SOME OF THE DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 
625 
of profusion unexampled in any other country. This, however, 
could only be at great and solemn, perhaps annual, entertain¬ 
ments ; for where could the boars be otherwise found ? 
EOS, THE ox. 
An animal, the sacrifice of which was considered as peculiarly 
pleasing to some divinities : opimam victimam laudatissimam- 
que Deorum placationem,’’ says Pliny. But to be perfectly accept¬ 
able, it was to be caught in the vigour of its age, without spot or 
blemish: five years was the most esteemed age. Those who 
had the honour of a triumph at Rome offered in sacrifice the 
oxen of Umbria, which are said to have been all white, and to have 
become so by the pasturage of that province. Before the victim 
was sacrificed its horns were gilt. A hundred oxen, which con¬ 
stituted a hetacomb, were often immolated to Jove. This pro¬ 
fusion was probably derived from the Lacedaemonians, who are 
said to have annually offered a hetacomb in the name of the 
hundred towns dependant on their jurisdiction. The horn of 
this animal was used as a drinking cup in most nations; and 
even when luxury introduced vessels of more costly material, the 
form was preserved. To assign a recondite origin for this custom 
would be vain : it, doubtless, arose from the facility with which a 
horn could be procured. 
CANIS, A DOG. 
At Rome dogs were used to guard houses, and Cave canem 
was equally common with our Beware of the dog! ” In the 
same manner they were entrusted with the guard of the temples, 
and, even, of the Capitol; but, suffering that fortress to be sur¬ 
prised by the Gauls, one of them was ever after borne annually 
through the city, fastened to a cross. By the Egyptians, the 
most superstitious of nations, the dog was held in great veneration ; 
inasmuch as it was symbolical of the overflowings of the Nile, and 
once the constant attendant of their deities, Isis and Osiris. 
Divine honours were paid to it. In Greece and Rome dogs were, 
sometimes, sacrificed to the gods; by the former to Pan, by the 
latter to the domestic Lares: both nations offered them during the 
dog-days, probably as a preservative against the rabid disease of 
that animal. The howl of the dog was considered as ominous in 
the former as in present times. Most of our popular supersti¬ 
tions have a classical source. By the Emperor Adrian, the dog 
and horse were held in such veneration, that he honoured both 
with the rights of sepulture—the former from its fidelity, the 
latter from its utility to man. 
VOL. VIII, 4 Q 
