De Pythiae oraculis

That, Boëthus, said Sarapion, is more reasonable and harmonious. For we must not show hostility towards the god, nor do away with his providence and divine powers together with his prophetic gifts; but we must seek for explanations of such matters as seem to stand in the way, and not relinquish the reverent faith of our fathers.

What you say, my esteemed Sarapion, said I, is quite right. We have not been surrendering hope for philosophy either, as if it had been completely done away with and destroyed, just because formerly the philosophers used to publish their doctrines and discourses in the form of poems, as Orpheus, Hesiod, Parmenides, Xenophanes, Empedocles, and Thales. Later they ceased to do this, and now all have ceased using metrical form, all except you. At your hands the poetic art returns to philosophy from its banishment, and sounds a clear and noble challenge to the young.

Nor did Aristarchus, Timocharis, Aristyllus, and Hipparchus, and their followers make astronomy less

notable by writing in prose, although in earlier days Eudoxus, Hesiod, and Thales wrote in verse, if indeed Thales, in all truth, composed the Astronomy which is attributed to him. Pindar also confesses that he is puzzled by the neglect of a mode of music and is astonished that---[*](Unfortunately the cause of Pindar’s astonishment has been omitted by the copyist, who left a blank here.) The fact is that there is nothing dreadful nor abnormal in seeking the causes of such changes; but to do away with these arts and faculties themselves because something about them has been disturbed or changed is not right.

Theon, taking up the subject, said, But these matters have actually undergone great changes and innovations, whereas you know that many of the oracles here have been given out in prose, and those that concerned no unimportant matters. For, as Thucydides[*](Thucydides, i. 118.) has recorded, when the Spartans consulted the god about their war against the Athenians, his answer was a promise of victory and power and that he himself would come to their aid, bidden or unbidden; and in another oracle that if they would not allow Pleistoanax to return from exile, they should plough with a silver ploughshare.[*](Ibid. v. 16. The meaning seems to be that they would have to buy their grain.)

When the Athenians sought advice about their campaign in Sicily, he directed them to get the priestess of Athena at Erythrae; the name which the woman bore was Quiet.[*](Cf.Life of Nicias, chap. xiii. (532 a), where it is explained that the god advised them τὴν ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν, to keep Quiet.)

When Deinomenes of Sicily asked advice about his sons, the answer was that all three should rule as despots; and when Deinomenes rejoined, To their sorrow, then, O Lord Apollo, the god said that he granted this also to Deinomenes, and added it to the response. You all know, of course, that Gelo, while he was despot, suffered from dropsy; and likewise Hiero from gall-stones; and the third, Thrasybulus, became involved in seditions and wars, and it was no long time before he was dethroned.

Then there was Procles, the despot of Epidaurus, who did away with many men in a cruel and lawless manner, and finally put to death Timarchus, who had come to him from Athens with money, after receiving him and entertaining him with much show of hospitality. The body he thrust into a basket and sank in the sea. All this he accomplished through Cleander of Aegina, and nobody else knew anything about it. But later, when his affairs were in sad confusion, he sent here his brother Cleotimus to ask advice in secret concerning his flight and withdrawal to another country. The god therefore made answer that he granted Procles flight and withdrawal to the place in which he had bidden his friend from Aegina deposit the basket, or where the stag sheds his horns. The despot at once understood that the god ordered him to sink himself in the sea or to bury himself in the earth (for stags, whenever their horns fall off, bury them out of sight underground[*](Cf.Moralia, 700 d.)); but he waited for a short time, and then, when the state of his aflairs became altogether desperate, he had to leave the country. And the friends of Timarchus seized him, slew him, and cast forth his dead body into the sea.

Most important of all is the fact that the decrees through which Lycurgus gave form and order to the Spartan constitution were given to him in prose.

Now Herodotus and Philochorus and Ister, men who were most assiduous in collecting prophecies in verse, have quoted countless oracles not in verse; but Theopompus, who has given more diligent study to the oracle than any one man, has strongly rebuked those who do not believe that in his time the prophetic priestess used verse in her oracular responses. Afterwards, wishing to prove this, he has found to support his contention an altogether meagre number of such oracles, indicating that the others were given out in prose even as early as that time.

