tihvary of t:he theological Seminary PRINCETON . NEW JERSEY PRESENTED BY President McCosh 1911 BL 815 .S3 T37 c.2 Thayer, Thatcher, 1811-1894 Some inquiries concerning human sacrifices among the SOME INQUIRIES CONCERNING A .... **^"~' '* JAN 24 191 HUMAN SACRIFICES AMONG THE ROMANS. PRECEDED BY A REPRINT OF THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN MR. MACAULAY, SIR ROBERT PEEL, AND LORD MAHON UPON THE SAME SUBJECT. PRINTED, NOT PUBLISHED. SIDNEY S. RIDER, PROVIDENCE. 1878. The Riverside Press, Cambridge : Printed by H. 0. Houghton and Company. WERE HUMAN SACRIFICES IN USE AMONG THE ROMANS? CORRESPON DENCE ON THIS QUESTION BETWEEN MR. MACAULAY, SIR ROBERT PEEL, AND LORD MAHON. IN DECEMBER, 1847. [NOT PUBLISHED.] LONDON : PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE & CO. New Street Square. i860. WERE HUMAN SACRIFICES IN USE AMONG THE ROMANS? I AM induced to print a few copies of the fol- lowing correspondence, partly from the just value that must ever attach to any views indicated either by Lord Macaulay or Sir Robert Peel, and partly from the great interest of the subject itself. It may be noticed in these letters that Lord Macau- lay discussed the question before him in a more general manner than did Sir Robert Peel. This, however, was owing solely to the difference of their positions at the time. In December, 1847, Sir Robert had ceased to be a minister or even in great measure a party chief. Lord Macaulay, on the contrary, was filling an office involving very numerous details and accompanied by a seat in the cabinet. Whenever he had sufficient time to spare from other tasks, no one loved better to explore any point of classical antiquity. No man brought to it a higher amount of critical skill. Deeply versed as he was in the literature and the 6 WERE HUMAN SACRIFICES IN USE language of both Greece and Rome, and possess- ing powers of memory far indeed beyond those of ordinary men, it was his dehght at every interval of leisure to renew and, if possible, to extend the course of his early reading. As one proof among many of this last assertion, I will allow myself the pleasure of transcribing a passage from a sub- sequent letter to me of Lord Macaulay. It is dated — " Clifton, Augttst 2j, i8j2. " I am certainly much better, and I begin to hope that six weeks more of the Downs will completely restore me, I have been reading a great deal of execrably bad Latin — Suetonius, Vulcatius, Spartianus, Trebellius PoUio, Julius Capitolinus, Lampridius, Vopiscus, — and I am going to try to take the taste of all the barbarisms which I have been devouring out of my mouth, with the 'Andria' and the ' Heauton Timoroum- enos.' I have read Herodian too. His Greek is not first rate, but is immeasurably superior to the Latin of his contempo- raries. After all there is a great deal to be learned from these writers. Hume was quite in the right when he said that Gibbon ought to have made more of the materials for the ' History of the Empire,' from the Antonines to Diocletian. Indeed, Gibbon very candidly admitted the justice of Hume's criticism". As to the merits of the controversy on Human Sacrifices at Rome, I must confess myself to re- main in a state of considerable doubt. The two passages from Livy and Suetonius, which Sir Robert Peel transmitted to me on the 26th of December, 1847, were not at all within my recol- lection when I wrote to him on the same day, and AMONG THE ROMANS 'i 7 they seem but little in accordance with the theory which I then proposed. In the face of such a passage as that from Suetonius, it is not easy to contend that the occasional practice of human sacrifices was entirely unknown, even to the con- temporaries and the friends of Cicero. Those who may desire any further to investigate this curious question, will do well to consult a note ^ in the learned and able " History of Christianity," by Dr. Milman. Stanhope. March, i860. WERE HUMAN SACRIFICES IN USE AMONG THE ROMANS ? " Monday, December /j, 184'j. — Breakfast at Mr. Hallam's, where I met, amongst others, Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft, Mr. Macaulay, Dr. Milman, and Sir Robert Peel. The party did not break up till nearly one. " In one part of our conversation, I mentioned a note in a German work which I had lately been reading, the ' History of the Church ' by Dr. Gie- seler. Professor of Theology at Gottingen. The note, I said, alleges in substance that human sacrifices existed in the classic days of ancient Rome, and that, as Lactantius states, a man was I Vol. i., page 27. 8 WERE HUMAN SACRIFICES IN USE still in his time immolated every year at the fes- tival of Jupiter Latialis. " Mr. Macaulay had not seen Dr. Gieseler's book, but declared himself convinced that there was no real foundation for this story. A day or two afterwards, I sent him in a note the exact words of Lactantius as given by Dr. Gieseler : 'Latialis Jupiter etiam nunc sanguine colitur bu- rn ano.' " The following correspondence ensued : — RIGHT HON. T. B. MACAULAY TO LORD MAHON. " Albany, December j^, ^^47- " Dear Lord Mahon, — I know nothing of Gieseler, but the passage which you have sent me, and, if I were to form my judgment of him from that passage, I must pronounce him a dunce, or something worse In the first place, he misquotes Lactantius. He makes Lactantius say posi- tively, ' Jupiter Latialis is even now propitiated with human blood.' But Lactantius's words are these : ' Ne Latini quidem hujus immanitatis expertes fuerunt, siquidem Jupiter • Latialis etiam nunc sanguine colitur humano.' I should translate the sentence thus : ' Nor have even the Latins been free from this enormity, if it be true that even now Jupiter Latialis is propitiated with human blood.' It is quite plain to me that Lactantius wished to