haracter in his
comedy of "Curculio," say, "If you would do reverence to the gods, you
must turn to the right hand." Gronovius, in commenting on this passage of
Plautus, says, "In worshipping and praying to the gods they were
accustomed to _turn to the right hand_."

A hymn of Callimachus has been preserved, which is said to have been
chanted by the priests of Apollo at Delos, while performing this ceremony
of circumambulation, the substance of which is, "We imitate the example of
the sun, and follow his benevolent course."

It will be observed that this circumambulation around the altar was
accompanied by the singing or chanting of a sacred ode. Of the three parts
of the ode, the _strophe_, the _antistrophe_, and the _epode_, each was to
be sung at a particular part of the procession. The analogy between this
chanting of an ode by the ancients and the recitation of a passage of
Scripture in the masonic circumambulation, will be at once apparent.

Among the Romans, the ceremony of circumambulation was always used in the
rites of sacrifice, of expiation or purification. Thus Virgil describes
Corynasus as purifying his companions, at the funeral of Misenus, by
passing three times around them while aspersing them with the lustral
waters; and to do so conveniently, it was necessary that he should have
moved with his right hand towards them.

"Idem ter socios pura circumtulit unda,
Spargens rore levi et ramo felicis olivae."
_AEn._ vi. 229.

"Thrice with pure water compassed he the crew,
Sprinkling, with olive branch, the gentle dew."

In fact, so common was it to unite the ceremony of circumambulation with
that of expiation or purification, or, in other words, to make a
circuitous procession, in performing the latter rite, that the term
_lustrare_, whose primitive meaning is "to purify," came at last to be
synonymous with _circuire_, to walk round anything; and hence a
purification and a circumambulation were often expressed by the same word.

Among the Hindoos, the same rite of circumambulation has always been
practised. As an instance, we may cite the ceremonies which are to be
performed by a Brahmin upon first rising from bed in the morning, an
accurate account of which has been given by Mr. Colebrooke in the "Asiatic
Researches." The priest, having first adored the sun while directing his
face to the east, then walks towards the west by the way of the south,
saying, at the same time, "I follo