13
Indeed, the oracle of Laius is really ridiculous: Sow not the birth-field in the gods’ despite, For if thou get’st, thy son will lay thee low. Euripides, Phoenissae, 18-19 It was superfluous, I take it, to caution against what was bound to be so in any event. Consequently after the oracle he sowed his seed and his son laid him low. I don’t see, therefore, on what ground you demand your fee for making prophecies.
14
I say nothing of the fact that you are accustomed to give most people perplexed and ambiguous responses, not making it at all clear whether the man who crosses the Halys will cause the loss of his own kingdom or that of Cyrus; for the oracle can be taken in either sense.It ran: If Croesus doth the Halys crossHe'll cause a mighty kingdom’s loss.
14
Apollo had some reason for being angry at Croesus because he had tested him by stewing lamb and turtle together.Wishing to test the Greek oracles before consulting them about invading Persia, Croesus sent representatives to some of the most famous with instructions to ask them all simultaneously, at a specified. time; “What is Croesus doing now”? Apollo divined that he was stewing lamb and turtle together in a copper cauldron with a lid of copper (Herodotus, i. 46 ff.).
14
He should not have been angry, being a god. However, the very deception of the Lydian was predetermined, I suppose, and in general our lack of definite information about the future is due to the spindle of Destiny; so even your soothsaying is in her province.
15
Then you leave nothing for us, and we are gods to no purpose, not contributing any providence to the world and not deserving our sacrifices, like drills or adzes in very truth? Indeed, it seems to me that you scorn me with reason, because although, as_ you see, I have a thunderbolt clenched in my hand, I am letting you say all this against us.
