NUMBERS

Even numbers and a knife.
Rites and bad luck at the table of the Romans.
“It’s not true … … .. but I believe it” Benedetto Croce said, speaking of superstitions.
Old fear, “bad luck”.
Would it be a Romans’ legacy?
Our forefathers were actually very superstitious.
Just think of the amount of superstitious rites and gestures during their meals.
Today we would do everything not to be thirteen at the table?
For Romans the numerals to be avoided were many more: all the even ones.
But there were many risks, although the number of guests was odd.
Entering the dining room (triclinium) with the left foot was a harbinger of doom, as well as bringing food to the mouth with his left hand.
It is then become a bon ton rule to use the right hand, which was considered such an important behaviour to be taught to children:
“If they extend their left hand – Pliny writes – they are scolded.”
For this reason (to have the right hand free) they used to eat leaning on the left elbow: as it is well known the Romans did not eat sitting but lying on the beds.
But back to the superstitions, other risks looming over who was the last one to finish the meal and leaving the table: if he or she was not married risked not to get married.
It was not less dangerous to get up during the meal:
it was likely to die within a year.
One should not put the knife edge directly into the meat: it meant to stick it into dead people, who were believed to continue to live where they used to live.
There were then words and subjects that had to be avoided: if someone spoke about a fire, for example, he had to pour water under the table, to stop it symbolically.
And woe to those who spilled the salt shaker: exactly like today.