Another item of evidence that the blood-covenant in its primitive form was a well-known rite in primitive Europe, is a citation by Athenæus from Poseidonios to this effect: “Concerning the Germans, Poseidonios says, that they, embracing each other in their banquets, open the veins upon their foreheads,[724] and mixing the flowing blood with their drink, they present it to each other; esteeming it the farthest attainment of friendship, to taste each other’s blood.”[725] As Poseidonios was earlier than our Christian era, this testimony shows that the custom with our ancestors was in no sense an outgrowth, nor yet a perversion, of Christian practices. In Moore’s Lalla Rookh, the young maiden, Zelica, being induced by Mokanna, the Veiled Prophet of Khorassan, to accompany him to the charnel-house, pledged herself to him, body and soul, in a draught of blood. “There in that awful place, when each had quaffed And pledged in silence such a fearful draught, Such--oh! the look and taste of that red bowl Will haunt her till she dies--he bound her soul By a dark oath, in hell’s own language fram’d.” It was after this, that he reminded her of the binding force of this blood-covenant: “That cup--thou shudderest, Lady--was it sweet? That cup we pledg’d, the charnel’s choicest wine, Hath bound thee--aye--body and soul all mine.” And her bitter memory of that covenant-scene, in the presence of the “bloodless ghosts,” was: “The dead stood round us, while I spoke that vow, Their blue lips echo’d it. I hear them now! Their eyes glared on me, while I pledged that bowl, ’Twas burning blood--I feel it in my soul!” Although this is Western poetry, it had a basis of careful Oriental study in its preparation; and the blood-draught of the covenant is known to Persian story and tradition. One of the indications of the world-wide belief in the custom of covenanting, and again of life seeking, by blood-drinking, is the fact that both Jews and Christians have often been falsely charged with drinking the blood of little children, at their religious feasts. This was one of the frequent accusations against the early Christians (See Justin Martyr’s _Apol._, I., 26; Tertullian’s _Apol._, VIII., IX.) And it has been repeated against the Jews, from the days of Apion down to the present decade. Such a baseless charge could not have gained credence, but for the traditional understanding that men were wont to pledge each other to a close covenant by mutual blood-drinking. COVENANT-CUTTING.