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Tattooing was to the Greek the branding of a slave (cf. vii. 233 n.), though traces of it are thought by Tsountas to be indicated on a limestone head found at Mycenae (C. R. xi. 461). It was, however, an honour among the Thracians (Cic. de Offic. ii. 7. 25; Dio Chrys. p. 233), Illyrians (Strabo 315), the Agathyrsi (Mela ii. 10), and the Mosynoeci (Xen. Anab. v. 4. 32). It is widely used, sometimes as a tribal or totem mark (Frazer, Totemism, i. 28, iv. 197 f.), sometimes as a means of decoration (Westermarck, op. cit. p. 168).

For the similar feeling among the Germans cf. Tac. Germ. 14 ‘Nec arare terram aut exspectare annum tam facile persuaseris quam vocare hostem et vulnera mereri’. Cf. also ii. 167.

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