4. THE SOUTH AISLE.

Both this and the North Aisle are adorned with representations of the ten Sibyls, five in each. These Sibyls were all placed here under the Rectorship of Alberto Aringhieri in the years 1482–83.[32]

The introduction of these mythical personages into ecclesiastical art was not unusual at this period, and they take their place beside the Prophets, as forerunners of Christ.

They form a curious link between the Pagan and Christian world of thought. According to Greek ideas, Sibyls were women under the inspiration of the Deity, but they are not spoken of at all by either Homer or Herodotus: and the first Greek writer who mentions them is Heraclitus (circa 500 B.C.). Aristophanes, Plato and other early writers only mention one: Heraclides Ponticus, a pupil of Plato, speaks of three (the Erythraean, Phrygian, and Hellespontine); but Pausanias gives four (the Libyan, Erythraean, Cuman, and Hebrew). Of these the oldest was said to have been the Libyan: though the best known to modern times are undoubtedly the Delphic, the Cuman (visited by Æneas), and the Tiburtine, who is said to have foretold Christ to the Emperor Augustus.

By Christian writers they are spoken of first in the second century A.D., but do not appear in art until the eleventh. In the handbook of Mount Athos we read of the “Wise Sibyl”; and side by side with David, one of these prophetesses appears in the Sequence of Thomas of Celano: the Dies Irae (circa 1253).[33] They have no place in early mosaics, but one of the most ancient representations of a Sibyl is that of the Tiburtine in the church of Sta. Maria Aracoeli in Rome.

The first, and perhaps the most poetic Choir of them, is on the pulpit of S. Andrea at Pistoia, sculptured by Giovanni Pisano in 1301; but from that time, until the fifteenth century, we find no other groups of them. Then appeared a great many representations, and their number increases rapidly to as many as thirteen, the last of whom is the Queen of Sheba, who is called Nichaula, and is fabled to have foretold to King Solomon the Advent of a Messiah. The usual numbers, however, are three, four, six and ten; and in such groups they have been designed by the greatest artists. Giotto,[34] Perugino,[35] Pinturicchio,[36] Raphael,[37] and Michael Angelo,[38] are but a few of these. Not only throughout Italy, but to the Northern Art Schools of Germany and Flanders, the same cult spread; and we find them introduced into sculpture, painting and engraving. Sibyls assist, as interested and sympathizing spectators, in every scene of Holy Writ. They meet us even in painted windows and illustrated books of devotion.[39] It is therefore not remarkable to find them here; and, if one recognizes the attitude of mind, with which they were regarded by the Renaissance Catholic, they are even most appropriate. The number chosen is in accordance with that fixed by Varro, and with the exception of the Cumaean, who seems to take the place of the Cimmerian in his list, the choice of prophetesses is the same.

For the purpose of study, let us begin at the Western door; and commence with

The Delphic Sibyl.

Delphi, famous in ancient times for its Oracles, would not unnaturally suggest itself to these early students of Greek art and literature as one of the places whence prophecies of the Redemption of the World should come. Hence Plutarch calls her the first of the Sibyls. According to Pausanias, the Erythraean Sibyl, although a native of Marpessus, or Erythrae, in the Troad, lived mostly at Samos, and visited Clarus, Delos, and Delphi, at all of which places were shrines dedicated to the Pythian Apollo, whose special gift this form of prophetic utterance was said to be. Later tradition would seem to have divided her attributes into at least three, and given them separate existence. Here she is shown as a stately woman, bearing in her left hand a decorated horn from which issue flames. Her right hand rests on a tablet supported by a winged sphinx, which bears the words:

IPSVM TVVM CO
GNOSCE DEVM
QVI DEI FILIVS EST

(Know thy God Himself, Who is the Son of God.)

Beneath her feet a label records her name, and the fact that she is mentioned by Chrysippus in his Book of Divination. We find[40] that this figure was executed in 1482 by Giuliano di Biagio and Vito di Marco, who probably also made the design for the work, as the payment they received was 579 lire 10 soldi. We may compare this amount with the sum paid in 1866–69 for the restoration of the same Sibyl. It was 2,341 lire 17 c.

The Cumaean Sibyl.

It is not clear why this Sibyl is so named, especially as it provokes confusion with the more celebrated “Sibilla Cumana.” Apparently the Cimmerian Sibyl is intended. Ferdinand Piper tells us that she was sometimes styled the Italian Sibyl,[41] and mentions other variations of the name: “Cymea, Chymerea or Chimica.” According to the label, supported behind her by two charming putti, she is said to have been mentioned by Piso in his Annals. Here she is represented as an excited-looking woman, with loose hair scattered over her shoulders. She bears in her hand a tablet, with the following words inscribed upon it:

ET MORTIS FATVM FINI
ET, TRIVM DIERVM SO
MNO SUSCEPTO TUNC
AMORTVIS REGRESSVS
INLUCEM VENIET PRIM
VM RESURRECTIONIS
INITIVM OSTENDENS.

(He shall accomplish the fate of death, having undergone a sleep of three days. Then being returned from the dead, he shall come into the light, showing the first beginning of the resurrection).

This design is said to be the work of Luigi di Ruggiero, called l’Armellino, and Vito di Marco;[42] but, except a notice dated 1482[43] of payments to the first-named worker for marble cut by him for work on “li spazi di Duomo e per le Sibille,” we have no further record as to the author of this particular design, or its cost. We find, however, that in the restoration above referred to, it cost 2,581 lire 80 c.

The Cuman Sibyl.