insinuate what he dared not assert. " Suppose that there were discovered in the British Museum a Puritan pamphlet of 1641, containing the following passage : ' Nor is even Lambeth free from the worst corruptions of Antichrist, if it be true that the Archbishop of Canterbury and his chaplains pray to an image of the Virgin ; ' and sup- pose that I were to quote the passage thus : ' The Archbishop AMONG THE ROMANS 7 9 of Canterbury and his chaplains pray to an image of the Virgin,' — what would you think of my sense or honesty ? " But this is not all. Where did Gieseler find that these human sacrifices were annual, rather than triennial, quin- quennial, or decennial ? Where did he find that they were performed at Rome, and not at Tibur or Praeneste ? Where did he find that the victim was a man and not a woman? Not in Lactantius, I am sure. Yet he quotes no other authority, and I firmly believe that he has none. " As to the rest, I should certainly never admit the fact on Lactantius's authority, even if he had asserted it in the most positive manner. He was a rhetorician at Nicomedia, writing a party pamphlet in a time of violent excitement. I should think it as absurd to give credit to an affirmation of his in contradiction to the whole literature and history of an- tiquity, as to believe Mac-Hale when he tells the Irish that the English Government starved two millions of them last year. But, as I have said, Lactantius affirms nothing. He was evidently afraid to do so. Had he had the courage of Gieseler, he would have come out with a gallant barefaced lie. Ever yours, T. B. Macaulay. SIR ROBERT PEEL TO LORD MAHON. " Drayton Manor, Decetnber 22, 1847. " My dear Lord Mahon, — I thank you for sending me Mr. Macaulay's letter respecting human sacrifices at Rome. If you are interested in the vindication of Dr. Gieseler (of whom I have never heard), you might perhaps find something to say in his defense, though it is rather presumptuous in me to suggest it, first, against such an authority as Mr, Macau- lay ; and secondly, because I have neither the passage of the worthy Doctor, which Mr. Macaulay impugns, nor the work of Lactantius, which the Doctor professes to quote. I am aware of no classical authority for the assertion that human sacrifices were offered in classic times at the festival of Jupiter lO WERE HUMAN SACRIFICES IN USE Latialis. Writers, however, prior to or contemporary with Lactantius, assert the fact in direct terms. Prudentius says : ^ " ' Funditur humanus Latiari in munere sanguis Consessusque ille spectantum solvit ad aram Plutonis fera vota sui.' " Minutius, who, I believe, lived before Lactantius and Pru- dentius, and who was probably the authority on whom each of them relied, says : " Quid ipse Jupiter vester ? — cum Capitolinus, tunc gerit fulmina, et cum Latiaris, cruore perfun- ditur ; " — and, in a subsequent passage, removing any doubt as to the sort of blood, he says expressly : ' Hodieque ab ipsis (Romanis) Latiaris Jupiter homicidio colitur, et quod Saturni filio dignum est, mali et noxii hominis sanguine sagi- natur.' " I have no copy of Lactantius, but in the notes of Victor Giselinus, on the passage quoted from Prudentius, there is a quotation from the passage from Lactantius, and it varies from the quotation in Mr. Macaulay's letter in a point not un- important. As quoted by Giselinus, the passage runs thus : — " ' Galli Hesum et Teutatem humano cruore placabant. Nee Latini quidem hujus immanitatis expertes fuerunt. Si- quidem Latialis Jupiter sanguine colitur humano, quid ab his boni precantur qui sic sacrificant .'' ' " If the above is a correct quotation, there is perhaps enough of direct assertion on the part of Lactantius to jus- tify the German Doctor in supposing that he meant to assert that the Romans were guilty of human sacrifices. " But the quotation probably is not a correct one, at least as to punctuation. The words of the original text are, I take for granted, as quoted by Mr. Macaulay : ' Nee Latini quidem hujus immanitatis expertes fuerunt, siquidem Jupiter Latialis etiam nunc sanguine colitur humano." " Is it quite clear that ' siquidem ' must mean // i?tdeed .? May it not mean inasmuch as ? I will give you two passages in which I apprehend it bears the latter construction : ' Siqui- ^ Lib. i., Contra Sytninachum. AMONG THE ROMANS'} It dem e castris egredi non liceret,' is in a passage in Caesar,^ of which I think the context will sliow that since or inastniich as is the meaning, and not if indeed. " Ovid, speaking of the illustrious descent and marriage of Peleus, has these lines : — " ' Nam conjuge Peleus Clarus erat Diva ; nee ari magis ille superbit Nomine, quam soceri, siqicideni Jovis esse nepoti Contigit haud uni, conjux Dea contigit mii.' " Even, however, should my very disinterested plea for the German Doctor avail anything, I do not mean to imply that I agree to the conclusion at which I suppose he has ar- rived, namely, that there were human sacrifices throughout the classic times of Rome. I cannot reconcile such a conclu- sion with the silence of the highest classical authorities. " Such writers as Prudentius, Minutius, and Lactantius were prejudiced against Pagan usages, and readily gave credit to unfavorable reports of them. " Surely if it had been the annual usage in Rome, in classic times, to offer human victims to Jupiter, Cicero could never have uttered these words : ' Quidquam Gallis sanctum ac religiosum videri potest ? Qui etiam si quando aliquo metu adducti, Deos placandos arbitrantur, humanis hostiis eorum aras funestant ut ne religionem quidem colere possint, nisi eam ipsam scelere violarint. Quis enim ignorat eos usque ad hunc diem retinere illam immanem ac barbaram consuetudi- nem hominum immolandorum ? ' " Now I will release you, being quite ready to offer up Lac- tantius, Prudentius, and Dr. Gieseler himself, as sacrifices to Cicero. " I deserve no credit for my parade of learning. One book suggests reference to another, and commentators supply quo- tations to those who have patience to read them. " Believe me, very faithfully yours, " Robert Peel. * De Bella Gallico. 