36 Conception, Birth and Infancy in 



Titus Manlius who, when his son disobeyed orders by leaving the 

 ranks to fight a victorious duel with a taunting foe, had him put 

 to death before his own eyes. But carino Pepino is not executed : 

 he is obeyed, fondled, and kissed. 



Ancient conceptions of what was quite proper discipline for 

 children permitted nurses to terrify them into subjection by threat- 

 ening them with punitory visits of ghosts and ogres. 184 In Italy 

 of today the goblins who "get" bad children, if they don't "watch 

 out" are some of them of excellent classical lineage. Thus, it is 

 reasonable to believe that the bugbear Mammone is a direct de- 

 scendant of the Mormo who probably during many centuries 

 served the nurses of Greek and Roman children in their reigns of 

 terror. 185 Lamia was another one of the terrifying creatures of 

 antiquity with the coming of whom disobedient children could be 

 threatened. 186 She still lives in her character of a terrorist. Fur- 

 thermore, the much dreaded sorceress, the Impusa delta morte, 

 of whom Charles Godfrey Leland speaks in his interesting but not 

 wholly reliable book on "Etruscan Roman Remains", must be a 

 survival, in a way, of the Empusa that figures in classical litera- 

 ture. 187 Orcus, the god of the Lower World, as well as one of the 

 names given to it, survives in the folklore of south Italy as an old 

 man who has a long white beard, teeth as sharp as nails, and hooked 

 fingernails. 188 He appears in Sardinia as "Uncle Orcus", Ziu 

 Orcu. When a child misbehaves, he is told that this monster will 

 carry him off, fatten and devour him. Orcu is ably assisted by the 

 ogre Zia Orca, his wife "Aunt Orca." His name may be plural- 

 ized, so that Orchi is equivalent in Italian to "hobgoblins", "buga- 

 boos." 189 



One of the functions of the so-called Saint Eliseo, who is to be 

 recognized, I suppose, as Elisha, would appear to be to destroy 

 bad boys, but he has not been very efficient at this task. 190 We 

 must not overlook the fact that even Befana, whom we recognize 

 ordinarily as the Italian gift-giver of Christmastide, is not always 

 a sort of female counterpart of our Santa Klaus, but can be sum- 

 moned as a bugaboo to scare children. Effigies of her as an old 

 witch, made of rags, are burned by the boys at the ceremonies of 

 Twelfth-night. 191 Other fanciful modern creations are Farfarelli, 

 Mamucca, and the Monacello. Occasionally they are called upon 

 to coerce the disobedient child. There is much traditional lore 



