SIBYL-SIl Al;: 



subjected to tin- Russian empire. Some of the 

 most numerous tribes are the Uuruts, Yukoutes, 

 Tunguses, Samoeides and Monguls. The pn vail- 

 ing religion is the system of Buddha, or of the 

 Lamas. The commerce consists chiefly of two 

 branches, one formed by tin- exportation of metals 

 and furs, the other a mere transit trade, consisting 

 in an overland intercourse carried on across Siberia 

 with the Chinese empire. The theatre of this com- 

 merce is Kiaclita. In 1825, Siberia was divided 

 into the four governments of Tobolsk (with the pro- 

 vince of Omsk), Tomsk, Yeniseisk and Irkutsk, 

 with the province of Jakutsk, and the two mari- 

 time provinces of Okotsk and Kamtschatka. The 

 population of the country is about 2,000,000, on 

 a superficial extent of 4,280,000 square miles. Si- 

 beria was attached to the Russian dominions to- 

 wards the end of the sixteenth century, and the 

 sovereigns of Russia assumed the title of czar of 

 Siberia, which they still retain. The importance 

 of this region did not escape Peter the Great, who 

 introduced manufactures, and settled Russian co- 

 lonies in it. State criminals are also banished to 

 Siberia. See Martoinoff's Voyage Pittoresque de 

 Moscou mix Front ieres de la Chine (1819), and Coch- 

 rane's Pedestrian Journey through Russia (1827)- 



SIBYL, AND SIBYLLINE BOOKS. Sibyl 

 (derived by some authorities from <rus, ./Eolic for 

 Jhf, God, and fa*.*, for /SJ/A., counsel) signified, 

 originally, a female inspired or counselled by God. 

 Of these prophetic virgins, who were believed to 

 be thrown by a god into a kind of transport or in- ! 

 sanity, in which they were able to unveil futurity, | 

 ancient writers mention ten, among whom the Sibyl 

 of Cumae, in Campania, was the most celebrated. 

 According to O. Miiller, the oracle of the Sibyls, 

 and the worship of Apollo, were carried to Cumae 

 from the Trojan Ida. The Sibyl of Guinea is said 

 to have written in Greek verses, the collection of 

 prophecies famous under the name of Sibylline books, 

 which, according to some, she herself, according to 

 others, an unknown old woman, offered to Tarquin 

 for sale. When the king, on account of the high 

 price asked, refused to buy them, the old woman 

 threw three of the books into the fire, and, on a 

 second refusal, three more, after which the king, 

 alarmed, paid for the three remaining the price 

 originally asked for the whole, and committed them, 

 as an oracle, to be consulted on important political 

 occasions, to the keeping of two men. The num- 

 ber, at a later period, was increased to ten, and by 

 Sylla to fifteen. About that time, the temple of 

 Jupiter, where the Sibylline books were preserved, 

 was burned down, with the capitol. After the re- 

 building of the capitol, the senate, in 677, sent de- 

 legates to all the Italian and Greek cities, especially j 

 to Erythrae, in order to collect whatever Sibylline 

 verses they could find ; and, after the rejection of 

 those which were considered spurious, about one 

 thousand of them were retained, and preserved in 

 the new temple of Jupiter Capitolintis. The senate, 

 at different times, ordered all the Sibylline books 

 which could be found in private hands to be burned. 

 Augustus did the same, and destroyed above two j 

 thousand such books, but caused the genuine Sibyl- 

 line books to be preserved in two chests of gold 

 under the pedestal of the Apollo Palatinus. Yet 

 the belief in every thing which went* by the name 

 of a Sibylline prediction was so strong that, in 772, 

 Tiberius caused an investigation of all such prophe- 

 tic verses to be made, and received some of them as 

 genuine; whereupon, in 785, one of the keepers 



of the sacred ^volumes proposed the admission of 

 another book. * In general, the Sibylline books re- 

 mained longer in authority with the Romans than 

 the oracles with the Greeks. Though they were 

 burned a second time, in the reign of Nero, yet in 

 the time of Aurelian (A. D. 270), some senators 

 were in favour of consulting the Sibylline books, 

 respecting the event of the Marcomannic war. Yet 

 they were then so corrupted, that Christians could 

 find in them predictions respecting the Messiah. 

 This collection was burned under Julian (A. D. 

 363) ; and a fourth collection was burned under 

 Honorius (395), by Stilicho; in spite of which a 

 fifth collection was believed to be genuine. \Vhm 

 Belisarius, in the middle of the sixth century, was 

 besieged in Rome by the Goths, two Sibylline 

 verses were considered as predicting that the siege 

 would last but five months, which, however, did 

 not agree with the event. It may be easily imagined 

 that the Sibylline books can have retained their 

 authority through so many centuries only by the 

 greatest vagueness, admitting of any interpretation, 

 and never committing themselves. The still-exist- 

 ing collection of Sibylline verses, most complete in 

 the edition of Gallaeus (Amsterdam, 1689), is of a 

 later date, and is not considered genuine. These 

 had their origin in the second century, when there 

 were persons called Sibyllists in the Christian- com- 

 munities, who uttered poetic oracles, and whose 

 outpourings were collected, and also called Sibyl- 

 line books, on which Theoloririus wrote a Latin 

 essay See Frederic Bleek's essay on their origin 

 and composition, in Schleiermacher's Theolog. Zeit- 

 schrift, vol. i., no. 1 ; and Angelo Maio, in the pre- 

 face to his edition of a Sibylline Book (Milan, 1817). 

 SICARD, ROCH AMBROISE CKCURRON, successor 

 of the abbe 1'Epee at the Parisian institution for 

 the education of the deaf and dumb, was born Sep- 

 tember 20, 1742, at Fousseret, near Toulouse, and 

 entered into holy orders. He devoted himself to 

 the instruction of persons born deaf and dumb, and 

 became, in J786, director of a school established 

 for that purpose by the archbishop of Bordeaux, 

 whence, in 1789, he removed to Paris, and was 

 chosen successor to the abbe 1'Epee, in whose 

 system lie made some important improvements. In 

 1792, he was arrested in the midst of his pupils, by 

 order of the commune of Paris ; and, September 2, 

 was transferred to the prison of the abbey of St 

 Germain, where he narrowly escaped becoming a 

 victim in the ensuing massacres. On the founda- 

 tion of the normal school, in 1795, he was appointed 

 professor of grammar; and, about the same time, 

 he was made a member of the institute. He then 

 became one of the conductors of the Annales Catho- 

 liques, on account of which he was included by the 

 directory in the number of the journalists sentenced 

 to be exiled to Sinamari. He concealed himself, 

 and thus avoided deportation ; but it was not till 

 after the overthrow of the directory that he was 

 able to return to his situation at the school of in- 

 struction for the deaf and dumb. The old age of 

 Sicard was clouded with misfortunes arising from 

 his improvidence ; but, after the restoration, he was 

 made a knight of the legion of honour, administra- 

 tor of the hospital of the Quinze-Vingts, &c. His 

 death took place May 10, 1822. Besides other 

 works, he was the author of Siemens de Grammaire 

 generate appliquce a la Langue Francaise (2 vols., 

 8vo.) ; Cours d' Instruction d'un Sourd-muel de 

 Naissance (8vo.) ; and Theorie des Signes four 

 V Instruction des Sourds-muets (2 vols., 8vo.) 



