---
title: "The Oracles at Delphi No Longer Given in Verse · De Pythiae oraculis"
author: "Plutarch"
translator: "Frank Cole Babbitt"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Philosophy"
section: 2 of 2
url: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-oracles-at-delphi/2/
cite: "Plutarch, tr. Frank Cole Babbitt, The Oracles at Delphi No Longer Given in Verse · De Pythiae oraculis, section 2. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-oracles-at-delphi/2/"
---

# The Oracles at Delphi No Longer Given in Verse · De Pythiae oraculis

*Plutarch, tr. Frank Cole Babbitt*

Visitors at Delphi ask why the Pythia now answers in prose, and how the god speaks through her.

> Greek: ed. Grēgorios N. Vernardakēs, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0007.tlg091, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Frank Cole Babbitt, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0007.tlg091.perseus-eng3). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 2. Sections 17–30

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-oracles-at-delphi/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/plutarch-oracles-at-delphi/2/#p-N

[¶0] 17. As Sarapion was beginning to say something about these matters, the foreign visitor said, “It is very pleasant to listen to such conversation as this, but I am constrained to claim the fulfilment of your first promise regarding the cause which has made the prophetic priestess cease to give her oracles in epic verse or in other metres. So, if it be agreeable, let us postpone to another time what remains of our sightseeing, and sit down here and hear about it. For it is the recital of this fact which above all else militates against confidence in the oracle, since people assume one of two things: either that the prophetic priestess does not come near to the region in which is the godhead, or else that the spirit has been completely quenched and her powers have forsaken her.” Accordingly we went round and seated ourselves upon the southern steps of the temple, looking towards the shrine of Earth and the stream of water, with the result that Boethus immediately remarked that the place itself proffered assistance to the visitor in the solution of the question. “For,” said he, “there used to be a shrine of the Muses near the place where the water of the stream wells up; wherefore they used to use this water for libations and lustrations, as Simonides says:
Where from depths below, for pure lustration
Is drawn the fair-haired Muses’ fount of holy water.
And in another passage he addresses Clio in a somewhat affected way as the “Holy guardian of lustration,” and goes on to say that
She, invoked in many a prayer,
In robes unwrought with gold,
For those that came to draw
Raised from the ambrosial grot
The fragrant beauteous water.
Eudoxus, therefore, was wrong in believing those who declared that this is called the water of the Styx. But they established the cult of the Muses as associates and guardians of the prophetic art in this very place beside the stream and the shrine of Earth, to whom it is said that the oracle used to belong because of the responses being given in poetic and musical measures. And some assert that it was here that the heroic verse was heard for the first time: “Birds, contribute your feathers, and bees, bring wax as your portion.” Later Earth became inferior to the god and lost her august position.”

> Greek: 17. ἐπιβάλλοντος δὲ τοῦ Σαραπίωνος εἰπεῖν τι περὶ τούτων, ὁ ξένος· ἡδὺ μέν ἔφη τὸ τοιούτων ἀκροᾶσθαι λόγων, ἐμοὶ δʼ ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι τὴν πρώτην ὑπόσχεσιν ἀπαιτῆσαι περὶ τῆς αἰτίας, ἣ πέπαυκε τὴν Πυθίαν ἐν ἔπεσι καὶ μέτροις ἄλλοις θεσπίζουσαν· ὥστʼ, εἰ δοκεῖ, τὰ λειπόμενα τῆς θέας ὑπερθέμενοι περὶ τούτων ἀκούσωμεν ἐνταῦθα καθίσαντες. οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ μάλιστα πρὸς τὴν τοῦ χρηστηρίου πίστιν ἀντιβαίνων λόγος· ὡς δυεῖν θάτερον, ἢ τῆς Πυθίας τῷ χωρίῳ μὴ πελαζούσης ἐν ᾧ τὸ θεῖόν ἐστιν, ἢ τοῦ πνεύματος παντάπασιν ἀπεσβεσμένου καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως ἐκλελοιπυίας. περιελθόντες; οὖν ἐπὶ τῶν μεσημβρινῶν καθεζόμεθα κρηπίδων τοῦ νεὼ πρὸς τὸ τῆς Γῆς ἱερὸν τὸ θʼ ὕδωρ ἀποβλέποντες ὥστʼ εὐθὺς εἰπεῖν τὸν Βόηθον, ὅτι καὶ ὁ τόπος τῆς ἀπορίας συνεπιλαμβάνεται τῷ ξένῳ. Μουσῶν γὰρ ἦν ἱερὸν ἐνταῦθα περὶ τὴν ἀναπνοὴν τοῦ νάματος, ὅθεν ἐχρῶντο πρός τε τὰς λοιβὰς ὕδατι τούτῳ, ὥς φησι Σιμωνίδης
ἔνθα χερνίβεσσιν εἰρύεται τὸ Μοισᾶν
καλλικόμων ὑπένερθεν ἁγνὸν ὕδωρ.
μικρῷ δὲ περιεργότερον αὖθις ὁ Σιμωνίδης τὴν Κλειὼ προσειπών ἁγνᾶν ἐπίσκοπον, χερνίβων φησὶ πολύλιστον ἀραιόν τέ ἐστιν ἀχρυσόπεπλον εὐῶδες ἀμβροσίων ἐκ μυχῶν ἐρανὸν ὕδωρ λαβόν. οὐκ ὀρθῶς οὖν Εὔδοξος ἐπίστευσε τοῖς Στυγὸς ὕδωρ τοῦτο καλεῖσθαι πεφήνασι. τὰς δὲ Μούσας ἱδρύσαντο παρέδρους τῆς μαντικῆς καὶ φύλακας αὐτοῦ παρὰ τὸ νᾶμα καὶ τὸ τῆς Γῆς ἱερόν, ἧς λέγεται τὸ μαντεῖον γενέσθαι διὰ τὴν ἐν μέτροις καὶ μέλεσι χρησμῳδίαν. ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ πρῶτον ἐνταῦθά φασιν ἡρῷον μέτρον ἀκουσθῆναι, συμφέρετε πτερά, οἰωνοί, κηρόν τε, μέλισσαι ὅτε τῷ θεῷ ἐπιδεᾶ γενομένην ἀποβαλεῖν τὸ σεμνόν.

[¶1] 18. “That, Boëthus,” said Sarapion, “is more reasonable and harmonious. For we must not show hostility towards the god, nor do away with his providence and divine powers together with his prophetic gifts; but we must seek for explanations of such matters as seem to stand in the way, and not relinquish the reverent faith of our fathers.” “What you say, my esteemed Sarapion,” said I, “is quite right. We have not been surrendering hope for philosophy either, as if it had been completely done away with and destroyed, just because formerly the philosophers used to publish their doctrines and discourses in the form of poems, as Orpheus, Hesiod, Parmenides, Xenophanes, Empedocles, and Thales. Later they ceased to do this, and now all have ceased using metrical form, all except you. At your hands the poetic art returns to philosophy from its banishment, and sounds a clear and noble challenge to the young.” “Nor did Aristarchus, Timocharis, Aristyllus, and Hipparchus, and their followers make astronomy less notable by writing in prose, although in earlier days Eudoxus, Hesiod, and Thales wrote in verse, if indeed Thales, in all truth, composed the Astronomy which is attributed to him. Pindar also confesses that he is puzzled by the neglect of a mode of music and is astonished that … The fact is that there is nothing dreadful nor abnormal in seeking the causes of such changes; but to do away with these arts and faculties themselves because something about them has been disturbed or changed is not right.”

> Greek: 18. ὁ Σαραπίων ἐπιεικέστερα ταῦτʼ εἶπεν ὦ Βόηθε, καὶ μουσικώτερα δεῖ γὰρ μὴ μάχεσθαι πρὸς τὸν θεὸν μηδʼ ἀναιρεῖν μετὰ τῆς μαντικῆς ἅμα τὴν πρόνοιαν καὶ τὸ θεῖον, ἀλλὰ τῶν ὑπεναντιοῦσθαι δοκούντων λύσεις ἐπιζητεῖν τὴν δʼ εὐσεβῆ καὶ πάτριον μὴ προΐεσθαι πίστιν. ὀρθῶς ἔφην ἐγὼ λέγεις, ἄριστε Σαραπίων οὐδὲ γὰρ φιλοσοφίαν ἀπεγιγνώσκομεν ὡς ἀνῃρημένην παντάπασι, καὶ διεφθορυῖαν, ὅτι πρότερον μὲν ἐν ποιήμασιν ἐξέφερον οἱ φιλόσοφοι τὰ δόγματα καὶ τοὺς λόγους, ὥσπερ Ὀρφεὺς καὶ Ἡσίοδος καὶ Παρμενίδης καὶ Ξενοφάνης καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς καὶ Θαλῆς· ὕστερον δʼ ἐπαύσαντο καὶ πέπαυνται χρώμενοι μέτροις πλὴν σοῦ· διὰ σοῦ δʼ αὖθις εἰς φιλοσοφίαν ποιητικὴ κάτεισιν, ὄρθιον καὶ γενναῖον ἐγκελευομένη τοῖς νέοις. οὐδʼ ἀστρολογίαν ἀδοξοτέραν ἐποίησαν οἱ περὶ Ἀρίσταρχον καὶ Τιμόχαριν καὶ Ἀρίστυλλον καὶ Ἵππαρχον καταλογάδην γράφοντες, ἐν μέτροις πρότερον Εὐδόξου καὶ Ἡσιόδου καὶ Θαλοῦ γραφόντων, εἴ γε Θαλῆς ἐποίησεν, ὡς ἀληθῶς εἰπεῖν, τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν ἀναφερομένην *)astrologi/an. Πίνδαρος δὲ καὶ περὶ τρόπου μελῳδίας ἀμελουμένου· καθʼ αὑτὸν ἀπορεῖν ὁμολογεῖ, καὶ θαυμάζειν ὅτι … οὐδὲν γάρ ἐστι δεινὸν οὐδʼ ἄτοπον αἰτίας ζητεῖν τῶν τοιούτων μεταβολῶν ἀναιρεῖν δὲ τὰς τέχνας καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις, ἄν τι κινηθῇ καὶ παραλλάξῃ τῶν κατὰ ταύτας, οὐ δίκαιον.

