Book V

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;
And also after Pella's citizen,
Under whom all the Orient was subdued,
And the rich West, whom Babylon disgraced
And gave a corpse to Philip; not of Jove
Nor Ammon truly boasted to have sprung.
And they shall issue of the race and blood
Of great Assaracus, those born at Troy,
Even him who cleft the violence of fire.
But after many kings and warlike men,
And after the twin children of the beast
That feeds on sheep, shall there come forth a king
Pre-eminent, who will sum up twice ten
With his initial letter. He shall be
In war exceeding powerful; and of ten
Shall also his first letter be the sign.
After him rules who of the alphabet
Has the first letter. Thrace and Sicily
And Memphis crouch and quail in dread of him —
Memphis, cast to the ground by wickedness
Of leaders, and a woman unsubdued,
Fallen on the wave. And he will institute
Laws for the peoples, and subdue all things.
But after a long time will he transmit
The kingdom to another, who will have
The number of three hundred his first sign,
And of a river the beloved nature.
The Persians he will rule and Babylon,
And then will smite the Medians with his spear.
Then one will rule who takes the number three.
Then shall one whose first letter marks twice ten
Become king, and to the remotest bounds
Of ocean shall he go, and sweep along
The refluent tide by the Ausonian shores.
And one whose mark is fifty shall be lord,
A dreadful serpent, breathing grievous war;
He will stretch out his hands against his kin,
And cut them off, and spread confusion wide,
Fight, kill the people, and dare countless things.
And he will cleave the isthmus, and with gore
Besprinkle it. But this destructive one
Shall pass from sight and then return again,
Presuming to be equal unto God;
But he will sift him as if he were naught.
And after him will three kings be destroyed
By one another. Then a great destroyer
Of pious men shall come, and he shall show
Conspicuously the letter seven times ten.
His son, however, whose initial sign
Denotes three hundred, shall usurp the power.
And after him shall be a destined one,
A soul destroyer, of the number four.
And then an old man numbering fifty comes,
And next to him, whose first initial marks
Three hundred, is a Celtic mountaineer;
Hastening away to battle in the East
He shall not miserable fate escape.
But sink in painful toils. Him foreign dust
Shall cover a dead corpse, having the name
Of Nemea's flower. And after him shall reign
Another man, with silver helmet decked,
And to him shall be given the name of a sea;
And he shall be a man of excellence,
And turn his mind to all things. And on thee
Thou excellent, most noble, dark-haired one,
And on thy branches all these days shall come.
Three shall reign, but the third one late shall rule.
Thrice wretched I, sister of Isis, grieve
To place in heart an evil prophecy.
Even a sacred song of oracles.
First Miltiades shall rush around the base
Of thy sad temple, and in evil hands
Shall it be in that day when the Nile whelms
All Egypt's land to sixteen cubits deep;
It shall flood all the land, and cover men
With water, and the beauty of the earth
And glory of her face shall disappear,
Memphis, thou shalt for Egypt greatly mourn;
For though thou once didst rule the land in power.
Thou shalt become sad, and the Thunderer
Shall call from heaven with a mighty voice:
O mighty Memphis, who of old didst boast
So greatly o'er weak mortals, thou shalt wail
In sore distress, and wretchedness extreme.
So that thou truly shalt thyself discern
The eternal God, immortal in the clouds.
Where is thy gain in having among men
Prepared great power? Because thou hast against
My God-anointed children been enraged,
And hast stirred evil up among good men,
Thou shalt for such things have for penalty
This foster child. No longer openly
Shall there be right for thee among the blessed;
Fallen from the stars, thou shalt not mount to heaven.
These things to Egypt God commissioned me
To utter touching the Last time when men
Shall be all evil. But the wicked toil
In sorrow, looking for calamity,
Wrath of the Immortal, Thunderer of heaven.
But worshiping false gods, and stones, and beasts.
And fearing many other things besides,
Which have no speech, nor mind, nor power to hear,
Which things for me to mention is not right.
Dumb idols all, the work of mortal hands.
Of their own labors and their impious thoughts
Have men received gods made of wood, and stone,
And brass, and gold, and silver, soulless, vain.
Deaf, and they made them molten in the fire.
In such things having vainly put their trust.
Thmois and Xois are in sore distress;
Destroyed the counsel is of Hercules,
And Jupiter, and Hermes, and for thee,
O Alexandria, famed nourisher
Of cities, war shall never leave thee more.