12 WERE HUMAN SACRIFICES IN USE "On December 26, 1847, I replied at some length to Sir Robert Peel, sending him a literal translation of Dr. Gieseler's note. (Enclosure A.) " Of the first authority cited in that note I went on to say : — " Porphyiy was known to me by name as one of the later Pagan philosophers, — the pupil of Longinus and the master of lamblichus. But I was wholly ignorant of his works and contented to remain so. However, my diligence being, as it should be, quickened by Mr. Macaulay's and yours, I have been to a dusty collection, not my own, to look at the original passage, and ascertain the critical character which Porphyry bears ; and I now beg you to accept the result of my research. (Enclosure B.) " The testimony he gives seems the strongest of all ; and it comes, you will observe, from one who ever since the time he became an author showed himself a bitter enemy of the Christian faith, so that in him the testimony is an admission instead of an accusation, " I think you have fully established your position as to the meaning of siquidem. " But I confess that I should not quite concur in the cruel immolations which you without pity propose, 'to offer up Lactantius, Prudentius, and Dr. Gieseler himself as sacrifices to Cicero ! ' It seems to me that the authority of all these writ- ers may be well reconciled, by assuming that a human victim may have been among the Peregrina Sacra — the externcz ccerimonice, — which we know crept into a large extent after the time of Hadrian. They had begun even under Tiberius, though probably not extending to such enormities, as we learn from Tacitus^ and Suetonius.^ In some reigns, as under Heliogabalus, the foreign appear to have even predominated over the old national rites. 1 Annal., lib. ii., c. 85. - * yi^a Tib., c. 38. AMONG THE ROMANS 1 1 3 " I must own, however, that on my supposition the shrine of Jupiter Latialis is probably the very last where one might expect to meet with these Peregrina Sacra. "There is another objection to my own theory which oc- curs to me, and which (though I retain the theory) I will frankly state : Last winter, when reading through the series of the ' Christian Apologies,' ^ I observed that all of them, from the earliest to the latest, felt it necessary to notice and to rebut the accusation that the Christians in their nightly con- claves used to immolate a child. Absurd as we know this accusation to be, we can easily explain its existence from the heathen misapprehension of the terms in which they heard of the Holy Eucharist. But would this accusation have been so fiercely and repeatedly urged if the Pagans themselves had been conscious of human sacrifices at their yearly festivals ? " It is curious that the classical controversy now before us should have a direct bearing on the history of America, for it has been often debated, in reference to the accounts of early Mexico, how far the practice of human sacrifices can possibly coexist with any high degree of civilization and refinement. ENCLOSURE (a) IN LORD MAHON's LETTER OF DECEMBER 26, 1847. " Tra?isIation from the German of Dr. Gieseler's note as it stands in the first editions of his ^ Kircheft-Geschichte.'^ " According to Porphyry ^ human sacrifices among the di- vers nations ceased in the time of Hadrian ; but even in Por- phyry's own time (about 280 after Christ), a human being was immolated every year in Rome to Jupiter Latialis. Lactan- tius (about 300 after Christ), in his ' Divin. Inst.,' i, c. 21, has these words : ' Latialis Jupiter etiam nunc sanguine co- litur humano.' 1 TertuUian, Minutius Felix, etc. ^ Vol. i., p. 26. * De AbstinentiA Carnis, ii. c. 36. 14 WERE HUMAN SACRIFICES IN USE ENCLOSURE (b) IN LORD MAHON'S LETTER OF DECEMBER 26, 1847, " The following passage occurs in Porphyry,^ ed. de Foge- roUes, Lugdun, 1620. See in that work, lib. ii., p. 225. " KaraAu^^i/at Se ras av6p Lucan, lib. i., p. 29. 2 Vita Poplic, p. 98. AMONG THE ROMANS. 47 teste." ^ To show that human sacrifices were as- sociated with divination and taking auspices, he refers to an accusation against Apollonius Tya- neus thus : ^ " Sic Domitianus Ccesar celebrem, ilium Magum Apollonium Tyaneum insimulavit, quod in magicis suis sacris puerum immolasset,^ Rursus." * Whether the charge were well founded or not, it shows the familiarity of the ancient mind with the practice. So in giving an illustra- tion from Juvenal,^ Geussius adds: " Videmus igi- tur ex Juvenale et ejus aetate hoc infanticidium et extispicium apud Romanos nondum seruginem contraxisse et obsolevisse." For later instances of the same he refers to " Maxentius Tyrannus," on authority of Eusebius,^ and Joh. Zonaras, and to other Emperors. These are some of the authors who have writ- ten at all on the subject of Human Sacrifices among the Romans, and their opinions may help us to form a judgment. But it may be a more complete argument to consider in order of time some of the passages from ancient authors re- ferred to above. There can be no dispute about the existence of human sacrifices in the earliest times of Rome. The Etruscans, who are believed to have had no small share in the Roman religion, 1 Horatio, Epode v., p. 120, 121. ^ /, />.^ ^h. xxi., p. 333. s Apud Philosfrat., lib. vii., cap. 2. * Apud eundetn Philostrat., lib. vii., cap. 10. ^ Satyr vi.,p. 54. ^ Eccles. Hist., lib. viii., cap. 15, p. 99. 48 HUMAN SACRIFICES show on their monuments that they sacrificed human victims.