Some of the oracles even to-day come out in metre, one of which an affair has made famous. There is in Phocis a shrine of Heracles the Womanhater, and it is the custom that the man who is appointed to the priesthood shall have no association with a woman within the year. For this reason they usually appoint as priests rather old men. By exception, only a few years ago, a young man, not at all bad, but ambitious, who was in love with a girl, gained the office. At first he was able to control himself, and succeeded in keeping out of her way; but when she suddenly carne in upon him as he was resting after drinking and dancing, he did the forbidden thing. Frightened and perturbed in consequence, he resorted at once to the oracle and asked the god about his sin, whether there were any way to obtain forgiveness or to expiate it; and he received this response:

All things that must be doth the god condone.

However, even if anybody were to grant that no word of prophecy is uttered in our time without being in verse, such a person would be in much more perplexity regarding the oracles of ancient times which gave their responses at one time in verse and at another time without versification. However, neither of these, my young friend, goes counter to reason if only we hold correct and uncontaminated opinions about the god, and do not believe that it was he himself who used to compose the verses in earlier times, while now he suggests the oracles[*](Cf. 397 c, supra, and 414 e, infra.) to the prophetic priestess as if he were prompting an actor in a play to speak his words.

However, it is worth our while to discuss these matters at greater length and to learn about them at another time; but for the present let us recall to our minds what we have learned in brief: that the body makes use of many instruments[*](Cf.Moralia, 163 e.) and that the soul makes use of this very body and its members; moreover, the soul is created to be the instrument of God, and the virtue of an instrument is to conform as exactly as possible to the purpose of the agent that employs it by using all the powers which Nature has bestowed upon it, and to produce, presented in itself, the purpose of the very design; but to present this, not in the form in which it was existent in its creator, uncontaminated, unaffected, and faultless, but combined with much that is alien to this. For pure design cannot be seen by us, and when it is made manifest in another guise and through another medium, it becomes contaminated with the nature of this medium. Wax, for example, and gold and silver I

leave out of account, as well as other kinds of material,[*](Obviously what is left is marble, the less plastic material.) which, when moulded, take on the particular form of the likeness which is being modelled; and yet each one of them adds to the thing portrayed a distinguishing characteristic which comes from its own substance; and so also the numberless distortions in the reflected images of one single form seen in mirrors both plane and concave and convex. Indeed, if we contemplate the shining constellations, there is nothing that shows greater similarity in form, or which, as an instrument, is by nature more obedient in use than the moon. Receiving as it does from the sun its brilliant light and intense heat, it sends them away to us, not in the state in which they arrived, but, after being merged with it, they change their colour and also acquire a different potency. The heat is gone, and the light becomes faint because of weakness.

I imagine that you are familiar with the saying found in Heraeleitus[*](Diels, Frag. der Vorsokratiker, i. p. 86, Heracleitus, no. b 93.) to the effect that the Lord whose prophetic shrine is at Delphi neither tells nor conceals, but indicates. Add to these words, which are so well said, the thought that the god of this place employs the prophetic priestess for men’s ears just as the sun employs the moon for men’s eyes. For he makes known and reveals his own thoughts, but he makes them known through the associated medium of a mortal body and a soul that is unable to keep quietior, as it yields itself to the One that

moves it, to remain of itself unmoved and tranquil, but, as though tossed amid billows and enmeshed in the stirrings and emotions within itself, it makes itself more and more restless.

For, as the eddies exercise no sure control over the bodies carried round and round in them, but, since the bodies are carried round and round by a compelling force, while they naturally tend to sink, there results from the two a confused and erratic circular movement, so, in like manner, what is called inspiration seems to be a combination of two impulses, the soul being simultaneously impelled through one of these by some external influence, and through the other by its own nature. Wherefore it is not possible to deal with inanimate and stationary bodies in a way contrary to their nature by bringing force to bear upon them, nor to make a cylinder in motion behave in the manner of a sphere or a cube, nor a lyre like a flute, nor a trumpet like a harp. No, the use of each thing artistically is apparently no other than its natural use. And as for the animate, endowed with power to move of itself and with its share of initiative and reason, could anyone treat it in a manner other than in keeping with the condition, faculty, or nature, already pre-existent in it, as, for example, trying to arouse to music a mind unmusical, or to letters the unlettered, or to eloquence one with no observation or training in speeches? That is something which no one could assert.

