where _aræ_ plainly includes _altaria_; for whatever we make of Daphnis, Phœbus was certainly a celestial god. So Cicero, pro Quint. _Aras delubraque Hecates in Græcia vidimus._ The Greeks, also, distinguish two sorts of _altars_; that whereon they sacrificed to the gods was called βωμος, and was a real _altar_, different from the other, whereon they sacrificed to the heroes, which was smaller, and called εσχαρα. Pollux makes this distinction of _altars_ in his Onomasticon: he adds, however, that some poets used the word εσχαρα, for the altar whereon sacrifice was offered to the gods. The Septuagint version does sometimes also use the word εσχαρα, for a sort of little low _altar_, which may be expressed in Latin by _craticula_, being a hearth, rather than an _altar_.”――CHAMBERS’ _Cyclopædia_. Scaliger thinks that the altar mentioned by Terence was the altar usually placed on the stage of a theatre during representation, and consecrated to Bacchus in tragedy, and to Apollo in comedy. It is most probable, that one of the ἐσχάραι is alluded to by our author in this passage. The ἐσχάραι were low altars which stood before the doors in Athens: they were dedicated to the ancient heroes. NOTE 173. _Davus.――That if my master should require me to swear that I did not do it, I may take the oath with a safe conscience._ The Greeks paid very great regard to oaths. They divided them into two classes. The first kind was the μέγας ὅρκος, or great oath, when the swearer called the gods to witness his truth; the second was the μικρὸς ὅρκος, when the swearer called on other creatures. They usually, when falsely accused of any crime, took an oath to clear themselves. This oath was sometimes administered in a very singular manner: the oath of exculpation was written on a tablet, and hung round the neck, and rested on the breast of the accused, who was then compelled to wade into the sea about knee-deep: if the oath was true, the water remained stationary; but, if false, it instantly rose up, and covered the tablet, that so dreadful a sight as a false oath might be concealed from the view of mankind. The Athenians were proverbial for their sincere regard for truth. _Vide_ Velleius Paterculus, B. 1. C. 4., also, in B. 2. C. 23: we are told “Adeò enim certa Atheniensum in Romanos fides fuit, ut semper et in omni re, quicquid sincerâ fide generetur, id Romani Atticâ fieri, prædicarent.”――MARCUS VELLEIUS PATERCULUS, B. 2. C. 23. L. 18. The Athenians behaved with so much good faith and inviolable honour in all their treaties with the Romans, that it became a custom at Rome, when a person was affirmed to be just and honourable, to say, he is as faithful as an Athenian. NOTE 174. _Davus. (to himself.) The father of the bride is coming this way; I abandon my first design._ _Mysis.――I don’t understand this._