a place or country remote from Judea, to which the ships of
Solomon traded. There has been much discussion respecting the situation
of this place; some supposing it to have been the island of Socotora,
without the straits of Babelmandel; others, that anciently called
Tabrobana, which is supposed by some to have been Ceylon, and by others
Sumatra; while others fix its situation on the continent of India. M.
Huet and, after him, Bruce, place Ophir at Sofala, in South Africa,
where mines of gold and silver have been found, which show marks of
having been very anciently and extensively worked. The latter says,
also, that the situation of this place explains the period of three
years which the Ophir ships were absent, from the different courses of
the monsoons and trade winds, which they would have to encounter going
and returning. Ruins of ancient buildings have also been found in the
neighbourhood of these mines. In confirmation of this opinion, Bruce
says there was a place called Tarshish near Melinda.
In the same direction with Ophir lay Tarshish; the voyage to both places
being accomplished under one, and always, as it would seem, in the same
space of time, three years; by which it may be inferred that,
notwithstanding the imperfect navigation of the times, they must be at a
considerable distance from the ports of Judea. But the true situation of
these places must ever remain matter of conjecture; and all that can be
considered as certain respecting them is, that from the articles
imported from them, namely, gold, silver, ivory, apes, peacocks, and
precious stones, they must have been situated in the tropical parts of
either Africa or Asia.
ORACLE denotes something delivered by supernatural wisdom; and the term
is also used in the Old Testament to signify the most holy place from
whence the Lord revealed his will to ancient Israel, 1 Kings vi, 5,
19–21, 23. But when the word occurs in the plural number, as it mostly
does, it denotes the revelations contained in the sacred writings of
which the nation of Israel were the depositaries. So Moses is said by
Stephen to have received the lively oracles” to give unto the
Israelites. These oracles contained the law, both moral and ceremonial,
with all the types and promises relating to the Messiah which are to be
found in the writings of Moses. They also contained all the intimations
of the divine mind which he was pleased to communicate by means of the
succeeding prophets who prophesied beforehand of the coming and of the
sufferings of the Messiah with the glory that should follow. The Jews
were a highly privileged people in many and various respects, Rom. ix,
4, 5; but the Apostle Paul mentions it as their chief advantage that
unto them were committed the oracles of God,” Romans iii, 2. What
nation,” says Moses, is there that hath statutes and judgments so
righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?” Deut. iv, 8.
The psalmist David enumerates their excellent properties under various
epithets; such as the law of the Lord, his testimony, his statutes, his
commandments, his judgments, &c. Their properties are extolled as
perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous altogether; more
to be desired than much fine gold; sweeter than honey and the honey
comb. Their salutary effects are all mentioned; such as their converting
the soul, making wise the simple, rejoicing the heart, enlightening the
eyes; and the keeping of them is connected with a great reward, Psalm
xix. The hundred and nineteenth Psalm abounds with praises of the lively
oracles, the word of the living God; it abounds with the warmest
expressions of love to it, of delight in it, and the most fervent
petitions for divine illumination in the knowledge of it. Such was the
esteem and veneration which the faithful entertained for the lively
oracles under the former dispensation, when they had only Moses and the
prophets; how, then, ought they to be prized by Christians, who have
also Christ and his Apostles!
Among the Heathen the term _oracle_ is usually taken to signify an
answer, generally couched in very dark and ambiguous terms, supposed to
be given by demons of old, either by the mouths of their idols, or by
those of their priests, to the people, who consulted them on things to
come. _Oracle_ is also used for the demon who gave the answer, and the
place where it was given. Seneca defines oracles to be enunciations by
the mouths of men of the will of the gods; and Cicero simply calls them,
_deorum oratio_, the language of the gods. Among the Pagans they were
held in high estimation; and they were consulted on a variety of
occasions pertaining to national enterprises and private life. When they
made peace or war, enacted laws, reformed states, or changed the
constitution, they had in all these cases recourse to the oracle by
public authority. Also, in private life, if a man wished to marry, if he
proposed to take a journey, or to engage in any business of importance,
he repaired to the oracle for counsel. Mankind have had always a
propensity to explore futurity; and conceiving that future events were
known to their gods, who possessed the gift of prophecy, they sought
information and advice from the oracles, which, in their opinion, were
supernatural and divine communications. The institution of oracles
seemed to gratify the prevalent curiosity of mankind, and proved a
source of immense wealth, as well as authority and influence, to those
who had the command of them. Accordingly, every nation, in which
idolatry has subsisted, had its oracles, by means of which imposture
practised on superstition and credulity. The principal oracles of
antiquity are, that of Abæ, mentioned by Herodotus; that of Amphiaraus,
at Oropus in Macedonia; that of the Branchidæ at Didymeum; that of the
camps at Lacedæmon; that of Dodona; that of Jupiter Ammon; that of
Nabarca in the country of the Anariaci, near the Caspian Sea; that of
Trophonius, mentioned by Herodotus; that of Chrysopolis; that of Claros,
in Ionia; that of Amphilochus at Mallos; that of Petarea; that of Pella
in Macedonia; that of Phaselides in Cilicia; that of Sinope in
Paphlagonia; that of Orpheus’s head at Lesbos, mentioned by
Philostratus. But of all oracles, the oracle of Apollo Pythius at Delphi
was the most celebrated; this was consulted in the dernier resort by
most of the princes of those ages.
