XVI.—Memoranda on the question of the Use of Hitman Sacrifices among the Romans. By "WILLIAM BODHAM DONNE, Esq.: in a Letter to the Earl Stanhope, President.
Read Feb. 18th, 1864.
MY LORD, IN the volume of " Miscellanies," which has recently appeared under the able editing of your Lordship, are some remarks by Lord Macaulay, Sir Robert Peel, and yourself, on the Use of Human Sacrifices by the Romans. These remarks, which I have read with great interest, lead me to turn to various passages in classical authors that bear on the subject. The result of my inquiry I take the liberty of forwarding to your Lordship. I have not attempted to make any selection of the extracts, and, as I have no theory to sup- port, I must request your Lordship to consider them merely materials for the use of some one with more leisure and greater ability than myself. Believe me to be, my Lord, Yours faithfully, To the Right Hon. the Earl Stanhope, W. B. DONNE. &c. &c. &c.
" The idea of human sacrifice," Mr. Helps remarks in his " Spanish Conquest of America,"* " as pleasing to the gods, being once adopted in moments of victory, doubt, or humiliation, is soon developed. The evil practice becomes a system, and partakes of the strength of all systems, taking root among the interests, the pas- sions, and the pleasures of mankind. And thenceforward he will be a bold man, and, rarer still, a thinker, who shall lift himself above the moral atmosphere of his nation, and shall say, This thing which all consent in, and which I have known from my youth upward, is wrong." "We might naturally expect that civilisation, at a very early stage, would abolish
a Vol. ii. p. 340. On the Use of Human Sacrifices among the Homans. 251 such a practice, and establish a conviction that the life of a man not being a criminal must be more acceptable to the gods, and more useful to his fellow- creatures, than his death. But the reverse is often found to be the case. Mexico, at the time of the Spanish Conquest, had advanced in the arts of life as far as Greece at the time of Solon, as far as Rome in the time of the Kings or early Consuls, and further than Europe in the age of Charlemagne, although Europe had inherited directly the civilisation of Home, and mediately that of Greece also. Carthage again, in the Second Punic War, was more civilised than Rome or Mexico at those respective periods. Yet we know that both the Aztecs and the Phoenicians of the West offered human life to the gods. The evidence is less clear respecting the Druids: yet by very general consent the Celts in Caesar's time, and probably later, offered human victims; and at that epoch Celtic civilisatiom was at its highest point, both in Gaul and perhaps in Britain. Mr. Helps,* after remarking upon the inconsistency of such a barbarous rite as human sacrifice with " so much civilisation," proceeds to give the theory of it as follows: " When we reflect upon the untoward, disastrous, and ridiculous aspect of human life—how, for instance, little things done or neglected at an immature period have so fatal an influence throughout a life-time—when we behold the successful iniquity, the immense injustice, and the singular infelicity which often beset the most inno- cent of men—nay further, when we see the spitefulness of nature (for so it seems unless profoundly understood)—when we consider the great questions of human life, such as free will and the origin of evil, which are not explained now, but only agreed to be postponed in humble hopefulness, and which, in the earlier periods of the world's history, exercised to the full their malign discouragement— we cannot wonder at the belief in evil deities of great power and supremacy. And then what more natural than to clothe such deities with the worst attributes of bad men, and to suppose that they must be approached with servility and appeased by suffering ? Then further, what more natural than to offer to such gods of the best upon earth, namely, our fellow-men ?" " It must not be forgotten there was often a friendly feeling towards the per- sons sacrificed, and in some cases they were looked upon as messengers to the gods, and charged with distinct messages." It is accordingly a curious question how far human sacrifice is consistent with a civilised state, and in what nations and under what conditions it has prevailed;
