left. This would naturally suggest the unreliable and untrustworthy in a moral sense.1 As contrasted with the right, the employment of the left hand was unusual and therefore unnatural. It is a wellknown fact that among the untrained or the primitive any departure from regular custom is regarded with great suspicion. Hence an action performed with the left hand might be looked upon, merely for that reason, as ill-omened. As a final step, the left became practically synonymous with the unfavorable and the unlucky. Such in brief must have been the development of this conception among the Romans, as well as among other nations and races. That it took place quite early is proved by the fact that in the oldest remains of Latin and Greek literature we find the characteristics of favorable and unfavorable, lucky and unlucky, firmly attached to right and left. In this investigation the main lines of development leading from the purely physical qualities belonging to the right and left hands to the final association of the right with the favorable and the lucky, and the left with the unfavorable and the unlucky, have been traced as far as was practicable. It must be borne in mind, however, that this development cannot be set forth chronologically. As the whole process was entirely completed in primitive and pre-literary times, all the stages represented in the literature exist side by side, at one and the same time. BIBLIOGRAPHY In the course of this investigation, examination has been made of all existing Latin literature from its beginning through the writers of the second century a. D. In addition there have been consulted Prudentius; Claudian; Martianus Capella; Pseudo-Pliny, De Medicina; Marcellus, De Medicamentis; and Pelagonius, Ars Veterinaria. For comparison the following Greek authors were consulted, chiefly by means of indices: Homer, Iliad and Odyssey; Hesiod; Aeschylus; Sophocles; Herodotus; Euripides; Thucydides; Aristophanes; Xenophon; Plato; Demosthenes; Aristotle; Plutarch; Athenaeus; Artemidorus; Geoponica (ed. Beckh, Leipzig, 1895). Catalogue of the Greek Papyri in the John Rylands Library (1911), No. 28, pp. 56 ff. Diels, Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, Berlin, 1903. Melampus, ‘Περὶ Παλμῶν Μαντική, Abhandlungen der königlichen Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1907. Greek Papyri in the British Museum, 1, Nos. 46, 47, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, pp. 64-125. Meineke, Fragmenta Comicorum Graecorum. Parthey, Zwei griechische Zauberpapyri des Berliner Museums,' Abhandlungen der königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, 1865, pp. 109 ff. Reiske, Indices Graecitatis in Singulos Oratores Atticos (which includes Antiphon, Andocides, Lysias, Isaeus, Isocrates, Aeschines, Lycurgus, and Dinarchus). Wessely, Griechische Zauberpapyrus von Paris u. London,' Denkschriften der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissen schaften, Vienna, 1865, pp. 109 ff. The chief general works which were found to be of assistance are: Browne (Sir Thomas), Pseudodoxia Epidemica, Bk. 4, Ch. 4 and 5 (ed. by Charles Sayle, London, 1904). Dieterich, Nekyia, Leipzig, 1893. Fryklund, Les Changements de Signification des Expressions de Droite et de Gauche dans les Langues Romanes et Spécialement en Français, Upsala, 1907. Grimm, Geschichte der deutschen Sprache, Leipzig, 1853. Teutonic Mythology (Trans. by Stallybrass), London, 1880-3. Marquardt, Das Privatleben der Römer, Leipzig, 1886. Mommsen, Römische Staatsrecht, ed. 1887. Preller-Jordan, Römische Mythologie, Berlin, 1881-3. Wilson (Sir Daniel), Lefthandedness, London and New York, 1891. