XXVII.
Then, after all these things, the heavens will not give
their dew, the clouds will not give their rain, the earth will refuse
to yield its fruits, the sea shall be filled with stench, the rivers
shall be dried up, the fish of the sea shall die, men shall perish of
hunger and thirst; and father embracing son, and mother embracing
daughter, will die together, and there will be none to bury them.
But the whole earth will be filled with the stench arising from the
dead bodies cast forth. And the sea, not receiving the floods of
the rivers, will become like mire, and will be filled with an unlimited
smell and stench. Then there will be a mighty pestilence upon the
whole earth, and then, too, inconsolable lamentation, and measureless
weeping, and unceasing mourning. Then men will deem those happy
who are dead before them, and will say to them, “Open your
sepulchres, and take us miserable beings in; open your receptacles for
the reception of your wretched kinsmen and acquaintances. Happy
are ye, in that ye have not seen our days. Happy are ye, in that
ye have not had to witness this painful life of ours, nor this
irremediable pestilence, nor these straits that possess our
souls.”