532 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



mystery, existed in ancient times. In the book, "The 

 Varieties of Dogs, as They Are Found in Old Sculptures, 

 Pictures, Engravings, and Books," by Th. Charles Berjeau, 

 we find pictures, copied from the British Museum, of this 

 dog the Canis molossus, now extinct bearing a striking 

 resemblance to the German Dogge. Aristotle mentions the 

 Canis moloticus after Molossis or Molossia, the central 

 part of Epirus, in ancient Greece 350 years B. C., in his 

 "Historia Animalium." The Canis venations (hunting 

 dog) mentioned in Marcus Terentius Varro' s work, l ' De re 

 Rustica, 1 ' in the last century B. C., is probably the same 

 dog as the Canis moloticus, or molossus, as well as the 

 Canis venaticus that Junius Moderatus Calnmella writes 

 of in the first century of the Christian era. Shortly before 

 that time, Gratlus Faliscus, in his "Cynegeticon," treats of 

 the manner of using the dogs for hunting, of raising and 

 training them, of their qualities, diseases, etc. ; also Oppi- 

 anus of Anazarbos, in the second century, in his didactic 

 poem, "De Venatione," Marc. Aurelius Olympius Neme- 

 sianus of Carthage, in his " Cynegeticon," and Titus Julius 

 Calpurnius of Sicily, in his "Cynegeticon sen de re Vene- 

 tica Eclogse," describe explicitly the qualities of the dogs, 

 and their being employed for hunting. Many other histo- 

 rians and poets, among whom Virgil, Horace, Caius Plinius 

 Secundus, living shortly before or in the beginning of the 

 Christian era, describe and extol the Canis molossus and 

 his valorous deeds. 



The Romans are said to have become acquainted with 

 these dogs in England, and to have exported many of them 

 for the purpose of using them in the circus to light with 

 wild beasts. Tlnve of them could overpower a bear, and 

 four even a lion. The Romans, finding extreme delight in 

 these contests, valued the pugnacious Molossus Dogs, whose 

 daring exploits historians and poets extolled so highly that 

 they appointed officers in their British provinces whose 

 business was the selection and training of the dogs to be 

 sent to Rome. Long after the decline of the Roman Em- 

 pire these dogs were employed for such bloody contests, 



