a game amongst the Romans, of much the same nature with our chess. The latrunculi were properly the chess men, called also latrones and calculi. They were made of glass, and distinguished by black and white colours. Sometimes they were made of wax or other convenient substances. Some give the invention of this game to Palamedes when at the siege of Troy: Seneca attributes it to Chilon, one of the seven Grecian sages; others honour Pyrrhus with the invention; and others again contend that it is of Persian origin—but is not this Lis de luna coprina? Frequent allusions to this game are met with in the Roman classics, and a little poem was written upon it, addressed to Piso, which some say was the work of Ovid, others of Lucan; in the end of some editions of whose works it is to be found, and to which we refer for a fuller account of the game. This game expresses so well the chance and order of war, that it is, with great appearance of probability, attributed to some military officer as the inventor. One Canius Julius was so exceedingly fond of chess, that after he was sentenced to death by Caligula, he was found playing, but interrupted in his game by a call to execution; he obeyed the summons, but first desired the centurion who brought the fatal order, to bear witness that he had one man upon the board more than his antagonist, that he might not falsely brag of victory when he should be no more.