Superstition has interfered even in the _choice of names_, and this solemn folly has received the name of a science, called _Onomantia_; of which the superstitious ancients discovered a hundred foolish mysteries. They cast up the numeral letters of _names_, and Achilles was therefore fated to vanquish Hector, from the numeral letters in his name amounting to a higher number than his rival's. They made many whimsical divisions and subdivisions of names, to prove them lucky or unlucky. But these follies are not those that I am now treating on. Some names have been considered as more auspicious than others. Cicero informs us that when the Romans raised troops, they were anxious that the _name_ of the first soldier who enlisted should be one of good augury. When the censors numbered the citizens, they always began by a fortunate name, such as _Salvius Valereus_. A person of the name of _Regillianus_ was chosen emperor, merely from the royal sound of his name, and _Jovian_ was elected because his name approached nearest to the beloved one of the philosophic _Julian_. This fanciful superstition was even carried so far that some were considered as auspicious, and others as unfortunate. The superstitious belief in _auspicious names_ was so strong, that Cæsar, in his African expedition, gave a command to an obscure and distant relative of the Scipios, to please the popular prejudice that the Scipios were invincible in Africa. Suetonius observes that all those of the family of Cæsar who bore the surname of Caius perished by the sword. The Emperor Severus consoled himself for the licentious life of his empress Julia, from the fatality attending those of her _name_. This strange prejudice of lucky and unlucky names prevailed in modern Europe. The successor of Adrian VI. (as Guicciardini tells us) wished to preserve his own name on the papal throne; but he gave up the wish when the conclave of cardinals used the powerful argument that all the popes who had preserved their own names had died in the first year of their pontificates. Cardinal Marcel Cervin, who preserved his name when elected pope, died on the twentieth day of his pontificate, and this confirmed this superstitious opinion. La Motte le Vayer gravely asserts that all the queens of Naples of the name of _Joan_, and the kings of Scotland of the name of _James_, have been unfortunate: and we have formal treatises of the fatality of Christian names. It is a vulgar notion that every female of the name of _Agnes_ is fated to become mad. Every nation has some names labouring with this popular prejudice.