[¶2] 19. Theon, taking up the subject, said, “But these matters have actually undergone great changes and innovations, whereas you know that many of the oracles here have been given out in prose, and those that concerned no unimportant matters. For, as Thucydides has recorded, when the Spartans consulted the god about their war against the Athenians, his answer was a promise of victory and power and that he himself would come to their aid, bidden or unbidden; and in another oracle that if they would not allow Pleistoanax to return from exile, they should plough with a silver ploughshare.” “When the Athenians sought advice about their campaign in Sicily, he directed them to get the priestess of Athena at Erythrae; the name which the woman bore was ‘Quiet.’ ” “When Deinomenes of Sicily asked advice about his sons, the answer was that all three should rule as despots; and when Deinomenes rejoined, ‘To their sorrow, then, O Lord Apollo,’ the god said that he granted this also to Deinomenes, and added it to the response. You all know, of course, that Gelo, while he was despot, suffered from dropsy; and likewise Hiero from gall-stones; and the third, Thrasybulus, became involved in seditions and wars, and it was no long time before he was dethroned.” “Then there was Procles, the despot of Epidaurus, who did away with many men in a cruel and lawless manner, and finally put to death Timarchus, who had come to him from Athens with money, after receiving him and entertaining him with much show of hospitality. The body he thrust into a basket and sank in the sea. All this he accomplished through Cleander of Aegina, and nobody else knew anything about it. But later, when his affairs were in sad confusion, he sent here his brother Cleotimus to ask advice in secret concerning his flight and withdrawal to another country. The god therefore made answer that he granted Procles flight and withdrawal to the place in which he had bidden his friend from Aegina deposit the basket, or where the stag sheds his horns. The despot at once understood that the god ordered him to sink himself in the sea or to bury himself in the earth (for stags, whenever their horns fall off, bury them out of sight underground ); but he waited for a short time, and then, when the state of his aflairs became altogether desperate, he had to leave the country. And the friends of Timarchus seized him, slew him, and cast forth his dead body into the sea.” “Most important of all is the fact that the decrees through which Lycurgus gave form and order to the Spartan constitution were given to him in prose.” “Now Herodotus and Philochorus and Ister, men who were most assiduous in collecting prophecies in verse, have quoted countless oracles not in verse; but Theopompus, who has given more diligent study to the oracle than any one man, has strongly rebuked those who do not believe that in his time the prophetic priestess used verse in her oracular responses. Afterwards, wishing to prove this, he has found to support his contention an altogether meagre number of such oracles, indicating that the others were given out in prose even as early as that time.”

> Greek: 19. ὑπολαβὼν δʼ ὁ Θέων ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μέν εἶπε μεγάλας ἔσχηκε τῷ ὄντι παραλλαγὰς καὶ καινοτομίας τῶν δʼ ἐνταῦθα πολλοὺς ἴσμεν χρησοὺς καὶ τότε καταλογάδην ἐκφερομένους καὶ περὶ πραγμάτων οὐ τῶν τυχόντων· Λακεδαιμονίοις τε γάρ, ὡς Θουκυδίδης ἱστόρηκε, περὶ τοῦ πρὸς Ἀθηναίους πολέμου χρωμένοις ἀνεῖλε νίκην καὶ κράτος, καὶ βοηθήσειν αὐτὸς καὶ παρακαλούμενος καὶ ἀπαράκλητος· καὶ Παυσανίαν εἰ μὴ καταγάγοιεν ἀργυρέᾳ εὐλάκᾳ εὐλάξειν Ἀθηναίοις δὲ περὶ τῆς ἐν Σικελίᾳ μαντευομένοις στρατιᾶς προσέταξε τὴν ἐξ Ἐρυθρῶν ἱέρειαν ἀνάγειν τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς· ἐκαλεῖτο δʼ Ἡσυχία τὸ γύναιον. Δεινομένους δὲ τοῦ Σικελιώτου μαντευομένου περὶ τῶν υἱέων, ἀνεῖλεν ὡς οἱ τρεῖς τυραννήσοιεν· ὑποτυχόντος δὲ τοῦ Δεινομένους οἰμωξόμενοί γʼ ὦ δέσποτʼ Ἄπολλον, καὶ τοῦθʼ οἱ ἔφη διδόναι καὶ προσαναιρεῖν; ἴστε τοίνυν, ὅτι Γέλων μὲν ὑδρωπιῶν Ἱέρων δὲ λιθιῶν ἐτυράννησεν ὁ δὲ τρίτος Θρασύβουλος ἐν στάσεσι καὶ πολέμοις γενόμενος χρόνον οὐ πολὺν ἐξέπεσε τῆς ἀρχῆς. Προκλῆς τοίνυν ὁ Ἐπιδαύρου τύραννος ἄλλους τε πολλοὺς ὠμῶς καὶ παρανόμως ἀνεῖλε καὶ Τίμαρχον ἀπʼ Ἀθηνῶν παραγενόμενον μετὰ χρημάτων πρὸς αὐτὸν ὑποδεξάμενος καὶ φιλοφρονηθεὶς ἀπέκτεινε, καὶ τὸ σῶμα κατεπόντισεν ἐμβαλὼν εἰς φορμόν· ἔπραξε δὲ ταῦτα διὰ Κλεάνδρου τοῦ Αἰγινήτου, τῶν ἄλλων ἀγνοούντων. ὕστερον δὲ τῶν πραγμάτων αὐτῷ ταραττομένων, ἔπεμψεν ἐνταῦθα Κλεότιμον τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἐν ἀπορρήτῳ μαντευσόμενον περὶ φυγῆς αὐτοῦ καὶ μεταστάσεως. ἀνεῖλεν οὖν ὁ θεὸς διδόναι Προκλεῖ φυγὴν καὶ μετάστασιν, ὅπου τὸν φορμὸν ἐκέλευσε καταθέσθαι τὸν Αἰγινήτην ξένον ἢ ὅπου τὸ κέρας; ἀποβάλλει ὁ ἔλαφος. συνεὶς οὖν ὁ τύραννος, ὅτι κελεύει καταποντίζειν αὑτὸν ἢ κατορύττειν ὁ θεὸς (οἱ γὰρ ἔλαφοι κατορύττουσι καὶ ἀφανίζουσι κατὰ τῆς γῆς ὅταν ἐκπέσῃ τὸ κέρας), ἐπέσχεν ὀλίγον χρόνον, εἶτα τῶν πραγμάτων παντάπασι μοχθηρῶν γενομένων, ἐξέπεσε. λαβόντες δʼ αὐτὸν οἱ τοῦ Τιμάρχου φίλοι καὶ διαφθείραντες ἐξέβαλον τὸν νεκρὸν εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν. ὃ δʼ ἐστὶ μέγιστον, αἱ ῥῆτραι, διʼ ὧν ἐκόσμησε τὴν Λακεδαιμονίων πολιτείαν Λυκοῦργος, ἐδόθησαν αὐτῷ καταλογάδην. Ἀλυρίου τοίνυν καὶ Ἡροδότου καὶ Φιλοχόρου καὶ Ἴστρου, τῶν μάλιστα τὰς ἐμμέτρους μαντείας φιλοτιμηθέντων συναγαγεῖν, ἄνευ μέτρου χρησμοὺς γεγραφότων, Θεόπομπος οὐδενὸς ἧττον ἀνθρώπων ἐσπουδακὼς περὶ· τὸ χρηστήριον, ἰσχυρῶς ἐπιτετίμηκε τοῖς μὴ νομίζουσι κατὰ τὸν τότε χρόνον ἔμμετρα τὴν Πυθίαν θεσπίζειν· εἶτα τοῦτο βουλόμενος ἀποδεῖξαι, παντάπασιν ὀλίγων χρησμῶν ηὐπόρηκεν, ὡς τῶν ἄλλων καὶ τότʼ ἤδη καταλογάδην ἐκφερομένων.

[¶3] 20. “Some of the oracles even to-day come out in metre, one of which an affair has made famous. There is in Phocis a shrine of Heracles the Womanhater, and it is the custom that the man who is appointed to the priesthood shall have no association with a woman within the year. For this reason they usually appoint as priests rather old men. By exception, only a few years ago, a young man, not at all bad, but ambitious, who was in love with a girl, gained the office. At first he was able to control himself, and succeeded in keeping out of her way; but when she suddenly carne in upon him as he was resting after drinking and dancing, he did the forbidden thing. Frightened and perturbed in consequence, he resorted at once to the oracle and asked the god about his sin, whether there were any way to obtain forgiveness or to expiate it; and he received this response: “All things that must be doth the god condone.” ” “However, even if anybody were to grant that no word of prophecy is uttered in our time without being in verse, such a person would be in much more perplexity regarding the oracles of ancient times which gave their responses at one time in verse and at another time without versification. However, neither of these, my young friend, goes counter to reason if only we hold correct and uncontaminated opinions about the god, and do not believe that it was he himself who used to compose the verses in earlier times, while now he suggests the oracles to the prophetic priestess as if he were prompting an actor in a play to speak his words.”

