86. Zosimus, 1. v. [c. 47-49] p. 367, 368, 369. This custom
of swearing by the head, or life or safety, or genius, of
the sovereign, was of the highest antiquity, both in Egypt
(Genesis xlii. 15) and Scythia. It was soon transferred, by
flattery, to the Caesars; and Tertullian complains that it
was the only oath which the Romans of his time affected to
reverence. See an elegant Dissertation of the Abbe Massieu
on the Oaths of the Ancients, in the Mem. de l'Academie des
Inscriptions, tom. i. p. 208, 209.