Aelian, Characteristics of Animals

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§ 12.23 In the country of Elam there is a shrine to Anaitis and there are tame lions there which welcome and fawn upon those on their way to the shrine. And if you call them while you are eating they come like guests invited to a meal, and after taking whatever you offer, they depart in a modest and becoming manner.
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§ 12.24 In the Red Sea, so they say, there is a fish, and its name is the Water-Phoenix. It has black stripes, and between them it is speckled with dark blue dots.
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§ 12.25 The Horse-mackerel in the Red Sea is the same length as that which occurs in our sea: its body is encircled with stripes like gold which extend from the gills to the tail, and a silvery stripe parte them in two. Its mouth is open and the lower jaw projects beyond the upper; its eyes are green and are surrounded by lids of a golden colour. The fish called Charax is another product of the same sea. It has fins, and the lateral ones are like gold in appearance, and so are all its dorsal fins. On the lower part of its body are rings of purple, but the tail, believe me, is golden, while purple dots colour beautifully the centre of its eyes. The Archer, which occurs in the same sea, resembles the sea-urchin in appearance and has hard, long prickles. „
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§ 12.26 The Porcupines of Libya administer a sharp prick to those who touch them and even cause severe pains. Even when dead their bristles can give a nasty stab, so they say.
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§ 12.27 There is also a Monkey in the Red Sea; it is not a fish but a cartilaginous creature, and not large at that. And this sea-monkey resembles the, land-monkey in colour, and its face is ape-like. But the rest of its body is protected by a sheath, not like a fish but resembling that of a tortoise. It is also somewhat flat-nosed, as the land-monkey is. But the rest of its body is a flat shape like the torpedo, so that one might say that it was a bird with outspread wings; at any rate when swimming it looks like a bird in flight. But it differs from the land monkey in this way: it is speckled, and the flat parts on the nape of the neck are red, and so are the gills.' It has a large mouth at the extremity of its face, and in this respect also the fish bears a natural resemblance to the shape of the land-monkey.
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§ 12.28 During the summer the Nightingale assumes a different colour and alters its note, for its song is not resonant and varied but different from its song in spring. The blackbird sings in summertime, but in winter it utters a chattering and confused sound, and changing its colour like a garment, from being black is light brown. And the thrush in winter appears somewhat speckled, whereas in summer it displays a mottled neck. The following fish too change their colour, various wrasses (ciclae, cossyphi, and phycides), and sprats: And jackals, according to Aristotle, are hairless throughout the summer but in winter have thick coats.
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§ 12.29 At Bubastus in Egypt there is a pool and it fosters an immense multitude of Nile Perch, and these are tame and the gentlest of fish. People throw in morsels of bread, to them, and they leap up, each trying to jump quicker than the other, and pick out the food that is being thrown in. This fish is also found in rivers, for instance in the Cydnus in Cilicia; but there it is small. And the reason is that a stream which is clear, pure, and cold besides (for such is the Cydnus ) does not afford it plentiful nourishment, for the fish prefers turbid water full of mud, and fattens on it. But the Pyramus and the Saros breed larger kinds; these also are rivers of Cilicia. And it must be the same fish that are bred in the Syrian Orontes, but the largest of all are bred in the river Ptolemaeus and in the lake of Apamea.
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§ 12.30 Tame fishes which answer to a call and gladly accept food are to be found and are kept in many places, in Epirus for instance, at the town...? formerly called Stephanepolis, in the temple of Fortune in the cisterns on either side of the ascent; at Helorus too in Sicily which was once a Syracusan fortress; and at the shrine of Zeus of Labranda in a spring of transparent water. And there fish have golden necklaces and earrings also of gold. The shrine of this Zeus is 70 stades distant from the city of Mylasa. A sword is attached to the side of the statue, and the god is worshipped under the name of Zeus Carios and Stratios ('God of armies') for the Carians were the first to think of making a trade of war and to serve as soldiers for pay, to fit arm-straps to their shields, and to fix plumes on their helmets. And they were called' Carians' after Car the son of Creta and Zeus, and Zeus received the title of Labrandeus because he sent down furious (labros) and heavy rainstorms. And in Chios in what is called Geronton ('The Old Men's') Harbour there are multitudes of tame fish, which the inhabitants of Chios keep to solace the declining years of the very aged. And in the country that lies between the Euphrates and the Tigris there is a spring which is celebrated as being transparent to the bottom and as sending forth bright, clear water, which as it brims over becomes the river Aborras. And the people of the country attach a sacred story to the name, which is as follows. After her marriage with Zeus Hera bathed herself there, so the Syrians say, and to this day the spot exhales a fragrance, and all the air round about is permeated with it. And there tame fishes gambol in shoals.
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§ 12.31 Even the gods do not disdain to take recognizance of the characteristics of animals. At any rate I learn that Eurysthenes and Procleus, the sons of Aristodemus, son of Aristomachus, son of Cleodas, son of Hyllus the son of Heracles, wishing to wed, went to Delphi to ask the god with whom, whether Greek or barbarian, they should ally themselves in order to appear as having made a prosperous and wise marriage. And the god answered: Go back to Sparta, returning by the way you came, and wherever the fiercest animal carrying the gentlest meets you, there plight your troth; for that will be better for you. So they obeyed and arrived in the territory of Cleonae where a wolf met them carrying a lamb which it had snatched from a flock. So they reckoned that the oracle meant these animals, and they took the daughters of Thersander, son of Cleonymus, a man of good repute, to wife. Now if the gods know what animal is the gentlest and what the fiercest, it is not unfitting that we too, should know their natures.
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§ 12.32 The land of India bears a great number and variety of creatures. And some are evidence of its beneficent and wonderful fertility, others are not to be envied nor such as one can commend or desire. Something about those that are profitable or are luxuries of great price I have already said; more shall be; please god, said hereafter. But for the present I intend to describe how the earth shows the pain with which it bears snakes. Many and various are the snakes it bears. Now these snakes are injurious to man and all other animals. But the same land produces herbs that counteract their bites, and the natives have experience and knowledge of them, and have observed which drug is an antidote to which snake, and come to one another's aid with all possible speed in their effort to arrest the very, violent and rapid spread of the poison throughout the body. And the country produces these drugs in generous abundance to help when needed. But any snake that kills a man, so the Indians say (and they cite numerous witnesses from Libya and the inhabitants of Egyptian Thebes ), can no longer descend and creep into its own home: the earth declines to receive it, but casts it out like an exile from its own bosom. Thenceforward it moves around, a vagabond and wanderer, living in distress beneath the open sky throughout summer and winter; none of its mates goes near it any more, nor do those which it has begotten recognise their sire. Such is the punishment for manslaughter which Nature has shown to befall even dumb animals [it is by divine providence], as my memory tells me. This is said for the instruction of persons of understanding.
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§ 12.33 Dogs are less useful at keeping watch than geese, as the Romans discovered. At any rate the Celts were at war with them, and had thrust them back with overwhelming force and were in the city itself; indeed they had captured Rome, except for the hill of the Capitol, for that was not easy for them to scale. For all the spots which seemed open to assault by stratagem had been prepared for defence. It was the time at which Marcus Manlius, the consul, was guarding the aforesaid height as entrusted to him. (It was he, you remember, who garlanded his son for his gallant conduct, but put him to death for deserting his post.) But when the Celts observed that the place was inaccessible to them on every side, they decided to wait for the dead of night and then fall upon the Romans when fast asleep; and they hoped to scale the rock where it was unguarded and unprotected, since the Romans were confident that the Gauls would not attack from that quarter. And as a result Manlius himself and the Citadel of Jupiter would have been captured with the utmost ignominy, had not some geese chanced to be there. For dogs fall silent when food is thrown to them, but it is a peculiarity of geese to cackle and make a din when things are thrown to them to eat. And so with their cries they roused Manlius and the guards sleeping around him. This is the reason why up to the present day dogs at Rome annually pay the penalty of death in memory of their ancient treachery, but on stated days a goose is honoured by being borne along on a litter in great state.
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§ 12.34 It would not be out of place to mention these further facts touching animals. The Scythians for want of fire-wood cook with the bones of any animal that they sacrifice. Among the Phrygians any man who kills a ploughing ox is punished, with death. The Sagaraeans every year hold camel races in honour of the goddess Athena, and their camels are good at racing and very swift. The Saracori keep asses, not to carry burdens nor to grind com but to ride in war, and mounted on them they brave the dangers of battle, just as the Greeks do on horseback. And any ass of theirs that appears to be more given to braying than others they offer as a sacrifice to the God of War. Clearchus, the Peripatetic philosopher; states that the inhabitants of Argos are the only people in the Peloponnese who refuse to kill a snake? And these same people, if a dog comes near the market-place on the days which they call Arneid, kill it. In Thessaly a man about to marry, when offering the wedding sacrifice, brings in a war- horse bitted and even fully equipped with all its gear; then when he has completed the sacrifice and poured the libation, he leads the horse by the rein and hands it to his bride. The significance of this the Thessalians must explain. The people of Tenedos keep a cow that is in calf for Dionysus the Man-slayer, and as soon as it has calved they tend it as though it were a woman in child-bed. But they put buskins on the newly born calf and then sacrifice it. But the man who dealt it the blow with the axe is pelted with stones by the populace and flees until he reaches Artemis at Amarynthus.
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§ 12.35 I have learnt in addition to what I have already said that the dogs of Xanthippus, son of Ariphron, were devoted to their master, for when the people of Athens were emigrating on to their ships at the time when the Persians lit the flames of their great war against Greece, and the oracles declared that it was better for the Athenians to abandon their country and to embark upon their triremes, not even the dogs of Xanthippus were left behind, but emigrated along with him, and after swimming across to Salamis died. The story is narrated by Aristotle and Philochorus.
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§ 12.36 The river Crathis has water that turns things white. At all events sheep and cattle and every four-footed herd that drink of it, according to the account given by Theophrastus, from being black or red turn white. And in Euboea almost all oxen are born white, hence poets used to call Euboea'white-kined.'
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§ 12.37 A cockerel of the name of Centaurus fell in love with the cup-bearer of a king (the king was Nicomedes of Bithynia ); Philo tells the story. And a jackdaw also fell in love with a handsome boy. I learn also that some bees are amorous, although the majority are more restrained.
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§ 12.38 Every painter and every sculptor who devotes himself and has been trained to the practice of his art figures the Sphinx as winged. And I have heard that on Clazomenae there was a sow with wings, and it ravaged the territory of Clazomenae. And Artemon records this in his Annals of Clazomenae. That is why there is a spot named and celebrated as'The Place of the Winged Sow,' and it is famous. But if anyone regards this as a myth, let him do so; for my part I am not sorry to have mentioned what has been related and what has not escaped my notice touching an animal.
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§ 12.39 Halias the daughter of Sybaris, was entering a grove of Artemis (the grove was in Phrygia ) when a divine serpent appeared to her — it was of immense size — and lay with her. And from this union sprang the Ophiogeneis ( snake -born) of the first generation.
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§ 12.40 At Delphi they pay honour to a wolf, in Samos to a sheep, in Ambracia to a lioness; and it is not irrelevant to our present study to set out the reasons for this honour in each case, At Delphi it was a wolf that tracked down some sacred gold that had been pillaged and buried on Parnassus, but for the Samians it was a sheep that discovered some stolen gold; for that reason Mandrobulus of Samos dedicated a sheep to Hera. The first story is recorded by Polemon, the second by Aristotle. And the people of Ambracia since the day when a lioness tore their tyrant Phaylus to pieces, do honour to this animal as the instrument of their liberation. And Miltiades buried in Cerameicus the mares which had won three Olympic victories; Evagoras the Spartan also gave his horses which had won at Olympia a magnificent funeral.
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§ 12.41 At its rising from wells the Ganges, the river of India, is 20 fathoms deep and 80 stades wide, for it is still flowing with its own native waters unmixed with any other. But as it flows on and other rivers fall into it and join their water with it, it reaches a depth of 60 fathoms, and widens and overflows to an extent of four hundred stades. And it contains islands larger than Lesbos and Cyrnus, and breeds monstrous fishes, and, from their fat, men manufacture oil. There are also in the river turtles whose shell is as large as a jar holding as much as 20 amphorae. And it fosters two kinds of crocodiles. Some of them are perfectly harmless, but others eat flesh with the utmost voracity and ruthlessness, and in the end of their snout they have an excrescence like a horn. These the people employ as agents for punishing criminals, for those who are detected in the most flagrant acts are thrown to the crocodiles, and there is no need of a public executioner.
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§ 12.42 Those who are skilled in sea-fishing let down as bait for Parrot Wrasses coriander and chopped leeks, so says Leonidas; and these herbs are successful as bait and afford an easy capture. For the Parrot Wrasse, as though bewitched by spices, swims up to them. And the leaves of beet capture the Red Mullet, for the fish delights in this vegetable, and with its aid the fish is caught and enslaved with the utmost ease.