> Greek: 20. ἔνιοι δὲ καὶ νῦν μετὰ μέτρων ἐκτρέχουσιν ὧν ἕνεκα καὶ πρᾶγμα περιβόητον πεποίηκε. μισογύνου γὰρ Ἡρακλέους ἱερόν ἐστιν ἐν τῇ Φωκίδι, καὶ νομίζεται τὸν ἱερώμενον ἐν τῷ ἐνιαυτῷ γυναικὶ μὴ ὁμιλεῖν διὸ καὶ πρεσβύτας ἐπιεικῶς ἱερεῖς ἀπθδείκνύθυσι, πλὴν ἔμπροσθεν νεανίας οὐ πονηρὸς φιλότιμος, ἐρῶν παιδίσκης, ἔλαβε τὴν ἱερωσύνην καὶ τὸ πρῶτον ἦν ἐγκρατὴς ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἔφευγε τὴν ἄνθρωπον ἀναπαυομένῳ δʼ, αὐτῷ ποτε μετὰ πότον καὶ χορείαν προσπεσοῦσα διεπράξατο. φοβούμενος οὖν καὶ ταραττόμενος τὸ μαντεῖον κατέφυγε, καὶ περὶ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἠρώτα τὸν θεὸν εἴ τις εἴη παραίτησις ἢ λύσις· ἔλαβε δὲ τόνδε τὸν χρησμὸν ἅπαντα τἀναγκαῖα συγχωρεῖ θεός οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ δοὺς ἄν τις, ὡς οὐδὲν ἄνευ μέτρου θεσπίζεται καθʼ ἡμᾶς, μᾶλλον διαπορήσει περὶ τῶν παλαιῶν ποτὲ μὲν ἐν μέτροις ποτὲ δʼ ἄνευ μέτρων διδόντων τὰς ἀποκρίσεις. ἔστι δʼ οὐδέτερον, ὦ παῖ, παράλογον, μόνον ἂν ὀρθὰς καὶ καθαρὰς περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ δόξας ἔχωμεν, καὶ μὴ νομίζωμεν αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον εἶναι τὸν τὰ ἔπη συντιθέντα πρότερον καὶ νῦν ὑποβάλλοντα τῇ Πυθίᾳ τοὺς χρησμούς, ὥσπερ ἐκ προσωπείων φθεγγόμενον.

[¶4] 21. “However, it is worth our while to discuss these matters at greater length and to learn about them at another time; but for the present let us recall to our minds what we have learned in brief: that the body makes use of many instruments and that the soul makes use of this very body and its members; moreover, the soul is created to be the instrument of God, and the virtue of an instrument is to conform as exactly as possible to the purpose of the agent that employs it by using all the powers which Nature has bestowed upon it, and to produce, presented in itself, the purpose of the very design; but to present this, not in the form in which it was existent in its creator, uncontaminated, unaffected, and faultless, but combined with much that is alien to this. For pure design cannot be seen by us, and when it is made manifest in another guise and through another medium, it becomes contaminated with the nature of this medium. Wax, for example, and gold and silver I leave out of account, as well as other kinds of material, which, when moulded, take on the particular form of the likeness which is being modelled; and yet each one of them adds to the thing portrayed a distinguishing characteristic which comes from its own substance; and so also the numberless distortions in the reflected images of one single form seen in mirrors both plane and concave and convex. Indeed, if we contemplate the shining constellations, there is nothing that shows greater similarity in form, or which, as an instrument, is by nature more obedient in use than the moon. Receiving as it does from the sun its brilliant light and intense heat, it sends them away to us, not in the state in which they arrived, but, after being merged with it, they change their colour and also acquire a different potency. The heat is gone, and the light becomes faint because of weakness.” “I imagine that you are familiar with the saying found in Heraeleitus to the effect that the Lord whose prophetic shrine is at Delphi neither tells nor conceals, but indicates. Add to these words, which are so well said, the thought that the god of this place employs the prophetic priestess for men’s ears just as the sun employs the moon for men’s eyes. For he makes known and reveals his own thoughts, but he makes them known through the associated medium of a mortal body and a soul that is unable to keep quietior, as it yields itself to the One that moves it, to remain of itself unmoved and tranquil, but, as though tossed amid billows and enmeshed in the stirrings and emotions within itself, it makes itself more and more restless.” “For, as the eddies exercise no sure control over the bodies carried round and round in them, but, since the bodies are carried round and round by a compelling force, while they naturally tend to sink, there results from the two a confused and erratic circular movement, so, in like manner, what is called inspiration seems to be a combination of two impulses, the soul being simultaneously impelled through one of these by some external influence, and through the other by its own nature. Wherefore it is not possible to deal with inanimate and stationary bodies in a way contrary to their nature by bringing force to bear upon them, nor to make a cylinder in motion behave in the manner of a sphere or a cube, nor a lyre like a flute, nor a trumpet like a harp. No, the use of each thing artistically is apparently no other than its natural use. And as for the animate, endowed with power to move of itself and with its share of initiative and reason, could anyone treat it in a manner other than in keeping with the condition, faculty, or nature, already pre-existent in it, as, for example, trying to arouse to music a mind unmusical, or to letters the unlettered, or to eloquence one with no observation or training in speeches? That is something which no one could assert.”

> Greek: 21. ἀλλʼ αὖθις ἄξιον μέν ἐστι διὰ μακροτέρων εἰπεῖν τι καὶ πυθέσθαι περὶ τούτων, τὰ δὲ νῦν ἐν βραχεῖ μαθόντες διαμνημονεύωμεν ὡς σῶμα μὲν ὀργάνοις χρῆται πολλοῖς αὐτῷ δὲ σώματι ψυχὴ καὶ μέρεσι τοῖς σώματος ψυχὴ δʼ ὄργανον θεοῦ γέγονεν ὀργάνου δʼ ἀρετὴ μάλιστα μιμεῖσθαι τὸ χρώμενον ᾗ πέφυκε δυνάμει καὶ παρέχειν τὸ ἔργον αὐτοῦ τοῦ νοήματος ἐν αὐτῷ δυναμένη, δεικνύναι δʼ οὐχ οἷον ἐν τῷ δημιουργῷ καθαρὸν καὶ ἀπαθὲς καὶ ἀναμάρτητον, ἀλλὰ μεμιγμένον πολλῷ τῷ ἀλλοτρίῳ· καθʼ ἑαυτὸ γὰρ ἄδηλον ἡμῖν, ἕτερον δὲ καὶ διʼ ἑτέρου φαινόμενον ἀναπίμπλαται τῆς ἐκείνου φύσεως. καὶ κηρὸν μὲν ἐῶ καὶ χρυσὸν ἄργυρόν τε καὶ χαλκόν, ὅσα τʼ ἄλλα πλαττομένης οὐσίας εἴδη δέχεται μὲν ἰδέαν μίαν ἐκτυπουμένης ὁμοιότητος, ἄλλο δʼ ἄλλην ἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦ τῷ μιμήματι διαφορὰν προστίθησι καὶ τὰς ἐν κατόπτροις ἐπιπέδοις τε καὶ κοίλοις καὶ περιηγέσι φασμάτων καὶ εἰδώλων ἀφʼ ἑνὸς εἴδους μυρίας παρατυπώσεις. καὶ γάρ εἰσι … οὐδὲν οὔτε μᾶλλον τὴν ἰδέαν ἔοικεν οὔτε ὡς ὄργανον χρῆσθαι φύσει γέγονεν εὐπειθέστερον σελήνης· λαμβάνουσα δὲ παρʼ ἡλίου τὸ λαμπρὸν καὶ πυρωπὸν οὐχ ὅμοιον ἀποπέμπει πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ἀλλὰ μιχθὲν αὐτῇ καὶ χρόαν μετέβαλε καὶ δύναμιν ἔσχεν ἑτέραν· ἡ δὲ θερμότης καὶ παντάπασιν ἐξοίχεται καὶ προλέλοιπε τὸ φῶς ὑπʼ ἀσθενείας. οἶμαι δὲ σὲ γιγνώσκειν τὸ παρʼ Ἡρακλείτῳ λεγόμενον ὡς ὁ ἄναξ, οὗ τὸ μαντεῖόν ἐστι τὸ ἐν Δελφοῖς, οὔτε λέγει οὔτε κρύπτει ἀλλὰ σημαίνει. πρόσλαβε δὲ τούτοις εὖ λεγομένοις καὶ νόησον τὸν ἐνταῦθα θεὸν χρώμενον τῇ Πυθίᾳ πρὸς ἀκοήν, καθὼς ἥλιος χρῆται σελήνῃ πρὸς ὄψιν· δείκνυσι μὲν γὰρ καὶ ἀναφαίνει τὰς αὑτοῦ νοήσεις, μεμιγμένας δὲ δείκνυσι διὰ σώματος θνητοῦ καὶ ψυχῆς ἡσυχίαν ἄγειν μὴ δυναμένης μηδὲ τῷ κινοῦντι παρέχειν ἑαυτὴν ἀκίνητον ἐξ αὑτῆς καὶ καθεστῶσαν, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἐν σάλῳ ψοφοῦσαν καὶ συμπλεκομένην τοῖς ἐν αὑτῇ κινήμασι καὶ πάθεσιν ἐπιταράττουσιν αὐτήν. ὡς γὰρ οἱ δῖνοι τῶν ἅμα κύκλῳ καταφερομένων σωμάτων οὐκ ἐπικρατοῦσι βεβαίως, ἀλλὰ κύκλῳ μὲν ὑπʼ ἀνάγκης φερομένων κάτω δὲ φύσει ῥεπόντων γίγνεταί τις ἐξ ἀμφοῖν ταραχώδης καὶ παράφορος ἑλιγμός, οὕτως ὁ καλούμενος ἐνθουσιασμὸς ἔοικε μῖξις εἶναι κινήσεων δυοῖν, τὴν μὲν ὡς πέπονθε τῆς ψυχῆς ἅμα τὴν δʼ ὡς πέφυκε κινουμένης. ὅπου γὰρ ἀψύχοις σώμασι καὶ κατὰ ταὐτὰ μονίμοις οὐκ ἔστι χρήσασθαι παρʼ ὃ πέφυκε βιαζόμενον, οὐδὲ κινῆσαι σφαιρικῶς κύλινδρον ἢ κυβικῶς ἢ λύραν αὐλητικῶς ἢ σάλπιγγα κιθαριστικῶς· ἀλλʼ οὐχ ἕτερον ὡς ἔοικε τὸ τεχνικῶς ἑκάστῳ χρῆσθαι καὶ ὡς πέφυκεν· ἦπου τὸ ἔμψυχον καὶ αὐτοκίνητον ὁρμῆς τε καὶ λόγου μετέχον ἄλλως ἄν τις ἢ κατὰ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ προϋπάρχουσαν ἕξιν ἢ δύναμιν ἢ φύσιν μεταχειρίσαιτο, μουσικῶς κινῶν νοῦν ἄμουσον ἢ γραμματικῶς τὸν ἀγράμματον ἢ λογίως τὸν ἐν λόγοις ἀθεώρητον καὶ ἀνάσκητον; οὐκ ἔστιν εἰπεῖν.

