Chapter XII: The Sacred Marriage (3)

[Sidenote: Suggested origin of the custom.] Plausible as is this solution of the problem, it can scarcely be regarded as satisfactory. Had this been the real origin of the privilege, we should expect to find the Ascension of Christ either plainly enacted, or at least distinctly alluded to in the ceremony; but this, so far as we can learn, was not so. Again, would it not savour of blasphemy to represent the sinless and glorified Redeemer by a ruffian stained with the blackest crimes? Moreover, the part played by the dragon in the legend and in the spectacle seems too important to allow us to explain it away, with Floquet, as a mere symbol of the suppression of paganism by St. Romain. The tale of the conquest of the dragon is older than Christianity, and cannot be explained by it. At Rouen the connexion of St. Romain with the story seems certainly to be late, but that does not prove the story itself to be late also. Judging from the analogy of similar tales elsewhere, we may conjecture that in the Rouen version the criminal represents a victim annually sacrificed to a water-spirit or other fabulous being, while the Christian saint has displaced a pagan hero, who was said to have delivered the victim from death and put an end to the sacrifice by slaying the monster. Thus it seems possible that the custom of annually pardoning a condemned malefactor may have superseded an older practice of treating him as a public scapegoat, who died to save the rest of the people. In the sequel we shall see that such customs have been observed in many lands. It is not incredible that at Rouen a usage of this sort should have survived in a modified shape from pagan times down to the twelfth century, and that the Church should at last have intervened to save the wretch and turn a relic of heathendom to the glory of God and St. Romain. But this explanation of the famous privilege of the _Fierte_ is put forward with a full sense of the difficulties attending it, and with no wish to dogmatise on so obscure a subject.[539]

Footnote 411:

Speaking of the one God who reveals himself in many forms and under
many names, Augustine says: “_Ipse in aethere sit Jupiter, ipse in
aëre Juno, ipse in mare Neptunus ... Liber in vineis, Ceres in
frumentis, Diana in silvis_,” etc. (_De civitate Dei_, iv. 11).

Footnote 412:

Servius on Virgil, _Georg._ iii. 332: “_Nam, ut diximus, et omnis
quercus Jovi est consecrata, et omnis lucus Dianae._”

Footnote 413:

W. H. Roscher, _Lexikon der griech. und röm. Mythologie_, i. 1005; H.
Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae selectae_, Nos. 3266-3268.

Footnote 414:

Dittenberger, _Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum_, 2nd Ed., No. 568; Ch.
Michel, _Recueil d’inscriptions grecques_, No. 686; E. S. Roberts,
_Introduction to Greek Epigraphy_, ii., No. 139.

Footnote 415:

Dittenberger, _op. cit._ No. 653, lines 79 _sqq._; Ch. Michel, _op.
cit._, No. 694. As to the grove see Pausanias, iv. 33. 4 _sq._

Footnote 416:

Dittenberger, _op. cit._, No. 929, lines 80 _sqq._ Compare _id._ No.
569; Pausanias, ii. 28. 7.

Footnote 417:

H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae selectae_, No. 4911.

Footnote 418:

Cato, _De agri cultura_, 139.

Footnote 419:

Varro, _De lingua Latina_, v. 85, ed. C. O. Müller; Pliny, _Nat.
Hist._ xviii. 6.

Footnote 420:

G. Henzen, _Acta Fratrum Arvalium_ (Berlin, 1874), pp. 136-143; H.
Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae selectae_, ii., Nos. 5042, 5043, 5045,
5046, 5048.

Footnote 421:

Ovid, _Fasti_, iv. 749-755.

Footnote 422:

Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xii. 3.

Footnote 423:

Seneca, _Epist._ iv. 12. 3. See further L. Preller, _Römische
Mythologie_, 3rd Ed., i. 108 _sqq._ For evidence of the poets he
refers to Virgil, _Georg._ iii. 332 _sqq._; Tibullus, i. 1. 11; Ovid,
_Amores_, iii. 1. 1 _sq._

Footnote 424:

On Diana as a huntress see H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae
selectae_, Nos. 3257-3266. For indications of her care for domestic
cattle see Livy, i. 45; Plutarch, _Quaestiones Romanae_, 4; and above,
vol. i. p. 7.

Footnote 425:

Virgil, _Aen._, viii. 600 _sq._, with Servius’s note.

Footnote 426:

M. A. Castren, _Vorlesungen über die finnische Mythologie_ (St.
Petersburg, 1853), pp. 92-99.

Footnote 427:

P. v. Stenin, “Über den Geisterglauben in Russland,” _Globus_, lvii.
(1890), p. 283.

Footnote 428:

J. Abercromby, _The Pre- and Proto-historic Finns_ (London, 1898), i.
161.

Footnote 429:

Mathias Michov, “De Sarmatia Asiana atque Europea,” in _Novus Orbis
regionum ac insularum veteribus incognitarum_, p. 457.

