Dead Hercules bids us believe
The bard, that not for any man
The fates reweave the broken web;
And that all things which have been born, 1100
And shall be, are but born to die.
When to the world the day shall come
On which the reign of law shall cease,
Then shall the southern heavens fall,
And overwhelm broad Africa 1105
With all her tribes; the northern skies
Shall fall upon those barren plains
Where sweep the blasts of Boreas.
Then from the shattered heaven the sun
Shall fall, and day shall be no more. 1110
The palace of the heavenly ones
Shall sink in ruins, dragging down
The east and western skies. Then death
And chaos shall o'erwhelm the gods 1115
In common ruin; and at last,
When all things else have been destroyed,
Death shall bring death unto itself.
Where shall the earth find haven then?
Will hades open wide her doors
To let the shattered heavens in? 1120
Or is the space 'twixt heaven and earth
Not great enough (perchance too great)
For all the evils of the world?
What place is great enough to hold
Such monstrous ills of fate?[1] What place
Will hold the gods? Shall one place then 1125
Contain three kingdoms—sea and sky
And Tartara?—
But what outrageous clamor this
That fills our frightened ears? Behold,
It is the voice of Hercules. 1130
- ↑ Reading, fati.