Most of the Pagan deities had their appropriate oracles. Apollo had the
greatest number: such as those of Claros, of the Branchidæ, of the
suburbs of Daphne at Antioch, of Delos, of Argos, of Troas, Æolis, &c,
of Baiæ in Italy, and others in Cilicia, in Egypt, in the Alps, in
Thrace, at Corinth, in Arcadia, in Laconia, and in many other places
enumerated by Van Dale. Jupiter, beside that of Dodona and some others,
the honour of which he shared with Apollo, had one in Bœotia under
the name of Jupiter the Thunderer, and another in Elis, one at Thebes
and at Meroe, one near Antioch, and several others. Æsculapius was
consulted in Cilicia, at Apollonia, in the isle of Cos, at Epidaurus,
Pergamos, Rome, and elsewhere. Mercury had oracles at Patras, upon
Hæmon, and in other places; Mars, in Thrace, Egypt, and elsewhere;
Hercules, at Cadiz, Athens, in Egypt, at Tivoli, in Mesopotamia, where
he issued his oracles by dreams, whence he was called Somnialis. Isis,
Osiris, and Serapis delivered in like manner their oracles by dreams, as
we learn from Pausanias, Tacitus, Arrian, and other writers; that of
Amphilochus was also delivered by dreams; the ox Apis had also his
oracle in Egypt. The gods, called Cabiri, had their oracle in Bœotia.
Diana, the sister of Apollo, had several oracles in Egypt, Cilicia,
Ephesus, &c. Those of fortune at Præneste, and of the lots at Antium are
well known. The fountains also delivered oracles, for to each of them a
divinity was ascribed: such was the fountain of Castalia at Delphi,
another of the same name in the suburbs of Antioch, and the prophetic
fountain near the temple of Ceres in Achaia. Juno had several oracles:
one near Corinth, one at Nysa, and others at different places. Latona
had one at Butis in Egypt; Leucothea had one in Colchis; Memnon in
Egypt; Machaon at Gerania in Laconia; Minerva had one in Egypt, in
Spain, upon mount Ætna, at Mycenæ and Colchis, and in other places.
Those of Neptune were at Delphos, at Calauria, near Neocesarea, and
elsewhere. The nymphs had theirs in the cave of Corycia. Pan had
several, the most famous of which was that in Arcadia. That of the
Palici was in Sicily. Pluto had one at Nysa. Saturn had oracles in
several places, but the most famous were those of Cumæ in Italy, and of
Alexandria in Egypt. Those of Venus were dispersed in several places, at
Gaza, upon Mount Libanus, at Paphos, in Cyprus, &c. Serapis had one at
Alexandria, consulted by Vespasian. Venus Aphacite had one at Aphaca
between Heliopolis and Byblus. Geryon, the three-headed monster slain by
Hercules, had an oracle in Italy near Padua, consulted by Tiberius; that
of Hercules was at Tivoli, and was given by lots, like those of Præneste
and Antium. The demi-gods and heroes had likewise their oracles, such
were those of Castor and Pollux at Lacedæmon, of Amphiaraus, of Mopsus
in Cilicia, of Ulysses, Amphilochus, Sarpedon in Troas, Hermione in
Macedonia, Pasiphäe in Laconia, Chalcas in Italy, Aristæus in Bœotia,
Autolycus at Sinope, Phryxus among the Colchi, Zamolxis among the Getæ,
Hephæstion the minion of Alexander, and Antinous, &c.
The responses of oracles were delivered in a variety of ways: at Delphi,
they interpreted and put into verse what the priestess pronounced in the
time of her furor. Mr. Bayle observes that at first this oracle gave its
answers in verse; and that it fell at length to prose, upon the people’s
beginning to laugh at the poorness of its versification. The Epicureans
made this the subject of their jests, and said, in raillery, it was
surprising enough, that Apollo, the god of poetry, should be a much
worse poet than Homer, whom he himself had inspired. By the railleries
of these philosophers, and particularly by those of the Cynics and
Peripatetics, the priests were at length obliged to desist from the
practice of versifying the responses of the Pythia, which, according to
Plutarch, was one of the principal causes of the declension of the
oracle of Delphos. At the oracle of Ammon, the priests pronounced the
response of their god; at Dodona, the response was issued from the
hollow of an oak; at the cave of Trophonius, the oracle was inferred
from what the suppliant said before he recovered his senses; at Memphis,
they drew a good or bad omen, according as the ox Apis received or
rejected what was presented to him, which was also the case with the
fishes of the fountain of Limyra. The suppliants, who consulted the
oracles, were not allowed to enter the sanctuaries where they were
given; and, accordingly, care was taken that neither the Epicureans nor
Christians should come near them. In several places, the oracles were
given by letters sealed up, as in that of Mopsus, and at Mallus in
Cilicia. Oracles were frequently given by lot, the mode of doing which
was as follows: the lots were a kind of dice, on which were engraven
certain characters or words, whose explanations they were to seek on
tables made for the purpose. The way of using these dice for knowing
futurity, was different, according to the places where they were used.
In some temples, the person threw them himself; in others, they were
dropped from a box; whence came the proverbial expression, The lot is
fallen.” This playing with dice was always preceded by sacrifices and
other customary ceremonies. The ambiguity of the oracles in their
responses, and their double meaning, contributed to their support.
Ablancourt observes, that the study or research of the meaning of
oracles was but a fruitless thing; and that they were never understood
till after their accomplishment. Historians relate, that Crœsus was
tricked by the ambiguity and equivocation of the oracle:
Κροισος Ἁλυν διαβας μεγαλην αρχην καταλυσει.
