A well-known custom of cursing an enemy in the Middle Ages was that of making a waxen figure, and, as it melted before the fire, the person represented by it was supposed similarly to waste away. This practice is referred to in Horace (Satires, 1:8, 30 sq.), and it is worthy of remark that the same custom is described in the incantations of the ancient Accadian sorcerers. See Lenormant, Chaldaean Magic, page 5.