[4,62] Λέγεται δέ τι καὶ ἕτερον ἐπὶ τῆς Ταρκυνίου δυναστείας πάνυ θαυμαστὸν εὐτύχημα τῇ Ῥωμαίων ὑπάρξαι πόλει εἴτε θεῶν τινος εἴτε δαιμόνων εὐνοίᾳ δωρηθέν· ὅπερ οὐ πρὸς ὀλίγον καιρόν, ἀλλ´ εἰς ἅπαντα τὸν βίον πολλάκις αὐτὴν ἔσωσεν ἐκ μεγάλων κακῶν. γυνή τις ἀφίκετο πρὸς τὸν τύραννον οὐκ ἐπιχωρία βύβλους ἐννέα μεστὰς Σιβυλλείων χρησμῶν ἀπεμπολῆσαι θέλουσα. οὐκ ἀξιοῦντος δὲ τοῦ Ταρκυνίου τῆς αἰτηθείσης τιμῆς πρίασθαι τὰς βύβλους ἀπελθοῦσα τρεῖς ἐξ αὐτῶν κατέκαυσε· καὶ μετ´ οὐ πολὺν χρόνον τὰς λοιπὰς ἓξ ἐνέγκασα τῆς αὐτῆς ἐπώλει τιμῆς. δόξασα δ´ ἄφρων τις εἶναι καὶ γελασθεῖσα ἐπὶ τῷ τὴν αὐτὴν τιμὴν αἰτεῖν περὶ τῶν ἐλαττόνων, ἣν οὐδὲ περὶ τῶν πλειόνων ἐδυνήθη λαβεῖν, ἀπελθοῦσα πάλιν τὰς ἡμισείας τῶν ἀπολειπομένων κατέκαυσε καὶ τὰς λοιπὰς τρεῖς ἐνέγκασα τὸ ἴσον ᾔτει χρυσίον. θαυμάσας δὴ τὸ βούλημα τῆς γυναικὸς ὁ Ταρκύνιος τοὺς οἰωνοσκόπους μετεπέμψατο καὶ διηγησάμενος αὐτοῖς τὸ πρᾶγμα, τί χρὴ πράττειν, ἤρετο. κἀκεῖνοι διὰ σημείων τινῶν μαθόντες, ὅτι θεόπεμπτον ἀγαθὸν ἀπεστράφη, καὶ μεγάλην συμφορὰν ἀποφαίνοντες τὸ μὴ πάσας αὐτὸν τὰς βύβλους πρίασθαι, ἐκέλευσαν ἀπαριθμῆσαι τῇ γυναικὶ τὸ χρυσίον, ὅσον ᾔτει καὶ τοὺς περιόντας τῶν χρησμῶν λαβεῖν. ἡ μὲν οὖν γυνὴ τὰς βύβλους δοῦσα καὶ φράσασα τηρεῖν ἐπιμελῶς ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἠφανίσθη, Ταρκύνιος δὲ τῶν ἀστῶν ἄνδρας ἐπιφανεῖς δύο προχειρισάμενος καὶ δημοσίους αὐτοῖς θεράποντας δύο παραζεύξας ἐκείνοις ἀπέδωκε τὴν τῶν βιβλίων φυλακήν, ὧν τὸν ἕτερον Μάρκον Ἀτίλιον ἀδικεῖν τι δόξαντα περὶ τὴν πύστιν καταμηνυθέντα ὑφ´ ἑνὸς τῶν δημοσίων, ὡς πατροκτόνον εἰς ἀσκὸν ἐνράψας βόειον ἔρριψεν εἰς τὸ πέλαγος. μετὰ δὲ τὴν ἐκβολὴν τῶν βασιλέων ἡ πόλις ἀναλαβοῦσα τὴν τῶν χρησμῶν προστασίαν ἄνδρας τε τοὺς ἐπιφανεστάτους ἀποδείκνυσιν αὐτῶν φύλακας, οἳ διὰ βίου ταύτην ἔχουσι τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν στρατειῶν ἀφειμένοι καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τῶν κατὰ πόλιν πραγματειῶν, καὶ δημοσίους αὐτοῖς παρακαθίστησιν, ὧν χωρὶς οὐκ ἐπιτρέπει τὰς ἐπισκέψεις τῶν χρησμῶν τοῖς ἀνδράσι ποιεῖσθαι. συνελόντι δ´ εἰπεῖν οὐδὲν οὕτω Ῥωμαῖοι φυλάττουσιν οὔθ´ ὅσιον κτῆμα οὔθ´ ἱερὸν ὡς τὰ Σιβύλλεια θέσφατα. χρῶνται δ´ αὐτοῖς, ὅταν ἡ βουλὴ ψηφίσηται, στάσεως καταλαβούσης τὴν πόλιν ἢ δυστυχίας τινὸς μεγάλης συμπεσούσης κατὰ πόλεμον ἢ τεράτων τινῶν καὶ φαντασμάτων μεγάλων καὶ δυσευρέτων αὐτοῖς φανέντων, οἷα πολλάκις συνέβη. οὗτοι διέμειναν οἱ χρησμοὶ μέχρι τοῦ Μαρσικοῦ κληθέντος πολέμου κείμενοι κατὰ γῆς ἐν τῷ ναῷ τοῦ Καπιτωλίνου Διὸς ἐν λιθίνῃ λάρνακι, ὑπ´ ἀνδρῶν δέκα φυλαττόμενοι. μετὰ δὲ τὴν τρίτην ἐπὶ ταῖς ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ ἑκατὸν ὀλυμπιάσιν ἐμπρησθέντος τοῦ ναοῦ, εἴτ´ ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς, ὡς οἴονταί τινες, εἴτ´ ἀπὸ ταὐτομάτου, σὺν τοῖς ἄλλοις ἀναθήμασι τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ οὗτοι διεφθάρησαν ὑπὸ τοῦ πυρός. οἱ δὲ νῦν ὄντες ἐκ πολλῶν εἰσι συμφορητοὶ τόπων, οἱ μὲν ἐκ τῶν ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ πόλεων κομισθέντες, οἱ δ´ ἐξ Ἐρυθρῶν τῶν ἐν Ἀσίᾳ, κατὰ δόγμα βουλῆς τριῶν ἀποσταλέντων πρεσβευτῶν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀντιγραφήν· οἱ δ´ ἐξ ἄλλων πόλεων καὶ παρ´ ἀνδρῶν ἰδιωτῶν μεταγραφέντες· ἐν οἷς εὑρίσκονταί τινες ἐμπεποιημένοι τοῖς Σιβυλλείοις, ἐλέγχονται δὲ ταῖς καλουμέναις ἀκροστιχίσι· λέγω δ´ ἃ Τερέντιος Οὐάρρων ἱστόρηκεν ἐν τῇ θεολογικῇ πραγματείᾳ.

