198

Tutia carrying Water in a Sieve.

[Book II.

No. 74. Tutia carrying Wa-ter in a Sieve.

was, she succeeded in carrying the water, and thereby not only saved herlife, but greatly increased her reputation for sanctity. From the imper-fect accounts of the transaction that have reachedus, it may perhaps be deerned presumptuous todecide on its real character. That it actually oc-curred there can be no doubt. It is incorporatedwith both the history and the arts of the Romans.It is mentioned by Valerius Maximus , by Pliny and Livy: representations of Tutia carrying thesieve were also embodied in sculptures, in statues,and engraved on gems. The annexed figure wascopied from one of the latter. It is from the firstvolume of Montfaucon’s Antiquities, Plate 28 .

As the feat therefore was certainly performed,it must have been either by natural or by superna-tural me ans. Some writers have admitted, and St. Augustine among them, that the miracle was a ge-nuine one; but there are circumstances sufficientto show that the whole was a well coneeived andneatly executed trick, on the part of Tutia and herfriends; and further, that it was a much moresimple one, than other deceptions to which the heathen priests some-times had recourse. It possesses considerable interest hovvever as fur--nishing another specimen of their proficiency in scientific juggling andnatural magic. To say nothing of the absurdity of admitting a divineinterposition, in answer to invocations addressed to a heathen goddess—and of the improbability of Tutia being condemned while innocent; therecertainly was something suspicious in her undertaking to select the test forthe goddess, and espe.cially such a one as that of carrying water in asieve. Instead of asking for a sign by water, it would have been moreappropriate and more natural in her (if sincere) to have prayed for one byfire —by that element which was the symbol of the deity she invoked, andwhich it was her peculiar duty to attend at the altar and preserve pure—the element too, which, if the accusation was true, she had polluted: be-sides, a token by fire was always considered by the heathen as the strong-est evidence of divine approbation. What prompted her then to mentionthe test of the sieve ? Doubtless because the device by which it was tobe performed was already matured; not by the assistance of Vesta, butby a very simple contrivance furnished her by the priests, from their Storesof philosophical and other apparatus with which they wrought their won-ders before the people.

The contrivance was, we presume, a modificationof the ancient sprinkling pot, just described. Thesieve she employed would therefore be a doubleone ; that is, its bottom and sides were hollow, theexterior bottom only being perforated, as in the an-,,, ,... nexed cut, which represents a double metalli.c vessel,j WlH'iM'slSo : the inner one being capable of holding water, andthe upper edges of both united and made perfectlyN °' tion of Tutia’s sieve!™ 0 " air tight, with the exception of one or perhaps twosmall openings shown on the edge in the figure.Thus when such a sieve was pressed slowly under water, the liquid wouldenter through the perforated bottom, drive the air before it, and fill thecavity ; and when the upper part was sunk below the surface, the upper orapparent sieve would also be filled. Then by covering the small openxbg