University of Virginia Library

LVII.

Sometimes he gave out oracles,

This passage accords with a belief prevalent in the earlier ages of Christianity, that all nations, except the descendants of Abraham, were abandoned by the Almighty, and subjected to the power of demons or evil spirits. Fontenelle, in his “Histoire des Oracles,” makes the following extract from the works of the Pagan philosopher Porphyry: “Auguste déjà vieux et songeant à se choisir un successeur alla consulter l'Oracle de Delphes. L'Oracle ne répondait point, quoiqu' Auguste n'épargnât pas des sacrifices. A la fin, cependant, il en tira cette réponse. L'enfant Hebreu à qui tous les Dieux obéissent, me chasse d'ici, et me renvoie dans les Enfers. Sors de ce temple sans parler!”

amused

With mortal folly; resting on the shrines;
Or, all in some fair sibyl's form infused,
Spoke from her trembling lips, or traced her mystic lines.

The identity of Zóphiël with Apollo will be perceived in this and other passages.