Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/210

 204 THE CITY. BOOK III. fat victims for so long a time without placing himself under obligations to those who had offered thenu ^acus, therefore, would in the end be forced to aban- don the interests of the ^ginetans, and to give the victory to the Athenians.' Here is another case from Plutarch. Solon desired that Athens might become mistress of the little Isle of Salamis, which then belonged to the Megarians. H& consulted the oracle. The oracle answered, "If you wish to conquer the isle, you must first gain the favor of the heroes who protect it and who inhabit it.'* Solon obeyed ; in the name of Athens he offered sac- rifices to the two principal heroes of Salamis. These heroes did not resist the gifts that were offered them, but went over to the Athenian side, and the isle, de- prived of protectors, was conquered.'"' In time of war, if the besiegers sought to gain pos- session of the divinities of the city, the besieged, on their part, did their best to retain them. Sometimes they bound the god with chains, to prevent him from deserting. At other times they concealed bim from all eyes, that the enemy might not find him. Or, still again, they opposed to the formula by which the enemy attempted to bribe the god another formula which had the power to retain him. The Romans had imagined a means which seemed to them to be surer; they kept secret the name of the principal and most powerful of their protecting gods.^ They thought that, as the enemy could never call this god by his name, he would never abandon their side, and that their city would never be taken. We see by this what a singular idea the ancients had » Herodotus, V. 89. « Plutarch, Solon, 9. ^ Macrobius. III.