The morning news., 1899-02-04

the phalangia, a creature not as large as
half an obole, by just touching a part Of
the body with it's jaws gives intolerable
pain to strong men and drives them mad?''
We do not know what reptile or insect is
referred to-phalangia has been trans
lated elsewhere by scorpion" But we can
say very emphaticaly that it was not
tarantula, seeing that there are none in
Greece; for Socrates referred evidently to
some small pest with which his hearers
We're familiar But in most translation of
Aehophon, If not all, the word is so rem
dered.
But the little story tells us whence came
the fable of the arantua-so-called from
Iarentum, where the spider is still most
common. Indeed, it does not wander far
from that neighborhood Tarentum was
founded by cOlonists from Sparta. who
doubtless carried with them the Greek
lahcy TO which Socrates alluded
But if We credit Nicola Perotti
doctor of medicine, who died in
1850, the tarantula itself had been
introduced TO Italy but a few wears
before his time. 1T was unknown saws
ne explicitly, in the days of our fore
fathers, but often seen now in Apulia.'
This is absurd, of course. A naturalist of
the fifteenth century saw nothing improb-
able In the supposition that a new animal
had been created of late-quite the re-
verse. Miracles were happening every
hour of that blessed age But the state
ment concurs with other evidence in fx
ing a date. Doubtless the peasants of
Southern Italy had cherished the legend
of the tarantula ever since their fore
fathers brought il from Greece. had been
bitten by the mysterious insect and had
pined under its venom, and been restored
to life by the pleasant remedy of music
and dancing. But the superstition was To-
cal and obscure; If lords and ladies heard
of it they probably declared it vulgar
SWlnburne says downright in his Travels
once so famous, mo person above the
lowest rank of life was ever seized with
this malady, nor is there an instance of
it causing death" From generation to
generation serf handed down the ouatnt
old fancy unnotced. But in the middle of
the fifteenth century it broke its bounds
on a sudden Tarantulas appeared in
every field of the kingdom, and the pop-
ulation went dancing mad in consequence.
| We can see probable cause for the out
! burst. About a hundred years before
the first dancing mania" broke out in
! Germany, overran those countries and en-
| tered France, where the government
| speedily repressed it, Italy did not take
! the infection. But rumors of this new epi-
| demic would spread southwark, no doubt
| in time reach the cOngenial province of
! Otranto' rousing the antique mania of
| these parts to rivalry. II was quite serious
! there. People believed, and believe now
! that spiders of a certain species are all
ways proving round seeking an oppor-
! tunity to bite mortals when asleep: and
! that such mortals would pine and waste
! away unless allured TO dance until they
! dropped by certain melodies. But when
the odd notion spread beyond its native
| seat the gravity went out of it, the spi-
der was retained only as a dramatic motif.
! so to say, and the dance of the Taranta-
! ii became a popular spectacle. Ii we be-
| lieve that any of the crew were honest
victims to hysteria, there was much method
in their madness at least. Many of ,hem
earned their keep through the winter
| by performing in the season" There
were established rendezvous in each dis
! trict where Tarantati met early in the
summer. jigged daily until the spectators
! aims We're exhausted, and then proceeded
to the next, They Travelled In compa-
nies of a score or more young men and
! young women for the most part, and there
| is no need to point out the conse quences
An austere municipality would forbid the
! show often enough on this account. but
| the people protested. 1t was, in fact
| something like system of ballet compa-
| nies on tour, with the recommendation of
! a charitable and semi-rel gious purpose.
| For a couple of centuries these victims
Of the tarantula perambulated Southern
| Italy, but il was a poor and despised ex-
| hibtion towards the end.