DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0330
308
OF THE RELIGION Oi> GREECE.
cups that were tTrireQetg oll,oio- the reason of which (saith Eustathius, out
of Athenasus) was this, viz. because a garland represents a circle, winch
is the most capacious and complete of all figures. It was usual also to
carry home the fragments left at sacrifices, for good luck's sake, as hath
been observed in another place ; and these w ere called vyiem, as con-
tributing to the preservation of health (1), &c. Thus much concerning
ominous actions and accidents, whereof 1 have only mentioned the most
remarkable ; for it would be an endless undertaking to enumerate all of
them, eVery day's reading being able to furnish almost infinite num-
bers.
In the last place I come to ominous words, which, as they were good
or bad, were believed to presage accordingly. Such words were called
iVra*, K^fHvSi, or @«t*ai, a.vo (pdvai, as the Latin omen is so called q.
ore-men, quia Jit ab ore ; i. e. because it proceeds from the mouth, saith
Festus : they may be interpreted voices, for Tully hath called them by
the name of voces (2). ' The Pythagoreans' (saith he), ' used to observe
the voices of men as well as of the gods.' Hence, as the same author
there observes, the old Romans, before the beginning of any action, used
this preface, quod bonum, fauslurn, felix, foriunatumque sit: wishing that
their enterprise might succeed well, happily, prosperously, and fortunate-
ly. In divine service, he adds, that proclamation was made, ut faverent
Unguis, that all there present mi:;ht govern their tongues. In bidding to
festivals, and holidays, the people were commanded, litihus et jurgiis ab-
stinere, to beware of brawls and quarrels. At public lustrations, the per-
sons who brought the victims were required to have bona nomina, fortu-
nate names. The same, he there tells us, was also observed by the con-
suls in the choice of the first soldier. This sort of divination was most in
use at Smyrna (as Pausanias reports), where they had xajnJovojv igfov, a
temple, in which answers were returned this way ; and Apollo Spodius
gave oracles in Thebes after the same manner, as hath been already ob-
served ; but the first invention of it is attributed to Ceres, by Hesychius.
Serapion in Clemens of Alexandria (3) relates, that the Delphian sibyl
was endued with a power of divining after her death, and that the gross
parts of her body being converted first into earth, and then changed into
herbs, communicated the same faculty to the entrails of beasts which fed
on them ; whence proceeded the way of divining by entrails ; but that
her finer parts mixing with the air, presaged future events by these xX«-
doves, ominous voices, concerning which we are now treating.
Words that boded ill were called xaxou eV<rcu, or <JW$ijfJw«r and he that
spoke them, was said BXad0r]iis7v, <ptjsyy«idcit /3Xarf^jx£/av, as Euripides
terms it, where he speaks of certain ominous words let fall by a servant
at a feast, as one of the company was going to drink ;
Unlucky words one of the servants spoke.
Plautus calleth it obscamare, or, as some read, obsc&vare : for scaeva sig-
nified luck, either good or bad ; and the words Horace calleth male omi-
nata verba;
-male ominatis
Pareiie verbis.
Ill-boding words forbear to name.
(1) Hesychius. (2) Lib. i Divinat. (2) Strom, i. pag. 304-
OF THE RELIGION Oi> GREECE.
cups that were tTrireQetg oll,oio- the reason of which (saith Eustathius, out
of Athenasus) was this, viz. because a garland represents a circle, winch
is the most capacious and complete of all figures. It was usual also to
carry home the fragments left at sacrifices, for good luck's sake, as hath
been observed in another place ; and these w ere called vyiem, as con-
tributing to the preservation of health (1), &c. Thus much concerning
ominous actions and accidents, whereof 1 have only mentioned the most
remarkable ; for it would be an endless undertaking to enumerate all of
them, eVery day's reading being able to furnish almost infinite num-
bers.
In the last place I come to ominous words, which, as they were good
or bad, were believed to presage accordingly. Such words were called
iVra*, K^fHvSi, or @«t*ai, a.vo (pdvai, as the Latin omen is so called q.
ore-men, quia Jit ab ore ; i. e. because it proceeds from the mouth, saith
Festus : they may be interpreted voices, for Tully hath called them by
the name of voces (2). ' The Pythagoreans' (saith he), ' used to observe
the voices of men as well as of the gods.' Hence, as the same author
there observes, the old Romans, before the beginning of any action, used
this preface, quod bonum, fauslurn, felix, foriunatumque sit: wishing that
their enterprise might succeed well, happily, prosperously, and fortunate-
ly. In divine service, he adds, that proclamation was made, ut faverent
Unguis, that all there present mi:;ht govern their tongues. In bidding to
festivals, and holidays, the people were commanded, litihus et jurgiis ab-
stinere, to beware of brawls and quarrels. At public lustrations, the per-
sons who brought the victims were required to have bona nomina, fortu-
nate names. The same, he there tells us, was also observed by the con-
suls in the choice of the first soldier. This sort of divination was most in
use at Smyrna (as Pausanias reports), where they had xajnJovojv igfov, a
temple, in which answers were returned this way ; and Apollo Spodius
gave oracles in Thebes after the same manner, as hath been already ob-
served ; but the first invention of it is attributed to Ceres, by Hesychius.
Serapion in Clemens of Alexandria (3) relates, that the Delphian sibyl
was endued with a power of divining after her death, and that the gross
parts of her body being converted first into earth, and then changed into
herbs, communicated the same faculty to the entrails of beasts which fed
on them ; whence proceeded the way of divining by entrails ; but that
her finer parts mixing with the air, presaged future events by these xX«-
doves, ominous voices, concerning which we are now treating.
Words that boded ill were called xaxou eV<rcu, or <JW$ijfJw«r and he that
spoke them, was said BXad0r]iis7v, <ptjsyy«idcit /3Xarf^jx£/av, as Euripides
terms it, where he speaks of certain ominous words let fall by a servant
at a feast, as one of the company was going to drink ;
Unlucky words one of the servants spoke.
Plautus calleth it obscamare, or, as some read, obsc&vare : for scaeva sig-
nified luck, either good or bad ; and the words Horace calleth male omi-
nata verba;
-male ominatis
Pareiie verbis.
Ill-boding words forbear to name.
(1) Hesychius. (2) Lib. i Divinat. (2) Strom, i. pag. 304-