For thy pride thou shalt give as many things
As thou hast done before. Long time shalt thou
Be silent, even on the joyful day.
No more for thee shall flow the luxurious cup.
* * * *
And all thy land an artful man shall ruin
With blood, and corpses by the horrid altars;
Of barbarous mind, strong, very terrible,
Senselessly raging, hurrying on thy doom
With force innumerable as the sand.
Then wilt thou, happy city, suffer much.
All Asia falling on the earth shall wail
Because of gifts which she received from thee,
And with which, head encircled, she rejoiced.
But he who had the Persians for his lot
Shall war on Egypt, and slay every man,
And plunder and destroy all means of life,
So that a third remains for wretched man.
But he from the West shall speed with nimble leap,
Invading all the land and wasting all.
But when he has obtained the height of power,
And odious dread, he will return, resolved
The city of the blessed to destroy.
And then a powerful king, sent forth from
God,
Shall slay all mighty kings and noble men.
Then thus shall be a lasting end to men.
Alas! alas for thee, unhappy heart!
Why dost thou move me Egypt's troubled state,
Beset by many rulers, to rehearse?
Go to the East, to Persia's thoughtless race.
And show them what is and what is to be.
Euphrates' river shall a deluge form.
And Persians and Iberians destroy,
And Babylonians, and Massagetae
That take delight in war, all armed with bows.
All Asia fire-consumed unto the isles
Shall drip. And Pergamos, of old revered,
Shall wholly perish, and an utter waste
Shall Pitane appear to human eyes.
All Lesbos shall sink deep into the deep,
So as to perish; Smyrna down the steep
Being rolled shall wail, she who was once revered
And famous shall be utterly destroyed.
And the Bithynians shall lament their land
Reduced to ashes, also Syria
The mighty, and Phenicia rich in plants.
Woe, woe to thee, O Lycia, for thee
What evils are devised! Of its own will
The sea has mounted on the troubled land.
So that the soil of Lycia, once replete
With fragrance sweet, shall wail for earthquake dire,
And bitter floods. Fierce wrath shall also come
On Phrygia, on account of grief for which
Rhea, Jove's mother, came and tarried there.
The sea shall overthrow the Taurian race.
A barbarous nation, and thus Lapithae
Shall to the earth be cast down and despoiled.
The land of Thessaly shall be destroyed
By the deep eddying river Peneus,
Deep-flowing, sweeping mortals from the earth.
Eridanus [the river that professed
To have begotten once the forms of beasts].
Greece the thrice wretched shall the poets weep,
When out of Italy a mighty king
Of mighty Rome shall smite the isthmus' neck,
A godlike man, whom they say Jove himself
And honored Juno bore, who, courting praise
For his sweet songs with a melodious voice,
Will with the wretched mother many slay.
From Babylon shall flee the fearful king
And shameless, whom all mortals justly hate;
For he slew many, and laid violent hands
Upon the womb; against his wife he sinned,
And of flagitious parents was he born.
But he will come unto the Medes and kings
Of Persia whom he first sought, and for whom
He wrought renown, and, with these wicked ones,
Will lurk against a nation not beloved.
He seized the God-made temple, and he burned
The citizens and people going in.
Who have been justly eulogized in song.
On his appearing the creation shook,
Kings perished, but among them yet remained
Authority, until they had destroyed
The mighty city and the righteous people.
But when in the fourth year a star shall shine,
Which alone shall destroy the entire land.
Because of honor first to Neptune paid,
Then there shall come from heaven a mighty star
Into the dreadful sea, and burn the deep.
And Babylon itself, and Italy,
For which full many faithful Hebrew saints
And also the true temple were destroyed.
Thou shalt among base mortals suffer wrongs,
But shalt remain whole ages all a waste.
Hating thy soil, for thou didst long for drugs,
Adulteries were with thee, and with boys
Thou didst indulge in lawless acts of shame,
Effeminate, unjust, and wicked city.
Ill-fated above all. Woe, woe to thee,
Thou unclean city of the Latin land!
Mad woman, fond of serpents, by thy banks
A widow thou shalt sit, and over thee
The river Tiber shall weep as for a spouse.
O thou of murderous heart and impious soul.
Dost thou not know what God has power to do,
And what his purpose is? But thou didst say,
"I am alone, and none shall plunder me."
But now thee and all thine shall God destroy,
The ever-living One, and in that land
No longer shall a trace of thee remain.
As when of old thy honors God procured.
Remain thou then alone, O lawless one,
And, mixed with burning fire, dwell in the realm
Of Hades, the Tartarean lawless land.
