Oracula Sibyllina, Oracula

αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ τούτους ὑπεδέξατο, δεύτερον αὖτις τῶν καταλειφθέντων [τε] δικαιοτάτου ἀνθρώπων ἄλλο γένος τεῦξεν πολνποίκιλον, οἶς ἐμεμήλει ἔργ' ἐρατὰ σπουδαί τε καλαὶ καὶ ὑπείροχος αἰδώς καὶ πυκινὴ σοφίη· τέχνας δὲ μὲν ἐξήσκησαν παντοίας εὑρόντες ἀμηχανίαις ἐπινοίας. καί τις μὲν γαίην άρότροις ἐξεῦρε γεωργεῖν, ἄλλος τεκταίνειν, ἄλλω δὲ πλέειν μεμέλητο, ἄλλῳ δ’ ἀστρονομεῖν καὶ ὀνειροπολεῖν τὰ πετεινά, φαρμακίη δ’ ἄλλῳ, αὐτὰρ μαγικὴ πάλιν ἄλλῳ· ἄλλοι δ' ἄλλα ἔκαστα μεμηλότα τεχνώοντο, Γρήγοροι ἀλφηοτῆρες, ἐπωννμίης μετέχοντες ταύτης, ὄττι φρεοὶν ἀκοίμητον νόον εἶχον ἄπληστόν τε δέμας· οτιβαροὶ μεγάλῳ επὶ εἴδει ἦσαν· ὅμως δ᾿ ἔμολον ὑπὸ ταρτάριον δόμον αίνον, δεσμοῖς άρρήκτοις πεφνλαγμένοι ἐξαποτῖδαι εἰς γένναν μαλερον λάβρου πυρός άκαμάτοιο.

But when [Hades] had received these, then a second time again [God] fashioned another, highly various race of men from those who were left of the most righteous man, who cared for lovely works and fine pursuits and surpassing modesty and shrewd wisdom; and they practised crafts of every kind, finding inventions for their needs. One discovered how to work the earth with ploughs, another how to build; another cared for sailing, another for star-gazing and for reading dreams [and] birds, another for drugs, and yet another again for magic; and others contrived each the various things they cared for: the Watchers, bread-eating men, who have a share in this name because they had in their hearts a sleepless mind and an insatiable body. They were mighty, of great stature; yet they went down beneath the dreadful house of Tartarus, kept in unbreakable bonds, to pay the penalty in full, into the Gehenna of the fierce, raging, tireless fire.

