BIRTH-DAY. 
277 
The parents chiefly tied jewels and rings to the children they ex- 
posed, or any other thing whereby they might afterwards discover 
thein, if Providence should preserve them, as well as to encourage such 
as found them to nourish and educate them if alive, or to give them 
human burial if dead. The places where it was usual to expose 
children were those most frequented, that they might be found, and 
taken up by compassionate persons, who were able to be at the 
expense of their education. Thus the Egyptians and Romans chose 
the banks of rivers, and the Greeks the highways. _ 
Customs of the ancient Ethiopians. 
These ancient Ethiopians, says Diodorus, were of a dry adust 
temperament; their nails in length resembled claws; they were igno- 
rant of the arts which polish the mind ; their language was hardly 
articulate, tlieir voices were shrill and piercing. As they did not 
endeavour to render life commodious and agreeable, tlieir manners 
and customs were very dift'erent from those of other nations. When 
they went to battle, some were armed with bucklers of ox’s hide, and 
little javelins in their hands; others carried crooked darts ; others 
used the bow ; and others fought with clubs. They took their wives 
with them to war, whom they obliged to enter upon military service 
at a certain age. The women wore rings of copper at their lips. 
Some of these people went without clothing. Sometimes they threw 
about them what they happened to find, to shelter them from the 
burning rays of the sun. Some lived upon a certain fruit, which grew 
spontaneously in marshy places ; some ate the tenderest shoots of trees, 
which were defended by the large branches from the heat of the sun; 
and others sowed Indian corn and lotos. Some of them lived only on 
the roots of reeds. Many spent a great partof their time in shooting 
birds, and, as they were excellent archers, their bows supplied them 
with plenty ; but the greater part of this people were sustained by 
the flesh of their flocks. • ^ 
Birth-day. 
The ancients placed a good deal of religion in the celebration of. 
their birth-days, and took omens from thence of the felicity of f lie 
coming year. The manner of celebrating birth-days was by a peculiar 
dress, wearing a sort of rings appropriated to that day, offering sacrifices, 
the men to their Genius, of wine and frankincense, the women th^ 
Juno, giving suppers, and treating their friends and clients, whb in 
return made them presents, wrote and sung their panegyrics, and 
offered good wishes for th& frequent happy returns of the same day.^ 
The birth-days of emperors were also celebrated with public sports, 
feasts, vows, and medals struck on the occasion. 
But the ancients, it is to be observed, had other sorts of birth-days 
besides the day on which they were born. The day of their adoption 
was always reputed as a birth-day, and celebrated accordingly. The 
emperor Adrian, we are told, observed three birth-days, viz. the day 
of his nativity, of his adoption, and of his inauguration. In tho^e 