And now again, O Egypt! I lament
Thy sorrow. Memphis, leader thou of toils,
Filled with the dead, in thee the pyramids
Shall utter forth a shameful sound of woe.
Python of old, twin city rightly called.
Be still forever, that thou mayest cease
From wickedness. Thou basely insolent,
Store-house of sorrows, Manad, full of woe,
Terrible sufferer, and full of tears.
Thou shalt remain a widow through all time.
Thou didst become old ruling the world alone.
But when a white dress Barca round herself
Shall put on over that which is defiled,
O may I not be, might I not have been!
O Thebes, where is thy great power? A rude man
Shall slay the people; but thou, throwing on
Gray garments, wretched one, shalt weep alone.
And thou shalt make atonement for all things
Which thou hast done, because of lawless deeds,
And they shall look upon thee in distress
As one that did possess a shameful soul.
Syene a great man shall overthrow,
And Tentyris of the Ethiopians
Shall swarthy Indians occupy by force.
Pentapolis, a man of mighty power
Shall make thee weep. O Libya, much bewildered,
Who shall explain thy woes? And who of men
Cyrene, shall bewail thy miseries?
Thou shalt not from thy hateful weeping cease
Until the time of thy destruction comes.
Among the Britons and the wealthy Gauls
Shall ocean, filled with much blood, loudly roar.
For they did evil to the sons of God,
When a Phenician king from Syria led
With the Sidonians a vast Gallic force;
And thee thyself, Ravenna, he will slay,
And in the work of murder be a guide.
O Indians and great Ethiopians,
Be not presumptuous, for when Capricorn
Around the pole, and Taurus in mid heaven
Among the Twins shall have encircled these.
And Virgo rises, and about his front
The sun a girdle fastening leads all heaven —
A great ethereal fire shall be on earth.
And in the conflicts of the warring stars
Shall nature become new, and all the land
Of the Indians and the Ethiopians
Shall perish in the midst of fire and groans.
Weep also thou, O Corinth, the sad doom
Of thy destruction, when with twisted threads
The Fates, three sisters, spinning, lead on high
The one who fled by guile beside the voice
Of the isthmus, until all shall gaze on him
Who once cut off the rock with beaten brass;
And he thy land will ruin, and will smite
As it has been appointed; for to him
Has the only God given to accomplish what
Not one of all the former kings could do.
For standing there in power he will give others
To pluck off with a sickle from the root
Three heads, so that unholy kings shall eat
Their parents' flesh. For unto all mankind
Murder and terrors are laid up in store
Because of the great city and just people
Saved through all time by special providence.
O thou unstable one, and ill-advised,
By evil fates surrounded, unto men
Both a beginning and great end of woe,
A creature harmed and saved again by fate,
Excess of evils, woe, and man's great end.
Who among mortals ever longed for thee?
Who is not angry with thee in his heart?
In thee cast forth, what king his honored life
Lost? All things evilly hast thou disposed,
And deluged all with evil, and by thee
Have beautiful portions of the world been changed.
Into our strife these last, perchance put forth:
And how dost thou say, "I will thee persuade,
And if in any thing I blame thee, speak!"
There once was among men the sun's bright light,
And prophets' common rays were wide diffused,
And language, dripping fair drink for all men,
Appeared, developed, and day dawned on all.
Because of this, O thou of narrow mind,
Author of greatest evils, both a sword
And sorrow will be coming in that day.
Beginning and great end of woe to men,
A creature harmed and saved again by fate,
Hear the harsh sound of sharp words, bane of men.
But when the Persian land is free from war
And pestilence and woe, then in that day
There shall be of the blessed heavenly Jews
A race divine, who in the midst of the land
Shall round God's city dwell; and with great walls
Even as far as Joppa circled round.
They lift themselves up to the dusky clouds.
No longer will the trumpet sound abroad
War's murderous tones, nor shall men be destroyed
By the mad hands of foes; but there shall stand
Forever monuments of wicked men.
But there shall come from heaven a wondrous man,
Whose hands were stretched out on the fruitful wood,
The noblest of the Hebrews, who once caused
The sun to stand still, when he gave command
With admirable speech and hallowed lips.
No longer vex thy soul, nor put a sword
Unto thy bosom, O thou child of God,
Rich, only longed-for flower, thou goodly light,
Thou consummation noble, longed-for, pure,
Lovely Judea, city beautiful.
