ed definition of beneficence, or of
magnanimity, or of another virtue, as the case may be. And after
discussion the judge legally condemns him to the punishment for the
crime of which he is accused--viz., for injury for despondency, for
pride, for ingratitude, for sloth, &c. But the sentences are certain and
true correctives, savouring more of clemency than of actual punishment.

_G.M._ Now you ought to tell me about their priests, their sacrifices,
their religion, and their belief.

_Capt._ The chief priest is Hoh, and it is the duty of all the superior
magistrates to pardon sins. Therefore the whole state by secret
confession, which we also use, tell their sins to the magistrates, who
at once purge their souls and teach those that are inimical to the
people. Then the sacred magistrates themselves confess their own
sinfulness to the three supreme chiefs, and together they confess the
faults of one another, though no special one is named, and they confess
especially the heavier faults and those harmful to the state. At length
the triumvirs confess their sinfulness to Hoh himself, who forthwith
recognizes the kinds of sins that are harmful to the state, and succours
with timely remedies. Then he offers sacrifices and prayers to God. And
before this he confesses the sins of the whole people, in the presence
of God, and publicly in the temple, above the altar, as often as it had
been necessary that the fault should be corrected. Nevertheless, no
transgressor is spoken of by his name. In this manner he absolves the
people by advising them that they should beware of sins of the aforesaid
kind. Afterwards he offers sacrifice to God, that He should pardon the
state and absolve it of its sins, and to teach and defend it. Once in
every year the chief priests of each separate subordinate state confess
their sins in the presence of Hoh. Thus he is not ignorant of the
wrong-doings of the provinces, and forthwith he removes them with all
human and heavenly remedies.

Sacrifice is conducted after the following manner: Hoh asks the people
which one among them wishes to give himself as a sacrifice to God for
the sake of his fellows. He is then placed upon the fourth table, with
ceremonies and the offering up of prayers: the table is hung up in a
wonderful manner by means of four ropes passing through four cords
attached to firm pulley-blocks in the small dome of the temple. This
done they cry to the God of mercy, that He may accept t