Spirits of this kind were supposed to haunt the place where their bodies lay. Hence they were regarded as demons, and were frequently entrusted with the carrying out of the strange curses, which have been found in their tombs, or in wells where a man had been drowned, or even in the sea, written on leaden tablets, often from right to left, or in queer characters, so as to be illegible, with another tablet fastened over them by means of a nail, symbolizing the binding effect it was hoped they would have--the "Defixiones," to give them their Latin name, which are very numerous among the inscriptions. So real was the belief in these curses that the elder Pliny says that everyone is afraid of being placed under evil spells;[24] and they are frequently referred to in antiquity. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: _Tusc. Disp._, i. 16.] [Footnote 2: Ov., _Fast._, iv. 821; Fowler, _Roman Festivals_, p. 211.] [Footnote 3: Macrob., _Sat._, i. 16.] [Footnote 4: Cic., _De Leg._, ii. 22.] [Footnote 5: "Deum parentem" (Corn. Nep., _Fragm._, 12).] [Footnote 6: Cp. Fowler, _Rom._ _Fest._] [Footnote 7: Rohde, _Psyche_, p. 216. Cp. Herod., iv. 26.] [Footnote 8: _Tusc._ _Disp._, i. 12, 27.] [Footnote 9: Dill, _Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius_, p. 259 _ff._] [Footnote 10: _De Luctu_, 9.] [Footnote 11: Carducci, "Rimembranze di Scuola," in _Rime Nuove_.] [Footnote 12: _Il._, 23. 64.] [Footnote 13: "Turpia ossa," 4. 5. 4.] [Footnote 14: Paus., 9. 32.] [Footnote 15: 81 D.] [Footnote 16: _De Genio Socratis_, 15.] [Footnote 17: Cp. Plautus, _Cas._, iii. 4. 2; _Amphitr._, ii. 2. 145; _Rudens_, v. 3. 67, etc.; and the use of the word "larvatus."] [Footnote 18: Pliny, _N.H._, 1, Proef. 31: "Cum mortuis non nisi Larvas luctari."] [Footnote 19: Seneca, _Apocol._, 9. At the risk of irrelevance, I cannot refrain from pointing out the enduring nature of proverbs as exemplified in this section. Hercules grows more and more anxious at the turn the debate is taking, and hastens from one god to another, saying: "Don't grudge me this favour; the case concerns me closely. I shan't forget you when the time comes. One good turn deserves another" (Manus manum lavat). This is exactly the Neapolitan proverb, "One hand washes the other, and both together wash the face." "Una mano lava l'altra e tutt'e due si lavano la faccia," is more or less the modern version. In chapter vii. we have also "gallum in suo sterquilino plurimum posse," which corresponds to our own, "Every cock crows best on its own dunghill."] [Footnote 20: Petr., _Sat._, 34.] [Footnote 21: [Greek: thhyraze, keres, oukhet Anthesteria.] Cp. Rohde, _Psyche_, 217.] [Footnote 22: _Fast._, v. 419 _ff._] [Footnote 23: Tertull., _De An._, 56.] [Footnote 24: _N.H._, 28. 2. 19.] II THE BELIEF IN GHOSTS IN GREECE AND ROME