ŌRĀCŬLUM (μαντεῖον, χρηστήριον) was used by the ancients to designate
both the revelations made by the deity to man, as well as the place
in which such revelations were made. The deity was in none of these
places believed to appear in person to man, and to communicate to him
his will or knowledge of the future, but all oracular revelations
were made through some kind of medium, which was different in the
different places where oracles existed. It may, at first sight, seem
strange that there were, comparatively speaking, so few oracles of
Zeus, the father and ruler of gods and men. But although, according
to the belief of the ancients, Zeus himself was the first source
of all oracular revelations, yet he was too far above men to enter
with them into any close relation; other gods therefore, especially
Apollo, and even heroes, acted as mediators between Zeus and men,
and were, as it were, the organs through which he communicated his
will. The ancients consulted the will of the gods on all important
occasions of public and private life, since they were unwilling to
undertake anything of importance without their sanction.--The most
celebrated oracle was that of Apollo at Delphi. Its ancient name was
Pytho. In the centre of the temple there was a small opening (χάσμα)
in the ground, from which, from time to time, an intoxicating smoke
arose, which was believed to come from the well of Cassotis, which
vanished into the ground close by the sanctuary. Over this chasm
there stood a high tripod, on which the Pythia, led into the temple
by the prophetes (προφήτης), took her seat whenever the oracle was
to be consulted. The smoke rising from under the tripod affected
her brain in such a manner that she fell into a state of delirious
intoxication, and the sounds which she uttered in this state were
believed to contain the revelations of Apollo. These sounds were
carefully written down by the prophetes, and afterwards communicated
to the persons who had come to consult the oracle. The Pythia (the
προφῆτις) was always a native of Delphi, and when she had once
entered the service of the god she never left it, and was never
allowed to marry. In early times she was always a young girl, but
subsequently no one was elected as prophetess who had not attained
the age of fifty years. The Delphians, or, more properly speaking,
the noble families of Delphi, had the superintendence of the oracle.
Among the Delphian aristocracy, however, there were five families
which traced their origin to Deucalion, and from each of these one of
the five priests, called _Hosioi_ (ὅσιοι), was taken. The _Hosioi_,
together with the high-priest or prophetes, held their offices for
life, and had the control of all the affairs of the sanctuary and of
the sacrifices. That these noble families had an immense influence
upon the oracle is manifest from numerous instances, and it is not
improbable that they were its very soul, and that it was they who
dictated the pretended revelations of the god. Most of the oracular
answers which are extant are in hexameters, and in the Ionic dialect.
Sometimes, however, Doric forms also were used.--No religious
institution in all antiquity obtained such a paramount influence in
Greece as the oracle of Delphi. When consulted on a subject of a
religious nature, the answer was invariably of a kind calculated not
only to protect and preserve religious institutions, but to command
new ones to be established, so that it was the preserver and promoter
of religion throughout the ancient world. Colonies were seldom or
never founded without having obtained the advice and the directions
of the Delphic god. The Delphic oracle had at all times a leaning in
favour of the Greeks of the Doric race, but the time when it began
to lose its influence must be dated from the period when Athens and
Sparta entered upon their struggle for the supremacy in Greece; for
at this time the partiality for Sparta became so manifest that the
Athenians and their party began to lose all reverence and esteem
for it, and the oracle became a mere instrument in the hands of a
political party. Of the other oracles, the most celebrated were that
of Apollo at Didyma, usually called the oracle of the Branchidae, in
the territory of Miletus; that of Zeus, at Dodona, where the oracle
was given from sounds produced by the wind; that of Zeus Ammon, in
an oasis in Libya, not far from the boundaries of Egypt; that of
Amphiaraus, between Potniae and Thebes, where the hero was said to
have been swallowed up by the earth; and that of Trophonius, at
Lebadeia in Boeotia.
ŌRĀRĬUM was a small handkerchief used for wiping the face, and
appears to have been employed for much the same purposes as our
pocket-handkerchief. It was made of silk or linen. Aurelian
introduced the practice of giving _Oraria_ to the Roman people to use
_ad favorem_, which appears to mean for the purpose of waving in the
public games in token of applause.
ŌRĀTOR. The profession of the Roman orator, who with reference to
his undertaking a client’s case is also called patronus, was quite
distinct from that of the Jurisconsultus [JURISCONSULTI], and also
from that of the Advocatus, at least in the time of Cicero, and even
later. An orator who possessed a competent knowledge of the Jus
Civile would, however, have an advantage. Some requisites of oratory,
such as voice and gesture, could only be acquired by discipline,
whereas a competent knowledge of the law of a case (_juris utilitas_)
could be got at any time from the jurisconsulti (_periti_) or from
books. Oratory was a serious study among the Romans. Cicero tells
us by what painful labour he attained to excellence. Roman oratory
reached its perfection in the century which preceded the Christian
aera. Its decline dates from the establishment of the Imperial power.
The old orators learned their art by constant attendance on some
eminent orator and by actual experience of business: the orators of
Messala’s time were formed in the schools of Rhetoric, and their
powers were developed in exercises on fictitious matters. But the
immediate causes of the former nourishing condition of eloquence
were the political power which oratory conferred on the orator under
the Republic, and the party struggles and even the violence that are
incident to such a state of society.