of his adulteress queen; and usurped his throne and bed; but that the god had retarded his ruin for three years, which was all he could do; 2. That if the second response was ambiguous, he might blame himself, for not applying for an explanation, to know what empire was to be destroyed, whether the Lydian, or the Persian; and 3. That Crasus mistook the last, which was meant, of a figurative, not a real mule. Cræsus, however, acquiescing in these reasons, acknowledged that the fault was his own, not the his friend and ally, Amasis, king of Egypt; who warned him of the invidiousness of the Deity, (TO 8109 ws 151 49ovepor) and to counteract his excessive prosperity, advised him to deprive himself of the most valuable article among his treasures. Polycrates, accordingly, flung into the sea an emerald seal ring, which he prized most highly; but, by a remarkable prodigy, it was found about a week after, in the belly of a fish, that was dressed for his table. Upon hearing this, Amasis, being instructed, (ad) that it was impossible for one man to deliver another from his destiny, (ex TE MERRORTOS TRYμAtos) and concluding, that one so uniformly prosperous, (who found even what he had thrown away), would not come to a good end, sent a herald to Samos, to break off all connection with Polycrates; in order that he might not involve himself in the distress, and dreadful calamity, to come upon his ally. B. iii. § 39-43. Diodorus Siculus, however, assigns a more rational motive for this con duct of Amasis: "The Egyptian," says he, "was so disgusted with the tyrannical conduct of Polycrates, not only to his subjects, but even to strangers, that he foresaw his fate to be inevitable; and therefore was cautious not to be involved in his ruin." Polycrates was afterwards perfidiously crucified by Orates, the Persian governor of Sardis; fulfilling his daughter's dream, that "she saw her father suspended in the air, and anointed by the sun.” "This unfortunate death," says Herodotus, " having been foretold of him, by Amasis, king of Egypt." B. iii. § 120-125. How different was the doctrine of Xenophon, trained in the Socratic school! He inva riably represents the Gons, or rather the SUPREME BEING, as ordering the affairs of mortals, by his all-governing Providence; dispensing happiness or misery, according to the merit or demerit of individuals. To this he ascribes the prosperity of Cyrus, and the misfortunes of Crasus; in perfect conformity with the primitive Persian religion, and also with HOLY WRIT; which states the doctrine thus: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father; nor shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous man shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." And to guard against the gloomy and uncomfortable doctrine of an uncontroulable fate or necessity, it adds, for the encouragement of the repentant sinner: "But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die." Ezek. xviii. 20, 21. In the Decalogue: "The sins of the fathers were to be visited upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation," only in a national sense. See vol. ii. p. 256, of this work. god's." god's." 90, 91. And Xenophon further adds, that "Cræsus blamed himself, because that in the first instance, neglecting to enquire whether he wanted any thing, he tempted the god, whether he was able to tell truth: but surely," says Xenophon, "not only the god, but even good and worthy men, when they find they are disbelieved, are not disposed to love the incredulous." Cyropæd. b. vii. p. 385. The various oracles noticed by Herodotus, in the course of his history, and their numerous responses form, perhaps, the most curious and valuable part of it, in a religious light. That he firmly believed himself in their inspiration and veracity, does not admit of a doubt. He was credulous even to excess*; and not only he, but Socrates, Xenophon, Cicero, &c. the wisest and greatest men of antiquity, both among the Greeks and Barbarians, trusted in them, and consulted them. Several of the oracular responses indeed, were ambiguous and delusive, we readily grant; these might have proceeded from the frauds and impostures of the priests. But on the other hand, several of them were so determinate and explicit, and so wonderfully fulfilled, that if the facts be well ascertained, they cannot be ascribed merely to priestcraft. Such as the response concerning the dumb son of Cræsus, that in an evil