Who made[1176] the parrot[1177] so ready with his salutation, and taught magpies to emulate our words?--That which is the master of all art,[1178] the bounteous giver of genius--the belly: that artist that trains them to copy sounds that nature has denied[1179] them. But if the hope of deceitful money shall have shone forth, you may believe that ravens turned poets, and magpies poetesses, give vent to strains of Pegaseian nectar.[1180] FOOTNOTES: [1168] _Prolui._ Proluere, "to dip the lips," properly applied to cattle. So "procumbere," Sulp., 17. Cf. Stat. Sylv., V., iii., 121, "Risere sorores Aonides, pueroque chelyn submisit et ora imbuit amne sacro jam tum tibi blandus Apollo." [1169] _Fonte Caballino._ Caballus is a term of contempt for a horse, implying "a gelding, drudge, or beast of burden," nearly equivalent to Cantherius. Cf. Lucil., ii., fr. xi. (x.), "Succussatoris tetri tardique Caballi." Hor., i., Sat. vi., 59, "Me Satureiano vectari rura caballo." Sen., Ep., 87, "Catonem uno caballo esse contentum." So Juv., x., 60, "Immeritis franguntur crura caballis." Juvenal also applies the term to Pegasus: "Ad quam Gorgonei delapsa est pinna caballi," iii., 118. Pegasus sprang from the blood of Medusa when beheaded by Perseus. Ov., Met, iv., 785, "Eripuisse caput collo: pennisque fugacem Pegason et fratrem matris de sanguine natos." The fountain Hippocrene, ἱππουκρήνη, sprang up from the stroke of his hoof when he lighted on Mount Helicon. Ov., Fast., iii., 456, "Cum levis Aonias ungula fodit aquas." Hes., Theog., 2-6. Hesych., v. ἱππουκρήνη. Paus., Bœot., 31. Near it was the fountain of Aganippe, and these two springs supplied the rivers Olmius and Permissus, the favorite haunts of the Muses. Hesiod, _u. s._ Hence those who drank of these were fabled to become poets forthwith. Mosch., Id., iii., 77, ἀμφότεροι παγαῖς πεφιλαμένοι· ὃς μεν ἔπινε Παγασίδος κράνας ὁ δὲ πῶμ' ἔχε τᾶς Ἀρεθοίσας.