284 
PLIKY's ITATTJIIAL HISTOET. [Book XXVIII. 
even ? Some there are, too, who think it a point religiously 
to be observed to mention the name as well of the person whom 
they salute. 
And then, besides, it is a notion^^ universally received, that 
absent persons have warning that others are speaking of them, 
by the tingling of the ears. Attalus^^ assures us, that if a 
person, the moment he sees a scorpion, says Duo,''^^ the rep- 
tile will stop short, and forbear to sting. And now that I am 
speaking of the scorpion, I recall to mind that in Africa no one 
ever undertakes any matter without prefacing with the word 
Africa while in other countries, before an enterprise is 
commenced, it is the practice to adjure the gods that they 
will manifest their good will. 
In addition to this, it is very clear that there are some 
religious observances, unaccompanied by speech, which are 
considered to be productive of certain effects. Thus/^ when 
we are at table, for instance, it is the universal practice, we 
see, to take the ring from off the finger. Another person, 
again, will take some spittle from his mouth and place it with 
his finger behind the ear, to propitiate and modify disquietude 
of mind. "When we wish to signify applause, we have a proverb 
e^en which tells us- we should press the thumbs.^^ When pay- 
ing adoration, we kiss the right hand, and turn the whole 
body to the right : while the people of the Gallic provinces, on 
the contrary, turn to the left, and believe that they show 
mere devoutness by so doing. To salute summer lightning 
with clapping of the hands, is the universal practice with all 
nations. If, when eating, we happen to make mention of a 
fire that has happened, we avert the inauspicious omen by pour- 
ing water beneath the table. To sweep the floor at the moment 
that a person is rising from table, or to remove the table 
or tray,^ as the case may be, while a guest is drinking, is 
looked upon as a most unfortunate presage. There is a treatise, 
^'•^ In France and England, at the present day, this notion, or rather, per- 
haps, the memory of it, is universally to be found. If the right ear tingles, 
some one is speaking well of us ; if the left ear, the reverse. 
King Attains Philometor. See end of B. viii. 
51 "Two." 
^2 This passage, it is pretty clear, ought to follow the preceding one, 
though in the Latin it is made to precede. 
53 The thumb was turned upwards as a mark of favour, downwards, as 
a mark of disfavour. ^4 u Repositorium." 
