JEclibus in medirs, mediurine sub xtheris axe, tagens ara fait, juNtaque vetervinia !•to•ls Incumbens arx, :mine umbra complexu. Pcnates.
J.N. ii. 512.
This practice of erecting altars in groves, and under the shade of trees, was so universal, and had been so grossly abused, that God gave this express command to the Jews, " Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God." Deut. xvi. 21. Judges vi. 25. 2 Kings xxi. 3.
Altars were esteemed peculiarly sacred, and in gene ral afforded an inviolable to such as fled to them for refuge. This privilege, however, was grossly abused; and the altars, instead of affording protection to the in nocent, became much more frequently the retreats of the guilty. Hence Tacitus, (? nnul. lib. iii c. 60.) com plains, that the Grecian temples and altars were crowd ed with profligate slaves, and criminals who had fled from justice : and Euripides, in the person of Ion, loudly protests against such abuses, urging very sensibly, Tss octv Vag agaiS AAA' QeAaVVf IV• Ot4E 1.0? KgA0P OEIGA IrOVI7CCO Xeipx• The altars among the Jews also afforded an asylum to malefactors ; but they were not considered as inviolable sanctuaries. Accordingly, wnen Joab laid hold of the horns of the altar, and refused to leave it, Solomon or dered him to be killed where he was. 1 Kings ii. 31. The Greeks also, on urgent occasions, continued to elude the strict obligation, of observing the inviolability of their asyla. When Pausanias fled to the temple of .Minerva Chalcixcus, the Lacedemonians unroofed the temple, blocked up the doors, and left him to starve with cold and hunger. It was also lawful to drive out the criminals by fire. Hence in Plautus, a master thus threatens his slave who had fled to an altar for pro tection : Some of the ancients, however, were by no means cere monious in shewing their contempt for the sanctity of altars ; and Diogenes in particular, to slim how little he respected them, took a louse and cracked it on the altar of Diana.
By the phrase Pro axis et focis, is generally under stood, our religious and civil liberties. This, however, does not appear to he the true meaning of the words : both of them have a reference to religion. Ara is the altar in the impluvium, or middle of the house where the Penates were worshipped ; focus is the hearth in the atrium, or hall, where the Lares were worshipped. As therefore the Penates, according to Servius, were the same as the Magni Dii, whilst the Litres were the domeetici et fitmiliures, that is, such as were worshipped by particular families, the phrase pro urn? et Ads may more properly mean, "for our public and private lights." Much has been said, to very little purpose, respect ing the altar at Athens, To the unknown God. The sub ject has been obscured chiefly by the comments and ex planations of the fathers. All that we know with cer tainty on the subject is, that an altar, with the inscrip tion 5141existed at Athens in the time of St Paul. As to the occasion on which this altar was erected, we are entirely in the dark ; and we do not think it neces sary to swell this article with the idle conjectures which have been formed on the subject. For the most satis factory account, we refer to Doddridge and Hammond, in loco ; and for a detailed view of various conjectures, to Calmet, word Altar. For a particular account of the Jewish altar of burnt-offerings, sec Prideaux's Connect. vol. i. p. 199. For the Grecian and Roman altars, see Potter's ...tut of Greece, vol. i. p. 185, 4th edit. and Adams's Rom..intig. p. 327. (g)