Comp. Plat. Resp. ii. p. 364 B. J. Bernays' Theophrastos ub . Fro1mmigkeit , pp. 106 f.
It is not possible to determine absolutely in what order the different kinds of sacrifice came into use. The order probably depended in a great degree upon physical conditions, as the ordinary phenomena of life suggested terror or gratitude. This is the teaching of present experience.
2.
Materials of sacrifice.
(1) Simple produce of the earth. Comp. Ovid,
Fast.
1. 337 ff.; Porphyr. [Theophr.]
de Abst.
2.5ff.; 4:22.
(2) Prepared produce of the earth: first-fruits of food: juice of
soma.
Comp. Porphyr. [Theophr.] 2.6.
(3) Animals. Comp. Porphyr. 2.9. These were generally limited to those used for food: Porphyr. l.c. 2.24, 25; offered to demons: id. 2.36, 38.
(4) Human beings. Comp. Porphyr. 2.27ff.; 54 ff.; Just. M. Ap. 2.12; Tertull. Ap. 9; C. Quest. 7; Aug. de Civ. 7.19.
The custom of offering human sacrifices was not unfrequently signified by representative offerings: Herod. 2.47; Ovid, Fasti , v. 621ff.; Tylor, 2.366f.
See E. v. Lasaulx, D. Suhnopfer der Gr. u. Ro1m . Here again it is impossible to determine what materials were first used in sacrifice. General tradition points to the offering of the fruits of the earth as the earliest form of worship. Comp. Plato, Legg. vi. p. 782 C; Plut. Quaest. Conv. 8.8. 3.
3. Modes of Sacrifice. The primitive manner of sacrifice was determined by the thought that the Divine Power received the gifts, and shared the feast. Hence the use of
(1) The altar. The gifts were symbolically brought near to God.
(2) Fire. The etherealised essence of the gift was borne aloft (Hom.
Il.
1.317). For descriptions of sacrifices compare Hom.
Il.
1.458ff.;
Od.
3.439ff.;
14.414ff.; Eur.
Electr.
792 ff.; Ar.
Pax
, 940 ff.: Apoll. Rhod. 1.425ff. The adorning, & c. of the victims preserved the fiction that they met death willingly.
4. Effect of sacrifice. The effect of sacrifices was conceived of either as
(1) Relative, When the offering was welcomed as an expression of a real harmony of spirit and fellowship between the worshipper and the object of his worship; or
(2) Absolute, When the sacrifice had in itself a positive virtue. This view finds the most complete expression in Hindu theology. Comp. Monier Williams, Indian Wisdom , p. 31 note. In its popular form it became a subject for Classical Satirists: e.g., Luc. de sacr. 2.
In addition to the sacrifices which formed part of common worship, account must be taken of those which were made by vows ( e.g.,Spolia opima ), and by voluntary devotion (legends of Macaria, Curtius , the Decii ).