on this head is very wonderful; for the only one who makes any
mention of them is Julius Firmicus Maternus, in his dissertation on
the errors of the Pagan religion; as Dalenius, in his elaborate
account of the Taurobolium, has remarked.

The ceremony of the consecration of the High Priest of Cybele,
which many learned men have mistaken for the consecration of the
Roman Pontifex Maximus; which dignity, from the very earliest
infancy of the Roman Empire, was always annexed to that of the
Emperor himself.

The Priests who had the direction of the Taurobola, wore the same
vestments without washing out the bloody stains, as long as they
would hold together.

By these rites and baptisms by blood, they thought themselves, as
it were re-born to a life eternal. Sextilius Agefilaus Ædesius
says, that he was born a-new, to life eternal, by means of the
Taurobolium and Criobolium.

Nor were the priests alone initiated in this manner, but also
others, who were not of that order; in particular cases the
regenerations were only promised for twenty years.

Besides the Taurobolia and Criobolia, which were erected at the
expence of whole cities and provinces, there were others also,
which were founded by the bounty of private people. We often meet
with the names of magistrates and priests of other Gods, who were
admitted into these mysteries, and who erected Taurobolia as
offerings for the safety of the Emperor, or their own. The rites of