[¶5] 22. “Homer also gives testimony on my side by his assumption that practically nothing is brought to pass for any reason ‘without a god’; he does not, however, represent the god as employing everything for every purpose, but as employing each thing in accordance with the aptitude or faculty that each possesses. Do you not see,” he continued, “my dear Diogenianus, that Athena, when she wishes to persuade the Achaeans, summons Odysseus; when she wishes to bring to naught the oaths, seeks out Pandarus; when she wishes to rout the Trojans, goes to Diomedes? The reason is that Diomedes is a man of great strength and a warrior, Pandarus a bowman and a fool, Odysseus adept at speaking and a man of sense. The fact is that Homer did not have the same idea as Pindar, if it really was Pindar who wrote ‘God willing, you may voyage on a mat;’ but Homer recognized the fact that some faculties and natures are created for some purposes and others for others, and each one of these is moved to action in a different way, even if the power that moves them all be one and the same. Now this power cannot move to flight that which can only walk or run, nor move a lisp to clear speaking, nor a shrill thin voice to melodious utterance. No, in the case of Battus it was for this reason, when he came to consult the oracle for his voice, that the god sent him as a colonist to Africa, because Battus had a lisp and a shrill thin voice, but also had the qualities of a king and a statesman, and was a man or sense. So in the same way it is impossible for the unlettered man who has never read verse to talk like a poet. Even so the maiden who now serves the god here was born of as lawful and honourable wedlock as anyone, and her life has been in all respects proper; but, having been brought up in the home of poor peasants, she brings nothing with her as the result of technical skill or of any other expertness or faculty, as she goes down into the shrine. On the contrary, just as Xenophon believes that a bride should have seen as little and heard as little as possible before she proceeds to her husband’s house, so this girl, inexperienced and uninformed about practically everything, a pure, virgin soul, becomes the associate of the god. Now we cherish the belief that the god, in giving indications to us, makes use of the calls of herons, wrens, and ravens; but we do not insist that these, inasmuch as they are messengers and heralds of the gods, shall express everything rationally and clearly, and yet we insist that the voice and language of the prophetic priestess, like a choral song in the theatre, shall be presented, not without sweetness and embellishment, but also in verse of a grandiloquent and formal style with verbal metaphors and with a flute to accompany its delivery I ” “What statement, then, shall we make about the priestesses of former days?

> Greek: 22. μαρτυρεῖ δέ μοι καὶ Ὅμηρος, αἰτίας μὲν ἄνευ θεοῦ οὐδὲν ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ὑποτιθέμενος περαινόμενον, οὐ μὴν πᾶσι πρὸς πάντα χρώμενον ποιῶν τὸν θεόν, ἀλλʼ ἑκάστῳ καθʼ ἣν ἔχει τέχνην ἢ δύναμιν. ἢ γὰρ οὐχ ὁρᾷς, εἶπεν, ὦ; φίλε Διογενιανέ, τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν, ὅτε πεῖσαι βούλεται τοὺς Ἀχαιούς, τὸν Ὀδυσσέα παρακαλοῦσαν, ὅτε συγχέαι τὰ ὅρκια, τὸν Πάνδαρον ζητοῦσαν, ὅτε τρέψασθαι τοὺς Τρῶας, ἐπὶ τὸν Διομήδην βαδίζουσαν; ὁ μὲν γὰρ εὔρωστος καὶ μάχιμος ὁ δὲ τοξικὸς καὶ ἀνόητος ὁ δὲ δεινὸς εἰπεῖν καὶ φρόνιμος. οὐ γὰρ εἶχεν Ὅμηρος τὴν αὐτὴν Πινδάρῳ διάνοιαν, εἴ γε Πίνδαρος ἦν ὁ ποιήσας θεοῦ θέλοντος, κἂν ἐπὶ ῥιπὸς; πλέοις· ἀλλʼ ἐγίγνωσκεν ἄλλας πρὸς ἄλλα δυνάμεις καὶ φύσεις γεγενημένας, ὧν ἑκάστη κινεῖται διαφόρως, κἂν ἓν ᾖ τὸ κινοῦν ἁπάσας. ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ κινοῦν τὸ πεζὸν οὐ δύναται κινῆσαι πτητικῶς, οὐδὲ τορῶς τὸ τραυλὸν οὐδʼ εὐφώνως τὸ ἰσχνόφωνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν Βάττον, οἶμαι, διὰ τοῦτʼ ἐπὶ τὴν φωνὴν παραγενόμενον εἰς Λιβύην ἔπεμψεν οἰκιστήν, ὅτι τραυλὸς μὲν ἦν καὶ ἰσχνόφωνος βασιλικὸς δὲ καὶ πολιτικὸς καὶ φρόνιμος· οὕτως ἀδύνατον διαλέγεσθαι ποιητικῶς τὸν ἀγράμματον καὶ ἀνήκοον ἐπῶν. ὥσπερ ἡ νῦν τῷ θεῷ λατρεύουσα γέγονε μὲν εἴ τις ἄλλος ἐνταῦθα νομίμως καὶ καλῶς καὶ βεβίωκεν εὐτάκτως· τραφεῖσα δʼ ἐν οἰκίᾳ γεωργῶν πενήτων, οὔτʼ ἀπὸ τέχνης οὐδὲν οὔτʼ ἀπʼ ἄλλης τινὸς ἐμπειρίας καὶ δυνάμεως ἐπιφερομένη κάτεισιν εἰς τὸ χρηστήριον, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ὁ Ξενοφῶν οἴεται δεῖν ἐλάχιστα τὴν νύμφην ἰδοῦσαν ἐλάχιστα δʼ ἀκούσασαν εἰς ἀνδρὸς βαδίζειν, οὕτως ἄπειρος καὶ ἀδαὴς ὀλίγου δεῖν ἁπάντων καὶ παρθένος ὡς ἀληθῶς τὴν ψυχὴν τῷ θεῷ σύνεστιν. ἀλλʼ ἡμεῖς ἐρωδιοῖς οἰόμεθα καὶ τροχίλοις καὶ κόραξι χρῆσθαι φθεγγομένοις σημαίνοντα τὸν θεόν, καὶ οὐκ ἀξιοῦμεν, ᾗ θεῶν ἄγγελοι καὶ κήρυκές εἰσι, λογικῶς ἕκαστα καὶ σαφῶς φράζειν τὴν δὲ τῆς Πυθίας φωνὴν καὶ διάλεκτον ὥσπερ … ἐκ θυμέλης, οὐκ ἀνήδυντον οὐδὲ λιτὴν ἀλλʼ ἐν μέτρῳ καὶ ὄγκῳ καὶ πλάσματι καὶ μεταφοραῖς ὀνομάτων καὶ μετʼ αὐλοῦ φθεγγομένην παρέχειν ἀξιοῦμεν.

[¶6] 23. Not one statement, but more than one, I think. For in the first place, as has already been said, they also gave almost all their responses in prose. In the second place, that era produced personal temperaments and natures which had an easy fluency and a bent towards composing poetry, and to them were given also zest and eagerness and readiness of mind abundantly, thus creating an alertness which needed but a slight initial stimulus from without and a prompting of the imagination, with the result that not only were astronomers and philosophers, as Philinus says, attracted at once to their special subjects, but when men carne under the influence of abundant wine or emotion, as some note of sadness crept in or some joy befell, a poet would slip into ‘tuneful utterance’; their convivial gatherings were filled with amatory verses and their books with such writings. When Euripides said
Love doth the poet teach,
Even though he know naught of the Muse before,
his thought was that Love does not implant in one the poetical or musical faculty, but when it is already existent in one, Love stirs it to activity and makes it fervent, while before it was unnoticed and idle. Or shall we say, my friend, that nobody is in love nowadays, but that love has vanished from the earth because nobody in verse or song
Launches swiftly the shafts
Of sweet-sounding lays
Aimed at the youth beloved,
as Pindar has put it? No, that is absurd. The fact is that loves many in number still go to and fro among men, but, being in association with souls that have no natural talent nor ear for music, they forgo the flute and lyre, but they are no less loquacious and ardent than those of olden time. Besides it is not righteous nor honourable to say that the Academy and Socrates and Plato’s congregation were loveless, for we may read their amatory discourses; but they have left us no poems. As compared with him who says that the only poetess of love was Sappho, how much does he fall short who asserts that the only prophetess was the Sibyl and Aristonica and such others as delivered their oracles in verse? As Chaeremon says, “Wine mixes with the manners of each guest,” and as he drinks, prophetic inspiration, like that of love, makes use of the abilities that it finds ready at hand, and moves each of them that receive it according to the nature of each.”

