The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-09-05
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS


 my friends stop me on the street, some to kid 'ne fer my lack of knowledge of the modern game, while others are shocked because I ever knew anything about it.
 The Latin word for dice, tesserae, is derived from the Greek tesseres, Ionic for tessares four, because it is on every side square. I have seen pictures of baked clay and stone dice used by the Egyptians of silver dice used by tue ancient Romans, of wooden dice carved by the Germans of the sixteenth century, and, of course, many specimens of the modern ivory cubes or composition va riety.
 Dice exactly resembling those of the present 6ay have been recovered from the ancient Egyptian tombs, and also from the more recent times of Graeco- Latin civilization. Dice similar to ours were found at Herculaneoum, and the de- struction winch overwhelmed Pompeii also destroyed a dicing party at their amusement. Eighteen hundred years hands and the game yet unsettled. l even saw the claim made in a historical work which 1 have on card playing that dice were found in the catacombs of the early Christians at Rome.
 Sophocles, in a fragment, ascribed their invention to Palamades, a rival of Ulysses (circa 1244 B. O, Greek, who taught them to his countrymen during the siege of Troy, and who, according to Pausanias, made an offering of them on the Temple of Fortune. Herodotus mentions dicc among the games which the Lydians played. In Clio he relates that the Lydans during 8 period of farn- inc in tie days of King Atys, invented dice, knJcklooones and, indeed, all other games except chess.
 The fact that dice have been used throughout the orient from time imme- moriab as has been proved by excavations from ancient tombs, seems to point clear ly to Asiatic origin, in spite of the claim of Herodotus. Dicing is mentioned as an East Indian game in the Veda, one of the sacred books of the east. There is ID period of history and no rA- tion in which some form of dice has not been used.
 Numerous Iassages of ancient writers, and very many representations in bronze, | marble or Iainting, show the prevalence and popularity of their use from time irn | memorial. Iliny mentions a group iD | bronze ty Pclycletus of two naked boys at play, then in the Atrium of Titus. 1 have zen tie same subject in stone jn l the British museum. The next time you catch a group of little newsies in back alley shooting the cubes, just bear in mind that thousands of years ago across the seas ';ttla Roman laddies were roll ing dice. am not offering this by way of excuse, but merely to show that the 1 boy nature endures in spite of the on- ward ma, ,ch of civilization.
 Have you ever gotten into a gar ne where d pair of loaded dice were rung in 1 on you? If so do not think it is the 1 first time that ever such a thing hap- pened, for cheating is not q child of to- day, but has a parentage rooted in the dim and distant past. Loaded dice i e.. | dice weighted slightly on the side of tre lowest numbers 0his for the benefit of | the innocerU have been used by swindlers ever sinre Noah came out of the Ark Chat | is, if any or the boats company carrle1 ] a pair atoard) fact proved by count less literary allusions. We know little of how the AEiatics played with dice, but we do know about the rules applicable | to the Greeks and the Romans. Tae | Greeks generally used three dice, ths happest throw which was named after Venus (you see, there is historic prece I the bones exclaims, Come, little Joel being three sizes, while the worst was 1 three aces, the wine throw" The Ro
 mans threw four dice: their Venus was
 the throw 1. 8, 4, 6; their worst throw 1 ("the dog') was four aces. However, | both in Greece and Rome, as in Ameri- | ca, different modes of counting were m vogue.
 l The Romans were passionate gamblers. 1 especially Tn the luxurious days of the empire, and dicing was a favorite form, though it was forbidden except durins 1 the Sarurnalia. The Emperor Augustus wrote in a letter to Suetonious concern- \ ing game that he had played with his l friends: Whoever threw a dog or 8 | six paid denarius to the bank for every die (was this the birth of the "kitty?'D. and whoever threw a venus won every thing" Marc Antony wasted his time at | Alexandria with dicing, while, according
 to Suetonous, the Emperors Augustus, Nero an1 Claudius were passionately l fond of ., the last named having written | a book on the game. GA work on the l subject of dice came out in 1905, but 1 haven't been able to get a copy) l I was not surprised to learn that Cal | igula noioriously cheated at the game. l Domitial played it, and Commodus set | apart special rooms for it in his palace.
 Fashionable society followed the lead of I its emperors and, in spite of the severity