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He was considered to be the companion of great Zeus and, having died, a judge in Hades, and did you for 5.19.3 this reason exact these penalties on his behalf? But I pass over nonetheless these things of yours and that, letting the murderers go, you commanded the innocent to be sent to their death, and this against a man whom you were about to appoint as a common judge of men, who did not even know how to judge this very thing. And yet how many are you gods justified in sending to the Athenians in place of these youths, whom you unjustly killed on account of Androgeos?» 5.19.4 And this same author, taking up the history concerning the Heracleidae, calls to account in how many cases Apollo became the cause of death through the ambiguity of his oracles, speaking thus: 5.20.1 20. HOW APOLLO BECAME THE CAUSE OF DEATH FOR MANY THROUGH THE

AMBIGUITY OF HIS ORACLES «Since I have somehow recalled this account, come, let me go through the pertinent details of the narrative concerning the Heracleidae. For they, having once set out to invade the Peloponnese by way of the Isthmus, were defeated. Aristomachus then, the son of Aridaeus, since Aridaeus had died in the invasion, comes to 5.20.2 hear from you about the way; and he desired it just as his father had. But you say to him: 'The gods reveal victory for you through the narrow ways.' And he set out to make an attempt by way of the Isthmus and dies in battle. His son, the ill-fated Temenus, came, a third from an ill-fated line; and you advised him the same things as you had his father Aristomachus. And he said: 'But he too, obeying you, died 5.20.3 in the invasion.' And you said: 'I do not mean narrow by land, but the broad-bellied one,' since it was difficult to say 'by sea,' and he went by sea, creating the impression that he was going by land, and encamped between Nauatus and Typaeus; and he strikes with a javelin Carnus, son of Hippotes, son of Phylander, the Aetolian, doing well, it seems to me; and when a neighboring disease befell them and Aristodemus died, they retreated again, and Temenus came and complained about the failure and heard that he had incurred punishment for the divine messenger, according to the poem for the prayer to Carneian Apollo which said through the oracle: 'Having killed our messenger, you incurred the penalty.' 5.20.4 'What then,' says Temenus, 'what must be done? And how might I propitiate you?' 