Some Popular Superstitions of the Ancients

Author(s): J. G. Frazer
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Folklore, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Jun., 1890), pp. 145-171
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.
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J j ' o
zlh4Are.
VOL.
I.]
J UNE,
I890. [No . II.
SOME POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS OF
THE ANCiENTS.'
ASUPERFICIAL
acquaintance
with classical litera-
ture is
apt,
I
believe,
to leave o n the mind an ex-
aggerated impressio n
o f the
general
level o f
intelligence
in
antiquity.
The autho rs
co mmo nly
read are so
eminently
reaso nable,
and so little tinctured with
vulgar superstitio n,
that we are
pro ne
to
suppo se
that the mass o f men in the
classical
ages
were
equally
free fro m tho se
gro ss
and
palpable
delusio ns which we
designate
as
superstitio ns.
The
suppo sitio n
is
natural,
but erro neo us. It is
natural,
because o ur
kno wledge
o f the ancients is derived
chiefly
fro m
literature,
and literature reflects the
tho ughts
and
beliefs o f the educated
few,
no t o f the uneducated
many.
Since the inventio n o f letters the breach
between these
two classes has
go ne
o n
widening,
till the mental
co nditio n
o f the o ne class co mes to differ
nearly
as much fro m that
o f the o ther as if
they
were
beings
o f different
species.
But
do wn to the
present century
bo th sides remained in
almo st
to tal
igno rance
o f the
gulf
which divided them. Educated
peo ple,
as a
rule,
had no
inkling
that the mental state o f
the
great maj o rity
o f their
fello w-co untrymen
differed in
scarcely any
material
respect
fro m that o f
savages. They
did no t dream that their humble
neighbo urs
had
preserved
1
This
paper
was read befo re the
Cambridge
Branch o f
the
Hellenic
So ciety.
VOL. I.
L
So me
Po pular Superslilio ns
amo ngst
themselves
by
o ral traditio n alo ne a set o f custo ms
and ideas so ancient that the o ldest literature o f Greece
and Ro me is mo dern
by co mpariso n.
To have at last
o pened
the
eyes
o f educated
peo ple
to the
priceless
value o f
po pular
traditio n as evidence o f a remo te
antiquity
is the
glo ry
o f the illustrio us Grimm.
When, chiefly thro ugh
the
influence o f that
great
scho lar,
the o ral traditio n ' o f the
peo ple
came to be
examined,
the feature in it which mo st
struck o bservers was the o ne I have
j ust indicated,
the
stamp, namely,
which it bears o f a dateless
antiquity.
The
reaso ns fo r
assigning
to it an
age inco mparably greater
than that o f the
literary
traditio n are
mainly
two . In the
first
place,
the
po pular
traditio n-and under traditio n I
mean to include
po pular
custo ms as well as
po pular
beliefs
-the
po pular
traditio n co uld no t have
o riginated
in his-
to rical
times,
because there is
no thing
in
histo ry
to acco unt
fo r it. The two
great
histo rical influences that have
mo ulded o ur mo dern civilisatio n-the Ro man
empire
and
Christianity-have
left
hardly
a trace in the
genuine
beliefs
and custo ms o f the fo lk.
Christianity
has
slightly changed
the
no menclature,
and that is all.
But,
o n the o therhand-
and this is the seco nd reaso n-if thereis
no thing
in Ro man
civilisatio n o r the Christian
religio n
to acco unt fo r the
o rigin
o f the
po pular traditio n,
there is in the custo ms and
ideas o f
existing savages
almo st
everything
that is
needed
fully
to
explain
and acco unt fo r it. The
resemblance,
in
fact,
between the ideas and custo ms o f o ur
Euro pean
peasantry
and the ideas and custo ms o f
savages
is so
great
as almo st to amo unt to
identity,
and a
co mpariso n
o f the
o ne set o f custo ms with the o ther
go es
farto wards
explain-
ing
bo th. To
put
it
metapho rically,
the two sets o f
custo ms,
the
Euro pean
and the
savage,
are
independent co pies
o f
the same
o riginal picture;
but bo th
co pies
are
so mewhat
faded
thro ugh time,
and each has
preserved
so me
features
which the o ther has lo st. Thus
they mutually supplement
each
o ther, and,
taken
to gether,
enable us to
resto re the
o riginal
with so me
co mpleteness.
146
o f
/he
A;ncienls.
The
applicatio n
o f all this fo r the
subj ect
in hand is
o bvio us. If what I have said is true o f the uneducated
peo ple,
and
especially
o f the
peasantry
at the
present
time
in
Euro pe,
must it no t have been
equally
true o f unedu-
cated
peo ple,
and
especially
o f the
peasantry
in
antiquity?
If o ur
peasants are,
intellectually regarded, simply savages,
co uld the
peasantry
o f ancient Greece and Ro me have been
any
better? And if we mo derns have lived so
lo ng
in
igno rance
o f the mass o f
savagery lying
at o ur
do o rs,
may
no t the
literary
classes o f
antiquity
have been
equally
blind
to the mental
savagery
o f the
peasants
who m
they
saw at
wo rk in the fields o r
j o stled
in the streets? There are
stro ng gro unds
fo r
answering
bo th o f these
questio ns
in the
affirmative. In
regard
to the fo rmer
questio n,
the exist-
ence o f a
layer
o f
savagery
beneath the surface o f ancient
so ciety
is
abundantly
attested
by
the no tices o f
po pular
beliefs and custo ms which are scattered
up
and do wn
classical
literature,
especially,
as
might
have been antici-
pated,
in the inferio r
autho rs,
men less elevated abo ve
vulgar prej udices
than mo st o f the
great
classical writers.
In
regard
to the seco nd
questio n,
the
general igno rance
o f
classical writers as to the
po pular superstitio ns
o f their
day
is no t
o nly
to be
presumed
fro m the fact that
they rarely
mentio n
them,
it is
po sitively
demo nstrated
by
their mani-
fest
inability
to understand even tho se instances o f
po pular
superstitio n
which
they
are
o ccasio nally
led to mentio n.
Indeed,
fro m the
way
in which
they
referto these
super-
stitio ns,
it is o ften
plain
that
they
no t
o nly
did no t under-
stand
them,
but that
they
did no t even
reco gnise
them as
superstitio ns
at
all,
that
is,
as beliefs
actually
current
amo ng
the
vulgar.
Co nclusive
pro o f
o f this is
furnished
by
the treatment which the so -called
"symbo ls
o f
Pytha-
go ras"
received at the hands o f the
po lite
writers o f
antiquity.
A member o f a mo dern fo lk-lo re
so ciety
has
o nly
to
glance
at these
"symbo ls"
to see that
they
are co mmo n
specimens
o f
fo lk-lo re,
many
o f whichare
perfectly
familiar
to o ur
Euro pean peasantry
at the
present day.
Yet
they
I47
So me
Po pular
Superstitio ns
co mpletely po sed
the
philo so phers
o f
antiquity,
who se
interpretatio ns
o f them were
certainly
no t nearer the mark
than Mr. Pickwick' s
reading
o f the famo us
inscriptio n.
It
is almo st
amusing
to see the vio lence
they
did to these
primitive superstitio ns
in o rder to
wring
so me
dro p
o f
mo ral wisdo m o ut o f
them,
to wrench them into so me
semblance o f
philo so phical pro fundity.
In a
paper
o n the
po pular superstitio ns
o f the ancients I can
hardly
do
better than
begin by giving
a few
specimens
o f these
precio us
maxims,
which have fo und so much favo ur in the
eyes
o f ancient
philo so phers
and o ld wo men.
So me o f the ancients themselves remarked the
striking
resemblance which the
precepts
o f
Pythago ras
bo re to the
rules o f life o bserved
by
Indian
fakirs, J ewish Essenes,
Egyptians, Etruscans,
and Druids.1
Thus,
fo r
example,
Plutarch mentio ns the view that
Pythago ras
must have
been an Etruscan bo rn and
bred,
since the Etruscans were
the
o nly peo ple
kno wn to o bserve
literally
the rules in-
culcated
by
the
philo so pher,
such as no t to
step
o ver a
bro o m,
no t to leave the
impress
o f a
po t
o n the
ashes,
and
o ther
precepts
o f the same so rt.2 This view o f the Etrus-
can
o rigin
o f
Pythago ras
was co untenanced
by
the
respect-
able autho rities o f Aristo tle and
Theo po mpus.3 Again,
Plutarch
expressly says
that the maxims o f
Pythago ras
were o f the same so rt as the rules co ntained in the sacred
writings
o f the
Egyptians,
and he
quo tes
as instances the
Pythago rean precepts,
"Do no t eat in a
chario t,"
"Do no t sit
upo n
a
bushel,"
"
Do no t
po ke
the firewith a swo rd."4
1
Indian
Fakirs, Strabo , xv,
I,
65; Egyptians, Eusebius,
Prrcr.
