BOOK XIV.

O MEN, why do ye vainly think on things

Too lofty, as if ye immortal were?

And ye are ruling but a little time,

And over mortals all desire to reign,

5 Not understanding that God himself hates

The lust of rule, and most of all things hates

Insatiate kings fearful in wickedness,

And over them he stirs up what is dark;

Wherefore, instead of good works and just thoughts,

10 Ye all choose for your garments purple robes,

Desiring wretched fights and homicides

Them God imperishable who dwells in heaven

Shall make short-lived, destroy them utterly,

And overthrow one here, another there.

15 But when there shall a bull-destroyer come

Trusting in his own might, thick-haired and grim,

And shall destroy all, he shall also tear

Shepherds in pieces, and no victory

Shall be theirs unless soon, with speed of feet

20 Pursuing eagerly through wooded glens,

Young dogs shall meet in conflict; for a dog

Pursued the lion which destroys the shepherds.

And then there shall be a lord confident

In his might, and named with four syllables,

25 And shown forth clearly from the number one;

But him shall brazen Ares quickly slay

Because of conflict with insatiate men.

Then shall two other princely men bear rule,

Both of the number forty; and with them

30 Shall great peace be in the world and to all

The people law and right; but them in turn

Shall men with gleaming helmet, needing gold

And silver, impiously put to death

For these things, catching them by their deft plans.

35 And then again a dreadful lord shall rule,

Young, fighting hand to hand, whose name shall show

The number seventy, life-destroying, fierce,

Who to the army basely shall betray

The people of Rome, slain by wickedness

40 Because of wrath of kings, and he shall hurl

Down every city and hut of the Latins.

And Rome is no more to be seen or heard,

Such as of late another traveler saw;

For all these things shall in the ashes lie,

45 Nor shall there be a sparing of her works;

For hurtful he himself shall come from heaven,

God the immortal from the sky shall send

Lightnings and thunderbolts upon mankind;

And some he will destroy by lightnings burned,

50 And others with his mighty thunderbolts.

And Rome's strong children and the famous Latins

Shall then the shameless dreadful ruler slay.

Around him dead the dust shall not lie light,

But he shall be a sport for dogs and birds

55 And wolves, for he a martial people spoiled.

After him, numbering forty, there shall rule

Another, famous Parthian-destroyer,

German-destroyer, putting down dread beasts

That kill men, which upon the ocean's streams

60 And the Euphrates press continuous on.

And then shall Rome again be as before.

But when there comes a great wolf in thy plains,

A ruler marching onward from the West,

Then shall he under powerful Ares die

65 Being cleft asunder by the piercing brass.

And o'er the very mighty Romans then

Shall there rule yet again another man

Of great heart, from. Assyria brought to light,

Of the first letter, and he shall himself

70 By means of wars put all things under him,

And by his armies at once power display

And lay down laws; but him shall brazen Ares

Quickly destroy by treacherous armies falling.

After him three of haughty heart shall rule,

75 One having the first number, one three tens,

And the other with three hundred shall partake,

Cruel, who gold and silver in much fire

Shall melt in statues of gods made with hands,

And to the armies they, equipped for war,

80 Will, for the sake of victory, moneys give,

Dividing many costly things and goods;

And in like manner, striving eagerly

After power, they shall barm disastrously

The arrow-shooting Parthians of the deep

85 And swift Euphrates, and the hostile Medes,

And the soft-haired warlike Massagetæ

And Persians also, quiver-bearing men.

But when the king shall his own fate unloose

Leaving unto his sons more fit for arms

90 The royal scepter and entreating right,

Then they, forgetful of their father's words

And having their hands all prepared for war,

Shall rush in conflict for the royal power.

And then another lord, of the third number,

95 Shall rule alone, and smitten by a sword

Shall quickly see his fate. Then after him

Shall many perish at each other's hands,

Being very valiant for the royal power.

Moreover a great-hearted one shall rule

100 The very mighty Romans, an old lord,

Of the number four, and manage all things well.

And then upon Ph�nicia shall come war

And conflict, when there shall come nations near

Of arrow-shooting Persians; ah, how many

105 Shall before men of barbarous speech fall down!

Sidon and Tripolis and Berytus

The loudly-boasting shall behold each other

Amid the blood and bodies of the dead.