Footnote 430:

C. Snouck Hurgronje, _Het Gajōland en zijne Bewoners_ (Batavia, 1903),
pp. 351, 359.

Footnote 431:

See vol. i. p. 14.

Footnote 432:

Arrian, _Cynegeticus_, 33 _sq._

Footnote 433:

The Galatians retained their Celtic speech as late as the fourth
century of our era, for Jerome says that in his day their language
hardly differed from that of the Treveri, a Celtic tribe on the
Moselle, whose name survives in _Treves_. See Jerome, _Commentar. in
Epist. ad Galatas_, lib. ii. praef. (Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, vol.
xxvi. col. 357).

Footnote 434:

See below, p. 363.

Footnote 435:

H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae selectae_, No. 4633; Ihm,
in Pauly-Wissowa’s _Real-Encyclopädie der classischen
Altertumswissenschaft_, ii. 616, _s.v._ “Arduinna”; compare _id._ i.
104, _s.v._ “Abnoba.”

Footnote 436:

F. S. Krauss, _Volksglaube und religiöser Brauch der Südslaven_
(Münster i. W., 1890), p. 125.

Footnote 437:

J. H. Schmitz, _Sitten und Bräuche, Lieder, Sprüchwörter und Räthsel
des Eifler Volkes_ (Treves, 1856-1858), i. 42 _sq._; A. Kuhn und W.
Schwartz, _Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche_, pp. 393 _sq._;
Ch. Beauquier, _Les Mois en Franche-Comté_ (Paris, 1900), p. 90. In
Sweden and parts of Germany cattle are crowned on the day in spring
when they are first driven out to pasture, which is sometimes at
Whitsuntide (A. Kuhn, _Die Herabkunft des Feuers_, 2nd Ed., pp. 163
_sq._; L. Lloyd, _Peasant Life in Sweden_, pp. 246 _sq._; A. Kuhn,
_Märkische Sagen und Märchen_, pp. 315 sq., 327 _sq._; P. Drechsler,
_Sitte, Brauch und Volksglaube in Schlesien_, i. 123). Amongst the
Romans cattle were crowned at the Ambarvalia (Tibullus, ii. 1. 7
_sq._; Ovid, _Fasti_, i. 663); and asses and mill-stones were crowned
at Vesta’s festival on the ninth of June (Propertius, v. 1. 21; Ovid,
_Fasti_, vi. 311 _sq._). The original motive of all these customs may
have been the one indicated in the text. Perhaps the same explanation
might be found to apply to certain other cases of wearing wreaths or
crowns.

Footnote 438:

Tettau und Temme, _Die Volkssagen Ostpreussens, Litthauens und
Westpreussens_, pp. 263 _sq._; A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, _Norddeutsche
Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche_, p. 392; Reinsberg-Düringsfeld, _Das
festliche Jahr_, p. 181; _id._, _Calendrier belge_, i. 423 _sq._; A.
Birlinger, _Volksthümliches aus Schwaben_, i. p. 278, § 437; R. Eisel,
_Sagenbuch des Voigtlandes_, p. 210; F. J. Wiedemann, _Aus dem inneren
und äusseren Leben der Ehsten_, p. 363; F. S. Krauss, _Volksglaube und
religiöser Brauch der Südslaven_, p. 128.

Footnote 439:

See above, pp. 52-55.

Footnote 440:

In Nepaul a festival known as Khichâ Pûjâ is held, at which worship is
offered to dogs, and garlands of flowers are placed round the necks of
every dog in the country (W. Crooke, _Popular Religion and Folk-lore
of Northern India_, Westminster, 1896, ii. 221). But as the custom is
apparently not limited to hunting dogs, the explanation suggested
above would hardly apply.

Footnote 441:

Catullus, xxxiv. 9-20; Cicero, _De natura deorum_, ii. 26. 68 _sq._;
Varro, _De lingua Latina_, v. 68 _sq._ It deserves to be remembered
that Diana’s day was the thirteenth of August, which in general would
be the time when the splendid harvest moon was at the full. Indian
women in Peru used to pray to the moon to grant them an easy delivery.
See P. J. de Arriaga, _Extirpacion de la idolatria del Piru_ (Lima,
1621), p. 32.

Footnote 442:

See above, vol. i. p. 12.

Footnote 443:

In like manner the Greeks conceived of the goddess Earth as the mother
not only of corn but of cattle and of human offspring. See the Homeric
_Hymn to Earth_ (No. 30).

Footnote 444:

Strabo, iv. 1. 4 and 5, pp. 179 _sq._ The image on the Aventine was
copied from that at Marseilles, which in turn was copied from the one
at Ephesus.

