FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95  
96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   >>   >|  
Ter novies carmen magico demurmurat ore. Jam ciet infernas magico stridore catervas, Jam jubet aspersum lacte referre pedem. Cum libet, haec tristi depellit nubila coelo; Cum libet, aestivo provocat orbe nives." _Ovid. Metamorph._ 14. [178] "Nais nam ut cantu, nimiumque potentibus herbis Verterit in tacitos juvenilia corpora pisces." [179] "Vipereo generi et graviter spirantibus hydris Spargere qui somnos cantuque manque solebat," CHAPTER XV. OF THE PAGAN ORACLES. If it were well proved that the oracles of pagan antiquity were the work of the evil spirit, we could give more real and palpable proofs of the apparition of the demon among men than these boasted oracles, which were given in almost every country in the world, among the nations which passed for the wisest and most enlightened, as the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Persians, Syrians, even the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. Even the most barbarous people were not without their oracles. In the pagan religion there was nothing esteemed more honorable, or more complacently boasted of. In all their great undertakings they had recourse to the oracle; by that was decided the most important affairs between town and town, or province and province. The manner in which the oracles were rendered was not everywhere the same. It is said[180] the bull Apis, whose worship was anciently established in Egypt, gave out his oracles on his receiving food from the hand of him who consulted. If he received it, say they, it was considered a good omen; if he refused it, this was a bad augury. When this animal appeared in public, he was accompanied by a troop of children, who sang hymns in his honor; after which these boys were filled with sacred enthusiasm, and began to predict future events. If the bull went quietly into his lodge, it was a happy sign;[181] if he came out, it was the contrary. Such was the blindness of the Egyptians. There were other oracles also in Egypt:[182] as those of Mercury, Apollo, Hercules, Diana, Minerva, Jupiter Ammon, &c., which last was consulted by Alexander the Great. But Herodotus remarks that in his time there were neither priests nor priestesses who uttered oracles. They were derived from certain presages, which they drew by chance, or from the movements of the statues of the gods, or from the first voice which they heard after having consulted. Pausanias says[183] that he who consults w
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95  
96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

oracles

 

consulted

 

magico

 
Egyptians
 
province
 

boasted

 
accompanied
 

public

 

refused

 

children


appeared
 

augury

 

animal

 

carmen

 

worship

 
anciently
 

established

 

demurmurat

 

received

 
considered

novies

 
receiving
 

sacred

 

priests

 

priestesses

 

uttered

 

derived

 
Alexander
 

remarks

 

Herodotus


presages

 

Pausanias

 

consults

 

chance

 

movements

 

statues

 

quietly

 

events

 

enthusiasm

 

future


predict

 

contrary

 

Apollo

 

Mercury

 

Hercules

 

Jupiter

 
Minerva
 

blindness

 

filled

 

cantuque