Chap. CO.] CONSEQUENCES OF A RAVEN SPEAKING. 525 



rally known as the " field of Rediculus." 73 Thus did the rare 

 talent of a bird appear a sufficient ground to the Roman people 

 for honouring it with funeral obsequies, as well as for inflicting 

 punishment on a Roman citizen ; and that, too, in a city in 

 which no such crowds had ever escorted the funeral of a-ny one 

 out of the whole number of its distinguished men, and where 

 no one had been found to avenge the death of Scipio ^Emili- 

 anus, 74 the man who had destroyed Carthage and Numantia. 

 This event happened in the consulship of M. Servilius and 

 Caius Cestius, on the fifth day 75 before the calends of April. 



At the present day also, the moment that I am writing this, 

 there is in the city of Rome a crow which belongs to a Roman 

 of equestrian rank, and was brought from Boetica. In the first 

 place, it is remarkable 76 for its colour, which is of the deepest 

 black, and at the same time it is able to pronounce several 

 connected words, while it is repeatedly learning fresh ones. 

 Recently, too, there has been a story told about Crater us, sur- 

 named Monoceros, 77 in Erizena, 78 a countiy of Asia, who was 

 in the habit of hunting with the assistance of ravens, and used 

 to cany them into the woods, perched on the tuft of his hel- 

 met and on his shoulders. The birds used to keep on the watch 

 for game, and raise it ; and by training he had brought this art 

 to such a pitch of perfection, that even the wild ravens would 

 attend him in a similar manner when he went out. Some 

 authors have thought the following circumstance deserving of 

 remembrance : A crow that was thirsty was seen heaping 

 stones into the urn on a monument, in which there was some 

 rain-water which it could not reach : and so, being afraid to 

 go down to the water, by thus accumulating the stones, it 



73 Festus says that the " fane of Rediculus was without the Porta Ca- 

 pena ; it was so cabled because Hannibal, when on the march from Capua, 

 turned back (redierit) at that spot, being alarmed at certain portentous 

 visions." 



74 P. Cornelius Scipio jEmilianus Africanus Minor, the younger son of 

 L. JEmilius Paulus, the conqueror of Macedonia. It is doubtful whether 

 he died a natural death, or was privately assassinated by the partisans of 

 the Gracchi. His wife, Cornelia, and his mother, Sempronia, were sus- 

 pected by some persons. 



7 * 28th March. 



78 One would hardly think that there was anything wonderful in a crow 

 being very black. 



77 The "one-horned." 



78 Most probably in Asia Minor, and not Eriza in India. 