> Greek: 23. τί οὖν φήσομεν περὶ τῶν παλαιῶν; οὐχ ἓν τὰ πλείονα, οἶμαι. πρῶτον μὲν γάρ, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, τὰ πλεῖστα κἀκεῖναι καταλογάδην ἀπεφθέγγοντο. δεύτερον δὲ καὶ σωμάτων ἤνεγκε κράσεις καὶ φύσεις ὁ χρόνος ἐκεῖνος εὔρουν τι καὶ φορὸν ἐχούσας πρὸς ποίησιν, αἷς εὐθὺς ἐπεγίγνοντο προθυμίαι καὶ ὁρμαὶ καὶ παρασκευαὶ ψυχῆς ἑτοιμότητα ποιοῦσαι μικρᾶς ἔξωθεν ἀρχῆς καὶ παρατροπῆς τοῦ φανταστικοῦ δεομένην, ὡς εὐθὺς ἕλκεσθαι πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον μόνον, ὡς λέγει Φιλῖνος, ἀστρολόγους καὶ φιλοσόφους, ἀλλʼ ἐν οἴνῳ τε πολλῷ καὶ πάθει γιγνομένων, οἴκτου τινος ὑπορρυέντος ἢ χαρᾶς προσπεσούσης, ὠλίσθανον εἰς ἐνῳδὸν … γῆρυν ἐρωτικῶν τε κατεπίμπλαντο μέτρων καὶ ᾀσμάτων τὰ συμπόσια καὶ τὰ βιβλία γραμμάτων. ὁ δʼ Εὐριπίδης εἰπὼν ὡς ἔρως ποιητὴν διδάσκει, κἂν ἄμουσος ᾖ τὸ πρίν ἐνενόησεν, ὅτι ποιητικὴν καὶ μουσικὴν Ἔρως δύναμιν οὐκ ἐντίθησιν, ἐνυπάρχουσαν δὲ κινεῖ καὶ ἀναθερμαίνει λανθάνουσαν καὶ ἀργοῦσαν. ἢ μηδένα νῦν ἐρᾶν, ὦ ξένε, λέγωμεν, ἀλλὰ φροῦδον οἴχεσθαι τὸν ἔρωτα, ὅτι μέτροις οὐδεὶς οὐδʼ ᾠδαῖς ῥίμφα παιδείους ὡς Πίνδαρος ἔφη τοξεύει μελιγάρεας ὕμνους; ἀλλʼ ἄτοπον· ἔρωτες γὰρ ἔτι πολλοὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιστρέφονται, ψυχαῖς δʼ ὁμιλοῦντες οὐκ εὐφυῶς οὐδʼ ἑτοίμως πρὸς μουσικὴν ἐχούσαις, ἄναυλοι μὲν καὶ ἄλυροι λάλοι δʼ οὐδὲν ἧττόν εἰσι καὶ διάπυροι τῶν παλαιῶν· ὅτι οὐδʼ ὅσιον εἰπεῖν ἢ καλὸν ὡς ἀνέραστος ἦν ἡ Ἀκαδήμεια καὶ ὁ Σωκράτους καὶ Πλάτωνος; χορός, ὧν λόγοις μὲν ἐρωτικοῖς ἐντυχεῖν ἔστι, ποιήματα δʼ οὐκ ἀπολελοίπασι. τί δʼ ἀπολείπει τοῦ λέγοντος; ἐρωτικὴν μόνην γεγονέναι Σαπφὼ γυναικῶν ὁ μαντικὴν φάσκων μόνην γεγονέναι Σίβυλλαν καὶ Ἀριστονίκαν καὶ ὅσαι διὰ μέτρων ἐθεμίστευσαν; ὁ μὲν γὰρ οἶνος ὡς ἔλεγε Χαιρήμων τοῖς τρόποις κεράννυται τῶν πινόντων ὁ δὲ μαντικὸς ἐνθουσιασμός, ὥσπερ ὁ ἐρωτικός, χρῆται τῇ ὑποκειμένῃ δυνάμει καὶ κινεῖ τῶν δεξαμένων ἕκαστον καθʼ ὃ πέφυκεν.

[¶7] 24. “If, however, we take into consideration the workings of the god and of divine providence, we shall see that the change has been for the better. For the use of language is like the currency of coinage in trade: the coinage which is familiar and well known is also acceptable, although it takes on a different value at different times. There was, then, a time when men used as the coinage of speech verses and tunes and songs, and reduced to poetic and musical form all history and philosophy and, in a word, every experience and action that required a more impressive utterance. Not only is it a fact that nowadays but few people have even a limited understanding of this diction, but in those days the audience comprised all the people, who were delighted with Pindar’s song, “Shepherds and ploughmen and fowlers as well.” Indeed, owing to this aptitude for poetic composition, most men through lyre and song admonished, spoke out frankly, or exhorted; they attained their ends by the use of myths and proverbs, and besides composed hymns, prayers, and paeans in honour of the gods in verse and music, some through their natural talent, others because it was the prevailing custom. Accordingly, the god did not begrudge to the art of prophecy adornment and pleasing grace, nor did he drive away from here the honoured Muse of the tripod, but introduced her rather by awakening and welcoming poetic natures; and he himself provided visions for them, and helped in prompting impressiveness and eloquence as something fitting and admirable. But, as life took on a change along with the change in men’s fortunes and their natures, when usa ge banished the unusual and did away with the golden topknots and dressing in soft robes, and, on occasion, cut off the stately long hair and caused the buskin to be no longer worn, men accustomed themselves (nor was it a bad thing) to oppose expensive outlay by adorning themselves with economy, and to rate as decorative the plain and simple rather than the ornate and elaborate. So, as language also underwent a change and put off its finery, history descended from its vehicle of versification, and went on foot in prose, whereby the truth was mostly sifted from the fabulous. Philosophy welcomed clearness and teachability in preference to creating amazement, and pursued its investigations through the medium of everyday language. The god put an end to having his prophetic priestess call her own citizens ‘fire-blazers,’ the Spartans ‘snake-devourers,’ men ‘mountain-roamers,’ and rivers ‘mountain-engorgers.’ When he had taken away from the oracles epic versification, strange words, circumlocutions, and vagueness, he had thus made them ready to talk to his consultants as the laws talk to States, or as kings meet with common people, or as pupils listen to teachers, since he adapted the language to what was intelligible and convincing.”

> Greek: 24. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῆς προνοίας σκοποῦντες, ὀψόμεθα πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον γεγενημένην τὴν μεταβολήν. ἀμοιβῇ γὰρ ἔοικε νομίσματος ἡ τοῦ λόγου χρεία, καὶ δόκιμον καὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ σύνηθές ἐστι καὶ γνώριμον, ἄλλην ἐν ἄλλοις χρόνοις ἰσχὺν λαμβάνοντος. ἦν οὖν ὅτε λόγου νομίσμασιν ἐχρῶντο μέτροις καὶ μέλεσι καὶ ᾠδαῖς, πᾶσαν μὲν ἱστορίαν καὶ φιλοσοφίαν πᾶν δὲ πάθος ὡς ἁπλῶς εἰπεῖν καὶ πρᾶγμα σεμνοτέρας φωνῆς δεόμενον εἰς ποιητικὴν καὶ μουσικὴν ἄγοντες. οὐ γὰρ μόνον νῦν ὀλίγοι μόλις ἐπαΐουσι, τότε δὲ πάντες ἠκροῶντο καὶ ἔχαιρον ᾀδομένοις μηλοβόται τʼ ἀρόται τʼ ὀρνιχολόχοι τε κατὰ Πίνδαρον ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ τῆς πρὸς ποιητικὴν ἐπιτηδειότητος οἱ πλεῖστοι διὰ λύρας καὶ ᾠδῆς ἐνουθέτουν ἐπαρρησιάζοντο παρεκελεύοντο, μύθους καὶ παροιμίας ἐπέραινον, ἔτι δʼ ὕμνους θεῶν εὐχὰς παιᾶνας ἐν μέτροις ἐποιοῦντο καὶ μέλεσιν οἱ μὲν διʼ εὐφυΐαν οἱ δὲ διὰ συνήθειαν. οὐκοῦν οὐδὲ μαντικῇ κόσμου καὶ χάριτος ἐφθόνει ὁ θεὸς οὐδʼ ἀπήλαυνεν ἐνθένδε τιμωμένην μοῦσαν τοῦ τρίποδος, ἀλλʼ ἐπήγετο μᾶλλον ἐγείρων τὰς ποιητικὰς φύσεις καὶ ἀσπαζόμενος, αὐτός τε φαντασίας ἐνεδίδου καὶ συνεξώρμα τὸ σοβαρὸν καὶ λόγιον ὡς ἁρμόττον καὶ θαυμαζόμενον. ἐπεὶ δέ, τοῦ βίου μεταβολὴν ἅμα ταῖς τύχαις καὶ ταῖς φύσεσι λαμβάνοντος, ἐξωθοῦσα τὸ περιττὸν ἡ χρεία κρωβύλους τε χρυσοῦς ἀφῄρει καὶ ξυστίδας μαλακὰς ἀπημφίαζε καί που καὶ κόμην σοβαρωτέραν ἀπέκειρε καὶ ὑπέλυσε κόθορνον, οὐ φαύλως ἐθιζομένων ἀντικαλλωπίζεσθαι πρὸς τὴν πολυτέλειαν εὐτελείᾳ καὶ τὸ ἀφελὲς καὶ λιτὸν ἐν κόσμῳ τίθεσθαι μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ σοβαρὸν καὶ περίεργον· οὕτω τοῦ λόγου συμμεταβάλλοντος ἅμα καὶ συναπολυομένου, κατέβη μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν μέτρων ὥσπερ ὀχημάτων ἡ ἱστορία καὶ τῷ πεζῷ μάλιστα τοῦ μυθώδους ἀπεκρίθη τάληθές· φιλοσοφία δὲ τὸ σαφὲς καὶ διδασκαλικὸν ἀσπασαμένη μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ ἐκπλῆττον, διὰ λόγων ἐποιεῖτο τὴν ζήτησιν ἀπέπαυσε δὲ τὴν Πυθίαν ὁ θεὸς πυρικάους μὲν ὀνομάζουσαν τοὺς αὑτῆς πολίτας ὀφιοβόρους δὲ τοὺς Σπαρτιάτας ὀρεᾶνας δὲ τοὺς ἄνδρας ὀρεμπότας δὲ τοὺς ποταμούς· ἀφελὼν δὲ τῶν χρησμῶν ἔπη καὶ γλώσσας καὶ περιφράσεις καὶ ἀσάφειαν, οὕτω διαλέγεσθαι παρεσκεύασε τοῖς χρωμένοις ὡς νόμοι τε πόλεσι διαλέγονται καὶ βασιλεῖς ἐντυγχάνουσι δήμοις καὶ μαθηταὶ διδασκάλων ἀκροῶνται, πρὸς τὸ συνετὸν καὶ πιθανὸν ἁρμοζόμενος.

