Chapter XXXVII.—Of the Sibyl.83    [In Grabe’s edition consult notes of Lang and Kortholt, ii. p. 45.]

And you may in part easily learn the right religion from the ancient Sibyl, who by some kind of potent inspiration teaches you, through her oracular predictions, truths which seem to be much akin to the teaching of the prophets. She, they say, was of Babylonian extraction, being the daughter of Berosus, who wrote the Chaldæan History; and when she had crossed over (how, I know not) into the region of Campania, she there uttered her oracular sayings in a city called Cumæ, six miles from Baiæ, where the hot springs of Campania are found. And being in that city, we saw also a certain place, in which we were shown a very large basilica84    [Travellers must recognise the agreement of Justin’s story with the traditional cave still shown in this region.] cut out of one stone; a vast affair, and worthy of all admiration. And they who had heard it from their fathers as part of their country’s tradition, told us that it was here she used to publish her oracles. And in the middle of the basilica they showed us three receptacles cut out of one stone, in which, when filled with water, they said that she washed, and having put on her robe again, retires into the inmost chamber of the basilica, which is still a part of the one stone; and sitting in the middle of the chamber on a high rostrum and throne, thus proclaims her oracles. And both by many other writers has the Sibyl been mentioned as a prophetess, and also by Plato in his Phædrus. And Plato seems to me to have counted prophets divinely inspired when he read her prophecies. For he saw that what she had long ago predicted was accomplished; and on this account he expresses in the Dialogue with Meno his wonder at and admiration of prophets in the following terms: “Those whom we now call prophetic persons we should rightly name divine. And not least would we say that they are divine, and are raised to the prophetic ecstasy by the inspiration and possession of God, when they correctly speak of many and important matters, and yet know nothing of what they are saying,” —plainly and manifestly referring to the prophecies of the Sibyl. For, unlike the poets who, after their poems are penned, have power to correct and polish, specially in the way of increasing the accuracy of their verse, she was filled indeed with prophecy at the time of the inspiration, but as soon as the inspiration ceased, there ceased also the remembrance of all she had said. And this indeed was the cause why some only, and not all, the metres of the verses of the Sibyl were preserved. For we ourselves, when in that city, ascertained from our cicerone, who showed us the places in which she used to prophesy, that there was a certain coffer made of brass in which they said that her remains were preserved. And besides all else which they told us as they had heard it from their fathers, they said also that they who then took down her prophecies, being illiterate persons, often went quite astray from the accuracy of the metres; and this, they said, was the cause of the want of metre in some of the verses, the prophetess having no remembrance of what she had said, after the possession and inspiration ceased, and the reporters having, through their lack of education, failed to record the metres with accuracy. And on this account, it is manifest that Plato had an eye to the prophecies of the Sibyl when he said this about prophets, for he said, “When they correctly speak of many and important matters, and yet know nothing of what they are saying.

