[526] In the seventh book De Civitate Dei, the saint writes: "Ipse Numas ad quem nullus Dei propheta, nullus Sanctus Angelus mittebatur, Hydromantiam facere compulsus est, ut in aqua videret imagines deorum vel potius ludificationes dæmonum, a quibus audiret, quid in sacris constituere atque observare deberet quod genus divinationis idem Varro a Persis dicit allatum."
[527] It also exists in Roumania, where the new solar year is celebrated by the benediction of the waters, as if to exorcise the demons that inhabit them.
[528] Codex Reg., 5600 ann. circ. 800, fol. 101, in Du Cange: "Sunt aliqui rustici homines, qui credunt aliquas mulieres, quod vulgum dicitur strias, esse debeant, et ad infantes vel pecora nocere possint, vel dusiolus, vel Aquatiquus, vel geniscus esse debeat." Neptunus, vel aliquis genius, quia quis præest designari videtur.
[529] The monsters which mount into heaven by magical deceits, killed by Indras, are said to creep like serpents: Mâyâbhir utsisṛipsata indra dyâm; Ṛigv. viii. 14, 14.
[530] The name of Arbudas, given to the monster which Indras, the ram (meshas), crushes (for ni-kram seems to me to have this meaning) under his foot while it is lying, is nothing else than a serpent; moreover, he, whose people is the sarpâs or serpents, is the king of the serpents. To arbud-as I would refer the Latin words rep-ere, rept-are, reptil-is.
[531] Apâd ahasto apṛitanyad indram âsya vaǵram adhi sânâu ǵaghana; Ṛigv. i. 32, 7.—Yo vyaṅsaṁ ǵahṛishâṇena manyunâ yaḥ çambaraṁ yo ahan piprum avratam; i. 101, 2.—Apâdam atram mahatâ vadhena ni duryoṇa âvṛiṇañ mṛidhravâćam; v. 32, 8.
[532] Ahann ahim parvate çiçṛiyâṅam; i. 32, 2.—Ahann enam prathamaǵâm ahînâm; i. 32, 3.
[533] Nîćâvayâ abhavad vṛitraputrendro asyâ ava vadhar ǵabhâra—uttarâ sûr adharaḥ putra âsîd dânuḥ çaye sahavatsâ na dhenuḥ; i. 32, 9. Properly speaking, the verse speaks here of Vṛitras, and not of Ahis; but the coverer and the constrictor being equivalent, it seems to me that there are not here two beings distinguished, in the same hymn, by two analogous appellations.
[534] Dâsapatnîr ahigopâ atishṭhan niruddhâ âpaḥ paṇineva gâvaḥ; i. 32, 11.—The reader will remember the discussion concerning the proverb of shutting the stable after the oxen are stolen, in the first chapter of the first book.
[535] Avâdaho diva â dasyum uććâ; i. 33, 7.