MACTATIO, in the Roman sacrifices, signifies
the act of killing the victim. This was performed
either by the priest himself, or some of his inferior
officers, whom we meet with under the names of popae,
agones, cultarii, and victimarii; but, before the beast
was killed, the priest, turning himself to the east, drew
a crooked line with his knife, from the forehead to
the tail. Among the Greeks, this ceremony was per-
formed most commonly by the priest, or, in his absence,
by the most honourable person present. If the sacri-
fice was offered to the celestial gods, the victim's
throat was bent up towards heaven; if to the infernal,
or to heroes, it was killed with its throat towards the
ground. The manner of killing the animal was by a
stroke on the head, and, after it was fallen, thrusting
a knife into its throat. Much notice was taken, and
good or ill success predicted, from the struggles of the
beast, or its quiet submission to the blow, from the
flowing of the blood, and the length of time it happen-
ed to live after the fall, &c.