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Often appears with: fate, destiny, and necessity · conquest, plunder, and captives · the nature and attributes of God · religious persecution and toleration · the fear of death · battle and tactics · siege and fortification · naval warfare and sea power · treaties, truces, and peacemaking · the problem of evil and theodicy · omens, portents, and signs · reason and the intellect
Usually: narrative (39) · detachment (35) · argument (26) · crisis of belief (23) · skepticism (22) · curiosity (21) · wonder (21) · confronting death (15) · sudden reversal of fortune (12) · reflection (11)
“O Trojan race, your needless aid forbear, / And know, my ships are my peculiar care.” Virgil, The Aeneid · observation
“Since,” said the god, “the Trojans must not join / In wish’d alliance with the Latian line; / Since endless jarrings and immortal hate / Tend but to discompose our happy state; / The war henceforward be resign’d to fate: / Each to his proper fortune stand or fall; / Equal and unconcern’d I look on all.” Virgil, The Aeneid · insight
“Lo you now, how vainly mortal men do blame the gods! For of us they say comes evil, whereas they even of themselves, through the blindness of their own hearts, have sorrows beyond that which is ordained.” Homer, The Odyssey · insight
“Lo you now, how vainly mortal men do blame the gods! For of us they say comes evil, whereas they even of themselves, through the blindness of their own hearts, have sorrows beyond that which is ordained.” Homer, The Odyssey of Homer · insight
“For my outer belt of burnished metal first stayed it, and under this my cuirass and the belt of mail which the bronze-smiths made me.” Homer, The Iliad · observation
“The sire of gods and men had pity on him, and looked fiercely on Juno. “I see, Juno,” said he, “you mischief-making trickster, that your cunning has stayed Hector from fighting and has caused the rout of his host.” Homer, The Iliad · wit
“Father Jove, is there none of the gods who will take pity upon me, and save me from the river? I do not care what may happen to me afterwards. I blame none of the other dwellers on Olympus so severely as I do my dear mother, who has beguiled and tricked me.” Homer, The Iliad · insight
“Sarpedon then aimed a spear at Patroclus and missed him, but he struck the horse Pedasus in the right shoulder, and it screamed aloud as it lay, groaning in the dust until the life went out of it.” Homer, The Iliad · vivid
“Thus he spoke. Apollo obeyed his father’s saying, and came down from the heights of Ida into the thick of the fight; forthwith he took Sarpedon out of range of the weapons, and then bore him a long way off.” Homer, The Iliad · vivid
“and this is quite possible, but he who has ever heard a Divine locution will see at once that this assurance is something quite different.” Teresa of Ávila, Saint, The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus, of the Order of Our · insight
“Ask me no more: the truth is known to none, / Save the earth-fostering, all-surveying Sun,” Aeschylus, The House of Atreus; Being the Agamemnon, the Libati · observation
“Remember that all is opinion. For what was said by the Cynic Monimus is manifest: and manifest too is the use of what was said, if a man receives what may be got out of it as far as it is true.” Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus · insight
The passage continues Sura XXV with examples of destroyed peoples, mockery of the apostle by Meccans, moral critique of following passions, natural signs like winds and water, and a call to fight unbelief with the Quran.
And Ad and Themoud, and the men of Rass,13 and divers generations between them: Unto each of them did we set forth parables for warnings, and each of them did we utterly exterminate. Oft are this have the unbelieving Meccans passed by the city on which was rained a fatal rain. What! Have they not seen it? Yet have they no hope of a resurrection! And when they see thee, they do but take thee as the subject of their…
In a council of the Olympian gods, Zeus recalls Aegisthus’ unjust killing of Agamemnon after Hermes’ warning, then Athena pleads for Odysseus, who is trapped on the island of Calypso in order to forget Ithaca. Poseidon is said to be away among the Ethiopians.
of Helios Hyperion: but the god took from them their day of returning. Of these things, goddess, daughter of Zeus, whencesoever thou hast heard thereof, declare thou even unto us. Now all the rest, as many as fled from sheer destruction, were at home, and had escaped both war and sea, but Odysseus only, craving for his wife and for his homeward path, the lady nymph Calypso held, that fair goddess, in her…
Amphimedon continues: a god brings Odysseus disguised to the swineherd’s farm and he, with Telemachus, hides his armor, uses the bow contest to trap the suitors, and kills Antinous and the rest with divine aid.
