Aelian, Characteristics of Animals

ToposText · Aelian · 800 sections

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§ 15.19 The land-Tortoise is a most lustful creature, at to least the male is; the female however mates unwillingly. And Demostratus, a member; I may add, of the Roman Senate — not that this makes him a sufficient voucher, though in my opinion he attained the summit of knowledge in matters of fishing and was an admirable expounder of his knowledge; nor should I be surprised if he had made a study of some weightier subject and had dealt with the science of the soul. This Demostratus admits that he does not know precisely whether there is any other reason for the female declining to copulate, but he claims to vouch for the following fact. The female couples only when looking towards the male, and when he has satisfied his desire he goes away, while the female is quite unable to turn over again owing to the bulk of her shell and because she has been pressed into the ground. And so she is abandoned by her mate to provide a meal for other animals and especially for eagles. This then, according to Demostratus, is what the females dread, and since their desires are moderate and they prefer life to pleasurable indulgence, the males are unable to coax them to the act. And so by some mysterious instinct the males cast an amorous spell'that brings forgetfulness of all' fear, It seems that the spells of a Tortoise in loving mood are by no means songs, like the trifles which Theocritus, the composer of sportive pastoral poems, wrote, but a mysterious herb of which Demostratus admits that neither he nor anyone else knows the name. Apparently the males adorn themselves with this herb, and some mysterious.... At any rate if they hold this herb in their mouth there ensues the exact opposite to what I have described: the male becomes coy, but the female hitherto reluctant is now full of ardour and pursues him in a frenzied desire to mate; fear is banished and the females are not in the least afraid for their own safety.
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§ 15.20 There is a region near to Thessalonica in Macedon which goes by the name of Nibas. Now the Cocks there lack their natural faculty of crowing and are absolutely silent. There is current a proverbial saying applied to things that are impossible, it is to this effect:'You shall have such-and-such when Nibas crows.'
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§ 15.21 When Alexander threw some parts of India into a commotion and took possession of others he encountered among many other animals a Serpent which lived in a cavern and was regarded as sacred by the Indians who paid it great and superstitious reverence. Accordingly Indians went to all lengths imploring Alexander to permit nobody to attack the Serpent; and hie assented to their wish. Now as the army passed by the cavern and caused a noise, the Serpent was aware of it. (It has, you know, the sharpest hearing and the keenest sight of all animals.) And it hissed and snorted so violently that all were terrified and confounded. It was reported to measure 70 cubits although it was not visible in all its length, it only put its head out. At any rate its eyes are said to have been the size of a large, round Macedonian shield.
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§ 15.22 Crows make it their business to worry Eagles, but they despise the Crows and leave them to fly at a lower level, while they themselves cleave the upper air on the swiftest of wings, not of course because they are afraid (how could anyone knowing well what the might of Eagles is say such a thing!): is rather from what I may call their own magnanimity that they allow those birds to go their miserable way down below.
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§ 15.23 They say that the Pilot-fish is sacred not only to Poseidon but is also beloved of the gods of Samothrace. At any rate a certain fisherman in the olden days was punished by this fish. The name of the fisherman was, according to the story, Epopeus, and he came from the island of Icarus and had a son. Now on one occasion after they had failed to find any fish Epopeus drew up his net with a catch consisting entirely of Pilot-fish, off which he and his son made a meal. But not long after, avenging justice overtook him, for a sea-monster attacked his boat and swallowed Epopeus before the very eyes of his son. And they also say that Dolphins are the enemies if the Pilot-fish, and they again do not escape unharmed when they eat one, for they immediately begin to writhe and go quite mad, and being incapable of remaining still are carried on to beaches, and when once they are cast ashore by the wave they furnish a meal to'sea-crows' and sea-mews. And Apollonius of Rhodes or of Naucratis says that the Pilot-fish was once actually human being and a ferryman. And Apollo fell in love with a maiden and attempted to lie with her, but she escaped and came to Miletus and implored Pompilus, a seaman, to conduct her across the strait. He agreed to do so, but Apollo appeared and seized the maiden, turned the ship into stone, and transformed Pompilus into this fish.
