THE PEACOCK AND THE ROOSTER.
We shall now speak of the second class of birds employed in augury,
which is divided into two kinds; those which give omens by their note,
and those which afford presages by their flight. The variation of the
note in the one, and the relative size in the other, constitute the
differences between them. The peacock shall have precedence of all the
rest, as much for its singular beauty as its superior instinct, and the
vanity it displays.
When it hears itself praised, this bird spreads out its gorgeous colors,
especially if the sun happens to be shining at the time, because then
they are seen in all their radiance, and to better advantage. At the
same time, spreading out its tail in the form of a shell, it throws the
reflection upon the other feathers, which shine all the more brilliantly
when a shadow is cast upon them; then at another moment it will contract
all the eyes depicted upon its feathers in a single mass, manifesting
great delight in having them admired by the spectator. The peacock loses
its tail every year at the fall of the leaf, and a new one shoots forth
in its place at the flower season; between these periods the bird is
abashed and moping, and seeks retired spots. The peacock lives
twenty-five years, and begins to show its colors in the third. By some
authors it is stated that this bird is not only a vain creature, but of
a spiteful disposition, just as they attribute bashfulness to the goose.
The characteristics, however, which they have thus ascribed to these
birds, appear to me to be utterly unfounded.
The orator Hortensius was the first Roman who had peacocks killed for
the table; it was on the occasion of the banquet given by him on his
inauguration in the college of the priesthood. Marcus Aufidius Lurco was
the first who taught the art of fattening them, about the time of the
last war with the Pirates. From this source of profit he acquired an
income of sixty thousand sesterces.
Next after the peacock, the animal that acts as our watchman by night,
and which Nature has produced for the purpose of arousing mortals to
their labors, and dispelling their slumbers, shows itself most actuated
by feelings of vanity. The cock knows how to distinguish the stars, and
marks the different periods of the day, every three hours, by his note.
These animals go to roost with the setting of the sun, and at the fourth
watch of the camp recall man to his cares and toils. They do not allow
the rising of the sun to creep upon us unawares, but by their note
proclaim the coming day, and they prelude their crowing by clapping
their sides with their wings. They exercise a rigorous sway over the
other birds of their kind, and, in every place where they are kept, hold
the supreme command. This, however, is only obtained after repeated
battles among themselves, as they are well aware that they have weapons
on their legs, produced for that very purpose, and the contest often
ends in the death of both the combatants at the same moment. If, on the
other hand, one of them obtains the mastery, he instantly by his note
proclaims himself the conqueror, and testifies by his crowing that he
has been victorious; while his conquered opponent silently slinks away,
and, though with a very bad grace, submits to servitude. And with equal
pride does the throng of the poultry yard strut along, with head
uplifted and crest erect. These, too, are the only ones among the winged
race that repeatedly look up to the heavens, with the tail raised aloft,
which in its drooping shape resembles that of a sickle, and these birds
inspire terror even in the lion, the most courageous of all animals.
Some of these birds, known as game-cocks, are reared for nothing but
warfare and perpetual combats, and have even shed a lustre thereby on
their native places, Rhodes and Tanagra. The next rank is considered to
belong to those of Melos and Chalcis. Hence, it is with very good reason
that the consular purple of Rome pays these birds such singular honors.
From the feeding of these creatures the omens by fowls are derived; they
regulate day by day the movements of our magistrates, and open or shut
to them their own houses, as the case may be; they give an impulse to
the fasces of the Roman magistracy, or withhold them; they command
battles or forbid them, and furnish auspices for victories to be gained
in every part of the world. It is these that hold supreme rule over
those who are themselves the rulers of the earth, and whose entrails and
fibres are as pleasing to the gods as the first spoils of victory. Their
note, when heard at an unusual hour or in the evening, has also its
peculiar presages; for, on one occasion, by crowing the whole night
through for several nights, they presaged to the Boeotians that famous
victory which they gained over the Lacedæmonians; such, in fact, being
the interpretation that was put upon it by way of prognostic, as this
bird, when conquered, is never known to crow.