H^ Vv * d v * * ■ti I Jf* \ 9 - r f »«* ■*** lis *N - THE APOCATASTASIS PROGRESS BACKWARDS A NEW "TRACT FOR THE TIMES." n«v os to xivoujxsvov, jcgci %povou jxsrs^ov, aiSiov ov, ^p^rai tfspio^ois, *a i flrepio^wojg avaxoxksi-ai x.0.1 apeased conscience, whose tendency was to drive them towards the truth. But, of all the recent theories of development and progress, that which seems to have most influence at present, especially in relation to the peculiar apocatastatic movement which it is the main purpose of this tract to consider, is entitled " The Principles of Nature." It may, indeed, by the fairest analo- gy, be reckoned the Epicurean modification of the Vestiges of Creation. In its coarse materialism, and in its moral aspect and bearings, with its incessant small-talk of virtue and be- nevolence, while it saps the whole foundation of human virtue, it is strictly, and even plagiaristically, Epicurean. It has simply superadded to the Epicurean theory what it calls the immortality of the soul, but which would more properly be called the eternal mortality of the soul, for it is only its mor- tal life prolonged. By making man, body and soul, — for spirit by the theory he has none, — the material product of material forces and manipulations, a kind of chemico-me- 43 chanical result, — material Laws ! ! think of that ye medita- ting atoms, — and subjecting him wholly, and only, to the laws of Nature, it divests him of all distinctive humanity, and makes him simply, — snatching the sceptre from the Lion's grasp, — the "King of Beasts." By denying to man all moral character and responsibility, all spiritual relations of course cease to exist ; conscience is only the product of priestcraft, God- is only the soul of the world, and man holds the same relation to him, — or to it rather, — as a tree, or mineral, ex- cept that the evolution in him of the quality of locomotion, and the distillation of a very refined and subtile matter called prudence, or forethought, render him, in a somewhat different way from that of the tree, physically accountable for the phys- ical relations in which he voluntarily places himself. Re- ligion there can be none ; and the "progress" of the human animal, as indicated by the theory, is such, that the wolves among them would, in due time, in this world or the next, be- come good household dogs, tigers would be transformed to domestic cats, the large fishes would cease to eat the small ones, the hawks to devour the chickens, the crows to pull what they did not plant, and ultimately all would arrive at a most comfortable zoological paradise. This, it must be acknowl- edged, is a step beyond Epicurus, by the addition of plenty of time for the proposed progress ; but, unluckily for the theory, the progress of most persons is in the opposite direc- tion, from better to worse, but this is mostly owing to religion, circumstances will, doubtless, be more favorable in the next sphere, where there is probably no religion, as there will be none here when this theory is universally adopted. His ad- mirers may then appropriate to the author of it the triumph- ant language of the great commentator upon Epicurus in re- gard to him ; — Omne immensum peragravit mente animoque, Unde refert nobis victor, quid possit oriri, Quid nequeat ; finita potestas denique quoique Qua nam sit ratione, atque alte terminus haerens- 44 Qua re Religio, pedibus subjecta, vicissini Obteritur, nos excequat victoria coelo. Lucretius De Rerum Natura, Lib. i. 75-80. With clairvoyant vision he surveyed immensity, returning thence triumphant, laden for us with rich spoils, to wit : the power to know what events are possible, and what are impos- sible ; the law of each finite evolution ; and what yet remains latent and undeveloped ; whereby Religion, trampled in the dust, is, in its turn, vanquished ; the victory places us on equal terms ivith heaven." This language is quite as appli- cable to the author of the Principles of Nature, and of the Great Harmonia, as to Epicurus himself ; at least in the pe- culiar mental regions where his influence is felt, as it is just now pretty extensively. The essential quality of these theo- ries, the same in both, which renders them so inviting to nine tenths of those who would fain believe them, and do practically believe in them, is the delightful anodyne to the conscience which they administer, the deliverance from the heavy incubus of religion, and from the bondage of the fear of death, which they bestow, and the liberty which they confer, of free, spon- taneous, development, without the chilling drawback of a fu- ture account to give. For if there be no God, or if the " Divine Nature" sit apart in careless self-enjoyment, " Ipsa suis pollens opibus, nihil indiga nostri, Nee bene promeritis capitur, nee tangitur ira, Lucretius De Rerum Natura, Lib. i, 61-2. itself sufficient to itself, desiring nothing of us, and neither regards our virtues, nor is displeased at our vices ;" what a delightful relief to many men, if not to most men, to believe that they are thus free to make the most of nature, every man according to his taste, responsible only to nature ; and that they may thus have the full enjoyment of whatever their tal- ents and tastes may enable and prompt them to compass and acquire, unmitigated, and unalloyed, by the uninvited presence of any horrid Nemesis, or by the intrusive thought of a judgment to come. Not that those who are disposed to adopt 45 atheistic, or rather, rathurnotheistic theories,are always persons of more than ordinarily depraved or vicious character ; on the contrary they are often men of amiable and benevolent dis- position, quite exemplary, it may be, in regard to the second commandment, — though assuredly very little developed in the consciousness of their spiritual relations, — who in discarding or enervating the idea of retribution, are thinking rather of its relation to others, than to themselves ; but even to such, their theory, in proportion as they really believe in it, is like an emergence from gloom and shadow to a warmer and more cheering light ; for to those who know not, or love not, above all things, the religion which exhibits the character of God as elevated above all human thought, and unyielding as fate itself, in its moral attributes, — to such, this religion is, and has ever been, that gravis Religio, Quae caput a coeli regionibus obtendebat, Horribili super adspectu mortalibus instans. Lucretius de Rerum Natura, Lib. i. 65-6. Her head who high towards heaven uplifting proud, With dreadful aspect frowns on mortal men. These theories of mere nature-evolution, and, of course, — except in a physical sense — of irresponsible development for man, and of ever new unfolding, and upliftings of the veil of Nature, to be expected — this expectation more sparingly ex- pressed in the ancient theory, though equally implied there as in the modern, for if nature has evolved thus much after infi- nite experiments, what reason to suppose that she intends no more experiments ? indeed Lucretius expressly says, Sic igitur mundi naturam totius setas Mutat, et ex alio terram status excepit alter ; Quod potuit nequeat ; possit, quod non tulit ante. (Lib. v. 832-4) which Good translates more correctly