Some say the Erythraean sibyl prophesied at this time. Now Varro declares there were many sibyls, and not merely one. This sibyl of Erythrae certainly wrote some things concerning Christ which are quite manifest, and we first read them in the Latin tongue in verses of bad Latin, and unrhythmical, through the unskillfulness, as we afterwards learned, of some interpreter unknown to me. For Flaccianus, a very famous man, who was also a proconsul, a man of most ready eloquence and much learning, when we were speaking about Christ, produced a Greek manuscript, saying that it was the prophecies of the Erythraean sibyl, in which he pointed out a certain passage which had the initial letters of the lines so arranged that these words could be read in them: ‘Iesous Christos Theou uios soter, which means, “Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Saviour.” And these verses, of which the initial letters yield that meaning, contain what follows as translated by some one into Latin in good rhythm:
I Judgment shall moisten the earth with the sweat of its standard, E Ever enduring, behold the King shall come through the ages,
S Sent to be here in the flesh, and Judge at the last of the world.
O O God, the believing and faithless alike shall behold Thee U Uplifted with saints, when at last the ages are ended.
S Seated before Him are souls in the flesh for His judgment. Ch Hid in thick vapors, the while desolate lieth the earth. R Rejected by men are the idols and long hidden treasures;
E Earth is consumed by the fire, and it searcheth the ocean and heaven; I Issuing forth, it destroyeth the terrible portals of hell.
S Saints in their body and soul freedom and light shall inherit;
T Those who are guilty shall burn in fire and brimstone for ever. O Occult actions revealing, each one shall publish his secrets;
S Secrets of every man’s heart God shall reveal in the light.
Th Then shall be weeping and wailing, yea, and gnashing of teeth; E Eclipsed is the sun, and silenced the stars in their chorus.