Homer[*](Il. ii. 169; v. 1.) also gives testimony on my side by his assumption that practically nothing is brought to pass for any reason without a god[*](For example, Od. ii. 372; xv. 531.); he does not,

however, represent the god as employing everything for every purpose, but as employing each thing in accordance with the aptitude or faculty that each possesses. Do you not see, he continued, my dear Diogenianus, that Athena, when she wishes to persuade the Achaeans, summons Odysseus[*](Il. ii. 169.); when she wishes to bring to naught the oaths, seeks out Pandarus[*](Il. iv. 86.); when she wishes to rout the Trojans, goes to Diomedes[*](Il. v. 1.)? The reason is that Diomedes is a man of great strength and a warrior, Pandarus a bowman and a fool, Odysseus adept at speaking and a man of sense. The fact is that Homer did not have the same idea as Pindar, if it really was Pindar who wrote God willing, you may voyage on a mat;[*](From the Thyestes of Euripides: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Euripides, no. 397; but the line is sometimes ascribed to other poets also.) but Homer recognized the fact that some faculties and natures are created for some purposes and others for others, and each one of these is moved to action in a different way, even if the power that moves them all be one and the same. Now this power cannot move to flight that which can only walk or run, nor move a lisp to clear speaking, nor a shrill thin voice to melodious utterance. No, in the case of Battus[*](Cf. Herodotus, iv. 155; Pindar, Pythian Odes, v., and the scholium to Pythian iv. 10.) it was for this reason, when he came to consult the oracle for his voice, that the god sent him as a colonist to Africa, because Battus had a lisp and a shrill thin voice, but also had the qualities of a king and a statesman, and was a man or sense. So in the same way it is impossible for the unlettered man who has never read verse to talk like a poet. Even so the maiden who now serves the god here was born of as lawful and honourable wedlock as anyone, and her life has been in all respects proper; but, having been brought up in the home of poor peasants, she brings nothing with her as the result of technical skill or of any other expertness or faculty, as she goes down into the shrine. On the contrary, just as Xenophon[*](Oeconomicus, 7. 4-5.) believes that a bride should have seen as little and heard as little as possible before she proceeds to her husband’s house, so this girl, inexperienced and uninformed about practically everything, a pure, virgin soul, becomes the associate of the god. Now we cherish the belief that the god, in giving indications to us, makes use of the calls of herons, wrens, and ravens; but we do not insist that these, inasmuch as they are messengers and heralds of the gods, shall express everything rationally and clearly, and yet we insist that the voice and language of the prophetic priestess, like a choral song in the theatre, shall be presented, not without sweetness and embellishment, but also in verse of a grandiloquent and formal style with verbal metaphors and with a flute to accompany its delivery I

What statement, then, shall we make about the priestesses of former days? Not one statement, but more than one, I think. For in the first place, as has already been said,[*](403 e and 404 a, supra.) they also gave almost all their responses in prose. In the second place, that era produced personal temperaments and natures which had an easy fluency and a bent towards composing poetry, and to them were given also zest and eagerness and readiness of mind abundantly, thus creating an alertness which needed but a slight initial stimulus from without and a prompting of the

imagination, with the result that not only were astronomers and philosophers, as Philinus says, attracted at once to their special subjects, but when men carne under the influence of abundant wine or emotion, as some note of sadness crept in or some joy befell, a poet would slip into tuneful utterance[*](Cf.Moralia, 623 a.); their convivial gatherings were filled with amatory verses and their books with such writings. When Euripides said

1. Love doth the poet teach,
2. Even though he know naught of the Muse before,[*](The quotation, from the Stheneboea of Euripides, Plutarch repeats in more complete form in Moralia, 622 c and 762 b. Cf. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 569, Euripides, no. 663.)

