The best edition of the fragments is by M. Fuhr (1841), a work of great learning; see also a dissertation by F. G. Osann, _Beiträge zur röm. und griech. Litteratur_, ii. pp. 1-117 (1839); Pauly-Wissowa, _Realencyclopädie der klass. Altertumswiss_. v. pt. 1 (1905).
DICE (plural of die, O. Fr. _de_, derived from Lat. _dare_, to give), small cubes of ivory, bone, wood or metal, used in gaming. The six sides of a die are each marked with a different number of incised dots in such a manner that the sum of the dots on any two opposite sides shall be 7. Dice seem always to have been employed, as is the case to-day, for gambling purposes, and they are also used in such games as backgammon. There are many methods of playing, from one to five dice being used, although two or three are the ordinary numbers employed in Great Britain and America. The dice are thrown upon a table or other smooth surface either from the hand or from a receptacle called a dice-box, the latter method having been in common use in Greece, Rome and the Orient in ancient times. Dice-boxes have been made in many shapes and of various materials, such as wood, leather, agate, crystal, metal or paper. Many contain bars within to ensure a proper agitation of the dice, and thus defeat trickery. Some, formerly used in England, were employed with unmarked dice, and allowed the cubes to fall through a kind of funnel upon a board marked off into six equal parts numbered from 1 to 6. It is a remarkable fact, that, wherever dice have been found, whether in the tombs of ancient Egypt, of classic Greece, or of the far East, they differ in no material respect from those in use to-day, the elongated ones with rounded ends found in Roman graves having been, not dice but _tali_, or knucklebones. Eight-sided dice have comparatively lately been introduced in France as aids to children in learning the multiplication table. The teetotum, or spinning die, used in many modern games, was known in ancient times in China and Japan. The increased popularity of the more elaborate forms of gaming has resulted in the decline of dicing. The usual method is to throw three times with three dice. If one or more sixes or fives are thrown the first time they may be reserved, the other throws being made with the dice that are left. The object is to throw three sixes = 18 or as near that number as possible, the highest throw winning, or, when drinks are to be paid for, the lowest throw losing. (For other methods of throwing consult the _Encyclopaedia of Indoor Games_, by R. F. Foster, 1903.) The most popular form of pure gambling with dice at the present day, particularly with the lower classes in America, is _Craps_, or _Crap-Shooting_, a simple form of _Hazard_, of French origin. Two dice are used. Each player puts up a stake and the first caster may cover any or all of the bets. He then _shoots_, i.e. throws the dice from his open hand upon the table. If the sum of the dice is 7 or 11 the throw is a _nick_, or _natural_, and the caster wins all stakes. If the throw is either 2, 3 or 12 it is a _crap_, and the caster loses all. If any other number is thrown it is a _point_, and the caster continues until he throws the same number again, in which case he wins, or a 7, in which case he loses. The now practically obsolete game of Hazard was much more complicated than _Craps_. (Consult _The Game of Hazard Investigated_, by George Lowbut.) _Poker dice_ are marked with ace, king, queen, jack and ten-spot. Five are used and the object is, in three throws, to make pairs, triplets, full hands or fours and fives of a kind, five aces being the highest hand. Straights do not count. In throwing to decide the payment of drinks the usual method is called _horse and horse_, in which the highest throws retire, leaving the two lowest to decide the loser by the best two in three throws. Should each player win one throw both are said to be _horse and horse_, and the next throw determines the loser. The two last casters may also agree to _sudden death_, i.e. a single throw. _Loaded dice_, i.e. dice weighted slightly on the side of the lowest number, have been used by swindlers from the very earliest times to the present day, a fact proved by countless literary allusions. Modern dice are often rounded at the corners, which are otherwise apt to wear off irregularly.