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§ 12.43 There are, they say, four different methods of fishing, viz with nets, with a pole, with a weel, and with a hook. Netting fish brings wealth, and may be compared to the capture of a camp and the taking of prisoners; it requires a variety of gear, for instance rope, fishing-line white and black, cord made from galingale, corks, lead, pine timber, thongs, sumach, a stone, papyrus, horns, a six-oared ship, a windlass with handles, a cottane, a drum, iron, timber, and pitch. And there fall into the nets fish of different kinds, varied droves in their multitude. Fishing with a pole is the most manly form and needs a hunter of very great strength. He must have a straight pole of pine-wood, ropes of esparto, and firesticks of thoroughly sappy pine. He also needs a small boat and vigorous oarsmen with strong arms. Fishing with a weel is a pursuit that calls for much craft and deep design, and seems highly unbecoming to free men. The essentials are club-rushes unsoaked, withies, a large stone, anchors, sea-weed, leaves of rushes and cypress, corks, pieces of wood, a bait, and a small skiff. Fishing with a hook is the most accomplished form and the most suitable for free men. One needs horse-hair, white, black, red, and grey in colour. If the hairs are dyed, men select only those coloured blue-grey and sea-purple; for all the rest, they say, are bad. Men also use the straight bristles of wild boars and flax also, and a quantity of bronze and lead, cords of esparto, feathers, especially white, black, and particoloured. And anglers also use crimson and sea-purple wool, corks, and pieces of wood. Iron and other materials are needed; among them reeds of straight growth and unsoaked, club-rushes that have been soaked, stalks of fennel rubbed smooth, a fishing-rod of cornel-wood, the horns and hide of a goat. Some fish are caught by one device, others by another, and the various methods of catching them I have already described.
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§ 12.44 These two accounts from India and Libya show a difference. The Indian shall relate the practice in his country, and the Libyan shall relate what he knows. So their two accounts are as follows. In India if a full-grown Elephant is captured he is hard to tame and his craving for freedom makes him thirst for blood, and if you make him fast with ropes his anger is inflamed all the more and he will not stand being a slave and a prisoner. But the Indians blandish him with food and try to mollify him with a variety of attractive baits, offering him what will fill his stomach and assuage his passion, Yet he is displeased with them and takes no notice of them. So what device do the Indians adopt to meet this? They introduce native music and charm the Elephants with a musical instrument that is in common use; it is called scindapsus. And the Elephant lends an ear and is pacified; his rage is softened, and his passion is subdued and allayed, and little by little he begins to notice his food. Then he is freed from his bonds but remains captivated by the music, and eats his food with the eagerness of a man faring sumptuously: for in his love for the music he will no longer run away. But the mares of Libya (for we must listen to the; second account as well) are equally captivated by' the sound of the pipe. They become gentle and tame and cease to prance and be skittish, and follow the herdsman wherever the music leads them; and if he stands still, so do they. But if he plays his pipe with greater vigour, tears of pleasure stream from their eyes. Now the herdsmen of the mares hollow a stick of rose-laurel, fashion it into a pipe, and blow into it, and thereby charm the aforesaid animals. And Euripides speaks of some'marriage songs of shepherds'; this is the pipe-music which throws mares into an amorous frenzy and makes horses mad with desire to couple. This in fact is how the mating of horses is brought about, and the pipe-music seems to provide a marriage song.
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§ 12.45 Sufficient proof that Dolphins love song and the music of pipes is supplied by Arion of Methymna in his statue on Taenarum and the inscription written upon it. The inscription runs'Sent by the immortals this mount saved Arion son of Cycleus from the Sicilian main. And Arion wrote a hymn of thanks to Poseidon that bears witness to the Dolphins' love of music and is a kind of payment of the reward due to them also for having saved his life. This is the hymn.'Highest of the gods, lord of the sea, Poseidon of the golden trident, earth-shaker in the swelling brine, around thee the finny monsters in a ring swim and dance, with nimble Singings of their feet leaping lightly, snub-nosed hounds with bristling neck, swift runners, music-loving dolphins, sea-nurslings of the Nereid maids divine, whom Amphitrite bore, even they that carried me, a wanderer on the Sicilian main, to the headland of Taenarum in Pelops' land, mounting me upon their humped backs as they clove the furrow of Nereus' plain, a path untrodden, when deceitful men had cast me from their sea-faring hollow ship into the purple swell of ocean. So to the characteristics of dolphins mentioned earlier on I think we may add a love of music.
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§ 12.46 There is an Etruscan story current which says: that the wild boars and the stags in that country are caught by using nets and hounds, as is the usual manner of hunting, but that music plays a part, and even the larger part, in the struggle. And how this happens I will now relate. They set the nets and other hunting gear that ensnare the animals in a circle, and a man proficient on the pipes stands there and tries his utmost to play a rather soft tune, avoiding any shriller note, but playing the sweetest melodies possible. The quiet and the stillness easily carry (the sound) abroad; and the music streams up to the heights and into ravines and thickets in a word into every lair and resting-place of these animals. Now at first when the sound penetrates to their ears it strikes them with terror and fills them with dread, and then an unalloyed and irresistible delight in the music takes hold of them, and they are so beguiled as to forget about their offspring and their homes. And yet wild beasts do not care to wander away from their native haunts. But little by little these creatures in Etruria are attracted as though by some persuasive spell, and beneath the wizardry of the music they come and fall into the snares, overpowered by the melody.
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§ 12.47 The Anthias, if wounded while it is being captured, is a most pitiful sight, and as it dies seems to be mourning for itself and to be somehow imploring, like men who have fallen among pitiless and most bloodthirsty brigands. For some of these fish in their attempt to escape get entangled in the nets, and as they try to leap out of the ambush are caught by the harpoon. Others which contrive to escape this death, spring out on to the shore, hitherto the fishes' enemy, preferring, and gladly so, death without the aid of the sword.
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§ 13.1 BOOK XIII I have heard that an eagle intimated to Gordius that his son Midas would be king when, as he was ploughing, it flew over Gordius, and then settling upon the yoke, remained with him all day long and did not depart before he finished his ploughing at eventide when the hour for unyoking was at hand. And when Gelon of Syracuse was a boy an immense wolf sprang into the schoolroom and with its teeth snatched his writing-tablet from his hands. And Gelon rose from his seat and gave chase, not being afraid of the beast but clinging valiantly to his writing-tablet. And when he got outside the schoolroom it fell and crushed the boys along with the master. It was by divine providence that Gelon was the only one to escape. And the strange thing is that the wolf did not kill a, man but saved his life, for the gods did not disdain to foreshow a kingdom to one even by means of a dumb animal, and to save the other from danger that threatened. So it is characteristic of animals to be beloved of the gods.
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§ 13.2 This is how the people of Caria catch Sargues.'When the south wind is blowing gently and sending softer breezes and when the waves are at rest and chime lightly upon the sands, then the fisherman has no need of his reed, but taking a rod of very tough juniper he fastens a cord on the end and spits a half-pickled anchovy on the hook and lets it down into the sea. And he sits in the prow of the skiff and dangles the lure, while his boy rows gently, having purposely been instructed beforehand in the art of leisurely propulsion, and makes the skiff move in the direction of the shore. And the Sargues dart up in their numbers from their native lairs and gambol around and collect about the hook. For the fish, long dead indeed but prepared for catching, draws them as it were with a spell. Presently when they are close to the shore they are easily caught, being made prisoners through their belly's greed.
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§ 13.3 The haunts of fishes are numerous: some are found among rocks, others in sand, others again among vegetation, for you must know there is vegetation even in the sea, and some is called oyster-green,' some'vines,' certain kinds'grapes,' and others'grass-wrack.' And it seems that the name'cabbage' also is attached to marine vegetation, and some kinds are called'seaweed' and some'hair.' And some fish feed on one kind, others on another, and a fish that is accustomed to the food on which it has been reared and to which, it is, so to say, akin would never touch any other kind.
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§ 13.4 You may hear fishermen speak also of a fish they call Callionymus (Star-gazer). And concerning it Aristotle says it has a considerable quantity of gall stored close to the right-hand lobe of the liver, and that its liver is situated on its left side. And Menander bears witness to these statements when he says in his Messenian woman, I think,'I will make you have more gall than a Stargazer'; and Anaxippus in his Epidicazomenus:'If you rouse me and make all my gall boil like a Star-gazer's, you will find that I differ no whit from a sword-fish.' There are those who assert that it is edible; most people however assert the contrary. But you will not easily discover any mention of the Star-gazer in any description of fish-banquet, although poets have been at pains to record every fish of any value; they are Epicharmus in his Hebe's Wedding, his Land and Sea, and also his Muses, and Mnesimachus in his Isthmian Victor.
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§ 13.5 The Fishing- frog also lays an egg, as birds do, for it is not viviparous, because its new-born young have a large, rough head, and for that reason it is incapable of taking them back when they are frightened. For their re-entry will lacerate, and injure the parent, and were they to be born alive and: to emerge so, they would produce the same effect. And so they are not well adapted to producing their young alive nor are they a secure place of refuge for them. The egg of the Fishing- frog does not conform to the nature and character of an egg, for even that is rough and has scales, and you will find it hard if you touch it.
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§ 13.6 Octopuses naturally, with the lapse of time, attain to enormous proportions and approach cetaceans and are actually reckoned as such. At any rate I learn of an octopus at Dicaearchia in Italy which attained to a monstrous bulk and scorned and despised food from the sea and such pasturage as it provided. And so this creature actually came out on to the land and seized things there. Now it swam up through a subterranean sewer that discharged the refuse of the aforesaid city into the sea and emerged in a house on the shore where some Iberian merchants had their cargo, that is, pickled fish from that country in immense jars: it threw its tentacles round the earthenware vessels and with its grip broke them and feasted on the pickled fish. And when the merchants entered and saw the broken pieces, they realised that a large quantity of their cargo had disappeared; and they were amazed and could not guess who had robbed them: they saw that no attempt had been made upon the doors; he roof was undamaged; the walls had not been broken through. They saw also the remains of the pickled fish that had been left behind by the uninvited guest. So they decided to have their most courageous servant armed and waiting in ambush in the house. Well, during the night the Octopus crept up to its accustomed meal and clasping the vessels, as an athlete puts a strangle-hold upon his adversary with all his might gripping firmly, the robber — if I may so call the Octopus — crushed the earthenware with the greatest ease. It was full moon, and the house was full of light, and everything was quite visible. But the servant was not for attacking the brute single-handed as he was afraid, moreover his adversary was too big for one man, but in the morning he informed the merchants what had happened. They could not believe their ears. Then some of them remembering how heavily they bad been mulcted, were for risking the danger and were eager to encounter their enemy, while others in their thirst for this singular and incredible spectacle voluntarily shut themselves up with their companions in order to help them. Later, in the evening the marauder paid his visit and made for his usual feast, whereupon some of them closed off the conduit; others took arms against the enemy and with choppers and razors well sharpened cut the tentacles, just as vine-dressers and woodmen lop the tips of the branches of an oak. And having cut away its strength, at long last they overcame it not without considerable labour. And what was so strange was that merchants captured the fish on dry land. Mischief and craft are plainly seen to be characteristics of this creature.
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§ 13.7 The people of India heal the wounds of Elephants which they have captured in the following manner. They foment them with warm water, just as Patroclus fomented the wound of Eurypylus in our noble Homer, and then anoint them with butter. But if they are deep, they reduce the inflammation by applying and laying on them pigs' flesh hot and with the blood still in it. Their ophthalmia they treat by warming some cow's milk and pouring it into their eyes, and the Elephants open their eyelids and are gratified just as men are, to perceive what benefit they derive. And the Indians continue the bathing until the inflammation ceases; this is evidence that the ophthalmia has been arrested. As for other diseases that afflict them, black wine is the cure for them. But if this medicine does not rid them of their complaint, then nothing will save them.
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§ 13.8 An Elephant belonging to a herd but which hits been tamed drinks water; but an Elephant that fights in war drinks wine, not however that made from grapes, for men prepare a wine from rice or from cane. And these tame Elephants go out to gather flowers for themselves, for they love a sweet smell and are led to the meadows to be trained by the most fragrant scent. And an Elephant using its sense of smell will pick out a flower, while the trainer, basket in hand, holds it out beneath the picker as he throws it in. Later when it has filled the basket, like a fruit-gatherer it has a bath and takes as much pleasure in the bath as the more luxurious of mankind do. Then on its return it wants the flowers, and if the keeper delays, it trumpets and refuses food until somebody brings it the flowers it has gathered. Then it picks them out of the basket with its trunk and sprinkles them along the rim of its manger, for it regards them as imparting a flavour, as it were, to its food by means of their scent. And it scatters a quantity of flowers over its stall, as it desires a fragrant sleep. It seems that Indian Elephants are nine cubits high and five wide, and the largest are those they call Prasian; next to these one may reckon those from Taxila.
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§ 13.9 To control an Indian Horse, to check him when he leaps forward and would gallop away, has not, it seems, been given to every man, but only to those who have been brought up from childhood to manage horses. For it is not the Indian custom to rule them, to bring them to order, and to direct them by means of the rein but by spiked muzzles; thus their tongue goes unpunished and the roof of their mouth untormented. Still, those who are skilled in horsemanship compel them to go round and round, returning to the same point. Now if a man would do this he requires strength of hand and a thorough understanding of horses. Those who have attained the summit of this science even try by these means to drive a chariot in circles. And it would be no contemptible achievement to make a team of four ravenous horses circle about with ease And the chariot holds two beside the driver. But a War-elephant in what is called the tower, or even, I assure you, on its bare back, free of harness, carries as many as three armed men.... who hurl their weapons to left and right, and a third behind them, while a fourth holds the goad with which he controls the beast, as a helmsman or pilot of a vessel controls a ship with the rudder.
