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1. Prophecy as a Historical Force
PROPHECIES are memories of possible futures, echoing across time and
space. Prophecy is a proven talent of the human mind --- one that
baffles our notions of time, fate, and free will.
The future is
revealed to us through dreams, drugs, religious epiphany, magical
rituals and the mantic arts. If a predicted event does not occur,
then the seer has misinterpreted the psychic impression or was
hallucinating. But false prophecies do not disprove or discredit the
many that have been fulfilled.
Indeed, many major events have been
foretold with astonishing accuracy. Prophecy has exerted a powerful
influence on the course of history. Many great persons, such as
Alexander the Great, Julius and Augustus Caesar, and
George
Washington, were gifted with prophecy.
Hundreds of ancient and modern prophets have given accounts of their
visions. Many of them are concerned with global catastrophes in the
"near future". Although no prophet has been 100% accurate, many of
the seers represented here have made short-and long-term predictions
that were fulfilled during and after their lifetimes.
Considering
the established credibility of these visionaries, their warnings of
impending doom deserve our close attention.
It behooves us to know
the signs of the times, to recognize the shadows that great events
cast before them. Prophecies can help guide some of us out of harm’s
way when "insanity will attack the spirit of man and unrestrained
hate shall rage." In any event, with grace, courage and love, some
of us will survive to live in peace at long last.
Time is running out for these prophecies to be fulfilled or
annulled. It is not too late to heed the warnings and prevent some
disasters. The outcome of events can be modified by right action,
unless and until it is too late.
Prophecies also can be
misunderstood and misused, and yet prove to be historically
effective, though not in the ways we might expect. Prophecies often
tend to be self-fulfilling, a kind of deathwish that derives power
from feedback between people and circumstances.
The Delphic Oracle
of Apollo is an excellent example of this process.
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1a. The Delphic Oracle ~
The utterances of the Greek Oracles of Dodona and of
Apollo at
Delphi were gospel in their time, and guided the course of Greek and
Roman history for several centuries. The Delphic Oracle was located
on Mount Parnassus.
There the virgin priestesses, called Pythia,
uttered ecstatic prophecies during an elaborate ritual that included
chewing the leaf of a sacred bay tree and drinking from the holy
fountain Kassotis that flowed from Omphalos, "the navel of the the
earth." The Pythia sat on a tripod over a fissure in the cavern
Adyton, and breathed the vapors arising from the abyss.
The fumes
induced a trance in them, and they proceeded to pronounce (or more
often mumble incoherently) messages that were interpreted by
attendant priests, who conveyed their translations to the
supplicants.
Socrates declared:
"Such prophecy is akin to madness, but it is a madness which is the
special gift of heaven, and the source of the chiefest blessings
among men.
For prophecy is a madness, and the prophetess at Delphi
and the priestesses of Dodona, when out of their senses have
conferred great benefits to Hellas, both in public and private life,
but when their senses were few or none."
 The
Oracle at Delphi was enriched with gifts from grateful
supplicants who worshipped and propitiated Apollo and his oracle
with beautiful temples and fountains, a theater and stadium,
thousands of marble, bronze and gold statues, and many other gifts
of exquisite workmanship.
The Roman author Cicero wrote,
"Never
could the oracle of Delphi have been so overwhelmed with significant
presents from all kings and nations had not the ages proven the
truth of its oracle."
Heraclitus wrote, "The god of Delphi neither revealeth, nor
concealeth, but hinteth."
However, while most of its advice was
given in ambiguous terms, the Delphic Oracle also gave exact answers
on occasion. Both types of response were exemplified in the case of
Croesus, King of Lydia (6th century BC). The immensely wealthy
monarch was concerned about the threat posed by Cyrus the Elder,
King of Persia and Babylon.
Seeking divine counsel, King Croesus
tested several of the most eminent oracles of his time:
-
Zeus Ammon
in Libya,
-
Dudyma near Miletus,
-
Amphiarus and Trophonia in Boeotia,
-
Zeus Dodona in Epirus, and
-
Abae and Delphi in Phoeis.
Only the Delphic Oracle correctly answered the test question posed
by Croesus: What was King Croesus engaged in at the moment of the
query (which was on the hundredth day since they had departed from
Sardis)?
The Phytia answered thus:
"I can count the sands and I can
measure the Ocean, I have ears for the silent, and know what the
dumb man meaneth. Lo, on my sense there striketh the smell of
shell-covered tortoise, boiling now in fire with the flesh of lamb
in a cauldron, brass in the vessel below and brass the cover of it."
