the Moor fell down upon the ground a heap of ashes.[1] The Moor, like his former victims, had put himself in the weaker position by answering a question. To this necessity for getting the upper hand in a verbal encounter may be traced the formal acceptance of omens in classical antiquity. The omen is ratified by acceptance, and the fatal word can thus be made sure, even in a sense which is contrary to the speaker's intention. For example, the Spartans, on the advice of Delphi, sent an envoy to Xerxes, to demand justice for the murder of Leonidas. After hearing the complaint, Xerxes turned to Mardonios, who was standing by, and uttered the fatal words, "(
Greek characters)." The envoy accepted the omen, and departed.[2] The victory again goes to the party who is astute enough to take the offensive.[3]
Now there is a class of rites in which contact with a dangerous power is deliberately anticipated in order to secure safety or to annul harm magically inflicted by that power. For example, there are those ford rites in which the traveller throws in some articles of small value, spits in the stream, washes his hands, or takes a ceremonial sip before braving the danger of crossing. Peruvians, Indians of the Cordilleras, Sinhalese, Zulus, Bantus, and Badagas of the Neilgherry Hills observe one or other of these forms of ritual.[4] Hesiod warns the traveller against crossing
- ↑ Hartland, op. cit., vol. iii., p. 101.
- ↑ Herodotus, viii. 115. For other examples of the formal acceptance of omens, cf. Herodotus, viii. 137, ix. 91, i. 63; Cicero De Div., i. 46, 103; Plutarch, Parallela, 306 c. So the technical word for the ceremony of averting an omen implies refusal. Of Hippias we are told, (
Greek characters), (Herod., v. 56).
- ↑ Cf. the story in Herodotus, viii. 137. Perdikkas' acceptance of the opportunity is contrasted with his brother's dulness of apprehension.
- ↑ Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. ii., p. 210; Hildburgh, The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute etc., vol. xxxviii., p. 189; Frazer, in Anthropological Essays etc., pp. 140-141.