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§ 13.10 The hunting of Leopards seems to be a Moorish practice. The people build a stone structure, and it resembles a kind of cage: this is the first part of the ambush; and the second part is this: inside they fasten a piece of meat that has gone bad and smells, by a longish cord and set up a flimsy door made of plaited reeds of some kind, and, through them the smell of the aforesaid meat is exhaled and spreads thread. The animals notice it, being for some reason fond of ill-smelling objects, because the scent from them assails them whether they are on mountain tops or in a ravine or even in a glen. Then when the Leopard encounters the smell it gets excited and in its excessive desire comes rushing to the feast it loves: it is drawn to it as though by some spell, then it dashes at the door, knocks it down, add fastens upon the fatal meal; fatal, because on to the aforesaid cord there has been woven a noose most dexterously contrived, and as the meat is being eaten this is dislodged and encircles the gluttonous Leopard. So it is caught and pays the penalty for its ravenous belly and its foul feasting, the poor wretch.
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§ 13.11 Hares are caught by Foxes more often than not through an artifice, for the Fox is a master of trickery and knows many a ruse. For instance, when by night it comes upon the track of a Hare and has scented the animal, it steals upon it softly and with noiseless tread, and holds its breath, and finding it in its form, attempts to seize it, supposing it to be free of fear and anxiety. But the Hare is not a luxurious creature and does not sleep carefree, but directly it is aware of the Fox's approach it leaps from its bed and is off. And it speeds on its way with all haste; but the Fox follows in its track and continues its pursuit. And the Hare after covering a great distance, under the impression that it has won and is not likely to be caught, plunges into a thicket and is glad to rest. But the Fox is after it and will not allow it to remain still, but once again rouses it and stimulates it to run again. Then a second course no shorter than the first is gone through, and the Hare again longs to rest, but the Fox is upon it and by shaking the thicket contrives to keep it from sleeping. And again it darts out, but the Fox is hard after it. But when it is driven into running course after course without intermission, and want of sleep ensues, the Hare gives up and the Fox overtakes it and seizes it, having caught it not indeed by speed but by length of time and by craft. Anyhow the account, by starting with the running of the Hare, has got too far ahead; the remainder it will be more appropriate to relate in the sequel. But I will return to the point at which I was diverted. It seems that the reason why it distributes its young and rears them in different spots is as follows. The Hare is deeply devoted to its offspring and dreads both the designs of huntsmen and the attacks of foxes; and it has no less a horror of the attacks of birds, and even more so of the cry of ravens and of eagles. For there is no treaty of peace between these birds and it. And it conceals itself in some leafy bush or deep corn-field or protects itself behind some other enforced and unassailable shelter.
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§ 13.12 I have heard from one who is a hunter and a good man besides, the kind that would not tell a lie, a story which I believe to be true and shall therefore relate. For he used to maintain that even the male Hare does in fact give birth and produce offspring and endure the birthpangs and partake of both sexes. And he told me how it bears and rears itis young ones, and how it brings perhaps two or three to birth; and he bore witness to this too, and then as the finishing touch to the whole story added the following. A male Hare had been, caught in a half-dead state, and its belly was enlarged; being pregnant. Now he admitted that it had been cut open and that its womb, containing three leverets had been discovered. These, he said, which so far were undisturbed, were taken out and lay there like lifeless flesh, When however they were warmed by the sun and had spent some time slowly acquiring a little heat, they came to themselves and revived, and one of them, I suppose, stirred and looked up and presently put out its tongue as well and opened its mouth in its craving for nourishment. Accordingly some milk was brought, as was proper for such young creatures, and little by little they were reared up, to furnish (in my opinion) an astonishing proof of their birth by a male. I cannot prevail upon myself to doubt the story, the reason being that the narrator's tongue was a stranger to falsehoods and exaggeration.
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§ 13.13 It seems that the Hare knows about winds and seasons, for it is a sagacious creature.-... During the winter it makes its bed in sunny spots, for it obviously likes to be warm and hates the cold. But in summertime it prefers a northern aspect wishing to be cool. Its nostrils, like a sundial, mark the variation of the seasons. The Hare does not close its eyes when sleeping: this advantage over other animals it alone enjoys and its eyelids are never overcome by slumber. They say that it sleeps with its body alone while it continues to see with its eyes. (I am only writing what experienced hunters say.) Its time for feeding is at night, which may be because it desires unfamiliar food, though I should say that it was for the sake of exercise, in order that, while refraining from sleep all this time and full of activity, it may improve its speed. But, it greatly likes to return to its home and loves every spot with which it is familiar. That, you see, is why it is generally caught, because it cannot endure to abandon its native haunts.
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§ 13.14 The Hare when pursued by hounds and horsemen runs, if it is a denizen of the plains, swifter than the Mountain Hare, as its body is small and slim. Hence it is not unnatural for it to be nimble. At any rate to begin with it leaps and bounds from the earth and slips through thickets and across marshy ground with ease, and wherever the grass is deep it escapes without difficulty. And just as they say that the tail of the lion can rouse and stimulate it, so it is with the ears of the Hare: they are signals for speed and excite it to run. At any rate it lays them back and uses them as goads to prevent it from lagging and hesitating. But its course is not uniform and straight, but it turns aside now right now left and doubles this way and that, bewildering, and deluding the hounds. And in whatever direction it wants to swerve in its course, it droops one ear to that avenue of escape, as though it were steering its course therewith. It does not however squander its powers, but observes the pace of its pursuer; and if he is tardy, it does not put forth its whole strength but keeps itself in check somewhat, enough to outrun the hound but not enough to exhaust itself by intense speed. For it knows that it can run faster and realises that this is not the moment for it to over-exert itself. If however the hound is very swift, then the Hare runs as fast as its feet can carry it. And when at length it has got far ahead and has left hunters, hounds, and horsemen a long way behind, it races up some high hill and sitting up on its hind legs surveys as from a watch-tower the efforts of its pursuers and, as I think, laughs at them for being feebler than itself. Then emboldened by the advantage it has gained, like one who has achieved peace and calm, it is glad to rest and lies down to sleep. The Mountain Hares, however, are not so swift as those that live in the plains, unless indeed the former: also have plain-Iand lying below into which they can descend and run about. Though their home is on a mountain they exercise themselves in the plain, often running about with the Hares there. The usual thing when they are pursued in the plain is for them to start up and to lie hid by turns, but since they are constantly forced out, not one escapes. But when they are on the point of being caught they change suddenly their direction over the plain and dart uphill into the mountains, speeding of course to their native haunts, their proper domain; and in this way they escape and are gone, reaching unexpected safety, for horses and hounds dislike going up mountains, since their feet give out and are very quickly worn down, while hounds suffer even worse, their paws being fleshy and having nothing to resist the rocks, as horses have their hooves. The Hare on the contrary has naturally hairy paws and is quite content with rough ground. All Hares that live among thickets and bushes are sluggish runners and slow to flee, for such animals have grown plump and from sloth are not habituated to running and are quite incapable of going a long distance from their thickets. The method of hunting them is as follows. To begin with these Hares slip through the little bushes of which the foliage is not a solid mass, but where it is denser they naturally leap over them as they cannot get beneath them. But other bushes grow in a solid mass with their branches interlaced. So where the bushes are of this nature the Hare is constantly obliged to do this, and since the weight of its body does not dispose it to be good at jumping, it very soon tires and gives up. At first the hounds are baffled and lose the track, for owing to the thickness of the wood they fail to see the quarry; but they too leap over the bushes and are led by the scent. Finally however they catch sight of it and are after it, never pausing for a moment, whereas the Hare exhausted by the continual leaping gives up and so is caught. Hares run up steep, high ground with the utmost ease, for their hind legs are longer than the front ones; They run down less easily, for the shortness of their front legs is a handicap to them.
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§ 13.15 There is also another kind of Hare, small by nature, and it never grows larger. It is called a Rabbit. I am no inventor of names, which is the reason why in this account I preserve the original name given to it by the Iberians of the west in whose country the Rabbit is produced in great numbers. Its colour compared with that of hares is dark; it has a small tail, but in other respects it is like them. A further difference is in the size of its head, for it is smaller and curiously scant of flesh and shorter. But it is more lustful than the hare... which cause it to go raving mad when it goes after the female. [The stag also has a bone in its heart, and someone else shall make it his business to discover what purpose it serves.]
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§ 13.16 The pursuit of the Tunny is commonly designated as'big fishing' by the people of Italy and Sicily, and the places in which they are in the habit of storing their huge nets and other fishing, gear are called'big-fishing tackle stores,' for they wish henceforward to segregate the huge Tunny into the class of'big fishes.' And I learn that the Celts and the people of Massalia and all those in Liguria catch Tunny with hooks; but these must be' made of iron and of great size and stout. So much then for Tunnies in addition to what I have already said earlier on.
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§ 13.17 Those who are in the habit of fishing round the it Tyrrhenian islands as they are called, hunt a gigantic fish which they call the Aulopias, and it is worth while to describe its characteristics. In the matter of size the largest Aulopias yields to the largest Tunnies, but if matched against them it would take the prize for strength and courage. True, the Tunny also is a powerful species of fish, but after its first onset against its adversary and vigorous opponent it forgoes its strength, and as its blood congeals, it very soon surrenders; and is then caught. The Aulopias on the contrary carries on the struggle for a long time when it is attacked with vigour, and withstands the fisherman as it, would an adversary, and on most occasions gets the better of him by gathering itself together, bowing its head, and thrusting down into the depths; it has a forceful jaw and a powerful neck and is exceedingly strong. But when it is captured it is a most beautiful sight: it has wide open eyes, round and large, such eyes as Homer sings of in oxen. And the jaw, though powerful, as I remarked, contributes to its beauty. Its back is like the colour of the deepest lapis lazuli, its belly underneath is white. A stripe of a golden hue starts at the head and descending to the region of the tail ends in a circle. I wish to speak also of the artifices employed in hunting it which I remember to have heard. The fishermen previously select spots from a large area where they suppose the Aulopiae to be congregating and after catching a number of Crow -fish in their bag-nets they anchor their boat and maintain a continuous din; the Crow -fish they make fast in a noose and let out on a line. Meanwhile the Aulopiae hearing the din and observing the bait, come swimming up from all sides and congregate and circle about the boat. And the din and the quantity of food have such a soothing effect upon them that, even though men reach out their hands, they remain and submit to the human touch because, as I judge, they are slaves to food, and in fact, as their pursuers maintain, because their strength gives them confidence. There are also tame ones among them which the fishermen recognize as their benefactors and comrades, so with them they maintain a truce. And other strange fishes follow them like leaders, and these, aliens, as one might call them, the men hunt and kill, but the tame fish, which may be likened to decoy-doves, they do not hunt but spare, nor would any prudent fisherman ever be reduced to such straits as to catch a tame Aulopias deliberately, for if by some mischance one happens to be caught it brings trouble. The fish is captured either by being pierced with a hook or by being mortally wounded. We see bird-catchers also abstaining from killing birds that decoy others, whether for sale or for the table. There are other methods besides of catching these fish.
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§ 13.18 In the royal residences in India where the greatest of the kings of that country lives, there are so many objects for admiration that neither Memnon's city of Susa with all its extravagance, nor the magnificence of Ecbatana is to be compared with them. (These places appear to be the pride of Persia, if there is to be any comparison between the two countries.) The remaining splendours it is not the purpose of this narrative to detail; but in the parks tame peacocks and pheasants are kept, and they (live) in the cultivated shrubs to which the royal gardeners pay due attention. Moreover there are shady groves and herbage growing among them, and the boughs are interwoven by the woodman's art. And what is more remarkable about the climate of the country, the actual trees are of the evergreen type, and their leaves never grow old and fall: some of them are indigenous, others have been imported from abroad after careful consideration. And these, the olive alone excepted, are; an ornament to the place and enhance its beauty. India does hot bear the olive of its own accord, nor if it comes from elsewhere, does it foster its growth: Well, there are other birds besides, free and unenslaved, which come of their own accord and make their beds and resting-places in these trees. There too Parrots are kept and crowd around the king. But no Indian eats a Parrot; in spite of their great numbers, the reason being that the Brahmins regard them as sacred and even place them above all other birds. And they add that they are justified in so doing, for the Parrot is the only bird that gives the most convincing imitation of human speech. There are also in these royal domains beautiful lakes, the work of man's hands, which contain fish of immense size and tame. And nobody hunts them, only the king's sons during their childhood; and in calm waters, quite free from danger, they fish and sport and even learn the art of sailing as well.
