to the end of

total rout; but, in a second engagement with them, he was vanquished, and driven From Joseph. back into the city with great loss. The next morning, when he went down to the har. lib. xiii. c. 19. bour to put the fleet in order to engage the enemy, no sooner were they drawn up in lib. xv. line of battle, but he saw them desert and go over to them, and (to his greater mortification) when he returned into the city, he found that all the land forces, both horse and foot, had in like manner revolted from him.

When Anthony understood that all this was done by Cleopatra's treachery, and in hopes of making her peace with Octavianus, he could not forbear expressing his resentment of it in loud complaints; so that Cleopatra, for fear of him, but (as she pretended) to secure herself from the enemy, fled to a monument, which she caused to be built of a great height and wonderful structure, and having there shut herself up with two maids and one eunuch, she had given it out that she was dead. Anthony no sooner heard the news, but, supposing it to be true, he fell upon his sword; however, having intelligence, some time after, that Cleopatra was still alive, he ordered those about him to carry him to her monument, where might be seen one of the most deplorable spectacles that can be imagined. Anthony, all over bloody, and breathing out his last, was, by the hands of Cleopatra and her two maids, drawn up by the ropes and pulleys that were employed in the building, to the top of the monument, and there, in a few moments, expired in her arms.

After the death of Anthony, the great care of Octavianus was to make himself master of Cleopatra's person and riches; of her person, to adorn his triumph, and of her riches, to defray the expences of the war: But after he had luckily compassed both, she, having private notice given her of her being designed to be carried to Rome, to make part of the show in her conqueror's triumph, caused herself to be bitten with an asp, and so, to avoid this infamy, *2 died, after she had reigned, from the death of her father, twenty-two years, and lived thirty-nine.

Octavianus, (a) though much concerned for having thus lost the chief glory of his triumph, did nevertheless make for Cleopatra (as he had permitted her to make for Anthony) a splendid and royal funeral. He had them both reposited in the same monument which they had begun, and gave orders to have it finished. Having thus settled his affairs in Egypt, and cut off all those from whom he might expect any fresh disturbances, he made a review of the several provinces of the Lesser Asia and the isles adjoining, and so passing through Greece returned to Rome, where he triumphed for three days successively, for his victories over the Dalmatians, and for the sea-fight at Actium, and for the conquest of Egypt; in the last of which were led before him the children of Cleopatra; and though herself had escaped that fate, her effigy was carried in procession, with an asp hanging at her arm to denote the manner of her death. After this triumph he held a private consultation with Agrippa and Mecænas (his two chief ministers, and principal instruments of his greatness), whether he should re

The asp is a serpent of Egypt and Libya, and proper only to those climates. Those that are bitten by it die within three hours, in a kind of gentle sleep or lethargy, without any sensation of pain; and therefore Cleopatra, who had experienced all kinds of poisons upon other creatures, made choice of this as the easiest way of dying; and, to deceive her keepers, kept an asp always hid in her chamber under figs, grapes, and flowers, which, when she was determined to die, she took and held to her arm, and soon after its biting her fell into a sleep, and so died.

Ausa et jacentem visere regiam
Vultu sereno fortis, et asperas
Tractare serpentes, ut atrum

Corpore combiberet venenum,

Deliberatâ morte ferocior :
Sævis liburnis scilicet invidens,
Privata deduci superbo

Non humilis mulier triumpho.

Hor. Carm. lib. 1. Ode xxxviì. ** In her death ended the reign of the family of the Ptolèmies in Egypt, which hereupon was reduced into the form of a Roman province, and was governed by a prefect sent thither from Rome. Under this form it continued a province of the Roman empire six hundred and seventy years, till it was taken from them by the Saracens, in the year of our Lord 641. Prideaux's Connection, Anno 30.

(a) Dion. Cassius, lib. ii. and Suetonius, in Oc tavio.

A. M. 4001,

&c. or 5410, Ant. Chris.

