ORACLE. 
the minion of Alexander, and Antinous, &c. &c. for which 
an Dal a r 
jen eres 
* Mr. Bay le obferves, that at firft it gave its anfwers in 
verfe ; aid that it fell at length to profe, upon the people’s 
augh at the poornefs of its verfification. The 
hould a a much worfe Homer, w 
red. By the railleries of thefe philofophers, 
and Peripatetics, the 
of ae cael of De 
At the oracle of Am mmon, the priefts ganas the 
were a Kin 
according to the here they were n fome 
temples, the perfon threw 2 himfelf; in eee they 
ence came the proverbial ex- 
was 
their Topper 
Ablanconrt obferves, that the ftudy or refearch of the 
torians relate, that eae was tricked by the ambiguity 
and equivocation of the or 
Kposros AAvy ew psloodny copreny xocladusee. 
Thus rendered in Latin: 
“ Creefus Halym fuperans magnam pervertet opum vim.’? 
Thus, if the Lydian monarch had conquered Cyrus, he 
overthrew the Affyrian empire; if he himfelf was routed, 
he overturned his own. That delivered to Pyrrhus, which 
is comprifed in this Latin verfe, 
ss Credo equidem facidas Romanos vincere poffe,’’ 
had the fame advantage ; ‘for, according to the rules of 
fyntax, either of the two accufatives may be governed by 
the verb, and the verfe be explained, sas by faying the 
Romans fhall corquer the Alacidez, of whom te was 
defcended, or thofe fhall conquer the Rom 
Alexander fell ig at cng fome of his oe who 
happened to be r who went thither on purpofe, 
pafled the ee in the aoe of Serapis, to enquire if it 
would ity be proper to bring Alexander to be cured b 
him. od anfwered, it was hago that eee 
fhould remain where he was. This in all events was a ver 
y him the 
fatigue of the et If he died, it was but faying he 
died in a favourable jun€ture after fo many conquefts; which, 
had he lived, he could neither have enlarged nor preferved. 
That is aétually the conftruétion they put upon the oa ce vi ; 
whereas had Alexander undertaken the journey, and died in 
the temple, or by the way, nothing could have been faid j in 
favour of Serapis. 
When Trajan had formed the defign of his expedition 
againft the Parthians, he was advifed to confult the oracle 
of Heliopolis, to which he had no more to do but fen 
od, wherein he enquired, whether he fhould return to 
ome after finifhing the war he had in ; e god, as 
Macrobius tells the ftory, ordered a vine, which among 
the offerings of his temple, to be divided into pieces, and 
brought to Trajan. The event juitified the oracle ; for the 
emperor dying in that his bones were carried to Rome, 
hich had'been reprefented by that broken vine. As the 
prietts of that oracle, knew T'rajan’s defign, ch was 
fecret, they happy devifed that refponfe, which, in all 
ble 
was Capa le i e 
he routed oe hen the Parthians in pieces, or if his army met 
with the fa 
Sometimes the a inoules of the oracles were mere banter, 
as in the cafe of the wifhed to kno 
yon wanting a cure for 
the gout, was sawed. by the onde aha he was to drink 
nothing but cold water. 
There are two points in difpute on the fubje& of oracles; 
viz. whether they were human, or diabolical machines; an 
whether or not is ceafed upon the publication or preaching 
of the gofp 
Molt of ae fathers of the church fuppofed that the devil 
iffued oracles ; and looked on it as a pleafu 
laugh at a 
1 ease in sede, but thinks that the obfcurity of he ante 
owing to his ignorance as to the precife circumftances o 
. ‘That artfyl and ftudied obfcurity, in which the 
i ins were Seaclel: fays he, fhewed the embarrafs the 
devil was under; as thofe double meanings they ufually 
bore provided for their accomplifhm Where the thing 
foretold did not happen aceondingly; “he oracle, forfooth, 
was mifunderftood. 
Enfebius bay preferved fome a. of a: Pe ee 
called Oenomaus; who, out of refentment for his 
futation of all their impertinencies: 
confult thee,”’ fays he tq Apollo, “if thou feeft what is in 
futurity, — doft ate ufe expreffions that will not be 
underftood? Doft thou not know, that they will not be 
seca ei If thou doft, thou takeft pleafure in abufing 
us; if thou dof not, be informed of us, and learn to 
q 
Creefus 
and that it could fignify poe but Creefus’s congas 
3 
