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7、The Sibylline Books
西卜林書
Roman Mythology
羅馬神話
The concept of an oracle—someone with the divine sight that lets them see into the future—is a very old one that has roots in all mythologies. The most famous oracle is the Oracle of Delphi, but perhaps you might not have heard of the famous Roman oracular tomes known as the Sibylline Books. The legend of the Sibylline books starts as such—when Tarquinus Superbus was the head of Rome, a mysterious old woman tried to sell him nine rolls of prophecy. Tarquinus, being particularly stingy for a Roman emperor, declined and she then burned three of them. He then said no again to her offer of six, and she promptly burned three more and offered the final three at the exact same price as the original nine. Tarquinus, somehow thinking this was a good deal, finally bought them on advice from his augurs, or the Roman bird-priests.
神諭——某些具有神性的人關于未來的預言，是一個非常古老，在所有神話中都存在的概念。最有名的神諭大概是特爾斐神諭了，但是你可能沒有聽說過著名的羅馬神諭大典——西卜林書。西卜林書的傳說是這樣開頭的：Tarquinus Superbus（羅馬王政時期末代國王，公元前509年被驅逐）在位期間，一個神秘的老婦想要賣給他九卷預言。Tarquinus是一個非常吝嗇的羅馬國王，因而拒絕了她的請求。她隨后燒掉了其中的三卷，然后想將剩下的六卷賣給他，結果又被Tarquinus拒絕了。最后，她又燒掉了三卷，然后提出將剩下的最后三卷以和當初九卷相同的價格賣給他。Tarquinus不知為何認為這個買賣很劃算，在他的占卜師的建議下，他終于買下了最后的三卷
Upon the scrolls were written prophecies to lead Rome throughout the ages, and all were written in Greek hexameter. Whenever Rome was in crisis, the Sibylline Books were consulted. So, where are these books now? Most of them were burned or lost as the ages went by. No one doubts that Rome was a little too trusting when it came to oracles, but perhaps these books had something else that made them special.
在這些卷軸上，書寫著在未來歲月中指引羅馬前程的預言，它們都是用希臘六韻格詩的形式寫成的。每當國家陷入危機，羅馬人都會翻閱西卜林書以尋求對策之道。不過，現在這些書下落何處？它們中的大多數都被燒掉，或者隨著歲月而消失了。大家都認為，羅馬人在神諭方面有點太過于輕信了，但是也許在當時這些書還有些不為人知的地方讓它們顯得如此特別。