[4,62] (p465) It is said that during the reign of Tarquinius another very wonderful piece of good luck also came to the Roman state, conferred upon it by the favour of some god or other divinity; and this good fortune was not of short duration, but throughout the whole existence of the country it has often saved it from great calamities. A certain woman who was not a native of the country came to the tyrant wishing to sell him nine books filled with Sibylline oracles; but when Tarquinius refused to purchase the books at the price she asked, she went away and burned three of them. And not long afterwards, bringing the remaining six books, she offered to sell them for the same price. But when they thought her a fool and mocked at her for asking the same price for the smaller number of books that she had been unable to get for even the larger number, she again went away and burned half of those that were left; then, bringing the remaining books, she asked the same amount of money for these. Tarquinius, wondering at the woman's purpose, sent for the augurs and acquainting them with the matter, asked them what he should do. These, knowing by certain signs that he had rejected a god-sent blessing, and declaring it to be a great misfortune that he had not purchased all the books, directed him to pay the woman all the money she asked and to get the oracles that were left. The woman, after delivering the books and bidding him take great care of them, disappeared from among men. Tarquinius chose two men of distinction from among the citizens and appointing two public slaves to assist them, entrusted (p467) to them the guarding of the books; and when one of these men, named Marcus Atilius, seemed to have been faithless to his trust and was informed upon by one of the public slaves, he ordered him to be sewed up in a leather bag and thrown into the sea as a parricide. Since the expulsion of the kings, the commonwealth, taking upon itself the guarding of these oracles, entrusts the care of them to persons of the greatest distinction, who hold this office for life, being exempt from military service and from all civil employments, and it assigns public slaves to assist them, in whose absence the others are not permitted to inspect the oracles. In short, there is no possession of the Romans, sacred or profane, which they guard so carefully as they do the Sibylline oracles. They consult them, by order of the senate, when the state is in the grip of party strife or some great misfortune has happened to them in war, or some important prodigies and apparitions have been seen which are difficult of interpretation, as has often happened. These oracles till the time of the Marsian War, as it was called, were kept underground in the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in a stone chest under the guard of ten men. But when the temple was burned after the (p469) close of the one hundred and seventy-third Olympiad,100 either purposely, as some think, or by accident, these oracles together with all the offerings consecrated to the god were destroyed by the fire. Those which are now extant have been scraped together from many places, some from the cities of Italy, others from Erythrae in Asia (whither three envoys were sent by vote of the senate to copy them), and others were brought from other cities, transcribed by private persons. Some of these are found to be interpolations among the genuine Sibylline oracles, being recognized as such by means of the so-called acrostics. In all this I am following the account given by Terentius Varro in his work on religion.