e as the brightness of the
firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars
forever and ever."[28]

[Footnote 28: Daniel, chapter xii. verse 3.]

XI

THE DELPHIC SIBYL

In the rows of figures which Michelangelo painted along the arched
portion of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the prophets are
associated with sibyls. Hence, in the plan of decoration, there comes
first the figure of a man, and then the figure of a woman.

Now, as the Bible contains no allusion to sibyls, it may seem strange
that they should have a place in a series of Bible illustrations, and
especially that they should appear side by side with the prophets. To
explain this, we must learn something about the sibyls.

They were women of ancient times supposed to have supernatural gifts
of foretelling the future. They devoted themselves to solitude and
meditation, and sometimes lived apart in caves or grottoes. Sometimes
they were connected with temples, and delivered what were supposed to
be the messages of the gods to the worshippers. These messages were
called oracles, and were greatly revered by the people who consulted
the gods.

Some of the sibyls' words of wisdom were committed to writing and
passed down to following generations. Though they lived in heathen
countries, the tradition ran that they prophesied the advent of
Christ. There is a passage in one of Virgil's eclogues (the fourth)
upon which the supposition is based. Early in the Christian era, when
men were spreading the new faith, they made much of these sibylline
prophecies to add weight to their teachings.

In former times, fact and fable were very often confused, and people
did not take pains to distinguish the legends of the sibyls from the
history of the prophets. When the Latin hymn "Dies Irae" was written,
the sibyl was mentioned, with the prophet, as predicting the final
destruction of the world. Many painters and sculptors gave the two
equal honor in the same way. In the prevailing opinion, the sibyls
shared with the prophets an inspired foreknowledge of the Christian
faith.

The nine main panels of Michelangelo's ceiling decoration show how man
was created, and how he was tempted and fell into sin. To carry on
still further the story of the human race, the painter shows the
succession of men and women, prophets and sibyls, who, one after
another, predicted the redemption of the world in Christ. On the side
walls, below these figures, the s