




m^fi

TER VERKRIJGING VAN DEN GRAAD VAN DOC-
TOR IN DE LETTEREN EN WIJSBEGEERTE AAN
DE RIJKS-UNIVERSITEIT TE UTRECHT OP GE-
ZAG VAN DEN RECTOR-MAGNIFICUS, Dr H. BOL-
KESTEIN, HOOGLEERAAR IN DE FACULTEIT
DER LETTEREN EN WIJSBEGEERTE, VOLGENS
BESLUIT VAN DEN SENAAT DER UNIVERSITEIT
TEGEN DE BEDENKINGEN VAN DE FACULTEIT
DER LETTEREN EN WIJSBEGEERTE TE VER-
DEDIGEN OP WOENSDAG 10 JULI 1935, DES
NAMIDDAGS TE 4 UUR

ooa KAV aAA^ KHcr KA./ pMiotïaHHar^^ STHT
aTîî33^maatiw sis Maaaîi^ aa ^ ÄOT
'îo Tmmm M.X TiHTigsaviKö-aHtm sf^
-JC3« .H Jïûnbsp;SÎH«

TîHTiaaavîMîî ÄacE i i^piaa mv imj83H
TOTOuyA'i 3fi iîAVnbsp;aa rtaûâiquot;

Wanneer bij het schrijven van dit voorwoord de tijd weer levend
voor mij wordt dien ik aan mijn academische vorming heb besteed,
besef ik eerst recht welken dank ik verschuldigd ben aan hen, die
op dien weg mijn leiders waren.

In de eerste plaats gaat dan mijn dank uit naar U, Monseigneur
Van Gils, voor wat gij voor mij hebt gedaan; moogt gij in dit
opusculum een tegengave zien voor Uwe ijverende belangsteUing.

Uwe lessen, maar niet minder de vriendschap die gij mij toe-
droegt, hooggeleerde Damsté, alsmede Uw hooge levensopvattin-
gen, zullen mij steeds bijbhjven. Ik beschouw het als een groot
voorrecht Uwe colleges, hooggeleerde Vollgraff, gevolgd te heb-
ben; zij waren een naidevaii; in den hoogsten zin des woords.
Aan Uw stuwenden geest, hooggeleerde Bolkestein, Uw critische
behandeling der oude geschiedenis, Uwe vele practische raad-
gevingen dank ik veel van wat ik nu mijn bezit mag noemen. Gij,
hooggeleerde Ovink, hebt mij eens bezield door Uw diepzinnige
lessen over Helleensche wijsbegeerte; U, hooggeleerde Schrijnen,
alsmede U, hooggeleerde Galand f, dank ik mijn inzicht in de al-
gemeene taalwetenschap. Zeergeleerde Van Hoorn, niet alleen
gedurende den tijd dat ik Uwe lessen mocht volgen, maar ook
daarna hebt gij mij steeds in staat gesteld te putten uit den rijk-
dom Uwer kennis.

Wanneer ik U, hooggeleerde Wagenvoort, mijn promotor,
dank ga zeggen voor alles wat Gij voor mij deedt, — immers, zoo-
wel bij de keuze van het onderwerp, als ook bij de uitwerking
daarvan, stondt Gij mij voortdurend met Uw raad en daad ter
zijde, — dan vrees ik daarvoor de rechte woorden niet te kunnen
vinden. Ofschoon ik niet direct tot Uwe leerlingen heb behoord,
mag ik wel zeggen, dat Uw werkzaam voorbeeld. Uw critische
geest. Uwe veelomvattende kennis, die mij gedurende mijn werk
steeds een prikkel waren, in de toekomst een krachtige drang tot
werkzaamheid zullen bhjven, hetgeen Gij ongetwijfeld als den bes-
ten dank U gebracht zult beschouwen.

I wish also to tender my thanks to Professor Eitrem of Oslo
for the information he so kindly gave me.

Aan de Dames en Heeren van de Universiteitsbibliotheek rest
mij een woord van dank, die door hun behulpzaamheid mij het
werk lichter maakten. Tot gelijken dank voel ik mij verplicht
jegens het personeel van de Buma-Bibliotheek in Leeuwarden.

Tenslotte een hartelijk woord van dank aan mijn vrienden die
mij voortdurend hun belangstelling toonden.

Aan mijn ouders en aan mijn vrouw, die niet alleen deze disser-
tatie vertaalde, maar ook door haar begrijpende belangstelling mij
voortdurend tot steun was, heb ik mijn primitiae opgedragen.

The fact that Pliny's great work, for all who are not occupied
exclusively with the isolating philological science of religion but
also follow comparative methods is an almost inexhaustible
source of folklore data, gave birth to the desire to make a research
into a coherent part of one of the most frequently quoted passages;
in this instance, however, working in the opposite direction by
applying the comparative method to Pliny and making the author
himself the subject of a research.

When, after a discussion of herbs and the forms of flowers and
many other rare and unusual things, Pliny begins to treat of
remedies supplied by man himself and by animals he immediately
finds himself confronted with difficulties Unnatural acts are
committed in the name of medicine, such as the drinking of the
blood of fallen gladiators, the apphcation of human bones * and
other horrible things which, fortunately(!) are not of Roman
origin®. These, however, he does not intend to investigate, but
desires only to give such remedies (auxilia), and not outrages
{piacula), as mother-milk, saliva, contact with bodies and other
suchlike natural remedies''.

Then an important — still unsolved — question arises, Valeantne
aliquid verba et incantamenta carminum^. Pliny quotes striking
examples of this word-magic while it must be added that the
fulfilment sometimes also lies in our own power: ostentorum vires
et in nostra potestate esse ac front quaeque accefta sint valere. Even
the doctrine of the augures explicitly teaches that the observation
of signs is of no advantage or disadvantage to those who do not
purposely observe them

People go so far as to write luck-bringing words or words to
avert fire on walls After mentioning some examples to show the

1 Pfister, P. W.s.v. Kultus 2110. ^ § i. s § 4. i ib. s § 6. 7. ® § 6-
' § 8. M 10. » § 10—21. quot; § 17. 11 § 19.

power of carmina, Pliny makes an appeal to the private experience
of the reader himself in regard to such matters by giving a collection
of superstitious customs. This, therefore, is the beginning of the
treatise which I have made the subject of this thesis.

The passage divides itself into specific parts. There are two
main divisions, viz. 22—26 giving customs not specifically Roman,
but rather universally human, here and there amplified with a
specially Roman custom; then § 27—29 which are preponderously
Roman in quality. Further § 22—26 fall into two parts i.e. § 22—24
in which the power of the magic word is mentioned, and § 25—26
giving the mutae religiones or inarticulate sounds. In § 26 the
underl5dng thought is that of a death rite. § 27 contains the same
idea.

Further, the second part § 27—29 deals with subjects based on
a loss or emanation of a mysterious power, while with carmina
quidem exstant at the end of § 29 an apparently forgotten passage
connected with 23—24 is added.

In virtue of this division I have printed the text in a modified
form, and made certain emendations necessary for the connected
reading of the passage.

It will be shown under the heading quot;Attainsquot; that a part was
probably derived from Xenocrates of Aphrodisias, whom Pliny
also quotes among the auctores externi Lib. I. 28. As regards the
specifically Roman customs these might be placed to the account
of Sextius Niger i. But as surely as he served as a source for these
books, as certainly can he not be held responsible for the details
of superstition since, as is known, he was strongly opposed to such
matters

Miinzer has pointed out the great influence exercised by Varro
1 Wellmann, Hermes XLII 1907, p. 614. ^ it.

on the compilation of Pliny's Natural History \ but it is impossible
to say from which of Varro's books various quotations originate
Münzer tries to prove ® that the reference to Servius Sulpicius
can be traced back to Varro who, not only was in correspondence
with Sulpicius but also, like Cicero, made use of him On the
other hand Münzer « points out that the remark about M. Servilius
Nonianus may very well be an original one of Pliny himself, seeing
the personal relations of Pliny with Nonianus^. Supported by
Münzer's® statement that he investigated various passages in
Pliny where problems of Roman social life were dealt with in a
connected fashion and always discovered the actual source to be
Varro, though he is nowhere prominent, we may perhaps come to
the conclusion that besides Xenocrates of Aphrodisias Phny's
principal source was Varro, amphfied probably with remarks of
his own.

That Varro was a probable source for this passage may also
appear from the discovery of Oehmichen ® that an auctor exquisi-
tissimus in Pliny stands at the head of his index iquot;. Further that
Varro is probably quoted in § 21, regarding word magic, which
immediately precedes our text. However, it seems impossible to
me to offer any certainty on these points.

We now come to a second important point. What was the attitude
of the intellectual Roman, and especially that of Pliny, in regard
to magic?

Though Pliny's subject matter certainly falls under the heading
of magic, we should first make some clear distinction between
magic and superstition Magic is in a certain sense the abuse
of superstition; that is, an attempt to usurp those very powers
which superstition strives to avert Whereas superstition, ever

conscious of the subjectivity of the supersensual, is, in general,
merely an excrescence of the oldest relations of civilisation, magic,
on the other hand, is for the Romans a science, derived from abroad,
and possible to acquire Superstition is passive, an attitude of
mind, inactive; but, as in the case of religion, which does not
remain a belief in a divinity, but develops into a cult, so superstition
takes its practical form in magic, which must be considered as a
cult of superstition

Active magic was abhorred by the State authorities, and not only
were zealous efforts made to banish it from public rites®, but
active measures were taken against its practice; as witness legg.
XII tabb. ^ and the well-known laws against astrologers ma-
gicians and mathematicians®; while the regulations of Tiberius
were renewed by Claudius' and Vitellius Even in the provinces,
the State took action against evil practices In general, it may be
said that cultured Romans were opposed to such doings. PHny i®
calls magic quot;fraudulentissima artiumquot;. Though Virgil is not
unacquainted with love charms ^^ (they seem to have been intro-
duced into Italy only in the first century B. C. and has a
knowledge of magical practices i®, it may still be considered that
he did not accept magic seriously Horace takes a serious stand
against magic in the person of Canidia Ovid, indeed, needs
magic for his poetical works but denies belief in it

According to Tacitus the Senate did not think it beneath its
dignity to make an investigation into the magical practices of Libo
who was said to have provided their names and those of the Caesars

with magical symbols. Even Tiberius took part in the investigation
on the sly^^.

The reason why poets allowed magic to be practised in their
works is apparent. In general, magic seems to have had its domain
among the lower classes of women, its scope being too mean
and low for intellectuals to have truck with But even the in-
tellectuals were not entirely free from fear of magic, as is proved
by the serious statement of Tacitus as to the means by which it
was believed that Germanicus' health was undermined

We shall now take Phny's point of view in regard to magic. In
his opinion it contains three things which explain its great influence
on the people. Born of medicine, it inspired religions with new
force, and even extended its sway to astrology It is spread over
the whole world ® even to the Gauls Magic is concerned not only
with carmina (of which there are traces remaining even in Italy
but with quot;water, globes, air, stars, lamps, basins, axes, and promises
the divine in many other ways, moreover also colloquies with
shades in the underworldquot;®.

Phny himself is strongly » opposed to magicians, of which his
violent words against the mage Osthanes, who accompanied Xerxes
in the war against Greece and the frequent occasions on which
he decries against the quot;vanitasquot; ^^ pecuUar to their art, bear witness.
As an example of their falsa ars Nero may serve
All this concerns impetrative magic As regards prohibitive

magic, which even Pliny applauds when applied against ma-
gicians i, matters are different, as the commentary which is to
follow will prove.

In the beginning of this book when discussing man as opposed
to the rest of nature, and the curative properties that are in him
he finds himself faced by a great difficulty ® with regard to the
value to be ascribed to quot;ostenta et incantamentaquot;. As has been said
at the beginning of this Introduction, it is not his intention to
discuss obscene practices such as the drinking of human blood as
a medicament or the apphcation of parts of the human body as
a cure for certain diseases®, even with animals®; life, indeed,
being of not so much value as to warrant its being preserved by all
possible ghastly means If value is to be attached to carmina et
incantamenta, it should be consistent with our duty that these be
accepted for the use of mankind. On being asked the question,
however, no sensible person believes in them. But what happens
in practice? That men beUeve in things without justifying the fact
to themselves. Besides, do not certain carmina exist which have
proved their value in history? One example of which can even
boast of a successful practice of 830 years. He who accepts that fact
may consider the gods capable of anything

That words have power appears even from the fact that events
and omens can be led in certain paths For the power of incan-
tamenta a lance is broken by legg.XII tabb. and there is no living
person who is not afraid of defixiones

Looked at from a common sense point of view, the credibility
of carmina, designed to bring about all kinds of delightful things,
is diminished by the fact that outlandish jargon is always used, or
queer Latin words; although one might expect that the will of the
gods ought to be forced by means of dignified language After
a few examples from the past in which is shown how carmina
can act in a curative and preventive manner, he puts the question
to the reader whether, on consideration, everybody, at one time
or other in his life, has not done actions which are really magical
in themselves, but which one does not really account for to oneself
as such In other words, customs and habits which, originating
from a world with primitive civilisation, and applied there magically,
have lost their power and now survive in folklore.

But all this, as we shall see, is prohibitive magic; for the power
which exists in the heart of every race, and finds its parallel
throughout the whole world, among all peoples, is in itself, for a
primitive, a weapon of defence. Magic stands in an attitude of
defence (even though it sometimes becomes positive i.e. fructifying
magic) against the surrounding imminent perils, which soon
become personified in evil spirits; since even death, from which the
spirits are born, is for him a peril, and unnaturally, nay, maliciously
caused

In short, Pliny's point of view might be summed up as follows:
prohibitive magic is acceptable superstition; impetrative magic is
a science to be rejected.

Before making a comparative study of the customs mentioned
by Pliny, it would be as well to come to a clear understanding
of the fundamental ideas. Let us begin with a definition of Magic

Magic is coercion by means of words or acts brought to bear
upon a power without him (also against another human being) by
a person (that is, the sorceror) in possession of certain knowledge,
who thereby brings about certain results

In order to exercise this coercion the sorceror must be endowed
with a power greater than that of his opponent; this power is called
quot;orendaquot;, i a term derived from the rehgion of the Iroquois, which
represents an impersonal power or witchcraft, which can adhere to
all objects, and even to a person, and become active through him

In the first place, of course, this power or orenda of an individual
is not apphed to other individuals to obtain results which could
also be obtained by natural means, but is principally appHed to
superhuman powers or forces to obtain by force or threat things
lying within the power of those forces.

Thus, for example, the Greeks and Romans lived in such cU-
matological circumstances that their lives were immediately
influenced by nature, so that they made it their task to exercise
such power over possible catastrophic natural phenomena that
these could be prevented. Besides prayers and sacrifices there
therefore exists, even in non primitive civilisation, a belief in the
possibility of coercing those higher powers that govern the events
of nature

The task of providing for this belongs, among primitive races,
to the medicine man, who is endowed with a more than ordinary
orenda. He is the sorceror who makes magic, i.e. makes use of his
orenda This orenda attaches not only to persons (next to the
priestthe King is best endowed with orenda«), but places too
can be filled with sacred power to which a Polynesian name is
given, namely quot;tabooquot;, meaning especially named, marked,
proscribed, excluded. Everything filled with taboo arouses awe or
aversion, disgust or worship ^ Times, too, can be imbued with
orenda», also sounds» and wordsquot;, and just as there are two
sides to orenda, one bringing advantage and the other injury,
so the objects mentioned can have the same effect.

As in the case of inarticulate sounds there is also a magic power
in words, whether it be a name, a prayer, or even a single letter
or a row of letters strung together 12. There is even power in human
motions of which dancing ^^ probably occupies a prominent place,

1 2113. 2 See too Pfister, Berl. Phil. Wochenschr. 1920, 645 sq.; 1921,
396 sq. W. Fiedler, Antiker Wetterzauber, Stuttgart 1931, p. 1. ^ Pfister,
K. 2113. 5 2125. « 2127. ' 2115, 2138 sqquot; ® 2149. » 2151. 2154.

quot;2149. quot;2154. 13 2160. cf. G. V. d. Leeuw, IndenHemeliseenendans,
Amsterdam 1930, passim.

but among which processions i, mere emotions, and kissing ^ may
also be reckoned as being transmitters of orenda.

Orenda which can be translated as dvvafii? = virtus is not equal
to vwCT or soul. The orenda of the individual as such disappears

Of course we must suppose that the orenda still adheres to his
remains, which explains the appetite for cannibahsm and scalp-
hunting among primitive peoples and also the cult of dead bodies

Finally animals, too, possess orenda The hunter must bring
his orenda in opposition to that of the wild animal

Experience teaches the primitive that there are certain mysterious
powers; but he is unable to seize them in the abstract. It is im-
possible for him to separate the forces from the matters to which
they are inherent. Power and matter are an inseparable unity in
the beginning of his philosophy of life

It requires already a great power of abstraction to refer the idea
of various expressions of power of isolated cases back to one domi-
nating power, which we have just named orenda, or which some
call mana. We then reach a following stage which Tylor» once
called quot;animismquot;, but for which Marret » substituted the name
quot;animatismquot;.

The latter goes out from the point of view that the primitive
sees an animating power in everything that he meets or that
makes a strong impression on him i». Animatism is the most
primitive form of a philosophy of life, in which the active powers
in all phenomena of inanimate, vegetable and animal elements

Animism again points to a further development in which man
separates his own person from the outer world and makes his
observations accordingly ii. It is the behef in a special idea of hfe,
the soul idea, in bodies or outside them, which forms the rehgion
and philosophy of aU non civihsed races, and is the first stage of

1 lustra, 2162. ^ 2158. ' 2117. - 2113. ' 2117. « 2113. ' Nilsson, o. 1., p. 6.
8 Tylor, Primitive Culture, London 1891. I. 23.; 425.

» Threshold of Religion 2, 1914, see Beth, Hdwb. d. D. A. s.v. Animatis-
mus 439.

quot; Criticised by Wundt, Mythus u. Religion j, p. 173 sq.
Nilsson, 0.1., p. 14.

all development or, as Goblet d'Alviella describes it quot;the
belief in the existence of spiritual beings, some attached to bodies
of which'they constitute the real personality [souls) others, without
necessary connection with a determinate body [spirits).quot;

In pure animism the spirits are nameless; when their residence
and functions are more clearly recognized they acquire names

The remarkable thing is that the survivals of all these three
stages are to be found in Pliny. We shall stumble against phe-
nomena to which the orenda idea still adheres. In the case of some
customs the animatistic idea still forms the undertone. The ani-
mistic element is most clearly recognizable in the beginning of
§ 27 where Phny explicitly states that these customs owe their
existence to those who saw themselves surrounded by daemons,
and therefore took their magical precautions from the very be-
ginning and handed these down to posterity, or, to remain in Pliny's
train of thought, pointed out what must be avoided in order not
to disturb the daemons.

1 Tylor, 1. c. ^ Hastings, Encyclop. of Relig. and Eth., s. v. Animism,
p. 635. 3 Fowler, Rel. Exp., p. 148.

22nbsp;Libet banc partem singulorum quoque conscientia coarguere. cur
enim primum anni incipientes diem laetis precationibus invicem
faustum ominamur? cur publicis lustris etiam nomina victimas
ducentium prospéra eligimus? cur effascinationibus adoratione
peculiari occurrimus, alii Graecam Nemesin invocantes, cuius ob
id Romae simulacrum in Capitolio est, quamvis Latinum nomen

23nbsp;non sit? cur ad mentionem defunctorum testamur memoriam eorum
a nobis non sollicitari? cur inpares numéros ad omnia vehementiores
credimus, idque in febribus dierum observatione intellegitur? cur
ad primitias pomorum haec vetera esse dicimus, alia nova optamus?
cur sternuentis salutamus, quod etiam Tiberium Caesarem, tristis-
simum, ut constat, hominum in vehiculo exegisse tradunt, et aliqui

24nbsp;nomine quoque consalutare religiosius putant? Quin et absentes
tinnitu aurium praesentire sermones de se receptum est. Attalus
adfirmat, scorpione viso si quis dicat duo, cohiberi nec vibrare
ictus, et quoniam scorpio admonuit, in Africa nemo destinât aliquid
nisi praefatus Africam, in ceteris vero gentibus deos ante obtestatus

25nbsp;ut velint. quin etiam mutas religiones pollere manifestum est; nam
si mensa adsit anulum ponere translatitium videmus alius saliva
post aurem digito relata sollicitudinem animi propitiat. poUices,
cum faveamus, premere etiam proverbio jubemur. in adorando
dextram ad osculum referimus totumque corpus circumagimus,
quod in laevum fecisse Galliae religiosius credunt. fulgetras pop-

26nbsp;pysmis adorare consensus gentium est . incendia inter epulas nomi-
nata aquis sub mensam profusis abominamur. recedente aliquo ab
epulis simul verri solum, aut bibente conviva mensam vel reposi-
torium tolli, inauspicatissimum iudicatur. Ser. Sulpicii, principis
viri, commentatio est quamobrem mensa admovenda ^ non sit
[nondum enim plures quam convivae numerabantur] nam sternu-

Detlefsen secutus sum. i nam-videmus : a Sillig post iudicatur (§ 26) trans-
positum; quia ,,muta religioquot;, post quin etiam posui, quod mihi initium
§ 25 videtur. Quin etiam: cod. Chifflet.; Harduini ed. Paris. 1685; 1. vulg.:
quoniam etiam. si mensa adsit: pro: mens afflicta sit, quod unus Detlefsen
proposuit.

mento revocari ferculum mensamve, si non postea gustetur aliquid,
inter diras habetur [aut omnino non esse] Haec instituere illi
qui omnibus negotiis horisque interesse credebant deos, et ideo
placatos etiam vitiis nostris reliquerunt. quin et repente conti-
cescere convivium adnotatum est non nisi in pari praesentium
numero, isque famae labor est ad quemcumque eorum pertinens.
cibus etiam e manu prolapsus (non) ^ reddebatur utique per mensas,
vetabantque munditiarum causa deflare, et sunt condita auguria,
quid loquenti cogitantive id acciderit, inter execratissima, si ponti-
fici accidat dicis causa epulanti. in mensa utique id reponi adolerique

28nbsp;ad Larem piatio est. Medicamenta priusquam adhibeantur in
mensa forte deposita negant prodesse. ungues resecari nundinis
Romanis tacenti atque a digito indice multorum persuasione ®
religiosum est, capillum vero contra defluvia ac dolores capitis
XVII luna atque XXVIIII. Pagana lege in plerisque Italiae praedis
cavetur ne mulieres per itinera ambulantes torqueant fusos aut
omnino detectos ferant, quoniam adversetur id omnium spei, prae-

29nbsp;cipue frugum. M. Servilius Nonianus princeps civitatis non pridem
in metu lippitudinis, priusquam ipse eam nominaret, aliusve ei
praediceret, duabus litteris Graecis P A chartam inscriptam, cir-
cumligatam lino, subnectebat collo, Mucianus ter consul eadem
observatione viventem muscam in linteoio albo, his remediis carere
ipsos lippitudine praedicantes. carmina quidem extant contra
grandines contraque morborum genera contraque ambusta, quae-
dam etiam experta, sed prodendo obstat ingens verecundia in tanta
animorum varietate. quapropter de his ut cuique libitum fuerit
opinetur.

1 delevi; Mayhoff lacunam indicavit: (ostenta eiusmodi observare quis
spernendumarbitretur) aMlt; omnino inane esse, pro omnino: omnia'. Ven. ed.
(Palmarii 1499); inane: Cod. Leid. Voss.; Florent. Riccard., Paris. Lat.
6797; Tolet;. Alex. Bened. ed.; nam cod. Paris. Lat. 6795; non Gelenii ed.
Basil. 1554. autem: vett. edd. ® non: addidi (vid. comm.).
3 Cum Mayhoff: multorum persuasione', hoe et alibi passim invenitur. mulie-
rum peculiars. Detlefsen; pecuniae 11. mss. et vett. edd.nbsp;Haupt,

22nbsp;I should like to test this matter by everybody's private feeling.
For why on the first day of the year do we wish each other a
prosperous New Year? Why do we choose people with favourable
sounding names to lead the sacrificial animals on the occasion of
the public lustra? Why do we counteract the evil eye by a special
attitude of prayer, while some people invoke the Greek Nemesis,
whose statue stands for that purpose on the Capitol, although no
Latin name exists for her?

23nbsp;Why, when speaking of the dead, do we aver that their rest is
not disturbed by us? Why do we believe uneven numbers to be
more effective for everything, and why, in the case of fever, is
attention paid to this in the observance of the days? Why, at the
sacrifice of first-fruits, do we declare those present to be old ones
and ask for other new ones? Why do we wish health to those
who sneeze, which Tiberius Caesar, without doubt a very sullen
person, is said to have demanded of other people in his carriage,
and which others think even more effective if the name is men-
tioned too?

^^ It is even generally admitted that absent people feel by the
buzzing of the ears that they are being spoken about. Attains
assures us that if anyone on seeing a scorpion says quot;duoquot; the animal
holds back and makes no attempt to sting. And talking of a scorpion
reminds me that in Africa nobody undertakes anything before
having said quot;Africaquot;, while other nations, on the other hand,
invoke the benevolence of the gods.

25 Nay, it is even evident that customs to which one feels bound
and in which no words are spoken, can have their power too.
For we find it a generally accepted custom to take off the ring
when going to table. Another person will put spittle behind his ear
with a finger in order to calm excitement. If we wish to be well-
disposed to anyone we must, also according to the proverb, enclose
the thumb. In the act of praying we bring the right hand to our
mouths and make a complete circle with our body, which the
Gauls consider more effective if done to the left. Throughout the

whole world it is the custom to salute the lightning by clucking
with the tongue.

26nbsp;We avert the evil omen caused by speaking about fire at a meal
by pouring water under the table. It is considered to be a very
unfavourable omen if anyone leave the table while the floor is
being swept or if the table or dumb waiter be removed while a
guest is drinking. There is a treatise by Servius Sulpicius, a pro-
minent man, dealing with the case in which a table should not be
brought in — for if a table or dumb waiter were recalled by a
sneeze and nothing, even if only a trifle, were eaten of it, it would
be considered a very unfavourable omen.

27nbsp;All these things have been established by those who believed that
daemons were present at all their affairs and at all times and there-
fore they left them reconciled to us, even to our imperfections.
Indeed it has been considered remarkable for a company at table
to fall suddenly silent, but only when there was an even number
of people present, and the effect of this idea still exists and extends
to each one of those present. It was not the custom to put back on
the table, at least between the courses, any food that had fallen
out of the hand and it was forbidden to remove it for cleaning
purposes. And we have still records of auguries treating of what
anyone says or does during this occurrence, and the auguries are
of a most unfavourable kind if this should occur to a priest when
officially present at a meal; in any case putting it back on the
table and burning it before the Lar counts as a sin.

28nbsp;Medicaments that happen to have been placed upon the table
before being applied are said to have lost their efficacy. Many
people feel themselves bound to pare their nails on the Nundinae
Romanae in silence and moreover to begin with the index finger,
and to cut their hair, on the other hand, on the XVII and XXVIIII
day of the moon against the falling out of the hair and headache.
The rural customs on very many farms in Italy forbid women to
turn their spindles while walking on the roads or even to carry
them uncovered, since this disappoints expectations in all possible
matters, especially concerning the crops.

29nbsp;M. Servilius Nonianus, a prominent man of the city, who was
formerly never afraid of lippitude till he himself mentioned it or
another person talked to him about it, used to hang a paper round
his neck inscribed with the Greek letters P A and tied round with.

thread. Mucianus, thrice consul, had, for the same purpose, a living
fly in a white bag; and they both declared openly, that for this
reason they were never troubled by lippitude. And certainly there
exist charms against hail-storms and certain kinds of diseases, and
against burns, some even appHed with success. But I feel too much
shame to record them, as there is too great a divergence of opinion.
And therefore let everyone please himself on this point.

The word first occurs in the time of Sulla i and is equal in meaning
to the word avveidrjai?, which was originally thought to have
been coined by the Stoics though probably it was first introduced

In examining the development of the word avvsid-paiQ it
appears that avveidevai ri eavrm and avveaig occur in the
sense of quot;cognisancequot;, therefore quot;awarenessquot;, mostly in relation to
an intellectual or ethical state of affairs; avveidrjai^ in the form
of quot;consciencequot; only occurs in the Hellenistic period^.

Although Greek mythology gives examples of the worst possible
deeds, nowhere before the Tragedy is there any allusion to the
workings of conscience either before or after the deed, added to
which it must be borne in mind that the Erinyes were not the
personification of a troubled conscience but were originally the
dismayed spirits of the dead that bring to the murderer's mind the

Till the time of the Sophists avveai^ signifies the consciousness
of evil deeds; when Protagoras declares avamp;QWTioq nexqov dndvrmv
this might imply theoretically the moral appreciation, and, more-
over, a subjective moral appreciation of all acts and thoughts, but
an idea of quot;consciencequot; in our sense of the word has not yet been
reached«, and in Sophist times the stage of quot;consciousness of the
deed perpetratedquot; is not surpassed, except for the addition of
appreciation of the fact that freedom from guilt has been mam-
tained; thus the estabhshment of a good conscience in a verbal
sense The latter is also expressed in the popular morahty that
endows the Seven Sages with its own wisdom Conscience is stiU
rudimentary; is a ret rospective conscience._

1nbsp;Rhet. ad. Her. II, p. 216, 6. 10; 253, 2 Marx. For a full treatment of this
subject see Fr. Zucker, Syneidesis-Conscientia, Jena 1928.

' Antiphon. Prooem. de chor. 1 and Fab. inc. fr. 269 Kock; Zucker ib.
8 Stob. Ill, p. 603 H. No. 11 and 12.

It might be expected that Socrates would analyse and expand
this idea, of whom von Wilamowitz testifies that we are inclined
to consider him as the peripatetic conscience for the masses, al-
though he never made use of the word. Nor did Plato Socrates'
quot;daimonionquot; is not conscience but the inward voice of a personale
disposition

From the beginning of Hellenistic times the notion gets a more
inward meaning, as is clearly shown in the New Comedy, while
even in Plautus a treatment of the problem is to be found

As already stated, it is doubtful where the word first made its
entry into philosophy.

But neither with the Stoics — at least not among the older
Stoics — nor with Epicurus does avvsidrjoig either play a part or
take any place in the system. Epicurus simply borrows the ideas
of good or bad conscience from vulgar ethics^.

Suddenly it becomes a widespread idea with Cicero, Sallust,
Seneca, but it must immediately be added that even here a good
and evil conscience is mostly meant

Howbeit, the frequency with which Seneca handles the idea,
and the prominence of performances connected with conscientia
must testify that the idea had greatly gained in inwardness, even
though a treatise such as quot;de tranquilitatequot;, which should actually
demand a treatment of conscientia within the limits of a philosophic
system, does not do so. It is only at a later time, however, that
conscience becomes introspective.

Although, therefore, in the time of Pliny, conscientia, especially
in philosophic language, was beginning to approach our meaning
of the word quot;consciencequot;, it occurs nowhere in Pliny's works in
that sense. In three other places ® conscientia appears, but always,
as in this case, in the meaning of quot;consciousnessquot;.

If we may believe the tradition of the ancients New Year with
the Romans began not on January 1st but on March Isf. It is

^ v. Wilamowitz, Platon I. 104. 2 H. Maier, Socrates. 447 sq.
' Zucker, p. 17. 4 Zucker, p. 21. quot; id. pp. 23—24.
» Plin. N.H. XXXVII. 49.; VII. 111.; XXXIII. 40.

' Ov. Fasti I. 39; III 76 sq.; Varro L. I. VI. 33; Macr. Sat. I. 12. 9; Solinus
I. 35; Censor, de D. nai. XX. 2, 3; Plut. Num. 18.; Plut. Qu. Rom. XIX.

of course difficult, if not impossible, at the end of a long period
of development to transpose oneself entirely back to the beginning
of it, since, of necessity, many links in the chain must be missing.
It is, therefore, no matter of wonder that those who traced their
luni-solar year back to the earliest times of antiquity should make
such a mistake. There is indeed strong evidence to show that the
eariiest culture knew nothing of such time reckoning.

