268 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 
and the indefatigable Sirrah standing in front of them, look- 
ing all around for some relief, but still standing true to his 
charge. The sun was then up; and when we first came in 
view of them, we concluded that it was one of the divisions 
of the lambs, which Sirrah had been unable to manage until 
he came to that commanding situation, for it was about a 
mile and a half distant from the place where they first broke 
and scattered. But what was our astonishment, when we 
discovered by degrees that not one lamb of the whole flock 
was wanting! How he had got all the divisions collected in 
the dark is beyond my comprehension. The charge was 
left entirely to himself from midnight until the rising' of the 
sun; and if all the shepherds in the forest had been there to 
have assisted him, they could not have effected it with great- 
er propriety. All that I can say farther is, that I never felt 
so grateful to any creature below the sun as I did to my 
honest Sirrah that morning.— London Sport. Magazine. 
ON THE LUXURY OF THE ROMANS. 
The Roman writers who flourished during the republic 
say little about Natural History. It is more treated of by 
the writers under the Empire. But the works they have 
left us on such subjects contain few original remarks, and 
are little else than compilations, a circumstance which must 
appear very strange, since no nation had ever greater oppor- 
tunities of observing. 
In the earliest ages of the republic, besides that the Roman 
institutions were in general adverse to every kind of study, 
the simplicity of manners that prevailed was especially un- 
favourable to the progress of natural history, a science of 
luxury, expensive, and not to be carried on without many 
previous arrangements. 
Indeed the relations among the beings that form the sub- 
ject of natural history, cannot be established without bring- 
ing together a great number. Much assistance is therefore 
derived from commerce, drawing, as it does, towards a cen- 
tral point, the productions of foreign countries. Now, the 
Romans, during a very long period were not commercial. 
By the first treaty made with the Carthaginians, they bound 
themselves not to sail beyond the strait that separates Sicily 
from Africa. Still later, in the year of Rome 405, they 
gave up altogether their trade with Sardinia, and with the 
coast of Africa. 
Commerce Was checked, not through ignorance, but from 
the policy of their government, in order to withstand the 
introduction of luxury. Rome had no silver money till the 
472d year from the foundation of the city, 268 years before 
Christ. At the date of the late Macedonian War, a senator 
was degraded from his rank for having ten pounds of silver 
plate. Gold plate was seen for the first time at the end of 
this war, in the triumph of Paulus iEmilius. But luxury 
was the speedy consequence of victory, and the luxury of j 
individuals was carried to the utmost extravagance. We 
shall notice it in so far as regards natural history. 
The luxury of the table, for example, caused to be im- 
ported into Rome from foreign countries a multitude of 
animals; of which several had no other recommendation but 
rarity, and being excessively dear. 
The luxury of dress also is interesting, with respect to 
precious stones and dyes. That of buildings, on account of 
the marbles brought from different parts of Italy, from 
Greece, and even from Gaul. And the luxury of furniture 
is interesting, from the valuable woods employed. 
Of the Luxury of the Table. 
Quadrupeds. — During the second Punic War, Fulvius 
Hirpinus devised the mode of retaining quadrupeds in parks. 
These parks were named Leporaria, because three sorts of 
hares were reared in them, the common hare, the original 
Spanish rabbit, and the variegated or alpine hare, a species 
now almost entirely destroyed. In like manner, nearly all 
the native animals of our forests were bred in these parks, 
besides the wild sheep and the mouflon. These animals 
were almost domesticated, and were taught to unite at a sig- 
nal, One day, when Hortensius was entertaining his friends 
at dinner in one of his parks, at the sound of a trumpet, 
stags, goats, and wild boars were seen running up, and 
gathered round his tent, to the no small dismay of some of 
the guests. Servius Rullus was the first who had a whole 
boar served on his table. Anthony, during his triumvi- 
rate, displayed eight at one feast. The Romans considered 
as a great delicacy the grey dormouse, a little animal that 
^dwells in the woods, and in the holes of oak trees. They 
reared them in enclosures, and lodged them in jars of 
earthen-ware, of a particular form, fattening them with 
worms and chesnuts. 
Birds. — Lenius Strabo of Brundusium invented aviaries 
for confining such birds, destined for the table, as could not 
be kept within the walls of a poultry-yard. It is he, says 
Pliny, that taught us to imprison animals whose abode is the 
sky. Alexander had introduced peacocks into Greece, 
where they were regarded only as objects of curiosity. 
Hortensius was the first who had one served at a banquet, 
when he was appointed to the office of augur. 
These birds soon multiplied, and Ptolemy Phocion was 
astonished at the great number of them to be found in Rome. 
Aufidius Lucro made about £600 a-year by fattening pea- 
