|
Scythia has an abundance of soothsayers, who foretell the future by
means of a number of willow wands. A large bundle of these wands is
brought and laid on the ground. The soothsayer unties the bundle, and
places each wand by itself, at the same time uttering his prophecy:
then, while he is still speaking, he gathers the rods together again,
and makes them up once more into a bundle. This mode of divination is
of home growth in Scythia. The Enarees, or woman-like men, have
another method, which they say Venus taught them. It is done with
the inner bark of the linden-tree. They take a piece of this bark,
and, splitting it into three strips, keep twining the strips about
their fingers, and untwining them, while they prophesy.
|
|