"From the excellency of this planet it is not surprising that the ancients called a happy throw at dice Venus,--not Jove, though considered of greater fortune. Thus Propertius: "Venus I hoped with lucky dice to cast, But every time the luckless Dogs turned up." "An unlucky cast was called the Dog--"_Canis_"--and also the Little Dog--"_Canicula_"--with reference to the Stars. Thus Persius: "Far as the luckless little Dog-star's range." "What kind of stars the Great and Little Dog were, has been already shown. Some persons, indeed, might laugh at the invention of such kind of games being ascribed to the learned, were it not plain from reason that the game of cards was also devised by wise men. To say nothing about the Kings, Queens, Knights, and Footmen,--for every one knows the distinction between dignity and military service,--is it not evident, when we consider the significance of swords, spears, cups, and country loaves, that the inventor of the game was a man of shrewd wit? When there is need of strength, as indicated by the Swords and Spears, many are better than few; in matters of meat and drink, however, as indicated by the Loaves and Cups, a little is better than a great deal, for it is certain that abstemious persons are of more lively wit than gluttons and drunkards, and much superior in the management of business. What I call country loaves, from their form and colour,--Pliny speaks of bread of a yellow colour--are the marks which are ignorantly supposed to signify pieces of money. The Cups are goblets, for wine."[111] The remainder of the passage cannot be literally translated into English, as it relates chiefly to the pronunciation of the word "_Hastas_"--Spears. The substance of it, however, is as follows: "The common people say 'Hastas,' as the aspiration H, and the letter V are interchangeable, and so are B and V, both in Greek and Latin. As Bastoni [clubs] are vulgarly called Hastoni, so have they sometimes the form of spears [Hastarum], but mostly that of bills, for both are military weapons." The original passage is extremely perplexing; and the only thing in it that appears plain to me is the writer's desire to convert Bastoni--Clubs--into "Hastas," Spears. The Bastoni, which he says are called Hastoni, or the Hastoni which are called Bastoni,--for there is here an ambiguity, as in the celebrated oracular response, "Aio te, Æacida, Romanos vincere posse"--can only relate to the figures of the things as seen on cards, and not to the things themselves; for the author says that they have sometimes the shape of spears, but more frequently that of bills. The real meaning of this I take to be, that the Bastoni--Clubs--on cards were more like bills than spears, notwithstanding that H and V, and V and B, were interchangeable letters. From the account of Galeottus, it is evident that the usual marks of the suits of Italian cards were in his time, Coppe, Spadi, Danari, and Bastoni,--Cups, Swords, Money, and Clubs.