Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

9606

Plutarch, Roman Questions, 44
nan Why may not the priest of Jupiter ( Flamen Dialis ) take an oath? Cf. Livy, xxxi. 50; Aulus Gellius, x. 15. Is it because an oath is a kind of test to prove that men are free-born, and neither the body nor the soul of the priest must be subjected to any test? Or is it because it is unreasonable to distrust in trivial affairs him who is entrusted with holy matters of the greatest importance? Or is it because every oath concludes with a curse on perjury, and a curse is an ill-omened and gloomy thing? This is the reason why priests may not even invoke curses upon others. At any rate the priestess at Athens who was unwilling to curse Alcibiades at the people’s bidding won general approval, for she declared that she had been made a priestess of prayer, not of cursing. Cf. Life of Alcibiades, xxii. (202 f). Or is it because the danger of perjury is a public danger if an impious and perjured man leads in prayer and sacrifice on behalf of the State?
nan Why may not the priest of Jupiter (Flamen Dialis) take an oath? Is it because an oath is a kind of test to prove that men are free-born, and neither the body nor the soul of the priest must be subjected to any test? Or is it because it is unreasonable to distrust in trivial affairs him who is entrusted with holy matters of the greatest importance? Or is it because every oath concludes with a curse on perjury, and a curse is an ill-omened and gloomy thing? This is the reason why priests may not even invoke curses upon others. At any rate the priestess at Athens who was unwilling to curse Alcibiades at the people's bidding won general approval, for she declared that she had been made a priestess of prayer, not of cursing. Or is it because the danger of perjury is a public danger if an impious and perjured man leads in prayer and sacrifice on behalf of the State?

Intertexts (texts cited often on the same page as the searched text):

None available Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
magic	Bickerman and Tropper (2007) 887
oaths,bipartite	Bickerman and Tropper (2007) 887
oaths,tripartite	Bickerman and Tropper (2007) 887
oaths	Bickerman and Tropper (2007) 887
perjury	Bickerman and Tropper (2007) 887
phenomenology of religion,oath	Bickerman and Tropper (2007) 887
phenomenology of religion	Bickerman and Tropper (2007) 887
psychological method,sacred force'	Bickerman and Tropper (2007) 887
sacred force	Bickerman and Tropper (2007) 887
saul	Bickerman and Tropper (2007) 887
slavonic josephus,and mss. of greek josephus	Bickerman and Tropper (2007) 887