[50] See supra, [p. 197 sq.] For various instances of expiatory human sacrifice, involving vicarious atonement, see supra, [p. 66 sq.]
It is impossible to discover in every special case in what respect the worshippers believe the offering of a fellow-creature to be gratifying to the deity. Probably they have not always definite views on the subject themselves. They know, or believe, that on some certain occasion, they are in danger of losing their lives; they attribute this to the designs of a supernatural being; and, by sacrificing a man, they hope to gratify that being’s craving for human life, and thereby avert the danger from themselves. That this principle mainly underlies the practice of human sacrifice appears from the circumstances in which such sacrifices generally occur.
Human victims are often offered in war, before a battle, or during a siege.
Cæsar wrote of the Gauls, “They who are engaged in battles and dangers, either sacrifice men as victims, or vow that they will sacrifice them …; because they think that unless the life of a man be offered for the life of a man, the mind of the immortal gods cannot be rendered propitious.”[51] The Lusitanians sacrificed a man and a horse at the commencement of a military enterprise.[52] Before going to war, or before the beginning of a battle, or during a siege, the Greeks offered a human victim to ensure victory.[53] When hard-pressed in battle, the King of Moab sacrificed his eldest son as a burnt offering on the wall.[54] In times of great calamities, such as war, the Phenicians sacrificed some of their dearest friends, who were selected by votes for this purpose.[55] During a battle with king Gelo of Syracuse, the general Hamilcar sacrificed innumerable human victims, from dawn to sunset;[56] and when Carthage was reduced to the last extremities, the noble families were compelled to give up two hundred of their sons to be offered to Baal.[57] In Hindu scriptures and traditions success in war is promised to him who offers a man in sacrifice.[58] In Jeypore “the blood-red god of battle” is propitiated by human victims. “Thus, on the eve of a battle, or when a new fort, or even an important village is to be built, or when danger of any kind is to be averted, this sanguinary being must be propitiated with human blood.”[59] In Great Benin human blood was shed in a case of common danger when an enemy was at the gate of the city.[60] The Yorubas sacrifice men in times of national need.[61] Among the Ew̔e-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast, such sacrifices “are ordinarily only made in time of war, pestilence, or great calamity.”[62] The Tahitians offered human sacrifices in seasons of war, or when war was in agitation.[63]
[51] Cæsar, De bello gallico, vi. 16.
[52] Livy, Epitome, 49.
[53] Pausanias, iv. 9. 4 sqq.; ix. 17. 1. Plutarch, Themistocles, 13. Idem, Aristides, 9. Idem, Pelopidas, 21 sq. Lycurgus, Oratio in Leocratem, (ch. 24) 99. Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, iii. 15. 4. Porphyry, De abstinentia ab esu animalium, ii. 56. Geusius, op. cit. i. ch. 16 sq. Stengel, op. cit. p. 115 sq.
[54] 2 Kings, iii. 27.
[55] Porphyry, op. cit. ii. 56.
[56] Herodotus, vii. 167.