Oracle of Delphi prophesies
{O01} "In the fifth generation
from Gyges(King of Lydia), vengeance should come for the
Heraclides <<i.e.: the family of Hercules>>
{O02}"I oracle will not
answer until they had rebuilt the temple of Athene, burnt by the Lydians
at Assesus in Milesia"
{O03}"I can count the
sands, and I can measure the ocean;
I have ears for the silent, and know what the
dumb man meaneth;
Lo! on me sense there striketh the smell of a
shell-covered tortoise;
Boiling now on a fire, with the flesh of a lamb,
in a cauldron-
Brass is the vessel below, and brass the cover
above it.;
{O04}"If Croesus
attacked the Persians, he would destroy a mighty empire.
Look to see who were the most powerful of the
Greeks, and to make alliance with them."
{O05} "Wait till the time
shall come when a mule is monarch of Media;
Then, thou delicate Lydian, away to the pebbles
of Hermus;
Hast, O haste thee away, nor blush to behave
like a coward."
{O06} "Oh! thou great
Lycurgus, that com'st to my beutiful dwelling,
Dear to Zeus, and to all who sit in the halls
of Olympus,
Whether to hail thee a god I know not, or only
a mortal,
But my hope is stong that a god thou wilt prove,
Lycurgus.
{O07} "Cravest thou Arcady?
Bold is they craving. I shall not content it.
Many the men that is Arcady dwell, whose food
is the acorn-
They will never allow thee. It is not I that
am niggard.
I will give thee to dance in Tegea, with noisy
foot-fall,
And with the measruing line mete out the glorious
champaign.
{O08} "Level and smooth
is the plain where Arcadian Tegea standeth;
There two winds are ever, by strong necessiy,
blowing.
Counterstroke answer stroke, and evil lies upon
evil.
There all-teeming Earth doth harbour the son
of Atrides;
Bring thou him to thy city, and then be Tegea's
master.
{O09}"Wretches, why sit
ye here? Fly, fly to the ends of creation,
Quitting your homes, and the crags which your
city crowns with her circlet.
Neither the head, nor the body is firm in its
place, nor at bottom
Firm the feet, nor the hands; nor resteth the
middle uninjurd.
All - all ruined and lost. Since fire, and impetuous
Ares
Speeding along in a Syrian chariot, hastes to
destroy her.
Not alone shal thou suffer; full many the towers
he will level,
Many the shrines of the gods he will give to
a fiery destruction.
Even now they stand wit hdark sweat horribly
dripping,
Trembling and quaking for fear, and lo! from
the high roofs trickleth
Black blood, sign prophetic of hard distresses
impending.
Get ye away from the temple; and brood on the
ills that await ye!"
{O10} "Pallas has not
been able to soften the lord of Olympus,
Though she has often prayed him, and urged him
with excellent counsel.
Yet once more I address thee in words than adamant
firmer.
When the foe shall have taken whatever the limit
of Cecrops
Holds within it, and all which divine Cithaeron
Shelters,
The far-seeing Zeus grants this to the prayers
of Athene;
Safe shall the wooden wall continue for thee
and they children.
Wait not the tramp of the horse, nor the footmen
mightily moving
Over the land, but turn your back to thefoe,
and retire ye.
Yet shall a day arrive when ye shall meet him
in battle.
Holy Salamis, thou shalt destroy the offsprint
of women,
When they scatter the seed, or when they gather
the harvest"
{O11} "O ye men who dwell
in the streets of broad Lacedaemon!
Either your glorious town shall be sacked by
the children of Perseus,
Or, in exchange, must all through the whole Laconian
country
shall mourn the death of a king of the house
of Heracles.
He cannot be withstood by the courage of bulls
nor of lions
Strive as they may; he is mighty as Zeus; there
is nought that shall stay him,
till he have got for his prey your king, or your
glorious city."
{012} "pray for the winds;
for the winds would do Greece good service"
{013} "The best of all land is the Pelasgian plain, best are the Thracian horses, Spartan women and the men who drink the water of fair Arethusa (ie: the men of Chalcis in Euboea). But beter still than these are those that live between Tiryns and Arcadia of the many sheep, the linen-corsleted Argives, the goads of war. Palatine Anthology 14.73 around 650-700 B.C.