Inspired by hymns. No longer on thy soil
Will the Greeks revel with unhallowed foot,
But have within their hearts a similar law.
But thee shall noble children reverence.
And at the table stand with holy songs,
With offerings of all sorts and worthy prayers.
As many as endure the weariness
Of light affliction, and are just, shall come
To greater good and excellent delights;
But those who sent to heaven foul, lawless speech
Shall against one another cease to speak,
And hide themselves until the world shall change.
But from the clouds a rain of gloomy fire
Shall come, and mortals shall no longer reap
From earth the splendid corn; wild and untilled
Shall all things be, till mortal men shall know
The God who rules all, the immortal One,
Existing ever; mortal things no more
Shall grow old, neither dogs nor carrion birds.
Such as the Egyptians taught should be revered
By tender youthful mouths, and foolish lips.
But all these things the Hebrews' holy land
Alone shall bear; from honey-dripping rock
And from a spring there shall a rivulet
And milk ambrosial flow to all the just;
For in our glorious Maker, God alone,
Having great faith and piety, they hoped,
But why does the wise mind grant me these things?
Yet thee, O wretched Asia, I deplore
In pitying sorrow, and the Ionian race
And Carians, and the Lydians rich in gold.
Woe, Sardis; woe, woe, Trallis, greatly loved;
Woe, woe, Laodicea, city fair,
How shalt thou perish by the earthquake shock.
Fall into ruin, and to dust be changed!
In gloomy Asia of the rich Lydians
Shall Dian's temple, fixed at Ephesus,
Some day by yawning chasms and earthquake shocks
Come headlong down into the dreadful sea.
Even as ships are overwhelmed by storms.
And Ephesus, quite overthrown, shall wail,
Lamenting by her banks, and searching out
Her temple, no more to be occupied.
And then, incensed, shall God, the imperishable.
Who dwells on high, send lightning from the heaven
Down on the power of him that is impure.
And in that day, instead of winter's storms
There shall be summer; and to mortal men
This shall then be, for the great Thunderer
Will utterly destroy all shameless ones
With thunders, lightnings, and terrific flames
Against malicious men, and ruin them
As godless, so that bodies of the dead
Shall lie on earth more numerous than the sand.
And Smyrna also, weeping for Lycurgus,
Unto the gates of Ephesus shall come,
And yet herself the rather come to naught.
And foolish Cumae, with her inspired streams,
By hands of gods and lawless men hurled down,
Shall offer up her joy into the air
No more, but lie a corpse by Cumae's streams.
And then those left shall suffer ills together.
Cumae's rude populace, a hateful tribe,
Having a sign, shall know for what they suffered.
And then when they shall have their wicked land
Reduced to ashes, Lesbos, situate
By Eridanus, shall perish evermore.
Woe, woe to thee, Corcyra, city fair,
Cease from thy revel. Hierapolis,
Thou also, only soil with riches mixed,
Shalt have what thou hast longed to have, a land
Of many tears, having been enraged against
A country by the streams of Thermodon.
And rocky Tripolis, beside the waves
Of the Meander, filled up by the shore
With mighty waters, thou shalt be destroyed
Utterly, by God's will and providence.
I do not wish to take the neighboring land
Of Phoebus, yet a thunderbolt from heaven
Wanton Miletus some day shall destroy,
Because she took up Phoebus' crafty song
And the wise care and prudent plans of men.
Be merciful, All-Father, to the land
Of Judah, wanton, fruit-abounding, great,
That we may live to see thy purposes.
For this thou knewest at first, O God, in love,
That to all men it might appear thy gift.
And that they might see what God will bestow.
I long thrice wretched Thracia's works to see,
And the wall trailed in dust between two seas,
Even like a river for the swimming fish.
O wretched Hellespont, some day a child
Of the Assyrians shall throw a bridge
Across thee. Against thee will Thracians fight
And of thy power exhaust thee utterly;
And on the Macedonian land shall seize
A king of Egypt, and a barbarous clime
Will cast the prowess of the leaders down.
Lydians, Galatians, and Pamphylians,
With the Pisidians, being armed for war,
With all the people conquer in fell strife.
Thrice wretched Italy, thou shalt remain
Unwept, deserted, in a blooming land,
The deadly serpent fully to destroy.
But far above along the ethereal sky
God's voice like rolling thunder shall be heard.
And the sun's own imperishable flames
Be no more, and the moon's brilliant light
Shall not again be in that latest time,
When God shall rule. All things shall be in gloom,
Darkness shall be on earth, and blinded men,
And evil beasts, and a long time of woe;
So that it will be seen that God is king,
And looks down from the heavens on all below.