Thus rendered in Latin:
_Crœsus Halym superans magnam pervertet opum vim._”
[If Crœsus cross the Halys he will overthrow a great empire.]
Thus, if the Lydian monarch had conquered Cyrus, he overthrew the
Assyrian empire; if he himself was routed, he overturned his own. That
delivered to Pyrrhus, which is comprised in this Latin verse,
_Credo equidem Æacidas Romanos vincere posse_,”
[I believe indeed that the sons of Æacus the Romans will conquer,]
had the same advantage; for, according to the rules of syntax, either of
the two accusatives may be governed by the verb, and the verse be
explained, either by saying the Romans shall conquer the Æacidæ, of whom
Pyrrhus was descended, or those shall conquer the Romans. When Alexander
fell sick at Babylon, some of his courtiers who happened to be in Egypt,
or who went thither on purpose, passed the night in the temple of
Serapis, to inquire if it would not be proper to bring Alexander to be
cured by him. The god answered, it was better that Alexander should
remain where he was. This in all events was a very prudent and safe
answer. If the king recovered his health, what glory must Serapis have
gained by saving him the fatigue of the journey! If he died, it was but
saying he died in a favourable juncture after so many conquests; which,
had he lived, he could neither have enlarged nor preserved. This is
actually the construction they put upon the response; whereas had
Alexander undertaken the journey, and died in the temple, or by the way,
nothing could have been said in favour of Serapis. When Trajan had
formed the design of his expedition against the Parthians, he was
advised to consult the oracle of Heliopolis, to which he had no more to
do but send a note under a seal. That prince, who had no great faith in
oracles, sent thither a blank note; and they returned him another of the
same kind. By this Trajan was convinced of the divinity of the oracle.
He sent back a second note to the god, in which he inquired whether he
should return to Rome after finishing the war he had in view. The god,
as Macrobius tells the story, ordered a vine, which was among the
offerings of his temple, to be divided into pieces, and brought to
Trajan. The event justified the oracle; for the emperor dying in that
war, his bones were carried to Rome, which had been represented by that
broken vine. As the priests of that oracle knew Trajan’s design, which
was no secret, they happily devised that response, which, in all events,
was capable of a favourable interpretation, whether he routed and cut
the Parthians in pieces, or if his army met with the same fate.
Sometimes the responses of the oracles were mere banter, as in the case
of the man who wished to know by what means he might become rich, and
who received for answer from the god, that he had only to make himself
master of all that lay between Sicyon and Corinth. Another, wanting a
cure for the gout, was answered by the oracle, that he was to drink
nothing but cold water.
There are two points in dispute on the subject of oracles; namely,
whether they were human, or diabolical machines; and whether or not they
ceased upon the publication or preaching of the Gospel. Most of the
fathers of the church supposed that the devil issued oracles; and looked
on it as a pleasure he took to give dubious and equivocal answers, in
order to have a handle to laugh at them. Vossius allows that it was the
devil who spoke in oracles; but thinks that the obscurity of his answers
was owing to his ignorance as to the precise circumstances of events.
That artful and studied obscurity in which the answers were couched,
says he, showed the embarrassment the devil was under; as those double
meanings they usually bore provided for their accomplishment. Where the
thing foretold did not happen accordingly, the oracle, forsooth, was
misunderstood. Eusebius has preserved some fragments of a philosopher,
called Œnomaus; who, out of resentment for his having been so often
fooled by the oracles, wrote an ample confutation of all their
impertinencies: When we come to consult thee,” says he to Apollo, “if
thou seest what is in futurity, why dost thou use expressions that will
not be understood? Dost thou not know, that they will not be understood?
If thou dost, thou takest pleasure in abusing us; if thou dost not, be
informed of us, and learn to speak more clearly. I tell thee, that if
thou intendest an equivoque, the Greek word whereby thou affirmedst that
Crœsus should overthrow a great empire was ill chosen; and that it
could signify nothing but Crœsus’s conquering Cyrus. If things must
necessarily come to pass, why dost thou amuse us with thy ambiguities?
What doest thou, wretch as thou art, at Delphi? employed in muttering
idle prophecies!” But Œnomaus is still more out of humour with the
oracle, for the answer which Apollo gave the Athenians, when Xerxes was
about to attack Greece with all the strength of Asia. The Pythian
declared, that Minerva, the protectress of Athens, had endeavoured in
vain to appease the wrath of Jupiter; yet that Jupiter, in complaisance
to his daughter, was willing the Athenians should save themselves within
wooden walls; and that Salamis should behold the loss of a great many
children, dear to their mothers, either when Ceres was spread abroad, or
gathered together. Here Œnomaus loses all patience with the god of
Delphi. This contest,” says he, “between father and daughter is very
becoming the deities! It is excellent, that there should be contrary
inclinations and interests in heaven. Poor wizard, thou art ignorant
whose the children are that Salamis shall see perish; whether Greeks or
Persians. It is certain they must be either one or the other; but thou
needest not to have told so openly, that thou knewest not which. Thou
concealest the time of the battle under those fine poetical expressions,
‘either when Ceres is spread abroad, or gathered together;’ and wouldest
thou cajole us with such pompous language? Who knows not, that if there
be a sea fight, it must either be in seed time or harvest? It is certain
it cannot be in winter. Let things go how they will, thou wilt secure
thyself by this Jupiter, whom Minerva is endeavouring to appease. If the
Greeks lose the battle, Jupiter proved inexorable to the last; if they
gain it, why then Minerva at length prevailed.”