1, &c. or 1.

aut Ær. Vulg. 3.

+

store the commonwealth to its ancient state, or retain the sovereign power. Agrippa was for the restoring, but Mecænas for the retaining part: whereupon Octavianus, knowing that the senate was filled with his creatures, whose fortunes depended on his holding the sovereignty, proposed indeed, in a formal speech, to resign his authority; but no sooner was the proposal made, than the whole senate, with an unanimous voice, dissuaded him from it, and, with all manner of arguments, pressed him to take upon him the sole administration of the government; which, with much seeming reluctancy, at length he consented to. But by no means would he submit to accept of it for a longer term than ten years, though, from ten years to ten years, upon one pretence or other, he continued himself in it as long as he lived, and so transmitted it to his successors.

With this new power the senate was determined to confer on him a new name. Himself had taken upon him the common title of imperator, which the soldiers, during the times of the republic, used to give to victorious generals; but this was not thought adequate to his merit: And therefore, since the word Augustus seemed to signify something that above human was sacred and venerable, this was made choice of, and, by the general suffrage of the senate, first given to him, with many more things decreed in his honour, by the flattery of some who courted his favour, and the fear of others who dreaded his power.

Augustus (for so we must now call him) having raised himself to this height of power and glory, as soon as Lepidus *, who had been Pontifex Maximus, or high priest of Rome, was dead, assumed to himself (as did his successors in the empire) that office; and the first thing he did was to examine into the prophetical books, which, at that time, went abroad under the name of the Sibyls †.

That in the reign of Tarquinius Superbus there came a strange woman to Rome, who offered to sell to the king nine volumes of these Sibylline oracles; but upon his refusing to purchase them, burnt three of them, and afterwards coming with six, and being rejected, burnt three more, and yet at last obtained the full price of what she had asked at first for the three remaining; that these volumes when purchased (a) were laid up

* This Lepidus was one of the triumvirate with Octavianus and Anthony, but a man of no manner of merit. He joined Octavianus in carrying on the war against Sextus Pompeius, the son of Pompey the Great; but when he arrogated the whole honour of their successes to himself, Octavianus drew over all his army to desert him, and so reduced him to the necessity of begging his life, and of being content to lead the remainder of it in a private and mean condition at Circetii, a small maritime town among the Latins, where he was sent into banishment, and there died in obscurity and contempt. Suetonius, in Octavio, lib. xvi. Appion, de Bellis Civilibus, lib. v. and L. Florus, lib. iv. c. 8.

†The Sibyls were women, of ancient times said to be endued with a prophetic spirit, and to have deli. vered oracles, foreshewing the fates and destinies of kingdoms. We have in the writings of the ancients mention made of ten of them. The Cumaan, the Cumanian, the Persian, the Hellespontican, the Lybian, the Samian, the Delphian, the Phrygian, the Tiburtine, and the Erythræan; but some are of opinion, that the Cumaan and the Erythræan was one and the same Sibyl; that she was born at Erythræ in Ionia, and therefore was by the Greeks called Erythræa; but having removed from Erythræ to Cumæ in Italy, and there delivered all her oracles, she was from thence, by the Romans and Italians, called Cu

mæa. These Sibyls, among the Pagans, were accounted what the prophets and prophetesses were really among the Hebrews; and as the most ancient of these was named Sibylla, so all others of the same sex, who pretended to the like fatidical spirit, were called Sibyls. The place from whence these Sibyls gave out their oracles was generally a cave, or subterraneous vault (if we may judge of others by that at Cuma), whereof Justin Martyr gives us this account. "I have seen the place, says he, which is a large chapel, or oratory, hewn out of the main rock, and must have been a work of great labour. Here the Sibyl (as the inhabitants, who had a tradition thereof, told me) gave forth oracles. In the middle of the chapel they shewed me three hollow places hewn out of the same rock, in which, when filled with water, the Sibyl used to bathe herself, and so having put on her garment, retired into the innermost cell of the chapel, (which was likewise hewn out of the same rock) and having placed herself upon an elevated seat, which jutted out into the middle of the cell, she there uttered her oracles." Lactantius, de falsa Religione, lib. i. c. 6. Salmasius, in Exercitat. ad Solinum, page 8. and J. Martyr, Cohortatio ad Græcos.

