In ancient Irish legend amorous girls were said to invade graveyards in the search of corpses buried nine days. When they found one they cut from the body a narrow strip of skin extending from the top of the head down to the extremity of one foot. They then tried to knot the length of dead skin round the arm or leg of a sleeping lover and to remove it before he awoke. If the girl kept the skin hidden from all eyes, and managed to perform her task every night - so long would the man love her! Canidia, the Witch of Horace's fifth "Epode", got up to even worse tricks for aphrodisiac purposes. For example, she buried a kidnapped boy in the earth up to his chin and left him to starve with food placed on the ground in front of his face so that she might use his bone marrow and liver in love potions once he was dead.