THE ORACLES.
B.C. 547
Plans of Croesus.--The River Halys.--Nature of the oracles.--Situation
of Delphi.--The gaseous vapor.--The priestess.--The sacred tripod.--The
oracle of Dodona.--The two black doves.--The priestesses of
Dodona.--Manner of obtaining responses.--The great brazen caldron.--The
Oasis of Jupiter Ammon.--Discovery of the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon.--Other
oracles.--Mode of consulting the oracle.--Mystic ceremonies.--Croesus
puts the oracle to the test.--Manner of doing it.--Return of the
messengers.--The replies.--Croesus decides in favor of Delphi.--His
costly gifts.--The silver tank.--The golden lion.--The bread-maker.--Her
history.--The oracle questioned.--The response.--Delight of
Croesus.--Supplementary inquiry.--Croesus's feeling of security.--Nature
of the oracles.--Means by which the credit of the oracles was
sustained.--Whether the priests were impostors.--Answers of the
oracles.--Collusion between the priests and those who consulted the
oracle.--Is there any revelation truly divine?
As soon as Cyrus had become established on his throne as King of the
Medes and Persians, his influence and power began to extend westward
toward the confines of the empire of Croesus, king of Lydia.
Croesus was aroused from the dejection and stupor into which the
death of his son had plunged him, as related in a former chapter, by
this threatening danger. He began to consider very earnestly what he
could do to avert it.
The River Halys, a great river of Asia Minor, which flows northward
into the Black Sea, was the eastern boundary of the Lydian empire.
Croesus began to entertain the design of raising an army and
crossing the Halys, to invade the empire of Cyrus, thinking that that
would perhaps be safer policy than to wait for Cyrus to cross the
Halys, and bring the war upon him. Still, the enterprise of invading
Persia was a vast undertaking, and the responsibility great of being
the aggressor in the contest. After carefully considering the subject
in all its aspects, Croesus found himself still perplexed and
undecided.
The Greeks had a method of looking into futurity, and of ascertaining,
as they imagined, by supernatural means, the course of future events,
which was peculiar to that people; at least no other nation seems ever
to have practiced it in the precise form which prevailed among them.
It was by means of the oracles. There were four or five localities in
the Grecian countries which possessed, as the people thought, the
property of inspiring persons who visited them, or of giving to some
natural object certain supernatural powers by which future events
could be foretold. The three most important of these oracles were
situated respectively at Delphi, at Dodona, and at the Oasis of
Jupiter Ammon.
Delphi was a small town built in a sort of valley, shaped like an
amphitheater, on the southern side of Mount Parnassus. Mount Parnassus
is north of the Peloponnesus, not very far from the shores of the Gulf
of Corinth. Delphi was in a picturesque and romantic situation, with
the mountain behind it, and steep, precipitous rocks descending to
the level country before. These precipices answered instead of walls
to defend the temple and the town. In very early times a cavern or
fissure in the rocks was discovered at Delphi, from which there issued
a stream of gaseous vapor, which produced strange effects on those who
inhaled it. It was supposed to inspire them. People resorted to the
place to obtain the benefit of these inspirations, and of the
knowledge which they imagined they could obtain by means of them.
Finally, a temple was built, and a priestess resided constantly in it,
to inhale the vapor and give the responses. When she gave her answers
to those who came to consult the oracle, she sat upon a sort of
three-legged stool, which was called the sacred tripod. These stools
were greatly celebrated as a very important part of the sacred
apparatus of the place. This oracle became at last so renowned, that
the greatest potentates, and even kings, came from great distances to
consult it, and they made very rich and costly presents at the shrine
when they came. These presents, it was supposed, tended to induce the
god who presided over the oracle to give to those who made them
favorable and auspicious replies. The deity that dictated the
predictions of this oracle was Apollo.
There was another circumstance, besides the existence of the cave,
which signalized the locality where this oracle was situated. The
people believed that this spot was the exact center of the earth,
which of course they considered as one vast plain. There was an
ancient story that Jupiter, in order to determine the central point of
creation, liberated two eagles at the same time, in opposite quarters
of the heavens, that they might fly toward one another, and so mark
the middle point by the place of their meeting. They met at Delphi.