• Vol. ii. p. 339. 2K2 252 On the Use of Human Sacrifices among the Romans. whether it originated among migratory hunters and shepherds, or whether among the stationary tillers of the soil, and after commerce had led to the building of markets and havens. It may very likely be impossible to arrive at any positive conclusion, still less to discover any governing law. In the following extracts, a selection is not attempted; but they may be of some use as materials for deter- mining the doubt so far as the Romans are concerned. In the volume of " Miscellanies "p. 114, Lord Stanhope writes— " In the face of such a passage as that from Suetonius, &c, it is not easy to contend that the occasional practice of human sacrifice was entirely unknown even to the contemporaries and the friends of Cicero." Tertullian {adv. Gnost. c. 7) is equally positive. He says, "Et Latio in hodiernum Jovi media in urbe humanus sanguis ingustatur." With regard, however, to the passage of Suetonius (August. 15), I submit that the sacrifice was offered, not at Rome or on the Alban Mount, but at Perusia, and to the manes of Julius Caesar, not to Jupiter Latiaris. Seneca (de Clement, ii. c. 11) calls the altars " Perusinas aras." Appian (Bell. Civ. v. 48, and Velleius, ii. 74) assert that the massacre at Perusia was not a solemn act of Octavianus "in vindictam patris," but committed by the infuriated soldiery on the garrison. (See Propert. v. [iv.] el. 1) for the instance of the dying Gallus.) Had the sacrifice been at Rome, the words " ad aram D. Julii exstructam " would, I think, have been "ad aram D. Julii"—as of an altar previously known and recognised. There was a " columna D. Julii" at Rome (Sueton. Jul. 85); but I know not of an ara, although some of the provincials, the Jews especially, paid Caesar "post obitum" honours at the base of this column. Perusia was taken early in B.C. 40. The ides of March, the death-day of Julius, might be appropriately chosen for decimation of the rebels. (See Dio Cass. xlviii. 14.) The ara may have been raised for the occasion (a recens ara of turf. Propert. v. el. 6, v. 7). Nothing was so unpalatable to Romans as a triumph over Romans. They looked coldly on, and mourned inwardly over the triumphs of Julius " De Pompeio," of Augustus " De Antonio." What would they have said and thought of a holocaust of cives (iWei? rerpaicocnoi. KUI fiovkevral a\\ot, Dio Cass. I. c.) in the Capitol itself? [Comp. id. xlii. 24.] Cicero (Pro Milone, xxxi.) insinuates that P. Clodius was a victim rightfully offered to Jupiter Latiaris. " Vestro in conspectu serse, sed justse tamen et debit® pcense solutae sunt." Human sacrifices were forbidden by a decree of the Senate, B.C. 97, for the first time (Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxx. i. § 3): "Exstant certe et apud Italas gentes vestigia On the Use of Human Sacrifices among the Romans. 253
ejus* in duodecim tabulis nostris aliisque argumentis, quse priore volumine ex- posui. DCLVII demum anno urbis, Cn. Cornelio Lentulo, P. Licinio Crasso coss. senatus consultum factum est, ne bomo immolaretur, palamque fuit in tempus illud sacri prodigiosi celebratio:"b Pliny, in the next section (ib.), says, with reference to the suppression of Druidic worship in Gaul: " Nee satis aestimari potest quantum Romanis de- beatur qui sustulere monstra in quibus hominem occidere religiosissimum erat," &c. Augustus and Tiberius prohibited Roman citizens from embracing the Druidical superstition, fearing, indeed, the associations (collegia) of the Druids politically, as well as abhorring their rites religiously (Suetonius, Claud. 25); and Hadrian suppressed human sacrifices at Salamis in Cyprus (Lactant. Inst. i. 21). In very ancient times human victims were offered to the Dii Lares. Macrobius (Saturnal. i. 7) says " Idque aliquamdiu observatum, ut pro familiarium sospitate pueri mactarentur Maniae Dese, Matri Larum; quod sacrificii genus Junius Brutus consul, Tarquinio pulso, aliter constituit celebrandum. Nam capitibus allii et papaveris supplicari jussit, remoto scilicet scelere infaustae sacrificationis." The words vestigia in Pliny, I.e., and aliter in Macrobius, are worth noting; they indicate compensation for a barbarous custom of a remote, if not pre-historic, age. Por vestigia, see the following passages:— I. Ovid, Fasti, ill. 329 et seqq. Constat Aventinse tremuisse cacumina silvas, Terraque subsedit pondere pressa Jovis. Corda micant regis, totoque e pectore sanguis Fugit, et hirsutae diriguere comas. Ut rediit animus, " Da certa piamina," dixit, " Fulminis, altorum rexque paterque deum; " Si tua contigimus manibus donaria puris, " Hoc quoque, quod petitur, si pia lingua rogat." Annuit oranti; sed verum, ambage remota, Abdidit et dubio terruit ore virum. " Cade caput;" dixit; cui Rex " Parebimus," inquit; " Csedenda est hortis eruta cepa meis."
