The evil eye. An account of this ancient and wide spread superstition

I
THE EVIL EYE chap.
well as the meanings oi fascinatio at great length,
in language and allusions unfit for reproduction,
which are, moreover, beside our present purpose.
It may, however, be remarked that Frommannd
throws much light upon the ancient ideas connected
with the evil eye, and with the means taken to
baffle it, backed up by an array of authorities such
as no other writer on the subject has brought
together, but of such a nature that we can only
here direct the student to the book itself^" Many
objects to be seen in Egypt, Greece, and Italy,
especially at Pompeii, are by this extraordinary
treatise made to assume an entirely different shape
and signification from those given them by the guidebooks
or the ciceroni.
P It was firmly believed by all ancients, that some
/malignant influence darted from the eyes of envious
/ or angry persons, and so infected the air as to penetrate
and corrupt the bodies of both living creatures and
\ inanimate objects. "When any one looks at what
is excellent with an envious eye he fills the surrounding
atmosphere with a pernicious quality, and
transmits his own envenomed exhalations into what-
ever is nearest to him."^^
It has also been fully believed, both in ancient
and modern times, that many persons by the glance
V of their eye have caused injurious effects, without
y \ their consent and even against their will, so that
4
12 Potter's Archeeologia Gnvca will be found a mine of information ; indeed
it would be easy to load our pages with references to authors classical and
medieval, but sufficient indication is here given for the student to find all
that has been written on the subject.
13 Heliodorus, T/iea. and Chai: i. 140. There can be no doubt that Saul
was believed to have the evil eye when we read : "And Saul eyed David
from that day and forward " (i Sam. xviii. 9). In the context we see all
circumstances we have been describing—envy and its consequences.
the