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XIX. Ἀλεκτϱυόνων Ἀγών. A Memoir on Cock-fighting; wherein the Antiquity of it, as a Pastime, is examined and stated; some Errors of the Moderns concerning it are corrected; and the Retention of it amongst Christians is absolutely condemned and proscribed. By the Rev. Mr. Pegge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 July 2012

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Extract

I have often thought it most astonishing, that a mode of diversion so cruel and inhuman as that of cockfighting, should so generally prevail; that not only the ancients, barbarians, Greeks and Romans, should have adopted it, but that a practice so savage and heathenish should be continued by Christians of all sorts, and even pursued in these better and more enlightened times.

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Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1775

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References

page 133 note [a] Palmerii Exercit. p. 3.

page 133 note [b] Herodotus in Clio.

page 134 note [c] Ptolemaeus Hephaestio apud Photium, col. 190.

page 134 note [d] Lucian. de Gymnas. tom. II. p. 295. Plato in Alcib. priori, for Meidias is there called on account of his breeding these birds for battle, as will be shewn below. Jul. Pollux, VII. 30. IX. 7. Dalechamp. ad Plin. X. 21. Musonius apud Stob. Serm. 29. The practice of the Romans will be noted hereafter; and Dr. Musgrave says, ‘hodieque Neapoli aliisque Italiae urbibus, ‘servari ad certamina coturnices, uti olim gladiatores, ex Aldrovando constat.’ Musgrave de Geta Britannico, p. 78. Quail-fighting is at this day a common diversion at the entertainment of great persons in China, as likewise in the way of laying bets and gaming. Bell's Travels, p. 303. Partridges also are fighting birds, see Geoponic. lib. xiv. c. 20. Ælian. Hist. Anim. lib. iv. cap. 4, 13, 16. Other fowls also are addicted to pugnacity, but were seldom or never pitted for the purpose of engaging.

page 134 note [e] Besides, supposing the brothers differed about the performances of their birds, there were other methods of diverting themselves without their fighting, as the , for which see below.

page 135 note [f] Nat. Hist. X. c. 21.

page 135 note [g] Getae nummus, e cimelio regio, l. — Pugnam Gallinaceorum, , horum nummis insculptam Julius Pollux docet. Lib. ix. cap. 6. Harduin. Numm. Antiq, Populorum et Urb. p. 134. See also Sign. Haym. in Tesoro Bret. p. 213, 233.—They had also a single cock. Froelich Notit. Numism. p. 81.

page 136 note [h/ Vide omnino Harduini numm. antiq. p. 495, seq.

page 136 note [i] As Aesculapius was a principal deity at Tios, (Harduin, l. c.) and this fowl was also sacred to him, some perhaps may incline to favour him, rather than Apollo. Let the intelligent reader judge.

page 136 note [k] Vide omnino Columna ad Ennium, p. 308. Pausanias, p. 444.

page 136 note [l] Potteri Archaeolog. I. p. 365. Petiti Leg. Attic. lib. I. Æliaen V. H. II. 28.

page 136 note * Pl. IX.

page 137 note [m] Pausanias, Eliac I. p. 44. Edit. Kuhnii.

page 137 note [n] Or for the indigenal heroes. See Annot. Kuhnii.

page 137 note [o] Aelian, Var. Hist. II. c. 28. also Eustathius cited there by Kuhnius.

page 137 note [p] A further design of Themistocles will be immediately noted.

page 138 note [q] Dempsterus ad Rosinum, p. 210.—Dempster's illustration of the reason of this establishment is improper. The cocks did not commemorate the Persians, but the occasion to which the victory over the Persians was owing.

page 138 note [r] Athenaeus, xiv. 20.

page 138 note [s] Aristophanes in Avibus.

page 139 note [t] . Aelian, l. c.

page 139 note [u] The passage will be adduced below.

page 139 note [x] Not. ad Ennium, p. 309. edit. Hesselii. Pausanias, p. 444.

page 139 note [y] Leon. Agostini Gemm. N° 199. Montfaucon, I. p. 180. II. p. 165.

page 139 note [z] Monfaucon, I. p. 180, II. p. 156, See also above.

page 139 note [a] Leon. Agostini, N° 200.

page 139 note [b] Potter's Archaeol. I. p. 327. Dempsterus ad Rosin. p. 210. . Aristophanes.

page 139 note [c] Dempsterus, l. c. Columella terms them rixosae aves.

