Sibylline Oracles

Historical printed page 378

THE SIBYLLINE BOOKS. Fracmenr III, Lines 8-49 being the multitudes countless in number of the creatures of the water, (8) and He keeps alive the reptiles that move on the earth, (9) and the manifold species of winged things, twittering with clear voice, (10) brown birds with liquid trill, beating the air with outstretched wings ; (11) and in the mountain glades he has set the wild race of beasts, (12) and to us mortals he has subjected all domestic creatures. (13) He has constituted man as the Divinely appointed ruler of all, and (14) to him he has subjected every variety of things, and things that cannot be understood. (15) For what mortal flesh can know all these things? (16) Nay, none knows them save He who from the beginning has made them, (17) the incorruptible Creator, the Eternal, dwelling in the sky (18), putting before the good much greater reward of good (19) but for the evil and unjust raising up wrath and anger, (20) and war and pestilence and tearful woes. (21) Ye men, why do ye vainly exalt yourselves—to be rooted out? (22) Be ashamed of making gods of cats and beasts. (23) Does not madness and frenzy take away the sense of the mind, (24) if gods purloin dishes and carry off pots: (25) and in place of dwelling in the golden limitless sky (26) they look moth-eaten and are woven with thick spiders’ webs. (27) Ye witless folk, worshipping serpents, dogs and cats, (28) ye reverence winged creatures and animals that creep on the earth, (29) and images of stone and statues made with hands, (30) and stones piled together by the roads. These things ye reverence (31) and many other vain things which it is a shame even to mention. (32) These are gods who lead on weak-willed men by guile, (33) from whose very mouth deadly poison is poured. (34) But to Him Who is both life and death- less, endless light, (35) and who pours forth upon men gladness sweeter than (luscious) honey, (36) to Him alone bend thy neck, (37) and tinclinet thy path among the blessed lives. (38) All these things ye left and quaffed the full goblet of justice, (49) unadulterated, strong, fortified, in no wise tempered, (40) yea all of you with spirit frenzied by folly. (41) And ye will not wake to soberness and come to atemperate mind, (42) and know the King, the God Who oversees all things. (43) There- fore the gleam of blazing fire is coming upon you. (44) Yeshall be burned with torches the livelong day throughout the age, (45) being ashamed of your lying futile idols. (46) But they who honour the true and everlasting God (47) inherit life, throughout the aeonian time (48) dwelling in the fertile garden of Paradise, (49) feasting on sweet bread from the starry heaven. BOOK III (1) O thou who thunderest from on high, blessed heavenly one, who hast the Cherubim (2) as thy throne, I pray thee give me a short respite from mine unerring oracle, (3) for my soul within me is weary. (4) Nay, why did my heart again flutter, and why is my soul, (5) lashed with a spur from within, compelled to announce my message (6) to all? So again I will proclaim all (7)that God bids me proclaim unto men. 8. keeps alive. The verb ψυχοτροφεῖται is apparently found nowhere else. The middle is a little awkward, and Opsopoeus’ reading, ψυχοτροφεῖ τε (from M), is not reliable. 12. Cf. Ps. viii. 7, 8. Philo, De Ofif. Mund? 28 (the whole chapter should be read). 17-19. Quoted by Lact. De /ra De? xxii. 7, as from Erythraean Sibyl. 18, 19. Cf. Sirach xxxix. 25. 21. The question is a highly compressed one. For the thought cf. iii. 57 ff. 22. The mention of cats as objects of worship points to an Egyptian source cf. iii. 30. 25. limitless, ἀπείρονα, an emendation of Wilamowitz. 26. look moth-eaten. The phrase σητόβρωτα δέδορκε is scornfully modelled on the heroic idiom πῦρ. . . δεδορκώς (Odyss. xix. 446, &c.). The sarcasm is very effective. The deified cats pilfer savoury morsels, and the images are covered with spiders’ webs. 32. who lead on . . . by guile, δόλῳ ἡγητῆρες is Wilamowitz’s suggestion for δολοήτορες. 35. This line and the next are deficient. There is nothing to show how they should be filled up. 37. tinclinet. The verb is uncertain. MS. reading is ἀνακλινοῖ,. ΕΖ. alters to ἀνακλίνοις, but the optative is awkward after the imperative. Perhaps read dvaxaivov, ‘ renew.” 38. The metaphor of the cup is probably derived from Isa. li. 17. 45. MS. ‘being ashamed of lies in the futile idols ’. 46-48. Quoted by Lact. Div. Just. ii. 12. 19. 47. The phrase inherit life recalls Matt. xix. 29, but is not exclusively a Christian conception. Ὧν arrett ie This is probably manna, which is to be the food of the blessed. Cf. Sib. iii. 746 and 2 Baruch xxix. 8. Ill. 1-7. Introduction. The Divine compulsion. 1. The line needs emendation to make it scan. Read ὑψίβρομε, μάκαρ, οὐράνιε ὃς ἔχεις ra Χερουβίμ. The scansion goes more by accent than by strict rules, and indeed in all this section there are metrical abnormalities. 3. The Sibyl regularly represents herself as speaking under Divine compulsion, cf. infr. 1. 295. The Fathers distinguished her inspiration from that of the Hebrew prophets by its unwilling character. 378