^ This is evident too from the continuance of rites which implied something sub- stituted for living beings. Then, too, the decree against the practice of which Cicero and Pliny speak, of course proves its existence till then. The first instance of human sacrifices men- tioned by Livy occurs in lib. vii. 15, where it is related of the Tarquienses, a cognate Latin race, in u. c. 397, A. c. 355 : " Nee in acie tan turn ibi cladis acceptum, quam quod trecentos septem mil- ites Romanes captos Tarquinienses immolarunt." In the edition by " Twiss," is the following note on this passage : " Haud inusitato Etruscorum more si a sarcaphago ap. Tarquinios nuper ef- fosso argumentum ducendum sit, quippe in eo humanis hostiis manes cujusdam ducis Etrusci placari cernimus." ^ In lib. viii. 15, we have a minute account of the consul Decius devoting himself, u. c. 415, a. c. 2iZ1' " Deorum', inquit, ope, valeri opus est. Agedum pontifex publicus populi Romani, prasi verba qui- bus me pro legionibus devoveam." Then, after a prayer of consecration and execration to the vari- ous gods, and, among others, to the " Divi noven- siles " (the nine Gods of the Etruscans presiding over thunder and lightning according to Niebuhr) : " Ipse, incinctus cinctu Gabinio armatus in equum insiluit, ac se in medios hostes immisit. Conspec- ^ Vid. Dennis. 2 cf. Schueigh, Ad Appion, i. 117. AMONG THE ROMANS'} 49 tus ab utraque acie aliquanto augustior humano visii, sicLit coelo missus piaculum omnis deorum ir^E qui pestem ab suis aversam in hostes ferret." What follows in cap. lo shows familiarity with propitiatory human sacrifices : " Illud adjiciendum videtur, licere consuli dictatorique et praetori, quum legiones hostium devoveat, non utique se, sed quern velit ex legione Romana Scripta civem, devovere : si is homo, qui devotus est, moritur, probe factum videri : ni moritur, turn signum sep- tem pedes altum, aut majus, in terram defodi, et piaculum hostiam caedi. Ubi illud signum defos- sum erit, eo magistratum Romanum escendere fas non esse. Sin autem sese devovere volet, sicuti Decius devovit : ni moritur, neque suum, neque publicum divinum pure faciet, qui sese devoverit. Vulcano arma sive cui alii divo vovere yolet, sive hostia sive quo alio volet, jus est. Telo, super quod stans consul precatus est, hostem potire, fas non est : si, potiatur, Marti suovetaurilibus piacu- lum fieri." True, he adds : " Heec, etsi omnis divini humanique moris memoria abolevit, nova pere- grinaque omnia priscis ac patriis praeferendo, haud ab re duxi, verbis quoque ipsis, ut tradita nuncupataque sunt, referre." But the record re- mains. Later on ^ we have an account of a sim- ilar act of devotion by a son of Decius, attended by prayers and imprecations. In lib. xxii. 57, we find the instance so frequently referred to (u. c. 1 Lib. X. 28. 7 50 HUMAN SACRIFICES 536, A. c. 216) : " Interim ex fatalibus libris sacri- ficia aliquot extraordinaria facta : inter quae Cal- lus et Galla, Grascus et Grasca, in foro boario sub- terra vivi demissi sunt in locum saxo consaep- tum, jam ante hostiis humanis, minime Romano sacro, imbutum." Here, too, is the comment " min- ime Romano sacro ;" but the fact remains on rec- ord, and as we shall see, is fully admitted by other writers. On this passage the Oxford editor has a note by Gron. " Anno ante hunc undecimo ad idem scelus, quo jam imbutum hunc locum scribit Livius prava religio Romanos impulerat." Later than these dates we find the nobler Romans ex- pressing disapprobation of these sacrifices. Thus Cicero in his oration,^ speaking of other nations, says : " Quis enim ignorat, eos usque ad hunc diem retlnere illam immanem ac barbaram consue- tudinem hominum immolandorum ? " Pliny, too, claims for the Romans great praise that they pro- hibited this custom:^ " DCLVII demum anno Urbis, Cn. Cornelio Lentulo, P. Licinio Crasso Coss., senatus consultum factum est, ne homo im- molaretur." '' Nee satis estimari potest, quantum Romanis debeatur qui sustulere monstra, in qui- bus hominem accidere religiosissimum erat, mandi vero etiam saluberrimum." This is what we might have expected from such men. So, too, they felt about other parts of paganism, and yet these continued. So, too, when Roman society grew 1 Pro Fonteio, xi. 21. ^ Lib. xxx. 3, 4- AMONG THE ROMANS i 5 1 corrupt beyond description, there were found men whose writings were in profound contrast with the vileness about them, and still human sacrifices did not cease. Cicero himself is witness to this. In his " Orat. in Vatinium " ^ he thus inveighs against a public officer : " Quae te tanta pravitas mentis tenuerit, qui tantus furor, ut, quum inaudita ac nefaria sacra susceperis, quum inferorum animas elicere, quum puerorum extis Deos manes mac- tare soleas ; auspicia, quibus haec urbs condita est, quibus omnis respublica atque imperium ten- etur, contempseris } initio que Tribunatus tui Senatui denuntiaris, tuis actionibus augurum re- sponsa atque ejus collegii arrogantiam impedi- mento non futuram." Here is the strongest dis- approbation ; here is the assertion that this par- ticular use of human victims was in contempt of the regular national auspices ; but here, too, is published the actual employment of such means of necromancy and the absence of any hindrance, What Dionysius of Halicarnassus has written on human sacrifices among the Romans may be fitly introduced here. In " Antiq. Rom.,"^ after speaking of the ancient sacrifices of human beings to Saturn, said to have been abolished by Hercules, he describes how the ancient rite was changed by the substitution of images thrown into the Tiber : \va hri to t>7$ ortelag o,ti St^ TtoTs yjv sv ralg andv- ^ vi. 14. 2 Lib i. 38. 52 HUMAN SACRIFICES t(dv '^pv^alg Tta^af-LEVov i^aipeOri, ifdv dxovcdv tov Tta/iatov Wovg^ £ti aa^ofiEVGiv.