" After stating the compulsory nature of the attendance at this festival, Mallet adds, "Then they chose among the
captives
in time of war, and among the slaves in time of peace, nine persons to be sacrificed.
Tacitus
" "The Germans drew their gods by their own character, who loved nothing so much themselves as to display their strength and power in battle, and to signalize their vengeance upon their enemies by slaughter and desolation.
" There remain to this day some traces of the worship paid to Odin in the name given by almost all the people of the north to the fourth day of the week, which was formerly consecrated to him.
It is called by a name which signifies "Odin's day;" "Old Norse, Odinsdagr; Swedish and Danish, Onsdag; Anglo-Saxon, Wodenesdaeg, Wodnesdaeg; Dutch, Woensdag; English, Wednesday.
As Odin or Wodun was supposed to correspond to the Mercury of the Greeks and Romans, the name of this day was expressed in Latin Dies Mercurii.
"—White.
]
63 (return)
[ "The appointed time for these sacrifices," says Mallet (North. Ant. ch. vi. ), "was always determined by a superstitious opinion which made the northern nations regard the number 'three' as sacred and particularly dear to the gods. Thus, in every ninth month they renewed the bloody ceremony, which was to last nine days, and every day they offered up nine living victims, whether men or animals. But the most solemn sacrifices were those which were offered up at Upsal in Sweden every ninth year. . . .
" After stating the compulsory nature of the attendance at this festival, Mallet adds, "Then they chose among the captives in time of war, and among the slaves in time of peace, nine persons to be sacrificed. In whatever manner they immolated men, the priest always took care in consecrating the victim to pronounce certain words, as 'I devote thee to Odin,' 'I send thee to Odin. '" See Lucan i. 444. ]
"Et quibus immitis placatur sanguine diro
Teutates, horrensque feris altaribus Hesus. "]
Teutates is Mercury, Hesus, Mars. So also at iii. 399, &c. ]
"Lucus erat longo nunquam violatus ab aevo.
. . . Barbara ritu
Sacra Deum, structae diris altaribus arae,
Omnis et humanis lustrata cruoribus arbor. "]
64 (return)
[ That is, as in the preceding case, a deity whose attributes corresponded to those of the Roman Mars. This appears to have been not Thor, who is rather the representative of the Roman Jupiter, but Tyr, "a warrior god, and the protector of champions and brave men! " "From Tyr is derived the name given to the third day of the week in most of the Teutonic languages, and which has been rendered into Latin by Dies Martis.
63 (return)
[ "The appointed time for these sacrifices," says Mallet (North. Ant. ch. vi. ), "was always determined by a superstitious opinion which made the northern nations regard the number 'three' as sacred and particularly dear to the gods. Thus, in every ninth month they renewed the bloody ceremony, which was to last nine days, and every day they offered up nine living victims, whether men or animals. But the most solemn sacrifices were those which were offered up at Upsal in Sweden every ninth year. . . .
" After stating the compulsory nature of the attendance at this festival, Mallet adds, "Then they chose among the captives in time of war, and among the slaves in time of peace, nine persons to be sacrificed. In whatever manner they immolated men, the priest always took care in consecrating the victim to pronounce certain words, as 'I devote thee to Odin,' 'I send thee to Odin. '" See Lucan i. 444. ]
"Et quibus immitis placatur sanguine diro
Teutates, horrensque feris altaribus Hesus. "]
Teutates is Mercury, Hesus, Mars. So also at iii. 399, &c. ]
"Lucus erat longo nunquam violatus ab aevo.
. . . Barbara ritu
Sacra Deum, structae diris altaribus arae,
Omnis et humanis lustrata cruoribus arbor. "]
64 (return)
[ That is, as in the preceding case, a deity whose attributes corresponded to those of the Roman Mars. This appears to have been not Thor, who is rather the representative of the Roman Jupiter, but Tyr, "a warrior god, and the protector of champions and brave men! " "From Tyr is derived the name given to the third day of the week in most of the Teutonic languages, and which has been rendered into Latin by Dies Martis.
