The Prophecies

by Nostradamus

  2.49

  The counselors of the oldest of leagues

  With nothing but Malta now on their mind,

  Leaving Rhodes & Byzantium behind,

  Shall lose their land, pursued by enemies.

  2.50

  When the folk of Ghent, Brussels & Hainaut

  Witness the siege that’s laid upon Langres,

  Fierce combat shall erupt behind their flanks :

  Age-old plague harder on them than their foes.

  2.51

  No blood of the just shall be spilled in London :

  Six times twenty-three consumed by lightning :

  The ancient dame shall fall from high station :

  Many of the same sect shall lose their lives.

  2.52

  For several nights the earth shall heave & quake :

  Come the spring two further shocks shall follow :

  Corinth, Ephesus in two seas shall wallow :

  Two brave warriors shall enter the fray.

  2.53

  The mighty plague in the city by the sea

  Shall not end until the death is avenged

  Of innocent blood unjustly condemned :

  The great dame outraged by the knavery.

  2.54

  A foreign nation far removed from Rome

  Their great city by the sea shall afflict :

  A girl sans hand : his fief being opposed,

  The chief shall be seized, his locks left unpicked.

  2.55

  The great lord who did not excel in war

  Shall in the end commit a deed most fine :

  While Adria tends to its needs, at the feast

  He shall stab the one who’s bursting with pride.

  2.56

  He whom neither plague nor sword could lay low

  Found dead in the well, thunderstruck from on high :

  The abbot shall die when he sees the crew

  Shipwrecked on the reef, grasping for their lives.

  2.57

  Before the battle the great wall shall fall :

  The lord’s untimely death they shall deplore :

  A birth deformed : most swim for it & drown :

  Beside the river, the earth stained with gore.

  2.58

  Sans foot or hand & sharp & strong of tooth,

  Born of ram & sow, with a glob for a face :

  The traitor sidles toward the gate : the moon

  Shines : led away are the small & the great.

  2.59

  Gallic fleet fortified by great La Garde,

  This great Neptune & his trident sailors :

  Provence gnawed to the bone to feed the horde :

  Many spears & darts harm Narbonne of Mars.

  2.60

  The Punic pact now broken in the East,

  Ganges, Indus, Rhône, Loire, Tagus shall change :

  When the mule has no more desire to eat,

  Fleet dispersed, blood & bodies on the waves.

  2.61

  The Thames swells La Rochelle & the Gironde :

  O Trojan blood ! Mars at the port of La Flèche :

  Beyond the river, ladder leaned on fort,

  Harquebuses wrecking havoc in the breach.

  2.62

  So Mabus soon shall die & there shall be

  A massacre befalling man & beast :

  Suddenly the vengeance shall be seen,

  Sans hand, thirst, hunger, when the comet streaks.

  2.63

  Ausonia shall not fully fall to Gaul :

  Parma shall slaughter Po & Seine & Marne

  And against them shall raise a mighty wall

  Where the great one shall be felled by the small.

  2.64

  The Genevans parched with hunger & thirst,

  Their hopes for help looking ever more bleak :

  This shall strike fear into the Cévennes sect :

  The great port refuses entrance to the fleet.

  2.65

  Arctic pole shall provoke calamities

  Throughout Hesperia and Insubria :

  Lightning striking ships, plague & captivity,

  Mercury in Sag., Saturn at his scythe.

  2.66

  Amid great risks the captive breaking free,

  A change of fortune soon afflicts the chief,

  By his own people in his palace seized :

  Fortunately, the city is besieged.

  2.67

  In a duel the blond one shall come to blows

  With the forked nose & throw him out of doors :

  He shall invite all the exiles back home,

  Committing the strongest to guard the ports.

  2.68

  The northern army shall be great in size,

  The door to the Ocean shall open wide :

  The throne shall be recovered on the isle,

  London tremble when the sails are espied.

  2.69

  The Gallic king with his Celtic right arm,

  Seeing discord in the great Monarchy,

  Shall plant his scepter over the three parts,

  Against the cope of the great Hierarchy.

  2.70

  The spear of the sky shall streak far & wide :

  Many executed, talking as they die :

  Stone striking tree : proud people on its knees :

  Man-beast monster born : purge & purify.

  2.71

  To Sicily the exiles shall make their way

  To rescue the foreigners from famine :

  Come dawn, by the Celts these shall be betrayed :

  Lives are spared, king at last seeing reason.

  2.72

  Beset from every side in Italy

  The Celtic host shall suffer great defeat :

  Flee the Romans, O Gaul now in retreat!

  Near Ticino, Rubicon, no victory.

  2.73

  Lake Fucino shall take Lake Garda’s shore

  As Port’Ercole shall take Lake Leman :

  Three-armed child predicts images of war

  Three crowns wage against great Endymion.

  2.74

  From Sens & Autun they shall reach the Rhône

  And cross beyond into the Pyrenees :

  The folk from the Marches of Ancona

  Shall chase them in great leaps by land & sea.