The messengers returned to Sardis and reported the
Pythia’s answer,
which was completely correct and satisfactory to Croesus. The king
then made a huge sacrificial offering to Apollo and presented the
Oracle with many priceless gifts. He asked,
"Whether Croesus should
march against the Persians, and if so, whether he should join
himself with any army of men as his friends."
The Oracle replied,
"After crossing the Halys, Croesus will destroy
a great empire."
Croesus also inquired if he would have a long
reign, to which the Pythia answered,
"Nay, when a mule becometh king
of Medes, flee, soft-soled Lydian, by pebbly Hermus, and stay not,
nor feel shame to be a coward."
 This answer did not please
Croesus,
but since it seemed impossible for a mule to be king, he did not
worry about it. Finally, he asked about his deaf-mute son.
The
Oracle replied:
"Son of Lydia, ruler of men, Croesus, thou prince of
fools, desire not to hear in thy halls the voice long prayed for of
a son speaking. He will speak first on a day that is not
propitious."
This last answer disappointed Croesus, but encouraged by the first,
he formed an alliance with Sparta and mounted an army against Cyrus
the Great. Croesus crossed the river Halys to invade Cappadocia, but
withdrew to his own capitol at Sardis after a fierce battle at
Pteria. Croesus then disbanded his army, but Cyrus followed him with
the Persian army and besieged Sardis, which soon fell.
Pythia’s prophecy thus became clear. Croesus did indeed destroy a
great empire --- his own. And a "mule" did become monarch of Media
insofar as Cyrus was born of mixed parentage, as are mules; his
mother was a princess of Media, and his father was a Persian.
The
third prophecy was fulfilled when a Persian soldier attacked Croesus
without recognizing him. Croesus’ deaf-mute son suddenly cried out,
"Man, do not kill Croesus!"
Soon after becoming Emperor of Rome in 54 AD, Nero killed his
mother, then went vacationing in Greece. When he visited the Oracle
at Delphi, the Pythia shouted angrily at Nero:
"Your presence here outrages the god you seek. Go back, matricide!
The number 73 marks the hour of your downfall!"
Nero was infuriated and had the
Pythia buried alive in the sacred
cavern, along with the bodies of the temple priests after their
hands and feet had been chopped off.
Nero thought the number 73 would be his age at death. He was only 30
years old then, so he did not worry about it. Actually, the number
related to Galba, who was 73 years old when he succeeded Nero in 68
AD.
Before he came to rule the Roman Empire, Hadrian visited the Delphic
Oracle and drank from the sacred fountain Kassotis. Thus he learned
firsthand of his destiny. After he reached the throne, Hadrian
ordered the fountain to be plugged up to prevent anyone else from
getting the same idea from the same source.
Emperor Julian had the blockage removed during his reign (361-363
AD) because he believed it should be available to everyone. He said:
"Through the Oracles of Apollo, the greater part of civilization had
come into being because they had revealed the will of the gods in
the sphere of politics, as well as religion, which they regulated
wisely for those who kept their advice."
The Delphic Oracle endured until 390 AD, when
Emperor Theodosius
closed the temple; his successor, Arcadius, demolished it.
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1b. Egyptian Prophecies ~
The priests of ancient Egypt were powerful magicians who practiced
the mantic arts for the kings and pharaohs and accurately predicted
the course of Egypt’s dynastic history. The rulers also occasionally
received advice directly from the gods.
For example, about 1420 BC, when Thutmose IV was still a prince and
had uncertain prospects for rulership, the god Harmachis-Chepera Re-Tenu
appeared to him in a dream and promised that if Thutmose would clear
away the sand that had accumulated around the Sphinx (the image of
the god), he would rule over both North and South Egypt --- the
entire land. Thutmose immediately set men to work at the task, and
subsequently enjoyed the fulfillment of the god’s promise.
Similarly, it was truly prophesied to Nut-Amon (circa 670 BC):
"All the land of the south is thine, and thou shalt have dominion
over all the land of the north. The White Crown and the Red Crown
shall adorn thine head.
The length and breadth of the land shall be
given unto thee, and the god Amon, the only god, shall be with
thee."
The birth of Jesus Christ was foretold almost 2,000 years before the
event by Chechepetresonbu, an Egyptian priest at Heliopolis during
the reign of Sesostris II (1906-1887 BC) had a prophetic vision:
"The ideal ruler for whose advent he longs --- he brings cooling to
the flames. It is said that he is the shepherd of all men. There is
no evil in his heart... Where is he today? Behold, his might is not
seen."
