hispers in the ear of Mercury what he requires to know,
then he stops his ears, goes out of the temple, and the first words
which he hears from the first person he meets are held as the answer
of the god.

The Greeks acknowledge that they received from the Egyptians both the
names of their gods and their most ancient oracles; amongst others
that of Dodona, which was already much resorted to in the time of
Homer,[184] and which came from the oracle of Jupiter of Thebes: for
the Egyptian priests related that two priestesses of that god had been
carried off by Phoenician merchants, who had sold them, one into
Libya and the other into Greece.[185] Those of Dodona related that two
black doves had flown from Thebes of Egypt--that the one which had
stopped at Dodona had perched upon a beech-tree, and had declared in an
articulate voice that the gods willed that an oracle of Jupiter should
be established in this place; and that the other, having flown into
Lybia, had there formed or founded the oracle of Jupiter Ammon. These
origins are certainly very frivolous and very fabulous. The Oracle of
Delphi is more recent and more celebrated. Phemonoe was the first
priestess of Delphi, and began in the time of Acrisius, twenty-seven
years before Orpheus, Musaeus, and Linus. She is said to have been the
inventress of hexameters.

But I think I can remark vestiges of oracles in Egypt, from the time
of the patriarch Joseph, and from the time of Moses. The Hebrews had
dwelt for 215 years in Egypt, and having multiplied there exceedingly,
had begun to form a separate people and a sort of republic. They had
imbibed a taste for the ceremonies, the superstitions, the customs,
and the idolatry of the Egyptians.

Joseph was considered the cleverest diviner and the greatest expounder
of dreams in Egypt. They believed that he derived his oracles from the
inspection of the liquor which he poured into his cup. Moses, to cure
the Hebrews of their leaning to the idolatry and superstitions of
Egypt, prescribed to them laws and ceremonies which favored his
design; the first, diametrically opposite to those of the Egyptians;
the second, bearing some resemblance to theirs in appearance, but
differing both in their aim and circumstances.

For instance, the Egyptians were accustomed to consult diviners,
magicians, interpreters of dreams, and augurs; all which things are
forbidden to the Hebrews by Moses, on pain of rigorous punishment; but
in order th