[271.1] Eusebius, _Vita Const._, iii. 58; Frazer, _Adonis_, 1906, 22 note 2. I am uncertain how far Professor Frazer adheres to this interpretation (see _Adonis_3, 33 note). Eusebius, it is true, was a contemporary; but he was a bitter partizan, and wrote in a rhetorical style, exaggerating everything that could bring glory to his hero Constantine. Socrates, on the other hand, was a lawyer, a man of wider and more liberal views, and of fairer judgement. Sozomen too was a lawyer. They wrote a century later; but they wrote at Constantinople, and probably had access to official documents. To my mind, if their statements be irreconcilable, these qualifications entitle them to greater credit than the not-too-scrupulous ecclesiastic. [271.2] Socrates, _loc. cit._ [273.1] Ramsay, i. 94, 115; Frazer, _Adonis_, 34. Such religious prostitutes were, of course, common in Western Asia. _Cf._ Strabo, xii. 3, 36. [273.2] Clement of Alexandria, _Protrept._, ii; Arnobius, _Adv. Gentes_, v. 19; Firmicus Maternus, _De Errore Prof. Rel._, x; Apollodorus, _Bibl._, iii. 14, 3. [274.1] The service of the _hierai_ is discussed by Ramsay, _op. cit._, 135-7. See also below, p. 279. [274.2] On the other hand, it must not be forgotten that at a marriage among the Auziles and the Nasamonians the guests who enjoyed the bride’s favours were expected to reward her with a gift. Similarly, in modern Europe, a gift is also found as the return for a kiss or a dance with the bride. I have collected several cases, _Leg. Perseus_, ii. 361, 355-8, and many more might be added. Compare the Suahili custom mentioned below, p. 277. [275.1] Roth, _Ethnol. Studies_, 174. [275.2] Howitt, 664; _J. A. I._, xx. 87. See also Ploss, i. 308. [276.1] Spencer and Gillen, _C. T._, 92. [276.2] _Globus_, xci. 313. [277.1] Riedel, 138, 137. [277.2] H. Crawford Angus in _Zeits. f. Ethnol._, xxx., Verhandl., 479. [277.3] Duff Macdonald, i. 126; Jas. Macdonald, in _J. A. I._, xxii. 101. [277.4] H. Zache, in _Zeits. f. Ethnol._, xxxi. 76. More than thirty years ago a French writer cited by Hertz (_Giftmädchen_, 41) reported that among the Bafiote of the Loango Coast the girls were led round the village and their virginity put up to auction. This looks like a puberty rite of a similar character. I have not seen the book, however, and think it not impossible that the writer may have misunderstood the ceremony usual on emerging from the “paint-house.” [278.1] _J. A. I._, xxxi. 121.