Plutarch, De Pythiae oraculis, Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator), 22

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[22] Homer¹ also gives testimony on my side by his assumption that practically nothing is brought to pass for any reason without a god²; he does not, however, represent the god as employing everything for every purpose, but as employing each thing in accordance with the aptitude or faculty that each possesses. Do you not see, he continued, my dear Diogenianus, that Athena, when she wishes to persuade the Achaeans, summons Odysseus³; when she wishes to bring to naught the oaths, seeks out Pandarus⁴; when she wishes to rout the Trojans, goes to Diomedes⁵? The reason is that Diomedes is a man of great strength and a warrior, Pandarus a bowman and a fool, Odysseus adept at speaking and a man of sense. The fact is that Homer did not have the same idea as Pindar, if it really was Pindar who wrote God willing, you may voyage on a mat;⁶ but Homer recognized the fact that some faculties and natures are created for some purposes and others for others, and each one of these is moved to action in a different way, even if the power that moves them all be one and the same. Now this power cannot move to flight that which can only walk or run, nor move a lisp to clear speaking, nor a shrill thin voice to melodious utterance. No, in the case of Battus⁷ it was for this reason, when he came to consult the oracle for his voice, that the god sent him as a colonist to Africa, because Battus had a lisp and a shrill thin voice, but also had the qualities of a king and a statesman, and was a man or sense. So in the same way it is impossible for the unlettered man who has never read verse to talk like a poet. Even so the maiden who now serves the god here was born of as lawful and honourable wedlock as anyone, and her life has been in all respects proper; but, having been brought up in the home of poor peasants, she brings nothing with her as the result of technical skill or of any other expertness or faculty, as she goes down into the shrine. On the contrary, just as Xenophon⁸ believes that a bride should have seen as little and heard as little as possible before she proceeds to her husband’s house, so this girl, inexperienced and uninformed about practically everything, a pure, virgin soul, becomes the associate of the god. Now we cherish the belief that the god, in giving indications to us, makes use of the calls of herons, wrens, and ravens; but we do not insist that these, inasmuch as they are messengers and heralds of the gods, shall express everything rationally and clearly, and yet we insist that the voice and language of the prophetic priestess, like a choral song in the theatre, shall be presented, not without sweetness and embellishment, but also in verse of a grandiloquent and formal style with verbal metaphors and with a flute to accompany its delivery I

De Pythiae oraculis. Plutarch. Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1936.

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Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

The Oracle at Delphi no Longer Given in Verse (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. V. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τοῦ μὴ χρᾶν ἔμμετρα νῦν τὴν Πυθίαν Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol II. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1891.) — 22 focus

[22] μαρτυρεῖ δέ μοι καὶ Ὅμηρος,¹ αἰτίας μὲν ἄνευ θεοῦ² οὐδὲν ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν ὑποτιθέμενος περαινόμενον, οὐ μὴν πᾶσι πρὸς πάντα χρώμενον ποιῶν τὸν θεόν, ἀλλʼ ἑκάστῳ καθʼ ἣν ἔχει τέχνην ἢ δύναμιν. 25 ἢ γὰρ οὐχ ὁρᾷς, εἶπεν, ὦ; φίλε Διογενιανέ, τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν, ὅτε πεῖσαι βούλεται τοὺς Ἀχαιούς, τὸν Ὀδυσσέα παρακαλοῦσαν, ὅτε συγχέαι τὰ ὅρκια, τὸν Πάνδαρον ζητοῦσαν, ὅτε τρέψασθαι τοὺς Τρῶας, 405b ἐπὶ τὸν Διομήδην βαδίζουσαν; ὁ μὲν γὰρ εὔρωστος 5 καὶ μάχιμος ὁ δὲ τοξικὸς καὶ ἀνόητος ὁ δὲ δεινὸς εἰπεῖν καὶ φρόνιμος. οὐ γὰρ εἶχεν Ὅμηρος τὴν αὐτὴν Πινδάρῳ διάνοιαν, εἴ γε Πίνδαρος³⁴ ἦν ὁ ποιήσας

