who are most interested, that is, the leaders of the hostile armies, alone undertake the decisive contest. Thus in Homer, Menelaus and Paris. The solemn sacrifices which precede the battle do not refer directly to the combat itself, but to its consequences. They serve to place whatever advantages may result from victory to either party, under the protection of heaven, and to secure them by an appeal to the gods. For this purpose also Menelaus demands the presence of Priam, as a prudent, pious, old man. Thus these sacrifices are important, although they do not of themselves constitute the battle an ordeal. The idea of an ordeal, of an appeal to heaven to decide the quarrel and defend the just cause, is seen in the words of Menelaus : ἡμέων δ ̓ ὁπποτέρῳ θάνατος καὶ μοῖρα τέτυκται, τεθναίη. And in those of Priam: Ζεὺς μέν που τόγε οἶδε καὶ ἀθάνατοι θεοὶ ἄλλοι The idea is still more apparent in the prayers of the Achæans and Trojans : Ζεῦ πάτερ, Ιδηθεν μεδέων, κύδιστε, μέγιστε ! And Menelaus prays: Ζεῦ ἄνα, δὸς τίσασθαι, ὅ με πρότερος κακ ̓ ἔοργεν, ξεινοδόκον κακὰ ῥέξαι, ὅ κεν φιλότητα παράσχῃ.1 16 Conscious of the justice of his cause, he has expected the assistance of the gods. And when his sword is broken, and he has thrown his lance at his opponent without effect, he thus expresses his anger at the conduct of Zeus: Ζεῦ πάτερ, οὔτις σεῖο θεῶν ὀλοώτερος ἄλλος ! ἦ τ' ἐφάμην τίσεσθαι ̓Αλέξανδρον κακότητος, κ. τ. λ. 16 The petition contained in these prayers, namely, that Zeus would grant victory to him who had justice on his side, distinguishes them from such as those in Iliad vi. 305, vII. 202, XVI. 233. The declaration of Eteocles, in the Phænissa of Euripides,17 that he wished to decide by single combat his quarrel with his brother, and the prayer of the two, as well as the description in the twelfth book of the Eneid, of the fight between Turnus and Æneas, are evidently modelled after Homer. We may compare, further, the challenge given by Hyllus, the leader of the Heraclidæ, to the bravest in the hostile army, in order that the claims of himself and his companions to their ancestral possessions might be decided; 18 also the fight between Phrynon, as champion of Athens, and Pittacus, as champion of Mitylene, about the possession of Sigeum.19 The case is similar to these, when out of each of the hostile armies a single combatant is chosen. In some instances, several individuals were selected from each host, men equal in strength. In such a case, physical power could not decide the victory for either party, unless consciousness of a good cause inspired trust in the protection of heaven; or rather, unless the gods themselves, by giving victory, defended the right. The fight between three hundred chosen Spartans and Argives about Thyrea,20 and the choice of trigemini in the war between Tegea and Pheneos,21 are examples. Every one will, in connection with the last instance, immediately think of the combat between the Horatii and Curiatii, (trigemini fratres, nec ætate nec viribus dispares,) 22 which is likewise compared by J. Grimm. There are other two well known duels somewhat similar, viz., that between the Gallic giant and T. Manlius,23 and that between a Gaul, likewise of gigantic proportions, and M. Valerius. In these cases, there is indeed no evidence that the champions were chosen by their respective armies, or that there was any public agreement to accept the issue of the duel as a settlement of the quarrel. But in the first case, the similarity to an ordeal consists in this, that the Gaul, in giving his challenge, says: "quem nunc Roma virum fortissimum habet, procedat agedum ad pugnam, ut noster duorum eventus ostendat, utra gens bello sit melior;" in the circumstance that the Roman dictator dismisses Manlius with the 17 Vers. 1230, foll. 18 Herodot. IX. 26; Pausan. VIII. 45. 