BOOK X. XXIV. 49-.\xvii. 52 



crovnng all the nights long they presaged to the 

 Boeotians that famous victory " against the Spartans, 

 conjecture thus interpreting the sign because this 

 bird when conquered does not cro\v. 



XXV. Cocks when gelt stop crowing; the opera- Cock- 

 tion is performed in two ways — by searing with a ^""'""•"^- 

 glowing iron either the loins or the bottom parts 



of the legs, and then smearing the wound with 

 potter's clay. This operation makes them easier to 

 fatten. At Pei*gamiun every year a pubhc show is 

 given of cocks fighting Hke gladiators. It is found 

 in the Annals that in the consulship *" of Marcus 

 Lepidus and Quintus Catulus, at the country house 

 of Galerius in the Rimini district, a farmyard cock 

 spoke — the only occasion, so far as I know, on which 

 this has occurred. 



XXVI. The goose also keeps a careful watch, as is The goose. 

 evidenced by its defence of the Capitol ^ during the 



time when our fortunes were being betrayed by the 

 silence of the dogs ; for which reason food for 

 the geese is one of the first contracts arranged by the 

 censors. Moreover there is the story of the goose 

 at Aegium that fell in love with the supremely 

 beautiful boy Amphilochus of Olenus, and also 

 the goose that loved Glauce, the girl that played 

 the harp for King Ptolemy, whom at the same time 

 also a ram is said to have fallen in love with. These 

 birds may possibly be thought also to possess the 

 power of understanding ^visdom : thus there is a story 

 that a goose attached itself continually as a companion 

 to the philosopher Lacydes, never leaving his side 

 by night or day, either in public or at the baths. 



XXVII. Our countrymen are wiser, who know the Foiegraa. 

 goose by the excellence of its Uver. Stuffing the 



325 



