But even if something of the sort has actually taken place in Sicily,
we of Delphi need not trouble ourselves about it,
unless we now want to be judges instead of priests,
and when we should be sacrificing and performing
the other divine services and helping to dedicate
whatever anyone sends us, sit and speculate whether
people on the other side of the Ionian sea are ruled
justly or unjustly.

 
Let the situation of others be as it may: we, in
my opinion, must needs realize our own situation—
what it was of old, what it is now, and what we can
do to better it. That we live on crags and cultivate


 

rocks is something we need not wait for Homer to
tell us—anyone can see it for himself. “Rocky Pytho” is twice mentioned in the Iliad (2, 519;
9, 405). But Lucian is thinking particularly of the Homeric
Hymn to Apollo, toward the close of which (526f.) the
Cretans whom Apollo has settled at Delphi ask him haw they
are to live; "for here is no lovely vine-land or fertile glebe.”
He tells them that they have only to slaughter sheep, and all
that_men bring him shall be theirs. As far as
the land is concerned, we should always be cheek by
jow] with starvation: the temple, the god, the oracle,
the sacrificers and the worshippers—these are the
grain-lands of Delphi, these are our revenue, these
are the sources of our prosperity and of our subsistence. We-should speak the truth among ourselves,
at any rate! “Unsown and untilled,” Homer, Od. 9, 109; 123. as the poets
say, everything is grown for us with the god for our
husbandman. Not only does he vouchsafe us the
good things found among the Greeks, but every
product of the Phrygians, the Lydians, the Persians,
the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, the Italians and even
the Hyperboreans comes to Delphi. And next to
the god we are held in honour by all men, and we
are prosperous and happy. Thus it was of old, thus
it has been till now, and may we never cease leading
this life!

 

Never in the memory of any man have we taken
avote on a gift, or prevented anyone from sacrificing
or giving. For this very reason, I think, the temple
has prospered extraordinarily and is excessively rich
in gifts. Therefore we ought not to make any
innovation in the present case and break precedents
by setting up the practice of censoring gifts and
looking into the pedigree of things that are sent



 

here, to see where they come from and from whom,
and what they are: we should receive them and
dedicate them without officiousness, serving bothparties, the god and the worshippers.

 

It seems to me, men of Delphi, that you will
come to the best conclusion about the present case
if you should consider the number and the magnitude
of the issues involved in the question—first, the god,
the temple, sacrifices, gifts, old. customs, timehonoured observances and the credit of the oracle;
then the whole-city and-the interests not only of
our body but of every man in Delphi; and more
than all, our good or bad name in the world. I
have no doubt that if you are in -your senses you
will think nothing more important or more vital than
these issues.

 
This is what we are in consultation about, then:
it is not Phalaris (a single tyrant) or. this bull
of bronze only, but all kings and all monarchs who
now frequent the temple, and gold and silver and all
other things of price that will be given the god on
many occasions. The first point to be investigated
should be the interest of the god. Why: should
we not manage the matter of gifts as we have always
done, as we did in the beginning?