than common ; " So time transmutes the total world's vast frame, From state to state urged on, now void of powers Erst known, and boasting those unknown before." — these theories of evolution and expectation, and all essen- 46 tially godless, though they may not have given birth, at least not wholly, to the opinions and practices of their respective periods, which are about to be compared ; certainly have pro- moted them, both by removing all moral restraint in regard to practices, many of which in all times have been commonly held to be impious ; and- by awakening, or stimulating, espe- cially in the modern instance, a vague, restless and at the same time, profane curiosity. Such views of nature, and of man's relation to God, in concert with the, anciently, wide- spread, and in the present period, widely spreading, notions in regard to man's relations to disembodied spirits, certainly were, and are, a fitting preparation, in the minds of those who admit them, for the spirit-fanaticism, the epidemic necroman- cy, and other methods of divination, which are characteristic alike, both of the ancient, and the present periods. CHAPTER V. " He holds him with his glittering eye — The wedding-guest stood still, And listens like a three years' child, The Mariner hath his will." The Ancient Mariner. The ancients -were, undoubtedly, well acquainted with the phenomena which are the result of what is now called mes- merism, biology, clairvoyance &c. ; and which were then the effect of the same causes known by the names of fascination, enchantment, divination, magic, &c. The power thus ac- quired by one person over another was probably made use of for unlawful purposes, since the practice of these impious arts, as they were then accounted, was forbidden on pain of death. That the ancients knew how to produce mesmeric effects by the eye alone is often implied, and not very unfrequently expressed, by contemporary authors. This was called fasci- nation, (fascinatio, (Satfxavia, as if from (jastfCi xaivsiv, to kill with the eyes) though this word was not appropriated exclusively to effects produced by the eye. Certain kinds of praise which were intended to injure, and were supposed to prove pernicious to, their object, were called also fascination. Not in the sense 48 in which we sometimes speak of one being fascinated and spoiled, by flattery or excessive praise ; but the notion was precisely the same as still exists in Eastern countries where mothers, in evident alarm, snatch their children from the presence of strangers who express admiration of them. It seems difficult to conjecture the origin of such an opinion, the ground of such fears, unless we suppose that the praise was considered as a kind of lure, while the child was being brought under the power of the "evil eye." Something more than this, however, is implied in the following quotation, since we can hardly suppose inanimate objects to be injured by any neuropathic effects. "Isigonus and Nymphodorus assert that there are certain families in Africa who have the power of fascination by praise (laudatione) — that whatever is praised by them perishes, — trees wither — children die." (Plinii Na- tur. Histor. Lib. vii. 2.) From the time of the elder Pliny to the present is a pretty long period for a wholly groundless notion to have sustained itself. " Isigonus adds that there are persons of the same kind among the Treballians and II- lyrians, who fascinate by the eye also, and that they even cause the death of those upon whom they look long and in- tently, especially if with an expression of anger ; and that the young more readily feel their pernicious influence." (Idem Ibidem.) Appollonides also relates that there are women of this sort in Scythia. Phylarchus says there are many poss- essed of a similar power in Pontus." (Idem Ibidem.) These quotations show expressly that the mesmeric power of the eye was anciently well known and exercised ; the following imply the same thing, in such-wise as to furnish equally strong proof of its existence. " Why do we as a defence against fascination nse a peculiar form of adoration ; invoking the Grecian Nemesis? whose statue is, on that account^ placed in the Capitol at Rome." (Idem, Lib. xxviii. 5.) "The skin of the forehead of the hyena is reckoned a defence against fascination." (Idem Lib. xxviii. 27) " I know not whose eye has fascinated my tender lambs." (Virg. Ec. iii. 103) 49 The Romans even had a god, Fascinus hj name, who was not, however, as usual, the patron of the rogues whose name he bore : but — at least so I infer from his being called ''Gus- tos infantum. " the protector of children, — the defender of others against their power. (Plinii Nat. Hist. 28. 7) I have not met with any examples of the mesmeric state being induced by passes after the present fashion, except one or two of doubtful interpretation, which therefore I shall not bring forward. The common method of mesmerising among the ancients seems to have been by means of music, and es- pecially singing, hence called incantation and enchantment. I will adduce some specimens of it from the defence of Apu- leius before a Roman judge on being accused of magic. The chief point of the accusation was, that, he was in the habit of what we should call mesmerising, or biologizing, a certain boy, and the evidence relied upon was, that, the boy was accus- tomed to swoon or fall down in his presence. After disposing of some minor points of the charge, which were plainly frivo- lous or incredible, he proceeds as follows : " They, therefore, (the accusers) fabricated a story consonant with common opin- ion and report, viz : that a certain boy, having been taken to a secret apartment, before a small altar and lamp, — no one being permitted to be present except a few who were in the plot,— - was subjected to a magical incantation, (carmine cantatum) and that when he felt the influence of the charm, (ubi incan- tatus sit) he swooned away ; (corruisse, went into a magnetic sleep,) that, afterwards, he was aroused from a state of un- consciousness. This is as far as they dared to go with the lie. But in order to make a whole story of it, they ought to have added that this same boy became possessed of a divining pow- efj so as to foretell future events ; for the object of such in- cantations is presage and divination. And this marvel in re- lation to boys is confirmed, not merely by vulgar opinion, but by the authority of learned men. For I remember to have read in Varro the philosopher, a man most accurately learned and erudite, among other things of the same kind, the fol- 50 lowing ; that, some persons at Tralles, endeavoring to ascer- tain the event of the Mithridatic war by means of magical inquisition ; a boy, looking intently upon the image of Mercu- ry in water, chanted a hundred and sixty verses expressive of what was future. Also that Fabius, having lost five hun- dred denarii, went to consult Nigidius ; that, boys, subjected by him to the influence of the magical chant, described the place where the purse with a part of the money was concealed, said that the remainder was spent, and that one denarius was in the possession of Marcus Cato the philosopher, which Cato confessed he had received from a