Sibylline Oracles

Historical printed page 397

χων." “ΠΝ Ὁ THE SIBYLLINE BOOKS. Book IV, Line 191—V, 39 behold themselves,} (91) beholding the lovely and pleasant sunlight. (92) Thrice blest the man who lives until that time. BOOK V (1) Now come, hearken unto the woful chronicle of the sons of Latium. (2) Verily first of all after the decease of the kings (3) of Egypt, all of whom a like measure of earth bore down; (4) and after the citizen of Pella, under whom the whole (5) East had been subdued and the West with its stores of wealth, (6) whom Babylon disillusioned and handed over, a corpse, to Philip, (7) famed by no true report a son of Zeus, of Ammon: (8) and after the man of the family and blood of Assaracus, (9) who came from Troy, who clave the onrushing fire ; (10) and after many kings and warlike wights, (11) and after infants, children of the beast who preys on sheep, (12) there shall be a king first of all, who shall sum up twice ten (13) with his initial letter: and in wars he shall conquer for long. (14) He shall have his first initial of ten: and so after him (15) shall reign one who has the first of letters. (16) Before him Thrace shall cower, and Sicily, and, later, Memphis: (17) Memphis hurled headlong by the wickedness of its rulers (18) and of an untamable woman who fell upon the wave. (19) And he shall ordain laws for the people and bring all things under his sway. (20) After a long time he shall hand over the empire to another, (21) who shall have his first letter of the number of three hundred, (22) and a river's own name, who shall also reign over the Persians (23) and Babylon: then he shall subdue the Medes with his spear. (24) Then one shall reign who has the letter of the number three. (25) The next king who shall reign shall have twice ten for his first letter: (26) and he shall go to Ocean’s farthest (27) water, {directing his ebb against the Ausonians}. (28) Then he shall be sovereign who has the letter of fifty, (29) a direful serpent causing grievous war, who shall one day put forth his hands (30) on his own family and slay them, and shall throw all into confusion, (31) as athlete, charioteer, murderer, and doer of a thousand extravagant acts. (32) He shall pierce, too, the hill between two seas, and besprinkle it with blood ; (33) Yea, even when he disappears, he shall be malignant. Then he shall return, (34) making himself equal to God: but God shall convince him that he is not. (35) Three kings after him shall perish at each other’s hands. (36) Then there shall come a great destroyer of godly men (37) who displays the letter of seventy. (38) His son, who has the initial of three hundred, shall overcome him (39) and take away his power: and after him there 191. Omitted in dy. 192 Cf. iii. 371. ι V. 1-51. A brief sketch of history till the reign of Hadrian. ; 1. hearken. The reading is due to Rzach. MSS. have noverb. ᾧ Ψ κλεινῶν τε Λατίνων. The first eleven lines recur at the beginning of the twelfth book. 4. The citizen of Pella = Alexander the Great. Cf. Juv. x. 168 ‘ Unus Pellaeo iuveni non sufficit orbis’. 6. Alexander died of fever at Babylon 323 B.c. Clem. Al. Protr. x. 96 quotes the first part of this line as ὃν Βαβυλὼν ἤλεγξε νεκρόν. 7. After his visit to the temple of Zeus Ammon in 332 B. Cc. Alexander seems to have persuaded himself that he was the son of that god. 8. Assaracus, king of Phrygia and great-grandfather of Aeneas. The restoration of the name is due to Castalio. 9. Referring to the escape of Aeneas from burning Troy. Text corrupt; restored by ΕΖ. from xii. 9. 11. i.e. Romulus and Remus. 12, twice ten. The name is Καῖσαρ (K denoting 20) ; line 14 gives Ἰούλιος (1 denoting 10). 15. one who has the first of letters. i.e. Αὔγουστος. 16. References to the Battle of Philippi, the war with Sextus Pompeius, and the struggle with Antony and Cleopatra in Egypt. 18 The desertion of Cleopatra’s fleet at Actium. The parallel line in xii. 22 has ὑπὸ δουρί for ἐπὶ κῦμα. ᾿ 21. who shall have .. . three hundred. i.e. Τιβέριος. 23. War between Rome and Parthia A. Ὁ. 34-5. 24. who has... three. i.e. Γαῖος. 25. twice ten = K. Κλαύδιος is meant. 26. Claudius’ short-lived expedition to Britain A.D. 43. 27. The reading is uncertain. Ausonia is strictly S. Italy, but is used poetically for the whole country. 28. fifty = Ν. Νέρων is meant. 29. A serpent was found around Nero’s neck when he was an infant. Cf. Tac. Av. xi. 11. 30. For Nero’s murder of his mother cf. iii. 121. 31. A reference to Nero’s competing as a charioteer in the Olympian Games. Cf. Juvenal x. 224 ff. 32. Nero made an attempt to pierce the Isthmus of Corinth, in A.D. 66-7. Cf. 1. 138. hill between two seas. δίκυμον ὄρος is a conjecture of Rzach from xii. 84: pw have Siixpov ὕδωρ. 33. For the expectation of the return of Nero cf. iv. 119. 34. For the claim of Antichrist to be God cf. 2 Thess. ii. 4; Iren. v. 25.13 Asc. Isa. iv. 6. 35. Galba, Otho, and Vitellius. 37. i.e. Οὐεσπασίανος the conqueror of the Jews. 39. An ungrounded suspicion charges Titus with attempting to supplant his father. Cf. Suet. 777. 5, 6. 397