1 82 Literary and Philosophical Society. 



habited the walls of deserted Luca, well skilled in the 

 movements of lightnings, and the throbbing veins of the 

 entrails, and the warnings of the wing hovering in the air.' 



B. I. 603-610. 



' And while in prolonged circuit they go round about 

 the emptied city, Aruns collects the dispersed objects struck 

 by flames of lightning, and with a lamenting murmur 

 buries them in the earth, and bestows a name upon the 

 consecrated spots. Then does he urge onward to the altar 

 a male with selected neck.' * 



Still, without pretending to a critical knowledge of Latin, 

 we must seek some evidence that ignes meant the things 

 struck by fire. If we look at Smith's Dictionary, we find 

 that the priests ' Bidentales ' collected the earth and buried 

 it in the ground with a sorrowful murmur, but the proof of 

 this painful expression is the very passage in question, and 

 we may yet ask if condere fulgur means the same as colligere 

 disperses fulminis ignes. Dr. Falconer seems to have found 

 the truth hidden from the scholars unskilled in physics. 



He then endeavours to trace the use of spears as con- 

 ductors, and quotes Livy's account of a spear which burnt 

 for two hours and was not consumed. He gives Plutarch's 

 account of balls of fire that were seen on the points of the 

 soldiers' spears, and refers to the lightning on ships' masts, 

 and the fires of St. Elmo. This connects the worship of 

 spears with fire-worship. 



1 Also see Riley : 'He alludes to the consecration of the 'bidental;' a 

 name given to a place struck by lightning and thenceforward held sacred. 

 Similar veneration was paid to the burial place of a person killed by lightning. 

 Priests collected the earth, branches, &c., and buried them with lamentations. 

 The spot was consecrated by sacrificing a two-year old sheep, which gave its 

 name ' bidens ' to the place. An altar was also erected, and no one was 

 allowed to tread on, touch, or look at it. The altar might be repaired when 

 fallen into decay, but it was sacrilege to extend its boundaries. Seneca men- 

 tions a belief that wine struck by lightning would produce madness if drank.' 



