Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XXIX. REMEDIES DERIVED FROM LIVING CREATURES., CHAP. 14. (4.)

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CHAP. 14. (4.)—REMEDIES DERVED FROM THE DOO.

We have already¹ spoken of the honours earned by the geese, when the Gauls were detected in their attempt to scale the Capitol. It is for a corresponding reason, also, that punishment is yearly inflicted upon the dogs, by crucifying them alive upon a gibbet of elder, between the Temple of Juventas² and that of Summanus.³

In reference to this last-mentioned animal, the usages of our forefathers compel us to enter into some further details. They considered the flesh of sucking whelps to be so pure a meat, that they were in the habit of using them as victims even in their expiatory sacrifices. A young whelp, too, is sacrificed to Genita Mana;⁴ and, at the repasts celebrated in honour of the gods, it is still the usage to set whelps' flesh on table; at the inaugural feasts, too, of the pontiffs, this dish was in common use, as we learn from the Comedies⁵ of Plautus. It is generally thought that for narcotic⁶ poisons there is nothing better than dogs' blood; and it would appear that it was this animal that first taught man the use of emetics. Other me- dicinal uses of the dog which are marvellously commended, I shall have occasion to refer to on the appropriate occasions.

1 In B. x. c. 26.

2 Or Youth, in the Eighth Region of the City.

3 See B. ii. c. 53.

4 An ancient divinity, who is supposed to have presided over childbirth. See Plutarch, Quæst. Rom. 52.

5 In the Saturio probably, quoted by Festus, and now lost. The aborigines of Canada, and the people of China and Tartary, hold whelps' flesh in esteem as a great delicacy.

6 "Toxica."

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 14. (4.)—REMEDIES DERVED FROM THE DOO.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 14. (4.)—REMEDIES DERVED FROM THE DOO.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.