8$ PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XL 



wards, and that of the hind-log forwards ; their thighs are 

 placed on them obliquely, in a similar manner to a man's 

 thumb ; which is the case also with the multipede insects, the 

 hind-legs only excepted of such as leap. Birds, like quadru- 

 peds, have the joints of the wings bending forwards, but those 

 of the legs backwards. 



CHAP. 103. PARTS OF THE HUMAN BODY TO WHICn CERTAIN 



RELIGIOUS IDEAS ARE ATTACHED. 



In accordance with the usages of various nations, certain 

 religious ideas have been attached to the knees. It is the 

 knees that suppliants clasp, and it is to these that they extend 

 their hands ; it is the knees that they worship like so many 

 altars, as it were ; perhaps, because in them is centred ^ the 

 vital strength. For in the joint of either knee, the right 

 as well as the left, there is on the fore- side of each a certain 

 empty space, which bears a strong resemblance to a mouth, and 

 through which, like the throat, if it is once pierced, the vital 

 powers escape. 37 There are also certain religious ideas at- 

 tached to other parts of che body, as is testified in raising the 

 back of the right hand to the lips, and extending it as a token 

 of good faith. It was the custom of the ancient Greeks, when 

 in the act of supplication, to touch the chin. The seat of the 

 memory lies in the lower part of the ear, which we touch 

 when we summon a witness to depose upon memory to an 

 arrest. 38 The seat, too, of Nemesis 39 lies behind the right ear, a 

 goddess which has never yet found a Latin name, no, not in the 

 Capitol even. It is to this part that we apply the finger next 

 the little finger, after touching the mouth with it, when we 

 silently ask pardon of the gods for having let slip an indiscreet 

 word. 



CHAr. 104. VARICOSE VEINS. 



^len only, in general, have varicose veins in the legs, wo- 

 men but very rarely. We are informed by Oppius, that 



37 Though wounds in the knee are highly dangerous, death does not ne- 

 cessarily ensue. 



38 Of another person, who had thus forfeited his bail. It was the cus- 

 tom to touch the ear of the attesting witness. 



39 The goddess of retribution. See R. xxviii. c. 5, where he makes fur- 

 ther mention of her statue in the Capitol. 



