l opinion at the
present day. We will, however, shortly enquire how many Sibyls of
antiquity there were, and when they lived; whether any of their
works were ever promulgated for the perusal of the public, and
whether the verses which still exist under their name have any
ground to be considered genuine.

There is no doubt but that in ancient times there existed certain
women, who, led by a frenzied enthusiasm, uttered obscure sentences,
which passed for predictions with the credulous people who went to
consult them. Virgil and Ovid represent AEneas as going to the cave
of the Cumaean Sibyl, to learn from her the success of the wars he
should be engaged in. Plato, Strabo, Plutarch, Pliny, Solinus, and
Pausanias, with many other writers, have mentioned the Sibyls; and
it would be absurd, with Faustus Socinus, to affirm that no Sibyls
ever existed. Indeed, Plato and other authors of antiquity go so far
as to say, that by their productions they were essentially the
benefactors of mankind. Some mention but one Sibyl, who was born
either at Babylon or at Erythrae, in Phrygia. Diodorus Siculus
mentions one only, and assigns Delphi as her locality, calling her
by the name of Daphne. Strabo and Stephanus Byzantinus mention two,
the one of Gergae, a little town near Troy, and the other of
Mermessus, in the same country. Solinus reckons three; the Delphian,
named Herophile, the Erythraean, and the Cumaean. According to Varro,
their number amounted to ten, whose names, in the order of time
which Pausanias assigns them, were as follows:

The first and the most ancient was the Delphian, who lived before
the Trojan war. The second was the Erythraean, who was said to have
been the first composer of acrostic verses, and who also lived
before the Trojan war. The third was the Cumaean, who was mentioned
by Naevius in his book on the first Punic war, and by Piso in his
annals. She is the Sibyl spoken of in the AEneid, and her name was
Deiphobe. The fourth was the Samian, called Pitho, though Eusebius
calls her Herophile, and he makes her to have lived about the time
of Numa Pompilius. The fifth, whose name was Amalthea, or Demophile,
lived at Cumae, in Asia Minor. The sixth was the Hellespontine Sibyl,
born at Mermessus, near Troy. The seventh was the Libyan, mentioned
by Euripides. Some suppose that she was the first who had the name
of Sibyl, which was given to