The court of civil law, which was necessarily a very conservative
element in Roman political economy, and which certainly had its
origin in an agrarian world, only distinguished between summer
and winter This is mostly the case with agricultural peoples,
where the year is divided into a period of harvest and a period
of work, at both of which periods the year can begin

Going no further for a comparison than Greece it is obvious
that the Roman peasant, too, must in very early times have made
use of the never failing certainty with which new seasons are
introduced by certain constellations in order to fit in his necessary
points of contact with the cycle of nature. In this case we stand
at the cradle of the natural year, a circle that has no natural
division, no beginning and no end, the seasons following each other
without break There are at the present time still to be found
primitive tribes who maintain such a calculation of time®.

In later times the Romans still spoke of the year having origin-
ally consisted of 10 months®, beginning on March 1st and ending-
with December to which January and February were afterwards
added According to Plutarch, however the years before the
reform of Numa must have been a conglomerate of 10 periods
rather than of months, for some consisted of even less than 20 days
while others counted 35 or more. Moreover if we consider that the

Albani still had such a method of calculating time i, we may take
it as an indirect proof that such a method was not unknown to
the Romans. Then, on examining the case of present day primitive
civilisations, which are leaving the stage of primitive culture, we
mostly find that they divide the year into 10 or 14 periods,
seldom 12.

In such cases these periods have no connection with the motions
of sun or moon but are distinguished one from another by
striking events in the animal or vegetable kingdom, and are
therefore unequal in length s. In hke manner the Romans will
also, probably, have had 10 periods, with December as the final
one, followed by a rest period from mid-winter to spring, as Frazer
suggests in Fasti II p. 15.

Then, according to tradition, comes the calendar reformer
Numa who added two monthscounting together 51 days to
four of 31 days and six of 30 days; but this story can certainly be
relegated to the realms of fiction as being a reconstruction of later
times

The idea of the natural year may stiU be abundantly strengthened
by remembering that a part of the old calendar of feasts is connected
with it, cf. Robigalia and Vinaha; the Fordicidia, 15th April, Parilia,
21st April and Cerealia, 19th April, were all spring feasts 6.

The year, therefore, originally opened for the peasant on March
1st (traces of this still remained later on') and closed with the
Saturnalia This feast, which was only in later times connected
with the New Year celebrations was, of course, that in which

the corn, stored in the summer, was broached. It was always
coupled with some festivities impljdng that this was the end of
the agricultural period, seeing that the sowing of seed in autumn
only takes place by way of exception Then there still remained
a period in which the peasant, in forced idleness, experienced on
the one hand the dying off of nature and coupled with it the cult
of his dead relations and on the other hand was able to occupy
himself with fructifpng magic for the coming season. Compare
the Lupercalia that serve both purposes, i. e. fructifying magic
as well as purification and conciliation

The Terminalia, too, in which the stone is crowned and sprinkled
with the blood of a sacrificial animal, may also have been fructifying
magic. Side by side with those two thoughts there is, of course, for
the primitive the idea of danger to which he is exposed at this
period when those powers that he endeavours to lead in his own
favour, may cause him great injury. In any case the memorial
time of the dead will, in his mind, have coupled itself as a matter
of course with the death of nature Everything that recalls the
thought of the dead must be conjured by sympathetic magic, in
the same way as that man must actively promote by magic the
growth of the field and the multiplication of the cattle stock.

A sign of this is to be found in the fact that the husbandman
— boni ominis causa — must perform something of every kind of
work on the first day of the year one thing excepted — digging
in the earth «. This, to my mind, is meant to imply that the period
has begun for him in which the quot;tabooquot;, classified by Dr. Frazer
as negative magic' attaching to the soil, may not be broken.
Probably chthonic elements also played a part in this The
cult of the dead is indeed intimately related to that of the chthonic
divinities The tiller of the soil will certainly also have taken

When in later times the significance of the feasts forming an
integral part of the agricultural calendar was lost \ and the whole
system was fitted into the luni-solar year, the commencement of
the period of the dead became the commencement of the year,
and the magic against ill-luck that was instituted for this period,
added to the fructifying magic, was made applicable to the whole
year. In this manner, therefore, the positive New Year customs
sprang chiefly from the negative ones. Hence people wished each
other a Happy New Year 2 and sent presents at the same time

The New Year presents were called quot;strenaequot; and were given
quot;ominis causa novi amiquot;. As for their origin it is important to know
what Symmachus says Rel. XV 1, quot;ab exortu paamp;ne urbis Martiae
strenarum usus adolevit auctoritate Tatii Regis, qui verbenas felicis
arboris ex luco Streniae anni novi auspices primus accepitquot;. They
were, therefore, originally lucky twigs«. The strenae were hung
on the outside of houses and sacred places The twigs were of
laurel and were probably woven into wreaths. Laurel was supposed
primarily to bring health, cf. Geop. XI 2, 6. Uyovai 8e xal rovro
nsQi rrjQ ddfpvrjQ, 8ri vyieia? eaxiv i^'aarix'^. oamp;ev xai (pvXPla avrijg
inidldovrai rolg aQxovoL nuqa rov dij,uov rfj nQ6rrj rov 'lavovagiov
firjvog 6. This was, therefore, a stick endowed with orenda, as may
be deduced from the fact that it was hung on houses. This orenda
was that of Nature and must originally have had a fructifying
significance ^ and was, of course, only hung on to the house in a
sense of sympathetic magic.

Later on such things as figs and honey were given too, but
especially money, which must consist of ancient coins. « Those
who had no such coins used leaden plaques». Etymologically

Evil omens occurring on New Year's day had so much the more
significance so that one might say that the gods chose this
day especially to announce calamities

The women's feast in honour of Juno Lucina of which the
giving of presents was probably a survival was fundamentally
a fructifying magic. The fact that their feast fell on March 1st I
should wish to connect with the commencement of the new nature
year.

As a survival of the custom of applying fructifying magic to the
farms we may mention the fact that in present day Greece the
farmer goes round the house on the morning of New Year's day
and strows out fruit and confectionery from within Sweets
and pastries are still considered as presents on New Year's day in
our own times®.

The word quot;strenaequot; still exists in modern French in quot;etrennesquot;
while in the neighbourhood of Veurne the West Flemish word
quot;strenequot; or quot;strijnequot; is still in use

We can now give an answer to Pliny's question. The day is
charged with quot;orendaquot;; for time, as we have seen, could also be
filled with it. Hence it is well to chase away evil omens by magical
prayers on this day, it being the real beginning of the death period,
and only in much later times established as the beginning of the
year. For a quot;frecatioquot; is fundamentally a magical occurrence.
quot;Precatioquot; and quot;carminaquot; are in their beginnings, from a psycho-
logical point of view, one and the same thing; the difference being
that the quot;precationesquot; are addressed to a divinity, while the
carmina take up action against impersonal powers and daemons
(see further under quot;carminaquot;). We can go further and suppose that
originally the primitive tried to rid himself of the menacing idea
of death by obscure conjurations. Later on, when people began
to get some idea of personal gods, the carmen also changes into a
frecatio. This retains its magical basis, but does not coerce but
supplicates.

quot;precationesquot; on the first day of the year? No one gives a clearer
answer to this than Ovid. Fasti I 63 sq.

Ecce tibi faustum, Germanice, nuntiat annum
inque meo primus carmine lanus adest.
lane biceps, anni tacite labentis origo,
solus de superis qui tua terga vides,
dexter ades ducibus, quorum secura labore
otia terra ferax, otia pontus habet:
dexter ades patribusque tuis populoque Quirini,
et resera nutu Candida templa tuo.
prospéra lux oritur: Unguis animisque favete!
nunc dicenda bona sunt bona verba die.
lite vacent aures, insanaque protinus absint
iurgia; differ opus, livida lingua, tuum!

The divinity was Janus; and if we take it to be so the difficulty
that Frazer (Ovid Fasti II p. 82) sees in the matter no longer
exists. Ovid means to say nothing more than that by invoking
Janus he wishes Germanicus a Happy New Year As a matter
of fact the invoking of Janus immediately follows, but, as we have
already said and as one can see, the magical undertone in the
precatio is not absent:

nunc dicenda bona sunt bona verba die.
Bona verba means here not quot;good wordsquot; but words filled with
luck-bringing power — bona die, on this day that is so full of signifi-
cance and so full of orenda

As regards precatio it must be mentioned that Fowler ® points out
that this word in N. H. XXVIII. 13 means quot;spellquot;. Fowler supposes
that Pliny had a divinity in mind; this is true. But examining the
various places where Pliny makes use of the word, it is unmistakably
evident, or else made apparent by a special addition, that every-
where a quot;fixed, formulated prayerquot; is meant This existed indeed

in every day life as, for instance quot;quod bonum felix faustumque
sitquot; ^ and suchlike words that were spoken on birthdays, when the
Genius (natalis) was addressed. They were then called bona verba
or bonae preces The custom of wishing each other a Happy New
Year by means of a fixed formula is still in vogue.

Lustrum, originally ablution, then the offering of a sacrifice
for purification purposes, whence luslro, to cleanse, and also
circumire with the sacrificial victim^, acquired the significance
of quot;viewingquot; so that lustrum came to mean quot;viewing by walking
roundquot;.

Besides quot;lustra for the public welfarequot; we also know quot;lustratioquot;
of the land of the private agriculturalist by lustra publica only
quot;lustra for the public welfarequot; can be meant.

The lustra divide themselves into two principal classes, (we
shall not discuss here the meaning of lustrum as a period of time
in the calendar) « those which were celebrated by the censor and
those which were notSeeing that a similar statement as that of
Phny and made by Cicero refers to the first-named lustrum«this
only shall be mentioned.

After the censors had cast lots ® for the celebration, the cele-
brating censor had to guard himself against ritual maculation
He walked at the head of the people with the vexillum and caused
the suovetaurilia to be led round the ranked citizens by people
with favourable sounding names ^^ after which the animals were
sacrificed to Mars^®.

that the sacrificial rites were introduced later Wissowa thinks
that the sacrifice to Mars is not to be thought of as a sacrifice to a
vegetation god According to him Mars is a god of war and
supphcations to him are for the purpose of averting the calamities
of war from the fields. This pronouncement he afterwards partly
revoked He is apparently wrong in what he says, as Mars is
considered as a god of vegetation in the song of the Fmtres arvales
and in the prayers of the Italic paterfamilias handed down by
Cato Latte strikes the nail on the head® when he supposes
Mars to be a complex personality not exclusively a god of war nor
exclusively a vegetation god. For an explanation of his functions
one must have recourse to etymology®. Mars is the virile god
whose power is especially exercised in the two main functions of
the ancient Italic agricultural existence, namely the averting of
disasters and the growing of the crops. Thus on the one hand we
come to his function as god of war and on the other to that of
a vegetation god'.

The lustratio, that actually consists of drawing a magical ring,
can have its effect either on the person describing the circle or on
whatever is being taken round the circle or on that which is en-
closed within the circle ». In this way the lustratio by the censor must
be deemed to be a magic action with apotropaeic effect on the
army that stood drawn up in battle array

It is already clear from the etymology of the word (sans. Vinakti-
separates) that victimae, the sacrificial cattle, are withdrawn from
profane use and dedicated to the divinity and are therefore taboo

When a name was given to a child, the name came by that fact
into being, and was conceived as a physical and living thing, and
the knowledge of the name, which is the soul of the possessor,
gives him entirely into the power of the utterer i. This is why
people tried to keep the name secret and considered it as a possession
to be kept safe against magicians and daemons ^ and why it was
changed at certain periods of life and after serious illnesses That
the name was considered as substantial is apparent from a custom
in the Malaccas, where the name chosen is engraved on a piece of
bark by the emdicine man who puts it on the head of the person
about to be named, whereby it is absorbed by that person Accord-
ing to Servius ad Verg. Aen. III. 552 the name of the person writing
it on the temple of Hera remained there just as long as he lived

The name is bound inseparably with the bearer. This is clearly
illustrated in German Folklore by the belief that a loaf on which
the name of a drowned person has been written, floats to the
place where his corpse lies®.

If, therefore, it is possible by knowing the name to work magic
on the bearer, it is of great importance to know the names of
daemons and gods so as to move them by one's prayers It is for
this reason that the names of gods are complicated; and all Mysteries
have a natural desire to possess names and words of prayer that
are incomprehensible to laymen®, for the name of a god is one
of the most primary forms of prayer The ordinary names of the
gods are not coercive. It occurs too frequently that they are not
heard or answered, which gives rise to the conclusion that they
are not the true names and therefore do not include the whole
divine being. Hence the origin of epithets that attempt to give a
closer description of that being and in the time of syncretism

If therefore the knowledge of a name gives power over the
person the use of a name means exercising power over the bearer,
and whether the god likes it or no, he must obey but to have
complete power over a daemon it is necessary to know his complete

It is obvious that only few know such names and those that
know them must keep them a dead secret. The profaning of a
name is severely punished. For this reason the names are called
xQwird, aggrira, aqyamp;eyxra and the warning xoißße is apphed to
them

In regard to cities these too have secret names®.
The greater and mightier the god, the greater his name must be.
Thus the name of the Creator of the world is insupportable and
kills the hearer'.

The very etymology of the word ovo/ia points to magical power.
Idg. ono to mean, to give something a mark or meaning, is the
same as tapui = to sanctify, to make taboo. Whatever receives
the name, as well as the övofj,a itself is therefore sacred, i. e. filled
with magic power».

By this it can be explained that a power can be exercised by the
name, a power as well for good as for evil. This gives rise, of course,
to the idea that people with ill-sounding names must not be charged
with leading the sacrificial cattle to the altar, in which case a
positive method is preferred by choosing people with favourable
sounding names. That great value was attached to prospéra nomina
we find indicated elsewhere

Before the battle of Actium, Augustus, on his way to the fleet,
met on the beach an ass-driver with his ass. The driver's name was
Eutychus, the ass's Nikon. After the victory a statue was raised
to both in the temple built on the place where his camp stood

Thus, when work for the state was let out to contract, they
first asked tenders for the dredging of the locus Lucrinus, as the
name Lucrinus brought lucrum to mind and, on enlisting
soldiers or taking a census, those persons were taken first that
bore names as Valerius, Salvius, Statorius At the work of resto-
ration on the Capitol, which had become necessary owing to the
excesses of the troops of Vespasian, the ground belonging to the
temple was marked off with garlands and entered by soldiers with
favourable sounding names, carrying branches of fruit trees

Pease ® discusses a family consisting of the following members,
(CIL XIII 2255), Salvius Victor, Valeria Agathemeris, with the
children Salvius FeHx and Salvia Valeriana. In races too people
tried to find lucky names for horses Pease also collected some
nomina improspera as Atrius UmberCalvitor cf. Verres ®
and Scaurus iquot;, also names Mke Curtius, Minucius, Furius, Hostilius.

For the etymology of the word quot;fascinumquot; Muller quot; refers to
a connection with quot;fascinaquot; = bundle, so that effascinaiio may
be classified as enchantment by means of binding According
to Porphyrio the fascinum = phallus was used as a charm
against enchantment.

working of the evil eye. Democritus explains it by the working of
vague forms ^ moving through the air, while Plutarch in his Quaest.
Conv. nowise doubting of the existence of quot;jettatoriquot;, explains
the evil action of the eye by an efflux which he can best compare
with the influence of the beloved upon the lover, where the eyes
are the organs affected. Thus he thinks himself justified, in contrary
sense, in supposing that the eye being passive can also be active.

In the revised edition of quot;der Böse Blick und Verw.quot;, quot;die
Zauberkraft des Augesquot; SeUgmann treats of the two motives
from which the injurious magic of the evil eye may spring, i. e.
envy and admiration.

These two motives were also brought forward by Phny \ SeHg-
mann explains the significance of the eye for uncivilised man,
in my opinion, with great exactitude when he lays stress on the
inexplicable enigma that the eye was to people at all times — even
to scholars, not to mention the masses who could make nothing
of it®. Hence the fact that the imagination endows it with all
possible secret powers. All attempts to localise the beginnings of
the incredibly widespread behef in the evil eye must fail, as this
belief is found always in the same form even among races that
have had no contact with others. One must therefore suppose
that it arose everywhere spontaneously, and that it must be based
on general causes which lie deep in the nature of man «. The evil
eye is principally to be found in persons of an envious disposition,
on which theory both the ancient and modern Greek proverbs
are based: dvafievrji; xal ßdaxavo? 6 rmv yeirovmv dlt;famp;alix6q and
examp;Qo xal (fSoveoo to //art rwr yeirdvcov''.

Now effascinatio may be something innate in man and the most
innocent persons of all ranks and stations are sometimes burdened
with it 8, and even, as Pliny avers, whole families, so as to cause,
as in Africa, by their mere praises, the death of cattle, crops and
children

On the other hand there were those among the TribaUi in Illyria
who in wrath could cause the death even of adults

Some further explanation is required as to Phny's statement
as regards the Bitiae in Scythia and the Thibii from Pontus of
whom he says that they had a double pupil in one eye and the
image of a horse in the other

He seems to have taken the image of the horse literally though
it appears to have been a disease of the eye, called by the ancients
innoi;, and mentioned also by Hipparchos and Galenos ® and
known at the present day as nystagmos while the story of a
double pupil with which whole tribes of people were said to have
been born, must, in the light of modern science, be consigned to
the realms of fiction®.

The double pupil is indeed known to exist, but it is very rare,
excepting, of course, those cases that owe their existence to acci-
dents ' or medical operations and which with the progress of technic-
al inventions are steadily increasing.

If we consider the means of avoiding the influence of the evil
eye, we find that, on the one hand the phallus was kept by impera-
tors underneath their triumphal chariots and on the other hand
worn by children to protect them against invidious influences «.
Side by side with this, Phny as a protection also mentions spitting
.and date pips poHshed for that purpose moreover hyena skin
taken from the forehead and finally as a preserving charm the
antipathes nigra, a precious stone used to guard against magic

But these things quoted by Pliny are nothing beside all the
material used in ancient times, among which the image of an eye
— as a contra optic — even painted on ships and town walls, and
the phallus, take a prominent place

All this concerns the more unconscious averting of the evil eye,
that is to say, the fear of coming under its influence without
knowing it._

1 ib. 2 Plin. N. H. VII. 17. 18. See for the double pupil also Ov. Am.
VIII. 16. 16.

' O. Jahn, Verh. d. K. Sachs. Ges. d. Wiss., Phil. Hist. CI. VII 1855. p. 35.
* Seligmann, a. 1. p. 236. id. p. 239. « Plin. N. H. XXVIII. 39.
' id. XXVIII. 35. 8 id. XIII. 40. » id. XXVIII. 101.
1» id. XXXVII. 145.

If, however, one should suspect an immediate attack, the thumb
and httle finger are protruded and the remaining fingers folded
into the palm, thus forming a horned hand; or else the thumb is
stuck out from the first between the other fingers.

It is remarkable what an intense behef in the evil eye is main-
tained in that country by almost everybody and it is striking
to hear that Pio Nono (f 1878) was one of the most dreaded
jettatori of modem Italy, the man whom everybody strove to
avoid in the streets and whose blessing was feared and that
Francesco Crispi, quot;the Itahan Bismarckquot;, was always armed with
his coral horns, even in parhament, to point against his opponents
while, moreover, the averting signs are always made behind the
backs of Mendicant Friars

The use of the word adoraiio will in the long run not have remained
restricted to the meaning of a gesture of homage to the gods, but
will have been extended to mean another gesture that had a religious
or magical significance. If I am right, what is meant here is
exclusively the gesture quot;la ficaquot;, of which Dr. Frazer thinks there
is only one place in classical literature that alludes to it at least
explicitly, as stated above. The very addition of peculiari makes
my supposition probable.

Although Nemesis, in the form in which she is here quoted, is
certainly a specifically Hellenistic goddessthere was in Greece
a long period of development of her divinity. Originally she was,

indeed, not a goddess of luck or chance at all She first appears
(as an independent divinity) in the Rvngia and in Hesiodus
and in Smyrna we find her as a dual personality, as is supposed,
as a power for good or evil Her name is connected with ve/jsiv
as they even knew in antiquity. Thus her name means the meting
out of everything that accrues to a person Among the Tragici
she was the avenger of evil and punished all that displeased the
gods and in her person she must therefore be considered as an
avenger, ultrix^. The worship of Nemesis in Rhamnos was re-
nowned in GreeceIn her very quality of avenger of malefactors
she became the envious antagonist of happiness, a quality that
she already possessed in ancient times, ® wherefore the supremely
happy prayed that they be not affUcted with her enmity®.

Soon she became connected with Tvxv a^i^d the Molqai^^ and
from that time her worship extended steadily, and by appearing
beside other goddesses she absorbed their qualities and became
sometimes Tvxr} and sometimes 'Ehik^^. Having grown to her
full power in Hellenistic times, in which she also occupies a promi-
nent place in erotics, not indeed as Venus, but as thepunisher
of ^^Qig^^, it is not surprising that she should be widely worship-
ped in Hellenistic countries, as for instance in Egypt This was
also the home of Isis, who was afterwards identified with Nemesis
And although only rarely to be found in magic papyri, she was
closely connected with wizardry^®.

She and her worship were particularly known in theatres, where
she was even in early times worshipped as a goddess of luck i®,

especially in the Eastern Roman Empire and chiefly in the Danube
countries i, where there was a strong admixture of Greeks among
the population, and whither the legions brought her worship
with them from the East which was less widespread in Italy
and least so in the Western provinces

As such she appears in a Pannonian soldiers' inscription^,
where she is shown with a whip and a dragon at her feet, holding
in her left hand a square shield bearing a torch, a laurel and a
trident, with a wheel at her feet, while the inscription states that
it was made ex voto: Nemesis in this case having become the goddess
of good fortune and the equal of Fortuna Now there was certainly
no parallel to Nemesis as quot;Wahrerin des rechten Maaszesquot; among
the Romans and they knew no other name by which to represent
her in her character of /Ar^dh vneg to fiergov to which Pliny
himself very plainly alludes and which we find confirmed once
more at a much later time when Ausonius says quot;Romana frocul
tibi nomina suntoquot; though on the other hand Pliny himself
admits that in a similar case Fortuna was invoked He even
describes Fortuna-Nemesis — and gives in another place a picture
of her widespread worship and says there that throughout the
whole world, ever5rwhere, always and by everyone Fortuna is
invoked .... and cursed

Why then, when she was invoked against the evil eye, was this
done in a Greek form?

The explanation is simple. It is well known that one sometimes
finds in magic texts the letters written upside down and that in
Latin speaking territories Oscan was deliberately used in magic
by a person who most certainly could speak and write Latin, in
which text Latin peculiarities came plainly to the surface, thereby

proving the supposition Moreover a Latin magical text was
written in Greek letters ^ and a Latin magical text originating
from Carthage written with the names of the gods in Greek We
see from this that in the world of magic great value was attached
to the extraordinary, and that by the use of strange things more
power could be exercised. A similar example of this will be shown
presently in § 29. Pliny himself, moreover, bears testimony to
this Hence the fact that popular custom adhered constantly to
the name of Nemesis, even in the Roman world, where Nemesis
was in significance practically the equal of Fortuna.

Probably only after Sulla did foreign divinities such as Isis,
Sarapis, Nemesis penetrate with their images of worship into the
Capitol

As regards the images of Nemesis, Schweizer® distinguishes
various types, among which is the favourite one of Alexandrian-
Roman times, made according to the Erinys type, winged, in a
short chiton, even partly armoured, and in swift pursuit. There
was also a type found with Nike motifs It is, however, charac-
teristic of most types that Nemesis stands with downcast eyes
slightly raising the garment covering her breast This has been
explained since the time of Jahn as a transference to Nemesis
of the habit of spitting in one's own bosom to avert the evil eye.
Others ® explain the attitude as a motif of modesty.

Among others she was given the names of ultrix vehemens, vindex,
victrix, regina sancta, omnipotens, Augusta

The ideas of Phny as regards survival after death are known
to us and his thoughts on this subject are clearly formulated by
the words, quot;Post mortem vanae ^ manium ambagesquot;. His proof for
this is that man after his death returns to the same condition
as he was in before his birth So that the thought of immortality
was puerile for him and merely a desire to remain in existence

We find here, of course, the solitary opinion of an individual
person of a very rationalistic nature. On the other hand, there is
the popular belief that the body survives even after death (death
offerings!). It is full of orenda, the power that can express itself
for good or evil®. Since the custom quoted by Pliny is purely
prohibitive magic, we shall only discuss the latter of the two
developments arising from this, that is, the beneficial and the
apotropaeic, although of course both can be combined®.

As a matter of fact all customs applied to the cult of the dead
are concentrated round these two ideas: either the dead are looked
upon as friends and are enticed, or they are considered as injurious
and made innocuous'. As regards fear of the dead this was and
is still very general Thus, according to Strabo the Albanians
of the Caucasus abstained from all mention of the names of the
dead, a custom which is still in use among many savage tribes

Hence the practice of binding the dead to their graves, where
they were not particularly comfortable and whence they arose to
haunt the houses of the living as can be read in old Germanic
ghost stories, where the driving of a stake through the heart of the
corpse — which in other cases, however, was considered as a
punishment — was an excellent means of binding the dead to
the place of interment i. e. the earth, and of preventing the ghost
from walking Corpses were also bound together and other

The burial rites too were complicated for fear that the ghost
should walk and return to the house where he lived This, however ,
was not sufficient for the ancients, for magic was practised by the
strowing of beans and the clanging of copper instruments during
the Roman feast of the Lemuria

Of course, the dead could be purposely influenced, a matter
that, among others, was considered by the magicians as evil¹ ,
the discussion of which may well be omitted here.

The mentioning of the name gave, as we saw, power over a
person, and so spirits, too, gave ear when called on. Think, for
example, of the calling up of the souls of the dead in Homer®
and Virgil who were thereby compelled to return to the homeland
where a new grave awaited them It was possible also to disturb
their rest by too violent lamentations — a belief widespread among
many nations; while Plato explicitly causes the spirits to say that
weeping and lamenting was of no advantage to them®.

Since, therefore, the knowing of a name was a magical means
of power, a ghost, when his name was pronounced, would be dis-
turbed and called up by it, and this could never be to the advantage
of the invoker — whence the apology.

Numerous places in ancient literature — not principally the
hterature of magic — testify to the fact that the odd number was
better than the even. Pliny himself mentions this repeatedly and
it plays a great part, especially in his medical prescriptions, while
he adds that in many other of nature's territories the odd number,
which is quot;thereforequot; called the masculine number, is the superior

middle finger ^ was successfully applied; for headache, an odd
number of laurel berries rubbed with oil and warmed for the
stomach, the consuming of an odd number of snails was to be
recommended rinsing the mouth with cold water in the morning
an odd number of times was a preventive against tooth-ache,
while rinsing with quot;poscaquot; was a certain cure for diseases of the
eye^. North winds always stop with an odd number of gusts®,
birds lay eggs in odd numbers and on hatching out eggs, attention
must always be paid to whether the day on which the hen begins
to sit is odd or even''.

One is, of course, inclined to think of Pythagoras and his great
influence, which after long years was still able to keep ahve such
a firm behef in numbers. But the Pythagoreans followed in their
rules, as for instance, regarding the eating of beans, and also in
this case, a native prejudice of Italy; while this behef in numbers
is also to be found among other peoples. A parallel can be pointed
out among the Hindus®. In Italy this belief in numbers is most
active in the calendar, in which feast-days always fall on odd days,
while the prolonging of the term by one day always occurs after
an interval of the even days According to Plutarch the even
number is imperfect and incomplete, while the odd number is the
contrary; a thought which is also expressed by Aristotle

Thus we find instructions to leave the number of the herd always
odd while in the art of strategy ditches round camps were to
be made at least nine feet and at most seventeen feet wide

The rule of odd and even is known from Festus ^^ and Censorinus
and Virgil expressly states, 'numero deus impare gaudet'

According to Usenerprimitive man could originally count
only up to two, of which number nature gives abundant examples,

e.g. the contrasts hfe and death, birth and death, rising and setting
of the sun, east and west, day and night, morning and evening,
waxing and waning of the moon, summer and winter, and in the
joy of the discovery of the number three man must have fixed the
most important and holiest arrangements of life in threes

The latter theory is, in my opinion, rightly criticised by KroU
when he says that the division into threes arose on practical
grounds It is gladly accepted, however, that the number three
became very important because it was originally the final number
of primitive man I beHeve that the reasons for man's preference
for odd numbers must indeed be looked for in the days considered
as critical by medical science, which are intimately connected
with the hebdomadal theory developed by Roscher The seventh
day, month and year mean for Homer and Solon a xqiaig The
value of the number seven and the seventh day must be sought
in the influence of the moon and its ever changing seven day
phases on the hfe of the earth and its inhabitants In so far as
eastern influences can be accepted, the number can be traced back
to the planetary week, and these influences go far back into
ancient timesIn the same way the endless application of the
(even!) number twelve found its origin in the reckoning by months
As the moon influences not only growth but disease, the phases
of the waxing and the waning moon were therefore taken into
account, and the recurring seventh day considered to influence
the course of an illness The ancients were already aware of the
influence of the moon on the occurrence of the critical days
It appears that of all the odd numbers of days observed in the
course of an illness the hebdomadal comes most to the fore and
the influence of this hebdomadal theory is repeatedly to be found
in Pliny's botany and agriculture _

1 id. p. 335. 2 Kroll, Burs. Jahresber. vol. 137 (1908, Suppl.) p. 361.
3 Usener, o. c. p. 362.

^ Roscher, die Hebdomadenlehre d. Gr. Philos. u. Ärzte 1906 (Abh. d. Sachs.
Ges. Wiss. XXIV 6) p. 1—58.

s id. p. 60—61. « Roscher, Abh. d. Sächs. Ges. Wiss. I. 48 sq.
' Usener, Dreiheit p. 349. s id. p. 350—51.
9 Roscher, Abh. d. Sachs. Ges. Wiss. I. 48.
1» Roscher, Hebdomadenlehre p. 61, 98. quot; id. p. 63.

The number five might be expected to play a great part in con-
nection with the possibiHty of counting on the fingers. This is,
however, not the case and we may safely say that it played no part
at all. Even the lustrum was not determined by five but by six,
that is to say, periods of 5 X 304 and 1 X 306 i. To this number
of the days of a year, which was calculated at about 300 days, is
attached the significance of 300 as a large number, also expressed
by 600

It would be almost impossible to mention all the examples in
which, apparently for the sake of the odd number, the number
three occurs in the life of the ancients. For instance it is very
prominent in the Greek cult of the dead. The deceased was
buried on the third day, he received three suits of clothes for the
underworld where he was to meet the three-headed Cerberus and
the three judges of the dead and the trio Hades, Demeter and Per-
sephone. During three days the watch was kept by his grave and
on the thirtieth day or after three months the time of mourning
expired; his name was called three times and three animals were
slaughtered

Diels points out ^ another remarkable case. In 217 B. C. the
sum set aside for the Ludi Romani was raised from 200,000 to
333,3334 H. S.5.

Side by side with three, nine is found as an especially important
number and afterwards 3x9«. From the use of the odd numbers
3, 7, 9 and their multiples, as has already been said, the preference
arose for odd numbers in general. And this preference remained
especially in magic.

As an example we may refer to the climacterica tempora in
human life \ which is the notion, that certain years in the Ufe of
man are not without danger. This is especially the case with 7
and its multiples (even 28!) probably owing to the critical periods
of 7 days; which belief was based on the periods of the moon®.

^ Usener, Dreiheit p. 356. ^ id. p. 352—3.
® Diels, Sibyllinische Blätter, 1890, p. 40. 1.
^ ib. 6 Liv. XXII. 10. 7. « Diels, Sibyll. Blätter p. 41—43.
' Boll, P. W. s.v. KXiixaKrijpes 843.
® Roscher, Abh. d. Sächs. Ges. Wiss. 1903. p. 51 sq.

finishes at 81, and 63 is called dvö^oixAdc, quod omnem vitaesuh-
stantiani frangit^.