^ Then he adds : Tovro Se xal f^i^xpic, hf-iov Sls- tkXovv 'Fcdi-ialoL Spi^vtsg odov tl ^Lxpov vcyrspov iapL- vyjg i(yyjf.i£pLag, ev fiTivl Mata talg xaTi^ovfiEvaig iSolg, hL'XP^TiVLha fSovT^o/ievoL tairyjv elvau tviv n^iepav.^ Again, in lib. ii.,x., after writing of certain sacred obligations, the author proceeds : — KoLvrj 8' a[Ji(f>OT€poLS ovre 0(tlov ovt€ OeiJH? rjv KaTrjyopelv dXXrjXoiV CTTt 8i/(o§ rjv to) vo/xw T7JvXiuv Bi/3/l., A' 117. 62 HUMAN SACRIFICES ocoGLOvg 'Fo^aiov ai^fiaTiOirovg ivaylaag Kp/^co,^ re- fers to an incident in the life of the famous guerrilla chief whom the writer in Smith's " Clas- sical Dictionary " praises so highly and at the same time without question recognizes as the offerer of this sacrifice, at this time in Roman history. In this narration the word ' evayiaag,' like " parentavit " in the Latin translation of Appian, cannot be mistaken. Plutarch has been referred to. The following are instances in his works where human sacrifices are mentioned.^ " Quest. ' What is the reason that the Romans when they were informed that the barbarians called Bletonesians had sacrificed a man to the gods sent for their magistrates to punish them ; but when they made it appear that they did it in obedience to a certain law they dismissed them, but prohibited the like action for the future.'' whenas (whereas ?) they themselves not many years preceding, buried two men and two women alive in the Forum Boarium, two of whom were Greeks and two Gauls } ' Solution: 'What if this be the reason : that they reckoned it profane to sacrifice a man to the gods but necessary to do so to the demons ? Or were they of opinion that they sinned that did such things by custom or law; but as for themselves, they did it being ^ " Spartacus having offered three hundred Roman captives to Crixus." 2 Transl. Phitarch's Morals, ed. Prof. Goodwin, vol. ii., Rom. Quest., 83. AMONG THE ROMANS. 63 enjoined to ft by the Sibylline books. It was thought meet that the priest should consult the Sibylline books, where there were oracles found foreteUing these things would come to pass for mischief to the republic, and enjoining them — in order to avert the impending calamity — to provide two Grecians and two Gauls, and bury them alive in that place, in order to the appeasing some alien and foreign demons." After giving a Grecian story of human sacrifice, quoting Euripides " in his Erectheus," Plutarch proceeds with a Roman parallel : ^ " Marius, find- ing himself hard put to it in the Cimbrian war, had it revealed to him in a dream that he should overcome his enemies if he would but sacrifice his daughter Calpurnia. He did it, preferring the common safety before any private bond of nature, and he got the victory." For this Plutarch quotes Dorotheus in the fourth book of his " Italian History." In Clough's edition of " Plu- tarch's Lives," we have the immolation mentioned above in the " Rom. Quest," again referred to. The " Life of Marcellus " ^ has this passage : " For though they were most averse to barbarous and cruel rites, and entertained more than any nation the same pious and reverent sentiments of the gods with the Greeks ; yet when this war was coming upon them, they then, from some prophe- cies in the Sibyl's books, put alive, underground, ^ Par. Rom. Gr<2c., vol. v., 20. ' Vol. ii., p. 240. 64 HUMAN SACRIFICES a pair of Greeks, one male, the other female ; and likewise two Gauls, one of each sex, in the market called the Beast Market." So in the " Life of Cicero,"^ we have the same incident recorded by Sallust respecting Cataline, and without any question of its truth : " This man, the profli- gate citizens choosing for their captain gave faith to one another, amongst other pledges, by sacrificing a man and eating of his flesh." There is a question about the time and person of Petronius (Arbiter); but it will not be amiss to quote from him in this place, for his descriptions and allusions belong to the empire. In " Satyric," cap. I, we read : " Sed responsa in pestilentia data, ut virgines tres aut plures immolentur." Cap. 45 has the following : " Dedit gladiatores sestertiarios, jam decrepitos, quos si sufiflasses cecidissent : jam meliores bestiaries vidi." Upon the word bestiarios Reines remarks: " Lege 'bustuarios ' qui ante se- pulcra virorum illustrium placandis eorum manibus dimicabant die inferiarum." Again in " Satyric," cap. 121: " Omnia, qu^ tribui Romanis arcibus, odi : Muneribusque meis irascor : destruat istas Idem, qui posuit, moles Deus : et mihi cordi quippe cremare viros, et sanguine pascere lux- um." Geussius' note on this passage is : " Ex quibus verbis apparet, quod ad gladiatores in funeribus exhibitos et Romse immolatos respex- erit." ^ Vol. v., p. 45. AMONG THE ROMANS. 65 We now come where Christian and Pagan writers appear together, and we quote from them according to their time. Thus Justin Martyr distinctly recognizes the continuance of human sacrifices in his day. In his " First Apology " ^ we read : " For let even necromancy and the divi- nations you practice by immaculate children, etc., etc." Note by Editor : " Boys and girls, or even children prematurely taken from the womb, were slaughtered and their entrails inspected, in the belief that the souls of the victims (being still conscious, as Justin is arguing) would reveal thino^s hidden and future. Instances are abun- dantly cited by Otto and Trollope." In his " Second Apology"^ we have the follow- ing : " For why did we not even publicly profess that these were the things which we esteemed good and prove that these are the divine philoso- phy, saying that the mysteries of Saturn are per- formed when we slay a man, and that when we drink our fill of blood, as it is said we do, we are doing what you are