TROPHIES. 51 



armour in the house of Ashtaroth.&quot; By the Greeks the 

 trophy formed of arms, shields, and helmets taken from the 

 defeated, was consecrated to some divinity ; and the Romans 

 deposited the spoils of battle in the temple of Jupiter 

 Capitolinus. Similarly among the Fijians, who are solicit 

 ous in every way to propitiate their blood-thirsty deities, 

 &quot; when flags are taken they are always hung up as trophies 

 in the mbure&quot; or temple. That hundreds of gilt spurs of 

 French knights vanquished by the Flemish in the battle of 

 Courtrai, were deposited in the church of that place, and 

 that in France flags taken from enemies were suspended 

 from the vaults of cathedrals (a practice not unknown in 

 Protestant England), are facts which might be joined with 

 these, did not joining them imply the impossible supposition 

 that Christians think to please &quot; the God of love &quot; by acts 

 like those used to please the diabolical gods of cannibals. 



Because of inferences to be hereafter drawn, one remain 

 ing general truth must be named, though it is so obvious 

 as to seem scarcely worth mention. Trophy-taking is di 

 rectly related to militancy. It begins during a primitive 

 life that is wholly occupied in fighting men and animals; it 

 develops with the growth of conquering societies in which 

 perpetual wars generate the militant type of structure; it 

 diminishes as growing industrialism more and more substi 

 tutes productive activities for destructive activities; and 

 complete industrialism necessitates entire cessation of it. 

 The chief significance of trophy-taking, however, has 

 yet to be pointed out. The reason for here dealing with it, 

 though in itself scarcely to be classed as a ceremony, is that 

 it furnishes us with the key to numerous ceremonies pre 

 vailing all over the world among the uncivilized and semi- 

 civilized. From the practice of cutting off and taking away 

 portions of the dead body, there grows up the practice of 

 cutting off portions of the living body. 



