That man, then, was thus dealt with. Moreover, if
in any case, when men were called up in the order of
their applications (which took place the day before
the prophecies were given out) and the herald
enquired: “Has he a prophecy for So-and-so,” the
reply came from within: “To the ravens,” nobody
would ever again receive such a person under his roof
or give him fire or water, but he had to be harried
from country to country as an impious man, an
atheist, and an Epicurean—which, indeed, was their
strongest term of abuse.


 
 
One of Alexander’s acts in this connection was
most comical. Hitting upon the “Established Beliefs’
of Epicurus, which is the finest of his books, as you
know, and contains in summary the articles of the
man’s philosophic creed, Quis enim vostrum non edidicit Epicuri κυρίας δόξας, id est, quasi maxume ratas, quia gravissumae sint ad beate vivendum breviter enuntiatae sententiae? Cicero, de Fin. Bon, et Mal., ii, 7, 20. he brought it into the
middle of the market-place, burned it on fagots of
fig-wood just as if he were burning the man in
person, and threw the ashes into the sea, even
adding an oracle also:

 Burn with fire, I command you, the creed of a
purblind dotard! 

But the scoundrel had no idea what blessings that
book creates for its readers and what peace, tranquillity, and freedom it engenders in them, liberating
them as it does from terrors and apparitions and
portents, from vain hopes and extravagant cravings,
developing in them intelligence and truth, and truly
purifying their understanding, not with torches and
squills and that sort of foolery, but with straight
thinking, truthfulness and frankness.
 
Of all his bold emprises, however, let me tell you
one, the greatest. Since he had no slight influence
in the palace and at court through the favour which
Rutilianus enjoyed, he published an oracle at the
height of the war in Germany, when the late
Emperor Marcus himself had at last come to grips
with the Marcomanni and Quadi. The oracle recommended that two lions be cast into the Danube
alive, together with a quantity of perfumes and


 

magnificent offerings. But it will be better to
repeat the oracle itself.

 Into the pools of the Ister, the stream that from Zeus taketh issue, Hurl, I command you, a pair of Cybele’s faithful attendants, Beasts that dwell on the mountains, and all that the Indian climate Yieldeth of flower and herb that is fragrant; amain there shall follow Victory and great glory, and welcome peace in their footsteps. 

But when all this had been done as he had directed,
the lions swam across to the enemy territory and
the barbarians slaughtered them with clubs, thinking
them some kind of foreign dogs or wolves; and
“amain” that tremendous disaster befel our side, in
which a matter of twenty thousand were wiped [out
ata blow. Then came what happened at Aquileia,
and that city’s narrow escape from capture. To meet
this issue, Alexander was flat enough to adduce the
Delphian defence in the matter of the oracle given to
Croesus, that the God had indeed foretold victory,
but had not indicated whether it would go to the
Romans or to the enemy. The invading tribes flooded Rhaetia, Noricum, upper and lower Pannonia, and Dacia, taking a vast number of Roman settlers prisoner, and even entered Italy, capturing and destroying Oderzo. Details are uncertain; so is the exact date, which was probably between 167 and 169. On the column of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, one of the scenes depicts two animals swimming across a river, near a boat. These have been thought to be the lions of the oracle, and indeed they look like lions in the representation of Bartoli (Pi. XIII). But Petersen takes them to be bisons. It is clear, too, from Lucian that Alexander’s oracle was given before the campaign depicted on the column. 
 

As by this time throngs upon throngs were pouring in and their city was becoming overcrowded on
account of the multitude of visitors to the shrine,
so that it had not sufficient provisions, he devised



 

the so-called “nocturnal” responses. Taking the
scrolls, he slept on them, so he said, and gave
replies that he pretended to have heard from the
god in a dream; which, however, were in most cases
not clear but ambiguous and confused, particularly
when he observed that the scroll had been sealed
up with unusual care. Taking no extra chances,
he would append at random whatever answer came
into his head, thinking that this procedure too was
appropriate to oracles; and there were certain
expounders who sat by with that in view and
garnered large fees from the recipients of such
oracles for explaining and unriddling them. Moreover, this task of theirs was subject to a levy; the
expounders paid Alexander an Attic talent each.
 
Sometimes, to amaze dolts, he would deliver an
oracle for the benefit of someone who had neither
enquired nor sent—who, in fact, did not exist at
all. For example:

 Seek thou out that man who in utmost secrecy shrouded Tumbleth at home on the couch thy helpmeet Calligeneia, Slave Protogenes, him upon whom thou fully reliest. He was corrupted by thee, and now thy wife he corrupteth, Making a bitter return unto thee for his own violation. Aye more, now against thee a baneful charm they have fashioned So that thou mayst not hear nor see what deeds they are doing; This shalt thou find on the floor, beneath thy bed, by the wall-side,: Close to the head; thy servant Calypso shareth the secret.” 

What Democritus Democritus of Abdera is adduced as a typical hardheaded sceptic; see above, c. 17, and the Lover of Lies, 32 (iii, PR 369). would not have been disturbed
on hearing names and places specified—and would
not have been filled with contempt soon afterward,
when he saw through their stratagem?