footman as a contribution to the temple of Apollo. These, and other things, I have read, indeed, in many authors, concerning magical boys, but I am undecided in opinion whether I shall admit or deny the possi- bility of them. I believe, however, with Plato, that between gods and men in nature and in rank, there exist certain inter- mediate divine beings, and that divination and all magical miracles are under their control. I believe, moreover, that the human mind, and especially that of the child, which is pure, can, by the soothing power of song or of odors, be cast into a profound sleep and become oblivious of things present, and that, forgetting the body, it can, for a short time, be re- stored and return to its proper nature, that is, to an immortal and divine nature, and that so, veluti quodam sopore, it is en- abled to presage the future. But, in order that these things may be so, it is requisite, as I understand, that a boy be selec- ted of fair and unblemished form, of ingenuous and active mind and ready speech, so that, either the divine agent may lodge within as in a fit temple, if indeed we may worthily suppose such an agent to be present in the body of the boy ; or else, the mind itself, being aroused, is suddenly restored to its in- herent power of presage ; which power is readily resumed, being immediately developed, when the mind is no longer weakened and obtunded by the oblivious influences of the body. But not from every wood, as Pj'thagoras says, should Mercury be carved." ( Apuleius, de Magia, Oratio.) I desire 51 to commend the contents of this curious extract to the es- pecial consideration of the connoisseurs and participants, both embodied, and disembodied, of the present apocatastatic iteration of the like. What say you, ye boggling, clumsy, christian ghosts, spelling out your inanities letter by letter, rap by rap, or tip by tip ; to the hundred and sixty verses, and good hexameters too, I dare say, and spoken, ore rotundo, pregnant -with the fate of the mighty king of Pontus. How is it that you are, with now and then an exception, so inferior to your apocatastatic copy 1 Is Mercury dead with Pan, and all the old experienced oracle-utterers gone extinct ? or have they gone to upper spheres, and given place to mere begin- ners 1 Consider the advice of Pythagoras, whether it might not be of service to you, for surely your Messengers are often made of very soft materials. And you, gentlemen Spiritists, especially you who develop and consecrate mediums, would it not be well for the new dispensation if you should follow a little more the ancient practice, and select handsome talented boys, whose souls dwell loosely in their clay, and can at any moment steal out and take a peep through time and space, and so become truly clairvoyant ? or, if you prefer the other theory, be found a congruous receptacle, and well adapted in- strument, for some supernal presence ? — these, rather than maidens. Pythonesses, or unmaidens so enveloped in their mortal coil that they can find no egress, "immersed in matter," such matter too that none but an unclean spirit would choose to enter it. Consider too, gentlemen, the modest non- committalism of this ancient demibeliever in, and truly phi- losophic critic of, such phenomena. That there are spirits, and that there is a spirit in these cases, he believes with Plato, but whether the spirit goes out or comes in, on that point, he modestly declines to be dogmatic. Would not an unbiassed observer of our "modern instances" — with whatever humility and doubt he might dissent from your belief — lean strongly to the opinion that, at least in our own time, the spirit goes out ? It is obvious, from the above quotation, that the methods of divination there referred to, were sufficiently common among the Romans, though from the fact of their being accounted impious, and declared to be unluwful, they -were of course less public than at present, and the authors "who seem to have treated most fully of them have not come down to us. "We can, however, I think, make out most of the details of the process by which the magnetic sleep was induced, and the de- sired responses to questions, or other communications, obtain- ed. The author of the foregoing extract goes on to exculpate himself from the charge of magic, by showing that the boy, who was said to fall down in his presence, was subject to epi- leptic fits, that he was a coarse, stupid, vulgar, sickly child, not at all up to the Pythagorean definition of a Mercury ; then addressing his accuseds he says : — "A fine lad truly you have chosen for one to bring before the altar, on whose head to place ones hands (caput contingat) whom to robe in the pure pallium, from whom to expect responses !" (responsum speret !) It is, I think, implied in this last quotation, that the hands were also used in magnetising, as well as the voicej and probably the eyes at the same time. The following, then, cannot be far from a correct picture of an ancient sitting or circle, at least, where the method was by what they called incantation or enchantment. A dark and secret apartment, the smoking altar, the small pale lamp, the fuming incense diffusing Sabaean odors, the little cluster of earnest faces turned towards the handsome young Medium, who sits before the altar robed in the pure, white linen, pallium, sacred to re- ligious rites, — in front of him the Magus, his hand upon the young man's head, his serpent eyes fixed on his face, his voice uttering the low wailing magic chant, — the boy sleeps, — he responds to the Sorcerer — -he speaks hexameters, — he (or some Spirit in him) utters oracles ! Such was one of the ancient methods of getting answers to curious questions. But there were, besides those described by Apuleius, other methods of inducing the clairvoyant state, of putting the soul of the Medium en rapport with the distant or the future. The following is a specimen. " He (Isodorus) met with a consecrated woman (yuvouxi fep«, priestess ?) who possessed a supernatural endowment after a wonderful manner. For. having poured pure water into a glass vessel, she beheld in the water the phantasms ((patf.uu-Tc) of future events, and by means of the vision foretold with certainty what was about to take place. I have also myself, witnessed the same thing. (Ex Isodori Philosophi Vita, Damascio Auctore, apud Pho- tium.) There is nothing said here of incantation, as there is not in the case of the boy who responded in hexameters while look- ing at an image in water instead of into water itself ; but that it was sometimes used in connexion with this fixing of the eyes, this staring process of abstraction, is shown by the next quotation. It shows also that these — at that time — illicit practices had found their way into very respectable society. The questioner here is a Roman Emperor, very desirous to ascertain whether he was to continue to sport the imperial purple which he had honestly bought with his money, or whether he was about to exchange it for a "stone coat." "Ju- lian was guilty ol the folly of consulting the Magicians &c. — They immolated certain victims not consonant with the cus- toms of Roman sacrifice, and chanted profane incantations ; also those things which are said