[¶8] 25. “Men ought to understand thoroughly, as Sophocles says, that the god is
For wise men author of dark edicts aye,
For dull men a poor teacher, if concise.
The introduction of clearness was attended also by a revolution in belief, which underwent a change along with everything else. And this was the result: in days of old what was not familiar or common, but was expressed altogether indirectly and through circumlocution, the mass of people imputed to an assumed manifestation of divine power, and held it in awe and reverence; but in later times, being well satisfied to apprehend all these various things clearly and easily without the attendant grandiloquence and artificiality, they blamed the poetic language with which the oracles were clothed, not only for obstructing the understanding of these in their true meaning and for combining vagueness and obscurity with the communication, but already they were coming to look with suspicion upon metaphors, riddles, and ambiguous statements, feeling that these were secluded nooks of refuge devised for furtive withdrawal and retreat for him that should err in his prophecy. Moreover, there was the oft-repeated tale that certain men with a gift for poetry were wont to sit about close by the shrine waiting to catch the words spoken, and then weaving about them a fabric of extempore hexameters or other verses or rhythms as ‘containers,’ so to speak, for the oracles. I forbear to mention how much blame men like Onomacritus, Prodicus, and Cinaethon have brought upon themselves from the oracles by foisting upon them a tragic diction and a grandiloquence of which they had no need, nor have I any kindly feeling toward their changes.” “However, the thing that most filled the poetic art with disrepute was the tribe of wandering soothsayers and rogues that practised their charlatanry about the shrines of the Great Mother and of Serapis, making up oracles, some using their own ingenuity, others taking by lot from certain treatises oracles for the benefit of servants and womenfolk, who are most enticed by verse and a poetic vocabulary. This, then, is not the least among the reasons why poetry, by apparently lending herself to the service of tricksters, mountebanks, and false prophets, lost all standing with truth and the tripod.”

> Greek: 25. εὖ γὰρ εἰδέναι χρὴ τὸν θεόν, ὥς φησι Σοφοκλῆς,
σοφοῖς μὲν αἰνικτῆρα θεσφάτων ἀεί,
σκαιοῖς δὲ φαῦλον κἀν βραχεῖ διδάσκαλον.
μετὰ δὲ τῆς σαφηνείας καὶ ἡ πίστις οὕτως ἐστρέφετο συμμεταβάλλουσα τοῖς ἄλλοις πράγμασιν, ὥστε πάλαι μὲν τὸ μὴ σύνηθες μηδὲ κοινὸν ἀλλὰ λοξὸν ἀτεχνῶς καὶ περιπεφρασμένον εἰς ὑπόνοιαν θειότητος. ἀνάγοντας ἐκπλήττεσθαι καὶ σέβεσθαι τοὺς πολλούς· ὕστερον δὲ τὸ σαφῶς καὶ ῥᾳδίως, ἕκαστα καὶ μὴ σὺν ὄγκῳ μηδὲ πλάσματι μανθάνειν ἀγαπῶντες ᾐτιῶντο τὴν περικειμένην τοῖς χρησμοῖς ποίησιν, οὐ μόνον ὡς ἀντιπράττουσαν τῇ νοήσει πρὸς τάληθὲς ἀσάφειάν τε καὶ σκιὰν τῷ φραζομένῳ μιγνύουσαν, ἀλλʼ ἢδη καὶ τὰς μεταφορὰς καὶ τὰ αἰνίγματα καὶ τὰς ἀμφιβολίας, ὥσπερ μυχοὺς καὶ καταφυγὰς ἐνδύεσθαι καὶ ἀναχωρεῖν τῷ πταίοντι πεποιημένας τῆς μαντικῆς, ὑφεωρῶντο. πολλῶν δʼ ἦν ἀκούειν ὅτι ποιητικοί τινες ἄνδρες ἐκδεχόμενοι τὰς φωνὰς καὶ ὑπολαμβάνοντες ἐπικάθηνται περὶ τὸ χρηστήριον, ἔπη καὶ μέτρα καὶ ῥυθμοὺς οἷον ἀγγεῖα τοῖς χρησμοῖς ἐκ τοῦ προστυχόντος περιπλέκοντες. Ὀνομάκριτοι δʼ ἐκεῖνοι καὶ Ἡρόδικοι καὶ Κιναίθωνες ὅσην αἰτίαν ἠνέγκαντο τῶν χρησμῶν, ὡς τραγῳδίαν αὐτοῖς καὶ ὄγκον οὐδὲν δεομένοις προσθέντες, ἐῶ λέγειν οὐδὲ προσίεμαι τὰς διαβολάς. πλείστης μέντοι ποιητικὴν ἐνέπλησεν ἀδοξίας τὸ ἀγυρτικὸν καὶ ἀγοραῖον καὶ περὶ τὰ μητρῷα καὶ Σεραπεῖα βωμολοχοῦν καὶ πλανώμενον γένος, οἱ μὲν αὐτόθεν οἱ δὲ κατὰ κλῆρον ἔκ τινων γραμματείων χρησμοὺς περαίνοντες οἰκέταις καὶ γυναίοις ὑπὸ τῶν μέτρων ἀγομένοις μάλιστα καὶ τοῦ ποιητικοῦ τῶν ὀνομάτων ὅθεν οὐχ ἥκισθʼ ἡ ποιητικὴ δοκοῦσα κοινὴν ἐμπαρέχειν ἑαυτὴν ἀπατεῶσι καὶ γόησιν ἀνθρώποις καὶ ψευδομάντεσιν ἐξέπεσε τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τοῦ τρίποδος.

[¶9] 26. “I should not, therefore, be surprised if there j were times when there was need of double entendre, indirect statement, and vagueness for the people of ancient days. As a matter of fact, this or that man assuredly did not go down to consult the oracle about the purchase of a slave or about business. No, powerful States and kings and despots, who cherished no moderate designs, used to appeal to the god regarding their course of action; and it was not to the advantage of those concerned with the oracle to vex and provoke these men by unfriendliness through their hearing many of the things that they did not wish to hear. For the god does not follow Euripides when he asserts as if he were laying down a law:
None but Phoebus ought
For men to prophesy.
But inasmuch as the god employs mortal men to assist him and declare his will, whom it is his duty to care for and protect, so that they shall not lose their lives at the hands of wicked men while ministering to a god, he is not willing to keep the truth unrevealed, but he caused the manifestation of it to be deflected, like a ray of light, in the medium of poetry, where it submits to many reflections and undergoes subdivisions, and thus he did away with its repellent harshness, There were naturally some things which it was well that despots should fail to understand and enemies should not learn beforehand. About these, therefore, he put a cloak of intimations and ambiguities which concealed the communication so far as others were concerned, but did not escape the persons involved nor mislead those that had need to know and who gave their minds to the matter. Therefore anyone is very foolish who, now that conditions have become different, complains and makes unwarranted indictment if the god feels that he must no longer help us in the same way, but in a different way.”

