Chap. 5.] A DESCIUPTTOX OF VARIOUS USAGES. 283 



in the thigh, by repeating a charm ; and Theophrastus^^ says 

 that sciatica may be cured by similar means. Cato^^ has 

 preserved a formula for the cure of sprains, and M. Varro for 

 that of gout. The Dictator Caesar, they say, having on one 

 occasion accidentally had a fall in his chariot,*^ was always in 

 the habit, immediately upon taking his seat, of thrice repeating 

 a certain formula, with the view of ensuring safety upon the 

 journey ; a thing that, to my own knowledge, is done by many 

 persons at the present day. 



CHAP. 5. A DESCKIPTION OF VAEIOUS USAGES. 



I would appeal, too, for confirmation on this subject, to the 

 intimate experience of each individual. Why, in fact, upon 

 the first day of the new year, do we accost one another with 

 prayers for good fortune,*^ and, for luck's sake, wish each other 

 a happy new year ? Why, too, upon the occasion of public 

 lustrations, do we select persons with lucky names, to lead the 

 victims ? Why, to counteract fascinations, do we Komans 

 observe a peculiar form of adoration, in invoking the Nemesis 

 of the Greeks ; whose statue, for this reason, has been placed 

 in the Capitol at Rome, although the goddess herself possesses 

 no Latin name }^^ Why, when we make mention of the dead, 

 do we protest that we have no wish*^ to impeach their good 

 name ?^ Why is it that we entertain the belief that for every 

 pui'pose odd numbers are the most effectual ;■*' — a thing that is 

 particularly observed with reference to the critical days in 

 fevers ? Why is it that, when gathering the earliest fruit, 

 apples, or pears, as the case may be, we make a point of sayiug 

 — " This fruit is old, may other fruit be sent us that is new ? " 

 Why is it that we salute*^ a person when he sneezes, an obser- 

 vance which Tiberius Caesar, they say, the most unsociable of 

 men, as we all know, used to exact, when riding in his chariot 



■^ De Enthusiasrao. *i See B. xvii. c. 47. 



*2 In passing along the Velabrum, on the occasion of his Gallic triumph, 

 the axle of the carriage having broke. 



" See Ovid's Fasti, B. i. 1. 175, et seg., and Epist. de Ponto. B. iv. 

 El. 4. 1. 23, et seq. 



^1 See B. xi. c. 103. 



*^ Hence the saying, " De mortuis nil nisi bonura." 



^^ " Defunctorum memoriam a nobis non soUicitari." 



^"^ It is still a saying, and perhaps a belief, that " There is luck in 

 odd numbers." 



^^ This has been a practice from the earliest times to the present day. 

 See Brand's Popular Antiquities, "Vol. III. p. 123, Bohii's Ed. 



