tters of all the subsequent verses. They were
full of enigmas and mysterious analogies, founded upon the numerical
value of the initial letters of certain names. It is supposed that
they contained not so much predictions of future events, as directions
regarding the means by which the wrath of the gods, as revealed by
prodigies and calamities, might be appeased. They seemed to have been
consulted in the same way as Eastern nations consult the Koran and
Hafiz. There was no attempt made to find a passage suitable to the
occasion, but one of the palm leaves after being shuffled was selected
at random. To this custom of drawing fateful leaves from the Sibylline
books--called in consequence _sortes sibyllinae_--there is frequent
allusion by classic authors. We know that the writings of Homer and
Virgil were thus treated. The elevation of Septimius Severus to the
throne of the Roman Empire was supposed to have been foretold by the
circumstance that he opened by chance the writings of Lampridius at
the verse, "Remember, Roman, with imperial sway to rule the people."
The Bible itself was used by the early Christians for such purposes of
divination. St. Augustine, though he condemned the practice as an
abuse of the Divine Word, yet preferred that men should have recourse
to the Gospels rather than to heathen works. Heraclius is reported by
Cedrenus to have asked counsel of the New Testament, and to have been
thereby persuaded to winter in Albania. Nicephorus Gregoras frequently
opened his Psalter at random in order that there he might find support
in the trial under which he laboured. And even in these enlightened
days, it is by no means rare to find superstitious men and women using
the sacred Scriptures as the old Greeks and Romans used the Sibylline
oracles--dipping into them by chance for indications of the Divine
Will.

The Cumaean Sibyl was not the only prophetess of the kind. There were
no less than ten females, endowed with the gift of prevision, and held
in high repute, to whom the name of Sibyl was given. We read of the
Persian Sibyl, the Libyan, the Delphic, the Erythraean, the
Hellespontine, the Phrygian, and the Tiburtine. With the name of the
last-mentioned Sibyl tourists make acquaintance at Tivoli. Two ancient
temples in tolerable preservation are still standing on the very edge
of the deep rocky ravine through which the Anio pours its foaming
flood. The one is a small circular building, with ten pillars
surroun