Footnote 445:

Tacitus, _Annals_, xii. 8. The Romans feared that the marriage of
Claudius with his paternal cousin Agrippina, which they regarded as
incest, might result in some public calamity (Tacitus, _Annals_, xii.
5).

Footnote 446:

See above, pp. 107 _sqq._

Footnote 447:

See above, vol. i. pp. 20 _sq._, 40.

Footnote 448:

Herodotus, i. 181 _sq._

Footnote 449:

M. Jastrow, _Religion of Babylonia and Assyria_, pp. 117 _sq._; L. W.
King, _Babylonian Mythology and Religion_, pp. 18, 21.

Footnote 450:

H. Winckler, _Die Gesetze Hammurabis_ 2nd Ed., (Leipsic, 1903), p. 31
§ 182. The expression is translated “votary of Marduk” by Mr C. H. W.
Johns (_Babylonian and Assyrian Laws, Contracts, and Letters_,
Edinburgh, 1904, p. 60). “The votary of Marduk is the god’s wife vowed
to perpetual chastity, and is therefore distinct from the devotees of
Ištar. Like the ordinary courtesan, these formed a separate class and
enjoyed special privileges” (S. A. Cook, _The Laws of Moses and the
Code of Hammurabi_, London, 1903, p. 148).

Footnote 451:

M. Jastrow, _op. cit._ pp. 42 _sq._

Footnote 452:

C. Johnston in _Journal of the American Oriental Society_, xviii.
First Half (1897), pp. 153-155; R. F. Harper, _Assyrian and Babylonian
Literature_ (New York, 1901), p. 249. For the equivalence of Iyyar or
Airu with May see _Encyclopaedia Biblica_, _s.v._ “Months,” iii. coll.
3193 _sq._

Footnote 453:

Herodotus, i. 182.

Footnote 454:

G. Maspero, in _Journal des Savants_, année 1899, pp. 401-406; A.
Moret, _Du caractère religieux de la royauté Pharaonique_ (Paris,
1902), pp. 48-73; A. Wiedemann, _Herodots zweites Buch_ (Leipsic,
1890), pp. 268 sq. M. Moret shares the view of Prof. Maspero that the
pictures, or rather painted reliefs, were copied from masquerades in
which the king and other men and women figured as gods and goddesses.
As to the Egyptian doctrine of the spiritual double or external soul
(_Ka_), see A. Wiedemann, _The Ancient Egyptian Doctrine of the
Immortality of the Soul_ (London, 1895), pp. 10 _sqq._

Footnote 455:

A. Erman, _Die ägyptische Religion_ (Berlin, 1905), pp. 75, 165 _sq._;
compare _id._, _Ägypten und ägyptisches Leben im Altertum_, pp. 400
_sq._ As to the ghostly rule of the high priests of Ammon at Thebes
see further G. Maspero, _Histoire ancienne des peuples de l’Orient
classique, les premières mêlées des peuples_ (Paris, 1897), pp. 559
_sqq._; J. H. Breasted, _A History of the Ancient Egyptians_ (London,
1908), pp. 350 _sq._, 357 _sq._; C. P. Tiele, _Geschichte der Religion
im Altertum_, i. (Gotha, 1896), p. 66.

Footnote 456:

Strabo, xvii. 1. 46, p. 816.

Footnote 457:

Diodorus Siculus, _Bibliotheca_, i. 47.

Footnote 458:

Plutarch, _Quaestiones conviviales_, viii. 1. 6 sq.; id., _Numa_, 4.

Footnote 459:

Servius on Virgil, _Aen._ iv. 143. Compare Horace, _Odes_, iii. 62
_sqq._

Footnote 460:

Herodotus, i. 182.

Footnote 461:

Pausanias, viii. 13. 1. As to the meaning of the title Essen see
Callimachus, _Hymn to Zeus_, 16; Hesychius, Suidas, and _Etymologicum
Magnum_, _s.v._ Ἕσσην. The ancients mistook the Queen bee for a male,
and hence spoke of King bees. See Aristotle, _Histor. animal._ v. 21
_sq._, ix. 40, pp. 553, 623 _sqq._, ed. Bekker; id., _De animalium
generatione_, iii. 10, p. 760, ed. Bekker; Aelian, _Nat. animal._ i.
10, v. 10 _sq._; Virgil, _Georg._ iv. 21, 68; W. Walter-Tornow, _De
apium mellisque apud veteres significatione_ (Berlin, 1894), pp. 30
_sqq._ The Essenes or King Bees are not to be confounded with the
nominal kings (_Basileis_) of Ephesus, who probably held office for
life. See above, vol. i. p. 47.

Footnote 462:

J. T. Wood, _Discoveries at Ephesus, Inscriptions from the Temple of
Diana_, pp. 2, 14; _Inscriptions from the Augusteum_, p. 4;
_Inscriptions from the City and Suburbs_, p. 38.

