Book XII (XIV)

Men, why in vain, as though ye were immortals,
And being in power but for a little time,
Do ye imagine such exalted things,
All of you wishing over men to reign?
Not understanding that the lust of power
God himself hates, and most the insatiate kings.
Malevolent, ungodly, and on such
Brings darkness; for instead of noble deeds
And righteous thoughts, ye all choose purple robes.
These, loving wars and miseries and murders,
Short-lived will be made by the immortal God,
Who dwells in heaven, and will exterminate,
And upon one another ruin them.
But when, fair-haired and terrible, shall come
The bull-destroyer, trusting in his might.
He also will slay all, and tear the shepherds,
And they will have no strength, except the dogs,
With swift foot eagerly pursuing on,
Encounter in the strife, and then the dog
Will chase the lion that destroyed the shepherds.
Then shall there be a man, four-syllabled,
Trusting in might, made clearly known by one;
But quickly him will brazen Mars destroy
By battles of insatiable men.
Then shall two other princely men bear rule,
Both of the number forty; and with these
Great peace shall be throughout the world, and right
And justice to all people; but even these
Will men with gleaming helmet, wanting gold,
And for the sake of silver, basely slay,
Having taken them in their hands. And then shall reign
A terrible young warrior, ruler known
By the number seventy, hot with deadly wrath,
Who basely to the army shall betray
The Roman people, slain by wickedness
Through wrath of kings, and shall hurl to the earth
Even every city of the illustrious Latins.
Rome is no longer to be seen or heard.
Such as of late the traveler's eye beheld,
For all those things shall in the ashes lie,
And of her works not any shall be spared.
For wrathful he will come, and out of heaven
Send lightnings from the sky, and thunderbolts,
Upon mankind — even God, the immortal One;
And some he will destroy by burning blasts,
And others with his chilling thunder-bolts.
And then shall children of Rome, mighty Rome,
And the Latins slay the shameless ruler dire;
Nor on him, dead, shall the dust lightly lie,
For he shall be a sport for dogs, and birds.
And wolves, for he destroyed a warlike tribe.
After him, numbering forty, there shall rule
Another, famous Parthian-destroyer,
German-destroyer, slayer of fierce beasts
That kill men, who upon the ocean's streams
And the Euphrates press unceasing on.
And then again shall Rome be as before.
But when there comes a great wolf in thy plains,
A ruler from the West, then he shall die
By mighty Mars, pierced through with the sharp brass.
Then o'er the valiant Romans there shall rule
Another great-souled warrior, brought to light
Out of Assyria, and his name begins
The letters; in subjection he himself
Will bring all things by wars, and he at once
Over the armies will exhibit power
And laws establish. But him brazen Mars
Will soon destroy, in treacherous armies fallen.
After him three of haughty soul shall reign,
One having the first number, one three tens.
And the other king three hundred will partake.
The loudly boasting, shall each other see
Covered with blood and bodies of the dead.
Wretched Laodicea, round thyself
Thou shalt a great and unsuccessful war
Stir up through the impiety of men.
O hapless Tyrians, ye shall gather in
An evil harvest, when in the day-time
The sun that lighteth mortals shall retire,
And his disk not appear, and drops of blood,
Thick and abundant, shall come down from heaven
Upon the earth. And then the king shall die,
Betrayed by his companions. After him
Shall many shameless leaders still promote
The wicked strife, and one another kill.
And then shall be a venerable king
Sagacious, with a name that numbers five,
Confiding in great armies; him will men
Love for his royal power, and of a name
Illustrious, he shall do illustrious deeds.
While this king reigns there shall be a great sign:
'Twixt Taurus and Amanus, clad with snow,
From the Cilician land shall be destroyed
A certain city, new and beautiful
And mighty, by a powerful-flowing stream.
And in Propontis and in Phrygia
There shall be many earthquakes; and the king
Of great renown shall under his own fate
By wasting, deadly sickness end his life.
And after him shall rule two princely kings,
One's name three hundred, and the other three.
