tersected with canals. It lay beyond Lake Acherusia, and being a celebrated place of interment, it was called Elisians, meaning Rest. On the borders of the lake was a tribunal to inquire into the character of the deceased. If his life had been wicked, they refused to convey his body to the cemetery, and it was thrown into a ditch prepared for the purpose, called Tartar. If the decision of the judges was favourable, eulogiums were publicly passed on his memory, and after the priests had received a small fee, his remains were conveyed across the lake into Elisians.

The Greeks had an ancient tradition concerning a Tree which grew in gardens of Paradise, and bore the golden Apples of Immortality. It was guarded by three nymphs, and a great Serpent. It was one of the labours of Hercules to gather some of these Apples of life. Ancient medallions represent the Tree with a Serpent twined round it. Hercules has gathered an Apple, and near him stand the three nymphs, called Hesperides.

There were several hereditary classes in Greece, but there was no law of caste to exclude men from any employment they chose, or from the investigation of any subject. In times as ancient as Homer, any man venerable for age or wisdom offered prayers and sacrifices to the gods, and performed religious ceremonies for the people. As the country grew older, the priesthood became more established and conspicuous; but an element of freedom was always preserved, which rendered their influence very different from that of the exclusive caste of priests in Hindostan and Egypt. This circumstance doubtless contributed much toward that intellectual energy and freedom. of inquiry which so eminently characterized the ancient Greeks. In some places, the priesthood was hereditary in certain families. In others, the prince conferred the office on whomsoever he deemed worthy. Sometimes priests were elected by lot, sometimes by votes of the people. They were required to be of good moral character, in sound health, and not deformed in any way; it being deemed irreverent to consecrate to the gods any thing im

pure or defective. They were usually chosen from the upper classes, and on all public occasions they took their places with kings and the highest civil officers. In most of the cities the care of worship was intrusted to chief magistrates, who were often themselves consecrated to the priesthood. In some places the king was high priest, and all important sacrifices for the good of the commonwealth were performed by him only. On private or ordinary occasions, the father of the family, or the oldest and most honourable man present, might perform religious rites. But when any great calamity was to be averted, or extraordinary blessing to be obtained, they sought the services of the priesthood; believing that the gods had especially commissioned them, and were more ready to hear their prayers than those of other men. On such occasions, they often ascended mountains to ask counsel of the gods; such places being invested with peculiar sanctity, and deemed nearer to the deities than other portions of the earth. They often performed ablutions in running streams, or were sprinkled with consecrated water, as a necessary preparation for religious ceremonies. All those intrusted with religious affairs were summoned at stated periods to appear before certain magistrates and give an account how they had discharged their duties. In small places, one priest fulfilled all the sacred offices, but in large cities they had various grades of assistants. Each god had a chief priest and subordinate priests; and in every state was a Supreme Pontiff, whose duty it was to superintend the others, and preside at the highest and most sacred rites. Some, who were devoted to the most elevated functions of worship, lived retired from worldly affairs, and observed the strictest temperance and chastity. They drank juice of hemlock and other herbs, to keep the blood cool and the passions in subjection. Some even deprived themselves of manhood, from the idea that they could serve the gods with more purity. A class of them were called Prophets, and expounded oracles. In some places, these never tasted animal food, or any thing boiled. Some orders were allowed

to marry, but second unions were deemed disreputable. Indeed, in the early days of strictness, to have been twice married excluded a man from the priesthood. A tenth part of the harvests, the mines, and the spoils taken in war, were appropriated to the service of the gods. The priests had a prescribed share, and many of them were wealthy.

From Egypt was introduced an order of priests called Asclepiades, descendants of Esculapius, god of medicine. The results of medical experience acquired in the temples, they divulged only to the initiated, under solemn promise of secresy. A healing and prophetic serpent was kept in their temples, and the staff of Esculapius was represented wreathed with a serpent. These medical priests applied magnetic remedies by the motion of their hands, sought to induce soothing dreams, and operated on the imagination of patients by charms and conjurations. They carefully observed the course of diseases, and noted down the results of their practice. The populace considered them both prophets and physicians. Aristides eulogized their skill at Smyrna, and the first practical physician in Rome, twenty years before Christ, was of their order. In later times foreigners were freely admitted to their schools. They were the founders of modern scientific medicine.

