Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	answer_v	know_v	word_n	2,215	5	4.1186	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39866	The history of oracles, and the cheats of the pagan priests in two parts / made English.; Histoire des oracles. English	Fontenelle, M. de (Bernard Le Bovier), 1657-1757.; Dale, Antonius van, 1638-1708. De oraculis ethnicorum dissertationes duae.; Behn, Aphra, 1640-1689.	1688 (1688)	Wing F1413; ESTC R13813	80,690	254

most certainly is because Oracles were neither in their Ancient Reputation nor yet were they absolutely ruined So that one may well say that in Comparison of what they had formerly been they were nothing but yet for all that they continued to be something still Besides some Oracles were ruined for a certain time and afterwards came into Credit again for Oracles were subject to several Adventures and Misfortunes And we ought not to believe them annihilated from the time of their being mute for they might afterwards assume a Voice again and speak Plutarch says that in old time a Dragon came and lodg'd upon Parnassus and caus'd the Delphick Oracle to be deserted and that it was commonly believ'd that solitude invited the Dragon to that place but that 't was more probable that he caus'd the solitude Greece being fill'd with Cities c. You see that Plutarch speaks of a time very far distant back So the Oracle had since its erection been once abandon'd already and we are sure that afterwards it was very well re-establish'd But after this the Temple of Delphos underwent divers misfortunes It was plundered by a Thief descended from Phlegias by the Army of Xerxes by the Phocenses by Pyrrhus by Nero and last of all by the Christians under Constantine All this did no great good to the Oracle for the Priests were either massacred or dispers'd the place was abandon'd the Sacred utensils were lost and it must of necessity require great charges care and time to rigg out these Oracles again fit for holy use All this then may be possible that Cicero in his Youth consulted the Oracle of Delphos that during the War between Caesar and Pompey and in that general disorder of the Universe the Oracle was mute as Lucan will have it and that after the end of this War when Cicero writ his Book of Philosophy it might begin to be re-established so much as to make Quintus say it was still in the World and yet so little that Cicero might suppose that it was not in being When Dorimachus as Polybius reports had burnt the Portico of the Temple of Dodona had quite destroy'd the Sacred Place of the Oracle and had pillag'd or ruin'd all the offerings an Author of that time might very well say that the Oracle of Dodona spoke no more But for all this in the following age another Author might be found transmitting to posterity some of the answers which it gave in his time CHAP. III. The History of the Duration of the Oracle of Delphos and some other Oracles WE cannot better prove that about the time of Iesus Christ to which the silence of the Delphick Oracle is so usually referred it did not altogether cease but was only interrupted than by setting down all the different occasions that we find it took of speaking since Suetonius in the Life of Nero says that he consulting the Oracle of Delphos was warn'd to have a care of seventy three years and that thereupon Nero believ'd he should not Die till that Age and never thought of old Galba who being seventy three years old took his Empire from him For he was so conceited of his long life and good fortune that having lost in a Ship-wrack things of a very great value he bragg'd that the fishes would bring 'em back to him again But certainly Nero either receiv'd from the Oracle of Delphos some other answer that seem'd less favourable to him or was discontented that he was destin'd to live no longer than Seventy three years or else he would never have took from the Priests of Delphos the Cirrhaean Fields to give them to his Soldiers He also took from the Temple more than five hundred Statues some of Men and some of Gods but all of Brass and to prophane or for ever abolish the Oracle he caus'd several Mens Throats to be cut at the very Mouth of the Sacred Cavern where the Divine exhalation issued forth That the Oracle after such an adventure as this should be mute till the Reign of Domitian and as Iuvenal says should speak no more is not at all to be wonder'd at And yet 't is impossible it could be altogether mute from the time of Nero to that of Domitian for observe what Philostratus saies in the Life of Apollonius Tyanaeus who came to the Court of Domitian Appollonius visited all the Oracles of Greece that of Dodona that of Delphos and that of Amphiaraus And in another place he speaks yet farther You may see Apollo of Delphos made illustrious by the Oracles which he delivers in the midst of Greece he answers those who consult him as you know very well your self in very few words and without accompanying his answers with prodigies altho it were very easie for him to make Parnassus tremble to stop the course of Cephisus and to change the Waters of Castalia into Wine but he tells the truth plainly and does not amuse himself to make an unprofitable shew of his power 'T is very pleasant that Philostratus should expect to have the greater value set upon this Apollo because he was no great worker of Miracles But I think there lurks in this place some secret Poison against the Christians We formerly acquainted you that in the time of Plutarch who lived under Trajan this Oracle was yet in being but reduc'd to one single Priestess tho' in elder times it had two or three Under Adrian Dion Chrysostom says that he consulted the Oracle of Delphos and relates one of its answers which seem'd to him to be very intricate and which was so indeed Under the Antonini Lucian says that a Priest of Tyana went to demand of the false Prophet Alexander if the Oracles that were deliver'd then at Didymi at Claros and at Delphos were indeed the answers of Apollo or impostures Alexander who had a regard for these Oracles which were so like his own answered the Priest that it was a secret not fit for him to know But when this wise Priest demanded what he should be after his death he was answered boldly Thou shalt be a Camel then a Horse then a Philosopher and at last a Prophet as great as Alexander After the Antonini three Emperors disputed the Empire Severus septimus Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus Delphos was consulted says Spartianus to know which would be best for the Commonwealth and the Oracle answered in Verse The Black is the best the African is good but the White is the worst of all By the Black was meant Pescennius Niger by the African Severus Septimus who was of Africa and by the White Clodius Albinus It was ask'd afterwards Who should remain Master of the Empire and it was answer'd The blood of the White and the Black shall be spilt and the African shall govern the World. Then it was demanded how long time he should govern and it was answered He shall ride on the Sea of Italy with twenty Ships tho' with one Ship he may cross the