she would or no; and when she showed us the robe she had made, after she had had it washed,186 its splendour was as that of the sun or moon. “Then some malicious god conveyed Ulysses to the upland farm where his swineherd lives. Thither presently came also his son, returning from a voyage to Pylos, and the two came to the town when they had hatched their plot for our destruction. Telemachus came first, and then afte…
In Ithaca, after a quarrel in the assembly, Halitherses’ warning is ignored and Eupeithes leads a foolish armed attack that Minerva then consults Jove about ending with a peace pact after Ulysses has avenged the suitors.
as I say, and do as I tell you. Do not go out against Ulysses, or you may find that you have been drawing down evil on your own heads.” This was what he said, and more than half raised a loud shout, and at once left the assembly. But the rest stayed where they were, for the speech of Halitherses displeased them, and they sided with Eupeithes; they therefore hurried off for their armour, and when they had armed thems…
In the council of the gods, Athene urges Zeus to order Odysseus’s return, since Poseidon’s anger is tied to the Cyclops Polyphemus; Zeus agrees, dispatching Hermes to Ogygia and Athene to Ithaca, where Telemachus will face the wooers.
In a Council of the Gods, Poseidon absent, Pallas procureth an order for the restitution of Odysseus; and appearing to his son Telemachus, in human shape, adviseth him to complain of the Wooers before the Council of the people, and then go to Pylos and Sparta to inquire about his father. Tell me, Muse, of that man, so ready at need, who wandered far and wide, after he had sacked the sacred citadel of Troy, and many …
Zeus explains that Poseidon—angered by the Cyclops’ blinding—drives Odysseus to wander, while Athene proposes Hermes to free Odysseus on Ogygia and herself to stir Telemachus and set plans against the wooers in Ithaca.
for his own country. So spake Hermes, yet he prevailed not on the heart of Aegisthus, for all his good will; but now hath he paid one price for all.” And the goddess, grey-eyed Athene, answered him, saying: “O father, our father Cronides, throned in the highest; that man assuredly lies in a death that is his due; so perish likewise all who work such deeds! But my heart is rent for wise Odysseus, that hapless one, wh…
Telemachus describes how once the house was rich under Odysseus but now the wooers court and waste it, while Penelope refuses no hated marriage; Athene rebukes him and urges plans and travel, including consulting Nestor and Menelaus.
they seem to me to revel wantonly through the house: and well might any man be wroth to see so many deeds of shame, whatso wise man came among them.” Then wise Telemachus answered her, and said: “Sir, forasmuch as thou questionest me of these things and inquirest thereof, our house was once like to have been rich and honourable, while yet that man was among his people. But now the gods willed it otherwise, in evil p…
Ino (Leucothea) appears and instructs Odysseus to discard Calypso’s garments, trust a protective veil, and swim to shore, but Poseidon then shatters the raft and Odysseus undertakes the sea swim.
hither and thither along the main. Now the South would toss it to the North to carry, and now again the East would yield it to the West to chase. But the daughter of Cadmus marked him, Ino of the fair ankles, Leucothea, who in time past was a maiden of mortal speech, but now in the depths of the salt sea she had gotten her share of worship from the gods. She took pity on Odysseus in his wandering and travail, and sh…
The gods gather and laugh when Hephaestus’s trap catches Ares and Aphrodite, Poseidon promises to pay for freeing Ares, and the lovers are separated as Aphrodite goes to Paphos and Ares to Thrace.
way to his house, and stood at the entering in of the gate, and wild rage gat hold of him, and he cried terribly, and shouted to all the gods: “Father Zeus, and ye other blessed gods, that live for ever, come hither, that ye may see a mirthful thing and a cruel, for that Aphrodite, daughter of Zeus, ever dishonours me by reason of my lameness, and sets her heart on Ares the destroyer, because he is fair and straight…
Telemachus and his crew prepare and sail a black ship as Telemachus prays and meets the soothsayer Theoclymenus of Argos lineage, who asks who he is and where his home lies.