Vehemms — charged with orenda, virtus, dvvafiig. Hence Plin.
N. H. XXVn. 144, omnes herbae vehementiores effectu viribusque
sunt in frigidis et in aquilonis, item siccis, cf. XXIV, 7, 19. Thus
it is said of a medicament, medicamentum efficacius et vehementius

Fever was and is one of the most widespread illnesses in Italy,
and till recently was considered due to the extremely variable
temperatures of day and night 3. Experience taught that stagnant
water in midsummer caused certain diseases, and that the infection
spread itself low down over the ground so that it was of first
necessity to live at some height while the facts are, as Laveran
discovered in 1880, that the spread of malaria is caused by the
malaria mosquito. That no one had made the discovery before is
owing to the incubation period which precedes the breaking out
of the fever It is remarkable that the exploitation of the lati-
fundia, on which journeymen were employed rather than expensive
slaves, helped to depopulate Italy, as the soil was not drained
but simply transformed into meadowland, so that Pliny's words ®
were true ones in another sense, 'latifundia ferdidere Italiam'
at least in those districts where malaria occurred. In the second
century it was not only from certain central points, such as the
Pontine swamps, that the fever spread, but it was general through-
out Italy®, although some measures seem to have been taken
against it At the end of the first century only the coastal district
of Latium seems especially to have been complained of.

1 Firm. Mat. IV. 20. 3.; Boll, ib. ^ Scrib. Larg. 70.
3 Nissen, Ital. Landeskunde 1883. I p. 415.
« id. p. 413; Cic. Rep. II. 11; Liv. VII. 38. 7.
5 G. Romijn, Natuur en Vernuft, 1903 p. 292 sq.
« N. H. XVIII. 35. ' Nissen, o. c. p. 416.
« Galenus XVII. 1. 21 Kühn; cf. Amm. XIV. 6. 23.
9 Frontin. Aquaed. 88; Nissen, o.e. p. 417, 2 and 5.
1» Mart. IV. 60.

Of course there was a goddess Fehris ^ who was called upon to
effect cures. She had her chief sanctuary on the Palatine and
was as much the personification of the disease as the hoped for
healer of it (cf. Vulcan who was invoked as the averter of fire
The special kinds of fever, too, were personified, so that there
was a dea Tertiana and a dea Quartana

Three kinds of fever were known, the quotidian, tertian and
quartan. The last is the most innocuous. It begins with ague and
is followed by fever, at the end of which there is an interval of
two days, when the process is repeated on the fourth day.

The tertian fever either begins hke the quartan and ends with
a feverless interval of one day, or — and then it is more dangerous
— with an interval of two days, during which time it recurs in
severe bouts. The quotidian fevers are multiple. They can begin
with ague, with fever, or a feeling of cold. It may be mentioned
in general that fever need not necessarily involve vomiting or
affection of the skin In his discussion of the various means of
curing fever Celsus remarks that the Ancients fotissimum impares
(sc. dies) sequebantur, eosque, tamquam tunc de aegris judicaretur,
y.oiainovg nominabant. Among these numbers, however, (three,
five, seven, nine, eleven, fourteen, twenty-one) there is also an even
nuniber, that, of course, owes its great power {in quo esse magnam
vim antiqui fatebantur) to the fact that it is a multiple of seven,
as has been discussed above. But with Asklepiades he denies all
belief in this, as for him personally, the number fourteen conflicts
with the whole theory, for which reason he condemns this doctrine
of Hippocrates

It is most probable that the old, popular behefs that were ac-
cepted and extended by the schools of medicine were from time
to time opposed by individual persons. It may safely be doubted
whether Asklepiades and with him Celsus, found many adherents
in their opposition.

The custom mentioned here seems to me to have been commented
on by nobody, although the meaning of it appears to deviate
considerably from the accepted opinion on this point.

Frazer ^ suggests that the sacrifice of first fruits was originally
a sacrament, that people supposed them to be instinct with a
divine spirit or life. Later on, when the fruits were considered as
creatures rather than animated by a divinity, the thought would
have arisen that it was a duty to pay one's contribution to the
bestowing god — albeit that they thought them necessary to his
existence — so that the firstlings sacrifice acquired the character
of a thank offering. As a proof of this Frazer gives a long series
of examples among primitive peoples

The nomad brings the firstlings of his herds, the husbandman
those of the crops®, while there was a Greek custom of setting
aside a part of the sacrifice before it was enjoyed by man, to which
the name ojiaqx^ was given, which subsequently developed
semasiologically from a firstling sacrifice into a quot;votive offeringquot;
in generalThe law laid down for the Israelites for the offering
up of firstlings made a special provision for firstborn sons whereby
they might be redeemed which in itself proves that these belonged
to God and were to be sacrificed in times of need®. Wissowa'
considers the frimitiae among the Romans as a survival from
the quot;Naturalwirtschaftquot; in which man offered to the gods the
portion that was their right, in the same way as the serf to the
landowner, and quotes for this Pliny N. H. XVIII. 8. ne degustabant
quidem novas fniges aut vina, antequam sacerdotes primitias libassent^,
after having remarked explicitly beforehand, however, that in
the oldest times magic itself was apphed earher than the beseeching
of help from divinities and daemons. Fowler comes to the same
conclusion as Wissowa» and deduces from this the regulated
system of tithes, which in its turn gave rise to the giving of decumae

of war booty when the state had undergone a stronger mihtary
development, and of mercantile gain when commercial traffic had
increased We know, however, that among Indian peoples the
firstlings were not used as thank offerings so much as prayer
offerings for the coming year and here I should hke to draw
a parallel with the custom mentioned by Pliny.

He, indeed, points to a magical character of the offering of tree
fruits. When at the offering of the frimitiae it was said that these
were old fruits and that new ones were desired, this imphes un-
mistakably that this offering was made with an eye to obtaining
quot;sympatheticallyquot; new fruits for the coming year; which, of course,
for primitive man, would run to a continuous chain of harvests.
That this was said of tree fruits only, does not exclude the possi-
bihty that the same ritual was formerly employed for field crops
and wine. This custom would seem to me to be primary in view
of that in Pliny N. H. XVIII. 8, just quoted, where primitiae of corn
and wine were offered to the priests before the people made use
of the harv^est. Frazer's explanation that after the harvest a part
of it was offered to the divine beings or to those who represented
them, i. e. the priests, seems to me rightly to refer to this It
is, however, a custom which arose after the period in which a good
harvest was extorted by magic, and the creating power taken into
account; so that the two customs, concerning different crops, if
overlapping in one point, need not exclude each other. It would,
therefore, in my opinion, be better to say that the offering of
frimitiae was a magic act, or one, at least, born of magic, to which
the custom mentioned by Phny and preserved in folklore bears
an undeniable testimony^. It is well-known that in Germany
almost all field produce, and certainly the fruit trees, were imported
by the Romans s. The remarkable fact is that in many districts

it is still the custom to leave some fruit on the trees, though ex-
plained in another fashion by folklore i, but with the same
basis, as I would suggest, as the custom mentioned by Pliny.

It is, moreover, not apphed to fruit alone but also to other field
produce which might serve to strengthen the theory I suggested
above.

With primitiae, indeed, still more magic was practised. Plutarch '
relates that in the 'mundus'a pit on the Palatine, anaiiyai
of offotc v6nm fikv CO? xaXoXg exQamp;vro, (pvaei öe wg dvayxaioig —
were placed. If, with Fowler we consider the 'mundus' as the
'penus' of the new city, a sacred place used for storing grain,
which was open on IX Kal. Sept., Ill Non. Oct., VI Id. Nov. ^ —,
it appears more clearly than ever that primitiae were not in origin
a portion which quot;der Mensch der Gottheit darbringt wie der Hörige
seinem Grundherrn'quot;', but magical fructifying rites. (If an ex-
planation is needed for the difference in the above dates it may
be pointed out that grain, fruit and wine are not ripe for harvest
all at the same time.)

Sneezing is no act of the will, but an involuntary reflex respi-
ration act caused by irritation of the nerve endings of the mucous
membrane of the nose or by stimulation of the optic nerve by a
bright light. Pliny has nowhere ventured on an explanation and
the only thing he says of sneezing itself — except in those cases
where the significance of sneezing is spoken of — is that it is a
cleansing of the head Of course, it can also be induced by a cold
or other causes, in which case he gives remedies for it And one
may wonder if in ancient times people were accustomed to taking
snuff 1»!

Let us now discover what explanation was attached to the
act of sneezing. Aristotle explains it ^ as a sudden exit of air arj/xeiov
oiioviazixdv xat isodv fj,6vov rwv Tivev/ndrcov and in Probl. 33,
it is said that sneezing was a discharge of the only sacred wind
in the body, so that it was taken as a sign of health of the most
important part of the human body, and as a good omen. In other
places 2 we find that the head was considered sacred, and sneezing,
which originates in the head, was venerated as sacred.

In any case sneezing was an omen, mostly good ' but sometimes
not and we may also suppose that there were people who felt
themselves superior to the ominous significance of such things

It is known to us from more places than one that a wish was
uttered when a person sneezed. When, as we read in Petronius
Giton, who had hidden under the bed, sneezed three times, Eumol-
pus solvere Gitona jubet, while in another place' a certain
Proclus was mocked for having such a long nose that his hands
were too short: ovde Xeyei Zev awaov edv Ttraqri because he could
not hear his own sneezing as it was so far away, from which may
be concluded that in the absence of others, the customary good
wishes were uttered by the sneezer himself.

Probably on the analogy of omens in the sky, sneezing from a
particular direction played a part too .^What can have been the
reason for the ominous significance of sneezing and the good
wishes accompanying it? The breath, as the bearer of the soul
possesses a magic power®. The invisible agent of the exhaled air
became a kind of spirit, and from this the idea developed that by
blowing, a visible or invisible activity could be called forth iquot;.

also irritated and annoyed the daemons Just as blowing could
cause wind, by imitation so blowifig, exercised unconsciously,
would disturb the wind spirits, so that according to popular belief
whistling must be avoided

The addition of the name to the wish seems to be very easily
explained. The primitives added the name to the figures scratched
on tabulae defixionum in order to prevent the daemons invoked
from infhcting evil upon the wrong persons so, in the same way
they expressed the name to make sure that the good wishes should
accrue to the right person. There seems to be no evidence for any
other explanation.

He can best be described, and Tacitus so depicts him, as quot;a bear
with a sore headquot;

When towards the end of Augustus' life his successor was
discussed, people were not sure what to think of Tiberius. For
ne its quidem annis, quibus Rhodi specie secessus exsul egerit, aliud
quam simulatimem et sécrétas libidines meditatum^. And also, on
his accepting government, Tacitus states that there was more
dignity in his words than power of conviction, Tiberioque etiam
in rebus quas non occuleret seu natura sive adsuetudine suspensa
semper et obscura verba He was a terror for those dependent on
him, so that when Piso, at his wits' end, and urged by his sons,
entered the senate, in order to endeavour by so doing to place
himself above suspicion of the death of Germanicus, nullo magis
exterritus est quam quod Tiberium sine miseratione, sine ira, obsti-
natum clausumque vidit^.

When at last Tiberius withdrew to Capri and passed the time
with evil pleasures, even then manebat.... suspicionum et credendi
temeritas As a conclusion, Suetonius sketches him most clearly
in this way: incedebat cervice rigida et obstipa, adducto fere vultu
plerumque tacitus: nullo aut rarissimo etiam cum proximis sermone
eoque tardissimo: nec sine molli quadam digitorum gesticulatione.

Nothing much, however, is known about his superstitions
Tiberius deserves to be better judged for his statesmanship

Although Caesar laid down regulations for traffic by horse-
drawn vehicles in Rome, which ordered that only the last two
hours should be free for traffic while the other ten hours were
only free for the conveyance of special persons, (Vestals, rex
sacrorum, flamines at public sacrifices, triumphant generals) or
those betaking themselves to the public games the emperors
will not have kept to these regulations®. Of course we cannot
say for certain whether this concerned the conveyance of the
emperor in the city, or on his journeys, although the latter is
probable. A carriage for the conveyance of royal persons was
probably a plaustrum a heavy kind of carriage, originally a cart
intended for the cartage of heavy goodsThrough the lex Julia,
mentioned above, a plaustrum became a class noun, and meant
freight-cart and carriage. Currus, indeed, has the same extended
meaningand was also used as a carriage for magistrates, from
which sella curulis may be derived, because of the fact that the
magistrates with their sella made use of a carriage». Etiam in
vehiculo would therefore mean that though one might expect the
emperor to take it for granted if his sneezing was not heard on
account of the rumbling of the carriage, yet he drew the attention
of those accompanying him to the fact, and required them to
express their good wishes.

Tingling of the ears can arise from fluxional or inflammatory
disturbances of nutrition in the labyrinth, auditory nerve or
auditory centre.

Undoubtedly there are places in ancient literature known to
us in sufficient quantity to allow us to come to a conclusion as to
the general spread of the superstition that by the tingling of the
ears one can tell that one is spoken or thought of.

No one attaches more value to it than a lover; so Catullus, in
imitation of Sappho, experiences a tingling of the ears merely on
beholding the beloved, sonitu suofte tintinant aures and Propertius
complains nec mihi consuetos amflexu nutrit amores Cynthia, nec
nostra dulcis in aure sonat; compare also Meleager

But the nicest description we certainly find in the little poem
ascribed to Seneca¹.

But also beloved persons of the same sex betray their thought
of the other by causing the ears to tingle; thus M. Aurelius
says®, quot;we had long been talking of you — itaque nec tibi dubito
ibidem in foro diu tinnisse auriculasquot; ; and Statius®,
non ego nunc vestro procul a sermone recedo;
certum est, inde eorum geminas mihi circuit aures.

1nbsp;1 Cat. LI. 10. 11. — cf. Sappho, frgm. 2. 11: . . èirippô/i/Setcn S'âicouot. .
® Prop. I. XVII. 12.

' Anth. Pal. V. 212 1. aïeî fiot 6vvei fièv èv ovaaiv ^Xquot;^ êpcoros.
^Anthol. I. I. 452 R. (Poet. L. M. IV. 62. B.).
' Pronto, p. 28. 3 Naber.

themselves through the ears why should not unpleasant things
be audible in the same place. Thus the Imo Labrax when close
pressed says to Daemones who announces to him that the clavator
approaches quot;illud quidem edepol tintinnimentum est aurium.quot;

When Apuleius in his apology ^ adds contemptuously to the
accusers that he had not enchanted the woman who had fallen
down before him but had only asked her quot;ecquid illi aures obtin-
nirent et utra ear um magisquot; there was a hidden sting. The tingling
of the ears has in fact something in common with incantare ® as
is illustrated by a papyrus quot;You utter this down into his head
for 7 times. When you utter this his ears speak. If his two ears
speak, he is very good, if it be his right ear, he is good, if it be his
left ear, he is bad.quot;

The accusers could in this way, therefore, set a trap for Apuleius
by putting this seemingly innocent question to him, for the fact
of asking a person if his ears tingle and which of them tingles
most, may have a magical significance®. As a matter of fact
Apuleius did ask this question but explained it as an enquiry as
to the isQa voaoi^ which in caput redundavit. If the right ear
tingles more than the left it is a proof of a disease penitus adacti,
nam dextra corporis validier a sunt^.

Furthermore the tinghng of the ear is mentioned by Hippocrates'
as a means of diagnosis, but no mention is made there of the
teßd voaoQ.

Of course it is also possible that the tingling of the ears may
be a disease or weakness. In this case carraway black beets ®
and storax^quot; are efficacious, when poured into the ears in the
form of juice or an extract.

Riess agrees, as regards the point of view, with Aehanus i®,
where the tingling of Pythagoras' ears is considered as the voice
of the gods; on the same grounds the common people find something
significant in this. This point of view seems to me not the right

one, however. The deHberate arousing of tinnitus in another person's
ears, or the imagined arousing, may well be considered as primary
— being therefore magic. Subsequently the idea spread that
merely speaking of a person or the mentioning of a person's name
was sufficient to cause the ears to tingle.

The superstition of tingling ears still survives in folklore i;
the right ear announcing the good spoken of one, the left the evil.
Witness, among others, the proverb, quot;If the right ear burns, some-
one is talking well of you — left — illquot;

In the Index to Pliny's works we find the name Attalus mentioned
under three different titles:

The question now arises whether three different Attali are meant
or whether the Attalus mentioned under 3. is identical with the
one mentioned under I. or 2.

It is a well known fact that Pliny probably used, as much as
possible, a Roman writer for his compilations looked up his
sources superficially, and derived from this the right to publish
them as his own.

It was, humanly speaking, impossible that he should examine
aU the sources, but according to the method followed, Pliny's
honour need not suffer^. Now although Pliny mentioned in his
index the authors consulted by him in the same order as that in
which he had made use of them in the compilation of his work
it occasionally happened that he forgot names which he afterwards
added at the end of the index Thus at the end of the index of
book 11 the name of Philometor rex occurs, which in the books 8,
14, 15, 17, 18 is always to be found beside that of Attalus rex.

2nbsp;Riess, Superstition coll. at Rifton and Woodst. Ulster County N. York.
Archiv. XII (1909) p. 577.

3nbsp;Brunn, de Auct. Plinian. disp. isagog. Bonn 1856 p. 47.
* Oehmichen, Plin. Stud. Erlangen 1880. p. 87.

It is supposed on definite grounds that these two names arose
from the separation of the name Attains Philometori; which
would make it certain that the name cannot be identical with that
of the Attalus medicus of book 33, as put forward by Wilcken 2.

It has been fixed with great probability that the source for
book 28—30 is Xenocrates of Aphrodisias who wrote tieqI rijg
ajid Tov avamp;Qomov xai tamp;v C^cov d)(pe?.siag Now when Pliny
quotes from Xenocrates, the authors mentioned by the latter
are given first and Xenocrates himself closes the list«. He was
therefore one of the exquisiti auctores, numbering a hundred,
whom Pliny excerpated The work of this physician was a com-
pilation. 7taolt;mh\aia de rcö Ssvoxgdrsi xai aAAoc riveg eyqaipav
neqi ^atcov, e| amp;v xai avroq 6 Sevoxodrr)/;s^eygdrparo ranXeiaxa'^.
But it is very remarkable that he is defined as avamp;QomoQ räUa
neQiegyog Ixavamp;Q xai yorjrdag ovx astrjXXayfievog'^. Now on com-
paring the indices of books 33 and 12, given below, it appears that
Attalus medicus together with other physicians is to be found
under the wing of our Xenocrates; while it is also apparent from
the more or less regular sequence of both lists that Heraclides,
Botrys, Archedemus, Dionysius, (Democles?) Mnesides although
not given the title, are yet the same physicians, and in contrary
fashion, it follows that the occurrence of Attalus — also without
title — immediately before the name of Xenocrates gives great
probability to the supposition that this was the author mentioned
by Xenocrates.

One may also take into consideration in this connection the
surroundings ^ in which Attalus is placed, though it may be as
well to point once more to the quotation from Galenus XII. 248.

A further indication that this Attalus is the same as Attalus
medicus of L. 28 is to be seen in the fact that L. 28 and L. 31 — if
this is sufficiently proved for our Attalus, the same may in all
probability apply to Attalus L. 31 — deal respectively with the
medicinae de animalibus and de aquatilibus.

It may be concluded from the foregoing that two Attali are
quoted by Pliny — supposing at least that Xenocrates of Aphro-
disias did not make a mistake in quoting Attalus Philometor as
Attalus medicus, seeing that he must have known him well —
Attalus Philometor rex (8. 11. 14. 15. 17. 18) and Attalus medicus
28. (31) 33., an unknown personality

® Moreover Attalos Philometor maintained connections with Nikander of
Kolophon, who dedicated a poem to him of which Suidas gives evidence:
afia ypaftfioTucos T€ Kal wotTjT^y /cot larpos. That he was an tarpds is denied
bySusemihl (Gesch. d. Griech. Litt. i. d. Alex. Z. I. 6. 302), but on what
grounds ?

Lysimachus

Attalus

Xenocrates

The scorpion, considering the innumerable remedies quoted
by Pliny against its sting, must have been a greatly dreaded
insect in ancient times.

Its dangerous sting and its unpleasant appearance were reason
enough for the existence of so much superstition Thus its sting
was fatal to maidens (men died only when stung in the morning)
and the great bare spaces on this side of the Ethiopian Cynamolgi
were said to be a territory robbed of its inhabitants by the scorpion

Dead lobsters ^ laid under a stone were changed into scorpions
when the sun was in Cancer. They fed on earth®, and most remarka-
ble are the relations in a scorpion generation Burnt to a cinder
and drunk in wine they are a weapon against the sting of their own
species'. Of course there are more preventive measures. For
instance, Telephonum i. e. scorpion herb, was also drunk as a
preventive ® as well as heliotrope Even simply wearing the
herbs was sufficient Persons who had been stung need never
fear the stings of hornets or wasps To touch a scorpion with
aconite caused it to become rigid, even to grow pale and surrender
but white hellebore caused it to revive It did not sting on the
flat of the hand nor on hairy parts Besides the land scorpion
there is also a sea scorpion i®. The remedies, among which are also
some of sympathetic magic, are too numerous to mention.

An example of sympathetic magic is, for instance, the rubbing
to powder of the scorpion, mixing it with wine and then applying
it to the sting i®. Pebbles with the side on which they lay on the
earth laid on the sting assuage the pain Further there are plants
as remedies and also such products as dung As a matter of fact
sensible remedies were also known in ancient times: Celsus i® speaks
of a vinegar poultice, or blood-letting.

^ Steier, P.W. s.v. Spinnentiere 1807. ^ n. H. XI. 86. » VIII. 104. '' XI. 99.
' X. 198. « XI. 91. ' XI. 90. s XXV. 122. » XXII. 59. quot; XXV. 163.
quot; XXVIII. 32. quot; XXVII. 6. XXV. 122. quot; XXIX. 91. ^^ XXXII.
151. 16 XI. 90. quot; XXIX. 91. 18 XXVIII. 154.
1' Cels. V. 27. 5; cf. Steier, o. c. 1808.

axoQjiiov nkriy^v.
ev %dQxrj xa'amp;agm rovg xaQaxrrjQaq STiiygafov, em§Bq ev x(o toTtcp
8V d) fj Ji^yr], xal enidtjaov rov ^a^TJji' xal earai dbiovoQ nagavrd.

Besides all this there is a species of spell. The sons of Autolycos
even healed the wound of Odysseus with spells i, Plato says that
midwives used spells to aid birth, while spells were useful against
bites of poisonous animals And Galenus, who began by ridicuUng
spells, afterwards published a book of Homer's medicine in which
he defends spells and repudiates his former point of view. He was
gradually convinced that there are powers in magic spells, of which
he had experienced the virtue, among others against scorpion
stings

Word magic is a thing of frequent occurrence®. Remarkable
in this connection are the following four amulets from Oxyrrh.
pap.

1.nbsp;Op og cpog (pog,nbsp;'Adoive, SaXana Tagxei 'A^gaad^,
devvm ae axognis 'Agrsfuaiag, tgiaxoaia dexdmevre IJaxcov
TTEvrexaidsxdrr).

2.nbsp;'Qg d)g lt;pagt;g qgt;cog, 'Ida 'Admvaei Zafiaw^ ZaXafJtav Tagxxei,
devveco aai, axognis 'Agtejiiaov ly'.

3.nbsp;'Qg wg lt;pmg (pcog, 'Adcuval EaXa^a qamp;axi, devvo ae, axognie
'Agrrj/xiais 0afieva)amp; reaaago, lt;pojg og og oaoa dSd ggg.

4.nbsp;and ' 'Qg lt;hg lt;pcog qxog, 'Idm Sa^aM, 'Adovs., dsvo ae, axognie
'Agreffijais, auidUaiov x6v olxov rovxov djto navxdi; xaxov
gnexov xal TtgdyfiaxcQ, xaxv, xaxv. 6 ayiog 0o)xa.q mdee iariv.

We see that in these papyri the forms devvco, dsweco, 8ewo, devo
occur consecutirely. Preisendanz gives the meaning as quot;ich bindequot;,
which meaning is also given by Liddell and Scott.

Now if we admit that DUO, the word quoted, originates from
a Greek physician, whether via Xenocrates or not, we might
suppose either corruption in a manuscript or a copying error on
the part of Phny (DUO for DENO).

Prof. Eitrem whose opinion I asked as to this explanation was
so kind as to give me the following information. quot;I have tried to
explain the saying Duo, in order to keep scorpions away, as the
reflex of quot;magic (i. e. apotropaeic) reiteraiionquot; (cf. Eitrem, Pap.
Osloenses I p. 59, nqog 8vo ovS' 'HQaKXrjg). I do not think that
the combination with devvo) semasiologically is possiblequot;. As an
excellent illustration he quotes from Codrington, Joum. of An-
throp. Institute XIX p. 216 f. quot;A young native of Leper's Island,
out of affection for his dead brother, made his bones into arrow-
tips. Thereafter he no longer spoke of himself as quot;Iquot; but as quot;we
twoquot; and was much fearedquot;.

As a third explanation I may give Heim's opinion (Incantamenta
p. 543) that Duo is simply a number which was used magically.
He quotes Hipp. p. 148 c. 1214; Alex. Trail. II p. 319 as parallels.

Therefore, solely by the great power of the word the power
of the sting was nullified. Thus simply by a mere statement the
pain of the scorpion sting was transferred to asses It seems
that traces of this form of magic were already to be found in
Egypt 3.

In art the scorpion is a favourite motif, while most representations
are connected with magical, apotropaeic, or astrological ideas*.
This also goes back to very ancient times. A seal stone, which was
probably imported in Argolis from Crete is discussed by Vollgraff
On this there is a scorpion (not completely drawn) and a figure
of a man (made small) who is probably making an apotropaeic
gesture.

1 Riess. a. 1. 89. 2 XXVIII. 155. ^ Riess, ib. * Steier, a. 1. 1809.
® Mededeelingen Kon. Akad. v. Wetensch. Amsterdam. 1927—28 serie
B. p. 15—16.

As the name quot;Africaquot; is explicitly mentioned in contrast to
the quot;godsquot;, one would be inclined to think, at first sight, that
the abstract appellation of the continent is meant, where simply
the name in itself plays a great rôle. As a matter of fact, as we
have seen, names were of great significance, and by pronouncing
them, great power could be exercised over the bearer even if the
latter were a god i. This was the reason for secrecy with regard
to names and for the adoption of secondary names, as also occurred

All this only applies to individuals or city states, which counted
as individuals. But in regard to Africa, which in the narrowest
sense of the word ¹ can hardly be considered even as a country,
there can be no question of a name, in which case the magical use
of it must, practically speaking, be impossible. This could, moreover,
only apply to Roman immigrants, as it can hardly be supposed
that the word quot;Africaquot; should occur in the Phoenician language.
The word itself is a purely adjectival formation from quot;Afriquot; while
the name Afri is certainly non-Greek and is probably related to
that of the Hebrews For this reason the question raised by Vivien
de St. Martin who connects it with Ifrikis, the Arabian heros
eponymos, is of no further interest, since it is absurd to look for
the origin of an Arabic word in a Phoenician one ».

Now we know that Africa was personified in the time of Ha-
drian, as a woman, represented in divers ways on bronze coins »,
with a scorpion in her hand or on her head, in other cases also

* Schmidt, P. W. s.v. Africa 713.
« Meitzer, Geschichte d. Karthager I p. 432—3.
' Mommsen, Rom. Gesch. Iamp; p. 143.
' Le nord d'Afrique, p. 150 ff.

» Meitzer, a. 1. p. 433. Well-known is the place of Servius ad Verg. Aen. I. 22:
dicta ante Libya velquod inde Libs flat, h. e. Africus, vel ut Varro ait, quasi
Xfjrvîaegenspluviae-, adVerg.^ew.VI. 312: „inmittit apricisquot; quasi âv€v lt;Igt;pCkovs
i. e. sine frigore .... unde etiam nonnulli Africam dictam volunt.
' Perdrusi, Caesari VI. 29. 1; cf. Dictionn. s. v. Africa p. 128.
1» ib. See too: Imhoof—Keller, Münze u. Gemmen VII 42—46; cf. Steier,
P. W. s.v. Spinnentiere 1809.

with elephant attributes i, that is, an elephant's skin with trunk
and tusks drawn over her head and with ears of corn and a
plough shown beside her, which attributes are characteristic of
her as a mother of wild animals and as the giver of fruitfulness ®

—nbsp;one thinks involuntarily of Mela multiformes ibi animalium
•partus .... unde etiam volgare Graeciae dictum: semper aliquid novi
Africam adferre^.

This shows us why the scorpion reminds Pliny of Africa: it
was the attribute for the personification of the hot countries«.

Is it, therefore, quite unthinkable, that, in a time in which no
more new gods were created, and at most syncretism took place

—nbsp;mark well that Pliny contrasts Africa with the gods — and in
which Africa is personified, but owing to lack of tradition not
exalted to a deity, she should nevertheless be invoked by popular
religion?

The fact that Africa is everywhere imaged as the representative '
of another world and, as has been said, as the donor of faithfulness,
too, shows that the step to deification was only prevented by the
altered spirit of the times, which may explain the surprise of Pliny
who cannot think why quot;Africaquot; is invoked where others invoke
the aid of the gods.

Although, gradually, some degree of clearness seems to have
been reached in regard to what is understood by 'religio', it might
be as weU to sum up the various modem conceptions concerning
the basic meaning of the word.

a. In 1899 Fowler® wrote, quot;His fear of the unknown was thus
for the primitive Roman a wholesome discipline; and his attitude
towards it he aptly and characteristically called religio because
it bound him to the performance of certain regulated duties, cal-

culated to keep his footsteps straight as he walked daily in this
unseen worldquot; — where religio is clearly derived from religare.

h. Then in 1909 ^ the opinion of Otto was published that religio =
quot;das Bedenken, die Gewissenhaftigkeit angesichts irgendeiner
wichtigen, quot;bedenklichenquot; Sache.quot; This is a negative understanding
of the word ^ and Otto agrees with Cicero in his derivation from
quot;relegerequot;

c.nbsp;In 1911 Warde Fowler* wrote, quot;The effective desire to be
in right relation with these mysterious powers, so that they might

may call the religious instinct, the origin of what the Romans
called religioquot; and explained it further in his publication quot;Roman
essays and interpretationsquot;,« saying that it is merely a question
of feeUng whether one takes ligare or legere as the root word —
which in his case inclined strongly to {re)legere = to string together,
to arrange. This makes religio in its original meaning to be quot;the
feeling of awe, anxiety, doubt or fear which is aroused in mind by
something that cannot be explained by a man's experience or by
the natural course of cause and effect and which is therefore
referred to the supernaturalquot;.

d.nbsp;In 1910 there appeared a dissertation of M. Kobberf of
which the result may be summed up as follows: the religio in its
original form was for the Romans a power that acted independently
of man, a taboo adhering to certain places, times and things,whereby
man, robbed of his own will, is impeded, shackled and bound-
Derivation from religare^.

This opinion is now also shared by modem scholars We can
therefore distinguish four cases:

a. subjective: feehng bound to the performance of certain
rites in order to live in agreement with divine powers.

c.nbsp;subjective: the invention of a modus vivendi in regard to
things embosoming fear and awe.

As is known, the antitheses are based on the two contradictory
explanations handed down to us from antiquity, the one from
Cicero qui autem omnia quae ad cultum deorum fertinerent,
diligenter retradarent et tamquam relegerent, sunt dicti religiosi ex
relegendo ut elegantes ex eligendo, ex diligendo diligentes, ex intellegendo
intellegentes the other from Lactantius », hac enim condicione
gignimur ut generanti nos deo iusta et débita obsequia fraebeamus,
hunc solum noverimus, hum sequamur. Hoc vinculo pietatis obstricti
deo et religati sumus, unde ipsa religio nomen ceperit, non ut Cicero
interpretatus est a relegendo.

I prefer explanation d. for two reasons. In the first place the
etymological derivation (questioned by Conway«) of religio^
is red-hgion i. e. the impeding bond gt; lat. religio, i. e. taboo,
awe, fear of action, in which the connection of to bind with to
enchant is indicated; for the same word Ugare, whence religio, i. e.
being bound back, is present as a stem in lictor, pollictor: the
magician or medicine man who bound and kept at a distance
impending decomposition.

Further it is more admissible to accept a word in the oldest
language with objective meaning, than one with subjective
feeling«, especially as this taboo idea is expressed also in other
words such as sacer''.nbsp;_

1 Cic. Nat. Deor. II. 72. quot; cf. Gell. IV. 9. 1; Wissowa, R. u. K. p. 380. 3-
» Inst. div. IV. 28. 2. ' Fowler, Essays p. 7.
' Muller, Altit. Worterb. p. 566. ' Wagenvoort, a. 1. p. 62.
' Wagenvoort refers to Fowler, Essays p. 21. It is remarkable that Fowler,
who defines the idea sacer as taboo, could not bring himself so far as to
agree with Kobbert in this respect for religio too.

