[51]
For this man donned a ceremonial robe, and in imitation of the rites he revealed the sacred things to the uninitiated, and spoke with his lips the forbidden words: those deities whom we worship, and to whom with our devotions and purifications we sacrifice and pray, he mutilated. And for such a deed priestesses and priests stood up and cursed him, facing the west,1 and shook out their purple vestments according to the ancient and time-honored custom. He has admitted this action.
1 Cf. the solemn cursing of Alcibiades described by Plut. Alc. 22. In prayers and vows addressed to the celestial gods the speaker faced the east, but in those addressed to the infernal gods, the west.
Lysias. Lysias with an English translation by W.R.M. Lamb, M.A. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1930.
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