If a war was about to be undertaken, or even an assembly of the people to be held, the augurs must previously be called upon to take the auspices. Once a year, in time of peace, the auspices were taken for the public good. The mode in which this ceremony was gone about, it may be interesting briefly to detail. At an early hour, generally before break of day, the augur went forth to an open place on the Palatine hill, or perhaps in the capitol, and with his head veiled and a rod in his hand, he pointed out the divisions of the heavens, and solemnly declared corresponding divisions upon the earth. This augural temple, as it was called, was then parcelled out into four parts, east and west, north and south. As unruffled calmness in the air was absolutely necessary to the proper taking of the auspices, the augurs carried lanterns open to the wind. A sacri fice was offered, at the close of which a set form of prayer was repeated, when the signs were expected to appear. On his way home, if the augur came to a running stream, he again repeated the form of prayer and purified himself in its waters This also was indispensable to the success of the auspices. Sometimes on a military expedition the auspices were taken from the feeding of tame birds in a cage. If on throwing them pulse they refused to eat, or uttered a cry, or fluttered with their wings, the sign was unfavourable; but if, on the contrary, they eat with avidity, striking the earth quickly and sharply with their bills, the sign was favourable. This last omen was in some cases obtained by previously keeping the birds without food for some time.

AUSTER, the south wind among the ancients, which more especially the Athenians worshipped as a deity, the dispenser of rain and of all heavy showers.

AUTOCEPHALI (Gr. autos, himself, and cephale, a head), absolute or independent bishops in the early Christian Church. They were subject to the authority of no superior. The term was applied to all those bishops and metropolitans who had the independent controul of their dioceses. According to Bingham, the four following classes received this title:-1. All metropolitans anciently. 2. Some metropolitans who remained independent after the establishment of the patriarchal power, such as those of Cyprus, Iberia, Armenia, and Britain, before the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons by the monk Augustin. 3. Those bishops who acknowledged no subjection to metropolitans, but only to the patriarch of the diocese. 4. Those who were wholly independent of all others, and acknowledged no superior whatever. The only proper autocephalous bishop is the Bishop or Pope of Rome, who acknowledges no head upon earth, but considers himself the supreme authority, and head over all temporal and spiritual rulers throughout the whole world. The British Church long retained its independence. The Archbishop of Caerleon had seven bishops under him, but acknowledged no superintendence over it by the

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patriarch of Rome, and for a long time opposed him. In Wales, as well as in Scotland and Ireland, this independence continued for many centuries. Sozomen, in his Ecclesiastical History,' says, there were some bishops, as for instance, the bishop of Tomis in Scythia, who were subject neither to any archbishop nor to a patriarch. These were strictly autocephali. The churches in countries lying without the Roman empire at first had no bishops dependent on the bishops within the empire, as, for example, the churches in Persia, Parthia, and among the Goths; and these did not come under the power of Romish patriarchs, until they fell under the civil power of the Romans. In fact, as Bingham informs us, before the setting up of patriarchs all metropolitans were autocephali, ordering the affairs of their own province with their provincial bishops, and being accountable to no superior but a synod, and that in case of heresy, or some great crime committed against religion and the rules of the Church.

AUTO DA FE' (Span. Act of Faith), the ceremony of putting in execution the sentences pronounced on criminals by the tribunals of the Inquisition. It receives the name of an Act of Faith, as being one of the strongest proofs of zeal for the Roman Catholic faith. The term is applied generally to the burning of heretics who have been condemned by the Inquisition, and given over to the secular power to be visited with the punishment of death. To invest the act with the greater solemnity, the cruel sentence is always executed on a Sabbath. The unhappy individuals, who are doomed to die, are led forth in procession to the place of execution. The process is thus described by Mr. Dowling in his History of Romanism.' "The victims who walk in the procession wear the san benito, the coroza, the rope around the neck, and carry in their hand a yellow wax candle. The san benito is a penitential garment or tunic of yellow cloth reaching down to the knees, and on it is painted the picture of the person who wears it, burning in the flames, with figures of dragons and devils in the act of fanning the flames. This costume indicates that the wearer is to be burnt alive as an incorrigible heretic. If the person is only to do penance, then the san benito has on it a cross, and no paintings or flames. If an impenitent is converted just before being led out, then the san benito is painted with the flames downward; this is called 'fuego resuelto,' and it indicates that the wearer is not to be burnt alive, but to have the favour of being strangled before the fire is applied to the pile. Formerly these garments were hung up in the churches as eternal monuments of disgrace to their wearers, and as the trophies of the Inquisition. The coroza is a paste board cap, three feet high, and ending in a point. On it are likewise painted crosses, flames, and devils. In Spanish America it was customary to add long twisted tails to the corozas. Some of the victims have gags in their mouths, of which a num

nowhere more tenderly lamented, than amongst the same people, and even when there is nothing in the manner of their death that appears inhuman or cruel.'" See INQUISITION.

