its ministers great honours and considerable wealth. In the earliest ages we accordingly find the priests enjoying universal respect, regarding themselves as independent almost as kings, and exercising great influence on temporal affairs both in peace and war. At all times the character of minister of religion was one of the most honourable in the eyes of the whole nation, and was so distinguished in rank and privileges, that it was an object of ambition to families of the first order. No low profession could aspire to that dignity. Among the Greeks, as well as in many provinces of Asia, the office of some priests was regarded as a very elevated post, in consequence of the revenues and authority attached to it. Such, for instance, was the office of high-priest of Paphos, a dignity so exalted, that Cato promised it to the unhappy Ptolemy, as a compensation for the kingdom of Cyprus, of which the Romans had unjustly deprived him. Even Roman tyranny itself never deprived the priesthood of that high favour in which it had always been held by the Greeks. From a letter of the Emperor Julian to the high-priest Theodore, it appears that the chief priest of each province had "the general superintendence of all that concerned religion; and also authority over all the priests of his 3 Mémoires de Burigny, cited supra, p. 1, note 1. Eclaircissements généraux sur les Familles Sacerdotales de la Grèce.--Mémoires de l'Acad. vol. xxiii. p. 51. "Though thou art invested with supreme power," said Tiresias to Edipus, "I have a right of reproaching you with what you reproach me; and I will do so without fear; for it is not you, but the great Apollo that I must obey."— Sophocles, Edipus, v. 416. At a much later period, about 200 years before Christ, we find the ministry of the priests employed by public authority at Athens, to excite the popular feeling against Philip, king of Macedon. A decree passed at that time, on the requisition of a public petition, was to the following effect: "Sacerdotes publicos, quotiescumque pro populo Atheniensi, sociisque et exercitibus et classibus eorum precarentur, toties detestari atque execrari Philippum, liberos ejus regnumque, terrestres navalesque copias, Macedonum genus omne nomenque."-Tit. Liv. Hist. lib. xxxi. cap. xliv. 3 "Per Canidium amicum, quem præmisit in Cyprum, egit cum Ptolemæo ut sine certamine cederet, ostensa spe neque inopem neque abjectum ipsum victurum; sacerdotium enim ei Veneris Paphio populum daturum."-Plutarch, Life of Cato, n. 10. (Plutarch's Works, Antwerp, 1620, fol., vol. i. p. 776.). Crevier, Hist. Rom. vol. xii. p. 209. district, with power to treat each one according to his deserts,” 1 which included the power of inflicting temporal penalties on all who discharged their duties badly, or were guilty of certain crimes, the cognizance of which was reserved to the college of pontiffs. nours. 9. Laws and Customs of the Athenians. The most civilized states of Greece adopted on this matter the customs of the rest of the nation. Amongst the Athenians especially, religion and its ministers enjoyed the highest hoIn some ancient and powerful families the priesthood was transmitted from father to son, as the most honourable inheritance of their house. In addition to the revenues permanently assigned to most of the temples, the tenth of the spoils taken in war, and a considerable portion of the fines and confiscations, were ordinarily consecrated to the gods. In every temple there were, moreover, two officers called parasites, whose duty it was to raise an annual tax on all the lands in their district. The archons, or supreme magistrates of the nation, made the public worship their special care, and always presided at the religious ceremonies. The second of them, who was called the archon king, was bound to preside at the public sacrifices, to enforce the exact observance of all their established rites, and to punish all offences against religion. Of these, the one visited with the heaviest penalties of the law, was the introduction by private individuals of new forms of worship into the state, by their own authority; it was prohibited, under penalty of death, to admit any worship without decree of the Areopagus, on a public petition. Neither the wise precautions of the law, nor Julian, Epistola lxiii. ad Theodorum Pontif. (Juliani Operum, p. 452, fol.). L'Histoire de l'Empereur Jovien, by Labletterie, p. 402. 