De Pythiae oraculis

The fact is, Boëthus, said Sarapion, that we are ailing both in ears and eyes, accustomed as we are, through luxury and soft living, to believe and to declare that the pleasanter things are fair and lovely. Before long we shall be finding fault with the prophetic priestess because she does not speak in purer tones than Glaucê,[*](Cf. the scholium on Theocritus, iv. 31.) who sings to the lyre, and because she is not perfumed and clad in purple when she goes down into the inner shrine, and does not burn upon the altar cassia or ladanum or frankincense, but only laurel and barley meal. Do you not see, he continued, what grace the songs of Sappho have, charming and bewitching all who listen to them? But the Sibyl with frenzied lips, as Heracleitus[*](Diels, Frag. der Vorsokratiker, i. p. 96, Heracleitus, no. 92.) has it, uttering words mirthless, unembellislied, unperfumed, yet reaches to a thousand years with her voice through the god. And Pindar[*](Pindar, Frag. 32 (ed. Christ).) says that Cadmus heard the god revealing music true, not sweet nor voluptuous nor with suddenly changing melody. For the emotionless and pure does not welcome Pleasure, but she, as well as Mischief,[*](Cf. H. Richards in the Classical Review, xxix. 233.) was thrown down here, and the greater part of the evil in her has, apparently, gathered together to flood the ears of men. [*](Cf.Moralia, 38 a-b.)

When Sarapion had said this, Theon smiled and

In Heaven’s name, said Diogenianus, do not jest, but solve for us this problem, which is of universal interest. For there is not one of us that does not seek

Whereupon Theon, interrupting, said, But just now, my young friend, we seem rather rudely to be taking away from the guides their proper business. Permit, therefore, their services to be rendered first, and after that you shall, at your leisure, raise questions about any matters you wish.

By this time we had proceeded until we were opposite the statue of Hiero the despot. The foreign visitor, by reason of his genial nature, made himself listen to the various tales, although he knew them all perfectly well; but when he was told that a bronze pillar of Hiero’s standing above had fallen of itself during that day on which it happened that Hiero was coming to his end at Syracuse, he expressed his astonishment. Whereupon I proceeded to recall to his mind other events of a like nature, such, for example, as the experience of Hiero[*](Cf. Pausanias, x. 9. 7, with Xenophon, Hellenica, vi. 4. 9. Presumably the same man is referred to in both passages, as he may well have lived till the battle of Leuctra in 371 b.c., and he may be mentioned also in Xenophon, Hellenica, i. 6. 32, but where his name was Hiero or Hermon cannot, apparently, be determined with certainty.) the Spartan, how before his death, which came to him at Leuctra, the eyes fell out of his statue, and the stars disappeared which Lysander had dedicated from the naval battle at Aegospotami; and the stone statue of Lysander[*](Cf.Life of Lysander, chap. xviii. (443 a).) himself put forth a growth of wild shrubs and grass in such abundance as to cover up the face; and at the time of the Athenian misfortunes in Sicily, the golden dates were dropping from the palm-tree and ravens were pecking off the edge of the shield of Pallas Athena[*](Cf. Pausanias, x. 15. 5.); and the crown

Aristotle[*](Rhetoric, iii. 11 (1411 b 31); cf. Frag. 130 (ed. Rose).) used to say that Homer is the only poet who wrote words possessing movement because of their vigour; but I should say that among votive offerings also, those dedicated here have movement and significance in sympathy with the god’s foreknowledge, and no part of them is void or insensible, but all are filled with the divine spirit.

Yes indeed, said Boethus. It is not enough to incarnate the god once every month in a mortal body, but we are bent upon incorporating him into every bit of stone and bronze, as if we did not have in Chance or Accident an agent responsible for such coincidences.

Then, said I, does it seem to you that chance and accident have ordered every single one of such occurrences; and is it credible that the atoms slipped out of place and were separated one from another and inclined towards one side neither before nor afterwards, but at precisely the time when each of the dedicators was destined to fare either worse or better? And now Epicurus[*](Frag. 383.) comes to your aid, apparently, with what he said or wrote three hundred years ago; but it does not seem to you that the god, unless he should transport himself and incorporate