to be done at the mirror, in which boys, their eyes being blindfolded, are said to see with the top of the head by means of incantations uttered over it, (incantato vertice) Julian had recourse to : whereupon the boy is said to have beheld the approach of Severus, and the death of Julian." (Spartian. Vita. Jul. Did.) There is some obscurity in regard to the exact process here, but I think the supposition may have been that the boy was to direct his eyes, at least mentally, as if to gaze into the mirror through the top of his head, for he is said to look into, or look back (respicere) into, the mirror at the top of his head.. Let us, next, look at a few specimens of self-magnetization, 54 or spontaneous clairvoyance. The most celebrated, and in- deed, world-renowned, manifestations of this kind made their appearance in certain prescient females, called Sibyls, at va- rious times, and in various places, of the ancient heathen world. They are said to have written their oracles (xgrfipoi) upon the leaves of trees as the spirit of divination came upon them. If so, one of them at least, must have thought hers worth copying, for the historian relates that she offered them for sale to the Romans in nine books, (BiSXovs svi/sa) and when they thought the price too high she burned three and still de- manded the same price for the six ; being still refused she burned three more and demanded still the same price for the remaining three, — she was evidently good at a bargain, if not at vaticination, — they were now purchased, and found, or supposed, to have such important relations to the future des- tinies of Rome, that they were preserved, with more care than any other sacred deposit, says the historian. Ten dis- tinguished citizens were set apart, exempt from military and civil duties, for the purpose of taking care of them, without whoni they could never be seen, being preserved in a stone coffer, under ground, (xara yr\s) in the temple of the Capitolian Jupiter. They were alwaj^s consulted in important delibera- tions of the senate, and whenever danger from without or from within threatened the State. (Dionyss. Halicarnass. L. iv. 62) These genuine -Sibylline xp 7 )^ ' were destroyed, — fatal omen ! when the Capitol was burned in Sylla's time, just at the commencement of that "sterile period" ushered in by the "mournful sound of the trumpet :" — a period, like our own, and all other sterile periods, doomed to subsist on make-be- lieves, and all sorts of supposititions, and illegitimacies. The degenerate, and degenerating Romans, therefore, instead of rousing themselves to carve their own future destiny, sent ambassadors to various parts of Europe and Asia, to ask leave to copy, for the Roman People, whatever Sibylline frag- ments — for the most part, not true Sibyllina, but old wives fables, and other witch-droppings they might find there. These it was that the Medium-led statesmen, of the remaining days of the Republic, consulted, quarreled over, forged, inter- preted, and mis-interpreted, each to his own purpose, precisely as our old women do the Constitution ; and precisely as mis- called American statesmen "will, nay do, proh pudor, et nefas apocatastaticum ! ! "consult the spirits,''' in the American Capitol. However, it is plain from the record and the conduct of men, that there were in those days clairvoyant women who could see with the top of the head, or in some other anomo- lous way, or at least, — which is sufficient for my present pur- pose, — that people, at that time, supposed they had sufficient reason to think so. But this endowment was not peculiar to women, men also not unfrequently exhibited the same. The following are from "The Life" of that ancient Swedenborg, or Davis, Apollonius Tyanensis. He was on a visit to the Sages of India for the purpose of perfecting himself in philosophy and theurgy, not yet, it seems, "fully developed," magnetically. Having made known his purpose, the Superior of the philosophic fra- ternity said to him : " It is the custom of others to inquire of those who visit them, who they are, and for what purpose they come ; but with us the first evidence of wisdom is that we are not ignorant of those who come to us. So saying he gave ac- count both of the paternal and maternal families of Apollo- nius, — of all he did at Aegae, — how Damis came to him, of their conversation on the journey, and of what they heard from others. All this he related readily and fluently as if he hail himself been a companion of the journey. Anollonius being astonished and inquiring how he obtained such knowl- edge I (such power of knowing) you also, said he, possess the same endowment but not yet in perfection." (Philostrat. Vita Apollonii Tyanensis L. iii. C. 16.) His psychometric faculty enabled him to see that Apollonius was capable of "becoming a good Medium." Accordingly, we find him, after his return from India, — the Brahmins probably mesmerised him a few m times — quite well "developed." For discoursing one day at Ephesus in a grove near the city, a flock of birds was observed sitting quietly upon a tree — shortly there arrived another bird emitting a peculiar note, whereupon the whole flock set up a cry and flew away. The auditors noticing and wonder- ing at the conduct of the birds ; Apollonius interrupted his discourse and said, that, "a boy — near a gate of the city, which he named, — carrying a vessel of grain, had fallen down and spilled it, and having left much of it on the ground was gone away ; — that the bird, happening to be near, and ob- serving this, had come to inform his companions that they might partake of his good fortune. Many of the company thereupon hastened to satisfy themselves of the truth of the statement, — Apollonius, meantime, going on with his dis- course. Soon they returned shouting, and filled with admi ration &c." (Idem L. iv. 3) The next specimen is instructive, especially to the faculty ; but as I have promised to be brief, I must abbreviate it somewhat. Apollonius being at Tarsus, a young man was brought to him, — for he was a healing me- dium as well as a clairvoyant, — who, thirty days before, had been bitten by a mad dog. He commanded the dog to be brought to him. But, as the accident had occurred when the boy was out of the city, none of those about him had seen the doa;, and he himself had not observed him so as to be able to describe or distinguish him. Thereupon Apollonius, retract- ing himself, withdrawing himself inwards, (sTrirf^wv, stopping the outer machinery and taking on the interior state,) " 0, Damis, said he, the dog is white, shaggy, large, and resem- bles the Amphilochian breed. He stands trembling near a certain fountain, (naming the fountain) very desirous, and at the same time afraid, to drink. Bring him hither to me, saying to him only that it is I who summons him. Being con- ducted to him, accordingly, by Damis, the dog threw himself at the feet of Apollonius, whining, (or weeping, xXaiwv) Apol- lonius patted and soothed him, and bringing him to the boy he commanded him to lick the bite, in order that the remedy 57 might be the same thing as that which had produced the dis- ease." (Idem L. vi. 43) 0, Hahneman ! Great Itch-Couipeller ! Solomon was right ! and your