498 
PLINY S NATUKAL HISTOET. 
[Book X. 
victory'''^ which they gained over the Lacedaemonians; such, 
in fact, being the interpretation that was put upon it by way 
of prognostic, as this bird, when conquered, is never known to 
crow. 
CHAP. 25. HOW COCKS ARE CASTKATED. A COCK THAT ONCE 
SPOKE. 
When castrated, cocks cease to crow. This operation is 
performed two different ways. Either the loins of the animal 
are seared with a red-hot iron, or else the lower part of the 
legs ; after which, the wound is covered up with potter's clay : 
this way they are fattened much more easily. At Pergamus,^ 
there is every year a public show of fights of game-cocks, just 
as in other places we have those of gladiators. 
We find it stated in the Eoman Annals, that in the^^ consul- 
ship of M. Lepidus and Q. Catulus a dung-hill cock spoke, at 
the farm-house of Galerius ; the only occasion, in fact, that I 
know of. 
CHAP. 26. (22.) THE GOOSE. 
The goose also keeps a vigilant guard ; a fact which is well 
attested by the defence of the Capitol, at a moment when, by 
the silence of the dogs, the commonwealth had been betrayed 
for which reason it is that the Censors always, the first thing 
of all, attend to the farming-out of the feeding of the sacred 
geese. What is still more, too, there is a love-story about this 
animal. At JEgium one is said to have conceived a passion for 
a beautiful boy, a native of Olenos,^^ and another for Glauce, 
a damsel who was lute-player to King Ptolemy ; for whom at 
the same time a ram is said also to have conceived a passion. 
One might almost be tempted to think that these creatures 
have an appreciation of wisdom :^ for it is said, that one of 
Mentioned by Cicero, De Divin, B. i. 
^0 The same too at Athens, in one of the theatres, in remembrance, 
JElian says, of the victory gained by Themistocles over the Persians. 
81 A.u.c. 676. 
82 "When the Capitol was besieged by the Gauls. 
83 Near Patras, in Achaia. JElian gives his name as Amphilochus, 
8'* A singular quality in a goose. JSlian says, that Lacydes was a peri- 
patetic philosopher, and that he honoured the goose with splendid obsequies, 
when it died. 