19 Strabo, XIII. p. 600; Diog. Laert. in Pittac. 1. p. 50, ed. Hübner; Herodot. v. 95. 20 Herodot. 1. 82; Pausan. 11. 38. ed. 1 Plutarch, Parallel. Græc. et Roman. 111. p. 380; Stobæus ap. Schömann, 1. c. p. 369. 29 Livy, 1. 24. 23 Livy, vII. 9. foll. 24 Livy, vII. 26. foll. 1 words: "perge, et nomen Romanum invictum, juvantibus diis, præsta ;" and finally, in the consequence of the fight, namely, the hasty retreat of the Gauls on the night after the fall of their champion. As to the battle of M. Valerius, it is represented by Livy as having been completely under the sanction of the gods.25 The raven, which assists the Roman, is in this case not without importance. Of the particular usages of the Greeks and Romans at such duels, nothing is stated, except what is mentioned by Homer respecting the necessary preparations for the combat: 26 Εκτωρ δὲ Πριάμοιο πάϊς καὶ δῖος Οδυσσεύς Hector and Odysseus act here somewhat in the same manner as the northern shield-bearers, (Schildhalter,) or the German Greismantel, who divided equally wind and sun, light and shadow, &c. We find traces among the Greeks and Romans of something like the "judicium offe," (geweihter Bissen,) mentioned by Grimm,27 It is well known that bullocks' blood was in ancient times considered poisonous.28 When the Egyptian king Psammenitus, after being conquered by Cambyses, had been detected in exciting his countrymen to rebellion against their new master, he is said to have drunk bullocks' blood, which instantly killed him.29 Now Pausanias, in mentioning a temple Tatov in Achaia, says : 30 Γῆς δὲ ἱερόν ἐστι τὸ Γαῖον ἐπίκλησιν Εὐρυστέρνου ξόανον δὲ ἐν τοῖς μάλιστα ὁμοίως ἐστὶν ἀρχαῖον. γυνὴ δ ̓ ἡ ἀεὶ τὴν ἱερωσύνην λαμβάνουσα ἁγιστεύει μὲν τὸ ἀπὸ τούτου, οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ τὰ πρότερά ἐστι πλέον ἢ ἑνὸς ἀνδρὸς εἰς πεῖραν ἀφιγμένη· πίνουσαι δὲ αἷμα ταύ ρου δοκιμάζονται · ἡ δ ̓ ἂν αὐτῶν τύχῃ μὴ ἀληθεύουσα, αὐτίκα ἐκ toútov tǹv díxŋv exa. The drinking of bulls' blood was thus a test of moral purity, as Becker has justly remarked. 25 We refer chiefly to the words: "minus insigne certamen humanum numine interposito deorum factum ;" further: "Camillus lætum militem victoria tribuni, lætum tam præsentibus ac secundis diis ire in proelium jubet ;" lastly: "dii hominesque illi affuere pugnæ." 26 Iliad, III. 314. foll. 27 P. 931. 28 Aristoph. Equit. 83; Plutarch, Themist. c. 31; Plin. Nat. Hist. XI. 90, and xxvIII. 41; Compare Niebuhr's Vorträge über alte Geschichte, vol. I. p. 434. 29 Herodot. 111. 15. Regarding the "eagle stone,” (astitns,) we can only repeat what Grimm brings forward, since Dioscorides 31 is not at our command, and neither Pauly's, nor Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopädie furnishes any information on the subject. Whether, however, in the fact stated by Grimm, that this stone, baked up in food, was sometimes given to one suspected of a theft, we find the proof of a wide spread or ancient belief among the Greeks, the evidence adduced is insufficient to enable us to decide. The Scholium of Acron on Horace's Epist. 1. 