The Sibyl · a new plain-English translation from the original language
They say that the Cumaean woman brought nine books of her own oracles
to Tarquinius Priscus, who then ruled over the affairs of Rome, demanding three hundred gold philippics for them. But being
scorned, and not even asked what was contained within them,
she gave three of them to the fire. Then again, on another
visit to the king, she brought the remaining six books, asking the same price
for them. And not being deemed worthy of a hearing, she burned three more.
Then, for a third occasion, carrying the three books left over, she approached again
asking the same price, saying that if she did not receive it, she would burn these too.
Then, they say, the king, examining them and marveling, gave
a hundred philippics for them and took possession of them, and begged
concerning the others; but she declared that she no longer had the equal of those that had been
burned, nor could she know such things apart from the divine frenzy,
though at times some had been gathered from various cities and regions
such oracles as were judged necessary and beneficial to them, and that from these
a collection should be made, and this they did with all speed. For what
was truly given by God, though hidden in a secret place, did not go unnoticed. And of all
the Sibyls' books were laid up in the Capitol of ancient Rome, though those of the Cumaean were kept hidden and not
given out to many, since the things destined to happen in Italy she had proclaimed
more particularly and more plainly, while the others were made known
to everyone. But the books of the Erythraean bear this name
inscribed upon them, taken from her homeland; but the others are not
labeled as to which belong to which Sibyl, and so remain indistinguishable.
Firmianus, then, a philosopher of no small renown and a priest of the
aforesaid Capitol, having turned his gaze toward our eternal light,
Christ, set down in his own writings the things spoken by the Sibyls
concerning the unspeakable glory, and forcefully refuted the folly of the Greek
error. And his vigorous exposition was set forth in the
Ausonian tongue, while the Sibylline verses themselves were uttered in the Greek voice
and were carried down. But so that this may not seem unbelievable, I shall offer the testimony of the
aforementioned man, given in this manner: since
the Sibylline verses found among us are held cheap not only because they are easily obtained—
for to those versed in Greek learning they seem contemptible, since rare things
are thought precious—but also because, since not all the verses preserve
the strict accuracy of meter, they command a feebler belief. The cause of this
is that the swift scribes could not keep pace with the rush of her speech, or
were themselves untrained—not any fault of the prophetess; for together with the
cessation of her inspiration the memory of what was said would cease as well. Looking to this, Plato too
said that such people accomplish many great things while knowing nothing
of what they say. We, then, from the copies brought to Rome
by the envoys, will set forth as much as we are able. He then expounded
concerning the God without beginning, as follows:
One God, who alone rules, immense beyond measure, unbegotten—
but God alone, the one, highest above all, who made
heaven and the sun and the stars and the moon,
the fruit-bearing earth and the swelling waves of the sea.
He alone is God, the creator, existing uncontrolled by any other—
he himself fixed the form and shape of mortal men,
he himself blended the nature of all things, begetter of life.
This he said either in the sense that, coming together, they become one flesh from the father,
or in the sense that from the four elements, opposed to one another,
he fashioned both the world beneath heaven and man himself.