g._, Tibullus ii. 1. 55; Virg. _Ecl._ vi.
22, x. 27, and Servius on both these passages. Pliny,
_N.H._ xxxiii. 111; and cp. below, p. 177. For primitive
ideas about the colour red see Jevons, _Introd._ pp. 67
and 138; Samter, _Familienfeste_, p. 47 foll. Cp. also
the very interesting paper of von Duhn in _Archiv_,
1906, p. 1 foll., esp. p. 20: "Es soll eben wirklich
pulsierendes kraftvolles Leben zum Ausdruck gebracht
werden." His conclusions are based on the widespread
custom of using red in funerals, coffins, and for
colouring the dead man himself: the idea being to give
him a chance of new life--which is what he wants--red
standing for blood.

[177] I am not sure that I am right in calling this
whitethorn. For the qualities of the _Spina alba_ see
Ovid, _Fasti_, vi. 129 and 165, "Sic fatus spinam, quae
tristes pellere posset A foribus nexas, haec erat alba,
dedit." In line 165 he calls it _Virga Janalis_. See
also Festus, p. 289, and Serv. _ad Ecl._ viii. 29;
Buecheler, _Umbrica_, p. 136.

[178] The details are fully set forth in Marquardt,
_Roem. Privataltertuemer_, p. 52 foll. The religious
character of _confarreatio_ and its antiquity are fully
recognised by Westermarck, _History of Human Marriage_,
p. 427. Some interesting parallels to the smearing of
the doorposts from modern Europe will be found collected
in Samter, _Familienfeste_, p. 81 foll. The authority
for the wolf's fat was Masurius Sabinus, quoted by
Pliny, _N.H._ xxviii. 142 (cp. 157), who adds from the
same author, "ideo novas nuptas illo perungere postes
solitas, ne quid mali medicamenti inferretur." The real
reason was, no doubt, that it was a charm against evil
_spirits_, not against poison; but it is worth while to
quote here another passage of Pliny (xx. 101), where he
says that a squill hung _in limine ianuae_ had the same
power, according to Pythagoras. Some may see a
reminiscence of totemism in the wolf's fat: in any case
the mention of the animal as obtainable is interesting.

[179] Dieterich, _Mutter Erde_, p. 6 foll. The idea is
that the child comes from mother earth, and will
eventually return to her.

[180] For Roman names Marquardt, _Privatleben_, p. 7
foll., and Mommsen, _Forschungen_, i. I foll., are still
the most complete authorities. For the importance o