(a) Dionys. Halicar. lib. iv. Pliny's Nat. Hist. lib. xiii. Solin. Polyhist. lib. ii. and Ăul. Gel. lib. i. c. 19.

to the end of

in the capitol, committed to the custody of proper officers, never consulted but upon From Joseph. great exigencies of state, and carefully preserved until, at the burning of the capitol, in lib. xii. c. 19. the civil wars between Sylla and Marius, they happened to be consumed; that upon the lib. xv. rebuilding of the capitol, (a) the Romans with great care made another collection of Sibylline oracles from several countries, and after they had selected such as their church and state did approve of for their purpose, laid them up in the new capitol, instead of those which the fire had consumed; that besides these capitoline volumes there were a great many more Sibylline oracles in the world, (b) which Agustus, in the beginning of his office of Pontifex Maximus, endeavoured to collect; and what he reputed genuine, or rather what suited his purpose best, these he deposited likewise in the capitol, burning the rest; that (c) Tiberius made another review of these oracles, and condemned several volumes of them to the flames, but the capitoline copies were still held in great veneration, (d) until they fell into disgrace in the reign of Honorius, and by his order and appointment were burnt and destroyed. (e) These are facts that are confirmed by all antiquity, and what comprise indeed the whole history of these Sibylline writings. But if they were all thus finally destroyed, the question is, how came we by the present collection of Greek verses, comprised in eight books, which go under the name of the Sibyls, and of what merit and authority are we to account them?

Now, in answer to this, it is to be observed, (f) that long before the times of Christianity, there were extant among the heathens several oracles, or predictions of future events, ascribed to one or more of these prophetesses who were styled Sibyls; that these predictions were held in great esteem among the ancients, as containing notions consonant to true religion, the worship of one God, the conflagration of the world, the renovation of it again, the general resurrection, and the rewards and punishments hereafter; and that both Heathen, Jewish, and Christian authors, who make mention of these Sibyls, give a strong sanction to their authority. Varro looks upon them as inspired prophetesses; Virgil does them honour in citing their predictions; Josephus thinks them useful to establish some positions in Sacred History; and Clemens Alexandrinus (as he quotes a more ancient author for it) brings in St Paul addressing himself to an heathen audience in these words;-Take the Greek books in your hands, read the Sibyls, and see what they say of the unity of God, and how they foretel what is to come, and you will there clearly find the Son of God.-It must be acknowledged indeed, that the whole collection of these Sibylline oracles, as they are now extant in eight entire books, is far from being genuine. The 1st, 2d, and most of the 5th, all the 6th, 7th, and 8th books, seem to be a manifest forgery, the spurious production of some zealous Christian (perhaps about the middle of the second age after Christ) for the promotion of the religion he professed.

(g) In one place, he explicitely declares himself to be a Christian, and speaks of the whole mystery of our salvation, and of the methods whereby it was accomplished; of the incarnation and birth, the circumcision and death, the resurrection and ascension of our Saviour Christ, with as much accuracy as do the Evangelists. (h) in another place, he mentions Christ's future reigning here upon earth, according to the notion of the Millenarians, which was not started till the second century; and (i) in another, gives us a succession of the Roman emperors in their orders, from Julius Cæsar to Antoninus Pius, together with the adoption of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, which has much more the air of an historical narrative than a prophetic prediction.

These things discover a forgery (of at least a great part of these pretended oracles)

(b) Lactan. de falsa (d) Dion Cassius, lib. lvii Tacit. (f) Whiston's Vindication of the (i) Lib. v.

