The ancient Egyptians regarded the head as a citadel or fortress in
which the reasoning faculty abode.[346] Hence they especially revered
any function seemingly appertaining to so noble a portion of the body,
and dignified even the insignificant act of sneezing by attributing to
it auguries for good or evil, according to the position of the moon with
reference to the signs of the zodiac.[347] The Greeks and Romans also,
by whom the most trivial occurrences of every-day life were thought to
be omens of good fortune or the reverse, considered the phenomena of
sneezing as not the least important in this regard. Homer tells us in the
Odyssey that the Princess Penelope, troubled by the importunities of her
suitors, prayed to the gods for the speedy return of her husband Ulysses.
Scarcely was her prayer ended when her son Telemachus sneezed, and this
event was regarded by Penelope as an intimation that her petition would
be granted.
Aristotle said that there was a god of sneezing, and that when in Greece
any business enterprise was to be undertaken, two or four sneezes
were thought to be favorable. If more than four, the auspices were
indifferent, while one or three rendered it hazardous to proceed.[348]
About this, however, there appears to have been no unvarying rule.
Sneezing at a banquet was considered by the Romans to be especially
ominous; and when it unfortunately occurred, some of the viands were
brought back to the table and again tasted, as this was thought to
counteract any evil effects. The Greeks considered that the brain
controlled the function of sneezing. They were therefore as careful to
avoid eating this portion of any animal as the Pythagoreans were to avoid
beans as an article of diet.[349]
It is related that just before the battle of Salamis, B. C. 480, and
while Themistocles, the Athenian commander, was offering a sacrifice to
the gods on the deck of his galley, a sneeze was heard on the right hand,
which was hailed as a fortunate omen by Euphrantides the Soothsayer.
Again, it happened once that while Xenophon was addressing his soldiers,
referring to the righteousness of their cause and the consequent divine
favor which might be expected, some one chanced to sneeze. Pausing in
his address, the great general remarked that Jupiter had been pleased
to send them a happy omen, and it seemed therefore but right to make an
offering to the gods. Then, after all the company had joined in a hymn
of thanksgiving, the sacrifice was made, and Xenophon continued with his
exhortation.
Among the ancients sneezing to the right was considered fortunate and
to the left unlucky. In some erotic verses with the title “Acme and
Septimius,” by the Roman poet, Catullus (B. C. 87-47), are these lines,
twice repeated:—
Love stood listening with delight,
And sneezed his auspice on the right.
The omens of sneezing were thought to be of especial significance in
lovers’ affairs, and indeed the classic poets were wont to say of
beautiful women that Love had sneezed at their birth. The Italian poet,
Propertius, while asserting his enduring affection for Cynthia, the
daughter of the poet Hostius, thus apostrophizes the chief theme of his
eulogies: “In thy new-born days, my life, did golden Love sneeze loud and
clear a favoring omen.”
The Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans regarded the act of sneezing as a kind
of divinity or oracle, which warned them on various occasions as to the
course they should pursue, and also foretold future good or evil.[350]
Plutarch said that the familiar spirit or demon of Socrates was simply
the sneezing either of the philosopher himself or of those about him.
If any person in his company sneezed on his right hand, Socrates felt
encouraged to proceed with the project or enterprise which he may have
had in mind. But if the sneeze were on his left hand, he abandoned
the undertaking. If he himself sneezed when he was doubtful whether
or not to do anything, he regarded it as evidence in the affirmative;
but if he happened to sneeze after any work was already entered upon,
he immediately desisted therefrom.[351] The demon, we are told, always
notified him by a slight sneeze whenever his wife Xantippe was about to
have a scolding fit, so that he was thus enabled opportunely to absent
himself. And in so doing Socrates appears to have given proof, were any
needed, of his superior wisdom; for Xantippe had been known to upset the
supper-table in her anger, and that, too, when a guest was present.
On a column in the garden of the House of the Faun, at Pompeii, there is
a Latin inscription which may be freely translated as follows:—
Victoria, good luck to thee and wherever thou wilt, sneeze
pleasantly.[352]
Clement of Alexandria, in a treatise on politeness, characterizes
sneezing as effeminate and as a sign of intemperance.
Probably the only Biblical reference to the subject of sneezing is in 2
Kings iv. 35, where the son of the Shunamite sneezed seven times and then
revived at the prayer of Elisha.
Hor-Apollo, in his treatise on Egyptian hieroglyphics, says that the
inhabitants of ancient Egypt believed that the capacity for sneezing was
in inverse ratio to the size of the spleen; and they portrayed the dog as
the personification of sneezing and smelling, because they believed that
that animal had a very small spleen. On the other hand, they held that
animals with large spleens were unable to sneeze, smell, or laugh, that
is, to be open, blithe, or frank-hearted.[353]
The function of the spleen in the animal economy is not fully understood
to-day. If the above theory were correct, we should expect that the
removal of a dog’s spleen would incite excessive sternutation and render
more acute the sense of smell, whereas the only marked result of the
operation is a voracious appetite. The theory is certainly unique, as
well as illogical and absurd.
St. Augustine wrote that, in his time, so prevalent was faith in the
omens of sneezing that a man would return to bed if he happened to sneeze
while putting on his shoes in the morning.
The learned English prelate, Alcuin (735-804), expressed the opinion that
sneezings were devoid of value as auguries except to those who placed
reliance in them. But he further remarked that “it was permitted to the
evil spirit, for the deceiving of persons who observe these things,
to cause that in some degree prognostics should often foretell the
truth.”[354]
In an ancient Anglo-Saxon sermon, a copy of which is in the library of
Cambridge University, England, reference is made to certain superstitions
existing among the Saxons before their conversion to Christianity. The
writer says: “Every one who trusts in divinations, either by fowls or
by sneezings, or by horses or dogs, he is no Christian, but a notorious
apostate.”