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§ 15.24 The Indians devote much attention to fast-running Oxen. And the King himself and many of the nobles make the speed of their oxen the subject of contest, and lay wagers in immense sums of gold nd silver, and think no shame to compete with one another respecting these animals, indeed they couple them together and gamble on the race for, victory. Now the horses run yoked together, while the Oxen are harnessed alongside and one of them almost grazes the turning-post; they have to run 30 stades. The Oxen run as fast as the Horses and you could not tell which is the faster of the two, the ox or the horse. If, as sometimes happens, the King makes a wager with someone over his own Oxen, so full of emulous zeal does he become that he himself follows in a chariot and urges on the driver. And the latter makes the horses quite bloody with his goad, but withholds his hand from the Oxen, for they run without any goading. And feeling runs so high over this ox -racing that not only the rich and the owners but the spectators also contend for large stakes, just as in Homer Idomeneus of Crete and Ajax of Locris are represented contending. There are also in India other Oxen the size of the largest he- goats. These also are yoked together and run extremely fast, at any rate they are no less spirited than the horses of the Getae.
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§ 15.25 It is reported that Horses which drink from the river Cossinitus (it is in Thrace ) become terribly savage. This river empties itself into the territory of Abdera and is swallowed up in the Lake of the Bistones. Here, you know, was once the palace of Diomedes the Thracian who owned those famous wild mares, one of the'Labours' of Heracles. And they say that the same fate befalls horses that drink from the spring at Potniae. The place called Potniae, where the spring is, lies not far from Thebes. They say that the inhabitants of Oraea and Gedrosia give their Horses fish for fodder, and I am told that the Celts feed both their cattle and their horses on fish. In their country, it is said, tne Horses actually flee from the scent of human beings and hasten to the more southerly parts of Europe, especially when the South Wind blows. And there are those who bear witness to the fact that the inhabitants of Macedonia and of Lydia also feed their horses on fish, and who assert that the sheep of Lydia and of Macedonia are fattened on the sanie diet. In Moesia while mares are in process of being covered some people play the pipe, accompanying the marriage of Horses with nuptial music, as it were; and the mares are so enchanted by the melody that they very soon become pregnant and, what is more, produce beautiful foals. This too I have heard concerning Horses. They say that when horses are older and advanced in years the offspring which they beget is feeble, having besides other defects poor legs. The age and life of horses men th reckon as so many years: in the case of Stallions, five and thirty But Aristotle the son of Nicomachus states that a horse lived for five and seventy-years.
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§ 15.26 In the second stage of a journey from Susa in Persia to Media there are said to be Scorpions in multitudes, so that when the Persian King is going to pass that way he issues orders three days in advance that'everybody is to catch them, and bestows presents on the man who has caught the greatest number. For if this were not done, the region would be impassable, for'beneath every stone' and every clod'there lurks a scorpion.' And they say that the inhabitants of Rhoeteum were driven out by centipedes, so great was the multitude that invaded them. They say too that in Cyrene there are species of mice which differ not only in colour but in form: some for instance have flat faces like martens, others again look like hedgehogs (echinoi), and these the natives call'prickly mice' (echinees). ind I have heard that in Egypt there are mice with only two legs, and that they grow to a great size, but their front legs they use as hands, for they are shorter than their hind legs. And they walk erect on their two legs, but when pursued they jump. This is what Theophrastus says.
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§ 15.27 There is a story that the birds known as Francolins when transported from Lydia to Egypt and let loose in the woods, at first uttered the note of quail. Later on, owing to the river feeling confined by its hollow bed, a famine broke out and many of the inhabitants perished, whereupon these same birds never ceased to utter with a sound far clearer and more articulate than any child words meaning'Three curses on the accursed.' And the same story tells:iow if they are captured and snared they not only refuse to be tamed but no longer even utter the notes which they did before: their servitude and confinement decree silence against them. If however they are let go and can unfold their wings at liberty and return to their own haunts, they again become vocal and recover both their voice and their freedom of speech together.
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§ 15.28 They say that men catch the Little Horned Owl (mentioned in the Odyssey by Homer who says that it nests in great numbers round about the cavern of Calypso ) by dancing. And dancers assert that a certain kind of dance is called after this bird, and if we are to believe them this dance has been called'the Little Horned Owl.' And that anyone should caricature and imitate them in a playful way affords these birds the greatest pleasure. This is the origin of the word skoptein which we use, meaning'to mock.' It is said that the Little Horned Owl is smaller than the Little Owl and that its colour resembles lead of the deepest me, but its wings are said to have whitish speckles. And it displays two feathers rising from the brows in either temple. Callimachus maintains that, there are two kinds of Little Horned Owl. One kind is vocal, the other doomed to silence; the latter is called skops, the former aeiskops. But Aristotle asserts that in Homer the word does not begin with a sigma (skops), but that the birds are called simply kopes. So those who prefix a sigma mistake the true spelling of the word and are mistaken as to Homer's judgment and knowledge of the bird. At all other seasons of the year the Little Horned Owl is not edible, but only when caught on one or two days in the late autumn, and then it is edible. These Skopes differ from the Aeiskopes in bulk, and bear some resemblance to a turtle-dove or ring-dove.
