ancient oracles
ancient oracles
ancient oracles
on the subject of oracles, it may not be improper, once for all, to inform
the american reader that the apollo of delphi was, to, use mr. bayle’s words, the
judge without appeal; the greatest of the heathen gods, not preserving in relation
to oracles his advantage or superiority."
let us, in a small way, satisfy the anxious inquirer as to the character of these
oracular answers. crœsus, the king of the lydians, says herodotus determined to
consult the different oracles of greece, and also that of libya. his motive in these
consultations (praiseworthy surely) was, to form an idea of the truth of the oracles
respectively. of the oracular answers in general, we have no account remaining, but
the lydians had no sooner (!) entered the temple of delphi, and proposed their questions,
than the pythian answered thus, in heroic verse:-
"i count the sand, i measure out the sea,
the silent and the dumb are heard by me;
e’en now the odors to my sense that rise,
a tortoise boiling with a lamb supplies;
while brass below and brass above it lies."
crœsus found none of the answers satisfactory except this: -- "but a fervor
of gratitude and piety was excited in him so soon as he heard the reply of the
pythian,
and he exclaimed that there was no true oracle but delphi, for this 'alone had explained
his employment at the stipulated time. "
lucian makes jupiter complain of the great trouble the deities undergo on account of
mankind. "as for apollo," says he, "he has undertaken a troublesome office;
he is obliged to be at delphi this minute, at colophon the next, here at delos, there at
branchidć, just as his ministers choose to require him; not, to mention the tricks which
are played to make trial of his sagacity, when people boil together the flesh of a lamb
and a tortoise; so that if he had not had a very acute nose, crœsus would have gone
away and abused him."
crœsus desired to propitiate the deity, and made great and rich
offerings and sacrifices, for he wished greatly to learn the result of an expedition which
he projected against persia. he received the following words from the oracle:-
"when o'er the modes a mule shall sit on high,
o'er pebbly hermus then, soft lydian, fly;
fly with all haste, for safety scorn thy fame,
not scruple to deserve a coward's name."
the king was elated with, this reply, for the impossibility involved in the first line
indicated to his pious heart that he must be successful; so he determined to attack cyrus,
whose successes provoked his jealousy.
sad to tell, he failed; was defeated by cyrus, attacked in his own capital, taken
prisoner, condemned to death, and saved only by a miracle, viz., the magnanimity of his
conqueror.
"sir," said he to cyrus-and one can not but admire the gentlemanly tone of
irony -" you will materially oblige me by your permission, to send these fetters to
the god of greece, whom, above all others, i have honored, and to inquire of him whether
it be his rule to delude those who have claims on his kindness."
the god neither flew into a passion, nor did he frown in dignified and cold contempt;
on the contrary, inspired by the like lofty and gentlemanlike principle, he proceeded to
apologize and explain. he said, "that to avoid the determination of destiny was
impossible even for a divinity; that he had really obviated the decrees of fate as far as
possible - indeed that of this crœsus might be assured, that if the will of the fates
had been punctually fulfilled, he would have been three years sooner a captive;" and
much more which, if paraphrased to suit this time, might have read, "that he had done
as well as he could under the circumstances; that men had no business to be asking foolish
questions as to what was going to become of them; that some folks, it is true, squandered
a good deal of money upon gods and their wire-pullers, but they might thank their stars
that they were not worse off, and say nothing more about it!"
the king received the apology in good part, exculpated the god, and professed himself
satisfied, - a termination not unlike what ensues when two "chivalrous
fire-eaters,"' not to be appeased with any thing but "heart's blood," lay
down their quills at the sound of the magic word "apology," and drag along ever
after-in the old ruts of custom and chicane.
herodotus says, concerning the two oracles (namely, among the greeks and in libya) the
egyptians gave me the following account: "the priests of jupiter, at thebes, said
that two holy women (literally -priestesses) were carried away from thebes by the
phoenicians, and they had learned that one of them was sold in libya and the other in
greece. and these women were the first founders of the oracles among these people."
but of all oracles, that of apollo pythius, at delphi, was the most celebrated.
this divine institution was first suggested by a, goat-herd's observing some of his
flock to frisk in a remarkable manner, near the entrance of a cave on mount parnassus.
investigating the matter, he, too, was seized with a like spiritual madness, and began to
dance and skip and prophesy. the thing spreading and gaining fame, it was taken in
hand by persons in authority; a magnificent temple was built over it, and the holy madness
was only experienced by a pure virgin, till such time as one having been debauched by
echecrates, it became necessary to choose, as the pythia or priestess, one above the age
of fifty years, who, if not too cool to be tempted, was at least secure from detection -
and so religion and the oracle could be preserved from contempt.