Nectanebo, the last king of Egypt, also was a prophet, astrologer,
and Hermetic magus who used his skills wisely to prevent his
assassination and to win the wars he fought.
Eventually, however, he
abdicated and left Egypt for Macedonia because the gods no longer
would cooperate in his magical operations. In Macedonia, he earned a
good reputation as an astrologer. He was consulted by King Phillip
while Olympia was pregnant with Alexander.
Nectanebo constructed a
natal horoscope for the most auspicious moment of birth, and
insisted to Olympia that she must not allow the child to be born
until the moment he specified. At that time the earth quaked, the
sky tore with lightning, and thunder sounded like cosmic drum rolls
saluting the event.
As the infant gave his first cry, Nectanebo
announced:
"O Queen, now thou hast given birth to a governor of the world." (2)
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1c. Alexander the Great ~
The night before Queen Olympia and King Phillip met as
newlyweds in
the bridal chamber, Olympia dreamed that a flash of lightning
discharged within her womb with a thunderous crash.
A sheet of fire
erupted and spread flaming in all directions, then faded away.
Phillip later dreamed that he was sealing up his wife’s womb with
the image of a lion. The sage Aristander of Telesmus interpreted
these signs to mean that Olympia was pregnant, for we do not seal up
anything empty, and that the son she bore would be courageous, as a
lion symbolizes.
Alexander had many precognitive dreams that benefited his career.
The most famous of his dreams occurred while he laid siege to the
city of Tyre. Alexander dreamed that he had captured a satyr dancing
on a shield. Aristander interpreted the dream as an acronym of the
Greek words "Sa Tyros", meaning, "Tyre is yours." After a seven
month siege, it became his prize.
He also had a dream in which he
saw Heracles reach out and call from the walls of Tyre. Thus
inspired, Alexander won the city on the next day.
When Alexander’s friend Ptolemaeus was wounded in battle by a poison
arrow, death seemed imminent. Alexander dreamed that he was watching
his wife Olympia feed a fish with roots of strange plants. The fish
showed Alexander where the plants could be found. When Alexander
awoke he searched out the plants and administered them to Ptolemaeus,
who recovered. Later he became Pharoah of Egypt.
Having conquered Egypt, Alexander wanted to build a great city, to
be called Alexandria. Again he had a prophetic dream in which an
ancient sage quoted certain passages in Homer’s writings referring
to Pharos. Alexander went quickly to Pharos, where he found an
excellent site with outstanding advantages.
Alexander ordered that a
city be mapped out to fit the site. The Macedonians had no chalk
with them so they marked the area with barley. Suddenly, countless
flocks of birds of all species flew to the place and ate every grain
of barley. This amazing omen disturbed Alexander, but his soothsayer
told him it meant that Alexandria would be a nurse and feeder of
great men of every race.
The library of Alexandria became the
greatest in the ancient world.
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1d. The Caesars ~
All of the mantic arts, and especially astrology, were widely
practiced in ancient Rome. Several astrologers accurately predicted
the destinies of the Caesarian dynasty and other emperors.
The Romans
took dreams so seriously that the citizens of Rome were legally
bound to report to the Senate any dreams that could be connected
with the security and destiny of the empire.
The astrologer Tyrasyllus accurately figured that Claudius would die
when he was "63 years, 63 days, 63 watches, 63 hours old" on October
13, 54 AD. Claudius was murdered by his wife Agrippina, who fed him
a dish of poisoned mushrooms when she learned that he might not name
Nero as his heir. He died the next day, on October 13.
Claudius and Nero frequently consulted the astrologer
Barbillius for
advice. He had predicted that Claudius would die in the 14th year of
his reign, and he told Agrippina that Nero would reign. "But," he
warned her, "if he comes to the throne, he will kill his mother."
Her lifelong ambition was to make her son Emperor of Rome; thus she
replied, "If he but reigns, I do not care. Let him kill me." And he
did.
Perhaps the most famous Roman prophecy was the warning, "Beware the
Ides of March" (March 15) given to Julius Caesar by the seer
Spurinna Vestritius during a religious sacrifice.
The night before
his assassination, Caesar’s wife Calpurnia dreamt that the turret of
her house crumbled and that the corpse of Caesar was carried into
their home, and she wept over him. In the morning, she pleaded with
Caesar not to go to the Senate, but he would not heed her despite
his own suspicions. Brutus argued that a great throng was awaiting
his arrival at the Senate and he must not disappoint them.
On his
way there he met the seer Spurinna and said to him, "The Ides of
march are here without any calamity." Spurinna replied, "Yes, they
are here, but they have not yet gone." Caesar died that day in 44
BC.
Augustus was Julius Caesar’s adopted son and successor. When
Augustus went to Philippi in 42 BC to revenge the murder of Julius
by Brutus and company, he was too weak to walk and had to be carried
in a litter. Cassius’ forces overran Augustus’ camp and captured
many soldiers.
But Augustus had been carried away by his doctor and
hidden in a marsh until the battle ended. The doctor swore that he
had been awakened by a dream telling him to remove Augustus.
The Roman historian Dion Cassius recorded the following prophecy by
the astrologer-senator Nigidius Figulus concerning Augustus Caesar,
the son of Octavius:
Scarcely was the boy born when Nigidius Figulus prophesied for him
the absolute empire of the world. Among his contemporaries, this
prophet was held to be the wisest in the knowledge of the stars and
constellations...
When he saw that Octavius, because of the birth of
his son, was somewhat late in getting to the Curia.. He came towards
him and asked him why he was so tardy.
When he heard the reason, he
announced:
"You have given us a master."
Octavius, depressed by this announcement [in those days many Romans
still thought they were a democratic nation], wished to have the
child slain. But the prophet advised him against it, saying:
"It were impossible for anything of the sort to happen to this
child."
Later, when Octavius was leading an army in Thrace, he consulted a
local oracle concerning his son. As the priest poured wine over the
altar, a flame burst forth, leapt to the roof of the temple, and
into the sky.
The priests told Octavius that such an omen had
occurred only once before --- to Alexander the Great during a
sacrifice.
While still a young man and before rising to power,
Augustus
consulted the sage Theogenes for his horoscope.
When Augustus told
his birth time to Theogenes, the man knelt before the youth and
forecast his ascent to imperial power. The horoscope so impressed
Augustus that he had it published and minted a silver coin with the
sigil of Capricorn, his Sun sign.
To express appreciation for his great good fortune, Augustus built a
temple of peace. He consulted the Delphic Oracle, asking how long
the temple would stand and peace last. The Oracle answered, "Until a
virgin gives birth to a child and yet remains a virgin."
As that
seemed impossible, Augustus thought the oracle was predicting
eternal peace. He dedicated the temple with a tablet inscribed "Templum
pacis aeterna." But at the birth of Christ, the temple collapsed
"without warning or discoverable cause."
At the same time Christ was born, Augustus Caesar was consulting the
Tiburtine Sibyl to ask if he should accept the title "God of the
nations" which the Senate wanted to confer on him. While the Sibyl
consulted her sacred books, a brilliant meteor flashed across the
sky.
The Sibyl took the celestial omen as her answer, saying:
"Look! It is a sign of the future that is revealed to you. One world
is ending, and another is beginning. A child has just been born, who
is the king of future millennia, the true god of the world. He is of
humble birth and of an obscure race.
His divinity is unrealized;
when he at last makes himself known, he will be persecuted. He will
work miracles, he will be accused of trafficking with evil spirits,
but I see him victor in the end over death, rising from the place
where his murderers entombed him.
He will reunite all nations."
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2. The Sibylline Oracles
The ancient prophecies known as the Sibylline Oracles or
Sibyllae
are attributed to divinely inspired seeresses who lived in the Greek
colonies in the 8th century BC.
The earliest reference to a Sibyl
was by the philosopher Heraclitus (ca. 500 BC):
"The Sibyl with frenzied lips, uttering words mirthless,
unembellished, unperfumed, penetrates through the centuries by the
powers of the gods."
The Sibyllae were presented to
Tarquin I (The Proud), the fifth king
of Rome, by the Sibyl of Cumae in 615 BC. She offered him nine books
foretelling the destiny of the Romans with instructions to be
followed so that the predicted events would follow their course. The
Sibyl demanded a payment of 300 gold philippi, a large sum, but
Tarquin refused the offer.
The Sibyl then burned three volumes of
the set, and again requested 300 philippi for the remaining books.
Tarquin again declined the offer, whereupon the Sibyl burned three
more of the books, and again demanded the same price. King Tarquin
was thus convinced of the value of the books, and paid for the
remaining three volumes. Only fragments of one book survive to this
day.
The Sibyllae were very popular with the Romans, who installed them
in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, guarded by a special
priesthood. The Sibyllae were consulted during crises of the
Republic and upon the appearance of unusual omens. The books were
destroyed in 83 BC when Rome burned during a civil war.
The Senate
assigned three senators to reconstruct the remaining book as much as
possible. Emperor Augustus later collected all available Sibylline
verses from Greece and other Roman colonies and edited them into
about 200 spurious oracles.
The books were destroyed by the Vandal
General Flavius Stilicho "in order to cause the ruin of the Empire
by getting rid of its guarantee of eternal life." (3-6)
The Sibylline Oracles were well respected by the Jewish and early
Christian Fathers, who quoted them frequently and even published
their own revised editions containing Judaeo-Christian prophecies
and teachings for dissemination amongst the pagans.
The Sibylline
Oracles (1:381-388) include this prediction of the birth of Christ:
"And then the child of the great God to men
Shall come incarnate, being fashioned like
The mortals on the earth. And he shall bear
Four vowels, and the consonants in Him
Are twice told; and the whole sum I name:
For eight ones, and as many tens to these,
And yet eight hundred will the name reveal
To men who are given up to unbelief."
In the Greek language in which this prophecy was written,
Jesus is
spelled Iota, Eta, Sigma, Omicron, Upsilon, Sigma. The
gematrial
values are:
-
Iota, 10 (vowel 1)
-
Eta, 8 (vowel 2)
-
Sigma, 200
(consonant)
-
Omicron, 70 (vowel 3)
-
Upsilon, 400 (vowel 4, line
384)
-
Sigma, 200 (consonant, "twice told", line 385)
-
total, 888
(lines 386 and 387)
The Tiburtine Sibyl, composed ca. 500 AD, includes a description of
the legendary Final Emperor, who will be succeeded by the
Antichrist:
"At that time the
Prince of Iniquity who will be called Antichrist
will arise from the tribe of Dan. He will be the Son of Perdition,
the head of pride, the master of error, the fullness of malice who
will overturn the world and do wonders and great signs through
dissimulation.
He will delude many by magic art so that fire will
seem to come down from heaven.
The years will be shortened like
months, the months like weeks, the weeks like days, the days like
hours, and an hour like a moment. The unclean nations that
Alexander, the Indian king, shut up will arise from the North.
These
are the 22 realms whose number is like the sand of the sea. When the
king of the Romans hears of this he will call his army together and
vanquish and utterly destroy them.
After this he will come to
Jerusalem, and having put off the diadem from his head and laid
aside the whole imperial garb, he will hand over the empire of the
Christians to God the Father and to Jesus Christ His Son.
When the
Roman Empire shall have ceased, then the Antichrist will be openly
revealed and will sit in the House of the Lord in Jerusalem. While
he is reigning, two very famous men, Elijah and Enoch, will go forth
to announce the coming of the Lord.
Antichrist will kill them and
after three days they will be raised up by the Lord. Then there will
be a great persecution, such as has not been before nor shall be
thereafter.
The Lord will shorten those days for the sake of the
elect, and the Antichrist will be slain by the power of God through
Michael the Archangel on the Mount of Olives"
The Vaticinium Erythrian Sibyl was composed in the 12th century.
Part III contains this Catholic Sibyl’s view of apocalypse:
" There will arise another king from
Heliopolis and he will wage war
against the king from the East and kill him. And he will grant a
tax-exemption to entire countries for three years and six months,
and the earth will bring forth its fruit, and there is none to eat
them.
And there will come the ruler of perdition, he who is changed,
and will smite and kill him. And he will do signs and wonders on
earth. He will turn the sun into darkness and the moon into blood.
And after that the springs and rivers will dry up, and the Nile will
be transformed into blood.
And then there will appear two men who
did not come to know the experience of death, Enoch and Elijah, and
they will wage war upon the ruler of perdition. And he will say: "My
time has come," and he will be angered and slay them. And then he
who was crucified on the wood of the cross will come from the
heavens, like a great and flashing star, and he will resurrect those
two men. And he who was hung on the cross will wage war with the son
of perdition and will slay him and all his host.
Then the land of
Egypt will burn twelve cubits deep, and the land will shout to God:
"Lord, I am a virgin." And then the son of God will come with great
power and glory to judge the nine generations. And then Christ will
rule, the son of the living God, and his holy angels. Amen, so be
it...
"The Last Judgment will follow the Abomination. Signs will precede.
There will be four kinds of unusual color in the elements and a
change in the course in the heavenly bodies. There will be a
celestial sign in that the air will appear at times yellow, at times
pitch-black, now green, now clear red.
Apollo will be split, now in
ten, now in four, now in two parts; the moon will run together with
the sun. Those dwelling on the earth will be struck with fear when
they see the stars all bloody. At the same time the earth will well
up in different places, and there will be a fearful sign of
commotion.
There will be collision of kingdoms, seizure of thrones,
earthquakes, and famines. Out of desire for food mothers will abase
their sons and daughters in debauchery... All these things are
indications of the Abomination for whom there is no rule.
"When three signs come the inhabitants of the earth should know that
he is near. In the city of Aeneas a 100-year old woman will bear
twins with the aid of the faithless. A burning river will issue from
Mt. Aetna and devour the inhabitants.
After this two peaks will
crash together in the snowy mountains, the earth there will be
opened in an abyss, and a snowy mist will ascend to heaven.
"After these things, there will be a gathering together of many
nations bestial in their manner of life and a division of the world
into ten scepters. The vilest forms of copulation will precede
pregnancies, the worst of all being that of the Abomination. He will
then kill many kings whom he has put under his yoke.
The Spouse will
be silent, the cock will grow hoarse, and there will be abuse of the
Lamb. Heaven, the sun, and the elements will seem to be a testimony
to the Abomination in that he will do wonders, make the stars dark,
weaken the perfect, regain the Jews.
All this will happen so that he
may renew what was old and cast out what has been renewed...
"The Last Judgment will be imminent; the signs will precede it. The
sun will be frequently eclipsing and stretching out in vast fashion
will destroy. The Euphrates will be dried up to a mere trickle;
Aetna will be laid open on two sides, Avernus will roar, and three
parts of the inhabitants of Sicily will perish.
Pharos will swell up
most horribly and flood the nearby areas. After this the sea will
sink to the depths and the fish gathered together will give forth a
roar. Then the heavens will be opened in four parts, there will be
thunder, and the inhabitants of the earth will hear the threats of
Judgment. Ineffable things will blare forth on the trumpet.
Blameless heralds will announce the destruction of all things,
saying: "Let there be humility and repentance!"...
"Then all the kings and princes will appear and behold the Lamb who
pays back all men upon his throne of terror. No discrimination of
wealthy or poor will take place there, but only the weighing of
merits.
Then crimes will be made evident, fear and trembling and
horror of the abyss set out for punishment will strike all so that
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
They will stretch out
their hands in prayer, but the lamb will be inflexible; he will be
fearful in punishing. In his sight there will be lightning and
thunder, merit along with sins. Blessing will be on his right;
curses will come from his left. He will judge the good and evil to
lift the former on high and allow hell to swallow the latter to the
fate of the demons.
This is the end of the book of the Erythraean
Sibyl of Babylon."
Much of what little remains of the
Sibylline Oracles exists in
fragments.
The following are most apocalyptic and well written:
"And then will God speak with a mighty voice
To all rude people of an empty mind;
And judgments from the mighty God shall come
Upon them, and they shall be destroyed
By an immortal hand. And fiery swords
Shall fall from heaven on earth, and mighty lights
Shall come down flaming in the midst of men.
And mother earth shall be tossed in those days
By an immortal hand...
Then shall all the elements of all the world
Be desolate, air, earth, sea, flaming fire,
And sky and night, and all days to one fire
And to one barren shapeless mass to come.
For all the luminous stars shall fall from heaven;
No more will winged birds fly through the air,
Nor footsteps be on ear; for all wild beasts
Shall perish, voices of men, beasts and birds
Shall be no more. The world, being disarranged,
Shall hear no useful sound, but the deep sea
Shall echo back a mighty threatening voice,
And swimming, trembling creatures of the sea
Shall all die; and no longer on the waves
Will sail a freighted ship. The earth shall groan
Bloodstained by wars; and all the souls of men
Shall gnash their teeth --- the souls of lawless men,
Wasted by lamentations and by fear,
By hunger, thirst and pestilence and murders ---
And they shall call it beautiful to die,
And death will flee from them, for death no more
Nor night shall give them rest. And many things
Will they in vain ask God who rules on high,
And then he will turn openly his face
Away from them... All these things to my mind did God reveal
And all that has been spoken by my mouth
Will be fulfilled...
No more will treacherous gold and silver be
Nor earthly wealth, nor toilsome servitude,
But one vast friendship and one mode of life
Will be with 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..."
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