ck_. He carried this reply to the governor, whose mysterious
question he knew nothing about. Those who heard this answer laughed at
it, not knowing what was in the billet: but the governor having opened
it showed them these words written in it; _shall I immolate to thee a
black ox or a white one?_ and that the oracle had thus answered his
question without opening the note. But who can answer for their not
having deceived the bearer of the billet in this case, as did
Alexander of Abonotiche, a town of Paphlagonia, in Asia Minor. This
man had the art to persuade the people of his country that he had with
him the god Esculapius, in the shape of a tame serpent, who pronounced
oracles, and replied to the consultations addressed to him on divers
diseases without opening the billets they placed on the altar of the
temple of this pretended divinity; after which, without opening them,
they found the next morning the reply written below. All the trick
consisted in the seal being raised artfully by a heated needle, and
then replaced after having written the reply at the bottom of the
note, in an obscure and enigmatical style, after the manner of other
oracles. At other times he used mastic, which being yet soft, took the
impression of the seal, then when that was hardened he put on another
seal with the same impression. He received about ten sols (five pence)
per billet, and this game lasted all his life, which was a long one;
for he died at the age of seventy, being struck by lightning, near the
end of the second century of the Christian era: all which may be found
more at length in the book of Lucian, entitled _Pseudo Manes_, or _the
false Diviner_. The priest of the oracle of Mopsus could by the same
secret open the billet of the governor who consulted him, and showing
himself during the night to the messenger, declared to him the
above-mentioned reply.

Macrobius[204] relates that the Emperor Trajan, to prove the oracle of
Heliopolis in Phoenicia, sent him a well-sealed letter in which
nothing was written; the oracle commanded that a blank letter should
also be sent to the emperor. The priests of the oracle were much
surprised at this, not knowing the reason of it. Another time the same
emperor sent to consult this same oracle to know whether he should
return safe from his expedition against the Parthians. The oracle
commanded that they should send him some branches of a knotted vine,
which was sacred in his temple. Neither th