AUTOMATIA, a surname of Tyche or Fortuna, the goddess of chance, in the ancient Pagan mytho logy, to whom Timoleon built a temple, or rather sanctuary in his house.

"When the procession arrives at the place where a large scaffolding has been erected for their reception, prayers are offered up, strange to tell, at a throne of mercy, and a sermon is preached, consisting of impious praises of the Inquisition, and bitter invectives against all heretics; after which a priest ascends a desk, and recites the final sentence.

"If the prisoner, on being asked, says that he will die in the Catholic faith, he has the privilege of being strangled first, and then burnt; but if in the Protestant, or any other faith different from the Catholic, he must be roasted alive; and, at parting with them, his ghostly comforters, the Jesuists, tell him, that they leave him to the devil, who is standing at his elbow to receive his soul and carry it to the flames of hell, as soon as the spirit leaves his body.' When all is ready, fire is applied to the immense pile, and the suffering martyrs, who have been securely fastened to their stakes, are roasted alive; the living flesh of the lower extremities being often burnt and crisped by the action of the flames, driven hither and thither by the wind before the vital parts are touched; and while the poor sufferers are writhing in inconceivable agony, the joy of the vast multitude, inflamed by popish bigotry and cruelty, causes the air to resound with shouts of exultation and delight. Says Dr. Geddes, in a description of one of these autos da fè, of which he was a horrified spectator: The victims were chained to stakes, at the height of about four feet from the ground. A quantity of furze that lay round the bottom of the stakes was set on fire; by a current of wind it was in some cases prevented from reaching above the lowest extremities of the body. Some were thus kept in torture for an hour or two, and were actually roasted, not burnt to death. This spectacle,' says he, 'is beheld by people of both sexes, and all ages, with such transports of joy and satisfaction, as are not on any other occasion to be met with.

And that the reader may not think that this inhuman joy is the effect of a natural cruelty that is in this people's disposition, and not the spirit of their religion, he may rest assured, that all public malefactors, except heretics. have their violent death

AUTOS SACRAMENTALES, a kind of tragedies formerly acted in Spain on the occasion of the

formed in the public streets with torches, though in the light of day. The autos continued to be acted for an entire month, and closed the devotion of the holy sacrament.

AUXESIA, a surname of Persephone, worshipped under this designation first at Athens, then at the island of Egina, her statue having been carried thither about B. C. 540.

AVADOUTAS, a special kind of anchorets among the Hindu Brahmins, who practise great austerity, abandoning their wives and children, and observe the utmost abstinence, denying themselves all the comforts, and to a great extent the necessaries of life. They renounce all earthly possessions of every kind, and wear only a piece of linen cloth round the middle, being otherwise entirely naked. They rub their bodies with ashes, and whenever they are hungry, they go at once into any house, and without speaking a single word, they simply hold out their hands, and immediately eat whatever is given them. Some of them will not even give themselves the trouble to ask for alms in this manner, but lay themselves down on the bank of some river, where the country people, who regard these rivers as sacred, never fail to bring them milk and fruits in abundance. Thus they contrive to live in a state of indolence, and yet to obtain all that is needful for their daily support.

AVATARS, the metamorphoses or incarnations of Vishnu, one of the persons of the Hindu triad. These avatars are ten in number, nine of them being already past, and the last yet to come. The nine past avatars represent the deity descending in a human shape to accomplish certain important events, as in the case of the three first; to put an end to blaspheming vice, to subvert gigantic tyranny, and to avenge oppressed innocence, as in the five following; and to abolish human sacrifices as in the ninth. The ten avatars, or births of Vishnu, were, 1. Like a fish; 2. Like a tortoise; 3. Like a hog; 4. Like a lion; 5. Like a dwarf; 6. As Purushu-ram; 7. As Ram; 8. As Krishna; 9. As Budh; 10. As Kulkee, or in the form of a horse. The first six of these took place in the satya-yug or golden age; the others are more recent. The tenth, which is yet to come, will take place at the end of the kali-yug, or the iron age of the world. Besides these ten avatars, there are many others mentioned in the puranas. In short, every hero and every saint is complimented by Hindu writers as an incarnate deity. See VISHNU

