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210 Ovid, besides carrying on the literary tradition set up at an earlier date, was greatly interested in the expedition of Gaius to Armenia. Frequent references to Hyrcanian dogs in the work of Grattius on those animals show that they do not belong to the realm of legend but were in actual use. Seneca and Lucan still employ the standard phrases; in the case of Silius Italicus there seems to be little beyond the mere repetition of stock phrases. Statius, on the other hand, was a close friend of Abascantius, secretary to Domitian, and his writings abound in references