That signum ipsum ("the very symbol") does not mean any image of the goddess, may be
gathered
also from ch.
Tacitus
. . . 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. Old Norse, Tirsdagr, Tisdagr; Swedish, Tisdag; Danish, Tirsdag; German, Dienstag; Dutch, Dingsdag; Anglo-Saxon, Tyrsdaeg, Tyvesdag, Tivesdaeg; English, Tuesday"—(Mallet's North. Ant. ch. v. )—White. ]
65 (return)
[ The Suevi appear to have been the Germanic tribes, and this also the worship spoken of at chap. xl. Signum in modum liburnae figuration corresponds with the vehiculum there spoken of; the real thing being, according to Ritter's view, a pinnace placed on wheels.
That signum ipsum ("the very symbol") does not mean any image of the goddess, may be gathered also from ch. xl. , where the goddess herself, si credere velis, is spoken of as being washed in the sacred lake. ]
66 (return)
[ As the Romans in their ancient coins, many of which are now extant, recorded the arrival of Saturn by the stern of a ship; so other nations have frequently denoted the importation of a foreign religious rite by the figure of a galley on their medals. ]
67 (return)
[ Tacitus elsewhere speaks of temples of German divinities (e. g. 40; Templum Nerthae, Ann. i. 51; Templum Tanfanae); but a consecrated grove, or any other sacred place, was called templum by the Romans. ]
68 (return)
[ The Scythians are mentioned by Herodotus, and the Alans by Ammianus Marcellinus, as making use of these divining rods. The German method of divination with them is illustrated by what is said by Saxo-Grammaticus (Hist. Dan. xiv, 288) of the inhabitants of the Isle of Rugen in the Baltic Sea: "Throwing, by way of lots, three pieces of wood, white in one part, and black in another, into their laps, they foretold good fortune by the coming up of the white; bad by that of the black. "]
69 (return)
[ The same practice obtained among the Persians, from whom the Germans appear to be sprung. Darius was elected king by the neighing of a horse; sacred white horses were in the army of Cyrus; and Xerxes, retreating after his defeat, was preceded by the sacred horses and consecrated chariot. Justin (i.