Footnote 463:

See B. V. Head, _Coins of Ephesus_ (London, 1880), and above, vol. i.
pp. 37 _sq._ Modern writers sometimes assert that the priestesses of
the Ephesian Artemis were called Bees. Certain other Greek priestesses
were undoubtedly called Bees, and it seems not improbable that the
priestesses of the Ephesian Artemis bore the same title and
represented the goddess in her character of a bee. But no ancient
writer, so far as I know, affirms it. See my note on Pausanias, viii.
13. 1.

Footnote 464:

Demosthenes, _Contra Neaer._ 73-78, pp. 1369-1371; Aristotle,
_Constitution of Athens_, iii. 5; Hesychius, _s.vv._ Διονύσου γάμος
and γεραραί; _Etymologicum Magnum_, _s.v._ γεραῖραι; Pollux, viii.
108; K. F. Hermann, _Gottesdienstliche Alterthümer_, 2nd Ed., § 32.
15, § 58. 11 _sqq._; Aug. Mommsen, _Feste der Stadt Athen im Altertum_
(Leipsic, 1898), pp. 391 _sqq._ From Demosthenes, _l.c._, compared
with Thucydides, ii. 15, it seems certain that the oath was
administered by the Queen at the time and place mentioned in the text.
Formerly it was assumed that her marriage to Dionysus was celebrated
at the same place and time; but the assumption as to the place was
disproved by the discovery of Aristotle’s _Constitution of Athens_,
and with it the assumption as to the time falls to the ground. As the
Greek months were commonly named after the festivals which were held
in them, it is tempting to conjecture that the sacred marriage took
place in the Marriage Month (_Gamelion_), answering to our January.
But more probably that month was named after the sacred marriage of
Zeus and Hera, which was celebrated at Athens and elsewhere. See
below, p. 143. This is the view of W. H. Roscher (_Juno und Hera_, p.
73, n. 217) and Aug. Mommsen (_Feste der Stadt Athen_, p. 383). From
the name Cattle-stall, applied to the scene of the marriage, Miss J.
E. Harrison ingeniously conjectured that in the rite Dionysus may have
been represented as a bull (_Prolegomena to the Study of Greek
Religion_, p. 537). The conjecture was anticipated by Prof. U. von
Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, _Aristoteles und Athen_ (Berlin, 1893), ii.
42. Dionysus was often conceived by the Greeks in the form of a bull.

Footnote 465:

Above, pp. 92 _sq._

Footnote 466:

L. Preller, _Ausgewählte Aufsätze_ (Berlin, 1864), pp. 293-296;
compare his _Griechische Mythologie_, 4th ed., ed. C. Robert, i. 681
_sqq._

Footnote 467:

Hyginus, _Astronomica_, i. 5.

Footnote 468:

