CHAP. XII. ORACLES. lol 



purpose, who carried the questions in writing, ac- 

 cording to a proper formuhi *, and deposited them 

 sealed in the temple, the answers being returned 

 in the same secret and ceremonious manner. Zo- 

 simus relates, that in the time of Constantius, some 

 of the sealed answers, which, as usual, had been left 

 in the temple, were sent to the Emperor, and the 

 discovery of their contents subjected many persons 

 to imprisonment and exile ; apparently in conse- 

 quence of the oracle hav'ing been applied to re- 

 specting the fate of the empire, or the success of 

 some design against his life. 



Different forms were required in consulting dif- 

 ferent oracles. At Aphaca, a town between He- 

 liopolis and Byblus, where Venus had a temple, 

 was a lake, into which those who went to consult 

 the oracle of that Goddess threw presents, of what- 

 ever kind they chose, and derived omens from 

 their sinking, or swimming on the surface. If 

 agreeable to the Goddess, they sank, if not they 

 floated ; and Zosimus states, that in the year pre- 

 ceding their ruin, the offerings of the Palmyrenes 

 sank, and the following year a contrary result pre- 

 dicted the calamity which befell them.t 



" On consulting the god at the Oasis of Ammon, 

 it was customary," says Quintus Curtius, " for tiie 



tanum), et abscntcs missis diplomatibus consignatis : rescribitquc ordiiic 

 ad ea quEu consultationc abdita continentur." 



* Pliny (xxviii. 2.), speaiving of" consulting oracles, says the greatest 

 care was taken lest a word should be omitted, or even pronounccil 

 wrong, and all was according to a set form. Conf. Juvenal. Sat. vi. .390. 



" dictataque verba 

 " Protulit, (ut mos est,) et aperta palluit agna." 

 f Jlcle Banier, Mytholog. tome ii. liv. i. c. i. p. 40. 



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