178 THE BANKIVA COCK. 



The cock in some of its varieties was known at a 

 very early period, but we have no traces how it was 

 introduced to Greece or Southern Europe. It made 

 a figure at the public shows of the Greeks and Ro- 

 mans, who have preserved records of it upon their 

 coinage, and in their mythology have dedicated it to 

 Apollo, Mercury, ^sculapius and Mars. At the 

 Roman banquets it was also for a while a prominent 

 dish ; the finest were fattened in the Island of Delos, 

 whose inhabitants were proud of their success in 

 feeding, and that island, with Rhodes, also produced 

 the best and boldest at the public fights. Meal, 

 milk, and darkness, were said to be the great secrets 

 of the art ; 



Pascitur et dulci facilis gallina farina, 

 Pascitur et tenebris, ingeniosa gula est. 



Mart. xiii. 62. 



and the modern art of cramming, with all its cruel- 

 ties, was also perhaps resorted to ; for a law was af- 

 terwards made, that no one should bring to his table 

 more than one fowl, and that this should neither be 

 crammed nor forcibly fattened. 



In later days a certain superstition is attached to 

 the cock and the various periods at which he crows ; 

 his crowing dispels all spirits, whether good or evil 



Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air. 



The ghost in Hamlet " faded at the crowing of the 

 cock," and the idea has ever been a favourite one 

 with poets and romancers, and is frequently called 