Another of the most celebrated oracles was at Dodona. Dodona was
northwest of Delphi, in the Epirus, which was a country in the western
part of what is now Turkey in Europe, and on the shores of the
Adriatic Sea. The origin of the oracle at Dodona was, as the
priestesses there told Herodotus, as follows: In very ancient times,
two black doves were set at liberty in Thebes, which was a very
venerable and sacred city of Egypt. One flew toward the north and the
other toward the west. The former crossed the Mediterranean, and then
continued its flight over the Peloponnesus, and over all the southern
provinces of Greece, until it reached Dodona. There it alighted on a
beech-tree, and said, in a human voice, that that spot was divinely
appointed for the seat of a sacred oracle. The other dove flew to the
Oasis of Jupiter Ammon.
There were three priestesses at Dodona in the days of Herodotus. Their
names were Promenea, Timarete, and Nicandre. The answers of the oracle
were, for a time, obtained by the priestesses from some appearances
which they observed in the sacred beech on which the dove alighted,
when the tree was agitated by the wind. In later times, however, the
responses were obtained in a still more singular manner. Then was a
brazen statue of a man, holding a whip in his hand. The whip had three
lashes, which were formed of brazen chains. At the end of each chain
was an _astragalus_, as it was called, which was a row of little knots
or knobs, such as were commonly appended to the lashes of whips used
in those days for scourging criminals.
These heavy lashes hung suspended in the hand of the statue over a
great brazen caldron, in such a manner that the wind would impel them,
from time to time, against its sides, causing the caldron to ring and
resound like a gong. There was, however, something in this resonance
supernatural and divine; for, though it was not loud, it was very
long continued, when once the margin of the caldron was touched,
however gently, by the lashes. In fact, it was commonly said that if
touched in the morning, it would be night before the reverberations
would have died entirely away. Such a belief could be very easily
sustained among the common people; for a large, open-mouthed vessel
like the Dodona caldron, with thin sides formed of sonorous metal,
might be kept in a state of continual vibration by the wind alone.
They who wished to consult this oracle came with rich presents both
for the priestesses and for the shrine, and when they had made the
offerings, and performed the preliminary ceremonies required, they
propounded their questions to the priestesses, who obtained the
replies by interpreting, according to certain rules which they had
formed, the sounds emitted by the mysterious gong.
The second black dove which took its flight from Thebes alighted, as
we have already said, in the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon. This oasis was
a small fertile spot in the midst of the deserts of Africa, west of
Egypt, about a hundred miles from the Nile, and somewhat nearer
than that to the Mediterranean Sea. It was first discovered in the
following manner: A certain king was marching across the deserts, and
his army, having exhausted their supplies of water, were on the point
of perishing with thirst, when a ram mysteriously appeared, and took a
position before them as their guide. They followed him, and at length
came suddenly upon a green and fertile valley, many miles in length.
The ram conducted them into this valley, and then suddenly vanished,
and a copious fountain of water sprung up in the place where he
had stood. The king, in gratitude for this divine interposition,
consecrated the spot and built a temple upon it, which was called the
temple of Jupiter Ammon. The dove alighted here, and ever afterward
the oracles delivered by the priests of this temple were considered as
divinely inspired.
These three were the most important oracles. There were, however, many
others of subordinate consequence, each of which had its own peculiar
ceremonies, all senseless and absurd. At one there was a sort of
oven-shaped cave in the rocks, the spot being inclosed by an
artificial wall. The cave was about six feet wide and eight feet deep.
The descent into it was by a ladder. Previously to consulting this
oracle certain ceremonies were necessary, which it required several
days to perform. The applicant was to offer sacrifices to many
different deities, and to purify himself in various ways. He was then
conducted to a stream in the neighborhood of the oracle, where he
was to be anointed and washed. Then he drank a certain magical water,
called the water of forgetfulness, which made him forget all previous
sorrows and cares. Afterward he drank of another enchanted cup, which
contained the water of remembrance; this was to make him remember all
that should be communicated to him in the cave. He then descended the
ladder, and received within the cave the responses of the oracle.
