Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

p. 182 sqq.). But there were forged Sibylline prophecies in circulation even at this period, by means of which the Jews attempted to give validity to their national hopes among the heathen, and thus to secure respect for themselves. The proof of this has been furnished by Bleek in the theologische Zeitschrift von Schleiermacher, &c., i. p. 148 sqq. A prophecy of this description, in which the glory of the Messianic age is depicted, chiefly in accordance with Is. xi., and which embraces the greater portion of the third of the Sibylline books, has been referred by Bleek (p. 236) to the years 170-168 before Christ; and in all essential points he is supported by Friedlieb (Oracula Sib.), and Hilgenfeld (die jüdische Apocalyptik p. 57 sqq.). Now. there is a most striking resemblance between this prophecy and the eclogue of Virgil. In the prophecy, just as in the eclogue, there is a combination of the Grecian doctrine of the ages of the world with other things that are unmistakeably an echo of the Jewish anticipations; (see Bleek p. 167 sqq.). Pollio's son and Pollio himself, in connexion with other god-befriended heroes, are described by Virgil as occupying just the same position, which the pretended prophecy assigns to the Messiah and the chosen race. Compare, for example, the words of Virgil in

ver. 7.

Jam nova progenies coelo demittitur alto, and in vers. 48, 49:

Aggredere o magnos (aderit jam tempus) honores,

Cara deûm soboles, magnum Jovis incrementum.

with the following verses from the third of the Sibylline books (Gallaeus, p. 356):

and again

καὶ τότ' ἔθνος μεγάλοιο θεοῦ πάλι καρτερὸν ἔσται
οἱ πάντεσσι βροτοῖσι βίου καθοδηγοὶ ἔσονται.

καὶ τότε δὴ θεὸς οὐρανόθεν πέμψει βασιλήα.

also (Gallaeus, p. 460):

καὶ τοτ' ἀπ' ἠελίοιο θεὸς πέμψει βασιλήα
ὃς πᾶσαν γαῖαν πάυσει πολέμοιο κακοῖο.

and lastly (Gallaeus, p. 366):

ἐστὶ δέ τις φυλὴ βασιλῆϊος, ἧς γένος ἔσται
ἅπταιστον καὶ τοῦτο χρόνοις περιτελλομένοισι
ἄρξει καὶ καινὸν σηκὸν θεοῦ ἄρξετ ̓ ἐγείρειν.

There are also many very striking points in the description given of the prosperous character of the future. For example, that lions will lose their savage nature (Virgil nec magnos metuent armenta leones. Sib. σαρκοβόρος τε λέον ἄχυρον þáyeтai éπì þátvns is Boûs, Gallaeus, p. 478), and that snakes will cease to hurt (Virgil occidet et serpens. Sib. Kai ẞpepéeσσι δράκοντες ἅμα σφίσι κοιμήσονται). Constantine and Augustine were to a certain extent right. They were correct in the feeling that we have here a close analogy to the predictions of the Bible. But they failed to trace the genesis of this analogy. Virgil read the Sibyllines, which had been forged by a Jew, simply as a poet. Whether genuine or false, they furnished him with materials for a pleasant jeu d'esprit. That he actually employed them in this way, and applied to Pollio and his unborn son, what is there affirmed in evidently a very different sense, is a proof that in his estimation these views were anything but an object of faith. We might even fancy that there was irony in the back ground, directed against the Messianic hopes of the Jews.

But those who maintain the existence of an independent Messianic anticipation in the heathen world, which is traceable to the primeval revelation, appeal with the greatest confidence to certain facts connected with the religion of the Persians; and it cannot be denied that at first sight there is something very plausible in the argument. In a brief summary of these facts Spiegel (die neueren Forschungen über das Avesta, Ausland 56 p. 725) writes to the following effect: "The existence of the soul after death was appealed to, even in the earliest writings, as an established fact. The end of the world, the coming of a new prophet, who helps to overcome the Angra-mainyus and restores the happiness of the world, which he has destroyed, is at least hinted at in the Avesta." A passage of great importance occurs in Plutarch de Iside et Osiride c. 47. "Ormuzd, sprung from the purest light, and Ahriman from the darkness, make

war upon each other.-But there comes a previously determined time, when Ahriman, after having brought hunger and pestilence upon the world, will be destroyed and utterly annihilated. The earth will then be all one plain, and all its inhabitants, being perfectly happy and speaking one language, will be one in their mode of life, and united in one constitution. But Theopompus says that, according to the teaching of the Magi, each of these gods will be alternately victorious and defeated for three thousand years; after this, the two will contend together for three thousand years more, when the one will defeat the other, and destroy all the works that he has brought to completion. But the god of the lower world will eventually be utterly deprived of his power; and then men will be happy, and will no longer stand in need of nourishment, or throw a shadow." A similar picture of the happiness of men, after the renewal of the earth, is to be found in the books of the Zend and the Bundehesh, in which the entire period of the world's duration up to that time is fixed at twelve thousand years. "There will then be neither night, nor cold nor hot winds, nor decay, nor fear of death, nor evils caused by Dews; and the enemy, this ambitious prince, will never rise again" (vid. Anquetil du Perron in Kleuker's Zendavesta, Anhang 1 p. 138). These hopes are associated in the minds of the Persians with the appearance of one who is endowed with superhuman power and dignity. In the Vendidat xix. (according to Spiegel's translation: Avesta vol. i. der Vendidat p. 244) we read, "I will smite the Pari, whom men worship, until Caoshyanc (i.e. the useful one) the victor is born from the water of Kancavya. From the eastern country; from the eastern countries." Spiegel remarks on this passage, "Caoshyanc: the useful one, the helper. This is the title of the Saviour King, whom the Persians expected at the consummation of all things to bring to pass the resurrection, and then establish a dominion full of undisturbed prosperity." An elaborate description of this Saviour we find in the Bundehesch. It is stated there, among other things, that "Sosiosh will then bring the dead to life. The dead will be

