The Apostolic Age · c. 80
Sibylline Oracles, Book Four
Anonymous
What it is
A Jewish oracle in Greek hexameters, put in the mouth of the pagan Sibyl, running through the empires to the eruption of Vesuvius and the rumour that Nero had fled east and would return. It calls for repentance, washing in rivers, and hands raised to heaven.
Why it lasted
Rejects temple and sacrifice outright and calls for baptism instead, a decade after the temple fell. The Christian books of the same collection are built directly on this one, and the Sibyl reached Michelangelo's ceiling because of it.
Scripture it works from
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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