Books i and ii are probably of later date than those already discussed. No Christian writer earlier than the 5th century quotes from them, and they are remarkable
] because of the absence of all reference to Roman history. No definite fixing of their date is accordingly possible. ! They are distingidshed by greater conformity to a set- ' tied plan than is found in the others, and doubtless owe j to this quality the place they occupy at the head of the j collection. The poem follows the outline of Genesis, from the creation and the fall of man, through succes- sive generations, to Noah and the deluge. The sibyl is here introduced into the history, and is identified with Noah's daughter-in-law. After Noah the " golden age" opens, then that of the Titans, and later the iNIessianic. Three kings are said to reign in the golden age, who are identified by some critics with the sons of Kronos, and by others with the sons of Noah, or with the three patriarchs of early Hebrew history. The Titans are supposed to denote the entire series of heathen powers to the time of the Messiah. Book i continues the his- tory through the destruction of Jerusalem and to the final dispersion of the Jews, while book ii deals chiefly with the last jtulgment. It is apparent that a portion of the poem has been lost from between the two books as they now exist, and it would seem that the loss of that section has deprived us of all hope of ascertaining the time in which these books originated; but the facts that they were wholly unknown to the Church fathers, that even the sibyllomaniac Lactantius does not men- tion them, and that the}' are free from all trace of Chil- iasm compel criticism to assign their origin to a period later than that of the other books contained in the ear- ' lier collections.
c. The more recently discovered books (xi-xiv) have ' not j'et been thoroughly weighed in the scales of criti- cism, and opinions with regard to them are very diverse. Their contents are as follows :
Book xi begins at the deluge and the tower of Babel, and follows the history down through the Egyjitian, Persian, and (Grecian dominions to the time of the Ro- man supremacy. In the progress of the poem Joseph and the exode are mentioned; and Homer, the Trojan war, Alexander and the Diadochi, the Ptolemies, Cleo- patra, CiBsar and his successors, with their relations to Egypt, are all referred to. The book closes with a re- quest from the sibyl for rest from the madness of inspi- ration, thus implying that it is the first part of a con- tinued poem. The religious element is not made prom- inent, though the author was evidently acquainted with sacred histor\^ A peculiar wealth of chronological statements and reckonings characterizes the book.
Book xii begins with the reign of Augustus, and mentions the entire succession of Cresars, designating each individual by the numerical equivalent of his name, with the single exception of Alex. Severus. The absence of all reference to religious ideas is a very no- ticeable feature, though Vespasian is termed the anni- hilator of the righteous, and the coming of a Kpv<piog \oyoQ InptnTtw is mentioned (ver. 30 sq.), who may be the Messiah, as ver. 232 declares that in the reign of the first Roman sovereign " the word of the immortal God came upon the earth." The earliest victories of the Sassanids over the Romans are mentioned, and a repeated prayer from the sibyl for rest closes the book.
Much of the history of book xii is inexplicable to us, and the same is true of book xiii. It is fragmentary and brief, and is almost exclusively devoted to Asiatic wars, the ditt'erent Roman rulers being very indefinitely <ie- scribed. The situation of Oriental countries during the second half of the 3d century appears to have been more familiar to the author than it can be to us. The book is like those mentioned in the absence of religious ref- erences, and closes in tlic usual form.
Book xiv is wholly inexplicable. Lists of emperors are given, but in such a manner as to render their iden- tification impossible. The internal character of the book might suggest the idea that its author was an Egyptian living in the reign of (iallienus, who framed the history of the world and of the emperors in Sibyl- line verses, and added to it a continuation drawn from
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his own resources. No religious, and especially no Mes- sianic, interest is apparent, unless the thought at the close (that after all of conHiet shall be over, the earth shall enjoy undisturbed peace) might be regarded as Jlessianic.
The collection and arrangement of the Sihi/IIine Booh were evidently the work of comparatively recent hands, and were made in the interests of Christianity. Lac- tantius appears to have known them only as separate poems. iNIost of the manuscripts contain only the first eight books, and the differences of arrangement to be observed in them would indicate that, before the entire collection was completed, certain sections had been brought together. The loss of fragments and sections was the natural result of the scattered state in which the material existed ; but the date of the last revision, which preserved the books against further losses, is wholly unknown.