Evang. x,
c.
4,
??
9, Io ,
c.
8, ? 8;
Essenes, J o sephus, Antiquit., xv,
10, 4; Druids, Hippo lytusi Ref.
o m1n.
haeres.,
i,
cc.
2,
25.
On the
Essenes,
see also
J o sephus,
Bell.
J ud.,
ii, 8,
??
2-13, xviii, I, 5;
Pliny,
N.
H., v, 73.
2
Plutarch, Qucest.
Co nviv.,
viii, 7.
3
Clemens
Alexand., Stro m., i, 14,
p. 352 Po tt; Aristo tle,
Fragm.,
I85,
Berlin
ed.;
cf.
Suidas,
s. v.
"Pythago ras",
IlvOaydpas
2aduto s,
fvalt 66
Tvppr
vds.
4
Plutarch,
Isis et
Os.,
Io .
I48
o f
the Ancients.
So me o f thetheo rieso f
physical
causatio n
traditio nally
ascribed to
Pythago ras
are
entirely
o f a
piece
withthe
prac-
ticalruleswhich
passed
underhis name.
Thus, acco rding
to
him,
theairwas full o f
spirits,
whichhe called demo nsand
hero es;
the
airy
so unds fro m which men drew o mens
were the vo ices o f the
spirits' ;
and he said that when
peo ple
heard the wind
whistle,
they
sho uld
wo rship
the
so und o f it.2
Co mpare
with this the viewo f the Es-
quimaux
who live at Po int
Barro w,
almo st the no rthern
extremity
o f theco ntinent o f America. "To
them," says
an American o fficerwho wintered
amo ng
them a few
years
ago ,
"
to them earth and airare full o f
spirits.
The o ne
drags
men into theearth
by
the
feet,
fro m which
they
never
emerge;
theo therstrikesmen
dead, leaving
no
mark;
and
theairis full o f
vo ices;
o ften while
travelling they
wo uld
sto p
and ask meto
listen,
and
say
that Tuna o f thewind
was
passing by."3 Again, acco rding
to
Pythago ras,
the
tinkling
o f a brass
po t
is thevo iceo f a demo n
impriso ned
in the brass.4 A travellerin the Sahara was o nce in-
fo rmed
by
o neo f his
savage
esco rt that hehad
j ust
killed
a devil. It
appeared
that the devil was the traveller' s
watch,
whichthe
savage
had
fo und,
and
hearing
it
tick,
had
co ncluded that there was a devil inside.
Acco rdingly
he
smashed it
by hurling
it
against
a tree. This was in the
desert,
whereit wo uld havebeen unsafeto
quarrel
withhis
esco rt. So the traveller co ncealed his
anguish
undera
smiling
facetill he reached thenext
to wn,
whereheto o k
steps
whichrather
damped
the
j o y
o f that
savage.5
Yet
the
savage
did no mo rethan
Pythago ras,
if he had been
true to his
principles, might
have do ne in the samecir-
cumstances.
I
Dio genes Laertius, viii,
I,
32.
2
J amblichus,
Adho rt.
adphilo s.,
21.
3
Repo rt o f
theInternatio nal
Expeditio n
to Po int Barro w, Alaska
(Washingto n, 1885),
p. 42.
4
Po rphyry,
Vit.
Pythag., 41.
6 Mo hammed Ibn-Omar El
To unsy, Vo yage
au
Ouaday (Paris,
I851),
p.
538 seq.
I49
So me
Po ulaar
Suzperstizo ns
Again, Pythago ras
believed that an
earthquake
was
caused
by
the dead men
fighting
with each o ther under-
gro und,
and so
shaking
the earth.1 I have co llected
many
savage explanatio ns
o f
earthquakes,
but
no ne,
perhaps,
quite
so
savage
as this o f
Pythago ras.
The nearest
ap-
pro aches
to it are the
fo llo wing.
The Tlinkeet Indians o n
the no rth-west co ast o f America
suppo se
that the earth
rests
upo n
a
pillar
which is
guarded by
a
wo man; so ,
when
the
go ds fight
with the wo man fo r the
po ssessio n
o f the
pillar,
in o rder that
they may destro y
the earth and its
inhabitants,
the
pillar shakes,
and this
pro duces
an earth-
quake.2
The Andaman
islanders,
who
lo ng
ranked,
tho ugh
unj ustly, amo ngst
the lo west o f
savages,
think that earth-
quakes
are caused
by
the
spirits
o f the
dead, who ,
impatient
at the
delay
o f the
resurrectio n,
shake the
palm-tree
o n
which
they
believe the earth to rest.3 When the
peo ple
o f
Timo r,
an East Indian
island,
feel the sho ck o f an earth-
quake, they
kno ck o n the
gro und
and call
o ut,
"We are
still
here,"
to let the so uls o f the dead who are
struggling
to
get up,
kno w that there is no ro o m fo r them o n the
surface o f the earth.4 Even
this, ho wever,
is a shade less
savage
than the view o f
Pythago ras
that the dead co uld
no t even
keep
the
peace amo ngst
themselves. In Lucian' s
"
Dialo gues
o f the Dead" the so ldier
gho st
who draws near
the
ferry,
his
bright
armo ur
flashing thro ugh
the
glo o m,
is
bidden
by
Hermes to leave his arms behind him o n the
hither side o f the
river,
"because there is
peace
in the
grave".5 Clearly
Hermes was no t a
Pythago rean.
But
passing
fro m
Pythago ras'
views o f
physical
causa-
1
iElian,
Var.
Hist.,
iv, 17.
2
Ho lmberg,
"
Ethno graphische
Skizzen iiberdie Vo lkerdes Rus-
sischen
Amerika,"Acta
so cietatis scientiarum Fennica, iv
(Helsingfo rs,
1856),
p.
346 seq.
3
E. H.
Man,
Abo riginal
Inhabitants
o f
theAndaman
Islands,
p.
86.
4
A.
Bastian,
Indo nesien,
ii,
p.
3. Cp.
id.,
in Verhandl.d. Berlin.
Gesell.
f. Anthro po l., 188I,
p.
I57; J .
G. F.
Riedel,
De sluik- en
kro esharige
rassen lusschen Selebesen
Papua, 330, 428 seq.
5
Lucian,
Dzal.
Mo rt.,
x, 7.
I,o
o f
the Ancients.
tio n,
let us lo o k mo re
clo sely
at so me o f the
practical
precepts
o r
symbo ls
which he laid do wn fo r the
guidance
o f life.
One o f his
precepts,
as we have
seen,
was this:
"
Do no t
po ke
the firewith a swo rd."1 The
precept
co mmends itself
to
us,
but
hardly
o n the
gro unds
o n which it did so to
Pythago ras.
To understand his reaso ns we must
go
to the
Tartars,
who abstain fro m
thrusting
a knife into the fireo n
the
gro und
that it wo uld cut o ff the fire' s head.2 The
Kamchatkans also think it a sin to stick a knife into a
burning lo g,
and so do so me o f the No rth American
Indians.3
Again, Pythago ras
to ld his
disciples
never to
po int
the
finger
at the stars.4 This is a
very
co mmo n
superstitio n
in
Germany,
where o ne reaso n
given
is that
by po inting
a
finger
at the mo o n o r stars o ne wo uld
put
o ut the
eyes
o f
the
angels.5
Ano ther reaso n
given
is that o ne' s
finger
wo uld
dro p
o ff.6 If o ne has
po inted
at the
stars,
the
o nly way
to save o ne' s
finger
fro m
dro pping
o ff is to bite it.7 The
reaso n fo r so
do ing
is
explained by
the statement o f
1
Hippo lytus, Refut.
o mn.
haeres., vi, 27; J amblichus,
Adho rt. ad
Pihilo s.,
21; Dio genes Laertius, viii, I, 17;
Po rphyry,
Vit.
Pythag.,
42; Plutarch,
Isis et
Osiris, o 1; id.,
De educ.
puer.,
17; Suidas,
s. v.
"Pythago ras";
Athenaeus, p.
452
DE.
2
De Piano
Carpini,
Histo ria
Mo ngalo rum,
ed. D' Avezac
(Paris,
I838),
c.
iii, ?
ii.
3
Steller, Beschreibung
vo n dem Lande
Kamtschatka, 274;
Scho o l-
craft,
Indian
Trbes, iii, 230.
All three
passages
have been
already
cited in illustratio n o f
Pythago ras'
maxim
by
Dr. E. B.
Tylo r,
Researcher into the
EarlyHisto ry o f
Mankind3, 277.
4
Fragmenta
philo so ph.
Grcec.,
ed.
Mullach, i, p.
510.
6
Grimm,
Deutsche
Mytho lo gie, iii, p. 445;
E.
Meier,
Deutsche
Sagen,
Sitten und Gebrducheaus
Schwaben, p. 499; Haltrich,
Zur
Vo lkskundeder
Siebenbiirger
Sachsen
(Wien, I885), p. 300.