(a) Tully, de Divinat. lib. i. Dionys. Halicar. and Aul. Gel. ubi supra. Religione, lib. vi. et de Ira Dei. c. 22. (c) Sueton. in Octavio. (e) Aug. de Civit. Dei, lib. xviii. c. 53, 54. (g) Lib. viii. 4 T

Annal. lib. vi.
Sibylline Oracles.

VOL. II.

(h) Lib. ii.

&c. or 5410.

A. M. 4001, a little too palpably; but then it must be observed, that neither the heathens before, Ant. Chris. nor the Christians for the three first centuries after Christ, knew any thing of these 1, &c. or 1, spurious pieces, because we no where find them making any citations from them; but aut Er. now, (a) from the whole proem, the greatest part of the third, all the fourth, and a small Vulg. 3. -branch of the fifth book, (which are the only parts of the present collection that are eitheir cited or referred to by the ancient heathens), their quotations are innumerable : And therefore we may justly infer, that the present copy of eight books is not the same with what was extant before and in the first ages of Christianity, but widely different from it; that those are the genuine prophecies only which we find the ancient heathens and primitive Christians so frequently citing, and so generally esteeming, upon the account of their Divine inspiration; and that the rest, which have visible marks of forgery upon them, were probably the spurious additions of such conceited Christians as called themselves Gnostics; because Epiphanius tells us, that this set of men boasted of having books written by the daughter of Noah, even as the pretended prophetess, at the end of the third book, (which is a spurious addition to what went before), gives us to know, that " she was a wife to one of the three sons of Noah, and was with him in the ark during the whole time of the deluge."

Upon the whole therefore we may conclude, that though in the collection which we now have of the Sibylline prophecies, several whole books, and some parts of others, are confessedly spurious; yet others there are which have all the evidences we can desire of their being genuine : And therefore to condemn them all in the lump, and because some appear to be palpable forgeries, to include all under the same category, is an act of great injustice.

If indeed we attend never so little to the contents of those oracles which we deem genuine, we cannot but perceive, that neither heathens, Jews, nor Christians could, consistently with themselves, be any ways the forgers of them. (b) The heathens could not, because they are directly levelled against their wickedness, idolatry, and polytheism. The Jews could not, because they foretel the subversion of their state and temple by the Romans, which we all know they would never believe: And the Christians could not, because many quotations out of these oracles are found in other authors previous to Christianity; and in the beginning of it several of them are cited by the first Christians, in the open view of all men, as very ancient at that time, very well known, and universally received over all the heathen world.

If then these genuine prophecies of the Sibyls were not of human contrivance and invention, the conclusive question is, from whence was it that they derived their original? God, no doubt, who forced Balaam, contrary to his will, to bless the Israelites, and to prophecy (c)" the coming of his Son out of Jacob," could, in what manner he pleased, control the diabolical spirits which presided in the heathen oracles, and make them utter things even relating to the kingdom of the Messias, which otherwise they might have no inclination to utter. But there is no necessity for our having recourse to this extraordinary expedient; since the contents of the Sibylline oracles (those I mean that are genuine) are every where agreeable to the Scriptures, and foretel, for the main part, the same great revolutions of Providence that they do: It is no way inconsistent with the Divine attributes to suppose, that though God gave positive laws, or an institution of religious worship to the Jews only, and entrusted none but them with those Divine oracles which related to that worship; yet he might not wholly confine Divine inspiration to that nation, but might support the law and religion of Nature, and the right worship of himself, as the one true God, among the heathens likewise, by the help of these oracles, until (d) "the day dawned,” i. e. a

(a) Lib. v.
(d) 2 Cor, iv. 6.

(b) Whiston's Vindication of the Sibylline Oracles.

(c) Numb. xxiv. 5, &c.

more perfect revelation came, and " he who commanded the light to shine out of dark- From Joseph. ness, gave the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of JESUS lib. xiii. c. 19. CHRIST *."

THE END OF VOLUME SECOND.