174 A Kill AN 



Chap. XXX\^ Following these examples, it is right in field-sports, as in 

 every thing else, to begin with adoration of the Gods ; ^ and, 

 after having obtained success, to offer thanksgiving-sacrifices''' 

 and libations,^ with auspicious words, 9 and crowns,^" and 



Oppian. Hal. oW' ah\ ixa-Kapes ■Kavviripjoroi r]vla ■wavri) 



Khivova', p K edfKaxTW 6 5' 'iffinTai, os ks aa6<ppo)V, 

 irp\v ■)(a^^'''fi ndcTTtyi Kal ovk iOeXaiv iKariTat. 



See the sensible remarks of Xenophou on the words 2YN ©En nPATTEIN, at the 



conclusion of his treatise De Offic. Magistr. Equit. c. ix. 



De Legibus, 6. "ApxeaOai re awh Beuv, " A Diis iinraortalibus," sajs Cicero, " sunt nobis 



agendi capienda piimordia :" and Julius Pollux, to whom I have frequently referred 



in the early part of these annotations, concludes his address to Commodus, at the 



commencement of his Onomasticon, with the same sentiment — trotrjaofj.ai Se tV 



apx^v, a(p' wv iJ.6Xi.ara. irpoa-fiKft rovs eucre/SetS, anh rwv dewv. 



DeExpeditione 7. Xapiariipia Oveiv ev irpd^avra. So in his Anabasis, Arrian writes, Bvcai 'AAe^av- 



Alexandn g ^^ Kapuavia Yopio-T'^pjo rvs Kar 'IvSaiv viKrjs, k. r. A. These free-will offerings 

 L. VI. c. XXVIII. ' J, r ,, ■ 



may he considered in the light of grateful acknowledgments to the gods for blessings 



received. They were paid by soldiers after victory, by husbandmen after harvest, 



and by sportsmen after success in the field. 



8. SireVSeii/. Wine was generally used in these libations, but not always ; for 

 there were vqcpaXia Uph—sdbet sacrifices, wherein no wine was poured forth. Gene- 



iEneid. L. vi. rally, however, wine was employed, as we learn from Virgil's " frontique invergit 

 * vina sacerdos." 



9. Evcprjixuv — " favere lingua, bona verba dicere." This expression does not seem 

 to mean that the persons present at a sacrifice were to observe profound silence, but 

 rather to abstain only from words of evil omen. Mr. Cowper has preserved its sense 

 correctly in his translation of eixpTjiMrja-ai, Iliad ix. 171. " That every tongue abstain 

 from speech — Portentous." Ogilby, Dacier, and Pope, all mistake the signification 



Schol. ad of eixpvfieiv. " Prascones claiuantes," says Festus, " populum sacrificiis favere jube- 



Aristoph. b^nt. Favere est bona fari." But Bourdin ad Aristoph. Thesraophor. eiKpTjfj.e'iv 



Thesm. Act. i. , - » -..,,/ 



ffrjuaivei aiyau koI mwirav Si ev<p7]iJ.ias. 



10. 2Te<|)a«'oCi'. The sacrificial victims were adorned with garlands and crowns on 

 iheir liorns and necks. The altars were decorated with sacred herbs, and the priests 

 themselves wore crowns upon their heads, composed of the leaves of the tree sacred 

 to the deity to whom they paid their devotions. See Tertullian de Idololatri^. 



11. "Tuvuv. Hunting-carols, it maybe, were chanted to Dian and her sylvan 

 train, by the Celts and other sportsmen of old. It was customary to sing hymns in 

 honour of the Gods, and dance around the altar of sacrifice, on occasion of cele- 

 brating the more important religious rites ; when the songs, in general, commemo- 

 rated the exploits of the worshipped, enumerated their virtues, and the benefits con- 



