sibyl, in Terry’s English blank verse, together with the two fragments of a lost proem that Theophilus of Antioch quotes. The books are Jewish and Christian writings of the second century BC to the fifth century AD that foretell judgement on the nations, praise the one God and mock idols. Terry’s edition has twelve books because the Greek books numbered IX and X in other editions are not found in the manuscripts he used, so his last four books are numbered IX to XII, with the manuscript numbers XI to XIV in brackets.

Proem: First Fragment

1 Ye mortal men and fleshly, who are nought, / How soon are ye puffed up, nor see life's end! / Ye tremble not, and have no fear of God, / Your Overseer, the Most High One, who knows, The All-Observer, witness of all things, / All-nourishing Creator, who in all / Implanted his sweet Spirit, and made him / The guide of mortal men. One God there is / Who reigns alone, supremely great, unborn, Almighty and invisible, himself / Alone beholding all things, but unseen / Is he himself by any mortal flesh. / For who is able with the eyes of flesh / To see the heavenly, true, immortal God, Whose dwelling is the sky? Not in the beams / Of the bright sun can men endure to stand, / Mortal-born men, mere veins and flesh in bones. / Honor him, then, sole ruler of the world, / Who only through eternal ages bides,

2 The self-existent, unbegotten One, / Ruling all things through all, and to all men / Imparting judgment in a common light. / Of evil counsels ye shall surely have / The merited reward, because ye failed To glorify the true, eternal God, / And offer him the holy hecatombs, / But unto demons made your sacrifice— / Even those in Hades. And ye walk about / In pride and madness, leave the path of right, And go away among the thorns and briers. / Why do ye wander? Pause, O foolish ones, / Who rove in darkness, and black night obscure, / And leave night's darkness, and receive the light. / Lo, he is clear to all, he cannot err. Come, chase not gloom and darkness evermore. / Behold, the sun's sweet light shines wondrous fair. / Know how to treasure wisdom in your hearts. / There is one God who sends rain, earthquakes, winds, / Lightnings and famines, plagues and mournful cares,

3 And snows and ice. But why should I speak all? / He governs heaven, rules earth, and self-exists.

Proem: Second Fragment

1 But if all that is born must also perish, / It cannot be from thighs of man and wife / God has been formed. But God is one alone, / Highest of all. He has made heaven, and sun, And stars, and moon, and the fruit-bearing earth, / And ocean's swelling streams, and lofty hills, / And the perennial fountains. And he brought / The countless millions of the waters forth; / And nourished life in all the creeping things That move on earth, and clear-toned twittering birds / Of various colors, and of whizzing wings, / That cleave the air. And in the mountain glades / Disposed he the wild races of the beasts, / And to us mortals made subordinate All cattle; the God-formed one made chief / Of all things; and subordinate to man / He put all variegated forms of life, / And things that are incomprehensible. / For all these things what mortal flesh can know?

2 He only knows who himself made these things / From the beginning, incorruptible / Creator, everlasting One, who dwells / In the pure ether. He rewards the good / With an abundant bounty, but fierce wrath He rouses for the wicked and unjust, / And war, and pestilence, and tearful woes. / O men, why vainly puffed up do ye bring / Yourselves to ruin? Blush to deify / Polecats and monstrous beasts. And is it not A madness and a frenzy of the mind / If gods steal plates, and plunder earthen pots? / And when they might inhabit in their power / The golden heaven, see them moth-eaten there, / And thickly woven under spiders' webs! Ye worship serpents, dogs, cats—O ye fools, / And reverence birds, and creeping things of earth, / Stone images and statues made with hands, / And stone heaps by the roads. These ye revere, / And also many foolish things besides,

3 Which it would even be a shame to tell. / These are the baneful gods of thoughtless men, / And from their mouth pours deadly poison down. / But of him is life and perennial light / Imperishable, and he sheds a joy Sweeter than honey on the sons of men. / For him alone should any bend the neck / And tread the eternal paths of piety. / Leaving all those, the full cup of revenge, / Pure, strong, pressed down and unadulterated, Drain off with madly eager soul, all ye. / But ye will not arouse you from your sleep / And come to sober reason, and know God, / The mighty King, who oversees all things. / Therefore on you the flame of burning fire Is coming; ye through ages every day / Shall be by gleaming torches set on fire, / For false and worthless idols put to shame. / But they who fear God and eternal truth, / Life shall inherit, and forever dwell

