DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0303
OF THE RELIGION OF GREECE.
son. Pausanias (as hath been mentioned before) would have it to be Am-
phiaraus, who had divine honours paid him, for the invention of that
art. Others ascribe it to the inhabitants of Telmissus(l) ; but whoever
was the author of it, it is certain, that amongst the ancient Grecians it
had very great credit, as appears from the number of books written con-
cerning it. Germinus Pyrius composed three books upon this subject;
Artemen the Milesian two and twenty ; beside Panyasis the Halicarnas-
sean, Alexander the Myndian, Phoebus the Antiochian, Demetrius the
Phalerean, Nicostratus the Ephesian, Antipho the Athenian, Artemidorus,
Astramsychus, Philo Judaeus, Achines the son of Scyrimus, Nicephorus,
&c. Yet it was never in so great request as the other species of divina-
tion. The many false and frivolous dreams which happen to every man,
cast a suspicion upon all the rest; and those which were nothing but de-
lusions, made the truly oioirifj.irm, prophetical, to be called in question ;
and, therefore, when the hero in Homer (2) adviseth the Grecians to en-
quire of some prophet, what means they should use to appease the anger
of the gods, he speaks boldly, and without hesitation, of /xavns, or the i?i-
spiredprophet; and Isgzu;, or him that consulted the entrails of victims of-
fered to sacrifice, (for so iefjSug must signify in that place) ; but when he
comes to ovsi^osroAo?, or the interpreter of dreams, he is forced to make a
sort of an apology, in this manner:
Att' tLyi tf/i rivet /uxVTtv l^ihfj.iv, m 'epritt,
H i) oyel£07roKov, J r'oyag in A/oc tfil.
But let some prophet, or some sacred sage,
Explore the cause of great Apollo's raere ;
Or learn the wasteful vengeance to remove,
By mystic dreams, for dreams descend from Jove. pope.
Whereby he anticipates a question, which he forsaw might be proposed
to him, thus :—Why should we ask counsel of one whose business is only
to expound these delusions ? why should we trust the safety of the whole
army in the hands of a cunning impostor ? To this he answers, that in-
deed there were many false and deceitful dreams ; yet some also were
true, and came from Jupiter, the common father of all prophetical pre-
dictions, and therefore might be depended upon. After this manner
Eustathius has paraphrased the poet's words. In later ages, dreams
came to be little regarded, except by old doating women, who were very
superstitious in observing them ; as Propertius (3) intimates in the follow-
verse :
Qua mea nan decies somnia versat anus ?
A hundred times old women havfe I told
My frightful dreams.
In more remote ages, the people who lived near the Gades, and Bo-
rysfhenes, and the inhabitants of Telmissus and Hybla Gereatis, a city
belonging to the Cataneans, in Sicily, were famed for their skill in this art.
The signs by which they made conjectures would be too tedious to men-
tion in this place ; and whosoever has leisure, may consult Artemidorus.
When any frightful or obscure dream appeared, the dreamer used to
disclose his fears to some of the gods, offering incense, or some other ob-
lation ; and praying, that if good was portended, it might be brought to
(1) Clemens Alexand. Strom, i. n. 306. (2) Iliad, a. (3) Lib. ii. ep. 4.
36
son. Pausanias (as hath been mentioned before) would have it to be Am-
phiaraus, who had divine honours paid him, for the invention of that
art. Others ascribe it to the inhabitants of Telmissus(l) ; but whoever
was the author of it, it is certain, that amongst the ancient Grecians it
had very great credit, as appears from the number of books written con-
cerning it. Germinus Pyrius composed three books upon this subject;
Artemen the Milesian two and twenty ; beside Panyasis the Halicarnas-
sean, Alexander the Myndian, Phoebus the Antiochian, Demetrius the
Phalerean, Nicostratus the Ephesian, Antipho the Athenian, Artemidorus,
Astramsychus, Philo Judaeus, Achines the son of Scyrimus, Nicephorus,
&c. Yet it was never in so great request as the other species of divina-
tion. The many false and frivolous dreams which happen to every man,
cast a suspicion upon all the rest; and those which were nothing but de-
lusions, made the truly oioirifj.irm, prophetical, to be called in question ;
and, therefore, when the hero in Homer (2) adviseth the Grecians to en-
quire of some prophet, what means they should use to appease the anger
of the gods, he speaks boldly, and without hesitation, of /xavns, or the i?i-
spiredprophet; and Isgzu;, or him that consulted the entrails of victims of-
fered to sacrifice, (for so iefjSug must signify in that place) ; but when he
comes to ovsi^osroAo?, or the interpreter of dreams, he is forced to make a
sort of an apology, in this manner:
Att' tLyi tf/i rivet /uxVTtv l^ihfj.iv, m 'epritt,
H i) oyel£07roKov, J r'oyag in A/oc tfil.
But let some prophet, or some sacred sage,
Explore the cause of great Apollo's raere ;
Or learn the wasteful vengeance to remove,
By mystic dreams, for dreams descend from Jove. pope.
Whereby he anticipates a question, which he forsaw might be proposed
to him, thus :—Why should we ask counsel of one whose business is only
to expound these delusions ? why should we trust the safety of the whole
army in the hands of a cunning impostor ? To this he answers, that in-
deed there were many false and deceitful dreams ; yet some also were
true, and came from Jupiter, the common father of all prophetical pre-
dictions, and therefore might be depended upon. After this manner
Eustathius has paraphrased the poet's words. In later ages, dreams
came to be little regarded, except by old doating women, who were very
superstitious in observing them ; as Propertius (3) intimates in the follow-
verse :
Qua mea nan decies somnia versat anus ?
A hundred times old women havfe I told
My frightful dreams.
In more remote ages, the people who lived near the Gades, and Bo-
rysfhenes, and the inhabitants of Telmissus and Hybla Gereatis, a city
belonging to the Cataneans, in Sicily, were famed for their skill in this art.
The signs by which they made conjectures would be too tedious to men-
tion in this place ; and whosoever has leisure, may consult Artemidorus.
When any frightful or obscure dream appeared, the dreamer used to
disclose his fears to some of the gods, offering incense, or some other ob-
lation ; and praying, that if good was portended, it might be brought to
(1) Clemens Alexand. Strom, i. n. 306. (2) Iliad, a. (3) Lib. ii. ep. 4.
36