Omens from men, and sneezing
If the soul of birds is divine because the future is foretold through them, must we not rather say, where omens are taken from men, that the soul of those through whom the omens are heard is divine? On such men’s view, then, the “grinding woman” in Homer was a divine being (Homer, Odyssey 20.105–119), when she said of the suitors: “May they dine here now for the last and latest time.” So she was divine, while so great a man as Odysseus, the friend of Homer’s Athena, was not divine; but, understanding the omens spoken by the divine grinding woman, he rejoiced, as the poet says: “And godlike Odysseus rejoiced at the omen” (Homer, Odyssey 20.120).
Now see: if birds have a divine soul and perceive God, or, as Celsus calls it, “the gods”, then plainly we men too, when we sneeze, sneeze from some divinity and prophetic power that is in us, in our soul. For this too is attested by many. That is why the poet says, “And he sneezed as one was praying”; and why Penelope says, “Do you not see that my son sneezed at your words?” (Homer, Odyssey 17.545).
Greek
Εἵπερ δὲ θεία ἐστὶν ἡ τῶν ὀρνίθων ψυχὴ διὰ τὸ δι᾿ αὐτῶν προλέγεσθαι τὰ μέλλοντα, πῶς οὐχὶ μᾶλλον. ὅπου κληδόνες ἀπὸ ἀνθρώπων λαμβάνονται, θείαν εἶναι φήσομεν τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκείνων, δι᾿ ὧν αἱ κληδόνες ἀκούονται; θεία οὖν τις ἦν κατὰ τοὺς τοιούσδε ἡ παρὰ τῷ Ὁμήρῳ „ἀλετρὶς.“ περὶ τῶν μνηστήρων εἰποῦσα· ὕστατα καὶ πύματα νῦν ἐνθάδε δειπνήσειαν. κἀκείνη μὲν θεία ἦν· ὁ δὲ τηλικοῦτος Ὀδυσσεὺς, ὁ τῆς Ὁμηρικῆς Ἀθηνᾶς φίλος. οὐκ ἦν· θεῖος ἀλλὰ συνεὶς τῶν ἀπὸ τῆς θείας ἀλετρίδος εἰρημένων κληδόνων ἔχαιρεν, ὡς ὁ ποιητής φησι· χαῖρε δὲ κλεηδόνι δῖος Ὀδυσσεύς. ἤδη δὲ ὅρα, εἴπερ οἱ ὄρνιθες θείαν ἔχουσι ψυχὴν καὶ αἰσθάνονται τοῦ θεοῦ ἢ, ὡς ὁ Κέλσος ὀνομάζει. τῶν θεῶν· δηλονότι καὶ ἡμεῖς πταρνύμενοι οἱ ἄνθρωποι ἀπό τινος ἐν ἡμῖν οὔσης θειότητος καὶ μαντικῆς περὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν πταρνύμεθα. καὶ γὰρ τοῦτο μαρτυρεῖται ὑπὸ πολλῶν· διὸ καὶ ὁ ποιητὴς λέγει τό· ὁ δ᾿ ἐπέπταρεν εὐχομένοιο. διὸ καὶ ἡ Πηνελόπη φησίν· οὐχ ὁράᾳς. ὅ μοι υἱὸς ἐπέπταρε σοῖσιν ἔπεσσι;