Mental culture, even in the mansions of wealthy Byzantines, occupies a very subordinate place. Everywhere may be seen dice and draughts, but books are usually conspicuous by their absence. Bibliophiles there are, however, but they merely cherish costly bindings and beautiful manuscripts, and seldom take the trouble to study their literary contents. They only value fine parchments dyed in various tints, especially purple, and handsomely inscribed with letters of gold or silver; these they delight to have bound in jewelled covers or in plates of carved ivory, and to preserve them in cabinets, whence they are drawn out on occasion in order to afford a proof of the taste and affluence of the owner.[1]
Popular superstitions are extremely rife at this time in the Orient; a few examples of such may be here given. In choosing a name for a child it is the practice to light a number of candles, and to christen them by various names; the candle which burns longest is then selected to convey its appellation to the infant as an earnest of long life.[2] Another custom is to take a baby to one of the public baths and to sign its forehead with some of the sedimental mud found there as a charm against the evil eye and all the
- [Footnote: *tion. He complains especially: "And worse, virgins are present at these
orgies, having laid aside all shame; to do honour to the bride? rather disgrace," etc. These must be ancillae, or girls of a lower class, as it is evident from the above account that young ladies of any family could not be seen even at church by intending suitors; possibly they were kept closely veiled. On this point see further Puech's Chrysostom, Paris, 1891, p. 133. An introduction of this kind had always been considered necessary, as is shown by the equitation of the phallus (Mutinus) imposed on Roman brides the first night. These old customs were a constant mark for gibe among the early Christian Fathers; Lactantius, Div. Inst., l, 20; Augustine, De Civ. Dei, iv, 11; Arnobius, iv, et passim, etc.]
