BOOK XIII.

GREAT word divine he bids me sing again--

The immortal holy God imperishable,

Who gives to kings their power and takes away,

And who determined for them time both ways,

5 Both that of life and that of baneful death.

And these the heavenly God enjoins on me

Unwilling to bring tidings unto kings

Concerning royal power. . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

And spear impetuous Ares; and by him

10 All perish, child and the old man who gives

To the assemblies laws; and many wars

And battles there shall be, and homicides,

Famines and pestilences, earthquake-shocks

And mighty thunderbolts, and many ways

15 Of the Assyrians over all the world,

And pillaging and robbery of temples.

And then an insurrection there shall be

Of the industrious Persians, and with them

Indians, Armenians, and Arabians;

20 And unto these again a Roman king

Insatiate in war and leading on

His spearmen against the Assyrians

Shall draw near, a young Ares, and as far

As the deep-flowing silvery Euphrates

25 Shall warlike Ares stretch his deadly spear

Because of . . .

For by his friend betrayed he shall fall down

In the ranks smitten by the gleaming iron.

And straightway coming out of Syria

30 There shall a purple-loving warrior rule,

Terror of Ares, and also his son,

A Cæsar, shall even all the earth oppress;

And the one name is unto both of them:

On first and twentieth there are to be placed

35 Five hundred. But when these in wars shall rule,

And laws shall be enacted, there shall be

A little rest from war, not for long time;

But when a wolf shall to a flock of sheep

Pledge solemn oaths against the white-toothed dogs,

40 Then, having misled, he will tear in pieces

The woolly sheep, and cast his oaths aside;

And then shall there be an unlawful strife

Of haughty kings in wars, and Syrians

Shall perish terribly, and Indians

45 And the Armenians and Arabians,

The Persians and the Babylonians

Shall one another by hard fights destroy.

But when a Roman Ares shall destroy

A German Ares ruinous of life

50 Triumphing on the ocean, then is war

Of many years for haughty Persian men,

But for them there shall not be victory;

For as a fish swims not upon the point

Of a high many-ridged and windy rock

55 Precipitant, nor does a tortoise fly,

Nor does an eagle into water come,

So also are the Persians in that day

Far off from victory, while the fond nurse

Of the Italians, in the plain of Nile

60 Reposing by the sacred water's side,

Sends forth the appointed lot to seven-hilled Rome.

Now these things are; and while the name of Rome

Shall hold in numbers of revolving time,

So many years shall the great noble city

65 Of Macedon's lord, willing, deal out corn.

Another much-distressing pain I'll sing

For Alexandrians who are destroyed

By reason of the strife of shameful men.

Strong men who were aforetime terrible

70 Being then impotent shall pray for peace

By reason of the wickedness of chiefs.

And there shall come wrath of the mighty God

On the Assyrians and a mountain stream

Shall utterly destroy them, which shall come

75 To Cæsar's city and harm Canaanites.

The Pyramus shall irrigate the city

Of Mopsus; then shall the Ægæans fall

Because of strife of very mighty men.

Thee, wretched Antioch, shall Ares strong

80 Leave not while round thee an Assyrian war

Is pressing, for a chief of men shall dwell

Within thy houses who shall fight with all

The arrow-hurling Persians, he himself

Having obtained of Romans royal power.

85 Now, cities of Arabians, deck yourselves

With temples and with places for the race,

And with broad markets and with splendid wealth,

With images, gold, silver, ivory;

And thou who art of all most fond of learning,

90 Bostra and Philippopolis, that thou may'st come

Into great sorrow; and the laughing spheres

Of the zodiacal vault, Aries,

Taurus, and Gemini, and as many stars

Ruling hours as with them in heaven appear

95 Shall benefit thee not; thou, wretched one,

Hast trusted many, when that very man

Shall afterwards bring near that which is thine.

And now for Alexandrians loving war

Will I sing wars most dreadful; and much people

100 Shall perish while their cities are destroyed

By citizens against each other matched

And fighting for the sake of hateful strife,

And round them horrid Ares, rushing on,

Shall cease from war. And then one of great soul

105 Along with his own mighty son shall fall

By treachery on the older king's account.

And after him there shall rule powerfully

O'er fertile Rome another great-souled lord

Versed in war, coming from the Dacians

110 And numbering three hundred; he shall have

Also the letter of the number four,

And many shall be slay, and then the king

Shall all his brothers and his friends destroy

Even while the kings are cut off, and straightway

115 Shall there be fights and pillagings and murders

Suddenly on the older king's account.

