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by these forged oracles, and perhaps by his authority led the fathers who lived after him into the same error.

Tatian makes no use of the Sibylline oracles, and only just mentions the Sibyl amongst the writers who were before Homer, and after Moses. Orat. contr. Græc. § 41.

Athenagoras, to show that the gods of the Gentiles were men, produces six verses from the Sibyl. Legat. § 30.

Theophilus gives us no less than eighty-four Sibylline verses, ad Autol. ii. the same which stand in the beginning of the editions of these oracles, and which are mere patchwork of scripture-phrase. When the Greek poets said things consonant to the holy scriptures, Theophilus observes that they stole their knowledge from the law and the prophets, κλέψαντες ταῦτα ἐκ νόμου καὶ τῶν προφητῶν. It is strange that he did not suspect the same thing of the Sibyl, whose thefts are so open and glaring. ii. 37.

The Sibylline verses cited by the fathers, and those which are preserved in our present collection, are often the same, and always of the same stamp and value, and liable to the same objections. It is a vain thing to receive the one, and reject the other: it is better to defend them all heroically in the lump, and not to do the work by halves, nor make a distinction where there is no difference.

Clemens Alexandrinus was learned, and willing to show his learning, and to let the world see that he had perused all sorts of authors; and therefore could not possibly omit the Sibyl.

He produces these verses (from the Sibyl, though he names her not) in praise of the Hebrews, Cohort. 60.

Οι τινες οὐκ ἀπάτησι κεναῖς, οὐδ ̓ ἔργ ̓ ἀνθρώπων
Χρύσεα καὶ χάλκεια, καὶ ἀργύρου, ἠδ ̓ ἐλέφαντος,
Καὶ ξυλίνων λιθίνων τε, βροτῶν εἴδωλα θανόντων,
Τιμῶσιν, ὅσαπερ τε βροτοί, κενεόφρονι βουλή.
̓Αλλὰ γὰρ αἴρουσιν πρὸς οὐρανὸν ὠλένας ἁγνας,
Ορθριοι ἐξ εὐνῆς, αἰεὶ χρόα αγνίζοντες
Ὕδασι, καὶ τιμῶσι μόνον τὸν ἀεὶ μεδέοντα
̓Αθάνατον.

Qui nusquam vanis erroribus inducti, hominum opera
Ex ebore argentoque, ex auro denique et ære,

E saxis lignoqne hominum simulacra peremptorum,

Horrent, et quæcumque alii, vanissima turba.
At contra puras tollunt ad sidera palmas,

Mane ubi membra levant strato, quæ virgine lympha
Perfundunt: unumque colunt, qui cuncta gubernat,
Usque immortalem.

I give this version, as I find it in the Oxford edition, and shall not trouble myself to mend it. The fifth verse seems to be taken from St. Paulἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας. 1 Τim. ii. 8. Perhaps, πρός γ' οὐρανὸν, for the sake of metre, and also ωλένας άγνοὺς, from πλὴν ; for the last syllable of λέ νας from ωλένη is long. In the last verse for 'Αθάνατον, Sylburgius would read Αθανάτων, I know not why. This passage may be found in the Sibyll. Or. 1. iii.

Amongst the Sibylline verses cited by Theophilus and Clemens, are these:

Εἷς Θεός ἐστι, βροχὰς, ἀνέμους, σεισμοὺς ἐπιπέμπων,
*Αστεροπάς, λιμοὺς, λοιμούς, καὶ κήδεα λυγρά,
Καὶ νιφετοὺς, κρύσταλλα· τί δὴ καθ' ἓν ἐξαγορεύω;

Unus Deus est, imbres, ventos, terræ motus immittens,
Fulgura, fames, pestes, et luctus tristes,
Et nives, et glaciem. Et quid singula commemoro?

This is taken from the Psalms. Τοῦ διδόντος χίονα. βάλλοντος κρύσταλλον αὑτοῦ –Χάλαζα, χιών, κρύσταλλος, πνεῦμα καταιγίδος - cxlvii, cxlviii.

Minucius Felix mentions not the Sibyl, though he was invited to it by his subject, where he defends the Christians for teaching the doctrine of a conflagration and a future judgment, and appeals to the poets and philosophers who had said the same thing, c. xxxiv. etc. I am glad of it, for the sake of that ingenious and agreeable author.

The Phrygian Sibyl is said to have been called Diana, "Αρτεμις, and to have uttered these verses at Delphi :

Το Δελφοὶ θεράποντες ἑκηβόλου Απόλλωνος,
Ηλθον ἐγὼ χρήσουσα Διὸς νέον αἰγιόχοιο,
Αὐτοκασιγνήτῳ κεχολωμένη ̓Απόλλωνι.

O Delphi, Phoebi ferientis qui eminus estis
Servi, veni ad vos Jovis expositura potentis
Mentem, germano succensens plurima Phœbo.

Thus Clemens Strom. i. p. 584, and Pausanias also says

that the Sibyl calls herself Herophile, and Diana, and the sister, and sometimes the wife, and sometimes the daughter of Apollo. See the notes.

We have here, I think, the fragment of a true old Sibylline oracle made by a Pagan. It looks as if it were composed by some priest, who had a mind to set up an oracle. in opposition to the Delphic, and to draw the trade to another shop.

Pausanias in Phoc. gives us this Sibylline oracle predicting a defeat of the Athenians, and made, I suppose, after

the event;

Καὶ τότ' Αθηναίοισι βαρύστονα κήδεα θήσει
Ζεὺς ὑψιβρεμέτης, ούπερ κράτος ἐστὶ μέγιστον.
Νηυσὶ φέρει πολέμοιο μάχην καὶ δηιοτῆτα
Ολλυμέναις δολεροῖσι τρόποις, κακότητι νομήων.
Ac tum Cecropidis luctum gemitusque ciebit
Jupiter altitonans, rerum cui summa potestas.
Navibus exitium, et crudelia funera bello

Ille feret, culpaque ducum dabit omnia pessum.