his thought was that Love does not implant in one the poetical or musical faculty, but when it is already existent in one, Love stirs it to activity and makes it fervent, while before it was unnoticed and idle. Or shall we say, my friend, that nobody is in love nowadays, but that love has vanished from the earth because nobody in verse or song

1. Launches swiftly the shafts
2. Of sweet-sounding lays
3. Aimed at the youth beloved,

as Pindar[*](Pindar, Isthmian Odes, ii. 3.) has put it? No, that is absurd. The fact is that loves many in number still go to and fro among men, but, being in association with souls that have no natural talent nor ear for music, they forgo the flute and lyre, but they are no less loquacious and ardent than those of olden time. Besides it is not righteous nor honourable to say that the Academy and Socrates and Plato’s congregation were loveless, for we may read their amatory discourses[*](Such, for example, as the Phaedrus of Plato.); but they have left us no poems.[*](A few epigrams (some amatory) attributed to Plato may be found in the Anthology; cf. Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. ii. 295-312; Edmonds, Elegy and Iambic, ii. pp. 2-11 (L.C.L.); and for Socrates’ poems see Suidas s.v.; Plato, Phaedo, 60 c-d; Diogenes Laertius, ii. 42; Athenaeus, 628 e; Bergk, Poet. Lyr. Graec. ii. 287-288.) As compared with him who says that the only poetess of love was Sappho, how much does he fall short who asserts that the only prophetess was the Sibyl and Aristonica and such others as delivered their oracles in verse? As Chaeremon[*](Cf. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 787, no. 16; cf. also 437 d-e, infra.) says,

Wine mixes with the manners of each guest,

and as he drinks, prophetic inspiration, like that of love, makes use of the abilities that it finds ready at hand, and moves each of them that receive it according to the nature of each.

If, however, we take into consideration the workings of the god and of divine providence, we shall see that the change has been for the better. For the use of language is like the currency of coinage in trade: the coinage which is familiar and well known is also acceptable, although it takes on a different value at different times. There was, then, a time when men used as the coinage of speech verses and tunes and songs, and reduced to poetic and musical form all history and philosophy and, in a word, every experience and action that required a more impressive utterance. Not only is it a fact

that nowadays but few people have even a limited understanding of this diction, but in those days the audience comprised all the people, who were delighted with Pindar’s[*](Isthmian Odes, i. 68: repeated more fully in Moralia, 473 a.) song,

Shepherds and ploughmen and fowlers as well.

Indeed, owing to this aptitude for poetic composition, most men through lyre and song admonished, spoke out frankly, or exhorted; they attained their ends by the use of myths and proverbs,[*](Passages from Hesiod, Theognis, and Archilochus might be cited in confirmation of these statements. See also F. B. Stevens, The Topics of Counsel and Deliberation in Prephilosophic Greek Literature in Classical Philology, xxviii. (1933) pp. 104-120.) and besides composed hymns, prayers, and paeans in honour of the gods in verse and music, some through their natural talent, others because it was the prevailing custom. Accordingly, the god did not begrudge to the art of prophecy adornment and pleasing grace, nor did he drive away from here the honoured Muse of the tripod, but introduced her rather by awakening and welcoming poetic natures; and he himself provided visions for them, and helped in prompting impressiveness and eloquence as something fitting and admirable. But, as life took on a change along with the change in men’s fortunes and their natures, when usa ge banished the unusual and did away with the golden topknots[*](Cf. Thucydides, i. 6.) and dressing in soft robes, and, on occasion, cut off the stately long hair and caused the buskin to be no longer worn, men accustomed themselves (nor was it a bad thing) to oppose expensive outlay by adorning themselves with economy, and to rate as decorative the plain and simple rather than the ornate and elaborate. So, as language also underwent a change and put off its finery, history descended from its vehicle of versification, and went on foot in prose, whereby the truth was mostly sifted from the fabulous. Philosophy welcomed clearness and teachability in preference to creating amazement, and pursued its investigations through the medium of everyday language. The god put an end to having his prophetic priestess call her own citizens fire-blazers, the Spartans snake-devourers, men mountain-roamers, and rivers mountain-engorgers. When he had taken away from the oracles epic versification, strange words, circumlocutions, and vagueness, he had thus made them ready to talk to his consultants as the laws talk to States, or as kings meet with common people, or as pupils listen to teachers, since he adapted the language to what was intelligible and convincing.

