The Life Of Constantine

By Eusebius Pamphilius

Chapter L.--That the Persecution originated on Account of the Oracle of Apollo, who, it was said, could not give Oracles because of |the Righteous Men.|

"About that time it is said that Apollo spoke from a deep and gloomy cavern, and through the medium of no human voice, and declared that the righteous men on earth were a bar to his speaking the truth, and accordingly that the oracles from the tripod were fallacious. Hence it was that he suffered his tresses to droop in token of grief, [3199] and mourned the evils which the loss of the oracular spirit would entail on mankind. But let us mark the consequences of this.