Later still, in the age of metals, we observe the
appearance, both in Denmark and Sweden, of larger and stronger breeds
of dogs, having in their jaws the character of mastiffs, and probably
introduced by the first emigrants from Asia.
There are, moreover, historic proofs that the dogs of the strongest
breeds are indigenous to Asia, where we still find the dog of Thibet,
the most colossal of all; in fact, in Pliny we read the following
narrative: Alexander the Great received from a king of Asia a dog of
huge size. He wished to pit it against bears and wild boars, but the
dog remained undisturbed and did not even rise, and Alexander had it
killed. On hearing of this, the royal donor sent a second dog like
the first, along with word that these dogs did not fight so weak
animals, but rather the lion and the elephant, and that he had only
two of such individuals, and in case that Alexander had this one
killed, too, he would no longer find his equal. Alexander matched this
dog with a lion and then with an elephant, and he killed them both.
Alexander was so afflicted at the premature death of the first dog,
that he built a city and temples in honor of the animal.
Did the mountainous province of Epirus called Molossia, in ancient
Greece, give its name to the _molossi_ that it produced, or did these
large dogs give their name to the country? At all events, we know that
it was from Epirus that the Romans obtained the molossi which fought
wild animals in the circuses, and that from Rome they were introduced
into the British islands and have became the present mastiffs.
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