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Authors: William Golding
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besides us? Dodona for instance?’
‘Of course.’
‘Tegyra, Delos, Patarae? Branchidae, Claros, and Gryneum? Siwa over in Africa?’
‘A bird can’t fly all the way here from Africa!’
‘Of course not. There’s measure in all things as your – our – god said – says. You’d need a Phoenix for that.’
‘What messages? From the god? Why?’
‘The price of corn perhaps. What the tribes are doing. Who’s in, who’s out, who up, who down.’
‘Surely the god doesn’t need to be told what is happening!’
‘Reminded, shall we say. It’s a good theological point. What does the god need to know? After all he needs to know what the question is. Therefore he needs to know something. Therefore there is no reason why he should not need to know what is happening in Asia, or Africa, or Achaia …’ He paused for a while, ‘… or Rome.’
‘I see.’
I thought I did see.
‘I don’t think you do, child. Still you are safe from too much knowledge until you are fifty.’
‘But I should be an old woman!’
‘The Pythia used to be an old woman. No not like our First Lady. She’s about a hundred. Ten decades. Judging by the state of the Second Lady, I think the process will have to be hurried up.’
‘How much?’
‘Would you accept forty?’
‘Thirty.’
‘Thirty then. You and I, privately, will agree that the Third Lady in waiting shall become the Second Lady when she reaches the advanced age of thirty. First, Second, Third Lady – you know, my dear, I always feel when I talk about the three Ladies as if I am talking about a particularly uxorious, or should I say gynoecious, potentate. Now, this afternoon you observe I am not in a very pious mood. Indeed the god was brusque with the First Lady, not to say brutal. He raped her. I am shocking you. Don’t mind, my dear, we’ve made an honest trio of you. That, by the way, and to change the subject, is the fountain of Castalia. You are supposed to drink from it before you prophesy. I’m afraid it’s sometimes not very clean. You see the little building built across it? You go in there and a small boy gives you to drink out of what ought to be the gold cup donated by Queen Olympias in thanksgiving for the birth of her son. Unfortunately your compatriots of that time removed it along with some other trifles such as a life-sized image of the Pythia in solid gold. The history of Delphi is to be read in the chopping and changing over the nature of the cup you will drink from. You’ll find the cup we have at the moment is made of wood and secured by an iron chain. It has the words “A present from Dodona” incised on it. No, I’m wrong. My memory! This is Cassotis of course. The spring of Castalia is where you bathe. It’s fearsomely cold – comes right out of the frozen heart of the mountain and is given up to the god very grudgingly. Now, if you look, you’ll only see a trickle. That’s why there aren’t any prophecies in the three months of winter. You won’t be able to see the ritual, in fact, for another two months or so. Of course, if someone of heroic stature, a pharaoh, say, or a Mithridates, wanted a quick reply, it’s astonishing how adaptable the mountain can be. This year, by the way, is a festival year – one in four or eight according to the oracle given at the spring solstice. It’s very good for tourism.’
‘Tourism?’
‘Groups of travellers who come to see our – your – sights. I’m afraid they keep the economy alive, but you can’t expect them to do so in the winter months. I dare say, though, we may see the first gorgeous butterfly of spring in a month, there are always a few early ones.’
It took me a long time to understand that by ‘spring butterflies’ he meant tourists, these quaint travellers who want to ‘see the world’, as it is expressed. The general route was through the Peloponnesus to Athens, then back to Corinth and across our ferry. It was thus, and with still most of the month to go
‘Of course.’
‘Tegyra, Delos, Patarae? Branchidae, Claros, and Gryneum? Siwa over in Africa?’
‘A bird can’t fly all the way here from Africa!’
‘Of course not. There’s measure in all things as your – our – god said – says. You’d need a Phoenix for that.’
‘What messages? From the god? Why?’
‘The price of corn perhaps. What the tribes are doing. Who’s in, who’s out, who up, who down.’
‘Surely the god doesn’t need to be told what is happening!’
‘Reminded, shall we say. It’s a good theological point. What does the god need to know? After all he needs to know what the question is. Therefore he needs to know something. Therefore there is no reason why he should not need to know what is happening in Asia, or Africa, or Achaia …’ He paused for a while, ‘… or Rome.’
‘I see.’
I thought I did see.
‘I don’t think you do, child. Still you are safe from too much knowledge until you are fifty.’
‘But I should be an old woman!’
‘The Pythia used to be an old woman. No not like our First Lady. She’s about a hundred. Ten decades. Judging by the state of the Second Lady, I think the process will have to be hurried up.’
‘How much?’
‘Would you accept forty?’
‘Thirty.’
‘Thirty then. You and I, privately, will agree that the Third Lady in waiting shall become the Second Lady when she reaches the advanced age of thirty. First, Second, Third Lady – you know, my dear, I always feel when I talk about the three Ladies as if I am talking about a particularly uxorious, or should I say gynoecious, potentate. Now, this afternoon you observe I am not in a very pious mood. Indeed the god was brusque with the First Lady, not to say brutal. He raped her. I am shocking you. Don’t mind, my dear, we’ve made an honest trio of you. That, by the way, and to change the subject, is the fountain of Castalia. You are supposed to drink from it before you prophesy. I’m afraid it’s sometimes not very clean. You see the little building built across it? You go in there and a small boy gives you to drink out of what ought to be the gold cup donated by Queen Olympias in thanksgiving for the birth of her son. Unfortunately your compatriots of that time removed it along with some other trifles such as a life-sized image of the Pythia in solid gold. The history of Delphi is to be read in the chopping and changing over the nature of the cup you will drink from. You’ll find the cup we have at the moment is made of wood and secured by an iron chain. It has the words “A present from Dodona” incised on it. No, I’m wrong. My memory! This is Cassotis of course. The spring of Castalia is where you bathe. It’s fearsomely cold – comes right out of the frozen heart of the mountain and is given up to the god very grudgingly. Now, if you look, you’ll only see a trickle. That’s why there aren’t any prophecies in the three months of winter. You won’t be able to see the ritual, in fact, for another two months or so. Of course, if someone of heroic stature, a pharaoh, say, or a Mithridates, wanted a quick reply, it’s astonishing how adaptable the mountain can be. This year, by the way, is a festival year – one in four or eight according to the oracle given at the spring solstice. It’s very good for tourism.’
‘Tourism?’
‘Groups of travellers who come to see our – your – sights. I’m afraid they keep the economy alive, but you can’t expect them to do so in the winter months. I dare say, though, we may see the first gorgeous butterfly of spring in a month, there are always a few early ones.’
It took me a long time to understand that by ‘spring butterflies’ he meant tourists, these quaint travellers who want to ‘see the world’, as it is expressed. The general route was through the Peloponnesus to Athens, then back to Corinth and across our ferry. It was thus, and with still most of the month to go
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