O M E N, 
full moon. Other things were alfo regarded as ominous 
refpefting their marriages ; if a pair of turtles appeared 
during the celebration, it was deemed lucky, and a pre- 
fage of domeftic concord. The crow appearing, denoted 
Jong life to the married pair, if it appeared with its mate ; 
but, if it was feen iingle, feparation and forrow were por¬ 
tended ; whence it was cuftomary at nuptials for the maids 
to watch, that none of thefe birds, coming Angle, fhould 
difturb the folemnity. If pregnant women were delivered 
without pain, and efpecially jf they brought forth twins, 
it was regarded as a good omen, a convincing proof of 
chaftity, and a peculiar mark of divine favour. Soon af¬ 
ter the children were born, they were placed in winnow¬ 
ing.vans, which were looked upon as omens of their fu¬ 
ture prosperity and riches. 
There were feveral modes of averting bad omens : Pliny 
expr'efsly declares, that the force and efficacy of the omen 
depended upon the perfons to whom they appeared. If 
the omen was,taken by the hearer, or ftruck upon his ima¬ 
gination, it was efficacious; but, if negle&ed, or not taken 
notice of, it was of no force. Julius Caefar never was 
deterred by them from any undertaking : Auguftus, on 
the contrary, was remarkably fuperftitious, and frequent¬ 
ly defifted from his deligns on their account. The moll 
effedlua! mode to avert an omen, was either to throw a 
ftone at a thing, or to kill it outright, if it was an omi¬ 
nous animal ; by this means, the evil which it portended 
•was fuppofed to fall on its own head ; if it was an unlucky 
fpeech, it was Cuftomary to retort it upon the fpeaker. 
At the fight of a madman, or one troubled with epilepfy, 
it was cuftomary to fpit three times into their bofoms, to 
exprefs that they held the omen in contempt and averfion. 
Frequently, however, when the Greeks met an unlucky 
omen, they defifted from what they were doing, and be¬ 
gan it anew. Euripides defcribes a perfon, on hearing an 
ominous word, throwing the cup out of which he was 
about to drink upon the ground, and calling for another. 
As the omens of the Romans were nearly fimilar to 
thofe of the Greeks, we fitall only notice fuch as were pe¬ 
culiar to them. Chickens were regarded as affording fuch 
important omens, that a perfon,. called Pullarius, was ex- 
prefsly employed to keep them : omens drawn from them 
were had recourfe to before commencing an engagement: 
if the chickens came too flowly out of the cage, or w'ould 
not feed, it was a bad omen ; but, if they fed greedily, fo 
that fome part of their food fell and ftruck the ground, it 
was deemed an excellent omen. In the very early times 
of the republic, before an army palled a river, a kind of 
aufpices were taken from examining the beaks of birds ; 
but Cicero lays, this had fallen entirely into difufe in his 
time. 
When Cssfar, landed at Adrumetum in Africa, with 
his army, he happened to fall on his face ; this was re¬ 
garded as a bad omen ; but he, not being accuftomed to 
pay attention to prefages, and therefore poffeffing great 
prefence of mind on the occafion, turned it to the con¬ 
trary ; for, taking hold of the ground with his right-hand, 
and killing it, as if he had fallen on purpofe, he exclaimed, 
“ I take poffeffion of thee, O Africa.” Auguftus, on the 
contrary, as has been already obferved, was remarkably 
fuperftitious. When the Greeks and Romans put on 
their clothes, the right fide was ferved firft; and, there¬ 
fore, if a fervant gave his mailer his left ffioe firft, it was 
regarded as a bad omen. This omen Auguftus regarded 
with a peculiarly ftrong fuperftitious dread ; and this was 
much increafed when one day, his left ffioe having been 
put on before his right, he was nearly deftroyed by a mu¬ 
tiny among fome of his foldiers. He alfo paid particular 
attention to lucky and unlucky days; he never went 
abroad upon the day following the nundina, nor began 
any ferious undertaking on the nones. It was, indeed, 
a general opinion among the Romans, that the days im¬ 
mediately following the nones, ides, and kalends, were 
unfortunate. The emperor Valentinian confidered the 
24th of February, in the biffextile year, as fo very unfor¬ 
475 
tunate, that, having been chofen emperor on that day, he 
was afraid to Ihow himfelf in public, left fome evil Ihould 
befal him. (Ammian. Marcell. lib. xxvi.) Theemperor 
Charles V. on the contrary, regarded that as one of the 
moft lucky days. (Bayle’s Penfees diverfes, p. 47.) The 
day on which the Romans fuffered their memorable defeat 
from the Cimbrians, was long viewed as a moft unfortu¬ 
nate day; and no general, if he could poffibly avoid it, 
would begin a battle on it. When Lucullus expreffed his 
determination to attack Tigranes king of Armenia on 
that day, his officers unanimoufly and ftrongly oppofed 
him ; blit he perfifted in his defign, gave battle, com¬ 
pletely routed the enemy, obtained one of the moft fignal 
and important vi&ories recorded in Roman hiftory, and 
changed the character of the day from unfortunate to for¬ 
tunate, as he foretold he would, when his officers endea¬ 
voured to difl’uade him from fighting. 