At another of these oracles, which was situated in Attica, the magic
virtue was supposed to reside in a certain marble statue, carved in
honor of an ancient and celebrated prophet, and placed in a temple.
Whoever wished to consult this oracle must abstain from wine for three
days, and from food of every kind for twenty-four hours preceding the
application. He was then to offer a ram as a sacrifice; and afterward,
taking the skin of the ram from the carcass, he was to spread it out
before the statue and lie down upon it to sleep. The answers of the
oracle came to him in his dreams.
But to return to Croesus. He wished to ascertain, by consulting some
of these oracles, what the result of his proposed invasion of the
dominions of Cyrus would be, in case he should undertake it; and in
order to determine which of the various oracles were most worthy of
reliance, he conceived the plan of putting them all to a preliminary
test. He effected this object in the following manner:
He dispatched a number of messengers from Sardis, his capital, sending
one to each of the various oracles. He directed these messengers to
make their several journeys with all convenient dispatch; but, in
order to provide for any cases of accidental detention or delay, he
allowed them all one hundred days to reach their several places of
destination. On the hundredth day from the time of their leaving
Sardis, they were all to make applications to the oracles, and inquire
what Croesus, king of Lydia, was doing at that time. Of course he
did not tell them what he should be doing; and as the oracles
themselves could not possibly know how he was employed by any human
powers, their answers would seem to test the validity of their claims
to powers divine.
Croesus kept the reckoning of the days himself with great care, and
at the hour appointed on the hundredth day, he employed himself in
boiling the flesh of a turtle and of a lamb together in a brazen
vessel. The vessel was covered with a lid, which was also of brass. He
then awaited the return of the messengers. They came in due time, one
after another, bringing the replies which they had severally obtained.
The replies were all unsatisfactory, except that of the oracle at
Delphi. This answer was in verse, as, in fact, the responses of
that oracle always were. The priestess who sat upon the tripod was
accustomed to give the replies in an incoherent and half-intelligible
manner, as impostors are very apt to do in uttering prophecies, and
then the attendant priests and secretaries wrote them out in verse.
The verse which the messenger brought back from the Delphic tripod was
in Greek; but some idea of its style, and the import of it, is
conveyed by the following imitation:
"I number the sands, I measure the sea,
What's hidden to others is known to me.
The lamb and the turtle are simmering slow
With brass above them and brass below."
Of course, Croesus decided that the Delphic oracle was the one that
he must rely upon for guidance in respect to his projected campaign.
And he now began to prepare to consult it in a manner corresponding
with the vast importance of the subject, and with his own boundless
wealth. He provided the most extraordinary and sumptuous presents.
Some of these treasures were to be deposited in the temple, as sacred
gifts, for permanent preservation there. Others were to be offered as
a burnt sacrifice in honor of the god. Among the latter, besides an
incredible number of living victims, he caused to be prepared a great
number of couches, magnificently decorated with silver and gold, and
goblets and other vessels of gold, and dresses of various kinds richly
embroidered, and numerous other articles, all intended to be used in
the ceremonies preliminary to his application to the oracle. When the
time arrived, a vast concourse of people assembled to witness the
spectacle. The animals were sacrificed, and the people feasted on the
flesh; and when these ceremonies were concluded, the couches, the
goblets, the utensils of every kind, the dresses--every thing, in
short, which had been used on the occasion, were heaped up into one
great sacrificial pile, and set on fire. Every thing that was
combustible was consumed, while the gold was melted, and ran into
plates of great size, which were afterward taken out from the ashes.
Thus it was the workmanship only of these articles which was destroyed
and lost by the fire. The gold, in which the chief value consisted,
was saved. It was gold from the Pactolus.