Tertullian, _Ad nationes_, ii. 7, “_Cur rapitur sacerdos Cereris si
non tale Ceres passa est?_” Asterius Amasenus, _Encomium in sanctos
martyres_, in Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, xl. col. 324, Οὐκ ἐκεῖ (at
Eleusis) τὸ καταβάσιον τὸ σκοτεινόν, καὶ αἱ σεμναὶ τοῦ ἱεροφάντου πρὸς
τὴν ἱερείαν συντυχίαι, μόνου πρὸς μόνην; Οὐχ αἱ λαμπάδες σβέννυνται,
καὶ ὁ πολὺς καὶ ἀναρίθμητος δῆμος τὴν σωτηρίαν αὐτῶν εἶναι νομίζουσι
τὰ ἐν τῷ σκότῳ παρὰ τῶν δύο πραττόμενα; Psellus, _Quaenam sunt
Graecorum opiniones de daemonibus_, p. 39. ed. J. F. Boissonade, τὰ δέ
γε μυστήρια τούτων, οἷα αὐτίκα τὰ Ἐλευσίνια, τὸν μυθικὸν ὑποκρίνεται
Δία μιγνύμενον τῇ Δηοῖ, ἤγουν τῇ Δήμητρι ... Ὕποκρίνεται δὲ καὶ τὰς
τῆς Δηοῦς ὠδῖνας. Ἱκετηρίαι γοῦν αὐτίκα Δηοῦς καὶ χολῆς πόσις καὶ
καρδιαλγίαι. Ἐφ’ οἷς καί τι τραγοσκελὲς μίμημα παθαινόμενον περὶ τοῖς
διδύμοις, ὅτιπερ ὁ Ζεύς, δίκας ἀποτιννὺς τῆς βίας τῇ Δήμητρι, τράγου
ὄρχεις ἀποτεμών, τῷ κόλπῳ ταύτης κατέθετο ὥσπερ δὴ καὶ ἑαυτοῦ (compare
Arnobius, _Adversus nationes_, v. 20-23); Schol. on Plato, _Gorgias_,
p. 497 c, Ἐτελεῖτο δὲ ταῦτα (the Eleusinian mysteries) καὶ Δηοῖ καὶ
Κορῇ, ὅτι ταύτην μὲν Πλούτων ἁρπάξειε, Δηοῖ δὲ μιγείη Ζεύς;
Hippolytus, _Refutatio omnium haeresium_, v. 8, pp. 162, 164, ed.
Duncker and Schneidewin, Λέγουσι δὲ αύτον (God), φησί, Φρύγες καὶ
χλοερὸν στάχυν τεθερισμένον, καὶ μετὰ τοὺς Φρύγας Ἀθηναῖοι μυοῦντες
Ἐλευσίνια, καὶ ἐπιδεικνύντες τοῖς ἐποπτεύουσι τὸ μέγα καὶ θαυμαστὸν
καὶ τελειότατον ἐποπτικὸν ἐκεῖ μυστήριον ἐν σιωπῇ, τεθερισμένον
στάχυν. Ὁ δὲ στάχυς οὗτός ἐστι καὶ παρὰ Ἀθηναίοις ὁ παρὰ τοῦ
ἀχαρακτηρίστου φωστὴρ τέλειος μέγας, καθάπερ αὐτὸς ὁ ἱεροφάντης, οὐκ
ἀποκεκομμένος μέν, ὡς ὁ Ἄττις, εὐνουχισμένος δὲ διὰ κωνείου καὶ πᾶσαν
παρῃτημένος τὴν σαρκικὴν γένεσιν, νυκτὸς ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι ὑπὸ πολλῷ πυρὶ
τελῶν τὰ μεγάλα καὶ ἄρρητα μυστήρια βοᾷ καὶ κέκραγε λέγων· ἱερὸν ἔτεκε
πότνια κοῦρον Βριμὼ Βριμόν, τουτέστιν ἰσχυρὰ ἰσχυρόν. In combining and
interpreting this fragmentary evidence I have followed Mr. P. Foucart
(_Recherches sur l’origine et la nature des mystères d’Eleusis_,
Paris, 1895, pp. 48 _sq._; _id._, _Les Grands Mystères d’Eleusis_,
Paris, 1900, p. 69), and Miss J. E. Harrison (_Prolegomena to the
Study of Greek Religion_, pp. 549 _sqq._). In antiquity it was
believed that an ointment or plaster of hemlock applied to the genital
organs prevented them from discharging their function. See
Dioscorides, _De materia medica_, iv. 79; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxv.
154. Dr. J. B. Bradbury, Downing Professor of Medicine in the
University of Cambridge, informs me that this belief is correct.
“Although _conium_ [hemlock] is not used as an anaphrodisiac at the
present day, there can be no doubt that it has this effect. When
rubbed into the skin it depresses sensory nerve-endings and is
absorbed. After absorption it depresses all sympathetic nerve-cells.
Both these effects would tend to diminish organic reflexes such as
aphrodisia” (Dr. W. E. Dixon, Pharmacological Laboratory, Cambridge).
Pausanias seems to imply that the hierophant was forbidden to marry
(ii. 14. 1). It may have been so in his age, the second century of our
era; but an inscription of the first century B.C. shews that at that
time it was lawful for him to take a wife. See P. Foucart, _Les Grands
Mystères d’Eleusis_, pp. 26 _sqq._ (extract from the _Mémoires de
l’Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres_, vol. xxxvii.).

Footnote 469:

Pausanias, ix. 3; Plutarch, quoted by Eusebius, _Praepar. Evang._ iii.
1 _sq._

Footnote 470:

Above, p. 64.

Footnote 471:

Above, p. 66.

Footnote 472:

W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, p. 177.

Footnote 473:

W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_, pp. 177 _sq._

Footnote 474:

J. Brand, _Popular Antiquities_, i. 318 _sq._; W. Mannhardt,
_Baumkultus_, p. 178.

Footnote 475:

W. Hone, _Every Day Book_, ii. 595 _sq._; W. Mannhardt, _Baumkultus_,
p. 178.

Footnote 476:

With regard to Zeus as an oak-god see below, pp. 358 _sq._ Hera
appears with an oak-tree and her sacred bird the peacock perched on it
in a group which is preserved in the Palazzo degli Conservatori at
Rome. In the same group Pallas is represented with her olive-tree and
her owl; so that the conjunction of the oak with Hera cannot be
accidental. See W. Helbig, _Führer durch die öffentlichen Sammlungen
klassischen Altertümer in Rom_ 2nd Ed., (Leipsic, 1899), i. 397, No.
587.

Footnote 477:

Pausanias, viii. 42.

