In ancient Rome the citizen had to take care to know the words of the law and to state them exactly.

If he used one wrong word the law gave him no assistance.

"Gaius tells a story of a man whose neighbour had cut his vines; the facts were clear; he stated the law applying to his case, but he said vines, whereas the law said trees; he lost his suit." [115] The divine virtue attached to the sacred books of different religions rests on the same belief.

Frequently the books themselves are worshipped, and it was held that they could not be translated because the sanctity resided in the actual words and would be lost if other words were used.

The efficacy of spells and invocations seems to depend mainly on this belief in the concrete power of words.