Article XIV. Remarks on Belatucader. By the Rev. Mr. Pegge -This ingenious antiquarian had, it feems, afferted that Belatucadrus, a deity either of the Romanifed Britons, or of the Romans reficent in Britain, was the fame with Mars, being efteemed a local name of this deity. This affertion has been fince controverted by Bishop Lyttleton; who concurring with the late Profeffor Ward, reckons him to have been a local deity, but with a reference to Apollo, who was worshipped by the druids. In favour of this opinion are Sammes, Selden, Hearne, Montfaucon and the Authors of the Univerfal Hiftory. Notwithstanding the weight of this authority, Mr. Pegge fees no reason to depart from his affertion; which he, therefore, endeavours with fresh arguments to maintain. That Belatucardus was a local deity, peculiar in this island to the Brigantes, he readily admits; but then he afferts him to be equivalent to Mars, and to have been invested with the fame powers as that God, and not to have had the least concern with Apollo, or any relation to him, as the Bishop and Profeffor Ward contend. Article XV. On the Deae Matres. By Mr. Gough. Among the unknown gods which feem to have been introduced at Rome, or worshipped in its provinces, and occur in infcriptions in the later periods of the Roman empire, the Deae Matres have given no little trouble to antiquaries. Mr. Gough has here brought together the opinions of the moft celebrated antiquaries concerning them; from whence he infers that these goddeffes, mother-gods or god-mothers, were local deities, protectresses of certain towns and villages among the Gauls and Germans; whence paffed, as objects of devotion, over to Britain. Article XVI. Obfervations in a Tour through South Wales, Shropshire, &c. By Owen Salusbury Brereton, Efq. What Mr. Brereton faw in his tour may be likewife feen by any one elfe, who chufes to take the fame journey; except indeed a remarkable hall, at the ancient manfion of the Gatacres, one of the oldest families in England; at each corner, in the middle of each fide, and in the centre of which were immenfe oak trees, hewed nearly fquare, and without branches, fet with their heads on large ftones, laid about a foot deep in the ground, Wreathing their old fantaftic roots on high, to form a compleat arched roof. Of this curious piece of antiquity, however, the ancient family of the Gatacres, it feems, fet fo little ftore, that Mr. Brereton tells us it is entirely pulled down fince he saw it. Article XVII. Obfervations on fome Roman altars, found in August, 1771, near Graham's Dyke. By Mr. Gough. Graham's dyke is at Auchindavie in Scotland, and thefe altars were found by the workmen employed to cut the new . canal of communication between the Forth and Clyde. A gold coin of Trajan's was found at the fame time. The infcriptions are curious; which are given with the figures of the altars on a plate. Article XVIII. Memoir concerning the Sac Friars, or Fratres de poenitentia Jefu Chrifti, as fettled here in England. By Mr. Pegge. Article XIX. Anexîçuóvwv 'Ayúv — A memoir on cock-fighting; wherein the antiquity of it, as a pajiime, is examined and flated; fome errors of the moderns concerning it are corrected; and the retention of it amongst christians is abfolutely condemned and pro fcribed. By Mr. Pegge. Of this article, which we fhould be glad to quote entire, we must be content to give little more than the introduction and conclufion. "I have often, fays our reverend and humane author, thought it most aftonifing, that a mode of diverfion to cruel and inhuman as that of cocklighting, fhould fo generally prevail; that not only the ancients, barbarians, Greeks and Romans, fheuli have adopted it, but that a practice fo favage and heathenifh fhould be continued by Chriftians of al forts, and even pursued in thele better and more enlightened times. At Athens, indeed, where, as we think, it first obtained a public eftablishment, there were motives of gratitude, policy, and religion, for perpetuating the cuftom, as hereafter will appear; but thole inducements are all foreign to us: fo that here in England, and amongft Chriftians, it ftands upon no other bottom than that of the wantonnefs of cruelty, or the abfurdity of retaining and following an ufage difgraceful to human nature. "The cock and the quail (for quails will fight as readily and freely as cocks) are by nature extremely pugnacious, and no doubt have fought amongst themselves ever fince the creation of the world: but the pitting of them, as they call it, for the diverfion and enter, tainment of man, or for his inftruction, as was fometimes pretended, was, as I take it, a Grecian contrivance and invention. But before I undertake to establish this point, it may be proper to enquire how this affair flood in the regions of barbarifm, "The ancient Greeks and Romans, as is well known, were wont to call all nations in the world, but themselves, barbarians; yet certainly, if we confider the many inftances of cruelty practifed among them, there was