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.

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 climateYieldeth of flower and herb that is fragrant; amain there shall followVictory 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 shroudedTumbleth 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 fashionedSo 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).