θεοῦ θέλοντος, κἂν ἐπὶ ῥιπὸς;⁵ πλέοις·

ἀλλʼ ἐγίγνωσκεν⁶ ἄλλας πρὸς ἄλλα δυνάμεις καὶ φύσεις 10 γεγενημένας, ὧν ἑκάστη κινεῖται διαφόρως, κἂν ἓν ᾖ τὸ κινοῦν ἁπάσας. ὥσπερ οὖν τὸ κινοῦν τὸ πεζὸν οὐ δύναται κινῆσαι⁷ πτητικῶς, οὐδὲ τορῶς τὸ τραυλὸν οὐδʼ εὐφώνως τὸ ἰσχνόφωνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν Βάττον, οἶμαι, διὰ τοῦτʼ ἐπὶ τὴν φωνὴν⁸ παραγενόμενον 15 εἰς Λιβύην ἔπεμψεν⁹ οἰκιστήν, ὅτι τραυλὸς μὲν 405c ἦν καὶ ἰσχνόφωνος βασιλικὸς δὲ καὶ πολιτικὸς καὶ φρόνιμος· οὕτως ἀδύνατον διαλέγεσθαι ποιητικῶς τὸν ἀγράμματον καὶ ἀνήκοον ἐπῶν. ὥσπερ ἡ νῦν τῷ θεῷ λατρεύουσα γέγονε μὲν εἴ τις ἄλλος ἐνταῦθα 20 νομίμως καὶ καλῶς καὶ βεβίωκεν εὐτάκτως· τραφεῖσα¹⁰ δʼ ἐν οἰκίᾳ γεωργῶν πενήτων, οὔτʼ ἀπὸ τέχνης οὐδὲν οὔτʼ ἀπʼ ἄλλης τινὸς ἐμπειρίας καὶ δυνάμεως ἐπιφερομένη κάτεισιν εἰς τὸ χρηστήριον, ἀλλʼ ὥσπερ ὁ Ξενοφῶν¹¹ οἴεται δεῖν ἐλάχιστα τὴν νύμφην ἰδοῦσαν ἐλάχιστα δʼ ἀκούσασαν εἰς ἀνδρὸς βαδίζειν, οὕτως ἄπειρος καὶ ἀδαὴς ὀλίγου δεῖν ἁπάντων καὶ 405d παρθένος ὡς ἀληθῶς τὴν ψυχὴν τῷ θεῷ σύνεστιν. ἀλλʼ ἡμεῖς ἐρωδιοῖς οἰόμεθα καὶ τροχίλοις καὶ κόραξι 5 χρῆσθαι φθεγγομένοις σημαίνοντα τὸν θεόν, καὶ οὐκ ἀξιοῦμεν, ᾗ θεῶν ἄγγελοι καὶ κήρυκές εἰσι, λογικῶς ἕκαστα καὶ σαφῶς¹² φράζειν τὴν δὲ τῆς Πυθίας φωνὴν καὶ διάλεκτον ὥσπερ ¹³ ἐκ θυμέλης, οὐκ ἀνήδυντον οὐδὲ λιτὴν ἀλλʼ ἐν μέτρῳ καὶ ὄγκῳ 10 καὶ πλάσματι καὶ μεταφοραῖς ὀνομάτων καὶ μετʼ αὐλοῦ φθεγγομένην παρέχειν¹⁴ ἀξιοῦμεν.

Translations (1)

Wherefore the Pythian Priestess now Ceases to Deliver her Oracles in Verse Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. III. Goodwin, William W., editor; Philips, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.) — 22 focus

[22] For proof of this I may call Homer for my witness, who affirms that there is nothing done or brought to perfection of which God is not the cause, supposing that God makes use not of all men for all things alike, but of every man according to his ability either of art or nature. Thus, dost thou not find it to be true, friend Diogenianus, that when Minerva would persuade the Greeks to undertake any enterprise, she brings Ulysses upon the stage?—when she designs to break the truce, she finds out Pandarus?—when she designs a rout of the Trojans, she addresses herself to Diomede? For the one was stout of body and valiant; the other was a good archer, but without brains; the other a shrewd politician and eloquent. For Homer was not of the same opinion with Pindar, at least if it was Pindar that made the following verses:

Were it the will of Heaven, an ozier bough

Were vessel safe enough the seas to plough.

For he well knew that there were different abilities and natures designed for different effects, every one of which is qualified with different motions, though there be but one moving cause that gives motion to all. So that the same virtual power which moves the creature that goes upon all four cannot cause it to fly, no more than he that stammers can speak fluently and eloquently, or he that has a feeble squeaking voice can give a loud hollow. Therefore in my opinion it was that Battus, when he consulted the oracle, was sent into Africa, there to build a new city, as being a person who, although he lisped and stammered, had nevertheless endowments truly royal, which rendered him fit for sovereign government. In like manner it is impossible the Pythian priestess should learn to speak learnedly and elegantly; for, though it cannot be denied but that her parentage was virtuous and honest, and that she always lived a sober and a chaste life, yet her education was among poor laboring people; so that she was advanced to the oracular seat rude and unpolished, void of all the advantages of art or experience. For as it is the opinion of Xenophon, that a virgin ready to be espoused ought to be carried to the bridegroom’s house when she has seen and heard as little as possible; so the Pythian priestess ought to converse with Apollo, illiterate and ignorant almost of every thing, still approaching his presence with a truly and pure virgin soul.

But it is a strange fancy of men; they believe that the God makes use of herons, wrens, and crows to signify future events, expressing himself according to their vulgar notes, but do not expect of these birds, although they are the messengers and ambassadors of the God, to deliver their predictions in words clear and intelligible; but they will not allow the Pythian priestess to pronounce her answers in plain, sincere, and natural expressions, but they demand that she shall speak in the poetical magnificence of high and stately verses, like those of a tragic chorus, with metaphors and figurative phrases, accompanied with the delightful sounds of flutes and hautboys.

Notes on the current edition

The Oracle at Delphie no Longer Given in Verse

1. Il. ii. 169; v. 1.

2. For example, Od. ii. 372; xv. 531.

3. Il. ii. 169.

4. Il. iv. 86.

5. Il. v. 1.

6. From the Thyestes of Euripides: Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Euripides, no. 397; but the line is sometimes ascribed to other poets also.

7. Cf. Herodotus, iv. 155; Pindar, Pythian Odes, v., and the scholium to Pythian iv. 10.

8. Oeconomicus, 7. 4-5.

Plutarch De Pythiae oraculis 22

Frank Cole Babbitt (Translator)

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