honors are also in danger, for yours, it is plain is, after all, only an apocatastatic homoeopa- thy ! One specimen more, — out of a great number recorded in his Life, — of the clairvoyant powers of this capital old Medium is all my limits Avill permit. He was again at Ephe- sus discoursing near the city, when hesitating, and then ceas- ing to speak, as when one forgets what he was going to say next ; he looked fiercely upon the ground, strode forwards thaee or four steps, and, "strike the tyrant ! strike !" he ex- claimed. And when all Ephesus, (most of the citizens being present) was astonished at his conduct ; — courage, my friends, said he, for this very day the tyrant is slain, this day, did I say, nay, at the very moment that I stopped speaking. Soon as there was time for the news to arrive it was found, accord- ingly, that just at that hour, Domitian was assassinated at Rome. (Idem, L. viii. C. 26.) I must not omit to insert here another example of clairvoy- ance from the life of our friend Iamblichus, just to show that he also was an Adept in the occult sciences, or an Expert, as the lawyers say, for we shall have to call him upon the stand as a witness in that character bye and bye. " Iamblichus went with his disciples to sacrifice, in one of the suburbs of the city ; and after the sacrifice was performed they returned to town, gently walking along, and discoursing concerning the gods, as a subject very proper for the occasion. Then Iam- blichus, who Avas perfectly lost in thought in the midst of the discourse, whose voice was fallen, and eyes immovably fixed on the earth, turned to his companions and exclaimed : " Let us take another road, for not far from hence is a funeral pro- cession." Iamblichus, accordingly, chose a purer way, and was accompanied by a few of his disciples ; the rest, doubt- ing, went forward and met the procession, &c." (Eunapii Vita Iamblichi.) It would be easy to add the record of many more similar manifestations from the fabulous lives of still more 58 ancient sages as Pythagoras, Orpheus, &c., but as these are suspicious, for more reasons than one, and as I propose to deal only with veritable and Avell attested facts, I shall pass them by. But these are, as it were, mere amateur performances, the private and illicit doings of unconsecrated and profane peo- ple, intrusively attempting the functions which properly ap- pertained to others. The public religion sought to keep such things under its own control. All legal Mediums were conse- crated and religiously set apart to their office. Among these, by far the most celebrated, and most frequently consulted, was the priestess of Apollo at Delphi, or as she was often called, the Pythia, and sometimes Pythoness. The theory was that Apollo spoke through her voice. But it is obvious that, in so far as she possessed any powers of privesion or clairvoyance, they originated in the same way as in the case of the enchanted boys ; that is, the induction of the magnetic, or trance state, was an indispensable condition of their develop- ment ; and this state was induced by essentially the same means. When she was about to give oracular responses she entered a cave in the mountain over which the Delphic Tem- ple was built, — she was placed in the basket or basket-shaped seat of the sacred tripod, which, being open at the bottom, st3D-l over a rent or crevice in the rock from which issued a mephitic vapor, — she drank of the inspiring water of the Castalian Spring — she was enclosed with branches of laurel whose leaves she chewed — before her was the altar of the God — the air was loaded with the fumes and fragrance of burning incense — the music of trumpets and other instruments resoun- ded through the cavern, — -around her stood the priests and other servants of Apollo, and those to whom the response was to be given, — she became unconscious, went into the magnetic state, (hence the phrase iv SXjjlw xoi/xatfiki, to sleep in the hollow of the tripod, signified to prophesy,) — but soon the god him- self, duly invoked, arrived, and took possession and control of the organs of the Pythia — she was now inspired with a "divine 59 fury or rage," she became agitated, convulsed, tore her hair, foamed at the mouth, until at length the excitement found vent in the utterance of pure Greek hexameters, which contained or constituted the oracular responses to the questions proposed, which were enclosed in sealed envelopes and known only to the questioner. At least, in the more ancient periods, the responses were always in hexameter verses, but afterwards in prose ; which fact caused no little trouble to the believers in plenary inspiration, and who held that the spirit "came in" instead of going out ; — for why should the god of music and poetry forget how to make verses 1 However, we shall see bye and bye that they had a way of accounting for it. Here is evidence of clairvoyance, at least, and on a pretty large scale, if we consider the extent of Apollo's correspondence, the number of letters from all parts of the world which were an- swered without opening them. As to the correctness of the answers, and their coincidence with events, though it must be confessed that they were sometimes a little equivocal, Cicero says (De Divinatione Lib. i/xviii) that Chrysippus collected innumerable oracles the truth of everyone of which was con- firmed by most abundant testimony. A specimen or two must suffice ; and lest some infidel sceptic should suspect that the seals of some of those envelopes were in the habit of being tampered with, I will select those which shall put all his doubts to shame, and to flight. Listen to the father of histo- ry. "Croesus, king of Lydia, wishing to test the powers of the Pythia, sent messengers to Delphi with directions to in- quire, on a certain day, what the king of the Lydians was doing. * * No sooner had the Lydians entered the temple to consult the god, and to ask the question comman- ded, than the Pythia uttered the following in hexameter verses : " I know the number of the sands, and the measure of the sea ; I know what the dumb would say, I hear him who speaks not. There comes to me the odor of tortoise and lamb's flesh seething together in a brass vessel ; beneath the flesh 60 is brass, there is also brass above." This oracle being re- corded, the messengers returned to Sardis. Croesus read and was satisfied. * * * * For after he had sent the messengers to consult the oracle, on the appointed day, he hit upon the following to be done, as something which he supposed might be difficult to detect and describe : — cutting up a tortoise and a lamb, he boiled them together in a brazen vessel which also had a cover of brass." (Herodotus, Clio.) The Pythia must have been, in this case, extremely clairvoyant, or else have had excessively acute olfactories, have been clairolfacient. When the Gauls under Brennus were, apparently, about to destroy the Temple 'at Delphi, the god being consulted, the Pythia answered from the Oracle : " /, and the wltite vu'gins will see to that matter." Whereupon the Gauls, being seized Avith a panic in a snow-storm among the mountains, fled or perished in the snow. (Cicero de Divinatione Lib. i. 87) This is a very unexceptionable