'Pray to Carneian Apollo to perform the rites.' O most abominable and shameless seer! Did you not then know that he who heard 'the narrow way' would mistake the narrow way? But knowing it nonetheless, 5.20.5 you gave the oracle, then you looked on while he made his mistake. But 'the narrow way' is ambiguous, so that if he won you might seem to be the cause of victory, but if he were defeated you might be no cause of his defeat, and you might have an escape to 'the broad-bellied one.' But the man came to 'the broad-bellied one' and did not succeed. Again, an escape is found in the death of Carnus the messenger. 5.20.6 And yet how, O most excellent one, you who cared so much for Carnus, did you command others to hold him as a god, but not yourself? And when you should have saved Carnus, who was but one man, you both looked on and after he died you cast a Homeric disease upon the multitude 5.20.7 and prescribed prayers for the disease? And if by praying he accomplished nothing, some other remedy would have been devised by your sophistry, and you would never have ceased, they asking, and you devising sophistries, so that whether they won or were defeated you might be undetected in your villainy. For suffering and desire are sufficient to deceive, so as to make them not disbelieve you, even if they should be slaughtered a thousand times. 5.20.8 To these things it is worthwhile to add the story of Croesus. This man was king of Lydia, having received the rule which had come down to him from ancient times. Then, hoping to achieve something more than his ancestors, he determined to be pious toward the gods, and after testing all of them, he chose Apollo at Delphi, and then after adorning the sanctuary with golden craters and ingots and a multitude of countless votive offerings, of all places

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ἐδόκει ∆ιὸς μεγάλου εἶναι ὀαριστὴς καὶ ἀποθανὼν ἐν Ἅιδου δικαστής, καὶ σὺ διὰ 5.19.3 τοῦθ' ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ τὰς δίκας ταύτας εἰσεπράττου; ἀλλὰ παραλείπω γε οὐδὲν ἧττον ταῦτα ὑμῶν καὶ ὅτι τοὺς φονεῖς ἐάσαντες τοὺς οὐδὲν αἰτίους πέμπειν ἐκελεύετε ἀποθανουμένους, καὶ ταῦτ' ἐπ' ἄνδρα, ὃν ἀναδεικνύναι ἐμέλλετε κοινὸν ἀνθρώπων δικαστήν, ὃς οὐδ' αὐτὸ τοῦτο ἠπίστατο δικάσαι. καίτοι πόσους ὑμεῖς οἱ θεοὶ ἀντὶ τούτων τῶν κόρων δίκαιοι πέμπειν ἐστὲ Ἀθηναίοις, οὓς ἀδίκως ὑπὲρ Ἀνδρόγεω ἀπεκτείνατε;» 5.19.4 Ὁ δ' αὐτὸς οὗτος συγγραφεὺς ὁπόσοις ὁ Ἀπόλλων διὰ τῆς τῶν χρησμῶν ἀμφιβολίας θανάτου αἴτιος γέγονεν, τὴν ἀμφὶ τοὺς Ἡρακλείδας ἀναλαβὼν ἱστορίαν, εὐθύνει λέγων οὕτως· 5.20.1 κʹ. ΩΣ ΠΟΛΛΟΙΣ ΘΑΝΑΤΟΥ ΓΕΓΟΝΕΝ ΑΙΤΙΟΣ Ο ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝ ∆ΙΑ ΤΗΣ ΤΩΝ

