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 pope, agonos, culturarii, 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 performed most commonly by the priest, or, in his absence, by the most honourable person present. If the sacrifice 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 happened to live after the fall, &c.