Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/451

SACKED MUSIC. 411 SACRIFICE. anthem. In 1559 by a decree of Elizabeth the anthem became an essential element in the Angli- can ritual. In respect to form a distinction was soon made between the full anthem and the verse anthem, the former containing more choral writ- ing, the latter more solo numbers. In (iermany the anthem was developed by the immediate pred- ecessors of Bach into the Chureh cantata (Kir- chenkantate) , and Bach himself marks the cul- mination of this form. Bach's cantatas are more elaborate than the anthems, especially in the treatment of the instrumental accompaniment. Independent of the Church service there arose the form of the oratorio. Catholic composers originated this form about 1575, and German and English Protestant composers adopted it. The German masters confined themselves in the selection of the te.xts to the Passion of Christ, as related in the Gospels. They introduced the character of the narrator and made free use of the chorale, thus adding an element of pious contemplation. In this form the oratorio be- came the Passion oratorio, or, brietly, the Passion. The perfection of this form is reached in Bach's Passion According to Saint Mat- theic (1729). See Ambbosian Chant; An- them; Antiphon; Cantus Firmus; Chorale; HYMNOLOGy ; Impboperia ; MASS ; Modes ; Motet ; Oratorio; Passion; Plain Chant; Polyphony; Kequiem ; Seqience; Stabat Mater. SACRED ORDER. A Siamese order for mem- bers of the royal line, founded in 1851 and re- organized in 18G9. It had previously been a personal decoration of the King. The insignia comprises a rosette surmounted by a crown and set with nine different jewels. The ribbon is yellow, edged with red, blue, and green. SACRED WARS (Gk. Upol viXeiMi, hieroi po- lemoi). The name given to the wars waged at the instigation of the Amphictyonic Council in Greece in behalf of Delphi. On the ground that the Phocian cities of Crissa and Cirrlia had mal- treated women returning from the shrine, and had exacted too heavy toll from pilgrims to Delphi, war was made on Cirrha about B.C. 596- 586 and the city was destroyed. About B.C. 357, the Phocians were charged with having cultivated ground sacred to Apollo and were heavily fined by the Amphictyonic Council. They retaliated by seizing Delphi, and by the aid of the treasure prolonged the war for ten years, when they were finally overpowered by Philip of Macedon, and their towns dismantled. On a similar accusa- tion made in B.C. 339 by jl];schines, the Am- phictyons declared war against the Locrians, and mad* Philip commander-in-chief. When his operations seemed to be directed against Athens, Demosthenes succeeded in forming an alliance with the Thebans and the struggle ended in the "battle of Chseronea, which put Greece at the feet of Philip. A war between the Phocians and Delphians in B.C. 448 also figures as a sacred war, SACRED WAY (Lat. via sacra. Gk. lepii 6S6s, hiere hodos) . (1) A famous road leading from Athens northwest to Eleusis. It issued from the city at the Dipylon Gate, passing through the Ceramicus and continuing through the Pass of Daphne. It was the route of the great annual procession of the mysteries, and was for the greater part of its length lined on both sides with tombs, many of which are preserved, together Vol. XVII.— 27. with remains of slirines and temples. (2) The most important street of the ancient Homan Forum, forming the chief means of coiiiiniinicu- tion with the Capitol. Starting near the -Meta Su- dans in the hollow of the Colosseum, it passed be- tween the Palatine and Oppian, some 1.50 yards north of its later line, leading through the .Vrch of Titus, thence diagonally between the Temple of Vesta and the Kegia to the Virus Tuscus, past the Basilica Julia to the summit of the Capitoline, a total length of about 860 yards to the foot of the ascent, which in Imperial times was called the Clivus Capitolinus. The road received its name from the three sacred huts of Vesta, of the high priest, and of the Penates brought from Troy. In early times it was divided into three scctioHS, infima, summa, and clivus sucer. Its classic name was retained down to the ninth cen- t ury . SACRIFICE (Lat. sacrificium, sacrifice, a making sacred, from sacer, sacretl -|- facrre, to make). An ottering to a spiritual power of some- thing consumed in the service of that jMiwer. The word therefore includes the rite and the thing that is sacriliced, but excludes in the lat- ter case, except when used metaphorically, such objects as are made over to a deity without being consumed (lands, temples, etc.). The deity ia supposed to eat the sacritice or its essence, some- times only the blood (life) of the victim. In the developed ritual a sacritice is generally made by an appointed priest (q.v.). Not all priests, how- ever, are sacrificers. Sacrifices are sometimes divided, as among the Romans, into honorific and piacular. In either case the motive in making a sacrifice is the counterpart of that which in- duces a man to make an offering to another man. Thus the sacrifice is a means of benefiting, .a token of esteem and brotlierhood, or it is a pal- liation of actual or potential anger. The sim- plest form of sacrifice is when grain is flimg upon the ground for spirits, either ancestral ghosts or goblins. But as this is usually the accompani- ment of a family meal, so a great feast in honor of gods is merely an extension of the same idea. Such a sacrifice may be either vegetable or ani- mal. Both kinds are enumerated in the Gudean tablets, and since both are offered today by savages, as they were common in classical antiquity and were known to the .Aryans from a still more remote period, it is jjrobably impos- sible to derive one from the other. There is, fur- ther, besides the simple vegetable sacrifice, the sacrifice made by offering intoxicating li(]Uor, usually as an accompaniment of a feast, such as the beer sacrifice to Wuntan. the Soma sacrifice to Indra, and parallel ott'erings and rites among the Aztecs. Among aiiiinal sacrifices, as man is the best animal, liuman sacrifices have always held a prominent place. They were common among the Semites, not unusual among the Greeks and Komans (in a veiled form), and from time immemorial have been performed in India. The worshipers in some Saiva rites still eat of this sacrifice and many peoples are cannibals only at a time of sacrifice. The fruit sacrifii'e is some- times clearly an afterthought, typifying a re- volt against the cruelty of animal sacrifice. Thus in the Vishnu cult of India only vegetable sacri- fices are permitted. In such a case, for animals are substituted cakes in the likeness of animals; or small animals first take the place of large ani- mals and are in turn exchanged for effigies (as