Himself will not then pity hostile men.
Who sacrifice the herds of lambs and sheep,
And bellowing calves, great calves with gilded horns.
To lifeless Hermes and to gods of stone.
But let the law of wisdom take the lead.
The glory of the righteous, lest, anon,
The imperishable God be filled with wrath,
And every race and tribe of men destroy;
For it is binding on us to love God,
The wise Creator, who forever lives.
There shall be at the last time, when the moon
Comes near its end, a world-disputing war.
And it will be in cunning and in guile;
And from the earth's extremity shall come
A matricidal man, a fugitive.
Revolving sharp devices in his mind;
He every land will seize, and conquer all;
Wiser than all men, he will know all things.
That on account of which he himself perished
Forthwith he will seize. And he will destroy
Many men and great tyrants, and consume
All of them as none other ever did.
And such as fell he will restore through zeal.
But from the West shall come much war to men,
And hills of blood shall to the rivers flow.
But in the plains of Macedonia
The rage drops, and alliance from the West
Is offered, but destruction for the king.
And then a wintry blast shall blow on earth,
And evil war shall fill the land again.
For fire on mortals from the heavenly plains
Shall be rained down in showers, fire, and blood.
Water and lightning, darkness, awful night,
Wasting in war, and on the slaughter gloom;
And it will bring destruction to all kings.
Even those then best; and thus shall terminate
The lamentable ruin of dire war.
No longer will one fight with swords, or iron.
Or darts, which things shall not again be right.
And prudent people, such as have survived,
Will have peace, having tested wickedness
In order that at last they might have joy.
Ye matricides, leave off the impudence
Of bold effrontery and wicked works,
Ye who have basely furnished couch for boys,
And in the brothel harlots made of those
Who once were pure, by means of insolence,
And punishment, and forced indecency.
For in thee lawless mother with her child
Held carnal intercourse, and with her sire
The daughter was united as a bride.
Also in thee have kings their ill-starred mouth
Polluted, and in thee have wicked men
Found couch with beasts. O city full of grief
And evil, given to reveling, be still.
For virgins will no longer find with thee
The sacred fire of the love-kindling grove.
By thee the loved house was of old put out,
When I saw it a second time laid waste,
And wrapped in fire by an unholy hand,
House always blooming, temple watched of God,
Brought forth by saints, imperishable ever,
A ground of hope for soul and body too.
For without burial rites none will praise God
Out of the hidden earth, nor will the wise
Artificer prepare a stone for such.
Nor did he reverence gold, the cheat of souls
And of the world; but they with sacrifice
And holy hecatombs adored the God
And mighty Maker of all breathing things.
But now an unseen and unholy king
Rose, cast this down, and let it go unbuilt,
With a great multitude and famous men.
But having gone up to the immortal land
He himself perished. Such a sign no more
Was ever wrought on men; so it seemed good
That others the great city should destroy.
For from the heavenly plains there came a man,
A blessed one, who held within his hand
A scepter with which God intrusted him.
And all things he ruled nobly, and restored
To all the good the wealth which former men
Had taken; and all cities with vast fire
From the foundations he destroyed and burned,
The towns of men who had wrought wicked deeds.
And that same city which God loved he made
More radiant than the stars, and sun and moon,
And put on ornament, and made in flesh
A sanctuary very beautiful,
And formed for miles a great and boundless tower
Touching the very clouds, and seen by all,
So that the faithful and the just might all
Behold the glory of the eternal God,
A longed-for sight. Morning and evening hymned
The praise of God. For there shall no more come
Dire evils upon miserable men.
Adulteries and lawless lust of boys.
Nor murder, nor confusion, but with all
A righteous rivalry. Last is the time
Of the saints, when the lofty Thunderer,
God, who is founder of the mighty temple,
Brings to their consummation all these things.
Alas! alas for thee, O Babylon,
For golden throne and golden sandal famed,
Thou ancient kingdom, sole lord of the world;
Once mighty and all-potent, thou shalt lie
No more in golden mountains, and the streams
Of the Euphrates; thou shalt be laid low
In time of earthquake. But the dreadful Parthians
Made thee rule all things. Hold thy insolent mouth,
O vile race of Chaldeans! Do not speak
Nor be concerned how thou shalt rule the Persians,
Or how thou shalt be conqueror of the Medes.
