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which, celebrating even now, they call Ploiaphesia. But Isis in the language of the Egyptians signifies 'ancient,' that is, the moon; and they fittingly honor her when beginning sea voyages, because she, as we were saying, presides over the nature of the waters. And they say that she is also a giver of health, just as we consider Asclepius. And it would be the same thing; for just as we, taking the sun for Asclepius, after its setting when night comes on, .... they mythologize him as the cause of sleep and night and rest, the cause and giver of health. But the man of Chaeronea wishes Isis to be the earth and Osiris the Nile, and Typhon the sea, into which the Nile, falling, disappears. 4.46 The Greeks depict Tyche as cow-faced; but I think it is the moist substance, whence also it is the custom for the Romans to call it *aqua* from equality, for water is of uniform parts and equal by nature. And it has rightly been named *aqua* by them, since they name equality, that is, uniformity of parts, by derivation from *aqua*. 4.47 The word 'sibylla' is a Roman word, interpreted as prophetess or seer, whence female seers were called by the one name 'Sibyls'; and there have been ten Sibyls in different places and times. The first, who is also Chaldean and Persian and by some called Hebrew, whose proper name is Sambethe, of the family of the most blessed Noah, who is said to have foretold the things concerning Alexander the Macedonian, whom Nicanor mentions, the one who wrote the history of the life of Alexander, who prophesied countless things about the Lord God and of his coming; but the others are also in harmony with her, except that there are twenty-four books of hers, containing prophecies about every nation and country. But that her verses are found to be incomplete and without meter, the fault is not the prophetess's but that of the stenographers, who did not keep up with the flow of her words or were also uneducated and unskilled in grammar; for at the same time as the inspiration, the memory of what had been said ceased in her, and for this reason incomplete verses and limping thought are found, or whether this happened by God's design, so that her oracles might not be known by the many and the unworthy. The second Sibyl, the Libyan; the third Sibyl, the Delphic, who was born in Delphi; she lived before the Trojan War and wrote oracles in verse in the times of the judges, when Deborah was a prophetess among the Jews. The fourth, the Italian in Cimmeria of Italy; the fifth, the Erythraean from the city called Erythrae in Ionia, who foretold the Trojan War. The