A 1' !• E N D 1 \ , 



245 



Canis Epithcta ; and the Glossaria of Spclniaii and Dncangc. Tlie 

 title ot»co0u\o$, derived from the office of the animal, 



Sn crov TTpoixaxftctt Kol (pvAdrTfi ri]P Bvpav, 



occurs in a pretty epigram of the Locrian poetess on the picture of a 

 Grecian lady ; but is there probably applied to a domestic pet, 



calvoi Kiv a' iaiSolcra Ka\ olKO(p6\a^ ffKv\dKaiva 

 Seairoivav (leXaQpuv oloixeva iroOoprjv. 



To the " hylax in limine" of Virgil (Eel. viii.) — the " vigilum 

 canum tristes excubia; " of Horace (L. lll. Od. IG.) — I need not 

 refer ; nor indeed to the Catenarius of Seneca (de Ira, L. in.), nor 

 the ^t'ffyLitos of Artemidorus (Oneirocrit. L. ii. c. xi.) To say that 

 all these passages afford instances of Molossian Canes custodes, 

 would be going too far. They merely exemplify the use to which 

 trusty, vigilant individuals of the pugnacious canine race were ap- 

 plied, and the functions they performed, in the rural and domestic 

 economy of G reek and Roman households. Horace, however, par- 

 ticularly specifies Epirotes in the capacity of house-dogs — " domus 

 alta Molossis Personuit canibus " — as if they were the usual custodes 

 of patrician houses. For much of the point of his pretty fable rests 

 on the sumptuousness of the town-house, wherein dwelt the city- 

 mouse, joint-tenant with a biped lord, " in locuplete domo," the 

 appointed place of rendezvous for the rustic friend. 



To the same tribe, for want of a more appropriate one, (unless the 

 reader would place them on a Libyan or Egyptian file,) I assign the 

 " exquisitior custodia" of Massinissa, the canine guardians in whose 

 protection he deemed himself more safe than in that of his fellow- 

 men ; 



Hos Maurusiacus sibi Massinissa paravit 

 Custodies, honiiiium fidei diffisus, et isto 

 Non sibi conducto sua sccptra satellite cinxit. 



Aristopli 

 V^espa*. 



Nossis 



Locrissa. A pud 



Poetas Graecos 



Minores. 



Salir. L. ii. 

 S. VI. vs. 114. 



J. Darcii 



Venusini 



Canes. 



" Parum fidei in pectoribus hominum reponens," says Valerius L. ix. c. 13. 

 Maximus, " salutem suam custodi^ canum vallavit." ^ 



1. On which the indignant historian observes with warmth, " quo tani late patens 

 iiuperium 



Valerii 



quo tautus liberorum numerus? quo denique tarn arcta benevolentid Maximi L. ix. 



