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ON LOCKS AND KEYS.

has been made to passages taken from the Odyssey which abounds in allusions to the domestic habitsof the Greeks, it being a picture of the domesticmanners of the ancients, as the Iliad is of theirpublic life and usages.”

We shall here insert “ a passage, forming partof the last paragraph to the second book of theOdyssey . Telemachus , after an angry debate withthe suitors of Penelope , has retired to his chamber,attended by his old faithful servant, ‘ the sageEurycleia .’

“ Whilst to his couch himself the prince addressed,

The duteous nurse received the purple vest:

The purple vest with decent care disposed,

The silver ring she pulled, the door reclosed ;

The bolt, obedient to the silken cord,

To the strong staple’s inmost depth restored,

Secured the valves.”

“When the gate was opened among the Romans,the folds (valv/E quod intus revolvantur) bentinwards, unless it was granted to any one by aspecial law to open his door outwards; as to P. Valerius Poplicola , and his brother, who had twiceconquered the Sabines (ut domiis eorum fores extraaperirentur ), Plin. xxxvi. 15, after the manner ofthe Athenians , whose doors opened to the street(in publicum,); and when any one went out, healways made a noise, by striking the door on theinside, to give warning to those without to keep ata distance. Hence Crepuit foris, concrepuit a Gly-