CHAPTER XL 



THE CIVIL FUNCTIONS OF PRIESTS. 



633. OF course where the head of the State, himself 

 regarded as god-descended, plays the part of priest in pro 

 pitiating the ancestral gods, and, unlimited in his authority, 

 carries his rule into all spheres, the union of civil functions 

 with sacerdotal functions is complete. A good example of 

 this condition in an early stage of social development, is 

 furnished by the Polynesians. 



&quot; This system of civil polity, disjointed and ill adapted as it was to 

 answer any valuable purpose, was closely interwoven with their sangui 

 nary system of idolatry, and sanctioned by the authority of the gods. 

 The king was not only raised to the head of this government, but ho 

 was considered as a sort of vicegerent to those supernatural powers 

 presiding over, the invisible world. Human sacrifices were offered 

 at his inauguration ; and whenever any one, under the influence of the 

 loss he had sustained by plunder, or other injury, spoke disrespectfully 

 of his person and administration, not only was his life in danger, but 

 human victims must be offered, to cleanse the land from the pollution 

 it was supposed to have contracted.&quot; 



Various extinct societies presented kindred fusions of civil 

 with sacerdotal headships. In Assyria, where the king 

 &quot; was either supposed to be invested with divine attributes, 

 or was looked upon as a type of the Supreme Deity,&quot; and 

 where &quot; all his acts, whether in war or peace, appear to have 

 been connected with the national religion, and were believed 

 to be under the special protection and superintendence of 

 the deity ; &quot; he, while civil head of the State, is represented 