Stm clearer is religio to be understood as a disastrous power
in an old charm in Marcus Empiricus i, exi hodie naia, si ante
nata.... hanc festem, hanc festilentiam .... hanc religionem evoco
educo excanto de istis memhris, medullis,where, as a result ot evocare,
educere, excantare the objective significance of religio comes to
the fore and the idea of bewitching is excluded. Very typifying is
a place quoted by Wagenvoort sicut omnis religio temflorum,
omnis religio lucorum, cum tacuere mortalia et frofani\frocul erravere

Hinc ad Tarfeiam sedem et Cafitolia ducit,
aurea nunc, olim silvestris horrida dumis.
lam tum religio favidos terrebat agrestis
dira loci, iam tum silvam saxumque tremebant.
•Hoc nemus, hunc' inquit 'frondoso vertice collem
(quis deus incertum est) habitat deus----

Although a religio loci is meant here, and an orendistic taboo
might be expected, it is explained animistically by Virgil in verse
352. And when in another place the poet conceives reUgto subjec-
tively as a religio fatrum (Aen. VIII. 597—8) est ingens.... lucus ....
religione fatrum late sacer and religio farentum [Aen. VII. 170—2)

In agreement with this is also the legal meaning of the corre-
sponding word religiosus^ which, although it has its definite
meaning in connection with places and tombs, is used by Cicero
in a rather peculiar manner in a contradictory sense m mentioning
statues and temples of the dii suferi

lt; Harrer, Class. Philol. 1924 p. 83; cf. Festus p. 278 M.
6 cf. Verr. II. 4. 127; II. 4. 93.

word remains primary K Compare expressions as religio est =
nefas est even used without a sacred character 3.

However, a rule that prohibits and prevents also requires the
contrary ^ and in this way religio is used in a positive® sense.
Then religio becomes a cult and is the sum of all religiones, positive
and negative, in which, moreover, the subjective meaning of

Though in § 23 and § 25 religiosius is the equivalent of quot;more
activequot;, religiones in § 25 contains entirely the idea of taboo, even
intensified by the adjective mutas. In § 28 the original meaning
of religiosum can be given.

If one considers the ring as an element of magic, two pomtsof
view are possible: either it was so from the beginning or else the
magic element was added to it later. For the first point of view
Heckenbach « breaks a lance, by putting forward that rings are
only a quot;licium in nodum conexumquot; and referring to the well-known
inscription in the sanctuary at Lycosyra

/xri e^sarcD naqsqnrjv sxovrag ev to legdv rag
AeaTioivag.... firjds vnod'n/j.ara firjde
daxrvhov.
He refers further to Ovid,quot;:

usus abest Veneris, nec fas animalia mentis
ponere nec digitis anulus ullus inest.
Thus at incubation rites no rings or girdles were worn and
there are many places in ancient literature where at rogationes

» Plaut Cure. 350, vocat me ad cenam; religio fuit, denegare nolui. cf. Plm.
XXVIII. 28; XVIII. 8; XIX. 133; XXX. 42.
* Kobbert, P. W. 1.1. 567. = cf. Plin. N. H. XXV. 30.
« Kobbert, P. W. 567—8. ' P. W. I A. s. v. Ring 807-33
« De nuditate sacra sacrisque vinculis, R. V. V. IX. 3. (1911) p. 70.
cf. Frazer G. B. Ill p. 293 sq.; Eitrem, Opferritus p. 61.
» p. 70. cf. Ditt. Syll.3 999. quot; Fasti, IV. 658.

d su4gt;plicaiiones the women let their hair hang loose i. Hecken-
bach gives ample documentation for the theory of the prohibiting
of bands and knots on religious occasions Side by side with this
stands the other point of view that popular imagination was
merely occupied with the ring as such, and that only at later
times, when the wearing of rings had become a custom, did the
wearing of them become clothed with magical reasons®.

A third theory may well be added to these. A ring is a shape
not occurring in nature. When technical skill created the ring the
creation aroused veneration and this veneration was the first step
to the creating of a magical sphere and of magical powers. This
theory gains in probability when one considers how great the
magic significance of the ring is among primitive peoples. We
leave undiscussed the question of whether or not the ring was
meant in the first place as an ornament

We must, however, not lose sight of the fact that it can hardly
be supposed that the ring was directly fashioned into a finger-ring.
The garland or wreath is also a ring and among uncivilised people
the wreath as well as the finger-ring is endowed with magical
properties®. Deubner«, too, points this out and even makes a
mild attack on such a man of authority as v. Wilamowitz, who
in these matters will hear nothing of the quot;moderne Magieschwar-
merquot; and quotes among other things a striking example « from
Greek charm pap5nd ® for the exorcising of daemons, ë^eXêe,
ôaï/j,ov, ênei as ôea/j,ev(o deafj,oïç àôa/j,avrlvoiç àMroiç ....
For information as to wreaths see further this interesting article.

If one agrees with Heckenbach that rings are a transformation
into metal of threads originally wound round the body, the use
of which threads in apotropaeic function is known to us from
sculpture (though those threads were never used on fingers)

1 cf. Appel, De Rom. Precationibus R. V. V. VII, 2, (1909) p. 203.
Ï p. 70—77. 3 Ganschinietz, P. W. s. v. 833.
* Frazer, G. B. Ill p. 313. 14. ^ Frazer, G. B. IX. p. 2.
« Archiv. XXX (1933) p. 70.

' v. Wilamowitz, Glaube d. Hellenen, I p. 290. 6.
« Deubner, Archiv, a. 1. p. 101.

10 Ganschinietz. a. 1. 836 refers to P. Wolters, Faden u. Knoten als Amulett,
Archiv. VIII (1905) Beiheft, p. 1 sq.

one must expect the knots also to have been imitated in the metal
work, of which no examples are known. In support of the second
point of view, in spite of the opposition of Ganschinietz i, we
may put forward the theory of Wünsch who finds the origin of'^^
the superstition in the ever in itself returning form of the ring
while it appears to me as a fault of synchronism, which we may
forgive in Pliny but not in Ganschinietz, if the origin of the ring
is sought in the chains of Prometheus, vinculumque id, non gestamen
intdlegi (antiquitas) voluit^.

The third theory seems to me, however, to be the most admissible,
though I must at once add that I omit to prove this on account
of its impossibihty. It is, in these matters, not possible, of course,
to trace the origin with mathematical certainty, however many
places one can quote in proof of one's theory.

It is the property of rings to bind and in this quality they not
only keep some influences enclosed but keep others away« (I
shall speak further of finger-rings and leave ear-rings, for instance,
undiscussed. Nowhere in ancient literature, have I met with any
reference to any magical quality of ear-rings. They appear to have
been merely ornaments®.) That is of course purely prohibitive
magic. Under this head can be classified the particulars which
Gellius gives« of the Flamen Dialis, quot;item anulo uti nisi pervio
cassoque fas non esf,quot; in which case the ring would act in its
enclosing quality. The binding aspect of the ring becomes more
plainly evident if we compare the rule that the same Flamen Dialis
might wear no knots of any description in his clothing See also
the place mentioned in Ovid's Fasti and the rules for the temple
at LycosjTra, and the following i®, si quis unum ex his (fruits of the

cytinus) solutus vinculo omni cinctus et calciatus atque diam anuli
decerpserit.... atque devoraverit.... affirmatus nullam oculorum
imbecillitatem passurus eodem anno. In other places too we find
prohibitions, probably popular beliefs, introduced as rules in philoso-
phical schools, iJ,ri baxxvhov (poQsXv

This leads to what Pliny states in iV.ff. XXXIII. \2,etiamnunc
sponsae muneris vice ferreus anulus mittitur, which is certainly the
magical tie with which the bride is bound.

We here pass over to impetrative magic, for a rule which forbids
and prevents requires also the contrary It is not the ring as such
which counts as arra but the magic in the ring. This is also the
starting point for explaining the name symbolum\ for when
the magic was no longer felt and the origin forgotten, the custom
spread of giving the ring itself as a pledged There can be no
thought of the purchase of the bride by means of the nng as Gan-
schinietz suggests®. That this was stiU felt in later times appears
from what Gellius makes Apion relate«, that people imagined

hominis pergere ac pervenire; propterea non inscitum visum esse eum
potissimum digitum tali honore decorandum, qui conttnens et quasi
conexus esse cum principatu cordis videretur.

And probably this gave rise to the custom that its tantum^
qui legaii ad exteras gentes ituri essent anuli publice dabantur ....

And both the wreath and the ring are magical m what Phny
subsequently adds, neque aliis uti mos fuit quam qm ex ea causa
publice accepissent, volgoque sic triumphabant, et cum corona ex
auro Etrusca sustineretur a tergo, anulus tamen m digito ferreus
erat aeque triumphantis et servi fortasse coronam sustinentis : for

1nbsp;Jambl. Protr. 21; cf. Plut. de Lib. eduo. 12 and Clem. Al. Strom. V. 5. 28.

3nbsp;N.H. XXXIII. 10.nbsp;« .T ^ ^ in 9
« XXXIII. 28. quot; Ganschinietz a. 1. 840. ^ N. A. X. 10. Z.

S ib. In general metal rings have a greater power, iron the greatest; Hec-
kenb p. 92; R. Wünsch, Ant. Zauberger. aus Perg. Archaeol Jahrb. Erganz.
H VI Berlin 1905. p. 42; cf. Plin. N. H. XXXIII. 9 and 12. It is remarkable
that iron still in the present day plays a part among primitive races as
material for ringS; cf. Frazer G. B. Ill p. 313.

the triumphator was also protected ^ in other ways against the
evil eye; in which case the latter is to be thought of as prohibitive
and the former as impetrative magic. In close connection with this
is the fact that the ring is neglected in the older, purely represen-
tative sculpture 2, seeing that here the ring in reality encloses
nothing, and is only efficacious on living beings.

We are not astonished to hear Pliny declare Midae quidem
anulum quo circumacto habentem nemo cerneret, quis non fabulosiorem
fateatur, but it strikes us as strange when our author opens up for
us a prospect in which ^ alii terram substernunt lacertae viridi
excaecatae et una in vitreo vase anulos includunt e ferro solido vel
auro. Cum récépissé visum lacertam apparuit per vitrum, emissa ea
anulis contra lippitudinem utuntur\

Even he who sneezes need not despair: (suadent) plerique anulum
e sinistra in longissimum dextrae digitum transferred. We find an
interesting paraUel to this in Petronius®, where two superstitious
practices are appHed by Trimalchio for the averting of the danger
of fire, namely the pouring out of wine under the table' and the
changing round of the ring. Ganschinietz» explains it in this way,
that the changing of fingers puts the magic power present in the
ring in action, and reminds us that we have here a case of a death
rite, in which rings are also taken off, for Trimalchio himself says,
aliquis in vicinia animam abiciet.

The putting on again of the ring must therefore mean a renewing
of the magic influence. This seems also to be the remedy
for hiccoughs Further Pliny relates the following cerebrum
caprae magi per anulum aureum traiectum prius quam lac detur
infantibus instillant contra comitiales ceterosque infantium morbos.
It concerns here, therefore, an enchantment of the cerebrum caprae.
Magic rings are a general phenomenon. Thus 'E^^fcearoç

1 see ■•effascinationibusquot;. quot; XXXIII. 9. » XXXIII. 8. ' XXIX. 130.
» XXVIII. 57. » Petr. 74. 2. ' cf. XXVIII. 26.
8 Ganschinietz, a. 1. 839.

» cf. Heckenbach, a. 1. p. 85: Ps. Theod. Additam. ad Theod. Prise, empor.
II. 29 (p. 327 Rose); Item anulum assidue cum digitis medicinalibus de dextra
manu in sinistram duces, de sinistra in dextram.
quot; XXVIII. 259.

re, 6 0mxaiio)v rvqavvog 8vo baxrvXiovg lt;poQdgt;v yeyoTjrevfihovg
T^ y)6q)({gt; TM nQog dkkijXovg dirjoamp;dvsro roiig xaigovg xamp;v
nqd^eoiv, while Dicaeus says to a sycophant quot;1 fear you not,
(poQW ydg ngidfievog rov baxrvhov rovdi Tcag' Evddfiov dgax/^vg quot;
These rings were, according to the scholion, for sale; they were called
qgt;aQfiaxirai. Moreover, according to the same scholion they
are mentioned by Eupolis and Antiphanes Ganschinietz mentions
various other examples of magic rings Thus Lucianus where
Timolaus asks for rings from Hermes, one for strength, health,
invulnerability and apathy, and one to give invisibihty, such as
Gyges wore. Flavius Josephus ® relates that the science of exorcising
devils was still much practised in his days, and quotes as an example
how a certain Eleazaros, in the presence of Vespasian, cured people
possessed of devils. He went about it in this manner: the ring
containing under the seal the matters prescribed by Solomon'
was held under the nose of the man possessed. The devil was drawn
out through the nose and as a proof that this was reaUy so Flavius
mentions the fact that the evil spirit knocked over a footbath of
water placed before the patient®.

As a conclusion one more example of a magic ring ® with an
image of a god as a seal, Zq/gdyiCe banxvUm dloaibr\Q(a 6Xoar6fiqgt;
ixovri 'Exdrrjv xal xvxlco to ovo/ia' (paQ§ov(peq^a

Probably the rings which Phny mentions iam vero et Harpo-
craten statuasque Egyptiorum numinum in digitis viri quoque portare
incipiunt were also magical The ring is always worn on the left
hand especially on the third finger, while the middle finger is
never usedquot;. It is an unsolved question why the middle finger
should be called digitus medicus and the third finger digitus medici-

8 Athen. Ill p. 1236 = Kock II 177; from J. v. Buytenen, Fragm. uit
Aristot. Politeiai, diss. Utr. 1932, p. 82.

4 Ganschinietz a. 1. 838. ® Luc. Nav. 42. « Arch. VIII. 2. 6.
' Ganschinietz, a. 1. 838 refers to the late book of Magic: de Anulo Salo-
monis, Pineda, Mainz 1613.

8 cf. too: Clem. Al. Strom. I. 33. 4 and Luc. Philopseud. 63. There are traces
of Solomon's ring up to our times, cf. Dieterich, Abraxas p. 42.
» Heckenbach, a. 1. p. 97. 1» Pap. Par. 2690. quot; XXXIII. 41.

cf. N. H. II. 21 ... . digitis deos colunt.... quot; XXXIII. 13.
quot; XXXIII. 24.

nalis'^. Perhaps the middle finger was called digitus medicus
because its power could not be diminished by binding

The custom that Pliny mentions here seems to occur not in-
frequently elsewhere. The Jews lay aside the ring before going
to table with the alleged explanation that this is to prevent
the accident of any dirt remaining under the ring after washing,
which might be an obstacle to the prescribed purification. There
is probably a kind of binding magic attached to this. We may also
compare here the fact that in South Germany on the Rhine it
is forbidden to sit at table with crossed legs, and that Mahommedans
only cross their legs at the end of a meal«. The proof given by
v. Haberland from Aristoph. Nub. 983 I take the liberty of
doubting.

Eitrem explains it thus, that the Romans put their rings on the
table before commencing to do anything. This explanation does
not seem to me to be the correct one®.

From the term translatitium (sc. esse) I draw the conclusion
that Phny's age was no longer able to give a reason for this.
Would the following explanation not seem possible?
Food is sacred, endowed with orenda. In the mind of the primitive
everything that binds and encloses must be an obstacle to the
absorbing of the orenda. He who wears a ring is excluded from
participation in this fortifying power, and cannot experience the
good that would otherwise have accrued to him from the act of
consuming. Added to this is also the fact that the time at which
food is taken is also imbued with orenda. This time is dangerous
and it will therefore be as well to lay aside magically active objects

A short discussion of this subject must suffice. My opinion, as
wiU further be explained in quot;adorandoquot;, is that it was an easily
produced material for surrendering when transferring one's orenda.

1 cf. O. Weinreicli, Antike Heilungswunder, ^ R. V. V. VIII. 1. (1909) p. 45.
2.; Ganschinietz 837.
' Heckenbach, a. 1. p. 84.

® cf. V. Haberland; Über Gebräuche u. Aberglauben beim Essen, Zeitschr.
f. Völkerpsych. XVIII (1888) p. 259.

Stemplinger ^ in saying that the starting point is primarily the
warding off of harmful daemons is in so far wrong as the idea
was rather to bind daemons to oneself by the transferring of saliva
or to propitiate them So the theurgist ® must pronounce the
great name d£i]iov(o in all its parts, accompanied by all kinds of
ceremonies, eig rrjv yfjv mmrvcov ttaqomrojuevog rwv oxqcov nodMv
Afi'ye o. If there are images of gods or fetishes at hand, this must be
done by licking or rubbing them with a finger, but in the case of un-
foreseen events, spitting is de rigueur; hence also the injunctions
of Pliny to spit three times in order to be certain of reaching the
daemons Thus we must also understand, comitiales morbos
despuimus, hoc est contagia regerimus In in sinum spuere ® is also
contained the original thought of sacrificing one's orenda, as also
in what follows, terna despuere deprecatione in omni medicina mos
est. Moreover, we can leam from XXVIII. 35—39 to what manner
of uses saliva was put, while in 37 wholesome uses can be con-
sidered, which, in a perfectly natural manner, can also be met with
even in the animal world.

Saliva seems to me to have become an obvious magic remedy,
which might explain why Christ' made use of it to work His
miracles, with the difference, of course, that this cure was immedi-
ate. Stemplinger, too, ® discusses the fact that the grandmother or
nurse moistened the forehead of the new-bom child with saliva
For further material I can refer to Sittl

I cannot agree with his opinion that spitting was a threat, an
expression of scom for daemons, and his material must be differently
explained; thus his quot;ausspuckenquot; and quot;anspuckenquot; are essentially

the same, while the former is for immaterial and the latter for
material beings.

The same opinion that saliva is a magic charm on account of
its repulsiveness is given by Stemplinger

In Germany people still spit on the first coin received and in
the first milk given to calves, and spitting three times is still
in vogue for charms

The fingers being the most expressive part of the hand, the
sjmiboHc activity of the hand is often transferred to the fingers
The fingers play in superstition and faith a very significant part
Phny deduces a short life from their too great length and it was
considered an ominous sign to be in the presence of pregnant
women or to administer medicine with interlocked fingers, as was
experienced by Alcmena at the birth of Hercules. The same prohi-
bition was in force for the discussions of generals and magistrates,
sacrifices and votive offerings

The tying together of the two middle fingers of the right hand
with linen is a charm against disease of the eyes'.

Of course superstition must soon have got the upper hand in
regard to particular fingers. Thus we have already seen the peculiar
use of the ring finger in touching the back of the ear as the seat
of memory and it is for many a religious custom to cut the naDs,
beginning with the first finger, on ihenundinae and for preparing
medicine the middle finger must serve Moreover, the nails of
the fingers were not cut at the time of sacrificial ceremonies

The thumb was considered to be the powerful finger. The deri-
vation from pollere is probably popular etymology cf. Macr. ^^

' Bachtold Staubli, Hdwb. d. D. A, s. v. Finger 1478. ^ id. 1479.
' Plin. N. H. XI. 273. « XXVIII. 59. ' XXVIII. 42. » XI. 251.
8 XXVIII. 28. 10 XXX. 108. quot; Ovid. Fasti IV. 166—7.

see quot;anulumquot;. quot; Muller, Altit. Worterb. p. 347—8.
quot; Macr. Sat. VIII. 13. 14.

ab eo quod polld. It was thought to be gifted with supernatural
power Thus the touch of a virgin^ thumb was said to cure epi-
lepsy It was also believed that the tying of the poUex of hand
or foot to the nearest digit commimicated the power of the pollex
to the body®. In this way tumores inguinum and diseases of the
eye were cured! ¹ Stemplinger® explains the custom as a survival
of quot;Bindungszauberquot;. It was desired to hold the hostile daemons in
the same way as the thumb was held, and he refers to Grimm «.

Yet I believe that this custom is explained from a wrong point
of view. It has already been said that the thumb was a centre
of power; it was bent inwards as a sign of good-will and bent
outwards when evil was intended {verto — converto).
Munera nunc edunt, — et verso foUice vulgus

Et quotiens victor ferrum jugulo inserit ilia
delicias ait esse suas, pectusque iacentis
virgo modesta iuhet converso pollice rumpi

The not enclosed thumb was called infestus iquot;, fit et ille habitus
qui.... manum infesto pollice extendit.

The extending of the thumb means exhibiting and spreading
forth its power; thus we also see the thumb used as a means of
averting the evil eye ii. That the thumb was filled with an evil
power was also apparent from the fact that maniacs bite their
own thumbs Canidia rodens pollicem: habitum et motum Canidia
expressit furentis. Päronius ut monstraret furentem: quot;pollicequot; ait
quot;usque ad periculum rosoquot;.

What is, therefore, more logical than to conclude that just as
the extending of this quot;organ of powerquot; was for the purpose of
spreading evil or of averting it, so the enclosing of the thumb was
a sign of friendhness and good-will.

Quint. XI. 3. 119. see quot;effascinationibusquot; and quot;adorandoquot;.
12 Pseudacro, ad Hor. Ep. V. 48.

The gesture had not the least obscene significance, at least not
directly, as Kiessling^ and with him Otto^ suppose it to have.
Heckenbach 3 at the time denied this already.

As a Greek parallel for the fautor utroque tuum landaUt pollice
ludum of Horace * the words that Alciphron's Glycera writes to
her beloved Menander ® are quoted xav xoTg naQaaxtjvhig iaTrjxa
Tovg dcacTvkovg i/iavxijg niiCovaa xal xge/iovaa, i(og amp;v xQoxaXiari
TO ■amp;eaxQov.

But the parallel is incorrect. In Horace is meant a gesture of
applause on the part of the audience in a theatre; in Alciphron
Glycera stands waiting anxiously in the attiring room and in her
anxiety as to whether he will be applauded she presses her nails
into her flesh. There is here no question of a gesture of thumbs.

Apparently, therefore, it was a widespread custom, seeing that
Pliny speaks of a proverb

The thumb is still considered as a lucky finger, playing an im-
portant part, even at the present time, in the combating of quot;Alp-
druckquot; and witches®, as also in popular medicine®.

Although many varieties of superstition are mentioned by Pliny
and placed side by side without any apparent relation, yet his
own remark in § 24, quoniam scorpio admonuit, causes us to look
for such a relation; and I beheve that this is indeed to be found
in § 25.

The following passages may perhaps serve to prove that adorare;
means a motion of the hand: —

Quint. XI. 3. 115, {adoratio = invocatio deorum) diversi autem
sunt hi gestus {manuum) sive submittimus sive adorantes attollimus
sive aliqua demonstraiioni aut invocationi protendimus. (cf. Virg.
Aen. II 700, Suet. N^o 41).

Plin. N. H. XI. 50, hominis genibus quaedam et religio inest
observatione gentium, haec sufplices attingunt, ad haec manus tendunt,
haec ut aras adorant.

N.H. VIII. 215, (puts these words into Mucianus' mouth on the
subject of monkeys) luna cava tristes esse, novam exultatione adorare.

N.H. XXXIV. 73, Bryaxis Aesculapium et Seleucum fecit, Boedas
adorantem. N.H. XXXV. 67, eius (sc. Apollodori) est sacerdosadorans.

When Pliny informs us that applying saliva behind the ear
brings peace of mind, he must necessarily have been reminded of
adorare by the fact of having first to touch the mouth before
applying spittle behind the ear, whence the following passage.
For the fact that adorare can take place without a motion of the
hand we find evidence in what follows about the poppysmus.

The handkiss is known to us not only by this place but also by
various other places. In the first place in Apul. Met. IV. 28 at the
beginning of the fable of Amor and Psyche, Multi denique civium
et advenae copiosi, quos eximii spectaculi rumor studiosa celebritate
congregabat, inaccessae formonsitatis admiratione stupidi, et admo-
ventes oribus suis dextram, primore digito in erectum pollicem residente
ut ipsam prorsus deam Venerem religiosis adorationibus venerabantur.

Hieron. Apolog. adv. Ruf. I. 19 xaxaipiXriaars id est deosculamini:
.... quod ego nolens transferre putide, sensum magis secutus sum,
ut dicerem adorate. Quia enim qui adorant, solent deosculari nuinum.
Minuc. Fel. Octav. 2. 4. Caecilius simulacro Serapidis denotato ut
vulgus solet superstitiosus manum ori admovens osculum labiis
impressit. Apul. Apol. 56, si fanum aliquod praetereat, nefas habet
adorandi gratia manum labris admovere. An amusing example
is the elephant whose peculiar gesture when kneeling — the drawing
in and curling up of the trunk — reminds Pliny of an adoratio i;
and lastly Pliny ^ est post aurem aeque dexter am Nemeseos quae dea
latinum nomen ne in Capitolio quidem invenit, quo referimus tactum
ore proximum a minimo digitum veniam sermonis a diis ibi recon-
dentes; in which I find an indication of the handkiss still in its
original form. Add to this the express statement of Pliny, in adorando

dextram ad osculum referimus, all of which show plainly that the
handkiss was a form of adoratio

In view of the critical treatise of Bolkestein in Theophrastos'
Character der Deisidaimonia I should hesitate to agree with all
the places quoted by Sittl as proof. The plainest evidence for
this opinion is that treated here, and therefore it strikes me as
strange that Bolkestein should take a positive stand against the
meaning of handkiss in respect to nqoaxweXv. Plutarch certainly
feels the word in this sense when he says in Cam. 5 (towards the end)
ravT emmv, xadaneg earl 'Pco/nmoiQ samp;og sTiev^afievoK; xalnQoa-
xvvriaaaiv enl Se^ia eieUrrsiv, iacpdXrj nsQiarQeqiofievog. The words
xad^oaiEQ earl 'P. Mog have explicit reference to snl öeiid
i^eXirrsiv and here we should say that exactly the same is said
as Pliny states®. Compare also Athen. IV. 36 p. 152 d; here
also in respect to the Gauls ovrmg diaxovovvrai xai rovg ■amp;sovg
TtQoaxvvovaiv enl rd öe^id argeq^dfievoi, where of course nqoa-
xvveXv can also be taken merely in the sense of quot;to worshipquot;; but
yet it is striking how the essence of the thought (even though
eni rd deiid is contradictory to in laevum) completely corresponds
with that of Pliny, and one would rather be inclined to understand
TtQoaxvvslv in the form of the pregnant notion of adorare. Compare
Plut. Numa 14 where indeed by ngoaxwelv the Roman worship
of the gods is certainly meant.

It is a moot point whether the gesture is older than the prayer;
in any case where a prayer is uttered, a corresponding gesture
of prayer is also found Basing his opinion on Ovid Sittl believes

that the raising of the hand was a motion to draw the gods' attention, |
whereupon the prayer was begun. The ancient touched the images
of the gods. This must probably have originated in the worship
of fetishes, afterwards transferred to idols i. The attitude of the
supplicant is therefore determined by analogous social customs
among supplices Although we can explain the stretching out
of hands as the attitude of a man willing to accept the gifts to be
bestowed by the divinity, yet VouiUifeme ® is probably nearer to
the truth when he explains the attitude as one serving to embrace
the gods in thought, and thus to induce them to grant the prayer.
For, when the people no longer touched the images of the gods
or their altars, which were considered as their seats they stretched
out their hands to where they supposed the gods to dwell. So the
Romans will not infrequently have raised their hands in the
direction of the Capitol®. They bent towards the earth when
invoking the chthonic gods®, and gradually the stretching out
of hands will have ceased to be felt as a movement in the direction
of the gods' dwelling place, but as a simple gesture of prayer which
could also be suppressed when its magic power was no longer felt
The Greeks, too, had the custom of stretching out their hands®.
For illustrations see Stengel

Undoubtedly the images of gods were also kissed iquot;. Ibi (sc. Agri-
genti) est ex aere simulacrum ifsius Herculis, quo non facile dixerim
quicquam me vidisse fulchrius, tametsi non tam multum in istis rebus
intellego, quam multa vidi, usque eo, judices, ut rictum eius ac mentum

faulo sit attritius, quod in precibus et gratulcUionibus non solum id
vmerari sed etiam osculari solent^.

Goldzieher® gives a peculiar explanation supported by one
passage in Roman literature, which makes it worth while quoting.
He says that in the raising of the hands in Mohamedan prayer,
there exists a connection with primitive magic gestures. The raised
hands are gestures of cursing and are meant to avert evil spirits.

Now it will be remembered what particular gestures were
used to avert effascinaiio: the homed hand and the so-called fica.
And it is peculiar that this purely parrying gesture, this imprecatory
gesture, is described in the passage already quoted from Apuleius,
Met. IV. 28 ... . et admoventes oribus suis dextram, primore digito
in erectum follicem residente, ut ipsam prorsus deam Venerem
religiosis adorationibus venerabantur, .... where venemri is ex-
pUcitly aUuded to.

Moreover, there occur besides the stretching out of hands and
the kissing of objects, also other forms of veneration, i. e. standing,
squatting, prostration®, and as Pliny mentions here, totum cir-
cumagere corpus.

Meiners¹ at the time declared that this circumactio was a
magic formula. Its intention was to intercept all conjurations
which might fall upon and strike the gods, and to draw a circle
round them. This is entirely in accordance with the views of
modem scholars ® who consider the gestures of prayer as magical
practices to the purpose of securing divine power to the supplicant
by means of magical coercion or of protecting him against the
dangerous power of the gods. Eitrem ® remarks that drawing a
circle to the right shuts the daemons out, and to the left encloses
them in the circle.

But very acceptable is Heiler's point of view Many varieties,
he says, of the customs of greeting are not due to social feehng
but are rooted in the belief in magic powers that pervades the
existence of primitive man. The stranger as well as the ruler is

filled with quot;powerquot;. All that is new, unusual or great arouses in
him fear, awe, astonishment. It is for him a power in which the
ideas of orenda and taboo are inherent. In every person dwells
such a power. By kissing and smelling one could acquire a share
in the orenda of another, and by the pressure of the hand a secret
contact was brought about with his orenda, and in the same way
as by drinking from one vessel so also by means of a kiss a secret
alliance was formed. By mutual exchange of soul matter either
of the two will beware of injuring the other. But also in another
way can primitive man protect himself against the dangerous
power of stranger or chief. Just as the magician or charmer draws
a circle round the magic-charged object, so the person greeting
encircles the stranger or chief in order to enclose their taboo within
these narrow limits and to hinder its activity while at a distance,
whereby he protects his head, the seat of his life, against the
harmful magic forces of the other. Plutarch, too mentions the
custom of circumactio corporis, of which the original explanation
could of course no longer be given. Livy ^ also mentions it, con-
vertentem se inter hanc venerationem traditur memoriae prolapsum
cecidisse Very striking is Plautus, quo me vortam nescio. Si deos
salutas, dextrovorsum censeo Here the fact of turning to the
right is confirmed®.

As regards the origin of the handkiss I should like to suggest
the following explanation. We have seen that already in Pliny's
times there existed a custom of placing a finger, which had pre-
viously been brought to the mouth, behind the ear of Nemesis.
Heiler, indeed, pointed out ® that a share could be obtained in the
quot;powerquot; of another by kissing and smelling. Thus one can also
voluntarily surrender one's own orenda to another for particular
reasons and give oneself over to others of one's own free will as
a proof of attachment and devotion. Hence I should suggest that
licking was the prehminary step to kissing, casu quo the transferring
of spittle to the body of another. For only by material transference
could the transfer of orenda take place in the eyes of primitive man.

This is clear in the places quoted by Sittl Here it appears that
old women licked the children's foreheads with their tongues or
else rubbed them with the scum of the bath.

Afterwards the transferring of spittle with a finger superseded
the kiss and we must certainly consider it as a forerunner of the
custom mentioned by Pliny. From this the handkiss was afterwards
developed, when a gesture in the direction of the person favoured
was sufficient.

Pliny considers the right side to be more powerful than the left.
This becomes evident when he says of man vires dextra parte
maiores, quibusdam aequas utroque, aliquis laeva manu praecipuas,
nec id umquam in feminis {observatum est). Then ® with regard to
the vine, mirumque firmiora esse in dextera parte genita. Thus the
thynni swim into the Pontus dextera ripa, exeunt laeva.... quia
dexter 0 oculo plus cernantFurther®, studioso Threci in C.Caesaris
ludo notum est dexteram fuisse proceriorem. Moreover inest et aliis
partibus quaedom religio sicut in dextera''.