So also he will utterly destroy
Many upon the seven-hilled city Rome,
That he the mighty kingdom may obtain.
And then unto the Senate there shall be
A deep misfortune; it shall not escape
The angry king, against it holding wrath.
And furious rains and snow-storms shall there be,
And hail shall ruin fruits upon the earth,
And men shall fall in battles, overcome
By mighty Mars in the Italian wars.
And then another king, of many schemes,
Shall bear rule, all the army summoning,
And for the sake of war distributing
Treasures to those with brazen breastplate clad.
The corn-abounding Nile beyond the shores
Of Libya shall for two years irrigate
The plain of Egypt and the fertile land.
But famine will on all things seize, and war.
Robberies, murders, slaughter of mankind.
And many cities shall by warlike men
Be overthrown; and at the army's hands
Himself, betrayed, shall fall by burning iron.
After him one whose number is three hundred
Shall rule the Romans and the mighty men,
And he will stretch a deadly javelin forth
Against the Armenians, and the Parthians,
The Assyrians, and the Persians, bold in light.
And then a structure there shall be at Rome,
Magnificently built of gold and amber,
Silver and ivory and beauty rare.
And in it many people shall abide
From all the East, and from the prosperous West;
And for it other laws the king will make.
Him afterward upon a boundless isle
Shall wasting death and mighty fate receive.
Another man, of ten times three, shall reign,
Like a wild beast, with mane, and terrible.
And from the Greeks shall he his lineage trace.
And then in fertile Phthia shall the city
Of the Molossi fall, and also famed
Larissa, situate on Peneus' banks.
And then in horse-abounding Scythia
Shall there be insurrection, and dire war
Beside the waters of Maeotis' lake,
At the outpourings of the utmost draught
Of Phasis' watery fountain on the meads
Of asphodel. And many then will fall
By powerful warriors. Ah, by fiery brass
How many Mars will seize! And then the king
Will utterly destroy the Scythian race,
And die in his own lot, releasing life.
Then shall another rule, made evident
By the number four, a fearful man, whom all
The Armenians, even as many as shall drink
The thick ice of Araxes' flowing stream,
And the brave Persians shall much fear in war.
Between the Colchians and Pelasgi strong
Shall there be fearful wars and homicides,
And Phrygia's land and cities of the land
Propontis, making bare their two-edged swords.
Shall smite each other in base wickedness.
Then a great sign with the revolving years
Will God from heaven display to mortal men,
A falcon, omen of pernicious war.
The king will not escape the army's hands,
But die at their hands, cut by burning iron.
After him, numbering fifty, there shall reign
Another, out of Asia, terrible,
A fierce antagonist, and he will place
War even on the famous walls of Rome,
And on the Colchians, and the Henochians,
And the milk-drinking Agathyrsians,
The Euxine Sea and Thracia's sandy bay.
The king will not escape the army's hands,
Whom, even dead, they will abuse his corpse.
And then, the king destroyed, illustrious Rome
Shall be a desert, and much people perish.
And then again one terrible and dread
From mighty Egypt will bear rule, and slay
The great-souled Parthians, and the Medes, and Germans,
And Agathyrsians of the Bosporus,
Britons, Hibernians, and Iberians
That bear the quiver, crooked Massagetae,
And Persians thinking themselves more than men,
And then a famous man upon all Greece
Will turn his eye, and act the enemy
Scythia and windy Caucasus.
And while he rules a potent sign shall be:
Crowns altogether like the beaming stars
From heaven will shine forth in the south and north.
Then he will leave unto his son, whose name
Begins the alphabet, the royal power,
And forthwith by his fate into the house
Of Hades will the noble king depart.
And when his son rules in the land of Rome,
Known from one, there shall be on all the earth
Great peace much longed for, and the Latin people
Will love the king even for his father's worth.
Him, urgent to go to the East and West,
The Romans will hold firmly fast at home
Against his will, and in command of Rome,
Because among all there is friendly soul
Felt for the royal and illustrious prince.
