Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

ORACULUM.

9

77

ORATOR.

take anything of importance without their
sanction.—The most celebrated oracle was
..hat of Apollo at Delphi. Its ancient name
was Pytho. In the centre of the temple
there was a small opening (xaoyxa) in the
ground, from which, from time to time, an
intoxicating smoke arose, which was believed
to come from the well of Cassotis, which
vanished into the ground close by the sanc-
tuary. Over this chasm there stood a high
tripod, on which the Pythia, led into the
temple by the prophetes (7rpo</>ijrr)9), took her
seat whenever the oracle was to be consulted.
The smoke rising from under the tripod
affected her brain in such a manner that she
fell into a state of delirious intoxication, and
the sounds which she uttered in this state
were believed to contain the revelations of
Apollo. These sounds were carefully written
down by the prophetes, and afterwards com-
municated to the persons who had come to
consult the oracle. The Pythia (the jrpo^ijns)
was always a native of Delphi, and when she
had once entered the service of the god she
never left it, and was never allowed to marry.
In early times she was always a young girl,
but subsequently no one was elected as pro-
phetess who had not attained the age of tifty
years. The Delphians, or, more properly
speaking, the noble families of Delphi, had
the superintendence of the oracle. Among
the Delphian aristocracy, however, there
were five families which traced their origin
to Deucalion, and from each of these one of
the live priests, called Hosioi (ocrtoi), was
taken. The Hosioi, together with the high-
priest or prophetes, held their offices for life,
and had the control of all the affairs of the
sanctuary and of the sacrifices. That these
noble families had an immense influence upon
the oracle is manifest from numerous in-
stances, and it is not improbable that the}'
were its very soul, and that it was they who
dictated the pretended revelations of the god.
Most of the oracular answers which are
extant are in hexameters, and in the Ionic
dialect. Sometimes, however, Doric forms
also were used.—Xo religious institution in
all antiquity obtained such a paramount in-
fluence in Greece as the oracle of Delphi.
When consulted on a subject of a religious
nature, the answer was invariably of a kind
calculated not only to protect and preserve
religious institutions, but to command new
ones to be established, so that it was the pre-
server and promoter of religion throughout
the ancient world. Colonies were seldom or
never founded without having obtained the
advice and the directions of the Delphic god.
The Delphic oracle had at all times a leaning
in favour of the Greeks of the Doric race,

but the time when it began to lose its influ-
ence must be dated from the period when
Athens and Sparta entered upon their struggle
for the supremacy in Greece ; for at this time
the partiality for Sparta became so manifest
that the Athenians and their party began to
lose all reverence and esteem for it, and the
oracle became-* mere instrument in the hands
of a political party. Of the other oracles, the
most celebrated were that of Apollo at Didyma,
usually called the oracle of the Branchidae,
in the territory of Miletus; that of Zeus, at
Dodona, where the oracle was given from
sounds produced by the wind ; that of Zeus
Amnion, in an oasis in Libya, not far from
the boundaries of Egypt; that of Amphiaraus,
between Potniae and Thebes, where the hero
was said to have been swallowed up by the
earth; and that of Trophonius, at Lebadeia
in Boeotia.

ORARIUM was a small handkerchief used
for wiping the face, and appears to have been
employed for much the same purposes as our
pocket-handkerchief. It was made of silk or
linen. Aurelian introduced the practice of
giving Oraria to the Roman people to use
ad favorem, which appears to mean for the
purpose of waving in the public games in
token of applause.

ORATOR. The profession of the Roman
orator, who with reference to his undertaking
a client's case is also called patronus, was
quite distinct from that of the Juiisconsultus
[Jueiscoxsulti], and also from that of the
Advocatus, at least in the time of Cicero, and
even later. An orator who possessed a com-
petent knowledge of the Jus Civile would,
however, have an advantage. Some requi-
sites of oratory, such as voice and gesture,
could only be acquired by discipline, whereas
a competent knowledge of the law of a case
(juris utilitas) could be got at any time from
the jurisconsulti (periti) or from books.
Oratory was a serious study among the Ro-
mans. Cicero tells us by what painful labour
he attained to excellence. Roman oratory
reached its perfection in the century which
preceded the Christian aera. Its decline dates
from the establishment of the Imperial power.
The old orators learned their art by constant
attendance on some eminent orator and by
actual experience of business : the orators of
Messala's time were formed in the schools of
Rhetoric, and their powers were developed
in exercises on fictitious matters. But the
immediate causes of the former flourishing
condition of eloquence were the political power
which oratory conferred on the orator under
the Republic, and the party struggles ai.d
even the violence that are incident to such a
state of society.