2 Voyage d'Anacharsis, vol. ii. ch. xxi. Mémoire où l'on examine plusieurs questions générales concernant les Ministres des Dieux à Athènes, by M. de Bougainville, vol. xviii. of the Histoire de l'Acad. des Inscript. et Belles Lettres, 4to. edit. Mémoire sur les Parasites, by M. Lebeau, jun. Ibid. vol. xxxi. p. 51. Josephus, lib. ii. contra Apion, chap viii. cites many remarkable examples of punishments inflicted on many eminent characters by the Athenians for the vigilance of magistrates, could prevent, it is true, the commission of many offences against religion, especially after the depravity of morals had, as is commonly the case, weakened the religious principle. But any public manifestation of impiety hardly ever failed to excite general indignation. The wise as well as the simple accused the authors of such offences of revolting against the Deity, that they might the more freely indulge their passions; the government thought itself bound to inflict severe penalties on them; and the punishment of death was generally awarded to all who were convicted of having attacked, either by their words or their actions, the legally established worship. From many celebrated examples, it is clear that neither favour, nor dignity, nor merit, nor the most distinguished talents, could shield such culprits from the vengeance of the law. The accusations made against the poet Æschylus, and the philosopher Diagoras, for having revealed the secret doctrine of mysteries; the the condemnation of Protagoras and of Prodicus, who had publicly spoken against the gods acknowledged by the state; the inquiries instituted against Pericles and Anaxagoras, who were suspected of atheism; the sentence of death pronounced against Alcibiades, who was convicted of having ridiculed the mysteries of Eleusis; the verdict condemning Socrates to drink hemlock for the imputed crime of not acknowledging the gods of his country; all these, and many other well known facts, prove that, in the most brilliant period of the arts and sciences among the Greeks, impiety was not punished with less severity, than in the ages of primitive simplicity.1 10. Laws of Romulus and of Numa. The same principles invariably inspired the government and being merely accused or suspected of impiety. He then adds, "et quid mirum, si erga viros etiam eximios ita se gesserint, qui ne mulieribus quidem pepercere? Etenim sacerdotem quamdam interfecerunt, quoniam illam quidam accusaverat quod deos coleret peregrinos: decreto vero illud erat apud ipsos prohibitum, pœnaque mortis contra illos statuta qui deum introducerent alienum." Amsterdam, 1726; vol. ii. pp. 491–493. We merely refer to these facts. Their development may be found in the Voyage d'Anacharsis, ubi supra, p. 414. the policy of the Romans.1 Romulus and Numa between religion and the state, has been already mentioned.2 Their legislation on this subject is the more worthy of attention, as it implies notions on the Deity, and on the worship due to him, far more perfect than might be expected in so barbarous and ignorant an age. Romulus ordered all his subjects to adore the gods whose worship was sanctioned by the state, and to avoid in that worship the absurd or ridiculous ceremonies with which the superstition of other nations had defaced it. He ordered them never to commence any important enterprise without having previously consulted the will of the gods, through the ministry of the augurs and aruspices, of whom he had established a college at Rome. Sacrifices and all religious ceremonies were to be celebrated in daylight; they were strictly forbidden in the night, lest they might become occasions of debauch and sedition.5 In fine, the common people, and all who The strict union established by Memoires de Burigny, cited above, p. 1, note. Terrasson, Histoire de la Jurisprudence Romaine, parts i. ii. Rollin, Traité des Etudes, vol. iv. part iii. ch. ii. art. ii. sec. 7. 