Chap. V.—That the Prophetic Women—That Is, the Sibyls—Declare that There is But One God.

It remains to speak of the prophetic women. Varro relates that there were ten Sibyls,—the first of the Persians, the second the Libyan, the third the Delphian, the fourth the Cimmerian, the fifth the Erythræan, the sixth the Samian, the seventh the Cumæan, the eighth the Hellespontian, the ninth the Phrygian, the tenth the Tiburtine, who has the name of Albunea. Of all these, he says that there are three books of the Cumæan alone which contain the fates of the Romans, and are accounted sacred, but that there exist, and are commonly regarded as separate, books of almost all the others, but that they are entitled, as though by one name, Sibylline books, excepting that the Erythræan, who is said to have lived in the times of the Trojan war, placed her name in her book: the writings of the others are mixed together.1437    [See Cyprian on Balaam, vol. v. p. 502, note 7. A hint as to the qualified inspiration of these women.]    

All these Sibyls of whom I have spoken, except the Cumæan, whom none but the Quindecemviri1438    The appointed guardians of the Sibylline books. At first there were two; the number was afterwards increased to ten, and subsequently to fifteen, termed Quindecemviri.   are allowed to read, bear witness that there is but one God, the ruler, the maker, the parent, not begotten of any, but sprung from Himself, who was from all ages, and will be to all ages; and therefore is alone worthy of being worshipped, alone of being feared, alone of being reverenced, by all living beings;—whose testimonies I have omitted because I was unable to abridge them; but if you wish to see them, you must have recourse to the books themselves. Now let us follow up the remaining subjects.  

1022B CAPUT V. (Div. Inst. lib. I, c. 6.) Quod unum Deum vates, id est Sibyllae praedicant.

Superest de vatibus dicere. Varro decem Sibyllas fuisse tradit; primam de Persis, secundam Libyssam, tertiam Delphida, quartam Cimmeriam, quintam Erythraeam, sextam Samiam, septimam Cumanam, octavam Hellespontiam, nonam Phrygiam, decimam Tiburtem, cui sit nomen Albunea. Ex his omnibus Cumaeae solius tres esse libros, qui Romanorum fata contineant, et habeantur arcani, caeterarum autem fere omnium singulos extare haberique vulgo, sed eos Sibyllinos velut uno nomine inscribi; nisi quod Erythraea, quae Troici belli temporibus fuisse perhibetur, 1022C nomen suum verum posuit in libro, aliarum confusi sunt.

Hac omnes, de quibus dixi, Sibyllae praeter Cumaeam, quam legi nisi a Quindecimviris non licet, unum Deum esse testantur, principem, conditorem, parentem, non ab ullo generatum, sed a seipso satum, qui et fuerit a saeculis, et sit futurus in saecula, et idcirco solus coli debeat, solus timeri, solus a cunctis viventibus honorari. Quarum testimonia, quia breviare non poteram, praetermisi, quae si desideras, ad ipsos tibi libros revertendum est. Nunc reliqua persequamur.