Pythia

But it would seem that some divinely ordered fortune in the revolution of affairs, which was putting an end at this time to the freedom of the Greeks, opposed their efforts, and showed forth many signs of what was to come.

Along these were the dire prophecies which the Pythian priestess made known, from an ancient oracle which was recited from the Sibylline books.

Quote, From the battle on Thermodon may I be far removed.

No To behold it like an eagle in clouds in upper air.

How this matter really stands, then, it is difficult to decide.

But as for Demosthenes, he is said to have had complete confidence in the Greek forces, and to have been lifted into a state of glowing excitement by the strength and ardor of so many men eager to engage the enemy, so that he would not suffer his countrymen to give heed to oracles or to listen to prophecies.

Nay, he even suspected the Pythian priestess of being in sympathy with Philip, reminding the Thebans of Epaminondas and the Athenians of Pericles, and declaring those great leaders regarded things of this kind as pretexts for cowardice, and therefore followed the dictates of reason.

Up to this point, then, he was a brave man, but in battle he displayed no conduct that was honorable or consonant with his words, but forsook his post, cast away his arms, and ran away most disgracefully, nor was he ashamed to belie the inscription on his shield, as Pythia said, whereon was written in letters of gold, "With good fortune." Immediately after his victory, then, Philip waxed insolent for joy, and going forth in revel rout to see the bodies of the slain, and being in his cups, recited the beginning of the decree introduced by Demosthenes, dividing it into feet and marking off the time.

When he saw her growing up to be tall and slender and wise, he wondered if, after all, he would have to die some time and leave his lands and his gold and his kingdom to her.

So he sent to Delphi and asked the Pythia about it.

The Pythia told him that he would not only have to die some time, but that the son of his daughter would cause his death.

This frightened the king very much, and he tried to think of some plan by which he could keep the Pythia's words from coming true.

At last he made up his mind that he would build a prison for his daughter and keep her in it all her life.

so he called his workmen and had them dig a deep round hole in the ground and in this hole they built a house of brass which he had but one room and no door at all but only a small window at the top when it was finished the king put the maiden whose name was dhania into it and with her he put her nurse and her toys and her pretty dresses and everything that he thought she would need to make her happy now we shall see that the pithia does not always tell the truth he said so dhania was kept shut up in the prison of brass she had no one to talk to but her old nurse and she never saw the land or the sea but only the blue sky above the open window and now and then a white cloud sailing across day after day she sat under the window and wondered why her father kept her in that lonely place and whether he would ever come and take her out i do not know how many years passed by but zania grew fairer every day and by and by she was no longer a child but a tall and beautiful woman and jupiter amid the clouds looked down and saw her and loved her One day it seemed to her that the sky opened, and a shower of gold fell through the window into the room, and when the blinding shower had ceased, a noble young man stood smiling before her.

For four years she and the nurse kept him hidden, and not even the women who brought their food to the window knew about him.

But one day the king chanced to be passing by and heard the child's prattle.

And I knew gosh darn well the answer was no.

There was no philosophical dilemma occurring, no crisis of sovereignty, no need to consult the Oracle of Delphi.

I was basically asking myself, mother, may I have the sugary sweet? And mother looked at me and said, Jessica, the sugar is the devil and cannot be permitted into this home.

Meaning apparently my body is a temple and we're establishing zoning restrictions.

They make a lot of decisions about who the next leaders will be.

And the priestess, because they had a very rich and vibrant spiritual life, the priestess was sort of like the Oracle of Delphi.

She was the one that they went to, the chiefs went to.

They actually had to pay her.

It was time for ambitious men to make their move.

Nero consulted the Delphic Oracle, asking how long he might expect to live.

The reply, cryptic and ironic as ever, was, beware the age of 73.

Being 31, Nero rejoiced that he had 42 years to live.

however let us for the present confine ourselves to a defence of the prophets in continuation of what we have said in the subject before celsus goes on to say of us they set no value on the oracles of the pythian priestess of the priests of dododa of clarus of Branchidae, of Jupiter Ammon, and a multitude of others, although under their guidance we may say that colonies were sent forth, and the whole world peopled.

But those sayings which were uttered were not uttered in Judea, after the manner of that country, as indeed they are still delivered among the people of Phoenicia and Palestine.

These they look upon as marvelous sayings, and unchangeably true." In regard to the oracles here enumerated, we reply that it would be possible for us to gather from the writings of Aristotle and the Peripatetic school not a few things to overthrow the authority of the Pythian and the other oracles.