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§ 13.19 In the Ionian sea off Leucatas and in the waters round Actium (the country there they call Epirus ) Mullet abound, swimming, so to say, in companies and vast multitudes. These fish are hunted, and in a most astounding manner. The method is as follows. The local fishermen watch for a moonless night and after supper pair off and launch a skiff while there is neither wave nor swell but the sea is calm, and then row forward quietly by slow degrees. One of the men gently agitates the water with his oar, propelling the boat step by step: so to speak, while the other propped on his elbow weighs down his end of the boat, depressing it until the gunwale is nearly at the water-level. And the Mullet and others of their kind, either because they enjoy the night or because they delight in the calm, quit their holes and lairs, swim up, and show the tip of their head above the water and are so occupied in swimming to the surface that they draw near to the shore. So the fishermen observing this, begin to sail, and the rush of the boat starts a gentle ripple. Therefore the fish in fleeing from the shore turn and owing to their numbers jostle one another into the portion of the boat sloping toward them, and once inside are caught.
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§ 13.20 Sea-monsters of excessive bulk and of prodigious size swim in mid-ocean, and are at times struck by lightning. Besides these there are others of the same kind that come close to the shore, and their name is Trochus (wheel). These swim in droves, especially on the right side of Thracian Athos and in the bays as one sails from Sigeum, and one may encounter them along the mainland opposite, close to what is called the Tomb of Artachaees and the isthmus of Acanthus where the canal which the Persian King cut through Athos is to be seen. And they say that these monsters which they call Trochus are timid, though they expose their crest and spines of enormous length so that they are often seen above the water. But at the sound of oars they revolve and contract and plunge as deep as they can go. It is from this, you see, that they derive their name. And again they uncoil and with a rolling motion swim up to the surface.
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§ 13.21 Concerning Tritons, while fishermen assert that they have no clear account or positive proof of their existence, yet there is a report very widely circulated of certain monsters in the sea, of human shape from the head down to the waist. And Demostratus in his treatise on fishing says that he has seen a Triton in pickle. It was, he says, in most respects as portrayed in statues and pictures, but its head had been so marred by time and was so far from distinct that it was not easy to make it out recognize it.'And when I touched it there fell from it rough scales, quite hard and resistant. And a member of the Council, one of those chosen by lot to regulate the affairs of Greece and entrusted with the government for a single year, intending to test and prove the nature of what he saw, removed a small piece of the skin and burn it in the fire; whereupon a noisome smell from the burning object thrown into the flames assailed the nostrils of the bystanders. But he says,'we were unable to guess whether the creature was born on land or in the sea.' The experiment however cost him dear, for shortly afterwards he lost his life while crossing a small, narrow strait in a short, six-oared ferry-boat. And the inhabitants of Tanagra maintained, so he says,'that this befell him because he profaned the Triton, and they declared that when he was, taken lifeless from the sea he disgorged a fluid which smelt like the hide of the Triton at the time when the man cast it into the fire and burnt it. As to the quarter from which the Triton strayed and how he came to be east ashore here, the inhabitants of Tanagra and Demostratus must explain. In view of these facts I bow to the god, and a witness of such authority claims our belief; and Apollo of Didyma must be a sufficient guarantee to every man of sound mind and strong intelligence. At any rate he says that the Triton is a creature of the sea, and his words are'A child of Poseidon, portent of the waters, a clear-voiced Triton, encountered as he swam the rush of a hollow vessel.' If then the omniscient god says that Tritons do exist, we should entertain no doubts on the subject.
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§ 13.22 When the Indian King sets forth to administer justice an Elephant first bows down before him: it has been taught to do so and remembers perfectly and obeys. (At its side stands the man who teaches it; to remember its instruction by a stroke from his goad and by some words in his native speech which thanks to a mysterious gift of nature peculiar to this animal the Elephant can understand.) Moreover it executes some warlike motion, as though it would show that it recollects this part of its teaching also. Four and twenty Elephants take it in turn to stand sentry over the King, just like the other guards, and are taught to keep watch and not to fall asleep: for this lesson also they are taught by Indian skill. And Hecataeus of Miletus says that Amphiaraus, the son of Oicles, went to sleep during his watch and suffered the fate which he describes. These animals however are wakeful and are not overcome by sleep; they are the most trustworthy of the guards there, at any rate next to human beings.
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§ 13.23 Now in the course of examining and investigating these subjects and what bears upon them, to the utmost limit, with all the zeal that I could command, I have ascertained that the Scolopendra is a sea-monster, and of sea-monsters it is the biggest, and if cast up on the shore no one would have the courage to look at it. And those who are expert in marine matters say that they have seen them floating and that they extend the whole of their head above the sea, exposing hairs of immense length protruding from their nostrils, and that the tail is fiat and resembles that of a crayfish. And at times the rest of their body is to be seen floating on the surface, and its bulk is comparable to a full-sized trireme And they swim with numerous feet in line on either side as though they were rowing themselves (though the expression is somewhat harsh) with tholepins hung alongside. So those who have experience in these matters say that the surge responds with a gentle murmur, and their statement convinces me.
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§ 13.24 Xenophon has also the following remarks touching Hounds. You should take them to the mountains frequently, but less frequently on to fields. For the beaten tracks on cultivated lands injure and mislead them. And the same writer says that it is better to take them on to rough ground, and points out the additional advantage pi so doing, viz that by exercising their bodies their legs gain in strength and ability to jump. He also says that in winter the Hare's scent is perceptible for a long time because of the length of the nights, but in summer this is so no more, for the opposite reason. The meaning of'the opposite' is clear from what has been said above.
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§ 13.25 The Indians value Horses and Elephants as animals serviceable under arms and in warfare: and they value them very highly. At any rate they bring to the King trusses of hay which they throw into the mangers, and fodder whieh they show to be fresh and undamaged. And if it is so, the King thanks them; if it is not, he punishes the keepers of the Elephants and the grooms most severely. Bui he does not reject even other and smaller animals but accepts the following also when brought to him as presents. For the Indians do not disparage any animal whether tame or wild. For example, those of his subjects who hold high office bring him presents of cranes, geese, hens, ducks, turtle-doves, francolins; also, partridges, spindaluses (this bird resemble: the francolin), and even smaller birds than the aforenamed, the boccalis, beccaficos, and what are called ortolans. And they uncover their gifts and display them, to prove how thoroughly plump they are they bring also a wealth of fattened stags, of antelopes, of gazelles, and one-horned asses, which I have mentioned somewhere earlier on, and different kinds of fish also.
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§ 13.26 There is also a Cicada that lives in the sea, and the largest one is like a small crayfish, though neither its horns nor its stings are as long as those of the crayfish. The Sea-cicada is of a darker hue than the crayfish, and when caught appears to -squeak; From beneath its eyes there grow small wings, and these also resemble those of the land-cicada. But few people eat it, since they regard it as sacred. And I have heard that the inhabitants of Seriphus even bury any that is dead when caught; if however a live one falls into their nets, they do not keep it but return it to the sea. And they even mourn for these creatures when dead and assert that they are the darlings of Perseus the son of Zeus.
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§ 13.27 The Hyena fish has the same name as the land-hyena. Now if you put its right-hand fin under a man asleep, you will give him a considerable shock. For he will see fearful sights, forms and apparitions, dreams too, sinister and unwelcome. Further, if you cut off the tail of a live Horse -mackerel and let the fish go again in the sea,; and then attach the aforesaid tail to a mare in foal, she will presently drop her foetus and will miscarry. Again, if a youth wants to keep his chin hairless n for-as long as possible, the blood of a Tunny rubbed on renders him beardless. And the Torpedo and the Jelly-fish have the same effect, for if their flesh is dissolved in vinegar and rubbed on the cheeks, they say that it banishes hair. What have those contrivers of evil from Tarentum and Etruria to say to this, men who after experimenting with pitch have discovered that artifice whereby they differentiate men and turn them into women?
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§ 13.28 Of all fishes the Gilthead is the most timid: When the season of neap-tides coincides with Arcturus, the sea recedes from the beach and the sand is left bare and vessels frequently stand high and dry for want of water. Accordingly the inhabitants take branches of poplar-trees, green and in leaf, and after sharpening them like stakes, fix them in the sand and withdraw. Later the returning tide draws in a countless multitude of the aforesaid fishes; again it ebbs, leaving a great number of Giltheads in shallow water wherever low-lying or hollow spots may be found, and the fish cower beneath the branches and remain still. For they are terrified by the branches when the oncoming wind stirs and shakes them, and neither quiver nor dart about. It is quite easy, you might say, for anyone who sets upon the mob of timorous fish to capture and strike them. At any rate it is not only skilled fishermen that can catch them, but any inexperienced person who chances to be at hand, even children and women.
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§ 14.1 BOOK XIV In the Ionian Sea close to Epidamnus where the Taulantii live, there is an island and it is called Athena's Isle, and fisher folk live there. There is also a lagoon in the island where shoals of tame Mackerel are fed. And the fishermen throw in food to them and observe a treaty of peace with them; so the fish are free and immune from pursuit and attain to a great age; there are even ancient Mackerel living there. Yet they do not feed without making any return, nor do they fail in gratitude for their food, but after they have been fed by the fishermen in the morning they too of their own accord go to join the pursuit, as though they were paying for their maintenance. And advancing beyond the harbour they set out to meet the strange Mackerel. When they have encountered them as it were in a company or in line of battle, they swim up to them as being of the same family and the same kind, nor do the strangers flee from them, nor do the tame fish attempt to divert them but bear them company. Presently the tame fish surround the newcomers, and having encircled them, close their ranks and cut off the fish in their midst, amounting to a great number, and prevent them from escaping; they wait for their keepers and provide the fishermen with a feast in return for the satisfaction of their own appetites. For the fishermen arrive, catch the strangers, and perpetrate a massacre. But the tame fish return with all haste to the lagoon, dive into their lairs, and wait for their afternoon meal, which the fishermen bring, if they want allies and loyal friends as fellow-hunters. And this happens every day.
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§ 14.2 Experienced fishermen teach us that if you give a man whose liver is out of order and who is afflicted with jaundice, the gall of a Parrot Wrasse, he will be cured.
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§ 14.3 Fish are caught without weels or hooks or nets in the following manner. There are many bays in the sea which end in shallows, and one can walk in them. When, therefore, it is calm and the winds are at rest, skilled fishermen bring a number of people to the spot and then direct them to walk about and trample the sand, throwing all their weight on to the soles of their feet. As a result deep footprints are left, and if they are preserved and the sand does not collapse and obliterate them, and if the Water is not agitated by the wind, after a short interval the fishermen enter and in the trodden hollows and footprints capture flat fish asleep, viz flounders, turbot, plaice, torpedo-fish, and the like.
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§ 14.4 I have spoken earlier on about the Sea-urchin and I will now mention what more I have heard. It is also good for the stomach: it helps a man who has been suffering from loss of appetite and loathing every kind of food to regain his strength; it is also a diuretic, according to those who know about these things. And if you rub it on one who is suffering from the itch, it cures a man hitherto afflicted with the aforesaid disease. And if you burn a Sea-urchin, shell and all, it cleanses suppurating wounds. If you burn a Hedgehog and mingle the ashes with pitch and then rub them on those parts where the hair has fallen off, the fugitives (if I may be allowed the joke) will sprout again. If drunk with wine, it is good for the kidneys; it is also a cure for dropsy when drunk, as in fact I remarked before. Further, the liver of a Hedgehog, if desiccated by the sun, is a cure for those who suffer from the disease known as elephantiasis.
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§ 14.5 Those who are learned in these matters constantly assert that the tusks of the female Elephant are more valuable than those of the male, and this is what they teach us. In Mauretania Elephants are in the habit of dropping their tusks every tenth year, just as stags drop their horns, though with stags it is every year. Now these Elephants prefer a level, well-watered country to any other, and they go down upon their knees and rest their tusks upon the ground in their passionate desire to shed their tusks. And they thrust with such force as finally to bury them in the ground. Next, with their feet they gently scrape and make smooth the spot that guards their treasure. Now the soil is extremely fertile and in a very short while sends up a crop of grass and effaces the evidence of what occurred for those who pass by. But those who track down these secreted objects and who have some knowledge of the Elephants' designs, bring water in goatskins and disperse them, well filled, in different places, and themselves remain where they are. And one sleeps while another drinks a little, and I dare say that in the intervals of quaffing from his cup he sings to himself and remembers his sweetheart in his song; (Nor should I be surprised if a man tries to seduce some well-grown boy who is with him and is his companion in the quest, for the Moors are handsome, stalwart, and of manly aspect, and are devotees of the chase: and many a heart do they inflame too, while still boys, though they are so big). So then if those tusks have been buried near by, by some mysterious and amazing spell they draw the aforesaid water out of the skins and leave them empty. Thereupon the mien dig up the ground with mattocks and picks, and the spoil which they have tracked down without the aid of dogs is theirs. If however the skins remain filled in the place where the tusk-hunters laid them, they go off on a fresh quest and again bring the skins and the water, the instruments of the hunt which I have described.
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§ 14.6 The Elephant is even said to possess two hearts I and to think double: one heart is the source of anger, the other of gentleness. In saying this I am following accounts given by the Moors. Moreover the same people constantly affirm the following, namely that there are lynxes, and that they are even more snub-nosed than the leopard, and that the tips oi their ears are hairy. The Lynx has a wonderful spring and can maintain the most vigorous and overpowering grip on its catch. So it seems that Euripides bears witness to the unloveliness of this beast when he says somewhere'And he comes bearing upon his shoulders either the burden of a boar, or the mis-shapen lynx, a ravening brute ill-conceived. But why he says'ill-conceived' is rather a question for the grammarians.