Footnote 478:

At Cnossus in Crete, Diodorus Siculus, v. 72; at Samos, Lactantius,
_Instit._ i. 17 (compare Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, vi. 7); at
Athens, Photius, _Lexicon_, _s.v._ ἱερὸν γάμον; _Etymologicum Magnum_,
_s.v._ ἱερομνήμονες, p. 468. 52. A fragment of Pherecydes relating to
the marriage of Zeus and Hera came to light some years ago. See
Grenfell and Hunt, _New Classical and other Greek and Latin Papyri_
(Oxford, 1897), p. 23; H. Weil, in _Revue des Études grecques_, x.
(1897) pp. 1-9. The subject has been discussed by W. H. Roscher (_Juno
und Hera_, Leipsic, 1875, pp. 72 _sqq._). From the wide prevalence of
the rite he infers that the custom of the sacred marriage was once
common to all the Greek tribes.

Footnote 479:

_Iliad_, xiv. 347 _sqq._ Hera was worshipped under the title of
Flowery at Argos (Pausanias, ii. 22. 1; compare _Etymol. Magn._ _s.v._
Ἄνθεια, p. 108, line 48), and women called Flower-bearers served in
her sanctuary (Pollux, iv. 78). A great festival of gathering flowers
was celebrated by Peloponnesian women in spring (Hesychius, _s.v._
ἠροσάνθεια, compare Photius, _Lexicon_, _s.v._ Ἠροάνθια). The first of
May is still a festival of flowers in Peloponnese. See _Folk-lore_, i.
(1890) pp. 518 _sqq._

Footnote 480:

J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_, 4th ed., i. 176; P. Herrmann,
_Nordische Mythologie_ (Leipsic, 1903), pp. 198 _sqq._, 217, 520, 529;
E. H. Meyer, _Mythologie der Germanen_ (Strasburg, 1903), pp. 366
_sq._ The procession of Frey and his wife in the waggon is doubtless
the same with the procession of Nerthus in a waggon which Tacitus
describes (_Germania_, 40). Nerthus seems to be no other than Freya,
the wife of Frey. See the commentators on Tacitus, _l.c._, and
especially K. Müllenhoff, _Deutsche Altertumskunde_, iv. (Berlin,
1900) pp. 468 _sq._

Footnote 481:

Gregory of Tours, _De gloria confessorum_, 77 (Migne’s _Patrologia
Latina_, lxxi. col. 884). Compare Sulpicius Severus, _Vita S.
Martini_, 12: “_Quia esset haec Gallorum rusticis consuetudo,
simulacra daemonum candido tecta velamine misera per agros suos
circumferre dementia_.”

Footnote 482:

“Passio Sancti Symphoriani,” chs. 2 and 6 (Migne’s _Patrologia
Graeca_, v. 1463, 1466).

Footnote 483:

These crazy wretches castrate men and mutilate women. Hence they are
known as the Skoptsy (“mutilated”). See N. Tsakni, _La Russie
sectaire_, pp. 74 _sqq._

Footnote 484:

As to this feature in the ritual of Cybele, see _Adonis, Attis,
Osiris_, Second Edition, pp. 219 _sqq._

Footnote 485:

Max Buch, _Die Wotjäken_ (Stuttgart, 1882), p. 137.

Footnote 486:

E. A. Gait, in _Census of India, 1901_, vol. vi. part i. p. 190.

Footnote 487:

P. J. de Arriaga, _Extirpacion de la idolatria del Piru_ (Lima, 1621),
p. 20.

Footnote 488:

Father Lacombe, in _Missions Catholiques_, ii. (1869) pp. 359 _sq._

Footnote 489:

_Relations des Jésuites, 1636_, p. 109, and _1639_, p. 95 (Canadian
reprint); Charlevoix, _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_, v. 225;
Chateaubriand, _Voyage en Amérique_ (Paris, 1870), pp. 140-142.

Footnote 490:

Rev. F. Hahn, “Some Notes on the Religion and Superstitions of the
Orāos,” _Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, lxxii. part iii.
(Calcutta, 1904) p. 12. For another account of the ceremonies held by
the Oraons in spring see above, pp. 76 _sq._

Footnote 491:

P. Rascher, “Die Sulka,” _Archiv für Anthropologie_, xxix. (1904) p.
217.

Footnote 492:

W. Crooke, _Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India_
(Westminster, 1896), ii. 118.

Footnote 493:

W. Crooke, _op. cit._ ii. 138.

Footnote 494:

A. B. Ellis, _The Ewe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast_, pp.
139-142.

Footnote 495:

_Adonis, Attis, Osiris_, Second Edition, pp. 58 _sq._

Footnote 496:

Sir Harry Johnston, _The Uganda Protectorate_ (London, 1902), ii. 677.

Footnote 497:

From notes sent to me by Mr. A. C. Hollis, 21st May 1908.

Footnote 498:

J. G. Scott and J. P. Hardiman, _Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan
States_, part ii. vol. i. (Rangoon, 1901) p. 439.