For on account of thy power which thou hadst,
Having sent hostages to Rome, and served
In Asia, thou shalt as a prudent queen
Into the judgment of the unrighteous come,
For whom thou hast sent ransoms. Thou shalt give
Instead of puzzling words keen wrath to foes.
And in the last time shall the sea be dry,
And ships no longer sail to Italy;
But great and fruitful Asia and the plain
Of Crete shall be all water. And great woe
Shall Cyprus have, and on a dreadful fate
Shall Paphos rush, so that one shall behold
Salamis, great city, suffering mighty woe.
Now waste and fruitless shall she be again
Upon the coast; and locusts not a few
The Cyprian land shall ruin. Look at Tyre
And weep, O hapless mortals! Fearful wrath
Waits thee, Phenicia, until thou fall
A vile corpse, so that sirens truly weep.
In the fifth generation, when the ruin
Of Egypt shall have ceased, and shameless kings
Mingle together, nations of all tribes
Shall camp in Egypt, and in Macedonia,
And Asia, and among the Lydians
Shall rage a cruel world-oppressing war
Of much blood and dust, which the king of Rome
And rulers of the West shall cause to cease.
When wintry storm comes dropping like the snow,
And the great river and vast lakes are frozen,
Straightway into the Asian land shall go
A barbarous multitude, and the dire race
Of Thracians like a feeble thing destroy.
And then will wretched mortals, hunger-worn.
Devour their parents, and gulp down all food,
And wild beasts in all dwellings eat their food,
They and the birds devour all mortal men.
And with the wicked ocean shall be filled,
Being blood-red from the river — flesh and blood
Of foolish men. Then thus a littleness
Shall be upon the earth, that of mankind
And womankind the number one may see,
But myriad things shall a dire race bewail
At the end, when the sun sets not to rise.
But to remain submerged in ocean's wave,
Because it saw the baneful wickedness
Of many mortals. And a moonless night
Shall gather round the mighty heaven itself,
And no small mist shall hide the world's ravines.
But then a second time shall God's light rule
The good men, even as many as praise God.
Isis, thrice wretched goddess, thou alone
Shalt by the waters of the Nile remain,
A lawless Bacchanal upon the sands
Of Acheron, and over all the earth
No more shall memory of thee remain.
And thou, Serapis, sitting on the stones,
Shalt be in trouble about many things.
Thou shalt in thrice unhappy Egypt lie
An immense corpse; all that in Egypt bore
A love toward thee shall wail thee bitterly.
But such as praise God, having in their minds
Unimpaired reason, know that thou art naught.
And then a linen-vested priest shall say:
"Come, let us raise a beautiful temple of God
In truth; come, let us change the fearful laws
Of our forefathers, by which they required
Processions, and performed their mystic rites
To gods of stone and clay that had no sense.
Let us our souls turn and give praise to God
The imperishable, who himself is sire,
Who always has been, who is Lord of all
The true one, king, and soul-sustaining sire,
The mighty God, existing evermore.
And then in Egypt there shall be a great
And holy temple, and their sacrifices
Into it shall the God-made people bring,
And God shall give to them eternal life.
But when the Ethiopians forsake
The shameless tribes of the Triballians,
And cultivate their Egypt, wickedness
They will begin, that afterward all things
May come to pass. For they shall overthrow
The mighty temple of the Egyptian land,
And on earth will God rain a fearful wrath
Upon them, and all base and lawless men
Shall be destroyed. And in that land no more
Will any one receive forbearing grace,
Because they did not guard what God had given.
The threatening of the shining sun I saw
Among the stars, and in the lightning flash
The dire wrath of the moon. The stars travailed
With battle; God permitted them to fight.
For in the sun's stead long fire-flames arose;
The morning star made fight and trod upon
The Lion's back, and the moon's double horn
Changed its face; Capricorn smote Taurus' neck,
But Taurus took away from Capricorn
Returning day; Orion would no more
Abide the yoke, and the lot of the Twins
Did Virgo change to Aries; no more shone
The Pleiads, and the Dragon left his zone.
Pisces went down into the Lion's belt;
The Crab remained not, for he feared Orion;
Scorpio approached the dreadful Lion's tail.
And from the sun's flame slipped the Dog away;
Aquarius kindled to a flame the might
Of the strong shining one. The flame itself
Was roused up till it shook the warring ones,
And in a rage hurled them headlong to earth.
Then quickly smitten down upon the waves
Of ocean, it set all the earth on fire,
And the high heaven remained without a star,