Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/451

 HUMAN SACRIFICE. 419 immediately undeineatli — was fed on that solemnity certainly with 200, and probably with 500, living children.' By this monstrous holocaust the full religious duty being discharged, and forgiveness obtained from the god, the mental distress of the Car- thaginians was healed. Having thus relieved their consciences on the score of reli- gious obligation, the Carthaginians despatched envoys to Hamil- kar in Sicily, acquainting him with the recent calamity, desiring him to send a reinforcement, and transmitting to him the brazen prow ornaments taken from the ships of Agathokles. They at the same time equipped a fresh army, with which they marched forth to attack Tunes. Agathokles had fortified that town, and established a strong camp before it ; but he had withdrawn his main force to prosecute operations against the maritime towns on ' Diodor. xx. 14. ^tcuvto Se Kal tov Kpovov avTolc ivavTiovo'&aL, Ka^6- aov ev Tolc sfnrpoa'&ev xpovot^ i^vorref tovtu tu i?ftj ruiv vIljv roi'f Kparin- Tovg^ vcTtpov uvovfievoi 2,a^pa irac6ac Kal ■dpeipavreg cTefnzov iTit rr/v ■dv- aiav Kal ^rjTrjaEU^ yevu/iivric, evpi^riauv Tiveg ruv KaT&iepovpyj]ftivuv VTtojSo- 7.ifiaiot yeyovoreg' iqvtuv 6e ?Mp6vTer evvoiav, Kal tovc TToAefiiov^ npbg roif reixfoiv dpuvrec arpaTone6EvovTac, e6eiaipai/x6vovv ilic KaTaXeXvKUTe^ tu^ narpiovc riJv i?euv rtfiug- 6iop3uaaa&at. 6e tuc uyvoiac aTrevchvTE^, diaKo- aiovg fiEV Tbiv kizKJiavEaTuTuv nal6uv TrpoKpivavTEC t&vaav ^rjfioaia' uXkoi (5' kv StajSoTiOTc oiTff, kKOvaiug kavroiig idoaav, ovk iXurrovg uv-eg TpiaKoaiuv ijv 6e nap' avroig uvSptug Kpovov ;)^aA«oJ)f, kKTsraKug tuq x^lp^C vT^riag iyKEKXifiEvac iv^l ~fjV yr/v, tjare tuv EniTE^EVTa tuv Traiduv u-oKv?uEa-dai Kal TTiTTTEiu Ecg Tt ;;u(T,ua 7r/.?}/3ff TTVpog. Compare Fcstus ap. Lactantium, Inst. Div. i. 21 ; Justin, xviii. 6, 12. In this remarkable passage (the more remarkable because so little information concerning Carthaginian antiquity has reached us), one clause is not perfectly clear, respecting the three hundred who arc said to have voluntarily given themselves up. Diodorus means (I apprehend) as Eusebius nnderstood it, that these were fathers who gave up their children (not them- selves) to be sacrificed. The victims here mentioned as sacrificed to Kronus were children, not adults (compare Diodor. xiii. 86) : nothing is here said about adult victims. Wesseling in his note adheres to the literal meaning of the woi-ds, dissentitig from Eusebius : but I think that the literal meaning is less in harmony with the general tenor of the paragraph. Instances of self-devotion, by persons torn with remorse, are indeed men- tioned: see the case of Imilkon, Diodor. xiv. 76; Justin, xix. 3. We read in the Fragment of Ennius — " Poeni sunt soliti suos sacrifi- care puellos: " see the chapter iv. of Miinter's work, Religion dcr Kartha- ger, on this subject.