Fifth Book.
Come now, hear from me the lamentable time of the Latins.
Truly, first of all, after the kings who perished
of Egypt, all of whom the impartial earth received,
and after the founder of Pella, under whom all
the East was conquered, and the wealthy West,
whom Babylon exposed, and handed over as a corpse to Philip,
though he was proclaimed—not truly—to be of Zeus or Ammon,
and after the one of the race and blood of Assaracus,
who came from Troy, who cleaved the rushing fire,
and after many kings, after warlike men,
and after the infants, children of the sheep-devouring beast,
there will be a first king, who will reach the sum of twice ten
with his initial letter; and he will prevail greatly in wars;
and he will have the first mark from the tens; so that after him
he will rule who obtained the first letter of the alphabet as his initial;
before whom Thrace will cower, and Sicily, and next Memphis—
Memphis cast down prostrate through the wickedness of its rulers
and of an unsubdued woman who fell upon the wave.
And he will establish laws for the peoples and subject all things;
and after a long time he will hand over the rule to another,
who will have as his first letter the number three hundred
and the beloved name of a river; and over the Persians
he will rule, and Babylon; and then he will strike the Medes with the spear.
Then he who obtained the stroke of the number three will rule.
And he who will rule afterwards will have twice ten, as king
upon the first stroke; and he will reach
the farthest water of Ocean, darting on an ebb tide for the Ausonians.
And he who obtained the stroke of fifty will be sovereign,
a terrible serpent breathing out grievous war, who will one day stretch out his hands
against his own kin and destroy them, and throw all things into confusion,
competing in games, driving chariots, murdering, and daring countless atrocities;
and he will cut through the mountain between two seas and defile it with gore;
yet the destructive one will also vanish; then he will return,
making himself equal to God; but he will prove that he is not.
And after him three kings will perish by one another's hands.
Then a great destroyer of pious men will come,
who plainly displays the stroke of seven times ten.
And his son, who has the first stroke of three hundred, convicting him,
will strip away his power; and after him there will be a sovereign
from the stroke of four, of an ill-fated doom; but afterwards
a venerable mortal of the number fifty. But after him,
he who obtained the stamped beginning of the stroke of three hundred,
a mountain-walking Celt; and hastening toward the eastern conflict,
he will not escape an unseemly fate, but will perish;
whom foreign dust will hide as a corpse, yet dust bearing the name
of the flower of Nemea; and after him another will reign,
a silver-headed man; and he will have the name of a sea;
he will be an all-excellent man and will understand all things.
And in your time, all-excellent, most preeminent, dark-haired one,
and under your branches these days will endure through all time.
After him three will rule, and the third will hold sway late.
I, thrice-wretched, am exhausted to place an evil utterance in my heart,
the companion of Isis, and the inspired hymn of oracles.
First, around the foundation of your much-lamented temple
maenads will rush, and in wicked hands
you will be on that day, whenever the Nile travels over
the whole land of Egypt up to sixteen cubits,
so as to inundate all the earth and water it with its streams;
and the charm of the land and the glory of its appearance will be silenced.
Memphis, you indeed will weep most greatly for Egypt;
for you, who formerly held mighty sway over the land, will become
wretched, so that the Thunderer himself will cry aloud
from heaven with a loud voice: 'Mighty Memphis,
who of old boasted most greatly among wretched mortals,
you will weep, grievously distressed and all-ill-fated, so as to recognize
the eternal, immortal God himself in the clouds.
Where is the mighty pride that was fashioned for you among mortals?
Because you raged furiously against my anointed children
and incited wickedness against the righteous men,
you will have such a nurse in retribution for so many deeds.
No longer will there visibly be any divine right for you among the blessed;
you have fallen from the stars, you will not ascend into heaven.'
These things God bade to be proclaimed against Egypt,
in the last time, when men will be utterly evil.
Yet the wicked suffer wretchedly, awaiting the evil reward,
the wrath of the immortal, loud-thundering Heavenly One,
and worshiping stones and wild beasts instead of God,
fearing exceedingly many different things hither and thither, which have no reason,
no mind, no hearing—things not even lawful for me to speak of—
each of the idols, made by the hands of mortals.
And out of their own toils and reckless inventions
men accepted gods of wood and of stone,
and of bronze and gold and silver, vain,
lifeless, deaf, and smelted in fire;
they made them in vain, putting their trust in such things.
Thmuis and Xois are afflicted and stricken by the counsel
of Herakles, and of Zeus, and of Hermes.
And you too, Alexandria, famed nurse of cities,
war will not leave you, nor . . .
you will pay for your arrogance, for all that you did before.
You will be silent for a long age, and the day of return—
and no longer will a luxurious drink flow for you . . .
For a Persian will come upon your soil like hail,
and he will destroy your land and deceitful people,
with blood and corpses beside dreadful altars,
a savage-minded, mighty, bloody man, raging madly,
rushing with a sand-like multitude to your destruction.
And then, city of great wealth, you will have suffered much.
All Asia will weep for the sake of the gifts from you,
with which she crowned her head and rejoiced, falling upon the ground.
And he who received the land of the Persians will make war,
and killing every man he will ravage their whole livelihood,
so that a third portion remains for wretched mortals.
And he himself will fly in from the west with a light leap,