Besides these articles, there were others made, far more magnificent
and costly, for the temple itself. There was a silver cistern or tank,
large enough to hold three thousand gallons of wine. This tank was to
be used by the inhabitants of Delphi in their great festivals. There
was also a smaller cistern, or immense goblet, as it might, perhaps,
more properly be called, which was made of gold. There were also many
other smaller presents, such as basins, vases, and statues, all of
silver and gold, and of the most costly workmanship. The gold, too,
which had been taken from the fire, was cast again, a part of it being
formed into the image of a lion, and the rest into large plates of
metal for the lion to stand upon. The image was then set up upon the
plates, within the precincts of the temple.
There was one piece of statuary which Croesus presented to the
oracle at Delphi, which was, in some respects, more extraordinary than
any of the rest. It was called the bread-maker. It was an image
representing a woman, a servant in the household of Croesus, whose
business it was to bake the bread. The reason that induced Croesus
to honor this bread-maker with a statue of gold was, that on one
occasion during his childhood she had saved his life. The mother of
Croesus died when he was young, and his father married a second
time. The second wife wished to have some one of her children, instead
of Croesus, succeed to her husband's throne. In order, therefore, to
remove Croesus out of the way, she prepared some poison and gave it
to the bread-maker, instructing her to put it into the bread which
Croesus was to eat. The bread-maker received the poison and promised
to obey. But, instead of doing so, she revealed the intended murder to
Croesus, and gave the poison to the queen's own children. In
gratitude for this fidelity to him, Croesus, when he came to the
throne, caused this statue to be made, and now he placed it at Delphi,
where he supposed it would forever remain. The memory of his faithful
servant was indeed immortalized by the measure, though the statue
itself, as well as all these other treasures, in process of time
disappeared. In fact, statues of brass or of marble generally make far
more durable monuments than statues of gold; and no structure or
object of art is likely to be very permanent among mankind unless the
workmanship is worth more than the material.
Croesus did not proceed himself to Delphi with these presents, but
sent them by the hands of trusty messengers, who were instructed to
perform the ceremonies required, to offer the gifts, and then to make
inquiries of the oracle in the following terms.
"Croesus the sovereign of Lydia and of various other kingdoms, in
return for the wisdom which has marked your former declarations, has
sent you these gifts. He now furthermore desires to know whether it is
safe for him to proceed against the Persians, and if so, whether it is
best for him to seek the assistance of any allies."
The answer was as follows:
"If Croesus crosses the Halys, and prosecutes a war with Persia, a
mighty empire will be overthrown. It will be best for him to form an
alliance with the most powerful states of Greece."
Croesus was extremely pleased with this response. He immediately
resolved on undertaking the expedition against Cyrus; and to express
his gratitude for so favorable an answer to his questions, he sent
to Delphi to inquire what was the number of inhabitants in the city,
and, when the answer was reported to him, he sent a present of a
sum of money to every one. The Delphians, in their turn, conferred
special privileges and honors upon the Lydians and upon Croesus in
respect to their oracle, giving them the precedence in all future
consultations, and conferring upon them other marks of distinction
and honor.
At the time when Croesus sent his present to the inhabitants of
Delphi, he took the opportunity to address another inquiry to the
oracle, which was, whether his power would ever decline. The oracle
replied in a couplet of Greek verse, similar in its style to the one
recorded on the previous occasion.
It was as follows:
"Whene'er a mule shall mount upon the Median throne,
Then, and not till then, shall great Croesus fear to lose his own."
This answer pleased the king quite as much as the former one had done.
The allusion to the contingency of a mule's reigning in Media he
very naturally regarded as only a rhetorical and mystical mode of
expressing an utter impossibility. Croesus considered himself and
the continuance of his power as perfectly secure. He was fully
confirmed in his determination to organize his expedition without any
delay, and to proceed immediately to the proper measures for obtaining
the Grecian alliance and aid which the oracle had recommended. The
plans which he formed, and the events which resulted, will be
described in subsequent chapters.