example of the combina- tion of prescience with clairvoyance, for which the Pythia was famed, beyond all her compeers. The following is a specimen of equivoque, or double enten- dre, like the still more famous response to Croesus ; who, when inquiring if he should be successful against the Persians was told, that, if he crossed the Halys, he should destroy a great kingdom. '• When however, on consulting Apollo at Delphi, he was advised to beware of the seventy-third year, supposing he was to live until that period, and not thinking of the age of Galba, he was filled with confidence &c." (Sue- tonius Vita Neronis c. 40) Croesus, by crossing the river, destroyed his own kingdom ; and Nero, instead of living to his seventy third year, w T as destroyed by Galba who was seventy-three years of age. The celebrated response to Pyrrhus, "Aio te, Aeacida, Romanos vincere posse" was another of the same sort. The poor Pythia has, I think, been ridiculed without reason, and her credit very unjustly im- peached on account of these and such-like utterances. For, it is manifest, that the double meaning in such cases is an CI essential condition of the truth of the prediction, otherwise the prophecy would defeat its own fulfilment and so prove false. Such cases, therefore, instead of discrediting, ought to ' confirm the clairvoyant character, of the prophetess, — it was her business to see the future, not to change it. The Pythia, however, though first in rank, possessed no peculiar powers, but was only one among innumerable others, in the service of the ancient religions, who, in various ways, evinced the possession of the same. " The religion of this temple (that of the Deus Heliopolitanus in Syria) excels in divination. The absent consult this God by sending sealed letters ; and answers are given, in order, to their contents. Thus the Emperor Trajan, being about to enter Parthia from this province, and being desired by his friends to inquire in regard to the event of the undertaking, excercised Roman prudence by first testing the powers of the Oracle, lest he might be imposed upon. First, therefore, he sent sealed let- ters to which he desired a reply in writing. The God com- manded paper to be brought, sealed blank, and sent ; the priests being astonished at that sort of reply, because they were ignorant of the character of the (Trajan's) letters. Trajan received the answer with great admiration because he also had sent blank tablets to the God. He then sent other sealed letters inquiring whether he should return to Rome after finishing the war. The god directed a vine to be cut in pieces, wrapt in linen, and carried to him, signifying, as the event proved, that his bones were to be carried back to Rome." (Macrobius Saturnal. L. i. c. 23.) Such specimens of divination are found scattered throu^h- out ancient history, besides "innumerable" instances of it, which, according to Cicero and Apuleius, were recorded but have not come down to us ; but these examples are perhaps sufficient (I have promised to be brief) to prove the existence, and illustrate the character, of the ancient clairvoyance, at least as manifested by oral communications. I shall have 62 occasion to bring forward other forms of it under a different head. The following quotation, from one well acquainted with the subject, shows pretty conclusively, the identity of the influ- ence which affected these vaticinating people with the present animal magnetism, or Mesmerism, or spirit-influence. "I wish to point out to you the signs by which those who are rightly possessed by the gods may be known. — * * * they neither energize according to sense, nor are in such a vigilant state as those who have their senses excited from sleep ; nor are they moved as those who energize according to impulse. Nor again are they conscious of the state they are in, neither as they were before, nor in any other Avay ; nor, in short, do they exert any knowlege, which is peculiarly their own. The greatest indication, however, of the truth of this is the follow- ing : Many, through divine inspiration, are not burned when fire is introduced to them, the inspiring influence preventing the fire from touching them. Many also, though burned, do not apprehend that they are so, because they do not then live an animal life. And some, indeed, though transfixed with spits do not perceive it ; but others that are struck on the shoulders with axes, and others that have their arms cut with knives, are by no means conscious of what is done to them. From these things it is demonstrated that those who ener- gize enthusiastically are not conscious of the state they are in, and that they neither live a human, nor an animal, life, ac- cording to sense or impulse, but that they exchange this for a certain more divine life, by which they are inspired and per- fectly possessed." (Iamblichus de Mysteriis.) I had intended to exhibit manifestations parallel to those contained in this chapter, from the writings of the spiritists of the present time ; but the parallelism here, in all essential particulars, is so obvious to all who have even but the most superficial acquaintance with the subject, that I shall save my- self the trouble of transcribing, and the reader that of peru- sing, what must be already abundantly familiar to him. The 63 fascination by the eye is what any one may witness, and most have often witnessed, at biological lectures and other such-like exhibitions, or at the " Circles ; : ' — to be fatally fascinated by praise is a thing not at all rare in the present times, though I must confess, that I am not personally cognizant of any in- stance in which trees have been made to wither and die from that cause alone, — there is a point in the ancient magic which is not yet, I think, re-developed — the enchanted boys are only specimens of magnetisation by a different method, although indeed, the chant is still sometimes used for that purpose ; — the Pythia was merely a good Medium ; — such cases as those of Apollonius and others are not uncommon, even since Swedenborg, — and Sibyls we have in every village. Of the aqua-clairvoyance I shall have more to say in another chap- ter. CHAPTER VI. Q,ui rore puro Castaliae lavit Crines solutos, ***** Apollo. Horat. Carmin. L. iii. v. Who bathes his flowing hair in pure Castalian dew 1 — Apollo. Let us next examine some other facts of the ancient Spirit- ism, of a somewhat different character, and see whether they also are sufficiently analogous to those of the present Spirit- ism to prove their apocatastatical relation to each other. The first quotation which I shall bring forward, I desire to make use of for a double purpose, viz : as a specimen of spirit-wri- ting, and of that quality of certain ancient waters, which con- fered the power of divination, and induced the clairvoyant state, a quality, in this respect, precisely like that of magnet- ized water in our time. The ancient spirits, so far as I have hitherto ascertained, were not accustomed to make use of the Medium's hand for writing communications, except in the case of the poet, who was supposed to be the writing-medium and amanuensis of the Muses ; and with one other remarkable exception viz : that of the Sibyls. These ladies were a