"dream of Scipio," "Here, on earth, is the cavern of despair, the infernal region. The river of oblivion is the wandering of the mind, forgetting the majesty of its former life; and a thinking residence in the body the only life." (Lib. i. cap. 9). To the clear vision of those inspired Grecians, dying was ascending to the soul's primal home-the society of the celestial gods in the starry regions of measureless space.

CHAPTER IX.

ROMAN.

"For thrice ten thousand holy demons rove
This breathing world, the delegates of Jove,
Guardians of man, their glance alike surveys
The upright judgments and the unrighteous ways."

"Thus we see how man's prophetic creeds

Made gods of men, when Godlike were their deeds."

Rome! proud, imperial, seven-hilled-Rome! that with nod could crown kings and bury empires-Rome! boastful of her Cicero and her Cæsars-Rome! that humbled Carthage-Rome! with her deep blue skies, southern winds, and ruins rich in ancient legends! she accepted, even in her most famous ages, Greece for her schoolmaster. Her philosophy, religion, science, art, and poetry-her dramas, and even the very laws so long honored in Athens, were brought from Greece and introduced among the Romans more than three hundred years before Christ. Greek art was copied by Roman artists. Greek professors taught the Grecian philosophy to the more promising of the youth of Rome, and all were taught to respect the oracles and reverence the gods and genii that appeared to, guarded, and conversed with mortals.

Sallust, a Platonic philosopher, author of a treatise "On the Gods and the world," says: "But we, when we are good, are conjoined with the gods through similitude; but when evil, we are separated from them through dissimilitude.

And while we live according to virtue, we partake of the gods, but when we become evil, we cause them to become our enemies; not that they are angry, but because guilt prevents us from receiving the illuminations of the gods, and subjects us to the power of avenging demons.

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"Since the providence of the gods is every where extended, a certain latitude, or fitness, is all that is requisite in order to receive their beneficent communications. But since so much providence is displayed in the last things, it is impossible that it should not subsist in such as are first: besides, divinations and the healing of bodies, take place from the beneficent providence of the gods."

Cicero says:-"Now, as far as I know, there is no nation whatever, however polished and learned, or however barbarous and uncivilized, which does not believe it possible that future events may be indicated, understood and predicted by certain persons."-De Divinatione, lib. 1.

He further says, "To natural divination, belongs that which does not take place from supposition, observations, or well-known signs; but arises from an inner state and activity of the mind in which men are enabled by an unfettered advance of the soul to foretell future things.

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If we turn to ridicule the Babylonians and Caucasians, who believe in celestial signs, and who observe the number and course of the stars; if, as I said, we condemn all these for their superstitions and folly, which, as they maintain, are founded upon the experience of fifty centuries and a half; let us, in that case, call the belief of ages imposture-let us burn our records, and say that everything was but imagination. But is the history of Greece a lie, when Apollo foretold the future through the oracles of the Lacedæmonians and Corinthians? I will leave all else as it is, but this I must defend, that the gods influence and care for human affairs. The Delphian oracle would never have become so celebrated, nor so overwhelmed by presents from every king and every nation, if every age had not experienced the truth of its predictions."

Among the most noted of the ancient oracles were Delphi, Dodona and Trophonius. Delphi was situated at the foot of Mount Parnassus, historic as one of the haunts of the muses. Upon this mountain there was a cave, from which arose electric exhalations intoxicating the brain. It was discovered by a shepherd youth, who, upon experiencing its influences, was caused to pronounce strange words, and foretell future events. Around this cave were erected several temples, one of which was magnificent. To it, all nations flocked for responses. Apollo, a Grecian god, was the spiritual intelligence that gave the oracle. Poets, orators, and generals frequently consulted the Delphian medium, receiving responses and prophecies. This medium, through whom the oracle was delivered, was a priestess called Pythia. Apollo did not always give the communications orally, but impressed the leading ideas upon her mind, and she uttered them in her own language, thus affecting or stamping them with her own peculiarities.

The Pythia prepared herself for the spiritual control of Apollo by purifications and fastings; then, being so charged by him with the electric fluid, that her hair stood upright, eyes wild, and even the foundation of the temple shaking, she uttered strange, mystic words, which were collected by prophets and poets, and woven into verse. Here is a sample, designed to inspire the halting nature of Agesilaus:

"Sparta, beware, though thou art fierce and proud,
Lest a lame king thy ancient glories shroud;

For then 't will be thy fate to undergo
Tedious turmoil of war and sudden woe."

Plutarch, as translated from the Greek by Philips, gives the reason why the Pythian priestess ceased her oracles in verse. The classical Anthon says, that besides the "Sacred Oaks" at Dodena, "dreams, visions, and preternatural voices also announced the will of the divinities." These oracles continued to speak from the immortal realms, as may be proven from Plutarch and Suetonius, long after the

advent of Christianity. Nero and Julian both consulted them and received satisfactory answers. It also appears from the edicts of the Emperors Theodosius, Gratian and Valentinian, that oracles existed and were consulted as late as A. D. 358. These, in fact, have existed in all ages and under all civilizations, as ancient records demonstrate. They were simply phases of mediumship. The utterances of these lords, gods, angels, demons, and spirits, have been termed, in different periods, oracles, scriptures and inspirations.

The Romans, ambitious for fame, not only consulted the prophetic spirits of their own empire, but each year sent authorized individuals, as embassadors extraordinary, to consult with the most noted oracles of Greece. Livy's history of Rome covers a period of time six hundred years from the laying of its foundation to the date of its highest military power as a commonwealth, and that popular English writer, Wm. Howitt, tells us that "in Livy alone he had marked above fifty instances of his record of the literal fulfillment of dreams, oracles, prognostics, by soothsayers and astrologers."

The Rev. E. L. Magoon, in his "Grand Drama of Human Progress," writing of Romulus, says:

"We are told by Livy, that soon after his disappearance from among men, the spirit of Romulus visited the distinguished senator, Proculus Julius, and addressed him as follows:- Go, tell my countrymen it is the decree of heaven, that the city I have founded shall become the mistress of the world. Let her cultivate assiduously the military art. Then let her be assured, and transmit the assurance from age to age, that no mortal power can resist the arms of Rome.' Strict and persevering obedience to this counsel eventually caused that colossal power to extend itself from Siberia to the Great Desert, and from the Ganges to the Atlantic."

When the Roman Emperor Tiberius left the city for Capres, the soothsayers-a certain order of mediums gifted with the power of foretelling the future-said, with deep