Footnote 499:

E. W. Lane, _Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians_ (Paisley and
London, 1895), chap. xxvi. p. 500. The authority for the statement is
the Arab historian Makrizi.

Footnote 500:

_The North China Herald_, 4th May 1906, p. 235.

Footnote 501:

G. A. Wilken, “Het animisme bij de volken van den Indischen Archipel,”
_De Indische Gids_, June 1884, p. 994 (referring to Veth, _Het eiland
Timor_, p. 21); A. Bastian, _Indonesien_, ii. (Berlin, 1885) p. 8.

Footnote 502:

A. Bastian, _op. cit._ p. 11.

Footnote 503:

A. Bastian, _Indonesien_, i. (Berlin, 1884) p. 134.

Footnote 504:

_Voyages d’Ibn Batoutah, texte arabe, accompagné d’une traduction_,
par C. Defrémery et B. R. Sanguinetti (Paris, 1853-1858), iv. 126-130.

Footnote 505:

The Thanda Pulayans, on the west coast of India, think that the
phosphorescence on the surface of the sea indicates the presence of
the spirits of their ancestors, who are fishing in the backwaters. See
E. Thurston, _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_, p. 293. Similarly
the Sulkas of New Britain fancy that the mysterious glow comes from
souls bathing in the water. See P. Rascher, “Die Sulka,” _Archiv für
Anthropologie_, xxix. (1904) p. 216.

Footnote 506:

For a list of these tales, with references to the authorities, see my
note on Pausanias, ix. 26. 7. To the examples there referred to add I.
V. Zingerle, _Kinder- und Hausmärchen aus Tirol_, Nos. 8, 21, 35, pp.
35 _sqq._, 100 _sqq._, 178 _sqq._; G. F. Abbott, _Macedonian
Folk-lore_, pp. 270 _sqq._ This type of story has been elaborately
investigated by Mr. E. S. Hartland (_The Legend of Perseus_, London,
1894-1896), but he has not discussed the custom of the sacred
marriage, on which the story seems to be founded.

Footnote 507:

Note on Pausanias, ix. 10. 5.

Footnote 508:

Spencer and Gillen, _Northern Tribes of Central Australia_, pp. 226
_sqq._

Footnote 509:

R. Salvado, _Mémoires historiques sur l’Australie_ (Paris, 1854), p.
262.

Footnote 510:

H. Ternaux-Compans, _Essai sur l’ancien Cundinamarca_, pp. 6 _sq._

Footnote 511:

H. Coudreau, _Chez nos Indiens_ (Paris, 1895), pp. 303 _sq._

Footnote 512:

C. Lumholtz, _Unknown Mexico_ (London, 1903), ii. 57.

Footnote 513:

C. Lumholtz, _op. cit._ i. 402 _sq._

Footnote 514:

T. I. Fairclough, “Notes on the Basutos,” _Journal of the African
Society_, No. 14, January 1905, p. 201.

Footnote 515:

To the examples given in my note on Pausanias viii. 7. 2, add Ph.
Paulitschke, _Ethnographie Nordost-Afrikas, die geistige Cultur
der Danâkil, Galla und Somâl_ (Berlin, 1896), pp. 46, 50; “De
Dajaks op Borneo,” _Mededeelingen van wege het Nederlandsche
Zendelinggenootschap_, xiii. (1869) p. 72; A. D’Orbigny, _Voyage
dans l’Amérique Méridionale_, ii. 93, 160 (see above, pp. 16
_sq._); F. Blumentritt, “Über die Eingeborenen der Insel Palawan
und der Inselgruppe der Talamianen,” _Globus_, lix. (1891) p. 167;
W. Crooke, _Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India_
(Westminster, 1896), i. 46; Father Guillemé, in _Annales de la
Propagation de la Foi_, lx. (1888) p. 252.

Footnote 516:

W. F. W. Owen, _Narrative of Voyages to explore the Shores of Africa,
Arabia, and Madagascar_ (London, 1833), ii. 354 _sq._

Footnote 517:

H. Goldie, _Calabar and its Mission_, New Edition (Edinburgh and
London, 1901), p. 43.

Footnote 518:

_Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xxxiii. (1861) p. 152.

Footnote 519:

Father Guillemé, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, lx. (1888)
p. 253.

Footnote 520:

Brasseur de Bourbourg, _Histoire des nations civilisées du Mexique et
de l’Amérique-Centrale_, i. 327 _sq._

Footnote 521:

E. Aymonier, “Les Tchames et leurs religions,” _Revue de l’histoire
des religions_, xxiv. (1891) p. 213.

Footnote 522:

W. Robertson Smith, _Religion of the Semites_, 2nd Ed., pp. 96-104.

Footnote 523:

S. I. Curtiss, _Primitive Semitic Religion To-day_ (Chicago, 1902), p.
117.

Footnote 524:

S. I. Curtiss, _op. cit._ p. 119.

Footnote 525:

W. Crooke, _Popular Religion and Folk-lore of Northern India_
(Westminster, 1896), ii. 50 _sq._, 225 _sq._

Footnote 526:

_Census of India, 1901_, vol. xvii., _Punjab_, p. 164.