> Greek: 26. οὐ τοίνυν θαυμάσαιμʼ ἄν, εἰ διπλόης τινὸς ἔδει καὶ περιαγωγῆς καὶ ἀσαφείας ἔστιν ὅτε τοῖς παλαιοῖς. οὐ γὰρ ὁ δεῖνα μὰ Δία κατέβαινε περὶ ὠνῆς ἀνδραπόδου χρησόμενος οὐδʼ ὁ, δεῖνα περὶ ἐργασίας, ἀλλὰ πόλεις μέγα δυνάμεναι καὶ βασιλεῖς καὶ τύραννοι μέτριον οὐδὲν φρονοῦντες ἐνετύγχανον τῷ θεῷ περὶ πραγμάτων οὓς ἀνιᾶν καὶ παροξύνειν ἀπεχθείᾳ πολλὰ τῶν ἀβουλήτων ἀκούοντας οὐκ ἐλυσιτέλει τοῖς περὶ τὸ χρηστήριον. οὐ πείθεται γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τῷ Εὐριπίδῃ ὥσπερ νομοθετοῦντι καὶ λέγοντι
Φοῖβον ἀνθρώποις μόνον
χρῆν θεσπιῳδεῖν.
χρώμενος δὲ θνητοῖς ὑπηρέταις καὶ προφήταις, ὧν κήδεσθαι προσήκει καὶ φυλάττειν, ὅπως; ὑπʼ ἀνθρώπων οὐκ ἀπολοῦνται πονηρῶν θεῷ λατρεύοντες, ἀφανίζειν μὲν οὐ θέλει τἀληθές, παρατρέπων δὲ τὴν δήλωσιν αὐτοῦ καθάπερ αὐγὴν ἐν τῇ ποιητικῇ πολλὰς; ἀνακλάσεις λαμβάνουσαν καὶ πολλαχοῦ περισχιζομένην, ἀφῄρει τὸ ἀντίτυπον αὐτοῦ καὶ σκληρόν. ἐχρῆν δʼ ἄρα καὶ τυράννους ἀγνοῆσαι καὶ πολεμίους μὴ προαισθέσθαι. τούτοις οὖν περιέβαλεν ὑπονοίας καὶ ἀμφιλογίας, αἳ πρὸς ἑτέρους ἀποκρύπτουσαι τὸ φραζόμενον, οὐ διέφευγον αὐτοὺς οὐδὲ παρεκρούοντο τοὺς δεομένους καὶ προσέχοντας ὅθεν εὐηθέστατός ἐστιν ὁ τῶν πραγμάτων ἑτέρων γεγονότων, εἰ μηκέτι τὸν αὐτὸν ἡμῖν τρόπον ἀλλʼ ἕτερον οἴεται δεῖν βοηθεῖν ὁ θεός, ἐγκαλῶν καὶ συκοφαντῶν.

[¶10] 27. “Then, besides, there is nothing in poetry more serviceable to language than that the ideas communicated, by being botind up and interwoven with verse, are better remembered and kept firmly in mind. Men in those days had to have a memory for many things. For many things were communicated to them, such as signs for recognizing places, the times for activities, the shrines of gods across the sea, secret burial-places of heroes, hard to find for men setting forth on a distant voyage from Greece. You all, of course, know about Teucer and Cretines and Gnesiochus and Phalanthus and many other leaders of expeditions who had to discover by means of evidential proofs the suitable place of settlement granted to each. Some of these made a mistake, as did Battus. For he thought that he had been forced to land without gaining possession of the place to which he had been sent. Then he came a second time in sore distress. And the god made answer to him:
If without going you know far better than I, who have gone there,
Africa, mother of flocks, then I greatly admire your wisdom,
and with these words sent him forth again.” “Lysander also failed to recognize the hill Orchalides (the other name of which is Alopecus) and the river Hoplites and “Also the serpent, the Earth-born, behind him stealthily creeping,” and was vanquished in battle, and fell in that very place by the hand of Neoehorus, a man of Haliartus, who carried a shield which had as its emblem a snake. Numerous other instances of this sort among the people of olden time, difficult to retain and remember, it is not necessary to rehearse to you who know them.”

> Greek: 27. ἔτι τοίνυν οὐδὲν ἀπὸ ποιητικῆς λόγῳ χρησιμώτερον ὑπάρχει τοῦ δεθέντα μέτροις τὰ φραζόμενα καὶ συμπλακέντα μᾶλλον μνημονεύεσθαι καὶ κρατεῖσθαι. τοῖς μὲν οὖν τότε πολλὴν ἔδει μνήμην παρεῖναι πολλὰ γὰρ ἐφράζετο καὶ τόπων σημεῖα καὶ πράξεων καιροὶ καὶ θεῶν ἱερὰ διαποντίων καὶ ἡρώων ἀπόρρητοι θῆκαι καὶ δυσεξεύρετοι μακρὰν ἀπαίρουσι τῆς Ἑλλάδος. ἴστε γὰρ τὸν χῖον καὶ Κρήτινον καὶ … Νήσιχον καὶ Φάλανθον, ἄλλους τε πολλοὺς ἡγεμόνας στόλων ὅσοις ἔδει τεκμηρίοις ἀνευρεῖν τὴν διδομένην ἑκάστῳ καὶ προσήκουσαν ἵδρυσιν· ὧν ἔνιοι καὶ διημάρτανον, ὥσπερ Βάττος. ἔδοξε γὰρ ἐκπεσεῖν οὐ καταλαβὼν ἐφʼ ὃν ἐπέμφθη τόπον· εἶθʼ ἧκε δεύτερον ποτνιώμενος. ὑπειπὼν οὖν ὁ θεὸς
αἰ τὺ ἐμεῦ Λιβύαν μαλοτρόφον οἶσθας ἄρειον,
μὴ ἐλθὼν ἐλθόντος, ἄγαν ἄγαμαι σοφίην σευ·
οὕτω πάλιν αὐτὸν ἐξέπεμψε. Λύσανδρος δὲ καὶ παντάπασιν ἀγνοήσας τὸν Ὀρχαλίδην λόφον καὶ Ἀλώπεκον προσαγορευόμενον καὶ τὸν Ὁπλίτην ποταμὸν γῆς τε δράκονθʼ υἱὸν δόλιον κατόπισθεν ἰόντα, μάχῃ κρατηθεὶς ἔπεσεν ἐν τοῖς τόποις ἐκείνοις ὑπὸ Νεοχώρου Ἁλιαρτίου ἀνδρὸς ἀσπίδα φοροῦντος ἐπίσημον ὄφιν ἔχουσαν. ἄλλα δὲ τοιαῦτα πολλὰ δυσκάθεκτα καὶ δυσμνημόνευτα τῶν παλαιῶν διεξιέναι πρὸς ὑμᾶς εἰδότας οὐκ ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι.

[¶11] 28. “For my part, I am well content with the settled conditions prevailing at present, and I find them very welcome, and the questions which men now put to the god are concerned with these conditions. There is, in fact, profound peace and tranquillity; war has ceased, there are no wanderings of peoples, no civil strifes, no despotisms, nor other maladies and ills in Greece requiring many unusual remedial forces. Where there is nothing complicated or secret or terrible, but the interrogations are on slight and commonplace matters, like the hypothetical questions in school: if one ought to marry, or to start on a voyage, or to make a loan; and the most important consultations on the part of States concern the yield from crops, the increase of herds, and public health — to clothe such things in verse, to devise circumlocutions, and to foist strange words upon inquiries that call for a simple short answer is the thing done by an ambitious pedant embellishing an oracle to enhance his repute. But the prophetic priestess has herself also nobility of character, and whenever she descends into that place and finds herself in the presence of the god, she cares more for fulfilling her function than for that kind of repute or for men’s praise or blame.”

> Greek: 28. τὰ δὲ νῦν πράγματα καθεστῶτα, περὶ ὧν ἐρωτῶσι τὸν θεόν, ἀγαπῶ μὲν ἔγωγε καὶ ἀσπάζομαι· πολλὴ γὰρ εἰρήνη καὶ ἡσυχία, πέπαυται δὲ πόλεμος, καὶ πλάναι καὶ στάσεις οὐκ εἰσὶν οὐδὲ τυραννίδες, οὐδʼ ἄλλα νοσήματα καὶ κακὰ τῆς Ἑλλάδος ὥσπερ πολυδυνάμων φαρμάκων χρῄζοντα καὶ περιττῶν. ὅπου δὲ ποικίλον οὐδὲν οὐδʼ ἀπόρρητον οὐδὲ δεινόν, ἀλλʼ ἐπὶ πράγμασι μικροῖς καὶ δημοτικοῖς ἐρωτήσεις οἷον ἐν σχολῇ προτάσεις εἰ γαμητέον εἰ πλευστέον εἰ δανειστέον τὰ δὲ μέγιστα πόλεων μαντεύματα φορᾶς καρπῶν πέρι καὶ βοτῶν ἐπιγονῆς καὶ σωμάτων ὑγιείας· ἐνταῦθα περιβάλλειν μέτρα καὶ πλάττειν περιφράσεις καὶ γλώσσας ἐπάγειν πύσμασιν ἁπλῆς καὶ συντόμου δεομένοις ἀποκρίσεως, ἔργον ἐστὶ φιλοτίμου σοφιστοῦ καλλωπίζοντος ἐπὶ δόξῃ χρηστήριον. ἡ δὲ Πυθία καὶ καθʼ αὑτὴν μέν ἐστι γενναία τὸ ἦθος, ὅταν δʼ ἐκεῖ κατέλθῃ καὶ γένηται παρὰ τῷ θεῷ, πλέον ἀληθείας ἢ δόξης ἐκείνῃ μέλει καὶ ἀνθρώπων ἐπαινούντων ἢ ψεγόντων.