Wretched Laodicea, round thyself

110 Thou shalt a great and unsuccessful war

Stir up through the impiety of men,

Ah, hapless Tyrians, ye shall gather in

An evil harvest; when in the day-time

The sun that lighteth mortals shall withdraw,

115 And his disk not appear, and drops of blood

Thick and abundant shall flow down from heaven

Upon the earth. And then the king shall die,

Betrayed by his companions. After him

Shall many shameless leaders still promote

120 The wicked strife and one another kill.

And then shall there a reverend ruler be,

Of much skill, with a name that numbers five,

Confiding in great armies, whom mankind

Will fondly love because of royal power;

125 And having the good name he shall thereto

Add by good deeds. But while he reigns there shall

'Twixt Taurus and snow-clad Amanus be

A fearful sign. From the Cilician land

A city new and beautiful and strong

130 Shall by the deep strong rivers be destroyed.

And in Propontis and in Phrygia

Shall there be many earthquakes. And the king

Of great renown shall under his own lot

By wasting deadly sickness lose his life.

135 And after him shall rule two lordly kings,

One numbering three hundred, and one three;

And many shall he utterly destroy

In defense of the seven-hill city Rome,

And for the sake of powerful sovereignty.

140 And then shall evil to the senate come,

Nor shall it from the angry king escape

While he holds wrath against it. And a sign

Shall then appear to all men upon earth;

And fuller shall the rains be, snow and hail

145 Shall ruin field-fruits o'er the boundless earth.

But they shall fall in wars, slain by strong Ares

In behalf of the war for the Italians.

And then again another king shall rule,

Full of devices, gathering all the army,

150 And for the sake of war distributing

Money to those with brazen breastplate clad;

But thereupon shall Nilus, rich in corn,

Beyond the Libyan mainland irrigate

For two years the dark soil and fruitful land

155 Of Egypt; but all things shall famine seize

And war and robbers, murders, homicides.

And many cities shall by warlike men

Be thrown down headlong by the army's hands;

And he, betrayed, shall fall by gleaming iron.

160 After him one whose number is three hundred

Shall rule the Romans, very mighty men;

He shall stretch forth a life-destroying spear

Against the Armenians and the Parthians,

The Assyrians and the Persians firm in war.

165 And then anew shall a creation be

Of splendidly built Rome with gold and amber

And silver and ivory in order raised;

And in her many people shall abide

From all the East and from the prosperous West;

170 And the king shall make other laws for her;

But then shall death destructive and strong fate

In turn receive him in a boundless isle.

And there shall rule another, of ten triads,

A man like a wild beast, fair-haired and grim,

175 Who shall be a descendant of the Greeks.

And then a city of Molossian Phthia

Feeding much, and Larissa shall be bent

Down on Peneus's overhanging brows;

And then too in horse-feeding Scythia

180 Shall be an insurrection. And dire war

Shall be hard by the waters of the lake

Mæotis at streams by the utmost mouth

Of the fount of watery Phasis on the mead

Of asphodel; and there shall many fall

185 By powerful warriors. Ah, how many men

Shall Ares with strong brass receive! And then,

Having destroyed a Scythian race, the king

Shall die in his own lot unloosing life.

And yet another of the number four

190 Shall rule thereafter, openly made known

A dreadful man, whom all Armenians,

Who drink the best ice of the flowing stream

Araxes, and the Persians of great soul

Shall fear in wars. And between Colchians

195 And very strong Pelasgi there shall be

Wars, fights, and homicides. And those who hold

The cities of the land of Phrygia

And those of the Propontis, and make bare

From out their scabbards the two-edged swords,

200 Shall smite each other through sore impiousness.

And then shall God to mortal men display

From heaven a great sign with the rolling years,

A bat, the portent of bad war to come.

And then the king shall not escape stern fate,

205 But die by hand, slain by the gleaming iron.

After him, numbering fifty, there shall rule

Again another coming out of Asia,

A dreadful terror, fighting hand to hand;

And he shall set war on Rome's stately walls,

210 And among Colchians, and Heniochi,

And the milk-drinking Agathyrsians

By Euxine sea, at Thracia's sandy bay.

And then the king shall not escape stern fate,

And they will tear in pieces his dead corpse.

215 And then, the king slain, man-ennobling Rome

Shall be a desert, and much people perish.

And then again one terrible and dread

From mighty Egypt shall rule, and destroy

Great hearted Parthians and Medes and Germans,

220 And Agathyrsians of the Bosporus,

Iernians, Britons, and Iberians

That bear the quiver, bent Massagetæ,

And Persians thinking themselves more than men.

And then a famous man shall look upon

225 All Hellas, acting as an enemy

To Scythia and windy Caucasas.

And there shall be a dread sign while he rules:

Crowns altogether like the shining stars

Shall from heaven in the south and north appear.

230 And then shall he bequeath the royal power

To his son whose initial letter heads

The alphabet, when in the halls of Hades

The manly king in his own lot shall go.

