A complete dictionary of the Greek and Roman antiquities explaining the obscure places in classic authors and ancient historians relating to the religion, mythology, history, geography and chronology of the ancient Greeks and Romans, their ... rites and customs, laws, polity, arts and engines of war : also an account of their navigations, arts and sciences and the inventors of them : with the lives and opinions of their philosophers / compiled originally in French ... by Monsieur Danet ; made English, with the addition of very useful mapps.

ADORARE,

to adore; a kind of Wor∣ship which the Romans gave to their Deities, by putting their Hand to their Mouth and kis∣sing it, as we learn from Pliny, Adorare, manum ad os admovere. The Romans ador'd their Gods both standing and kneeling, with their Heads cover'd; and after they had turn'd to the right hand and gone round about their Statues and Altars, they prostrated themselves before them, and lifted up their Hand to their Mouth and kiss'd it. Saturn was the only God whom they ador'd with an uncover'd Head, that being a Custom which they learned from the Greeks; which gave occasion to Festus to say, Lucem fa∣cere Saturno sacrificantes, i. e. capita detegere, to uncover the Head when they sacrifice to him. And we are inform'd by Apuleius, in his Saturna∣lia, that it was accounted a strange Custom to sacrifice to this God with a bare Head, Hinc est quod ex instituto peregrino, huic deo sacrum aperto capite faciunt: For 'tis certain that the Romans did never sacrifice to their Gods, but with their Head cover'd, and their Face veil'd, for fear lest in this principal Action of Religion, they should either be diverted by the sight of an E∣nemy, or distracted by some Objects, or inter∣rupted by some sinister Omen. This we learn from Virgil, Lib. 3. Aeneid. V. 403.

For when your Ships are come into the Harbour, says the Sibyl to him, and you have erected Altars by the River side to sacrifice to the Gods, cover your Head and your Face with a purple Veil, for fear lest in the time of sa∣crificing, you should be interrupted by the the presence of some Enemy: Remember al∣ways to adore the Gods after this manner, and command your Posterity to observe the same way.

Quin ubi transmissae steterint trans aequora classes, Et positis aris jam vota in littore solves; Purpureo velare comas adopertus amictu; Ne qua inter sanctos ignes in honore Deorum. Hostilis facies occurrat, & omnia turbet. Hunc socii morem sacrorum, hunc ipse teneto, Hac vestri maneant in religione nepotes.

Aurelius Victor also tells us the same in his A∣bridgment of the Roman History, where speak∣ing of Aeneas, he relates, That this Trojan Prince sacrificing by the Sea-side, perceiv'd the Navy of the Grecians approaching, wherein was Ulysses, and fearing lest the sight of his Enemy should disturb him in this Action, he cover'd his Face, and so ended his Sacrifice, without one minutes interruption.

In the Second place, The Romans turn'd to the Right Hand round about the Statues of their Gods, and their Altars. Plautus, in his Curculio, makes Phoedromus say, Quo me vertam nescio? I know not to which side to turn me. Palimirus answer'd him, playing upon the word, Si deos salutas, dextro versum censeo,

If you mean to adore the Gods, I advise you to turn to the Right;

alluding to the Custom of the Romans, of turning to the Right when they worship their Gods. Pliny confirms the

same thing;

When we adore the Gods, says he, we carry our Hand to our Mouth, and we turn round about the Altar,

In adorando dextram ad osculum referimus, totumque corpus cir∣cumagimus.

In the following Times they pro∣strated themselves before their Gods, which is the most humble manner of adoring them. Titus Livius, speaking of the Carthaginian Am∣bassadors, tells us, That when they arriv'd at the Roman Camp, and came into the General's Tent, they prostrated themselves at his Feet, in the posture of those who adore the Gods, More adorantium procubuerunt; from whence come these Latin Phrases, Advolvi aris, Pro∣cumbere ad aras,

To prostrate themselves at the feet of the Altars.

The proud and haughty Emperors exacted the like Adorations from those who came to make their Reve∣rence to them; but the wise and modest Em∣perors rejected this kind of Adoration, as did the Emperor Alexander, by the relation of Lampridius as well as Maximianus, who said,

God forbid that any one should adore me, by prostrating himself before me;

Dii pro∣hibeant ut quisquam ingenuorum pedibus meis oscu∣lum figat.