day he first should speak; so exactly verified by the event; and the experimental test of the boiled lamb and tortoise in a brazen vessel; the failure of other Oracles to answer which, seems to confirm the account of the two, that succeeded; and surely these two, of Apollo, at Delphi, in the territory of Phocis; "I shall neither presume," says Herodotus, " to question the authority of Oracles myself, nor shall I patiently suffer others to do so." B. viii. § 77. + Such was that which induced Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, to invade Italy, Aio te, Æacide, Romanos vincere posse; either, "that you may conquer the Romans," or "the Romans may conquer you;" the latter was the fact. This argument is strongly insisted on by Cicero, to support the veracity of the Delphie: Oracle, in former times; as contrasted with its failure, in later times. Nunquam illud oraculum Delphis tam celebre et tam clarum fuisset, neque tantis donis refertum omnium populorum atque regum, nisi omnis ætas oraculorum illorum veritatem esset experta. Jamdiu, idem non facit. Ut igitur nunc, minore gloriâ est, quia minus oraculorum veritate excellit; sic tum, nisi summâ veritate, in tanta gloriâ non fuisset. And he endeavours to account for its failure from natural causes, supposing that the vaporous exhalation was exhausted by age, on which the inspiration of the Pythian priestess depended. Potest Phocis; and of Amphiaraus, in that of Baotia, could not possibly have had any intercourse or collusion together, on the same day and hour. Lucian, the sophist, indeed, ridicules "the tricks played to make trial of Apollo's sagacity, when people boil together the flesh of a lamb and of a tortoise; so that Apollo must have had a good nose, or sharp scent, truly, otherwise the Lydian (Crasus) would have exposed him to derision." Bis accusat. Vol. ii. p. 793. But ridicule is not argument, and the munificent oblations of Cræsus, at the temples of Apollo and Amphiaraus, which Herodotus actually saw, § 51, 52; seem to leave no room for doubting either the fact, or the secrecy of Crasus; who, in so important a case, would not be likely to entrust his scheme of trial, to any one whatsoever, before the very day on which it was to be put in practice. We are therefore driven to the necessity of admitting some supernatural interposition, in such cases*. Rollin accordingly, ascribes the response to demoniacal agency: "GOD," says he, "permitting the demons sometimes to tell truth, in order to punish the blindness of their votaries." Ancient Hist. vol. i. p. 387. Indeed, from their supposed knowledge of futurity, the demons chiefly derived their name, Azimoves, from Aaw, Scio†. 2. In the case of the Lydian experiment, we may not unreasonably suppose, that Satan, "the prince of the aerial jurisdiction," as he is stiled in Potest autem, vis illa terræ, quæ mentem Pythia divino afflatu concitabat, evanuisse vetustati; ut quosdam exaruisse omnes, aut in alium cursum contortos, et deflexos, videmus. Sed ut vis, acciderit; magna enim quæstio est: modo mancat id, (quod negari non potest, nisi omnem historiam perverterimus) multis sæculis verar fuisse id oraculum. De Divinat. Lib. i. 19. • See, among others, the remarkable Oracle of Latona, given to Psammiticus, that he should recover the throne of Egypt, from which he had been expelled, with the assistance of brazen men coming out of the sea; who proved to be Greek pirates, in brazen armour. Herod. b. ii. § 152. Pyrrhus was warned to beware of Argos, and Epaminondas of Pelagos, where both found their deaths. + Damones autem Grammatici dictos aiunt, quasi, dasporas, id est, peritos, ac rerum scios. Lactant. Lib. 2. c. 14. Hos autem putant Deos esse: sciunt illi quidem futura multa, sed non omnia; quippe quibus penitus consilium DEI scire non licet. Et ideo solent responsa in ambiguos exitus temperare. Augustin. Lib. 3. De civitate, c. 17, sub finem. Dæmones vero, quæ præmonstrare creduntur, versuta calliditate prædicunt. Quæst. apud Athanas, 99, p. 370. Scripture, Scripture, Ephes. ii. 2, and his angels, or dæmoniacal spirits, may have an astonishing facility of transporting themselves through the air, from place to place, "like lightning," to use our Lord's illustration, Luke x. 9, and in a moment of time*, as at his temptation, Luke iv. 5. Some of these ministering spirits," therefore, might have conveyed the intelligence of Cræsus' proceedings from Sardis to Delphi, or Thebes, to the