sort 65 of female hermits, who lived in forests, mountains, and caves, in various places and countries, and gave responses in writing to those who consulted them, just as Mrs C at B Mrs S at M and so many others at other places, do at present. They seem to have written too, when not consul- ted ; for the good of posterity or whomsoever it might con- cern, whenever the spirit tock them by the arm : so that they were obliged to write upon the leaves of trees or whatever came to hand. These xp^rf.yoi have, unfortunately, all, or near- ly all, perished ; although we have plenty of counterfeits ; their great value and authority in ancient times leading to very extensive forgeries of them. In other instances, the spirits who had acquired povyer to control the Medium's muscles, commonly took the tongue in- stead of the hand, and so, instead of going through the pres- ent tedious process of training and development, from rapping to writing, and from writing to speaking, they saved time, and made speaking Mediums at once. The specimens of spirit- writing which I have found seem to have been a sort of achei- ropoietic productions, or perhaps they were written by the "condensed'- hand of the airy and tenuous spirit-vehicle, or ekJwXov, which spirits, anciently, as well as now, made use of for locomotion and other purposes. Even this kind of writing -seems not to have been common in the former period, and it is, so far as I know, in the present, among the rarest of spirit- manifestatioms. In regard to the "aqure fatidicas," as they were called, of which the Castalian fountain at Delphi was quite the most famous, from the drinking of which_the Pythia obtained in part her clairvoyant powers, and perhaps Apollo himself, to whom the fountain was sacred, and who, it seems, was in the habit of bathing his head in it, probably when he wished to excite the vaticinating mood, or he might have used it to cool his brain as Byron did, — and which waters were found also in many other places ; the most probable explana- tion of their peculiar quality, and one strictly analogical, reasoning from the present to the past, is, to suppose that the 66 spirit -who spoke through the drinking Medium, or rather, that the "genius loci," if he were, or were not, the communi- cating spirit, magnetised the water on every occasion of its use for the purpose of divination, or, the latter personage may- have indulged a personal pride in keeping it at all times magnetised, for the use, whether of men, or of gods. In the same way we may perhaps best explain the instances of water- divination in the preceding chapter, that is, by supposing the water to have been magnetized by some spirit, or somebody else. The following is the promised quotation. " It is sup- posed by those who have examined the subject, that, the water in this place (Daphne, in Syria,) comes from the Castalian fountain, which confers the faculty of divination ; having the same name, and the same qualities, as that at Delphi. They boast that Hadrian, while yet a private man, received inti- mations here concerning the empire. For, they say, that having dipt a leaf of laurel in the spring, he found, on taking it out, a prediction of the future plainly written thereon." — (Sozomen Lib. v.) _ That this was no mere boast of those concerned for the credit of the spring is proved by the fact related by several other historians, that, on coming to the empire,. Hadrian walled in, and shut up, this spring, lest it should teach others how to become emperors ; and that it remained closed until Julian's time. Perhaps other emperors as well as Hadrian were afraid of it. This spring was perhaps the only one, among the divining waters, which had the faculty of express- ing itself in writing ; but the same kind of spirit-writing was often found inscribed upon rocks and walls, (Nicephorus Gre- goras Hist. Lib. v.) the spirits being able in those days to communicate without a Medium, as they are beginning to do in these. But we must consider a few more instances of the curious, and marvelous, not to say miraculous, effects of the ancient divining waters. And would it not be well that our own springs should be carefully examined, with a view to ascer- 67 tain whether they do not, some of them, possess analogous powers ? Or if not. perhaps some benevolent spirits may consent to take charge, and preside, each over his own foun- tain, and become the genius loci, and impart to the waters the same powers as did their apocatastatic brethren. We have, in modern times, plenty of healing waters for diseases of the body, many of them too, presided over by spirits, or, at least, they were so not long since, why may we not have, for the benefit of the soul ? a series of good theological waters, judiciously and conveniently located!! — what could tend more to a healthful and true ''progress. " This too, will be evolved, as sure as curs is apocatastatic of the period we have supposed. Our business, however, at present, is with the ancient fountains. " It is well known that the Oracle at Colophon gives res- ponses by means of water. For there is a fountain in a sub- terranean cavern from which the prophet drinks. Then, having, on the prescribed nights, performed the accustomed ceremmies, he utters responses, having become invisible to the spectators present ! (oux st' opw/xsvoy roic; napowji 6eup6i$) — Hence it is is manifest that this water confers a divining pow- er." (tainblichus de Mysteriis.) This fountain at Colophon must have been a very wonderful fountain, more so if possible than that which had the power to write on laurel leaves. It not only magnetized the prophet who drank of it, so as to make him clairvoyant, but it enabled him to magnetise the eyes of all the persons present at his sittings — for such, I take it, must be the explanation of the fact of his becoming invisible to them. This is a power not yet, so far as I know, attained by any modern Medium. The spirits often magnetise the eyes of the Medium so as to ren- der the spectators invisible to him, and the biologists take away the power of vision from the eyes of those whom they can fascinate, but to fascinate a whole audience is, I believe hitherto beyond the magnetic battery of even the Rev. Le Roy Sunderland. That same Colophonian water must have been equal to the ring of Gyges, and if the fountain is not dry, its re-discovery would be worth more to the finder than all the gold of California. However, let me not tempt any man of Connecticut, or of New-Hampshire, to go in quest of it, since it might, after all, prove a losing speculation ; for its powers and properties are not, probably, inherent in the water itself, — it might not therefore bear transportation, — but are con- fered by the resident and presiding spirit at his pleasure. Such things are all "the work of the spirits." This is evi- dent from the following remarkable quotation : — " The prophetess in Branchidse, whether she hold in her hand a wand anciently the gift of some god, and becomes filled with a divine light ; whether, sitting upon an axle, she foretells future events ; whether, dipping her feet or the hem of her garment (xpaaVs5ov) in water ; or whether, enveloped in the vapor of water, she receives the divine