It is a very general opinion among the more learned, that oracles were
all mere cheats and impostures; either calculated to serve the
avaricious ends of the Heathen priests, or the political views of the
princes. Bayle says positively, they were mere human artificers, in
which the devil had no hand. He was strongly supported by Van Dale and
Fontenelle, who have written expressly on the subject. Father Balthus, a
Jesuit, wrote a treatise in defence of the fathers with regard to the
origin of oracles; but without denying the imposture of the priests,
often blended with the oracles. He maintains the intervention of the
devil in some predictions, which could not be ascribed to the cheats of
the priests alone. The Abbé Banier espouses the same side of the
question, and objects that oracles would not have lasted so long, and
supported themselves with so much splendour and reputation, if they had
been merely owing to the forgeries of the priests. Bishop Sherlock, in
his Discourses concerning the Use and Intent of Prophecy,” expresses his
opinion, that it is impious to disbelieve the Heathen oracles, and to
deny them to have been given out by the devil; to which assertion, Dr.
Middleton, in his Examination,” &c, replies, that he is guilty of this
impiety, and that he thinks himself warranted to pronounce from the
authority of the best and wisest of the Heathens themselves, and the
evidence of plain facts, which are recorded of those oracles, as well as
from the nature of the thing itself, that they were all mere imposture,
wholly invented and supported by human craft, without any supernatural
aid or interposition whatsoever. He alleges, that Cicero, speaking of
the Delphic oracle, the most revered of any in the Heathen world,
declares, that nothing was become more contemptible, not only in his
days, but long before him; that Demosthenes, who lived about three
hundred years earlier, affirmed of the same oracle, in a public speech
to the people of Athens, that it was gained to the interests of King
Philip, an enemy to that city; that the Greek historians tell us, how,
on several other occasions, it had been corrupted by money, to serve the
views of particular persons and parties, and the prophetess sometimes
had been deposed for bribery and lewdness; that there were some great
sects of philosophers, who, on principle, disavowed the authority of all
oracles; agreeably to all which Strabo tells us, that divination in
general and oracles had been in high credit among the ancients, but in
his days were treated with much contempt; lastly, that Eusebius also,
the great historian of the primitive church, declares, that there were
six hundred writers among the Heathens themselves who had publicly
written against the reality of them. Plutarch has a treatise on the
ceasing of some oracles; and Van Dale, a Dutch physician, has a volume
to prove they did not cease at the coming of Christ; but that many of
them ceased long before, and that others held till the fall of Paganism,
under the empire of Theodosius the Great, when Paganism being
dissipated, these institutions could no longer subsist. Van Dale was
answered by a German, one Mœbius, professor of theology at Leipsic,
in 1685. Fontenelle espoused Van Dale’s system, and improved upon it in
his History of Oracles;” and showed the weakness of the argument used by
many writers in behalf of Christianity, drawn from the ceasing of
oracles. Cicero says, the oracles became dumb in proportion as people,
growing less credulous, began to suspect them for cheats. Plutarch
alleges two reasons for the ceasing of oracles: the one was Apollo’s
chagrin; who, it seems, took it in dudgeon to be interrogated about so
many trifles. The other was, that in proportion as the genii, or demons,
who had the management of the oracles, died, and became extinct, the
oracles must necessarily cease. He adds a third and more natural cause
for the ceasing of oracles; namely, the forlorn state of Greece, ruined
and desolated by wars; for, hence, the smallness of the gains let the
priests sink into a poverty and contempt too bare to cover the fraud.
That the oracles were silenced about or soon after the time of our
Saviour’s advent, may be proved, says Dr. Leland, in the first volume of
his learned work on The Necessity and Advantage of Revelation,” &c, from
express testimonies, not only of Christian but of Heathen authors.
Lucan, who wrote his Pharsalia” in the reign of Nero, scarcely thirty
years after our Lord’s crucifixion, laments it as one of the greatest
misfortunes of that age, that the Delphian oracle, which he represents
as one of the choicest gifts of the gods, was become silent.
_Non ullo sæcula dono
Nostra carent majore Deum, quam Delphica sedes
Quod sileat._
_Pharsal._ lib. v, 111.
Of all the wants with which the age is curst,
The Delphic silence surely is the worst.”
ROWE.
In like manner, Juvenal says,
_Delphis oracula cessant,
Et genus humanum damnat caligo futuri._
_Sat._ vi, 554.
Since Delphi now, if we may credit fame,
Gives no responses, and a long dark night
Conceals the future hour from mortal sight.”
GIFFORD.
Lucian says, that when he was at Delphi, the oracle gave no answer, nor
was the priestess inspired. This likewise appears from Plutarch’s
treatise, why the oracles cease to give answers, already cited; whence
it is also manifest, that the most learned Heathens were very much at a
loss how to give a tolerable account of it. Porphyry, in a passage cited
from him by Eusebius, says, The city of Rome was overrun with sickness,
Æsculapius and the rest of the gods having withdrawn their converse with
men; because since Jesus began to be worshipped, no man had received any
public help or benefit from the gods.” With respect to the origin of
oracles, they were probably imitations, first, of the answers given to
the holy patriarchs from the divine presence or Shechinah, and secondly,
of the responses to the Jewish high priest from the mercy seat: for all
Paganism is a parody of the true religion.