But when the son of this man in the land

235 Of Rome shall rule, shown by the number one,

There shall be over all the earth great peace

Much longed for, and the Latins will love him

As king because of his own father's worth;

Him, eager to go both to East and West,

240 The Roman people shall against his will

Retain at home and in command of Rome,

For among all there is a friendly heart

Felt for their royal and illustrious lord.

But baneful death shall snatch him out of life,

245 Short-lived, abandoned to his destiny.

But others afterwards again shall smite

Each other, powerful warriors, carrying on

An evil strife, not holding kingly power,

But being tyrants. And in all the world

250 Shall they bring many evil things to pass,

But chiefly for the Romans till the time

Of the third Dionysus, until armed

With helmet Ares shall from Egypt come,

Whom they shall surname Dionysus lord.

255 But when the famous royal purple cloak

A murderous lion and murderous lioness

Shall rend, together they shall grasp the lungs

Of the changed kingdom; then a holy king,

Whose name has the first letter, pressing hard

260 For victory, shall cast down hostile chiefs

To be the food of dogs and birds of prey.

Alas for thee, O city burned with fire,

O powerful Rome! How many things must thou

Needs suffer when all these things come to pass!

265 But the great far-famed king shall afterward

Raise thee all up again with gold and amber

And silver and ivory, and in the world

Thou shalt in thy possessions foremost be,

Also in temples, market-places, wealth,

270 And race-grounds; and then shalt thou be again

A light for all, even as thou wast before.

Ah, wretched Cecropes and Cadmeans

And the Laconians, who are situate

Around Peneus and Molossian stream

275 Thick grown with rushes, Tricca and Dodona,

And high-built Ithome, Pierian ridge

Around the summit of Olympian mount,

Ossa, Larissa, and high-gate Calydon.

But when God shall for mortals bring to pass

280 A great sign, day dark twilight round the world,

Even then to thee, O king, the end shall come,

Nor is it possible that thou escape

A brother's piercing dart against thee hurled.

And then again shall rule a life-destroyer,

285 A fiery eagle from the royal race,

Who shall of Egypt's offspring take fast hold,

Younger, but than his brother much more strong,

Who has for his first sign the number eighty.

And then the whole world shall for honor's sake

290 Bear in its lap the soul-distressing wrath

Of the immortal God; and there shall come

On mortal men, the creatures of a day,

Famines and plagues and wars and homicides,

And an incessant darkness o'er the earth,

295 Mother of peoples, and relentless wrath

From heaven, and disorder of the times,

And earthquake shocks, and flaming thunderbolts,

And stones and storms of rain and squalid drops.

And the high summits of the Phrygian land

300 Feel the shock, bases of the Scythian hills

Feel the shock, cities tremble, and all earth

Trembles at the cliffs of the land of Greece.

And many cities, God being very wroth,

Shall fall prone under burning thunderbolts

305 And with bewailings, and to shun the wrath

And make escape is not even possible.

And then the king shall by a strong hand fall,

Struck as if he were no one by his men.

After him of the Latins many men

310 Wearing the purple mantle on their shoulders

Shall be again raised up, who shall by lot

Desire to lay hold on the royal power.

And then upon the stately walls of Rome

Shall be three kings, two having the first number,

315 And one the eponym of victory

Bearing as no one else. They shall love Rome

And all the world, concerned for mortal men;

But they shall not accomplish anything;

For God has not been gracious to the world

320 Neither will he be gentle with mankind,

Because they have done many evil things.

Therefore to kings shall he a mean soul bring

Still worse than that of leopards and of wolves;

For harshly seizing them with their own hands,

325 Like feeble women who are idly slain,

Shall men in brazen breastplate utterly

Destroy the kings together with their scepters.

Ah, wretched lofty men of glorious Rome,

Trusting in false oaths ye shall be destroyed.

330 And then shall many masters with the spear,

Men rushing not in order furious on,

Take away offspring of the first-born men

In their blood. . . . Therefore thrice

Shall the Most High then bring on dreadful doom,

335 And all men with their works shall he destroy.

But into judgment yet again shall God

Cause them to come that have a shameless soul,

As many as determined evil things;

And they themselves are fenced in, falling one

340 Upon another, and given over there

Into that condemnation of wickedness.

. . . . . . .

All one by one, yet a brilliant comet

. . . . . . .

Of much to come, of war and battle strife,

But at the time when one about the isles

345 Shall gather many oracles that speak

To strangers of fight and of battle strife,

And grievous harm of temples, he shall bid

One in great haste to gather in Rome's halls

For twelve months wheat and barley in abundance,

350 And this most quickly. And in wretched plight

The city shall be those days, and straightway

Shall it again be prosperous not a little;

And rest shall be when that rule is destroyed.

