SACRIFICES OF THE GREEKS. 453 
or bad. Some of them were good, some bad. The bad ones delighted in every 
mischief, and all the base actions attributed to Zeus and the other immortals were 
really the acts of these demons. ‘These demons delighted in sensuous pleasure ; 
they gaped after blood; they caught greedily at the sacrifices; they were fond of 
savage and cruel practices ; they had real pleasure in the fastings, and distor- 
tions, and bloody rites which accompanied some of the religious services. 
The Christian writers adopted this demonic theory, but maintained that the 
demons were the children of fallen angels who had desired the fair daughters 
of men, and agreed with thinkers like Plutarch and Porphyry in attributing the 
evil actions of the gods to these beings. Innumerable quotations on this point 
could be given. I content myself with one from Justin Martyr :—‘“ But the 
angels transgressed this appointment, and were captivated by love of women, and 
begat children, who are those who are called demons ; and besides, they after- 
wards subdued the human race to themselves, partly by magical writings, and 
partly by fears and the punishments they occasioned, and partly by teaching 
them to offer sacrifices, and incense, and libations, of which things they stood 
in need after they were enslaved by lustful passions; and among men they 
sowed murders, wars, adulteries, intemperate deeds, and all wickedness.” * 
2. During this period we hear on every hand of human sacrifices having taken 
place in earlier times. Antoninus Liberalis (150 p.c.) and the other mytho- 
graphers give mythical instances in considerable numbers, and Plutarch (110 p.c.) 
and Pausanias (160 p.c.) give numerous instances, both mythical and historical. 
In addition to these, the lexicographers and grammarians speak generally of 
the same custom in giving explanations of peculiar words. At length it came 
to be a fashion to gather together the most prominent cases, and, accordingly, 
we have lists of them in Clemens Alexandrinus, Porphyry, and Eusebius. 
We shall look into these various sources. Antoninus Liberalis supplies us 
with instances similar to those which we have already had from the tragedians 
and Apollodorus. A plague t arose in Beeotia, and the people died in great 
numbers. Messengers were sent to the Gortynian Apollo, and the oracle 
answered that the plague would cease if two maidens voluntarily became 
sacrifices. The two daughters of Orion resolved to save their land, and striking 
their collar bone with the shuttle with which they were in the habit of weaving, 
thus accomplished the sacrifice. Persephone and Hades took pity on their 
lifeless bodies, and turned them into stars. As the book of Antoninus Liberalis 
deals with transformations, the sacrifices are seldom accomplished. Iphigenia 
is carried off, and a calf is slain in her stead. A wild beast called Sybaris dwelt 
ina cave at the foot of Mount Parnassus.§ It was continually carrying off cattle 
and men. The Delphic oracle was consulted, and gave for answer that the 
* 2 Apol. c. 5, Translation of the Ante-Nicene Library. + Fab, xxv. 
$ Fab. xxvii. § Fab. viii. 
