his hair this archaic Athenian wears the badge of the golden
grasshopper. He is Onomacritus, the famous poet, and the trusted
guardian of the ancient oracles of Musaeus and Bacis.

What is he doing? Why, he takes from the fragrant cedar coffer
certain thin stained sheets of lead, whereon are scratched the words
of doom, the prophecies of the Greek Thomas the Rhymer. From his
bosom he draws another thin sheet of lead, also stained and
corroded. On this he scratches, in imitation of the old "Cadmeian
letters," a prophecy that "the Isles near Lemnos shall disappear
under the sea." So busy is he in this task, that he does not hear
the rustle of a chiton behind, and suddenly a man's hand is on his
shoulder! Onomacritus turns in horror. Has the goddess punished
him for tampering with the oracles? No; it is Lasus, the son of
Hermiones, a rival poet, who has caught the keeper of the oracles in
the very act of a pious forgery. (Herodotus, vii. 6.)

Pisistratus expelled the learned Onomacritus from Athens, but his
conduct proved, in the long run, highly profitable to the
reputations of Musaeus and Bacis. Whenever one of their oracles was
not fulfilled, people said, "Oh, THAT is merely one of the
interpolations of Onomacritus!" and the matter was passed over.
This Onomacritus is said to have been among the original editors of
Homer under Pisistratus. {13} He lived long, never repented, and,
many years later, deceived Xerxes into attempting his disastrous
expedition. This he did by "keeping back the oracles unfavourable
to the barbarians," and putting forward any that seemed favourable.
The children of Pisistratus believed in him as spiritualists go on
giving credit to exposed and exploded "mediums."