Chap. VI.—Of divine testimonies, and of the sibyls and their predictions.

Now let us pass to divine testimonies; but I will previously bring forward one which resembles a divine testimony, both on account of its very great antiquity, and because he whom I shall name was taken from men and placed among the gods. According to Cicero, Caius Cotta the pontiff, while disputing against the Stoics concerning superstitions, and the variety of opinions which prevail respecting the gods, in order that he might, after the custom of the Academics, make everything uncertain, says that there were five Mercuries; and having enumerated four in order, says that the fifth was he by whom Argus was slain, and that on this account he fled into Egypt, and gave laws and letters to the Egyptians. The Egyptians call him Thoth; and from him the first month of their year, that is, September, received its name among them. He also built a town, which is even now called in Greek Hermopolis (the town of Mercury), and the inhabitants of Phenæ honour him with religious worship. And although he was a man, yet he was of great antiquity, and most fully imbued with every kind of learning, so that the knowledge of many subjects and arts acquired for him the name of Trismegistus.17    [See vol. i. p. 289 note 2, this series.]      See 1 Cor. i. 20–22.   He wrote books, and those in great numbers, relating to the knowledge of divine things, in which be asserts the majesty of the supreme and only God, and makes mention of Him by the same names which we use—God and Father. And that no one might inquire His name, he said that He was without name, and that on account of His very unity He does not require the peculiarity of a name. These are his own words: “God is one, but He who is one only does not need a name; for He who is self-existent is without a name.” God, therefore, has no name, because He is alone; nor is there any need of a proper name, except in cases where a multitude of persons requires a distinguishing mark, so that you may designate each person by his own mark and appellation. But God, because He is always one, has no peculiar name.  

It remains for me to bring forward testimonies respecting the sacred responses and predictions, which are much more to be relied upon. For perhaps they against whom we are arguing may think that no credence is to be given to poets, as though they invented fictions, nor to philosophers, inasmuch as they were liable to err, being themselves but men. Marcus Varro, than whom no man of greater learning ever lived, even among the Greeks, much less among the Latins, in those books respecting divine subjects which he addressed to Caius Cæsar the chief pontiff, when he was speaking of the Quindecemviri,18    The Quindecemviri were the fifteen men to whom the care of the Sibylline books was entrusted. At first two (Duumviri) were appointed. The number was afterwards increased to ten, and subsequently to fifteen. It appears probable that this last change was made by Sulla.      [“Thou art a God that hidest thyself,” Isa xlv. 15. Wisdom must be searched after as hidden treasure.]   says that the Sibylline books were not the production of one Sibyl only, but that they were called by one name Sibylline, because all prophetesses were called by the ancients Sibyls, either from the name of one, the Delphian priestess, or from their proclaiming the counsels of the gods. For in the Æolic dialect they used to call the gods by the word Sioi, not Theoi; and for counsel they used the word bule, not boule;—and so the Sibyl received her name as though Siobule.19    [i.e., Counsel of God. See p. 14 supra, and 16 infra.]      See Eph. i. 9, 10; Col. i. 26, 27. [This is a mysterious truth: God’s election of men and nations has been according to their desire to be enlightened. Christ must be the “Desire of Nations.”]   But he says that the Sibyls were ten in number, and he enumerated them all under the writers, who wrote an account of each: that the first was from the Persians, and of her Nicanor made mention, who wrote the exploits of Alexander of Macedon;—the second of Libya, and of her Euripides makes mention in the prologue of the Lamia;—the third of Delphi, concerning whom Chrysippus speaks in that book which he composed concerning divination;—the fourth a Cimmerian in Italy, whom Nævius mentions in his books of the Punic war, and Piso in his annals;—the fifth of Erythræa, whom Apollodorus of Erythræa affirms to have been his own countrywoman, and that she foretold to the Greeks when they were setting out for Ilium, both that Troy was doomed to destruction, and that Homer would write falsehoods;—the sixth of Samos, respecting whom Eratosthenes writes that he had found a written notice in the ancient annals of the Samians. The seventh was of Cumæ, by name Amalthæa, who is termed by some Herophile, or Demophile, and they say that she brought nine books to the king Tarquinius Priscus, and asked for them three hundred philippics, and that the king refused so great a price, and derided the madness of the woman; that she, in the sight of the king, burnt three of the books, and demanded the same price for those which were left; that Tarquinias much more considered the woman to be mad; and that when she again, having burnt three other books, persisted in asking the same price, the king was moved, and bought the remaining books for the three hundred pieces of gold: and the number of these books was afterwards increased, after the rebuilding of the Capitol; because they were collected from all cities of Italy and Greece, and especially from those of Erythræa, and were brought to Rome, under the name of whatever Sibyl they were. Further, that the eighth was from the Hellespont, born in the Trojan territory, in the village of Marpessus, about the town of Gergithus; and Heraclides of Pontus writes that she lived in the times of Solon and Cyrus;—the ninth of Phrygia, who gave oracles at Ancyra;—the tenth of Tibur, by name Albunea, who is worshipped at Tibur as a goddess, near the banks of the river Anio, in the depths of which her statue is said to have been found, holding in her hand a book. The senate transferred her oracles into the Capitol.  

