I would appeal, too, for confirmation on this subject, to the intimate experience of each individual. Why, in fact, upon the first day of the new year, do we accost one another with prayers for good fortune,[2128] and, for luck’s sake, wish each other a happy new year? Why, too, upon the occasion of public lustrations, do we select persons with lucky names, to lead the victims? Why, to counteract fascinations, do we Romans observe a peculiar form of adoration, in invoking the Nemesis of the Greeks; whose statue, for this reason, has been placed in the Capitol at Rome, although the goddess herself possesses no Latin name?[2129] Why, when we make mention of the dead, do we protest that we have no wish[2130] to impeach their good name?[2131] Why is it that we entertain the belief that for every purpose odd numbers are the most effectual;[2132]—a thing that is particularly observed with reference to the critical days in fevers? Why is it that, when gathering the earliest fruit, apples, or pears, as the case may be, we make a point of saying—“This fruit is old, may other fruit be sent us that is new?” Why is it that we salute[2133] a person when he sneezes, an observance which Tiberius Cæsar, they say, the most unsociable of men, as we all know, used to exact, when riding in his chariot even? Some there are, too, who think it a point religiously to be observed to mention the name as well of the person whom they salute. And then, besides, it is a notion[2134] universally received, that absent persons have warning that others are speaking of them by the tingling of the ears. Attalus[2135] assures us, that if a person, the moment he sees a scorpion, says “Duo,”[2136] the reptile will stop short, and forbear to sting. And now that I am speaking of the scorpion, I recall to mind that in Africa no one ever undertakes any matter without prefacing with the word “Africa;” while in other countries, before an enterprise is commenced, it is the practice to adjure the gods that they will manifest their good will.