. A dictionary of the Bible .. . st allusion to Felisdomesticus in classical authors. CATERPILLER Bavuch vi. 22, in the passage which sets forth thevanity of the Babylonish idols : Upon their bodiesand heads sit bats, swallows, and birds, and the catsalso. The Greek aiXovpos, as used by Aristotle,has more particular reference to the wild cat {Feliscntus, &c.). Herodotus, in the well-known passage(ii. 66) which treats of the cats of Egypt, usesalKovpos to denote the domestic animal; similarlyCicero {Ttisc. v. 27, 78) employs/e/is; but bothGreek and Latin words are used to denote otheranimals, a
. A dictionary of the Bible .. . st allusion to Felisdomesticus in classical authors. CATERPILLER Bavuch vi. 22, in the passage which sets forth thevanity of the Babylonish idols : Upon their bodiesand heads sit bats, swallows, and birds, and the catsalso. The Greek aiXovpos, as used by Aristotle,has more particular reference to the wild cat {Feliscntus, &c.). Herodotus, in the well-known passage(ii. 66) which treats of the cats of Egypt, usesalKovpos to denote the domestic animal; similarlyCicero {Ttisc. v. 27, 78) employs/e/is; but bothGreek and Latin words are used to denote otheranimals, apparently some kinds of marten {jilartcs).The context of the passage in Barucli appears topoint to the domesticated anim;d. Perhaps thepeople of Babylon originally procured the cat fromEgypt. The domestic cat of the ancient Egyptians issupposed by some to be identical with the Felismaniculata, Riippell, of Nubia, and with our owndomestic animal, but there is considerable doubton tliis matter. The Egyptians, it is well known,. Velts maniculata. j)aid an absurd reverence to the cat; it accompaniedthem in their fowling expeditious; it was deemeda capital oflence to kill one; when a cat died it wasembalmed and buiied at Bubastis, the city sacredto the moon of which divinity the cat was reckoneda symbol (Herod, ii. 66 ; Wilkinson, Ana. 246, Lond. 1854 ; Jablonski, Pant. Aegypt. , &c.; Diod. Sic. i- ). It is generally believedthat the cat was employed by the ancient Egyptiansas a retriever to bring them tlie game they killedin their fowling expeditions ; we cannot credit any-thing of the kind: that the cat, as a great favourite,was allowed to accompany the fowler is beyond dis-pute, but it was doubtless for the sake of a share inthe booty, and not for the benefit of the laying much stress on the want of sufficientsagacity for retrieving purposes, we cannot believethat the cat could ever have been trained to go intothe water, to which it has a very stro
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