the body the flesh of sheep and other animals, on which they feast; esteeming universally this mode of death the happiest. Of those who die from any disease they never eat: they bury them in the earth, and esteem their fate a matter to be lamented, because they have not lived to be sacrificed. They sow no grain, but intirely subsist on cattle, and on the fish which the river Araxes abundantly supplies; milk also consti- tutes a part of their diet. They sacrifice horses1 to the sun, their only deity, thinking it right to offer the swiftest of mortal animals to the swiftest of im- mortal beings.
tants of Iulis, in the isle of Ceos, oblige those who are past the age of sixty years to drink hemlock, &c.
This custom, so contrary to our manners, will doubtless appear fabulous to those who are no friends to antiquity, and whose judgments are regulated intirely by modern manners. It is practised nevertheless at the present day in the king- dom of Aracan: the inhabitants of this country accelerate the death of their friends and relations, when they see them afflicted by a painful old age, or incurable disease; it is with them an act of piety.--Larcher.
This was a very ancient custom: it was practised in Per- sia in the time of Cyrus, and was probably anterior to that prince. Horses were also sacrificed to Neptune and the deities of the rivers, being precipitated into the sea or into rivers.
Sextus Pompeius threw into the sea horses and live oxen in honor of Neptune, whose son he professed himself to be. --Larcher.
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Publication Information: Book Title: Herodotus. Volume: 1. Contributors: William Beloe - transltr, Herodotus - author. Publisher: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. Place of Publication: London. Publication Year: 1830. Page Number: 159.
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