BOOK VIII. Lxi. 144-147 



from a highwayman ; and so was the senator CaeHus, 

 an invalid, when set upon by armed men at Piacenza, 

 and he did not receive a wound till the dog had been 

 despatched. But above all cases, in our own genera- 

 tion it is attested by the National Records that in the 

 consulship" of Appius Julius and PubUus SiHus when 

 as a result of the case of Germanicus's son Nero 

 punishment was visited on Titius Sabinus and his 

 slaves, a dog belonging to one of them could not be 

 driven away from him in prison and when he had been 

 flung out on the Steps of Lamentation would not 

 leave his body, uttering sorrowful howls to the vast 

 concourse of the Roman pubhc around, and when 

 one of them threw it food it carried it to the mouth 

 of its dead master ; also when his corpse had been 

 thrown into the Tiber it swam to it and tried to keep 

 it afloat, a great crowd streaniing out to view the 

 animaFs loyalty. 



Dogs alone know their master, and also recognize /'''«Wiy^n« 

 a sudden arrival as a stranger ; tlicy alone recognize 

 their own names, and the voice of a member of the 

 liousehold ; they remember the way to places how- 

 ever distant, and no creature save man has a longer 

 memory. Their onset and rage can be molUhed 

 by a person sitting down on the ground. Experience 

 daily discovers very many otlier quaUties in these 

 animals, but it is in hunting that their skill and 

 sagacity is most outstanding. A hound traces and 

 follows footprints, dragging by its leash the tracker 

 that accompanies it towards his quarry ; and on 

 sighting it how silent and secret but how significant 

 an indication is given first by the tail and then by 

 the muzzle ! Consequently even when they are 

 exhausted with old age and bUnd and weak, men 



103 



