g the oracle of Trophonius. having taken fome water out of a very man that went down into well that lies hid in it, he anfwers is cave, never laughed his whole you in verfes to whatever you have fe after. This gave occafion to thought of, though this man is e proverbial faying concerning often very ignorant. A 1ofe of a melancholy air: He Dion Caffius explains the manas confulted Trophonius. Platoner, in which the oracle of Nymelates that, the two brothers, A- phea in Epirus delivered its reamedes and Trophonius, having fponfes. The party that confultuilt the temple of Apollo, and ed took incenfe, and, having prayfked the God, for a reward, what ed, threw the incenfe into the fire. e thought of most advantage to If the thing defired was to be nen; both died in the night that obtained, the incenfe was immeucceeded their prayer. Paufanias diately in flames, and, even in the gives us a quite different account. cafe of its not falling into the fire, In the palace they built for the the flame purfued and confumed it. king Hyrieus, they fo laid a stone, But, if the thing was not to fucceed, that it might be taken away, and the incenfe did not come near the in the night they crept in through fire, or, if it fell into the flame, sit the hole they had thus contrived, ftarted out and fled. It fo hapto fteal the king's treafures. The pened for prognofticating futurity, king, obferving the quantity of in regard to every thing that was his gold diminished, though no asked, except death and marriage, locks or feals were broken open, about which it was not allowed to had traps fixed about his coffers, afk any queftions. and, Agamedes being catched in one of them, Trophonius cut off his head to prevent his discovering him. Trophonius having difappeared that moment, it was given out that the earth had fwallowed him in the fame fpot, and impious fuperftition went fo far as to place this wicked wretch in the rank of gods, and to confult his oracle with ceremonies equally painful and mysterious. Tacitus fpeaks thus of the oracle of the Clarian Apollo: Germanicus went to confult the oracle of Claros. It is not a woman that delivers the oracle there as at Delphos, but a man chofen out of certain families, and always of Miletum. It is fufficient to tell him the number and names of those who come to confult him; whereupon he retires into a grot, and, Thofe who confulted the oracle of Amphiaraus, lay on the fkins of victims, and received the anfwers of the oracle in a dream. Virgil attefts the fame thing of the oracle of Faunus in Italy. A governor of Cilicia, who gave little credit to oracles, and who was always furrounded by unbelieving Epicureans, fent a letter fealed with his fignet to the oracle of Mopfus, requiring one of those answers that were received in a dream. The meffenger, charged with the letter, brought it back to him in the fame condition, not having been opened; and informed him, that he had feen, in a dream, a very well made man, who faid to him, Black,' without the addition of ever another word. Then the governor, opening the letter, affured his company, that he want ed venged, but that the father of Alexander was immortal. This oracle gave occafion to Lucan to put great fentiments in the mouth of Cato. After the battle of Pharfalia, when Cæfar became mafter of the world, Labienus faid to Cato: As we have now fo good an opportunity of confulting fo celebrated an oracle, let us know from it how to regulate our conduct during this war. The Gods will not declare themfelves more willingly for any one than Cato. You have always been befriended by the Gods, and may therefore have the confidence to converfe with Jupiter. Inform yourself of the deftiny of the tyrant and the fate of our country; whether we are to preserve our liberty, or to lofe the fruit of the war; and you may learn too what that virtue is to which you have been devoted, and what its reward.' Cato, full of the divinity that was within him, returned to Labienus an anfwer worthy of an oracle: On what account, Labienus, would you have me confult Jupiter? Shall I afk him whether it be better to lofe life than liberty? Whether life be a real good? Whether virtue depends on fortune? We have within us, Labienus, an oracle that can anfwer all thefe queftions. Nothing happens but by the order of God. Let us not require of him to repeat to us what he has fufficiently engraved on our hearts. Truth has not withdrawn into thofe deferts; it is not graved on those fands. The abode of God is the heavens, the earth, the feas, and virtuous hearts. God fpeaks to us by all that we fee, by all that furrounds us. Let the inconftant, and those that are fub ject to waver, according to events, have recourfe to oracles. For my part, I find in nature every thing that can inspire the most conftant refolution. The daftard, as well as the brave, cannot avoid death. Jupiter cannot tell us more. Cato thus fpoke, and quitted the country without confulting the oracle. Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch, and feveral other authors relate, that a herd of goats difcovered the oracle of Delphos, or of the Pythian Apollo. When the goat happened to come near enough the cavern, to breathe the air that pasfed out of it, the returned fkipping and bounding about, and her voice articulated some extraordinary founds; which having been obferved by their keepers, they went to look in, and were feized with a fury that made them jump about, and foretel future events. Coretas, as Plutarch tells, was the name of the goat-herd that difcovered the oracle. One of the guards of Demetrius, coming too near the mouth of the cavern, was fuffocated by the force of the exhalation, and died fuddenly. The orifice or vent-hole of the cave was covered with a tripod confecrated to Apollo, on which the priesteffes, called Pythoneffes, fat, to fill themfelves with the prophetic vapour, and to conceive the fpirit of divination, with the furor that made them know futurity, and foretel it in Greek hexameters. Plutarch fays, that, on the ceffation of oracles, a Pythoness was fo exceffively tormented by the vapour, and fuffered fuch violent convulfions, that all the priests ran away, and the died foon after.. Paufanias defcribes the ceremonies that were practised for confult having taken fome water out of a well that lies hid in it, he anfwers you in verfes to whatever you have thought of, though this man is often very ignorant." Dion Caffius explains the man phea in Epirus delivered its refponfes. The party that confulted took incenfe, and, having prayed, threw the incenfe into the fire. If the thing defired was to be obtained, the incenfe was immediately in flames, and, even in the cafe of its not falling into the fire, the flame purfued and confumed it. But, if the thing was not to fucceed, the incenfe did not come near the fire, or, if it fell into the flame, sit ftarted out and fled. It fo happened for prognofticating futurity, in regard to every thing that was afked, except death and marriage, about which it was not allowed to afk any queftions. ing the oracle of Trophonius. Every man that went down into his cave, never laughed his whole life after. This gave occafion to the proverbial faying concerning thofe of a melancholy air: He has confulted Trophonius. Platoner, in which the oracle of Nymrelates that, the two brothers, Agamedes and Trophonius, having built the temple of Apollo, and afked the God, for a reward, what he thought of most advantage to men; both died in the night that fucceeded their prayer. Paufanias gives us a quite different account. In the palace they built for the king Hyrieus, they fo laid a stone, that it might be taken away, and in the night they crept in through -the hole they had thus contrived, to fteal the king's treafures. The king, obferving the quantity of his gold diminished, though no locks or feals were broken open, had traps fixed about his coffers, and, Agamedes being catched in one of them, Trophonius cut off his head to prevent his discovering him. Trophonius having difappeared that moment, it was given out that the earth had swallowed him in the fame spot, and impious fuperftition went fo far as to place this wicked wretch in the rank of gods, and to confult his oracle with ceremonies equally painful and mysterious. Tacitus fpeaks thus of the oracle of the Clarian Apollo: Germanicus went to confult the oracle of Claros. It is not a woman that delivers the oracle there as at Delphos, but a man chofen out of certain families, and always of Miletum. It is fufficient to tell him the number and names of thofe who come to confult him; whereupon he retires into a grot, and, Thofe who confulted the oracle of Amphiaraus, lay on the skins of victims, and received the anfwers of the oracle in a dream. Virgil attefts the fame thing of the oracle of Faunus in Italy. A governor of Cilicia, who gave little credit to oracles, and who was always furrounded by unbedieving Epicureans, fent a letter fealed with his fignet to the oracle of Mopfus, requiring one of those anfwers that were received in a dream. Themeffenger, charged with the letter, brought it back to him in the fame condition, not having been opened; and informed him, that he had feen, in a dream, a very well made man, who faid to him, Black,' without the addition of ever another word. Then the governor, opening the letter, affured his company, that he want ed ed to know of the divinity whether he fhould facrifice a white or black bull. In the temple of the goddefs of Syria, when the ftatue of Apollo was inclined to deliver oracles, it fweated, moved, and was full of agitations on its pedeftal. Then, the priests carrying it on their fhoulders, it pushed and turned them on all fides, and, the highpriest interrogating it on all forts of affairs, if it refufed its confent, it drove the priests back; if otherwife, it made them advance. Suetonius fays, that, fome months before the birth of Auguftus, an oracle was current, importing, that nature was labouring at the production of a king, who would be master of the Roman empire; that the fenate, in great, confternation, had forbid the rearing of any male child who fhould be born that year, but that the fenators, whofe wives were pregnant, found means to hinder the infcribing of the decree in the public regifters. It feems that the. prediction, of which Auguftus was only the