BOOK XXVIII. IV. 18—21

...beginning of a siege, it was customary for Roman priests to summon the god under whose protection the city was held, promising him the same or even greater worship among the Romans. This rite remains in the practice of the pontiffs, and it is agreed that the name of the god who protected Rome was kept secret so that enemies might not do the same to us. Everyone fears being harmed by black-magic curses. This concern is why people break the shells of eggs they have eaten, or pierce them with the same spoons used to eat them. From this tradition arise the imitative love spells of Theocritus among the Greeks, and those of Catullus and, more recently, Virgil among us. Many believe that pottery can be broken this way, and not a few think the same of snakes—that one can chant them into silence, and that this is the only language they understand, being drawn in by the songs of the Marsi even during the quiet of night. Walls are even inscribed with spells to ward off fires. It is not easy to say whether foreign and incomprehensible words have more power to instill faith, or if Latin words—if they are unexpected and strike the mind as ridiculous while it is waiting for something immense and worthy of moving a god—are actually more effective at commanding a deity. Homer said that Odysseus stopped the flow of blood from a wound by using a chant, and Theophrastus claimed that sciatica could be cured in this way; Cato recorded that a chant helps for dislocated limbs.

a. See Idyll II.

b. See Eclogues VIII. The Catullus passages are not extant.

c. Referring to the so-called Ephesia grammata and gibberish of many incantations.

d. See Odyssey XIX. 457, where it is not Odysseus, but Autolycus and his sons that effect the cure.

e. See Athenaeus XIV. 18.