“Set ye the gear in order, my friends, in the black ship, and let us climb aboard that we may make way upon our course.” So spake he, and they gave good heed and hearkened. Then straightway they embarked and sat upon the benches. Thus was he busy hereat and praying and making burnt-offering to Athene, by the stern of the ship, when there drew nigh him one from a far country, that had slain his man and was fleeing f…
Telemachus agrees to take Theoclymenus aboard, and the ship departs; later Odysseus, testing Eumaeus, proposes begging in the city and entering Penelope’s household to serve the wooers.
perished by an evil fate. Wherefore I have taken my company and a black ship, and have gone forth to hear word of my father that has been long afar.” Then godlike Theoclymenus spake to him again: “Even so I too have fled from my country, for the manslaying of one of mine own kin. And many brethren and kinsmen of the slain are in Argos, the pastureland of horses, and rule mightily over the Achaeans. Wherefore now am …
A poetic song addresses heaven and earth, praising God as Rock and just Father, recalling Israel’s past guidance and provision, and condemning Israel for turning to strange gods.
Hear o heaven, what I shall speak and hear o earth the words of my mouth. My doctrine drop as doeth the rain, and my speech flow as doeth the dew, as the mizzling upon the herbs, and as the drops upon the grass. For I will call on the name of the LORD: Magnify the might of our God. He is a Rocke and perfect are his deeds, for all his ways are with discretion. God is faithful and without wickedness, both righteous and…
Venus convinces Vulcan with arguments about making arms for Troy, then Vulcan’s arousal and early-morning household rhythms lead into a detailed description of Vulcan’s forge and the making of a hero’s shield.
Not half so swift the rattling thunder flies, Or forky lightnings flash along the skies. The goddess, proud of her successful wiles, And conscious of her form, in secret smiles. Then thus the pow’r, obnoxious to her charms, Panting, and half dissolving in her arms: “Why seek you reasons for a cause so just, Or your own beauties or my love distrust? Long since, had you requir’d my helpful hand…
Cybele orders the Trojans to stop helping, then transforms their ships at her command into sea-nymphs, so Turnus’s force is thwarted and he urges a direct daytime assault instead of night treachery.
The lake of liquid pitch, the dreary shore, And Phlegethon’s innavigable flood, And the black regions of his brother god. He said; and shook the skies with his imperial nod. And now at length the number’d hours were come, Prefix’d by fate’s irrevocable doom, When the great Mother of the Gods was free To save her ships, and finish Jove’s decree. First, from the quarter of the morn, there sprun…
Turnus kills Pandarus and others inside the walls, fights onward while Trojans rally under Mnestheus, and Iris is sent by Jove to force Turnus away as he tires.
his full force he whirl’d it first around; But the soft yielding air receiv’d the wound: Imperial Juno turn’d the course before, And fix’d the wand’ring weapon in the door. “But hope not thou,” said Turnus, “when I strike, To shun thy fate: our force is not alike, Nor thy steel temper’d by the Lemnian god.” Then rising, on his utmost stretch he stood, And aim’d from high: the full descending …
After Iris’ intervention weakens Turnus, the Trojans overwhelm him, Mnestheus strikes his helm as he sweats and falters in battle, and Apollo helps by washing and carrying him off safely.
Juno, who sustain’d his arms before, Dares with new strength suffice th’ exhausted store; For Jove, with sour commands, sent Iris down, To force th’ invader from the frighted town. With labour spent, no longer can he wield The heavy falchion, or sustain the shield, O’erwhelm’d with darts, which from afar they fling: The weapons round his hollow temples ring; His golden helm gives way, with st…
Jupiter concludes that gods will not intervene for either Trojans or Rutulians, then the siege continues as enemies pressure the Trojan walls, while Aeneas’ allies on the walls hold and the episode turns to night negotiations for a treaty.
So winds, when yet unfledg’d in woods they lie, In whispers first their tender voices try, Then issue on the main with bellowing rage, And storms to trembling mariners presage. Then thus to both replied th’ imperial god, Who shakes heav’n’s axles with his awful nod. (When he begins, the silent senate stand With rev’rence, list’ning to the dread command: The clouds dispel; the winds their brea…
A Trojan leader is wounded and carried back as a physician Iapis works, but heals incompletely until Venus’s divine remedy allows him to stand again and rejoin the fighting.
So, where resistless Turnus takes his course, The scatter’d squadrons bend before his force; His crest of horses’ hair is blown behind By adverse air, and rustles in the wind. This haughty Phegeus saw with high disdain, And, as the chariot roll’d along the plain, Light from the ground he leapt, and seiz’d the rein. Thus hung in air, he still retain’d his hold, The coursers frighted, and their…
The passage presents Sura XXXII on divine revelation and creation, describing God’s power, judgment, and resurrection, including the claim that God will fill Hell with jinn and humans who reject guidance.
identify them with the Satan and demons of the Semitic races. Both the Satans and Djinn represent in the Koran the principle of Evil. See Sura [xci.] ii. 32, n. 15 The sea of Greece and the sea of Persia. But as no literal interpretation of the passage seems satisfactory, the Commentators have devised a spiritual or metaphorical one, and explain it of the two oceans of natural and supernatural knowledge. There is no…
In Sura VIII on spoils, Medina-based believers are told that spoils belong to God and the apostle, and the text recounts the Bedr campaign and divine support, including angels, sleep, water, and firming of hearts.