influence ; — by all these methods prepared, she receives the god from witliout. This is also apparent from the number of sacrifices, from the whole of the prescribed ritual, and whatever else is done be- fore the access of the oracular inspiration, the baths of the prophetess, her fasting three whole days, her remaining in the adytum, her becoming already encircled with light, and rejoicing for some time; — fjr all these things demonstrate that the god is invoked to approach, that he comes from without, that the prophetess is inspired in a wonderful manner before she comes to her accustomed place ; (before she opens the sitting) and it is made manifest, that, in the spirit whicb rises from the fountain, (besides the natural quality of the water) there is another superior (rpsifi-orspov) god, who is sepa- rate from the place, and who is the cause ot the place, and the country, and of the Avhole divination." (Idem Ibidem.) Here is a most unhesitating believer in the spirits ; a man too who beyond all others made it the business of his life to investigate the mysteries of spirit-intercourse ; and to observe 69 and mark in a scientific manner, — beyond all modern compe- tition, (unless the Judge may approach him) — the attendant phenomena, whether physiological, psychical, or physical. Such investigators in the present period are also apt to be- come confirmed believers. The reader will please to notice also in passing, the beauti- ful specimen of odic light exhibited by this Medium, the grand display of that sort of lurid lights being reserved for the chapter on physical manifestations. — These waters, then, were not the cause of the strange manifestations which ac- companied the due ritual use of them, but only an occasion, or, means, without which the spirit could not, or did not choose to, produce them. It would be unphilosophical how- ever, irreligious rather, to suppose their employment to be wholly arbitrary. Perhaps their use was symbolical ; their transparency imparting, by some sympathetic action, the same quality to the otherwise turbid and opake future, and their purity suggesting truth in the communications, of which the light which invested the Medium was, as it were, the shadow and assurance. But we must return for a moment to the fountain at Colo- phon, which had other note-worthy properties, besides the power of rendering people invisible. " There is not a woman here as at Delphi, but a priest is elected from certain families, and mostly from Miletus, who is informed only of the name and number of those who come to consult the Oracle. He then retires into the cavern, and drinking of the secret foun- tain, — though ignorant generally (plerumque) of letters and poetry, — he delivers responses, in verse, to whatever mental questions any one has in his mind, (super rebus quas quis mente concepit.) — (Tacitus, Annal. Lib. ii.) Here is what we may call, in modern phrase, ' : a well developed Medium ;' r the power of answering mental questions being a test and proof of it, this being, as F understand, one of the highest 70 functions of the office. Altogether, a sitting of this Medium must have been a very spirited affair, the medium himself being changed into a spirit, or, however, there was nothing left for the senses but his voice, vox and preterea nihil ; and then, spirit-like, to read ones very thoughts ! ! I know not whether modern developments have yet reached so wholly spirital a form of exhibition ! This faculty of clairvoyance in relation to the thoughts of others, however, was not pecu- liar to this Medium, the Pythia expressly laid claim to it, — "I know what the dumb would say, I hear the voice of him who speaks not," — and often manifested it. It was frequently implied also in the manifestations of other ancient medi- ums. There was another form in which the ancient clairvoyance sometimes expressed itself, not without imitation, it is said, in the present period. The following is an example of it. " Then was performed a great miracle. For Mus, as is related by the Thebans, having visited various oracles, came to the temple of Apollo Ptoi. There followed him three men publicly selected by the Thebans, for the purpose of recording the responses which might be given. But, on arriving at the temple, they were astonished to hear the priestess an- swer in some foreign language, instead of speaking Greek, so that they had nothing to do. Whereupon Mus, taking from them their tablets, wrote down the responses of the Oracle — it was said in the Carian tongue, — and having made the record he departed &c." (Herodotus, Urania.) The sages of India also, as appears from the Life of Apol- lonius, seem to have possessed this power of speaking the language of those whom they addressed. It was also one of the accomplishments of Apollonius himself. (Vita Apol- lon. Lib. i. c. 19) Was the rapport magnetique existing be- tween the person speaking and the person spoken to ? was it the (ki.u-wv, or guardian angel, of the speaker who happened to be a linguist ? or is the opinion of Apollonius the true 71 one, who explained such facts in Lis own case, and especially all instances of clairvoyance by water, like those we have been considering, as the effect of the Pythagorean diet — that is, of water drinking, and n jn-carniverous food ; beans also being excluded. (Vita Apollon. Lib. ii. c. 37) He was, however, something of a spiritist, perhaps as much so as Iamblichus, and intimates that by such means the god is in- duced to "enter from without." Besides the developed Mediums through whom the spirits could communicate with a third person, there we're also in ancient times what are now called impressible Mediums, who received the divine influx into their own consciousness, or semi-consciousness, but it was not fully transmitted for the benefit of others. These, as might be expected, are to be found mostly among the later, or the new, mystical, Platonists. " For the end and scope with him consisted in approximating, and being united to, the god who is above all things. But he four times obtained this end while I was with him, and this by an ineffable energy and not in capacity. ****** by em- ploying for this purpose the paths narrated by Plato in the Banquet, the supreme divinity appeared to him, who has neither any form nor idea, but is established above intellect and every intelligible ; to whom also I, Porphyry, say that I once approached, and was united, when I was sixty-eight years of age." (Porphyr. Vita Plotin.) The mesmeric insensibility was also one of the ancient phenomena ; though I am not aware that it was, at that time, ever induced for the purpose of avoiding the pain of surgical operations. Sufficient evidence that ancient nerves were not different from the present, has perhaps been given already in the extract from Iamblichus, and parallel facts are com- mon everywhere among those "who energize enthusiasti- cally." I will however, make one quotation. " Under Mount Soracte is the town of Feronia, which is also the name of the goddess of the place, who is held in 72 great honor there. There is also a grove of Feronia, in which are performed sacred rites of a very wonderful kind. For those possessed by this Daemon (oi y.aTsy^ixsvoi vno