Note 655 — Chapter XII
Reading edition
Footnote 655:
(return)
Jullian, Ep. to Maximin, 16. The practice may have been connected with that noted by Aristotle, of plunging the newly-born into a river, to strengthen it, as he says (Pol. vii. 15. 2), but more probably as a baptismal or purificatory rite. See p. 309, infra.