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Cambyses, established the Persian monarchy; and Cyrus, the son of
Darius, ruined it; Darius, son of Hystaspes, restored it; and again,
Darius, son of Asamis, overthrew it. Philip, son of Amyntas, greatly
enlarged the kingdom of Macedonia; and Philip, son of Antigonus, lost
it. Augustus was the first emperor of Rome; Augustulus, the last.
Constantine founded the empire of Constantinople, and Constantine lost
it. Some names are unfortunate to princes: Caius, among the Romans;
John and Henry of France, and John of England and Scotland. One of the
principal rules of this kind of divination among the Pythagoreans was,
that an even number of vowels in a name signified an imperfection in
the left side of a man, and an odd number in the right side. Another
rule was, that the persons were the most happy in whose names the
numeral letters added together, made the greatest sum; for which
reason, it was alleged, Achilles vanquished Hector, the numeral
letters in the former name amounting to a greater number than in the
latter. From a like idea, the young Romans toasted their mistresses at
their meetings as often as their names contained letters. Theodotus,
king of the Goths, being anxious to ascertain the success of his wars
against the Romans, consulted a Jew, who ordered him to shut up a
number of swine in styes, and to give some of them Roman and others
Gothic names, and there to keep them until a certain day. The Jews'
instructions were complied with; and, on inspecting the styes at the
appointed time, it was discovered that the animals which had received
the Gothic names were dead, and those to which the Roman names had
been assigned were alive. From these circumstances, the fortune-teller
truly predicted the defeat of the Goths.

There was an old superstition among seamen, which is supposed to
linger among them still,--we mean the evil that was feared would
follow the total loss or tearing of a ship's colours. Sailors would
have been less grieved at all their sails being split, their spars
carried away, and their masts gone by the board, than at being
deprived of their colours. The loss or tearing of a flag was a sign of
misfortune, both to the vessel and the crew.

Soldiers, particularly those in Highland and Irish regiments, were
equally credulous. Vast importance was attached to the preservation of
their standards, and hence in some instances the great bravery that
has been displayed in preventing the enemy carrying aw