DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0325
1
of the religion of greece,
303
CHAP. XVII.
of divination by ominous words and things.
Another sort of divination there was, very different from all those I
have hitherto spoken of, which foretold things to come, not by certain
accidents, and casual occurrences, that were thought to contain in them
presages of good or evil. Of these there were three sorts : the first, of
things internal, by which I mean those that affected the persons them-
selves. The second, of things external, that only appeared to men,
but did not make any impression upon them. The third were ominous
words. Of these in their order.
First, of those omens that men received from themselves, which are
distinguished into four kinds : First, marks upon the body, as *Xcua, spots
like oil. Secondly, sudden perturbation seizing upon the mind ; such
were the panici terrores, panic fears, which were sudden consternations
that seized upon men, without any visible cause, and therefore were im-
puted to the operation of demons, especially Pan, upon men's fancies.
Of these there is frequent mention in history; as when Brennus, the
Gallic general, had been defeated by the Greeks ; the night following, he
and the remainder of his troops were seized with such terrors and dis-
tractions, that, ignorant of what they were doing, they fell to wounding
and killing one another, till they were all utterly destroyed. Such an-
other fright gave the Athenians a great advantage against the Persians,
insomuch, that Pan had a statue erected for that piece of service ; as
appears from one of Simonides's epigrams ;
Toy rftty&7risv ifxi Tluvct, rev Apx.dS'u., Toy icstTat MhVW,
Toy ,U£t' Afljjva/ojy s-nVstTS MlhrtaJ'«c.
This bust tome, Arcadian Pan, was placed
In gratitude by brave Miltiades;
Because I aided him and warlike Greece
Against the powerful Medes.--
The reason why these terrors were attributed to Pan, was, because
when Osiris was bound by Typho, Pan and the satyrs appearing, cast
him into a fright; or, because he affrighted the giants that waged war
against Jupiter. There is also a third reason assigned by mythologists,
which will be explained in the following book(l). In these terrors,
whereof there was either no apparent cause, or at least none answerable
to the greatness of the sudden consternation, it was a good remedy to do
something quite contrary to what the danger would have required, had
it been such as men vainly imagined. Thus Alexander caused his sol-
diers to disarm themselves, when they were on a sudden in a great fear
of they knew not what.
All sudden and extraordinary emotions and perturbations, in body or
mind, were looked upon as evil omens ; such was that of Penelope's
courtiers described by Homer (2), and said to have been caused by Mi-
nerva, their implacable enemy :
(1) Lib. iii. cap. 9. pag. 84.
(2) Odyss. i. v. 345,
of the religion of greece,
303
CHAP. XVII.
of divination by ominous words and things.
Another sort of divination there was, very different from all those I
have hitherto spoken of, which foretold things to come, not by certain
accidents, and casual occurrences, that were thought to contain in them
presages of good or evil. Of these there were three sorts : the first, of
things internal, by which I mean those that affected the persons them-
selves. The second, of things external, that only appeared to men,
but did not make any impression upon them. The third were ominous
words. Of these in their order.
First, of those omens that men received from themselves, which are
distinguished into four kinds : First, marks upon the body, as *Xcua, spots
like oil. Secondly, sudden perturbation seizing upon the mind ; such
were the panici terrores, panic fears, which were sudden consternations
that seized upon men, without any visible cause, and therefore were im-
puted to the operation of demons, especially Pan, upon men's fancies.
Of these there is frequent mention in history; as when Brennus, the
Gallic general, had been defeated by the Greeks ; the night following, he
and the remainder of his troops were seized with such terrors and dis-
tractions, that, ignorant of what they were doing, they fell to wounding
and killing one another, till they were all utterly destroyed. Such an-
other fright gave the Athenians a great advantage against the Persians,
insomuch, that Pan had a statue erected for that piece of service ; as
appears from one of Simonides's epigrams ;
Toy rftty&7risv ifxi Tluvct, rev Apx.dS'u., Toy icstTat MhVW,
Toy ,U£t' Afljjva/ojy s-nVstTS MlhrtaJ'«c.
This bust tome, Arcadian Pan, was placed
In gratitude by brave Miltiades;
Because I aided him and warlike Greece
Against the powerful Medes.--
The reason why these terrors were attributed to Pan, was, because
when Osiris was bound by Typho, Pan and the satyrs appearing, cast
him into a fright; or, because he affrighted the giants that waged war
against Jupiter. There is also a third reason assigned by mythologists,
which will be explained in the following book(l). In these terrors,
whereof there was either no apparent cause, or at least none answerable
to the greatness of the sudden consternation, it was a good remedy to do
something quite contrary to what the danger would have required, had
it been such as men vainly imagined. Thus Alexander caused his sol-
diers to disarm themselves, when they were on a sudden in a great fear
of they knew not what.
All sudden and extraordinary emotions and perturbations, in body or
mind, were looked upon as evil omens ; such was that of Penelope's
courtiers described by Homer (2), and said to have been caused by Mi-
nerva, their implacable enemy :
(1) Lib. iii. cap. 9. pag. 84.
(2) Odyss. i. v. 345,