Oracle
.The following are famous responses:—
(1) When Crœsus consulted the Delphic oracle respecting a projected war, he received for answer, “Crœsus Halyn penetrans magnum, pervertet opum vim” (When Crœsus passes over the river Halys, he will overthrow the strength of an empire). Crœsus supposed the oracle meant he would overthrow the enemy’s empire, but it was his own that he destroyed.
(2) Pyrrhus, being about to make war against Rome, was told by the oracle: “Aio te, Æacide, Romaʹnos vinʹcere posse” (I say, Pyrrhus, that you the Romans can conquer), which may mean either You, Pyrrhus, can overthrow the Romans, or Pyrrhus, the Romans can overthrow you.
(3) Another prince, consulting the oracle concerning a projected war, received for answer, “Ibis rediʹbis nunquam per bella peribis” (You shall go shall return never you shall perish by the war). It will be seen that the whole gist of this response depends on the place of the omitted comma; it may be You shall return, you shall never perish in the war, or You shall return never, you shall perish in the war, which latter was the fact.
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(4) Philip of Macedon sent to ask the oracle of Delphi if his Persian expedition would prove successful, and received for answer—
Philip took it for granted that the “ready victim” was the King of Persia, but it was Philip himself.
(5) When the Greeks sent to Delphi to know if they would succeed against the Persians, they were told—
But whether the Greeks or the Persians were to be “the weeping sires,” deponent stateth not, nor whether the thousands “about to fall” were to be Greeks or Persians. (See Punctuation.)
(6) When Maxentius was about to encounter Constantine, he consulted the guardians of the Sibylline Books as to the fate of the battle, and the prophetess told him, “Illo die hostem Romanõrum esse periturum,” but whether Maxentius or Constantine was “the enemy of the Roman people” the oracle left undecided.
(7) In the Bible we have a similar equivoke: When Ahab, King of Israel, was about to wage war on the king of Syria, and asked Micaiah if Ramoth-Gilead would fall into his hands, the prophet replied, “Go, for the Lord will deliver the city into the hands of the king” (1 Kings xxii. 15, 35). Ahab thought that he himself was the king referred to, but the city fell into the hands of the king of Syria.
There are scores of punning prophecies equally equivocal.