Women were admitted to the Grecian priesthood, shared its highest dignities, and in such capacities were regarded with great veneration. Several of them are mentioned as wives and mothers, and they seem generally to have been dignified and exemplary matrons. They were of various orders, superior and inferior, and were assisted by young girls of the highest families, who gathered flowers, wove garlands, and embroidered veils for the statues. In the temples of Venus, and also of Cybele, were troops of young men and women employed as dancers; mostly slaves sent as gifts to the goddess. They are often represented on antique vases, standing on tiptoe, with arms gracefully raised, turning their slender forms in the undulating movements of some sacred dance. All the money these women received from their lovers was paid into the treasury of.

the priests. Several temples of Venus were built with funds thus obtained.

The Romans instituted an order of priestesses, six in number, called the Vestal Virgins. They were required to be of good family, free from bodily defects, and not more than ten years old, or less than six, at the time of consecration. They took a vow of strict chastity, the breach of which was supposed to bring calamities on the whole people. If any one was detected in breaking this vow, she was buried alive. In the course of the thousand years, during which this order existed, only thirteen were thus punished for violation of their oath. They wore long white linen robes, with a white vest edged with purple. Their hair was cut short and bound with a close fillet. It was their business to keep the sacred fire of Vesta burning perpetually on the altar of her temple day and night, to offer prayers and sacrifices for the good of the state, and instruct their successors in office. If the fire chanced to go out, it was deemed an omen of some great national calamity. In such a case, the careless Vestal was severely scourged by the High Priest, and the fire was rekindled from rays of the sun brought to a focus with something like burning glasses; the process being accompanied with solemn ceremonies and prayers. When these priestesses appeared in public, they were treated with the greatest veneration. Any insult to them was a capital offence. If they met a criminal on his way to execution, he was set at liberty, if they declared the meeting accidental. They were handsomely maintained at public expense, and after thirty years of service, were at liberty either to remain in the temple, or go out and marry. Polygamy was discountenanced in Greece, and forbidden by law in Rome.

Oblations and sacrifices to the gods varied at different epochs of time, and according to the characters of the deities. In the rude ages, it was customary to sacrifice beautiful girls to Cybele; but afterward, in lieu of this, they made a present of slaves to her temple. Young maidens used to be sacrificed to Diana, but afterward they VOL. I.-26

were merely scourged at her altar. It was often supposed the gods demanded the sacrifice of a human being, to atone for some sin, or avert some calamity. When the Greek army was detained at Aulis, by contrary winds, the augurs being consulted, declared that one of the kings had offended Diana, and she demanded the sacrifice of his daughter Iphigenia. It was like taking the father's life-blood, but he was persuaded that it was his duty to submit for the good of his country. The maiden was brought forth for sacrifice, in spite of her tears and supplications; but just as the priest was about to strike the fatal blow, Iphigenia suddenly disappeared, and a goat of uncommon beauty stood in her place. The priests judged by favourable omens that the gods accepted the animal for sacrifice, and the princess was consecrated to the service of Diana's temple. In Sparta, it being declared upon one occasion that the gods demanded a human victim, the choice was made by lot, and fell on a damsel named Helena. But when all was in readiness, an eagle descended, carried away the priest's knife, and laid it on the head of a heifer, which was sacrificed in her stead. The Spartans henceforth abolished such immolations, considering this an omen that they were not acceptable to the deities. Such sacrifices were always rare among the Grecians, and when they did occur, it was usually in obedience to some oracle. The infernal gods, and the manes of ancestors, were supposed peculiarly to require human victims. Prisoners taken in war were frequently offered to appease the ghosts of those who had been slain by their countrymen. Achilles sacrificed twelve young Trojans at the funeral of his friend Patroclus. Aristomenes sacrificed three hundred captives at once, one of whom was a king of Sparta. The custom was never favoured at Rome. Numa, who succeeded Romulus, manifested extreme reluctance to offer human sacrifices. Lentulus, Consul of Rome about seventy years before Christ, prohibited the practice. Tiberius, fourteen years after our era, and Adrian one hundred and seventeen years after, published edicts to the same effect. Commodus, more