6
Gro hmann,
Aberglauben
und Gebrduche aus
Bo hmen
undMahren,
p. 32,
No .
175;
Kuhn und
Schwartz,
No rddeutsche
Sagen,
Mdrchen
und
Gebrduche, p.
458,
No .
426.
7
J .
W.
Wo lf, Beitrage
zur deutschen
Mytho lo gie, i,
p.
235,
No .
417.
I
5
I
So me
Po pzilar
Szerslitio zns
an
Oj ebway
Indian. "I well
remember,"
says
he,
"when
I was a little
bo y, being
to ld
by
o ur
aged peo ple
that I
must never
po int my finger
at the
mo o n,
fo r if I did
she
wo uld co nsider it a
great insult,
and
instantly
bite it
o ff."'
The
reaso n, therefo re,
why
a German bites his
finger
after
po inting
at a star is to make the star believe that he
is
himself
biting
o ff the
o ffending finger,
and that thus
the star is saved the tro uble o f
do ing
so . Thus
the
Oj ebway
Indian is here the best co mmentato r o n
Pytha-
go ras.
Again, Pythago ras
said:
"
Do no t lo o k at
yo ur
face in a
river."2
So , to o ,
said the o ld Hindu
lawgiver.
"Let him
no t,"
says Manu,
"let him no t lo o k at his o wn
image
in
water;
that is a settled rule."3 Neither the Greek
philo -
so pher
no r the Hindu
lawgiver assigns any
reaso n fo r the
rule. To ascertain it we must
inquire
o f the Zulus and the
black race o f the
Pacific,
bo th o f who m o bserve the same
rule,
and can
give
a reaso n fo r
do ing
so . Here is the rea-
so n
given by
the Zulus in their o wn wo rds: " It is said
there is a beast in thewaterwhich can seize the shado w o f a
man;
when he lo o ks into the water it takes his
shado w;
the man no
lo nger
wishes to turn
back,
but has a
great
wish to enter the
po o l;
it seems to him that there is no t
death in the
water;
it is as if he was
go ing
to real
happi-
ness where there is no
harm;
and he dies
thro ugh go ing
into the
po o l, being
eaten
by
the beast .... And men
are fo rbidden to lean o ver and lo o k into a dark
po o l,
it
being
feared lest their shado w sho uld be taken
away."4
So
much fo r the
Zulus. No w fo r the Melanesians o f the
Pacific. "There is a stream in Saddle
Island, o r, rather,
a
po o l
in a
stream,
into which if
anyo ne
lo o ks he
dies;
the
malignant spirit
takes ho ld
upo n
his life
by
means o f his
1
Peter
J o nes, Histo ry o f
the
Oj ebway Indians,
p.
84seq.
2
Fragm. Philo s.
Grec.,
ed.
Mullach, i,
p.
50o .
3 Laws
o f Manu, iv, 38,
trans.
by
G. Biihler.
4
Callaway, Nursery
Tales, Traditio ns,
and Histo ries
o f
the
Zulus,
i, 342.
152
o f
t/e
Anczents.
reflectio n o n the water."1
Here, do ubtless,
we have the
o rigin
o f the classical
sto ry
o f
Narcissus,
who
languished
away
in
co nsequence
o f
seeing
his o wn fair
image
in the
water.2
During
a thundersto rm it was a Greek custo m to
put
o ut
the
fire,
and hiss and
cheep
with the
lips.
The reaso n fo r
the custo m was
explained by
the
Pythago reans
to
be,
that
by acting
thus
yo u frightened
the
spirits
in
Tartarus,3
who
were do ubtless
suppo sed
to make the thunder and
lightning.
Similarly,
so me o f the Australian
blacks,
who attribute
thunder to the
agency
o f
demo ns,
and are much afraid o f
it,
believe that
they
can
dispel
it
"by chanting
so me
par-
ticular wo rds and
breathing
hard";4and it is a German
superstitio n
that the
danger
fro m a thundersto rm can be
averted
by putting
o ut the fire.5
During
a
thundersto rm,
the Sakai o f the
Malay
Peninsula run o ut o f their ho uses
and brandish their
weapo ns
to drive
away
the
demo ns6;
and the Estho nians in Russia fasten
scythes, edge upward,
o ver the
do o r,
that the
demo ns,
fleeing
fro m the
thundering
go d, may
cut their feet if
they try
to seek shelter in the
ho use. So metimes the
Estho nians,
fo r a similar
purpo se,
take all the
edged
to o ls in the ho use and thro w them o ut
into the
yard.
It is said
that,
when the sto rm is
o ver,
spo ts
o f blo o d are o ften fo und o n the
scythes
and
knives, sho wing
that the demo ns have been wo unded
by
them.7
So ,
when
1
R. H.
Co dringto n, "Religio us
Beliefs and Practices in Melane-
sia," J o urnal
Anthro p.
Instit., x, 313.
This
explanatio n
o f the Nar-
cissus
legend
was co mmunicated
by
me in a no te to
theJ o urnal
o fthe
Anthro po lo gical
Instittue, xvi, 334.
2
Ovid,
Metam.,
iii, 341 seq.
3
Aristo tle,
Analyt. Po ster.,
ii, p. 94b, 33 seq.,
Berlin
ed.;
Scho liast
o n
Aristo phanes, Wasj ps, 626; Pliny,
Nat.
Hist., xxviii, 25.
4
Co llins,
Acco unt
o f
the
English Co lo ny
in New So uth
Wales,
p.
485; Angas, Savage
Scenes in Australia and New
Zealand,
ii, 232.
6
Wuttke,
Der deutsche
Vo lksaberglaube' ,
? 449.
6
J o urnal
o f
theIndian
Archipelago , iii, 430.
7
Bo ecler-Kreutzwald,
Der Ehsten
abergldubische
Gebrduche,
p.
IIO.
I5.3
So me
Po pular
Szperstitio zns
the Indians o f Canada were asked
by
the
J esuit
missio n-
aries
why
they planted
their swo rds in the
gro und po int
upwards, they replied
that the
spirit
o f the thunder was
sensible,
and that if he saw the naked blades hewo uld turn
away
and take
go o d
care no t to
appro ach
their huts.1 This
is a fair
sample
o f the clo se
similarity
o f
Euro pean super-
stitio ns to the
superstitio ns
o f
savages.
In the
present
case the difference
happens
to be
slightly
in favo ur o f the
Indians,
since
they
did
no t,
like o ur
Euro pean savages,
delude themselves into
seeing
the blo o d o f demo ns o n the
swo rds. The reaso n fo r the Greek and German custo m o f
putting
o ut the fire
during
a thundersto rm
is,
pro bably,
a
wish to avo id
attracting
the attentio n o f the thunder
demo ns. Fro m a like mo tive so me o f the Australian
blacks hide themselves
during
a
thundersto rm,
and
keep
abso lutely silent,
lest the thunder sho uld find them o ut.2
Once
during
a sto rm a white man called o ut in a lo ud'
vo ice to the black fello w with who m he was
wo rking,
to
put
the saw under a
lo g
and seek shelter. He fo und that
the saw had
already
been
put
away,
and the black fello w
was
very indignant
at his master fo r
speaking
so lo ud.
"What
fo r,"
said
he,
in
great wrath,
"what fo r
speak
so
lo ud? No w um thunder
hear,
and kno w where um saw is."
And he went o ut and
changed
its
hiding-place.3
One o r two mo re classical
superstitio ns
abo ut thunder
and
lightning may
here find a
place, tho ugh they
are no t
specially Pythago rean.
The skins o f seals
and
hyenas
were believed
by
the Greeks to be
effective
pro tectio ns
against lightning.
Hence Greek sailo rs used to nail a
sealskin to the
mast-head;
and the
Empero r
Augustus,
who was
nervo usly
afraid o f
thunder,
never went
anywhere
witho ut a sealskin.4 The skin o f a
hippo po tamus
buried in
1
Relatio ns
desJ egsuites,
I637,
p.
53.(Canadian
reprint).
2
Oldfield,
"
The
Abo rigines
o f
Australia," Transactio ns
o f
tze Eth-
no lo gical So ciety, iii, 229 seq.
3
J o urn. and Pro ceed. R. So c. N. S.
Wales,
xvi
(1882),
p. 171.
4
Plutarch, Qucest.
Co nviv.,
iv, 2, I,
cf.
id., v,
9; Sueto nius,
Augg-
Isstus, 90.
I54
o f
te
Anzcients.
the middle o f a field was
suppo sed
to
prevent
a
thunder-
bo lt fro m
falling
o n it.1
Ano ther maxim o f
Pythago ras
was this: "On
setting
o ut
fro m
yo ur
ho use
upo n
a
j o urney,
do no t turn
back;
fo r if
yo u do ,
the Furies will catch
yo u."2
This is a rule o bserved
by superstitio us peo ple everywhere,
in the heart o f
Africa
and o f
India,
as well as all o ver
Euro pe.