ἀλλ᾽ ὁπόταν τὰ πρῶτα τέλος λάβῃ, αὐτίκα δ᾽ ἔσται δεύτερ᾽ ἐπ᾽ ἀνθρώπους. καί τοι πρώτιστα βοήσω. ἀνδράσιν εὐσεβέσιν ἥξει κακόν, οἳ περὶ ναόν οἰκείουσι μέγαν Σολομώνιον οἵ τε δικαίων ἀνδρῶν ἔκγονοί εἰσιν· ὁμῶς καὶ τῶνδε βοήσω φῦλον καὶ γενεὴν πατέρων καὶ δῆμον ἁπάντων πάντα περιφραδέως, βροτὲ ποικιλόμητι, δολόφρον. ἔστι πόλις ..... κατὰ χθονὸς Οὒρ Χαλδαίων, ἐξ ἧς δὴ γένος ἐστὶ δικαιοτάτων ἀνθρώπων, οἷσιν ἀεὶ βουλή τ᾽ ἀγαθὴ καλά τ᾽ ἔργα μέμηλεν. οὔτε γὰρ ἠελίου κύκλιον δρόμον οὔτε σελήνης οὔτε πελώρια ἔργα μεριμνῶσιν κατὰ γαίης οὕτε βάθος χαροποϊο θαλάσσης Ὠκεανοῖο, οὐ πταρμῶν σημεί᾿, οίωνοπόλων τε πετεινα, ον μάντεις, ον φαρμακονς, ον μην έπαοιδονς, οὐ μνθοιν μωρών άπάτας έγγαοτεριμνθων, οὐδέ τε Χαλδαίων τὰ προμάντια ἀστρολογονοιν οὐδἐ μεν ἀστρονομοῦσι· τὰ γὰρ πλάνα πάντα πέφνκεν, ὅσσα κεν άφρονες άνδρες έρεννώωΰι κατ ήμαρ ψνχάς γνμνάζοντες ες ονδεν χρήοιμον ἔργον· καἱ ῥα πλάνας ἐδίδαξαν ἀεικελίονς ἀνθρώπους, ἐξ ὧν δὴ κακὰ πολλὰ βροτοϊς πέλεται κατὰ γαϊαν, τοῦ πεπλανῆσθαι ὁδούς τ᾿ ἀγαθάς καϊ έργα δίκαια, οἳ δἐ μεριμνῶσίν τε δικαιοΰννην τ᾿ ἀρετήν τε, κον φιλοχρημοοννην, ήτις κακά μνρία τίκτει θνητοῖς ἀνθρώποις, πολεμον καϊ λιμόν άπειρον, τοϊσι δε μέτρα δίκαια πέλει κατ άγρονς τε πόλεις τε, οὐδὲ κατ᾿ αλλήλων ννκτοκλοπίας τελέουσιν οὐδ᾽ ἀγέλας ἐλάουσι βοῶν ὀίων τε καὶ αἰγῶν οὐδὲ ὅρους γαίης γείτων τοῦ γείτονος αἴρει οὐδὲ πολὺ πλουτῶν τις ἀνὴρ τὸν ἐλάττονα λυπεῖ,* οὐδέ γε χήρας θλίβει μᾶλλον δ᾽ αὖτε* βοηθεῖαἰεὶ ἐπαρκείων σίτῳ οἴνῳ καὶ ἐλαίῳ· αἰεὶ δ᾽ ὄλβιος ἐν δήμῳ τοῖς μηδὲν ἔχουσιν, ἀλλὰ πενιχρομένοισι, θέρους ἀπόμοιραν ἰάλλει, πληροῦντες μεγάλοιο θεοῦ φάτιν, ἔννομον ὕμνον· πᾶσι γὰρ Οὐράνιος κοινὴν ἐτελέσσατο γαῖαν.

But when the first things reach their end, at once the second will come upon mankind. And I will proclaim it to you first of all. Evil will come to pious men who dwell around the great temple of Solomon and who are the offspring of righteous men; likewise I will proclaim their tribe too, and the lineage of their fathers, and the people of them all, everything with care, O mortal of many wiles, crafty-minded. There is a city ..... on the earth, Ur of the Chaldeans, from which comes the race of the most righteous men, to whom good counsel and fine works are always a care. For they do not concern themselves with the circling course of the sun, nor of the moon, nor with monstrous portents on the earth, nor the depth of the grey-eyed sea, Ocean, nor the signs of sneezes, nor the birds of the augurs, nor seers, nor sorcerers, nor indeed enchanters, nor the deceptions of the foolish words of ventriloquists; nor do they make the Chaldaeans' astrological predictions, nor do they study the stars; for all these things are by nature deceptive, all that foolish men search into day by day, exercising their souls on no useful work; and indeed they have taught wretched men errors, from which many evils come to mortals on the earth, so that they stray from good paths and just works. But these care for righteousness and virtue, and not for love of money, which breeds countless evils for mortal men, war and boundless famine; they have just measures in country and in cities, and they do not commit thefts by night against one another, nor drive off herds of cattle, sheep and goats, nor does neighbour remove neighbour's boundary-marks of land, nor does any very rich man distress the lesser, nor oppress widows, but rather he helps them, always assisting them with grain, wine and oil; and always the man of means among the people sends a share of his harvest to those who have nothing but are in poverty, fulfilling the word of the great God, the hymn of the law; for the Heavenly One made the earth common to all.