ΧΡΗΣΜΩΝ ΑΜΦΙΒΟΛΙΑΣ «Ἐπεὶ δέ πως ἐπεμνήσθην τοῦδε τοῦ λόγου, φέρε τὰ καθήκοντα διέλθω τοῦ κατὰ τοὺς Ἡρακλείδας διηγήματος. οὗτοι γάρ ποθ' ὡρμημένοι κατὰ τὸν Ἰσθμὸν εἰσβαλεῖν εἰς Πελοπόννησον ἐσφάλησαν. Ἀριστόμαχος οὖν ὁ Ἀριδαίου, ἐπειδὴ ὁ Ἀριδαῖος ἀποτεθνήκει ἐν τῇ εἰσβολῇ, ἔρχεται ἀκουσό5.20.2 μενος παρὰ σοῦ περὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ· ἐπεθύμει δὲ ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ πατήρ. σὺ δ' αὐτῷ λέγεις· νίκην σοι φαίνουσι θεοὶ δι' ὁδοῖο στενύγρων. καὶ ὃς κατὰ τὸν Ἰσθμὸν ὥρμησεν ἐπιχειρεῖν καὶ μάχῃ τελευτᾷ. τούτου υἱὸς ὁ Τήμενος κακοδαίμων ἧκεν ἐκ κακοδαιμόνων τρίτος· σὺ δ' αὐτῷ παρηγγύας ἃ καὶ Ἀριστομάχῳ τῷ πατρί· καὶ ὅς· Ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνός σοι, ἔφη, πεισθεὶς ἀπέθανεν 5.20.3 ἐν τῇ εἰσβολῇ. καὶ σὺ ἔφης· Οὐ κατὰ γῆν λέγω στενύγρην, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὴν εὐρυγάστορα, ἐπειδὴ χαλεπὸν ἦν εἰπεῖν κατὰ τὴν θάλασσαν, κἀκεῖνος ᾔει κατὰ τὴν θάλασσαν, δόξαν ἐμποιήσας ὅτι κατὰ γῆν εἰσίοι, καὶ μέσον στρατοπεδεύεται Ναυάτου καὶ Τυπαίου· καὶ διακοντίζει Κάρνον Ἱππότην Φυλάνδρου τὸν Αἰτωλόν, εὖ, ἐμοὶ δοκεῖ, ποιῶν· καὶ ἐπειδὴ συνεκύρησε νόσος πλησία καὶ ἀπέθανεν Ἀριστόδημος, πάλιν ἐπανεχώρουν, καὶ ὁ Τήμενος ἐλθὼν ἀπεμέμφετο τῇ ἀποτυχίᾳ καὶ ἤκουσεν, ὅτι ποινὴν ἀνεμάξατο τοῦ θείου ἀγγέλου, κατὰ τὸ ὑπὲρ τῆς εὐχῆς Ἀπόλλωνι Καρνείῳ ποίημα τὸ διὰ τοῦ χρησμοῦ λέγον· ἄγγελον ἡμέτερον κτείνας ἀνεμάξαο ποινήν. 5.20.4 Τί οὖν, φησὶν ὁ Τήμενος, τί χρὴ ποιεῖν; καὶ πῶς ἂν ἱλασαίμην ὑμᾶς; Εὔχεο Καρνείῳ τελέειν σέβας Ἀπόλλωνι. ὦ μιαρώτατε καὶ ἀναισχυντότατε μάντι· εἶτ' οὐκ ἠπίστασο ὅτι διαμαρτήσεται τῆς στενύγρης ὁ τὴν στενύγρην ἀκούσας; ἀλλ' οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐπιστάμενος 5.20.5 ἔχρας, ἔπειτα περιεώρας διαμαρτάνοντα. ἀλλ' ἀμφίβολος ἡ στενύγρη, ὅπως νικήσαντι μὲν αἴτιος εἶναι δοκῇς νίκης, ἡττηθέντι δὲ μηδὲν αἴτιος εἶναι ἥττης, ἔχῃς δὲ ἀποφυγεῖν ἐπὶ τὴν εὐρυγάστορα. ἀλλ' ἧκεν ἅνθρωπος ἐπὶ τὴν εὐρυγάστορα καὶ οὐκ ἔτυχεν. εὕρηται πάλιν εἰς ἀποφυγὴν Κάρνος ἄγγελος ἀποθα5.20.6 νών. καίτοι πῶς, ὦ κράτιστε, ὁ κηδόμενος οὕτω τοῦ Κάρνου ἄλλοις μὲν αὐτὸν θεοφορεῖσθαι ἐκέλευες, ἑαυτῷ δὲ οὔ; καὶ δέον σῴζειν ἕνα ὄντα Κάρνον αὐτόν τε περιεῖδες καὶ ἐναποθανόντι αὐτῷ Ὁμηρικὴν νόσον ἐνέβαλες εἰς τὸ πλῆ5.20.7 θος καὶ εὐχὰς ἐπὶ τῇ νόσῳ ἀφηγοῦ; εἰ δ' εὐχόμενος οὐδὲν ἐξήνυσεν, ἄλλο τι ἂν ἐξηύρητο ἄκος τῷ σῷ σοφίσματι, καὶ οὐδέποτε ἂν ἐλήξατε, οἱ μὲν ἐρωτῶντες, σὺ δὲ σοφιζόμενος, ἵνα καὶ νικῶσι καὶ ἡττωμένοις ᾖς ἀφώρατος κακουργῶν. ἱκανὸν γὰρ τὸ πάθος καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία παραβουκολῆσαι, ὡς μηδ' εἰ χιλιάκις σφαγεῖεν, ἀπιστεῖν σοι ποιῆσαι. 5.20.8 Τούτοις ἄξιον ἐπισυνάψαι τὰ περὶ Κροῖσον. Λυδίας οὗτος ἐβασίλευσεν, ἄνωθεν ἐκ παλαιῶν εἰς αὐτὸν ἥκουσαν παραλαβὼν τὴν ἀρχήν. εἶτά τι πλέον τῶν προγόνων κατορθώσειν ἐλπίσας τοὺς θεοὺς εὐσεβεῖν διενοήθη καὶ διὰ πείρας ἐλθὼν ἁπάντων τὸν ἐν ∆ελφοῖς Ἀπόλλω προκρίνει, κἄπειτα κρατῆρσιν καὶ πλίνθοις χρυσαῖς ἀναθημάτων τε μυρίων πλήθει κοσμήσας τὸ ἱερὸν τῶν πανταχοῦ