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a certain wise man, who will write down the war of the heroes and will sing of the noblest of them; and he also foretells concerning Christ and the things that happened after the coming of Christ; and indeed also concerning the things that will be until the end of the world, in which he also prophesies certain ill-omened things concerning Cyprus and Antioch, of the one, that it will fall by war and never rise again, and of the island, that it will become submerged; for he says: Wretched Antioch, they will never call you a city, when by your evil counsels you fall about the spears, and so on, alas, alas, wretched Cyprus, a great wave will cover you in the winter days when the sea is stirred up. This Sibyl preceded the coming of Christ by two thousand years, and this verse is also hers, foretelling the precious cross: O most blessed wood, upon which God was stretched out. That the fourth king in Rome from Romus the founder was Tarquinius Priscus; and a certain woman, Amalthea, came to him carrying three books, oracles of the Cumaean Sibyl, and sought to give them to him for thirty gold pieces; but when he scorned her, the woman became indignant and burned one of the books, and approaching again she asked to receive the thirty gold pieces for the remaining two; and when he scorned her even more, she burned the other one; finally, then, for the one remaining she sought the same price. The king, therefore, considering it to be necessary for the kingdom, takes it, giving the thirty gold pieces; and finding in it the fortunes of the Romans written down exceptionally and alone, he handed over their keeping to a body of sixty patricians. 4.48 On the Nones of March, Varro says that the Crown sets at dawn and the north wind blows. 4.49 On the Ides of March, a festival of Jupiter on account of the middle of the month and public prayers for the year to be healthy. And they sacrificed a six-year-old bull on behalf of the fields in the mountains, with the high priest and the basket-bearers of the Mother leading. And a man was also led, clad in goat skins, and they beat him with thin, long rods, calling him Mamurius. This man, having been a craftsman in armor-making, so that the heaven-sent shields would not be damaged by being constantly moved, made others similar to those archetypes; whence the many, making a proverb about those being beaten, laughingly say that those who beat him are "playing Mamurius" with him; for the story is that Mamurius himself, when certain difficulties arose for the Romans concerning the withholding of the archetypal shields, was beaten with rods and driven out of the city. Metrodorus records this day as an evil one. 4.50 The seventeenth day before the Kalends of April is unlucky for business. On this day Eudoxus records that Pisces rises and the north wind blows. 4.51 Liber among the Romans is Dionysus, as if "free," that is, the Sun. Mysteries, from the removal of pollution in exchange for sanctity. Dionysus, on account of whom is the turning-post—the goal—and the circling of time. Indeed Terpander the Lesbian says that Nyssa nursed Dionysus, who is named Sabazius by some, who was born from Zeus and Persephone, then torn apart by the Titans. And a certain myth is also reported about him according to Apollodorus, that he was born from Zeus and Earth, and Earth was called Themelē because all things are founded in her, whom the poets, by the exchange of one letter, the s, have called Semelē. And according to the poets there are five Dionysuses; first, of Zeus and Lysithea, second, of the Nile, who also was king of Libya and Ethiopia and Arabia; third, the son of Cabeirus, who was king of Asia, from whom is the Cabeiric rite; fourth, of Zeus and Semele, for whom the mysteries of Orpheus were performed, and by whom wine was mixed; fifth, of Nisus and Thyone, who established the triennial festival. And these things

