178 
THE BANKIVA COCK. 
The cock in some of its varieties was known at- a 
very early period, but we have no traces how it was 
introduced to Greece or Southern Europe. It made 
a figure at the public shows of the Greeks and Ro- 
mans, who have preserved records of it upon their 
coinage, and in their mythology have dedicated it to 
Apollo, Mercury, TEsculapius and Mars. At the 
Roman banquets it was also for a while a prominent 
dish ; the finest were fattened in the Island of Delos, 
whose inhabitants were proud of their success in 
feeding, and that island, with Rhodes, also produced 
the best and boldest at the public fights. Meal, 
milk, and darkness, were said to be the great secrets 
of the art ; 
Pascitur et dulci facilis gallina farina, 
Pascitur et tenebris, ingeniosa gula eat. 
Mart. xiii. 63. 
and the modern art of cramming, with all its cruel- 
ties, was also perhaps resorted to ; for a law was af- 
terwards made, that no one should bring to his table 
more than one fowl, and that this should neither be 
crammed nor forcibly fattened. 
In later days a certain superstition is attached to 
the cock and the various periods at which he crows ; 
his crowing dispels all spirits, whether good or evil — 
Whether in sea or fire, in earth or air. 
The ghost in Hamlet “ faded at the crowing of the 
cock,” and the idea has ever been a favourite one 
with poets and romancers, and is frequently called 