And then the last race of the Latin kings

355 Shall be, and after it again shall grow

Dominion, children and the children's race

Shall be unshaken; for it shall be known,

Since of a surety God himself is king.

There is a land dear, nourisher of men,

360 Situate in a plain, and round it Nile

Marks off the boundary and separates

All Libya and Ethiopia.

And Syrians short-lived, one from one place,

Another from another, from that land

365 Shall snatch away all movable effects;

A great and careful lord shall be their king,

Training up youth and sending off for men,

And planning something fearful about those

Most fearful, above all he shall send forth

370 A powerful helper of all Italy

The lofty-minded. And when he shall come

Unto the dark sea of Assyria

He shall despoil Ph�nicians in their homes,

And fastening evil war and battle dire

375 Shall be one lord of the two lords of earth.

And now will I for Alexandrians sing

Their grievous end; alas, barbarians

Shall possess sacred Egypt, land unharmed,

Unshaken, when wrath from the gods shall come.

. . . . . . .

380 . . . making winter summer,

Then shall the oracles be all fulfilled.

But when three youths in the Olympian games

Shall conquer, and thou shalt bid them that know

The oracles that call on God to cleanse

385 First by the blood of sucking quadruped,

Thrice therefore shall the Most High then bring on

A fearful lot, and be shall over all

Brandish the mournful long spear; then much blood

Barbarian shall be poured out in the dust

390 When the city shall be plundered utterly

By inhospitable strangers. Happy he

Who is dead, also happy any one

Who is without a child; for he who once

Was leader surnamed for them that are free,

395 Far-famed in song, no longer in his mind

Revolving earlier plans, shall place their neck

Under a servile yoke; such slavery,

Cause of much weeping, shall a lord impose.

And then straightway an army of Sicilians

400 Ill-fated shall come, carrying dismay,

When a barbarian nation shall again

Come suddenly; and the fruit, when it grows,

They from the field shall sever. Upon them

Shall God the lofty Thunderer bestow

405 Evil instead of good; continually

Shall stranger pluck from stranger hateful gold.

But now when all shall look upon the blood

Of the flesh-eating lion and there comes

Upon the body a murderous lioness,

410 Down from his head will be the scepter cast

Away from him. And as in friendly feast

In Egypt when the people all partake,

They perform valiant deeds, and one restrains

Another, and among them there is much

415 Shouting aloud; so also shall there be

Upon mankind the fear of furious strife,

And many shall be utterly destroyed

And others kill each other by hard fights.

And then one, covered with dark scales shall come;

420 Two others shall come acting in concert

With one another, and with them a third

A great ram from Cyrene, whom before

1 spoke of as a fugitive in war

Beside the streams of Nile; but in no wise

425 An unsuccessful way do all complete.

And then the lengths of the revolving years

Shall be exceeding quiet; yet again

Thereafter shall a second war for them

In Egypt be stirred up, and there shall be

430 A battle on the sea, but victory

Shall not be theirs. Ah, wretched ones, there shall

A conquest of the famous city be,

And it shall be a spoil of war not long.

And then men having common boundaries

435 Of much land shall flee wretched, and shall lead

Their wretched parents. And they shall again

Having great victory light on a land,

And shall destroy the Jews, men staunch in war,

Wasting by wars far as the hoary deep,

440 On both sides, fighting in the foremost ranks

For father-land and parents. And a race

Of trophy-bearing men shall for the dead

Be reckoned. Ah, how many men shall swim

About the waves! For on the sandy beach

445 Many shall lie; and heads of golden hair

Shall fall beneath Egyptian winged fowls.

And then for the Arabians mortal blood

Shall go in quest. But when wolves shall with dogs

Pledge in a sea-girt island solemn oaths,

450 Then shall there be the raising of a tower,

And the city that suffered very many things

Men shall inhabit. For deceitful gold

Shall no more be nor silver, nor acquiring

Of the earth, nor much-laboring servitude;

455 But one fast friendship and one mode of life

With cheerful soul; and all things shall be common

And equal light among the means of life.

And wickedness shall sink down from the earth

Into the vast sea. And then near at hand

460 Is come the harvest-time of mortal men.

There is imposed a strong necessity

That these things be fulfilled. And at that time

There shall not any other traveler say,

In this conjecturing, that the race of men

465 Though perishable shall ever cease to be.

And then a holy nation shall prevail

And hold the sovereignty of all the earth

Unto all ages with their mighty sons.