2 For the laws of Romulus and Numa on religion, see, principally, Dionysius of Halicarn. Antiquit. Rom. lib. ii. cap. vii., xvi., etc. 66 3" A Deorum cultu exorsus, omnia juxta optimos quosque Græcorum ritus instituit. Cæterùm fabulas de ipsis à majoribus traditas, probra eorum continentes ac crimina, improbas censuit, inutilesque ac indecentes, et ne probis quidem viris dignas, nedùm diis superis; repudiatisque his omnibus ad benè ac præclarè de diis sentiendum et loquendum cives suos induxit, nihilque eis affingi passus est quod beatæ illi naturæ parùm esset consentaneum....Etenim ne corruptis quidem his temporibus apud eos videas arreptos numine, aut furorem corybanticum,...non Bacchationes et secretos mysteriorum ritus, non virorum cum faminis in templis pervigilia, non alia his similia prodigia; sed omnia quæ ad deos attinent, religiosiùs aguntur ac dicuntur quàm vel apud Græcos, vel apud Barbaros. Et quod omnium maximè miratus sum, quamvis innumeræ nationes in eam urbem convenerint, quibus necesse sit deos patrios domestico ritu colere, nulla tamen peregrina sacra sunt recepta publicè, quod multis jam urbibus accidit."-Dion. of Halicarnassus, ibid. cap. vii. n. 3; Leipsic, 1691, fol. vol. i. p. 90. 4 "Romulus, acceptis à deo certis signis, advocatâ concione et indicatis auspiciis, rex omnium consensu declaratur, et morem instituit in posterum, ne quis regnum assumeret, magistratumve iniret, nisi et deus idem probaret, estque hæc auspicii lex apud Romanos longè observata, non solum sub regibus, verùm etiàm sublatâ monarchiâ, in consulum, imperatorum, cæterorumque magistratuum legitimorum comitiis."--Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquit. Rom. cap. ii. n. 6 (p. 81 of the Leipsic edit.) Cicéro, De Divin. lib. i. n. 2 et 48. 5 See the passage from Dionysius of Halicarnassus, cited above. It appears that this wise law of Romulus was not always observed afterwards; for it is were not of noble race, were debarred from ever aspiring to the priesthood,1a rule enforced in Rome, as well as in Greece, until the destruction of Paganism. On this, as on many other points, Numa Pompilius perfected the legislation of his predecessor. He augmented the number of priests and temples, granted them many immunities, and that they might make a deeper impression on the people, he added to the pomp and splendour of the religious ceremonies. During festival days all law proceedings were suspended; slaves were exempted from labour, that they might observe those days religiously; and that all might know the periods at which these festivals occurred, they were ordered to be inscribed on the public calendars. By another law of Numa, it was prohibited to make any statue or image to represent the Deity, because it is a crime, the law declares, to imagine that God has the figure of a beast, or even of a man.1 If it be true, as Plutarch asserts, 3 certain that it was often found necessary to revive it.-Codex Theodos. lib. ix. tit. 16, n. 7; lib. xvi. tit. 10, n. 5. Terrasson, ubi supra, p. 29, 30. "Neque venalia esse voluit sacerdotia, neque sorte distribui; sed lege sanxit ut è singulis curiis legerentur bini annum egressi quinquagesimum, qui virtute ac genere præcellerent cæteros, opesque haberent sufficientes, et integro essent corpore. His non ad certum tempus, sed in omnem vitam eum honorem concessit, immunibus propter ætatem à militiâ, et propter privilegium exemptis ab urbanis molestiis."-Ibid. cap. vii. n. 7 (p. 92 of the Leipsic edition). 2 Prudentius, a Christian poet of the fourth century, alludes to this ancient custom in a hymn composed in honour of St. Lawrence, in which he thus describes the fruit of the death of the holy martyr : "Quidquid Quiritum sueverat Örnare nænias Numæ, Christi frequentans atria, "Ipsa et senatús lumina, Quondam Luperci et Flamines, Prudentius, Peristephanon, Hymn II. v. 517; Biblioth. PP. tom. v. p. 115, col. 1. Beugnot, Hist. de la Destruction du Pagan. vol. i. p. 389. 3 "Feriis jurgia amovento, easque in famulis, operibus patratis, habento. Itaque, ut ita cadat, in annuis amfractibus descriptum esto” (i.e. in anni curriculis et fastis).-Cicero, De Legibus, lib. ii. n. 8. 4 "Hic vetuit Romanis hominis vel bestiæ formam tribuere deo; neque fuit ulla apud eos antè vel picta vel ficta imago dei; sed primos centum sexaginta annos templa extruxerunt et cellas diis, simulacrum per id temporis nullum habuerunt, nefas putantes augustiora exprimere humilioribus, neque aspirari aliter ad deum quàm mente posse."-Plutarch, Life of Numa. (Plutarch's Works, Antwerp edit. 1620, fol. vol. i. p. 65.). |