Chap. 64.] HOESES. 317 



the poultry-yard with the, dog's food ; or else, if they are al- 

 ready attacked by the disease, by giving them hellebore. 



(41.) We haTe a single remedy against the bite, which has 

 been but lately discovered, by a kind of oracle, as it were-^ 

 the root of the wild rose, which is called cynorrhodos,^ or dogr 

 rose. Columella informs us, that if, on the fortieth day after 

 the birth of the pup, the last bone of the tail is bitten off, the 

 sinew will follow with it ; after which, the tail wU> not grow, 

 and the dog will never become rabid.'" It is mentioned, among 

 the other prodigies, and this I take to be one indeed, that a 

 dog once spoke ;^ and that when Tarquin was expelled from 

 the kingdom, a serpent barked. 



CHAP. 64. (42.) THE NAirrEB 01' THE HOESB. 



King Alexander had also a very remarkable horse ;™ it 

 was called Bucephalus, either on account of the fierceness of 

 its aspect, or because it had the figure of a bull's head marked- 

 on its shoulder. It is said, that he was struck with its beauty 

 when he was only a boy, and that it was purchased from the' stud 

 of PhUonicns, the PharsaUan, for thirteen talents.'" When it 

 was equipped with the royal trappings, it would sufier no one 

 except Alexander to mount it, although at other times it would 

 allow any one to do so. A memorable circumstimce connected 

 with it in battle is recorded of this horse ; it is said that when 

 it was wounded in the attack upon Thebes, it would not aUow 

 Alexander to mount any other torse. Many other circum- 

 stances, also, of a similar nature, occurred respecting it ; so that 

 when it died, the king duly performed its obsequies, and built 

 around its tomb a city, which he named after it." 



It is said, also, that Csesar, the Dictator, had a horse, which 



2* The history of this supposed discoTery is related more at large, B. xxt. 

 0. 2 and 6. The popular name of the plant is still the " dog-rose." — B. 



" Columella says, that the operation preTents the tail from acquiring 

 " fcedum incrementum," " a foul increase ;" and, as many shepherds say, 

 secures the animal from the disease. — B. 



'8 This is one of the marrellous tales related by Julius Obsequens, 

 u. 103.— B. 



'^ Plutarch, in his Life of Alexander, gives some account of this cele- 

 brated horse, and Aulus Gellius, B. T. c. 2, devotes a chapter to it. — B. 



'" Ajasson' estimates the price to have been 70,200 francs, £2925 

 sterling. — B. 



'1 Situate on the river Hydaspes ; Q. CurtiuB calls it Bucephalus. — B. 

 See B. vi. u. 23, where it is called Bucephala. 