page 139 note [d] The Etymologicon Magnum calls the pit τηλία, and describes it as a square stage.

page 140 note [e] See also Suid. , and Kuster. ad eum. Aristoph. in Avibus, ver. 1297.

page 140 note [f] Diog. Laert. II. § 30. , sparring.

page 140 note [g] Dalechamp. ad Plin. et Kuhnius ad Aelianum.

page 140 note [h] Lucianus de Gymnas. II. p. 295.

page 140 note [i] So the editions of Plato; but Suidas and Athenaeus read , alluding to another kind of sport to be mentioned below. V. Kuster, ad Suidam. But the reading of the editions is right, as appears from Laertius in the life of Socrates, where Meidias is represented as a breeder of fighting cocks. The passage is cited above.

page 141 note [k] Serm. 29.

page 141 note [l] Perhaps the Pergamenians and Dardanians also mentioned above.

page 141 note [m] See also Plin. x. c. 21.

page 141 note [n] Concerning the breed of whose cocks, see Lloyd's Dict.

page 142 note [o] Dalechampius notes here Hesychius vocat peculiari nomine; but the note seems to be misplaced, and to belong to the words before in sublime caudam quoque falcatam erigens; for the words of Hesychius are, .

page 142 note [p] Pliny X. 21.

page 142 note [q] Geoponic. lib. xiv. c. 7.

page 142 note [r] Columella, l. c. See also Pollux VII. 30. Menag. ad Laert. II. Musgrave, Get. Brit. p. 78.

page 143 note [s] Haym, Teforo Bret. p. 253.

page 143 note [t] De Re Rust. III 9.

page 144 note [u] Columella, l. c.

page 144 note [w] Stobaeus, p. 202. edit. 1559.

page 145 note [x] Suidas. v. . Gataker ad Antonin. I. § 6. Kuslerus ad Suidam et ad Aristoph. Aves, vers. 1299. Potterus ad Plutarch, de Aud. Poet. p. 72.

page 145 note [y] Meursius, de Lud. Graec. in Gronov. Thes. Tom. VII. p. 979 Jal. Pollux, IX. 7. et annotat.

page 145 note [z] Herodian. III. § 33.

page 146 note [a] Junii Gloss. v. Hen. See Prov. xxx. 31, in the Vulgate.

page 146 note [b] Eccles. XII. 4. Menag. ad Laert. II. § 30. Bourdelot ad Heliodor. p.28.

page 146 note [c] Kaempfer's Japan, p. 128.

page 147 note [d] Hamilton's Voyage, p. 158, 159.

page 147 note [e] B. G. V. § x.

page 147 note [f] It was a boy's sport at Rome. See above.

page 147 note [g] Shrove-Tuesday. The word does not occur in Spelman or Du Fresne; however, see the latter, v. Carnelevamen; and the former, v. Carnesprivium.

page 147 note [h] Fitz-Stephen, p. 7. edit. 1754.

page 148 note [i] Maitland's History of London, p. 101. Stowe's Survey of London, B. I. p. 302, edit. 1754.

page 148 note [k] Maitland, p. 1343, 933.

page 148 note [l] Maitland, p. 260.

page 148 note [m] King Henry VIII. Maitland, p. 1343. James I. was remarkably fond of cock-fighting, and Mons. de la Boderie, who was ambassador from Henry IV to this king, says, that he constantly amused himself with it twice a week. See his Letters, Vol. I. p. 56.

page 148 note [n] Maitland, p. 452, 762. Wood's Athen. Oxon. II. col. 413.

page 148 note [o] Historia Histrionica.

page 148 note [p] Bell's Travels, p. 303.

page 148 note [q] Tavernier, p. 151.

page 148 note [r] Dampier, II. p. 184, Gent. Mag. 1770, p. 564.

page 148 note [s] Wafer, p. 118.

page 149 note [t] Compare Gen. i. 29. with Gen. ix. 2, 3, 4.

page 150 note [u] The Asiatics however use spurs that act on each side like a lancet, and which almost immediately decide the battle. Hence they are never permitted by the modern cock-fighters.

page 150 note [x] Pliny mentions the Spur, and calls it telum; but the Gafle is a mere modern invention; as likewise is the great, and, I suppose, necessary exactness, in matching them. A curious instrument constructed for this last purpose is described by Dr. Plott, in his Nat. Hist. of Staffordshire, p. 387. Thence, however, Cock-spur Street, I presume, may have its name.