But God chose not to chastise them while thou wast with them, nor would God chastise them when they sued for pardon. But because they debarred the faithful from the holy temple, albeit they are not its guardians, nothing is there on their part why God should not chastise them. The Godfearing only are its guardians; but most of them know it not. And their prayer at the house of God is no other than whistling through…
Plutarch weighs Nicias’s piety against possible vainglory, portraying him as fearful of divine powers and consulting diviners, especially about his Laurium silver mines and how his timidity benefits informers.
record of his bequest. This same palm-tree, afterwards broken down by the wind, fell on the great statue which the men of Naxos presented, and struck it to the ground. It is plain that much of this might be vainglory, and the mere desire of popularity and applause; yet from other qualities and carriage of the man, one might believe all this cost and public display to be the effect of devotion. For he was one of tho…
Alexander prepares for and fights through difficulties predicted by diviners: he besieges fortresses, demands courage from soldiers, negotiates with ambassadors at Nysa, and grants terms to Acuphis.
would be glorious in the event, but very painful, and attended with many difficulties; for oil, they said, was bestowed on mankind by God as a refreshment of their labors. Nor did they judge amiss, for he exposed himself to many hazards in the battles which he fought, and received very severe wounds, but the greatest loss in his army was occasioned through the unwholesomeness of the air, and the want of necessary pr…
Plutarch contrasts superstition and disbelief, describing Alexander’s feverish fear of prodigies, his court of priests, and a diarised account of his sickness culminating in his death on the twenty-eighth.
sight of that of Alexander he was suddenly struck with alarm, and shook all over, his eyes rolled, his head grew dizzy, and it was long before he recovered himself. When once Alexander had given way to fears of supernatural influence, his mind grew so disturbed and so easily alarmed, that if the least unusual or extraordinary thing happened, he thought it a prodigy or a presage, and his court was thronged with divin…
Xenophon weighs Socrates’ advice, consults Delphi and Apollo, joins Cyrus’s march at Sardis, and interprets a dream as a sign of troubles soon to be revealed by events.
Xenophon (to whom we owe the whole narrative of the expedition) describes his dream, or the intervention of Oneiros, sent by Zeus, from which this renovating impulse took its rise." Xenophon having read the letter, consulted Socrates the Athenian, whether he should accept or refuse the invitation. Socrates, who had a suspicion that the State of Athens might in some way look askance at my friendship with Cyrus, whose…
Julian prepares for war with Persia while expanding sacrifices, divination, and omens; he reopens the Castalian spring of prophecy, and an earthquake and other disasters occur in late October and early December.
magnanimous, allowed no delay to take place, nor any diminution in the magnitude of his expedition, but devoted the most energetic care to prepare everything suitable for such an enterprise. 6. He offered repeated victims on the altars of the gods; sometimes sacrificing one hundred bulls, and countless flocks of animals of all kinds, and white birds, which he sought for everywhere by land, and sea; so that every day…
In A.D. 363 Julian attempts to rebuild the Jerusalem temple, receives ominous signs, sets provincial honors, advances toward Persia despite portents, appoints governors, and begins marching with casualties from collapses.
was an omen affecting Sallustius, as the elder consul; but it was soon seen that the death it portended was not to the elder man, but to the higher authority. 7. Besides these several other lesser signs from time to time indicated what was about to happen; for, at the very beginning of the arrangements for the Parthian campaign, news came that there had been an earthquake at Constantinople, which those skilful in di…
Cicero writes to Aulus Caecina in exile from Rome, explaining he delayed congratulations, arguing for political divination using past predictions, and forecasting Caecina’s likely return.