doing before that idol you honor, and on which you sprinkle the blood not only of irrational animals, but also of men, mak- ing a libation of the blood of the slain, by the hand of the most illustrious and noble man among you." ^ Ch. 18, Translat., ed. Roberts and Donaldson : J. T. Clarke, Edinburgh, "^ Second ApoL, chap. xii. 9 66 HUMAN SACRIFICES Another Christian writer, Tatian, writes:-^ — " Wherefore having seen these things, and more- over also having been admitted to the mysteries, and having everywhere examined the reHgious rites performed by the effeminate and pathic, and having found among the Romans their Latia- rian Jupiter dehghting in human gore and the blood of slaughtered men, and Artemis not far from the great city sanctioning acts of the same kind, and one demon here and another there in- stigating to the perpetration of evil,— retiring by myself, I sought how I might be able to discover the truth." Another Father about the same time, Theophilus, in his book " To Autolycus,"^ has the following: "For denying there are gods they again acknowledge their existence, and they said they committed grossly wicked deeds. For w^iy should I recount the impurities of the so-called mother of the gods or of Jupiter Latiaris thirst- ing for human blood." Following the order of history we next quote from Dion Cassius. In Book xxxvii. ^ we have in the account of Cata- line's conspiracy the incident of human sacrifice mentioned by other writers. He uses the expres- sion, naXha 5/dp tiva xataOvaag.^ Again in Book xliii. ^ he gives an instance of public immolation : — 1 Address to the Greeks, chap. xxix. ^ Book iii., chap. viii. 8 Page 43, D. * "For having sacrificed a boy." ^ Page 226, B. AMONG THE ROMANS. 67 "AAAot Se Si'o ai Spes kv TpoVo) Ttrt Upovpyia^ iacfidyTjaai', kol to fxh alTLov ovK excj eiTreii' {ovre yap rj 2(/3tv\Aa e-^p-qaev out' aXA.o Ti TOtouroi/ Ao'yior iyiv^To) Iv 8e oiii/ Tw 'Apelia TreStw vrpdg re twf ttov- Tt^iKOJi' Kttt Trpo? TOi) UpeMS Tov "Ape'ojs iTv6r]aav. In Book xlviii.,^ Dion relates the Perusinian sacrifice offered by Augustus, which we have seen before in Seneca and Suetonius, with the differ- ence of a somewhat larger number of victims. Kai aiTO? fxev, aXAoi re Ttv€s aSctav evpovro ot Se 8r] TrAeious Twv re fiovXevTuiV Koi twv ittttcwi/ i(f)9dprjaav. Kal Aoyos ye e^^' OTt oii8' OLTrXm TOVTO liraOov, dAA' ctti tov jSoifj-ov rbv t(Z Kaiaapi to) TTpoTcpw waLOifxtvov d)(6ivT^v dg tov l^elXov ix7te(Jav a)g '^ASptavog ypd(pei elts xal IspovpyyidElg 0)$ Clement of Alexandria^ refers to Dorotheus, the author quoted by Plutarch for the same statement, as relating the sacrifice of his daughter by Marius, then adds : " For a murder does not become a sac- rifice by being committed in a particular spot. You are not to call it a sacred sacrifice if one slays a man either at the altar or on the highway to Ar- temis or Zeus, any more than if he slew him for anger or covetousness — other demons very like the former ; but a sacrifice of this kind is murder and human butchery." Here certainly it is evident that the writer regarded human sacrifices as matter of fact in Roman heathenism. In Cyprian's writings (same edition) is a treatise was actually the son of Neptune, and put on a dark blue robe. Moreover, he cast alive into the strait, horses and (as some, at least, say) even men." ^ Liber Ixix., Had., 793. 2 "And he died in Egypt, whether he fell into the Nile, as Ha- drian writes, or was sacrificed, as is the truth." 8 Translat. Atite-Nic. Lib., ed. Roberts and Donaldson, Exhort. to the Heath., chap. 3. AMONG I'HE ROMANS. 69 on the Public Shows, by him or some unknown author, which contains the following: "What is the need of prosecuting the subject further, or of describing the unnatural kinds of sacrifices in the public shows, among which sometimes even a man becomes the victim by the fraud of the priest, when the gore, yet hot from the throat, is received in the foaming cup while it still steams, and, as if it were thrown into the face of the thirsty idol, is brutally drunk in pledge to it." Minutius Felix in his "Octavius,"^ is another witness to the bloody rites connected with the worship of Jupiter Latialis — "Quid ipse Jupiter vester? modo imberbis statuitur, modo barbatus locatur, et cum Hammon dicitur, habet cornua, cum Capitolinus, tunc gerit fulmina, et cum Lati- aris, cruore perfunditur et cum Feretrius, tribus una aditur. " Yet more plainly in sect. 30, after speaking of human sacrifices at other places and in other times, after mentioning the burying alive of the two Grecian and two Gallic victims in the Boarium Forum, so often noticed, he proceeds : "Hodieque ab ipsis Latiaris Jupiter homicidio coli- tur, et quod Saturni filio dignum, mali et noxii hominis sanguine saginatur." From Firmicus Ma- ternus^ we extract another reference to this sacri- fice to Jupiter Latialis. It is part of the author's arraiofnment of Diabolus : " Nee venenis tuis cruor defuit nee semiustae crematorum corpora partes 1 21. "^ De Err ore Prof. Relig., 26. 70 HUMAN SACRIFICES humanariim te etiam victimarum frequenter san- guine cruentasti et Latiaris templi cruore vel ara Carthagine rabies tua et siccarum faucium ve- nena nutrita sunt." None of the Latin Fathers has given more ex- plicit testimony on the question of human sacri- fices among the Romans than Tertullian ; thus the passage on the Gladiatorial Games in one of his Libr. Apol. ^ has been already referred to in the extract from Lipsius, "De Amph." " Superest illi- us insignissimi spectaculi atque acceptissimi re- cognitio. Munus dictum est ab officio, quoni- am officium etiam muneris nomen est. Officium autem mortuis hoc spectaculo facere se veteres arbitrabantur posteaquam illud humaniore atroci- tate temperaverunt. Nam olim quoniam animas defunctorum humano sanguine propitiari credi- tum erat, captivos vel malo ingenio servos mercati in exsequis immolabant. Postea placuit impie- tatem voluptate adumbrare. Itaque quos parav- erant armis, quibus tunc et qualiter poterant eru- ditos, tantum ut occidi discerent, mox edicto die inferiarum apud tumulos erogabant. Ita mortem homocidiis consolobantur. Hac muneris origo, sed paulatim provecti ad tantam gratiam, ad quan- tam et crudelilatem, quia ferrum voluptati satis non faciebat, nisi et feris humana corpora dissipa- rentur. Quod ergo mortuis litabatur, utique pa- rentationi deputabatur." ^ De Sped., 12. AMONG THE ROMANS. 