And  although  the
oracle  no  longer  wielded  an  oecumenical  priniacy,  its  antiquities
and  its  claims  to  inspiration  evidently  attracted  many  curious
inquirers. We  are  admitted  to  their  conversations  in  the
Delphic  treatises  of  Plutarch. His  characters  bear  the  names
of  the  old-world  schools,  but  there  is  a  strangely  modem  tone
in  their  discussions. Sometimes  we  might  fancy  ourselves
listening  to  a  debate  on  the  inspiration  of  Scripture  between
an  agnostic,  a  Catholic,  and  an  accommodating  broad  Cliurch-
man. Plutarch  himself,  or  his  representative,  generally  holds
the  balance  between  the  extreme  views,  and  tries  to  reconcile
the  claims  of  reason  and  of  faith. It  is  clear  that  even  in
that  age  of  religious  revival  there  was  no  lack  of  a  scepticism
like  that  of  Lucian. Even  in  the  sacred  courts  of  Delphi  the
Epicurean  might  be  heard  suggesting  that,  because,  among  a
thousand  random  prophecies  of  natural  events,  one  here  and
there  may  seem  to  tally  with  the  fact,  it  does  not  follow  that
the  prediction  was  sure  and  true  at  the  moment  of  deliverance ;  ^
the  wandering  word  may  sometimes  hit  the  mark. The
fulfilment  is  a  mere  coincidence,  a  happy  chance. Boethus,  the
sceptic,  is  easily  refuted  by  the  orthodox  Serapion,  who  makes  an


1  T\    n^-. \^ttt    ii     .^1  >A


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436  THE  GOSPEL  OF  PHILOSOPHY  book  iii

appeal  to  well-known  oracles  which  have  been  actually  fulfilled,
not  merely  in  a  loose,  apparent  fashion,  but  down  to  the
minutest  details  of  time,  place,  and  manner.^  In  these  dis-
cussions, although  the  caviller  is  heard  with  a  tolerant  courtesy,
it  is  clear  that  faith  is  always  in  the  ascendant  Tet  even
faith  has  to  face  and  account  for  an  apparent  d^eneracy
which  might  well  cause  some  uneasiness. For  instance^  is  it
not  startling  that,  in  the  name  of  the  god  of  music,  many  oracles
should  be  delivered  in  trivial,  badly-fashioned  verses  ? '  Can
it  be  that  Apollo  is  a  meaner  artist  than  Hesiod  or  Homer  ?
On  the  other  side,  it  may  be  said  that  the  god  is  too  lofty  to
care  to  deck  his  utterances  in  the  graces  of  literary  form,  or,
by  a  more  probable  theory,  he  inspires  the  vision  but  not  the
verse. 