Alexander

I may say too that he often gave oracles to barbarians, when anyone put a question in his native language, in Syrian or in Celtic; since he readily found strangers in the city who belonged to the same nation as his questioners. That is why the time between the presentation of the scrolls and the delivery of the oracle was long, so that in the interval the questions might be unsealed at leisure without risk and men might be found who would be able to translate them fully. Of this sort was the response given to the Scythian:

Morphen eubargoulis eis skian chnechikrage leipsei phaos.[*](The oracle seems to contain some Greek, in the two phrases eis skian (into the darkness) and leipsei phaos (thou shalt leave the light of day); it is uncertain, however, whether these phrases belong to the original text, or to someone’s interpretation, which has become confused with the text, or are mere corruptions due to a scribe’s effort to convert “Scythian” into Greek. The “Scythian” part itself is a complete mystery. )