ROME (SEPTEMBER) I AM afraid you may think me remiss in my attentions to you, which, in view of our close union resulting from many mutual services and kindred tastes, ought never to be lacking. In spite of that I fear you do find me wanting in the matter of writing. The fact is, I would have sent you a letter long ago and on frequent occasions, had I not, from expecting day after day to have sonic better news for y…
Venus protects Menelaus by redirecting Pandarus’ arrow into his belt and cuirass, causing blood to flow, and Agamemnon fears for him but is reassured Menelaus is not mortally wounded.
the bow was arched into a half-circle he let fly, and the bow twanged, and the string sang as the arrow flew gladly on over the heads of the throng. But the blessed gods did not forget thee, O Menelaus, and Jove’s daughter, driver of the spoil, was the first to stand before thee and ward off the piercing arrow. She turned it from his skin as a mother whisks a fly from off her child when it is sleep…
Juno and Poseidon argue over whether gods should help the Danaans, Agamemnon rallies the Achaeans with a prayer and hears Zeus’s eagle omen, Diomed kills a Trojan and Teucer joins the defense with skilled archery, wounding Hector’s companion Gorgythion.
may strip from the shoulders of Diomed the cuirass which Vulcan made him. Could we take these two things, the Achaeans would set sail in their ships this self-same night.” Thus did he vaunt, but Queen Juno made high Olympus quake as she shook with rage upon her throne. Then said she to the mighty god of Neptune, “What now, wide ruling lord of the earthquake? Can you find no compassion in your heart…
Hector’s fighters suffer losses as Apollo deflects an arrow and Hector’s pursuit leads to Teucer being grievously injured by Hector’s stone, while Hector’s side remounts and drives the Greeks back to their trench.
bowed his head as a garden poppy in full bloom when it is weighed down by showers in spring—even thus heavy bowed his head beneath the weight of his helmet. Again he aimed at Hector, for he was longing to hit him, and again his arrow missed, for Apollo turned it aside; but he hit Hector’s brave charioteer Archeptolemus in the breast, by the nipple, as he was driving furiously into the fight. The ho…
Diomed selects Ulysses, they arm, pray to Athena, and set out with divine signs as the night wanes toward dawn, moving through fallen armor and battle ground toward the Trojan side.
would now go with you. Do not through delicacy reject the better man, and take the worst out of respect for his lineage, because he is of more royal blood.” He said this because he feared for Menelaus. Diomed answered, “If you bid me take the man of my own choice, how in that case can I fail to think of Ulysses, than whom there is no man more eager to face all kinds of danger—and Pallas Minerva lov…
Patroclus describes an earlier Achaean raid where Athena orders a battle for him at Thryoessa on the Alpheus, he kills Mulius, captures chariots, and wins a victory ending at Alision and Olenus.
angered by what he had both said and done, and took great value in return, but he divided the rest, that no man might have less than his full share. “Thus did we order all things, and offer sacrifices to the gods throughout the city; but three days afterwards the Epeans came in a body, many in number, they and their chariots, in full array, and with them the two Moliones in their armour, though the…
The battle rages at multiple gates as Hector gains victory because Jove backs him, while Polypoetes and Leonteus hold the gates and an omen involving an eagle and a blood-red snake alarms Polydamas.
against all who would take them—even so these men, though they be but two, will not be driven from the gates, but stand firm either to slay or be slain.” He spoke, but moved not the mind of Jove, whose counsel it then was to give glory to Hector. Meanwhile the rest of the Trojans were fighting about the other gates; I, however, am no god to be able to tell about all these things, for the battle rag…
Jove awakens and confronts Juno, then orders Iris and Apollo to adjust divine support: Neptune is pushed to withdraw, Apollo is sent to heal and restore Hector, and the Trojans begin regaining advantage.
Jove awakes, tells Apollo to heal Hector, and the Trojans again become victorious. But when their flight had taken them past the trench and the set stakes, and many had fallen by the hands of the Danaans, the Trojans made a halt on reaching their chariots, routed and pale with fear. Jove now woke on the crests of Ida, where he was lying with golden-throned Juno by his side, and starting…
Jove directs Iris to tell Neptune to stop fighting or face Jove’s superior strength, then commands Apollo to heal and strengthen Hector to panic the Achaeans and send them back toward their ships.
of the Achaeans and avenge the death of my son, even though it end in my being struck by Jove’s lightning and lying in blood and dust among the corpses.” As he spoke he gave orders to yoke his horses Panic and Rout, while he put on his armour. On this, Jove would have been roused to still more fierce and implacable enmity against the other immortals, had not Minerva, alarmed for the safety of the g…
Sarpedon’s death is debated by Zeus and Hera, but Patroclus kills him after wounding his horse and breaking the chariot team; Sarpedon’s last words order Glaucus to rally Lycian forces and protect his armor.