Whence it follows that in general the right-hand side is preferred
in superstition while the left is considered unfavourable. Thus
Pliny®, divos Augustus prodidit laevom sibi calceum praepostere
indu£tum, quo die seditione militari prope afflictus est This opinion
is also held by Riess ^^ and Abt and extensively documented
by Eitrem

On the other hand we also find the left side as the more powerful
and favourable. Thus Pliny i®, laeva [fulmina) prospéra existimantur
quoniam laeva parte mundi ortus est, and Virgil subitoque frogore
intonuit laevum ....-, Stat. Theb. i®, signa feras laevumque tones! i®

As is known, this phenomenon is explained by the fact that in
antiquity the side turned to the east (light) was generally con-
sidered to be luckier. The Greeks who turn their faces to the north,
and the Romans who turn to the south, have therefore in their
auguries respectively right and left as the lucky side i.

In later times the Greek point of view gains ground. Thus
Augustus considered as a day of ill-luck, si mane sibi calceus perperam
ac sinister pro dextero induceretur See also on this account Fra-
zer

The left side is deemed to be the favourite side of daemons,
declares Eitrem«,. while they hate the right side. Hence this is
also of significance in a lustration or a circumambulation to the
right or left. To the right one turns away from daemons and
turns to them to the left. Thus an encircling to the right excludes
the daemons and to the left encloses them in the circle

If we find left explicitly prescribed in charms it is because the
unaccustomed was considered the more efficacious Riess quotes
(salvis erroribus!) various places from Pliny'. Let the following
example suffice si quis unum ex his, solutus vinculo omni cinctus
et calceaius atque etiam anuli decerpserit duobus digitis, pollice et
quarto sinistrae manus. Abt with reason ® attacks Fahz i® on
the grounds of what he says, in usu magico fere nihil fit dextra,
and gives extensive arguments for this. He refers to the place already
quoted and the fact that the interpretation of dreams by
Hehodorusi^ and Artemidorus i® gives preference to the right

side; moreover this is supported by quotations from papyri:
Pap. Paris, v. 41: to de al/ia oazodeidfievog rfj dsiia xeql.
Pap. Berol. II. 23: xoi[i(o enl rov de^iov nXevgov.
Pap. Paris. 495 (Dieterich, Mithraslit. p. 4. 3): aco/ia r^Xeiov
.... diojienKaafiivov .... vjio .... deiidg

In like manner Rohde ^ points out that de^iov and dgiaregdv
in the Pythagorean tables of opposites, as was already for a long
time the case in bird divinations, are the same as dyaamp;dv and
xanov^. However, the rule given by Abt that sometimes the
imusual is the more efficacious, contradicts as a matter of fact
the general principle, and right as well as left will be found as the
most efficacious side.

The explanation of the original meaning of right as powerful
must be sought in the fact that the right side, on an average,
is the most practised side of the body — at least as regards the
hand and arm

Caesar explicitly confirms the religiosity of the Gauls nalio
est omnis Gallorum admodum dedita religionihus. The Druids had
great influence among them without whom they do not even
sacrifice, t^vov be ovx avsv dgvidamp;v^. Their greatest punishment
is to be excluded from these sacrifices, which still further points
to their intense religious feelings'.

Among their gods — according to Caesar — Hercules, Apollo
Mars, Jupiter and Minerva are the most important while during
the Roman period many names of gods became weU-known as, for

quot; Arist. Metaphys. I. 6. p. 986« 24; cf. Jambl. V. P. 156. So we find the
contradistinction right = male and left — female: Artemid. I. 21; Plin.
N. H. VIII. 188; cf. Eitrem, Opferritus p. 31. Thus the right side isthe hon-
ourable one, the left side the opposite; Eitrem o. 1. p. 30.
° Eitrem, ib.

*nbsp;de B. G. VI. 16. 1. = id. VI. 13; cf. Plin. N. H. XXX. 13. » Strabo IV.
4. 6.

' Caesar, de B. G. VI. 13. 6, Si qui aut privatus aut populus eorum decreto
non stetit sacrificiis interdicunt. Haec poena apud eos est gravissima.
' Caesar, de E. G. VI. 17. 18.

instance, Epona, Gallicae Matres The Romans accomodated themr
selves to the Gallic gods Their gods mostly did not dwell in
temples — though some such were known ® — but in or near
forests Serious attention was paid to auguries derived from
sacrifices or bird flight, so that they even started upon their journey
to the east on the authority of favourable bird omens According
to Greek or Roman morahsts it was only after the appearance of
the Druids that the Gallic religion distinguished itself in two
respects from that of other races, i.e. in the belief in an hereafter
and the ritual sacrifices to the dead but Bertrand points out that
this was so already before their appearance'.

It was the Romans who put an end to the influence of the
Druids, under Tiberius®, and made them cease sacrificing men
and rwv xara rag ■amp;vaiag xal navreiag wtevavritov roig nag' rijuv
vofilfioig

The warding off of lightning was originally Etruscan and was
unknown to the Romans i®. To the fact that people saw in the
lightning not only an expression of the will of the god but also
his personal descent, Jupiter Fulgur or Fulmen owes his name
This was afterwards extended in meaning to Fulgurator and
Fulminator. A distinction was made between the Fulgur Dium,
which occurred in the daytime, and the Fulgur Summanum, which
took place during the night while the so-called Jupiter Pistor
seems also originally to have been a god of hghtning 1®, Elicius^*,
from fulmina elicere
We shall see that normvl^eiv means either a soothing or an

2nbsp;cf. Friedlaender, S. G. Ill p. 143. gt; Suet. Jul. C. 54; Plut. Caes. 26.
« Niese, P. W. s. v. Galli 636.

» Justin. XXIV. 4. 3; Ael. V. H. II. 31; cf. Niese 636.
« A. Bertrand, La Religion des Gaulois, 1897. p. 217. sq.
' id. p. 225. 8 Plin. N. H. XXX. 13. » Strabo, 1. c.
1« Wissowa, R. u. K. p. 121. quot; ib.

quot; id. p. 122; cf. Plin. N.H. II. 138; see about this especially Frazer, Fasti
IV p. 317 sq.

quot; Wissowa, R. u. K. p. 122; cf. Ov. Fast. VI. 349.
quot; Plin. N. H. II. 140. XXVIII. 13.

enticing of the lightning. In accordance with this Pliny gives
information, probably derived from Caecina^, exstat annalium
memoria sacris quibusdam et -precationibus vel cogi fulmina vel
impetrari The Etruscans who, according to Cicero, had had most
experience in this matter®, had apparently written down their
knowledge of it The lightnings which occur when a man founds
his family are called familiaria and are of great significance for the
whole of his life The ones on the left hand side are called prospera
because laeva parte mundi ortus est^. Of all lightnings those are
of the most terrible omen which travel from west to north On
this account the Tuscans divided the heavens into sixteen parts,
that is to say, into four parts each again subdivided into four».
Those which fall in the part bounded by the north and the equi-
noctial point are of luck-bringing omen The other parts are
of less importance. With the exception of man every other living
thing is immediately killed i®, the reason being man's superiority
to naturequot;. If a man does not he on the ground with the side
on which he has been struck he does not die, but if he dies he must
be buried but not burnt As the laurel is never struck i® it is
advisable to weave oneself a wreath of it and to wear it as Tiberius
did The skin of sea-calves is also useful, as by sitting under it
one is not struck i®.

When the lightning strikes the ground the spot is enclosed with
masonry so that it looks like a puteal, and an inscription is placed
upon it to give notice of the Fulgur conditum. The idea was to
prevent the hghtning from darting about to the peril of all peaceful-
minded citizens 1®.

The procuratio preceding this is performed by the sacerdotes
publici i.e. pontifices, by means of sacrifices of onions, hair and

sprats \ Plutarch 2 tells us how Numa, exhorted to it by Egeria
came to discover the charm formula, potent against lightning,
which is StiU practised with onions, hair and sprats. The haruspices
also take part in the ceremonies ^ but the exact procedure is not
known.

In the auspices of the magistrates, lightning belongs to the
auguria oUativa, although later it may be considered as impetra-
tive It seems also that the custom existed of holding on to stones
or having them in the house, as this was a kind of protection
against lightning. This custom is still in use®. One must, however, be
cautious in drawing the conclusion too quickly that this is a survival
from ancient times®.

The word meant originally the clucking noise made to entice
and soothe animals, cf. Plut ^ ydg rd ^qififiara Adyov fiiv
ov avviTjai didvoiav exovrog, aiy/j,oig 8e xal TioTtTiva/ioii; d/j,skeaiv
r! avQiy^i xal arQ6/j,^oig eysigovai xal xaxsvvd^ovai ndhv ol ve-
HovrsQ, ovroiQ. . . . and Pliny®, hoc exemplo eius similis et Nealces
(about the imitation of foam by throwing a sponge against the
picture) secutus dicitur cum pingeret poppyzonta retinentem equum.
Hesychius gives the word as xoXaxsvixara and Suidas xoXaxeXai
eh roijg ddafidarovg Innovg

The word, Greek in origin, had no Latin equivalent, for GeUius quot;gt;
remarks that the nonnvXiaCei of Theocritus neither could nor
might be translated by Virgil. From the association with animals
this manner of expression was transferred to the communication
with daemons

Inarticulate sounds such as hissing, roaring, clucking, whisthng
play a great part among primitive people ^^ j^gt as the Batak

1 Wissowa, R. u. K. p. 517. 2. ^ pj^t. Numa 16.
' Wissowa, R. u. K. p. 546. 4. ^ Wissowa, p. 632—3.
' Stemplinger, Aberglaube p. 63.
« Stegemann, Hdwb. d. D. A. s. v. Blitz. 1417.
' Plut. Quaest. conv. VII. 4. « XXXV. 104.
» cf. Schol. Plat. Axiomctch. 368. D. i» N. A. IX. 9.
quot; Pfister, P. W. s. v. Kultus 2152; Wackernagel, Voces variae animantium
p. 27; Dieterich, Mithrasliturgie p. 40. 3.
quot; Pfister, 1.1.; Heiler, Das Gebet, 1918. p. 36.

clucks with his tongue when saying his prayers, so in Africa they
whistle, whence it must be deduced that these sounds are apotro-
paeic or enticing sounds, as is the case when communicating with
animals.

This custom of primitive man would, according to Pfister, be
the root of the quot;Herbeirufung des Gottesquot;, the enixaMv or
advocare Thus the prayers of Aischylos begin with Ico, 16, the
Orphean Hymns with xXvamp;i /lev, the Roman prayers with adeste,
vmite!, while in charm papjm the ejiixaXeXv and the devgo al-
ways occur instead of the invocation with inarticulate sounds
In the quot;Mithrasliturgiequot; treated by Dieterich the word repeatedly
occurs together with the word avQiyfiog, also an quot;animal soundquot;.
In this case they are apotropaeic and entice star daemons, and
together with the seven vowels they even become the ninefold
of the mystic sounds®. That the custom also existed of making
these clucking sounds in reference to lightning appears from
Aristophanes, x' äv daxQatpo) nonnv^ovai, and the scholion to
this, I'amp;og yaQ xaig äargmiäig nanTföCsivVery remarkable is
the unique custom from which it appears that the poppysmus
even served to foretell the future®:

Si mediocris erit: spatium lustrabit utrumque
metarum et sortes ducet frontemque manumque
praebebit vati crebrum poppysma roganti,
to which the scholion, oris pressi sonus vel labiorum in se collisorum
strepitus

The explanation of Riess deserves special mention, though it
seems inacceptable at first, being derived from mythology. It is
that thunderstorms were a repetition of the war of the Titans
in which the thunder was used to kill the lightning. In this case it
would be necessary to aiCeiv xai y)oqgt;elv The poppysmus
would signify assistance of the divine powers in the battle.

The superstition must have been very widespread if Pliny
could speak of a consensus gentium.

The dread of fire must have been very great indeed in Rome,
where in consequence of the narrow streets and high houses, fires
great and small followed one on the other like links in a chain
It grew to such proportions that Augustus was compelled to
establish a fire brigade, 7000 strong which seemed to have
accomplished comparatively little, as a result of the inferiority
of the apparatus for quenching the fires It is the inadequacy
•of quenching material that caused the primitives to have recourse
to superstitious means and measures. Fire was considered as a
living being, and, by fair means or foul, people tried to exercise power
•over it, either by throwing food to it, or by exorcising. It seems that
heathen tradition tried to conciliate fire^. Probably we must
understand this to have been originally a conciliation of the fire
daemon. A parallel to this place is to be found in Petronius®,
qua voce (sc. galli) confusus, Trimalchio vinum sub mensa iussit
effundi lucernamque etiam mero spargi. Immo anulum traiecit in
dexter am manum et, 'non sine causa', inquit, 'hie bucinus signum dedit:
nam aut incendium oportet fiat aut aliquis in vicinia animam abiciet'.
The difference is, however, that wine was used here, for which
we find an explanation in 34, vinumque dedere in manus, aquam
enim nemo porrexit. This phenomenon is called analogical magic®.

1 P. Werner, De incendiis urbis Romae aetate imperatonim, diss. Lipsiae
1906; cf. Friedländer, S. G. I. p. 24. ^ Cass. Dio LV. 26. 4 sq.
' Jordan, Topografie Roms I. 1. p. 460; cf. Friedl. ib. See also Otto,Sprichw.
p. 172, from which appears, that they attempted to quench fires by pulling
•down, as water could never be brought in sufficient quantity; cf. Ammian.
Marc. XIX. 15. 2; Sail. Cat. 31. 9; Cic. pro Mur. 25. 51. etc. It may be
interesting to point out that the Romans did not shout quot;Fire!quot; but quot;Water!quot;
•So aquam conclamare, Sen. Ep. XVII. 3. (see Wagenvoort, Seneca, Brieven
aan Lucilius^ p. 67 ad hoc) Sen. Dial. V. 43. 3; Stat. Theb. IV. 802; and
aquam clamare. Prop. IV. 8. 58; cf. Plut. Rom. 20.
« Freudenthal, Hdwb. d. D. A. s. v. Feuersbrunst, 1422. « petr. 74.

Extensively, Pfister, Hdwb. d. D. A. s. v. Analogiezauber 385—95.
' Eitrem, Opferritus, a. 1. p. 136 sq.

Local spirits, evil daemons, which all originated in the spirits
of the dead i, were attracted to fire like flies and birds. This is
clearly to be seen in superstitious customs in regard to death,
when the spirits tried to get the mastery over fire. For this reason,
in Argos, all fire in the house was quenched, and afterwards new
fire was fetched from another house 2. Alexander in Persia, too,
at the death of his friend Hephaestion, allowed all quot;sacred firequot;
to go out In this manner a fire was prophetic in the case of
illnesses and in Rome the fire in a house of death was quenched ® ,
while similar customs are still to be pointed to among many other
peoples. The love of light ascribed to the souls of the dead, Eitrem
deduces from the burning of corpseswhich was instituted after
the custom of burying the deadMany superstitious customs can
be traced back to this supposition that light is pleasing to the souls
of the dead Thus the Romans hesitated to quench a light before
it had burnt itself out and maintained silence when the lights
were being lit because it was thought that the gods were present.
It is to these gods that Ovid alludes in Fasti VI. 305 and of whom
Phny speaks in § 27. It was the souls of ancestors that had their
places at the hearth and that also received whatever fell to the
ground. This was why water had to be poured out for these spirits
— Eitrem thinks as a sacrifice — under the table, since these spirits
are the same as those which rule over the fire on the hearth. But
the more correct way would be to sacrifice on the hearth itself.

Eitrem's explanation seems to me too comphcated; I would
give preference to the first theory where the fire itself is considered
as a daemon.

It was a custom in ancient times to throw the remains of food
under the table. This went so far that mosaic floors were even made
having the appearance of being covered with bits and pieces of

food, celeberrimus fuit in hoc genere (sc. pavimentorum) Sosus qui
Pergami stravit quem vocant asaroton oecon, quoniam purgamenta
coenae in pavimentis quaeque everri solent velut relicta fecerat parvis
e tessellis tinctisque in varios colores It has, therefore, apparently
no particular significance that the liquid should be poured out
under the table, seeing that this was the place where aU refuse
was thrown. For another theory that daemons, i. e. souls of the
dead, whose place was also the hearth, dwelt under the table
(which thought in my opinion can never have been primary, at
most secondary), see Eitrem

This means to deprive the omen of its power. Although often
used indiscriminately, some distinction ought to be made between
omen and ostentum — portentum.

While the last two are mostly used as visible omens, the first
mostly occurs in the sense of audible omens and by this is under-
stood the word spoken without purpose, that, owing to the fact
of its coming unexpectedly together with an important moment
in human life, acquires the meaning of a revealing sign The
etymology, in accordance with ancient ideas, already points to this.
Varro® says quot;Oro ab ore dictum, indidem osmenquot; and Festus®
quot;omen oremen quod fit ore augurium, quod non avibus aliove modo
fitquot;. Walde ' and Muller ® derive the word from ovismen cf. Gr.
*6Fiajo[i,ai.

Thus, according to Festus and Cicero omen stands in contradis-
tinction to oraculum, the prophetic word of man, in contradis-
tinction to that of the godsiquot;.

1 Plin. N. H. XXXVI. 184. For picture 5 see J. B. Nogara, I mosaici
antichi, Milano, 1910, tav. 5; Memoirs of the American Acad, in Rome,
Vol. XII (1935) p. 41, n. 1.; Leopold, Romeinsch Levenj, Groningen 1934,
p. 22. 2 p. 160.

3 Hopfner, P. W. s.v. Mantike 1279; cf. id. sub KXrjSiiv, K\riSovioii6s
684. See too quot;auguriaquot;.

« Hopfner, ib. 1277. See too Fallati, Über Begriff u. Wesen d. Rom. Omen
und über dessen Beziehung z. Rom. Privatrecht, Tüb. 1836.
® L. l. VI. 76; VII. 97. « p. 195. M.
' Etym. Wb.2 539, according to Kretschmer.
« Altit. Wb. p. 310, acc. to Solmsen and Ahlberg.
» de Div. I. 46 sq.; II. 40. i» Hopfner ib. 1282.

The sweeping up of bits of food thrown under the table. Compare
the place in Pliny already quoted Sweeping was, however, also
a death rite as shown by Samter Varro tells us that to protect
the mother after the birth of the child, three men walked at night
in a circle round the two doors of the house and struck the threshold,
first with an axe, then with a flail, and then swept it with a broom,
thus in order to prevent the god Silvanus from entering the house
to torment the mother.

According to Varro, the three gods Intercidona, Pilumnus and
Deverra were named after these three acts. The three objects used
were to be symbols of agriculture, for without iron no tree can be
felled, without a flail no flour be made, and without a broom no
field fruits be heaped together®. We also know« that among the
Romans the heir was obliged to sweep out the house of death
with a broom. Samter is certainly right in opposing Aust®, who
seeks to explain this custom rationalistically as being necessary
in primitive circumstances, to which he quotes various parallels®.
Two may be mentioned here. In East Prussia when the deceased
is halfway to the grave, the house is carefully cleaned and the
dirt carried away. This custom also extends to North and Central
Germany. In Thuringia three heaps of salt are made which are
swept outside, and dirt and broom are thrown in a field, or in the
church yard, to prevent the deceased from returning. This is also
the explanation for the Roman custom in the house of death — the
souls of the deceased are driven out of the house. Samter also
quotes the various customs in which the act of sweeping is directed
against evil spirits'. Among these is probably to be counted the
custom on the feast of the Paliha of celebrating a lustratio round
the sheep with sulphur, and of sprinkling and sweeping out the
pen (strange to say, not discussed by Frazer on Ovid's Fasti).

It can therefore be understood that to make a sweeping gesture
at anyone was, indeed, very unlucky. In Slavonia, if one wishes
any one out of the world, it is the custom to invite him to eat,
and, immediately when he is gone, to sweep out the room i. The
theory of Samter is confirmed by the custom mentioned here by
Pliny, although he does not quote it himself. One can easily under-
stand after this why the verri solum was called inausficatissimum
if one left the table: it was taken to mean an early death. It seemed
to be just as great an allusion to this fate if the table or dumb-
waiter were removed while the guest was drinking. The custom
is, as far as is known to me, handed down nowhere else. Probably
we must see in it an allusion to the fact that this would be the
last drink taken. John ^ mentions the custom that the hostess,
before the guests leave the house, must clear the table in order
that no evil may befall them on the return journey.

A dumb-waiter or series of portable shelves = rgcuze^omva^ ^
on which the slaves brought all the dishes required for one course
Plautus® says jestingly that the structor, who arranges the dishes,
had piled the food up so high that one had to stand on the sofa
to see them. That these repositoria could be very large appears
from Petronius 40 where a whole pig was served with side dishes.
The repositorium was indeed taken away after serving the dishes
but the bad omen was only sought in the fact of this being done
while anyone drank. The repositorium was also considered as a
weather forecast. If the steam of the dishes remained behind, bad
weather was expected

2nbsp;Aberglaube, Sitte und Brauch im Sachs. Erzgebirge, Annaberg 1909,
p. 31; cf. Bachtold Staubli, Hdwb. d. D. A. s.v. Besuch, 1176.

' Corp. gloss, lat. HI 321—6, cf. Hug, P. W. s. v. repositorium 612.
« Material and form, Plin. N. H. XXXIII. 140, 152.
6 Men. 101. 6 Petr. 39; Hor. Sat. II. 8. 10.

' N. H. XVIII. 365. See Hug P. W. s. v. 612—13. For illustrations see
Dictionn. s. v. p. 839, fig. 5924. (doubted as such by Hug) and p. 840, fig. 5925.

No one seems to have raised any objections to the text before, but
yet it is hopelessly corrupt. The literal translation would be, quot;There
is a treatise of Servius Sulpicius, a prominent man, giving the
reason why one should not leave the table — there being no more
(tables) counted than guestsquot;.

Must it be concluded from this that a meal at which guests
were present was only eaten by these, and that it was the duty
of the host to remain until the guests had finished eating? The
conclusion is incorrect. Moreover, the custom would have no
meaning in this context. Seeing that in the previous sentence it
is explained how disastrous it was to remove what was on or near
the table before a guest was finished, we should now expect the
opposite, strengthened by the quot;namquot; sternumento revocari ferculum,
in the sentence following this statement. In any case this inter-
mediary phrase must support the main line of thought. The corrupt
part is therefore linquenda. I should propose the following alteration,
instead of

which can be qualified as a very simple mistake. As regards the
term mensam admovere see Macrobius i. The passus should therefore
read quot;there is a treatise of Servius Sulpicius, a prominent man,
dealing with the case in which a table should not be brought in —
for if a table or dumb-waiter were recalled by a sneeze, and nothing,
even if only a trifle, were eaten of it, it would be very unluckyquot;.

Now the sentence, nondum enim flures quam convivae numera-
hantur has been omitted, as making no sense and being probably
a marginal note, added by a puzzled reader who thought to have
found the solution to the difficulty, as is the case with what
follows, aut omnino non esse or rather inane esse, as Mayhoff reads;
he supposes there to be a lacuna here which he filled in.

The falsity of nondum enim plures .... follows further from the
fact that all guests lay round one table on a triclinium (except
in the case of large companies, where more triclinia were used
with a corresponding number of tables 2). It was considered, however,

1 Macrob. Sat. II. 8. 1: mensas secundas minister (sc. convivis) admovit.
® Bliimner, Priv. Alt. p. 387; Kruse, P. W. s. v. Mensa 942.

as an exceptional arrangement in Petronius 34, itaque iussi suam
cuique mensam assignari, where besides the large general table,
each guest seems to have had a smaU round one In this case, in
connection with linquenda, as the text has come down to us, mensa
would mean the actual dining-table, not the course or waiter, and
flures, sc. mensae, would therefore be incomprehensible. No parallel is
known to me of the actual custom, and we can only guess as to
the reason for it, as we no longer possess these writings of Sulpicius.
The following explanation is most probable. As in the case when
the ring was changed round after sneezing, of which custom the
explanation (v. quot;anulumquot;) was given as belonging to one or another
death-rite, Petronius ^ causes this to be done at the crowing of the
cock. This is for him a portent of a coming fire, or of the death
of someone in the neighbourhood. For this reason he pours water
under the table and changes his ring round after mentioning the
words fire and death. By changing round the ring a new power is
given to the individual, and the speaker can even be considered
as a new person. As a consequence of sneezing the same kind of
thing happens. Compare also the custom just mentioned in Pliny
XXII. 57.

It is therefore expected that the new personality, or rather
the new, imagined personality, for whom the food is brought
back should begin to eat again. He is expected at least to eat
something [si non .... aliquid, with emphasis!) and if this should
not occur — it might be considered as a dirum fortentum for himself
— he counts as dead as long as he has not performed counter
magic!

We can even go further and suppose that the three statements
are interconnected. All these matters call a death omen to mind,
both as regards quot;incendia nominariquot; (Petronius includes both fire
and death in the crowing of a cock, which makes the connection
clear) and quot;solum veniquot; and quot;tollere mensamquot;, while eating and
drinking are still proceeding, as also in this last case. The first
of these three can be remedied, seeing that the mistake was made
by a person himself, by quot;avertingquot; the omen. The last two portents

What is meant by this passage has already been discussed by
Everardus Otto ^ in his eulogy of Servius Sulpicius.

Otto, who, for his own explanation, partly quotes Scaliger,
Delechampius ® and Harduinus is of opinion that Servius Sulpicius
here replies to a question asked by the augurs®, and wished to
make it clear to the superstitious by drawing a distinction be-
tween the ordinary domestic table and the sacred table of the
gods, how imprudent it is to leave the, as it were, sacred ceremonies
of the table before the silence is ended. I think I have shown that
this explanation is unacceptable.

It is impossible to make any reconstruction of the form of this
commentatio. That Servius Sulpicius wrote about such matters
may appear from the fact that he takes trouble to trace the meaning
of obsolete words in which task he is not ashamed even to ask
for the help of others », and from which fact it may appear that
he also made himself acquainted with obsolete customs. His
posthumous literary work was great. At his death he left 180
scrolls which we must understand to be libri and of which we
find the following works quoted, a commentary on the Legg. XII
tabh. collections of édita fraetorum which he commentated
a book de Dotibus the Commentatio and Notaia Mucii, or Refre-
hensa Scaevolae, a book about the faults of his master Mucius
Scaevola pontifex^*.

1 After habetur at the end of § 26 Mayhoff points to a lacuna, and reads
in accordance with most of the mss. inane instead of non. (lan-Mayhoff,
1897 Leipzig). I would like to explain this as a marginal note that has found
its way into the text. Perhaps the annotator wrote, aut omnino inanimo
esse, and meant by that, that it was perhaps allowable to eat only in imagi-
nation! In any case then there is no question of a lacuna!
^ Everardus Otto, De vita, studiis, scriptis et honoribus Servii Sulpicii
Lemonia Rufi. Ultraj. 1737.

3 ib. p. 111. ^ p. 112. s p. 111. ® p. 113. ' p. 28. 8 Gellius II. 10. 1.
» p. 91. 1» p. 95. quot; p. 97.

See the article Sulpicius, Liibker R. L.g, No. 27.
quot; Gellius IV. 4.; Otto, p. 98. quot; p. 113.

the Sulpicii, of which eleven branches existed, one of which was
that of the Rufi he was apparently an exception in regard to
the praenomina — he had only one, while all the others possess-
ed two.

The date of his birth falls between 106—5 B. C. and he was there-
fore a contemporary of Cicero with whom he enjoyed the same
scientific education ® on the island of Rhodos, where he practised
rhetoric.

He was 25 years old when he first made his entry into pubUc
life where he devoted himself chiefly to the practice of Roman
law and far surpassed his teachers Balbus and Aquilins Gallus «.
In the year 49 he was uncertain which party to support and was
brought to book on this account by Cicero In the end he decided
in favour of CaesarHe was probably also the person who in
52, as interrex, appointed Pompey as sole consul the year after,
he himself became consul.

In appreciation of his summa auctoritas and pietas in patriam
he was entrusted in January 43 with the legaiio ad M. Antonium i»,
during which he died, having always regarded the state troubles
with regretwith peace as his purpose

After having been given a state burial the honour fell to him
of having a statue in rostris

It has already been remarked in the Introduction that he
maintained a correspondence with Varro. This is the only place
in which he is mentioned by Pliny

This is probably one of the courses 1® i. e. m'ssMsquot;, cf. Petronius i».
By mensa the whole table is not meant, but only the food which

1 p. 6. 2 Münzer, P. W. s. v. Sulpicius No. 95, 851; Otto p. 14.
3 ib. ^ Otto, p. 36. s p. 63. «p. 71.

' ad Att. VIII. 1. 1.; ad fam. IV. 2, and elsewhere, Lübker, I.e.
8 ad Att. XI. 7. 4. » Münzer, o. c. 853; Otto, p. 149. 1» Otto, p. 154.
quot; Münzer, o. c. 853—7. 12 it, is otto, p. 162.

quot; Cic. Phil. IX...7. 15 sq.; Dig. I. 2. 2. 43. cf. Otto, p. 142; Münzer, 857.

Münzer, Beiträge p. 163.
18 Dictionn. s. v. Repositorium, p. 839.
1' Dictionn. s. v. Ferculum, p. 1041.
18 Petronius 35. 36. 39. 46.

was brought and removed on a tray. This was also the normal
course of things according to usage in ordinary families i.

The omens, according to the book of auguries are divided into
five classes, quinque genera signorum observant augures fublici: ex
caelo, ex avibus, ex tripudiis, ex quadrufedibus, ex dirts, ut est in augura-
libus. They fall together, as is well-known, into two chief classes —
the auguria impetrativa and oblativa^. The former are always
favourable, the latter kind ambiguous. The dirae are always
unfavourable, i. e. all extraordinary and disturbing phenomena
and occurrences.

Thus, for instance, obscenae aves ^ belong directly to the dirae
and disturbances of whatever kind that occur during the auspicatio
and destroy it, even though the sign appears, are called dirae
obstrepentes

that sudden silence is unlucky, Cic. de Harusp. Resp. 23: An si
ludius constitit, aut tibicen repente conticuit, aut puer ille patrimus
et mairimus si tensam non tenuit, si lorum omisit, aut si aedilis
verbo aut simpuvio aierravit, ludi sunt non rite facti, eaque errata
expiantur et mentes deorum immortalium ludorum instauraiione
placantur. We must suppose from its connection with the previous
sentence, omnibus negotiis horisque interesse credebant deos, that
Pliny, too, was weU aware of what the fatahty of this sudden
silence actually consisted. In sacrificial rites either as much noise
as possible is made (and this is to be considered as purely apotro-
paeic) or else strict silence is kept to prevent the daemons from

» Festus p. 261 M. » Serv. Aen. VI. 190; XII. 259. ^ Serv. Aen. III. 241
® Plin. N. H. X. 33. sq.; cf. Ovid. Met. V. 550; Tac. Hist. III. 56; Ann. XII.
43; Suet. Aug. 92; Tib. 1, 3, 17; Cic. Legg. II. 8.

® Festus p. 64M.; Plin. N.H. VIII. 223. cf. Wissowa, P.W. s.v. Au-
spicium 2332.

hearing, being disturbed or attracted In the case of sudden silence
daemons approach that can easily cause injury if they have not
been summoned, as we can learn from Phny and Cicero.

But it also happens that the presence of the daemons is desired,
as in the case of Lustrationes and in this case we can speak of
quot;magic silencequot; Whether this stage is preceded by murmuring
or secret whispering of magic formulas, as Mensching supposes^,
I would consider as doubtful; a more correct theory seems to me
that during the state of silence the coercive formulas were whispered
so as not to scare away the daemons. This was announced by the
quot;favete Unguisquot; while only the lute player might accompany the
sacred sacrificial act.

Though this is easy to explain, all the more obscure is the addi-
tion, non nisi in -pari praesentium numero. We certainly know of
various examples where silence and odd numbers go hand in hand.
In Oldenburg, when the butter will not come, a horse-shoe with
an uneven number of holes, which has been forged in silence before
sunrise, is laid under the chum®. In Mecklenburg, a sick person„
in order to guard against wasting, must take off his shirt in silence
on three consecutive Fridays before sunrise, and bury it under an
elderIn Lauenburg a sick child is carried three times in silence
round the church®.

Probably the uneven number was supposed to have such a power
of averting evil that even daemons were subject to it, and each
guest became the victim of 'labor famae only when that averting;
power of the uneven number was not present.

