A Dog at Death

The Zoroastrian priests of Media (later Persia) would bring a dog to the bedside of a dying man--for him to feed the dog a morsel and so be led by it safely after death across the Bridge of Separation to be judged . . .

Valde te rogo, ut secundum pedes statuae catellam pingas . . . ut mihi contingat tuo beneficio post mortem vivere.

I ask that you paint a small dog at the foot of my statue . . . that by your kindness I may find life after death.

Sally Vickers, Miss Garnet's Angel, 309, 337.