Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

660 JUSJURANDUM. JUSJURANDUM.
Paul, Calat. i. 20.) It is obvious that such an prayer; for an oath was a species of prayer, and
appeal implies a belief, not only in the existence required the same sort of ceremony. (Homr. ll.
of the being so called upon, but also in his power xix. 175, 254; Pind. 01. vii. 119.) Oaths were
and inclination to punish the false swearer; and frequently accompanied with sacrifice or libation.
the force of an oath is founded on this belief. (Hom. Il. iv. 158; Aristoph. Acharn. 148, Vesp.
Hence an oath is called aeS, 8PICsos. (IHom. IHym. 1048.) Both sacrifice and libation are used ill the
ad Mere. 272. 515; Pind. 01. vii. 119.) Zebs compact of the Greeks and Trojans in IR. iii. 276.
opieOS (Soph. Philoct. 1324) is the god who has The victims on such occasions were not eaten; but,
regard to oaths, and punishes their violation. Ziv' if sacrificed by the people of the country, were
EXwv roy/rosroy (Soph. T2rach, 1190) means (ac- buried in the ground; if by strangers, were thrown
cording to Suidas) bpicou Ey7v/yuriv. into the sea or river. (II. iii. 310, xix. 267.)
WVe find early mention in the Greek writers of The parties used also to lay their hands upon
oaths beingy taken on solemn and important oc- the victims, or on the altar or some other sacred
casions, as treaties, alliances, vows, compacts, and thing, as if by so doing they brought before them
agreements, both between nations and individuals. the deity by whom the oath was sworn, and made
Thus, when the Greeks and Trojans agree to de- him witness of the ceremony. Hence the exprescide the fate of the war by a single combat be- sions srpbs rbv 3orby bv 4topcleSsEL, ovLuvvat Kcat!
tween Menelaus and Paris, they ratify their agree- IEpcEV. (See Reiske, Index ad Dem. s. v.'OlyCs' a:
ment by an oath. (11. iii. 276.) The alliance Harpocr. s. v. AgOos; Thuc. v. 47; Goeller, ad loc.;
between Croesus and the Lacedaemonians is con- Juv. Sat. xiv. 219; Ovid. Epist. Dido ad Aez.
firmed by oath. (Herod. i. 69.) So isthe treaty 129.) In Homer (II. xiv. 270), Juno, making a
between the Medes and Lydians, whose.rites in solemn promise to Sleep, takes the Earth in one
swearing (as Herodotus tells us, i. 74) were the hand and Heaven in the other, and swears by
same as those of the Greeks, with this addition, Styx and the subterranean gods. To touch the
that they made an incision in their arms and tasted head, Iand, or other part of the body, of the pereach other's blood. We may further notice the son to whom the promise was made, was a common
treaty of peace between the Athenians and Pelo- custom. The hand especially was regarded as a
ponnesians, upon which every state was to swear pledge of fidelity, and the allusions to the junction
EnrLXcpmoi opro, srbl YYmo'-rsy (Thucyd. v. 47), of hands in making contracts and agreements
the vow of the Ionian women (Herod. i. 146), that abound in the ancient writers. (Eurip. Meden,
of the Phocaeans (Id. 165), and the promise of 496; Soph. Philoct. 812, Tr1acl. 1183; Ovid. Ep.
Circe to Ulysses (Od. x. 345). The reliance placed Pllyllis ad DemoV/h. 21, Briseis ad Ach. 107; Hom.
in an oath is specially shown in the dialogue be- Hysm. ad Ven. 26.) Other superstitious rites were
tween Aegeus and Medea in Eurip. Med. 736- often superadded, to give greater solemnity to the
760; and the speech of Athena in Eurip. SuZppl. ceremony (Aesch. Sept. c. Tloeb. 42; Soph. A1ntis.
1196. For other examples we refer the reader to 264; Demosth. c. Coon. 1269), which appear to be
Soph. Oed. Tyr. 647, Oed. Col. 1637, Tr-achin. ridiculed by Aristophanes (Lysist. 188).
1183; Herod. vi. 74; Holm. II. ix. 132. The different nations of Greece swore by their
That the Greeks (as a nation) were deeply im- own peculiar gods and heroes; as the Thebans by
bued with religious feeling, and paid high regard Hercules, Iolaus, &c., the Lacedaemonians by
to the sanctity of oaths, may be gathered fiom the Castor and Pollux, the Corinthians by Poseidon
whole tenor of their early history, and especially (Aristoph. Actiarn. 774, 860, 867, Equiles, 609,
from the writings of the poets, Homer, Aeschylus, Lysist. 81, 148); the Athenians swore principally
and Pindar. (See Thirlwall, Hist. of Greece, vol. i. by Zeus, Athena, Apollo (their 7rap~Cos aebs),
c. vi. ~ 3.) They prided themselves on being su- Demeter, and Dionysus.
perior in this respect to the barbarians. (Aelian. The office or character of the party, or the
xiv. 2.) The treacherous equivocation practised place, or the occasion often suggested the oath to
by the Persians at the siege of Barcae (Herod. iv. be taken. Thus, Iphigeneia the priestess swears
201) would have been repugnant to the feelings of by Artemis in Eurip. Iph. in Tauis. Mesnelalls
a people, whose greatest hero declared that he bids Antilochus swear by Poseidon (the equestrian
hated like hell one god), the subject being on horses. (1l. xxiii. 58.5.)
"Os X%''TEPO,!' ICeOVp eV1 ppEoalv,, AXXo 3dp. So Philippides, in Arist. Nub. 83, is made ridii. ix. 313. culously to swear eyv bzy Ilosoes3'-by T7rs-rtos.
Achilles swears by his sceptre (II. i. 234), TeleThe poets frequently allude to the punishment machus by the sorrows of his father (Od. xx. 339).
of perjury after death, which they assign to the Hence the propriety of the famous oath in Denmoinfernal gods or furies (Hom.Il;. iv. 157, xix. 260; sthenes, by the warriors who fought at Marathon,
Pind. Olyimp. ii. 118; Aristoph. Rant. 274), and &c. HIere we may observe, that as swearing be-we find many proofs of a persuasion that perjurers came a common practice with men upon trivial
would not prosper in this world. (Hom. II. iv. occasions, and in ordinary conversation, they used
67, 270, vii. 351; Hesiod. Op. et Dies, 280; to take oaths by any god, person, or thing, as their
Thuc. vii. 18.) One of the most striking is the peculiar habits or predilections, or the fancy of the
story told by Leutychides to the Athenians, of moment, dictated. Pythagoras on this account
Glaucus the Spartan, who consulted the Pythian swore by the number Four. (Lucian, Pythc ag. 4;
oracle whether he should restore a deposit, or deny Plut. de Plac. Phil. i. 3. 1616.) Socrates used to
on oath that he had ever received it; and who, for swear vY'srbe tCeYa, in which he was absurdly immerely deliberating upon such a question, was cut itated by others. (Athen. ix. p. 370.) Aristooff with his whole family. (Herod. vi. 86; Pausan. phanes, so keenly alive to all the foibles of his
ii. 18, viii. 7; Juv. Sat. xiii. 202.) countrymen, takes notice of this custom, and turns
Anciently the person who took an oath stood it into ridicule. Hence he makes the sausageup, and lifted his hands to heaven, as he would in dealer swear - an-by'Ep/,uV T-bV 3yopai7o (Equit.