38& COMMON PIGEON. Class II. 



Quelle ando al Cairo, ed indi fu lasciata 

 Un' altra altrove, come quivi e stilo : 

 Si, che in pocbissime ore andb l'avviso 

 Per tutto Egitto, ch'era Orrilo ucciso.* 



Bat the simple use of them was known in very 

 early times : Anacreon tells us, he conveyed 

 his billet-doux, to his beautiful Bathyllus, by 

 a dove. 



Eyw §' 'AvoLY-gsovft 

 Aiczkovu) rocavTa.' 

 Kai vvv o'icls exeIvov 



I am now Anacreotis slave, 



And to me entrusted have 



All the o'erflowings of his heart 



To Bathyllus to impart; 



Each soft line, with nimble wing, 



To the lovely boy I bring. 



Taurosthenes also, by means of a pigeon he 

 had decked with purple, sent advice to his fa- 

 ther, who lived in the isle of JEgina, of his vic- 

 tory in the Olympic games, on the very day he 



* c As soon as the commandant of Damiata heard that Or- 

 ' rilo was dead, he let loose a pigeon, under whose wing he had 

 ' tied a letter ; this fled to Cairo, from whence a second was 

 £ dispatched to another place, as is usual ; so that in a very few 

 ' hours, all Egypt was acquainted with the death of Orrilo? 

 Ariosto, canto 15. 



f Anacreon, ode 9. z)$ tfEgurfsodv. 



