dealt a terrible
blow in the Holy War (356-346 B.C.), when the Phocians seized it and used
the treasures which had been accumulated in it during centuries to hire
mercenaries and carry on war. Such proceedings would assuredly have been
impossible a century earlier; no soldiers could have been hired with money
acquired in such a way, or, if they could have been procured, all Hellas
would have risen in arms against the robbers of the Temple, whereas in the
Holy War most of the states were indifferent, and several even sided with
the Phocians. In the succeeding years, after Philip of Macedonia had put
an end to the Phocian scandal, the Oracle was in reality in his hands--it
was during this period that Demosthenes stigmatised it as the mouthpiece
of Philip. In the succeeding centuries, too, it was dependent on the
various rulers of Hellas and undoubtedly lost all public authority. During
this period we hear very little of the oracles of Hellas until the time
before and after the birth of Christ provides us with definite evidence of
their complete decay.

Thus Strabo, who wrote during the reign of Augustus, says that the
ancients attached more importance to divination generally and oracles more
particularly, whereas people in his day were quite indifferent to these
things. He gives as the reason that the Romans were content to use the
Sibylline books and their own system of divination. His remark is made _a
propos_ of the Oracle in Libya, which was formerly in great repute, but
was almost extinct in his time. He is undoubtedly correct as to the fact,
but the decline of the oracular system cannot be explained by the
indifference of the Romans. Plutarch, in a monograph on the discontinuance
of the oracles, furnishes us with more detailed information. From this it
appears that not only the Oracle of Ammon but also the numerous oracles of
Boeotia had ceased to exist, with one exception, while even for the Oracle
at Delphi, which had formerly employed three priestesses, a single one
amply sufficed. We also note the remark that the questions submitted to
the Oracle were mostly unworthy or of no importance.

The want of consideration sometimes shown to sacred places and things
during the wars of the Hellenistic period may no doubt also be regarded as
the result of a weakening of interest in the old gods. We have detailed
information on this point from the war between Philip of Macedonia and the
Aetolians in 220-217 B.C. The Aetolia