l's flattery, died the ninth day after he
was born. Tacitus, Suetonius, and Josephus, applied to Vespasian the
prophecies that regarded the Messiah.

ORACLES OFTEN EQUIVOCAL AND OBSCURE.

The oracles, were often very equivocal, or so obscure that their
signification was not understood but after the event. A few examples,
out of a great many, will be sufficient.

Croesus, having received from the Pythoness, this answer, that by
passing the river Halys, he would destroy a great empire, he understood
it to be the empire of his enemy, whereas he destroyed his own. The
oracle consulted by Pyrrhus, gave him an answer, which might be equally
understood of the victory of Pyrrhus, and the victory of the Romans his
enemies.

Aio te Aeacida, Romanos vincere posse.

The equivocation lies in the construction of the Latin tongue, which
cannot be rendered in English. The Pythoness advises Croesus to guard
against the mule.[17] The king of Lydia understood nothing of the
oracle, which denoted Cyrus descended from two different nations, from
the Medes by Mandana his mother, the daughter of Astyages; and by the
Persians by his father Cambyses, whose race was by far less grand and
illustrious. Nero had for answer from the oracle of Delphos, that
seventy-three might prove fatal to him, he believed he was safe from all
danger till age, but, finding himself deserted by every one, and hearing
Galba proclaimed emperor, who was seventy-three years of age, he was
sensible of the deceit of the oracle.

St. Jerome observes, that, if the devils speak any truth, by whatever
accident they always join lies to it and use such ambiguous expressions,
that they may be equally applied to contrary events.

URIM AND THUMMIM.

Whilst the false oracles of demons deceived the idolatrous nations,
truth had retired from among the chosen people of God. The septuagint
have interpreted _Urim_ and _Thummim_, manifestation and truth, [Greek:
daelosin is alaetheian]; which expresses how different those divine
oracles were from the false and equivocal demons. It is said, in the
Book of Numbers, that Eleazar, the successor of Aaron, shall interrogate
Urim in form, and that a resolution shall be taken according to the
answer given.

The Ephod applied to the chest of the sacerdotal vestments of the
high-priest, was a piece of stuff covered with twelve precious stones,
on which the names of the twelve tribes were engraved. It was not
allowed to consult the