of the fight and set him down safe and sound in the fertile land of Lycia, or to let him now fall by the hand of the son of Menoetius.” And Juno answered, “Most dread son of Saturn, what is this that you are saying? Would you snatch a mortal man, whose doom has long been fated, out of the jaws of death? Do as you will, but we shall not all of us be of your mind. I say further, and lay my sayi…
Meriones rebukes Patroclus for taunting words, and the fight around Sarpedon intensifies as Zeus decides to push Hector and the Trojans back, leading Apollo to remove and honor Sarpedon’s body for burial in Lycia.
of your shield with my spear, however strong and self-confident you may be, I should soon vanquish you, and you would yield your life to Hades of the noble steeds.” On this the son of Menoetius rebuked him and said, “Meriones, hero though you be, you should not speak thus; taunting speeches, my good friend, will not make the Trojans draw away from the dead body; some of them must go under ground fi…
Neptune predicts Aeneas’s death and reverses it by rescuing him during the duel, instructing him to avoid Achilles until later, after which Achilles resumes attacking other Trojans.
the god had made the shield in five, two of bronze, the two innermost ones of tin, and one of gold; it was in this that the spear was stayed. Achilles in his turn threw, and struck the round shield of Aeneas at the very edge, where the bronze was thinnest; the spear of Pelian ash went clean through, and the shield rang under the blow; Aeneas was afraid, and crouched backwards, holding the shi…
Scamander tries to stop Achilles by sweeping him away with a flood; Achilles escapes and prays as he is trapped like a swineherd boy in a torrent, while Neptune and Athena appear to promise help and continued fighting.
into the sea for I am choked with dead, and yet you go on mercilessly slaying. I am in despair, therefore, O captain of your host, trouble me no further.” Achilles answered, “So be it, Scamander, Jove-descended; but I will never cease dealing out death among the Trojans, till I have pent them up in their city, and made trial of Hector face to face, that I may learn whether he is to vanquish me, or …
Achilles and Hector run around Troy three times near the Scamander springs, while Zeus debates saving Hector and Athena persuades him to allow Minerva to intervene by helping Hector’s opponent.
resolved to have her—even so did Achilles make straight for Hector with all his might, while Hector fled under the Trojan wall as fast as his limbs could take him. On they flew along the waggon-road that ran hard by under the wall, past the look-out station, and past the weather-beaten wild fig-tree, till they came to two fair springs which feed the river Scamander. One of these two springs is warm…
Nestor coaches Antilochus on turning a doubling-post, then the chariots race: Apollo and Minerva interfere, Eumelus is thrown and injured, Diomed wins by divine aid, and later order shifts as competitors try to overtake.
you the go-by later, not even though you had Adrestus’s horse Arion behind you—a horse which is of divine race—or those of Laomedon, which are the noblest in this country.” When Nestor had made an end of counselling his son he sat down in his place, and fifth in order Meriones got ready his horses. They then all mounted their chariots and cast lots. Achilles shook the helmet, and the lot of Antiloc…
Turning to prognostications, Montaigne says oracle authority has declined, critiques divination methods, and argues the future cannot be profitably known without tormenting people.
OF PROGNOSTICATIONS For what concerns oracles, it is certain that a good while before the coming of Jesus Christ they had begun to lose their credit; for we see that Cicero troubled to find out the cause of their decay, and he has these words: "Cur isto modo jam oracula Delphis non eduntur, non modo nostro aetate, sed jam diu; ut nihil possit esse contemptius?" ["What is the reason that the ora…
He illustrates divination’s power and danger with Francesco, Marquis of Saluzzo, who was swayed by prognostics toward Charles V’s side and later suffered, with a battle context near Fossano.
["It is useless to know what shall come to pass; it is a miserable thing to be tormented to no purpose." --Cicero, De Natura Deor., iii. 6.] yet are they of much less authority now than heretofore. Which makes so much more remarkable the example of Francesco, Marquis of Saluzzo, who being lieutenant to King Francis I. in his ultramontane army, infinitely favoured and esteemed in our court, and obliged to the king's…
Montaigne explains a legendary Tuscan origin for divination (Tages), argues government sometimes uses chance like lot-based marriages, and warns that almanacs mostly produce random hits.