I will mentio n
o nly
the last instance which came under
my
no tice. A
Highland
servant in o ur
family
to ld
my
mo ther
lately
that
in
Sutherlandshire,
if
anyo ne
is
go ing
o n so me
impo rtant
errand and has left
anything
behind
him,
he wo uld stand
and call fo r it fo r a week rather than
go
back to fetch
it.3
Once mo re,
Pythago ras
o bserved: "If
yo u
meet an
ugly
o ld wo man at the
do o r,
do no t
go
o ut."4
Amo ngst
the
Wends,
if a man
go ing
o ut to hunt meets an o ld
wo man,
it is
unlucky,
and he sho uld turn back.5
Amo ngst
the
Estho nians,
if a fisherman o r
anyo ne
else
go ing
o ut o n
impo rtant
business
happens
to meet an o ld
wo man,
he will
turn back.6 A
Tyro lese
hunter believes that if he meets
an o ld wo man in the
mo rning,
he will have no luck.7 In
Po merania,
if a
perso n go ing
o ut o f the ho use
meets a
1
Geo po nica, i,
16.
2
Hippo lytus, Refut.
o mn.
haeres., vi, 26;
J amblichus,
Adho rt. ad
fphilo s.,
21
; Dio genes Laertius, viii,
I,
17;
Po rphyry,
Vit.
Pythag., 42;
Plutarch,
De educ.
puer.,
17.
3
Fo lk-Lo re
J o urnal,
vii, 53.
Fo r
India,
see Indian
Antiquary,
i,
170;
Indian No tes and
2Queries, iv, 270;
fo r
Africa,
see Felkin in
Pro ceed. R. So c.
Edinburgh, xiii, pp. 230, 734seq., 759;
fo r
Euro pe,
see Burneand
J ackso n, Shro pshireFo lk-lo re, 274;
Grimm,
Deutsche
Mytho lo gie4, iii, p.
435; Ko hler,
Vo lksbrauch inm
Vo igtlande, 426;
Hal-
trich,
Zur Vo lkskundeder
Siebenbiirger
Sachsen, 316;
Krauss,
Sitte
und Brauchder
Siidslaven, 426.
4
Fragm.
Philo s.
Grcec.,
ed.
Mullach, i, 5I0.
6
Schulenberg,
Wendische
Vo lkssagen
und
Gebrduche, 241; cp.
Bezzenberger,
Liiauische
Fo rschungen, 85.
6
Bo ecler-Kreutzwald,
DerEhsten
abergldubische
Gebrduche,
71.
7
Zingerle, Sitten,
Brduche und Meinungen des Tirder
Vo lkes2,
p.
43,
No .
371.
155
So me
Po p?liar Suzpersztiio ns
wo man,
he will o ften turn back.1
They say
in
Thiringen
that if
yo u
areabo ut
any weighty affair,
and are
interrupted
by
an o ld
wo man,
yo u
sho uld no t
go
o n with
it,
fo r it co uld
no t
pro sper.2
In
No rway,
if a man
go es
o ut to make a
bargain,
and an o ld wo man is the first
perso n
he
meets,
he
will have no luck.3
Ano ther
saying
o f
Pythago ras
was this: " If
yo u
stumble
at the thresho ld in
go ing o ut,
yo u
sho uld turn back."4 In
the
Highlands
o f Sco tland and
amo ng
the Saxo ns o f
Transylvania
it is deemed
unlucky
to stumble o n the thres-
ho ld in
go ing
o ut o n a
j o urney.5 Amo ngst
the
Malays,
if
a
perso n
stumbles o n
leaving
the
steps
o f a ho use o n
par-
ticular
business,
it is
unlucky,
and the business is aban-
do ned fo r the time.6 In
Sumatra,
if a Batta stumbles in
leaving
the
ho use,
it bo des
ill-luck,
and he thinks it better
to abando n the
j o urney
and
stay
at ho me.7
Again, Pythago ras
said: " If a weasel cro ss
yo ur path,
turn back."8 This was a co mmo n rule in Greece. In the
" Characters" o f
Theo phrastus
the
Superstitio us
Man
wo uld no t
go
o n if a weasel cro ssed his
path;
he waited
till so me o ne else had traversed the
ro ad,
o r until he had
thro wn three sto nes acro ss it. The Zulus think that if a
weasel cro sses their
path they
will
get
no fo o d at the
place
1
Otto
Kno o p,
Vo lkssagen,
etc.,
aus dem o stlichen
Hinterpo mmern,
I63.
2
Witzschel, Sagen,
Sitten und Gebrducheaus
Thiiringen,
284.
3
Antananarivo Annual and
MadagascarMagazine, viii, 30.
4
Fragm.
Phil.
Gr.,
1.c.
5
Sco tland and Sco tsmen in the
Eighteenth
Century,
fro m the
MSS. o f
J o hn Ramsay
o f
Ochtertyre,
edited
by
Alex.
Allardyce
(Edinburgh, I888), ii, 456; Haltrich,
Zur Vo lkskundeder Siebenbiir-
ger
Sachsen,
316.
6
Straits BranchR. Asiatic
So c.,
No tes and
Queries, i, p.
I8.
7
J .
B.
Neumann,
" Het Pane en
Bila-Stro o mgebied o p
het eiland
Sumatra," Tij dschrift
van het
Nederlandsch
Aardrij ks. Geno o tschap,
2de
Ser.,
dl.
iii, Afdeeling:
Meer
uitgebreide
artikelen,
No .
3,
p.
5I5
seq.
8
Fragm.
Phil.
Gr.,
1.c.
I56
o f
the Ancients.
whither
they
are
go ing.1
In
Ireland,
to meet a weasel
undercertain circumstancesis
unlucky.2
Aweaselcro ss-
ing
the
path
was
regarded
as an o men
by
theAztecs.
Further, Pythago ras
warned his fo llo wers
against step-
ping
o ver a bro o m.4 In so me
parts
o f
Bavaria, ho usemaids,
in
sweeping
o ut the
ho use,
arecareful no t to
step
o verthe
bro o m fo r fearo f the witches.5
Again,
it is a Bavarian
ruleno t to
step
o vera bro o m whilea co nfinement is
taking
place
in a
ho use;
o therwisethe birthwill be
tedio us,
and
the child will
always
remain smallwitha
large
head. But
if
anyo ne
has
stepped
o ver a bro o m
inadvertently,
he can
undo the
spell by stepping
backwardso verit
again.6
So
in
Bo mbay they say yo u
sho uld never
step
acro ssa
bro o m,
o r
yo u
will causea wo man to suffer
severely
in childbed.7
Again,
it was a
precept
o f
Pythago ras
no t to run a nail
o r a knifeinto a man' s
fo o tprints.8 This,
fro m the
primi-
tive
po int
o f
view,
was
really
a
mo ral,
no t
merely
a
prudential precept.
Fo r it is a wo rld-wide
superstitio n
that
by inj uring fo o tprintsyo u inj ure
the feet that made
them.
Thus,
in
Mecklenburg
it is
tho ught
that if
yo u
thrust a nail into a man' s
fo o tprints
the man will
go
lame.9
The Australian blacks held
exactly
the sameview. "See-
ing
a
Tatungo lung very
lame,"
says
Mr.
Ho witt,
" I asked
him what was the matter? He
said,
' So me fello w has
put
bo ttlein
my
fo o t.' I asked him to let me see it. I
fo und he was
pro bably suffering
fro m acute rheumatism.
He
explained
that so me
enemy
must have fo und his fo o t-
1
Callaway, Nursery Tales,
etc.,
o f
the
Zulus, p. 5.
2
M' Maho n,
Karens
o f
theGo lden
Cherso nese,
273.
3
Bancro ft,
Native Races
o f
the
Paczfic
States,
iii,
I28.
4
Hippo lytus, Refut.
o mn.
haeres.,
vi, 27.
5
Lammert,
Vo lksmedizin und medizinischer
Aberglaube
in
Bayern,
38.
6
Wuttke,
Der deutsche
Vo lksaberglaube2, ? 574.
7
Indian No tes and
Queries, iv,
104.
8
Fragm.
Phil.
Gr.,
1.c.
9
Bartsch, Sagen,
Mdrchen und Gebrducheaus
Mecklenburg, ii,
No s.
1597, 1598; cp. id.,
No .
I6IIa
seq.
I57
So me
Po pular Suzperstitio ns
track,
and have buried in it a
piece
o f bro ken bo ttle. The
magic influence,
he
believed,
caused it to enter his fo o t.
When
fo llo wing
do wn
Co o per' s
Creek in search o f Burke' s
party,
we were fo llo wed o ne
day by
a
large
number o f
blackfello ws,
who were much interested in
lo o king
at and
measuring
the
fo o tprints
o f the ho rses and camels.
