151 Pausanias, i. 24, 4; _id._, i. 28, 10; Porphyry, _De abstinentia_, ii. 29 _sq._; Aelian, _Var. Hist._ viii. 3; Schol. on Aristophanes, _Peace_, 419; Hesychius, Suidas, and _Etymol. Magnum_, _s.v._ βούφονια. The date of the sacrifice (14th Skirophorion) is given by the Schol. on Aristophanes and the _Etym. Magn._; and this date corresponds, according to Mannhardt (_M. F._ p. 68), with the close of the threshing in Attica. No writer mentions the trial of both the axe and the knife. Pausanias speaks of the trial of the axe, Porphyry and Aelian of the trial of the knife. But from Porphyry’s description it is clear that the slaughter was carried out by two men, one wielding an axe and the other a knife, and that the former laid the blame on the latter. Perhaps the knife alone was condemned. That the King Archon (on whom see above, vol. i. p. 7), presided at the trial of all lifeless objects, is mentioned by Pollux, viii. 90; cp. _id._ viii. 120. 152 The real import of the name _bouphonia_ was first perceived by Prof. W. Robertson Smith. See his _Religion of the Semites_, i. 286 _sqq._ 153 Varro, _De re rustica_, ii. 5, 4. Cp. Columella, vi. praef. § 7. Perhaps, however, Varro’s statement may be merely an inference drawn from the ritual of the _bouphonia_ and the legend told to explain it. _ 154 B. K._ p. 409. 155 See above, vol. i. p. 243. 156 Hecquard, _Reise an die Küste und in das Innere von West-Afrika_, pp. 41-43. 157 Above, p. 3, and vol. i. p. 408. _ 158 China Review_, i. 62, 154, 162, 203 _sq._; Doolittle, _Social Life of the Chinese_, p. 375 _sq._, ed. Paxton Hood; Gray, _China_, ii. 115 _sq._ 159 Above, vol. i. pp. 261, 267. 160 See above, p. 26 _sqq._ 161 Schol. on Aristophanes, _Acharn._ 747. 162 Overbeck, _Griechische Kunstmythologie_, ii. 493; Müller-Wieseler, _Denkmäler d. alt. Kunst_, ii. pl. viii. 94. 163 Hyginus, _Fab._ 277; Cornutus, _De nat. deor._ c. 28; Macrobius, _Sat._ i. 12, 23; Schol. on Aristophanes, _Acharn._ 747; _id._ on _Frogs_, 338; _id._ on _Peace_, 374; Servius on Virgil, _Georg._ ii. 380; Aelian, _Nat. Anim._ x. 16. 164 For the authorities on the Thesmophoria and a discussion of some doubtful points in the festival, I may be permitted to refer to my article “Thesmophoria” in the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_, ninth ed. 165 Photius, _s.v._ στήνια, speaks of the ascent of _Demeter_ from the lower world; and Clement of Alexandria speaks of both Demeter and Proserpine as having been engulfed in the chasm (_Protrept._ ii. § 17). The original equivalence of Demeter and Proserpine must be borne steadily in mind. 166 Plutarch, _Isis et Osiris_, 69; Photius, _s.v._ στήνια.