Solomon traded. There has been much discussion respecting the situation
of this place; some supposing it to have been the island of Socotora,
without the straits of Babelmandel; others, that anciently called
Tabrobana, which is supposed by some to have been Ceylon, and by others
Sumatra; while others fix its situation on the continent of India. M.
Huet and, after him, Bruce, place Ophir at Sofala, in South Africa,
where mines of gold and silver have been found, which show marks of
having been very anciently and extensively worked. The latter says,
also, that the situation of this place explains the period of three
years which the Ophir ships were absent, from the different courses of
the monsoons and trade winds, which they would have to encounter going
and returning. Ruins of ancient buildings have also been found in the
neighbourhood of these mines. In confirmation of this opinion, Bruce
says there was a place called Tarshish near Melinda.
In the same direction with Ophir lay Tarshish; the voyage to both places
being accomplished under one, and always, as it would seem, in the same
space of time, three years; by which it may be inferred that,
notwithstanding the imperfect navigation of the times, they must be at a
considerable distance from the ports of Judea. But the true situation of
these places must ever remain matter of conjecture; and all that can be
considered as certain respecting them is, that from the articles
imported from them, namely, gold, silver, ivory, apes, peacocks, and
precious stones, they must have been situated in the tropical parts of
either Africa or Asia.
ORACLE denotes something delivered by supernatural wisdom; and the term
is also used in the Old Testament to signify the most holy place from
whence the Lord revealed his will to ancient Israel, 1 Kings vi, 5,
19–21, 23. But when the word occurs in the plural number, as it mostly
does, it denotes the revelations contained in the sacred writings of
which the nation of Israel were the depositaries. So Moses is said by
Stephen to have received the lively oracles” to give unto the
Israelites. These oracles contained the law, both moral and ceremonial,
with all the types and promises relating to the Messiah which are to be
found in the writings of Moses. They also contained all the intimations
of the divine mind which he was pleased to communicate by means of the
succeeding prophets who prophesied beforehand of the coming and of the
sufferings of the Messiah with the glory that should follow. The Jews
were a highly privileged people in many and various respects, Rom. ix,
4, 5; but the Apostle Paul mentions it as their chief advantage that
unto them were committed the oracles of God,” Romans iii, 2. What
nation,” says Moses, is there that hath statutes and judgments so
righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?” Deut. iv, 8.
The psalmist David enumerates their excellent properties under various
epithets; such as the law of the Lord, his testimony, his statutes, his
commandments, his judgments, &c. Their properties are extolled as
perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, and righteous altogether; more
to be desired than much fine gold; sweeter than honey and the honey
comb. Their salutary effects are all mentioned; such as their converting
the soul, making wise the simple, rejoicing the heart, enlightening the
eyes; and the keeping of them is connected with a great reward, Psalm
xix. The hundred and nineteenth Psalm abounds with praises of the lively
oracles, the word of the living God; it abounds with the warmest
expressions of love to it, of delight in it, and the most fervent
petitions for divine illumination in the knowledge of it. Such was the
esteem and veneration which the faithful entertained for the lively
oracles under the former dispensation, when they had only Moses and the
prophets; how, then, ought they to be prized by Christians, who have
also Christ and his Apostles!
Among the Heathen the term _oracle_ is usually taken to signify an
answer, generally couched in very dark and ambiguous terms, supposed to
be given by demons of old, either by the mouths of their idols, or by
those of their priests, to the people, who consulted them on things to
come. _Oracle_ is also used for the demon who gave the answer, and the
place where it was given. Seneca defines oracles to be enunciations by
the mouths of men of the will of the gods; and Cicero simply calls them,
_deorum oratio_, the language of the gods. Among the Pagans they were
held in high estimation; and they were consulted on a variety of
occasions pertaining to national enterprises and private life. When they
made peace or war, enacted laws, reformed states, or changed the
constitution, they had in all these cases recourse to the oracle by
public authority. Also, in private life, if a man wished to marry, if he
proposed to take a journey, or to engage in any business of importance,
he repaired to the oracle for counsel. Mankind have had always a
propensity to explore futurity; and conceiving that future events were
known to their gods, who possessed the gift of prophecy, they sought
information and advice from the oracles, which, in their opinion, were
supernatural and divine communications. The institution of oracles
seemed to gratify the prevalent curiosity of mankind, and proved a
source of immense wealth, as well as authority and influence, to those
who had the command of them. Accordingly, every nation, in which
idolatry has subsisted, had its oracles, by means of which imposture
practised on superstition and credulity. The principal oracles of
antiquity are, that of Abæ, mentioned by Herodotus; that of Amphiaraus,
at Oropus in Macedonia; that of the Branchidæ at Didymeum; that of the
camps at Lacedæmon; that of Dodona; that of Jupiter Ammon; that of
Nabarca in the country of the Anariaci, near the Caspian Sea; that of
Trophonius, mentioned by Herodotus; that of Chrysopolis; that of Claros,
in Ionia; that of Amphilochus at Mallos; that of Petarea; that of Pella
in Macedonia; that of Phaselides in Cilicia; that of Sinope in
Paphlagonia; that of Orpheus’s head at Lesbos, mentioned by
Philostratus. But of all oracles, the oracle of Apollo Pythius at Delphi
was the most celebrated; this was consulted in the dernier resort by
most of the princes of those ages.
