m 



A'TRH'M. 



711 



m :. -. ;.-.*. r, -T .}. ,-. . uOU i mm 

 haw been the primary meaning of atoosment with our earlier writers. 

 Hone, in the authorised version of the New Testament the same word 

 which in 2 Cor. v. l,is properly rendered reoonciliation, U in Rom. 

 v. 1 1 , rendered atonement. The word, however, soon came to bear the 

 liiisililis in which it is now used ; and such is in fact iU ordinary 

 meaning in the authorised version of the Old Testament. 



Among the heathen nations the doctrine of atonement was not un- 

 familiar. At the earliest date to which we can carry our inquiries by 

 means of the heathen records, we meet with the same notion of atone- 

 ment, with a distinction also in the application, between the removal of 

 anger incurred by particular offence*, and of that which was supposed 

 tobelong to the jealous character of the Deify. An instance of atone- 

 meet of the former kind meets us in the very opening of the Iliad. 

 Amnemnon having offended Apollo in the person of his priest, by 



Agamem 

 refusing 



a ransom for his daughter, is not content with restitution, 

 but proaiods to atone for his fault by an offering, the purpose of which 

 is declared by Ulysses (' IL' i. 442)" Agamemnon sent me to sacrifice 

 a sacred hecatomb to Apollo in behalf of the Danai, that we may 

 appease the Sovereign God." 



Among the many other instances which will readily occur to a reader 

 of the ancient classic*, the sacrifice of Iphigeneia by her father, to 

 the wrath of Diana, is distinguished by the remarkable cir- 

 e of the substitution of one victim for another by the offended 

 It should be observed, however, that although the subject 

 of the legend belongs to the period of the Trojan war, the legend itself 

 is of a later date than the Homeric poems. In the expiatory rites for 

 certain cases of homicide, sacrificial offerings to the deity formed a 

 part of the religious ceremony of purification, in addition to the penalty 

 which the offender paid as a compensation to the avenging party. A 

 singular instance of atonement made to the Diana Orthia of the Laoe- 

 Jrr~"'~' is given by Pausanias (iii 16). Blood having been shed in 

 a quarrel during a solemn sacrifice to the goddess, human victims were 

 regularly offered to her as an atonement for the offence ; till Lycurgus 

 substituted for this cruel ceremony the scourging of youths at the 

 alter with such severity, that the penalty was still paid with blood. 



The practice of geiurai atonement among the heathen nations, what- 

 ever may have been it* origin, must have been greatly encouraged by 

 certain article in the popular creed, which is probably expressed 

 pretty accurately by the saying put into the mouth of Solon by Hero- 

 dotus, that 'the Deity is altogether a jealous being, and fond of 

 troubling the even course of affaire ' (^Sortfitr rt KO! Tapax<24s, Herod. 

 L 32). The common notion is remarkably exemplified in a story told 

 by the same historian. Amasis, king of Egypt, having heard rumours 

 of the marvellous and uninterrupted successes of hia friend Polycrates, 

 the sovereign of Samos, gave vent to his anxiety on his friend's account 

 in a letter, which is in itself so curious, and so strongly illustrates the 

 matter in hand, that we think it deserves to be presented entire to the 

 reader. " Amasis says thus to Polycrates : It is pleasant to hear that 

 one's friend prospers ; yet your exceeding good fortunes please me not, 

 knowing as I do that the Deity is a jealous being ; and I could wish 

 that both myself and those whom I care for should be fortunate in 

 some of their doings, and in others miscarry ; and so pass their lives 

 in changes of fortune, rather than be always fortunate ; for I never yet 

 heard talk of any one who with good fortune in everything did not 

 come to his end miserably with an utter downfall. Do you therefore 

 follow my advice, and in respect of your happy chances do as I tell 

 you. Look out well for the most precious thing you have, and that 

 which you would most take to heart the loss of, and then away with 

 it, in such sort that it shall never more come before the eyes of men. 

 And if after this your successes should not take turns and go evenly with 

 your mishaps, still remedy the matter in the way proposed by me." 

 (Herod, iii. 40.) The story goes on to say that Polycrates took the 

 advice of his friend, and flung into the sea a valuable ring ; but the 

 object was defeated by an incredible piece of good fortune, which 

 restored to him his lost treasure. Hereupon Amasis formally dissolved 

 his connection with a man so evidently marked out for some signal 

 calamity. 



In this case the offence was involuntary ; yet it was not the less 

 supposed to excite anger and expose the offender to punishment. 

 Here too is an instance of atonement naooompanied by sacrifice. The 

 mode, indeed, of atoning admitted an almost infinite variety 

 the repetition on a certain occasion of the great games at Rome was 

 strictly an act of atonement for a rather singular offence described by 

 Livy, lib. ii. c. 86. 



If we pursue our inquiries through the accounts left us by the 

 Greek and Roman writers of the barbarous nations with which they 

 were acquainted, from India to Britain, we shall find the same notion 

 and similar practices of atonement. From the most popular portion of 

 own literature, our narratives of voyages and travels, every one pro- 

 bably, who reads at all, will be able to find for himself abundant proof 

 that tbe notion has been as permanent as it is universal. It shows 

 itself among the various tribes of Africa, the islanders of the South 

 Seas, and even that most peculiar race, the natives of Australia, i-itli. r 

 in the shape of some offering, or some mutilation of the person. We 

 should expect to meet with it in India, so fertile in every form of 

 superstition ; and it is certain that many of the fantastic and revolting 

 rites of the Hindoos bear testimony to its presence. The favourite 



practice of torturing the body has often than a different object, that 

 of acquiring the reality or the fame of superior sanctity; but un- 

 doubtedly it is also resorted to as a mode of atonement. 



ATKIUM, a hall or room of audience in a Roman house. The two 

 words, Atrium and Cavagdium, if not at first synonymous, most pro- 

 bably became so in the course of time ; Bekker, however, and some 

 other authorities, consider that they mean different apartments. It 

 appears from a passage in Varro, that the Cavsjdium, or Cavum 

 .Kdium, ' the hollow of the house,' must be the whole area between 



Plan of a Tetraitjrle Atrioni from a hotue at Pompeii. 



the rim of the compluvium from which the rain fell, and the impluvium 

 into which the rain fell. The Atrium, properly so called, and as at first 

 distinguished from the Caviedium, would be the space betwe.ii !!:. 

 open area and the walls (poridet) of the Atrium : thus, the Cavum 



i, 



conmrniAN ATHIUH. 



C O O 



Flan of the Corinthian Atrium of the rill* of Diomcdes at I'ompcll. 



.IMinm would be the hollow trace open to the nky ami rain, while the 

 Atrium would be the covered part, and would therefore form the hall 