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§ 15.29 As to the race of Pygmies I have heard that they are governed in a manner peculiar to themselves, and that in fact owing to the failure of the male line a certain woman became queen and ruled over the Pygmies; her name was Gerana, and the Pygmies worshipped her as a god, paying her honours too august for a human being. The result was, they say, that she became so puffed up in her mind that he held the goddesses of no account. It was specially Hera, Athena, Artemis, and Aphrodite that, she said, came nowhere near her in beauty. But she was not destined to escape the evil consequences of her diseased imagination. For in consequence of the anger of Hera she changed her original form into that of a most hideous bird and became the Crane of today and wages war on the Pygmies because with their excessive honours they drove her to madness and to her destruction.
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§ 16.1 BOOK XVI When a fisherman after Purple Shellfish catches one, not for human consumption but for dyeing wool, if the colour from it is to remain fast; indelible, and capable of producing the genuine tint unadulterated, then he smashes it, shell and all, with one blow of a stone. But if the blow is too light and the creature is left still alive, a second blow with the stone renders it useless for dyeing purposes. For the pairi causes the fish to spend the dye which is absorbed into the mass of flesh or escapes in some other way. And this, they say, was known to Homer who says of those who die all at once that they are overtaken by the death of the Purple Shellfishin his poem he sings in the well-known passage how'Empurpled death and violent fate laid hold fof him'.
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§ 16.2 I learn that in India there are Parrots, and have also mentioned them earlier on, but this seems a most fitting place to relate what I did not relate on the former occasion. I am told that there are three kinds, and all learn like children; and become talkative in the same way and speak like human beings. In the forests however they utter the notes of birds, and do not produce intelligible and distinct speech, but are unlearned and cannot talk as yet, There are also Peacocks in India, larger than anywhere else, and Doves with green plumage; anyone seeing them for the first time and not possessing a knowledge of birds would say that they, were parrots not doves. But they have beaks and legs the same colour as those of partridges in Greece. And the Cocks there are of immense size, and their combs are not scarlet like those of our country, but of variegated hue like flower-garlands. And their tail-feathers are not arched or curved in a circle but flat, and they trail them, just as peacocks do when not raising them aloft. And the wings of Indian Cocks are golden with the dark gleam of an emerald.
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§ 16.3 There is also in India another bird, the size of a starling, and it is of varied colouring, and if taught to utter human speech is more talkative and by nature more intelligent than the parrot. Yet it does not willingly endure to be kept by man, but in its yearning for liberty and its desire for its natural freedom it welcomes starvation in preference to captivity with its luxuries. And the Macedonians who settled in India in the cities founded by Alexander, the son of Philip, in Bucephala. and the surrounding country, in Cyropolis and the rest, call the bird Cercion (mynah). The name has its origin in the fact that it too wags its rump (cercos) as the wagtail does.
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§ 16.4 I have heard that there is also in India a bird called the'Adjutant.' It is three times the size of a bustard, and has a mouth of astonishing size and long legs. It also has an enormous crop resembling a wallet and an extremely harsh cry. While the rest of its plumage is of an ashen colour, the wing-tips are pale.
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§ 16.5 I have heard also that the Indian Hoopoe is twice as big as the bird of our country and more beautiful in appearance. And as Homer says that the bit and trappings of a horse are laid up to be a Greek king's glory, so the Hoopoe is the joy of the Indian King: he carries it on his hand and delights in it, gazing continually in wonder at its splendour and its natural beauty.; Now the Brahmins also relate a legend regarding this bird, and the legend they relate is as follows. A son was born to an Indian king and he had brothers who, when they were grown to manhood, became extremely lawless and violent. And they looked down upon their brother, as being the youngest;, jeered at their father and mother, and showed no respect for their old age. Accordingly the parents refused to live with them,and departed into exile, the aged couple, with their young son. There ensued a laborious journey for them; the parents' strength failed, and they died. The son however did not neglect them but split his head with a sword and buried them in himself. The Brahmins assert that the all-seeing Sun was so filled with admiration for this surpassing act of piety that he transformed the boy into a bird most beautiful to behold and endowed with length of days. And from his crown there sprang up a crest, as it were in commemoration of the events of his exile. The Athenians too tell some such wondrous tale in a myth regarding the Lark, which Aristophanes, the writer of comedies, appears to me to have followed in his Birds when he says'No, for you were unlearned and no busybody and had not thumbed your Aesop, who used to say that the Lark was the first of all birds to be born, before the earth, and that then its father fell sick and died. But there was no earth, and the corpse was laid out for five days, and the Lark in straits and at its wits' end buried its father in its own head.' So it seems that this fable from India, about a different bird indeed, yet spread to the Greeks as well. For the Brahmins maintain that it is long ages since the Indian Hoopoe, while still a human being and a child in years, did this to its parents.