of birds, and who rather consult the livers of animals other than their own, I had rather hear them than attend to them." --Cicero, De Divin., i. 57, ex Pacuvio] The so celebrated art of divination amongst the Tuscans took its beginning thus: A labourer striking deep with his cutter into the earth, saw the demigod Tages ascend, with an infantine aspect, but endued with a mature and senile wisdom. Upon the rumour of…
He describes prophetic books and superstition’s success in public confusion, argues that ambiguous prophetic language allows flexible interpretation, and considers Socrates’ demon as a kind of sudden moral impulse.
their especial favour?" "Why, I say," answered he, "that their pictures are not here who were cast away, who are by much the greater number."--[Cicero, De Natura Deor., i. 37.] Cicero observes that of all the philosophers who have acknowledged a deity, Xenophanes the Colophonian only has endeavoured to eradicate all manner of divination--[Cicero, De Divin., i. 3.]--; which makes it the less a wonder if we have now a…
Locke argues that pain serves to warn and protect, often arising from the same things as pleasure, and he claims pain’s degrees guide humans toward preserving themselves and ultimately seeking God’s joy.
4. An end and use of pain. Pain has the same efficacy and use to set us on work that pleasure has, we being as ready to employ our faculties to avoid that, as to pursue this: only this is worth our consideration, that pain is often produced by the same objects and ideas that produce pleasure in us. This their near conjunction, which makes us often feel pain in the sensations where we expected pleasure, gives us new …
A Herald reports that the hero’s ship was lost and the Greeks’ fleet was battered by storm near the Trojan war, yet some returned safely while others died, leaving uncertainty about Menelaus’ fate.
HERALD Alas—brief boon unto my friends it were, To flatter them, for truth, with falsehoods fair! CHORUS Speak joy, if truth be joy, but truth, at worst— Too plainly, truth and joy are here divorced. HERALD The hero and his bark were rapt away Far from the Grecian fleet? ’tis truth I say. CHORUS Whether in all men’s sight from Ilion borne, Or from the fleet by stress of weather torn? HERALD Full on the mark thy s…
Prester John marches to meet Chinghis Kaan on the plain of Tanduc, camps about twenty miles apart, and astrologers perform a twigs/cane divination to predict who will win the battle.
HOW PRESTER JOHN MARCHED TO MEET CHINGHIS. Now the story goes that when Prester John became aware that Chinghis with his host was marching against him, he went forth to meet him with all his forces, and advanced until he reached the same plain of Tanduc, and pitched his camp over against that of Chinghis Kaan at a distance of 20 miles. And then both armies remained at rest for two days that they might be fresher and…
The editors’ notes explain “Urga” in connection with the killing of Aung Khan’s party, compare the twigs-cane divination to older European and Chinese practices, and add other stories of Chinghis’ respect for Christians.
Urga. Aung Khan was wounded, and fled over the frontier of the Naiman; the officers of that tribe seized and killed him. (*Schmidt*, 87, 383; *Erdmann*, 297; *Gaubil*, p. 10.) NOTE 2.—A Tartar divination by twigs, but different from that here employed, is older than Herodotus, who ascribes it to the Scythians. We hear of one something like the last among the Alans, and (from Tacitus) among the Germans. The wor…
Marcus teaches that death and all sensible things quickly vanish, that fearing natural processes makes one childish, and that observing the order of the whole brings one near the divine.
[A] Pindar, in the Theaetetus of Plato. See xi. 1. 14. Though thou shouldest be going to live three thousand years and as many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses. The longest and shortest are thus brought to the same. For the present is the same to all, though that which perish is not the same;+[A] a…
For the Goodwin Sands, Lyell argues against a view that they are mere sea sand by citing borings showing sand over blue clay and chalk beneath, then connects the feature to traditions of Earl Goodwin and Harold’s father.
force of the waves been checked by an artificial causeway of stones and large wooden piles driven into the sands on the beach to break the force of the waves. *Isle of Thanet.*--The isle of Thanet was, in the time of the Romans, separated from the rest of Kent by a navigable channel, through which the Roman fleets sailed on their way to and from London. Bede describes this small estuary as being, in the beginning of…
He summarizes Apuleius’ account that demons have human-like emotions and mediate divination, dreams, and magic miracles, then refutes demon worship by arguing they lack virtue and are made for misery, not blessedness.
which we are better than they, knowing that we too shall have immortality of body,--not an immortality tortured by eternal punishment, but that which is consequent on purity of soul. But now, as regards loftiness of place, it is altogether ridiculous to be so influenced by the fact that the demons inhabit the air, and we the earth, as to think that on that account they are to be put before us; for in this way we put…
Adam argues that Eve’s wish for suicide shows anguish, not virtue, and that God’s punishment is not easily evaded; he urges a better alternative and recalls that he has something in mind.