very little reafon for the diftinction. Human facrifices were common both to them and the barbarians; and with them the expofing of infants, the combats of men with wild beasts, and of men with men in the gladiatorial fcenes, were fpectacles of delight and feftivity. It has been thought, indeed, that the matching of cocks to fight for diverfion was an invention of the barbarous nations; but it will prove upon enquiry, at least if I am not mistaken, to be a mode of exhibition and entertainment introduced by those boaters and pretenders to politenefs, the Greeks." Mr. 1 Mr. Pegge proceeds ingeniously and learnedly on this enquiry; proving, in our opinion, very fairly his affertion; in the courfe of which proof he introduces two gems (the date of which, however, he cannot affign) in Sir William Hamilton's collection, ferving to corroborate his other arguments, that the gallina monomachia, at least, was of Grecian original. "It should feem, fays he, from the converfation of Socrates with Iphicrates above-mentioned, that, befides the public fhews of the feftival, the Athenians would often match a pair of cocks one amongst another, as the barber Meidas appears to have fought a main with Callias; but perhaps it may be faid, that incident ought to be referred to the public fpectacle of the theatre. That, however, cannes be pretended in refpect of what follows, concerning the other Greeks, who had a great efteem for a good fighting breed, and there often amufed themselves, no doubt, with this diverfion; fa Columella viii. c. z. fpeaking of the people of the ifle of Delos, fays, li quoniam procera corpora, et animos ad praelia pertinaces requirebant, præcipue Tanagricum genus et Rhodium probabant, nec minus Chalcidicum et Medicum, quod ab imperito vulgo litera ⚫ mutata Melicum appellatur +.' The islanders of Delos, it feems, were great lovers of this fport; and Tanagra ‡, a city of Beeotia, the Ifle of Rhodes, Chalcis in Euboea, and the country of Media, were famous for their generous and magnanimous race of chicken, The, kingdom of Perfia was probably included in the laft, from whence, as we have already feen, this kind of poultry was first brought to Greece; and if one may judge of the reft from the fowls of Rhodes and Media, the excellency of the broods, at that time, confifted in their weight and largenefs (as the fowls of thofe countries were heavy and bulky), and of the nature of what our fportfmen call Shakebags, or Turn-pokes. Thus Columella, loco citato, Rhodii generis aut Medici, propter gravitatem, neque patres nimis falaces, nec foecundæ matres, &c. Pliny alfo agrees with Columella, reprefenting Rhodes and Tanagra as places famous for their breed of fighting in his time: Jam ex his quidam ad bella § tantum, et pracli affidus, nafcuntur, quibus etiam patrias nobilitarunt Rhodum ac Tanagrum.' They had a breed of hens at Alexandria in Egypt, called Madogo, which produced the best fighting cocks . The Greeks moreover had fome method of preparing the birds for battle by feeding, as may be collected from the following words of Columella: Nobis noftrum vernaculum (in oppofition to thofe Rhodian and Tanagrian birds) maxime placet; omiffo tamen illo ftudio Graecorum, qui ferociffimum quemque alitem certaminibus et pugnae • praeparabant ** Callias and Meidas, called above Oluyolços, Perhaps the Pergameniaus and Dardanians alfo mentioned above. See alfo Plin. x. c. 21. Concerning the breed of whofe cocks, fee Lloyd's Dict. Dalechampius notes here "Clav Hefychius vocat peculiari nomine; but the note feems to be mifplaced, and to belong to the words before in fublime caudam quoque falatam erigens; for the words of Hefychius are, orça, ʼn rõ dhinlogos &pa. Pliny X. 21. See alfo Pollux VII. 30. Menag, ad Laert. II. 3. M&f Geoponic, lib. xiv. c. 7. we may suppose were perfons of fuperior skill this way. I interpret the preparation of feeding, rather than trimming the birds, because, in the two gems above-mentioned, they apparently fight full feathered, "It should feem then, that at firft Cock-fighting was partly a religious, and partly a political inftitution at Athens; and was there continued for the purpose of improving the feeds of valour in the minds of their youth; but was aftewards abused and perverted, both here, and in other parts of Greece, to a common paftime and amufement, without any moral, political, or religious intention; and as it is now followed and practised amongst us. "We will now enquire how matters were conducted at Rome; where, as the Romans were prone to imitate the Greeks, we may expect to find them following their example in this mode of diverfion, and in the worst way, to wit, without any good or laudable motives; fince, when they took it and brought it to Rome, the Greeks had forgotten every thing that was commendable in it, and had already perverted it to a low and unmeaning fport. Signior Haym thinks the Romans borrowed the pastime from Dardanus in Afia; but there is little reafon for making them go fo far for it, when it