birth its beard is grown, floods are in the country." "When a
woman bears a child and at the time of its birth its mouth is
open and speaks, there is pestilence in the country, the Air-god
inundates the crops of the country, injury in the country is
caused."

Some of these portents, it will be observed, are not in much
danger of realization, and it is curious to surmise by what
stretch of the imagination they can have been invented. There is,
for example, on the same tablet just quoted, one reference which
assures us that "when a sheep bears a lion the forces march
multitudinously; the king has not a rival." There are other
omens, however, that are so easy of realization as to lead one to
suppose that any Babylonian who regarded all the superstitious
signs must have been in constant terror. Thus a tablet translated
by Professor Sayce[20] gives a long list of omens furnished by
dogs, in which we are assured that:

1. If a yellow dog enters into the palace, exit from that
palace will be baleful.
2. If a dog to the palace goes, and on a throne lies down, that
palace is burned.
3. if a black dog into a temple enters, the foundation of that
temple is not stable.
4. If female dogs one litter bear, destruction to the city.

It is needless to continue these citations, since they but
reiterate endlessly the same story. It is interesting to recall,
however, that the observations of animate nature, which were
doubtless superstitious in their motive, had given the