And the sibyl’s big, bony fingers pointed towards that poor child.
“Hail, Cæsar!” said the sibyl, with a scornful laugh. “There is the god who shall be worshipped on the heights of the Capitol.”
Augustus shrank back from her as if from a maniac.
But upon the sibyl fell the mighty spirit of the prophetess. Her dim eyes began to burn, her hands were stretched towards heaven, her voice did not seem to be her own, but rang with such strength that it could have been heard over the whole world. And she spoke words which she seemed to have read in the stars:—
“On the heights of the Capitol the redeemer of the world shall be worshipped,
Christ or Antichrist, but no frail mortal.”
When she had spoken she moved away between the terrified men, went slowly down the mountain, and disappeared.
Augustus, the next day, strictly forbade his people to raise him any temple on the Capitol. In its place he built a sanctuary to the new-born godchild and called it “Heaven’s Altar,” Aracoeli.