The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1876-07-13
THE ORACLES OF ANCIENT

ASthe classical authors inform us, There
were in ancient Greece, in different To-
calities, so called sibyls, a kind of fortune
tellers, clairvoyants, or spiritual medi-
ums, but Of social standing much high
er than that of their successors at the
present day, as they were not only rec
ognized but maintained by wealthy
and influential priesthood, to whom the
presents received from the faithful be-
levers were a source of enormous reve-
nue.. In our present state of society, we
can scarcely form an idea of the power
and influence of the priests as a separate
class of society, monopolizing as they did,
all theprodts from the superstitious, who
wished to atone for their sins, to obtain
knowledge not only of secret events, but
also Of the future, and to get advice as to
their action in cases of difficulty, even to
be cured of various diseases and thus
the priests monopolized, for many CEN
turies, the functions of many professions
even that of the physicians, which Hip
pocrates at last succeeded in rescuing
from the power of the priesthood. g.
These sibyls, of which the two promi-
nent ones were the Cumean and the
Delphian, resided in gorgeous temples
erected over caves, from which vapors
arose which had an exhilarating and an
aesthetic influence, similar to that of
nitrous oxide or laughing gas, on those
inhaling them. The author of q we'll
known book, entitled cart Magic" who
for some time lived at the locality where
the Cumean sibyl once resided, states
that it is one of the widest, grandest,
and most awe.inspiring gorges of the
mountains around Lake Avernus, which
itself is the inundated crater of an ex-
tinct but once mighty volcano while the
whole region around, now fertilized by
the waters of the lake, bears the marks
of the ravages of fire, presenting a most
gloomy appearance. The clefts in the
savage rocks abound with cavems, ex-
haling mephitic vapors and bituminous
odors The scattered inhabitants of the
surrounding district once believed that
that the largest grotto was the entrance
to the lower world, and that the ham
mers of the Titans, working in the nigh.
ty laboratories of the Putonic realms,
might be heard reyerberating through the
sullen air. The dark waters of Lake
Avernus were supposed to communicate
directly with the silent flow of the
river Of death, the Lethean stream,
made dreadful by the apparitions of con-
demned spirits, who tloated from the
shores Of the lake to the realms of end
less night In this grotto resided the fa-
nous Cum@an sibyl; and from the ex-
halations, which were more or less pois-
onous to birds and other small animals
which came near, the weird woman ap-
pears to have derived that fierce eCstaCy
in which she wrote and raved about the
destiny ofnations, the fate of armies, the
downfall of kingdoms, and the decay of
dynasties. Even monarchs and states
men often acted according to her pre-
tended revelations, and it was supposed
that the purposes of the pagan gods were
made known to her as to counsellor and
a mouthpieCe.
She sometimes wrote her soothsayings
upon palm leaves, which she laid at the
entrance of the cave, suffering the winds
to scatter them and bear them whittier
the gods directed. To the Cum@an ST.
byls is attributed the authorship of the
famous sibylline books, of which many
strange stories are told, but of which
very little is left that can be regarded as
genuine. 1t is said that she foretold the
eruption of Vesuvius, in which Pliny
perished and the cities of Herculaneum
and Pompeii were destroyed. She de-
clared Of herself "Why must publish
my song to every one? And when my
spirit rests after the divine hymR, the
gods command me to prophecy again, so
that.l am entirely on the stretch, and
my body is so distressed that do not
know what say; but the gods command
me to speak," If we substitute in the
latter expression the word spirits for
gods, we have a declaration identical
with those of the spirit mediums of the
present day,
The abode of the Delphian sibyl was
in strong contrast with that of the Gu
m@an oracle. 1t was situated in the de-
lightful region of Mount Parnassus,
sparkling in sunlight and fragrant with
bloom. The superb temple Of Apollo was
built over similar chasm as that where
the Cumean sibyl held her Seances, so
that it was secured against the approach
of the vulgar, On its former site certain
Clefts in the rock are still visible, one of
which forms deep cavern, into which
travellers, by clinging to its rugged sides,
may descend as far as they dare. They
then experience effects similar to those
produced by nitrous oxide or laughing
gas; and one writer, who has explored
these caverns, asserts that it is this gas
that produces the effects spoken Of This
however, is according to geological prin-
ciples, highly improbable; and we rather
suppose it to be some bituminons vapor,
which, according to our present knowl-
edge concerning petroleum and its deri-
vatives, such as naphtha, ether, rhigolene,
chymogene, etc. has an effect, exhilara-
ting, hypnotic, and anesthetic, similar to
that of nitrons oxide. All the descrip-
tions agree that bituminous odors are
exhaled from these volcanic chasms,-
Plutarch informs us that the most Cele-
hrated Pythia who served the Delphian
oracle in the temple of Apollo was a
beautiful young country girl from Libya,
named Sibylla. From this was the name
sibyl derived, and it was afterwards ap-
piled to all Clairvoyants of her day. Plu-
tarch further says, concerning the first
sibyl: Brought up by her parents in
the country, she brought with her nei-
ther art nor experience, nor any talent
whatever, when she arrived at Delphi to
be the oracle of the gods;" and further,
he says: "The varifcation of her an
swers has filled the temple with gifts
from all parts of Greece and foreign coun-
tries" How very much like the inno-
cent young mediums of to day, who are
often claimed to give the most astonish-
ing revelations from the other world
without ever having the advantages of a
scientific education The sibyls of the
ancients had, however, the advantage of
the support, assistance and promptness
Of a class of men highly interested in