11. But afterwards they saw also a new race of birds, When, led on by desire, they asked for luxurious dainties;
12. For, to solace them, there came up for them quails from the sea.
13. And upon the sinners came the punishments Not without the tokens that were given beforehand by the force of the thunders; For justly did they suffer through their own wickednesses, For grievous indeed was the hatred which they practised toward guests.
14. For whereas the men of Sodom received not the strangers when they came among them; The Egyptians made slaves of guests who were their benefactors.
15. And not only so, but God shall visit the men of Sodom after another sort, Since they received as enemies them that were aliens;
16. Whereas these first welcomed with feastings, And then afflicted with dreadful toils, Them that had already shared with them in the same rights.
17. And moreover they were stricken with loss of sight (Even as were those others at the righteous man’s doors), When, being compassed about with yawning darkness, They sought every one the passage through his own door.
18. For as the notes of a lute vary the character of the rhythm, Even so did the elements, changing their order one with another, Continuing always the same, each in its several sound; As may clearly be divined from the sight of the things that are come to pass.
19. For creatures of the dry land were turned into creatures of the waters, And creatures that swim trode now upon the earth:
20. Fire kept the mastery of its own power in the midst of water, And water forgat its quenching nature:
21. Contrariwise, flames wasted not the flesh of perishable creatures that walked among them; Neither melted they the ice-like grains of ambrosial food, that were of nature apt to melt.