212 



seemed not to serve for quietude^ illumination, the Nirvana — 

 but of which we can scarcely help believing that it was really 

 present in the minds of Buddha and those disciples to whom 

 we owe the compilation of the dogmatic texts/^ Whether the 

 reason for this '^ silence/' or omission, is correctly surmised 

 by Dr. Oldenberg, may be doubted ; but the fact of some- 

 thing existing, though out of sight in the present records, is 

 prominent in his mind.* This fact has also iDeen elsewhere re- 

 marked on by myself. Had Gautama himself the more perfect 

 knowledge ? He lived in a remarkable age. What was 

 the real force that roused at that time a keener sense of 

 human sin and suffering, and a louder protest against moral 

 evil all over the world ? What was the real secret of the 

 teaching of Pythagoras in Italy, of Zoroaster in Persia, of 

 Lao-tse and Confucius in China, of Heraklitos in Ephesus, of 

 the Orphic brotherhoods ? What were those mystei'ious 

 books that were brought by the Sibyl to Tarquinius Superbus ? 

 These questions remain unanswered. But that there was in 

 that age, in which Gautama Buddha most pi-obably lived, a 

 powerful influence through the known world towards morality 

 is evident. It is a curious question how far the influence, 

 great and enduring as it was, of Daniel and his God-fearing- 

 companions at the court of the then kings of the earth, was an 

 influence that may have been world-wide. Daniel was born, 

 according to common chronologies, some time, perhaps twenty 

 years, before 600 B.C., and therefore probably slightly pre- 

 ceded, or was, in advanced age, still living in the remarkable 

 epoch to which Gautama seems to belong. One fact is certain, 

 and that is, that whatever the lost Sibylliue books were, one 

 of the later ones contains passages so similar to some of 

 DaniePs writings that most critics allow that the Sibyl had 

 access to Daniel's prophecies. On the destruction of the 

 earlier Sibylline Books by fire in the Temple of Jupiter 

 B.C. 83, they were restored from public and private copies 

 that existed in various towns of Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor. 

 They were again similarly restored when burnt in the days of 

 Nero, Julian, and Honorius. And the inference is, that the 

 restorations most likely represented the true character, as 

 well as in all probability some of the ipsissima verha of the 

 originals. This question, however, of the Jews at Babylon 

 having exerted a wider influence than is generally suspected. 



* Old en berg, Buddha, p. 208. 



