Out upon thee, city of blood, full fed with treason and rapine, yet still at prey!

Væ civitas sanguinum, universa mendacii dilaceratione plena! non recedet a te rapina.

Woe to thee, O city of blood, all full of lies and violence: rapine shall not depart from thee.

What sounds are these? Crack of whip, whirring of wheels, beat of horse-hoof, rattle of chariot. Mounts horseman,

Vox flagelli, et vox impetus rotæ, et equi frementis, et quadrigæ ferventis, et equitis ascendentis,

The noise of the whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the neighing horse, and of the running chariot, and of the horsemen coming up,

flash like lightning sword and spear; what carnage! How cumbered the earth with slain! Dead bodies past counting; the living stumble over the dead.

et micantis gladii, et fulgurantis hastæ, et multitudinis interfectæ, et gravis ruinæ; nec est finis cadaverum, et corruent in corporibus suis.

And of the shining sword, and of the glittering spear, and of a multitude slain, and of a grievous destruction: and there is no end of carcasses, and they shall fall down on their dead bodies.

Harlot so unwearied in thy harlot’s ways, so fair, so full of witchery, too long hast thou betrayed a nation here, a tribe there, with sorcery of thine, harlotry of thine;

Propter multitudinem fornicationum meretricis speciosæ, et gratæ, et habentis maleficia, quæ vendidit gentes in fornicationibus suis, et familias in maleficiis suis.

Because of the multitude of the fornications of the harlot that was beautiful and agreeable, and that made use of witchcraft, that sold nations through her fornications, and families through her witchcrafts.

and now I will be even with thee, says the Lord God of hosts. I mean to set thy skirts flying about thy ears, and lay bare the naked shame of thee, for all the kingdoms of the world to see;

Ecce ego ad te, dicit Dominus exercituum, et revelabo pudenda tua in facie tua; et ostendam gentibus nuditatem tuam, et regnis ignominiam tuam.

Behold I come against thee, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will discover thy shame to thy face, and will shew thy nakedness to the nations, and thy shame to kingdoms.

pelted thou shalt be with things abominable, and foully bemocked; such a public show I will make of thee,

Et projiciam super te abominationes, et contumeliis te afficiam, et ponam te in exemplum.

And I will cast abominations upon thee, and will disgrace thee, and will make an example of thee.

passer-by will be fain to shun thee; Nineve fallen, says he, and never a tear! Search where I will, never a friend to comfort thee!

Et erit: omnis qui viderit te resiliet a te, et dicet: Vastata est Ninive. Quis commovebit super te caput? unde quæram consolatorem tibi?

And it shall come to pass that every one that shall see thee, shall flee from thee, and shall say: Ninive is laid waste: who shall bemoan thee? whence shall Iseek a comforter for thee?

Here was another city, No-Ammon, fair as thyself; she too was built on the river-side, water all about her; the sea her mart, the sea her defences.

Numquid melior es Alexandria populorum, quæ habitat in fluminibus? aquæ in circuitu ejus; cujus divitiæ, mare; aquæ, muri ejus.

Art thou better than the populous Alexandria, that dwelleth among therivers? waters are round about it: the sea is its riches, the waters are its walls.

Hers the Ethiop land, hers was Egypt; wanted there strength yet, African and Libyan were at her side;

Æthiopia fortitudo ejus, et Ægyptus, et non est finis; Africa et Libyes fuerunt in auxilio tuo.

Ethiopia and Egypt were the strength thereof, and there is no end: Africa and the Libyans were thy helpers.

yet thy fate was hers, exile, and captivity, and children at every street’s turning dashed to death; honour and rank condemned to the lot’s mercy, and the chain’s grip!

Sed et ipsa in transmigrationem ducta est in captivitatem: parvuli ejus elisi sunt in capite omnium viarum, et super inclytos ejus miserunt sortem, et omnes optimates ejus confixi sunt in compedibus.

Yet she also was removed and carried into captivity: her young children were dashed in pieces at the top of every street, and they cast lots upon her nobles, and all her great men were bound in fetters.

Bemused and helpless with fear, looking about for succour against the invader, so she was, so thou shalt be.

Et tu ergo inebriaberis, et eris despecta: et tu quæres auxilium ab inimico.

Therefore thou also shalt be made drunk, and shalt be despised: and thou shalt seek help from the enemy.

At a touch thy bastions shall fall, like ripe figs that drop into the eater’s mouth, soon as tree is shaken;

Omnes munitiones tuæ sicut ficus cum grossis suis: si concussæ fuerint, cadent in os comedentis.

All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with their green figs: if they be shaken, they shall fall into the mouth of the eater.

woman-hearted the defenders, the gates wide open to the enemy’s onrush, touchwood the bars of them.

Ecce populus tuus mulieres in medio tui: inimicis tuis adapertione pandentur portæ terræ tuæ, devorabit ignis vectes tuos.

Behold thy people in the midst of thee are women: the gates of thy land shall be set wide open to thy enemies, the fire shall devour thy bars.

Water, there, water for a siege! Raise the battlements higher yet! Down to the clay-pit with thee, tread the mortar, put thy hand to the brick-mould!

Aquam propter obsidionem hauri tibi: exstrue munitiones tuas, intra in lutum, et calca, subigens tene laterem.

Draw thee water for the siege, build up thy bulwarks: go into the clay, and tread, work it and make brick.

Fire shall consume thee none the less, the sword cut thee off, hungry as locust to devour.Thrive thou as locust thrives or grasshopper,

Ibi comedet te ignis, peribis gladio, devorabit te ut bruchus: congregare ut bruchus, multiplicare ut locusta.

There shall the fire devour thee: thou shalt perish by the sword, it shall devour thee like the bruchus: assemble together like the bruchus, make thyself many like the locust.

ay, let thy enterprises outnumber the stars in heaven, what avails it? Early hatches locust, early flies away.

Plures fecisti negotiationes tuas quam stellæ sint cæli; bruchus expansus est, et avolavit.

Thou hast multiplied thy merchandises above the stars of heaven: the bruchus hath spread himself and flown away.

Forgotten, the high lords, forgotten, the princelings, as they had been locusts, and brood of locusts, that cling to yonder hedge-row in the chill of morning, and are gone, once the sun is up, who knows whither?

Custodes tui quasi locustæ, et parvuli tui quasi locustæ locustarum, quæ considunt in sepibus in die frigoris: sol ortus est, et avolaverunt, et non est cognitus locus earum ubi fuerint.

Thy guards are like the locusts: and thy little ones like the locusts of locusts which swarm on the hedges in the day of cold: the sun arose, and they flew away, and their place was not known where they were.

Gone to their rest thy marshals, king of Assyria; thy vassals lie silent in the dust; out on the hills the common folk take refuge, with none to muster them.

Dormitaverunt pastores tui, rex Assur, sepelientur principes tui: latitavit populus tuus in montibus, et non est qui congreget.

Thy shepherds have slumbered, O king of Assyria, thy princes shall be buried: thy people are hid in the mountains, and there is none to gather themtogether.

Wound of thine there is no hiding, hurt of thine is grievous; nor any shall hear the tidings of it but shall clap their hands over thee, so long thy tyrannous yoke has rested on so many.

Non est obscura contritio tua; pessima est plaga tua. Omnes qui audierunt auditionem tuam compresserunt manum super te: quia super quem non transiit malitia tua semper?

Thy destruction is not hidden, thy wound is grievous: all that have heard the fame of thee, have clapped their hands over thee: for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?