  2.75

  The voice of the fabulous bird

  Is heard upon the chimney flue :

  Wheat bushel’s price shall rise so high

  That man to man shall become food.

  2.76

  Thunder in Burgundy, prodigious omen,

  Confusion such as craft could never sow :

  In their senate the clubfooted sexton

  Shall make the affair known to the foes.

  2.77

  Beaten back by bows, burning pitch & fire,

  Toward midnight the sound of howls & screams :

  Through the ramparts’ breeches they pass in file :

  Traitors tunnel underground in retreat.

  2.78

  This mighty Neptune issued from the sea,

  The blood of Gaul crossed with the Punic breed :

  Bloodbath on the Isles : his sailing so late

  Does him more harm than poorly masked intrigue.

  2.79

  The beard so black & curly shall by ruse

  Subjugate the nation so proud & cruel :

  Great CHYREN shall free captives from cesspools

  Beneath the banner of the crescent Moon.

  2.80

  After battle, the losers’ eloquence

  Weaves a brief moment of pretended truce :

  The ransoming of nobles is refused :

  Foes to be dealt with according to rules.

  2.81

  The city almost burned down by lightning,

  The Urn threatens another Deucalion :

  In Sardinia Punic ships shall be fighting,

  After Libra liberates its Phaëthon.

 
; 2.82

  The hungry wolf shall be seized by his prey,

  The assailant fall into great disarray,

  The monster child be born backwards faced,

  The lord unable to flee from the fray.

  2.83

  The rich trade of great Lyon in decline,

  Most return to their penury of old

  As troops maraud, plundering left & right,

  Down from Jura & Swabia, mist enfolds.

  2.84

  Campania, Siena, Florence, Tuscany,

  For six months nine days not a drop of rain :

  Foreign speakers shall rush into the fray

  In Dalmatia, laying all the lands to waste.

  2.85

  The full-bearded old man with laws severe

  At Lyon the Celtic Eagle shall best :

  The small, great too eager to persevere :

  Sword-clang in sky : Ligustic sea blood-red.

  2.86

  Fleet shipwrecked near the Adriatic sea :

  Earth tossed into air, falling back to land :

  Egypt trembling at Islam’s swift increase :

  The herald dispatched, surrender in hand.

  2.87

  German prince shall later come from regions

  Most remote to take up the golden throne :

  Bondage remarked among his loyal legions :

  As for the lady slave, her days were short.

  2.88

  The lord shall ride over his foes roughshod :

  The seventh name of the fifth one shall stand

  One third greater: the warlord from abroad

  Shall not spare Paris, Aix his battering ram.

  2.89

  The two great masters shall make their way free :

  Their great power shall be seen to increase :

  They’ll count the sums that from new lands accrue

  For the bloody prince in his tower rooms.

  2.90

  Life & death changing Hungary’s regime,

  The law far harsher than mere loyalty :

  Their capital shall ring with howls, pleas, screams :

  Castor Pollux in the lists as enemies.

  2.91

  At dawn a great ball of fire shall appear,

  So loud & bright as it rolls to the North :

  In its burning globe screams of death they’ll hear :

  Witnesses dying by fire, hunger, sword.

  2.92

  A golden flame from sky to earth is seen :

  Struck from on high : a newborn babe amazes :

  Major massacres : the lord’s nephew seized :

  Deaths at the theater : the proud one flees.

  2.93

  Libitina falls hard upon Tiber :

  Somewhat before the great inundation :

  The ship captain is seized, thrown in the hole :

  Castle, palace in conflagration.

  2.94

  Gaul shall wreak much woe on the MIGHTY PO,

  Vain terror seize the Lion of the seas :

  Across the waters multitudes shall flee,

  Quarter million unable to get free.

  2.95

  Deserted lands that were once filled with life,

  The fields now reapportioned left & right :

  Kingdoms handed over to timid fools,

  Noble brothers engaged in deadly duels.

  2.96

  In the night sky a flaming torch espied

  Near to the mouth & the source of the Rhône :

  Famine & sword : the help late to arrive :

  Persia returns to invade Macedone.

  2.97

  Pontiff of Rome, beware of approaching

  The city where the two rivers pool :

  You shall come to spit up your blood here,

  You & yours, when the rose is in bloom.

  2.98

  He whose face is spattered by the blood spilled

  By the sacrificial victim nearby,

  With Jupiter in Leo boding ill,

  Shall be put to death for the future bride.

  2.99

  The Roman lands marked out by the augur

  Shall be sorely vexed by the race of Gaul :

  But this Celtic nation shall fear the hour

  Boreas blows its boats off course with squalls.

  2.100

  With the islands in such awful uproar,

  All one shall hear are the boastings of war :

  So great shall the insults of pirates be

  One shall cast one’s lot with the mighty league.