Then, when a wily man shall summoned come,

A robber and a Roman not well known

From Syria appearing, he by guile

120 Into a race of Cappadocian men

Shall drive through and, besieging, shall press hard,

Insatiate of war. And then for thee,

Tyana and Mazaka, there shall be

A capture; thou shalt be enslaved and put

125 Upon thy neck again a fearful yoke.

Arid Syria shall mourn for men destroyed

And then Selenian goddess shall not guard

Her holy city. But when he by flight

From Syria shall before the Romans come,

130 And shall pass over the Euphrates' streams,

No longer like the Romans, but like fierce

Dart-shooting Persians, then, fulfilling fate,

Down shall the ruler of the Italians fall

In the ranks smitten by the gleaming iron;

135 And close upon him shall his children perish.

But when another king of Rome shall reign,

Then also to the Romans there shall come

Unstable nations, on the walls of Rome

Destructive Ares with his bastard son;

140 Then also shall be famines, pestilence,

And mighty thunderbolts, and dreadful wars,

And anarchy in cities suddenly;

And the Syrians shall perish fearfully;

For there shall come upon them the great wrath

145 Of the Most High and straightway an uprising

of the industrious Persians, and mixed up

With Persians shall the Syrians destroy

The Romans, but by the divine decree

They shall not make a conquest of their laws.

150 Alas, how many with their goods shall flee

Front the East unto men of other tongues

Alas, the dark blood of how many men

The land shall drink! For that shall be a time

In which the living uttering o'er the dead

155 A blessing shall by word of mouth pronounce

Death beautiful and death shall flee from them.

And now for thee, O wretched Syria,

I weep in sorrow; for to thee shall come

A dreadful blow from arrow-shooting men,

160 Which thou didst never think would come to thee.

Also the fugitive of Rome shall come

Bearing a great spear, Crossing on his way

Euphrates with his many myriads,

And he shall burn thee, and dispose all things

165 In a bad way. O wretched Antioch,

And thee a city they shall never call,

When by thy lack of prudence thou shalt fall

Under the spears; and stripping off all things

And making naked he shall leave thee thus

170 Coverless, houseless; and when anyone

Sees he shall of a sudden weep for thee.

And thou shalt be, O Hierapolis,

A triumph, also thou, Ber�a; weep

At Chalcis over lately wounded sons.

175 Alas, how many by the steep high mount

Of Casius shall dwell and by Amanus

How many, and how many Lycus laves,

And Marsyas as many and Pyramus

The silver-eddying; for even to the bounds

180 Of Asia they shall treasure up their spoils,

Make cities naked, and bear idols off

And cast down temples on much-nourishing earth.

And sometime to Gauls and Pannonians,

To Mysians and Bithynians there shall be

185 Great sorrow when a warrior shall have come.

O Lycians, Lycians, there shall come a wolf

To lick thy blood, when Sannians shall come

With city-wasting Ares and the Carpians

Shall draw near with Ausonians to fight.

190 And then by his own shameless recklessness

The bastard son shall put the king to death,

And he himself for his impiety

Shall straightway perish. And again shall rule

After him yet another whose name shows

195 First letter; but he too shall quickly fall

By mighty Ares, struck by gleaming iron.

And yet again the world shall be confused,

Men perishing by pestilence and war.

And the Persians maddened by the Ausonians

200 Shall in the toil of Ares yet again

Force their way. And then there shall be a flight

Of Romans; and thereafter there shall come

The priest heard of all round, sent by the sun,

From Syria appearing and by guile

205 Shall he accomplish all things. And then too

The city of the sun shall offer prayer;

And round about her shall the Persians dare

The fearful threatenings of the Ph�nicians.

But when two chiefs, men swift in war, shall rule

210 The very mighty Romans, one of whom

Shall have the number seventy, and the other

The number three, even then the stately bull,

That digs the earth with his hoofs and stirs up

The dust with his two horns, shall many ills

215 Upon a dark-skinned reptile perpetrate--

Which draws a trail with his scales; and besides,

Himself shall perish. And yet after him

Again shall come another fair-horned stag,

Hungry upon the mountains, striving hard

220 To feed upon the venom-shedding beasts

Then shall a dread and fearful lion come,

Sent from the sun, and breathing forth much flame.

And then too by his shameless recklessness

Shall he destroy the well-horned rapid stag,

225 And the most mighty venom-shedding beast

So dread, that sends forth many piping sounds,

And the he-goat that sideways moves along,

And after him fame follows; he himself

Sound, unhurt, unapproachable, shall rule

230 The Romans, and the Persians shall be weak.

But, Lord, King of the world, O God, restrain

The song of our words, and give charming song.