Von Haberland takes another point of view in explaining this
superstition mentioned by Phny. He says that it is the general
idea among primitive people that the best moment to work magic
on anyone is when^ the person is taking food This explains why
1 Eitrem, Opferritus p. 124. ^ ib. p. 52. 2.

» G. Mensching, Das heilige Schweigen, R. V. V. XX. (1925) p. 100: quot;Die
Übung äuszeren Stilleseins in der ausdrücklichen Absicht, dadurch mit
mechanischer (der Naturgesetzlichkeit analogen) Notwendigkeit reale„
weltliche Ziele zu realisierenquot;.

8 id. I. 337; cf. Mensching, p. 102; see too Seligmann, II. 57.
» v. Haberland, Über Gebräuche u. Aberglaube beim Essen, Zeitschr. f_
Völkerpsych. u. Sprachwissensch. Leipz. XVIII. 1888. p. 149.

the contrary custom exists among various peoples, of maintaining
complete silence at table, as for instance among the Tupis, Brah-
mans, Persians, and Greeks at certain sacrificial meals at the feast
of Poseidon and why enchantment by the evil eye is especially
feared when eating

In Germany, when a sudden silence falls, an Angel is said to pass
through the room In Berlin it is said that a lieutenant is being
born or that such an officer is paying his debts«.

In England, too, an Angel is said to be passing, and in Holland
they say, „er gaat een Dominee (parson) voorbijquot;. May not this
latter be a substitution for an approaching daemon just as in the
case of the Angel?

Eating in itself owes its prominent place in primitive society
to the fact that people thought they were absorbing divine powers
by eating and drinking®, a thought not entirely unknown to
the Greeks and Romans. Mactare will originally have had the
meaning of quot;vi magica afficerequot;, i. e. to add orenda or to make
taboo, which is the same meaning as that contained in sacrificare,
so that the double construction of mactare is also explained — to
sanctify a god by an offering, i. e. to add orenda by an offering,
and sanctify an offering for the divinity, i. e. to make taboo, to
sanctify, to kill

The great significance of convivium lies in the fact that the
act of eating takes place festively' and communally, which, as
it were, imposes a bond on the participants, which is mentioned
by Pliny explicitly as such, especially in connection with the
confarreatio, — in sacris nihil religiosius confarreationis vinculo erat
Such communal meals were, for instance, those celebrated by the
curicdes at the feast of the Fornacalia, which originated, probably,
in the fact that formerly the grain was dried and roasted in a
fornax, a drying oven (furnace), which was afterwards superseded

^ Schoemann, II. p. 513; cf. v. Haberland, p. 261.
2 Eckstein, Hdwb. d. D. A. s. v. Mahl 1491.
® Wuttke, § 48. Zingerle, No. 1537. *■ v. Haberland, p. 361.
® Pfister, P. W. s. v. Kultus 2171. « ib. 2172. ' v. Haberland, o. 1. p. 383.
' Plin. N. H. XVIII. 10. » Wissowa, R. u. K. p. 158.

Large companies at table were in vogue in Rome. By the shape
of the lecti tricliniares, on which there was only room for three, the
number of persons would already be limited to nine; but they often
were occupied by more i, twelve being a favourite number 2.

A special garment was worn at table — the synthesis, frequently
mentioned in Martialis, which was probably a short, brightly
coloured tunic afterwards called by the general name of cena-
torium

Instead of calcei, soleae were worn, which were taken off on going
to table — soleas def mere

The food not consumed by the guest was supposed to be taken
away by him. This afterwards gave rise to the custom of giving
the guests presents of food or money®, to be explained by the
fact that the remains of food were considered to contain the same
power as the waste parts of the body, such as hair and nails, which
can be used as material for magic by hostile persons.
The same custom also exists elsewhere''.
As to the occupation of the places at meals I may refer to the
articles in Pauly—Wissowa and the Dictionnaire des Antiquités 8.

1. Phny says that it was formerly supposed that the gods (i. e.
daemons) were everywhere present and that therefore the custom
arose of preventing a meal from being disturbed by a period of
silence, which silence would cause each of the partakers of the
meal to be in the power of those gods, and that, moreover, for the
same reason food should — logically not — be given back i. e.
put back on the table, at least not during the meal, as it was then
in the power of the daemons. _

* Mart. X. 87. 12, XIV. 136. cf. Dictionn. s. v. Convivium p. 1206.
s Mau, 1.1. 1207.

« v. Haberland, p. 364; Dictionn. s. v. Convivium 1207—8.
' V. Haberland, p. 363.

2.nbsp;The explicit statement at the end of the paragraph that
placing the food back on the table or burning it before the Lar
was a piatio or piaculum, i. e. a sin.

auf die Erde Gefallene gehört den ^gcoes (= Seelen Verstorbener),
Aristoph. quot;Hgcaeg, fr. 291 Dind. roig rsre^evrrjxöai ramp;v qgt;iX(ov
wievsfiov xa nmrovxa rfjg rQoq)rjg asid rügt;v rgcms^üv (worauf
Euripides im BeUerophontes anspiele), Athen. X. 427 E. Daher
Pythagoreisches avfißo^ov (wie meist, auf alten Seelenglauben
begründet), rä neaovra and rQOjisCrjg fi-n dvaiQEioamp;ai^. Auf diesen
Aberglauben bezieht sich auch der angeblich in Kroton giltige
vdfJLog, TO Tieaov enl rrjv yrjv xcäkvmv ävaiQeiaamp;ai, lamblich. V. Pyth.
126. Aehnlicher Glaube und Brauch in Rom: Plin. N. H. XXVHI. § 27.
Bei den alten Preussen galt die Regel, beim Mahl auf die Erde
gefallene Bissen nicht aufzuheben, sondern für arme Seelen, die
keine Blutsverwandte und Freunde, die für sie sorgen müssten,
auf der Welt haben, liegen zu lassen®.quot;

Pliny's dei have also, probably, an underlying idea of spirits of
the dead. Against the usual idea « that reddebatur utique per mensas
should mean in this place quot;was replaced on the tablequot; there are
serious objections. It is hardly conceivable that reddere per mensas
should be sjmon5nnous with reponere in mensa as given at the end
of the paragraph. It is therefore better to read [non) reddebatur
as being the reddere supposed to be included in the duties of the
analectae^, and to take the pluralis quot;mensasquot; as quot;coursesquot; so that the
sentence acquires the meaning of quot;food that had fallen was not
put back, at least not during the mealquot;. Further, the sentence,
Vetabantque munditiarum causa deflare, must also be rightly

understood. In Suet. Cal. 28 ^ deflare has the pregnant meaning
of to blow away, hence to reject as old and worn-out

Here too the meaning of quot;clearing upquot;, quot;removing as refusequot;
would fit in, so that munditiarum causa would mean quot;to clear it
awayquot;, cf. Cato R. R. 39, per imbrem in villam quaerito, quid fieri
possit: ne cessetur, munditia,s facito. Plant. Stick. II 2. 22, Munditias
volo fieri: efferte hue scopas simulque arundinem, ut opera aranearum
perdam. These two examples may serve to illustrate how munditiae
in the plural is connected with houses and furniture.

It must further be remarked that just as in the beginning of the
paragraph there stands over against the perfectumquot;«i«ote^Mw estquot;—
quot;labor est,quot;so over against the imperfectaquot;reddebaturquot;dJiAquot;vetahantquot;
stands quot;sunt,quot; from which we may conclude that the custom had
been in vogue among the people but was obsolete in Pliny's time.
But the records of the auguries did still exist, probably in the
augural books, in which note was kept of what people said or
thought when this happened, and this was still in force for priests,
who, as is well-known, kept longer to tradition.

In the final sentence of the paragraph, piaiio est, which is here
synonymous with piaculum est, has the meaning of quot;it is an offence
against religionquot; denoting thereby that both actions are a fortiori
out of the question If this explanation is correct this passage is
of no use in arguments as to the meaning of the Lar.

Eminent scholars such as Wissowa and Samter have been in
controversy as to the problem whether the Lar(es) arose from the
worship of the souls of ancestors or not, and in that controversy
the above passage in Pliny was used as an argument.

In the first place there appeared an article of Wissowa entitled
quot;Laresquot; in Roscher's Mythological Lexicon.

His argument amounts to this: the Lar fartiiliaris is, in its widest
meaning, the protector of the family (in contrast to Vesta and
the penates, the worship of whom only falls to the master or mistress

of the house) and therefore also of the slaves. Indeed the only-
sacrifice which the bondman or villicus might make was that to
the Lares comfitales

Now the hearth is the meeting place of the whole family ^ and
the Lar was the god to whom a daily sacrifice, especially on Calends,
Nones, Ides and, of course, festival days, was offered

We might suppose, therefore, seeing that this theory was also
put forward in ancient times, that this function accrued to the
Lares familiares in virtue of their nature, but nothing could be
more untrue, thinks Wissowa. The Lar only afterwards joined
the company of the hearth divinities, Vesta and the Penates
But he is certainly a house spirit, closely connected with the
family, since all events affecting the weal and woe of the family
are enacted in his presence The theories of antiquity are at the
most merely guesses which bring us to no conclusion in a research
into the origin of the Lar. His existence must be explained from
the service of the Lares compitales, which the Romans consecrated
at the compita, — cross-roads in the country ' — in the compita,
i. e. sanctuaries for that purpose, or sacella, to the divinities that
collectively undertook the protectorship of the pieces of land
converging at that point, in contrast to the worship of the official
gods in the delubra in the cities

The little temples had as many entrances as there were pieces,
of land, and the same number of altars, which were placed at
about a distance of fifteen feet from the entrance, so that each
owner of the land could sacrifice on his own ground

From this collective worship at the compita arose the simple
worship in the houses lo. The Lar always occurs in the singular,
while in the plural (apart from the State and Compital Lares) the
word has either the meaning of the collective Lares familiares,.
or else the hearth gods were included in the name
Against this theory Samter ^^ takes up arms, and defends the

old opinion that the Lar worship arose from the cult of souls or
of ancestors. At the end of his book ^ he takes up the subject
again more fully, especially as De Marchi in spite of his good
intentions, did not succeed in confuting Wissowa. Wissowa was
then supported by Aust» and Hild As arguments he brings
forward, among others, this passage in Pliny.

In discussing the place in which the cihi prolapsi count as an
offering to the di manes of the ancestors, he quotes the literature
already collected by Rohde
Moreover he also quotes Schön ® and Wuttke
Basing his conclusion on folkloristic motives, Samter® decides
that in Rome those spirits to which the fallen pieces fell due
were identical with the spirits of the dead, ergo, that this was the
origin of the worship of the Lares.

Wissowa's reply to this ® I can sum up as follows. The origin
of the Lares worship is not to be sought in the house, but at the
compitum When transferred to city conditions the Lar retires
to the house, though not thereby putting an end to the compital
worship, and there joins Vesta and the Penates in a group of
hearth divinities, which are often characterized by the collective
name of Lares, and which are not strictly differentiated

The fundamental question, however, as to whether, in contra-
distinction to Genius, the Lar is attached, not to the person, but
to the place, is still unsolved. For, if the idea of the Lar were based
on animistic principles, there would have to be Lares of different
sexes and persons. The metonymic use of the word Lar is limited
to the meaning of house, and is never applied to the inmates or
to the ancestors.
To this Samter made a last reply in quot;Der Ursprung des Laren-

kultusquot; In connection with the very word piatio, which Wis-
sowa does not explain and because Lar, instead of Lares, is
used here — which latter word Wissowa had given as identical
with focus in his article ® — to which is added adoleri, probably
a terminus technicus, he comes to the following conclusion A
cult of the Lar on the separate pieces of ground does not exist.
The Lares are worshipped communally; the Lar by himself is
worshipped on the hearth. This Lar protects not the land but
the family, with which he remains when another house is moved
into. In the piaiio and in the worship at the hearth there are rites
which we otherwise find used only in the service of chthonic gods
and the souls of the dead, and also in the service of the Lares
compitales^, whereby the connection between Compitales, Lar
and chthonic gods® is proved.

The Lares are not identical with the souls of the dead, as the
collective souls are worshipped as Dii Manes or Parentes. Next
to this Samter gives the explanation of the singular Lar.

Lar means Ancestor, ■^gcog agx'fjyerrig'', which explanation
makes all old forms of the Lares worship easy to understand, and
Samter concludes, quot;Der Einzelne verehrt seinen Lar im Hause,
die Bewohner eines Viertels verehren die Gesamtheit der Laren
ihres Bezirkes im Compitumquot; Apparently Samter has, since
that time, won everybody to his point of view, for Eitrem ® writes
that the Lares, or in other words the soiils of the ancestors in their
capacity of protective spirits, received their daily portions burnt
upon the hearth, or on a small altar, before the mensa secunda
was brought in; and Eitrem brings us back to the idea that
Samter and Wissowa rejected, that the Manes, the souls of the
ancestors, linger near the hearth, the place where they were once
buried.

explanation of the place, given above, ^ we can still share his
opinion; for there still remains to him a reasonable argument in
the hanging up of the woollen dolls on the Comfitalia during the
night; which in his opinion should lead to the conclusion that
formerly these were human sacrifices, and that the Lares were
chthonic in origin, since the hanging took place at night But,
as has already been said, there can be no question here of a cult
of the Lar, as in the last sentence Pliny only points out that
such food may not be put back on the table and may not be used
as a sacrifice to the Lar.

Although, as said under quot;cihus prolapsusquot;, the meaning of deflare
is pregnant and the word signifies quot;to clear awayquot;, it maybe
brought to mind that blowing can be a magical action.

I have already pointed out under the heading of sneezing, that
the breath as the bearer of the soul possesses a magic power. The
invisible agent of the exhaled air became a kind of spirit, and
from this the idea developed that by blowing, a visible or invisible
activity could be called forth. For one either transferred one's
own pneuma to something else, or else a strange pneuma was over-
come by blowing. For this latter purpose it is still the custom to
blow over bread that is about to be eaten A Syrian blows over
his child to avert the evil eye Some still blow three times over a
strange spoon before using it®, and in Alaska the medicine man
blows into the nose and mouth of a patient to drive out the daemon
of disease®.

By augurium = auspicium, we must understand, in the first
place, the observation of birds for the purpose of gaining the per-

mission of the gods for all possible acts which original meaning
was afterwards extended, so that augurium came to mean any
sign of divine origin. When occurring as a class noun, auspicium
means an enquiry as to the divine will before taking political
action, and augurium means the sacred prayers of the augurs,
which combine the enquiry after the divine will ^ with a petition
for particular things®. Though auspicium, therefore, is purely
objective, a subjective element has crept into the meaning of
augurium.

That auspicatio was indeed originally also an action in private
life we must suppose from the fact that the nuptiarum auspices ®
still exist in Imperial times, although they only act as witnesses.

The auspicia, auguria, prodigia, portenta, monstra, dirae are
grouped as visible signs over against another group of audible
signs known under the common name of omina We should suppose
that auguria as meant here were included in the Libri Augurâtes;
which not only contain the fundamental rules of the disciplina
auguralis but also the décréta and responsa which were given to
questions asked with reference to auguria For this reason Pliny
speaks of condita auguria.

The priest® in the civilised state has still similar functions to
those of the medicine man of the primitive races. He is a physician,
an assistant in war, a sooth-sayer. Gradually, however, the qualities
of the priest are transferred to the divinity in whose service he
stands If the power of the medicine man diminishes, he is removed
from office or killed. And as this still survives among the Greeks

in the punishing of priests or depriving them of office when they
have committed outrages against the rules of worship, so among
the Romans, a priest can lose his sacerdotal dignities when con-
demned by law to a loss of his privileges, except in the case of the
fratres arvcdes and augures i.

They were always on the look out to increase the orenda of the
priests, hence their wreath and the woollen bands

Must the custom mentioned here be explained by a possible
loss of orenda that might occur? The phenomenon itself is called
xhjôév

Varro says dico originem habet graecam: quod Graeci ÔEixvvm
.... huic .... dicis causa. Although this explanation is still con-
sidered the right one the word is also brought into connection
with the Indo-Eur. diS, lat. dic — ^. The meaning is given as
'ad sfeciem, fro forma, simulate'

Riess® declares that the table was sacred, and brings as an
argument the fact that it took the place of the hearth, which was
originally the centre of family life. In support of this he might
have quoted Festus®, mensa frugibusque iurato significat fer
mensam et fruges, from which appears that the ancients even
swore by the table. There is still another place in Festus that he
could have referred to^quot;, mensae in aedibus sacris ara {rum vicem
obtinent. . . .) and in Serv. ad Verg. Aen. VIII. 279. quaeritur

sane cur in mensam et non in aram libaverint? Sed apud antiquos
inter vasorum supellectilem etiam mensam cum aris mos erat conse-
crari quo die templum consecrabatur

How must we explain the origin of the table? In any case as
the bearer of eating utensils which among the Romans consisted
originally of a kind of plate made of bread ® that was afterwards
fixed to a support It is still found among many primitive races
in its original form of a basis for food but in this case it is intended
as a means to prevent the food from coming into direct contact
with the earth, which is considered as working magic in some form
or other.

At the end of Republican times, the Romans ate in company
at large square tables, ® while we must consider it as an exceptional
case when Petronius Sat. 34 mentions that each guest had also a
separate small table. For larger companies of diners, more sets of
tables were used, consisting of mensa and tricliniares. It is remarkable
that the Romans, who originally ate seated {maiores enim nostri
sedentes epulabantur, quem morem a Laconibus habuerunt et Creten-
sibus, ut Varro docet in libris de gente Populi Romani, in quibus
dicit quid a quaque traxerint gente per imitaiionem. afterwards
changed this habit. The motives for this are not quite clear, as it
must be more difficult to eat lying down.

Later on the table seems to have become not only a mere dining
table, escaria or cilliba^ but also a cartibulum, a kind of side-
board and the sumptuous material used for these articles made
them exceedingly costly It is very probable that we have here
only to do with the so-called 'monopodia' ^^ and not with the
slabs placed on brick supports

If the word mensa be understood as quot;coursequot;, the average Roman
made a distinction between mensa prima and secunda consisting
of caro and poma From the fact that the table was the

bearer of food, which was considered as sacred, it will follow that
the table itself will have acquired that quality. The way will then
be prepared for all possible superstitious customs which every-
where develop However, beside the power-depriving meaning
adhering to the table (for instance in Bavaria, seed that has been
placed on a table loses its germinating power there also occurs
a power-giving significance such as the hearth possesses It
is remarkable that even prophetic power is ascribed to tables. In
the so-called rQ(mE^ofj,avreia the expectation is expressed of
learning the future from inspired tables, cf. Tert. Apol. 23. Porro si
magi .... somnia inmittunt, habentes semel invitatorum angelorum
et daemonum assistentem sibi potestatem, per quos et caprae et mensae
divinare consueverunt Mensae must not be translated by tripods
here

The word piatio, which except in this passage of Pliny seems to
occur only in one other place in literature® must be taken as a
synonym of piaculum.

It is obvious that piatio has been endowed with the chief meaning
of piaculumwhich latter word is divided as regards its meaning
by Tromp « as follows, placamen, quod est piaculo dignum, peccatum,
miseria, poena, ultio, purgatio

But a strong argument for the fact that in this particular place
the meaning ofmust be ascribed to it is that piaculum
in the sense of quot;it is an offence against religionquot; is constructed
with the acc. c. inf. Piatio is also constructed in this way so

that it is evident that this word in this place must have the meaning
of peccatum.

The piaculum as placamen has this aim in common with the
lustratio that it seeks to renew the disturbed relations with the
divinity, but their essential meaning differs i.

The results of the lustratio depend on magical powers, those of
the piaculum on the good will of the divinity. The lustratio was
from the beginning constituted without sacrificium, while the
piaculum is based entirely on this. While the lustratio is a purgatory
and placatory rite, actio and passio, the piaculum is a placatory
one and actio only.

The word has a good and a bad meaning. In its favourable sense
it means a remedy and in its unfavourable sense it means poison
Medicare, indeed, need not only be used for curing diseases; medi-
catus can often mean quot;poisonedquot; Both these meanings are based
on the idea of quot;enchantmentquot; Thus we also find (paQfiaxov, a
magic herb, given as medicamen

It appears that the art of medicine, before entering upon paths of
its own, was preceded by the magic method of healing, which must be
explained by the fact that disease and death were not ascribed to
natural causes, but to daemons of disease and their mysterious activi-
ties In support of this theory we may refer also to the numerous
carmina which have been handed down to us so plentifully from
antiquity, for which the so-called evocationes morhorum ® are very
strong evidence. Compare Plin. II. 15, Itaque nomina alia aliis
gentibus et numina in iisdem innumerahilia invenimus, inferis quoque
in genera descriptis, morbisque et multis etiam pestibus, dum esse
placatas trepido metu cupimus. Of all those carmina most have

reference to the art of medicine i, and many are the ways in which
they try to bring about a cure. The simplest sort is that in which
the name of the patient or of the disease is merely mentioned
but apart from the evocationes just referred to, threats are also
uttered or an effort is made to drive the daemons into other
living beings or plants, or else to cause them to disappear under the
earth or in water The so-called ààvvara ® may also be mentioned,
with, as an example, the well-known ® 'si in dextro oculo varulus
erit natus, manu sinistra digitis trihus sub divo orientem spectans
varulum tenebis et dices: quot;nec mula par it, nec lapis lanam fert,nec
huic morho caput crescat, aut si creverit tabescat'quot;, and those entitled
by Heim quot;Historiolaequot;; for instance, 'ad combustum. Praecantatio
ad conbustum. dicis haec: quot;rangaruagaverbatquot; ] ter dicito et lingito
ter et expuito. Praecantatio ad conbustum. ne fiant ulcéra, dicis haec:
quot;ferrum candens linguam restringat, ne noceatquot;. hanc incantationem
tamen ex ore Druidum: quot;Siculi vident iligo vel marino piso adriacicum
et iscito malluli drogoma ex ava mit\^unt astandem'quot; Further,
people made use on a large scale of the so-called êq)éaia ■yQa/j./xara
i.e. difficult words, the sense of which can only be discovered with
difficulty or not at all; a usual phenomenon in magic, to which I
have already alluded, the effectiveness often depending on the
incomprehensibility whereby it is also required, in order not to
break the magic power, that everything should be pronounced in
the right order iquot;.

Many of these Heim expects to be solved when they have all
been systematically arranged, as, as he thinks, there is a great
deal of Hebrew material among them, while among the Romans,
many were taken from the ancient language or from neighbouring
peoples

If, therefore, we must consider the carmina as fear-inspiring
expressions of the primitive for the benefit of the daemons, it
might very well be possible to see in the strange mixtures of genuine
remedies and disgusting matters, such as were known to the ancient

Egyptians, and for which one need not seek long in Phny either, a
kind of fear-inspiring means to drive away the daemons of disease,
which survived in a time when uncivihsed man succeeded by his
patient investigations in collecting and bequeathing to us a great
number of our remedies which still retain their value i.

In order to be effective against daemons of disease these remedies
were thought to be charged with orenda 2. Afterwards the gods
were held to be the givers of this orenda, as a survival of which
belief the names bear witness, such as, for instance, Solomon's
seal and Adonis, many of which have now been christened with
names of distinguished saints, as St. Peters' wort, St. Rennet's
herb, St. Agnes' flower, Costmary s. The precautions in plucking
and applying, so as not to break the orenda, had to be painfully
observed. Sometimes, even, extra orenda was added to it in the
plucking, as for instance .... canaria lappa .... carcinomata
sanat, ternis diebus soluta. medetur et subus, effossa sine ferro, addita
in colluviem poturis vel ex lacte ac vino, quidam adiciunt effodientem
dicere oportere, quot;haec est herba argemon, quam Minerva repperit subus
remedium quae de ilia gustaverintquot;, from which the invocation of
the daemons to lend their power to the herb is apparent.

The table, itself charged with orenda — though probably, by its
-continuous contact with the earth, with a chthonic orenda, — which,
as we have seen, can both give and break power, causes, in the
eyes of the primitive, the orenda to flow away and be absorbed in
itself. (It is sometimes even explicitly said of the earth itself that
it deprives the herb of its power®). Later on this thought was
transferred to other remedies than plants. By contact with the
table, therefore, the quot;remediesquot;, that is magic charms, (pàe/iaxa,
medicamenta, lose their magic power, which was primarily a
healing one.

To give a survey of the medicamenta would be impracticable.
They are contained chiefly in 11. XX—XXXII; 11. XX—XXVII
giving the application of plants as remedies, 11. XXVIII—XXXII
the employment of living beings in medicine. Riess in his quot;Aber-

1 V. Leersum, Over de waardeering der oude en volksgeneesmiddelen;
Ned. Tijdschr. v. Geneesk. 1914. le H. p. 1952 sq.
^ Stemplinger, Volksmedizin, p. 24. ' ib. p. 26. lt; Plin. N. H. XXIV.
176. 6 Plin. N. H. XXIV. 12; XXV. 171.

glaubequot; gives a good survey of the superstitious use of plants i.
In very early times the work of Pliny was excerpted on this account
and the excerpt still exists under the name of quot;Medicina Pliniiquot;

When considering the medical art of the Romans on general
lines, it is surprising that they created no science of medicine of
their own. Epidemics were exploited by the State authorities for
their own political ends, by ascribing them to the disposition of the
gods. In reality therapeutic treatment confined itself to the taking
of magical measures. The belief in daemons of disease of primitive
times still survives in the representation of various diseases by
gods 3.

The rational, scientific development of medicine is found in
Greece, where it is already early to be found on the coasts of Asia-
Minor, Magna Graecia and Africa

The physicians learnt to prepare their own medicaments, while
originally the rhizotomi and pharmocopolists supplied the material.
Later on their profession developed itself at the expense of that
of the physicians In Pliny's time the doctors themselves prepared
nothing, but obtained everything from these people who seemed
to lay themselves out to practice deceit wherever they could'.
On the other hand, however, medicaments were also prepared in
the temples of the gods of healing

It is generally accepted that hair and nails are parts of the body
which, although separated from it by cutting, are still fraught with
the orenda of the person to whom they belong. This gives rise to
the belief that sympathetic magic can be performed on them;
since, whatever happens to the hair and nails while under enchant-
ment, will also happen to the owner

1 Riess, P. W. s. V. Aberglaube 61 sq. ^ see p. 108, n. 7.
ä Neuburger, Handbuch d. Geschichte d. Medizin, Jena 1902, I. p. 404.
* Lübker, Reallex. s. v. Medizin p. 652.

' Dictionn. s. v. Medicus. p. 1679—80. » Plin. N. H. XXIV. 108.
' Friedländer, S. G. I. p. 202. » Macr. Sat. I. 12. 26; cf. Friedl. S. G.
I. p. 202.

» Frazer, G. B. II p. 258; Rohde, Psyche I. 17. 1; (Wieseler, Philol. IX
p. 711 sq.); Abt, Apologie, p. 106; Samter, Familienfeste, p. 22, 45 sq.;
Tylor Prim. Cult. II. 401.

For this reason they are employed in love magic; for the hair and
nails give an immediate power over the person concerned, and their
significance is great in both good and evil magic although, in
regard to nails, our sources are almost exclusively limited to
accounts of quot;injurious magicquot; The image used to wreak vengeance
in the shape of injury or death on one's enemy is therefore supplied
with his hair and nails in order to give it the proper orenda
Hence it was prohibited to tread on nails, and in the case of trans-
gression it was ordered to spit on them; for by treading under foot
the magic power was transferred, and by spitting it was broken
For the sake of their power the nail-parings of fever-stricken people
were hung on a strange door ® or were thrown on an ant-heap.
Thereupon the insect that first dragged them away was caught
and worn as an amulet

The hair is also sometimes considered to be the seat of vitality,
so that to cause life to cease, the daemon of death was supposed
to cut off a lock of hair from the head which is probably an out-
come of the thought that the head being sacred the hair of the
head is especially subject to taboo as regards cutting; for the spirit
of the head may be disturbed, whence the vitality may afterwards
have transferred itself to the hair itself (think of Samson!)

This is the reason that kings and priests are, for a great part,
not allowed to cut their hair, so as not to decrease their orenda —.

' Luc. Dial. Mer. IV. 4; Apul. Met. III. 16; cf. Riess P. W. s. v. Aber-
glaube 86. ^ Abt, Apologie, p. 105.
» Frazer, G. B. I p. 11—15; 375 sq.; cf. Abt, p. 166.
« Riess, P. W. s.v. Aberglaube 85. quot; Plin. N.H. XXVIII. 86.
' Riess, ib.

' Eur. Alcestis 75 sq.; Virg. Aen. 696—705, where the ghost of Dido cannot
part from the body before a lock of hair has been cut off, because she quot;died
before her timequot;; cf. De Jong, Magie bij Gr. en Rom. p. 117. We also find
the hair given as the seat of life in the story of the Megarian king Nisus,
whose daughter Scylla, in order to win the love of his enemy, cut off his
purple lock of hair, on which the existence of his kingdom depended; on
his enemy Minos refusing it, father and daughter were changed into birds,
cf. Ovid. Met. VIII. 1—151; Virg. Georg. I. 404 sq.; see Buscaroli, II libro-
di Didone, Milano 1932. He quotes Filippo Caccialanza, II crino fatale,
Turin, Clausen 1895).

as was the custom among the Prankish Kings i; and it may be
generally said that persons in a state of taboo were forbidden to cut
their hair or nails If the state of taboo is removed and the person
is again aUowed to cut his hair and nails, the difficulty still remains
as to what must be done with the cuttings. The nails and hair of
the Flamm Dialis were buried under a lucky tree; and the shorn
tresses of the Vestals were hung on an ancient lotus tree; which,
in my opinion, is a result of the thought that if the hair and nails
had to fall into the hands of a daemon it were best that it should
be a tree spirit, that being rooted to the earth, and bound to the
place, would guard what had been received and least be able to do
harm. For in other cases, too, cut hair and nails were taken to
sacred places such as temples and cemeteries, to protect them
against the magic use that sorcerors might make of them 3; or
else, if an opportunity presented itself, hidden in the ground or
among high grass. Even when these cuttings had been burnt the
same precautions were taken with the ashes

It is not in the first place people that are supposed to make a
misuse of hair and nails, but evil spirits s. This belief goes so far
that a person that had shaved and had a haircut was thought to
be for a time in the power of the spirits that had taken possession
of the remains, or rather of the abandoned orenda This is clearly

I Agathias, Hist. I. 3; see Frazer o. c. p. 258. 1; in general p. 258 sq.
a Ovid. Fasti VI. 230; see Frazer, Fasti IV. p. 167.
s Frazer, G. B. Ill p. 274.
■« id. p. 278; Eitrem, Opferritus p. 361.

6 It is even believed that spirits are fond of nestling in hair, a thought
which is not unique in folklore. (Hindoo women too have a similar custom
in pregnancy; cf. Rose, The Roman Questions of Plutarch, Oxford 1924.

Thus the hasta caeliharis or hasta recwva (Festus p. 62—63 M.; Plut.
Qu Rom LXXXVII) of which neither Festus nor Plutarch give a plausible
explanation, was probably a curved spear used in dressing the hair of a
bride. It is thought that it had to be curved because, coming into contact
with a woman, it became unusable in any case. But it is more probable that
it was a symbol that it had been used and had reached its aim, and was
therefore filled with the orenda of someone else (cf. Plin. N.H. XXVIII.
33, 34). Festus therefore says that this ought to be a hasta quae %n corpore
£ladiatoris stetisset (cf. Frazer, Fasti p. 442).
« Stemplinger, Aberglaube p. 68.

apparent from the behef that the cutting or even combing of the
hair aroused the weather spirits ^ a belief which we find already
in antiquity 2. For it is expressly stated that it was considered
dangerous to cut hair and nails at sea, audio enim non licere
cuiquam mortalium in nave neque ungues neque ca-pillos deponere nisi
cum pelago ventus irascitur, the last phrase — quot;only when the
wind is stormyquot; I can explain, with Eitrem as a calming of the
wind and sea-gods by throwing hair and nails into the sea in a high
wind. The spirits were satisfied with the mere possession of them.
Just as they arise menacingly to take possession, so they will be
satisfied when they are freely given.

