Secret Sciences Of The Ancients.

should attack Cyrus , he received for answer , " If Croesus crosses the River Halys ( which formed the boundary of his dominions ) he Avid overthroAV a great empire . " This he understood the empire of Cyrus , but it proA ed his OAVII overthrow .

The same ambiguity attends the reply of the same oracle to Pyrrhus on his invasion of the Roman territory .

" I do pronounce that Rome , Pyrrhus shall overcome . Which was interpreted to mean either that Pyrrhus should overcome Rome , or that Rome should overcome Pyrrhus . Herodotus tells us that " the Catroa , a people of

Thrace , inhabit lofty mountains , covered with snoAV , and on the summit of one of the highest , they haA e an oracle of Bacchus . " The . interpreters of these adverse oracles are the Bessi ; a priestess , makes the responses as at Delphi , and Avith the

same ambiguity . It is Avell to knoAV that in the remains of several heathen temples , now in ruins , there are traces of the secret Avay of access , which the priests possessed undiscoverable by the spectators . Dr . E . D .

Clarke found such in a temple at Argos , the most ancient city of Greece ; he also discovered a secret chamber in au oracular cave at Tehnessus a city of Lycia , whoso inhabitants were famed for their skill in augury . A private chamber still exists , leading to the adA'tum in the temple of Isis at

Pompeii , undoubtedly for oracular purposes . The worship of Isis , it is said , Avas transported from Egypt to Italy by Sylla , aud was peculiarly in vogue with the Roman ladies . The juggling concealments behind the statues , the

lurkingplace of the temple ' s holy oracles , az * e UOAV bared to the gaze of the curious . Sir A . Edmonstone , in a temple in the Great Oasis , found on the left of the entrance to the principal apartment , two small dark chambers one

above the other , of AA'hich , he says , it would be be difficult to assign the use ; parallel Avith another large apartment , but not communicating Avith it , are two chambers , in one of which is a staircase . We have this description of a tem | 3 le in the

neighbourhood of Thebes . —On the southern shore ( of the Nile ) stands the Kasr Kerim , in the midst of a ruined toAvn buried in sand . It is placed on a small eminence . At its entrance , Avhich faces the south-east , there is a portico unlike any other in Egypt , and having a Greek inscription in Avhich the name Thermuthis occurs . This temple is 88

feet long , 08 feet Avide , and 29 feet high . All itswalls have the inclination generally observed in genuine Egyptian buildings ; every part is symmetrical , and the winged globes over the entrance—the only external ornament—is sufficientto

SIIOAV by what people it Avas built . Pive halls may be traced , though filled Avith rubbish , and the Avails of the inmost , Avhich is the sanctuary , are adorned with sculptures , among AA'hich Apis iseasily recognised . Behind it there is a very lofty

and strongly-echoing chamber , quite dark , and accessible only by a small aperture very easily concealed . This place , M . Jomard thinks , Avas designed to hide the person who secretly delivered the oracles which the god was supposed to communicate . This temple Avas dedicated to Jupiter Amnion .

In the worshi p of Apis the god was represented by an ox , Avhich . was chosen by particular marks by the priests , aud when this oracle was consulted , incense was burnt on an altar , aud a piece of money placed on it ; after which the supplicants

for a knowledge of futurity , applied their ear tot-he mouth of the animal , and immediately retired , stopping their ears until they had departed from tho temple . The first sounds they heard were taken as the answer of the oracle to their

questions . In the infamous mysteries denounced to the severity of the Roman magistrates 286 years before our era , and which were doubtless derived from more ancient initiations , —Livy speaks of certain

machines which raised and made to disappear some individuals Avho Avere said to be carried off by the gods . A similar contrivance , Ave leai * n from the Roman poet , Avas at a later period employed in the theatres . The entrance to the cave of Trophonius

AA as too narroAv to admit the passage of a middle sized man , yet , AA'hen once the knees had entered , tlie rest of the body Avas rapidly draAvn Avithin . To the mechanism , therefore , Avhich acted on the votary , was added some other Avhich enlarged the

aperture . When Apollonius approached the temple of an Indian god the priests , as they advanced , struck the ground in cadence Avith their Avands , and the ground undulated like the sea to the height of about two yards . The Avands of

the priests seemed in this instance to have served like the s \ A ord of the harlequin , to give notice by a pre-concerted signal to the scene-shifter . According to Apollonius , only the Indian sages could perform this miracle ; something similar Ave may