7 1 In his " Apol. adv. Gent." ^ he refers to the wor- ship of Jupiter Latiaris: " Ecce in ilia religiosissi- ma urbe ^neadarum piorum est Jupiter quidam, quern ludis suis humano proluunt sanguine. Sed bestiarii, inquitis. Hoc, opinor, minus quam hominis. An hoc turpius quod mali hominis ? Certe tamen de homicidio funditur." Again in his "jContra Gnost. Scorp." ^ " Et Latio in hodier- num Jovi media in urbe humanus sanguis ingus- latur." Though, according to the inferences from Tertullian's reply to some palliation offered, the blood was from a Bestiarius, yet in itself and from his understanding of the bloody shows of Rome, he regarded the transaction as meaning human sacrifice, for he is treating of that very subject. We come now to Lactantius, of whom Macaulay speaks somewhat contemptuously, as if his having been a rhetorician unfitted him for truthful history. Perhaps it did. Some critics judge the rhetorical English historian in the same way. Nevertheless other writers have a higher opinion of Lactantius. Certainly his delineations of society and his de- scriptions of pagan morals are very life-like, besides being confirmed abundantly from other sources. The passage quoted by Gieseler and disposed of so summarily by Macaulay is found in " Institut. Div.," and reads thus : " Diximus de diis ipsis, qui coluntur : nunc de sacris ac mysteriis eorum pauca dicenda sunt. Apud Cyprios humanam » Q. « 7. « Lib. i. 21. 72 HUMAN SACRIFICES hostiam Jovi Teucrus immolavit : idque sacrificium posteris tradidit, quod est nuper, Hadriano impe- rante, sublatum. Erat lex apud Tauros, inhu- manam et feram gentem, uti Dianae hospites immolarentur : et id sacrificium multis temporibus celebratum. Galli esum atque Teutatem humano cruore placabant. Ne Latini quidem hujus im- manitatis expertes fuerunt, siquidem Latialis Jupi- ter etiam nunc sanguine colitur." We have al- ready seen that the criticism on "siquidem " would not stand, but in another part of his works Lac- tantius makes the same statement without " siqui- dem." In his "Div. Inst. Epit. ad Pentad.":^ " Diximus de Diis nunc de ritibus sacrorum cul- turisque dicemus. Jovi Cyprio sicut Teucrus in- stituerat, humana hostia mactari solebat. Sic et Tauri Dianee hospites immolabant. Latiaris quo- que Jupiter humano sanguine propitiatus est." There can be no mistake about the meaning here. Lactantius writes of what existed at Rome in his day and was commonly known. Still another allusion to this same oflfering is found in " Pontii Meropii Paulini Poem. Adv. Pagan." " Magnus uterque Deus ! Terris est abditus alter Alter noil potuit terrarum scire latebras. Hinc Latiare malum prisci statuere Quirites Ut mactatus homo nomen satiaret inane." In the " Hist. August. Script." we meet repeated ^23 2 106-109. AMONG THE ROMANS. 73 instances of human sacrifices. Thus in " ^lii Spartiani Adrianus C^sar," ^ we find the story of Antinous already referred to. " Antinoum suum dum per Nilum navigat, perdidit, quern mulie- briter flevit, de quo varia fama est, ahis eum de- votum pro Hadriano asserentibus." Casaubon in his notes on Spartianus remarks of this passage : " Non dubitat Dio hoc.affirmare, ut verum et cer- tum ' eire Ik h^ov^^yr^slc, Coc, n dXyi^sia exsi' Ob- servabamus ad quartam Suetonii, veterum persua- sionem banc fuisse, posse alicujus produci fata, si ejus vicem subiret alter, velut hostia qusedam succidanea." In " Julii Capitolini M. Antonin. Philos.," ^ we have the brief notice of Marc. Antonin. and his brother continuing the bloody rites of gladiatorial combats at the grave : " Funebre munus patri dederunt." In "^lii. Lampridii Antoninus Heliogabus,"^ we read: " C^dit et humanas hostias lectis ad hoc pueris nobilibus et decoris per omnem Italiam pa- trimis et matrimis, credo ut major esse et utrique parenti dolor. Omne denique magorum genus aderat illi operabatur que quotidie, hortante illo et gratias diis agente quod amicos corum invenis- set, quum inspiceret exta puerilia et excuteret hostias ad ritum gentilem suum." The history by Jul. Capit. of Maximus and Bal- 1 Page 7 C. 2 Page 25 D. ' 103 E. 74 HUMAN SACRIFICES binus, ^ has the following : " His gestis, celebra- tisque sacris, datis ludis scenicis ludisque circensi- bus gladiatorio etiam munere, Maximus susceptis votis in Capitolio, ad bellum contra Maximinum missus est cum exercitio ingenti, praetorianis Rom^ manentibus. Unde autem mos tractus sit ut proficiscentes ad bellum imperatores, munus gladi- atorium et venatus darent, breviter clicendum est. Multi dicunt, apud veteres banc devotionem contra hostes factam ut civium sanguine litato specie pugnarum se Nemesis, id est vis quaedam fortunae, satiaret. Alii hoc Uteris tradunt (quod verisimile credo) ituros ad bellum Romanes debuisse pugnas videre et vulnera et ferrum et nudas inter se co- hortes, ne dimicantes in bello armatos hostes timerent, aut vulnera et sanguinem perhorresce- rent." Here, the more distinctly for contrast with a different view, we have the idea entertained by many (multi) of the sacrificial meaning at the ground of these gladiatorial contests. But perhaps the most remarkable instance in the Aus^ust. Hist, is that found in the Emperor Aurelian's letter to the Roman Senate.