10, 9, viz. "cum in servis suspicio furti habetur, ducunt ad sacerdotem, qui crustum panis carmine infectum dat singulis, quod cum ederint, manifestum furti reum asserit," is very indefinite. The words of the poet, however, on which the Scholium is founded, are not at all to be explained in this manner. These words are: Utque sacerdotis fugitivus liba recuso; Pane egeo jam mellitis potiore placentis. The commentators justly remark, that "fugitivus" has not here the general meaning of "servus," or "servus nequam," and most of them, such as Schmid, Orelli, Dillenburger, understand the passage correctly. Another instance of similarity between the customs of the ancient Germans and those of the Greeks and Romans, is to be found in the traces of ordeal by fire. Herodotus has an anecdote regarding the early Scythians which illustrates this point, and which, though it does not relate either to Greece or Rome, we think may not improperly be introduced here. In relating a current tradition regarding the origin of that nation, he mentions three brothers, and tells 2 that ἐπὶ τούτων ἀρχόντων ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ φερόμενα χρύσεα ποιήματα, ἄροτρόν τε καὶ ζυγὸν καὶ σάγαριν καὶ φιάλην, πεσέειν ἐς τὴν Σκυθικήν καὶ τῶν ἰδόντα πρῶτον τὸν πρεσβυτατον άσσον ιέναι, βουλόμενον αὐτὰ λα βεῖν, τὸν δὲ χρυσὸν ἐπιόντος καίεσθαι· ἀπαλλαχθέντος δὲ τούτου προσιέναι τὸν δεύτερον, καὶ τὸν αὖτις ταὐτὰ ποιέειν· τούς μὲν δὴ καιόμενον τὸν χρυσὸν ἀπώσασθαι, τρίτῳ δὲ τῷ νεωτάτῳ ἐπελθόντι κατασβῆναι, καί μιν ἐκεῖνον κομίσαι ἐς ἑωυτοῦ, καὶ τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους ἀδελφεοὺς πρὸς ταῦτα συγγνόντας τὴν βασιληίην πᾶσαν παραδοῦναι τῷ νεωτάτῳ. Is this not an ordeal? Guilt or innocence, indeed, is not to be proved; but the fact that the golden articles which have fallen from heaven, glow, when the 31 wegì dans largixns, 5, 161. Comp. Henr. Stephan. Thesaur. elder brothers touch them, but are quite cold, when the youngest seizes them, indicates that the youngest is, by the will of the gods, appointed to the kingly dignity. There is a well known passage in the Antigone of Sophocles,33 in which the sentinel appointed to prevent the interment of the body of Polynices asserts his innocence, when the body has disappeared, and says,— ἦμεν δ ̓ ἕτοιμοι καὶ μύδρους αἴρειν χεροῖν καὶ πῦρ διέρπειν καὶ θεοὺς ὁρκωμοτεῖν τὸ πρᾶγμα βουλεύσαντι μήτ' εἰργασμένῳ. These words point so plainly to the sentinel's offering to prove his innocence by holding redhot iron, and walking through fire, calling on the gods (deoùç ópxwμoteiv,) that any other explanation, such as making the sentinel allude to torture, or offer generally to endure the severest pain, appears to us incorrect. The Scholiast remarks on this passage εἰώθασι δὲ οἱ ὀμ νύοντες καὶ πίστεις διδόντες μύδρους βαστάζειν καί πῦρ ὑπερβαίνειν· τοὺς γὰρ μή ενόχους τῷ ἁμαρτήματι ᾤοντο καὶ ἐν τούτοις μὴ ἀλγεῖν.34 Grimm brings forward from the late Byzantine period another 33 264. foll. 34 Hermann, in his Lehrbuch der gottesdienstlichen Alterthümer der Griechen, § 23, 10, acknowledges the allusion in Sophocles to ordeal by fire. Erfurdt, in his Note on the passage, refers to the Commentators on Horace, Epod. xvI. 17, foll. There the poet says, Phocæorum Velut profugit execrata civitas Apris reliquit et rapacibus lupis, &c. The story here alluded to is to be found in Herodot. 1.165. The Phocæans having resolved to emigrate from their homes, uttered dreadful curses against all who should remain, and threw masses of iron into the sea, swearing that they would not return to their fatherland before that iron should again come to the light of day. Thus Horace uses it in verse 25, foll. There is no similarity Summe deûm, sancti custos Soractis Quem primi colimus, cui pineus ardor acervo Pascitur, et medium freti pietate per ignem Cultores multa premimus vestigia pruna, etc. The whole extract proves that this is no ordeal. The worshippers of the god walk, trusting in his protection, over |