Philosophical transactions, Vol. L. Part I. For the year 1757. · Various
I.
Several _tali lusorii_. The _tali_ are supposed to have been known to the Greeks[28] by the name of Ἀϛράγαλοι as early as the Trojan war. But as the monuments before us are undoubtedly Roman, I shall confine my remarks upon them to the usages received among that people; and being guided partly by what appears upon the face of these antiquities, and partly by what the Latin classics have delivered in general upon this subject, beg leave to observe, in the first place, that the _tali_ had each of them but four sides, two broader, and the other two more narrow, on which they would ordinarily rest; as the rounding of their ends did not easily permit them to stand upon those parts. However, the possibility of such a position (tho’ it did not occur to me to make the experiment with these pieces) may be deduced from a passage in Tully[29]. Further, with regard to the manner of distinguishing the several sides of the _tali_, some learned[30] writers speak of it according to ideas taken from the fashion of marking the modern dice, and (I may add) the ancient _tesseræ_ likewise: but, as I did not observe the traces of any engraving, painting, _&c._ upon the pieces under consideration, it seems to me more probable, what others assert[31], that this distinction was effected by the different configuration of the sides themselves, and not by any numbers marked upon them. And concerning this notation, the common opinion is, that the appearances expressing _one_ and _six_, as also those representing _three_ and _four_, were opposed to each other respectively.
But leaving these (however probable) conjectures, we can with certainty determine the number of the _tali_ used in this game to have been four; and likewise, that among the various chances resulting from them, the most fortunate one was that, wherein each of the sides exhibited a different aspect. The former of these circumstances we learn from Tully[32], as we do the latter from Martial, who, in a distich sent with a present of a set of _tali_ to a friend, says, _Cum steterit nullus vultu tibi talus eodem, Munera me dices magna dedisse tibi_[33]. It may further be collected from Horace, that the throw above described had the appellation of _Venus_: for when he intimates, that the president of the feast was elected by the _tali_[34], he must be supposed to mean the most favourable chance upon them. But he[35] elsewhere gives us to understand, that the chance, which determined that election, was called _Venus_. Propertius is somewhat more explicite in assigning the title of this throw, as above; and at the same time informs us further, that the contrary (and consequently most unlucky) one was termed _canes_. _Me quoque per talos_ Venerem _quærente secundos, Semper damnosi subsiluere_ canes[36]. Now it seems to be agreed among the antiquaries, [37]that _canis_ on the _tali_ was unity: and indeed this opinion is countenanced by Persius[38], who contrasts _canicula_ with _senio_. If this be admitted, then the _canes_ of Propertius must have been the chance, wherein all (or at least the greater number of) the _tali_ came up (as we should express it) aces.
_Quærit compositos manus improba mittere talos, Qui per me mittit, nil nisi vota facit_[43]. However, this caution does not seem to have been so universally observed, but that sometimes, _viz._ when the party consisted of ladies, it was (I presume, for a reason greatly to their honour) superseded. Thus, in one of the first paintings found at Herculaneum, and now in the royal apartments at Portici, we see a young female figure exhibited, as playing at this game, with one or more of the _tali_ lying upon the back part of her hand, while the rest appear as having fallen off from thence towards the floor. A rule with four joints, each of which contained about 5 inches 9-tenths of our measure. I think there was another in two parts, which answered to the same proportion. A weight, inscribed on one side +EME+, and on the other +HABEBIS+.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.