The Romans of old are said to have played with two sorts of dice, the tali and the tesserae. The tali had four even surfaces, the tesserae six. On opposite faces of the four-sided figure were marked respectively the numbers one and six, the numbers three and four appearing respectively on the other surfaces. The tessera, or six-sided figure, bore on its additional faces the numbers two and five. Both tali and tesserae were usually knuckle-bones of an animal, frequently the gazelle; the uneven ends being planed smooth in the case of the tesserae, while for the tali they were left in their natural condition. The game admitted of various rules and of various degrees of skill, and it would seem that the more ancient Greek sculptures represent the children and maidens of Athens manipulating the tesserae in much the same manner as school-boys still play at the game of knuckle-bones. But whatever element of dexterity may have originally pervaded the pastime, it was very rapidly dispelled, and both tali and tesserae became, as they have since remained, the instruments of wagering and gain. The best throw, called the Venus, only happened when each of the upturned surfaces presented different units. The worst throw was when the four pieces exposed the same number on each, and that number an ace. This single pip was technically known as the _unio_, the side of six as the _senio_; while the name by which the throw of four aces was chiefly distinguished among the gamesters of antiquity was the _canicula_ or _canis_. "Jure etenim id summum quid dexter senio ferret Scire erat in voto, damnosa canicula quantum Raderet." _Persius, Sat._ iii. The deduction has been drawn that the player, baulked in his luck, and turning angrily upon the prone dice as they disclosed the four upturned aces, sought passing relief by hurling at them an insensate malediction. In this way, after a long interval and by a slow process of development, the _damnosa canicula_ of the Roman gamester is said to have become, or more strictly to be represented by, the _sacre chien_ of a nearer civilisation.