The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-02-16

| him by continual Bacrlnce, IN Order 10 get Nun
| TO leave the Salaminians TO themselves aud
desert to the Athenians.
In the same way as each city worshipped
their ancestors, 80 each city worshipped lts
own founders and heroes, as well as tue gene
| raj gods Of nature, who assumed local onsrsV-
] ter in each city lii which they became gods.
! There were thus almost as many JuPtefe 40
| there were cities. One Pallas was on the 81 sue
! of the Greeks, another on the SIDE OF lne nF0.
;n,,s A. Rome there was one Juno, but Veil
| had another invoked by Camillus TO leave the
| civ bafore he took Il; and after the conquest
beoarried her statue TO Rome, and Rome pos
| sessed two Junos. To take possession OF your
enemies' gods and not part with your own,
! ,ros tbe GREAT policy of all antiquity. In the
| f,I5djnus Coloneus" Thebes and Athens con-
+end for possession OF the body Of king who
ia about to become god.
OF The tyranny of religion iu State thus
relieiousy constituted, it is difficult, very dif-
6ouit, now, to form any adequate conception,
Men relied little on the good nature OF their
gods who were enviOus Of human happiness
9phtfonos) and very irritable, aud took every
opportunity OF catching their wOrshippers trip
ping and taking revenge upon them. ALI the
cares of men were devoted to keeping their
gods in good humoT PAGES deorua qudrere-and
the diversity of rituals of the different ways
Of performing sacrifice to these innumeraole
divinities were as numerous as the divinities
every portion OF his costume, must be adapted
to rule and precedent. In praying to one god
the head must be yelled; in praying to another
It was to be uncovered; for a third the lap of
the toga was to be drawn over the shonlder.
Some prayers had no validity unless the priest
spun around from left to right after repeating
them. The kind Of the victim, its color, the
manner of killing it, the form of the knife, the
kind of wood employed in the Gre for sacrifice,
all were to be different for each god and for
each sacrifice. The consuls and the dictators
of Rome were obliged to know all these nice
distinctions, and were degrade by the Senate
if it was discovered that a mistake was made
by them in any sacrifice. Such was the per-
petual state of terror about giving oiiense TO
their gods which peryaded the ancient city.
Since then, no man worshipped any other
gods than those OF his city-since outside the
walls of his city he was member OF no 80
ciety, admitted to no religious rites, protected
by no laws, incapable of possessing any pro-
perty without ancestors, compelled to live as
the plebeians were said to live, more teTdrum-
it is not surprising that patriotism was so
energetic a sentiment with Greek and Roman,
and death itself was regarded as preferable TO
exile or loss OF country, by which he was de-
prived OF every right, both human and divine,
and an exc0mmunioRted aoCursed being, like
pGTiGh or q CdGOt.
The word "tyrant," which has come to have
such an illomened sound, was used simply at
first 10 designate political chief who was not
priest; for the advent Of the tyrant denoted
the conception OF new political idea-the
submission of man to man, apart from reli-
gious organization. This new idea sprang up
in the mind Of the democracy Of every city.
After the aristocracy had succeeded inabolish-
ing political royalty, the people everywhere
sought for a political chief to make head
against their opponents and Oppressors.
And everywhere, also, the increase of
the Political power Of the plebS went
tion of the old sacerdotal form Of society,
till their final conquest of political rights trans
formed entirely the character of the ancient
city. Everywhere the course Of revolution
was the same-abolition of royalty, govern
ment by the arstocracy, disintegration Of the
gems, eniranchisemsnt Of clients, admission of
the piebs into the State. The very fact of the
pieLS receiving recognition at all as a body
with whom engagements might be entered
into aud observed, denoted a change in the
moral and religious ideas of the inhabitants Of
the ancient city.
So solidly constructed was the saCerdotal
form of society that it might have continued
as it was for centuries longer had the
hitherto outcaat piebs not been growing up out
side il az dissOlving power-had the pie5S
also been originally enrolled in the hieraTcht-
cal cons litutiOE OF the State But the pLebs-
originally mingled race OF outside pariahS,
composed of foreign settlers and traders, of
men exiled from other cities, or discarded
from their geRtes, OF freedmen, illegitimate
children and foundlings-who were admitted
10 NO participation in religious rites, were
bound by no ties, religious or civil, to tho
established orders Of the city, whose sacred
precincts they were not even allowed to in
habit, but dwelt in a kind of outside Ghetto
by themselves. However, in course of
time they grew rich and enterprising, in
spite OF the disabilities under which they
labored, and perhaps even in consequences of
tbeirtreedOm from the acknowledging trammel5
OF ssoerdotal society; and when they were
called upon to support part of the State
burdens, they naturally also demanded share
OF State protection.
Tie first great struggle between plebeiaus
and patrioians appears to have arisen, both at
Rome aud at Athens, from the severity with
which patrician creditors treated their debtors.
The contest was brought to a conclusion in
Athens much more rapidly than ia Rome,
where the plebeians consumed four centuries
in the prosecution OF their claims to citizen
ship, The re orms of SolOn and Clsisthenes
broke the chains OF servitude for the plebsian
in Athens; while the first reform wrupg by the
Roman plebeian from the patriciau was the
institution of tribunes and the publication of
the laws OF the twelve tables. Both of these re-
forms were followed 10y immense changes in the
religious beliefs Of the citizens. The tribune,
like the tyraut waS the first non -saoerdotal pub
lie magistrate, the first magistrate whose pOliti-
cal functions were not an attribute Of an heredi-
tary sacred character aud in the code of the
| twelve tables 1t is no longer the mysterious
voice Of religion whi1h speaks, but the lsgis
lat hn he Il, a.,I