The oriental nations carry their belief in, and regard 
to, omens to as great a length as the Greeks and Romans 
did. The Perfians have diltinfl and appropriate names 
for the different kinds of omens. Teryli fignifies that 
kind, in which, by throwing pebble-llones or gravel, fu¬ 
ture events are prefaged ; eyaf, divination from birds, the 
flight of which is obferved as carefully-as it was among 
the Greeks or Romans; liari is the name of a bird with a 
long beak, which the Perfians and Arabians confider as a 
bird of good omen, and which they are always glad to 
meet. If a deer is feen defcending from a mountain, or 
behind the beholder, it is regarded as an unlucky omen; 
and to omens of this character the name hades is given. 
The oriental nations alio are very attentive to fortunate 
and unfortunate days; about the middle of February, 
they celebrate a feaft in honour of the angel Isfendarmuz, 
the guardian of the fair fex ; and marriages contracted 
during this folemnity, were regarded as peculiarly fortu¬ 
nate. If an Afiatic, when he is fetting out on important 
bufipefs, meets with a perfon whom he fuppofes to have 
an unlucky foot, (Jhtun kudem,) he immediately returns ; 
and, if an involuntary cough or fneeze interrupt the Ma¬ 
hometans during their ablutions, the whole fervice is 
begun anew, and-that as often as it happens. Before a 
married man fets out on a long journey, he twills, in a 
particular manner, two branches of the broom called 
retcm; and if, on his return, he finds them Hill twilled, 
it is an omen of the fidelity of his wife ; but, if they are 
untwilled, he regards it as fuch an unfortunate omen, 
that nothing will induce him to believe her innocent. By 
a Angular mode of augury, they endeavour to foretel the 
weather : they tie fome combullible matter to the tail of 
a bullock, to which they fet fire; if the animal runs-up 
the hill, they confider it as a fure prognoltic of rain. 
When a Periian pealant willies the wind to rife for the 
purpofe of winnowing his corn, inftead of whillling, as is 
common in different parts of Europe, he rubs and fcat- 
ters into the air a fpecies offaftron, and by this means 
anticipates what he defires. 
Tamerlane was very attentive to lucky and unlucky 
days ; and he feldom put his army in motion, and never 
engaged in battle, till the aftrologers had fixed the fortu¬ 
nate hour. An idiot having once thrown a breaft of 
mutton at him, while he was planning the conquell of 
Kharezme, fometimes called “ the breaft of the world,” 
he interpreted it before all his army as an infallible omen 
of his fuccefs. 
The ancient Germans made much ufe of the horfe in 
their omens : thefe animals, efpecially fuch as were white, 
were kept at the public expenfe, and not allowed to be 
worked for the uleof man ; the prefages were drawn from 
the mode and time of their neighings. When they were 
about to engage in any military enterprife, they fet up 
three rows of lpears, each row confining of a certain num¬ 
ber fixed in the ground, and one laid acrofs the top; when 
they were thus fixed, a horfe vyas brought out by the 
prieft, and led to the fpears ; if he advanced in fuch a 
manner, that his right foot reached the fpears firft, the 
omen 