The predictions of all these Sibyls20    [Concerning the Sibyls, see also, fully, Lardner, Credib., ii. 258, 334, etc. On the use here and elsewhere made of them by our author, Ibid., p. 343, and iii. 544; also pp. 14 and 15, supra.]      The last time is the last dispensation, the time of the new covenant. Heb. i. 2.   are both brought forward and esteemed as such, except those of the Cumæan Sibyl, whose books are concealed by the Romans; nor do they consider it lawful for them to be inspected by any one but the Quindecemviri. And there are separate books the production of each, but because these are inscribed with the name of the Sibyl they are believed to be the work of one; and they are confused, nor can the productions of each be distinguished and assigned to their own authors, except in the case of the Erythræan Sibyl, for she both inserted her own true name in her verse, and predicted that she would be called Erythræan, though she was born at Babylon. But we also shall speak of the Sibyl without any distinction, wherever we shall have occasion to use their testimonies. All these Sibyls, then, proclaim one God, and especially the Erythræan, who is regarded among the others as more celebrated and noble; since Fenestella, a most diligent writer, speaking of the Quindecemviri, says that, after the rebuilding of the Capitol, Caius Curio the consul proposed to the senate that ambassadors should be sent to Erythræ to search out and bring to Rome the writings of the Sibyl; and that, accordingly, Publius Gabinius, Marcus Otacilius, and Lucius Valerius were sent, who conveyed to Rome about a thousand verses written out by private persons. We have shown before that Varro made the same statement. Now in these verses which the ambassadors brought to Rome, are these testimonies respecting the one God:—  

This is the only supreme God, who made the heaven, and decked it with lights.  

And since He alone is the framer of the universe, and the artificer of all things of which it consists or which are contained in it, it testifies that He alone ought to be worshipped:—  

Also another Sibyl, whoever she is, when she said that she conveyed the voice of God to men, thus spoke:—  

I would now follow up the testimonies of the others, were it not that these are sufficient, and that I reserve others for more befitting opportunities. But since we are defending the cause of truth before those who err from the truth and serve false religions, what kind of proof ought we to bring forward21    [Vol. ii. cap. 28, p. 143.]      See Isa. lv. 4: “Behold, I have given Him for a leader and commander to the people.”   against them, rather than to refute them by the testimonies of their own gods?  

0138A CAPUT VI. De divinis testimoniis et de Sibyllis et earum carminibus.