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ἄνθρωπόν τινα σοφόν, ὃς τὸν τῶν ἡρώων πόλεμον ἀναγράψεται καὶ τοὺς γενναιοτάτους τούτων ὑμνήσει· προλέγει δὲ καὶ περὶ Χριστοῦ καὶ τῶν μετὰ τὴν Χριστοῦ παρουσίαν γεγενημένων· καὶ μέντοι καὶ περὶ τῶν γενησομένων ἕως τῆς συντελείας, ἐν οἷς καὶ περὶ Κύπρου καὶ Ἀντιοχείας παλίμφημά τινα προφητεύει, τῆς μὲν ὡς πολέμῳ πεσουμένης καὶ μηκέτ' ἀναστησομένης, τῆς δὲ νήσου ὑποβρυχίου γενησομένης· φησὶ γάρ· Τλήμων Ἀντιόχεια, σὲ δὲ πτόλιν οὔποτ' ἐροῦσιν, εὖτε κακοφροσύνῃσι τεαῖς περὶ δούρασι πίπτεις, καὶ ἑξῆς αἲ αἲ Κύπρε τάλαινα, σὲ δὲ μέγα κῦμα καλύψει ἥμασι χειμερίῃσιν ὀρινομένη τε θάλασσα. προέλαβε δὲ τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίαν αὕτη ἡ Σίβυλλα ἔτη δισχίλια, ἧς ἐστι καὶ τοῦτο τὸ ἔπος τὸν τίμιον σταυρὸν προμηνύον· ὦ ξύλον ὦ μακαριστόν, ὑφ' οὗ θεὸς ἐξετανύσθη. ὅτι τέταρτος ἀπὸ Ῥώμου τοῦ οἰκιστοῦ βασιλεὺς ἐν Ῥώμῃ γέγονε Ταρκύνιος Πρίσκος· γυνὴ δέ τις Ἀμάλθεια ἦλθε πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐπιφερομένη τρεῖς βίβλους, χρη σμοὺς Σιβύλλης τῆς Κυμαίας, καὶ ἐζήτει αὐτῷ δοῦναι εἰς τριάκοντα χρυσοῦς· τοῦ δὲ καταφρονήσαντος ἀγανακτήσασα ἡ γυνὴ ἔκαυσε τὸ ἓν τῶν βιβλίων, καὶ αὖθις προσελθοῦσα ἠξίου καὶ ὑπὲρ τῶν λειπομένων δύο τοὺς τριάκοντα λαβεῖν χρυσοῦς· τοῦ δ' ἔτι μᾶλλον αὐτὴν ὑπεριδόντος καὶ τὸ ἕτερον ἔκαυσε· λοιπὸν οὖν ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἑτέρου ἑνὸς τὴν αὐτὴν ἐπεζήτει τιμήν. στοχασάμενος οὖν ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀναγκαῖον αὐτὸ εἶναι τῇ βασιλείᾳ λαμβάνει δοὺς τοὺς τριάκοντα χρυσοῦς· καὶ εὑρὼν ἐν αὐτῷ τὰς Ῥωμαίων τύχας κατ' ἐξαίρετον καὶ μόνας ἐγγεγραμμένας, ἑξήκοντα πατρικίων συστήματι τὴν τούτων παρέδωκε φυλακήν. 4.48 Νώναις Μαρτίαις ὁ Βάρρων ὄρθρου τὸν στέφανον δύεσθαι λέγει καὶ πνεῖν τὸν βορρᾶν. 4.49 Εἰδοῖς Μαρτίαις ἑορτὴ ∆ιὸς διὰ τὴν μεσομηνίαν καὶ εὐχαὶ δημόσιαι ὑπὲρ τοῦ ὑγιεινὸν γενέσθαι τὸν ἐνιαυτόν. ἱεράτευον δὲ καὶ ταῦρον ἑξέτη ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν ἀγρῶν, ἡγουμένου τοῦ ἀρχιερέως καὶ τῶν κανηφόρων τῆς Μητρός. ἤγετο δὲ καὶ ἄν θρωπος περιβεβλημένος δοραῖς αἰγείαις, καὶ τοῦτον ἔπαιον ῥάβδοις λεπταῖς ἐπιμήκεσι Μαμούριον αὐτὸν καλοῦντες. οὗτος δὲ τεχνίτης ἐν ὁπλοποιΐᾳ γενόμενος, διὰ τὸ μὴ τὰ διοπετῆ ἀγκίλια συνεχῶς κινούμενα φθείρεσθαι, ὅμοια ἐκείνων κατεσκεύασε τῶν ἀρχετύπων· ὅθεν παροιμιάζοντες οἱ πολλοὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς τυπτομένοις διαγελῶντές φασιν, ὡς τὸν Μαμούριον αὐτῷ παίζοιεν οἱ τύπτοντες· λόγος γὰρ, καὶ αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον Μαμούριον δυσχερῶν τινων προσπεσόντων ἐπὶ τῇ τῶν ἀρχετύπων ἀγκιλίων ἀποσχέσει τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις παιόμενον ῥάβδοις ἐκβληθῆναι τῆς πόλεως. ταύτην τὴν ἡμέραν ὁ Μητρόδωρος κακὴν παραδίδωσιν. 4.50 Ἡ πρὸ δεκαεπτὰ Καλενδῶν Ἀπριλίων ἄπρακτος. ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ Εὔδοξος τοὺς ἰχθύας ἀνίσχειν καὶ βορρᾶν πνεῖν παραδίδωσιν. 4.51 Λίβερ παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις ὁ ∆ιόνυσος οἱονεὶ ἐλεύθερος, τουτέστιν Ἥλιος. μυστήρια ἀπὸ τῆς στερήσεως τοῦ μύσους ἀντὶ τοῦ ἁγιωσύνης. ∆ιόνυσος, δι' ὃν ἡ νύσσα- ὁ καμπτήρ-καὶ ἡ περικύκλησις τοῦ χρόνου. Τέρπανδρός γε μὴν ὁ Λέσβιος Νύσσαν λέγει τετιθηνηκέναι τὸν ∆ιόνυσον τὸν ὑπό τινων Σαβάζιον ὀνομαζόμενον, ἐκ ∆ιὸς καὶ Περσεφόνης γενόμενον, εἶτα ὑπὸ τῶν Τιτάνων σπαραχθέντα. φέρεται δὲ καί τις μῦθος περὶ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὸν Ἀπολλόδωρον, ὡς εἴη γεγονὼς ἐκ ∆ιὸς καὶ Γῆς, τῆς δὲ Γῆς Θεμέλης προσαγορευομένης διὰ τὸ εἰς αὐτὴν πάντα καταθεμελιοῦσθαι, ἣν κατὰ συναλλαγὴν ἑνὸς στοιχείου, τοῦ σ, Σεμέλην οἱ ποιηταὶ προσηγορεύκασι. κατὰ δὲ τοὺς ποιητὰς ∆ιόνυσοι πέντε· πρῶτος ∆ιὸς καὶ Λυσιθέας, δεύτερος ὁ Νείλου, ὁ καὶ βασιλεύσας Λιβύης καὶ Αἰθιοπίας καὶ Ἀραβίας· τρίτος Καβείρου παῖς, ὅστις τῆς Ἀσίας ἐβασίλευσε, ἀφ' οὗ ἡ Καβειρικὴ τελετή· τέταρτος ὁ ∆ιὸς καὶ Σεμέλης, ᾧ τὰ Ὀρφέως μυστήρια ἐτελεῖτο, καὶ ὑφ' οὗ οἶνος ἐκεράσθη· πέμπτος ὁ Νίσου καὶ Θυώνης, ὃς κατέδειξε τριετηρίδα. καὶ ταῦτα