The Rostra's Pet Crow

Pliny, Natural History 10.121-123

 Latin text

English translation

 

121

Reddatur et corvis sua gratia, indignatione quoque populi Romani testata, non solum conscientia. Tiberio principe ex fetu supra Castorum aedem genito pullus in adpositam sutrinam devolavit, etiam religione commendatus officinae domino. is mature sermoni adsuefactus, omnibus matutinis evolans in rostra in forum versus, Tiberium, dein Germanicum et Drusum Caesares nominatim, mox transeuntem populum Romanum salutabat, postea ad tabernam remeans, plurium annorum adsiduo officio mirus.



122

hunc sive aemulatione vicinitatis manceps proximae sutrinae sive iracundia subita, ut voluit videri, excrementis eius posita calceis macula, exanimavit, tanta plebei consternatione, ut primo pulsus ex ea regione, mox interemptus sit funusque aliti innumeris celebratum exequiis, constratum lectum super Aethiopum duorum umeros, praecedente tibicine et coronis omnium generum ad rogum usque, qui constructus dextra via Appiae ad secundum lapidem in campo Rediculi appellato fuit.

123

adeo satis iusta causa populo Romano visa est exequiarum ingenium avis aut supplicii de cive Romano in ea urbe, in qua multorum principum nemo deduxerat funus, Scipionis vero Aemiliani post Carthaginem Numantiamque deletas ab eo nemo vindicaverat mortem.

 121

We must also acknowledge the crows, as witnessed by the outrage of the Roman People, as well as their conscience. In the reign of Tiberius a chick from a hatching above the Temple of Castor flew down onto an adjacent shoemaker's shop, welcomed by the workshop's owner because of his respect for the omen. The crow quickly became used to conversation; it would fly every morning to the Rostra at the end of the Forum, and greet the Caesars Tiberius, Germanicus, and Drusus by name, and soon also the Roman People as they crossed the Forum. Afterwards, it would wander back to the shop, a marvel because of its uninterrupted duty over many years.

122

The caretaker of a nearby shoe-shop killed the bird, either out of jealousy at its living nearby or (as he alleged) from a sudden burst of anger at having his shoes stained with the bird's excrement. The masses were so distressed that the slayer, at first driven from the region, was soon slain himself. The bird was buried with countless funeral rites: a funeral couch was carried on the shoulders of two Aethiopians, preceded by a flute-player and covered with garlands of all kinds; he was carried to a bier, which was built on the right side of the Via Appia, at the second milestone on the so-called Campus of Rediculus.

123

Such seemed to the Roman People sufficient cause to honor the spirit of a bird with formal rites, or to punish a Roman citizen, in the very city where noone had conducted a funeral for many leading men: no one, for example, had avenged the death of Scipio Aemilianus after he had destroyed Carthage and Numantia.