Lactantius, Divine Institutes 7.24

I now append the rest. The Son of the highest and greatest God will come to judge the living and the dead, as the Sibyl testifies and declares: there shall be a mingling of mortals across the whole earth when the Almighty Himself arrives to judge the souls of the living and the dead and the entire world. After He has destroyed injustice, executed the great judgment, and restored to life the just who existed from the beginning, He will dwell among men for a thousand years and govern them with the most just rule. Another Sibyl, prophesying in ecstatic frenzy, proclaims: "Listen to me, mortals; the Eternal King reigns." Then those who are alive in their bodies will not die; instead, throughout those same thousand years they will produce an innumerable multitude, and their offspring will be holy and dear to God. Those raised from the underworld, however, will preside over the living as judges. The nations will not be utterly exterminated; some will be spared for God's victory, so that the just may triumph over them and reduce them to perpetual servitude. At the same time the prince of demons, the author of all evils, will be bound in chains and held in custody for a thousand years of the heavenly reign, so that justice may rule on earth and he may plot no evil against God's people. After His coming the just will be gathered from every land, and when judgment is complete the holy city will be established in the middle of the earth, where the Founder God Himself will dwell with the just who reign. The Sibyl identifies this city when she says: "The city that God desired, He made brighter than the stars, the sun, and the moon." Then the darkness that veils the world and obscures heaven will be removed; the moon will receive the sun's brightness and wane no more, while the sun will become seven times brighter than it is now. The earth will unlock its fertility and yield most abundant crops of its own accord; mountain rocks will sweat honey, wine will run through the streams, and rivers will overflow with milk. The world itself will rejoice, and all nature will be glad, snatched free from the dominion of evil, impiety, crime, and error. During this time no beast will be nourished by blood, no bird by prey; all will be quiet and peaceful. Lions and calves will stand together at the manger; the wolf will not seize the sheep, the dog will not hunt, hawks and eagles will not harm, and an infant will play with serpents. At last those things will happen which the poets claimed occurred in the golden age under Saturn's reign. Their error arose because the prophets of future events set forth and declare most things as if already accomplished. Visions were presented to their eyes by the divine Spirit, and they saw those things in their sight as if happening and being completed. When these prophecies gradually spread by report, the profane, ignorant of the mystery and not knowing how they were spoken, supposed all those things had already been fulfilled in ancient ages—things which could not possibly be fulfilled while man was ruling. But when impious religions have been destroyed and wickedness suppressed, the earth will be subject to God; the sea also will yield, ships will not change their cargo, and the earth will produce all things. The soil will not endure the hoe, the vine will not endure the sickle; even the sturdy plowman will unyoke his oxen. Then the field will gradually turn golden with soft grain, the uncultivated vine will hang red with grapes, and hard oaks will sweat dewy honey. Wool will not learn to feign varied colors; the ram itself will change its fleece in the meadows, now to a sweet purple-red, now to saffron-yellow; lambs will be clothed with their own sandyx as they graze. She-goats will return home with udders distended with milk, and flocks will not fear great lions. The poet spoke these things following the songs of the Cumaean Sibyl. The Erythraean Sibyl says likewise: "Wolves and lambs will eat grass together on the mountains; leopards will graze with kids; bears will be together with calves and all mortals; the flesh-eating lion will eat straw beside the manger; dragons will sleep with infants and shields." In another place concerning the fertility of creation: "Then indeed God will give great joy to men. For earth, trees, and the untamed animals of the earth will yield true fruit to men: wine, sweet honey, white milk, and wheat—which is the fairest of all things for mortals." And another in the same strain: "The holy earth of the pious alone will bring forth all these things; a stream of honey-dripping water will flow from the rock and the spring, and the milk of ambrosia will flow to all the just." Men will therefore live a most tranquil and abundant life and reign with God as equals. Kings of the nations will come from the ends of the earth with gifts and offerings to adore and honor the great King, whose name will be famous and venerable to all nations under heaven and to the kings who rule on earth.