But ruinous death will snatch him out of life,
Short-lived, given over to his destiny.
Other strong warriors afterward again
Shall smite each other, forwarding base strife,
Not exercising royal power of kings.
But that of tyrants. And in all the world
Will they accomplish many evil things.
But chiefly to the Romans, till the time
Of the third Dionysus, until Mars
With gleaming helmet shall from Egypt come,
Whom they Prince Dionysus then will call.
But when a murderous lion and lioness
The famous purple royal robe shall rend,
They will upon the inmost vitals seize,
The kingdom being hard pressed; and then a holy king,
Whose name has the first letter, will exchange
Hostile chiefs for the sake of victory.
And leave them as a prey for dogs and birds.
Woe, woe to thee, thou city burned with fire,
O powerful Rome! How many things for thee
To suffer when all these things come to pass!
But afterward the great and famous king
With gold and amber, silver and ivory,
Will altogether raise thee up again,
And in the world thou shalt be first in goods.
And temples, markets, riches, stadia;
And thou again shalt be a light for all.
Even as thou hast been in the former time.
Woe, wretched Cecrops, and ye Argive Greeks,
Laconians, too, and those around Peneus,
And by Molossos' stream thick grown with reeds,
Tricca, Dodona, Ithome cut on high,
Pierus' neck, and great Olympus' peak,
Ossa, Larissa, and high-gate Calydon.
But when for mortals God works a great sign
And day becomes dark twilight round the world,
Even then to thee, O king, the end shall come.
Nor wilt thou find it possible to flee
A brother's piercing bow against thee thrown.
And then a life-destroying one shall reign,
Unspeakable, fierce, of the royal line.
Who shall have Egypt's race, much heavier armed
And stronger than his brother; he obtains
The number eighty as initial mark.
Then all the world will in its bosom feel
The grievous wrath of the immortal God
For penalty. And there shall come on men
Famines, and plagues, and wars, and homicides,
And ceaseless darkness also on the earth.
Mother of peoples, and disordered times.
And wrath severe from heaven, and earthquake shocks,
And flaming thunder-bolts, and stones, and storms.
And squalid drops. A quaking also moves
The lofty summits of the Phrygian land.
The bases of the Scythian mountains shake;
The city trembled, trembled all the earth,
Along with those of the Hellenic land.
And many cities, God being very wroth,
Shall fall prone under flaming thunder-bolts
And lamentations; and to flee the wrath
And make escape is not even possible.
Then at the army's hand the king shall fall,
Struck down, as no one, under his own men.
After him of the Latins many men
Will be raised up, and on their shoulders place
The purple mantle, longing to obtain
By lot the royal [power. And then three kings
Shall be upon the famous walls of Rome,
Two having the first number, but the one
The name of victory as no other bears.
Concerned for men, they will have love for Rome
And all the world, and there shall be for them
No relaxation. For not to the world
Has God been gracious, nor will he to men
Be kind, since they have many evils done.
Therefore made he for kings a shameful soul,
Much worse than that of panthers and of wolves.
For them will men, in brazen helmets clad,
Seizing unsparingly with their own hands.
And for their scepters utterly destroy.
Even kings, like helpless women cleft for naught.
Woe, wretched lofty men of glorious Rome,
Trusting in false oaths, ye shall be destroyed.
And many spearmen then upon the world.
Men rushing forward, will the offspring seize
From blood of first-born men. . . .
Twice may not demon such a lot first lead;
And all men he will with their works destroy.
But God again those having shameless soul
Will bring into the judgment yet to come,
As many as are marked; these, sent away
Into that condemnation of wickedness,
Are fenced in, striking one upon another.
And many stars, and brilliant comet, [sign]
Of much war and of battle-strife to come.
But when one gathers many oracles
Concerning islands, planning with strange guests
War and fierce strife and harm to sacred things,
And in the Roman houses gathers wheat
And barley, pressing for abundance on,
For twelve months long, the city in those days
Shall suffer hardship. But straightway again
It shall be prosperous not a little while;
And rest will come when ruling is destroyed.