From Epicurus also and his followers, we could quote passages to show that even among the Greeks themselves, there were some who utterly discredited the oracles which were recognized and admired throughout the whole of Greece.

let it be granted that the responses delivered by the pythian and other oracles were not the utterances of false men who pretended to a divine inspiration and let us see if after all we can not convince any sincere inquirers that there is no necessity to attribute these oracular responses to any divinities but that on the other hand they may be traced to wicked demons to spirits which are at enmity with the human race and which in this way wish to hinder the soul from rising upwards from following the path of virtue and from returning to god in sincere piety it is said of the pythian priestess whose oracle seems to have been the most celebrated that when she sat down at the mouth of the castilian cave the prophetic spirit of apollo entered her private parts and when she was filled with it she gave utterance to responses which are regarded with awe as divine truths judge by this whether that spirit does not show its profane and impure nature by choosing to enter the soul of a prophetess not through the more becoming medium of the bodily pores which are both open and invisible but by means of what no modest man would ever see or speak of and this occurs not once or twice which would be more permissible but as often as she was believed to receive inspiration from apollo moreover it is not the part of a divine spirit to drive the prophetess into such a state of ecstasy and madness that she loses control of herself for he who is under the influence of the divine spirit ought to be the first to receive the beneficial effects and these ought not to be first enjoyed by the persons who consult the oracle about the concerns of natural or civil life or for purposes of temporal gain or interest and moreover that should be the time of clearest perception when a person is in close intercourse with the deity accordingly we can show from an examination of the sacred scriptures that the jewish prophets who were enlightened as far as was necessary for their prophetic work by the spirit of god were the first to enjoy the benefit of the inspiration and by the contact if i may so say of the holy spirit they became clearer in mind and their souls were filled with a brighter light and the body no longer served as a hindrance to a virtuous life for to that which we call the lust of the flesh it was deadened for we are persuaded that the divine spirit mortifies the deeds of the body and destroys that enmity against god which the carnal passions serve to excite if then the pythian priestess is beside herself when she prophesies what spirit must that be which fills her mind and clouds her judgment with darkness unless it be of the same order of those demons which many christians cast out of persons possessed with them and this we may observe they do without the use of any curious arts or magic or incantations but merely by prayer and simple adjurations which the plainest person can use because for the most part it is unlettered persons who perform this work thus making manifest the grace which is in the word of christ and the despicable weakness of demons which in order to be overcome and driven out of the bodies and souls of men do not require the power and wisdom of those who are mighty in argument and most learned in matters of faith moreover it is believed not only among christians and jews but also by many others among the greeks and barbarians that the human soul lives and subsists after its separation from the body and if reason supports the idea that pure souls which are not weighed down with sin as with a weight of lead ascend on high to the region of purer and more ethereal bodies leaving here below their grosser bodies along with their impurities whereas souls that are polluted and dragged down to the earth by their sins so that they are unable even to breathe upwards wander hither and thither at some times about sepulchres where they appear as the apparitions of shadowy spirits at others among other objects on the ground if this is so what are we to think of those spirits that are attached for entire ages as i may say to particular dwellings and places whether by a sort of magical force or by their own natural wickedness are we not compelled by reason to set down as evil such spirits as employ the power of prophesying a power in itself neither good nor bad for the purpose of deceiving men and thus turn them away from god and from the purity of his service it is moreover evident that this is their character when we add that they delight in the blood of victims and in the smoke and odour of sacrifices and that they feed their bodies on these and that they take pleasure in such haunts as these as though they sought in them the sustenance of their lives in this resembling those depraved men who despise the purity of a life apart from the senses and who have no inclination except for the pleasures of the body and for that earthly and bodily life in which these pleasures are found if the delphian apollo were a god as the greeks suppose would he not rather have chosen as his prophet some wise man or if such an one was not to be found than one who was endeavouring to become wise how came he not to prefer a man to a woman for the utterance of his prophecies and if he preferred the latter sex as though he could only find pleasure in the breast of a woman why did he not choose among women a virgin to interpret his will but no the pythian so much admired among the greeks judged no wise man nay no man at all worthy of the divine possession as they call it and among women he did not choose a virgin, or one recommended by her wisdom, or by her attainments in philosophy, but he selects a common woman.

and he who says that i have speaks falsely and is taking away my character and here o men of athens i must beg you not to interrupt me even if i seem to say something extravagant for the word which i will speak is not mine i will refer you to a witness who is worthy of credit that witness shall be the god of delphi he will tell you about my wisdom if i have any and of what sort it is you must have known cheraphon he was an early friend of mine and also a friend of yours for he shared in the recent exile of the people and returned with you Well, Cheriphon, as you know, was very impetuous in all his doings, and he went to Delphi and boldly asked the oracle to tell him whether, as I was saying, I must beg you not to interrupt, he asked the oracle to tell him whether any one was wiser than I was.

And the Pythian prophetess answered that there was no man wiser.

Cheriphon is dead himself, but his brother who is in court will confirm the truth of what I am saying.

Why do I mention this? Because I am going to explain to you why I have such an evil name.