132 



REV. HENRY LANSBELL, D.D.^ ETC.^ ON 



sessetli it, let him pay the tithe of his yearly increase ; and, 

 ont of the remainder, maintain the temple. If he neglect 

 this, the goddess will require it." 



So here was a temple, fully endowed with tithes for the 

 benefit of priests, people, and repairs I 



Nor must we forget how Piiny records of Alexander the 

 Great, that, having conquered the countries of sweet odours 

 and frankincense, Alexander sent a Avhoie shipload thereof to, 

 Leonidas, in Greece, that he might burn it bountifully unto 

 the gods * 



Let us now advance to the next Grecian period, the hege- 

 mony having passed from Sparta to Atliens, and during 

 which Greece produced some of its greatest men. 



Thucydides (born about 471 B.C.) tells us that when the 

 Atheniatis had divided the island of Lesbos into 3,000 parts, 

 they consecrated 300, that is the tenth, generally, to the 

 gods.t 



Keference has already been made to what Pisistratus wrote 

 to Solon, which seems to show that the Athenians usually 

 paid tithe of their goods at home alike in peace and hi 

 war. Even a tenth of the meat killed in Athens was given 

 by the cooks to the magistrates, and this was spent, in the 

 case of Pisistratus at all , events at the festivals of the 

 gods4 



We may see, too, another confirmation that the general 

 tithing of all gains was usual in Athens, from the jeering 

 comedy of Aristophanes (450-38O B.C.), for he represents 

 Cleon complaining of Agoracritus. for detaining the tithe of 

 his sausages belonging to the gods.§ 



A century later, Demosthenes calls it sacrilege in Androtion 

 and Timocrates to retain the tenths due to Pallas ; and, if 

 this be taken in comiection Avith the complaint, or threatening 

 of Cleon just referred to in Aristophanes, it would almost 

 suggest that defaulters might be complained of, and perhaps 

 punished in Athens for not paying tithes.|| 



We now pass from the Greeks to the Romans, amongst 

 whom we trace the practice of tithe giving to their earliest 

 or legendary history. 



* Pliny, lib. xii, cap. 14, Si^elinan, ji. 120. 



+ Seidell, p. 33. 



X Aristoph., Equites, v. 283 ; Selden, p. 33. 



>^ Comber, p. 33. 



II Comber, \). 33. 



