Secret Sciences Of The Ancients.

those AA-ho claimed the poiver of divining the future Avas merely to interpret these things . When Nebuchadnezzar , therefore , required that the magicians should recall the dream itself to his OAVU mind , it AA'as a claim to something Avhich Avas not

involved in their professio , and which they regarded as unjust . To that power they made no pretensions . If it be asked why , as they were mere jugglers and pretenders , they did not invent something , and state that as his dream , since lie had

forgotten Avhat his dream actually was , Ave may reply that there was no certain evidence that they were not sincere in . Avhat they professed themselves able to do ; for we are not to suppose that all who claimed to be soothsayers and astrologers

were hypocrites and intentional deceivers . It Avas not at that period of the world certainly determined that nothing could be ascertained respecting * the future hy dreams , and by the positions of the stars . Dreams were among the methods by which the future was made known ; and , Avhether the knowlede-e of Avhat is to come could be obtained from

the positions of the stars , Avas a question which , was at that time unsettled . If the astrologers had been disposed to attempt to deceive the King Nebuchadnezzar , there is no probability that they could have succeeded iu palming an invention of

their OAYU on him as his OAVU dream . We may not be able distinctly to i * ecollect a dream , but we have a sufficient impression of it , of its outlines , or of some striking , though disconnected things in it , to know Avhat it is not . We might instantly

recognise it , if stated to us ; we should see at once , if any one should attempt to deceive us by palming an invented dream on us , that that Avas not Avhat Ave had dreamed .

The Chaldeans Avere so much devoted to these secret arts , and became so celebrated for them , that the name came among the Greek and Roman writers , to be used to denote all those who laid claim to extraordinary poAvers in this department .

Diodorus Sieulus says of the Chaldeans in Babylon , that " they sustain the same office there that the priests do in Egypt ; for being devoted to the worship of God through their whole lives , they give themselves to philosophy , aud seek from

astrology their highest glory . '''' Cicero also remarks that " the Chaldeans , so named , not from their art , but from their nation , are supposed by a prolonged observation of the stars , to have wrought out a science by Avhich could be predicted Avhat was to happen to every

individual , and to which fate he was born . " Juvenal likewise has this passage , " But their chief dependence is upon the Chaldeans ; Avhatever an astrologer declares , they will receive as a response of Jupiter Ammon . "

The philosopher , who with calm suspicion examines the dreams and omens , the miracles and prodigies of history , will probably conclude that , if the eyes of spectators have sometimes been deceived by fraud , the understanding of the readers

has much more frequently been insulted by fiction . Every event , or appearance , or accident , which seem to deviate from the ordinary course of nature , has been rashly ascribed to the immediate action of the Deity , and the astonished fancy of the

multitude lias sometimes given shape , colour , language , and motion to the fleeting , but uncommon meteors of the air .

When the Greeks Avere opposing the Persian invasion of Xerxes they consulted the Delphic Oracle , and were first told to" Depart , and for unheard-of-ills prepare . " This reply filled them with affliction , and while

reflecting on its import , they were advised to make a second application to the god . To this they had an answer which , though ambiguous , it Avas possible to be read more favourably . This ausAver has been imputed to the interposition of

Themistocles , who , as Plutarch informs us , despairing to influence his fellow-citizens by any human argument , brought to his aid , divine revelations , prodigies , and oracles , which he employed like machines in a theatre .

" Ob , Jove , AVIIO rules the Olympian heights above , ! Nofc Pallas ' self tlie solemn Avill can move . Nay , awful words attend them once again , And firm tliey sliall as adamant remain . When all is lost within Ecropian bounds , And Avhere Oithaeron's sacred bosom sounds , Jove to his lov'd Tritonian maid shall give

A Avail of wood , where you and yours shall live . Tour numerous foes approach forbear to stay , But fiy from foot and horse , and arms away . Thou shalt , immortal Salamis , destroy The rising source of many a mother ' s joy : Thou shalt—though Ceres scatter o'er tho plain , Or keep within disposed , her golden grain ;

Thernistocles who had command of the fleet—¦ and had doubtless instructed the priestess—told them that the proper interpretation of the Avails of wood , was that they should prepare for engaging their enemies by sea ; the ships Avere ready ,

and they had but to man them , and the decisive battle of Salamis Avas the result . When Croesus , King of Lydia , applied to the oracle of Apollo at Delphi , to knoAV Avhether he