The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third...

Dittenberger, Sylloge inscriptionum Graecarum,2 No. 566; Ch. Michel, Recueil d'inscriptions grecques, No. 730 ἁγνευέτωσαν δὲ καὶ εἰσίτωσαν εἰς τὸν τῆς θεο[ῦ ναὸν] ... ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ κήδους καὶ τεκούσης γυναικὸς δευτεραῖος: Euripides, Iphigenia in Tauris, 380 sqq.:

τὰ τῆς θεοῦ δὲ μέμφομαι σοφίσματα, ἤτις. βροτῶν μὲν ἤν τις ἄψηται φόνου ἥ καὶ λοχείας ἢ νεκροῦ θιγῇ χεροῖν, βωμῶν ἀπείργει, μυσαρὸν ὡς ἡγουμένη.

Compare also a mutilated Greek inscription found in Egypt (Revue archéologique, IIIme Série, ii. 182 sqq.). In the passage of Euripides which I have just quoted an acute verbal scholar, the late Dr. Badham, proposed to omit the line ἢ καὶ λοχείας ἢ νεκροῦ θιγῇ χεροῖν with the comment: “Nihil facit ad argumentum puerperae mentio; patet versum a sciolo additum.” To do Dr. Badham justice, the inscription which furnishes so close a parallel to the line of Euripides had not yet been discovered among the ruins of Pergamum, when he proposed to mutilate the text of the poet.

Deuteronomy xxiii. 9-14; 1 Samuel xxi. 5. The rule laid down in Deuteronomy xxiii. 10, 11, suffices to prove that the custom of continence observed in time of war by the Israelites, as by a multitude of savage and barbarous peoples, was based on a superstitious, not a rational motive. To convince us of this it is enough to remark that the rule is often observed by warriors for some time after their victorious return, and also by the persons left at home during the absence of the fighting men. In these cases the observance of the rule evidently does not admit of a rational explanation, which could hardly, indeed, be entertained by any one conversant with savage modes of thought. For examples, see The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, vol. i. pp. 125, 128, 131, 133, and below, pp. 161, 163, 165, 166, 167, 168, 169, 175 sq., 178, 179, 181.

The other rule of personal cleanliness referred to in the text is exactly observed, for the reason I have indicated, by the aborigines in various parts of Australia. See (Sir) George Grey, Journals, ii. 344; R. Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria, i. 165; J. Dawson, Australian Aborigines, p. 12; P. Beveridge, in Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, xvii. (1883) pp. 69 sq. Compare W. Stanbridge, “On the Aborigines of Victoria,” Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London, N.S. i. (1861) p. 299; Fison and Howitt, Kamilaroi and Kurnai, p. 251; E. M. Curr, The Australian Race, iii. 178 sq., 547; W. E. Roth, North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin No. 5 (Brisbane, 1903), p. 22, § 80. The same dread has resulted in a similar custom of cleanliness in Melanesia and Africa. See R. Parkinson, Im Bismarck-Archipel, pp. 143 sq.; R. H. Codrington, The Melanesians, p. 203 note; F. von Luschan, “Einiges über Sitten und Gebräuche der Eingeborenen Neu-Guineas,” Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, Ethnologie, und Urgeschichte (1900), p. 416; J. Macdonald, “Manners, Customs, Superstitions, and Religions of South African Tribes,” Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xx. (1891) p. 131. Mr. Lorimer Fison sent me some notes on the Fijian practice, which agrees with the one described by Dr. Codrington. The same rule is observed, probably from the same motives, by the Miranha Indians of Brazil. See Spix und Martius, Reise in Brasilien, iii. 1251 note. On this subject compare F.

Schwally, Semitische Kriegsaltertümer, i. (Leipsic, 1901) pp. 67 sq.

The character of King Solomon appears to be a favourite one with the Malay sorcerer when he desires to ingratiate himself with or lord it over the powers of nature. Thus, for example, in addressing silver ore the sage observes:—

“If you do not come hither at this very moment You shall be a rebel unto God, And a rebel unto God's Prophet Solomon, For I am God's Prophet Solomon.”—

See W. W. Skeat, Malay Magic, p. 273. No doubt the fame of his wisdom has earned for the Hebrew monarch this distinction among the dusky wizards of the East.