How thousands fought at Salamis and fell;
but whether the oracle referred to the Greeks or Persians who were to fall by "thousands," was not stated.
6. When CROESUS demanded what would be the issue of the battle against the Persians, headed by Cyrus, the answer was, he "should behold a mighty empire overthrown;" but whether that empire was his own, or that of Cyrus, only the actual issue of the fight could determine.
7. Similarly, when PHILIP of Macedon sent to Delphi to inquire if his Persian expedition would prove successful, he received for reply, "The ready victim crowned for sacrifice stands before the altar." Philip took it for granted that the "ready victim" was the king of Persia, but it was himself.
8. TARQUIN sent to Delphi to learn the fate of his struggle with the Romans for the recovery of his throne, and was told, "Tarquin will never fall till a dog speaks with the voice of a man." The "dog" was Junius Brutus, who was called a dog by way of contempt.
9. When the oracle was asked who would succeed Tarquin, it replied, "He who shall first kiss his mother." Whereupon Junius Brutus fell to the earth, and exclaimed, "Thus, then, I kiss thee, O mother earth!"
10. Jourdain, the wizard, told the duke of Somerset, if he wished to live, to "avoid where castles mounted stand." The duke died in an ale-house called the Castle, in St. Alban's.—Shakespeare, 2 Henry VI. act v. sc. 2.
11. A wizard told King Edward IV. that "after him should reign one the first letter of whose name should be G." The king thought the person meant was his brother George, but the duke of Gloucester was the person pointed at.—Holinshed, Chronicles; Shakespeare, Richard III. act i. sc. I.
Erac'lius (The emperor) condemned a knight to death on the supposition of murder; but the man supposed to be murdered making his appearance, the condemned man was taken back, under the expectation that he would be instantly acquitted. But no, Eraclius ordered all three to be put to death: the knight, because the emperor had ordered it; the man who brought him back, because he had not carried out the emperor's order; and the man supposed to be murdered, because he was virtually the cause of death to the other two.
This tale is told in the Gesta Romanorum, and Chaucer has put it into the mouth of his Sumpnor. It is also told by Seneca, in his De Ira; but he ascribes it to Cornelius Piso, and not to Eraclius.