THE CAT OF ANTIQUITY 17 



pleased her to do so, and turning back to that half 

 savage freedom which she held always in reserve. 

 Libertas sine Lahore is, and has ever been, her 

 motto. The cat of Agathias had wearied of civiliza- 

 tion and well-doing when she forsook her duties in 

 the pantry, and decided to eat her master's bird. 

 It is true that Pliny, whose admirable imagination 

 deserts him strangely now and then, leaving him 

 stranded on the driest of facts, sees in Pussy little 

 but her usefulness. " She keeps well-filled barns 

 free from mice." He even adds in the same breath 

 that weasels do the work better. Palladius echoes 

 this stupid sentiment, but Romans of more heroic 

 mould valued more heroic traits. Tiberius Grac- 

 chus placed an image of the cat within his Temple 

 of Liberty ; and, if we may trust that pleasant old 

 book, La Vraye et Parfaitc Science des Armoiries, 

 published by Palliot in 1664, more than one Roman 

 legion marched to battle with Pussy blazoned on 

 their banners. The Ordines Augustei carried a 

 sea-green cat, courant ; the Felices Seniores a cat, 

 rampant, on a buckler gules ; and the Alpini a cat 

 with one eye and one ear, evidently a veteran war- 

 rior of the wall. 



Coming late to Rome, and winning distinction 

 first as a lover of liberty, half tamed and wholly 

 brave, it was long before Pussy's sweeter qualities 

 were duly exhibited, or valued at their worth. That 



