Sibylline Oracles

Historical printed page 392

THE SIBYLLINE BOOKS. Βοοκ III, Lines 754-809 shall there be any more nor drought throughout the land, (54) no famine nor hail to work havoc on the crops. (55) But there shall be a great peace throughout all the earth, (56) and king shall be friendly with king till the end (57) of the age, and a common law for men throughout all the earth (58) shall the Eternal perfect in the starry heaven (59) for all those things which have been wrought by miserable mortals. (60) For He above is God and there is none else. (61) He too shall burn with fire the race of stubborn men. (62) But consecrate your minds within your breasts, (63) and eschew unlawful service: serve the Living Ged. (64) Shun adultery and confused intercourse with males. (65) Rear thine own offspring and slay it not: (66) for the Eternal will surely be wroth with him who commits these sins. (67) And then indeed he will raise up his kingdom for all ages (68) over men, he who once gave a holy law (69) to godly men, to all of whom He promised to open out the earth (70) and the world, and the portals of the blessed, and all joys, (71) and everlasting sense and eternal gladness, (72) And from every land they shall bring frankincense and gifts to the house (73) of the great God: and there shall be no other (74) house for men even in future generations to know (75) but only that which He has given to faithful men to honour. (76) For mortals call that alone (the house) of the great God. (77) And all the paths of the plain and the sheer banks, (78) and the lofty mountains and the wild sea waves (79) shall become easy to travel over by foot or sail in those days. (80) For nought but peace shall come upon the land of the good: (81) and the prophets of the Mighty God shall take away the sword. (82) For they are the judges of mortal men and just kings. (83) Even wealth shall be righteous among men: (84) for this is the judgement and the rule of the Mighty God. (85) Rejoice, O virgin, and exult : for to thee (86) the Creator of heaven and earth has given ever- lasting joy. (87) And in thee shall he dwell, and thou shalt have eternal light. (88) And wolves and lambs together shall crop grass upon the mountains, (89) and leopards shall feed with kids. (90) Prowling bears shall lie with calves, (91) and the carnivorous lion shall eat hay in the manger (92) like the ox, and the tiniest infants shall lead them in bonds, (93) for He shall make the beasts upon the earth incapable of harm. (94) Serpents and asps shall sleep with babes, (95) and shall not harm them: for God’s hand shall be stretched over them. (96) Now I will tell thee a very evident sign, that thou mayst understand (97) when the end of all things is coming on the earth. (98) When swords in the star-lit heaven (99) appear by night towards dusk and towards dawn, (800) and straightway dust is carried from heaven (801) }to earth, and all the brightness of the sun (802) fails at midday from the heavens}, and the moon’s (803) rays shine forth and come back to earth, (804) and a sign comes from the rocks with dripping streams of blood: (805) and in a cloud ye shall see a battle of foot and horse, (806) as a hunt of wild beasts, like unto misty clouds. (807) This is the consummation of war which God, whose dwelling is in heaven, is bringing to pass. (808) But all must sacrifice to the Mighty king. (809) These are the acts of the wrath of God which I, leaving the far-off walls of Assyrian Babylon 761. race. Another reading is ‘might’ (γένος Ψ, μένος Φ). 762-6. An exhortation to right living. The lines interrupt, and are possibly out of place. 762. consecrate your minds. Reading uncertain. MSS. ‘hastening my mind’ (κατασπεύσαντες ἐμὰς φρένας). The simplest emendation is, as above, κατασπείσαντες éds. 767-84. Further description of the Messianic kingdom. The passage may refer to the eternal condition of the godly, for the Messianic kingdom on earth was not regarded as permanent ; contrast 767-8. 772. For the offerings of the converted heathen to the Temple, cf. Isa. Ix; Tobit xiii. 11; 1 En. xc. 33, 37. 773-4. Perhaps a reference to the destruction of the Temple on Mount Gerizim, by John Hyrcanus. 775. but only that which. Lact. Div. Jus¢. iv. 6. 5 reads ἄλλον for ἀλλ᾽ ὅν, ‘God gave Another to faithful men to honour’, and supposes a reference to the Son of God. to faithful men. MSS. have πιστὸν ἄνδρα instead of πιστοῖς ἄνδρεσσι. 776. MSS. have ‘for mortals call him the son of the Mighty God’. For ‘son’ (υἱόν) it is proposed to read ‘temple’ (ναόν). It is simpler to read ‘alone’ (οἷον. So Mendelssohn. Gfrérer, Hilgenfeld and Fehr regard the line as an interpolation. 777. For the smoothing away of the difficulties of nature cf. Isa. xi. 15, 16, xl. 3; Pss. Sol. xi. 5 f. 781. For the part assigned to the prophets cf. 1 Macc. xiv. 41. 785 ff. Cf. Zech. ii. 10; Isa. liv. 1. 788 ff. Cf. Isa. xi. 6. Virg. Zc/. iv. 17, 21 f.; Lactantius quotes 788-01, 794 as from the Erythraean Sibyl. 794. and asps, an emendation of the MS. reading ἅμα σφισι, ‘ with themselves.’ 796-808. The signs that are to herald the end. Compare the signs related in 2 Macc. v. 1-4 as preceding the invasion of Egypt by Afttiochus Epiphanes, and in Josephus, 8. /. vi. 5 as presaging the fall of Jerusalem. 801. The line is defective and emendations can only be conjectural. 805. Cf. Tac. “2151. v. 13 ‘visae per coelum concurrere acies’. 807. the consummation of war. Reading again uncertain. Perhaps ‘the end of all things’, τοῦτο τέλος πάντων τελέει Θεός. So Rzach from 797. 809-29. Epilogue and credentials. Lact. expressly assigns 809-18 to the Erythraean Sibyl, who, as he says, claims to have been born at Babylon. But it is not easy to see why the Erythraean Sibyl should come from Babylon, and it has been suggested that the 392 EE | μι... νμνευ ιν νι...