Sibylline Oracles

Historical printed page 393

—— τὰ δ, δὰ πόμώ μμδὲ ee eal . i THE SIBYLLINE BOOKS. Boox III, Ling 810—IV, 27 (10) impelled by frenzy, and coming as a fire launched forth against Hellas, (11) am proclaiming unto all mankind, (12) so as to proclaim unto mortals the mysteries of God. (13) And mortals throughout Greece shall call me a stranger of another land, (14) born of Erythrae and shameless. Others shall call me, born of my mother Circe (15) and my father Gnostos, the Sibyl, (16) a crazy impostor. But when all these things come to pass, (17) then ye shall make mention of me, and no man any more (18) shall call me crazy, the prophetess of the Mighty God. (19) For he did not reveal to me those things which before he revealed to my parents, (20) but all those things which happened first of all God hath (not) detailed to me, (21) but of the later things God hath put all in my understanding, (22) so that I may proclaim the things that shall be and that were before (23) and tell them to mortal men. For when the world was being swallowed up (24) by the waters, and one man only who found favour was left, (25) floating on the waters in a dwelling of hewn wood, (26) with beasts and birds, that the world might be replenished again: (27) his daughter-in-law was I, and of his blood I came, (28) to whom the first things happened: and now the latter things have all been told. (29) So let all these things be accounted true that are spoken of my mouth. BOOK IV (1) Hear, O ye people of vaunting Asia and Europe, (2) what prophetic strains of truth I purpose to pour forth, through the honied speech of my mouth from our shrine. (4) No oracle-monger I of a false Phoebus whom vain (5) men have called a god and falsely termed a seer; (6) but the prophetess of the mighty God whom men’s hands fashioned not, (7) like to dumb idols of polished stones. (8) For He has not as His habitation a stone set up in a temple, (9) dumb and helpless, a bugbear of many woes to mortals. (10) But He is one whom none can see from earth, nor measure (11) with mortal eyes, seeing He was not fashioned by mortal hand. (12) With all-embracing view He beholds all, yet Himself is seen by none. (13) His is the murky night and day, the sun, (14) the stars and moon, and sea the haunt of fish; (15) and land and rivers and the source of perennial streams, (16) creatures ordained for sustaining life and showers that cause the cornfield fruit to grow, (17) and trees and vines and olive trees. (18) He has driven a goad right through my heart (19) to tell out exactly all that is happening to men now and all that is to happen, (20) reaching from the first generation to the tenth. (21) For He shall vindicate all (22) by bringing it to pass. But do thou, O people, hearken in all things to the Sibyl (23) as she pours forth true speech from holy mouth. (24) Happy shall those men be throughout the earth who shall truly love the Mighty God, blessing Him (26) before eating and drinking, staunch in their godliness. (27) Who, when they see them, shall sae of the Babylonian Sibyl has been purposely omitted and some lines from the Erythraean added without careful justment. 811. The sentence lacks a verb. Instead of ‘ mortals’ (θνητοῖς) it is proposed to read ‘I show’ (φαίνω). After this line some MSS. showa gap. It is suggested that it contained the name Sambethe, who, according to Justin, Cohort. 37, was the daughter of Berossus the historian. ise According to Virg. Aen. vi. 36, Deiphove, the Cumaean Sibyl, is the daughter of Glaucus, and possibly of irce. 819. Compare Plutarch’s account of the Sibyl (De Pyth. Or. vii). 819-29. These lines are not referred to by Lact., and Alex. regards them as spurious. 819. for he did not reveal to me. MSS. read ‘for he will not reveal to me’ (δηλώσει). For οὐ Rzach reads és. 823. Suidas represents the Chaldaean Sibyl as a descendant of Noah, and says she prophesied about the time ot Alexander the Great. Epiph. adv. Haer. 26. § 8 says the Gnostics attributed certain books to Noria the wife of Noah. Tatian, on the other hand (Oratz. c. Graec. 41), says that the Sibyl was not older than Moses. IV. 1-24. The Sibyl claims to be the prophetess of the true, invisible, and almighty God. 1. Hear, κλῦτε. Most MSS. have ‘weep’ (kAaie). 2. shrine (μεγάροιο). Mendelssohn’s emendation for ‘ great ’ (μεγάλοιο) agreeing with ‘mouth’. 4. Cf. v. 326. Lines 4-7 are quoted in Clem. Al. Protr. iv. 50. 8. set up in a temple (ἱδρυνθέντα)ῆ. There is a variant ‘dragged to a temple’ (ἑλκυσθέντα). habitation (οἶκον). Buresch would read ‘likeness’ (εἰκόν᾽), but the fem. gender of this word would cause a difficulty. The writer appears to condemn the ancient Semitic idea of sacred stones as the dwelling-place of a god. 9. helpless (νωθρόν), an emendation for ‘toothless’ (νωδόν). 11. The end of the line is uncertain in reading. Perhaps read οὐδ᾽ ἐπλάσθη χερὶ θνητῇ. 12, Cf, Frag. i. 8. 18. Cf. iii. 5. ‘ 20. to the tenth. Cf. ii. 15 ff. The MSS. have ‘to the eleventh’ (ἑνδεκάτην or ἑνδεκάτης). But the world’s history is regularly divided into ten periods. 23. as she pours forth. The participle is, however, masculine. 24-34. The happiness of the godly. 24-30. Quoted by Just. Cok. 16. ‘he last three lines are also quoted in Clem. Al. Profr. iv. 62. 26. For the custom of saying grace before meals cf. Arist. Afo/. 15. It was a strict rule among the Essenes ee: &. J. ii. 8. 5), and among the Pharisees. Cf. Mishna, Berakhoth iii; Schiirer, Jewish People, Div. ii, vol. ii, p. 117. 27. The abhorrence of temples and animal sacrifice is specially Essene. Cf. Lightfoot, Colossians, p. 369 ff. 393