a i.e. " artis magicce;" the sacrifice, therefore, must have been " inter peregrina." It is remarkable that this prohibition of human sacrifices was enacted only nine years after the birth of Cicero, and three after that of Julius Caesar. b Alex, ab Alexandro cites this passage (Dier. Genial, vi. 26), and his commentator, Antonio Tiraquelli, gives some illustrative notes. , 254 On the Use of Human Sacrifices among the Romans.
Addidit hie " Hominis." " Summos," ait ille, " capillos:" Postulat hie " Animam." Cui Numa, " Piscis," ait. Eisit et, " His," inquit, " facito mea tela procures, " 0 vir colloquio non ahigende meo." II. A second instance of compensation may lurk in the " Depontani Senes." Festus, p. 75, ed. Muller: " Depontani Senes appellabantur qui sexagenarii de ponte dejiciebantur." [? as offerings to the Tiber—the deus advena of Propertius and Ovid.] The words de ponte point to the regal period of Rome, since there was then only one bridge, Pons Sublicius. Compare with this Depontani Senes the Argei Homines, Eest. p. 15, s. v. Argei, ed. Muller: " Argeos vocabant scirpeas effigies quae per virgines vest ales annis singulis jaciebantur in Tiberim ? " And Varro, de Ling. Lat. vii. 44, p. 137, ed. Muller: " Argei fiunt e scirpeis, simulacra hominum xxiiii.: ea quotannis de Ponte Sublicio a sacerdotibusa publice dejici solent in Tiberim." Ovid, Fasti, v. 621 et seqq. thus describes the Depontatio simulacrorum— Turn quoque priscorum virgob simulacra virorum Mittere roboreo scirpea ponte solet. Corpora post decies senos qui credidit annos Missa neci, sceleris crimine damnat avos. Fama vetus: turn, quum Saturnia terra vocata est, Talia fatidici dicta fuere dei: " Falcifero libata seni duo corpora, gentes, " Mittite, quae Tuscis excipiantur aquis." Donee in hsec venit Tirynthius0 arva, quotannis Tristia Leucadio sacra peracta modo. Ilium stramineos in aquam misisse Quirites, Herculis exemplo, corpora falsa jaci. Macrobius says {Saturnal. i. 7) that Hercules persuaded the Italian people— " ut faustis sacrifices infausta mutarent, inferentes Diti non hominum capita, sed oscilla ad humanam effigiem arte simulata; et aras Saturnias, non mactando viros, sed accensis luminibus excolentes : quia non solum virum sed et lumina
The word
Ah avafiL-xdevTes SeKaTrjv iicirefi-^raTe /ecu K6 The oracle, however, is of the Alexandrian period and coinage. In the Ver Sacrum of the Sabellian races of Italy we have perhaps the com- pensation for an earlier and more cruel sacrifice. Festus, s. "Ver Sacrum," p. 379, ed. Miiller: "Ver Sacrum vovendi mos fuit Italis. Magnis enim periculis adducti vovebant, quaecunque proximo vere nata essent apud se, animalia immolaturos. Sed quum crudele videretur pueros ac puellas innocentes interficere, perductos in adultam aetatem velabant [this veil- ing of the victims looks sacrificial] atque ita extra fines suos exigebant." See Servius ad iEneid. vii. 796, " Sacranae acies "—bands of men condemned to die, whose death was commuted by exile. May not the following passages point to a time when the Italian religion had somewhat of a Mexican complexion ? Pliny (Nat. Hist, xxxiii. c. vii. 36) says that on certain days of the year the image of Jupiter was coloured with vermilion: " Enumerat auctores