This leads us naturally to the question of the sacrifice of hair,
which was known to both the Greeks and the Romans \ Homer,
already, mentions it as the duty of the surviving relations to shave
the head and to shed tears for the dead Further it is also to be
found in the Tragedy. Petron. Ill, and Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. XI.
39. 6. give us examples among the Romans«. The explanation
formerly given, that the hair represented the soul of the devotee '
is contested by Frazer « and Eitrem who explain it in this way,
that the mourners shave their heads, being all infected with the
taboo of death. The hair is generally shorn at transition stages,
and this is called a quot;rite de passagequot;, a purification ritual, which
is met with at births, deaths and marriages. That is why the hair
was cut off after the accomphshment of a journey, after absence,
or danger, or illness and why children's nails were not cut in the
first year of their Hves

The recipients of the remains of hair and nails are, in that case,
the spirits of the dead, which Eitrem ^^ concludes from the time

at which hair and nails are cut; in Athens and Rome at the new
moon This passage also supports the theory that the Romans
had their hair cut immediately after full moon or before new moon,
that is on the 17th and 29th day after the new moon, as a preventive
against baldness and headache. Varro extends the custom also
to sheep, and calls it an ancestral custom, to which, therefore, the
general rule of Cato is also appUcable nisi intermestri lunaque
dimidiata ne tangas materiem: turn effodias aut fraecidas abs terra.

According as people wished to put the spirits in possession of
hair and nails or not, so we find contradictory instructions. In
Thuringia hair and nails may only be cut when the moon is waxing
and on Fridays; for preference before sunrise or after sunset
Over against this stands the Enghsh saying
Friday Hair, Sunday Horn
Better that child had ne'er been born.

If the spirits of the dead are the recipients, they take away
something that is injurious to man. The hair contains, indeed, the
fivaoQ ® that has to be got rid of, which has entered either by in-
fection, as already stated, or by inward disposition. The loss of
hair, and headache, to be avoided, must both be considered due to
that evil virus that is abandoned to the spirits of the dead, and that
on days pleasing to the spirits«; in this case on the 17th and 29th
day of the moon. But another explanation is possible, for which see
XVII luna atque XXVIIII.

Pliny' says of the defluvia, quot;defluvium .... in muliere rarum
in sfadonihus non visum, nec in ullo ante veneris usum, nec infra
cerebrum aut infra verticem aut circum temfora atque aures. calvitium
uni tantum animalium homini praeterquam innatumquot;. He also gives
other remedies for defluvia We might suppose from the innumer-
able remedies 1« Pliny gives for headache, that it was of frequent

1 Theophr. IV. 12; Varro R. R. I. 37. 2; Plin. N. H. XVI. 194, where is
said of Tiberius, servavit interlunia. ^ Plin. N.H. XVI. 194.
® Eitrem, o. c. p. 361. « Sikes, Class. Rev. 1893. p. 182.
s Eitrem,' o. c. p. 348. « ib. p. 360. ' Plin. N. H. XI. 131.
8 But cf. XX. 27.

occurrence, and even chronic i. As a matter of fact they had a great
knowledge of matters causing headache not excepting the post-
festive headache! » Among those he gives there are also magic
remedies We also find the moon given as a cause of headache

The reason why this should happen exactly on the nundinae is
not quite clear. Our principal source of information for the nun-
dinae is Macrobius. In his Saturnalia « he tells us that already in
antiquity there was a difference of feeUng about these days. Titus,
who wrote De Feriis, did not range them under the feriae, but
called them only sollemnes, and this was also the opinion of the
pontifices when they replied to Messala, quot;nundinas sibi ferias non
videriquot;. On the other hand, Julius Caesar in the XVIth book
of his auspicia says that on the nundinae a contio could not be
convened and a national assembly could not, therefore, be held.
With him Com. Labeo assures us in his Fasti that the nundinae
are feriaeThe solution for this Macrobius gives as follows, ait
enim (Labeo sc.) nundinas Jovis ferias esse, siquidem Flaminica
omnibus nundinis in regia Jovi arietem soleat immolare, sed lege
Hortensia effectum ut fastae essent, uti rustici, qui nundinandi causa
in urbem veniebant, Utes componerent. On the other hand, Festus
says (P. D. ex F. exc.) p. 173 M., nundinas feriarum f diem esse
voluerunt antiqui; ut rustici convenirent mercandi vendendique causa
eumque nefastum, ne, si liceret cum populo agi, interpellarentur
nundinatores.

Although Macrobius himself considers the nundinae as feriae:
feriarum autem publicarum genera sunt quattuor, aut enim stativae
sunt aut conceptivae aut imperativae aut nundinae they were in
the actual sense of the word not feriae at all in spite of the
sacrifice of the Flaminica.

gt; XXIV. 25. » cf. XIII. 16; XXIV. 17; XXI. 119; XXIII. 30.
3 XXIV. 62. lt; XXVIII. 76, 49.

' Galen, ed. Kühn IX. 903; Plin. XI. 149. (Roscher in Roscher M. L. s. v.
Mondgöttin 3156).

• I. 16. 28—30. ' cf. however, Plin. N. H. XVIII. 13.
« I. 16. 5; so too Varro L. I. VI. 26.

» Mommsen, Chronol. p. 245 sq.; Staatsr. Ill p. 373; cf. Wissowa, R. u. K.
p. 440. 2.

They counted as feriae for school, however, even in Imperial
times and adults went to the baths

If the nundinae fall on the Kalendae Jan. or on the Nonae, this
is a very evil omen, as especially Lepidiano tumultu opinio ista
firmata estThe same thing was experienced in 52 B.C.

The name nundinae is wrong in so far as they occurred every
eighth day; it is the same figure of speech as when at the present
time 8 days are spoken of, meaning a week In old calendars the
8 days are fairly regularly represented by the letters A B C D E F
G H The nundinae do not fit into the lunar or solar month or
time and are an arbitrary fiction based on practical grounds'.

We find also in other places instructions for the sequence in
which the fingers should be manicured. Among the Parsees ® the
order for this is 4-2-5-1-3, which is adopted by Rabbinical authority
for the left hand, though it is maintained that for the right the
order should be 2-4-1-3-5, the left hand being first manicured. I
have already pointed out under quot;digitoquot; the fact that the fingers
play an important part in superstition.

This has been rightly explained by Eitrem ® as meaning imme-
diately after full moon or before new moon. What is the deeper
significance of this? Eitrem finds in this an argument that the

spirits of the dead were the recipients. I do not wish to contest this,
although it is not clear to me why the spirits of the dead should
make their rounds precisely at these times. In the following scheme
I give the normal revolution of the moon which lasts practically
for 29 or 30 days (this is for 29 days).

In this we take Varro as our source L.l. I. 37., dies lunares quoque
ohservandi qui quodam modo hipertiti quod a nova luna crescit ad
plenam et inde rursus ad novam lunam decrescit, quoad veniat ad
intermenstruum, quo die dicitur luna esse extrema et prima; a quo
eum diem Athenis appellant svrjv xal veav, TQiaxdda alii.

One begins therefore to count from the day on which one sees
the moon as new moon and in this way it reaches, on the 15th,
the phase in which it is quot;fullquot;, and on the 29th, the phase which
Varro calls quot;intermenstruumquot;. This is, therefore, the 29th day
meant by Pliny.

To an eye that does not see too sharply the moon is full for
3 days. The distinct incompleteness of the disc is still seen on the
13th and only again on the 17th.

As we shall see under quot;Lunaquot;, the moon is supposed to shed a
quot;virus lunarequot;. This virus is, of course, always given off when it is
visible, but on the 29th it need no longer be feared. And when the
moon, after reaching in 16 days (15 1) its full glory, again begins

to wane, this waning is, in my opinion, for a primitive a sign that
the power of the moon is broken. This period is effective and charged
with orenda, and the time at which one can with impunity indulge
in a hair-cut, that is, without the virus lunare exerting its baleful
influence.

The phases of the moon (whom Pliny calls multiformis i) we
find mentioned in antiquity by the same terms as we use at the
present day. In its new phase it is called via, ngmrrj, primM luna,
nova luna. The crescent or half moon is aeXrjvrj nX'^ovaa, luna
crescens, mansuescens. Full it is called aeXi^vrj navasXrjvog, pleni-
lunium, plena luna, immensa orhe pleno. Then comes the fourth
phase /jLiqvri fisiov[ievrj, luna decrescens, extrema, minuens, senescens
sicca, sitiens On the revolution of the moon, which lasts 29 days,
12 hours, 44 minutes, all peoples of the earth, and also the ancient
civilisation, originally based their calculation of time, luna regit
menses, Ovid, Fasti III. 883.

The visible appearance of the sickle of the moon, from which the
days of the waxing and waning moon were counted, was considered
as the beginning of the month. The observation of this in oldest
Rome fell to the pontifex minor, who informed the King as soon as
possible, in order to fix the beginning of the month

The above-mentioned phases lead as a matter of course to
periods of seven days and moon months of 28 days the fun-
damental meaning of the word mensis, [irivrj, is no other than metre
As the conjunction of the moon takes place at about the same time
for the countries round the Mediterranean, the beginning of the
month fell essentially at about the same time for aU ancient peoples,
in so far, of course, as they made use of the lunar calendar Further
differentiated observation produced for the Roman calendar 10
phases of the moon' as is also given by Phny modo curvaia in

cornua facie, modo aequa portione divisa, modo sinuata in orbem,
maculosa eademque subito pramitens, immensa orbe plena ac repente
nulla . . . ., although there was another calculation with seven
phases

In considering the moon and its influence we can take two
points of view. In the first place we find its influence exercised on
terrestrial circumstances, and in the second place, owing to its
shining in the night, its variable course, and its extensive influence,
the moon is an important factor in magic. In other words, it ir-
radiates an orenda of its own accord; but efforts are also made to
subdue this mighty body in order to use the powerful orenda in
magic.

That the moon exerts influence on all living things is, for a
primitive, beyond all doubt. It brings the dew which is so indis-
pensable in the south for vegetation and its regular periodical
course will, already in early times, have made it seem of influence
on the lives of womenIt is undeniable that the older Greek
physicians ascribed to the moon a great influence on the human
body \ even Aristotle, who repudiates the influence of the moon
on the bodies of women does not entirely escape this thought
The Stoics too ascribed great power to the moon.

The medium through which the moon sends its forces to earth
is an invisible fluid. These moon-forces are called Qe'6fiara,
ajioggsvaeig rfjg as^vrjg, virus lunareumificus spiritus Cicero
best expresses the Stoic astrological moon-physics by the words
muUaque ab ea manant et fluunt, quibus et animantes alantur auges-
cantque et pubescant, maturitatemque assequantur quae oriuntur
e terra

The moon, which exerts its influence on all Hving things (which
belief can be found everywhere i^), has not only a favourable in-
fluence. Ideas on this point are analogical with its phases; it causes

1nbsp;Macr. Somn. Scip. I. 6. 55; Mart. Cap. VIII. 864; VI. 738; Gundelo. c. 100.

^ Gundel, ib. 103—4. ^ Hist. An. VII. 2. « cf. Probl. XXIV. 14.
' Lucan. VI. 669. » Plin. N. H. II. 223. » Nat. Dear. II. 50.

Gundel, o.c. 104; Schwenn. P. W. s.v. Selene 1139.
quot; Wundt, Volkerpsych.j V. 335; Frazer, G. B. VI3 132.

to increase and grow, to wither and die i. Hence the advice to do
whatever must grow at the waxing of the moon and whatever
must vanish or wither under the waning moon which advice
will have been restricted in the first place to agriculture and its
accompaniments. For example, the brooding out of eggs must be
begun at the crescent moon Now although this is generally the
rule, we do, on the other hand, find contradictory instructions
without being able to say exactly why

Linked with this is, of course, the thought that man is also more
or less subjected to the waning influence; and the moon is not
without its effect on human health For children and pregnant
women its light is dangerous ®; while epilepsy and other kinds of
/lavia were considered to be the effect of the moon In speaking
of as^rjvofikrjrog, fiexxeaiXrjvog — lunaticus, we come to the per-
sonal representation of the moon as a daemon, which is supposed
to be the origin of illness

But before discussing this further, I would hke to point out two
parallels quoted by Riess, where the influence of the moon on the
cutting of hair is spoken of; that is in Theophr. Char. IV. 12 and
Varro R.r. I. 37. 2 ... . where, however, the opposite statement is
made, namely, that baldness may be expected if the hair is cut
when the moon is on the wane. To this Keil » made the following
emendation, quot;[de] crescentequot;, which, however, in my opinion, has
been rightly contested by Frazer who reads quot;decrescentequot;, the
quot;istaecquot; referring to the former member of the preceding sentence.
Frazer might have added that only in this case do the words quot;a patre
acceptumquot; have any value. It need not, however, cause any surprise
that in such matters as these contradictory precepts are to be found
side by side. But let us now return to the previous paragraph.
The moon was therefore considered as a daemon, and nowhere

1nbsp;Plin. N. H. II. 109, 221; XVII. 112, luna sitiens\ cf. also Roscher, Mond-
gottin 3152—4; Schwenn, ib. 1138; Riess, P. W. s. v. Aberglaube 39, 40.

3nbsp;Varro R. R. III. 9. 16; Plin. N. H. X. 152.
^ Riess, P. W. s. V. Aberglaube 40.

® Macr. Sat. I. 17. 11; 20. 1. Gell. N. A. XX. 8; Veget. III. 33.
« Plin. N.H. VII. 42. ' Schwenn, o. c. 1139.
8 Rohde, Psyche II p. 48 sq. ' Varro R. R. 174. 1 sq.
quot; G. B. VI3 p. 133.

is it better characterized in the position it holds in the world of
superstition than by the words of Apuleius i, luna noctium conscia,
which Butler and Owen translate as quot;the moon that knows the
mystery of the nightquot;. The editors were so convinced of the
general association with magic in classical literature that they
refrained from illustrating this further The moon is the most
important daemon of the night Herbs gathered under its pa-
tronage during the night are imbued with special magic powers
Herbs are also dried by the light of the moon (Phn. XXI, 62),
in which case the power is derived from the virus lunare The
moon becomes the Queen of Magic, since the night-wandering
spirits are the principal workers of magic.

The ability to bring the moon down counts as the greatest sign
of magic power®. The sorceror makes use of various names in
order to coerce the moon, yvvawoiAOQcps êeà fieyiarr] äg^ovaa
ovgavov^, cf. regina siderum bicornis And just as the image of
the moon is used for magic purposes, viMaov xvglav EsXrjvrjv
Aiywiriav — as a magic charm reads — so the images are a
protection against evil influences

The nights of the new moon, and especially those of the full
moon, play a special rôle The raising of spirits takes place at
full moon or in the night of the new moon 1®.

Much has already been written about the words pagus, paganus.
Festusquot; says, quot;pagania pagis dicti. pagi dicti a fontibus quod eadem

2nbsp;They refer to Abt, Apologie p. 197—9; Roscher M. L. II. 2. 3157, 3163 sq.;
Dictionn. III. 2. 1387, 1390, 1512. 3 Roscher, Mondgöttin 3163.

« Virg. Aen. IV. 513; Hor. Sat. I. 8. 20; Plin. N. H. XXIV. 12.
s Lucan. VI. 506. 669.

8 Canidia in Hor. Ep. V. 51; Gerhard, Gesamm. Acad. Abhand. Taf. 838;
Roscher, Über Selene u. Verwandtes p. 89; Abt, Apologie p. 198.
' Pap. Lugdun. II. 205. 3. » Roscher, ü. S. u. V. p. 11, 94.
» Hor. Carm. saec. 35, 36; Abt, Apol. p. 198.
quot; Pap. Lugd. 121. V. 868. K. 936 W.

quot; Plaut. Epid. V. 1. 33; Plin. N. H. XXXVII. 124; cf. Schwenn o. c. 1140.
quot; Plin. N. H. XXIV. 12; Luc. Necyom. 7.; Ov. Met. XIV. 373, 404; VII. 180.
quot; Roscher, Mondgöttin 3164—6; Schwenn o.e. 1139.
quot; p. 221 M.

aqua uterentur. aquae enim lingua Doricanayaiappellanturquot;. Dion.
Hal. connects it with the Greek nâyoç Schulten, Philol. LHI. p.
631 sees in pagus a part of the country. Mommsen's explanation is
accepted by Muller who connects it with pango = I fix or settle,
(Festus also has this in mind s.v. paginae) and Walde on the basis
of Vanicek, Etym. Wb.2 p. 148. explains it by quot;Landgemeinde-
verband einer Bauernschaft, Dorf, Gau = Zusammenfügung,
Verbandquot;.

Pagus from earhest antiquity till the end of Imperial times
retained its meaning of a certain stretch of country, a district,
(certaine étendue de territoire rural)

It meant, originally, those who lived outside the political com-
munity of the city, and Cicero ® made a distinction between the
inhabitants of Rome as montani and pagani. The distinction between
tribus and pagus was such that tribus meant an administrative
division, while pagus meant a marked off piece of ground, pagi
are also to be found outside the actual ager Romanus, in all parts
and provinces of the Imperium

They can further be grouped into various vici, but in any case
they form a group of a religious, social and administrative character.

They could take decisions that had the force of law; hence the
formulae quot;ex lege paganaquot; quot;pagi decretoquot; quot;ex scitu Pagiquot;

The pagus, administered by ministri, had at its head a summus
magister, praefectus, curatornbsp;^

The phenomenon mentioned here has been explained in two ways.
A. as quot;Angangquot; that is, the first sign in the morning on be-
ginning the day, on first issuing from the house, or at the first

^ Dictionn. p. 274—75. » ib. 276. « CIL. IX. 5665; ib. 1618; II. 1043.
' CIL. X. 3772. 8 CIL. IX. 3137. » CIL. V. 4148.
^^ see for further particulars Dictionn. 274—76.

IInbsp;Stemplinger, Aberglaube p. 44 (ref. to Schwarz, Menschen u. Tiere im
Aberglauben, Progr. Celle 1888); Kummer, Hdwb. d. D. A. s. v. Frau, 1750;
J. Grimm, Mythologiej II p. 1072 sq. For the subject: Tylor, Prim. Cult.
I3 p. 120; Boehm, Hdwb. d. D. A. s.v. Angang 409 sq.

accidental meeting on undertaking a journey^. See Luc. Pseudol. 17,
ixrgeTtofisamp;a xai /idhara el saxamp;ev Idoi/Ltsv avxovQ .... ev ägxfj
de xai svamp;vgaig ini xf} Ttgmtrj s^odtt) xai eoyamp;ev xov oJtavxog exovg
This is especially in regard to people and animals Boehm ^ defines
quot;Angangquot; as follows, quot;Unter Angang versteht man im Allgemeinen
das zufällige Zusammentreffen eines, meist menschlichen, Subjectes
mit einem oder mehreren Objecten aus der belebten, seltener der
unbelebten Natur, insoweit diesem Zusammentreffen nach geltender
abergläubischer Meinung eine für das Subjekt zukunftkündende
Bedeutung innewohntquot;. It is, therefore, required that there be a
subject to draw the omen to itself and an object that brings about
the meeting quite involuntarily. In our present case, we must, of
course, understand as subject those who, living under the protection
of the -pagana lex, think it is their right to move freely about their
estates; or, to say it more shortly, those who might possibly meet
such a woman.

The ancients called this phenomenon by the name augurium:
evööia ovfißoXa and in mediaeval Latin it was called superventa,
congressionum initia

It is remarkable that women should have acquired such a baleful
significance in Angang. Not only old womenbut women in
general®, which should be traced back to primitive ideas of the
impurity of women, that influences everything with which they
come into contact, and of which survivals are stiU to be found
Besides women, countless other persons are of unfavourable omen
in Angang, such as paralytics, one-eyed persons, eunuchs, epileptics,
and even Moors Grimm quotes an example from Reginald Scott's
Witchcraft quot;If any hunters, as they were a-hunting, chanced to
meet a friar or priest, they thought it such ill luck, that they would
couple up their hounds and go home, being in despair of any further
sport that dayquot;, in which case priest and friars are also reckoned
among quot;Angangquot; persons.

3 Stemplinger, Aberglaube ib.; Tylor, Prim. Cult. p. 120. « ib. 410.
5 see further Boehm, o. c. 412. « Boehm, ib. ' Grimm, o. c. 1077.
8 Kummer, o. c. 1760—51. « Kummer, ib. 1761. quot; Stemplinger, o. c. p. 45.

ominous significance, this is still further enhanced if they are
spinning; and Grimm has here made a point of contact with the
Parcae who are no others than quot;Feldspinnerinnenquot; i, whose black
threads were even feared in antiquity, and who, because they
brought no good, were called tristes 2.

Apart from people, it is especially animals ^ that give the augury,
èvôôia avfi^o^a, favourable or unfavourable, for instance in
Phn. N. H. VIII. 80, Sed in Italia quoque creditur luporum visus esse
noxius vocemque homini, quem priores contemplentur, adimere ad
praesens On the other hand, VIII. 83. says ad dextram com-
meantium praeciso itinere si pleno id ore fecerit, nullum omnium
praestantius ! Then Theophr. Char. 16. 3. xal xrjv ôôov èàv vneQÔgàfir)
yakr}, fi^ nQÔreQov noQsvêrjvai, ëcoç ôteiéMrj riç ^ U§ovç rgeïç
VTtèg rfjç ôàov ôiafiâXr).

Now this Angang, which is meant as accidental, the Greeks and
Romans systematized in auspicia and auguria and olmviarixrj

B. Although the explanation given above is applied in this
sense, and this passage is always quoted as a phenomenon of
quot;Angangquot;, it seems to me that, seeing the lack in this place of the
explanatory subject, which to my mind is an explicit requirement,
a simpler explanation would be more plausible. It is here a case
either of analogical magic, as Frazer explains it «, quot;Probably the
notion was that the twirhng of the spindle would twirl the corn
stalks and prevent them from gro\ving straight. So, too, among
the Ainos of Saghalien a pregnant women may not spin or twist
ropes for two months before her delivery, because they think that
if she did so the child's guts might be entangled like the threadquot;,
or of a binding magic in the same way as sickness can be
symbohcally bound as in Plin. N. H. XXVIII. 42. For the drawing
of a circle round anything, is, as we have already seen, (s.v.
lustrum), a magic action^. In order to protect a whole vineyard

- Tib. III. 3. 36; Stat. Theb. V. 274; cf. Eitrem, P. W. s. v. Moira. 2482.
3 Tylor, o. c. p. 120. ^ cf. Sol. II. 35; Serv. ad. Virg. Eel. IX. 54.
5 Grimm, p. 1082; Boehm, 410; cf. Bouché—Leclerq, Histoire de la Divi-
nation I p. 121 sq.

« G. B. I p. 113—14. ' Riess, P. W. s. v. Aberglaube 33—34.
® cf. too Berve, P. W. s. v. Lustratio 2021—2.
» cf. Colum. X. 346—7; Pallad. I. 35. 1.

against hail, instead of surrounding all the vines by one circle ®
it is sufficient to draw a circle round one vine i. In the same way
it is possible to go round the field, spinning, and do harm to all
the crops.

But would it not be possible for there to be here a fancied analogy
with the 'turbo' 2, the magic wheel, an instrument of Greek
origin 3 described in the Scholion on Apoll. Rhodius « as a small
wheel, and also handed down to us on a vase s, and which Hesych.
describes thus, s.v.nbsp;xmvo(;, ^vXriQiov, oë èi'qnrai a/oiviov,

Frazer thinks, in this connection, of the bull-roarer, a slat of
wood, attached to a string, which savages all over the world whirl
at their mysteries, and which, among others, is also used in cere-
monies in honour of the dead. There is one objection, however. This
instrument is never in the hands of women. But is it not possible
that the whirhng of the spindle, which in itself was no magic
wheel, might yet have given rise to an association of ideas, which
exactly on account of the function that such a wheel may have
had in a death ritual, might have aroused fear of a similar action
of the spindle? But this is merely a supposition.

Most probably it is one of those prohibitions for the purpose of
protecting the harvest against the envy of the neighbours, whether
it be that they draw the harvest to themselves« or, as in this
case, enchant it by means of a whirling object which brought a
death rite to mind.

This magic, whether analogical, binding or death magic is one
of the fundamental elements of the notion of quot;Angangquot;, so that
neither explanation excludes the other, but the first provides a
basis on which the other can be built; as Tylor lucidly says, quot;Anyone
who takes the trouble to go into this subject (Angang) in detail,
and to study the classic, mediaeval, and oriental codes of rules,
will find that the principle of direct symbolism still accounts for
a fair proportion of them, though the rest may have lost their
1 Philostr. Heroica 77; Eitrem, Opferritus p. 18. ^ Hor. Ep. XVII. 7.
3 Theocr. II. 30, 31; Lucian. Dial. Meretr. IV. 5; see Frazer, Fasti II p. 449,
* I. 1139; IV. 144. ' Dictionn. s. v. Rhombos p. 863.
« Plin. XXVIII. 17; Sen. N. Q. 4.; Apul. Apol. 47: the editors Butler—Owen
refer to Virgil, Eel. VIII. 99; Tib. I. 8. 19 for illustrations of this magical
practice; cf. De Jong, Magie bij Gr. en Rom. p. 42—43.

early significance, or may have been originally due to some other
reason, or may have been arbitrarily invented, (as a considerable
proportion of such devices must necessarily be) to fill up the gaps
in the systemquot;.

It may be pointed out that spindles are now carried openly in
modem Greece, as Professor Wagenvoort assured me on his own
observation, which may serve to show that that which is prohibited
above often occurs in the present time in southern countries.

The antique spinning instrument still in use in southern countries.
The fusus = axgaxroQ — spindle is a short rod mostly of bone, to
which a hook is fixed at one end while the other is stuck through
the verticillus = turbo = a(p6vövXog. The colus: i^Xaxdrrj = distaff
on which the wool or flax is fastened (xohawrj =■ trcLcturn) is held up
high in the left hand. The thread drawn out is fastened to the hook
of the spindle, which is set spinning, and allowed to twirl and
unravel between thumb and first finger until the spindle touches
the ground. Then the thread is wound up on the spindle, and pulled
through the hook. The reason why it was preferred to do this
standing or while walking, was that it was not necessary to wind
the thread up so often and a longer piece could be taken. When the
spindle was full the ball of yarn = glomus was laid in the ndXa'amp;oQ =
quasillus, a small basket. The description of this is found in Cat.
LXIV. 311 Spinning was a favourite subject for poets

It has already been pointed out in the Introduction that Pliny
had personal relations with Serv. Nonianus and most probably
with his house His consulship fell in 35 A. D. ® and his death took
place in 59; at which Tacitus remarks sequuntur virorum inlus-
trium mortes, Domitii A fri et M. Servilii, qui summis honoribus et
multa eloquentia viguerant, ille orando causas, Servilius diu foro, mox

2nbsp;Frazer, Fasti III p. 148; cf. Ov. Fasti II. 742 sq.; Heroid. III. 75; XIX. 37:
Metam. IV. 34, 220 sq.; VI. 17—22; Tib. I. 3. 85 sq.; II. I. 63 sq.

« Münzer, Beiträge p. 404. ® cf. Tac. Ann. VI. 31; Plin. N. H. X. 123.
« Tac. Ann. XIV. 19.

tradendis rebus Romanis Celebris et elegantia vitae quam clariorem
effecit, ut par ingenio, ita morum diversus. He is mentioned by Pliny
several times

Ophthalmic diseases, which were unusually widespread in Italy,
Greece and Egypt, only received a rational medical treatment in
very late times

The widespread character of these diseases is apparent from the
size of the chapter which Marcellus Empiricus devotes ad omnes
et multiplices oculorum dolores

Besides medicinal cures « Phny is also acquainted with purely
magical ones, as in XXVIII. 64, where the advice is given to rub
the ears backwards as a remedy against disease of the eyes: retro
aures fricare. Gold or iron rings are also efficacious

We find prescriptions of all kinds. Thus in Ps. Apuleius de vit.
herb. XIX. 4, ® herbam proserpinacam .... circumscribes aureo
anulo et dices: 'tollere te remedium oculisquot;'. I shall quote some examples
of prescriptions under quot;litteris graecisquot;. The following is one that
I found in Marcellus in which saliva is an important factor. Cap.
VIII. AZ-.si mulieris saliva, quaepueros,non puellas ediderit et abstinue-
rit se pridie vino et cibis acrioribus et imprimis si pur a et nitida erit,
angulos oculorum tetigeris, omnem acritudinem lippitudinis lenies
umoremque siccabis. This next one is an example from papyri.
Preisendanz Pap. Gr. Mag. II 1931 pag. 8. P. VII, ngog Qsv/ia
6(pamp;aX[i(öv. enlyQacpe elg xaQtrjv xai jiegiajtre: QovQaQßiaagovQ-
ßßaQiaalt;pQr]v.

man arouses the daemons around him. This, as we have seen, can
even be effected by means of gestures i.

The pronouncing of the name of the disease must, without
doubt, invoke the daemons of that disease. Against this danger
both the people mentioned had armed themselves in an original
manner.

It is impossible to understand the sense of these letters ^ as they
probably belong to the abracadabra of magic, which is especially
fond of exotic sounding names, letters and play of syllables with
no other motive than to make an impression Notions of the divine
origin of handwriting ^ have probably helped to add orenda signi-
ficance to letters and words®.

This orenda significance is then enhanced by playing hocus-pocus
with existing written characters; for instance writing them upside
down For this reason we find Greek letters beside Etruscan in-
scriptions on Etruscan vases, and in Latin speaking areas we find
the Greek alphabet used, and here and there exphcit instructions
to employ Greek letters Thus antique literature, especially in
magic papyri, contains senseless rows of letters impossible to
pronounce. The idea of these must frequently be to enclose the
great name of the god in those letters and in that way to get power
over him Hence endless variations with vowels and series of
vowels 10; further, long rows built up of syllables and called quot;Syl-
labarequot; by Dornseiff The Leiden Magic Papyrus 12 gives long
rows, as follows: —

a ßa ya da C« • • . • V«
e ße ye de t^s .... ipe etc. ^
Marcellus Empiricus gives as a prescription against haemor-
rhage scribes in charta virgine et collo suspendes lino rudi ligatum
tribus nodis ei, qui profluvio sanguinis laborat: rpa ipe iprj ygt;e yrr)
rpa xpe. ^

I found, as an illustration, the following examples against
lippitude. Marc. VIII. 56. ad Lippitudinem inter principia
sedandam in chartam virginem scribe avßaix et licio, quod in tela
fuerit, collo lippientis innecte.

Marc. VIII 57 Incipiens lippitudo mirifice et sine dubitatione
depelletur, si in charta virgine scribas et collo dolentis licio suspendas:
(pvQ (pagav et hoc praeligamen purus castus facias.

The following quotation is from Alex. Trail. I. p. 407 ® quot;AAAo
mqiajirov ov nokk^v saxov nelgav (sc. jiQog a/iqifjfiéQivov).

Eig qmXXov èXalag fierä xoivov [léXavog èmyQaygt;ov quot;xaquot;, quot;qoi',
quot;aquot;: Mfißave. öè xal ró q)vXXov r^g èXaiag ngó ^Xiov avaxoXfjg
xai Tiegiojtxe negl xov XQdxrjXov.

Beside Greek, Egyptian and Babylonian seem to have played
the same part in the Greek and Roman world that Latin and Hebrew
play in our times

Dieterich® gives an interesting example of a magic charm to
be found in quot;Des Albertus Magnus bewährten und approbirten
s5mipathetischen und natürhch Egyptischen Geheimnissen für
Menschen und Viehquot;. III. p. 29.

The word amuletum, used by Varro and Phny is not, as was
formerly thought, derived from the Arabic hamalet, as this has

not the meaning of appendage K Wünsch« traces the origin to
äfivXov. Pfister has in mind a possible connection with /ncöXv^. The
idea of averting ill-luck is expressed in glosses by amolimentum
which is not, however, considered to be the right etymology.

In ancient times there were many words used for amulet,
ajioxQÖnaiov, ßaaxdviov, nsQicm-tov, Tiegia/iixa, ngoßaaxdviov, rdk-
safxa, (pvXaxxijQiov: amuletum, amolimentum, alligatura, fascinum,
ligalura, fraehia^. In the Middle Ages the principal expressions
seem to have been, Ligamentum, ligatura fhylacterium; the word
amuletum is practically non-existent®.

