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Amulets

by Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti

To protect themselves from witchcraft and curses
In a world so full of people who, to hurt enemies, friends, relatives, partners and so on, were always liable to cast spells, throw curses, concoct witchcraft and all kind of sorcery, it was clear that it was indispensable to protect oneself. To take the necessary precautions people always wore potent amulets. Then, as it is evident, loving parents who above all were anxious to protect their children, provided them of an even larger quantity of good luck charms and magic objects, usually series of pendants nicely shaped, polished, shining and also jingling. When the family was a rich one they were attached to a golden or a silver chain but often people were content to fix all of them on a band of tissue. In any case chains or bands of tissue were put on as shoulder belts and people was sure that they kept evil eye out. This is confirmed by the scholiast of Valerius Maximus that to all this adds that among the shoulder belt’s charms there were also “ Little bells because they (the children) particularly like them”
These tingling shoulder belts, besides reassuring the mothers who considered these charms indispensable for keeping off the malevolent influences, were also a very good help for them. As a matter of fact, if ever they lost sight of the children, their eyes could lose them, not their ears that were always alertedd by the continuous loud ringing that followed each of their step,
Among all the descriptions of these “crepundia”, as in Latin they were named, we have a Plautus’ comedy that confirm us in what was the nature and the shape of these amulets. It’s about the main scene of the piece in which Demones, an Athenian citizen who moved to Cyrenes, recognize through the description of these objects the daughter who, when she was only a little child, had been kidnapped by the pirates and sold to a pimp. The young Palestra, who had just been saved from a shipwreck during a violent storm provoked by the star of Arturo, a divinity resolved not to let the pimp bring the girl to Sicily and prostitute her, arrives in a small rowboat in front of her father’s, the so cited Demones, house: He is a nice man and, also if he doesn’t know who the handsome and unhappy girl is, decides to take her under his protection. In the meantime Demones’ slave a certain Gripus a fisherman arrives. Some time before he has caught in his net the pimp’s suitcase and in it he has found a little osier’s basket in which are Palestra’s “crepundia” and shoulder belt, objects that she has always jealously kept, hoping that through them she could one day find her family
The greedy Gripus, who is persuaded that as the one who found the suitcase he has the right to own it, and wants to take possession of the little basket, refuses to give it back to the girl: However, in the following debate, Demones interferes between them and orders to Gripus to give him the suitcase. Then he asks Palestra to look into the little basket and to tell him if it is her own. When the girl recognizes it, he asks her to describe one by one the charms that hangs to the chain. At this point the comedy reaches its acme because little by little during her description, Demones realizes that not only these jewels belong to Palestra, but that she also is his daughter