My
blackbo y,
fro m the
Darling River,
ro de
up
to
me,
with the
utmo st alarm exhibited in his
face,
and
exclaimed,
' Lo o k
at these wild blackfello ws!' I
said, ' Well,
they
are all
right.'
He
replied,
' I am sure
tho se fello ws are
putting
po iso n
in
my fo o tsteps
!'
1
Amo ngst
the Karens o f
Burma,
evil-dispo sed perso ns "keep po iso ned fangs
in their
po s-
sessio n fo r the
purpo se
o f
killing peo ple.
These
they
thrust into the fo o tmarks o f the
perso n they
wish to
kill,
who so o n finds himself with a so re
fo o t,
and the marks o n
it as bitten
by
a
do g.
The so re beco mes
rapidly
wo rse
and wo rse till death ensues."2 The Damaras o f So uth
Africa take earth fro m the
fo o tprints
o f a lio n and thro w
it o n the track o f an
enemy,
with the
wish,
"
May
the lio n
kill
yo u."3
This
superstitio n
is turned to acco unt
by
hunters in
many parts
o f the wo rld fo r the
purpo se
o f run-
ning
do wn the
game. Thus,
a German huntsman will
stick a nail taken fro m a co ffin into the fresh
spo o r
o f the
animal he is
hunting, believing
that this will
prevent
the
quarry
fro m
leaving
the
hunting-gro und.4
Australian
blacks
put
ho t embers in the tracks o f the animals
they
are
pursuing5;
Ho ttento t hunters thro w into the air a
handful o f sand taken fro m the
fo o tprints
o f the
game,
believing
that this will
bring
the animal
do wn6;
and
Oj ebway
Indians
place
"medicine" o n the first deer' s o r
Fiso n and
Ho witt,
Kamilaro i and
Kurnai, 250.
Cp.
Bro ugh
Smyth, Abo rigines o f
Victo ria,
i, 476
seq.
2
Maso n,
"
The
Karens,' J o urnal R. Asiatic
So c.,
I868, pt. ii,
p.
I49.
3
J o saphat
Hahn,
"
Die
Ovaherero ,"
Zeitschrift
d. Gesell.
f. Erd-
kunde zu
Berlin, iv, 503.
4
Wuttke,
Der deutsche
Vo lksaberglaube2, ?
i86.
5
Dawso n,
Australian
Abo rigines, 54.
6
Theo philus Hahn, Tsuni-lj Go am,
p. 84
seq.
o f
the
Anciernts.
bear' s track that
they
meet
with, suppo sing
that even if the
animal be two o r three
days' j o urney
o ff, they
will no w
so o n
sight
it,
the charm
po ssessing
the
po wer
o f
sho rtening
the
j o urney
fro m two o r three
days
to a few ho urs.' The
Zulus reso rt to a similar device to reco ver
strayed
cattle.
Earth taken fro m the
fo o tprints
o f the
missing
beasts is
placed
in the chief' s
vessel,
a
magic
circle is
made,
and the
chief' s vessel is
placed
within it. Then the chief
says,
"
I
have no w
co nquered
them. These cattle are no w
here;
I
am no w
sitting upo n
them. I do no t kno w in what
way
they
will
escape."2
We can no w understand
why Pythago ras
said that when
yo u
rise fro m bed
yo u
sho uld efface the
impressio n
left
by
yo ur bo dy
o n the bedclo thes.3 Fo r
o bvio usly
the same
magical pro cess might
be
applied by
an
enemy
to the
impress
o f the
bo dy
which we have
j ust
seen to be
applied
to the
impress
o f the fo o t. The
abo rigines
o f Australia
cause
magical
substances to enter the
bo dy
o f an
enemy
by burying
them either in his
fo o tprints
o r in the mark
made o n the
gro und by
his
reclining bo dy,4
o r
they
beat
the
place
where the man sat-the
place
must be still warm
-with a
po inted
stick,
which is then believed to enter the
victim' s
bo dy
and kill him.5 To secure the
go o d
behavio ur
o f an
ally
with who m
they
have
j ust
had a
co nference,
the
Basuto s will cut and
preserve
the
grass upo n
which the
ally
sat
during
the interview.6 The
grass
is
apparently regarded
as a so rt o f
ho stage
fo r his
go o d
behavio ur,
since
thro ugh
it
they
believe
they
co uld
punish
him if he
pro ved
false.
Mo o rs who write o n the sand are
superstitio usly
careful to
1
Peter
J o nes, Histo ry o f
the
Oj ebway Indians, 154.
2
Callaway, Religio us System o f
the
Amazulu, 346
seq.
3
J amblichus,
Adh/o rt.
ad
philo s., 2I; Plutarch, Qucest.
Co nviv.,
viii, 7;
Clemens
Alexand.,
Stro m.,
v, 5, p. 66I,
Po tt.
Cp.
Dio genes
Laert., viii, i, I7 ; Suidas,
s. v. "
Pythago ras".
4
A. W.
Ho witt,
"
On Australian Medicine
Men," J o urnal o f
the
Anthro po lo gicalInstitute, xvi,
26
seq.
5
Bro ughSmyth, Abo rigines o f
Victo ria,
i,
475.
6
Casalis,
The Basuto s,
273.
I59
So me
Po pular Suzperstitiio s
smo o th
away
all the
impressio ns they
have
made,
never
leaving
a stro ke o r a do t o f the
finger
o n the sand after
they
have finished
writing.1 Pythago ras
also
enj o ined
his
disciples
when
they
lifted a
po t
fro m the ashes
always
to
efface the mark left
by
the
po t
o n the ashes.2 He
pro -
bably
feared that the
perso ns
who ate o ut o f the
po t might
be
magically inj ured by any enemy
who sho uld
tamper
with the
impressio n
left o n the ashes
by
the
po t.
The
o bligatio n
o f this
Pythago rean precept
is
ackno wledged
at
the o ther end o f the wo rld
by
the natives o f Cambo dia.
They say
that when
yo u
lift a
po t
fro m the fire
yo u
sho uld
be careful no t to set it do wn o n the
ashes,
if
yo u
can
help
it;
but if it is
necessary
to do
so ,
yo u
sho uld at least be
careful,
in
lifting
it fro m the
ashes,
to o bliterate the im-
pressio n
which it has made. The reaso n
they give is,
that
to act o therwise wo uld lead to
po verty
and want.3 But
this is
clearly
an
aftertho ught,
devised to
explain
a rule o f
which the
o riginal meaning
was
fo rgo tten.
Such, then,
are
specimens,
and
o nly specimens,
o f the
savage superstitio ns which,
under the name o f the
symbo ls
o f
Pythago ras, passed
muster in
antiquity
as theemanatio ns
o f a
pro fo und philo so phy
and an elevated
mo rality.4
The
1
Richardso n,
Travels in the Great Desert
o f
Sahara,
ii, 65.
2
Plutarch, Quest.
Co nviv., viii, 7; J amblichus,
Adho rt. ad
philo s.,
21
; Clemens
Alexand.,Stro m., vi, 5, p. 66I, Po tt;
Dio genes
Laertius,
Viii, I, 17; Suidas,
s. v.
"Pythago ras".
3
E.
Aymo nier,
"No tes surles co utumeset
cro yances
superstitieuses
des
Cambo dgiens,"
Co chinchine
Franraise,
Excursio ns et Reco nnais-
sances,
No .
I6, p. 163.
4
Co llectio ns,
mo re o r less
co mplete,
o f the
"symbo ls"
o f
Py-
thago ras
will be fo und in the lives o f
Pythago ras by Dio genes
Laertius
(viii, I), J amblichus,
and
Po rphyry,
the Adho rtatio ad
phi-
lo so pihiam
o f
J amblichus; Suidas,
s. v.
"Pythago ras";
Plutarch,
Isis
et
Osiris, io ; id.,
De edzicat.
puero rum, 17; id., Qucest.Co nviv., viii,
7;
Clemens
Alexand., Stro m., v, 5; Athenaus, p. 452 DE;
Hippo lytus,
Refut.
o mn.
haeres., vi,
26
seq. They
are
given
in a co llected fo rm
by
Mullach in his
Fragmenta
ihilo so tpho rum
Grceco rum,
i, p. 504
seq.,
tho ugh
his references to the autho rities are no t
always co mplete.
i6o
o f
the Ancients.
fact that
they
did so
pass
muster with the wisest o f the
ancients
co nclusively
establishes the
po int
I am co ncerned
to
pro ve, namely,
that beneath the
po lished
surface o f
classical civilisatio n there
lay
a
deep
and so lid stratum o f
savagery,
no t
differing
in kind fro m the
savagery
o f Aus-
tralian
blackfello ws, Zulus,
and
Oj ebways.
It
lay
beneath
the
surface,
but no t farbeneath it.
There,
as
everywhere,
yo u
had
o nly
to scratchcivilisatio n to find
savagery.