  __________

  CENTURIE II

  2.1

  Vers Aquitaine par insults Britanniques,

  Et par eux mesmes grandes incursions :

  Pluyes, gelées feront terroirs iniques,

  Port Selyn fortes fera invasions.

  2.2

  La teste blue fera la teste blanche,

  Autant de mal que France a faict leur bien :

  Mort à l’anthene grand pendu sus la branche,

  Quand prins des siens le Roy dira combien.

  2.3

  Pour la chaleur solaire sus la mer

  De Negrepont les poissons demis cuits :

  Les habitans les viendront entamer,

  Quand Rhod. & Gennes leur faudra le biscuit.

  2.4

  Depuis Monech jusque auprès de Sicile,

  Toute la plage demourra desolée :

  Il n’y aura fauxbourg, cité, ne ville,

  Que par Barbares pillée soit & vollée.

  2.5

  Quand dans prison fer & lettre enfermée,

  Hors sortira qui puis fera la guerre,

  Aura par mer sa classe bien ramée,

  Apparoissant près de Latine terre.

  2.6

  Auprès des portes & dedans deux cités,

  Seront deux fleaux : oncques n’aperceu un tel :

  Faim, dedans peste, de fer hors gens boutés,

  Crier secours au grand Dieu immortel.

  2.7

  Entre plusieurs aux isles deportés,

  L’un estre nay à deux dents en la gorge :

  Mourront de faim les arbres esbrotés :

  Pour eux neuf Roy nouvel edict leur forge.

  2.8

  Temples sacrés prime façon Romaine,

  Rejecteront les goffes fondements,

  Prenant leurs loix premieres & humaines,

  Chassant, non tout des sainctz les cultements.

  2.9

  Neuf ans le regne le maigre en paix tiendra,

  Puis il cherra en soif si sanguinaire :

  Pour luy grand peuple sans foy & loy mourra,

  Tué par un beaucoup plus debonnaire.

  2.10

  Avant long temps le tout sera rangé:

  Nous esperons un siecle bien senestre :

  L’estat des marques & des scelz bien changé:

  Peu trouveront qu’à son rang vueille estre.

  2.11

  Le prochain filz de l’aisnier parviendra,

  Tant eslevé jusque au regne des fors :

  Son aspre gloire un chascun la craindra,

  Mais ses enfantz du regne gettés hors.

  2.12

  Yeux clos, ouverts d’antique fantasie,

  L’habit des seulz seront mis à neant :

  Le grand monarque chastier leur frenaisie,

  Ravir des temples le tresor par devant.

  2.13

  Le corps sans ame plus n’estre en sacrifice.

  Jour de la mort mise en nativité,

  L’esprit divin fera l’ame felice,

  Voyant le verbe en son eternité.

  2.14

  A Tour Jean gardes seront yeulx penetrans,

  Descouriront de loing la grand sereine :

  Elle & sa suitte au port seront entrant :

  Combats poulsez : puissance souveraine.

  2.15

  Un peu devant monarque trucidé,

  Castor, Pollux en nef, astre crinite :


  L’erain public par terre & mer vuidé:

  Pise, Ast, Ferrare, Turin, Terre interdicte.

  2.16

  Naples, Palerme, Sicille, Syracuses,

  Nouveaux tyrans, fulgures feux celestes :

  Force de Londres, Gand, Bruxelles, & Suses,

  Grand hecatombe, triomphe faire festes.

  2.17

  Le camp du temple de la vierge vestale,

  Non esloigné d’Elne & monts Pyrenées,

  Le grand conduict est caché dans la male :

  North gelés fleuves & vignes mastinées.

  2.18

  Nouvelle pluie subite impetueuse,

  Empeschera subit deux exercites :

  Pierre ciel, feux faire la mer pierreuse :

  La mort de sept terre & marin subites.

  2.19

  Nouveaux venus lieu basty sans defence,

  Occuper place par lors inhabitable :

  Prez, maisons, champs, villes, prendre à plaisance :

  Faim, peste, guerre : arpen long labourable.

  2.20

  Freres & seurs en divers lieux captifz

  Se trouveront passer près du monarque :

  Les contempler ses rameaux ententifz,

  Desplaisant voir menton, front, nez, les marques.

  2.21

  L’ambassadeur envoyé par biremes,

  A my chemin d’incongneuz repoulsés :

  De tel renfort viendront quatre triremes :

  Cordes & chaines en Negrepont troussés.

  2.22

  Le camp Asop d’Eurotte partira,

  S’adjoignant proche de l’isle submergée :

  D’artimon classe phalange pliera,

  Nombril du monde plus grand voix subrogée.

  2.23

  Palais, oyseaux par oyseau dechassé,

  Bien tost après le prince, prevenu,

  Combien qu’hors fleuve ennemi repoulsé,

  Dehors saisi trait d’oyseau soustenu.

  2.24

  Bestes farouches de faim fleuves tranner :