Most of the Pagan deities had their appropriate oracles. Apollo had the
greatest number: such as those of Claros, of the Branchidæ, of the
suburbs of Daphne at Antioch, of Delos, of Argos, of Troas, Æolis, &c,
of Baiæ in Italy, and others in Cilicia, in Egypt, in the Alps, in
Thrace, at Corinth, in Arcadia, in Laconia, and in many other places
enumerated by Van Dale. Jupiter, beside that of Dodona and some others,
the honour of which he shared with Apollo, had one in Bœotia under
the name of Jupiter the Thunderer, and another in Elis, one at Thebes
and at Meroe, one near Antioch, and several others. Æsculapius was
consulted in Cilicia, at Apollonia, in the isle of Cos, at Epidaurus,
Pergamos, Rome, and elsewhere. Mercury had oracles at Patras, upon
Hæmon, and in other places; Mars, in Thrace, Egypt, and elsewhere;
Hercules, at Cadiz, Athens, in Egypt, at Tivoli, in Mesopotamia, where
he issued his oracles by dreams, whence he was called Somnialis. Isis,
Osiris, and Serapis delivered in like manner their oracles by dreams, as
we learn from Pausanias, Tacitus, Arrian, and other writers; that of
Amphilochus was also delivered by dreams; the ox Apis had also his
oracle in Egypt. The gods, called Cabiri, had their oracle in Bœotia.
Diana, the sister of Apollo, had several oracles in Egypt, Cilicia,
Ephesus, &c. Those of fortune at Præneste, and of the lots at Antium are
well known. The fountains also delivered oracles, for to each of them a
divinity was ascribed: such was the fountain of Castalia at Delphi,
another of the same name in the suburbs of Antioch, and the prophetic
fountain near the temple of Ceres in Achaia. Juno had several oracles:
one near Corinth, one at Nysa, and others at different places. Latona
had one at Butis in Egypt; Leucothea had one in Colchis; Memnon in
Egypt; Machaon at Gerania in Laconia; Minerva had one in Egypt, in
Spain, upon mount Ætna, at Mycenæ and Colchis, and in other places.
Those of Neptune were at Delphos, at Calauria, near Neocesarea, and
elsewhere. The nymphs had theirs in the cave of Corycia. Pan had
several, the most famous of which was that in Arcadia. That of the
Palici was in Sicily. Pluto had one at Nysa. Saturn had oracles in
several places, but the most famous were those of Cumæ in Italy, and of
Alexandria in Egypt. Those of Venus were dispersed in several places, at
Gaza, upon Mount Libanus, at Paphos, in Cyprus, &c. Serapis had one at
Alexandria, consulted by Vespasian. Venus Aphacite had one at Aphaca
between Heliopolis and Byblus. Geryon, the three-headed monster slain by
Hercules, had an oracle in Italy near Padua, consulted by Tiberius; that
of Hercules was at Tivoli, and was given by lots, like those of Præneste
and Antium. The demi-gods and heroes had likewise their oracles, such
were those of Castor and Pollux at Lacedæmon, of Amphiaraus, of Mopsus
in Cilicia, of Ulysses, Amphilochus, Sarpedon in Troas, Hermione in
Macedonia, Pasiphäe in Laconia, Chalcas in Italy, Aristæus in Bœotia,
Autolycus at Sinope, Phryxus among the Colchi, Zamolxis among the Getæ,
Hephæstion the minion of Alexander, and Antinous, &c.
The responses of oracles were delivered in a variety of ways: at Delphi,
they interpreted and put into verse what the priestess pronounced in the
time of her furor. Mr. Bayle observes that at first this oracle gave its
answers in verse; and that it fell at length to prose, upon the people’s
beginning to laugh at the poorness of its versification. The Epicureans
made this the subject of their jests, and said, in raillery, it was
surprising enough, that Apollo, the god of poetry, should be a much
worse poet than Homer, whom he himself had inspired. By the railleries
of these philosophers, and particularly by those of the Cynics and
Peripatetics, the priests were at length obliged to desist from the
practice of versifying the responses of the Pythia, which, according to
Plutarch, was one of the principal causes of the declension of the
oracle of Delphos. At the oracle of Ammon, the priests pronounced the
response of their god; at Dodona, the response was issued from the
hollow of an oak; at the cave of Trophonius, the oracle was inferred
from what the suppliant said before he recovered his senses; at Memphis,
they drew a good or bad omen, according as the ox Apis received or
rejected what was presented to him, which was also the case with the
fishes of the fountain of Limyra. The suppliants, who consulted the
oracles, were not allowed to enter the sanctuaries where they were
given; and, accordingly, care was taken that neither the Epicureans nor
Christians should come near them. In several places, the oracles were
given by letters sealed up, as in that of Mopsus, and at Mallus in
Cilicia. Oracles were frequently given by lot, the mode of doing which
was as follows: the lots were a kind of dice, on which were engraven
certain characters or words, whose explanations they were to seek on
tables made for the purpose. The way of using these dice for knowing
futurity, was different, according to the places where they were used.
In some temples, the person threw them himself; in others, they were
dropped from a box; whence came the proverbial expression, The lot is
fallen.” This playing with dice was always preceded by sacrifices and
other customary ceremonies. The ambiguity of the oracles in their
responses, and their double meaning, contributed to their support.
Ablancourt observes, that the study or research of the meaning of
oracles was but a fruitless thing; and that they were never understood
till after their accomplishment. Historians relate, that Crœsus was
tricked by the ambiguity and equivocation of the oracle:
Κροισος Ἁλυν διαβας μεγαλην αρχην καταλυσει.