^ It is the very heart of Pagan Imperial Rome speaking out in its stern and superstitious soldier. " Miror vos Patres sancti, tamdiu de aperienda Sybillinis dubi- tasse libris, perinde quasi in Christianorum Ec- clesia, non in templo deorum omnium tractraretis. 1 i68 c. 2 Flav. Vopisci Syractis. Diviis. Aurelianus, 215 E. AMONG THE ROMANS. 75 .Agite igitur et castimonia pontificum, ceremoniis- que solennibus juvate principem necessitate pub- lica laborantem. Inspiciantur libri ; quae facienda fuerint celebrentur ; quemlibet sumptum, cujuslibet gentis captivos, qualibet animalia regia non abnuo sed libens offero : Neqiie enim indecorum est diis juvantibus vincere : sic apud majores nostros multa finita sunt bella — sic coepta." Claud. Salmasius, in a note upon this letter, dwells on the recognized custom of consulting the Sybilline Books, in extreme circumstances, with the expectation of having to offer sacrifices by public authority from which at other times they shrunk. Porphyrins, who cannot be supposed to have any disposition unfavorable to paganism, treats the question of human sacrifices among the ancients as a recoo:nized fact to be reasoned about. In particular he refers to the sacrifice mentioned by Lactantius as something well known. ^ Kat TrapL-qixi ©pu/cas nal ^Kv6a<;, kol ojs 'Adrjiauk ttjv 'Ep€_;^^ews Kttt lipa^Sla^ Ovyaripa ai/etAov. 'AA./V ert ye vvv rts dyroet Kara rrju fieydXrjv ttoXlv ryj tov Aartaptou Atos iopry o-qba^o/xei^ov avOpwirov ; ^ This author seems to have had some weight with Macaulay. Eusebius, the ecclesiastical historian, has been ^ De Abstinentia, lib. ii. 56. 2 " And I do not mention the Thracians and Scythians, and how the Athenians put to death the daughter of Erechtheus and Prax- ithea. But even at the present day, who does not know that in the great city on the festival of Jupiter Latiaris a man is slain ? " 76 HUMAN SACRIFICES subjected to severe criticism, but he still retains authority on the most important matters of history. We may certainly receive his testimony when it agrees largely with other writers. In his treat- ment of human sacrifices, to which he gives several pages, he quotes several pagan writers, and amongst them Porphyry, distinguished for his op- position to Christianity. Thus, in Eusebius,-^ we have the very words of the pagan author already quoted from his own work " De Abstinent." On page 157 D of the same book Eusebius re- fers to Clemens of Alexandria, and gives his state- ment before mentioned of the Athenian sacrifice, and also of that by the Roman Marius of his daugh- ter to the deities Averrunci. Eusebius speaks of the abolition of human sacrifices by the Emperor Hadrian as matter of history, and distinctly claims for Christianity an influence on the paganism of the empire in this respect. In Eusebius's " Eccles. Hist.,"^ the tyrant Max- entius, among his other atrocities, is described as jDracticing magical arts and to that end " yvvalxag eyxv^ovag dvaax'i^ovrog rore Se, veoyvdv anXayxva ^pE^CdV SiSpevvcdiiEvovJ^ ^ The same account of Maxentius is given in Eusebius's "Vita Constant."* ^ PrcEpat. Evangel., lib. iv., i6, p. 156 C 2 Lib. viii., cap. xiv. * " Ripping up women with child, and again examining the viscera of new-born babes." 4 Lib. i., cap. 36. AMONG THE ROMANS. J J There is another reference to the sacrifice of Jupiter Latiar. in " Orat. Euseb. cle Laud. Con- stant.," where the same language as that used above is repeated. It is in connection with a long pas- sage upon the atrocity of the practice. Evidently the writer dwelt upon what was well known and acknowledged to be true of Paganism. The ecclesiastical historian, Socrates, in lib. iii., cap. 2, gives an account of the revelation of im- molations in Pagan sacrifices made by the discov- ery of a shrine in Alexandria. ' AhvTov 7]!) prjT at .... ev w ra jiiuo'TT^pta toiv 'EAAt^i/coi/ cKeKpuTrro ravra oe tjv Kpavia avOpwiruyv rroXXa, vewv re kol TraXaLujv, ov? Aoyos KaT€L^e irdXai avaipetcrOai, ore rats 8ta a-n-Xa.y)(y(jiv [xavTUaL^ l)(^pu)VTO ol 'E/\/\7yre?, Kat fxayiKO.^ ireXovv Ovuia^, KaTafxuyyavevorre^; rots Exceptions will be taken, naturally, to the testi- mony against the Pagans borne by writers evi- dently so ready to believe the darkest stories told of heathen practices. But they narrate what was in itself not strange in that age of degenerate races and superstitions maddened by defeat, and what is merely a repetition of that affirmed by even non-Christian writers. Whatever may be the personal credibility of ^ " A shrine was found in which the mysteries of the Greeks had been concealed. Here there were many skulls of human beings, both young and old, and it is the report that they were slain anciently at the time when the Greeks practiced divination by in- spection of the viscera, and used magic arts for invoking the shades." 78 HUMAN SACRIFICES the ecclesiastical historian, Theodoritus, the ac- count he gives at least shows the belief held in his times by the Christians as to the practices of the revived Paganism. In " Theodorit. Episcopi Cyri. Eccles. Histor.,"^' speaking of the Emperor Julian, Theodoritus says : 'ETret 8e 6 ^aiaros d7T7]yyeX0r], Kal evae^-i]? jSaaLXela ti]v Bvae(3rj oi€0€^aTO, et'cr(i) ycio'^ei'oi tov arjKov, evpov ttjv a^idyatrrov rov ySacrt- Aews dvopeiav re Kai crot^tai', koI TTpo<; rovTOL'i ivaifSaai'. EtSoi' yap ■yvi'aiov CK TWi' rpL)^m' yjoipMpivov, iKT€Tapii'a<; f-XP^' ''"o? x^'ipa pi\ri(TToi, cfialr] av, ei /at) ^eots fxaXXor, KaOaTtcp avTol dLaTetrecrOe, Sat//o(rt 8k Trovqpoi'i koX aTTorpoTracots ras 8i at/xarwv Ovuia^ TrpoacKO/xi^ov ot TraAaio/, ovk avOpw-rraiv jjlovov dAAa Kal C^wwv aXoyiov Tc'criv apa tov<; dfa Tracrai' ^(wpdv re Kat ttoAiv dveSeZ/xacr^e vaoi;?, /