And
the
helpless
bewilderment
o f classical writers in face o f the
few
specimens
o f native
savagery
which
cro pped up
o n the
surface,
sho ws ho w little
co nceptio n they
had o f the
depths
o f
superstitio n
which
lay
beneath their feet.
I have dwelt at so me
length
o n the
symbo ls
o f
Py-
thago ras,
and their resemblance
to ,
o r rather
identity with,
the
superstitio ns
o f
savages
at ho me and
abro ad,
because
they
furnish a
stro ng pro o f
o f the trutho f the
pro po sitio ns
fro m which I set o ut. But it wo uld be unfairto
Pythago ras
to leave the who le burden o f
pro o f upo n
his
sho ulders.
So ,
if I have no t
already
taxed the reader' s
patience
to o
far,
I will no w
give
a few
specimens
o f classical
super-
stitio ns drawn fro m o ther so urces.
Wherever
peo ple
are
directly
and
visibly dependent
fo r
their
daily
bread,
no t o n their fello w
men,
but o n the
fo rces o f
nature,
there
superstitio n
strikes ro o t and flo urishes.
It is a weed that finds a mo re
co ngenial
so il in the wo o ds
and fields than
amo ng city
streets. The ancient Greek
farmerwas
certainly
no t less
superstitio us
than o ur o wn
Ho dge. Amo ngst
the fo es who m the husbandman has
always
to fear are the sto rms and hail which
beat do wn his
co rn,
the weeds which cho ke
it,
and the vermin which
devo ur it. Fo r each and all o f these the ancient farmer
had remedies o f his o wn. Take
hail,
fo r
example.
At the
to wn o f
Cleo nae,
in
Argo lis,
there were watchmen main-
tained at the
public expense
to lo o k o ut fo r
hail-sto rms.
On
p.
5Io
Mullach
gives,
fro m
MSS.,
a valuable co llectio n o f
"symbo ls", many
o f which are no t fo und in the
printed
texts o f
classical writers.
VOL. I. M
i6i
So me
Po pular
Superslitio ns
When
they
saw a hail-clo ud
appro aching they
made a
sig-
nal, whereupo n
the farmers turned o ut and sacrificed lambs
o r fo wls.
They
believed that when the clo uds had tasted
the blo o d
they
wo uld turn aside and
go
so mewhere else.
Ho c rides ?
accipe quo d
rideas
magis.
If
any
man was to o
po o r
to affo rd a lamb o r a
fo wl,
he
pricked
his
finger
with
a
sharp
instrument,
and o ffered his o wn blo o d to the
clo uds;
and the
hail,
we are
to ld,
turned aside fro m his
fields
quite
as
readily
as fro m tho se where it had been
pro -
pitiated
with the blo o d o f victims. If the vines and
cro ps
suffered fro m a
hail-sto rm,
the watchmen were
bro ught
befo re the
magistrates
and
punished
fo r
neglect
o f
duty.l
Apparently,
it fo rmed
part
o f their
duty
no t
o nly
to
signal
the
appro ach
o f a
sto rm,
but
actively
to assist in
averting
it,
fo r Plutarch
speaks
o f the mo le' s blo o d and
blo o dy rags
by
which
they so ught
to turn thesto rm
away.2
This custo m
o f civilised Greece has its
analo gue amo ng
the wild tribes
that lurk in the dense
j ungles
o f the
Malay
Peninsula.
Thunder is
greatly
dreaded
by
these
savages. Acco rdingly,
"when it thunders the wo men cut their
legs
with knives
till the blo o d
flo ws,
and
then, catching
the
dro ps
in a
piece
o f
bambo o ,
they
cast them alo ft to wards the
sky,
to
pro pi-
tiate the
angry
deities."3 The
Aztecs, also ,
had
so rcerers,
who se
special
business it was to turn aside the hail-sto rms
fro m the maize
cro ps
and direct them to waste lands.4 A
Ro man
way
o f
averting
hail was to ho ld
up
a
lo o king-glass
to the dark
clo ud;
seeing
itself in the
glass,
the
clo ud,
it was
believed,
wo uld
pass by.
A to rto ise laid o n its back
o n the
field,
o r the skin o f a
cro co dile,
hyaena,
o r seal car-
1
Seneca, Quest.
Natur.,
iv,
6
seq.;
Clemens
Alexand.,
Stro m.,
vi,
? 3I,
p.
754seq.,
Po tt.
2
Plutarch, Quaest.Co nviv., vii,
2.
3
J o urnal o f
theStraits Branch
o f
the R. Asiatic
So ciety,
No .
4,
p. 48.
4
Sahagun,
Histo ire
gdnirale
des cho sesdela No uvelle
Espagne
(Paris, I88o ),
p. 486. Cp. id., p. 314,
with
Ellis, Histo ry o f Madagascar,
i, 412, (ashes
thro wn to theclo uds to melt the clo uds into
rain).
I62
o f
the Ancients.
ried abo ut the
farm,
and
hung up
at the
do o r,
was also
esteemed effective fo r the same
purpo se.'
The little to wn o f
Methana,
in
Argo lis,
sto o d o n a
penin-
sula
j utting
o ut into the Saro nic Gulf. It felt the full
fo rce o f the so uth-west
wind, which,
sweeping
o ver the
bay, wro ught
havo c
amo ng
the
surro unding vineyards.
To
prevent
its
ravages
the
fo llo wing plan
was
ado pted.
When
dark clo uds were seen
rising
in the
so uth-west,
and the
appro ach
o f the sto rm was marked
by
a black line
crawling
acro ss the smo o th surface o f the
bay,
two men
to o k a co ck with white
wings (every
feather o f the
wings
had to be
white)
and rent it in two . Then
they
each to o k
o ne-half o f the bird and ran with it ro und the
vineyards
in
o ppo site
directio ns till
they
met at the
po int
fro m which
they
started. There
they
buried the co ck. This
ceremo ny
was believed to
keep
o ff the so uth-west wind.2 The
meaning
o f the
ceremo ny
is
perhaps explained by
the fo l-
lo wing
East Indian custo m. When the
sky
is o vercast the
skipper
o f a
Malay prao
takes the white o r
yello w
feathers
o f a
co ck,
fastens them to a leaf o f a
particular
so rt,
and
sets then in the
fo recastle,
with a
prayer
to the
spirits
that
they
will cause the black clo uds to
pass by.
Then the co ck
is killed. The
skipper
whitens his
dusky
hand with
chalk,
po ints
thrice with his whitened
finger
to the black
clo uds,
and thro ws the bird into the sea.3
Clearly
the idea o f the
Greek husbandman and the
Malay skipper
is,
that
the
white-winged
bird will flutter
against
and beat
away
the
black-winged spirit
o f the sto rm.
To rid a field o f mice the Greek farmer was reco m-
mended to
pro ceed
as fo llo ws:-"Take a sheet o f
paper,
and write o n it these wo rds: ' Ye mice here
present,
I
adj ure yo u
that
ye inj ure
me
no t,
neither suffer ano ther
1
Palladius,
De re
rust.,
i, 35; Geo pfo nica, i, 14.
Fo r o ther reme-
dies,
see
Geo po nica,
/.
c.; Philo stratus, Hero ica, p. 281,
Dido t.
2
Pausanias, ii, 34,
I.
3
Riedel,
De sluik-
enkro esharige
rassen tusschen Selebesen
Papua,
412 seq.
I63
So me
Po pular
Suzerstzito ns
mo use to
inj ure
me. I
give yo u yo nder
field'
(specifying
the
field);
' but if ever I catch
yo u
here
again, by
the
help
o f the Mo ther o f the
go ds
I will rend
yo u
in seven
pieces.'
Write
this,
and stick the
paper
o n an unhewn
sto ne in the field where the mice
are,
taking
care to
keep
the written side
uppermo st."'
It is fair to add that the
writer in the
Geo po nica
who reco rds this
receipt
adds,
in a
saving clause,
that "
he do es no t himself believe it
all,
Go d
fo rbid !" To
keep
wo lves fro m his
beasts,
a Ro man farmer
used to catch a
wo lf,
break its
legs, sprinkle
its blo o d all
ro und the
farm,
and
bury
the carcase in the middle o f
it;
o r he to o k the
plo ughshare
with which the first furro w
had been traced that
year
and
put
it in the fire o n the
family
hearth. So
lo ng
as the
plo ughshare
remained red-
ho t,
so
lo ng
no
ravening
wo lf wo uld
harry
his fo ld.2
Greek farmers were much
pestered by
a rank weed
called the
lio n-weed,
which infested their fields. The
Geo po nica,
as
usual,
co mes to the rescue. Here are so me
o f its
receipts
:--"
Take five
po tsherds;
draw o n each o f
them in chalk o r o ther white substance a
picture
o f Her-
cules
strangling
the lio n.
Depo sit
fo ur o f these
po tsherds
at the co rners o f the
field,
and the fifth in the
middle.
