passer: the occurrence of this word and its diminutive as pet names in the works of Plautus shows that even much earlier than this the Romans were accustomed to make pets of sparrows: cf. Pl. Cas. 1.50 “meus pullus passer” ; Pl. As. 3.3.74 “dic igitur me tuum passerculum.” Other names of birds are used in the same way (cf. l.c.), and other birds are mentioned as pets; cf. Catul. 68.125 (columbas); Pl. Capt. 1002 (monedula, anas, coturnix); Ov. Am. 2.6.1 “psittacus … occidit” ; Stat. Silv. 11.4. I “psittace … domini facunda voluptas” ; Mart. 1.7.1 “Stellae delicium mei columba” (cf. Mart. 7.14. 5); Mart. 14.73 (psittacus); Mart. 14.74 (corvus); Mart. 14.75 (luscinia); Mart. 14.76 (pica), etc. The sparrow was sacred to Aphrodite, according to Sappho, and so an especially fitting pet for Lesbia.
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Catullus. Catullus. E. T. Merrill. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1893.
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