And well it were, that we ourselves should be so affected. But on the contrary, being in a quandary and
jealousy lest the oracle should lose the reputation it has
had for these three thousand years, and lest people should
forsake it and forbear going to it, we frame excuses to ourselves, and feign causes and reasons of things which we do
not know, and which it is not convenient for us to know;
out of a fond design to persuade the persons thus oddly
dissatisfied, whom it became us rather to let alone. For
certainly the mistake must redound to ourselves,
1 when we
shall have such an opinion of our Deity as to approve and
esteem those ancient and pithy proverbs of wise men,
written at the entrance into the temple, ‘Know thyself,’
‘Nothing to excess,’ as containing in few words a full and
close compacted sentence, and yet find fault with the
modern oracle for delivering answers concise and plain.
Whereas those apophthegms are like waters crowded and
pent up in a narrow room or running between contracted
banks, where we can no movie discern the bottom of the
water than we can the depth and meaning of the sentence.
And yet, if we consider what has been written and said
concerning those sentences by such as have dived into their
signification with an intent to clear their abstruseness, we
shall hardly find disputes more prolix than those are. But
the language of the Pythian priestess is such as the mathematicians define a right line to be, that is to say, the
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shortest that may be drawn betwixt two points. So likewise doth she avoid all winding and circles, all double
meanings and abstruse ambiguities, and proceed directly
to the truth. And though she has been obnoxious to
strict examination, yet is she not to be misconstrued without danger, nor could ever any person to this very day
convict her of falsehood; but on the other side, she has
filled the temple with presents, gifts, and offerings, not only
of the Greeks but barbarians, and adorned the seat of the
oracle with the magnificent structures and fabrics of the
Amphictyons. And we find many additions of new buildings, many reparations of the old ones that were fallen
down or decayed by time. And as we see from trees overgrown with shade and verdant boughs other lesser shoots
sprout up; thus has the Delphian concourse afforded
growth and grandeur to the assembly of the Amphictyons,
which is fed and maintained by the abundance and affluence arising from thence, and has the form and show of
magnificent temples, stately meetings, and sacred waters;
which, but for the ceremonies of the altar, would not have
been brought to perfection in a thousand years. And to
what other cause can we attribute the fertility of the Galaxian Plains in Boeotia but to their vicinity to this oracle,
and to their being blessed with the neighboring influences
of the Deity, where from the well-nourished udders of the
bleating ewes milk flows in copious streams, like water
from so many fountain-heads?
Their pails run o'er, and larger vessels still
With rich abundance all their dairies fill.
To us appear yet more clear and remarkable signs of
the Deity's liberality, while we behold the glory of far-famed store and plenty overflowing former penury and
barrenness. And I cannot but think much the better of myself for having in some measure contributed to these things
with Polycrates and Petraeus. Nor can I less admire the
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first author and promoter of this good order and management. And yet it is not to be thought that such and so
great change should come to pass in so small a time by
human industry, without the favor of the Deity assisting
and blessing his oracle.
