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Oracle
The answer of a god or inspired priest to an inquiry respecting
the future; the deity giving responses; the place where the deity could
be consulted, etc.
Oracle
The following are famous responses:
(1) When Croesus
consulted the Delphic oracle respecting a projected war, he received
for answer, “Croesus Halyn penetrans magnum, pervertet opum vim” (When Croesus passes over the river Halys, he will overthrow the
strength of an empire). Croesus supposed the oracle meant he would
overthrow the enemy's empire, but it was his own that he destroyed.
(2) Pyrrhus, being about to make war against Rome, was told by the
oracle: “Aio te, AEacide, Romanos vincere posse” (I say,
Pyrrhus, that you the Romans can conquer), which may mean either You, Pyrrhus, can overthrow the Romans, or Pyrrhus, the Romans
can overthrow you.
(3) Another prince, consulting the oracle concerning a projected
war, received for answer, “Ibis redibis nunquam per bella peribis” (You shall go shall return never you shall perish by the war), It will
be seen that the whole gist of this response depends on the place of
the omitted comma; it may be You shall return, you shall never
perish in the war, or You shall return never, you shall perish
in the war, which latter was the fact.
(4) Philip of Macedon sent
to ask the oracle of Delphi if his Persian expedition would prove
successful, and received for answer-
The ready victim crowned for death
Before the altar stands.
Philip took it for granted that the “ready victim” was the King of
Persia, but it was Philip himself.
(5) When the Greeks sent to Delphi
to know if they would succeed against the Persians, they were told-
Seed-time and harvest, weeping sires shall tell
How thousands fought at Salamis and fell.
But whether the Greeks or the Persians were to be “the weeping
sires,” deponent stateth not, nor whether the thousands “about to fall” were to be Greeks or Persians. (See Punctuation.)
(6) When Maxentius was about to encounter Constantine, he consulted
the guardians of the Sibylline Books as to the fate of the battle, and
the prophetess told him, “Illo die hostem Romanorum case periturum,” but
whether Maxentius or Constantine was “the enemy of the Roman people” the oracle left undecided.
(7) In the Bible we have a similar equivoke:
When Ahab, King of Israel, was about to wage war on the king of Syria,
and asked Micaiah if Ramoth-Gilead would fall into his hands, the
prophet replied, “Go, for the Lord will deliver the city into the hands
of the king” (1 Kings xxii. 15, 35). Ahab thought that he himself was the king referred to, but the city fell into the hands of the
king of Syria.
There are scores of punning prophecies equally equivocal.
Oracle
(Sir). A dogmatical person, one not to be gainsaid. The ancient
oracles professed to be the responses of the gods, from which there
could be no appeal.
I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips let no dog bark.
Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, i. 1.
To work the oracle.
To induce another to favour some plan or join in some project.
“They fetched a rattling price through Starlight's working the oracle
with those swells.” —Boldrewood: Robbery under Arms, chap. xii.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Oracle from Infoplease:
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