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; which was this: Immediately after the chief ceremonies were over, the new married man threw nuts about the room for the boys to scramble for. Various reasons have been assigned for it; but that which most generally prevails, and seems to be the most just, is, that by this act the bridegroom signified his resolution to abandon trifles, and commence a serious course of life; whence meliora relictis in this tenue became a proverb. They 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.