238) tells the following anecdote of a tame ichneumon which had never seen a serpent, and to which he brought a small one.

"Its first emotion seemed to be astonishment mixed with anger; its hair became erect; in an instant it slipped behind the reptile, and with remarkable swiftness and agility leaped upon its head, seized it and crushed it with its teeth." (26) Reading "arce", not "arte".

The word "signifer" seems to favour the reading I have preferred; and Dean Merivale and Hosius adopted it.
(27) For the character and career of Curio, see Merivale's "History of the Roman Empire", chapter xvi.

He was of profligate character, but a friend and pupil of Cicero; at first a rabid partisan of the oligarchy, he had, about the period of his tribuneship (B.C.

50-49), become a supporter of Caesar.