Ah, Wretched Ones

Sibylline Books

Ah, wretched ones, there shall
A conquest of the famous city be,
And it shall be a spoil of war not long.
And then men having common boundaries
Of much land shall flee wretched, and shall lead
Their wretched parents. And they shall again
Having great victory light on a land,
And shall destroy the Jews, men staunch in war,
Wasting by wars far as the hoary deep,
On both sides, fighting in the foremost ranks
For father-land and parents. And a race
Of trophy-bearing men shall for the dead
Be reckoned. Ah, how many men shall swim
About the waves! For on the sandy beach
Many shall lie; and heads of golden hair
Shall fall beneath Egyptian winged fowls.
And then for the Arabians mortal blood
Shall go in quest. But when wolves shall with dogs
Pledge in a sea-girt island solemn oaths,
Then shall there be the raising of a tower,
And the city that suffered very many things
Men shall inhabit. For deceitful gold
Shall no more be nor silver, nor acquiring
Of the earth, nor much-laboring servitude;
But one fast friendship and one mode of life
With cheerful soul; and all things shall be common
And equal light among the means of life.
And wickedness shall sink down from the earth
Into the vast sea. And then near at hand
Is come the harvest-time of mortal men.
There is imposed a strong necessity
That these things be fulfilled. And at that time
There shall not any other traveler say,
In this conjecturing, that the race of men
465 Though perishable shall ever cease to be.
And then a holy nation shall prevail
And hold the sovereignty of all the earth
Unto all ages with their mighty sons.

The Messianic era