Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth
In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.
What the Delphic Oracle Told Nero
“How long will I be emperor?” the emperor Nero asked the Delphic Oracle.
“Beware the seventy-third year,” the Oracle told him.
You are the Hierophant, the high priest and guardian of the Mysteries of Eleusis.
You receive a command from the Roman emperor to mount an out-of-season celebration of the Mysteries, in order that he may attend while he is in Greece. That emperor is Nero.
What do you do?
At the time of his visit to Delphi, the emperor Nero was 34 years old.
Needless to say, the Oracle's response delighted him.
Shockingly, but unsurprisingly, the then-Hierophant of Eleusis acceded to Nero's demand and—for the only time in their 1000-year history—the Mysteries of the Grain Mother were enacted out-of-season.
Alas: knowledge of mystery does not necessarily entail courage.
His whirlwind tour of Greece completed, Nero prepared himself to return to Rome.
Meanwhile, in Spain, a general named Galba—the man who would be the next emperor of Rome—was busily raising an army.
He was 73 years old.
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