Chap. 64.] HOESES. 317 



the poultry-yard with the dog's food ; or else, if they are al- 

 ready attacked by the disease, by giving them hellebore. 



(41.) We have a single remedy against the bite, which has 

 been but lately discovered, by a kind of oracle, as it were — 

 the root of the wild rose, which is called cynorrhodos,^^ or dog- 

 rose. Columella informs us, that if, on the fortieth day after 

 the birth of the pup, the last bone of the tail is bitten off, the 

 sinew will follow with it ; after which, the tail will not grow, 

 and the dog will never become rabid. ^'^ It is mentioned, among 

 the other prodigies, and this I take to be one indeed, that a 

 dog once spoke ;^ and that when Tarquin was expelled irom 

 the kingdom, a serpent barked. 



CHAP, 64. (42.) THE NAIimE OF THE HOESE. 



King Alexander had also a very remarkable horse ;-^ it 

 was called Bucephalus, either on account of the fierceness of 

 its aspect, or because it had the figure of a bull's head marked 

 on its shoulder. It is said, that he was struck with its beauty 

 when he was only a boy, and that it was purchased from the stud 

 of Philonicus, the Pharsalian, for thirteen talents.^° "When it 

 was equipped with the royal trappings, it would sufier no one 

 except Alexander to mount it, although at other times it would 

 allow any one to do so. A memorable circumstance connected 

 with it in battle is recorded of this horse ; it is said that when 

 it was wounded in the attack upon Thebes, it would not allow 

 Alexander to mount any other horse. Many other circum- 

 stances, also, of a similar nature, occurred respecting it ; so that 

 when it died, the king duly performed its obsequies, and built 

 around its tomb a city, which he named after it.^^ 



It is said, also, that Coesar, the Dictator, had a horse, which 



26 The history of this supposed discovery is related more at large, B. xxv. 

 c. 2 and 6. The popular name of the plant is still the " dog-rose." — B. 



27 Columella says, that the operation prevents the tail from acquiring 

 " fcedum incrementum," "afoul increase;" and, as many shepherds say, 

 secures the animal from the disease. — B. 



-8 This is one of the marvellous tales related by Julius Obsequens, 

 c. 103.— B. 



29 Plutarch, in his Life of Alexander, gives some account of this cele- 

 brated horse, and Aulus Gellius, B. v. c. 2, devotes a chapter to it. — B. 



^" Ajasson estimates the price to have been 70,200 francs, £2925 

 sterling. — B. 



31 Situate on the river Hydaspes ; Q. Curtius calls it Bucephalus. — B. 

 See B. vi. c. 23, where it is called Bucephala. 