4 Amid the verdant fields of Paradise, / Feasting on sweet bread from the starry heaven.

Book I

1 Beginning with the earliest race of men, / Even to the latest, I will prophesy / Of all things past, and present, and to come / In the world through the wickedness of men. And first, God bids me utter how the world / Came into being. And do thou declare, / O crafty mortal—prudently declare, / Lest ever thou disparage my commands— / How the celestial King, who made the world And all things, said: Let it be, and it was. / For he the earth established, casting it / Round about Tartarus; and he gave forth / The soft sweet light, and raised the heaven on high, / And spread abroad the ocean's blue expanse, And crowned the pole with hosts of brilliant stars, / And decked the earth with plants, and mixed the sea / With rivers, and the air with vapors fused, / And watery clouds. And then another race / He put forth, fishes in the seas, and gave

2 Birds to the blowing winds, and to the woods / The shaggy beasts, and crawling dragons vile, / And all things whatsoever now are seen. / These made he by his word, and all was done / Quickly and well. For he as self-produced Existed sole, and looked from heaven down; / And the world was complete. And then again, / He fashioned afterward a living work, / Man, after his own image, newly formed, / Beautiful, godlike, whom in Paradise Ambrosial he assigned a dwelling-place, / Where elegant labors might become his care. / But in that verdant field of Paradise / He was alone; discourse he longed to hold, / And much desired another form to see Like to himself. Then opened God his side / And from it took a bone, and made fair Eve, / His wedded spouse, and in that Paradise / Brought her to dwell with him. On her he gazed, / And a great admiration held his soul,

3 Being suddenly rejoiced to look upon / A pattern so exact. And with wise words / He answered, words that flowed spontaneously; / For God cares for all things. And neither lust / Obscured their minds, nor from a sense of shame Were they clothed, but remote from evil hearts, Even like beasts they walked with limbs exposed. Then to them also God commandments gave, And showed them that they must not touch the tree. But the vile serpent led them off by guile To meet the doom of death, and to receive Knowledge of good and evil. But the wife First became traitress to him; she gave him, And foolishly persuaded him to sin; And he, persuaded by the woman's words, Forgetful of the immortal Maker grew, And treated plain commandments with despite. Therefore instead of good received he evil, According to his deed. And then, the leaves Of the sweet fig-tree sewing, they prepared

4 Garments for one another, and concealed The sexual parts, because they were ashamed. But on them the Immortal set his wrath, And forth he cast them from the immortal field. For it was now appointed unto men To dwell upon the soil, since he kept not The word of God, the Immortal, Mighty, High. Then went they forth upon the fertile globe, Moistened with tears and sobs, and God himself, The Immortal, spoke these memorable words: "Increase and multiply, and work on earth With skillful hand, that by your toilsome sweat Ye may receive sufficiency of food." Thus spoke he; but the author of deceit Prone on the dusty earth he made to crawl, And harshly banished; and dire enmity He sent between them; this to save his head / Is watchful; man his heel; for death is near, / Neighbor of men and poisonous vipers sly. / And then the race was multiplied, as bade

5 Himself the almighty Ruler, and increased / One nation with another far and wide. / Houses of various sorts they reared aloft, / And cities and their walls they builded well / And wisely. And a long-continuing day Was given them for the life they loved so much. / For they died not by grievous ills consumed, / But as o'ercome by sleep. Happy the men / Of great soul whom the immortal Saviour loved, / The King most high. But also they transgressed, And gave themselves to folly; for bold-faced / They mocked their fathers, and their mothers shamed; / Acquaintances they knew not, and they met / Brothers with treason. Then became they vile, / And armed with helmets red with human gore They also made wars; and upon them fell / The last calamity from heaven sent forth, / And took life's fears away, and Hades then / Received them. Hades it was called where first / Adam arrived when he had tasted death

6 And earth had covered him on all sides round. / Therefore all earthborn men are said to go / Into the halls of Hades. But all these / Having arrived in Hades have received / Honor, for they to the first race belonged. But when these he had taken, then again / Of the surviving and most righteous men / Another race he formed, much varied, which displayed / Works pleasing, good, and fair, and high respect, / And thorough wisdom. They brought forward arts Of all kinds, meeting difficulties with skill. / And one devised to till the land with plows, / Another worked in wood; one sailed the deep, / Another made a study of the stars; / Another practiced augury with birds; Sorcery and magic arts were others' care; / Others intently practiced other arts, / Watchful inventors, worthy of the name / Because within they held a sleepless mind. / Immense in body, and to look upon

7 Compact and huge were they, but they went down / Under Tartarean chambers terrible, / Held in strong chains to expiate their crimes / In the Gehenna of burning, quenchless fire. / And after these again appeared a race, Mighty-souled, third race of perfidious men. / Fearful and many were the evil deeds / They wrought among themselves. And these by war / And carnage and calamity were slain / Continually, having a haughty heart. And from these afterward another race / Proceeded, late completed, fit for war, / Murderous and rash; of the fourth race were they. / Much blood they shed, nor feared they God or man, / For fierce, excessive passion urged them on, And impious wickedness. And they by wars, / Carnage, and strife were hurled to Erebus, / Wretched and impious men. Them that survived / The heavenly God himself in wrath removed / Out of his world, and in vast Tartarus

