A treatise of the sibyls so highly celebrated, as well by the antient heathens, as the holy fathers of the church : giving an accompt of the names, and number of the sibyls, of their qualities, the form and matter of their verses : as also of the books now extant under their names, and the errours crept into Christian religion, from the impostures contained therein, particularly, concerning the state of the just, and unjust after death / written originally by David Blondel ; Englished by J.D.

CHAP. XXIII. That it was unadvisedly done by the Author of the Sibylline Writings, to put himself into the number of the Enthusiasts.

BUt it may be these insolent Expressions, the affectation of Enthusi∣asin, and the other sleights of Imposture, are not in the Original, and that the Fathers, who have had the said Writings in great esteem, have not found them therein. On the contrary, Justine Martyr (to satisfie us, that he very well knew as much) takes particular notice of it, and observes them to the Greeks, adding to that Discourse of Menon in Plato, concerning such as foretell things to come, a We shall say no less, then that those are Prophets, and they have Extasies, being inspired of God, when they become famous for delivering many, and great things, and know not any thing of what they say, the ensuing Application, He clearly, and ma∣nifestly, saw into the Oracles of the Sibyl. For she had not (as the Poets have) the power to correct her Poems, after she had writ them, and to polish them, especially, as to what concerns the exact observation of Measures; but she accomplished what was of her Prophecy, during the time of the inspiration, and, the inspiration failing, she no longer remembred the things she had said. Hence comes it, that all the Verses of the Sibylline Poems were not preserved. For we our self being at the City (of Cumae) understood so much from those, who led us up and down, and shewed us the places, where she spoke her Oracles, and a certain Urn made of Brass, where they said her Reliques were conserved. They also gave us this account, as having it from their Predecessours, That those, who received the Oracle, being people without instruction, many times failed in the ex∣act observation of measures, and said this was the reason, why some Verses were without measure; viz. that the Prophetess, after the Extasie of inspiration was over, remembred not the things she had said, and that those, who writ them, by reason of their ignorance, had lost the exact measure of the Verses. And a little lower; Submit to the most antient of all the Sibyls, whose Books, it is so hap∣pened, are preserved all the World over; and who, by Oracles, proceeding from a certain powerfull inspiration, hath taught you concerning those, who are called Gods, that they are not such.

In like manner Constantine introduces the Sibyl, making her com∣plaint to God, that he imposed upon her a necessity of Divining. Suidas, for his part, makes this Observation of the Chaldaean Sibyl, The Prophetess is not her self the cause, that her Verses are imperfect, and without measure; but those, who took Copies of them: as not keeping close to the impetuosity of her way of delivery, and being not well read in Grammar. Besides that, with the inspiration, the memory of the things she had said failed her, and, for that reason, her Verses are imperfect, and the sense halting. Whether it be that this

is come so to pass, through the dispensation of God; to the end, that her Oracles should not be known to many unworthy of them, or that length of time hath been the cause of that, as well as many other things. Besides that, it is not to be ad∣mired, if the obscurity of the things said by the Prophetess, and the frequent Transcription of her Books, have occasioned the confusion of the sense, and mea∣sures of the Verses. Whereto b Marcus Antimachus adds (as taking it from Lactantius, whom he ridiculously makes Priest of the Capitol, converted to the Christian Religion upon reading of the Sibylline Wri∣tings.) That, what is to be had of the Sibylline Books, is not onely easily slight∣ed by those, who are troubled with the disease of the Greeks: for that it is easie to recover it (for scarce things seem more precious) but also is thought not to de∣serve any credit; because there is not an exact measure observed in the Verses. Now this is the fault of the Transcribers c (who were not able to reach the impetuosity of her way of delivery, and were not well read in Grammar) and not of the Prophetess; for when the inspiration was over, she no longer remembred the things she had spoken.

Notes

• a

  Exhort. ad Graec.
• b

  Praef. in libros Sibyl∣linos.
• c

  These words are transcribed out of Suidas, and unjustly attributed to Lactantius, who says no such thing.