ANTIQUITY OF THE FANCY MOUSE 11 



Coins of the Troad, and especially Alexandria Troas, fre- 

 quently bear the figure of the cultus statue and in several 

 instances the sacred mouse (41) - 1 



Aristotle refers to the white mice of Pontis. Strabo (c. 25 

 B.C.) (163) mentions the white mice cultured in the many 

 Sminthian temples. Pliny (c. a.d. 25) (150) alludes to the 

 use of white mice for auguries. White mice are mentioned 

 by Aelianus (a.d. 100) (1), Hesychius (c. a.d. 500) (100), 

 Suida (1100) (65), Albert (1250) (65), Apostolius (1453) 

 (65), Gesner (1560) (65), Johnson (1640) (84), Pallas (1766) 

 (143), and Darwin (1865) (36), while more recently the au- 

 thorities writing upon them have been too numerous to 

 mention. 



Pliny says in this connection: 



And verily, how basely men thinke of this kind of eattell and hold them 

 no better than vermine, yet are they not without eertaine naturall prop- 

 erties, and those not to be despised : but principally in regard of the sym- 

 pathy between them and the planets in their ascent, I have noted hereto- 

 fore: and namely, considering how the lobes and filaments of their livers 

 and bowels do increase or decrease in number according to the dais of the 

 Moon's age. . . . By the learning of soothsayers, observed it is, that 

 if there be a store of white ones bred it is a good signe and presageth 

 prosperitie. — Translation of Philemon Holland, 1635. 



The pharmaceutical virtues of the mouse so often em- 

 ployed by Greek and Christian doctors may be attributable 

 in part to the influence of the mouse cult of Pontis. 



Greece and Rome. The Homeric story of " Batrachomyo- 

 machia" or the "Battle of Frogs and Mice" probably origi- 

 nated in Ionia about 750 b.c. An analagous story was 

 popular in Europe during the early Christian centuries. The 

 latter tale was known as Galliomyomachia ("The Battle 

 of Weasels and Mice"), and describes a war waged by the 

 weasels upon the rats. The story may have been occasioned 

 by the influx into Europe of the black rat (Rattus rattus) 

 following the migration of the Germanic tribes, which animal 

 finally gained a foothold in England during the fifteenth 

 century. . 



1 Coins of Nesos, Lampsakos, Nagidos, and Metapont bear a mouse. 