type, regarded the birth of Jefus Chrift, the fpiritual king of the whole world; or that the wicked fpirit was willing, by fuggesting this rigorous decree to the fenate, to difpofe Herod, by this example, to involve the Meffiah in the maffacre that was made by his orders of all the children of two years and under. The whole world was then full of the expectation of the Meffiah's coming. We fee by Virgil's fourth Eclogue, that he applies to the fon of the con-, ful Afinius Pollio the prophecies, which from the Jews had then paffed into foreign nations. This child, the object of Virgil's flat tery, died the ninth day after he was born. Tacitus, Suetonius, and Jofephus, applied to Vefpafian the prophecies that regarded the Meffiah. The oracles were often very equivocal, or fo obfcure, that their fignification was not understood till after the event. A few examples, out of a great many, will be fufficient. Creefus having received from the Pythonefs this anfwer, that, by paffing the river Halys, he would destroy a great empire; he understood it to be the empire of his enemy, whereas he deftroyed his own. The oracle confulted by Pyrrhus gave him an anfwer, which might be equally underftood of the victory of Pyrrhus, and the victory of the Romans, his enemies. Aio te, Eacida, Romanos vincere poffe. conftruction of the Latin tongue, The equivocation lies in the which cannot be rendered in Englifh. The Pythonefs advised Crofus to guard against the mule. The king of Lydia understood nothing of the oracle, which denoted Cyrus defcended from two different nations, from the Medes by Mandana, his mother, the daughter of Aftyages; and from the Perfians by his father Cambyfes, whofe race was by far lefs grand and illuftrious. Nero had for anfwer, from the oracle of Delphos, that feventythree might prove fatal to him. He believed he was fafe from all danger till that age, but, finding himself deferted by every one, and hearing Galba proclaimed emperor, who was feventy-three years of age, he was fenfible of the deceit of the oracle. St. Jerome obferves, that, if the devils declare any truth, they always always join lies to it, and ufe fuch ambiguous expreffions, that they may be applied to contrary events. Whilft the falfe oracles of demons deceived the idolatrous nations, truth had retired among the chofen people of God. The Septuagint have interpreted Urim and Thammim,manifestation and truth, δήλωσιν και αλήθειαν, which ex preffes how different thofe divine oracles were from the falfe and equivocal ones of demons. It is faid in the book of Numbers, that Eleazar, the fucceffor of Aaron, fhall interrogate Urim in form, and that a resolution shall be taken according to the answer given. "The ephod applied to the cheft on the facerdotal vestments of the high-prieft, was a piece of stuff covered with twelve precious ftones, on which the names of the twelve tribes were engraved. It was not allowed to confult the Lord by Urim and Thummim, but for the king, the prefident of the Sanhedrim, the general of the army, and other public perfons, and on affairs that regarded the general intereft of the nation. If the affair was to fucceed, the ftones of the ephod emitted a fparkling light, or the high-priest infpired predict ed the fuccefs. Jofephus, who was born thirty years after Chrift, fays, that it was then two hundred years fince the ftones of the ephod had given an answer to confulta tions by extraordinary luftre. of God, graved in a myfterious manner. Without defigning to difcover what has not been explained us, we should understand, by Urim and Thummim, the divine infpiration annexed to the confecrated breaft-plate. Several paffages of the fcripture leave room to believe, that an articulate voice came forth from the propitiatory, or holy of holies, beyond the veil of the tabernacle; and that this voice was heard by the high-prieft. If the Urim and Thummim did not make anfwer, it was a fign of God's anger, Saul, abandoned by the Spirit of the Lord, confulted it in vain, and obtained no fort of answer. It appears by fome paffages of St. John's gospel, that, in the time of Chrift, the exercife of the chief-priesthood was ftill attended with the gift of prophecy. When men began to be better inftructed by the lights philosophy had introduced into the world, the falfe oracles infenfibly, loft their credit. Chryfippus filled an intire volume with falfe or doubtful oracles. Oenomaus, to be revenged of fome oracle that had deceived him, made a compilation of oracles, to fhew their ridicule and vanity. Eufebius has preferved fome fragments of this criticifm on oracles by Oenomaus. I might, fays Origen, have recourse to the authority of Ariftotle, and the Peripatetics, to make the Pytho-" nefs much fufpected; I might extract from the writings of Epicurus and his fectators an abundance of things to difcredit oracles; and I might fhew that the Greeks themfelves made no great account The fcriptures only inform us, that Urim and Thummim were fomething that Mofes had put in the high-prieft's breaft-plate. Some rabbins by rafh conjectures, have believed that they were two fmalls ftatues hidden within the breast plate; others, the ineffable name of them. |