Note 374 — Chapter II · THE HELLENIC PEOPLE GENERALLY, IN THE EARLY HISTORICAL TIMES.

Plato, Legg. ii. 1, p. 653; Kratylus, p. 406; and Dionys. Hal. Ars Rhetoric. c. 1-2, p. 226,—Θεὸς μὲν γέ που πάντως πάσης ἡστινοσοῦν πανηγύρεως ἡγεμὼν καὶ ἐπώνυμος· οἷον ὀλυμπίων μὲν, Ὀλύμπιος Ζεὺς· τοῦ δ᾽ ἐν Πυθοῖ, Ἀπολλών.

Apollo, the Muses, and Dionysus are ξυνεορτασταὶ καὶ ξυγχορευταί (Homer, Hymn to Apoll. 146). The same view of the sacred games is given by Livy, in reference to the Romans and the Volsci (ii. 36-37): “Se, ut consceleratos contaminatosque, ab ludis, festis diebus, cœtu quodammodo hominum Deorumque, abactos esse ... ideo nos ab sede piorum, cœtu, concilioque abigi.” It is curious to contrast this with the dislike and repugnance of Tertullian: “Idololatria omnium ludorum mater est,—quod enim spectaculum sine idolo, quis ludus sine sacrificio?” (De Spectaculis, p. 369.)