AVE-MARIA (Lat. Hail, Mary), a form of devotion used in the Church of Rome. It consists partly of the salutation addressed by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, Luke i. 28, and to this is appended a prayer addressed to the Virgin. The whole runs thus;" Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and in the hour of our death. Amen." The "Ave-Maria," or "Hail, Mary," occupies a more important place in the Romish rosary than even the "Paternoster" or "Lord's Prayer” itself. Ave-Marias are frequently repeated as penances, satisfactions, and atonements for sin. In the prayers used by the ancient Christian church, no Ave-Marias are to be found. The addresses were all to God, never to the Virgin. Not even Romish authors are able to trace its origin higher than the fifteenth century. Vincentius Ferrerius appears to have been the first who used this form of prayer before his sermons. His example came gradually to be imitated, and at length it was adopted into the Breviary along with the Lord's Prayer. Erasmus, referring to the custom of repeating an Ave-Maria before commencing the sermon, says, that their preachers were wont to invoke the virgin mother in the beginning of their discourses, as the heathen poets used to do their muses.

AVENGER OF BLOOD. In Gen. ix. 6, it was declared in the most explicit terms immediately after the deluge, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." The execution of this sentence was considered in primitive times as devolving on the brother or other nearest male relative of the person slain. Such a one was called in Hebrew the Goel or Avenger. If the Göel should fail to perform his duty, the responsibility passed to the next relative, who in this case was called the Megöel, or the nearest relation but one. An institution similar to that of the Hebrew Avenger of Blood, seems to have prevailed among the Greeks in the heroic ages, and also among the Scythian and Teutonic tribes. The same practice is still observed among the modern Arabs. Niebuhr, in his travels among that interesting people, mentions having met with a man of rank who carried about with him a small lance, which he never laid aside even when in the company of his friends. On asking the reason why the man was thus armed at all times, the traveller learned that several years before, a relative of his had been murdered, and he was bound, therefore, as the nearest relative, to avenge himself by fighting in single combat with the assassin. Not long after he found an opportunity of stabbing his adversary when unprepared. The law of the Avenger is sanctioned by the Koran, which says, "O true believers! the law of retaliation is ordained to you for the slain, the free shall die for the free." This sacred duty, as it is uniformly regarded, is called thár or "blood-revenge." A commutation is allowed for its performance by

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the payment of a certain sum of money appointed by law. This was not allowed by the Mosaic law. To provide against the abuses which were liable to arise from such an institution as that of Göelism, cities of refuge were provided among the ancient Israelites, to which an unintentional man-slayer might resort to escape the vengeance of the Göel. If, however, the avenger overtook him before he reached a city of refuge and killed him; or if he found him. without the limits of his asylum and slew him, he was not liable to punishment. If the accidental homicide got into the city of refuge before the avenger overtook him, he was safe from his resentment until he had been regularly tried.

AVERNUS, a lake in Campania, which, according to the Latin poets, was the entrance to the infernal regions. Hence the word was often used for the lower world itself. See TARTARUS, HADES.

AVERROISTS, those who held the opinions of Averroes, an eminent philosopher, who was born at Cordova in the twelfth century, and died at Morocco in A. D. 1198. From the translations and commentaries which he wrote on the works of Aristotle, he received the name of the Interpreter. His own philosophical system was founded on that of the Stagyrite; but in regard to the origin of things, he adopted the Oriental doctrine of emanations. The objection was raised, that his philosophy was inconsistent with the doctrines laid down in the Koran, but to uphold philosophical systems without appearing to destroy theological tencts, he maintained the principle that a proposition true in theology, may be false in philosophy, and vice versa.

A characteristic feature of the philosophy of Averroes was that it established a distinction between the intellect and the soul. By the intellect man knows universal and eternal truths; by the soul he is in relation with the phenomena of the sensible world. The intellect is active intelligence; the soul is passive intelligence. The intellect is eternal, incorruptible; the soul is corruptible and mortal. The union of the two principles produces thought as it appears in man. Theology is truth for the soul; philosophy is truth for the intellect. Thus the Averroists made a forcible separation and divorce between reason and faith, rousing the theologians of that day to remonstrate loudly against the sect. The most obnoxious of their opinions were at length formally condemned by the last Lateran council under Pope Leo X., in the commencement of the sixteenth century. In the eighth session of that council, it was solemnly declared by a decree, that the soul of man is immortal, and that different bodies are not actuated by a portion of the same soul, but that each has a soul peculiar to itself.

AVERRUNCI. See APOTROPÆI.

AVIGNONISTS, a sect of Romanists which arose last century at Avignon in France, reviving the errors of the Collyridians, who in the fourth century distinguished themselves by an extraordinary devo