46 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



raven on the right hand or a crow on the left was reckoned a good 

 omen." * 



Early Roman history records more than one instance when the 

 hoarse croak of the raven and warning voice of the crow have been 

 heard and heeded in the councils of the nation, and sometimes even 

 turned the doubtful issues of a battle. In the war with the Gauls 

 which occurred in the consulship of Camillus, Livy tells us that 

 " when the opposing armies were drawn up ready to join in battle, a 

 Gaul of gigantic size stepped to the front and defied any one of the 

 Romans to meet him in single combat. His challenge was accepted by 

 Marcus Valerius, who was assisted in the fight by a crow, that, sud- 

 denly appearing, lit on the helmet of the Gaul and attacked him with 

 beak and talons until Valerius slew him, when the crow flew away to 

 the east. The death of the Gallic champion brought on a general 

 battle, in which the Gauls were beaten and forced to retreat. After 

 this remarkable event, Marcus Valerius was surnamed Corvus." f 



Pliny tells of a sedition that occurred in Rome in consequence of 

 the killing of a raven, and, though we can hardly relegate this prob- 

 ably historic incident to the domain of mythology, yet it will serve 

 to show the peculiar veneration in which these birds were held by the 

 ancient Romans. He says : 



"A raven, that had been bred upon the top of the temple of Castor, 

 flew down into the shop of a shoemaker which stood opposite ; the 

 shoemaker took much delight in its visits, and taught it to speak, after 

 which it would fly every morning to the rostra overlooking the forum, 

 whence, addressing each by name, it would salute Tiberius, then the 

 Caesars, Germanicus and Di'usus, after which it would greet the Ro- 

 man people as they passed, and then return to the shop. For many 

 years it was constant in its attendance ; but at length another shoe- 

 maker, envious of the popularity of his fellow craftsman, killed it ; 

 upon which the people became so enraged at the cruel and irreligious 

 wretch that they drove him from the city and eventually put him to 

 death. The funeral of the bird was celebrated with almost endless 

 obsequies ; the body was placed upon a litter carried by Ethiopians, 

 preceded by a piper, and was borne to the pile with garlands of every 

 size and description." \ 



Among the Scandinavian gods, the highest throne was assigned to 

 Odin the Alfacler. And, though there was but little in his cruel 

 and relentless character to remind us of the bright and life-giving 

 Vishnu, or the glorious and benignant Apollo, yet there is no doubt 

 but what he was another apotheosis of the sun, only with attributes so 

 changed as to suit the ideal of a stern and warlike race, who had not 

 only brute and human foes to contend against, but even to wage con- 

 tinual war against Nature herself. In the Norse mythology, both 



* Cicero, " De Divinatione." t ^ivy, lib. vii, chap. xxvi. 



X Pliiiy, " Ilist. Nat.," lib. x, chap. Ix. 



