BOOK X.] History of Nature. 205 



more than all, these Birds govern the Government of all 

 Nations upon the Earth : acceptable to the Gods in Sacrifice 

 with the small Fibres of their inwards, as the best Victims. 

 Their crowing out of Order, and in the Evening, possesseth 

 a Portent; for by their crowing all Night long, they pre- 

 saged to the Boeotians that noble Victory over the Lacedas- 

 monians ; this Interpretation being offered, because that 

 Bird never croweth if he is overcome. If they are castrated 

 they cease to crow. And this Operation is practised upon 

 them in two Ways : either by burning their Loins with a hot 

 Iron, or by cauterising their Thighs beneath, and then pre- 

 sently applying to the Ulcer Potter's Chalk ; and thus they 

 will sooner grow fat. At Pergamus every Year there is an 

 Exhibition publicly afforded to the People, of Cocks, as of 

 Gladiators. We find in our Annals, that in the Territory of 

 Ariminum, when Marcus Lepidus and Quintus Catnlus were 

 Consuls, a Dung-hill Cock spoke ; and it was at the Villa of 

 Galerius. But this* only happened once, so far as I can 

 learn. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



Of Geese: and who first ate the Liver of the Goose. Also of 

 the Fat of the Goose of Comagene. 



THE Goose 1 likewise is very vigilant, as witness the 

 Capitol defended at that Time when, through the Silence of 

 the Dogs, all was betrayed. And therefore the first Thing 

 the Censors do, is to place Food for the Geese. Moreover, 

 they are said to be much given to Love ; for at Argos there 

 was a Goose that was enamoured of a fair Boy named 

 Olenus : as also of Glauce, who used to play on the Lute 

 (Cithara) before King Ptolemy: and it is reported that at 

 the same Time a Ram was in love with her. It may be 

 thought also that there is visible in this Creature some 



1 Anas anser, LINN. The narrative of the preservation of the Capitol 

 from the attack of the Gauls, is found in all the Roman histories. But 

 Geese were held sacred long before this : perhaps as an emblem of watch- 

 fulness. Wern. Club. 



