Hortatory Address to the Greeks

YOU CAN EASILY LEARN THE TRUE RELIGION FROM THE ANCIENT SIBYL: who, through some kind of powerful inspiration, teaches you through her prophetic predictions truths that seem very similar to the teachings of the prophets. She is said to have been of Babylonian descent, the daughter of Berosus, who wrote the Chaldean History. After crossing over (how, I do not know) into the area of Campania, she delivered her prophecies in a city called Cumae, six miles from Baiae, where the hot springs of Campania are located.

While in that city, we also saw a certain place where we were shown a very large basilica carved out of one stone; a massive structure worthy of admiration. Those who had heard it from their forefathers as part of their country's tradition told us that this was where she used to deliver her oracles. In the middle of the basilica, they showed us three receptacles carved from a single stone, and when they were filled with water, they said she washed there.

After putting on her robe again, she would retreat into the innermost chamber of the basilica, also carved from the same stone; sitting in the middle of the chamber on a high platform and throne, she would proclaim her oracles. The Sibyl has been mentioned as a prophetess by many other writers and also by Plato in his "Phaedrus." Plato seems to have regarded prophets as divinely inspired when he read her prophecies. For he observed that what she had predicted long ago had come to pass, and thus he expressed his wonder and admiration for prophets in his dialogue with Meno in these terms: “Those whom we now call prophetic persons we should rightly name divine.

We rightly say they are divine, and are lifted to prophetic ecstasy by the inspiration and possession of God, when they correctly speak of many and important matters, yet know nothing of what they are saying," which clearly refers to the prophecies of the Sibyl. Unlike poets who can revise and refine their work after writing, especially to improve the precision of their verse, she was filled with prophecy during the time of inspiration, but as soon as the inspiration ended, so did her memory of what she had said.

This was the reason why only some, not all, of the Sibyl's verses were preserved. During our visit to that city, we learned from our guide, who showed us the places where she used to prophesy, that there was a brass coffer said to contain her remains.

Additionally, other things they told us, as they had heard them from their ancestors, included that those who originally recorded her prophecies, being uneducated, often strayed from accurately capturing the metres; and this, they said, was why some verses lacked metre.

The prophetess had no memory of what she had said after the inspiration ceased, and the recorders, due to their lack of education, failed to record the metres accurately. Because of this, it is clear that Plato was referring to the Sibyl's prophecies when he commented on prophets, saying, “When they correctly speak of many and important matters, and yet know nothing of what they are saying.”