8 Cast down, beneath the bottom of the earth. / Again thereafter yet another race / Much worse than men he made, for whom no good / Will ever the immortal God prepare, / Since they wrought many evils. For they were Wanton and violent beyond compare, / Giants perverse, uttering foul blasphemies. / Single among all men, most just and true, / Was Noah, faithful, and to all good works / Attentive. And to him the Lord himself From heaven spoke these things: "Noah, be thou bold, / And preach repentance to the people all, / That they may all be saved. But they will not / Regard it, having souls devoid of shame, / And all the impious race will I destroy With mighty floods of waters. But straightway / I bid thee from the non-imbibing root / An indestructible house of wood to build. / I will put understanding in thy heart, / And skill in art, and measurement, and space, And in all things will I have anxious care / That thou be saved and all that with thee dwell. / Now I am he who is (and in thy heart / Meditate it); I clothe me with the sky / And cast the sea around me; and to me

9 Earth is a footstool. Round my form I pour / The air, and all around me dance the stars. / Nine letters have I, and four syllables. / Mark me: The first three have two letters each, / The other has the rest, and five are mutes. Of the whole sum the hundreds are twice eight, / And thrice three tens, with seven. Know who I am / And be not unacquainted with my love." / Thus he spoke, and a mighty trembling seized / Him who heard such things, and then in his mind, Having prepared each matter, he implored / The people and began with words like these: / "O men, filled with all unbelief and fallen / In madness great, ye will not hide from God / Whate'er ye do, for all things he beholds, Immortal Saviour, all-surveying. He / Bade me exhort you that ye perish not. / Be sober, cease ye from your wicked deeds, / Nor fiercely fight, nor hold a murderous heart, / Nor moisten many a land with human gore.

10 Adore, O mortals, the supremely great / And fearless heavenly Maker, the great God, / Imperishable, whose dwelling is the sky; / And him let all entreat, for he is good; / Entreat him for the life of all the world, Of cities and four-footed beasts and birds, / That unto all he may be merciful. / For when the whole vast world of men shall be / By waters ruined, ye'll wail a dreadful song. / And suddenly to you the ambient air Will be unsettled, and the wrath of God / Will come from heaven upon you; and be sure / On men the immortal Saviour it will send, / Unless God ye appease, and now repent, / And unto one another be no more So petulant and wicked and unjust, / But with a holy life be fortified." / But when they heard him each turned up his nose;

11 / They called him mad, a man with frenzy fired. / And then again did Noah sound this strain: "O cowardly, vile-hearted, wavering men, / Forsaking reverence and loving shame, / Rapacious tyrants, violent transgressors, / Liars, filled with all unbelief, untrue, / Workers of evil, sly adulterers, Flippant, and pouring slanders forth, the wrath / Of God ye do not fear, and ye are kept / To the fifth generation to atone. / Ye nowise weep, ye monsters, but ye laugh. / Sardonic smiles will ye laugh, let me say, When God's approaching fearful flood shall come; / When a pure race on earth the wave renews, / Springing perennial from the dry, dead roots; / In one night root and branch becomes unknown, / And cities with their people from the deep The Earth-shaker scatters and their walls destroys. / And then the whole world of unnumbered men / Shall die. But how will I weep, how lament / In wooden house! How mingle tears with waves! / For if the waters at God's word shall come,

12 Earth shall swim, hills swim, even air shall swim; / Water shall be all over, and all things / Shall be destroyed by waters. And the winds / Shall stand still, and a second age shall dawn. / O Phrygian, from the lofty water first To go forth, thou another race of men / Shalt nourish up, as from another new / Beginning, and shalt be a nurse for all." / But when he to that lawless generation / Had vainly spoken thus, then the Most High Revealed himself, and called again, and said: / "The time has come, O Noah, to make known / Each thing, whatever daily I to thee / Have promised and decreed; to execute / In all the world, because of human guilt, All things, whatever myriad wrongs were done / By former generations. But do thou / Make haste and enter with thy sons, and wife, / And their wives. Call as many as I bid, / The tribes of beasts and creeping things and birds,

13 And in the breasts of such as I ordain / To keep alive will I then straight impart / The prompt and willing mind to enter in." / Thus he spoke; and he went and cried aloud. / And then his spouse and sons and their young wives Entered the house of wood. And then straightway / Went every other thing, even as God willed. / But when the key was fitted to the lid, / Adjusted crosswise in its polished place, / Then was the will of the celestial God Accomplished. Then he drove the gloomy clouds / Together, and concealed the sun's bright disk, / And moon and stars and circle of the heavens, / Obscuring all things; and loud thunders rolled, / Terror of mortals, and the lightnings flashed; And all the winds together were aroused, / And all the streams of waters were unloosed, / And from heaven opened mighty cataracts, / And earth's recesses and the tireless deep / Disclosed their myriad waters, and the wide

