Whatever happened to oracles?

 The world used to be full of oracles.

The traditions of each place were different. But there were places you could go if you wanted to know whether you should marry the neighbor’s daughter or declare war on Persia.

The oracles were fading away by the end of the first century. Plutarch, curious as to why, wrote a little book on “The Decline of the Oracles.”

Why did they die? Did the world change in a way that made it difficult for men to believe the word of the gods?

Plutarch slyly answers those questions in the opening scene of his dialog. Cleombrotos, a Spartan who liked to travel, had been to the shrine in Ammon in western Egypt and was reporting to his friends.

The priests at the shrine told Cleombrotos that the lamp at the shrine, which was constantly lit, was using less oil each year. The priests kept exact records. They concluded that the years were getting shorter.

Demetrius, the grammarian, scoffed. It’s ridiculous to draw vast conclusions from little evidence, he said.

Ammonios, an astronomer, pointed out that a trend toward shorter years would be evident in other ways. The patterns of eclipses would change. We’d also experience climate change.

It’s the opening scene, but it’s all there. When people appeal to evidence, oracles are doomed.

The world didn’t change. People did.