Natural Hiftory of the Ancients. 2 1 



Horace naturally introduces the dogs of the 

 Suburra, the "artificers*" quarter and the moft 

 abandoned precinct of Rome, in a witchcraft fcene 

 of cruelty and uncleannefs (Ep. v. 58). The 

 moft important ftar in the conftellation of the dog 

 was Sirius ; " about four hundred years before our 

 era, the heliacal rifing of Sirius at Athens, cor- 

 refponding with the entrance of the fun into the 

 fign Leo, marked the hotteft period of the year, 

 and this obfervation being taken on truft by the 

 Romans of a later epoch without confidering 

 whether it fuited their age and country, the dies 

 caniculares became proverbial among them, as the 

 dog-days are among ourfelves, and the poets con- 

 ftantly refer to the lion and the dog in connection 

 with the heats of midfummer." 1 By way of con- 

 tempt, the worft throw at the dice was known 

 among the Latins as canicula, juft as we brand 

 bad Latinity as dog Latin. The porter at the 

 entrance of both Greek and Roman houfes was 

 ufually attended by a dog; hence the expreflion 

 cave canem, which was proverbial among the 

 Romans. Sometimes a painted dog with the 

 warning was employed, as in a houfe which has 

 been opened at Pompeii. 



Greece and Rome do not appear to have known 

 as a diftinct breed that peculiar lightly built type 

 of the family, like a greyhound, which was com- 

 mon in Egypt. It had much affinity both in cha- 

 racter and derivation to the jackal. Dogs are not 

 unfrequently found reprefented on the Babylonian 

 1 " Dictionary of Antiquities," Art. " Aftronomia." 



