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Show ,, ~ · • r • 1 w H I S T 0 R Y 0 F . M E X I C o~ PI~;~~T. Greeks, or E,~)'ptians, we are ienfible that the comparifon betwee!'l ~ them ought not t,o have been folely with refpeCl: to the above articles, but rather with refpett to the nature of their facrifices. We confefs, that the religion of the Mexicans was bloody, that their facrifices were mofi cruel, and their aufterities beyond meafure barbarous; but when• ever we confider what other nations of the world have done , we arc confounded at viewing the weaknefs of the human mind, and the [cries of errors into which they have fallen from their miferablc fyf~ tcms of religion. There has been no nation i1i the world which h'a'S not· at {orne· time f.tcrificed human vittims to that god whom they adored. We know from the .G1cred writi'ngs, that the Ammonites burned fame of their f~ns in honour of their god Moloch, and that other people of Canaan , <.lid the fame, whofc example was follewed by the Ifraelites. It ap1. pears from the fourth book of the Kings, that Achaz and Manatfeh· kings of Juden, ufed that pagan rite of paffing their forls through th~ fire. The exprefiion of the facred text appears rather to• fignify a mere 1uftration Ol' confecration, than a burnt.-o.tfering, but the hundred and fifth Pfalm does not leave a dotTbt that the lli·aelites facrificed their children to the gods oflhe Canaanites. Of the Egyptians. we know, from Manetbo, a prieft and celebrated hiftorian of that nation,. cited by Eufebius Crefarienfis, that daily three men were facrificed in Elio .. polis to the goddefs Juno alone,. in like manner as the Ammonites fa .. crificed hu~an vi:Ct:i:ms to their Moloch, aAd the Canaanites to tlueir" l3eelfegor; the Perfians facrificed to their Mitra or fun., the Fhcenicians and Carthaginians to their Baa-l 01' Sa·turn,., the Cretans to Jove, the Lnced<Dmoniau:s to Mars, the· Phocians ~o Diana, the Letbians to Bac. hus, the Theffillians to. the Centaur Chi ron and: Peleus the Gauls to 1y1 and Teutate (.q), the Bard£ of Germany to 'l'uffton, 'and other na_:.. tions <1: A ccrtairr Fr~t:~l\ autlit>r,. t.t't1·ou~: a. blind'· attac1iment to· his nati've counrry,. liardil dentes that human Vtcllms were ever f:tcnliced by thc· G~uls l! It I e dc.l h • r f . • · .. i ut • a uces no nut onty t() con u~e the: t~ihmony of Phny, Seuto11i118', Diodorus,. nnd in pnrtioulur C:ditr who waa well :~cq,u amtecl Wtth the aul<~, and knew. their cu!loms. " Natio ef1 omnis G ~'lo'rum," 1' r " t1 I d'U d d' I' · 'b ••• tc lltys, " ( ITI ~) ll~ .e 11::1 !e I ~IOnl US, atque pb eam eaufaJU' qui funt afi'eai' gravioriOUS morOis ui-u que 111 pr:elto. ~er~ultfque ver~an~ur, aut pt•o victi{nia homiJUlS immolmu, nur fe immol~t~nu II ~ovent. adnum n 1'1 8 . ad ea facnfi. Ia Druidibua ; qued IJI'O vita homi'ni&; nifi vita hominis rcd- 1\t\\ rl non pofre nla er deorum tNunort:tlium numen placari arbitrantu·r, publi'ccquc· cjufc!l!m gcnuis HI S T ·O R .Y 0 F M E X I C 0. ·tion~ ~~ their tutel~r god~. Philon fays that th: Phamic.ians in public calam1t1es offered 10 facnfice to their inhuman Baal their dearefi fons and. Curti us. aflirms ~hat fuch fa~rifices were in ~fe among the Tyrian: until the rum of th.etr famous ctty. The fame did the Carthaginians . with their countrymen in honour of Saturn the cruel. We know that 'when they were vanquiihed by Agathoclcs, king of Syracufe, with a ~iew to appeafe their deities, whom they believed incenfed, they facrificed two hundred noble children, befides three hundred youths who [pont~ neoufiy offered themfelves. for facrificc, to {hew their bravery, their ptety towards the gods, and their love to their country; and, as Tertullian affirms, who was an African, and lived little latter than that epoch of which we are !peaking, and therefore ought to know it well, facrifices were ufed in Africa until the time of ~he emperor Tiberius, as in Gaul till the time of Claudian, as Suetonius reports. The Pelafgians, the ancient inhabitants of Italy, facrificed a tythc of their children, in order to comply with an oracle, as is related by D. Halicarnaffeus. The Romans, who were as fanguinary as they were fuperfiitious, did not abfi.tin from fuch kind of facrifices. All the time they were under the government of their kings, they facrificed yo t g children to the goddefs Mania, mother of the Lares, for the profpe,:ity of their houfes, to which they were direCted by a certain or~cl<.: of Apollo, as Macrobius fays; and we know from Pliny, that human iacrifices were I ' not forbid until the year 6 57 of Rome i but notwithllanding this pro-hibition, thofc examples of barbarous fup.erfl:ition did not ceafe; fince Augufills, as authors cited by Suetonius afiirm, after the taking of Perufia, wherct the conful, L. Antony, had fortified himlclf, lacrificed in honour of his uncle Julius Cre.Ctr, whO' was by this time deified by the "genui~ habcnt inftituta fncrificin. Alii irnrn~11i 1r\agnitudine fim11la cra habtnt : quonut' con· "tcxtn viminibus membra vivis hominibus complcnt qu;bus fu ccc nfi ~ circum 1'c nri !hmm:t C)(· '' aminantllr homines. Supplida conun <Jlli in 1 nco nut L:ltili.:inio aut :dic1ua 1\U.X :I lint eom" comprchcnli gratiora cliis imi'I10I'talibus cffc arbitrnntur. Sec! cum cjus gclleris copia clefi ci t, etin111 at\ innoccntinm fupplicia defcendunt. Lib. vi. de Belh> Uallico, cap. 5• From this it ap· pear~ the G:mls were more cruel than the 1\lex ic:tn s. (r) DCLVII. dcn1um anno urbis Cn. Corn I.cntuto. P. I.icinio Cofs. Sen:tt .IS confulrum !n ~um e!t, ne homo immol:trttur. Plin. Hitt. Nut . lib. ::rxx. cap. r. • (J) Perufia capta i11 plmimos :mitMwllvcnir; orarc vcniam, vel cxcufarc fc conantihus un:t voce occurrcns, moricndum clle. fcrihunc qui d :~m rrecc nros ex dec.lititiis e1Cl'1ds tlfri ulc]\IC orqinis nd aram D. Julio cxfiru tlam ldib. M:miis vi :1imnrum tn i') J'C m.ttlatos . Suctoni uo in OCI:aviano. ' Lll2 Romans, 443 DI$SERT. VIII. ~ |