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§ 14.7 Concerning the Ostrich one may also mention the following facts. If you kill an Ostrich and wash out its stomach it will be found to contain pebbles which the bird has swallowed and keeps in its gizzard and in time digests. And these pebbles are an aid to the human digestion; its sinews also and its fat are good for the human sinews. Now the capture of this bird is effected by means of horses, for it runs in a circle keeping to the outer edge, but the horsemen intercept it by keeping on the inner side of the circle, and by wheeling in a narrower compass at length overtake it when it is exhausted with running. And here is another way to catch it. It builds itself a nest low down on the ground after scooping out the sand with its feet. The centre of the nest is hollow, but it builds up the lips all round and walls off the nest so that the lips may keep out the rain and prevent it from streaming into the nest and deluging the young at a tender age. It lays over eighty eggs, but does not hatch them simultaneously, nor do they all emerge to daylight at the same time, but while some have already been born, others are still acquiring consistency within the shell. Others again are being kept warm. When therefore the Ostrich is so engaged, a man — not a witless person but one who has experience of this kind of hunting — who has seen her, fixes some sharp spears round the nest, planting them upright by the ferrule; and the iron shines. Then he withdraws and lies in wait to see the result. So the Ostrich returns from her feeding-ground full of love for her chicks and yearning to be with them. And first of all she casts her eyes around; looking this way and that for fear someone should catch sight of her. And then overcome and stimulated by her longing, she spreads her wings like a sail and rushing at full speed leaps into her nest to die a most pitiful death entangled and impaled upon the spears. Then the hunter is at hand and seizes the young birds with their mother.
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§ 14.8 There is an Italian city in the regions towards the west, and its name is Patavium. They say that the city was the work of Antenor the Trojan. He founded it, having escaped with his life from his home when he left his native land after the capture of Troy, because the Greeks had compassion on him, since he saved Menelaus who came with Odysseus as ambassador to treat about Helen, when Antimachus advised that they should be put to death. These were Antimachus's words:'He had accepted the gold of Paris, splendid gifts,' as Homer says. Well, there is another city not far away which they call Vicetia, and past it there flows a river of the name of Eretaenus: it traverses a considerable area and then falls into the Eridanus, to which it imparts its waters. Now in the Eretaenus there are Eels of very great size and far fatter than those from any other place, and this is how they are caught. The fisherman sits upon a rock jutting out in some bay-like spot on the river where the stream widens out, or else upon a tree which a fierce wind has uprooted and thrown down close to the bank — the tree is beginning to rot and is no use for cutting up and burning. So the eel-fisher seats himself and taking the intestine of a freshly slaughtered lamb which measures some three or four cubits and has been thoroughly fattened, he lowers one end into the water, and keeps it turning in the eddies; the other end he holds in his hands, and a piece of reed, the length of a sword-handle, has been inserted into it. The food does not escape the notice of the Eels, for they delight in this intestine. And the first Eel approaches, stimulated by hunger and with open jaws, and fastening its curved, hook-like teeth, which are hard to disentangle, in the bait, continues to leap up in its efforts to drag it down. But when the fisherman realises from the agitation of the intestine that the Eel is held fast, he puts the reed to which the intestine has been attached to his mouth and blows down it with all his might, inflating the intestine very considerably. And the downflow of breath distends and swells it. And so the air descends into the Eel, fills its head, fills its windpipe, and stops the creature's breathing. And as the Eel can neither breathe nor detach its teeth which are fixed in the intestine, it is suffocated, and is drawn up, a victim of the intestine, the blown air, and thirdly of the reed. Now this is a daily occurrence, and many are the Eels caught by many a fisherman. This then is what I have to say of the habits peculiar to these fishes.
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§ 14.9 We also know that the Sea- lion is in some respects like the crayfish, though we see that the shape of its body is slimmer, with an added dash of dark blue colour; but it is sluggish though possessed of enormous claws resembling those of crabs. And it is said by the more experienced fishermen to have certain membranes attached to its shell, and beneath them are some portions of tender flesh which are called'lobster-lard.' And these benefit mankind: they cleanse a muddy complexion, and if added to oil-of-roses and applied as an ointment, they contribute to a person's beauty and adornment. And I have also heard the following: that the Land- lion is terrified of the monstrous appearance of the Sea- lion and cannot endure the smell of it. And how the same Lion dreads a cock I have explained earlier on. They say also that if the Sea- lion's shell be ground down and the powder cast into water, and the Land- lion drinks it, he becomes immune from troubles of the stomach. This then is what I have to say of the peculiarities of the Sea- lion.
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§ 14.10 The Asses of Mauretania gallop at a very great speed, at least at the start they are extremely swift: they seem like a rushing wind or, I do declare, the very wings of a bird. But they quickly tire; their feet weary; their breath fails; they forget their speed; they stand chained to the spot and shed copious tears, not, I think, so much from any fear of impending death as on account of the weakness of their feet. And so the men leap from their horses and throw halters round the Asses' necks, and each one securing an Ass to his horse, leads the one he has caught like a prisoner of war. I have said earlier on that the horses of Libya are small in appearance but can gallop at very great speed.
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§ 14.11 It seems that of Libyan Cattle there are multitudes past numbering, and those that are wild and roam at large are exceedingly swift. And it often happens that hunters in pursuit of one animal go astray and fall in with others, fresh and untired. Meantime the hunted animal has plunged into a thicket or a glen and vanished, and others appear, exactly like it, and deceive the sight of the hunter. And if he should start to pursue one of these, he and his horse as well will be the first to give up the chase, for though in course of time he will overtake an animal already weary, he will not overtake those just starting to run; his horse will tire before they do. Every year these Cattle are caught and slaughtered in great numbers, but their offspring take their place, and they are abundant. And they roam the land with their calves, the bulls along with the cows, some in calf, others with a calf lately born. If a man captures a calf while still young and does not slaughter it forthwith, he reaps a double advantage, because he captures the mother at the same time if he does what may fittingly be described here; He makes the calf fast with cord and then leaves it and withdraws. But the cow is wasted with yearning for her child and is goaded with ardent longing, and in her desire to release and carry it off attacks the bonds with her horns, hoping to fret them away and burst them. But whichever horn she inserts into the tangle of cord she is caught and held fast and remains by her calf, having failed on the one hand to release it, and on the other having entangled herself in bonds from which there is no escape. So then the hunter after removing the liver for his own use and cutting off the udder, which is still swollen, and flaying the hide, leaves the flesh for the birds and beasts to feed upon. But the calf he takes home entire, for it is extremely pleasant to eat, and also affords rennet which will curdle milk.
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§ 14.12 The Weever resembles other fishes in all other parts of its body excepting its head, and that is like the python both in the size of its eyes (those of the python also are large) and in its jaws, which to some extent are shaped like the python's. It has scales too and they are rough, and if One handles them they feel not unlike the skin of the python. Sharp spines spring from its body, which contain poison and cause harm if one touches them.
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§ 14.13 The Indian King by way of dessert eats the same things as, no doubt, the Greeks would desire to eat. But according to Indian accounts he feasts with the greatest relish upon a certain worm that is begotten in the date-palm, when fried; and they say that he derives such pleasure from the eating.... And their accounts convince me. The following also are additions to his meals, the eggs of swans, of ostriches, and of geese. Now I find no fault with the others, but that he should plot against the offspring and destroy the eggs of swans, the servants of Apollo and, as the common report has it, the most tuneful of birds, is a thing, my dear Indians, that I cannot approve.
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§ 14.14 I have a mind now to relate the following facts touching the Gazelles and Prickets of Libya. The Gazelles are very swift-footed; for all that they cannot outrun the Libyan horses. They are also caught with nets. The belly is grey, and this colour extends upwards to their flanks; and on either side of the belly black stripes creep down their bodies. The rest of the body however is light-brown; the legs are long; the eyes black; the head is adorned with horns; the ears are very long. But the Pricket, as poets call it,'runneth very swiftly, even as the hurricane'; in appearance it is red and very shaggy, but its tail is white; its eyes are the colour of dark blue dye; its ears are filled with very thick hair; its horns incline forwards and are graceful, so that the creature conies on and while inspiring fear, is a thing of beauty. Now this Pricket does not display its speed only on land, but will plunge into a running river and cleave the stream by rowing, so to speak, with its hooves. And it loves to swim in a lake, and there, let me tell you, it obtains food and feasts upon the ever-flowering rush and galingale. So at the beginning of spring it empties its full belly; its udder drops and it suckles its young.
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§ 14.15 There is, I learn, a fish called Myrus, but from what source it has derived its name I cannot say. At any rate that is the name by which it is called. And they say that it is a sea- snake. Now if one takes out either of its eyes and wears it as an amulet, it cures a man of dry ophthalmia; but the Myrus, they say, grows a fresh eye. But you must let the fish go alive, otherwise you will preserve its eye to no purpose.
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§ 14.16 The Wild Goats which tread the mountain heights of Libya are about the size of oxen, but their thighs, breasts, and necks are covered with long and very shaggy hair, and so too are their jaws. Their foreheads are curved and rounded; their eyes are yellow, and their legs stumpy. Their horns, united at the beginning, part asunder and grow aslant: for they are not straight like those of other mountain goats but turn downwards obliquely and extend as far as the shoulders. Consequently they are of considerable length. And these Goats spring with ease from towering pinnacles —'crags' as pastoral and poetical folk like to call them — on to anothei height, for they are far better at leaping than all other kinds of goat. If, however, one should happen to fall owing to the spot which should receive it being beyond its reach, it has such a reserve of strength in its limbs that it remains uninjured on landing; At any rate not a thing does it break, even though it falls down a cleft rock, neither horn nor front of the skull. But these creatures are as strong and as resistant as the stone itself. Now it is on the actual ridges that most of them are caught, by means of nets, spears, and snares, and by the general skill of a huntsman, but especially by skill in hunting the Goat. They are also caught in the plains, and there.they cannot run strongly enough to escape. So even a man who is slow of foot will take them. And it seems that their hide and horns are serviceable. Thus, in the severest winters their hide keeps out the cold for herdsmen: and woodcutters, while those famous horns of theirs are useful in summer time for drawing water and drinking from a flowing stream or some bubbling spring, and help to quench thirst, for they allow you to drink at one draught not a drop less than the Contents of the largest cups, until you have cooled your panting heat and quenched, all the fire and flame: And so if; the inside is, cleaned out by some skilled polisher of horns, either horn will easily contain as much as three measures.
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§ 14.17 Tortoises too are a product of Libya; they have a most cruel look, and they live in the mountains, and their shell is good for making lyres.
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§ 14.18 When a Mare gives birth, some say that a small piece of flesh is attached to the foal's forehead, others say to its loin, others again to its genitals, This piece the Mare bites off and destroys; and it is called'Mare's-frenzy.' It is because Nature has pity and compassion on horses that this occurs, for (they say) had this continued to be attached always to the foal, both horses and mares would be inflamed with a passion for uncontrolled mating. This may, if you like, be a gift bestowed by Poseidon or Athena, the god and the goddess of horses, upon these animals to insure that their race is perpetuated and does not perish through an insane indulgence. Now those who tend horses, are fully aware of this and if they chance to need the aforesaid piece of flesh with the design of kindling the fires of Love in some person, they watch a pregnant Mare, and directly she bears the foal they seize it, cut off the piece of flesh, and deposit it in a Mare's hoof, for there alone will it be securely kept and stored away. As to the foal, they sacrifice it to the rising sun, for its dam refuses to suckle it any more now that it has lost its birth-token and no longer possesses the premise of her affection. For it is by eating that piece of flesh that the dam begins to love her offspring passionately. But any man who as a result of some plot tastes of that piece of flesh becomes possessed and consumed by an incontinent desire and cries aloud, and cannot be controlled from going after even the ugliest boys and grown women of repellent aspect. And he proclaims his affliction and tells those whom he meets how he is being driven mad. And his body pines and wastes away and his mind is agitated by erotic frenzy. I have, heard also this story of the bronze mare at Olympia: horses fall madly in love with it and long'( to mount it, and at the sight of it neigh amorously. Bidden away in the charmed bronze it contains the treacherous Mare's-frenzy, and through some secret contrivance of the artist the bronze works against living animals. For it could not possibly be so true to life that horses with their eyes open should be deceived and inflamed to that extent. It may be that those who relate the story are speaking the truth, or it may be that they are not; I have only reported what I have heard.
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§ 14.19 In Libya there is said to be a lake of boiling water, and in this water they say that fishes exist and swim about, and that when food is thrown into the water they leap up to get it. But, I have also heard that if one casts these fish into cold water; they die.
