It is remarkable that the Opici, who are said to have been named from serpents, had also the name of Pitanatæ; at least, one part of that family was so called. Pitanatæ is a term of the same purport as Opici, and relates to the votaries of Pitan, the serpent Deity, which was adored by that people. Menelaus was of old called Pitanates, as we learn from Hesychius, and the reason of it may be known from his being a Spartan, by which he was intimated one of the Serpentigenæ, or Ophites. Hence he was represented with a serpent for a device upon his shield. It is said that a brigade, or portion of infantry, was among some of the Greeks named Pitanates, and the soldiers in consequence of it must have been termed Pitanatæ, undoubtedly, because they had the Pitan, or serpent, for their standard. Analogous to this, among other nations there were soldiers called Draconarii. In most countries the military standard was an emblem of the Deity there worshipped. What has already been said has thrown some light upon the history of this primitive idolatry, and we have shewn that wherever any of these Ophite colonies settled, they left behind from their rites and institutions, as well as from the names which they bequeathed to places, ample memorials, by which they may be clearly traced out. CHAPTER II. _Supposed Phallic origin of Serpent-worship--The Idea of Life--Adoration of the Principle of Generation--The Serpent as a Symbol of the Phallus--Phallic Worship at Benares--The Serpent and Mahadeo--Festival of the "Nág panchami"--Snakes and Women--Traces of Phallic Worship in the Kumaon Rock-markings--The Northern Bulb Stones--Professor Stephens on the Snake as a Symbol of the Phallus--The "Dionysiak Myth"--Brown on the Serpent as a Phallic emblem--Mythology of the Aryan Nation--Sir G. W. Cox and the Phallic Theory--Athenian Mythology._