Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/840

 SIBYLLINE

770

SICARD

gressing favourably in this direction when he was killed by an interdicted priest named Verger.

L' episcopal francais, 1S02-1905 (Paris, 1907), 215-16; 460-61, passim; McCaffrey, History of the Catholic Church in the Nine- teenth Century, I (2nd ed., Dublin, 1910), 63, 236, 241, 243-4.

N. A. Weber.

Sibylline Oracles is the name given to certain col- lections of supposed prophecies, emanating from the sibyls or divinely inspired seeresses, which were widely circulated in antiquity. The derivation and meaning of the name Sibyl are still subjects of controversy among antiquarians. While the earlier writers (Eu- ripides, Aristophanes, Plato) refer invariably to "the sibyl", later authors speak of many and designate the different places where they were said to dwell. Thus \'arro, quoted by Lactantius (Div. Instit., L, vi) enu- merates ten sibyls: the Persian, the Libyan, the Del- phian, the Cimmerian, the Erj-thra^an, the Samarian, the Cumaean, and those of the Hellespont, of Phrygia, and of Tibur. The Sibyls most highly venerated in Rome were those of Cumae and Erj'thra?a. In pagan times the oracles and predictions ascribed to the sibyls were carefully collected and jealously guarded in the tem- ple of Jupiter Capitohnus, and were consulted only in times of grave crises. Because of the vogue enjoyed by these heathen oracles and because of the influence they had in shaping the religious views of the period, the Hellenistic Jews in Alexandria, during the second centurj^ b. c. composed verses in the same form, at- tributing them to the sibyls, and circulated them among the pagans as a means of diffusing Judaistic doctrines and teaching. This custom was continued do\\Ti into Christian times, and was borrowed by some Christians so that in the second or third century, a new class of oracles emanating from Christian sources came into being. Hence the Sibylline Oracles can be classed as Pagan, Jewish, or Christian. In many cases, however, the Christians merely revised or inter- polated the Jewish documents, and thus we have two classes of Christian Oracles, those adopted from Jew- ish sources and those entirely written by Christians. Much difficulty is experienced in determining exactly how much of what remains is Christian and how much Jewish. Christianity and Judaism coincided on so many points that the Christians could accept without modification much that had come from Jewish pens. It seems clear, however, that the Christian Oracles and those revised from Jewish sources all emanated from the same circle and were intended to aid in the diffusion of Christianity. The Sibyls are quoted fre- cjuently by the early Fathers and Christian writers, Justin, Athenagoras, Theophilus, Clement of Alex- andria, Lactantius, Augustine etc. Through the de- cline and disappearance of paganism, how(^ver, interest in them gradually diminished and they ceased to be widely read or circulated, though they were known and used during the Middle Ages in both the East and the West.

Large collections of these Jewish and Christian oracles are still in existence. In l.')4,5XystusBetule- ius (Sixtus Birken) published an edition of eight books of orackis with a preface dat ing from perhaps the sixth century a. u. At the beginning of the last century Cardinal Mai discovered four other books, which were not a continuation of the eight previously printed, but an independent collection. These are numbered XI, XII, XIII, XIV, in later editions. Alexandre published a valuable edition with a Latin translation (Paris, 1841-50), and a new and revised edition appeared from the pen of Geffcken (Leipzig, HK)2) as one of the; volumes in the Berlin Corpus. In a/ldition to the books already enumerated several fragments of orackjs taken from the works of The- ophilus and Lactantius are printed in the later editions.

In form the Pagan, Christian, and Jewish Oracles are alike. They all purport to be the work of the

sibyls, and are expressed in hexameter verses in the so-called Homeric dialect. The contents are of the most varied character and for the most part contain references to peoples, kingdoms, cities, rulers, tem- ples etc. It is futile to attempt to find any order in the plan which governed their composition. The perplexity occasioned by the frequent change of theme can perhaps be accounted for by the supposition that they circulated privately, as the Roman Govern- ment tolerated only the official collection, and that their present arrangement represents the caprice of different owners or collectors who brought them to- gether from various sources. There is in some of the books a general theme, which can be followed only with difficulty. Though there are occasionally verses which are truly poetical and sublime, the general character of the Sibylline Oracles is mediocre. The or- der in which the books are enumerated does not rep- resent their relative antiquity, nor has the most searching criticism been able accurately to determine how much is Christian and how much Jewish.

Book IV is generally considered to embody the old- est portions of the oracles, and while many of the older critics saw in it elements which were considered to be Christian, it is now looked on as completely Jew- ish. Book V has given rise to many divergent opin- ions, some claiming it as Jewish, others as the work of a Christian Jew, and others as being largely interpo- lated by a Christian. It contains so little that can be considered Christian that it can safely be set down as Jewish. Books VI and VII are admittedly of Christian origin. Some authors (IMendelssohn, Alex- andre, Geffcken) describe Book VI as an heretical hymn, but this contention has no evidence in its fa- vour. It dates most probably from the third cen- tury. Books I and II are regarded as a Christian revision of a Jewish original. Book VIII offers pecu- liar difficulties; the first 216 verses are most likely the work of a second century Jew, while the latter part (verses 217-500) beginning with an acrostic on the symbolical Christian word Icihus is undoubtedly Christian, and dates most probably from the third century. In the form in which they are now found the other four books are probably the work of Chris- tian authors. Books XII and XIII are from the same pen, XII being a revision of a Jewish original. Book XI might have been written either by a Chris- tian or a Jew in the third century, and Book XIV of the same doubtful provenence dates from the fourth century. The general conclusion is that Books VI, VII, and XIII and the latter part of Book VIII are wholly Christian. Books I, II, XI, XII, XIII, and XIV received their present form from a Christian. The peculiar Christian circle in which these composi- tions originated cannot be determined, neither can it be asserted what motive prompted their composition except as a means of Christian propaganda.

Geffcken, Komposilinn u. EnlKtehtinoaznl der Oracula Sibyllina (Leipzig, 1902); Harnack, Gesch. der nltchri.it. Lilt. (Leipzig, 1893), I, pt. ii, .581-89; II, pt. ii, 184-89; Bardenhewer, Geseh. der aUkirch. Litl., II (1902-3), 651, 656; SchOrer, Gesch. des jud. Volkes, III (Leipzig, 1910), 290 sqq.

Patrick J. Healy.

Sicard, Bishop of Cremona (Italy) in the twelfth century, a member of one of the principal families of that city, d. 1215. After having pursued his studies in different cities, he was made subdeacon by Lucius III in 1182, after which he returned to his native city, and was ordained priest by Offredus, Bishop of Cremona, whose successor he became in 1185. During his lifetime he was entrusted with many important missions by the Holy See, and en- joyed the confidence of the Emperor Frederick I. He was famed as an historian, canonist, and lilurgiol- ogist. His "Chronicon" containing a summary ac- count of the history of the world down to 1213, is valuable because of the light it throws on the Crusade