she sat on a tripod over the mouth of the cavern, having first fasted, and bathed in
the fountain of castalia, and perhaps eaten the laurel leaves; she in the violent
enthusiasm which ensued, rehearsed the dark and, mysterious verses, which sometimes
proceeding from the stomach or belly in an incoherent form, were reshaped and handed over
to the devout, by the anointed priests or prophets.
mr. bayle observes that at first it gave its answers in verse, and that it fell into
prose upon the people's beginning to laugh at the poorness of its versification! the
epicureans made it the subject of their jests, saying, that it was surprising how apollo,
the patron of the poets, should himself be so much poorer a poet than homer whom he had
inspired.
there exist those who have said that the pythia was as other women are, or have been,
extortioners, unjust, deceitful. themistocles and demosthenes are said to have had
suspicions, and the latter bade the athenians to remember that pericles and
epaminondas,
instead of amusing themselves with the answers of the oracle, consulted only reason in the
choice and execution of their measures. can we wonder that the dogs barked, and the
children cried infidel, at such a scorner?
eusebius tells us of a philosopher, one aenomaus, who, at least, can not be charged
with fear, who speaks thus to apollo: "when we come to consult thee, if thou seest
what is in futurity, why dost thou use expressions that will not be understood ? if
-things must necessarily come to pass, why, dost thou amuse us with thy ambiguities? what
dost thou, wretch as thou art, at delphi?- muttering idle prophecies!"
the great riches of this shrine, amassed by the offerings and payments of worshipers,
made it a prize for the unbelievers. the gauls, under brennus, two hundred and
seventy-eight years before christ, attacked it; and nero, at last, robbed it of five
hundred of its most precious statues - sic transit gloria mundi! where is apollo - and
where the oracle!
most of the pagan deities had these oracles: apollo had the greatest number.
isis, osiris and serapis delivered, in like manner, their oracles by dreams, etc.
at the oracle of ammon, the priests delivered the response of their god.
at dodona (jupiter's), the answer came from the hollow of an oak.
at the cave of trophonius, the answer was inferred from what the suppliant said when he
recovered from his senses.
at memphis, it was good or bad, according as the ox apis received or refused what was
offered, etc.
oracles were frequently given by lot.
ablancourt says, that the study or research of the meaning of oracles, was but a
fruitless thing; and that they were never understood till after their accomplishment! what
would he have said about other holy prophecies? we may well wonder.
their answers were carefully doubled - and might have one of two or more meanings. this
was certainly wise, and indicated that the oracle was not a fool, whatever might
have been thought or said of its questioners.
when alexander was sick at babylon, some of his courtiers asked of the oracle at
serapis if it would not be well to bring the conqueror to be cured by the god. the reply
was, that it was better that he should remain where he was.
the fatigue of the journey might have killed him, or he might have died in the temple,
which would have been bad for the god as well as the king; but if he died at babylon it
was only necessary to say, that he died at the proper place and time; if he recovered,
what glory would accrue to the god for saving him?
mr. bayle says positively they were mere human artifices in which the devil had no hand
- he was strongly supported by van dale and fontenelle who wrote upon the subject. bishop
sherlock, however, in his "discourses upon prophecy," says it is impious to
disbelieve the heathen oracles as having been given out by, the devil or demons, while dr. middleton says that he then is guilty of this
impiety, and thinks himself warranted to pronounce from the authority of the best and
wisest of the heathen themselves, and the evidence of plain facts which are recorded of
these oracles, as well as from the nature of the thing itself, that they were all mere
imposture, wholly invented and supported by human craft, without any supernatural aid or
interposition whatsoever! a bold man this middleton and plain-spoken.
when did the oracles cease? eusebius endeavors to show that the oracles became dumb
upon the coming of christ - yet as it appears by the laws of theodosius, gratian, and
valentinian, that they were consulted as late as the year 358 ad, he is not altogether
conclusive; and cicero, being a heathen, gives this explanation, that they ceased in
proportion as the people growing less credulous, began to suspect them for cheats.
most of the church fathers supposed that it was the devil who spoke in the oracles, and
vassius thinks that the obscurity of the answers was owing to his ignorance of what god
intended to do!
no nation of which we may have any history was without something which they agreed to
believe when sore straitened to know what was what - nor is there any now but what has
such a thing after some sort.
(editor's note: this article was taken from charles wyllys
elliott's mysteries; or, glimpses of the supernatural, published in 1852 by
harper brothers, new york. elliott was a recognized scholar of his day, but
naturally he refers to names [e.g., mr. bayle] with whom the modern reader will most
probably be unfamiliar. although we have edited the text slightly for clarity, we
have not deleted these references, since the reader may find interest in researching them.
nor have we significantly changed mr. elliott's grammar, even though his extensive use of
exclamation points [!] may strike the modern reader as a bit unusual.)
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