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Such are the victims offered to the other gods, and such is the mode
in which they are sacrificed; but the rites paid to Mars are
different. In every district, at the seat of government, there
stands a temple of this god, whereof the following is a description.
It is a pile of brushwood, made of a vast quantity of fagots, in
length and breadth three furlongs; in height somewhat less, having a
square platform upon the top, three sides of which are precipitous,
while the fourth slopes so that men may walk up it. Each year a
hundred and fifty waggon-loads of brushwood are added to the pile,
which sinks continually by reason of the rains. An antique iron sword
is planted on the top of every such mound, and serves as the image of
Mars: yearly sacrifices of cattle and of horses are made to it, and
more victims are offered thus than to all the rest of their gods. When
prisoners are taken in war, out of every hundred men they sacrifice
one, not however with the same rites as the cattle, but with
different. Libations of wine are first poured upon their heads, after
which they are slaughtered over a vessel; the vessel is then carried up
to the top of the pile, and the blood poured upon the scymitar. While
this takes place at the top of the mound, below, by the side of the
temple, the right hands and arms of the slaughtered prisoners are cut
off, and tossed on high into the air. Then the other victims are
slain, and those who have offered the sacrifice depart, leaving the
hands and arms where they may chance to have fallen, and the bodies
also, separate.
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