14 Illimitable earth was covered o'er. / But that divine house floated with the storm, / And, tossed by many a furious wave and swept / By blast of winds along, rose fearfully. / But still the keel cut through the mass of foam, While the loud-murmuring waters dashed around. / But when the whole world God had drowned with rains, / In Noah's mind 'twas given to understand / The purpose of the Immortal; and he went / Sufficiently in Nereus. But straightway The lid he lifted from the polished wall, / Where crosswise it was joined with skillful stays, / And, looking out upon the mighty mass / Of boundless waters, Noah's eyes surveyed / Death all around. Fear seized him, and his heart Quaked mightily. And then the wind was stayed / A little, for it had toiled many days / To wet the whole world; then it broke apart, / Disclosing, as if pale and stained with blood, / The great and fiery surface of the sky

15 Hard toil-worn. Noah difficulty held / His courage. And procuring then a dove, / He sent her forth alone to learn if the earth / Appeared yet solid; but with wearied wing / She flew around all things and returned again, For the great water was not yet assuaged, / For greatly was it filling every place. / But having rested other days, he sent / The dove again, to learn if yet had ceased / The many waters; and she flew afar And went upon the earth, and having paused / To rest a little on the humid ground, / Again to Noah back she came, and bore / An olive-branch, the sign of tidings great. / Then was he full of boldness and great joy, For earth he hoped to look upon again. / And thereupon another bird, black-winged, / He straight sent forth; and, trusting in his wings, / He promptly flew, and coming to the earth, / Remained there. Then knew Noah that the land

16 Was very near. But when the ark had tossed / Here and there on the furious waves, controlled / By skill divine, it swam o'er the sea's surge, / And was made fast upon the narrow shore. / There is upon the Phrygian main-land dark A steep, tall mountain, Ararat by name, / Because thereon all were to be restored; / And in it there is great and strong desire. / There the great river Marsyas draws his streams. / There the ark rested on the lofty height, The waters ceasing. Then again from heaven / Uttered the holy voice of the great God / This word: "O rescued Noah, faithful, just, / Come boldly forth with thy sons and thy wife / And their three young wives, and fill all the earth, Increasing, multiplying, rendering justice / One to another, on from age to age, / Until to judgment all the race of men / Comes, for a judgment shall be unto all." / Thus spoke the heavenly voice, and Noah rushed

17 As from his couch forth boldly on the earth, / And his sons with him, his wife, and their wives, / And creeping things, and birds, and quadrupeds; / And all else from the wooden house went forth / Into one place. And then, most just of men, Went Noah forth, the eighth, having fulfilled / Upon the waters twice one hundred days / And one; such was the will of the great God. / Then a new age of life again appeared, / First golden, which was now the sixth and best Since man was first formed; heavenly it was called, / Because in all things it had care toward God. / O prime race of the generation sixth! / O mighty joy which I shall then obtain / When I escape dire ruin, having been Much tossed with mine espoused, and brothers-in-law, / And husband's father and with husband's mother, / And having suffered with the wives like me. / Now I will sing: a many-colored flower / Shall on the fig-tree bloom, and in mid-time

18 The royal power and scepter it shall show. / For three kings, great-souled and most just of men, / Shall show the lots and reign full many a year, / Awarding justice unto men, to whom / Labor and amiable deeds are dear. And earth productive shall show many fruits / Spontaneous, and yield much corn for the race. / And then the nursing fathers, far apart / From cold dire plagues, shall not be growing old / All their days; they will die as cast in sleep, And pass down to the Acheronian shores, / In Hades' habitations, and down there / Shall they have honor. For they were a race / Of blessed ones, fortunate heroes, whom / The God of Sabaoth gave a noble mind; And they shall ever in his counsels share. / And blessed shall they be, even though they come / To Hades. Then again rose fierce and strong / Another second race of earthborn men, / The Titans. Like in form were each and all,

19 In aspect, size, and nature; and their speech / Was one, like that which from the earliest race / God formerly implanted in their minds. / But these with haughty heart against the Highest / Took counsel, hastening to destruction on, And waging war against the starry heaven. / And then would the great ocean's flood have poured / Its maddened waters on them, but the great / Sabaoth checked and held it, though incensed, / For he had promised not to bring again A deluge on malevolent mankind. / But when the many waters' boundless flood, / Wave rolling here and there on wave, he made / From wrath to cease, the great high-thundering God / In other depths of ocean, less profound, Marked off the land by harbors and rough shores. / And then the Child of the great God to men / Shall come incarnate, being fashioned like / To mortals on the earth. And he shall bear / Four vowels, and the consonants in him