Men ought to understand thoroughly, as Sophocles[*](Cf. Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag. p. 298, Sophocles, no. 704 (no. 771 Pearson).) says, that the god is

1. For wise men author of dark edicts aye,
2. For dull men a poor teacher, if concise.

The introduction of clearness was attended also by a revolution in belief, which underwent a change along with everything else. And this was the result: in days of old what was not familiar or common, but was expressed altogether indirectly and through circumlocution, the mass of people imputed to an assumed manifestation of divine power, and held it in awe and reverence; but in later times, being well satisfied to apprehend all these various things clearly and easily without the attendant grandiloquence and artificiality, they blamed the poetic language with which the oracles were clothed, not only for obstructing the understanding of these in their true meaning and for combining vagueness and obscurity with the communication, but already they were coming to look with suspicion upon metaphors, riddles, and ambiguous statements, feeling that these were secluded nooks of refuge devised for furtive withdrawal and retreat for him that should err in his prophecy. Moreover, there was the oft-repeated tale that certain men with a gift for poetry were wont to sit about close by the shrine waiting to catch the words spoken, and then weaving about them a fabric of extempore hexameters or other verses or rhythms as containers, so to speak, for the oracles. I forbear to mention how much blame men like Onomacritus,[*](Cf. Herodotus, vii. 6.) Prodicus, and Cinaethon have brought upon themselves from the oracles by foisting upon them a tragic diction and a grandiloquence of which they had no need, nor have I any kindly feeling toward their changes.

However, the thing that most filled the poetic art with disrepute was the tribe of wandering soothsayers and rogues that practised their charlatanry about the shrines of the Great Mother and of Serapis, making up oracles, some using their own ingenuity, others taking by lot from certain treatises oracles for the benefit of servants and womenfolk, who are most enticed by verse and a poetic vocabulary. This, then, is not the least among the reasons why poetry, by apparently lending herself to the service of tricksters, mountebanks,

and false prophets, lost all standing with truth and the tripod.

I should not, therefore, be surprised if there j were times when there was need of double entendre, indirect statement, and vagueness for the people of ancient days. As a matter of fact, this or that man assuredly did not go down to consult the oracle about the purchase of a slave or about business. No, powerful States and kings and despots, who cherished no moderate designs, used to appeal to the god regarding their course of action; and it was not to the advantage of those concerned with the oracle to vex and provoke these men by unfriendliness through their hearing many of the things that they did not wish to hear. For the god does not follow Euripides[*](Phoenissae, 958.) when he asserts as if he were laying down a law:

1. None but Phoebus ought
2. For men to prophesy.

But inasmuch as the god employs mortal men to assist him and declare his will, whom it is his duty to care for and protect, so that they shall not lose their lives at the hands of wicked men while ministering to a god, he is not willing to keep the truth unrevealed, but he caused the manifestation of it to be deflected, like a ray of light, in the medium of poetry, where it submits to many reflections and undergoes subdivisions, and thus he did away with its repellent harshness, There were naturally some things which it was well that despots should fail to understand and enemies should not learn beforehand. About these, therefore, he put a cloak of intimations and ambiguities[*](For example, the famous oracle given to Croesus (Herodotus, i. 53; Aristotle, Rhetoric, iii. 5 (1407 a 39)) that if he crossed the river Halys he should overthrow a great kingdom; but the kingdom was his own.) which concealed the communication so far as others were concerned, but did not escape the persons involved nor mislead those that had need to know and who gave their minds to the matter. Therefore anyone is very foolish who, now that conditions have become different, complains and makes unwarranted indictment if the god feels that he must no longer help us in the same way, but in a different way.