Footnote 527:

W. Crooke, _Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and
Oudh_, iv. 425. As to the sect of the Maharajas, see above, vol. i.
pp. 406 _sq._

Footnote 528:

Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xxxi. 8.

Footnote 529:

S. I. Curtiss, _Primitive Semitic Religion To-day_, pp. 116 _sq._;
Mrs. H. H. Spoer, “The Powers of Evil in Jerusalem,” _Folk-lore_,
xviii. (1907) p. 55; A. Jaussen, _Coutumes des Arabes au pays de Moab_
(Paris, 1908), p. 360.

Footnote 530:

J. M. Mackinlay, _Folk-lore of Scottish Lochs and Springs_ (Glasgow,
1893), p. 112.

Footnote 531:

A. C. Haddon and C. R. Browne, “The Ethnography of the Aran Islands,”
_Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy_, ii. (1893), p. 819.

Footnote 532:

R. C. Hope, _The Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells of England_ (London,
1893), p. 122.

Footnote 533:

R. C. Hope, _op. cit._ pp. 107 _sq._

Footnote 534:

See, for example, Pausanias, ii. 15. 5, v. 7. 2 _sq._, vi. 22. 9, vii.
23. 1 _sq._, viii. 43. 1, ix. 1. 1 _sq._, ix. 34. 6 and 9.

Footnote 535:

Sophocles, _Trachiniae_, 6 _sqq._ The combat of Hercules with the
bull-shaped river-god in presence of Dejanira is the subject of a
red-figured vase painting. See Miss J. E. Harrison, _Prolegomena to
the Study of Greek Religion_ 2nd Ed., (Cambridge, 1908), Fig. 133, p.
434.

Footnote 536:

Aeschines, _Epist._ x. The letters of Aeschines are spurious, but
there is no reason to doubt that the custom here described was
actually observed.

Footnote 537:

See the evidence collected by Mr. Floyd G. Ballentine, “Some Phases of
the Cult of the Nymphs,” _Harvard Studies in Classical Philology_, xv.
(1904) pp. 97 _sqq._

Footnote 538:

F. Panzer, _Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie_, i. 107-110, ii. 550. At
Ragusa in Sicily an enormous effigy of a dragon, with movable tail and
eyes, is carried in procession on St. George’s Day (April 23rd); and
along with it two huge sugar loaves, decorated with flowers, figure in
the procession. At the end of the festival these loaves are broken
into little bits, and every farmer puts one of the pieces in his sowed
fields to ensure a good crop. See G. Pitrè, _Feste patronali in
Sicilia_ (Turin and Palermo, 1900), pp. 323 _sq._ In this custom the
fertility charm remains, though the marriage ceremony appears to be
absent. As to the mummers’ play of St. George, see E. K. Chambers,
_The Mediaeval Stage_ (Oxford, 1903), i. 205 _sqq._; A. Beatty, “The
St. George, or Mummers’, Plays,” _Transactions of the Wisconsin
Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters_, xv. part ii. (October, 1906)
pp. 273-324. A separate copy of the latter work was kindly sent to me
by the author.

Footnote 539:

See F. N. Taillepied, _Recueil des Antiquitez et singularitez de la
ville de Rouen_ (Rouen, 1587), pp. 93-105; A. Floquet, _Histoire du
privilége de Saint Romain_ (2 vols. 8vo, Rouen, 1833). Briefer notices
of the custom and legend will be found in A. Bosquet’s _La Normandie
romanesque et merveilleuse_ (Paris and Rouen, 1845), pp. 405-409; and
A. de Nore’s _Coutumes, mythes, et traditions des provinces de France_
(Paris and Lyons, 1846), pp. 245-250. The gilt _fierte_, or portable
shrine of St. Romain, is preserved in the Chapter Library of the
Cathedral at Rouen, where I saw it in May 1902. It is in the form of a
chapel, on the roof of which the saint stands erect, trampling on the
winged dragon, while the condemned prisoner kneels in front of him.
This, however, is not the original shrine, which was so decayed that
in 1776 the Chapter decided to replace it by another. See Floquet,
_op. cit._ ii. 338-346. The custom of carrying the dragons in
procession was stopped in 1753 because of its tendency to impair the
solemnity of the ceremony (Floquet, _op. cit._ ii. 301). Even more
famous than the dragon of Rouen was the dragon of Tarascon, an effigy
of which used to be carried in procession on Whitsunday. See A. de
Nore, _op. cit._ pp. 47 _sqq._ As to other French dragons see P.
Sébillot, _Le Folk-lore de France_, i. (Paris, 1904) pp. 468-470.