20 Two times are told; and the whole sum I name: / For eight ones, and as many tens to these, / And yet eight hundred will the name reveal / To men who are given up to unbelief. / Now do thou in thy heart consider Christ, The Child of the immortal God most high; / He shall fulfill God's law, and not destroy; / His image he shall bear, and teach all things. / To him shall priests come bearing gold and myrrh / And frankincense; for all things will he do. But when a voice shall come through desert land / Preaching to men, and all, with a loud cry, / Make straight the ways, and cast forth wickedness / Out of the heart, and let men's bodies all / By water be illumined, that, being born From above, they may never more at all / Turn from the righteous (now, won by the dance, / His head will one of barbarous mind cut off, / And give for a reward), then shall a sign / Suddenly be to men, when, guarded well,

21 From Egypt's land shall come a beautiful stone, / At which the Hebrews shall be scandalized, / But nations shall be gathered, led by him, / For God who rules on high shall be made known / Through him, and a way in a common light. For life eternal he'll show men elect, / But for the lawless lasting fire prepare. / And then the sick will he heal, and all men / Worthy of blame, who will show faith in him. / Then shall the blind see, and the lame shall walk, The deaf shall hearken, and the dumb shall speak, / Demons be cast out, and the dead be raised, / Billows he'll walk, and in the desert place, / From five loaves and a fish of the deep sea, / Will sate five thousand, and what then remains Will fill twelve baskets for the virgin pure. / And then will Israel, drunken, not perceive, / Nor shall they hear, weighed down by sickly ears. / But when the burning wrath of the Most High / Upon the Hebrews comes, and from them faith

22 Be taken away, because the heavenly Child / Of God they injured, then will Israel give / With foul lips buffetings and scorn to him. / For food gall, and for drink strong vinegar / Impiously they give, with evil madness stricken In breast and heart; not seeing with their eyes, / More blind than moles, more terrible than beasts / That crawl envenomed, fettered by deep sleep. / But when he stretches out his blameless hands / And metes out all things, and a crown of thorns Bears, and they pierce his side with spears— / For which dark night prodigious in midday / Three hours shall come—then shall the temple / Of Solomon disclose great signs to men, / And then shall he in Hades' mansion walk, And resurrection to the dead proclaim. / But in three days he'll come to light again / And show his form to men, and teach all things, / And in the clouds ascending will depart / Into a heavenly mansion, having left

23 Unto the world the gospel covenant. / And in his name shall a new sprout bloom forth / Among the nations, guided by great law. / But also after these things have transpired, / Apostles shall be guides; and afterward Of prophets a cessation there shall be. / But when the Hebrews their ill harvest reap, / Much gold and silver will the Roman king / Plunder from them. And other princes then / Continually will be, as kings expire, And they will oppress mortals. Great will be / The fall of those men when they shall commence / Unrighteous insolence. But when the temple / Of Solomon on ground divine shall fall, / Hurled down by barbarous men, in brazen mail, The Hebrews shall be driven from the land, / Wandering afar, and plundered, and much tares / In the wheat will they mingle, and will stand / An evil faction among all mankind. / And all their cities, outraged, will lament

24 Each other, since an evil work they wrought, / Receiving the great God's wrath in their hearts.

Book II

1 Now when my song of wisdom God restrained, / Much I implored, and in my breast again / He put the charming voice of words divine. / Trembling at every form I follow these, For what I speak I do not comprehend, / But God commands each thing to be declared. / But when on earth shocks, and strong thunderbolts, / Thunder and lightning, and mildew of earth, / Madness of wolves, and slaughter of mankind, And ruin both of men and bellowing bulls, / Four-footed cattle, and laborious mules, / And goats and sheep, even then the barren field / Shall become much abandoned from neglect, / And fruits shall fail, and license shall abound Among most men, and temple robbery. / And then of men the tenth race will appear, / When the earth-shaking Thunderer will break / The zeal of idols, and will shake the people / Of seven-hilled Rome, and all their treasured wealth

2 Will perish, burned by Vulcan's fiery flame. / And then shall bloody signs from heaven descend.— / But the whole world of men, enraged, will kill / Each other, and in tumult God will send / Famines and plagues and thunderbolts on men Who without righteousness condemn the just. / And of men will the whole world be deserted, / So that, if any one beholds a trace / Of man on earth, he will be wonderstruck. / But then will the great God who dwells in heaven Devout men's Saviour in all things become / And then shall peace profound and union be, / And the fruit-bearing earth shall yield again / Abundant fruits, nor shall it longer be / Divided, nor with toilsome service tilled. But every port and harbor shall be free / To all men, even as they were before. / And brazen impudence shall be destroyed. / Then a great sign will God thereafter show. / A star will shine forth like a lustrous crown,