This Sibyl is famed in poetic story as having been visited by Æneas: an interview described with much graphic minuteness by Virgil, in Book VI. of the Æneid. Endless legends have accumulated in connection with her, and her presence is associated with many spots in and around Naples. Ferdinand Piper states that the names of Amalthea, Demophile, and Herophile have been given to her by different writers,[44] and that Justin Martyr asserts that she was daughter of Berosus, and came from Babylon to Campania. She is said to have lived for a thousand years; and to have been the ancient prophetess, who offered the Sibylline Books to Tarquin. These books, the oldest collection of which was, according to tradition, made about the time of Solon and Cyrus, by the Sibyl of Marpessus (the Erythraean Sibyl), at Gergis, on Mount Ida, found their way thence to Erythrae; from there to Cumae; and so to Rome. In 83 B.C. they were burned; but fragments of their contents continued to exist orally until A.D. 12, when they were collected and revised by the Emperor Augustus, and were surviving in 363. In the year 400 they were again destroyed by Stilicho; and the present so-called Sibylline books are a spurious invention of Jewish and Christian writers.

Here she appears as a somewhat severe old woman, with a veil wound round her head. In her right hand she carries the mistletoe bough of the Virgilian story; and with her left she clasps to her three books. Piled on the ground to her right, and burning, are six more, representing those destroyed by her in the Tarquinian legend; and above her left shoulder two flying cherubs bear a tablet, with the following inscription:

VLTIMA CVMAEI VENIT IAM
CARMINIS AETAS MAGNUS
ABINTEGRO SAECLORVM
NASCITVR ORDO IAM RE
DIT ET VIRGO, REDEVNT
SATVRNIA REGNA, IAM
NOVA PROGENIES CAELO
DEMITTITVR ALTO

(Now has come the last period of Cumaean song,
A great order of the ages is born afresh.
The Virgin now returns; the kingdoms of Saturn return.
Now a new progeny is sent down from lofty Heaven.)

Her label bears the words “Sibilla Cumana meminit Virgilius. Eclog. IV.”

This figure is the work of Giovanni di Maestro Stefano di Giovanni and his scholars, and was executed by him in 1482.[45] He received for it the sum of 697 lire, 9 soldi and 2 c. It was restored at the same time as the other Sibyls, in 1866–69, at a cost of 2,743 lire 6 c.

The Erythraean Sibyl.

This Sibyl, as we have already seen, is one of those named in the earliest lists by Pausanias. She is said to have been a native of Marpessus or Erythrae in the Troad, and he, as well as some other writers, gives her the name of Herophile; one authority however speaks of a Trojan Sibyl, whom he calls Herophila, and names the Erythraean one, Symmachia. She lived, as we have said before when writing of the Delphic Sibyl, chiefly at Samos, but visited Clarus, Delos and Delphi. This would, no doubt, account for the difficulty in distinguishing the various place-names attached to these different women. As we have also seen above, the Sibylline books are said to have been once preserved at Erythrae, and Lactantius attributes to her the famous acrostic which announces the Coming of the Anointed One, Son of God Himself, as Saviour of the World. Here she is depicted as a tall patrician lady, with a rather forbidding countenance, and a very curious head-dress, which partially envelops her face. Her right hand clasps a closed volume, while the left rests on an open book, supported by a carved lectern. On the pages of this book are written the following words:

DE EXCELSOET NASCETVR
CAELORVM HAIN DIEBVS NO
BITACVLO PROVISSIMIS DE VIR
SPEXIT DOMIGINE HEBRAEA
NVS HVMILESIN CVNABVLIS
SVOSTERRAE

(From the High Habitation of Heaven God has looked down on His humble (servants), and shall be born in these most recent days of a Hebrew Virgin in the cradle of the earth.)

Beside her on a stool is a tablet, telling us that this is the Erythraean Sibyl, whom Apollodorus claimed as his fellow citizen. This Sibyl was designed and executed by Antonio Federighi in 1482; and we are told that he received 649 lire 17 soldi for it.[46] It is interesting to note that this and the Samian are the only Sibyls signed by their designers. Federighi’s evident taste for faithful representation of the costumes of his period, apparent also in his other works, would account for the rather bizarre head-dress above referred to. The cost of restoration of this Sibyl was 2,043 lire 13 c.

The Persian Sibyl.

Ferdinand Piper, quoting a scholiast on Plato,[47] identifies this Sibyl with the one elsewhere variously called Chaldaean, Babylonian, Egyptian and Hebrew. He tells us further, that tradition called her also the daughter of Berosus, and daughter-in-law of Noah, which raises confusion with the Cuman.[48] He adds, also, that sometimes the name of Sabbe is given to her, and sometimes that of Sambetha. Nothing more is known of this Sibyl; but it is worth noting that the prophecy here attributed to her is the only one that does not deal with the Birth or Atonement of Christ.

She is represented as a pleasant-looking woman of middle age, with her head bound up in a simple veil. In her left hand she carries a book, and with her right she draws attention to a tablet, resting on a carved pedestal, with an inscription as follows:

PANIBVS SOLVM QVINQVE
ET PISCIBVS DVOBVS HO
MINVM MILLIA IN FOENO
QVINQVE SATIABIT RELI
QVIAS TOLLENS XII
COPHINOS IMPLEBIT
IN SPEM MVLTORVM.

(With five loaves and two fishes He will satisfy the hunger of five thousand men on the grass. Taking up the remains, he will fill twelve baskets, for the hope of many.)

Beneath her feet, a label informs us that it is Nicanor who bears record of her. Urbano di Pietro da Cortona, Antonio Federighi, Vito da Marco and Luigi Ruggiero (l’Armellino) received commissions to execute these Sibyls on September 20th, 1481;[49] but Urbano does not appear to have received his payment of 605 lire 12 soldi for the execution of this one, until October, 1483.[50] The sum paid to restore his work was 3,153 lire 84 c.