ordeal

ordeal
subs.
Trial by ordeal: see Soph. Ant. 264, 265.
Crisis: P. and V. ἀ̆γών, ὁ.

ordeal: jūdĭcium Dei; called also vulgaris purgatio: Blackstone in Cycl. s. v. (Low Lat. ordalium: v. Du Cange, s. v.) Phr.: to go through the o. by fire, incedere per ignes, cf. Hor. Od. 2, 1, 7: cf. Virg. Aen. 11, 787, medium freti pietate per ignem cultores multâ premimus vestigia prunâ. (For fig. sense the best word is perh. discrīmen: to pass through such an o., *in tantum discrimen vocari, adduci; tanti discriminis experimentum facere.)