24
It is the custom for those who have lost a relative or an intimate friend to sacrifice to ApolloFor Apollo Halliday suggests with some plausibility Pluto; but Apollo, as the god who cleanses from pollution (καθάρσις), is almost a commonplace in Greek literature. immediately after the mourning, and again thirty days later to Hermes. For they believe that, just as the earth receives the bodies of the dead, even so Hermes receives their souls. They give barley to the priest of Apollo and receive some meat of the sacrificial victim; and when they have put out their fire, since they believe it to be polluted, and have relighted it from the hearth of others, they proceed to roast this flesh which they call enknisma.
25
What is an alastor, an aliterios, a palamnaeos?
25
We certainly must not believe those who say that persons who, during a famine set a watch upon the miller and plunder him are called aliterioi. Cf.Moralia, 523 a-b. But he who has done unforgettable (alesta) things, Ibid. 418 b. things that will be remembered for a long time, is called alastor; and he whom it were well to avoid (aleuasthai) and to guard against because of his wickedness is called aliterios. These things, according to the statement of Socrates,Socrates of Argos; cf. Müller, Frag. Hist. Graec. v. p. 498. they have written on tablets of bronze.
26
What is the intent of the custom by which the maidens who serve as an escort for the men who lead the bull from Aenis to Cassiopaea chant until they reach the boundary, Never may ye return to the well-loved soil of your homeland?Adapted from Homer, Od. xviii. 148 (= xix. 298).