The lio n-weed will never sho w face in that field." Here
is ano ther
receipt
taken fro m the same
go lden
treasury:
"A lio n is
very
much afraid o f a
co ck,
and sneaks
away
with his tail between his
legs
when he sees o ne.
So ,
if a
man will
bo ldly
take a co ck in his arms and march with
it ro und the
field,
the lio n-weed will
immediately
dis-
appear."3
It was a co mmo n
superstitio n
in ancient
Italy
that if a
wo man were fo und
spinning
o n a
highro ad,
the
cro ps
wo uld be
spo iled
fo r that
year.
So
general
and
firmly
ro o ted was this
belief,
that in mo st
parts
o f
Italy
it was
fo rbidden
by
law fo r a wo man to
spin
o n a
highway,
o r
even to
carry
her
spindle
unco vered
alo ng
it.4 As a last
1
Geo po nica,
xiii, 5.
2
Pliny,
Nat.
Hist.,
xxviii,
266
seq.
3
Geo po nica,
ii, 42.
4
Pliny,
Nat.
Hist.,
xxviii,
28.
I
64
o f
the Ancients.
instance o f these
agricultural superstitio ns,
I will mentio n
that when a Greek so wer so wed cummin he had to
curse and swear all the while he did
so ,
o therwise the
cro p
wo uld no t turn o ut well.'
Similarly,
Estho nian
fishermen think that
they
never have such
go o d
luck
as when
so mebo dy
is
angry
with them and curses
them.
So ,
befo re a fisherman
go es
o ut to
fish,
he
co mmo nly plays
a
ro ugh practical j o ke
o n so me o f his
ho use-mates,
such as
hiding
the
key
o f the.
cupbo ard, up-
setting
a kettle o f
so up,
and so o n. The mo re
they
curse
and swear at
him,
the mo re fish he will
catch; every
curse
brings
at least three fish into the net.2
Under the head o f what
may
be called do mestic fo lk-
lo re,
I must co ntent
myself
with a Greek cure fo r the
sting
o f a
sco rpio n
and a
co uple
o f Ro man
superstitio ns
relative to child-birth. If a man has been
stung by
a
sco rpio n,
the
Geo po nica
reco mmends that he sho uld sit o n
an ass with his face to the
tail,
o r
whisper
in the ass' s
ear,
" A
sco rpio n
has
stung
me." In either
case,
we are
assured,
the
pain
will
pass
fro m the man into the ass.3 The wo o d-
spirit
Silvanus was believed to be
very
inimical to wo men
in child-bed.
So ,
to
keep
him o ut o f a ho use where a
wo man was
expecting
her
co nfinement,
three men used to
go thro ugh
the ho use
by night
armed
respectively
with an
axe,
a
pestle,
and a bro o m. At
every
do o r
they sto pped,
and the first man struck the thresho ld with his
axe,
the
seco nd with his
pestle,
and the third
swept
it with his
bro o m. This
kept
Silvanus fro m
entering
the ho use.4
When his wife was in hard
labo ur,
a Ro man husband used
to take a sto ne o r
any
missile that had killed three animals
-a
bo ar,
a
bear,
and a man. This he threw o ver the ro o f
o f the
ho use,
and
immediately
the child was bo rn. A
1
Theo phrastus,
Histo r.
Plant.,
viii, 3; Plutarch, Quest.
Co nviv.,
Vii, 2,
2.
2
Bo ecler-Kreutzwald,
DerEhsten
abergldubische
Gebrduche, 90
seq.
3
Geo po nica,xiii, 9, xv, i;
Pliny,
Nat.
Hist.,
xxviii, I55.
4
Augustine,
De civit.
dei, vi, 9.
I65
So me
Po pular Superstitio ns
j avelin
which had been
plucked
fro m the
bo dy
o f a
man,
and had no t since to uched the
gro und,
was the best instru-
ment fo r the
purpo se.1
No w fo r war. There is a co mmo n belief in mo dern
times that
great
battles
bring
o n clo uds and rain
thro ugh
the
atmo spheric
disturbances set
up by
the
ro lling
re-
verberatio n o f the
artillery. During
the American Civil
War it was a matter o f co mmo n o bservatio n that rain
fo llo wed the
great
battles. I have been
to ld, by
o ne who
to o k
part
in the battle o f
So lferino ,
that the
day
was dull
and
rainy; indeed,
the Austrian co mmander attributed
the lo ss o f the battle to a terrific thundersto rm which
burst o ver the field and o bscured the mo vements o f
po wer-
ful
masses o f the
enemy.
The belief that
heavy firing
brings
do wn rain is indeed so
ro o ted,
that a civil
engineer
wro te a bo o k no t
many years ago
to
pro ve
it,
and a
gentle-
man o f scientific tastes read a
paper
to the same effect
befo re the British Asso ciatio n in
I874.2 Perhaps they
wo uld
have
spared
themselves the tro uble if
they
had
been
aware, first,
that as late as the
beginning
o f this
century
the belief was
j ust
the
reverse,
and batteries were
regularly kept by many
French Co mmunes fo r the so le
purpo se
o f
dispersing
the
clo uds3;
and
seco nd,
that the
theo ry
which co nnects
great
battles with
heavy
rain is
very
much o lder than the inventio n o f
gunpo wder.
After
describing
the defeat o f the Teuto ns
by
the Ro mans under
Marius,
Plutarch mentio ns a
po pular saying,
that
great
1
Pliny,
Nat.
Hist., xxviii, 33 seq.
2
" On Disturbanceo f theWeather
by
Artificial
Influences,
especially
Battles, Military Mo vements,
Great
Explo sio ns,
and
Co nflagratio ns,"
by
R. B. Belcher. See
Repo rt
o f the
meeting
o f the BritishAsso -
ciatio n fo r
1874,
Transactio ns
o f
the
Sectio ns,
p.
36.
3
J o urnal and
Pro ceedings o f
the R.
So ciety
o f
N. S.
Wales,
xvi
(1882),
p.
12. The address o f the President
(p.
ii
seq.)
co ntains a
j udicio us
discussio n o f the who le
questio n.
The earlier view must
have been shared
by So uthey, fo r,
in
describing
a naval actio n in the
Mediterranean,
he
says
"
the
firing
made a
perfect
calm"
(Life o f
Nelso n,
ch.
iii).
166
o f
the Ancients.
battles are
acco mpanied by heavy
rain,
and he
suggests
as
po ssible
explanatio ns
.o f the
suppo sed
fact,
either that the
atmo spheric
mo isture is. co ndensed
by
the exhalatio ns
fro m the
slain,
o r that so me
pitying go d
cleanses the
blo o dy
earthwith the
gentle
rain o f heaven.
When a Ro man
army
sat do wn befo re a
city
to
besiege
it,
the
priests
used to invite the
guardian go ds
o f the
city
to leave it and co me o ver to the Ro man
side, assuring
them that
they
wo uld be treated
by
the Ro mans as well
as,
o r better
than,
they
had ever been treated
by
their fo rmer
wo rshippers.
This invitatio n was co uched in a set fo rm o f
prayer
o r
incantatio n,
which was no t
expunged
fro m the
Po ntifical
liturgy
even in
Pliny' s
time. The name o f the
guardian go d
o f Ro me was
always kept
a
pro fo und
secret,
lest the enemies o f Ro me sho uld entice him
by
similar
means to desert the
city.l So ,
when the natives o f Tahiti
were
besieging
a
fo rtress,
they
used to take the finest
mats,
clo th,
and so
o n,
as near to the
ramparts
as
they
co uld
with
safety,
and
there,
ho lding
them
up,
o ffered them to
the
go ds
o f the
besieged,
while the
priests
cried
o ut,
" Tane
in the
fo rtress,
Oro in the
fo rtress, etc.,
co me to the
sea;
here are
yo ur o fferings."
The
priests
o f the
besieged,
o n
the o ther
hand,
endeavo ured to detain the
go ds by
ex-
hibiting
whatever
pro perty they po ssessed,
if
they
feared
that the
go d
was
likely
to leave them.2
Like mo dern
peasants,
the ancients believed that the
gho sts
o f
slaughtered
warrio rs
appear by night
o n the
battle-field,
and
fight
their battles o ver
again.
At Mara-
tho n the
neighing
o f ho rses and the no ise o f battle co uld
be heard
every night.3
The so und o f the sea
breaking
o n the sho re in the stillness o f
night may
have
o riginated
1
Pliny,
Nat.
Hist.,
xxviii, I8; Macro bius,Saturn.,
iii,
9,
2
seq.;
Servius o n
Virgil,
eEn.,
ii, 351; Livy, v,
21. On the secret name o f
Ro me
itself,
see
Macro bius,
1.
c.;
Pliny,
Nat.
Hist.,
iii, 65;
J o annes
Lydus,
De
Mensibus, iv, 50.
2
Ellis, Po lynesian
Researches,
i, 316, cp.
280
(ed. I832).
3
Pausanias, i, 32, 4.
