1876. J Bajendralala Mitra— On Human Sacrifices in Ancient India. 81 



among the Lacedaemonians, who used to whip their children round the altar 

 of Diana Orthia. Thus much we are assured by Fulgentius, and others, 

 that the usual term among the ancient Latines for the whipping of children 

 was Caiatio. Apud Antiquos Caiatio dicebatur puerilis cades. "* 



It is generally believed that the Syrens were no other then priestesses 

 of anthropothusiac temples on the coast of Campania, and they derived their 

 infamous notoriety, most probably, from the part they took in the immola- 

 tion of shipwrecked mariners ; " for Campania at one time was as dreaded as 

 Ehegium and Sicily, for the dangers which awaited those who navigated 

 their coasts." The priestesses were invariably selected with special reference 

 to their personal charms, and the most important part in the service of their 

 temples was singing of hymns in which the Syrens were so far perfect, that 

 they were formerly believed to have been the daughters of Terpsichore ac- 

 cording to some, and of Melpomene or Calliope according to others. After 

 quoting the account of the Syrens given by Homer (Od. M. v. 39 et seq.), 

 Bryant says " The story at bottom relates to the people abovementioned, 

 who with their music used to entice strangers into the purlieus of their 

 temples, and then put them to death. Nor was it music only, with which 

 persons were induced to follow them. The female part of their choirs were 

 (sic) maintained for a twofold purpose, both on account of their voices and 

 their beauty. They were accordingly very liberal of their favours, and by 

 these means enticed seafaring persons, who paid dearly for their entertain- 

 ment, "f That Scylla, who destroyed some of the followers of Ulysses and of 

 whom mention has already been made, was a priestess of this class, is now 

 generally admitted. According to Tzetzes, " she was originally a handsome 

 wench, but being too free with seafaring people, she made herself a beast." 

 " v Hv Se Trpoirov %kvWol yvvr) ev7r/3€7r^s. HoareiSutvc 8k ovvovara aTreOyipHjiQ-q." 

 The story of Saturn devouring his own children — a failing which has also been 

 attributed to Ops, and, according to a passage of Euhemerus transmitted by 

 Ennis, said to have been common among " the rest of mankind" — Saturnum 

 et Opem, cseterosque turn homines humanam carnem solitos esitare — is very 

 justly supposed by Bryant to be due to the practice of immolation of 

 children in the temples of that divinity " in a ceremony styled <o//,o<£ayia, 

 at which time they eat the flesh quite crude with the blood. In Crete, at 

 the Dionusiaca they used to tear the flesh with their teeth from the animal, 

 when alive. This they did in commemoration of Dionusus. Festos funeris 

 dies statuunt, et annuum sacrum trieterica consecratione componunt, omnia 

 per ordinem facientes, quae puer moriens aut fecit, aut passus est. Vivum 

 laniant dentibus taurum, crudeles epulas annuis commemorationibus exci- 

 tantes. Apollonius Ehodius, speaking of persons like to Bacchanalians, 



* De Virgiliana continentia, p. 762. Bryant's Ancient Myth. II., pp. 15 ff. 

 f Bryant's Ancient Mythology, II, p. 20. 



C 



