X R E L I G I O X A X D E D L C 1 T 1 O X 267
vals, mysteries and cult-names could be taken away from the
gods concerned in order to bribe greedy Hermes.1 Religion
has lost a good deal of its power, at least for many; good
humour and the jests of naive believers have turned into the
irony of unbelievers
The natural consequence was that religious duties often
ceased to be taken seriously People played pranks during the
procession of the Panathenaia.2 The mam purpose of a visit
to Delphi could be sightseeing.3 To Kadmos in Euripides'
Bakchai the worship of the new god Is a matter of opportunist
policy and family pride 4 The wealthy miser envies the gods
the sacrifice he is to give them, and offers less than he has
solemnly promised 5 The choregus tries to avoid offering the
lamb at the sacrifice.6 Even the sacredness of the place does
not keep the slave Karion from behaving indecently, and
further from stealing a pot of soup before the priest can take
It.7 'Blasphemy by a slave' seems to have been a fairly common
thing.8 It was by no means unusual to ease oneself by the
fence of a sanctuary, and the images of Hekate could be soiled
by men engaged in religious dancing.9 We may call all this
trivial, or even see in it a sign of 'natural' and unadulterated
feeling, but It proves, in fact, that religion had largely lost Its
hold on men. The Thesmophona was a holy festival of women,
which as a cult included words and rites which were partly
obscene; but in the Thesmofhonazousat the holy rites and
sacred secrets of the festival provide the background not only
for a campaign against Euripides, but also for disgraceful and
shameful attacks on the women themselves, and for a plot
remarkable for its grotesque and rather masculine obscenity
as well as for its literary jests. We feel how divorced the repre-
1 P4i8ff, 425. —A peculiar kind of sacrilege, which, becomes a matter of
blackmail, is described in Eupolis 40 P, 6$ff, 86 Some foreigner who has
drunk the sacred drink (KUKScbv) arrives in the marlet-place with ks beard
still full of the barley crumbs which the drink contained 'Clearly an echo of
the recent excitement concerning the profanation of the Mysteries.. a remark-
able passage, for Old Comedy carefully avoids the theme as a rule1 (Page) But
Eupolis differed in his political attitude from the other comedians Cf also
W. Schmid, Pfo/ofogusy 93 (1938), 426
2 Hermipp 26. 3 Eur And ro86fF,cf Ion iSsff
4 Eur. Ba. 332ff. 5 B 1618, cf adesp. 460 — adesp. i
6P 1022 7P1697ff",673ff
8 Eur Ion 1189 " W 394, PI 11831" —F-366