In hterature we find the amulet chiefly mentioned by Phny, the
script, rei rusticae, physicians like Marcellus Empiricus and the
poets of the Augustan times

By amulet we must understand a small, power-filled, orendistic
object which has its effect on the spot where it is hung or fastened,
and the only difference with talisman is that the latter is also used
for larger matters, as columns It is essential for it to be portable
and attachable, and Pfister distinguishes four effects that the
amulet can have. It can act in a purely apotropaeic manner, as in
its use to drive away evil influences from without; it can exercise
force, and so be used for analogical magic. Apphed sacramentally »
it can increase the strength of the wearer (e.g. the eating of magic
epistles) and, finally, it can have an effect of energetic activity iquot;.

We must look for the origin of the amulet in the magical sense
of veihng, i.e. the desire of man to clothe himself with materials of

orenda, in the same way as the act of clothing oneself was originally
a craving to absorb the orenda of defeated animals, while ornaments
had formerly another significance than they have now i.

Among the kinds of amulets in use among the Romans we must
reckon the bulla which has been connected with bullire », the
muttonium « and the crepundia. Probably the contents of the bulla
were known under the collective name of praebia, which was thus
derived by Varro a praebendo ut sit tutus, quod sint remedia in
collo pueris.

Proverbs, names, sacred words and letters can also serve as
amulets. Just as there is a vis, ôévafiiç contained in carmina, so
when they are written this remains attached to the writing«.
Besides, there are all possible kinds of objects from the vegetable
and animal world' and all imaginable objects of which it was
thought that they contained magic power; thus even threads were
used, for preference coloured ones«. If the objects have natural
openings they are hung up by them; otherwise a hole is made in
them, or they are put in bags, which were, in classical antiquity,
mostly made of leather ® and which, besides, can also have the
meaning of protecting the objects against the evil eye i®. Living
animals can also serve as amulets; cf., together with Mucianus' fly,
Gilum. VI. 17, where living shrew-mice are immured in clay-figures
which are then hung round the necks of cattle Therefore cattle,
too, were protected — horses had a special protection by means of
phalerae ^^ — and even lifeless property, cf. Plin.Ai^. H. XXVIII. 19,
where the walls are protected against fire by curses.

hung round the necks of sick persons and had effected a cure were
brought to the temple of Febris i.

In contradistinction to wool, linen has a unique place in im-
petrative magic. Apuleius thinks, probably, of Herod. II. 81 when
he says quot;quifpe lana, segnissimi corporis excrementum, pecori
detracta, iam in de Orphei et Pythagorae scitis profanus vestis estquot;,
and 3 quot;mundissima lini seges inter optumas fruges terra exorta non
modo indutui et amictui sanctissimis Aegyptiorum sacer dotibus, sed
opertui quoque rebus sacris usurpaturquot;.

In this connection it must be remarked that wool in rehgious and
superstitious use must be placed on the same level as hair, cf. Plin.
XXIX. 30; Paus. VIII. 10. 3, where a possible power is supposed
to be contained in a woollen thread that encloses the temple of
Poseidon Hippios in Mantinea.

In prohibitive magic the use of wool is not unimportant; in this
case one must remember the orenda which is still present in these
animal remains ^

Thus, as a remedy against pains of the inguina a thread must
be taken from the loom and seven or nine knots made in it, men-
tioning at each knot the name of a widow, after which it must be
tied to the inguina « (this is strengthening of the orenda!), cf Marc
XIV. 65«.

Wool itself, or rather the sheep-skin, is also regarded in the light
of a purifying power. For this reason the bride on arrival in her
new abode must sit down in pelle lanata\ In contradiction to
Samter, who considers this as a surrogate offering, since by sitting
down on the sheep-skin a person identified himself with the sacri-
ficial animal and appropriated the act of atonement that the
substituting animal fulfilled by its death, might it not be better to

associate this with the purifying, apotropaeic quahty of wool, which
absorbs impurities i? But let us return to the linen.

In the Papyr. Paris. ^ the magician is ordered to put on a clean
garment of Indian linen for as a magician he must be clothed
in hnen^, a purum -pallium^-, and the magicians who wish to
discover the name of the future emperor wear, according to Am-
mianus lintea indutamenta and lintei socci Abt refers further to
Pap. Ber. I. 278; Pap. Par. 213 ff., 88 ff.; Griffith Thompson
col. III. p. 35 (13). The oivömv xa^agög is also used in magic tables^.

De Jong® thinks that it is an excellent conductor for the orenda.
He relates ® the case of an Egyptian priest of lower rank under
Roman rule who was prosecuted, among other things, for wearing
woollen garments i®.

In Marcellus I found another example of how a hnen thread
may be of benefit to the eyes in another way.

Marc. VIII. 62, oculos cum dolere quis coeperit, ilico ei subvenies,
si quot litter as nomen eius habuerit, nominans easdemtotidem nodos
in rudi lino stringas.

In other places, too, we find a hnen thread used for hanging up
quot;remediesquot; — thus in N.H. XXX. 98. where even a reddish thread,
rutilum linum, is required.

For circumligatum, in its quahty of pure binding magic, I refer
to Riess We even find caterpillars in linteola which have, more-
over, to be bound round three times with a flax thread ... .

His full name C. Licinius Mucianus is known to us from leaden
pipes in Oinoanda Otherwise he is always referred to by the name

of Lidnius Mucianus, or, as in this case, Mucianus ter consul. The
beginning of his hfe is only known so us from Tacitus vir secundis
adversisque iuxta famosus, insignes amicitias iuvenis ambitiöse
coluerat; mox attritis opibus, lubrico statu, suspecta etiam Claudii
iracundia, in secretum Asiae sepositus tarn prope ab exule fuit quam
posteaaprincipe. The great rôle that he played from 69 A. D. on, was
caused by the fact that in 68—69 he was governor of Syria with
a command of four legions 2. The first two consulships are uncertain,
the third occurred in 72

In the contest between Otho and ViteUius, he chose the side of
the former, and was afterwards the one to offer the government
to Vespasian under whose patronage he rose to great power
He was even called quot;brotherquot; by the Emperor«.

His posthumous literary works consisted of 11 books of acta, and
36 epistulae of which we cannot find any trace in his works',
while Phny makes use, in 32 places in his Natural History, of a
geographical work differing from these. The fragments« deal
principally with quot;admirandaquot;, which were not collected pro-
miscuously, but were observed by himself

On the basis of his direct quotations it has been possible to
separate successfully from Phny's work those things which belong
definitely to Mucianus

In olden times the fly was thought to have a hfe difficult to
destroy; as is seen in Phny XI. 120, where he says that fUes drowned
and laid in ashes revived! Asclepiades in Tert. de anima Cap. 15. 2
thinks the same, Asclepiades etiam ilia argumentaiione vectatur
quod pleraque animalia ademptis eis partibus corporis in quibus
plurimum existimatur principale consistere, et insuper vivant aliqua-
tenus et sapiant nihilominus, ut muscae . . . ., cf. Lucian. Musca 7,

ajtor/irjßelaa de rrjv xeipaXrjv fivia inl noXv ^fj reo äXXqgt; am/xari,
xal Efmvovg eaxiv

The daemons of sickness and death are readily imagined in the
shape of flies, as in Paus. X. 28. 7, Apul. Met. II. 22, and it is as a
daemonic animal that the fly is used in prophylaxis, in which great
power is ascribed to it 2. We find it also mentioned in other places
as a preventive against ophthalmic diseases, viz. Marc. VIII. 52,
de manu sinistra muscam capies et dum capies, dicere dehebis nomen
eius cuius remedium facturus es te ad curandos oculos eius muscam
pr ender e.

In the Middle Ages an eye lotion brewed from flies was used as
a cure for red eyes

It is also used for other things in medicine. Thus the musca ruf a
cures the medicinalis morbus and an uneven number of flies
rubbed with a finger cures sores. It is also used to dye and encourage
the growth of the eyelashes! ®

It seems also to have been thought necessary, already, to take
measures to destroy them

The fly is also mentioned as one of the apotropaeic animals for
averting the evil eye and is therefore pictured clustering round an
eye The fact of the fly being caught and applied alive guarantees
its complete orenda. See for other examples of the use of living
animals and their limbs under quot;chartamquot;.

With carmina and venena, as Butler and Owen say on Apul.
Apol. c. 69 the most essential and important parts of the magic
rites are given; that is, the words of power (Xoyog) and the apparatus
of magic {ngä^ig)
A carmen is a word or saying endowed with orenda and this

orenda is the actual working of the magic ^ and is all-powerful —
quid enim non carmina fossunt! ^

When Burris ® draws a distinction between carmen — incantatio
and precatio — prayer, he defines them both in this way:

5.nbsp;The carmen is directed against evil influences, daemons, but
the precaiio to a personal divinity.

1.nbsp;Carmen is certainly an incantamentum; and just as knmbrj
shows by zni, so incantamentum indicates by in that the song is
directed against something, and as in èTtMàr) so in incantamentum
the original singing is etymologically proved or at least the
rhythmical recitation

2.nbsp;Singing is still the word for the magical muttering practised
in Australia Lucina in Ov. Met. IX. 300 sq. sings — tacita voce —
carmina to delay the birth; Circe XIV. 58, ter novies carmina
magico demurmurat ore. Apul. Met. I. 3, magico susurramine amnes
agiles reverti, mare pigrum colligari, ventos inanimes expirare, solem
inhibere, lunam despumari, stellas evelli, diem tolli, noctem teneri.

3.nbsp;The following is from the Papyr. Paris. 1227, elsMe ôaïfiov,
ôaxiç nor' oëv el, xai àjtôarrjêi àjio rov ôeïva, ägri ägri, ■^ôï] rlôr],
ë^sMe èaïfiovFurther Marcell. XXI. 2^, ad corcum

carmen in lamella stagnea scribes et ad collum suspendes haec, ante
vero etiam cane: quot;corcunecmegito cantorem ut OS ut OS ut os . . . .quot; Then
Pliny XXVII. 1311. quot;speak these words on using the plant reseda —
'reseda, morbis reseda, scisne scisne, quis hie pullus egerit radices?
nec caput nec pedes habeant.' haec ter dicunt totiensque despuuntquot;.

The repetitions are also varied as in the following magic charm
given by Marc quot;Exi si hodie nata si ante nata, si hodie creata si
ante creata, hanc pestilentiam, hunc dolorem, hunc tumorem, hunc
ruborem, has toles, has tosillas, hunc panum, has paniculas, hanc
strumam, hanc strumellam, hanc religionem evoco, educo, excanto de
istis membris, medullisquot;.

4.nbsp;Plin. N.H. XXVIII. 11. quot;videmusque certis precationibus
obsecrasse summos magistratus et, ne quod verborum praetereatur aut
praeposterum dicatur, de scripto praeire aliquem rursusque alium

employed for a carmen, ' 'sunt qui M. Fabio pontifice maxima praefante
carmen devovisse eos se pro patria Quiritibusque tradantquot;.

5.nbsp;As has been said sub. 1., the incantamentum is directed against
something, and this is also the case with the carmen, which is used
against evil influences, daemons. Therefore the carmen is required
to possess a power, a dvvafiig, a vis that is stronger than the orenda
of the powers to be subdued. We find it, indeed, expressly stated
that the carmen possesses that power, as in Plin. N.H. XXVIII. 12,
Apul. Apol. 26; and we hear of {turn) vox Lethaeos cunctis pollentior
herbis excantare deos ® and of verba ad invitum {perfert) cogentia
numen in which the coercive power exercised on the daemons
is clearly mentioned. Thus Tacitus ® too speaks of quot;infernas umbras
carminibus dicere The carmina are also powerful in other ways,
not only against daemons, see Virg. Eel. VIII. 67, nil hie nisi
carmina desunt. ducite ab urbe domum, mea carmina, ducite Daphnim :
carmina vel caelo possunt deducere lunam; carminibus Circe socios
mutavit Ulixi, and in Virg. Aen. IV. 487 the power of the witch is
represented as being so great, that she is able by her carmina,
quot;mentes solvere, curas immittere, aquam fluviis sistere, vertere sidera
retro!quot;

The carmina, which have especially found their place in medi-
cine show, by the fact that it is sometimes necessary that the
sick person or the disease be mentioned, that here the belief in
daemons has not yet disappeared The minae also testify to this ®
where the name of a powerful god is invoked; others are more gentle
in character and do not command but try to confuse the daemon by
the so-called ddvvara or historiolae

In the article quot;litteris graecisquot; it has already been pointed out
that there is a power in strange, written characters. For this reason
incomprehensible expressions are used, slt;peaia yQdfXfiaxa, which by
their strange appearance can exert greater power.

There seem to have existed in ancient times extensive works
or treatises on carmina. As, for instance, the Kestoi of Sextus
JuMus Africanus and probably the work of Neptunianos 6.

Although, indeed, unhke Marcellus, Pliny practically abstains
from mentioning carminathis would have been the place to give
these carmina, if something quite particular had not caused him
to refrain; especially as he had already mentioned the magic
formula of Attalus. But he is withheld by an ingens verecundia.
This might be owing to the fact that they were strange or foohsh-
sounding. For in XVII. 267 Phny says, quot;cum averti grandines carmine
credant flerique, cuius verba inserere non equiden s e r i o ausimquot;.
But the reason may be something else, as I shall try to show in
the following part.

It is a well-known fact that man thought himself able to change
by magic the course of the weatherThus, in Athens, there existed
the families of the Evddvs/ioi and 'Ave/noxoirai, originally families
of priests whose names, considered etymologically, show what the

functions of the forefathers were. Weather magic was, in its earhest
form, apotropaeic, i.e. the averting of destructive hail-showers and
storms.

Weather daemons can, in the first place, be combated physically.
Vegetius, in his Mulomedicina, gives an extensive recipe for a
smoke-producing material and says of it, et haec universa com-
mixta atque succensa odore suo morbis tam hominum tam animalium
resistunt et daemones fugant; grandines prohibere et aerem defecare
dicuntur. Further they can also be fought with apotropaeic noise
or by attempting to wound or kill the daemon, or make his functions
impossible Moreover, there is also the psychological method of
taking action against him, as by arousing in him an idea of fear
Hence, in Palladius I. 35. 1 {contra grandinem multa dicuntur!)
among other things crumtae secures contra caelum minaciter levantur.
It was also possible to put the daemons to flight by arousing in
them feelings of disgust and shame, which was especially attained
by obscene gestures ® .... or by holding a mirror up to them ® to
frighten them! Women, especially in times of menstruation, were
beings filled with orenda. Evil daemons dwelt in them, and as these
were thought to be powerful, they were also used for magic pur-
poses and this was also the case for hail.
Geop. I. 14. 1, 2: tieqinbsp;'Atpgixavov.

1.nbsp;yvvi] S/ifirjvoi; deiidrco rd aldoia avrrjg xaXd^rj, nat dnoatge^Ei.
ofioieo? 8e rrjv roiavrrjv ^eav zal nav 'amp;r]Q(ov (pE'6yEi.

2.nbsp;Kal nagamp;EVOv gaxog rd ngmrov Xafimv, dvd fisaov rov xf^qiov
xamp;aov, xai ovrs jy a/inEXog ovrs rd ansQfiara mcd xaXdZrjQ
ddixrid-qaerm.

Compare Plin. N.H. XXVIII. 77. iam primum abigi grandines
turbinesque contra fulgura ipsa mense nudato; and Plut. Symp. VII.
2. 2. Olov EdoxEi ro TiEQirrjv xdXal^av Elvairrjv VTio xaXaCoqgt;vXdxcov
al/iari andXaxo? fj gaxioiq yvvaixEioiz ojnoxQEnoiiEvriv^.

Tavra fièv eïgrjrai toïç àgxaîoiç. èyà) ôè svia tûgt;v eÎQïjfiévcov
àjiQenrj Uav '^yov/j.ai xai (pevxxà, xai nâai Tiagaivœ firjô' oXoyç
xovroiç ngoaéxeiv xov vovv. xovxov yàgnbsp;avxà avvéygaipa,

This is interesting as a contrast to the remark of Pliny. The one
apologizes for not giving any indecent carmina, and the other
that he has taken the liberty to relate indecent things. Both are
speaking of hail magic — the one about carmina, the other about
practices. We can hardly suppose that the practice was restricted
to the showing of parts of the body, thought to work apotropaeically;
words were spoken at the same time, of course.

Fehrle ^ points to the following description, given in Maimonide,
Le Guide des Egarées par Münk which is based on Oriental
instructions for countrymen, which go back partly to the Greek
Geoponica.

quot;Si quatre femmes, couchées sur le dos, lèvent les jambes en
les écartant, et si dans cette position indécente, elles prononcent
telles paroles et font tel acte, la grêle cessera de tomber en ces
lieuxquot; 3.

Fiedler, pag. 39, mentions this custom also for another place,
quot;In Manipur gehen bei den Meithei einige vöUig unbekleidete
Männer nachts durch die Strassen und Felder und führen dabei
mit lauter Stimme sehr unanständige Reden zur Wetterapotropie

This will also have been the case in ancient times. To a magic
action was suited a magic word, which set the real magic working

Indecent gestures were accompanied by the carmina belonging
to them, as Pliny knew, cf. N.H. XXVIII. 77. After a time the
gesture will have been omitted, and the carmen, which took the
place of the missing action, been considered as sufficing for both.
Pliny's ingens verecundia may probably have applied to one of those
carmina. That the indecent gesture was not usual in Pliny's time is
apparent from XXVIII. 76: invenio.

the place quoted in Plut., in Sen. Nat. qu. IV b. 6. 2.; 7. 1. for
Kleonae. The inhabitants of Methana, too, were able to avert hail
by magic formulas, as in Paus. II. 34. 3. i. For other methods see
Pallad. I. 35. 1; Geop. I. 14. 1—12 Plin. N.H. XXXVII. 124.

Pliny has supphed sufferers with a crowd of exquisite prescrip-
tions 3. A magic cure is, among others, the following. Medic. Plin.
III. c. 16 p. 268 ad combustum: praecantaiio ad combustum. dicis
haec: quot;rangaruagaverbatquot;. Ter dicito et lingito ter et exsfuito. prae-
cantatio ad conbustum. ne fiant ulcéra, dicis haec: quot;ferrum candens
linguam restringatne noceaJtquot;. hanc incantationem tarnen ex ore Drui-
dum: quot;Siculi vident iligo vel marino piso adriacicum et iscito malluli
drogoma ex ava mit[]unt astandemquot;. Conbustum recens alumen ex
aqua frigida ponito sanabit....

Ich ging mal einst an den Strand
Da fand ich eines Mannes Totenhand
Damit vertrieb ich diesen Brand®.

Apparently it is desired either to surprise the wound (= fire?)
daemon with strange words, with the sudden idea of death, or over-
come him with stronger powers!

I think it sufficient, here, to refer to Heim, Incantamenta Magi-
ca; Riess, P.W. s.v. Aberglaube 89. sq.; Pfister P.W. s.v. Epode
331 sq., while I would reserve the classification of diseases in respect
of their cure by carmina for a further research.

Archiv für Religionswissenschaft, Freiburg-Leipzig-Tübingen, 1898 sq
H. E. Butler and A. S. Owen, Apulei Apologia sive pro se de magia liber

TOth Introd. and Comm. Oxford 1914.
Dictionnaire des Antiquités Gr. et Rom. edd. Ch. Daremberg et E. Saglio
Paris 1877.nbsp;° '

A. Dieterich, Abraxas, Studien zur Religionsgeschichte des späteren Alter-
tums, Leipzig 1891.

A. Dietench, Mutter Erde, Ein Versuch über Volksreligion, IleAufl. BerUn
u. Leipzig 1913.

F. Dornseiff, Das Alphabet in Mystik u Magie, Leipzig—Berlin 1922
S. Eitrem, Opferritus und Voropfer der Gr. u Rom., Skrifter utgit av Videns-
kapsselskapet i Kristiania 1914, II Hist.-Fil. Klasse, I Bind, Kristiania

J. B Frazer, Pubiii Ovidii Nasonis Fastorum libri sex — The Fasti of Ovid
V vols., London 1929.

J. B;^Frazer, The Golden Bough, a study in Magic and Religion 3rd ed
XI vols., London 1907—15.

tÎÏ quot; quot; quot; quot; quot; quot; quot; vol. IL
HI Taboo and the Perils of the Soul.

L. Friedlaender, Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte Roms, lOte Aufl
Leipzig 1922.

W. Warde Fowler, Roman Essays and Interpretations, Oxford 1920
Handworterbuch des Deutschen Aberglaubens. Beriin und Leipzig 1927.
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Suppl. Bd. Leipzig 1893.

Otto, Die Sprichwörter und sprichwörtliche Redensarsen der Römer,
Berlin 1890.

herausgegeben von G. Wissowa, Stuttgart 1894.
E. Rohde, Psyche, lOte Aufl. Leipzig 1923.

W. H. Roscher, AusführHches Lexikon der Griech. u. Rom. Mythologie,
Leipzig 1884.

Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten, Glessen 1906 sq.
E. Samter, Familienfeste der Gr. u. Röm. Berlin 1901.
E. Samter, Geburt, Hochzeit und Tod, Leipzig u. Berlin 1911.
S. Seligmann, Der Böse Blick und Verwandtes II Vols. Berlin 1902.
S. Seligmann, Die Zauberkraft des Auges und das Berufen, Hamburg 1922.
E. Stemplinger, Antiker Aberglaube in modernen Ausstrahlungen, Leipzig

1922 (Das Erbe d. Alt. II R. VII H.).
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d. Alt. II R. X H.).
Thesaurus Linguae Latinae, Leipzig 1900.
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called forth by, 102.
Breath, possesses a magic power, 45.
Bull-roarer, used in ceremonies in

XaAafo^uAa/ocs, 140.
Charms, repetition of, 136.
Chthonic elements, 20.
Cibus (non) reddebatur, 96, see food.
Circle, drawing a magic, 76.
Circumactio, a magic formula, 75.
Climacterica tempora, 39.
Conscience, introspective, 17, retros-
pective, 16.
Conscientia, 16 sq.
Consensus gentium, 84.
Conticescere, repente, 93.
Convivium, 95.
Currus, 47.

Daemons, attracted by fire, 85,
dwelt under the table, 86, put
to flight by arousing feelings of
disgust and shame, 139, weather,
combated physically, 139.
Dead, binding the, 35, cult of, 20,

fear of, 35, 36, names of, 35.
Death, crowing of the cock a d. rite,
90, popular belief of survival
after, 35, superstitious customs
in regard to, 85.
Deflare, 102, meaning of, 98.
Defluvia, 114.

Eating, takes a prominent place
in primitive society, 95, takes
place festively and communally,
95.

Evil eye, 28, sq., 65, antipathes
nigra against, 30, averting of
31, hyena-skin against, 30.

Fingers, instructions for sequence
in which f. should be manicured,
116, in superstition, 69, super-
stition with special, 69.

Fly, as apotropaeic animal, 135,
daemons imagined in the shape
of, 135, eye-loti n brewed from.

Food, fallen, no offering for Lar,
98, fallen, left on the ground, 97,
not consumed supposed to be
taken away by guest, 96, remains
of, thrown under the table, 85.

Fulmina, procuratio of, by means
of onions hair and sprats, 81.
familiaria, 81, prospéra, 81.

Hair, contains i^vaos, 114, kings
not allowed to cut. 111, persons
in state of taboo not allowed to
cut, 112, priests not allowed to
cut. 111, sacrifice of, 113, seat
of vitality. 111.

Hair and nails, employed in love
magic, mostly adversely. 111,
contradictory instructions for
cutting, 114, cutting, rite de
passage, 113, evil spirits supposed
to make misuse of, 112, of Flamen
Dialis buried under lucky tree,
112, possess orenda of person to
whom they belong, 110, recipients
of, are spirits of the dead, 113.

Lar, ancestor, 101, chthonic god,
101, — es compitales, 99, exis-
tence of, to be explained from
service of L. compitales, 99,
familiares, 99, worship arose from
cult of souls or ancestors, 100,
not identical with them, 101.

Left, 49, 77, lucky side with Romans,
78, more powerful than right, 77,
favourite side with daemons, 78,
prescribed in charms, 78.

Lightning, see Fulmen, laurel never
struck by, 81, skin of sea-calves
safeguard against, 81, warding
off of, originally Etruscan, 80.

Magic, 3, 5, active (measures against)
4, applied earlier than the be-
seeching of help from divinities
and daemons, 42, attitude of
intellectual Romans towards, 3,

6, definition of, 7, distinction
between m. and superstition, 3,
exotic sounding names, letters,
play of syllables in, 128, fructi-
fying, 20, 21, 22, 44, good harvest
by, 43, healing, 53, healing of
scorpion stings, 54, Horace and, 4,
impetrative, 5, 7, 64, 65, and
indecency, 140, by knowing a
name, 26, negative, 20, outlandish
jargon in, 7, Ovid and, 4, Pliny
and, 5, poets and, 5, power in
persons, places, times, sounds,
words, human motions and re-
mains of dead animals, 9, pro-
hibitive, 5, 7, 28, 35, 63, 65,
reiteration, 55, silence, 94, sym-
pathetic, 20, 21, 53, sympathetic,
against scorpion stings, 53, Tacitus
and, 4, Terminalia, feast of
fructifying, 20, Virgil and, 4,
weather m. originally apotropaeic,
139, word, 54, word m. against
scorpions, 54, words accurately
pronounced in, 137.

Medicine, art of preceded by m.
method of healing, 107, scientific
development of, 110.

Mensa, 92, 104, see table, = course,
105, prima, carnis, secunda, po-
morum, 105, linquenda to read
admovenda, 89.

Moon, bringing down counts as sign
of magic power, 121, days on
which m. is less powerful, 116,
and hair cutting, 120, influence
of, 38, 119, months, 118, nights
of new m. play a special rôle, 121,
phases of, in antiquity, 118,
sends forces to earth, 119.

Nails, see hair, prohibition to tread
on. 111, spitting on, breaks en-
chantment, 111.

Name, 25 sq., added to figures on
tabulae defixionum, 46, countsas
person himself, 26, favourable
sounding, 27, ill. luck bringing,
28, ill-sounding. 27, knowing of
name, magical means of power,
36, luck-bringing, 28, magic with
n. of gods, 26, mentioning of n.
gives power over person, 36,
pronouncing of, invokes daemons
of disease, 128, secondary, 56,
secrecy with, 56, secret, 27, usual
n. of gods not coercive, 26, when
evoked god must answer to his
real name, 27.

Nemesis, 31, avenger of evil, anta-
gonist of happiness, power for
good or evil, Tvxn, 'E\nis,
punisher of Hybris, connected
with wizardry, goddess of luck,
32, spread of cult, attributes,
Nemesis-Fortuna, invoked against
evil eye, 33, representation of,
other names for, 34.

boni ominis causa, 20, began on
1st Jan., 17, formerly on 1st
March, 18, bona verba on, 23,
celebrations, 19, day and evil
omens, 22, gifts, 21, 22, and
Janus, 23, opening amp; closing of,
19 sq., wishes, 21, 24.

Numbers, belief in, 37, even n.,
36, 37, magical use of, 50, odd
n., 36 sq., = masculine number,
36, two, 37, three, 38, 39, seven,
38, twelve, 38, five, 39, nine, 39,
of days of year, 39, uneven,
subject to daemons, 94, used
magically, 55.

Orenda, 8, passim, attaches to
persons, places, sounds, times,
words, human motions, 8, remains
of dead, 9, animals, 9, gods held
to be givers of, to plants, 109,
words endowed with, 135.

Periods, (10, 12, 14) in a year, 19,
in connection with sun and moon,
19, of seven days, 118.

Priest in civilised state still similar
functions to those of medicine
man, 103, increasing of orenda of,
104, punishing of, 104.

Religio, becomes actio, 60, basic
meaning of the word, 57 sq.,
definition, 57 sq., as disastrous
power, 60, in a positive sense,
61, as taboo, 58 sq., from religare,
59, with adjuncts sacer and
horridus, 60. from relegere, 58,
loci, 60, as seen in subj. and
obj. sense. 58.

Ring, 61 sq.. bridal, is magical
binding. 64, changing, a death-
rite, 65, 90, as element of magic.
61, exorcising by, 66. finger-
ring. 62. ear-ring. 63. binds, 63,
origin of, 61. 62 as pledge. 64,
origin of magic in form. 63. as
symbolum, 64, magic significance
of, 62, magic, r., 65, r. of Gyges.
66, not directly fashioned into
finger-ring, 62. sneezing and, 65,
put off on going to table, 67,
putting on again a renewing of
magical influence, 65, worn on
special fingers, 66, wreath and
r. magical, 62, 64.

Scorpion, 53, in art, 55, Pliny
reminded of Africa by. 57, subject
of superstition, 53. how their
lives were imagined, 53.

Spindles, forbidden to be carried
openly in antiquity, 124, now
carried openly in Greece, 126.

Sweeping, a death-rite. 87. heir
obliged to sweep out house of
death. 87. gesture at anyone
unlucky, 88.

Table, ancients swore by table,
104, becomes also cartibulum,
106, calcei taken off before going
to, 96, charged with chthonic
orenda, 109, exceptional ar-
rangement for each guest to have
a small, 90, guests lay round one,
89, large companies at, 96, origin
of, 105, power-giving and de-
priving significance adhering to,
106, pouring water under, a
death-rite, 90, Romans ate in
company at large square, 106,
soleae worn at, 96, special gar-
ments at, 96, was sacred, 104.

Thumb, extending of 70, enclosing
of, a proverb, 71, enclosing, no
obscene significance, 71, a power
finger, 69.

Tingling of ears, 47 sq., cause of,
47, a sign of weakness, 49,
something in common with in-
cantare, 49, lovers attach much
value to, 48, also beloved per-
sons of same sex, 48, not only
pleasant things announced by, 49.

Wool, has a purifying power, 132,
in impetrative magic, 132, in
prohibitive magic, 132, in super-
stition on same level as hair, 132,
dolls hung up on compita during
night, 102.

De opvatting dat de Lar een chthonische godheid is mag niet
gehuldigd worden op grond van Phnius N. H. XXVIII. 27.

De term „caperequot; virginem, uxorem, is een survival van een
magische scheiding van de vrouw van hare verwanten.

De verklaring van Servius ad Verg. Aen. IV. 75 van paratam
is niet de meest voor de hand liggende.

De bewering van PreUer, Röm. Mythologie lp. 189 en 334, 1
dat de twaalf ancilia verband houden met de twaalf maanden des
jaars berust op een onjuiste conjectuur in Ennius.

Plinius Epp. IV. 1. 7.: nam hilares certum est (R. F.); nam con-
tinget hilares si (M. V. D.), lees: nam hilarescere tum continget, si.

De bewering van Erwin Rohde, Psychcg I. p. 217 n. 4: „Und
überhaupt sollte die Versagung der Bestattung (sc. van terecht-
gestelde misdadigers) jedenfalls nur eine temporäre sein . . . .quot;,
steunt niet op feitelijke gegevens. Het tegendeel is aannemelijk
te maken.

Kreons' begrafenisverbod is volgens de opvattingen van Sopho-
cles' tijd te rechtvaardigen.

De argumentatie van Solmsen, Antiphonstudien p. 37, op grond
van Antiphon V. 31 — 52 is ontoelaatbaar, omdat aldaar sprake
is van een ßaaaviCoßevog die buiten de Atheensche rechtsver-
houdingen gefolterd wordt.

De zalfwinkel, waarvan in H5qïerides or. V sprake is, werd door
den slaaf Midas voor eigen rekening gedreven, tegen uitkeering
van een anoqgt;oQd aan zijn meester Athenogenes.

Ten onrechte ziet Zimmern, The Greek Commonwealth4 p. 109
n. 1 in de homerische formule ó^^of re oiókg re de uitdrukking
van een sociale tegenstelling.

Tijdens zijn reis naar Egypte A° 130—1 n. Chr. heeft keizer
Hadrianus in Pelusium convent gehouden.

De dood door verdrinking van Hadrianus' lieveling Antinous
moet niet als een ongeval beschouwd worden, maar als een daad
van opoffering van Antinous voor zijn meester.

Het grooter aantal mogelijkheden aan het B diploma verbonden,
beïnvloedt zeer ongunstig het gehalte der A afdeeling van onze
G5minasia.

luba	luba
Timaeus	Apollodorus
Heraclides	Heraclides medicus
Andreas
Diagoras
Botrys	Botrys medicus
Archedemus	Archedemus item
Dionysius	Dionysius item
Aristogenes
Democles	Democedes item
	Euphro item
Mnesides	Mnesides item
	Diagoras item
	lollas
Attalus medicus	Heraclides Tarentinus