First it must clearly be established that the Greeks themselves recognised two diverse elements in the ritual of their state. The evidence of the orator Isocrates[16] on this point is indefeasible. He is extolling the mildness and humanity of the Greeks. In this respect they are, he points out, ‘like the better sort of gods.’ ‘Some of the gods are mild and humane, others harsh and unpleasant.’ He then goes on to make a significant statement: ‘_Those of the gods who are the source to us of good things have the title of Olympians, those whose department is that of calamities and punishments have harsher titles; to the first class both private persons and states erect altars and temples, the second is not worshipped either with prayers or burnt-sacrifices, but in their case we perform ceremonies of riddance._’ Had Isocrates commented merely on the _titles_ of the gods, we might fairly have said that these titles only represent diverse aspects of the same divinities, that Zeus who is Maimaktes, the Raging One, is also Meilichios, Easy-to-be-Intreated, a god of vengeance and a god of love. But happily Isocrates is more explicit; he states that the two classes of gods have not only diverse natures but definitely _different rituals_, and that these rituals not only vary for the individual but are also different by the definite prescription of the state. The ritual of the gods called Olympian is of burnt-sacrifice and prayer, it is conducted in temples and on altars: the ritual of the other class has neither burnt-sacrifice nor prayer nor, it would seem, temple or altar, but consists in ceremonies apparently familiar to the Greek under the name of ἀποπομπαί, ‘sendings away.’ For ἀποπομπαί the English language has no convenient word. Our religion still countenances the fear of the supernatural, but we have outgrown the stage in which we perform definite ceremonies to rid ourselves of the gods. Our nearest equivalent to ἀποπομπαί is ‘exorcisms,’ but as the word has connotations of magic and degraded superstition I prefer to use the somewhat awkward term ‘ceremonies of riddance.’ Plato more than once refers to these ceremonies of riddance. In the _Laws_[17] he bids the citizen, if some prompting intolerably base occur to his mind, as e.g. the desire to commit sacrilege, ‘betake yourself to ceremonies of riddance, go as suppliant to the shrines of the gods of aversion, fly from the company of wicked men without turning back.’ The reference to a peculiar set of rites presided over by special gods is clear. These gods were variously called ἀποτρόπαιοι and ἀποπομπαῖοι, the gods of Aversion and of Sending-away.