3 Bright, all-resplendent, from the radiant sky, / Days not a few; for then will he from heaven / Display the victor's garland unto men / Who struggle for the prize; and then will be / That mighty contest of triumphal march Into the heavenly city, and all earth / Having the fame of immortality / Shall be all men's possession, and all people / In the immortal contests will contend / For glorious victory. Nor shamefully Can any then with silver buy a crown, / For to them will the holy Christ assign / The righteous things, and crown the ones approved, / And give his martyrs the immortal pledge, / And such as waged the contest unto death. And he will give the incorruptible prize / Of contests unto virgins who strove well; / And to all men the right things will he grant, / And to strange nations that live righteously, / And know one God. And such as love the bonds

4 Of marriage, and adulterous acts despise, / Will he give rich gifts and eternal hope. / For every soul of man is God's own gift, / And men should not stain it with any woes. / [Become not rich unjustly, but be pure In all thy life. Assist those near to thee, / And stand aloof from strangers. Speak no lies, / But guard all true things. Reverence not thou / Vain idols, but the everlasting God / Hold first in honor, and thy parents next. Dispense all righteous things, but do not come / Into unrighteous judgment. Cast not off / The poor unjustly, nor judge outwardly. / If thou judge wickedly, God will judge thee. / False witness fly, and righteous things make known. Keep thy virginity, and in all things / Guard love. Unrighteous measure do not give; / But beautiful is measure full to all. / Strike not the scales outside, but draw them equal. / Swear not in ignorance, nor willingly;

5 God hates false oaths, whatever one may swear. / Never receive in hand a gift that came / From unjust works. Seeds steal thou not; accursed / Through countless generations will he be, / Whoever takes it, for he scatters life. Yield not to vile lusts, slander not, nor kill, / Give to the toilworn laborer reward; / The poor afflict not. Hold thy tongue with care, / And secret things fast in thy heart restrain. / To orphans, widows, and the needy give. Will not to act unjustly, nor allow / Unrighteous things. Give to the poor at once, / And say not, Come to-morrow. Of thy grain / Give to the toilsome with a ready hand. / Know, he that gives alms lendeth unto God. Mercy from death frees when the judgment comes; / Not sacrifice, but mercy God desires / Rather than sacrifice. Clothe therefore thou / The naked; with the hungry share thy bread. / Him without shelter in thy house receive,

6 And lead the blind. On shipwrecked mariners / Have thou compassion, for the sailor's art / Is perilous. To the fallen give a hand. / And save the man that stands all unassisted. / Suffering is common; life is as a wheel; Riches uncertain. If thou hast wealth, reach / Thy hand unto the poor, and of the things / Which God gave thee bestow thou on the needy. / Common is all the life of mortal men, / But it comes out unequal. When thou seest A poor man, never banter him with words, / Nor rudely accost a man that should be blamed. / The life in death is tested; if one did / The unlawful or just, it shall be discerned / When he comes into judgment. Injure not The mind with wine, nor drink excessively. / Eat not blood, and from idol offerings keep. / Gird not the sword around thee 'gainst a friend, / But for defense; would that thou use it not / Unjustly or justly; for if thou put to death

7 An enemy thou hast defiled thy hand. / Keep from thy neighbor's field, and cross it not. / Each boundary is just, and troubles come / By trespass. Wealth is profitable / Unto the upright, but to the unjust an evil. Harm not the growing produce of the field. / Let foreigners be equally esteemed / Among the citizens; for all should break / A painful hospitality, as guests / Of one another; but let no one be A stranger with you, since of one blood all / Ye mortals are, and for mankind no realm / Affords a permanent abiding place. / Wish not nor pray to be rich, but pray this: / To live of few things, and possess no thing Unjustly. Mother of all wickedness / Is love of gain. Yearn not for gold or silver, / But be assured that in them there will be / A deadly two-edged instrument of iron. / Gold and silver are ever a snare to men.

8 O gold! source of all evils, bane of life, / Full of vexation, would that thou wert not / To mortals such a longed-for misery. / For through thee come wars, plunders, homicides, / Children with parents in a bitter strife, And brethren hating those of their own blood. / Plot no deceits, and do not arm thy soul / Against a friend. Conceal not in thy heart / Another thing from what thou speakest forth, / Nor change with place even as a polypus Grown to a rock. But be thou frank with all, / And those things which are of the heart declare. / Whoever willfully commits a wrong, / An evil man is he; but he that sins / Under constraint, his end I do not tell; But let the will of every man be right. / Boast not of wisdom, nor of power, nor wealth; / God only is wise and mighty, and abounds / In riches. Do not wear thy heart away / With evils that are past, for what is done

