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[39] What truth there may be in these things I cannot say; they have at least been regarded and believed as true by mankind. Hence prophets received so much honour as to be thought worthy even of thrones, because they were supposed to communicate ordinances and precepts from the gods, both during their lifetime and after their death; as for example Teiresias,
Od. xix. 494.
Such were Amphiaraus, Trophonius, Orpheus, and Musaeus: in former times there was Zamolxis, a Pythagorean, who was accounted a god among the Getae; and in our time, Decaeneus, the diviner of Byrebistas. Among the Bosporani, there was Achaicarus; among the Indians, were the Gymnosophists; among the Persians, the Magi and Necyomanteis,
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and besides these the Lecanomanteis
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and Hydromanteis;
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among the Assyrians, were the Chaldaeans; and among the Romans, the Tyrrhenian diviners of dreams.
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to whom alone Proserpine gave wisdom and understanding after death: the others flit about as shadows.
Such was Moses and his successors; their beginning was good, but they degenerated.
Geography. Strabo. Hans Claude Hamilton (Translator), William Falconer (Translator). London. 1854-1857.
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