The ancient Greek historians (Harvard lectures) by J. B. Bury.

II

HERODOTUS

59

Perhaps the story of the miraculous deliverance of
Delphi from the Persians 1 may be taken to illustrate V
the ill-defined limits of his faith. Their oracle \
declared to the Delphian priests that the god would
himself provide for the safety of his sanctuary, and
when the Persians came they were repelled, with
great havoc, by lightning and by the fall of huge
boulders from Parnassus. Herodotus relates this
without any hint of scepticism, though he emphasizes the miraculous nature of the events. Now
you observe that there is nothing impossible in the
alleged physical occurrences; the marvel lies in the
opportunity of the coincidence and the fulfilment
of the oracular announcement. Against a marvel
of this order Herodotus had no prejudice. But
another miracle was said to have happened on
the same occasion. Certain sacred arms, which
were preserved within the shrine and were too
sacred to be profaned by human touch, were
suddenly discovered lying in a heap in front of the
temple. A rationalist-Euripides, for instancewould find no difficulty in such an occurrence,
assuming the fact to be certain. Herodotus
accepts it as a genuine marvel, without any
suggestion that human agency, notwithstanding
Delphic asseverations to the contrary, might have
been concerned in the matter; and the notable
thing is that he considers it less wonderful than
the intervention of the physical forces which overwhelmed the Persians. If such a phenomenon as
1 viii. 36-39.