was fo generally followed in Greece, whofe cuftoms the Romans were addicted to borrow and imitate. However, I am perfuaded, they adopted not this diverfion very early; for though Varro, speaking of the Tanagrian cocks, fays, fine dubio funt pulchri, et ad certandum inter fe maxime idonei +;' it does not follow from thence, that the Romans caufed them to fight for their diverfion, but only that the Greeks did; and methinks it appears from Columella, that the Romans did not use the sport in his time. This author declares, nobis noftrum vernaculum (genus) maxime placet, omiffio tamen illo Audio Graecorum, qui ferociffimum quemque alitem certaminibus et pugnae praeparabant;' where he plainly ftiles cock-fighting a Grecian diverfion. He moreover fpeaks of cocking in terms of ignominy, as an expenfive amufement, unbecoming the frugal householder, and as often attended with the ruin of the parties that followed it; The words are remarkable; nos enim cenfemus infti tutere vectigal induftri patrisfamilias, non rixofarum avium laniftae, cujus plerumque totum patrimonium pignus aleae, victor gallinaceus pyêtes abftulit +. Where he defcribes, as we think, the manner, not of the Romans, but of the Greeks, who had in his time converted the diverfion of cock-fighting into a fpecies of gaming, and even to the total ruin of their families, as happens but too often amongst us at this day. "To be fhort; it appears to me, that the Romans were more concerned with quails in the way of fighting, than with cocks. Hence Marcus Aurelius I. Sect. 6. fays, I learn from Diognetus, ne rebus inanibus ftudium impenderem, . . . . ne coturnices ad pug • nam alerem, neve rebus iftiufmodi animum adjicerem.' So Eufta Haym. Teforo Bret. p. 233. +De Re Rutt. III. 9. Columella, 1. c. tljus Others de thius quoted by Kuhnius on Aelian, after fpeaking of the 'AMxigu ów Ay at Athens, proceeds thus, fimile et Romanis factitatum ⚫ per coturnicum commiffiones, praecone indicante certamen his verbis, PVLLI PVGNANT, et ita fpectatores evocante.' Kuhnius, after coturnicum, adds et gallorum, and cites Mufonius in Stobaeus, p. 367; where cocks are indeed joined with quails; but Mufonius, we are of opinion, is not fpeaking of the Romans, or their practices, but rather of the Greeks; wherefore I cannot approve of this learned man's infertion. The ancients by the way, had other methods of diverting themselves with quails, befides their fighting, which they called 'Opluyoxonia. One of thefe modes, as I apprehend, was thus: they placed the quails in a circle, and with fome inftrument were to hit one of them on the head; and, if they could do that, they were to have the privilege of catching as many of the remaining and furviving birds as they could; but if they miffed their blow, they were to furnish a ring of quails for the next main †. fcribe other modes 1; which however I fhall not infiit on, but shall content myself with obferving, that the 'Ofluyoxonia, of whatever kind it was, was a diverfion meerly Grecian. It must be acknowledged that, notwithstanding all this about quails, the Romans at last paired cocks, as well as quails, for fighting. For the firft caufe of contention between the two brothers, Ballianus and Geta, fons of the Emperor Septimius Severus, happened, according to Herodian, in their youth, about the fighting of their quails and cocks; in1 terque fe fratres diffidebant, puerili primum certamine, edendis coternicum pugnis, gallinaceorumque conflictibus, ac puerorum colluctationibus exorta difcordia §. Whence it appears, that at laft the Romans began to match cocks, though not till the decline of the empire; and, if the battling between the two princes, Baffianus and Geta, was the first inftance of it, probably they had feen and learned it in Greece, whither they had often accompanied the Emperor their father. It is obfervable, from the foregoing detail, that cocks and quails, pitted for the purpofe of engaging one another à outrance or to the laft gafp, for diverfion, are frequently compared, and with much propriety, to gladiators. Hence Pliny's expreffion, Gallorum. . . . cen Gladiatorum; and that of Columella, rixofarum avium laniftae, hanifta being the proper term for the mafter of the gladiators. Confequently one would expect, that whenever the bloody fcenes of the amphitheatre were difcarded, as they foon were after the christian religion became the establishment of the empire, the wanton fhedding of man's blood in fport, being of too cruel and favage a nature to be patronized and encouraged, or even fuffered in an inftitution fo harmless and innocent as the chriftian was: one might juftly expect, that the 'Ορτυγομανία, and the ̓Αλεκτρυομανία, would have ceated of Stobaeus, p. 202, edit. 1559. + Suidas. v. Opuzeninos. Gataker ad Antonin. I. fect. 6. Kufterus ad Suidam et ad Ariftoph. Ave, verf. 1299. Potterus ad Plutarch. de Aud. Poet. p. 72. Meurfius, de Lud. Graec. in Gronov. Thef, Tom. VII. p. 979. Jul. Pollux, ix. 7. et annotat. § Herodian, III. fe&t. 33. 2 course. |