sixth, the Samian, whose proper name was Phyto, about whom Eratosthenes wrote; she also was in the times of the judges among the Jews. The seventh, the Cumaean, also called Amalthea or Herophile; Cumae is an Italian city, near which is a roofed-over and very hollow cave, dwelling in which this Sibyl gave her oracles to those who inquired. The eighth, the Gergithian; and Gergithium is a small town around the Hellespont. The ninth, the Phrygian; the tenth, the Tiburtine, by name Albunaea. That the Judean Sibyl was also called Chaldean; for Philo too, writing the life of Moses, says that he was a Chaldean, but was born in Egypt, since his ancestors had come down there on account of a famine that had taken hold of Babylon and the neighboring regions. And as it seems, from the beginning the Canaanites were so called, or because Abraham had come from there. And the same Philo also says concerning the writings of Moses, that by him they were written in the Chaldean tongue, but later were translated into Greek by Ptolemy, who was the third of those after Alexander to receive Egypt, surnamed Philadelphus. And I came upon a book of this Hebrew Sibyl in Cyprus, in which, having prophesied many Greek matters also, she discusses; and indeed also concerning Homer, that God will raise up

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ὃν ἔτι καὶ νῦν τελοῦντες καλοῦσι πλοιαφέσια. ἡ δὲ Ἶσις τῇ Αἰγυπτίων φωνῇ παλαιὰ σημαίνεται, τουτέστιν ἡ σελήνη· καὶ προσηκόντως αὐτὴν τιμῶσιν ἐναρχόμενοι τῶν θαλαττίων ὁδῶν, διὰ τὸ αὐτήν, ὡς ἐλέγομεν, τῇ φύσει τῶν ὑδάτων ἐφεστάναι. φασὶ δὲ ταύτην καὶ ὑγείας εἶναι δότειραν, καθάπερ ἡμεῖς τὸν Ἀσκληπιόν. ταὐτὸν δ' ἂν εἴη· ὥσπερ γὰρ ἡμεῖς τὸν ἥλιον εἰς τὸν Ἀσκληπιὸν λαμβάνοντες μετὰ τὰς ἐκείνου δυσμὰς τῆς νυκτὸς ἐπιγινομένης αἴτιον αὐτὸν τοῦ ὕπνου καὶ νυκτὸς καὶ ἀναπαύσεως, αἴτιον καὶ δοτῆρα τῆς ὑγείας .... μυθεύουσιν. ὁ δὲ Χαιρωνεὺς Ἶσιν μὲν τὴν γῆν εἶναι βούλεται καὶ Ὄσιριν τὸν Νεῖλον, Τυφῶνα δὲ τὴν θάλατταν, εἰς ἣν ὁ Νεῖλος ἐμπίπτων ἀφανίζεται. 4.46 Τὴν Τύχην οἱ Ἕλληνες γράφουσι βουπρόσωπον· ἐγὼ δ' οἶμαι τὴν ὑγρὰν εἶναι οὐσίαν, ὅθεν καὶ ἄκουαν αὐτὴν Ῥωμαίοις ἔθος καλεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς ἰσότητος, τὸ δ' ὕδωρ ὁμοιομερὲς καὶ ἶσον τὴν φύσιν. καὶ καλῶς ἄκουα πρὸς αὐτῶν ὠνόμασται, ἐπειδὴ τὴν ἰσότητα ἤτοι ὁμοιομέρειαν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἄκουα κατὰ παραγωγὴν ἐπικαλοῦσιν. 