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§ 14.20 Those who are expert at fishing say that if one boils and dissolves in wine the stomach of the Sea- horse and gives it to someone to drink, the wine becomes a poison abnormal in comparison with others. For the man who has tasted it is first of all seized with a most violent retching; next he is racked with a dry cough but brings up nothing at all; yet his upper stomach is enlarged and swells, while hot streams mount to his head and phlegm descends from his nose, emitting a fishy odour; his eyes turn bloodshot and fiery and the lids become puffy. He is possessed, they say, by a longing to vomit, but brings up nothing whatever. If however Nature prevails, the man escapes the threat of death but sinks gradually into a state of forgetfulness and insanity. But if the wine penetrates into his lower stomach, it is all over with him, and the victim inevitably dies. Those who survive, having drifted into insanity, are seized with a strong desire for water; they yearn to see water and to listen to it falling. This at any rate quiets them and lulls them to sleep. And, they like to spend their time either by ever-flowing rivers or near the sea-shore or by the side of springs or lakes, and though they do not at all desire to drink, they love to swim and to dip their feet and to wash their hands. But there are those who maintain that it is not the actual stomach of the Sea- horse which causes these sufferings, but that the creature feeds upon a certain kind of seaweed of extraordinary bitterness and that its essence is transferred to the Sea- horse. Notwithstanding, the Sea- horse has been found to be an efficient remedy thanks to the shrewdness of an aged fisherman who was versed in matters regarding the sea. There was an old fisherman of Crete and he had some young sons, also fishermen. Now it so happened that the old man caught some Sea- horses along with other fish, and that the boys were bitten by a mad dog: when the first was bitten, the others who came to help him suffered the same fate. So they lay on the beach at Mithymna [ Rhithymna?] in Crete (this is said to be a village), while the spectators sympathised with their plight and gave orders for the dog to be killed and its liver to be given to the boys to eat as an antidote to the poison. Others urged that they should be taken to the temple of Roccaean Artemis and that the goddess should be implored to heal them. But the old man, without a sign of fear, without swerving from his purpose, allowed these advisers to make their recommendations, washed out the stomachs of the Sea- horses, some of which he roasted and gave to the boys to apply, while others he pounded into a mixture of vinegar and honey, and then smeared on the wounds made, by the bite, and so overcame the boys' madness by that longing for water which the Sea- horses engendered in them. And in this way he cured his sons, though it took time.
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§ 14.21 I have already said much regarding Dog -fish in the sea. But river Dog -fish have the appearance of small dogs that live on land, and they even have hairy tails. And it is said that their blood, if poured into a mixture of water and vinegar, acts as an embrocation for swollen smews. Their skin provides excellent shoes, and these too, they say, are good for the sinews.
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§ 14.22 The river Tecinus (this is the name of a river in Italy ) breeds the fish called the Grayling. It attains to as much as a cubit in length, and in appearance is between the basse and the mullet. The odour of the fish when caught is something to astonish one, for it is not the least like the fishy odour of others, but you would say that you held in your hand some freshly plucked thyme; moreover it is sweet-scented and a man who did not notice the fish would fancy that the herb which is the bees' principal food (from which incidentally the fish thymallus, derives its name) was in your hand. The easiest way to catch it is with a net; with a lure and hook you will not catch it, neither with, hog's fat nor with a gnat nor with a clam nor with the entrails of any other fish nor with the muscle, of a spiral-shell. It is only to be caught with a mosquito, a troublesome insect, man's enemy by day and by night with its sting and its buzzing: that will catch the aforesaid Grayling, for this is the only bait that it delights in.
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§ 14.23 At the foot of the Alps, facing the north wind; and beneath the Great Bear, live the people called..., They are a nation of horsemen. It is in that region, you know, that the largest of the rivers of Europe, the Ister, rises from only a few springs and moves in a direction facing the first assaults of the sun. Later, many rivers rise with one accord as though they were escorting him — for he is the King of the rivers of that country — and flow perpetually, and those who live on their banks know the name of each one. But as soon as they discharge into the Ister, the name which they had at their birth ceases to be used, they surrender it in his favour, all are called after him, and togetheir pour their waters into the Euxine. And there there are fish of different species, crow -fish, myllus, sturgeon, carp (these are black), and schall and wrasse (which are white), and besides these, perch and sword-fish. These last are suited to their name, witness the fact that the rest of their body is soft and harmless to the touch, that their teeth do not appear curved and sharp, that there are no spines springing erect from their back, as in the case of dolphins,” or from their tail, but what surprises one to learn and to see is this: the jaw just below its nose, through which it breathes and through which the stream flows to the gills and falls out, is prolonged to a sharp point, is straight and increases gradually in length and in bulk; it grows also as the fish grows into a monster and resembles the beak of a trireme. And the Sword-fish makes straight for fishes, kills them, and then feeds on them, and with this same sword beats off the attacks of the largest sea-monsters. No smith has forged this weapon which grows upon the fish, and Nature has made it sharp. And so when these Sword-fish have, attained a considerable size they even attack ships. And there are some who boast that they have seen a Bithynian vessel drawn up on shore in order that the keel which was suffering from age might receive the necessary attention, and fixed to the keel they saw the head of a sword-fish. For the creature had planted the sword given it by Nature, in the vessel, and when it attempted to withdraw, the whole Of its body was rent from the neck owing to the force of the ship's onrush, while the sword remained fixed just as it entered originally. So then this fish is caught both in the sea and in the Ister, and it delights both in salt water and in fresh streams.
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§ 14.24 When the summer is at its hottest, Sharks and other fish which are bold by nature approach the sea-shore and make straight for cliffs and run in under headlands where the current is strong and swim into narrow, deep, straits. They forsake their haunts in the open seas and at this season neglect their feeding-ground there. Now a certain seaweed grows among deep reefs: it is about the size of a tamarisk and bears fruit resembling a poppy. At other seasons of the year the fruit is closed and is resistant and hard like a shell; it opens however after the summer solstice, like buds in rose-gardens And the surrounding sheath protects the inside: encircling it like a barrier; it is a bright yellow colour but the part beneath this covering is dark blue and flabby like a bladder with air in it, and is quite translucent, and from it there oozes a violent poison. By night this seaweed sends out a fiery ray and sparkles: And when the Dog-star is rising the evil power of the poison is even stronger. For that reason all fishermen have given it the name of Pancynium in the belief that it is the rising of the star that generates the poison. Now the Sharks fall upon the flower which by night seems to be burning, rushing at this tamarisk of the sea as if it were treasure trove, and when the poison has drenched them, some being swallowed and some having penetrated through their gills, they die and at once float up to the surface. Now those who are skilled at investigating such matters collect this poison which emanates from the aforesaid monsters, some of it from other parts of the creature's body and some from its mouth. This poison is second only to that of the land-peony, as it is called, which people have also named Cynospastus. The reason for this you will learn if I remember to tell it you.
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§ 14.25 The people of Mysia — not those who inhabit the Pergamum of Telephus, but you are to understand those who live by the Black Sea in the lower part and are neighbours of the Scythians whose inroads they check, and who are guardians of the aforesaid country on behalf of Rome. I am referring to those that live near Heraclea and the river Axius. it is there, you know, that the inhabitants tell the tale of Medea, daughter of Aeetes, whose impious hands dared to commit that outrage upon her brother Apsyrtus, for the Mysians harp on this evil report against the Colchian sorceress, besides the others that are current among the Greeks. Well, this is the way in which these people hunt fish. An Istrian whose trade is fishing drives a pair of oxen near the bank of the Ister, but not because he has the least wish to plough, for, as the saying goes,'an ox and a dolphin have nothing in common;' so in the same way what friendship can there be between a fisherman's hands and a plough? If however he has a pair of horses he uses horses. The man carries the yoke on his shoulders and comes to a spot where he thinks it suitable to sit down and where he believes he is well placed for fishing. One end of his rope, which is stout and thoroughly capable of standing a strain, he attaches to the middle of the yoke. He provides ample fodder for the oxen or the horses, and they eat their fill. And to the other end of the„rope he attaches a strong hook which has been well sharpened, and on this he spits the lungs' of a bull, and lets them down as food, and indeed its favourite food, for the Sheat-fish in the Ister, after' fastening above the point where the rope secures the hook enough lead to prevent it from being dragged away, So directly the fish notices the bulls' meat he rushes to seize it. Then, finding what he wants, all at Once with jaws agape he recklessly tugs at fhe deadly meal which has come to him. Next, this glutton, drawn on by his enjoyment, is spitted on the aforesaid hook before he knows it, and in his eagerness to escape the disaster that has befallen him he agitates and shakes the rope with all his might. So when the hunter is aware of this he is filled with joy; he leaps from his seat, abandons his labours in the river and his watery pursuits, and like an actor in a play changing his mask, sets his pair of oxen or horses in motion, and there ensues a trial of strength between the monster and the beasts of burden. For the creature bred in the Ister exerts a downward pull with all the strength at his command, while the pair of beasts pulling in the.opposite direction makes the rope taut. But it avails the fish; nothing: at any rate he is defeated in the tug-of-war, gives up, and is hauled ashore. A student of Homer might say that mules were hauling tree-trunks, as Homer sings in the celebrated tale of the funeral of Patroclus.
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§ 14.26 There is also in the Ister a bay of immense depth and like the sea in its wide compass. Moreover that this bay attains a considerable depth is sufficiently proved by the following fact: merchant vessels which cross the sea put in to this bay and, when the bay is angered by the winds that blow and lash it into waves and drive it mad, are just as afraid of it as they are of the sea. And there are also islands in it, and even creeks along the shore into which one can run for safety. There are besides, promontories and capes running out, on which the waves in their fury dash and burst whenever the river at its very fullest is, as it were, forced into a narrow space as it presses on to the sea. This commonly occurs when the third autumnal season is past and the winter season is setting in and the river is running in full flood. And as it rises the north wind urges it forward and causes it to descend in fury. And the stream carries dowh the ice it contains as though for an easy voyage. But the' north wind opposes it with its violent and icy blasts: it does not permit it to discharge into the sea what you might call its offspring, but causes it to overflow, resists it, and brings it to a halt; So the ice which is floating and checked sinks and solidifies to a great depth. In consequence the Ister's own water flows beneath, along what you might call hidden channels, while the newly acquired and alien surface resembles a plain, and at this season of the year the people thereabouts travel along it driving a pair or on horseback. Now the way in which that mischievous and crafty animal the fox tests and examines this river and the Strymon in Thrace to see if they are frozen, I have described earlier on. Well, the ice on the Ister freezes hard even round a merchant vessel on its way downstream and imprisons it: it is no use to spread the sails; the man at the prow looks no more ahead; the ship's captain cannot move the rudders to and fro; they are fixed fast, for the whole vessel is caught in the surrounding fetters and looks, I declare, not like any ship, for it is no longer beaten by the waves, but like some hill rising from a-wide expanse of plain or for all the world like some lofty watch-tower. Thereupon the passengers and the sailors jump out and hurry down the river and fetch wagons.and transfer the cargo on to what was lately the water. Then again when the winter season is over and the river begins to flow strongly they still carry their loads. But the ship remains stationary until the frost relaxes and the ice melts and is dissolved, and the merchant vessel, freed from its strange cable, is released. At that season fishermen also take picks and hack through the ice wherever they feel inclined, and contrive a circular hole reaching down to the water. You would say that it was the mouth of a well or of a huge, very pot-bellied jar. Thereupon multitudes of fish wishing to escape from the ice which is pressing down upon them like a roof, and longing for the light, swim joyfully up to the opening that has been made, and come in crowds past numbering and jostle one another, and being in a confined hole are easily captured. And it is possible to catch carp and crow -fish in abundance and perch and the swordfish, though the last-named is not yet fully grown and is still without the frontal spike; sturgeon too, young and tender, for the large ones of mature age may be the size of the biggest tunny. The Sturgeon is extremely fat along the: sides and the belly; you might say they were the dugs of a sow that was suckling its young. It has a rough skin and spear-makers actually polish their spear-shafts on it. Beneath the spinal marrow of this creature a supple, narrow membrane beginning at the middle of the head, runs down as far as the tail. Now if you Jet this dry in the sun you will obtain, should you wish it, a whip to drive a pair of horses with. For it differs hardly at all from a leather thong. When however the fish has grown to its full size one would not see it emerging from the ice and falling into the hole, hut either it slips beneath some all-sheltering rock or buries itself in deep sand and is only too glad to keep warm. And at that time it needs no vegetation, no other fish to eat, but prefers to remain inactive while the frost lasts, and is happy to be idle and consumes its own fat, just as octopuses also when unable to catch any prey nibble their own tentacles and feed off themselves. But when winter is over and spring is beginning and the Ister is flowing freely, it hates to be inactive and, swimming up to the surface, takes its fill of the foam on the water, and there is foam in abundance as the stream roars and boils in violent tumult. Then is the time when it is easily captured as the fishermen lie in wait for it and let down hook and line into the foam. The whiteness of the foam conceals the hook and the bright sheen of the bronze is invisible to the fish; hence, as it opens its jaws and takes a heavy draught of the aforesaid food, it swallows the bait and meets its death from the very thing that before sustained it.