Dio, or Xiphiline, mentions a verse, pretended to be a Sibylline oracle, concerning Nero, which was handed about when Nero had burnt the city of Rome; and which, to be sure, was composed after he had killed his mother;

C

Ἔσχατος Αἰνεαδῶν μητροκτόνος ἡγεμονεύσει.

Ultimus Æneadum matrem necat induperator.

But, says the historian, it was really fulfilled. Indeed! As if it required divination, to forcsee that such a debauched, miserable, odious wretch as Nero would in all probability die without heirs, or be cut off by some conspiracy, and that with him the Julian family would be extinguished! Nero married Sporus; upon which one of the wits of those days observed, that it had been well for mankind, si pater ejus Domitius talem duxisset uxorem.'

—ἕτερον λόγιον, ὡς καὶ Σιβύλλειον ὄντως ὂν, δον· ἔστι δὲ

TOUTO,

Ἔσχατος

• Nero killed his mother, A, D. 59. and burnt the city, A. D. 64.

Καὶ ἔσχεν οὕτως, εἴ τε καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς θεομαντείω τινὶ προλεχε θὲν, εἴτε καὶ τότε ὑπὸ τοῦ ὁμίλου πρὸς τὰ παρόντα θειασθέν τελευταῖος γὰρ τῶν Ἰουλίων τῶν ἀπὸ ̓Αινείου γενομένων ἐμου νάρχησε.

4 Hunc versum, ut vere Sibyllinum, canere coeperunt, • Ultimus

• Id quod accidit, sive vere prædictum divino oraculo, sive afflatu multitudinis ex statu rerum qui tum erat: nam is ultimus ex Julii familia, quæ ab Enea profecta erat, regnavit.' Xiphil. p. 180. ed. Steph.

I shall conclude this poetical section with an oracle from the Anthologia, and as good an oracle as the Sibyl ever uttered :

Πρὸς τὸν μάντιν Ὄλυμπον Ονήσιμος ἦλθ ̓ ὁ παλαιστής,
Καὶ πένταθλος Ὕλας, καὶ σταδιοὺς Μενεκλῆς,
Τίς μέλλει νικῶν αὐτῶν τὸν ἀγῶνα, θέλοντες
Γνῶναι κακεῖνος τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἐνιδών,
Πάντες, ἔφη, νικᾶτε, μόνον μή τις σὲ παρέλθη,
Καὶ σὲ καταστρέψῃ, καὶ σὲ παρατροχάση.
σε

Thus imitated by Ausonius;

Doctus Hylas cæstu, Phegeus catus arte palæstræ,
Clarus Olympiacis et Lycus in stadiis,

agone,

An possent omnes venturo vincere
Hammonem Libya consuluere deum.
Sed Deus, ut sapiens, Dabitur victoria vobis
Indubitata quidem, si caveatis, ait,

Ne quis Hylam cæstu, ne quis certamine luctæ.
Phegea, ne cursu te, Lyce, prætereat.

THERE is an epistle ascribed to Barnabas: we cannot certainly know by whom it was written.

The first who cites it is Clemens Alexandrinus, who was born about the middle of the second century, and there is a passage in it, which shows that it was written after the destruction of Jerusalem. We may therefore conclude that it was composed after A. D. 70, and before 180, and probably in the first century.

He says of the temple; Διὰ γὰρ τὸ πολεμεῖν αὐτοὺς, καθ ηρέθη ὑπὸ τῶν ἐχθρῶν, νῦν καὶ αὐτοὶ οἱ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὑπηρέται

ἀνοικοδομήσουσιν (ανοικοδομοῦσιν) αὐτὸν. Nam quia bellum gesserunt, ab hostibus destructum est; nunc vero ipsi hostium ministri illud reædificant.' xvi. He mentions not this destruction as an event which had just then come to pass, but says indefinitely nagén, as if some time at least were elapsed since that calamity. There is a great conformity between the subject of this epistle and of that to the Hebrews; but a great difference between the epistles, for that to the Hebrews is in all respects superior.

Since the author of this cpistle, as it now stands, discovers not himself, and gives no internal mark by which we may find him out, and since the name of Barnabas d might be common to other persons, or assumed on purpose, one would willingly take occasion hence to ascribe it to some unknown author, rather than to the apostle Barnabas. If it were really the work of St. Paul's companion, there are internal characters in it, which should incline us to judge that he was not at that time under any particular guidance of the Holy Spirit. The antient Christians judged so, and received it not as a canonical book; which shows also that they were not so very credulous, and so ready to adopt every thing, as they are imagined by some to have been.

Barnabas is supposed by Clemens Alexandrinus, Eusebius, and many of the antients, to have been one of the seventy disciples; Tillemont, Hist. Eccl. i. 408. and when he is first mentioned in the Acts, nothing is said to intimate that he was converted after Christ's ascension.

When he preached with Paul, the Pagans of Lystra took him to be Jupiter, and Paul to be Mercurius, whence it might be conjectured that he looked, and that he was, much older than St. Paul; but I dare not lay a stress on this argument. Chrysostom says that he was ἀπὸ τῆς ὄψεως άξιο ano gs, that he had an air which commanded esteem and respect. I fancy that Chrysostom had the same conjecture in his mind, and thought that the Pagans were induced to take Barnabas for Jupiter, from his amiable aspect and majestic countenance, fit for the father of gods and men.' Upon the whole, there may be room to suspect either that he

d Barnabas,' or Son of Consolation.'

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