In respect to these Grecian oracles, it is proper here to state, that
there has been much discussion among scholars on the question how they
were enabled to maintain, for so long a period, so extended a credit
among a people as intellectual and well informed as the Greeks. It was
doubtless by means of a variety of contrivances and influences that
this end was attained. There is a natural love of the marvelous among
the humbler classes in all countries, which leads them to be very
ready to believe in what is mystic and supernatural; and they
accordingly exaggerate and color such real incidents as occur under
any strange or remarkable circumstances, and invest any unusual
phenomena which they witness with a miraculous or supernatural
interest. The cave at Delphi might really have emitted gases which
would produce quite striking effects upon those who inhaled them; and
how easy it would be for those who witnessed these effects to imagine
that some divine and miraculous powers must exist in the aerial
current which produced them. The priests and priestesses, who
inhabited the temples in which these oracles were contained, had, of
course, a strong interest in keeping up the belief of their reality in
the minds of the community; so were, in fact, all the inhabitants of
the cities which sprung up around them. They derived their support
from the visitors who frequented these places, and they contrived
various ways for drawing contributions, both of money and gifts, from
all who came. In one case there was a sacred stream near an oracle,
where persons, on permission from the priests, were allowed to bathe.
After the bathing, they were expected to throw pieces of money into
the stream. What afterward, in such cases, became of the money, it is
not difficult to imagine.
Nor is it necessary to suppose that all these priests and priestesses
were impostors. Having been trained up from infancy to believe that
the inspirations were real, they would continue to look upon them as
such all their lives. Even at the present day we shall all, if we
closely scrutinize our mental habits, find ourselves continuing to
take for granted, in our maturer years, what we inconsiderately
imbibed or were erroneously taught in infancy, and that, often, in
cases where the most obvious dictates of reason, or even the plain
testimony of our senses, might show us that our notions are false. The
priests and priestesses, therefore, who imposed on the rest of
mankind, may have been as honestly and as deep in the delusion
themselves as any of their dupes.
The answers of the oracles were generally vague and indefinite, and
susceptible of almost any interpretation, according to the result.
Whenever the event corresponded with the prediction, or could be made
to correspond with it by the ingenuity of the commentators, the story
of the coincidence would, of course, be every where spread abroad,
becoming more striking and more exact at each repetition. Where there
was a failure, it would not be direct and absolute, on account of
the vagueness and indefiniteness of the response, and there would
therefore be no interest felt in hearing or in circulating the story.
The cases, thus, which would tend to establish the truth of the
oracle, would be universally known and remembered, while those of a
contrary bearing would be speedily forgotten.
There is no doubt, however, that in many cases the responses were
given in collusion with the one who consulted the oracle, for the
purpose of deceiving others. For example, let us suppose that
Croesus wished to establish strongly the credibility of the Delphic
oracle in the minds of his countrymen, in order to encourage them to
enlist in his armies, and to engage in the enterprise which he was
contemplating against Cyrus with resolution and confidence; it would
have been easy for him to have let the priestess at Delphi know what
he was doing on the day when he sent to inquire, and thus himself to
have directed her answer. Then, when his messengers returned, he would
appeal to the answer as proof of the reality of the inspiration which
seemed to furnish it. Alexander the Great certainly did, in this way,
act in collusion with the priests at the temple of Jupiter Ammon.
* * * * *
The fact that there have been so many and such successful cases of
falsehood and imposture among mankind in respect to revelations from
Heaven, is no indication, as some superficially suppose, that no
revelation is true, but is, on the other hand, strong evidence to
the contrary. The Author of human existence has given no instincts
in vain; and the universal tendency of mankind to believe in the
supernatural, to look into an unseen world, to seek, and to imagine
that they find, revelations from Heaven, and to expect a continuance
of existence after this earthly life is over, is the strongest
possible natural evidence that there is an unseen world; that man may
have true communications with it; that a personal deity reigns, who
approves and disapproves of human conduct, and that there is a future
state of being. In this point of view, the absurd oracles of Greece,
and the universal credence which they obtained, constitute strong
evidence that there is somewhere to be found inspiration and prophecy
really divine.