their offering of unboiled rice and water in a hollow made for the purpose in a stone of the tomb, it seems to them no matter that the poor or the birds really carry off the grain.[1]
Such rites as these are especially exposed to dwindle in survival. The offerings of meals and feasts to the dead may be traced at their last stage into mere traditional ceremonies, at most tokens of affectionate remembrance of the dead, or works of charity to the living. The Roman Feralia in Ovid's time were a striking example of such transition, for while the idea was recognized that the ghosts fed upon the offerings, 'nunc posito pascitur umbra cibo,' yet there were but 'parva munera,' fruits and grains of salt, and corn soaked in wine, set out for their meal in the middle of the road. 'Little the manes ask, the pious thought stands instead of the rich gift, for Styx holds no greedy gods:'—
'Parva petunt manes. Pietas pro divite grata est
Munere. Non avidos Styx habet ima decs.
Tegula porrectis satis est velata coronis,
Et sparsae fruges, parcaque mica salis,
Inque mero mollita ceres, violaeque solutae:
Haec habeat media testa relicta via.
Nee majora veto. Sed et his placabilis umbra est.'[2]
Still farther back, in old Chinese history, Confucius had been called on to give an opinion as to the sacrifices to the dead. Maintainer of all ancient rites as he was, he stringently kept up this, 'he sacrificed to the dead as if they were present,' but when he was asked if the dead had knowledge of what was done or no, he declined to answer the question; for if he replied yes, then dutiful descendants would injure their substance by sacrifices, and if no, then undutiful children would leave their parents unburied. The evasion was characteristic of the teacher who expressed his theory of worship in this maxim, 'to give oneself earnestly to the
