NUPTIAL RITES, the ceremonies attending the solemnization of marriage, which are different in different ages and countries. We cannot omit here a custom which was practised by the Romans on these occasions. Immediately after the principal ceremonies were ended, the new married man threw nuts about the room for the boys to scramble for. Various reasons have been assigned for this; but that which most generally prevails, and seems to be the most probable, is, that by this act the bridegroom signified his resolution to abandon trifles, and commence a serious course of life. Hence nucibus relictis became in this sense a proverb. The nuts might also be an emblem of fertility. The ancient Greeks had a person to conduct the bride from her own to the bridegroom's house, and hence he was called by the Greeks Nymphagogus, which term was afterwards used both by the Romans and the Jews.