Thus rendered in Latin:
_Crœsus Halym superans magnam pervertet opum vim._”
[If Crœsus cross the Halys he will overthrow a great empire.]
Thus, if the Lydian monarch had conquered Cyrus, he overthrew the
Assyrian empire; if he himself was routed, he overturned his own. That
delivered to Pyrrhus, which is comprised in this Latin verse,
_Credo equidem Æacidas Romanos vincere posse_,”
[I believe indeed that the sons of Æacus the Romans will conquer,]
had the same advantage; for, according to the rules of syntax, either of
the two accusatives may be governed by the verb, and the verse be
explained, either by saying the Romans shall conquer the Æacidæ, of whom
Pyrrhus was descended, or those shall conquer the Romans. When Alexander
fell sick at Babylon, some of his courtiers who happened to be in Egypt,
or who went thither on purpose, passed the night in the temple of
Serapis, to inquire if it would not be proper to bring Alexander to be
cured by him. The god answered, it was better that Alexander should
remain where he was. This in all events was a very prudent and safe
answer. If the king recovered his health, what glory must Serapis have
gained by saving him the fatigue of the journey! If he died, it was but
saying he died in a favourable juncture after so many conquests; which,
had he lived, he could neither have enlarged nor preserved. This is
actually the construction they put upon the response; whereas had
Alexander undertaken the journey, and died in the temple, or by the way,
nothing could have been said in favour of Serapis. When Trajan had
formed the design of his expedition against the Parthians, he was
advised to consult the oracle of Heliopolis, to which he had no more to
do but send a note under a seal. That prince, who had no great faith in
oracles, sent thither a blank note; and they returned him another of the
same kind. By this Trajan was convinced of the divinity of the oracle.
He sent back a second note to the god, in which he inquired whether he
should return to Rome after finishing the war he had in view. The god,
as Macrobius tells the story, ordered a vine, which was among the
offerings of his temple, to be divided into pieces, and brought to
Trajan. The event justified the oracle; for the emperor dying in that
war, his bones were carried to Rome, which had been represented by that
broken vine. As the priests of that oracle knew Trajan’s design, which
was no secret, they happily devised that response, which, in all events,
was capable of a favourable interpretation, whether he routed and cut
the Parthians in pieces, or if his army met with the same fate.
Sometimes the responses of the oracles were mere banter, as in the case
of the man who wished to know by what means he might become rich, and
who received for answer from the god, that he had only to make himself
master of all that lay between Sicyon and Corinth. Another, wanting a
cure for the gout, was answered by the oracle, that he was to drink
nothing but cold water.
There are two points in dispute on the subject of oracles; namely,
whether they were human, or diabolical machines; and whether or not they
ceased upon the publication or preaching of the Gospel. Most of the
fathers of the church supposed that the devil issued oracles; and looked
on it as a pleasure he took to give dubious and equivocal answers, in
order to have a handle to laugh at them. Vossius allows that it was the
devil who spoke in oracles; but thinks that the obscurity of his answers
was owing to his ignorance as to the precise circumstances of events.
That artful and studied obscurity in which the answers were couched,
says he, showed the embarrassment the devil was under; as those double
meanings they usually bore provided for their accomplishment. Where the
thing foretold did not happen accordingly, the oracle, forsooth, was
misunderstood. Eusebius has preserved some fragments of a philosopher,
called Œnomaus; who, out of resentment for his having been so often
fooled by the oracles, wrote an ample confutation of all their
impertinencies: When we come to consult thee,” says he to Apollo, “if
thou seest what is in futurity, why dost thou use expressions that will
not be understood? Dost thou not know, that they will not be understood?
If thou dost, thou takest pleasure in abusing us; if thou dost not, be
informed of us, and learn to speak more clearly. I tell thee, that if
thou intendest an equivoque, the Greek word whereby thou affirmedst that
Crœsus should overthrow a great empire was ill chosen; and that it
could signify nothing but Crœsus’s conquering Cyrus. If things must
necessarily come to pass, why dost thou amuse us with thy ambiguities?
What doest thou, wretch as thou art, at Delphi? employed in muttering
idle prophecies!” But Œnomaus is still more out of humour with the
oracle, for the answer which Apollo gave the Athenians, when Xerxes was
about to attack Greece with all the strength of Asia. The Pythian
declared, that Minerva, the protectress of Athens, had endeavoured in
vain to appease the wrath of Jupiter; yet that Jupiter, in complaisance
to his daughter, was willing the Athenians should save themselves within
wooden walls; and that Salamis should behold the loss of a great many
children, dear to their mothers, either when Ceres was spread abroad, or
gathered together. Here Œnomaus loses all patience with the god of
Delphi. This contest,” says he, “between father and daughter is very
becoming the deities! It is excellent, that there should be contrary
inclinations and interests in heaven. Poor wizard, thou art ignorant
whose the children are that Salamis shall see perish; whether Greeks or
Persians. It is certain they must be either one or the other; but thou
needest not to have told so openly, that thou knewest not which. Thou
concealest the time of the battle under those fine poetical expressions,
‘either when Ceres is spread abroad, or gathered together;’ and wouldest
thou cajole us with such pompous language? Who knows not, that if there
be a sea fight, it must either be in seed time or harvest? It is certain
it cannot be in winter. Let things go how they will, thou wilt secure
thyself by this Jupiter, whom Minerva is endeavouring to appease. If the
Greeks lose the battle, Jupiter proved inexorable to the last; if they
gain it, why then Minerva at length prevailed.”