Verrius, qui- bus credere necesse sit, Jovis ipsius simulacri faciem diebus festis minio illini solitam triumphantiumque corpora—sic Camillum triumphasse. Hac religione etiam nunc addi in unguenta coenae triumphalis et a censoribus in primis Jovem mvniandum locari." May not the minium have been a memento of the actual blood- sprinkling of earlier ages, like that mentioned by Cyprian, (if he indeed be the author of the letter,) in his Epistola de Spectaculis, p. 3 ? " Plura prosequi quid est necesse, vel sacrificiorum in ludis genera monstrosa describere ? inter quse nonnunquam et homo fit hostia latrocinio sacerdotis; dum cruor etiam de jugulo calidus acceptus patera, dum adhuc fervet quasi sitienti idolo in faciem jactatus propinatur." On the other hand, Plutarch {Nwma, c. 16, p. 267, c, and Qucest. Roman, sec. 15) speaks of the bloodless sacrifices of the Romans at a very early period. He says: Kai dvovenv avrm Srjfiocria /cat ISia Kara TOV? TS>V cvypmv 7repiopicrfiov<;,a vvv fiev efi^v^a, TO iraXcubv Be avai/iatcro? r)v 17 Ovala, Nou/ta Trepiopurnoix;- The Ambarvalia described by Tibullus, ii. el. 1. 256 On the ZTse of Human Sacrifices among the Ilomans. the reason for the bloodless sacrifice is the same as that assigned in the Life of Numa. Horace ascribes tlie cessation from bloody rites to a mythic age : " Silvestres homines sacer interpresque deorum Ccedibus et victu fcedo deterruit Orpheus; Dictus ob hoc lenire tigres rabidosque leones."—A. P. 392. Of human sacrifices in Italy and the Iloman provinces I find the following notices ; no doubt many more exist. Epiphanius (adv. Hceres. lib. iii. torn. ii. p. 1055, ed. Petavio) : eV yap roh Swa>o«, rovrecTTiv ev rfj vvvl ^SeairoKet,, dvaiai, oi i'm^mpioi reXovcnv et? ovofia IT}? Koprjt;, $>jdev e/c irpotpd- creeo? T?)? 0uyarpb * These are passages referred to by Mr. Holden in his edition of Minutius Felix (Camb. 1853), on the subject of Jupiter Latiaris. (Minut. Felix, c. xxi. s. 15.)6de, TJJ? irore irpoaeve'yjdeiar}^ TG> 6ea> els Ovala?. Lactantius (Inst. i. 21): " Apud Cyprios humanam hostiam Jovi Teucrus immolavit, idque sacrificium posteris tradidit, quod est nuper, Hadriano impe- rante, sublatum." Apollonius of ^ana' (Philostratus, Apollonii Vita, vii. 20) was accused of offering a boy to procure good omens for Nerva—fyaalv, e? aypbv fiaSco-aura ere irapa Nepoiav refielu avra> iralha 'ApicdSa, OvofjAva ye ivr! TOP ftaaiXia /cal eirapai dvrbv—et? T^V T^? avroicpaTelas 'i\.iruha—rot? kpoh TOVTOK. Apollonius (ib. viii. 5, sec. 11) seems to me to say, in his defence against this charge, that, if he killed the boy, he also ate him. Of the patristic testimony I may quote the following:— Tatian (Orat. adv. Grcec. s. 29) says that his belief in heathenism was first shaken after witnessing—-jrapa fiev 'Pa>fiaioi,<; rbv Aandpuov At'a Xvdpois dvOpmirav ical Tot? dirb TWV dvBpoKTacriwv aifiaai Tepirofievov. Arnobius (adv. Gentes, ii. p. 91) : " cum ex Apollinis monitu patri Diti ac Saturno humanis capitibus supplicaretur." To these may be added the following passages :a — Justin Martyr, Apol. ii. c. 12; Theophilus, ad Autol. ii. 8, p. 165; Tertullian, Apol. c. ix.; Scorp. c. viii.; Athanasius, c. Gent. c. xxv.; Porphyry, -n-epl a7ro^»5? ap. Euscb. Prsep. Evang. 1, 16.