- Feb 5, 2002
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Put on your Bible antennae, and tune them up, because I have a question for you. Is there a family dog in the Bible?
If I were asking the question about the ancient Romans, it would be easy to answer. The Romans were fond of dogs, and the bigger the better. If you go to the ruins of Pompeii, you can see the remains of a porch in front of one of the houses, inlaid with black and white tiles, and some red for the tongue, to show a fierce watchdog all ready to protect his family. CAVE CANEM, reads the inscription: Beware of the Dog! If you read the Odyssey, set in ancient Greece, you will come upon the scene where Odysseus, back home after twenty years, but in disguise so that the wicked suitors for his wife’s hand in marriage will not know who he is, is walking to his own house, alongside a faithful herder of pigs. And he sees, lying on a heap of refuse, a very old dog, twenty years old, a white hound dog he trained himself, and named Argos – Flash, we might say. Poor Flash is half devoured with fleas. Nobody takes care of him anymore. And even though the man next to Odysseus doesn’t recognize his master, Flash does, and he flattens his ears a little, and tries to wag his tail, and he whimpers for joy. But he is too weak to move.
Continued below.
Anthony Esolen's "Jasper," Volume 1, Issue 30 - Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts
If I were asking the question about the ancient Romans, it would be easy to answer. The Romans were fond of dogs, and the bigger the better. If you go to the ruins of Pompeii, you can see the remains of a porch in front of one of the houses, inlaid with black and white tiles, and some red for the tongue, to show a fierce watchdog all ready to protect his family. CAVE CANEM, reads the inscription: Beware of the Dog! If you read the Odyssey, set in ancient Greece, you will come upon the scene where Odysseus, back home after twenty years, but in disguise so that the wicked suitors for his wife’s hand in marriage will not know who he is, is walking to his own house, alongside a faithful herder of pigs. And he sees, lying on a heap of refuse, a very old dog, twenty years old, a white hound dog he trained himself, and named Argos – Flash, we might say. Poor Flash is half devoured with fleas. Nobody takes care of him anymore. And even though the man next to Odysseus doesn’t recognize his master, Flash does, and he flattens his ears a little, and tries to wag his tail, and he whimpers for joy. But he is too weak to move.
Continued below.
Anthony Esolen's "Jasper," Volume 1, Issue 30 - Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts
