And they cried aloud
Trying to make him hear, if possible: and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the
blood gushed out upon them;
so the priests of Heathen deities used to slash themselves on their shoulders, arms, and thighs, in their devotions to them, as many writers observe F26, fancying their gods were delighted with human blood; particularly the priests of Bellona {a}, and the worshippers of the Syrian goddess F2, and of the Egyptian Isis F3.