CHAPTER VII.

_Necessity for a Mediator between God and Man partly met by Oracular Inspiration—General failure of Oracles in the age of Plutarch—Plutarch’s “Delphian Essays”—The DE PYTHIÆ ORACULIS: nature of Inspiration: oracles not verbally inspired—The DE DEFECTU ORACULORUM—Various explanations of Inspiration—Plutarch inclines to accept that which assumes an original Divine afflatus placed under the superintendence of Dæmons, whose activities are subject to the operation of natural causes_ 138