Sibylline Oracles

Historical printed page 390

THE SIBYLLINE BOOKS. Βοοκ III, Lives 634-696 pestilence comes upon all mortals, (34) and, overthrown, they meet witha terrible retribution (35) and king captures king and takes his land, (36) and nations ravage nations and potentates people, (37) and rulers all flee to another land, (38) and the land is changed in men and a barbarian empire (39) ravages Hellas, and drains the rich land (40) of its wealth, and men come face to face in strife (41) for the sake of gold and silver, (42) (the love of money shall be the shepherd of evils to many) (43) ina foreign land. And all shall be unburied, (44) and vultures and savage beasts of the earth (45) shall devour the flesh of some. And when all these things are fulfilled, (46) the giant earth shall devour the relics of the dead. (47) And it shall all be unsown and unploughed, (48) proclaiming in its misery the corruption of myriads of men. (49) And then for many spaces of time in circling years [men shall gather and burn in their houses] (50) targes and shields and javelins and divers kinds of weapons. (51) Nor shall wood be cut from the thicket to kindle fire. (52) And then from the sunrise God shall send a king, (53) who shall give every land relief from the bane of war: (54) some he shall slay and to others he shall consecrate faithful vows. (55) Nor shall he do all these things by his own will, (56) but in obedience to the good ordinances of the mighty God. (57) And again the people of the mighty God shall be laden with excellent wealth, (58) with gold and silver and purple adornment. (59) The land shall bear her increase, and the sea (60) shall be full of good things. And kings shall begin to be weary (61) of repelling evil one against another with wrath. (62) Envy is no good thing for miserable mortals. (63) But again the kings of the nations shall throw themselves against this land (64) in troops, bringing retribution on themselves. (65) For the shrine of the mighty God and the noblest men (66) they shall seek to ravage whensoever they come to the land. (67) In a ring round the city the accursed kings shall place (68) each one his throne with his infidel people by him. (69) And then with a mighty voice God shall speak unto all (70) the undisciplined empty-minded people, and judgement shall come upon them (71) from the mighty God, and all shall perish (72) at the hand of the Eternal. From heaven shall fall (73) fiery swords down to the earth: lights shall come bright (74) and great, flashing into the midst of men. (75) And earth, the universal Mother, shall shake in those days (76) at the hand of the Eternal, and the fishes in the sea, (77) and all the beasts of the earth and the countless tribes of flying things, (78) and all souls of men and every sea (79) shall shudder at the presence of the Eternal and there shall be panic. (80) And the towering mountain peaks and the hills of the giants (81) He shall rend, and the murky abyss shall be visible to all. (82) And the high-hung ravines in the lofty mountains (83) shall be full of dead bodies: the rocks shall flow (84) with blood, and each torrent shall flood the plain. (85) The well-built walls of the disaffected men shall all fall to the ground, (86) because they knew not the law (87) nor the judgement of the Mighty God, but with witless mind (88) with one united onslaught tye cast your spearst against the Holy One. (89) And God shall judge all with war and sword, (90) and with fire and cataclysms of rain. And there shall be (91) brimstone from heaven, yea stones and hail (92) incessant and grievous: and death shall be upon the fourfooted beasts. (93) And then shall they know the Immortal God, who ordains these things. (94) {Wailing and lamenting through the length and breadth of the land} (95) shall come with the perishing of men: and all the shameless (96) shall be washed with blood. Yea, the land itself shall 635~7. An allusion to the invasion of Egypt by Antiochus Epiphanes (see on 1. 608). 638. a barbarian empire, i.e. Rome. Cf. 1. 520. 642. to many, πολέσσιν, possibly intended as from πολύς. 648. myriads (μυρίων) is unmetrical. Possibly read μερόπων, “ articulate ’. After this verse there is a gap in the text. The line supplied is a conjecture. The thought is taken from Ezek, xxxix. 9, and is referred to again in Lact. Div. Znst. vii. 26. 4. 651. Recurs in 729. 652 ff. The coming of the Messiah. from the sunrise, dz’ ἠελίοιο, may mean either ‘from the East’ or ‘from heaven’: cf. supr. 286 (of Cyrus), Sib. v. 414. Holtzmann thinks of Simon Maccabeus as the heaven-sent king. 657. people (Aads). Meineke and Geffck. alter to ‘ temple’ (ναός), but this seems unnecessary. 661-2. shall begin ... wrath. MSS. ‘shall begin to be angry with one another (κοτέειν) avenging evils in their mind’. The translation renders κοπιᾶν... ἀπαμύνοντες. ᾿ 663. A fresh onslaught against the Holy City. The description is borrowed in part from Jer. i. 15. Cf. 1 En. vi. 5. 667. Cf. 4 Ez. xiii. 33.; Clem. Al. S/vom. vi. 5. 43. 673. Cf. Lact. Div. /nst. vii. 19. 5. shall come. A comparison with 1 En. cii. 2. 3 suggests that for ἵξονται we should very likely read φρίξονται. 688. ye cast your spears. The change of person is awkward. Perhaps read ‘they lifted up reproach’ (jpav ἔλεγχος for ἤρατε λόγχας). 691. Cf. Apoc. ix. 17. 694. The text of the MSS. needs some emendation. Read (with Rzach) οἰμωγή τ᾽ ἀλαλαγμὸς ὁμοῦ κατ᾽ ἀπείρονα γαῖαν. 695. Shameless (ἀναιδεῖς) for ‘ speechless ’ (ἄναυδοι). 39°