Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/72

 DIURNAL

48

DIVINATION

diocese which had been almost ruined by Giseler, the second Bishop of Merseburg, in his unlioly ambition to become Arclibishop of Madgeburg in 981. At the same time he fearlessly defended the canonical liberty of ecclesiastical elections against the encroachments of the secular princes..

'WTiile Bishop of Merseburg he composed his famous chronicle "Chronicon Thietmari", which comprises in eight books the reigns of the Saxon Emperors Henry I (called the Fowler), the three Ottos, and Henry II (the Saint). The first three books, covering the reigns of Henry I and the first two Ottos, are largely based on previous chronicles, most of which are still extant; the fourth book, comprising the reign of Otto III, contains much original matter; while the remain- ing four books, which describe the reign of Henry II to the year lOlS, are the independent narrative of Dithmar. As councillor of the emperor and partici- pant in many important political transactions, he was well equipped for wTiting a history of his times. The spirit of sincerity which pervades his chronicle is abundant compensation for the barbarous expressions which occasionally mar the literary style. The last four books, besides being the principal source for Saxon history during the reign of the holy emperor Henry II, contain valuable information, not to be found elsewhere, regarding the contemporary his- tory and civilization of the Slavic tribes east of the river Elbe, especially the Poles and Hungarians. Dithmar's original manuscript, with corrections and additions made by himself, is stiU preserved at Dres- den. A facsimile edition of it was prepared by L. Schmidt (Dresden, 1905). The chronicle was also published by Km-ze in "Script. Her. Genn." (Han- over, 1889), and by Lappenberg in " Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script." Ill, 73.3-87 1, whence it was reprinted in Migne, P. L., CXXXIX, 1183-1422. A German translation was made by Laurent (Berlin, 1848, and Leipzig, 1892).

KuRzE in *V. Archiv. der Gesellsch. fiir oltere deutsche Ge~ schichte (Hanover, 1888), XIV, 59-86; Wattexbach, Deutsch- lands Geschichlsquellen im Miltdalter (7th ed., 1904), I; HuR- jEn, Nomendalor (3d ed., Innsbruck, 1903), I,950sq; Welte in KiTchenlex., s. v.

Michael Ott.

Diurnal (hor.e dittrn^). See Hours.

Dives (Latin for rich). — The word is not used in the Bible as a proper noun ; but in the Middle Ages it came to be employed as the name of the rich man in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Luke, XVI, 19-31. It has often been thought that in this lesson on the use of riclies Christ spoke of real persons and events. The "House of Dives" is still pointed out in Jerusalem; but, of course, if such a house ever ex- isted, it must have long since disappeared.

Renard in ViG., Did. de la Bible, s. v. Lazare; Commen- taries on this passage of St. Luke.

W. S. Rbilly.

Divination, the seeking after knowledge of future or hidden things by inadequate means. The means being inade(|uate they must, therefore, be supple- mented by some power which is represented all through history as coming from gods or evil spirits. Hence the word divination has a sinister signification. As prophecy is the lawful knowledge of the future, divination, its superstitious counterpart, is the uidaw- ful. As magic aims to do, divination aims to know. Divination is practically as old as the human r.ace. It is found in every age and coimtry, among the Egyp- tians, Chaldeans, Hindus, Romans, and Greeks; the tribes of Northern Asia had their .shamans, the inhal> itants of .Vfriea their mgangas, the Celtic nations their druids, the aborigines of America their medicine-men — all recognized diviners and wizards. Everj^where divination flourished and nowhere, even to-day, is it completely neglected. Cicero's words were, and ap-

parently always will be, true, that there is no nation, civilized or barbarian, which does not believe that there are signs of the future and persons who can in- terpret them. Cicero divided divination into natural and artificial. Natural (untaught, unskilled) in- cluded dreams and oracles in which the diviner was a passive subject of inspiration, and the prediction was from a power supposed to be then and there within him. Artificial (taught, studied) comprised all fore- telling from signs found in nature or produced by man. Here the diviner was active, and the divination came apparently from his own skill and observation. This division is almost the same as that given by St. Thomas with respect to the invocation of demons: divination with express invocation of spirits, embrac- ing dreams, portents or prodigies, and necromancy, and divination with tacit invocation through signs and movements observed in objects in nature, such as stars, birds, figures, etc., or through signs and arrange- ments produced by man, such as molten lead poured in water, casting of lots, etc. Dreams here mean those expressly prepared and prayed for with hope of intercourse TOth gods or the dead. Portents or prodi- gies are unusual and marvellous sights coming from the lower world. Here we are considering artificial divination.

Methods. — The variety of divinatory methods is very great. Scarcely an object or movement in the heavens, on the earth, or in the air or water escaped being metamorphosed into a message of futurity. Add to these the inv'entions of man, and there is a glimpse of the immense entanglement of superstitions in which pagan people groped their way. They can, however, be grouped into three classes, as seen from St. Thomas's division. A detailed list has been given by Cicero, Clement of Alexandria in his "Stromata", and others of the Fathers. Under the first class, ex- press invocation, come oneiromancy or divination by dreams; necromancy, by so-called apparitions of the dead or spiritism; apparitions of various kinds, which may be either external or in imagination, as Cajetan ob- serves ; Pj-thonism or by possessed persons, as the Del- phic Pythoness ; hydromancy, by signs in water ; aero- mancy, by signs in air; geomancy, by signs in terres- trial substances (geomancy has also another meaning) ; aruspices, by signs in the entrails of sacrificial victims, etc. The second class, tacit invocation and signs found ready-made in nature, embraces judicial or ge- nethliac astrology, pretending to tell the future through the stars; augury, through the notes of birds, and later covering prediction through their mode of acting, feeding, flying, and also the neigh- ing of horses and sneezing of men, etc. — with us it comprises all foretelling by signs; omens, when chance words are turned into signs; chiromancy, when the lines of the hand are read ; and many simi- lar modes. The third class, tacit invocation and signs prepared by man, includes geomancy from points or lines on paper or pebbles thrown at random; draw- ing of straws; throwing dice; cutting cards; letting a staff fall or measuring it with the fingers saying, "I will, I will not"; opening a book at random, called Sortes VirgiUance., so much was the ..?5neid used in this fashion by the Romans; etc. This last transferred to the Bible is still common in Germany and elsewhere. Hypnotism is also used for purposes of divination.

History. — To attempt to trace the origin of divina- tion is a waste of time, since like religion it is universal and indigenous in one form or another. Some nations cultivated it to a higher degree than others, and their influence caused certain modes of divination to .spread. By its practice they gained a wide reputation for occult power. Pre-eminent in history stand the Chaldeans as seers and astrologers, but the ancient Egj'ptians and Chinese were also great adepts in elab- orate mysterious rites. Which of them had priority therein is still an open question, though the larger share