9 Can never be undone. Send not thy hand / Forth in a hasty deed, but curb wild wrath. / For often as one strikes he may commit / Unwittingly a murder. Let there be / A common suffering, neither great nor strong. Excess of good has not been wont to yield / Profit to mortals, but much luxury / Brings on excessive lusts. Great wealth puffs up, / And waxes into wanton insolence. / Desire, obtaining mastery, effects Destructive madness. Anger is a lust, / And when it passes further, it is wrath. / The zeal of good men is a noble thing, / But of the vile is vile. Destructive is / The boldness of the wicked; glory crowns That of the good. The love of virtue holds / Deserved esteem, but Cyprian loves add shame. / Agreeable is the amiable man / Among his fellows. Moderately he eats, / Drinks, and discourses; moderation is

10 Of all things best; excess brings many a pain. / Nor envious nor distrustful be, nor be / A railer, nor a man of evil thoughts, / Nor yet a false deceiver. Exercise / Prudence, and keep thyself from shameful works. Follow not malice, but by righteousness / Blot out revenge; for useful is persuasion, / But strife engenders strife. Do not believe / Too quickly, ere thou truly see the end.] / This is the contest, this is the reward, This is the prize, this is the gate of life, / And entrance into immortality, / Which God in heaven to righteous men appointed / As victory's reward. They that obtain / The crown shall enter gloriously by this. But when this sign appears through all the world, / Children are born gray-haired, then human woes, / Famines and plagues and wars, and change of seasons / And many tearful sorrows will abound. / Alas! How many children in the lands

11 Will mourn, and sadly for their parents weep, / And, wrapped in shrouds, bury the flesh in earth, / The mother of the peoples, mingling them / With blood and dust. O miserable men / Of the last generation, evil-doers, Cruel and foolish; nor perceiving this, / That when the tribes of women cease to bear, / The harvest-time of mortal men is come. / And ruin threatens when impostors come / Instead of prophets speaking on the earth. And Beliar will come, and many signs / Will work for men. And then of holy men / Elect and faithful there will be confusion, / And a plundering of them and of the Hebrews. / And there will come fierce wrath, when from the East Shall come a people of twelve tribes, and seek / A people, whom the Assyrian branch destroyed, / Tribe-kinsmen of the Hebrews; and with them / Shall nations perish. Afterward again / Will they rule over the surviving men,

12 Elect and faithful Hebrews, and subject / Them as before, since their power will not fail. / The Most High, all-surveying, who abides / In the pure heaven, will scatter sleep on men, / Covering their eyelids round. O blessed servants, Whom when the Master comes he finds awake. / Awaken all, and watch with sleepless eyes; / For he will come at morning, or at eve, / Or in midday; but he will surely come, / And it will be as I say; it will be To those at ease, that from the radiant heaven / The stars to all at midday will appear, / With the two luminaries; and the time / Is pressing on. And then will light on earth / The Tishbite, drawing from the heaven above His heavenly chariot, and three signs will show / To all the world, of life to be destroyed. / Alas! How many women in that day / Will be found with a burden in the womb; / How many infant children at the breast;

13 How many will be dwelling on the waves. / Alas! How many that day will behold. / For a dark mist will wrap the boundless world, / East, west, and south, and north; and from the heavens / Will flow a mighty stream of burning fire, And every place consume—earth, ocean, sky, / And sea, and pools, and rivers, and harsh Hades, / And heaven's axis. And the lights of heaven / Will rush together, and take on a form / All-desolate. For all the stars will fall Into the sea, and all the souls of men / Gnash their teeth, burning in the stream below, / That burns with brimstone and the force of fire. / And then the elements of all the world / Shall be forsaken—air, earth, sea, light, heaven, And days and nights. No longer through the air / Will fly the insatiate birds, nor swimming beasts / Pass through the sea, nor vessels sail the waves, / Nor cattle plow the field, nor sound of trees / Under the winds; but all things then will melt

14 Together, and will come out purified. / Then will the angels of the immortal God / Come, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, / Who know whatever evil things men do, / And from the dark and murky gloom below Up to the judgment will lead forth all souls, / To the tribunal of the immortal God. / For One alone imperishable is, / Himself the Almighty; he shall judge mankind, / And then to nether realms, souls, spirit, and voice, The heavenly God will give, and also bones / Fitted to joints, and made divinely fair. / And flesh and sinews in all parts will join, / And veins and skin; and afterward the hair / Will spring forth as aforetime. So one day Shall earthly bodies moved with breath be raised. / And then will Uriel, mighty angel, break / The bolts of harsh and lasting adamant, / Which, monstrous, hold the awful gates of hell, / And hurling them aside, to judgment bring

