Sibylline Oracles

Historical printed page 377

μὴ THE SIBYLLINE ORACLES FRAGMENTS (1) O ye mortal men of flesh who are nought, (2) why do ye so quickly exalt yourselves, having no eye unto life’s end? (3) Do ye not tremble at nor fear God, who overlooks you? (4) the Most High who knows, who looks on all, who witnesses all, (5) who nourishes all? the Creator who has planted his sweet Spirit in all, (6) and made him a guide to all mortals? (7) There is one God, sole Sove- reign, excellent in power, unbegotten, (8) almighty, invisible, yet seeing all himself. (9) Yet he him- self is beheld by no mortal flesh. (10) For what flesh can see visibly the heavenly and true (11) God, the Immortal, whose abode is the heaven? (12) Nay not even face to face with the sun’s rays (13) are men able to stand, being mortals, (14) mere veins and flesh wedded to bones. (15) Worship him, who is alone Prince of the World, (16) who alone exists from age to age, (17) self sprung, unbegotten, holding all in sway through all time, (18) giving to all men their testing time in the common light. (19) But of your evil counsel ye shall have the fitting reward, (20) for that forsaking the honouring of the true and eternal God, (21) and the offering to him of sacred hecatombs, (22) ye have made your sacrifices to the deities in Hades. (23) In insolence and madness ye walked, and, forsaking the straight high-road, (24) ye turned aside and were wandering through thorns (25) and stakes. Cease, vain mortals, (26) roaming in darkness and in black murky night, (27) and leave the darkness of night and take hold of the light. (28) Behold he is plain unto all and such as cannot be missed. (29) Come, pursue not ever darkness and murkiness! (30) Behold, the sweet-eyed light of the sun shines brightly forth. (31) Conceive wisdom in your hearts and have knowledge. (32) There is one God who sends rain and winds and earthquakes, (33) lightnings, famines, pestilence and sad cares, (34) and snow and hail: why should I detail them one by one? (35) He is Lord of heaven, Sovereign of earth, the one Existence. il (1) But if the gods have offspring and yet remain immortal, (2) there would have been more gods born than men, (3) nor would room have been found for mortals to stand. ill (1) But if any thing brought into being wholly perishes, God could not have been fashioned (2) from the loins of a man and from the womb. (3) But God is one, most exalted of all, who has made (4) the heaven, the sun, the stars, and the moon, (5) the fertile earth too, and the swellings of the sea-water, (6) and the lofty mountains, and perennial founts of springs. (7) Again he brings into i. The whole Fragment is preserved in Theoph. ad Au(ol. ii. 36. The first line is quoted by Clem. Al. S¢vom. iii. 3-14. The-strong monotheism of the passage is probably Jewish rather than Christian, but. Fehr (Stud. in Or. Sid., p- 16 ff.) points out its close similarity with Orphic writings. 5, 6. Cf. Wisdom xii. 1. The lines are quoted in Lact. D,v. Just. iv. 6.5 as coming from the beginning of the Erythraean Sibyl. In 6 Lact. has θεόν for βροτῶν, but this is probably a Christian alteration. 7-9. Quoted by Justin, Cok. ad Graec. 16. 10. Cf. iii. 17 ; Deut. v. 26. 12. Geffcken quotes a similar thought ascribed to Socrates in Clem. Al. Protreft. vi. 71. 14. The rendering follows the restoration of Nauck. 18. testing time, κριτήριον, is of doubtful meaning. Geffcken quotes Philo, De Ofif. Mund. 20, p. 14, in which it appears to mean ‘discrimination’. The phrase ‘common light’ is probably of Stoic origin. It recurs in iii. 494. 22. For the idea that the heathen gods are dead cf. iii. 5.45 ff., viii. 393. 28-35. Quoted in Clem. Al. Protreft. viii. 37. Line 28 is also quoted in Strom. v. 14. 116. Alexandre supposes the ‘sweet-eyed light’ to refer to Christ. But the thought is more of the actual sun declaring the glory of God. ii, The second Fragment is also found in Theophilus (ad Auz. ii. 3. 2), and is alluded to specifically in [Con- stantine’s] Or. ad sanct. coet. 4. \t appears to be closely connected with the following Fragment. iii. The Fragment is preserved in Theoph. ad Aut. ii. 36. 29. The first and the second lines are quoted in Hipp. Philos. v. 16, and in Lact, Div. Just. i. 8. 3, and alluded to in Justin, Cohort. ad Graec. 23. 6. 377