Malta.
In Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. XXIX. cap. i. p. 552. of a Paris edition,
1681, two persons, Patricius and Hilarius, charged with disseminating
prophecies injurious to the Emperor Valens, were brought before a court of
justice, and a tripod, which they were charged with using, was also
produced. Hilarius then made the following acknowledgment:
"Construximus, magnifici judices, ad cortinæ similitudinem Delphicæ,
diris auspiciis, de laureis virgulis infaustam hanc mensulam quam
videtis; et imprecationibus carminum secretorum, choragiisque multis ac
diuturnis ritualiter consecratam movimus tandem; movendi autem, quoties
super rebus arcanis consulebatur, erat institutio talis. Collocabatur
in medio domûs emaculatæ odoribus Arabicis undique, lance rotunda pure
superposita, ex diversis metallicis materiis fabrefacta; cujus in
ambitu rotunditatis extremo elementorum viginti quatuor scriptiles
formæ incisæ perite, dijungebantur spatiis examinate dimensis. Hac
linteis quidam indumentis amictus, calciatusque itidem linteis soccis,
torulo capiti circumflexo, verbenas felicis arboris gestans, litato
conceptis carminibus numine præscitionum auctore, cærimoniali scientia
perstitit; cortinulis pensilem anulum librans, sartum ex carpathio filo
perquam levi, mysticis disciplinis initiatum: qui per intervalla
distincta retinentibus singulis litteris incidens saltuatim, heroos
efficit versus interrogationibus consonos, ad numeros et modos plene
conclusos; quales leguntur Pythici, vel ex oraculis editi Branchidarum.
Ibi tum quærentibus nobis, qui præsenti succedet imperio, quoniam omni
parte expolitus fore memorabatur et adsiliens anulus duas perstrinxerat
syllabas, [Greek: THEO] cum adjectione litteræ postrema, exclamavit
præsentium quidem, Theodorum præscribente fatali necessitate portendi."
In lib. XXXI. cap. ii. p. 621. of same edition, a method of prognostication
by the Alami is described; but there is no mention of tables there. The
historian only says:
"Rectiores virgas vimineas colligentes, easque cum incantamentis
quibusdam secretis præstituto tempore discernentes, aperte quid
portendatur norunt."