4.47 Τὸ σίβυλλα Ῥωμαϊκὴ λέξις ἐστὶν ἑρμηνευομένη προφῆτις ἤγουν μάντις, ὅθεν ἑνὶ ὀνόματι αἱ θήλειαι μάντιδες ὠνομάσθησαν Σίβυλλαι· γεγόνασι δὲ Σίβυλλαι δέκα ἐν διαφόροις τόποις καὶ χρόνοις. πρώτη ἡ καὶ Χαλδαία ἡ καὶ Περσὶς ἡ καὶ πρός τινων Ἑβραία ὀνομαζομένη, ἧς τὸ κύριον ὄνομα Σαμβήθη, ἐκ τοῦ γένους τοῦ μακαριωτάτου Νῶε, ἡ περὶ τῶν κατὰ Ἀλέξανδρον τὸν Μακεδόνα λεγομένη προειρηκέναι, ἧς μνημονεύει Νικάνωρ ὁ τὸν Ἀλεξάνδρου βίον ἱστορήσας, ἡ περὶ τοῦ δεσπότου θεοῦ μυρία προθεσπίσασα καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας· ἀλλὰ καὶ αἱ λοιπαὶ συνᾴδουσιν αὐτῇ, πλὴν ὅτι ταύτης εἰσὶ βιβλία εἰκοσιτέσσαρα περὶ παντὸς ἔθνους καὶ χώρας περιέχοντα. ὅτι δὲ οἱ στίχοι αὐτῆς ἀτελεῖς εὑρίσκονται καὶ ἄμετροι, οὐ τῆς προφήτιδός ἐστιν ἡ αἰτία ἀλλὰ τῶν ταχυγράφων, οὐ συμφθασάντων τῇ ῥύμῃ τῶν λεγομένων ἢ καὶ ἀπαιδεύτων γενομένων καὶ ἀπείρων γραμματικῶν· ἅμα γὰρ τῇ ἐπιπνοίᾳ ἐπέπαυτο ἐν αὐτῇ ἡ τῶν λεχθέντων μνήμη, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο εὑρίσκονται στίχοι ἀτελεῖς καὶ διάνοια σκάζουσα, εἴτε κατ' οἰκονομίαν θεοῦ τοῦτο γέγονεν, ὡς μὴ γινώσκοιντο ὑπὸ τῶν πολλῶν καὶ ἀναξίων οἱ χρησμοὶ αὐτῆς. δευτέρα Σίβυλλα ἡ Λίβυσσα, τρίτη Σίβυλλα ἡ ∆ελφίς, ἡ ἐν ∆ελφοῖς τεχθεῖσα· γέγονε δὲ αὕτη πρὸ τῶν Τρωϊκῶν καὶ ἔγραψε χρησμοὺς δι' ἐπῶν ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις τῶν κριτῶν, ὁπηνίκα ∆εβώρα προφῆτις ἦν παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις. τετάρτη Ἰταλικὴ ἡ ἐν Κιμμερίᾳ τῆς Ἰταλίας, πέμπτη Ἐρυθραία ἀπὸ πόλεως Ἐρυθρᾶς καλουμένης ἐν Ἰωνίᾳ, ἡ περὶ τοῦ Τρωϊκοῦ προειρηκυῖα πολέμου. ἕκτη Σαμία, ἧς τὸ κύριον ὄνομα Φυτώ, περὶ ἧς ἔγραψεν Ἐρατοσθένης, καὶ αὕτη ἐν τοῖς χρόνοις τῶν παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις κριτῶν ἦν. ἑβδόμη Κυμαία ἡ καὶ Ἀμάλθεια ἢ Ἡροφίλη· ἡ δὲ Κύμη πόλις ἐστὶν Ἰταλική, ἧς πλησίον ἄντρον ἐστὶ συνηρεφὲς καὶ γλαφυρώτατον, ἐν ᾧ διαιτωμένη ἡ Σίβυλλα αὕτη τοὺς χρησμοὺς ἐδίδου τοῖς πυνθανομένοις. ὀγδόη ἡ Γεργιθία· πολίχνη δὲ περὶ τὸν Ἑλλήσποντον τὸ Γεργίθιον. ἐννάτη Φρυγία, δεκάτη ἡ Τιβουρτία ὀνόματι Ἀλβουναία. ὅτι ἡ Ἰουδαία Σίβυλλα καὶ Χαλδὶς ἐκαλεῖτο· καὶ γὰρ ὁ Φίλων τὸν Μωυσέως βίον ἀναγράφων Χαλδαῖον εἶναι αὐτὸν λέγει, γεγενῆσθαι δὲ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, ὡς τῶν προγόνων αὐτοῦ ἐκεῖσε κατελθόντων διὰ λιμὸν κατασχόντα Βαβυλῶνά τε καὶ τὰς πλησιοχώρους. καὶ ὡς ἔοικεν, ἀπ' ἀρχῆς οἱ Χαναναῖοι οὕτως ἐκαλοῦντο, ἢ διὰ τὸ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ἐκεῖθεν ὡρμῆσθαι. λέγει δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς Φίλων καὶ περὶ τῶν συγγραμμάτων τοῦ Μωυσέως, ὅτι ὑπ' αὐτοῦ μὲν τῇ Χαλδαϊκῇ γλώττῃ ἐγράφη, ὕστερον δὲ ὑπὸ Πτολεμαίου εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα μετεφράσθη, ὃς τρίτος ἦν τῶν ἀπ' Ἀλεξάνδρου τὴν Αἴγυπτον παραλα βόντων, Φιλάδελφος ἐπικεκλημένος. ταύτης δὲ τῆς Ἑβραίας Σιβύλλης βίβλῳ ἐνέτυχον ἐν Κύπρῳ, ἐν ᾗ πολλὰ καὶ τῶν ἑλληνικῶν προφητεύσασα διαλαμβάνει· καὶ μέντοι καὶ περὶ Ὁμήρου, ὅτι ἀναστήσει ὁ θεὸς