The introduction of two other Saviours into this passage, along with Caoshyanc, has been pronounced by Spiegel an interpolation, which had no existence when the Huzvaresh version was made, and which he has therefore crased; see p. 242.

brought to life by that which passes from the bull and from the white horn. Sosiosh will give to all men to drink of these liquids; and they will be great and incorruptible as long as beings last. All the dead who have ever died, whether great or small, will drink thereof and come to life. At length Sosiosh, by command of the just judge Ormuzd, from an exalted place, will render to all men as their works deserve. The dwellingplace of the pure will be the splendid Gorotmann. Ormuzd himself will take up their bodies to himself on high." To this deliverer two others are subsequently added, Oshedarbami and Oshedarmah. "The earliest reference," says Spiegel, p. 32, "is in a Huzvaresh gloss to the Yaçna, chap. xxviii. But, in this case, the first is simply called Hoshedar, the second Hoshedarmah." Shahistani says (Hyde de rel. vet. P'ers. p. 388, ed. 2) "Zoroaster (Zaradusht) teaches in his book Zendavesta, that in the last days a man will appear, named Oshanderberga, i.e., man of the world, who will adorn the world with religion and righteousness. Pentiareh will then appear, and oppress his kingdom and his affairs for twenty years. After this Osiderbega will appear to the inhabitants of the world, and will give new life to righteousness, put to death unrighteousness, and reinstate the order of things which has been destroyed. Kings will obey him, and everything prosper in his hands. He will make true religion victorious; rest and peace will reign in his day, all contentions will cease, and all grievances disappear." Tavernier reports the same thing, as heard from a Persian priest (Reisebeschreibung iv. 8, vol. i. p. 181, also given in an appendix to Hyde). In this case the restoration is attributed to three persons, begotten in a miraculous manner, the last of whom is the most glorious, and will effect the conversion of all men. will bring about a general resurrection, and the judgment will immediately follow. The kingdom of darkness is then to be entirely destroyed, the mountains to be levelled, and so forth.

He

Formerly this striking agreement between the Persian hopes of the future, and those entertained by the Jews, was explained

The rendering of this passage given by Haarbrücker, in Schahrastani's Religionsparteien und Philosophenschulen, corresponds in all essential points to that of Hyde. But instead of Oshanderbega and Osiderbega, he writes in both instances Ashidsarbaka, which he renders "the knowing one."

on the simple hypothesis that the Persians borrowed from the Jews. Thus Hyde, for example, says, "the so-called prophecy of Zerdusht evidently points to the Messiah, the announcement of whose coming he had learned from the Old Testament, with which he was well acquainted." The blind enthusiasm in favour of the religious books of the Persians, which prevailed after their publication by Anquetil du Perron, along with the depreciation of the Old Testament by the rationalists, caused this explanation to be given up, and led to the hypothesis that the Messianic anticipations of the Persians were traceable to the same source as those of the Jews. But there is at present a manifest disposition to return to the earlier view.

Stuhr says in his Religions-systeme des Orientes, p. 371, seq., "the doctrine of the fire-worship recognises most distinctly the belief in an ultimate healing of the strife and discord which prevail in this life, in a complete annihilation of evil and misery at the end of time, and in a resurrection of the body to take place immediately afterwards. Sosiosh, the heroic conqueror, the restorer of holiness, who will render the whole world both great and happy, and purify all the bodies in the world, will then appear. He will abolish every kind of pain, and utterly destroy the germ of every sin and the tormentor of the pure.

If we bear in mind, now, the historical connexion in which the Persians stood to the Jews, and contrast the friendly bearing of Cyrus and Darius towards the latter, with the intolerance of the fire-worshippers towards those forms of heathenism which differed from their own, we cannot but feel inclined to resort to the conclusion that Jewish opinions, which were connected with the worship of Jehovah, exerted a considerable influence upon the development of the views referred to here, as forming part of the religious consciousness of the Persians. The similarity between the two names Sosiosh and Joshua is of no slight importance as bearing upon this opinion, seeing that Joshua, who led the Israelites into the promised land, most decidedly pointed to Jesus." To this we may also add that Zechariah, who prophesied at the time when the intercourse was closest between the Persians and the Jews, introduces Joshua the High Priest as a type of Christ. Spiegel (Avesta, 1 p. 37), also points to the intimate connexion between the Persian doctrines and those of

« ForrigeFortsæt »