The Judgment of Animals in Classical Greece: Animal Sculpture and ...

Unable to keep up with the quick pace of the creature’s eating, the slave decides to bring
the entire bowl to it. Released from the unpleasant task of kneading foul substances, the
other slave exclaims:
SECOND SLAVE
By heaven, you can take it to hell, and yourself with it!
(to the spectators) If any of you knows where I can buy an
unperforated nose, please tell me! Because there’s no job
more wretched than kneading food to serve to a beetle. A
pig or a dog will simply gobble up any shit that falls, but
this conceited thing puts on airs and won’t deign to eat
anything that I don’t spend the whole day mashing and
serve kneaded into a ball, as for a lady. (Pax 19-28) [42]
As in the case of the dog and the pig living in the house of Chremylus (Ar. Plut. 1100-
1105), the passage again presents these two animals living in a domestic context. Unlike
the dung-beetle, for which specific food was being prepared, the dog did not require such
investment because it would eat anything. In particular, the slave’s assertion that the
animal would gobble up food suggests hasty consumption, thus recalling Labes, who ate
on the spot the cheese he had stolen from the kitchen. Also by stating that the food was
to be falling, most likely from a table, the slave places the dog within a context that
suggests dining or preparation of food, thereby confirming the lively presence of the
animal within the house. At the same time, the passage demonstrates that slaves were
residents of the house whose interaction with the dog allowed them to observe the animal
closely and acquire knowledge of its behavior and habits. 276
276 Even though it is later in date (A.D. II), and according to D. B. Hull, Hounds and Hunting in Ancient
Greece (Chicago and London, 1964) 49, addresses hunt servants, the following passage from Arrian’s
treatise On Hunting (Cyn. 9.1-9.2) [71] exemplifies the knowledge of canine behavior that servants, most
likely slaves, acquired through their proximity to and cohabitation with the animal: “there is nothing like a
good warm bed. The best is that with a human being, because hounds are made fond of people this way,
and they rejoice in human skin and love the person they sleep with no less that the one who feeds them.
And you should notice which of the hounds was unhappy, so as to provide for one which was thirsty in the
night and for one urged on by its necessities, and you would know also how it rested. For if it were
wakeful or if it dripped frequently in its sleep or threw up some of its food, taking it on a hunt would not be
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