according to Ritter's view, a pinnace placed on wheels. That _signum ipsum
_("the very symbol") does not mean any image of the goddess, may be
gathered also from ch. xl., where the goddess herself, _si credere velis_,
is spoken of as being washed in the sacred lake.

[66] As the Romans in their ancient coins, many of which are now extant,
recorded the arrival of Saturn by the stern of a ship; so other nations
have frequently denoted the importation of a foreign religious rite by the
figure of a galley on their medals.

[67] Tacitus elsewhere speaks of temples of German divinities (e.g. 40;
Templum Nerthae, Ann. i. 51; Templum Tanfanae); but a consecrated grove,
or any other sacred place, was called templum by the Romans.

[68] The Scythians are mentioned by Herodotus, and the Alans by Ammianus
Marcellinus, as making use of these divining rods. The German method of
divination with them is illustrated by what is said by Saxo-Grammaticus
(Hist. Dan. xiv, 288) of the inhabitants of the Isle of Rugen in the
Baltic Sea: "Throwing, by way of lots, three pieces of wood, white in one
part, and black in another, into their laps, they foretold good fortune by
the coming up of the white; bad by that of the black."

[69] The same practice obtained among the Persians, from whom the Germans
appear to be sprung. Darius was elected king by the neighing of a horse;
sacred white horses were in the army of Cyrus; and Xerxes, retreating
after his defeat, was preceded by the sacred horses and consecrated
chariot. Justin (i. 10) mentions the cause of this superstition, viz. that
"the Persians believed the Sun to be the only God, and horses to be
peculiarly consecrated to him." The priest of the Isle of Rugen also took
auspices from a white horse, as may be seen in Saxo-Grammaticus.