The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-07-19


Kissing Qor that Is the everyday
rendering of the high-sounding wo
'osculatiOn, " which forms the title of
this paper, and which is derived from
the LrtIn word "0S," the mouth, and
therefore meaning ''little mouth,
illustrative of the puckered up shape
of that organ when bestowing or re
ceiving a kiss was an act of religion in
ancient Rome. The nearest friend of
dying person performed the rite of
receiving his soul by n kiss, supposing
that it escaped through his lips at the
moment of expiration. Spenser, in his
Pastoral Elegy on the death of Sir
Philip Sidney" mentions it as a cir
cumstance which renders the death of
his illustrious friend more to be
lamented that
None was nigh his eyclds up to close,
| and kiss his lips.
A little after he introduces the lady,
"the dearest love" of the deceased,
weeping over him:
| She, with sweet kisses, sucked the wasting
| breath,
Dat of his lips, like lilies pale and soft
The sacredness of the kiss was in
violable among the Romans for long
time. At length it was degraded into
a current form of salutation. Pliny as
cribes the introduction of the custom
to the degeneracy of the Roman ladies,
who, in violation of the hereditary del
icacy of the females of Rome, de-
scended to the indulgence of wine.
Kissing was resorted to by those gentle,
''good-easy" husbands (who knew bet
ter than to risk the tumbling of the
house about their ears) as the most
effeCtual and courteous process to ascer-
tain the quality of their wives stolen
lIbatlcns; and Cato the Elder recon =
mends the plan to the serious attention
of the heads of all careful families.
The kiss was, in process of time, diff
fused generally as form of salutation
in Rome, where men testified their re
gard and the warmth Of their welcome
for each other chiefly by the number If
their kisses. Among the early Roman s
the higher magistrates ave their hands
to be Kissed; and, under the frat en-
perors, the monarchs did the same.
This, however, was soon thought too
familiar to be an act of trua homage, so
only the superior officers kissed the
hands, while the inferior were forced
to be content with touching the royal
robes. Sometimes the Emperor kissed
the mouth and eyes of those whom he
wished signally to homer; but this was
a very rare privilege, and persons whom
he wished to disgrace he kissed with
marked GOODNESS. Agricola complained
that, when he returned from his victo-
ries over the SaxonS, Damitian gave
him ''frigid kiss, and left him other
wise unoticed. In later times the
Roman emperorS exacted the same
homage accorded to the gods, then
subjects being required to kiss their
feet, and still later to kiss even the
ground before them. Dioc' ian was
the first to demand this scrvile manner
of salutation. Christianity, too, did
not disdain to borrow of heathendom
even such things as were opposed to its
inner spiris and intention. Thus the
Popes required the baser laity to kiss
their feet, and in 700 Pope Constantine
l., on entering Constantinople, caused
the Emperor Justinian to kiss his foot.
Valentine l. made the custom perma,
nent; and ever since 1927 the lai has
crouched and crawled up the st ps OF
St. Peters chair to kiss the toes of the
great fetch enshrined thereon.