NOTES.

NOTES TO BOOK I.

(a) p. 6. Flowers more alluring to the ancient Italians than to their descendants," &c.

The modern Italians, especially those of the more southern parts of Italy, have a peculiar horror of perfumes; they consider them remarkably unwholesome; and the Roman or Neapolitan lady requests her visitors not to use them. What is very strange, the nostril so susceptible of a perfume is wonderfully obtuse to its reverse. may literally call Rome, "Sentina Gentium."

You

(b) p. 27. "The sixth banqueter, who was the umbra of Clodius."

A very curious and interesting treatise might be written on the parasites of Greece and Rome. In the former, they were more degraded than in the latter country. The Epistles of Alciphron express, in a lively manner, the insults which they underwent for the sake of a dinner: one man complains that fish-sauce was thrown into his eyes—that he was beat on the head, and given to eat stones covered with honey; while a courtesan threw at him a bladder filled with blood, which burst on his face and covered him with the stream. The manner in which these parasites repaid the hospitality of their hosts was, like that of modern diners-out, by witty jokes and amusing stories; sometimes they indulged practical jokes on each other, "boxing one another's ears." The magistrates at Athens appear to have looked very sternly upon these hungry buffoons, and they complain of stripes and a prison with no philosophical resignation. In fact, the parasite seems at Athens to have answered the purpose of the fool of the middle ages; but he was far more worthless and perhaps more witty the associate of courtesans, uniting the pimp with the buffoon. This is a character peculiar to Greece. The Latin

--

comic writers make indeed prodigal use of the parasite; yet he appears at Rome to have held a somewhat higher rank, and to have met with a somewhat milder treatment, than at Athens. Nor do the delineations of Terence, which, in portraying Athenian manners, probably soften down whatever would have been exaggerated to a Roman audience, present so degraded or so abandoned a character as the parasite of Alciphron and Athenæus. The more haughty and fastidious Romans often disdained indeed to admit such buffoons as companions, and hired (as we may note in Pliny's Epistles) fools or mountebanks, to entertain their guests and supply the place of the Grecian parasite. When (be it observed) Clodius is styled parasite in the text, the reader must take the modern, not the ancient interpretation of the word.

A very feeble, but very flattering reflex of the parasite was the umbra or shadow, who accompanied any invited guest, and who was sometimes a man of equal consequence, though usually a poor relative, or an humble friend--in modern cant, "a toady." Such is the umbra of our friend Clodius.

(c) p. 30.—“ The dice in August, and I an ædile!”

All games of chance were forbidden by law ("Vetitâ legibus aleâ.". Horat. Od. xxiv. 1, 3), except in Saturnalibus," during the month of December: the ædiles were charged with enforcing this law, which, like all laws against gaming, in all times, was wholly

ineffectual.

(d) p. 38.—“The small but graceful temple consecrated to Isis.”

Sylla is said to have transported to Italy the worship of the Egyptian Ísis. It soon became "the rage," and was peculiarly in vogue with the Roman ladies. Its priesthood were sworn to chastity, and, like all such brotherhoods, were noted for their licentiousness. Juvenal styles the priestesses by a name (Isiaceæ lena) that denotes how convenient they were to lovers, and under the mantle of night many an amorous intrigue was carried on in the purlieus of the sacred temples. A lady vowed for so many nights to watch by the shrine of Isis; it was a sacrifice of continence towards her husband, to be bestowed on her lover! While one passion of human nature was thus appealed to, another scarcely less strong was also pressed into the service of the goddess-namely, Credulity. The priests of Isis arrogated a knowledge of magic and of the future. Among women of all classes and among many of the harder sex the Egyptian sorceries were consulted and revered as oracles. Voltaire, with much plausible ingenuity, endeavours to prove that the gipsies are a remnant of the ancient priests and priestesses of Isis, intermixed with those of the goddess of Syria. In the time of Apuleius these holy

In the Campanian cities the trade with Alexandria was probably more efficacious than the piety of Sylla (no very popular example, perhaps,) in establishing the worship of the favourite deity of Egypt.

66

impostors had lost their dignity and importance; despised and poor, they wandered from place to place selling prophecies and curing disorders; and Voltaire shrewdly bids us remark, that Apuleius has not forgot their peculiar skill in filching from out-houses and court-yards afterwards they practised palmistry and singular dances (query, the Bohemian dances?). "Such," says the too-conclusive Frenchman, "such has been the end of the ancient religion of Isis and Osiris, whose very names still impress us with awe!" At the time in which my story is cast, the worship of Isis was, however, in the highest repute; and the wealthy devotees sent even to the Nile, that they might sprinkle its mysterious waters over the altars of the goddess. I have introduced the ibis in the sketch of the temple of Isis, although it has been supposed that that bird languished and died when taken from Egypt. But from various reasons, too long now to enumerate, I incline to believe that the ibis was by no means unfrequent in the Italian temples of Isis, though it rarely lived long, and refused to breed in a foreign climate.

NOTE TO BOOK II.

(a) p. 152." The marvels of Faustus are not comparable to those of Apollonius."