Nunc ad divina testimonia transeamus: sed prius unum proferam, quod est simile divino, et ob nimiam vetustatem, et quod is, quem nominabo, ex hominibus in deos relatus est. Apud Ciceronem C. Cotta pontifex disputans contra Stoicos de religionibus, et de varietate opinionum, quae solent esse de diis, ut more academicorum omnia faceret incerta, quinque fuisse Mercurios ait; et enumeratis per ordinem quatuor, quintum fuisse eum, a quo occisus sit Argus, ob eamque causam in Aegyptum profugisse, atque Aegyptiis leges ac litteras tradidisse. Hunc 0139A Aegyptii Thoyth appellant, 0139A a quo apud eos primus anni sui mensis, id est september, nomen accepit. Idem oppidum condidit, quod etiam nunc Graece vocatur Ἑρμόπολις; et Phenatae colunt eum religiose. Qui tametsi homo, fuit tamen antiquissimus, et instructissimus omni genere doctrinae: adeo ut ei multarum rerum et artium scientia Trismegisto cognomen imponeret. Hic scripsit libros, et quidem multos, ad cognitionem divinarum rerum pertinentes, in quibus majestatem summi ac singularis Dei asserit, iisdemque nominibus appellat, quibus nos, Deum et patrem. Ac ne quis nomen ejus requireret, ἀνώνυμον esse dixit; eo quod nominis proprietate non egeat, 0140A ob ipsam scilicet unitatem. Ipsius haec verba sunt: Ὁ δὲ Θεὸς εἷς, ὁ δὲ εἷς ὀνόματος οὐ προσδέεται· ἔστι γὰρ ὁ ὢν ἀνωνυμος. Deo igitur nomen non est, quia solus est; nec opus est proprio vocabulo, nisi cum discrimen exigit multitudo, ut unamquamque personam sua nota et appellatione designes. Deo autem, quia semper unus est, proprium nomen est Deus.

Superest de responsis carminibusque sacris testimonia, quae sunt multo certiora, proferre. Nam fortasse ii, contra quos agimus, nec poëtis putent esse credendum, tamquam vana fingentibus; nec philosophis, quod errare potuerint, quia et ipsi homines fuerint. M. Varro, quo nemo umquam doctior, ne apud 0141A graecos quidem nedum apud latinos vixit, 0141A in libris rerum divinarum, quos ad C. Caesarem pontificem maximum scripsit, cum de quindecim viris loqueretur, Sibyllinos libros ait non fuisse unius Sibyllae; sed appellari uno nomine Sibyllinos quod omnes foeminae vates Sibyllae, sint a veteribus nuncupatae, vel ab unius Delphidis nomine, vel a consiliis deorum enuntiandis. σιοὺς enim deos, non θεοὺς, et consilium non βουλὴν, sed βυλὴν appellabant Aeolico genere sermonis: itaque Sibyllam dictam esse quasi σιοβολὴν; caeterum Sibyllas decem numero fuisse; easque omnes enumeravit sub auctoribus, qui de singulis scriptitaverint: primam 0142A fuisse de Persis, cujus mentionem fecerit Nicanor, qui res gestas Alexandri Macedonis scripsit: secundam Lybissam, cujus meminit Euripides in Lamiae prologo: tertiam Delphida, de qua Chrysippus loquitur in eo libro, quem de divinatione composuit: quartam Cimmeriam in Italia, quam Naevius in libris belli Punici, Piso in annalibus nominat: quintam Erythraeam, quam Apollodorus Erythraeus affirmat suam fuisse civem, eamque Graiis Ilium petentibus vaticinatam, et perituram esse Trojam, et Homerum mendacia scripturum: sextam Samiam de qua scribit Eratosthenes in antiquis annalibus Samiorum repeisse 0143A se scriptum: septimam Cumanam 0143A nomine Amaltheam, quae ab aliis Demophile vel Herophile nominatur; eamque novem libros attulisse ad regem Tarquinium Priscum, ac pro eis trecentos Philippeos postulasse; regemque aspernatum pretii magnitudinem, derisisse mulieris insaniam: illam in conspectu Regis tres combussisse, ac pro reliquis idem pretium postulasse: Tarquinium multo magis mulierem insanire putasse. Quae denuo tribus aliis exustis, cum in eodem pretio perseveraret, motum esse regem, ac residuos trecentis aureis emisse: quorum postea numerus sit auctus, Capitolio refecto, quod ex omnibus civitatibus et Italicis, et Graecis, et praecipue 0143B Erythraeis coacti, allatique sunt Romam, cujuscumque 0144A Sibyllae nomine fuerint: octavam Hellespontiam in agro Trojano natam; vico Marpesso, circa oppidum Gergithium; quam scribit Heraclides Ponticus Solonis et Cyri fuisse temporibus: nonam Phrygiam, quae vaticinata sit Ancyrae: decimam Tiburtem, nomine Albuneam, quae Tiburi colitur ut dea, juxta ripas amnis Anienis, cujus in gurgite simulacrum ejus inventum esse dicitur, tenens in manu librum: cujus sortes Senatus in Capitolium transtulerit.

