62 MEMOIR OF PLINY. 



so oft looketh aloft to the sun and sky; and then vp 

 goeth the taile and all, which he beares on high, turn- 

 ing backward again on the top like a hook. And 

 hereupon it is, that marching thus proudly as they 

 doe, the very lions (the most courageous of all wilde 

 beasts) stand in fear and awe of them, and will not 

 abide the sight of them." The best breed, in the 

 days of Pliny, were from Rhodes, Tenagra, Melos, 

 and Chalcis. It is recorded of a dunghil cock be- 

 longing to one Galerius, that it spoke ; and at Per- 

 gamus a solemn cock fight took place every year in 

 presence of the people. " Vnto these birds (he con- 

 tinues, alluding to the superstitions of augury) the 

 purple robe at Rome and all magistrates of state dis- 

 dain not to giue honour. They rule our great rulers 

 euery day ; and there is not a mighty lord or state 

 of Rome that dare open or shut the dore of his house, 

 before he knows the good pleasure of these fowles ; 

 and what is more, the soueraigne magistrat in his 

 majestie of the Roman empire, with the royal en- 

 signes of rods and axes caried before him, neither 

 sets forward nor reculeth backe without direction 

 from these birds. They giue orders to whole armies 

 to advance forth to battle, and again command them 

 to stay and keep within the camp. These were 

 they that gaue the signall and fortold the issue of 

 all those famous foughten fields, whereby we haue at- 

 chieued all our victories throughout the whole world." 

 The account of the nightingale is also highly 

 entertaining, but we must pass it over to make room 