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§ 14.27 There is a plant of the name of Cynospastus (it is also called Aglaophotis (peony). I have remembered and wish to fulfil my obligations) which by daytime passes unnoticed among the rest and is hardly visible, but at night it becomes'visible and shines out like a star, for it is of a fiery nature and like a flame'. Therefore men plant some mark near the roots and then go away, for if they did not do this they would be unable by day to remember either the colour or even the appearance of the plant. But when the night is over they come and see the mark which they left and recognise it and are able to guess that this is the very plant that they need; for otherwise it is completely like the plants all round it, differing from them not one whit. But they themselves do not pull up this plant; if they did they would certainly regret it. Accordingly no one either digs round it or pulls it up, for (they say) the first man who in ignorance of its nature touched it, was destroyed by it shortly afterwards. And so they bring a strong dog that has not been fed for some days and is ravenously hungry and attach a strong cord to it, and round the stalk of the Peony at the bottom they fasten a noose securely from as far away as they can; then they put before the dog a large quantity of cooked meat, which exhales a savoury odour. And the dog, burning with hunger and tormented by the savour, lashes at the meat that has been placed before it and with its violent movement pulls up the plant, roots and all. But when the sun sees the roots the Dog immediately dies, and they bury it on the spot, and after performing some mysterious rites and paying honour to the dead body of the dog as having died on their behalf, they then make bold to touch the aforesaid plant and carry it home. It is useful, they say, for many purposes; for instance, it is said to cure the disease with which the moon is reputed to afflict men; also that affliction of the eyes in which moisture floods them and then congeals and robs them of their sight.
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§ 14.28 There is in the sea a shellfish with a spiral shell, small in size but of surpassing beauty, and it is born where the water is at its purest and upon rocks beneath the sea and on what are called sunken reefs. Its name is Nerites. Two stories are in circulation touching this creature, and both have reached me; moreover the telling of a short tale in the middle of a lengthy history is simply giving the hearer a rest and sweetening the narrative. Hesiod sings of how Doris the daughter of Oceanus bore fifty daughters to Nereus the sea-god, whom to this day we always hear of as truthful and unlying. Homer also mentions them in his poems. But they do not state that one son was born after all that number of daughters, though he is celebrated in mariners' tales. And they say that he was named Nerites and was the most beautiful of men and gods; also that Aphrodite delighted to be with Nerites in the sea and loved him. And when the fated time arrived, at which, at the bidding of the Father of the gods, Aphrodite, also had to be enrolled among the Olympians, I have heard that she ascended and wished to bring her companion and play-fellow. But the story goes that he refused, preferring life with his sisters and parents to Olympus. And then he was permitted to grow wings: this, I imagine, was a gift from Aphrodite. But even this favour he counted as nothing. And so the daughter of Zeus was moved to anger and transformed his shape into this shell, and of her own accord chose in his place for her attendant and servant Eros, who also was young and beautiful, and to him she gave the wings of Nerites. But the other account proclaims that Poseidon was the lover of Nerites, and that Nerites returned his love, and that this was the origin of the celebrated Anteros (mutual love). And so, as I am told, for the rest the favourite spent his time with his lover, and moreover when Poseidon drove his chariot over the waves, all other great fishes as well as dolphins and tritons too, sprang up from their deep haunts and gambolled and danced around the chariot, only to be left utterly and far behind by the speed of his horses; only the boy favourite was his escort close at hand, and before them the waves sank to rest and the sea parted out of reverence to Poseidon, for the god willed that his beautiful favourite should not only be highly esteemed for other reasons but should also be pre-eminent at swimming. But the story relates that the Sun resented the boy's power of speed and transformed his body into the spiral shell as it now is: the cause of his anger I cannot tell, neither does the fable mention it. But if one may guess where there is nothing to go by, Poseidon and the Sun might be said to be rivals. And it may be that the Sun was vexed at the boy travelling about in the sea and wished that he should travel among the constellations instead of being counted among sea-monsters. Thus far the two fables; but may the gods be good to me, and for my part let me observe a religious silence regarding them. But if my fables have said any thing overbold, the fault must be laid to their charge.
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§ 14.29 At the spot where the Tanarus and the Eridanus meet (the latter has achieved renown and fame, whereas the former is hardly known at all) an altogether peculiar manner of fishing is in vogue; it has come to my knowledge through the poems of a man of Mytilene, an acquaintance of my own, and must not pass without a tribute in my narrative. When the rivers have become ice-bound those who live in their neighbourhood plough and sow in the winter season, for it is theix lot to possess a fertile land. Then at the beginning of spring while the aforesaid rivers are still immobile for the reason that I explained, the erstwhile farmers now fishermen select some spot like a bay and with well-sharpened hatchets cut round it so that a circle of water, like a pond, appears. They do not however cut close to the bank as yet but leave the ice as it froze originally. So then they throw a wide net round the space which they have laid open, and round the net a stoutish rope. This net is drawn in by men standing on the shore, fishermen and others, and there are many who though they know nothing of the art, watch the fish being caught: they feel a certain fascination in it. But as the men are drawn in and approach the bank, then the fishermen on the dry land cut the ice there also, for they have an interest in the capture and try to prevent the fish from escaping. When this has been done as described, the net, full of fish, pushes the block of ice that has been cut round and draws it along with it, while the fishermen who are standing on the block look as if they were being carried along on a floating island. Such is the peculiar method of catching the fish there and quite unlike any other. And Homer will allow me to say that these men earn a double wage, one from the river and another from the land, since the same men are both mariners and farmers.
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§ 15.1 BOOK XV I have heard and can tell of a way of catching fish in Macedonia, and it is this. Between Beroea and Thessalonica there flows a river called the Astraeus. Now there are in it fishes of a speckled hue, but what the natives call them, it is better to enquire of the Macedonians. Now these fish feed upon the flies of the country which flit about the river and which are-quite unlike flies elsewhere; they do not look like wasps, nor could one fairly describe this creature as comparable in shape with what are called Anthedones (bumble- bees ), nor even with actual honey- bees, although they possess a distinctive feature of each of the aforesaid insects. Thtis, they have the audacity of the fly; you might say they are the size of a bumble- bee, but their colour imitates that of a wasp, and they buzz like a honeybee. All the natives call them Hippurus. These flies settle on the stream and seek the food that they like; they cannot however escape the observation of the fishes that swim below. So when a fish observes a Hippurus on the surface it swims up noiselessly under water for fear of disturbing the surface and to Astraeum is the name of a town, hut no river Astraeus is known; presumably the Axius is intended. This is one of the species Stratiomys, known as'Soldier-flies.' avoid scaring its prey. Then when close at hand in the fly's shadow it opens its jaws and swallows the fly, just as a wolf snatches a sheep from the flock, or as an eagle seizes a goose from the farmyard. Having done this it plunges beneath the ripple. Now although fishermen know of these happenings, they do not in fact make any use of these flies as baits for fish, because if the human hand touches them it destroys the natural bloom; their wings wither and the fish refuse to eat them, and for that reason will not go near them, because by some mysterious instinct they detest flies that have been caught. And so with the skill of anglers the men circumvent the fish by the following artful contrivance. They wrap the hook in scarlet wool, and to the wool they attach two feathers that grow beneath a cock's wattles and are the colour of wax. The fishing-rod is six feet long, and so is the line. So they let down this lure, and the fish attracted and excited by the colour, comes to meet it, and fancying from the beauty of the sight that he is going to have a wonderful banquet, opens wide his mouth, is entangled with the hook, and gains a bitter feast, for he is caught.
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§ 15.2 Ram-fishes, whose name has a wide circulation, although information about them is not very definite except in so far as displayed in works of art, spend the winter near the strait between Corsica and Sardinia and actually appear above water. And round about them swim dolphins of very great size; Now the male Ram-fish has a white band running round its forehead (you might describe it as the tiara of a Lysimachus or an Antigonus or of some other king of Macedon ), but the female has curls, just as cock's have wattles, attached below its neck. Male and female alike pounce upon dead bodies and feed on them, indeed they even seize living men, and with the wave caused by their swimming, since they are large and of immense bulk, they even overturn vessels, such a storm do they unaided raise against them. And they even snatch men standing on the shore close at hand. The inhabitants of Corsica tell how, when a ship was wrecked in a storm, a man who was a very strong swimmer managed to swim over a wide expanse of sea and to secure a hold On some hea,dland in their country; he climbed out and stood there, all fear banished, for he Was now free from all perils, with no anxiety for his life, his own master. Now a Ram-fish which was swimming by caught sight of him as he stood, and inflamed with hunger turned about, arched its back, and with its tail drove a great mass of water forward, and then rose as the swelling wave lifted it, and in a moment was carried up on to the headland and like a hurricane or whirlwind seized the man.' So much for the Ram-fish's prey ravished off Corsica. Those who live on the shores of Ocean tell a fable of how the ancient kings of Atlantis, sprung from the seed of Poseidon, wore upon their head the bands from the male Ram-fish, as an emblem of their authority, while their wives, the queens, wore the curls of the females as a proof of theirs. Now this creature has exceedingly powerful nostrils and inhales a great quantity of breath, drawing to itself an immense amount of air; and it hunts seals in the following manner. Directly the seals realise that a Ram-fish is somewhere close at hand, bringing destruction upon them, they swim ashore with all possible speed and pass over the land and plunge into the shelter of rocky caverns. But the Ram-fish perceive that they have fled and give chase, and as they face the cave they know from the smell of flesh that their prey is within, and, as though by some all-powerful spell, with their nostrils they draw in the air that intervenes between themselves and the seal. But the seal avoids the attack of the monster's breath, as it might an arrow or a spear-point, and at first withdraws, but is finally dragged out of the cave by the overmastering pull and follows against its will, just as though it were bound fast with thongs or cords, and shrieking provides the Ram-fish with a meal. Those who are skilled at exploring these matters assert that the hairs which grow from the nostrils of the Ram-fish serve many purposes.
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§ 15.3 In the gulf of Vibo there are shoals of Tunny past numbering, and some are, like hogs, solitary, and swim by themselves and are or very great size; others swim in couples or range together, as wolves do; others again swim in companies, just like herds of goats, ranging over wide feeding-grounds. But at the rising of the Dog-star and when the sun's rays are at their fiercest, they set out for the Euxine. And if the waves seem hot to them they swim interwoven with one another and by the contact of their bodies somehow contrive to get a certain amount of shade.
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§ 15.4 Demostratus, a man deeply versed in fishing lore and excellent at expounding it, says that there is a certain fish of great beauty and that it is called the'Moon-fish'; it is small, dark blue in colour, and flat in shape. He says too that it has dorsal fins which it raises, but that they are soft and neither unyielding nor rough. These fins, whenever the fish dives, open out and form a half-circle and present to the eye the shape of a half-moon. This is what the fishermen of Cyprus say, but Demostratus adds that if this fish is caught when the moon is at the full, it too is at the full, and causes trees to expand if one brings it and attaches it to them. But when the moon is waning the fish pines and dies, and if applied to plants they too wither. And when wells are being dug, if, as the moon is waxing, you throw this fish into the water which you have found, it will flow continually and never fail; if however you do this when the moon is waning, the flow will cease. In the same way if you throw this same fish into a bubbling spring, you will henceforward either find it full of water or you will find the spot empty.
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§ 15.5 I know that I have somewhere earlier on in this discourse described how Tunny swim into and out of the Propontis. Just consider the cities along the Black Sea — Heraclea, Tium, and Amastris. Now the inhabitants of the whole of that country know exactly of the coming of the Tunny, and at that season of the year the fish arrive, and much gear has been got ready to deal with them, boats and nets and a high lookout-place. This lookout-place is fixed on some beach and stands where there is a wide, uninterrupted view. It is no trouble to me to explain, and you who listen should be pleased to hear, how it is constructed. Two high pine-trunks held apart by wide balks of timber, are set up; the latter are interwoven in the structure at short intervals and are of great assistance to the watchman in mounting to the top. Each of the boats has six young men, strong rowers, on either side. The nets are of considerable length; they are not too light and so far from being kept floating by corks are actually weighted with lead, and these fish swim into them in shoals. And when the spring begins to shine and the breezes are blowing softly and the air is bright and as it were smiling and the waves are at rest and the sea smooth, the watcher, whose mysterious skill and naturally sharp sight enable him to see the fish, announces to the fishermen the quarter from which they are coming: if on the one hand the men ought to spread their nets near the shore he instructs them accordingly; but if closer in, like a general he gives the signal, or like a conductor, the keynote. And frequently he will tell the total number of fish and not be off the mark. And this is what happens. When the company of Tunnies makes for the open sea the man in the lookout who has an accurate knowledge of their ways shouts at the top of his voice telling the men to give chase in that direction and to row straight for the open sea. And the men after fastening to one of the pines supporting the lookout a very long rope attached to the nets, then proceed to row their boats in close order and in column, keeping near to one another, because, you see, the net is distributed between each boat. And the first boat drops its portion of the net and turns back; then the second does the same, then the third, and the fourth has to let go its portion. But the rowers in the fifth boat delay, for they must not let go yet. Then the others row in different directions and haul their part of the net, and then pause. Now the Tunny are sluggish and incapable of any action that involves daring, and they remain huddled together and quite still. So the rowers, as though it were a captured city, take captive — as a poet might say — the population of fishes. And so, my Grecian friends, the people of Eretria and Naxos know of these things by report, for they have learnt about this method of fishing all that Herodotus and others relate. What remains to be told of it you shall learn from others.
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§ 15.6 When Tunny have been caught by fishermen of the Euxine (and I might add off Sicily also, for what else had Sophron in mind when he wrote his delightful Tunny -Fisher? Anyhow there are Tunny fisheries in other places besides.) — when therefore they are safely enmeshed in the net, then is the time when everybody prays to Poseidon the Averter of Disaster. And as I ask myself the reason, I think it worth while to explain what induced them to attach the name'Averter of Disaster' to the god. They' pray to the brother of Zeus, the Lord of the Sea, that neither swordfish nor dolphin may come as fellow-traveller with the shoal of Tunny. At any rate your noble sword-fish has many a time cut through the net and allowed the whole company to break through and go free. The dolphin also is the net's enemy, for it is skilful at gnawing its way out.