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der Römer, Munich, 1902 (in Müller's Handbuch). Other references will be found in the footnotes in connection with special points. THE RIGHT HAND AS THE ACTIVE AGENT Being physically the superior, the right hand is the one naturally employed in the performance of any work. In the words of Vergil (Moretum, 25): 'laeva ministerio, dextra est intenta labori.' So too in war it is the right hand which carries the sword and other offensive weapons, while the protecting shield is entrusted to the left. Cicero had this in mind when speaking of M. Caelius Rufus, the orator (Quintilian, Inst. 6, 3, 69): 'Idem per allegoriam M. Caelium melius obiicientem crimina quam defendentem, Bonam dextram, malam sinistram habere dicebat.' Cf. Artemidorus, Onirocritica 1, ch. 42: σημαίνειν γὰρ ἔφη τὴν μὲν δεξιὰν χείρα τὰ ποριζόμενα τὴν δὲ εὐώνυμον τὰ πεπορισμένα, ἡ μὲν γὰρ πρὸς τὸ λαβεῖν ἕτοιμος, ἡ δὲ ἐπιτήδειος πρὸς τὸ φυλάξαι. Cf. 5, 92.1 From these two causes primarily arose the association of the right hand with the active agent. Proofs of this are numerous throughout the literature: Horace, Epodes, 7, 9: 'sed ut secundum vota Parthorum sua urbs haec periret dextera? ' Vergil, Aen., 11, 384: 'quando tot stragis acervos | Teucrorum tua dextra dedit, passimque tropaeis | insignis agros.' Of similar nature are: Accius, Ex Incert. Fab., fr. 2,2 Catullus, 33, 1; Varro, Sat. Men. 170, 13; Vergil, Aen. 1, 98; 334; 2, 425; 3, 670; 5, 692; 6, 370; 879; 7, 474; 498; 8, 354; 563; 567; 9, 320; 10, 279; 326; 333; 650; 773; 830; 847; 11, 118; 172; 178; 267; 339; 408; 12, 14; 50; 97; 428; 436; 538; 644; 659; Ecl., 1, 35; Culex, 192; 256; Tibullus, 3, 5, 9; Horace, Odes, 2, 17, 29; 3, 3, 52; Sat. 2, 1 Cf. p. 31. 'Ribbeck, Sc. Rom. Poes. Frag., I, p. 254. 1, 54; Propertius 3, 27, 39; Livy 3, 57, 4; 6, 14, 4; 16, 2; 7, 32, 12; 22, 5, 6; 29, 11; 23, 45, 9; 27, 45, 7; 34, 46, 10; 35, 35, 17; Ovid, Met. 3, 305; 4, 175; 7, 342; 808; 8, 94; 342; 395; 9, 29; 10, 198; 11, 23; 12, 114; 311; 606; 13, 176; 355; 361; 14, 194; 539; Am. 2, 9, 36; A. A. 1, 694; 2, 78; 736; Her. 6, 12; 10, 102; 12, 115; 14, 50; Fast. 1, 569; 2, 10; Trist. 5, 2, 16; 6, 14; Ib. 526; Pont. 2, 2, 13 3; 4, 7, 19; Med. Fac. 64; Lucan, Phars. 2, 167; 3, 18; 326; 740; 5, 355; 368; 7, 387; 8, 601; Seneca, Herc. Fur. 157; 518; 895; 968; 1005; 1010; 1197; 1281; 1318; Phaed. 60; 396; 555; 680; 866; Oed. 257; 261; 1002; 1038; 1048; Agam. 50; 550; 628; 735; 890; 897; Phoen. 173; 437; Medea, 104; 645; 915; Thyestes, 57; 147; Troades, 155; 217; 306; 328; 1097; 1155; Oet. 247; 297; 594; Herc. Oet. 28; 520; 870; 901; 908; 932; 951; 977; 988; 995; 999; 1001; 1217; 1454; 1458; 1465; 1560; 1656; 1719; Petronius, 122, 167; Valerius Flaccus, Arg. 6, 339; Martial, Sp., 23, 2; 1, 21, 1; 7; 7, 20, 16; 9, 61, 7; 11, 29, 1; 14, 208; Statius, Silvae, 3, 4, 54; Silius Italicus, Pun., 5, 661; 6, 340; 9, 124; 10, 257; 12, 670; 15, 385; 744; 16, 145; 17, 296; Juvenal, 15, 67, Apuleius, Met. 1, 13, 48; 8, 8, 532; 12, 539; 540; 11, 25, 807; De Deo Socratis, 131; Amm. Marc. 14, 5, 8; 16, 12, 36; 12, 52; 25, 1, 15; 3, 7; Prudentius, c. Symm. 2, 35; Peristeph, 4, 9; 5, 300; Martianus Capella, 2, 135; 5, 425, 1. 13; Ribbeck, Sc. Rom. Poes. Frag. 1, p. 276, No. 15. With his right hand Jupiter hurls the blazing thunderbolt. Horace, Odes, 1, 2, 1; 'Iam satis terris nivis atque dirae | Grandinis misit Pater et rubente Dextera sacras iaculatus arces Terruit urbem. Vergil, Georg. 1, 328: ipse pater media nimborum in nocte corusca | fulmina molitur dextra.' Ovid, Met. 2, 60; 311; Am. 3, 3, 30; Fast. 1, 202; Rem. Am. 370; Martial 6, 83, 3. 6 The augur, when engaged in the performance of his office, held the lituus in his right hand. Livy 1, 18, 7: augur ad laevam eius capite velato sedem cepit, dextra manu baculum sine nodo aduncum tenens, quem lituum appellarunt.' Cur |