presiding spi 66 rits in those Oracles. The Pythian Apollo seems to have been the old serpent himself, Acts xvi. 16; "deceiving the whole heathen world," by his lying oracles especially, before the coming of CHRIST. Rev. xii. 9; ix. 11. Who was called Baalzebub, at Ekron in Palestine, where he delivered Oracles, and whom the idolatrous Ahaziah, king of Israel, sent to consult, whether he should recover from his sickness; 2 Kings i. 1—4: whom the Jews, in our Lord's time, called "Beelzebub, the prince of demons," Matt. ix. 24. It is remarkable, that our Lord did not undeceive the Jews, nor correct their error, if it were such; but rather, assuming the fact, refuted their malignity upon their own principles. 3. The established credit of Oracles, throughout the heathen world, could only have been founded on experimental knowledge of their veracity, in several remarkable cases. This argument is urged by Cicero, in favour of the Pythian Oracle. See the foregoing note. The Libyan Oracle of Ammon derived its name from 18, Aμev, “Truth." And surely the sages and philosophers, as well as kings, and great men of antiquity, were not Iess sceptical than Crasus, nor less competent to detect a palpable falsehood, or a disguised fraud. 1 Omnis spiritus ales. Hoc, et angeli et dæmones. Igitur momento ubique sunt: totus orbis illis locus unus est, quod ubi geratur tam facile sciunt quam enuntiant. Velocitas, divinitas creditur, quia substantia ignoratur. Cæterum testudinem decoqui cum carnibus pecudis, eo modo renunciavit Pythius; quo supra diximus. Momento apud Lydiam fuerat. Tertull. Apolog. cap. 22, p. 22. These extracts are taken from a learned and solid answer to Van Dale's, and Fontenelle's History of Oracles, by a Frenchman, (probably father Balteus, a Jesuit, professor of divinity, in the University of Strasburgh) and ably translated by a Priest of the Church of England, 1709. Svo. London. p. 52, 145-147. He fully proves, that their hypothesis of priestcraft, or imposture, will not solve the question in all cases, nor agree with the general consent of antiquity. 4. Their 4. Their total cessation-Delphis oracula cessant. Juv. sat. vi. 554.about the birth of Christ and soon after, a fact confessed by their greatest advocates, Cicero, Plutarch, &c. intimates, that all the preceding responses could not have been the result of mere priestcraft, or human imposture ; since these causes would not have ceased, but rather have operated more powerfully after the establishment of CHRISTIANITY, 5. The manner of their delivery by the diviners and priestesses, the Pythian, the Sibyls, &c. with convulsions, foamings, heavings*, sometimes so violent as to terminate in death; and their reluctance to mount the sacred tripod, intimate a præternatural phrenzy. And this was Cicero's argument: "What is the reason, why Cassandra, in her phrenzy, foresees future events, (the destruction of Troy) while Priam, in his senses, cannot do the same?" The same was the case of the Demoniacs in the Gospel, who confessed the divinity of CHRIST, to which the Scribes and Pharisees These symptoms of inspiration, or divination, were of remote antiquity. They are no ticed in Job's days, xxxii. 18, 19. "I am full of matter; the spirit within constraineth me; Lo, my belly is like wine without vent; It is ready to burst, like the monthly diviners †.” Balaam speaks of himself, as "seeing the vision of the ALMIGHTY, falling into a trance, but having his [mental] eyes open." Numb. xxiv. 16. And the Cumaan Sibyl, "priestess of the sun and moon," or of Apollo and Diana, who eame from the country of Babylon, or Chaldea, about the time of the Trojan war; like Balaam, was affected with extraordinary agitations, while under the overpowering influence of the oracular afflatus. At Phabi nondum patiens, immanis in antro, Os rabidum, fera corda domans, fingitque premendo." ENZID. 6, 77. Plutarch speaks of a Pythian priestess, who being placed upon the tripod, or sacred stool, to receive the divine afflatus, began to swell and foam at the mouth, and was thrown into such an extreme rage and transport, that she terrified not only the consulters, but the priests themselves, who ran away and left her: and so violent was the paroxysm, that she died shortly after. Some say, that a dragon used to wind himself about the tripod. Others, that the Pythia once was killed by him. Potter's Antiq. vol. i. p. 278. ✦ See this new translation, given vol. ii. p. 359. were |