[345] Philostiatus, _Heroica_, xx. 24. [346] Ovid, _Fasti_, iii. 143 _sq._; Macrobius, _Saturn_, i. 12. 6. [347] Festus, ed. C.O. Müller (Leipsic, 1839), p. 106, _s.v._ "Ignis." Plutarch describes a method of rekindling the sacred fire by means of the sun's rays reflected from a hollow mirror (_Numa_, 9); but he seems to be referring to a Greek rather than to the Roman custom. The rule of celibacy imposed on the Vestals, whose duty it was to relight the sacred fire as well as to preserve it when it was once made, is perhaps explained by a superstition current among French peasants that if a girl can blow up a smouldering candle into a flame she is a virgin, but that if she fails to do so, she is not. See Jules Lecoeur, _Esquisses du Bocage Normand_ (Condé-sur-Noireau, 1883-1887), ii. 27; B. Souché, _Croyances, Présages et Traditions diverses_ (Niort, 1880), p. 12. At least it seems more likely that the rule sprang from a superstition of this sort than from a simple calculation of expediency, as I formerly suggested (_Journal of Philology_, xiv. (1885) p. 158). Compare _The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings>_ ii. 234 _sqq._ [348] Geoffrey Keating, D.D., _The History of Ireland, translated from the original Gaelic, and copiously annotated_, by John O'Mahony (New York, 1857), p. 300, with the translator's note. Compare (Sir) John Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_ (London, 1888), pp. 514 _sq._ [349] W.R.S. Ralston, _Songs of the Russian People_, Second Edition (London, 1872), pp. 254 _sq._ [350] A. Kuhn und W. Schwartz, _Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche_ (Leipsic, 1848), p. 373; A. Kuhn, _Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen aus Westfalen_ (Leipsic, 1859), ii. 134 _sqq.; id., Märkische Sagen und Märchen_ (Berlin, 1843), pp. 312 _sq._; J.D.H. Temme, _Die Volkssagen der Altmark_ (Berlin, 1839), pp. 75 _sq._; K. Lynker, _Deutsche Sagen und Sitten in hessischen Gauen_*[2] (Cassel and Göttingen, 1860), p. 240; H. Pröhle, _Harzbilder_ (Leipsic, 1855), p. 63; R. Andree, _Braunschweiger Volkskunde_ (Brunswick, 1896), pp. 240-242; W. Kolbe, _Hessische Volks-Sitten und Gebräuche_ (Marburg, 1888), pp. 44-47; F.A. Reimann, _Deutsche Volksfeste_ (Weimar, 1839), p. 37; "Sitten und Gebräuche in Duderstadt," _Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sitten-kunde_, ii. (1855) p. 107; K. Seifart, _Sagen, Märchen, Schwänke und Gebräuche aus Stadt und Stift Hildesheim_*[2] (Hildesheim, 1889), pp. 177, 180; O. Hartung, "Zur Volkskunde aus Anhalt," _Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde_, vii. (1897) p. 76. [351] L. Strackerjan, _Aberglaube und Sagen aus dem Herzogthum Oldenburg_ (Oldenburg, 1867), ii. p. 43 _sq._, §313; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstämme_ (Berlin, 1875), pp. 505 _sq._ [352] L. Strackerjan, _op. cit._ ii. p. 43, §313. [353] J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_,*[4] (Berlin, 1875-1878), i. 512; W. Mannhardt, _Der Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstämme_, pp. 506 _sq._