I. u s 



L U S 



radies, generally known by the name of ParaJies' minuet. 

 In 1772 we had the pleafiircof coiivcrfiii^r with this worthy 

 profeflor (Lullig), and of hearing him play on the organ of 

 St. Martin's church in Gronnigen. of which he had been or- 

 ganic 44 years ; Hill retaining his hand, and, a few allow- 

 a.ices made for change of tailc and Uyle, he was Hill a very 

 able and good organift. 



LUSTRAL, an epithet given by the ancients, to the 

 water ufed in their ceremonies, to fprinkle and purify the 

 people. From hence the Romanills have borrowed the holy 

 water iifed in their churches. 



LtJSTRAL Jtty, dies Lujlricus, that whereon the lullrations 

 •were perfonned for a child, and its name given ; wlucli was 

 ulually tlie ninth day from the birth of a boy, and the eighth 

 from that of a girl. Though others performed the cere- 

 mony en the lail day of that week wherein the child was 

 burn, and others on the fifth day from its birlh. 



Over this iealt day the goddefs Nundina was fuppofed to 

 preiide ; the midwivcs, nurfes, and domeilics, handed the 

 child backwards and forwards, around a iire burning on the 

 akars of the gods, after which they iprinkled it with water; 

 lience this feaft had the name of Amphidromia. The old 

 women mixed faliva and duft with the water. The whole 

 ended with a fumptuous entertainment. The parents re- 

 ceived gifts from their friends on this occafion. If this child 

 was a male, their door was decked with an olive-garland : if 

 a female with wool, denoting the work about whicli they 

 were to be employed. P -tter. 



LUSTRATION, E.xpiatiok, in Anliquity, facrifices 

 or ceremonies, by which the Rcnans puritied their cities, 

 iields, armies, or people defded by any crime, or impurity. 

 Some of the luftrations were public, others private. 



Tht-re were three fpecies, or manners of performing luf- 

 tration ; ii/z. by fire and fulphur ; by water ; and by air ; 

 which lad was done by fanning and agitating the air round 

 the thing to be purified. 



There was alfo a peculiar kind of luftration for young 

 children. 



Lomier has a volume exprefs on the luftrations of the an- 

 cients : Joh. Lomicri Zutphanenfis Epimenedes, five de 

 ■vetcrum Gentilium Lullrationibus ; firll printed at Utrecht 

 in i68r, and fince, with additions, in 1702, 4to. 



All .pcrions, flaves only excepted, he fhews, were mi- 

 niftcrsof fome forts of liillration. When anyone died, the 

 houfewas to be fwept after a particular manner, by way of 

 purification ; the pricft threw water on new married people, 

 with the like intention. To jjurify themfclves, people 

 wonld even fomelimes run naj'.ed through the flreets ; fuch 

 was their extravagance. And, as if fancy was not fertile 

 enough in inventing modes of hulration, they even ufed in- 

 chantments to raife the dead, in order to get inftrndlions 

 what they mud do to purge thenifelves of their fins. Add, 

 that they frequently raifed the opinion of the fanSity of their 

 expiations by ficlitious miracles. 



It was common, on thefe occafions, to (lied human blood : 

 the priells of Cybele, Bellona, and Baal, made cruel inci- 

 fions on themfclves. Ereftheus, king of Attica, facrificed 

 his daughter to Proferpina. Several had their throats cut at 

 Rome, to obtain the emperor's health from the gods. 

 Thofe who commanded armies offered one of their foldiers 

 to appeafe the anger of the gods ; that he alone might fulfer 

 all the wrath the army deferved. 



Ail forts of perfumes, and odoriferous herbs, had place 

 in luftration. The egg was much ufed among them, as 

 being the fymbol of the four elements ; its fliells, they fzy, 

 reprefent the earth ; the yolk, a globe of fire ; the wliite, 

 jsefembles the water ; and bcfides it has a fpirit, ihey fay, 



wliich reprefents the air. For this reafon it is, that (hff 

 bonzes, or Indian priefts, believe to this day that the worid 

 came out of an egg. There is fcarce any pot-herb, puJle, 

 tree, mineral, or metal, which they did not ofl'er the goda by 

 way of expiation : nor did they forget milk, bread, wine, 

 or honey ; what is more, they made ufc of the very fpitile, 

 and urine. 



Tlie poets had feigned, that the gods purified thenifelves, 

 and they did not omit to purify their ftataes. They made 

 luftration for children the eighth day after their birth. 

 When a man who had been falfcly reputed dead, returned 

 home, he was not to enter his houfe bv the door. It was a 

 tettled cultom to ofter no expiation for thofe who were hanged 

 by order of juftice ; or that were killed by thunder. Neither 

 did they oiler any for thofe who were drowned in the fca ; 

 it being the common opinion, that their fouls peri (bed with 

 their bodies. And hence it was, that perfons in danger of 

 ihipwreck, fometimes thruft their fwords through their 

 bodies, that they might not die in the fea ; where tliey 

 thought tlieir foul, which they fuppofed to be a flame, would 

 be totally extinguilhed. The moft celebrated expiatory fa- 

 crilice was the hecatomb, when they offered a hundred 

 hearts ; though they commonly did not offer fo many, but 

 contented themfclves with killing twenty-live ; but thoft; 

 being quadrupeds, their feet came to an hundred. 



The manner ot the Macedonians purifying their army by 

 luftration was this ; at the time of their feftival Xanlhica, 

 tiiey divided a bitch into two halves, one of which, together 

 with the entrails, was placed upon the right hand, the other 

 upon the left; between tiiefe the army marched m this or- 

 der: after the arms of the Macedonian kings, came the firft 

 line of the army, confifting of horfe ; thefe were followed 

 by the king, and his- children, after whom went the life 

 guards ; then followed the reft of the army : this done, the 

 army was divided into two parts, one of which being fet in 

 array againtt the other, there followed £ fhort encounter in 

 imitation of a fight. Potter, Arclixcl. Gra;c. Lb. ii. c. :c. 

 torn. i. p. 417. 



Luftrations, and liiftratory facrifices, were not only per- 

 formed for men, but alfo for temples, altars, theatres, trees, 

 fouiilains, rivers, flieep, fields, and villages. When tlie 

 Arval brothers offered a viftim for the fields, their facrillce 

 was called ambar-vaUa. 



Cities were alfo to be purified, from time to time: fome 

 made the viftim walk round the.r walls, and then flew him. 

 The Athenians facrificed two men, one for the men of their 

 city, and the other for the uomen. Tlie Corimhians facri- 

 ficed the children of Medea fo : though the poets lay, Medea 

 killed them herlVlf. The Romans performed the ceremony 

 of purifying their city every fifth year ; whence tiie name of 

 lullrum was given to the fpace of five years. 



Divers of the expiations were aullere : fome fafted ; others 

 abrtained froiri all feniual pleafures ; fome, as the priefts of 

 Cybele, caflrated thcmfelves ; others, that they might live 

 chafte, eat rue, or lay under the branches of a fhrub called 

 agtnis ciijjus. 



They cafl: into the river, or at leaft out of the city, the 

 animals or other things tliat had ferved for a luftration, or 

 facrifice of atonement ; and thought themfelves threatened 

 with fome great misfortune, when by chance they trod upon 

 them. At Marfeilles, they took care to feed a poor man for 

 fome time ; after which, they charged him with all the fins 

 of the country, and drove him away : thofe of Leucade 

 faftened a number of birds to a man charged with their fins, 

 and in that condition call him headlong from a high tower ; 

 and if the birds hindered his being killed, they drove him 

 out of the country. 



Some 



