human
Me quoque per talos Venerem quærente secundos, semper _damnosi_ subsiluere _Canes_. Juv., xiv., 4,
gpt
The talus had four flat sides, the two ends being rounded. The numbers marked on the sides were the ace,
human
or
gpt
(Isid., Or. xviii., 65, only in later writers), the trey,
human
the quater,
gpt
and the sice,
human
opposite the ace. They played with four _tali_, and the best throw was when each die presented a different face (μηδενὸς ἀστραγάλου πεσόντος ἴσῳ σχήματι, Lucian, Am. Mart., xiv., Ep. 14,
gpt
Cum steterit nullus tibi vultu talus eôdem ), i. e., when one was canis, another ternio, another quaternio, and the fourth senio. This throw was called Venus, or jactus Venereus, because Venus was supposed to preside over it. The worst throw was when all came out aces; and there appears to have been something in the make of the dice to render this the most common throw. This was called Canis, or Canicula; as Voss says, because
human
Ovid, A. Am., ii., 205,
gpt
Seu jacies talos, victam ne pœna sequatur, Damnosi facito stent tibi sæpe Canes.