[¶12] 29. “We also, perhaps, ought to have this frame of mind. But as it is, we act as if we were anxious and fearful lest the place here lose the repute of its three thousand years, and some few persons should cease to come here, contemning the oracle as if it were the lecturing of some popular speaker; and we offer a plea in defence and invent reasons and arguments for matters which we do not understand, and which it is not fitting that we should understand. We try to appease and win over the man who complains, instead of bidding him take his leave for all time, “Since for himself first of all it will prove to be more distressing,” if the opinion which he holds about the god is such that he can accept and admire the maxims of the Wise Men inscribed here, ‘Know thyself’ and ‘Avoid extremes,’ because of their conciseness especially, since this very conciseness contains in small compass a compact and firmly=forged sentiment, and yet he can impeach the oracles because they give nearly all their communications in brief, simple, and straightforward language. Now such sayings as these of the Wise Men are in the same case with streams forced into a narrow channel, for they do not keep the transparency or translucence of the sentiment, but if you will investigate what has been written and said about them by men desirous of learning fully the why and wherefore of each, you will not easily find more extensive writings on any other subject. And as for the language of the prophetic priestess, just as the mathematicians call the shortest of lines between two points a straight line, so her language makes no bend nor curve nor doubling nor equivocation, but is straight in relation to the truth; yet, in relation to men’s confidence in it, it is insecure and subject to scrutiny, but as yet it has afforded no proof of its being wrong. On the contrary, it has filled the oracular shrine with votive offerings and gifts from barbarians and Greeks, and has adorned it with beautiful buildings and embellishments provided by the Amphictyonic Council. You yourselves, of course, see many additions in the form of buildings not here before and many restored that were dilapidated and in ruins. As beside flourishing trees others spring up, so also does Pylaea grow in vigour along with Delphi and derives its sustenance from the same source; because of the affluence here it is acquiring a pattern and form and an adornment of shrines and meeting-places and supplies of water such as it has not acquired in the last thousand years.” “They that lived in the neighbourhood of Galaxium in Boeotia became aware of the manifest presence of the god by reason of the copious and overabundant flow of milk:
From all the flocks and all the kine
Like purest water from the springs
Milk in abundance welling down
Made music in the milking-pails.
And all the folk in eager haste
Filled every household vessel full;
Wineskin and jar were put to use,
Each wooden pail and earthen tun.
But for us the god grants clearer, stronger, and plainer evidence than this by bringing about after a drought, so to speak, of earlier desolation and poverty, affluence, splendour, and honour. It is true that I feel kindly toward myself in so far as my zeal or services may have furthered these matters with the co-operation of Polycrates and Petraeus; and I feel kindly toward the man who has been the leader in our administration and has planned and carried out practically all that has been done. But it is not possible that a change of such sort and of such magnitude could ever have been brought about in a short time through human diligence if a god were not present here to lend divine inspiration to his oracle.”

> Greek: 29. ἔδει δʼ ἴσως καὶ ἡμᾶς ἔχειν οὕτως· νῦν δʼ ὥσπερ ἀγωνιῶντες καὶ δεδιότες, μὴ τρισχιλίων ἐτῶν ἀποβάλῃ δόξαν ὁ τόπος καὶ τοῦ χρηστηρίου καθάπερ σοφιστοῦ διατριβῆς ἀποφοιτήσωσιν ἔνιοι καταφρονήσαντες, ἀπολογούμεθα καὶ πλάσσομεν αἰτίας καὶ λόγους ὑπὲρ ὧν οὔτʼ ἴσμεν οὔτʼ εἰδέναι προσῆκον ἡμῖν ἐστι· παραμυθούμενοι τὸν ἐγκαλοῦντα καὶ πείθοντες, οὐ χαίρειν ἐῶντες· αὐτῷ γάρ οἱ πρῶτον ἀνιηρώτερον ἔσται τοιαύτην ἔχοντι περὶ τοῦ θεοῦ δόξαν· ὥστε ταυτὶ μὲν τὰ προγεγραμμένα τῶν σοφῶν τό γνῶθι σαυτόν καὶ τὸ μηδὲν ἄγαν ἀποδέχεσθε καὶ θαυμάζειν οὐχ ἣκιστα διὰ τὴν βραχυλογίαν ὡς πυκνὸν καὶ σφυρήλατον νοῦν ἐν ὀλίγῳ περιέχουσαν ὄγκῳ, τοὺς δὲ χρησμοὺς ὅτι συντόμως καὶ ἁπλῶς καὶ διʼ εὐθείας τὰ πλεῖστα φράζουσιν αἰτιᾶσθε. καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα μὲν ἀποφθέγματα τῶν σοφῶν ταὐτὸν τοῖς εἰς στενὸν συνθλιβεῖσι πέπονθε ῥεύμασιν οὐ γὰρ ἔχει τοῦ νοῦ δίοψιν οὐδὲ διαύγειαν, ἀλλʼ ἐὰν σκοπῇς τί γέγραπται καὶ λέλεκται περὶ αὐτῶν τοῖς ὅπως ἕκαστον ἔχει βουλομένοις καταμαθεῖν, οὐ ῥᾳδίως τούτων λόγους ἑτέρους εὑρήσεις μακροτέρους. ἡ δὲ τῆς Πυθίας διάλεκτος, ὥσπερ οἱ μαθηματικοὶ γραμμὴν εὐθεῖαν καλοῦσι τὴν ἐλαχίστην τῶν ταὐτὰ πέρατʼ ἐχουσῶν, οὕτως οὐ ποιοῦσα καμπὴν οὐδὲ κύκλον οὐδὲ διπλόην οὐδʼ ἀμφιβολίαν ἀλλʼ εὐθεῖα πρὸς τὴν ἀλήθειαν οὖσα πρὸς δὲ πίστιν ἐπισφαλὴς καὶ ὑπεύθυνος οὐδένα καθʼ αὑτῆς ἔλεγχον ἄχρι νῦν παραδέδωκεν, ἀναθημάτων δὲ καὶ δώρων ἐμπέπληκε βαρβαρικῶν καὶ Ἑλληνικῶν τὸ χρηστήριον, οἰκοδομημάτων δʼ ἐκαλλώπισε κάλλεσι καὶ κατασκευαῖς Ἀμφικτυονικαῖς. ὁρᾶτε δήπουθεν αὐτοὶ πολλὰ μὲν ἐπεκτισμένα τῶν πρότερον οὐκ ὄντων, πολλὰ δʼ ἀνειλημμένα τῶν συγκεχυμένων καὶ διεφθαρμένων. ὡς δὲ τοῖς εὐθαλέσι τῶν δένδρων ἕτερα παραβλαστάνει, καὶ τοῖς Δελφοῖς ἡ Πυλαία συνηβᾷ καὶ συναναβόσκεται, διὰ τὰς ἐντεῦθεν εὐπορίας σχῆμα λαμβάνουσα καὶ μορφὴν καὶ κόσμον ἱερῶν καὶ συνεδρίων καὶ ὑδάτων οἷον ἐν χιλίοις ἔτεσι τοῖς πρότερον οὐκ ἔλαβεν. οἱ μὲν οὖν περὶ τὸ Γαλάξιον τῆς Βοιωτίας κατοικοῦντες ᾔσθοντο τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν ἀφθονίᾳ καὶ περιουσίᾳ γάλακτος
προβάτων γὰρ ἐκ πάντων κελάρυξεν,
ὡς ἀπὸ κρηνᾶν φέρτατον ὕδωρ,
θάλεον γάλα· τοὶ δʼ ἐπίμπλων ἐσσύμενοι πίθους·
ἀσκὸς δʼ οὐδέ τις ἀμφορεὺς ἐλίνυʼ ἐν δόμοις,
πέλλαι γὰρ ξύλινοί τε πίθοι πλᾶσθεν ἅπαντες.
ἡμῖν δὲ λαμπρότερα καὶ κρείττονα καὶ σαφέστερα σημεῖα τούτων ἀναδίδωσιν, ὥσπερ ἐξ αὐχμοῦ τῆς πρόσθεν ἐρημίας καὶ πενίας εὐπορίαν καὶ λαμπρότητα καὶ τιμὴν πεποιηκώς. καίτοι φιλῶ μὲν ἐμαυτὸν ἐφʼ οἷς ἐγενόμην εἰς τὰ πράγματα ταῦτα πρόθυμος καὶ χρήσιμος μετὰ Πολυκράτους καὶ Πετραίου, φιλῶ δὲ τὸν καθηγεμόνα ταύτης τῆς πολιτείας γενόμενον ἡμῖν καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα τούτων ἐκφροντίζοντα καὶ παρασκευάζοντα … ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἔστιν ἄλλως ὅτι τηλικαύτην καὶ τοσαύτην μεταβολὴν ἐν ὀλίγῳ χρόνῳ γενέσθαι διʼ ἀνθρωπίνης ἐπιμελείας, μὴ θεοῦ παρόντος ἐνταῦθα καὶ συνεπιθειάζοντος τὸ χρηστήριον.

[¶13] 30. “But, just as in those days there were people who complained of the obliquity and vagueness of the oracles, so to-day there are people who make an unwarranted indictment against their extreme simplicity. Such an attitude of mind is altogether puerile and silly. It is a fact that children take more delight and satisfaction in seeing rainbows, haloes, and comets than in seeing moon and sun; and so these persons yearn for the riddles, allegories, and metaphors which are but reflections of the prophetic art when it acts upon a human imagination. And if they cannot ascertain to their satisfaction the reason for the change, they go away, after pronouncing judgement against the god, but not against us nor against themselves for being unable by reasoning to attain to a comprehension of the god’s purpose.”

> Greek: 30. ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς τότε χρόνοις ἦσαν οἱ τὴν λοξότητα τῶν χρησμῶν καὶ ἀσάφειαν αἰτιώμενοι, καὶ νῦν εἰσὶν οἱ τὸ λίαν ἁπλοῦν συκοφαντοῦντες. ὧν παιδικόν ἐστι κομιδῇ καὶ ἀβέλτερον τὸ πάθος· ὡς γὰρ οἱ παῖδες ἴριδας μᾶλλον καὶ ἅλως καὶ κομήτας ἢ σελήνην καὶ ἥλιον ὁρῶντες γεγήθασι καὶ ἀγαπῶσι, καὶ οὗτοι τὰ αἰνίγματα καὶ τὰς ἀλληγορίας καὶ τὰς μεταφορὰς τῆς μαντικῆς ἀνακλάσεις οὔσας πρὸς τὸ θνητὸν καὶ φανταστικόν, ἐπιποθοῦσι κἂν τὴν αἰτίαν μὴ ἱκανῶς πύθωνται τῆς μεταβολῆς, ἀπίασι τοῦ θεοῦ καταγνόντες, οὐχ ἡμῶν οὐδʼ αὑτῶν ὡς ἀδυνάτων ὄντων ἐξικνεῖσθαι τῷ λογισμῷ πρὸς τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ διάνοιαν.