WORSHIP, TEMPLES, ALTARS, &c. 17 it as his opinion, that "the Spaniards in numbers, the Gauls in bodily strength, the Carthaginians in subtlety, and the Greeks in genius, L had exceeded his countrymen; but that there was one thing in which the Romans went beyond all the nations of the earth, and that was, in piety, and religion, and a deep and habitual persuasion that all human concerns are regulated by the disposal and providence of the immortal Gods." That the importance which the Greeks and Romans annexed to their religion may be better understood, I will now give an account of this religion as it was practised at Athens, the most refined and elegant city that ever existed. • De Haruspicum Resp. 9. CHAP. V. OF THE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES OF THE ATHENIANS. Their Temples described.―Their Priests.-Their Prayers, Hymns, and Sacrifices.-Exercises of the Stadium: Running, Boxing, Wrestling, and Leaping.Competitions in Music, Singing, and Dancing.-Tragedy. The Three Aunual Festivals of Athens.— The Mysteries.-The Grecian Games.-Divination. -The Sibyls.-Oracles.-Augurs and Aruspices. As the statues by which the Greek sculptors represented their Gods were the most beautiful ever beheld, so the temples, or public buildings in which these statues were placed and these Gods worshipped, were not less worthy of admiration. Of all the cities of Greece, Athens was that in which the finest specimens were to be found of Grecian statuary and Grecian architecture. Minerva was the patron divinity of the Athenians the citadel of Athens, otherwise called the Parthenon, was her temple: the Propylæum, or grand entrance of the temple, was built of marble, under the administration of Pericles, the greatest of the Athenian statesmen, and cost a sum of money equal to four hundred thousand pounds: the interior was filled with pictures, statues, bas reliefs, altars, and trophies won by the Athenians from their enemies: the most celebrated of the statues was that of the Goddess by Phidias, which was only surpassed by the statue of Jupiter Olympius by the same artist, that I have already TEMPLES OF THE ATHENIANS. 19 mentioned, and that was the great ornament of the temple of Jupiter at Elis. Another temple at Athens, only inferior in beauty and grandeur to that of Minerva, was erected to Theseus, an ancient hero, who may be considered in a great measure as the founder of the state: the temple of Ceres was enriched with three fine statues by Praxiteles: that of Cybele had a statue of the Goddess by Phidias: that of Jupiter Eleutherius was ornamented with fine paintings of the twelve principal Gods, and of other subjects, by Euphranor: that of Venus had a painting which was the master-piece of Zeuxis: these were the most consummate statuaries and painters the world ever saw: such, and many more were the noble and splendid temples that adorned the city of Athens. The Greeks were not contented to enrich their temples with a multitude of statues of the Gods: they also erected statues in the streets and in all public places: there was one considerable street in particular in Athens, which was interspersed through its whole length with statues of Hermes, or Mercury, consisting of a head of the God rising from a square pedestal: on the pedestal were written, sometimes inscriptions describing a me morable fact, and sometimes moral precepts for the instruction and improvement of the people. The priests of these temples made a considerable part of what would have struck your sight, if you could have walked through the streets of Athens: in country-places sometimes there was but one priest to a temple: but in Athens and other great towns there were always four at least, besides their attendants; the priests were distinguished by their vestments, they had often a long |