15 All the sad forms exceeding sorrowful, / Chiefly the phantom forms of Titans old, / And giants, whom the deluge swept away; / And such as perished in the billowy seas, / And all that furnished banquet for the beasts, And creeping things, and winged fowls—all these / Uriel will summon to the judgment-seat; / And also those whom flesh-devouring fire / Destroyed in flame, even these shall rise and stand / Assembled at the judgment-seat of God. And when the dead are raised, and fates resolved, / And the high fulminating Lord of hosts / Is seated on his heavenly throne, and sets / The mighty pillar, then amid the clouds / In the glory of Christ, with blameless angels thronged, The Incorruptible himself will come / Unto him who is incorruptible, / And on the right hand of the great tribunal / Sit, judging lives of just and unjust men. / Moses will come, great friend of the Most High,

16 And Abraham, himself also great, will come, / Isaac and Jacob, Joseph, Daniel, / Elijah, Habakkuk, and Jonah, all, / And those whom persecuting Hebrews slew. / But all those Hebrews after Jeremiah, At the tribunal judged, he will destroy; / That they may worthy recompense receive, / And pay for what in mortal life they did. / And then all through the burning stream shall pass / Of fire unquenchable; but all the righteous Shall be saved. But the ungodly to all ages / Shall be undone, who erst wrought wickedness, / And knowingly committed murders vile; / Liars and thieves and ruiners of home, / Crafty and terrible; and parasites, And marriage-breakers, pouring slanders forth; / The fearful, insolent idolators; / Those who, forsaking the immortal God, / Become blasphemers; robbers of the just, / Destroyers both of faith and holy men; Presbyters, priests, and ministers revered, / Who practiced with a double face their guile, / And shamelessly perverted others' rights; / Impostors, credulous, but more destructive / Than wolves and leopards, vilest of the vile;

17 Also the arrogant, and usurers, / Who pile up compound interest at home, / And wrong the widow and the fatherless; / And such as give to widows and to orphans / The product of unrighteous deeds, and such As, giving out of hardships, cause reproach; / All who forsake their parents in old age, / Not reverencing or requiting them, / But disobedient, contradicting sires / With harsh words; those who take assurances And then deny; and servants who have turned / Against their masters; also the impure, / Who by lasciviousness defile the flesh / And loose the maiden's girdle secretly; / And such as having burdens in the womb Produce abortion, and their offspring cast / Unlawfully away; and sorcerers / And sorceresses—all these will the wrath / Of the immortal God cause to approach / The pillar, where around a circle flows 18 The river inexhaustible of fire. / Then will the angels of the immortal God, / Who ever liveth, direly punish them / With flaming scourges and with fiery flames, / Bound from above with ever-during bonds. Then in Gehenna, in the midnight gloom, / Will they be to Tartarean monsters cast, / Many and fierce, where darkness is supreme. / But when all punishments have been entailed / On all whose hearts were evil, then straightway From the great river will a fiery wheel / Circle them round, pressed down with wicked works; / And then in many a way most piteously / Will fathers, mothers, nursing children wail; / Nor will there be satiety of tears, Nor will the piteous cry of those who mourn / Be heard elsewhere, but worn down afar / Amid the darkening shades of Tartarus / They cry aloud, and pay the penalty / Threefold for all the wicked works they did,

19 Burning in fire; and they shall gnash their teeth, / All consumed by devouring thirst and force, / And wish to die, but death shall flee from them, / For nevermore will death nor night give rest. / Much will they vainly pray to God most high, But he will turn his face away from them. / [For seven ages a day of penitence / Gave he to men by a pure virgin's hand.] / But others, with whom right and good works weighed, / Most upright in their piety and thoughts, The angels, bearing through the burning stream, / Shall lead to light and life exempt from care. / There is the immortal way of the great God, / And fountains three, of honey, wine, and milk. / The land, alike for all, divided not By wall or fence, shall bear abundant fruit / Indigenous; the means and modes of life / Common will be, and riches without lot. / For there no longer will be poor nor rich, / Tyrant nor slave, nor great, nor small, nor kings,

20 Nor chieftains, but all share a common life. / No more will any say the night has come, / Or morrow comes, or yesterday has been. / They have no trouble about many days. / Spring, summer, autumn, winter will not be [Marriage nor death, nor will they buy and sell, / Nor will there be sunset or sunrise more], / For he will make it one long, lasting day. / Then to the pious will the almighty God / Grant yet another thing, when they shall pray For men to be saved from devouring fire / And lasting torments; and this he will do. / For having plucked the steadfast from the flame / That rests not, and removing them elsewhere, / He for his people's sake will send them on Unto another and eternal life, / In fields Elysian, where are the great waves / Of the deep-bosomed Acheronian lake. / Ah, wretched I! what shall I in that day? / For, ill-disposed and anxious for all things,

21 I sinned and had no care for marriage-bonds, / Nor reason. But within my sumptuous halls / I shut the needy out, and knowingly / Aforetime did unlawful things perform. / Thou, Saviour, rescue me, the shameless one, From my tormenters, me who did the shame. / I pray thee, let me rest a while from song, / Holy Giver of manna, King of the great realm.