Chap. XVIII.—Of the Fortunes of the World at the Last Time, and of the Things Foretold by the Soothsayers.

That these things will thus take place, all the prophets have announced from the inspiration of God, and also the soothsayers at the instigation of the demons. For Hystaspes, whom I have named above, having described the iniquity of this last time, says that the pious and faithful, being separated from the wicked, will stretch forth their hands to heaven with weeping and mourning, and will implore the protection of Jupiter: that Jupiter will look to the earth, and hear the voices of men, and will destroy the wicked. All which things are true except one, that he attributed to Jupiter those things which God will do. But that also was withdrawn from the account, not without fraud on the part of the demons, viz., that the Son of God would then be sent, who, having destroyed all the wicked, would set at liberty the pious. Which, however, Hermes did not conceal. For in that book which is entitled the Complete Treatise, after an enumeration of the evils concerning which we have spoken, he added these things: “But when these things thus come to pass, then He who is Lord, and Father, and God, and the Creator of the first and one God, looking upon what is done, and opposing to the disorder His own will, that is, goodness, and recalling the wandering and cleansing wickedness, partly inundating it with much water, and partly burning it with most rapid fire, and sometimes pressing it with wars and pestilences, He brought His world to its ancient state and restored it.” The Sibyls also show that it would not be otherwise than that the Son of God should be sent by His supreme Father, to set free the righteous from the hands of the wicked, and to destroy the unrighteous, together with their cruel tyrants. One of whom thus wrote:—  

Also another Sibyl:—  

And again another:—  

CAPUT XVIII. De mundi casibus in extremo, ac de iis praedictis a vatibus.

Haec ita futura esse, cum prophetae omnes ex Dei spiritu, tum etiam vates ex instinctu daemonum cecinerunt. Hystaspes enim, quem superius nominavi, descripta iniquitate saeculi hujus extremi, pios ac fideles a nocentibus segregatos, ait cum fletu et gemitu extenturos esse ad coelum manus, et imploraturos fidem Jovis; Jovem respecturum ad terram, et auditurum voces hominum, atque impios extincturum. 0795B Quae omnia vera sunt, praeter unum, quod Jovem dixit illa facturum quae Deus faciet. Sed et illud non sine daemonum fraude subtractum est, missum iri a Patre tunc Filium Dei, qui deletis omnibus malis, pios liberet. Quod Hermes tamen non dissimulavit. In eo enim libro, qui λόγος τέλειος inscribitur, post enumerationem malorum de quibus diximus, subjecit haec: Ἐπὰν δὴ ταῦτα ὧδε γένηται, ὦ Ἀσκλήπιε. τότε ὁ κύριος, καὶ πατὴρ, καὶ θεὸς, καὶ τοῦ πρώτου καὶ ἑνὸς θεοῦ δημιουργὸς, ἐπιβλέψας τοῖς γενομένοις, καὶ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ βουλήσει τοῖς τοιούτοις, τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἀντερείσας τῆ ἀταξίᾳ, καὶ ἀνακαλεσάμενος τὴν πλάνην, καὶ τὴν κακίαν 0795C ἐκκαθαρας, πῇ μὲν ὕδατι πολλῷ καταλύσας, πῇ δὲ 0796A πυρὶ ὀξυτάτῳ διακαύσας, ἑνίοτε δὲ πολέμοις καὶ λοιμοῖς ἐκπιέσας, ἤγαγεν ἐπὶ τὸ ἀρχαῖον καὶ ἀποκατέστησεν τὸν ἑαυτοῦ κόσμον. Sibyllae quoque non aliter fore ostendunt, quam ut Dei Filius a summo patre mittatur, qui et justos liberet de manibus impiorum, et injustos cum tyrannis saevientibus deleat; e quibus una sic tradidit: Ἥξει καὶ μακάρων ἐθέλων πόλιν ἐξαλαπάξαι; Καί κέν τις θεόθεν βασιλεὺς πεμφθεὶς ἐπ᾽ ἰδίων, Πάντας ὀλεῖ βασιλεῖς μεγάλους καὶ φῶτας ἀρίστους; Εἰθ᾽ οὕτως κρίσις ἔσται ὑπ᾽ ἀφθίτου ἀνθρώποισι.Item alia Sibylla: Καὶ τότ᾽ ἀπ᾽ ἠελίου πέμψειε θεὸς βασιλῆα, Ὃς πᾶσαν γαῖαν παύσει πολέμοιο κακοῖο.Et rursus alia: . . . . . ἡμετέρας δουλείας 0796B Ζυγὸν δυσβάστακτον ἐπ᾽ αὐχένι κείμενον ἀρεῖ, Καὶ θεσμοὺς ἀθέους λύσει, δεσμούς τε βιαίους.