It is a very general opinion among the more learned, that oracles were
all mere cheats and impostures; either calculated to serve the
avaricious ends of the Heathen priests, or the political views of the
princes. Bayle says positively, they were mere human artificers, in
which the devil had no hand. He was strongly supported by Van Dale and
Fontenelle, who have written expressly on the subject. Father Balthus, a
Jesuit, wrote a treatise in defence of the fathers with regard to the
origin of oracles; but without denying the imposture of the priests,
often blended with the oracles. He maintains the intervention of the
devil in some predictions, which could not be ascribed to the cheats of
the priests alone. The Abbé Banier espouses the same side of the
question, and objects that oracles would not have lasted so long, and
supported themselves with so much splendour and reputation, if they had
been merely owing to the forgeries of the priests. Bishop Sherlock, in
his Discourses concerning the Use and Intent of Prophecy,” expresses his
opinion, that it is impious to disbelieve the Heathen oracles, and to
deny them to have been given out by the devil; to which assertion, Dr.
Middleton, in his Examination,” &c, replies, that he is guilty of this
impiety, and that he thinks himself warranted to pronounce from the
authority of the best and wisest of the Heathens themselves, and the
evidence of plain facts, which are recorded of those oracles, as well as
from the nature of the thing itself, that they were all mere imposture,
wholly invented and supported by human craft, without any supernatural
aid or interposition whatsoever. He alleges, that Cicero, speaking of
the Delphic oracle, the most revered of any in the Heathen world,
declares, that nothing was become more contemptible, not only in his
days, but long before him; that Demosthenes, who lived about three
hundred years earlier, affirmed of the same oracle, in a public speech
to the people of Athens, that it was gained to the interests of King
Philip, an enemy to that city; that the Greek historians tell us, how,
on several other occasions, it had been corrupted by money, to serve the
views of particular persons and parties, and the prophetess sometimes
had been deposed for bribery and lewdness; that there were some great
sects of philosophers, who, on principle, disavowed the authority of all
oracles; agreeably to all which Strabo tells us, that divination in
general and oracles had been in high credit among the ancients, but in
his days were treated with much contempt; lastly, that Eusebius also,
the great historian of the primitive church, declares, that there were
six hundred writers among the Heathens themselves who had publicly
written against the reality of them. Plutarch has a treatise on the
ceasing of some oracles; and Van Dale, a Dutch physician, has a volume
to prove they did not cease at the coming of Christ; but that many of
them ceased long before, and that others held till the fall of Paganism,
under the empire of Theodosius the Great, when Paganism being
dissipated, these institutions could no longer subsist. Van Dale was
answered by a German, one Mœbius, professor of theology at Leipsic,
in 1685. Fontenelle espoused Van Dale’s system, and improved upon it in
his History of Oracles;” and showed the weakness of the argument used by
many writers in behalf of Christianity, drawn from the ceasing of
oracles. Cicero says, the oracles became dumb in proportion as people,
growing less credulous, began to suspect them for cheats. Plutarch
alleges two reasons for the ceasing of oracles: the one was Apollo’s
chagrin; who, it seems, took it in dudgeon to be interrogated about so
many trifles. The other was, that in proportion as the genii, or demons,
who had the management of the oracles, died, and became extinct, the
oracles must necessarily cease. He adds a third and more natural cause
for the ceasing of oracles; namely, the forlorn state of Greece, ruined
and desolated by wars; for, hence, the smallness of the gains let the
priests sink into a poverty and contempt too bare to cover the fraud.
That the oracles were silenced about or soon after the time of our
Saviour’s advent, may be proved, says Dr. Leland, in the first volume of
his learned work on The Necessity and Advantage of Revelation,” &c, from
express testimonies, not only of Christian but of Heathen authors.
Lucan, who wrote his Pharsalia” in the reign of Nero, scarcely thirty
years after our Lord’s crucifixion, laments it as one of the greatest
misfortunes of that age, that the Delphian oracle, which he represents
as one of the choicest gifts of the gods, was become silent.
_Non ullo sæcula dono
Nostra carent majore Deum, quam Delphica sedes
Quod sileat._
_Pharsal._ lib. v, 111.
Of all the wants with which the age is curst,
The Delphic silence surely is the worst.”
ROWE.
In like manner, Juvenal says,
_Delphis oracula cessant,
Et genus humanum damnat caligo futuri._
_Sat._ vi, 554.
Since Delphi now, if we may credit fame,
Gives no responses, and a long dark night
Conceals the future hour from mortal sight.”
GIFFORD.
Lucian says, that when he was at Delphi, the oracle gave no answer, nor
was the priestess inspired. This likewise appears from Plutarch’s
treatise, why the oracles cease to give answers, already cited; whence
it is also manifest, that the most learned Heathens were very much at a
loss how to give a tolerable account of it. Porphyry, in a passage cited
from him by Eusebius, says, The city of Rome was overrun with sickness,
Æsculapius and the rest of the gods having withdrawn their converse with
men; because since Jesus began to be worshipped, no man had received any
public help or benefit from the gods.” With respect to the origin of
oracles, they were probably imitations, first, of the answers given to
the holy patriarchs from the divine presence or Shechinah, and secondly,
of the responses to the Jewish high priest from the mercy seat: for all
Paganism is a parody of the true religion.