obey the Voice or not but Thamus resolv'd that if when they were arrived at the appointed Place there were Wind enough to Sail onwards he would pass by without saying any thing but if a calm happen'd to keep him there he then would acquit himself of the order he had receiv'd And so finding himself to be surpriz'd with a Calm in that very place he cry'd out with all his force That the Great Pan was dead Scarce had he given over speaking but they heard from every side Groans and Complaints as of a great multitude surpriz'd and Afflicted at this news All those who were in the Ship were witnesses of this Accident the Fame of which spread it self in a little time as far as Rome and the Emperor Tiberius having a desire to see Thamus himself assembled a great number of Pagan Priests to know of them who this great Pan was and it was concluded that he was the Son of Mercury and Penelope Thus in Plutarch's Dialogues where he treats of the Cessation of Oracles Cleombrotus tells this story and says he had it of Epithersis his Grammar-Master who was in the Ship with Thamus when this wonder happen'd Thulis was a King of Egypt whose Empire extended it self as far as the Ocean It is he who as they said gave the Name of Thule to the Isle now called Iseland His Empire reaching thither was of a large extent and the King puff'd up with Pride at his Success and Prosperity went to the Oracle of Serapis and thus he spake to it Thou that art the God of Fire and who governest the Course of the Heavens tell me the Truth Was there ever or will there ever be one so Puissant as my self The Oracle answered him thus First God then the Word and Spirit all uniting in one whose Power can never end Go hence immediately O Mortal whose Life is always uncertain And Thulis at his going thence had his Throat cut Eusebius has collected from the Wrtings of Porphyrius these following Oracles 1. Groan ye Tripodes Apollo leaves you he is forced to leave you by a Celestial Light. Jupiter has been is and ever will be Oh great Jupiter Alas My famous Oracles are no more 2. The Voice can return no more to the Priestess she is condemn'd to Silence Make such Sacrifices to Apollo as are worthy of a God. 3. Vnhappy Priest said Apollo to one of his Priests Interrogate me no more concerning the Holy Father his only Son nor the Spirit which is the Soul of all things It is this Spirit that chases me for ever from these Abodes Augustus now grown old and designing to choose a Successor went to consult the Oracle of Delphos The Oracle returned no Answer although Augustus spared no Sacrifice but in the End he drew from it this following The Hebrew Infant to whom all the Gods pay Obedience chases me hence and sends me into Hell. Therefore quit this Temple without speaking any more It is easie to see that upon the Credit of such like Histories they ground their Opinion who say that Daemons employed themselves in pronouncing Oracles This great Pan who died in the Reign of Tiberius as well as Iesus Christ is the Master and Prince of the Daemons whose Empire was ruined by the Death of a God so saving to the Universe Or if this Explanation do not please you for I hope we may without Impiety give different Solutions of the same thing although it be of a religious concern this great Pan was Iesus Christ himself Whose Death caused so general a Grief and Consternation among the Daemons who from that time could no more exercise their Tyranny over Mankind Thus a way has been found out to give a double account who this great Pan was Could the Oracle delivered to King Thulis an Oracle so positive concerning the Holy Trinity be a humane Fiction How could the Priest of Serapis have divined so great a Mystery unknown then to all the World and even to the Iews themselves If these Oracles were delivered by Priests who were Impostors what could oblige them to discredit themselves and publish the Cessation of their own gainful Oracles Is it not visible that God forced Daemons to bear Witness to the Truth Besides why did the Oracles cease if they were only deliver'd Priests CHAP. II. The Second Reason why the Primitive Christians believed that Oracles were supernatural and the Agreement of this Opinion with the System of Christianity THAT there are Daemons being once allowed by Christianity it was natural and easie enough to attribute to them the Ability of performing any thing that is Great and Wonderful and not to refuse them the Power of delivering Oracles and effecting any other Pagan Miracles which seemed to have need of their Assistance And thus the Ancients saved themselves the trouble of entring into a strict enquiry about Matters which would be tedious and difficult For all that was surprizing and extraordinary was without any more ado ascribed to these Daemons And this alone they thought a sufficient Confirmation of their Existence and of the Religion it self that warranted it Moreover it is certain that about the time of the Birth of Iesus Christ there is often mention made of the Cessation of Oracles even in Prophane Authors Now why this time rather than any other was destined for the Cessation of them is very easily made out according to the System of the Christian Religion God had chosen his People out of the Iewish Nation and left the Empire of the rest of the World to Daemons till the coming of his Son but then he deprived them of that Power which before he permitted them to have His Will then was that all should submit themselves to Iesus Christ and that nothing should hinder the Establishment of his Kingdom over all the World. There is such a sort of Happiness in this Thought that I do not wonder it has made so great a Progress This is one of those things to the truth of which we so easily accord and which perswaded us because we are willing to believe CHAP. III. The Third Reason of the Primitive Christians taken from the Agreement of their Opinion with the Philosophy of Plato NEver any Philosophy was so a-la-mode as that of Plato during the First Ages of the Church The Pagans interested themselves amongst all the different Sects of Philosophers but the Conformity which Plato's was found to have with Religion made almost all the knowing Christians of that Sect. Thence came the mighty Esteem they had of Plato They looked upon him as a sort of Prophet who had fore-told many important Points of Christianity especially that of the Holy Trinity which we cannot deny to be clearly enough contained in his Writings Nay they went so far as to take his Works for Comments on the Scripture and to conceive the Nature of the Word as he conceived it He represented God so elevated above his Creatures that he did not