And then the last race of the Latin kings
Shall come, the kingdom will again grow up,
And children and the children's race shall be
Unshaken, for it shall be known to them
When God himself shall be the ruling king.
There is a land, fond nourisher of men,
Situate in an open plain; the Nile
Around it borders, wafting blessings on
All Libya and Ethiopia.
And short-lived Syrians, some here and some there.
Shall plunder all the substance of that land.
And it shall have a great and prudent king;
Sending one of the children as a light,
And meditating dreadful things for such
As are exceeding dreadful unto all.
He will of all high-minded Italy
A mighty helper bring. And when he comes
Unto Assyria's dark-colored sea.
He will spoil the Phenicians in their homes.
Unloosing foul war and dire battle-din.
Of the two rulers one shall rule the earth.
Now will I of the Alexandrians sing
The painful end. Barbarians shall dwell
In sacred Egypt, unharmed, quiet land,
Whenever envy shall from some place come.
Winter will become summer; then will all
The oracles to their fulfillment come,
But when three youths in the Olympia
Shall conquer, and to them, while they take heed,
Thou speak the oracle invoked of God
To cleanse them first by blood of tender beasts,
Thrice then may the Highest move his awful neck.
Whenever he the long and mournful spear
Shall stretch out upon all, much barbarous blood
Will flow amid the dust, when by strange guests
The city has been plundered utterly.
Happy is he who died, and happy he
Who has no child. For under slavish yoke
Shall he be placed that formerly was free.
And famous once for plans himself revolved.
Such is the various slavery of kings.
And then of the Sicilians there shall come
A host ill-fated, carrying dire alarm.
When a barbarian nation shall approach.
When they grow fruit they will divide the land.
To them will God, the lofty thunderer,
Evil for evil give; continually
Guest plundering guest of gold will go away.
But when all see the fearful lion's blood,
And when unto the body there shall come
The murderous lioness, then he will rend
Away from him the scepter from his head.
As when in Egypt at the friendly feast
The people all eat, and complete great works.
One finds another, and there is among them
Much shouting, also thus alarm shall be
Among men, while the conflict rages round,
And many perish, and they massacre
Each other in impetuous battle fray.
And then one covered with dark scales shall come.
Two others shall come hostile to each other;
With them a third, a great ram from Cyrene
Of whom I spoke before, who flees in battle
Along the streams of Nile. But yet not thus
Do all complete the unsuccessful way.
And then the lengths of the great rolling years
Shall be all tranquil. Yet a second war
Shall then again on Egypt be imposed;
And they shall boast, but have no victory.
O wretched craftsmen of a noble city!
And in wars there shall not be booty long.
And then the neighboring men of a large land
Shall flee in fear, and lead their fearful sires.
And then, obtaining a great victory.
Shall they upon the city light again;
They will destroy courageous Jewish men.
Slaughtering by war far as the hoary sea,
Both shepherds for their fatherland and sires.
But to the dead there shall succeed a race
Of trophy-bearing men. Alas! how many men
Around the waves shall swim! For multitudes
Will lie exposed upon the sandy shores;
Heads covered with the golden hair shall fall
Under the swift Egyptians; then indeed
Shall follow the Arabians' mortal blood.
But when wolves pledge themselves by oaths to dogs
Upon a sea-girt isle, then shall there be
A rising up of towers, and men will dwell
In the city that has suffered many things
No more will treacherous gold and silver be,
Nor earthly wealth, nor toilsome servitude,
But one fast friendship and one mode of life
Will be with the glad people, and all things
Will common be, and equal light of life.
And wickedness from earth in the vast sea
Shall sink away. And then the harvest-time
Of mortals is near. Strong necessity
Is laid upon these things to be fulfilled.
Nor then will any other traveler say,
Recalling, that men's perishable race
Shall ever cease. And then o'er all the earth
A holy nation will the scepter hold
Unto all ages with their mighty sires.