Prophecy and oracles
idea · 3 works · 3 mentions · 7 anchored passages
oracle · prophecy · prophecy, and oracles · the god's oracle · the words of prophets
spoken of as
1 expressionOracles and prophecy1 mention
History of the Peloponnesian War (Greek)
Do not you then, weak as you are, and hanging on one single turn of the scale, be desirous of this fate, nor of resembling the greater part of mankind, who, when they might have been saved by human means, after visible hopes have failed them in their distress, betake themselves to such as are invisible, namely, prophecy, and oracles, and all such things as bring men to ruin, together with the hopes resting upon them.
in the texts
Iphigenia in Tauris
The idea of oracular prophecy (chiefly Apollo's) as both a compelling authority for action and a source of doubt when its promises seem to fail.
Phoebus, though a prophet, has deceived me;
And those who are called wise divinities are not less false than winged dreams.
For it will not be the god’s fault if his sacred oracle falls to the ground without effect.
The Histories
The recurring role of oracles and prophecy as authoritative, sometimes ambiguous guides to action throughout the episode.
The oracle was as follows:
Cypselus, son of Eetion, the king of noble Corinth,
When he had reached manhood and was seeking a divination, an oracle of double meaning was given him at Delphi.
History of the Peloponnesian War
Divinatory practices explicitly named by the Athenians as an invisible, ruinous recourse for those in desperate straits.
Do not you then, weak as you are, and hanging on one single turn of the scale, be desirous of this fate, nor of resembling the greater part of mankind, who, when they might have been saved by human means, after visible hopes have failed them in their distress, betake themselves to such as are invisible, namely, prophecy, and oracles, and all such things as bring men to ruin, together with the hopes resting upon them.