IN LEGEND AND HISTORY 89 



symbol of liberty. Several historical tales 

 are based on this fancy : Pliny tells us that 

 swallows never entered the houses of the 

 Greek city of Thebes, because it had been 

 many times besieged. Nor would they ap- 

 proach the country of the Bizyae, because 

 there lived the wicked Tereus who we learned 

 in the Greek legend made the pretty Philo- 

 mela prisoner — as a result of which act 

 swallows came into the world. 



Swallows have sometimes been made to 

 carry messaged between men. Pliny re- 

 counts that at the time of the celebrated 

 chariot races in Rome, a citizen of Volterra 

 (a city about fifty miles north of Rome, 

 which may be visited to-day) by the name of 

 Caecina was the owner of several chariots or 

 " dominus quadrigarum " as you will read in 

 your Latin. He was in the habit of having 

 swallows caught and carried with him to 

 Rome when he went to compete in the Cir- 

 cus. Upon" gaining a victory he would send 

 the news home to his friends by the birds. 



