Cocks, he says, which are our sentinels by night, and destined by nature to rouse us from sleep and call us up to our work, have also, like the peacock, a sense of glory, and a love of approbation. They are astronomers too, and know the course of the stars; they divide the day by their crowing which is performed at the end of every three hours; they go to roost when the sun sets, and before he rises again they warn us of the approach of day by clapping their wings and crowing. They are rulers in their own community, whether consisting of other males or females. Their sovereignty is obtained by combat, as if they knew that they had weapons on their heels for the purpose, and the battle is often protracted until one is killed. The conqueror proclaims his victory by crowing, while the vanquished hides his head in silence, although it goes hard with him to be beaten. Not only are these fighting cocks thus high-minded, but even the common dunghill kind are equally proud, marching in a stately manner, their neck erect, with a comb on the head like the crest of a soldier's helmet. There is no other bird that so often looks aloft to the sun and sky, and as he moves he carries his tail in an arched form. Even the lion, the most courageous of animals, stands in awe of the cock. Some of these birds are made for nothing else than fighting, and are never satisfied unless when engaged in a quarrel; and to them the emperors and nobles of Rome do not disdain to give honour. The best breeds are from Rhodes, Tenagra, Melos, and Chalcis. These birds rule our rulers, nor is there a great man in Rome that dare open or shut the door of his house before he knows their good pleasure; even the sovereign, in all the majesty of the empire, with the insignia of office, neither sets forward nor recedes without their direction. They give orders to armies to advance to battle, or command them to keep within the camp. They supplied the signal and foretold the issue of all the famous fields, in which the Romans achieved their victories in all parts of the world. In a word, they command the greatest commanders of all nations, and, small as they are, prove as acceptable to the gods in sacrifice as the largest and fattest oxen. Their crowing out of time is portentous, and it is well known that, by once crowing all night long, they foretold to the Boeotians the noble victory which that people achieved over the Lacedemonians, for this result was expected, as these birds never crow when beaten. When converted into capons, they cease to crow; but in this state they become sooner fat. At Pergamus there is a solemn cock-fight every year. It is recorded that, within the territory of Ariminum, in the year when Marcus Lepidus and Quintus Catulus were consuls, a dunghill-cock, belonging to one Galerius, spoke; but, as far as Pliny could learn, the like never happened again.