Moreover, a slight and trivial occasion gave opportunity to extend his inquisitions indefinitely. There is a town called Abydum, situated in the remotest part of the ThebaisA nome, or province, of Egypt. ; here the oracle of a god called in that place Besa in days of old revealed the future and was wont to be honoured in the ancient ceremonials of the adjacent regions.

And since some in person, a part through others, by sending a written list of their desires,So also at the temple of Jupiter at Baalbek. inquired the will of the deities after definitely stating their requests, the papers or parchments containing their petitions sometimes remained in the shrine even after the replies had been given.