Harum omnium Sibyllarum carmina et feruntur et habentur, praeterquam Cumaeae, cujus libri a Romanis occuluntur, nec eos ab ullo, nisi a quindecim viris inspici fas habent. Et sunt singularum singuli 0145A libri: 0145A qui quia Sibyllae nomine inscribuntur, unius esse creduntur; suntque confusi, nec discerni ac suum cuique assignari potest: nisi Eruthraeae, quae et nomen suum verum carmini inseruit, et Erythraeam se nominatum iri praelocuta est, cum esset orta Babylone: sed et nos confuse Sibyllam dicemus, sicubi testimoniis earum fuerit abutendum. 0146A Omnes igitur hae Sibyllae unum Deum praedicant; maxime tamen Erythraea, quae celebrior inter caeteras ac nobilior habetur: siquidem Fenestella, diligentissimus Scriptor de quindecim viris dicens, ait, restituto Capitolio, retulisse ad Senatum C. Curionem Cos. ut legati Erythras mitterentur, qui carmina Sibyllae conquisita Romam deportarent; itaque 0147A missos esse P. Gabinium, M. Otacilium, 0147A L. Valerium, qui descriptos a privatis versus circa mille Romam deportarunt. Idem supra ostendimus dixisse Varronem. In iis ergo versibus, quos legati Romam attulerunt, de uno Deo haec sunt testimonia: Εἶς θεὸς ὃς μόνος ἐστὶν ὑπερμεγεθὴς, ἀγένητος·Hunc esse solum Deum summum, qui coelum fecerit, luminibusque distinxerit. Ἀλλὰ θεὸς μόνος εἶς, πανυπέρτατος, ὃς πεποίηκεν Οὐρανὸν, ἡέλιὸν τε καὶ ἀστέρας, ἠδέ σελήνην, Καρποφόρον γαῖαν τε, καὶ ὕδατος οἴδματα πόντου.Qui quoniam solus sit aedificator mundi, et artifex rerum, vel quibus constat, vel quae in eo sunt, solum coli oportere testatur: Αὐτὸν τὸν μόνον ὄντα σέβεσθ᾽ ἡγήτορα κόσμου. Ὃς μόνος εἰς αἰῶνα καὶ ἐξ αἰῶνος ἐτύχθη.0147B Item alia Sibylla, quaecumque est, cum perferre se ad homines Dei vocem diceret, sic ait: 0148A Εἶς μόνος εἰμὶ θεὸς· καὶ οὐκ ἔστι θεὸς ἄλλος.Exequerer nunc testimonia caeterarum, nisi et haec sufficerent, et illa opportunioribus locis reservarem. Sed cum defendamus causam veritatis apud eos, qui aberrantes a veritate falsis religionibus serviunt, quod genus probationis adversus eos magis adhibere debemus, quam ut eos deorum suorum testimoniis revincamus?