DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.13851#0253
OF THE RELIGION Ol-1 GREECE.
23!
the death of one of the three kings, whereupon he refused to ratify the
peace.
Alexander ab Alexandro (1) hath given us another manner of swear-
ing, which was thus : they took hold of their garments, and pointing a
sword towards their throats, invoked the heavens, earth, sun, and furies,
to bear witness to what they were about to do ; then they sacrificed a
boar-jug, which they cast into the sea ; and this being done, took the
oath.
The solemn way of taking an oath amongst the Molossians was, by
cutting an ox into small pieces, and then swearing ; whence any thing di
vided into small parcels, was proverbially called Bus « MoXorrwv, as Sui-
das (2) and Zenodotus(3) report. Erasmus (4), instead of 60s Molotto-
rum, writes bos Homolottoi^um. reading in the forementioned authors, B»a£
"OjuwAoTTfflv, instead of Boug 0 MoXo-ttwv.
Another manner of swearing was that described by Plutarch (5), wh
reports, that when the Grecians had overthrown and utterly routed
the forces of Xerxes, being flushed with victory, they entered upon
design of making a common invasion upon Persia ; whereupon, to keep
them firm to their resolutions, Aristides made them all swear to keep the
league, and himself took the oath in the name of the Athenians, and after
curses pronounced against him that should break the vow, threw wedges
of red-hot iron into the sea ; by which was signified, that the oath should
remain inviolable, as long as the irons should abide in the sea without
swimming; which custom is also mentioned by Callimachus, who, as he
is cited by the scholiast upon Sophocles (6), speaks thus of the Phocen-
sians :
While these plung'd irons the sea's sure bottom keep.
There is also another manner of swearing, mentioned by Plutarch in the
life of Dion, which Dion's wife and sister imposed upon Calippus the
Athenian, being moved thereio by a suspicion that he was privy to a con-
spiracy against Dion's life. It was thus : the juror went into the temple
of Ceres and Proserpina, or. as some say. of Ceres Thesinophorus, the
lawgiver, where after the performance of certain ceremonies, he was
clothed in the purple vestment of the goddess, and holding a lighted torch
in his hand, as being in the presence of the deity, took the oath by all
the gods in the world ; this the Syracusians accounted the most solemn
and sacred oath that could be.
Another test the Sicilians generally made use of at Palice, a city of
Sicily, where was a fountain named Acadinus, to which the jurors came,
and having written the oath in a tablet threw it into the water, wherein,
if it could swim the person accused was believed honest; but if it sunk,
he was to be cast into the flames immediately, which issued from the
fountain : thus Aristotle (7) and Stephanus the Byzantian (8).
Other ways also they had of clearing themselves from the imputation
of crimes. As when the person accu-ed creeped upon his hands through
the fire ; or held in his hands red-hot iron, called in Greek Mtfyog, as
(1) Lib. v, cap. 10. (5) Vita Aristidis.
(2) Voce Boti$. , (6) Antig v. 270.
(3) In Proverb, in |3o"?. ■ (7) Lib. de Mirabilibus
U) In Ada?. (3) In Ilalnn.
23!
the death of one of the three kings, whereupon he refused to ratify the
peace.
Alexander ab Alexandro (1) hath given us another manner of swear-
ing, which was thus : they took hold of their garments, and pointing a
sword towards their throats, invoked the heavens, earth, sun, and furies,
to bear witness to what they were about to do ; then they sacrificed a
boar-jug, which they cast into the sea ; and this being done, took the
oath.
The solemn way of taking an oath amongst the Molossians was, by
cutting an ox into small pieces, and then swearing ; whence any thing di
vided into small parcels, was proverbially called Bus « MoXorrwv, as Sui-
das (2) and Zenodotus(3) report. Erasmus (4), instead of 60s Molotto-
rum, writes bos Homolottoi^um. reading in the forementioned authors, B»a£
"OjuwAoTTfflv, instead of Boug 0 MoXo-ttwv.
Another manner of swearing was that described by Plutarch (5), wh
reports, that when the Grecians had overthrown and utterly routed
the forces of Xerxes, being flushed with victory, they entered upon
design of making a common invasion upon Persia ; whereupon, to keep
them firm to their resolutions, Aristides made them all swear to keep the
league, and himself took the oath in the name of the Athenians, and after
curses pronounced against him that should break the vow, threw wedges
of red-hot iron into the sea ; by which was signified, that the oath should
remain inviolable, as long as the irons should abide in the sea without
swimming; which custom is also mentioned by Callimachus, who, as he
is cited by the scholiast upon Sophocles (6), speaks thus of the Phocen-
sians :
While these plung'd irons the sea's sure bottom keep.
There is also another manner of swearing, mentioned by Plutarch in the
life of Dion, which Dion's wife and sister imposed upon Calippus the
Athenian, being moved thereio by a suspicion that he was privy to a con-
spiracy against Dion's life. It was thus : the juror went into the temple
of Ceres and Proserpina, or. as some say. of Ceres Thesinophorus, the
lawgiver, where after the performance of certain ceremonies, he was
clothed in the purple vestment of the goddess, and holding a lighted torch
in his hand, as being in the presence of the deity, took the oath by all
the gods in the world ; this the Syracusians accounted the most solemn
and sacred oath that could be.
Another test the Sicilians generally made use of at Palice, a city of
Sicily, where was a fountain named Acadinus, to which the jurors came,
and having written the oath in a tablet threw it into the water, wherein,
if it could swim the person accused was believed honest; but if it sunk,
he was to be cast into the flames immediately, which issued from the
fountain : thus Aristotle (7) and Stephanus the Byzantian (8).
Other ways also they had of clearing themselves from the imputation
of crimes. As when the person accu-ed creeped upon his hands through
the fire ; or held in his hands red-hot iron, called in Greek Mtfyog, as
(1) Lib. v, cap. 10. (5) Vita Aristidis.
(2) Voce Boti$. , (6) Antig v. 270.
(3) In Proverb, in |3o"?. ■ (7) Lib. de Mirabilibus
U) In Ada?. (3) In Ilalnn.