Ἔσται δὲ ὑμῖν ῥᾳδίως τὴν ὀρθὴν θεοσέβειαν ἐκ μέρους παρὰ τῆς παλαιᾶς Σιβύλλης, ἔκ τινος δυνατῆς ἐπιπνοίας διὰ χρησμῶν ὑμᾶς διδασκούσης, μανθάνειν, ταῦθ' ἅπερ ἐγγὺς εἶναι δοκεῖ τῆς τῶν προφητῶν διδασκαλίας. Ταύτην δὲ ἐκ μὲν Βαβυλῶνος ὡρμῆσθαί φασι, Βηρώσσου τοῦ τὴν Χαλδαϊκὴν ἱστορίαν γράψαντος θυγατέρα οὖσαν, εἰς δὲ τὰ μέρη τῆς Καμπανίας οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως διαβᾶσαν ἐκεῖ τοὺς χρησμοὺς ἐξαγορεύειν ἔν τινι Κουμᾷ οὕτω καλουμένῃ πόλει, ἓξ σημείοις διεστώσῃ Βαΐων, ἔνθα τὰ θερμὰ τῆς Καμπανίας εἶναι συμβαίνει. Ἐθεασάμεθα δὲ ἐν τῇ πόλει γενόμενοι καί τινα τόπον, ἐν ᾧ βασιλικὴν μεγίστην ἐξ ἑνὸς ἐξεσμένην λίθου ἔγνωμεν, πρᾶγμα μέγιστον καὶ παντὸς θαύματος ἄξιον, ἔνθα τοὺς χρησμοὺς αὐτὴν ἀπαγγέλλειν οἱ ὡς τὰ πάτρια παρειληφότες παρὰ τῶν ἑαυτῶν προγόνων ἔφασκον. Ἐν μέσῳ δὲ τῆς βασιλικῆς ἐπεδείκνυον ἡμῖν τρεῖς δεξαμενὰς ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐξεσμένας λίθου, ὧν πληρουμένων ὕδατος λούεσθαι αὐτὴν ἐν αὐταῖς ἔλεγον, καὶ στολὴν ἀναλαμβάνουσαν εἰς τὸν ἐνδότατον τῆς βασιλικῆς βαδίζειν οἶκον ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ἐξεσμένον λίθου, καὶ ἐν μέσῳ τῷ οἴκῳ καθεζομένην ἐπὶ ὑψηλοῦ βήματος καὶ θρόνου οὕτω τοὺς χρησμοὺς ἐξαγορεύειν. Ταύτης δὲ τῆς Σιβύλλης ὡς χρησμῳδοῦ πολλοὶ μὲν καὶ ἄλλοι τῶν συγγραφέων μέμνηνται, καὶ Πλάτων δὲ ἐν τῷ Φαίδρῳ. Δοκεῖ δέ μοι τοῖς ταύτης χρησμοῖς ἐντυχὼν ὁ Πλάτων τοὺς χρησμῳδοὺς ἐκθειάζειν: ἑώρα γὰρ τὰ ὑπ' αὐτῆς πάλαι προειρημένα ἔργοις πληρούμενα. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο θαυμάσας ἐν τῷ πρὸς Μένωνα λόγῳ αὐταῖς λέξεσιν ἐπαινῶν τοὺς χρησμῳδοὺς οὕτως γέγραφεν: Ὀρθῶς ἄρα ἂν καλοῖμεν θείους αὐτούς, οὓς δὴ νῦν λέγομεν χρησμῳδούς: οὐχ ἥκιστα φαῖμεν ἂν τούτους τε θείους εἶναι καὶ ἐνθουσιάζειν, ἐπίπνους ὄντας καὶ κατεχομένους ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὅταν κατορθῶσι λέγοντες πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα πράγματα, μηδὲν εἰδότες ὧν λέγουσι: σαφῶς καὶ φανερῶς εἰς τοὺς Σιβύλλης ἀφορῶν χρησμούς. Αὕτη γὰρ οὐχ, ὥσπερ οἱ ποιηταὶ καὶ μετὰ τὸ γράψαι τὰ ποιήματα, εἶχεν ἐξουσίαν διορθοῦσθαι καὶ ἐπιξέειν μάλιστα διὰ τὴν τῶν μέτρων ἀκρίβειαν, ἀλλ' ἐν μὲν τῷ τῆς ἐπιπνοίας καιρῷ τὰ τῆς προφητείας ἐπλήρου, παυσαμένης δὲ τῆς ἐπιπνοίας ἐπέπαυτο καὶ ἡ τῶν εἰρημένων μνήμη. Τοῦτ' οὖν αἴτιον τοῦ μὴ πάντα τὰ μέτρα τῶν ἐπῶν τῆς Σιβύλλης σώζεσθαι. Αὐτοὶ γὰρ ἐν τῇ πόλει γενόμενοι παρὰ τῶν περιηγητῶν μεμαθήκαμεν, τῶν καὶ τοὺς τόπους ἡμῖν, ἐν οἷς ἐχρησμῴδει, ὑποδειξάντων καὶ φακόν τινα ἐκ χαλκοῦ κατεσκευασμένον, ἐν ᾧ τὰ λείψανα αὐτῆς σώζεσθαι ἔλεγον. Ἔφασκον δὲ μετὰ πάντων ὧν διηγοῦντο καὶ τοῦτο ὡς παρὰ τῶν προγόνων ἀκηκοότες, ὅτι οἱ ἐκλαμβάνοντες τοὺς χρησμοὺς τηνικαῦτα, ἐκτὸς παιδεύσεως ὄντες, πολλαχοῦ τῆς τῶν μέτρων ἀκριβείας διήμαρτον: καὶ ταύτην ἔλεγον αἰτίαν εἶναι τῆς ἐνίων ἐπῶν ἀμετρίας, τῆς μὲν χρησμῳδοῦ διὰ τὸ πεπαῦσθαι τῆς κατοχῆς καὶ τῆς ἐπιπνοίας μὴ μεμνημένης τῶν εἰρημένων, τῶν δὲ ὑπογραφέων δι' ἀπαιδευσίαν τῆς τῶν μέτρων ἀκριβείας ἐκπεπτωκότων. Διὰ τοῦτο τοίνυν τὸν Πλάτωνα εἰς τοὺς τῆς Σιβύλλης ἀφορῶντα χρησμοὺς περὶ τῶν χρησμῳδῶν τοῦτ' εἰρηκέναι δῆλον. Ἔφη γὰρ οὕτως: Ὅταν κατορθῶσι λέγοντες πολλὰ καὶ μεγάλα πράγματα, μηδὲν εἰδότες ὧν λέγουσι.