sented on the coins of some forty Greek cities, and doubtless 

 most Greeks knew the reason why. 



Phny the Elder, in his Natural History (IX, 8, 24-28), writes 

 as follows : 



"The dolphin is an animal that is not only friendly to man- 

 kind but is also a lover of music, and it can be charmed by sing- 

 ing in harmony, but particularly by the sound of the water- 

 organ. It is not afraid of a human being as something strange 

 to it, but comes to meet vessels at sea and sports and gambols 

 round them, actually trying to race them and passing them even 

 when under full sail. In the reign of the late lamented Augustus 

 a dolphin that had been brought into the Lucrine Lake fell 

 marvellously in love with a certain boy, a poor man's son, who 

 used to go from the Baiae district to school at Pozzuoli, because 

 fairly often the lad when loitering about the place at noon called 

 him to him by the name of Snubnose and coaxed him with bits 

 of the bread he had with him for the journey, — I should be 

 ashamed to tell the story were it not that it has been written 

 about by Maecenas and Fabianus and Flavius Alfius and many 

 others, — and when the boy called to it at whatever time of day, 

 although it was concealed in hiding, it used to fly to him out of 

 the depth, eat out of his hand, and let him mount on its back, 

 sheathing as it were the prickles of its fin, and used to carry him 

 when mounted right across the bay to Pozzuoli to school, bring- 

 ing him back in similar manner, for several years, until the boy 

 died of disease, and then it used to keep coming sorrowfully 

 and like a mourner to the customary place, and itself also ex- 

 pired, quite undoubtedly from longing. Another dolphin in 

 recent years at Hippo Diarrhytus on the coast of Africa similarly 

 used to feed out of people's hands and allow itself to be stroked, 

 and play with swimmers and carry them on its back. The Gov- 

 ernor of Africa, Flavianus, smeared it all over with perfume, 

 and the novelty of the scent apparently put it to sleep : it floated 

 lifelessly about, holding aloof from human intercourse for some 



II 