During the earlier ages of the Christian epoch, the Heathen Philosophy, especially of Pythagoras and of Plato, had become debased and adulterated, not only by the wildest mysticism, but the most chimerical dreams of magic. Pythagoras, indeed, scarcely merited a nobler destiny; for though he was an exceedingly clever man, he was a most prodigious mountebank, and was exactly formed to be the great father of a school of magicians. Pythagoras himself either cultivated magic or arrogated its attributes, and his followers told marvellous tales of his writing on the moon's disc, and appearing in several places at once. His golden rules and his golden thigh were in especial veneration in Magna Græcia, and out of his doctrines of occult numbers his followers extracted numbers of doctrines. The most remarkable of the later impostors who succeeded him was Apollonius of Tyana, referred to in the text. All sorts of prodigies accompanied the birth of this gentleman. Proteus, the Egyptian god, foretold to his mother yet pregnant, that it was he himself (Proteus) who was about to reappear in the world through her agency. After this, Proteus might well be considered to possess the power of transformation! Apollonius knew the language of birds, read men's thoughts in their bosoms, and walked about with a familiar spirit. He was a devil of a fellow with a devil, and induced a mob to stone a poor demon of venerable and mendicant appearance, who, after the lapidary operation, changed into a huge dog. He raised the dead, passed a night with Achilles, and when Domitian was murdered, he called out aloud

(though at Ephesus at the moment), "Strike the tyrant!" The end of so honest and great a man was worthy his life. It would seem that he ascended into heaven. What less could be expected of one who had stoned the devil? Should any English writer meditate a new Faust, I recommend to him Apollonius.

But the magicians of this sort were philosophers (!) — excellent men and pious; there were others of a far darker and deadlier knowledge, the followers of the Goetic Magic: in other words, the Black Art. Both of these, the Goetic and the Theurgic, seem to be of Egyptian origin; and it is evident, at least, that their practitioners appeared to pride themselves on drawing their chief secrets from that ancient source; - and both are intimately connected with astrology. In attributing to Arbaces the knowledge and the repute of magic, as well as that of the science of the stars, I am, therefore, perfectly in accordance with the spirit of his time, and the circumstances of his birth. He is a characteristic of that age. At one time, I purposed to have developed and detailed more than I have done the pretensions of Arbaces to the mastery of his art, and to have initiated the reader into the various sorceries of the period. But as the character of the Egyptian grew upon me, I felt that it was necessary to be sparing of that machinery which, thanks to this five-shillings march of knowledge, every one now may fancy he can detect. Such as he is, Arbaces is become too much of an intellectual creation to demand a frequent repetition of the coarser and more physical materials of terror. I suffered him, then, merely to demonstrate his capacities in the elementary and obvious secrets of his craft, and leave the subtler magic he possesses to rest in mystery and shadow.

As to the Witch of Vesuvius, her spells and her philters, her cavern and its appliances, however familiar to us of the North, are faithful also to her time and nation. A witch of a lighter character, and manners less ascetic, the learned reader will remember with delight in the Golden Ass of Apuleius; and the reader who is not learned, is recommended to the spirited translation of that enchanting romance by Taylor.

NOTE TO BOOK III.

(a) p. 171.-" The influence of the evil eye."

This superstition, to which I have more than once alluded throughout this work, still flourishes in Magna Græcia, with scarcely diminished vigour. I remember conversing at Naples with a lady of the highest rank, and of intellect and information very uncommon amongst the noble Italians of either sex, when I suddenly observed her change colour, and make a rapid and singular motion with her finger. My God, that man!" she whispered tremblingly.

What man?"

"See! the Count *****! he has just entered."

"He ought to be much flattered to cause such emotion; doubtless he has been one of the Signora's admirers?"

"Admirer! Heaven forbid ! He has the evil eye. His look fell full upon me. Something dreadful will certainly happen."

"I see nothing remarkable in his eyes."

"So much the worse. The danger is greater for being disguised. He is a terrible man. The last time he looked upon my husband, it was at cards, and he lost half his income at a sitting, his ill-luck was miraculous. The Count met my little boy in the gardens, and the poor child broke his arm that evening. Oh! what shall I do? something dreadful will certainly happen—and, heavens! he is admiring my cap!"

"Does every one find the eyes of the Count equally fatal, and his admiration equally exciting?"

Every one he is universally dreaded; and, what is very strange, he is so angry if he sees you avoid him!"

"That is very strange indeed! the wretch!"

At Naples the superstition works well for the jewellers,- so many charms and talismans as they sell for the ominous fascination of the mal-occhio! In Pompeii, the talismans were equally numerous, but not always of so elegant a shape, nor of so decorous a character. But, generally speaking, a coral ornament was, as it now is, among the favourite averters of the evil influence. The Thebans about Pontus were supposed to have an hereditary claim to this charming attribute, and could even kill grown-up men with a glance. As for Africa, where the belief also still exists, certain families could not only destroy children, but wither up trees they did this not with curses but praises. In our time, politicians have often possessed this latter faculty and the moment they take to praising an institution, it is time to pray God for it! The malus oculus was not always different from the eyes of other people. But persons, especially of the fairer sex, with double pupils to the organ, were above all to be shunned and dreaded. The Illyrians were said to possess this fatal deformity. In all countries, even in the north, the eye has ever been held the chief seat of fascination; but nowadays, ladies with a single pupil manage the work of destruction pretty easily. So much do we improve upon our forefathers!

(a) p. 393.

NOTE TO BOOK IV.

We care not for gods up above us,

We know there's no god for this earth, boys!'

The doctrines of Epicurus himself are pure and simple. Far from denying the existence of diviner powers, Velleius (the defender and explainer of his philosophy in Cicero's dialogue on the Nature of the