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§ 15.7 During the springtime in India it rains liquid honey, and especially in the country of the Prasii; and it falls on the grass and on the leaves of reeds in the marshes, providing wonderful pasturage for cattle and sheep. And the animals feast off the food with the greatest delight, for the shepherds niake a point of leading them to spots where this honeyed dew falls more plentifully and settles. And they in return feast their herdsmen, for the milk which the latter draw is of the utmost sweetness and they have no need to mix honey with it as the Greeks do.
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§ 15.8 The Pearl-oyster of India: (I have spoken earlier on of the one in the Red Sea ) is obtained in the following manner. There is a, city of which one' Soras by name was ruler, a man of royal lineage, at the time when Eucratides was ruler of Bactria. And the name of the city is Perimula, and it is inhabited by Ichthyophagi (fish-eaters). These men, it is said, set out from there with their nets and draw a ring of wide embrace round a great circle of the shore. The aforesaid stone is produced from a shell resembling a large trumpet-shell, and the Pearl-oysters swim in shoals and have leaders, just as bees, in their hives have'kings,' as they are called. And I have heard that the'leader' too is conspicuous for his colour and his size. Now divers beneath the waters make it their special aim to capture him, for once he is caught they catch the entire shoal, since it is, so to say, left destitute and without a leader; for it remains motionless and ceases to advance, like a flock of sheep that by some mischance has lost its shepherd. But the leader makes good his escape and slips out with the utmost adroitness and takes the lead and rescues those that obey him. Those however that are caught the Ichthyophagi are said to pickle in jars. And when the flesh turns clammy and falls away, the precious stone is left behind. The best ones are those from India and from the Red Sea; but they are also found in the western ocean where the island of Britain is, though this kind has a more golden appearance, and a duller, duskier sheen. Juba asserts that they occur also in the strait leading to the Bosporus and are inferior to the British kind, and are not for a moment to be compared with those from India and the Red Sea. But the land-pearl of India is said not to have an independent origin but to be generated not from the ice formed by frost but from excavated rock-crystal.
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§ 15.9 I am well aware that earlier on in my discourse I have spoken of cranes, the birds, but I claim tp have heard of a sea-crane, a fish that lives in the sea of Corinth. Now this stretch of sea, where the Crane-fish has been tracked down, lies near the sea which approaches Attica on that side of the Isthmus that faces Athens. The fish reaches a length of perhaps fifteen feet reckoned accurately, but it is not (so I learn) as bulky as the largest eel. It has the head and mouth of the bird, and its scales you might say were the feathers of a crane. But it does not swim in the sinuous fashion of those fishes which are slim and long like eels. It is an exceedingly powerful jumper; at any rate it springs forward like an arrow shot from a bowstring... Now the accounts from Epidaurus state that this creature is not the offspring of any fish, but that cranes fleeing from the frosts of Thrace and of the west generally, encounter the wind, and that the female birds are stimulated to mate, while the male birds are inflamed with desire and agitated with a passion to couple, which makes them want to mount the females. They however will not permit it, for they cannot bear the burden of coupling in mid air, and so the males frustrated in their desire ejaculate semen. If they happen to be flying, over land, the semen is spent to no purpose but is lost and wasted. If however they are flying over the ocean, then the sea takes up and preserves the embryo as though it were a treasure, and generates this creature, not destroying it as though it had entered some unfruitful sterile womb. Here then of the two versions is the Epidaurian one fully set out. But the other version, whose origin I cannot; tell, takes a different direction and does not agree with the former, but I shall mention it as well so that I may not appear to be ignorant of it. Demostratus, whom I also mentioned earlier on, says,'I saw the fish and was filled with astonishment, and I was anxious to pickle it so that others might be able to see it. And so when the cooks got to work and opened it up, with my own eyes I inspected its internal organs and observed spines on both sides, which met and turned their points towards one another; they were,' he says,'triangular like three-sided law-tablets, and imbedded in them was a liver of considerable length, and below that was a gall-bladder, with a long tube as in skin-bags. You would have said on seeing it that it was a damp bean-pod. So both gall-bladder and liver were extracted,' and the latter swelled up till it equalled the liver of the largest fish, whereas the gall-bladder, which happened somehow to have been placed on a stone, caused the stone to melt away and disappeared from sight.' Here I conclude the two accounts.
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§ 15.10 It is not irrelevant to our present study to describe the altogether singular manner in which Pelamyds are caught. Ten young men in the prime of strength embark in a boat, light and therefore capable of great speed, arranging themselves in equal numbers on either side; and after satisfying themselves with a good meal they each lay hold of an oar and roam this way and that. And one youth sits in the stern and lets down horse-hair lines on either side of the vessel. To these other lines are fastened, and to all of them hooks are, attached, and each hook carries a bait wrapped round with wool of Laconian purple, and further, to each hook is attached the feather of a sea-mew so as to be gently fluttered by the impact of the water. Now the Pelamyds in their eagerness for these objects come swimming up, and when the'foretaster' has applied its mouth to them the rest approach and at the same moment the hooks are agitated as they pierce the fish. Meanwhile the men have stopped rowing and laid aside their oars and standing up draw up the lines with their plentiful catch, indeed even laden with fish. And when they tumble into the boat the evidence of a successful day's sport, is manifest in the great number captured.
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§ 15.11 I have heard that the land-Marten was once a human being. It has also reached my hearing that'Marten' was its name then; that it was a dealer in spells and a soreerer; that it was extremely, incontinent, and that it was afflicted with abnormal sexual desires. Nor has it escaped my notice that the anger of the goddess Hecate transformed it into this evil creature. May the goddess be gracious to me: fables and their telling I leave to others. But it is clearly a most malicious animal. Martens set upon human corpses, leap upon them if they are unprotected, pluck out their eyes and swallow them. They say too that if the testicles of a Marten are hung on a woman either by treachery or with her consent, they prevent her from becoming a mother and make her refrain from the sexual act; If the inwards of a Marten are dressed in a certain way, which I leave to those skilled in these matters, and dropped with evil intent into wine, they break up (so they say) a friendship, and sunder relations hitherto harmonious. In reward for these activities let us leave spell-binders and sorcerers to our friend Ares to punish and judge. There is also a fish called Marten (gale): it is small and has nothing in common with those known as dog -fish (galeus), for the latter are cartilaginous, live in the sea, attain to a considerable length, and resemble a dog. But the Marten-fish one might identify with the Hepatus, as it is called. This is a small fish and blinks its eyes; the pupils are a dark blue colour. Its barbel is larger than that of the Hepatus; on the other hand it yields to the Chromis in this respect. I am told that the Marten lives among rocks, feeds on sea-weed, and that it too like the land Marten eats the: eyes of all bodies that it finds dead. Fishermen who practise sorcery after the manner of those that, dwell on the continent of Asia, being evilly disposed and skilled in mischief, use it for the same purpose as men use the land Marten. And since this species of fish is carnivorous, the men who spend their lives fishing and who explore the deepest recesses black their feet and the palms Sf their hands in an attempt to nullify the light that radiates from them, for men's limbs appear extremely light in water and so attract these fish.
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§ 15.12 Clams of the sea are of different kinds, for some of them are rough, others perfectly smooth; some you can crush by the mere pressure of the fingers, others you will hardly smash with a stone; some are of a deep black colour, others, you might compare with silver, others again are clothed in a blend-of the aforesaid colours. Their species differ and their habitats are very various, for some lie scattered in the sands of the sea-shore or rest at times' in the mud, others lie low beneath the sea-moss, while others lay hold of reefs and cling to them with night and main. In the Istrian Sea, as it is called, these Clams in summer time at the beginning of the harvesting season swim along together like a herd of cattle, floating lightly to the surface, although up to his time they have been too heavy and weighty to float upwards, but now they are no longer so. And they avoid the South wind and flee before the North, and cannot endure even the East wind, but their delight is in a waveless sea and when the pleasant and gentle breezes of the West wind blow. And so beneath their influence they quit their burrows, with their shells still closed and fast shut, and mount upwards from their recesses and, when the sea is waveless, swim around. And; then they open their overirigs and peep forth, like brides looking down from their private chambers or like rosebuds that, formed a little, have peeped out of their flower-cups towards the sun's heat. And so little by little they gather courage and are glad to rest quietly while waiting for the friendly breeze; and one of their coverings the Clams spread beneath them, the other they raise, and with the latter for sail and the former for skiff they float along. And in this way they move forward when the sea is calm and the weather fine; To see them from a distance you would say that it was a fleet of ships. If however they perceive some vessel approaching, or some savage creature advancing or some monstrous fish swimming by, with one clash of their shells they fold up, sink in a mass, and are gone.
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§ 15.13 The Haemorrhous or'Blood-letter' is a species of snake which lives and has its haunts chiefly among rocky hollow's. Its body is one foot long, and its width.tapers downwards from its broad head to its tail. A.t one time it has a -fiery hue, at another pitch-black, and on its head there bristle what look like horns. It crawls softly as it scrapes the scales of its belly along the ground, and its course is crooked. And so it makes a gentle rustling, which shows how sluggish and how feeble it is. But when it bites it makes a puncture which immediately appears dark blue, and the victim suffers agonising pains in his stomach, while the belly discharges copious fluid. On the first night after, blood streams from the nose and throat and even from the ears together, with a bile-like poison, and the bladder emits blood-stained water. Also if there are any old scars on the body they break open. But if a female Blood-letter darts poison as it strikes, the poison mounts to the gums, blood streams copiously from the finger-nails, and the teeth are forced out from the gums. This, they say, was the savage creature that Canobus, the helmsman of Menelaus, encountered in Egypt during the reign of Thonis; and when Helen realised how strong this venomous, beast was she broke its spine and extracted the poison. But for what purpose she was eager to obtain this precious stuff I am unable to say.
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§ 15.14 The people of India bring to their king tigers a that they have trained, tame panthers/ four-horned antelopes, two kinds of oxen, the one swift of foot, the other exceedingly wild. From these oxen they contrive fly-whisks, and whereas the rest of their body is entirely black, their tails are dazzlingly white. They bring also pale-yellow doves which are said never to become domesticated, those birds too which they are accustomed to, call Cercordnoi (mynahs); and hounds of good pedigree (I have spoken of these above); and apes, some white, some the deepest black: the reddish ones/ which are too fond of women, they do not introduce into their towns, but if they can contrive somehow to spring upon them, they put them to death, because they detest them as adulterers.
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§ 15.15 In India the Great King on one day in every year arranges contests not only for various creatures, as I have said elsewhere, but among them between dumb animals also, or at any rate for those which are born with horns. And these butt each other and struggle with an instinct truly astonishing until one is victorious, as in fact athletes do, using all their strength to win the highest prizes or to achieve glorious renown and a noble fame. But these dumb combatants are wild bulls, tame rams, and what are called mesoi and one-horned asses and hyainai. They say that this animal is smaller than a gazelle but far more spirited than a stag and that it vents its fury with its horns. And last of all there come forward elephants to the fight: they advance and wound one another to the death with their tusks, and frequently one comes off victor and kills its adversary; frequently also both die together.
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§ 15.16 Theophrastus denies that the young of a Viper eat through their mother's belly, as though they were breaking open a door (if I may be allowed the jest) or forcing an exit that had been blocked; but as the female is subjected to pressure and as its belly is (to use the language of Homer )'straitened,' it is unable tq hold out and so bursts. And his stater ment convinces me, for, you see, Pipe-fish too having no womb and being slim, go through the same process with their young, as I have explained somewhere earlier on. But I trust that Herodotus will not be angry with me if I reckon as fables all that he says regarding the birth of Vipers.
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§ 15.17 It seems that there is a certain natural association and kinship of a mysterious kind between the Lion and the Dolphin. It is not merely that one is king of land-animals and the other of fishes of the sea, but that when they advance to old age and begin to waste away, the Lion takes a land-monkey by way of rnedicine while the Dolphin searches for its equivalent in the sea: I have stated somewhere that the sea also contains a'monkey,' and this is beneficial to the Dolphin, just as the land-monkey is to the Lion.
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§ 15.18 Among the creatures which I have not described and which are past numbering, is the Sepedon, an evil reptile. Nicander says that it is the same colour as the Blood-letter and is akin to it in appearance. This also he says: it seems to move more quickly, but conveys the impression of being smaller, for its path is crooked and tortuous, and it is chiefly for this reason that it deceives the spectator as to its real size. Now the wound which it inflicts is terrible: at any rate it spreads and festers and proves that the aforesaid creature is true to its name. At any rate the poison forces its way oyer the entire body with irresistible speed, and what is more, the hair turns clammy and perishes; the eyebrows and eyelashes fall away; darkness comes over the eyes and they are covered with white spots.

Via ToposText (topostext.org), a project of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation created by Brady Kiesling. Translated by Alwyn Faber Scholfield (1884-1969). Composed ca. 234 CE. Licence: Copyright Harvard University (Greek text CC license). Source.