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Cook, Arthur B.
Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky — Cambridge, 1914

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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0357

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Nemesis

283

These are no gods ye worship : false the claim
Their priests put forward. 'Tis the priests themselves
Ye worship with vain fears. Nay, if thou art wise,
Flee even now the sanctuaries of death1.

A decree of Honorius and Theodosius, dated 412 A.D., after pro-
viding for the recall of runaway slaves, deals with several societies
and sects among which runaway slaves might be sought. One such
sect is that of the Nemesiaci or fanatic followers of Nemesis2. They
are mentioned again, and for the last time, about the middle of the
fifth century by Maximus, bishop of Turin, who in one of his
sermons gives an interesting account of their rustic cult and crazy

priest (Dianaticus)z-

Dr Farnell has argued that Nemesis was from the first no

his stick. 'Nearly all dowsers assert that when the rod moves in their hands...they
experience a peculiar sensation, which some describe as felt in the limbs like the tingling *
of an electric shock, others as a shivering or trembling, and others as an unpleasant
sensation in the epigastric region. With all there is more or less of a convulsive spasm,
sometimes of a violent character' (Sir W. F. Barrett in the Proceedings of the Society
for Psychical Research xv. 299 cited by F. W. H. Myers Human Personality London
1904 i. 481). This seems to be the first explicit mention of the dowser's rod. But
I have elsewhere suggested that it was the origin of the Pythagorean y {Class. Rev. 1902
xvi. 375 f.).

For similar OeocpopovfxevoL see J. E. B. Mayor on Juv. 4. 123.

1 The phrase sacraria mortis would be especially appropriate to such a cult as that of
Diana Nemorensis, whose priest was ever the murderer of his predecessor.

2 Cod. Theod. 14. 7. 2 collegiatos et vitutiarios et Nemesiacos signiferos cantabrarios
et singularum urbium corporatos simili forma praecipimus revocari. quibus etiam suppli-
candi inhibendam facultatem esse censuimus, ne originem (quod fieri non potest)
commutare ulla iussio videatur ; ac si forte per sacram auctoritatem cognoscitur aliqui
liberatus, cessante beneficio ad originem revertatur. dat. vi kalend. Decembr. Rav.
Honor, ix et Theod. v AA. Coss.

It will be remembered that the rex Nemorensis was regularly a runaway slave (Frazer
Led. Hist. Kingship p. 16).

3 Maximus Taurinensis serm. 101 (lvii. 734 Migne) nihil ibi liberum est a scelere, ubi
totum versatur in scelere. cum cellam ingressus fueris, reperies in ea pallentes cespites
mortuosque carbones, dignum sacrificium daemonis, cum mortuo numini rebus mortuis
supplicatur. et si ad agrum processeris, cernis aras ligneas et simulacra lapidea, con-
gruens ministerium, ubi diis insensibilibus aris putrescentibus ministratur. cum maturius
vigilaveris et videris saucium vino rusticum, scire debes quoniam, sicut dicunt, aut
Dianaticus aut aruspex est ; insanum enim numen amentem solet habere pontificem; talis
enim sacerdos parat se vino ad plagas deae suae, ut dum est ebrius poenam suam ipse
non sentiat. hoc autem non solum de temperantia, sed et de arte faciunt, ut minus
vulnera sua doleant, dum vini ebrietate iactantur. vanus plane vates est, qui putat crude-
litate astruere pietatem. quam misericors in alienos deos ille qui in suos est pontifices
tarn cruentus ! nam ut paulisper describamus habitum vatis huiusce : est ei adulterinis
criniculis hirsutum caput, nuda habens pectora, pallio crura semicincta, et more
gladiatorum paratus ad pugnam ferrum gestat in manibus, nisi quod gladiatore peior
est, quia ille adversus alterum dimicare cogitur, iste contra se pugnare compellitur. ille
aliena petit viscera, iste propria membra dilaniat, et, si dici potest, ad crudelitatem ilium
lanista, istum numen hortatur.
 
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