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 ANALOGIES PERVADING THE HELLENIC RACE. 255 oracle formed part of the still more general tendency of the Greek mind to undertake no enterprise without having first as- certained how the gods viewed it, and what measures they were likely to take. Sacrifices were offered, and the interior of the victim carefully examined, with the same intent : omens, prodi- gies, unlooked-for coincidences, casual expressions, etc., were all construed as significant of the divine will. To sacrifice with a view to this or that undertaking, or to consult the oracle with the same view, are familiar expressions ' embodied in the language. Nor could any man set about a scheme with comfort, until he had satisfied himself in some manner or other that the gods were favorable to it. The disposition here adverted to is one of those mental analo- gies pervading the whole Hellenic nation, which Herodotus indi- cates. And the common habit among all Greeks, of respectfully listening to the oracle of Delphi, will be found on many occasions useful in maintaining unanimity among men not accustomed to obey the same political superior. In the numerous colonies espe- cially, founded by mixed multitudes from distant parts of Greece, the minds of the emigrants were greatly determined towards cor- dial cooperation by their knowledge that the expedition had been directed, the rekist indicated, and the spot either chosen or ap- proved, by Apollo of Delphi. Such in most cases was the fact : that god, according to the conception of the Greeks, " takes de- light always in the foundation of new cities, and himself in person lays the first stone." 2 These are the elements of union over and above the com- mon territory, described in the last chapter with which the historical Hellens take their start : community of blood, language, religious point of view, legends, sacrifices, festivals, 3 and also (with certain allowances) of manners and character. The anal- 1 Xenophon, Anabas. vii. 8, 20 : 'O 6e 'A.ai6uTij unovaar, on m'tZiv i TT' a v r b v TE&v[j.vof eir) Hevo0. i^av7u^srai, etc. Xenoph. Hellen. iii. 2, 22: //i? xP 7 l aTr lP i <J-& (r at r v$ 'EMijvae ty 'E^rjvuv no^cftu, compare Iliad, vii. 450. 1 Callimach. Hvmn. Apoll. 55, with Spanheinvs note ; Cicero, De Divinat i. 1. 1 See this point strikingly illustrated by Plato, Kcpub. v. pp. 470-471 (c. 16), and Isocrates, Panegyr. p. 102