I67
So me
Po pular Superstitio ns
o r co nfirmed the belief. In Bo eo tia there was a
place
called "The Ho rses o f
Pyrechmes",
and the lo cal
legend
ran that
Pyraechmes.
was a
King
o f Eubcea who had
fo ught against
Bo eo tia
lo ng ago ,
and,
being
defeated,
had
been bo und to ho rses and to rn in two . A river ran
by
the
spo t,
and in the rush o f the river
peo ple
fancied that
they
heard the
sno rting
o f the
phanto m
steeds.'
Again,
the who le
plain
o f
Tro y
was haunted
gro und.
The
shep-
herds and herdsmen who
pastured
their flo cks and herds
o n it used to see tall and
stately phanto ms,
fro m the
manner o f who se
appearance they presaged
what was
abo ut to
happen.
If the
phanto ms
were white with
dust,
it
meant a
parching
summer. If beads o f sweat sto o d o n
their
bro ws,
it fo reto ld
heavy
rains and
spates
o n the
rivers. If
they
came dabbled in
blo o d,
it bo ded
pesti-
lence. But if there was neither dust no r sweat no r blo o d
o n
them,
the
shepherds augured
a fine
seaso n,
and o ffered
sacrifice fro m their flo cks. The
spectre
o f Achilles was
always
kno wn fro m the rest
by
his
height,
his
beauty,
and
his
gleaming arms,
and he ro de o n a whirlwind.2 In the
late Ro man
empire legend
to ld
ho w,
after a
great
battle
fo ught against
Attila and the Huns under the walls o f
Ro me,
the
gho sts
o f the slain
appeared
and
fo ught
fo r
three
days
and
nights.
The
phanto m
warrio rs co uld be
seen
charging
each
o ther,
and the
clang
o f their
weapo ns
was
distinctly
heard.3 Sto ries o f the same
so rt,
which it
wo uld be needless to cite at
length,
are to ld abo ut battle-
fields to this
day.
Terrified
peasants
have seen the
spec-
tral armies lo cked in
desperate co nflict,
have felt the
gro und
shake beneath their
tread,
and have heard the
music o f the fifes and drums.4
1
Plutarch,
Paralela, 7.
2
Philo stratus, Hero ica,
iii,
?
I8,
26.
3
Damascius,
Vita
Isido ri, 63.
4
K.
Lynker,
Deutsche
Sagen
und Sitten in hessischen
Gauen, pp.
I
1-13;
P.
Sdbillo t,
Traditio ns et
Superstitio ns
dela
iHaute-Bretagne,
i, 222;
E.
Veckenstedt,
Die
Mythen, Sagen,
und
Legenden
der
Zamaiten
(Litauer), ii, p. I40;
Indian
Antiquary,
ix
(i880), p.
80.
Cf. F.
Liebrecht,
Gervasius vo n
Tilbury, I95 seq.
168
o f
the Ancients.
A wo rd abo ut
were-wo lves,
and I have do ne. Few
superstitio ns
are mo re familiar in mo dern times than this
o ne. Certain
men,
it is
believed,
po ssess
the
po wer
o f
turning
themselves into wo lves and back
again
at
pleasure.
Or
they
are fo rced to beco me wo lves fo r a
time,
but
may,
under certain
co nditio ns,
reco ver their human
shape.
All
this was believed as
firmly by superstitio us peo ple
in anti-
quity
as it has been believed
by
the same class o f
perso ns
in mo dern times. There is a certain mo untain in Arcadia
which to wers o ver its sister
peaks,
and co mmands fro m its
to p
a
pro spect
o ver a
great part
o f the Mo rea. The
mo untain was kno wn to the ancients as the Wo lf Mo un-
tain
(Mt. Lycaeus),
and o n its summit sto o d the earthen
altar o f the Wo lf Go d
(Zeus Lycaus).
East o f the altar
sto o d two
co lumns,
surmo unted
by gilt eagles.
Once a
year
a
mysterio us
sacrifice was o ffered at the
altar,
in the
co urse o f which a man was believed to be
changed
into
a wo lf. Acco unts differ as to the
way
in which the were-
wo lf was cho sen.
Acco rding
to o ne
acco unt,
a human
victim was
sacrificed,
o ne o f his bo wels was mixed with
the bo wels o f animal
victims,
the who le was co nsumed
by
the
wo rshippers,
and the man who
unwittingly
ate the
human bo wel was
changed
into a wo lf.
Acco rding
to
ano ther
acco unt,
lo ts were cast
amo ng
the members o f a
particular family,
and he
upo n
who m the lo t fell was the
were-wo lf.
Being
led to the brink o f a
tarn,
he
stripped
himself,
hung
his clo thes o n an
o ak-tree,
plunged
into the
tarn, and, swimming
acro ss
it,
went
away
into desert
places.
There he was
changed
into a wo lf and herded
with wo lves fo r nine
years.
If he tasted human blo o d
befo re the nine
years
were o ut he had to remain a wo lf
fo r ever. But if
during
the nine
years
he abstained fro m
preying
o n
men, then,
when the tenth
year
came
ro und,
he
reco vered his human
shape.2 Similarly,
there is a
negro
1
Plato , Relub., 565
DE.
2
Pliny,
Nat.
Hist., viii,
8
; Pausanias, vi, 8, viii,
2. On the altar
at the
to p
o f Mt.
Lycaeus,
see
Pausanias, viii, 38, 7.
169
So me
Po pular
Superstitio ns
family
at the mo uth o f the
Co ngo
who are
suppo sed
to
po ssess
the
po wer
o f
turning
themselves into
leo pards
in
tile
glo o my depths
o f the fo rest. As
leo pards, they
kno ck
peo ple
do wn,
but do no further
harm,
fo r
they
think that
if,
as
leo pards, they
o nce
lapped blo o d,
they
wo uld be
leo pards
fo r ever.1
In the "
Banquet
o f Trimalchio " there is a
typical
were-
wo lf
sto ry,2
with which I will co nclude this
paper.
So me
po ints
in it are
explained by
the belief o f the Breto n
peasants,
that if a were-wo lf be wo unded to the effusio n o f
blo o d,
he is
thereby o bliged
to resume his human
fo rm,
and
that the man will then befo und to have o n his
bo dy
the
very
same wo und whichwas inflicted o n the wo lf.3 The
sto ry
is
put
in the mo uth o f o ne Nicero s. Late at
night
he left the
to wn to visit a friend o f
his,
a
wido w,
who lived at a farm
five miles do wn the ro ad. He was
acco mpanied by
a
so ldier,
who
lo dged
in the same
ho use,
a man o f
Herculean
build. When
they
set o ut it was near
dawn,
but the mo o n
sho ne as
bright
as
day. Passing
thro ugh
the o utskirts o f
the to wn
they
came
amo ngst
the
to mbs,
which lined the
highro ad
fo r so me distance. There the so ldier made an
excuse fo r
retiring amo ng
the
mo numents,
and Nicero s sat
do wn to wait fo r
him,
humming
a tune and
co unting
the
to mbsto nes. In a little he lo o ked ro und at his
co mpanio n,
and what he saw fro ze him with ho rro r. The so ldier had
stripped
o ff his clo thes to the last
rag
and laid them at
the side o f the
highway.
Then he
perfo rmed
a certain
ceremo ny
o ver
them,
and
immediately
was
changed
into a
wo lf,
and ran
ho wling
into the fo rest. When
Nicero s had
reco vered himself a little he went to
pick up
the
clo thes,
but fo und that
they
were turned to sto ne.
Almo st dead
with
fear,
he drew his
swo rd, and,
striking
at
every
1
A.
Bastian,
Die deutsche
Expeditio n
an der
Lo ango -Kiiste,
ii, 248.
2
Petro nius, 6i
seq.
3
Sdbillo t,
Traditio ns et
Superstitio ns
de la
Haute-Bretagne,
i, 29I
seq.
I
7
o f
the Anczents.
171
shado w cast
by
the to mbsto nes o n the mo o nlit ro ad
to ttered to his friend' s ho use. He entered it like a
gho st,
to the
surprise
o f the
wido w,
who wo ndered to see him
abro ad so late. " If
yo u
had
o nly
been here a little
ago ,"
said
she,
"
yo u might
have been o f so me use. Fo r a wo lf
came
tearing
into the
yard, scaring
the cattle and
bleeding
them like a butcher. But he did no t
get
o ff so
easily,
fo r
the servant
speared
him in the neck:" After
hearing
these
wo rds,
Nicero s felt that he co uld no t clo se an
eye,
so he
hurried
away
ho me
again.
It was no w bro ad
daylight,
but
when he came to the
place
where the clo thes had been
turned to
sto ne,
he fo und
o nly
a
po o l
o f blo o d. He reached
ho me,
and there
lay
the so ldier in bed like an o x in the
shambles,
and the do cto r was
bandaging
his neck.
J .
G. FRAZER.