The Greeks acknowledged another kind of fear, differing from any we ha… — Essays
SAPIR 861
The Greeks acknowledged another kind of fear, differing from any we have spoken of yet, that surprises us without any visible cause, by an impulse from heaven, so that whole nations and whole armies have been struck with it. Such a one was that which brought so wonderful a desolation upon Carthage, where nothing was to be heard but affrighted voices and outcries; where the inhabitants were seen to sally out of their houses as to an alarm, and there to charge, wound, and kill one another, as if they had been enemies come to surprise their city. All things were in disorder and fury till, with prayers and sacrifices, they had appeased their gods--[Diod. Sic., xv. 7]; and this is that they call panic terrors.--[Ibid. ; Plutarch on Isis and Osiris, c. 8.]
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