Eve, thy contempt of life and pleasure seems To argue in thee something more sublime And excellent, than what thy mind contemns; But self-destruction therefore sought, refutes That excellence thought in thee; and implies, Not thy contempt, but anguish and regret For loss of life and pleasure overloved. Or if thou covet death, as utmost end Of misery, so thinking to evade The penalty pronounced; doubt not but God Hath…
He explains how Gentiles assigned specific gods as ministerial causes for fertility, arts, storms, and more, and multiplied divination methods like oracles, sibyls, astrology, witchcraft, augury, dreams, and omens.
Mercury; of Tempests and stormes, to Aeolus; and of other effects, to other Gods: insomuch as there was amongst the Heathen almost as great variety of Gods, as of businesse. And to the Worship, which naturally men conceived fit to bee used towards their Gods, namely Oblations, Prayers, Thanks, and the rest formerly named; the same Legislators of the Gentiles have added their Images, both in Picture, and Sculpture; t…
The explanation argues that Phaethon’s episode functions as an allegory of rash folly, then surveys competing ancient and Christian interpretations and possible historical bases.
Danube had that name from its source to the confines of Germany; and thence, in its course through Scythia to the sea, it was called by the name of ‘Ister.’] [Footnote 47: *Alpheus.*--Ver. 250. It was a river of Arcadia, in Peloponnesus.] [Footnote 48: *Tagus.*--Ver. 251. This was a river of Spain, which was said to bring down from the mountains great quantities of golden sand. The Poet here feigns this…
The commentary argues that the fountain Arethusa and the river Alpheus myth arose from confusing Sicilian place-names, and it cites Delphi’s oracle to Archias and Pausanias’ skepticism.
[Footnote 73: *Hoary willows.*--Ver. 590. The leaf of the willow has a whitish hue, especially on one side of it.] [Footnote 74: *Orchomenus.*--Ver. 607. This was a city of Arcadia, in a marshy district, near to Mantinea. There was another place of the same name, in Bœotia, between Elatea and Coronea, famous for a splendid temple to the Graces, there erected.] [Footnote 75: *Psophis.*--Ver. 607. This wa…
Constance survives a perilous sea voyage by divine protection, reaches Northumberland after shipwreck, is cared for by the castle constable and his pagan wife, and gradually converts them through faith.
now may she bait, After her death full often may she wait*, *expect Ere that the wilde waves will her drive Unto the place *there as* she shall arrive. *where Men mighten aske, why she was not slain? Eke at the feast who might her body save? And I answer to that demand again, Who saved Daniel in the horrible cave, Where every wight, save he, master or knave*, *servant Was with the lion frett*, ere …
The chosen youngest tries to seize all the gold by buying poison, plots to kill both accomplices, and accidentally drinks it himself, causing the other two and then himself to die from the poison.
fulfil, *pleasures And play at dice right at our owen will.” And thus accorded* be these shrewes** tway *agreed **wretches To slay the third, as ye have heard me say. The youngest, which that wente to the town, Full oft in heart he rolled up and down The beauty of these florins new and bright. “O Lord!” quoth he, “if so were that I might Have all this treasure to myself alone, There is no man that lives under the th…
The Duke of Parma and Piacenza, Pier Luigi Farnese (meeting Benvenuto in the duchy), debates whether to apologize for Benvenuto’s Roman imprisonment, and Benvenuto interprets God’s justice in the encounter.
do so; but that if I had completed those extensive works begun for the King, I should be disposed to quit any great prince merely to enter his Excellency’s service. Hereby it may be seen how the power and goodness of God never leave unpunished any sort or quality of men who act unjustly toward the innocent. This man did what was equivalent to begging my pardon in the presence of those very persons who subsequently t…
Tacitus explains German kingship and priestly discipline, divine authorization in war, women’s prophetic and war-encouraging role, and their gods and sacrifices, followed by discussion of divination by lots, birds, and horses.
human likeness. They consecrate whole woods and groves, and by the names of the Gods they call these recesses; divinities these, which only in contemplation and mental reverence they behold. To the use of lots and auguries, they are addicted beyond all other nations. Their method of divining by lots is exceeding simple. From a tree which bears fruit they cut a twig, and divide it into two small pieces. These they di…