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§ 16.6 In India there is an animal somewhat like the land-crocodile in appearance. It is the size of a Melitean lapdog. The scales that cover it are so rough and of such close texture, that when flayed they perform the functions of a file. They will even cut through bronze and eat their way through iron. They call the creature pangolin.
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§ 16.7 The Sand-partridge occurs in the neighbourhood of Antioch in Pisidia and feeds on stones. It is smaller than the partridge and black in colour, but its beak is red. It is not to be domesticated like the partridge, nor does it grow tame, but continues wild all the time. It is not large, but is pleasanter to eat than the other, and its flesh seems somewhat firmer.
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§ 16.8 The Indian Ocean produces Sea- snakes with broad tails; the lakes also produce Water- snakes of immense size. But apparently these snakes in the Ocean bite with teeth that are saw-like rather than poisonous.
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§ 16.9 In India there are herds of wild horses and wild asses. Now they say that when the asses mount the mares, the latter remain passive and take pleasure in the act and produce Mules of a red colour and extremely swift of foot, but that these Mules are impatient of the yoke and generally skittish. The people are said to catch them; with foot-traps; and then, to take them to the King of the Prasii. If they are caught as two-year-olds they do not refuse to be broken in, but when older they are just as savage as fanged and carnivorous beasts.
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§ 16.10 They say that among the Prasii in India there is a race of Monkeys with human intelligence; in appearance they are as large as Hyrcanian hounds, and they are seen to possess a natural forelock; anyone who did not know the facts would say that these forelocks were artificial. The beard that grows beneath their chin is like that of a satyr, while the tail is as long as a lion's. The whole of their body is white except for the head and the tip if the tail, which are red. They are sober and naturally tame. They live in the forests and feed in wild produce. They visit the suburbs of Latage (this is a city in India ) in great numbers and feed in the boiled rice which the king has served out to them, and this meal is prepared and laid out for them every day. And when they have eaten their fill, it is said that they withdraw again to their haunts in the forest in an orderly fashion without lamaging anything that they come across.
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§ 16.11 In India there is a herbivorous animal and is twice the size of a horse. It has a very bushy tail, pitch-black in colour; the hairs of it are finer than those of man, and Indian women set great store by obtaining them, and in fact they braid them in and adorn themselves most beautifully, plaiting them in with their own hair. Each hair attains a length of two cubits, and there, spring perhaps as many as thirty from one root, like a tassel. Now this is of all animals the most timid, for if it is seen by somebody and realises that it is being looked at, it flees as fast as it can, the pace of its legs only exceeded by its eagerness to escape. It is hunted by horsemen with swift-footed hounds. But if it realises that it is going to be caught, it hides its tail in some thicket, faces about, and stands waiting for its pursuers and plucks up its courage, fancying that, since its tail is not visible, it will no longer seem worth pursuing. For it knows that its beauty resides in its tail. And yet on this point its fancies are idle, for a man shoots it with a poisoned arrow and having killed it will cut off its tail, the reward of the chase. And after flaying the body (for the hide also is serviceable) he leaves the dead carcase, because the Indians have no use for the flesh of these animals.
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§ 16.12 It seems that in the Indian Ocean there are sea-monsters five times the size of the largest, elephant. At any rate a single rib of a Sea-monster measures as much as twenty cubits; it has a jaw of fifteen cubits; the fin beside each of the gills is seven cubits in width. The Trumpet-shells and Purple-shellfish of the Indian Ocean (are large enough) to contain easily six pints; further, the shells of Sea-urchins have the same capacity. As for Fishes, they are gigantic, especially the Basse, the Pelamyd, and the Gilthead. And I have heard that at the season when the rivers descend in violence owing to floods and spill themselves upon the land, the Fish also are emptied over the fields and are borne hither and thither in shallow water. But when the rains which have over-filled the rivers cease, and the streams withdraw again and return to their natural courses, then Fishes of as much as eight cubits long remain in low-lying, marshy, level spots, where what is known as'fallow land' commonly has depressions. And the cultivators catch the Fish which can only swim feebly, since they are not moving in deep water but on the surface, glad to snatch a bare existence from the shallow water.
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§ 16.13 Indian fish have the following peculiarities: The Skate there is as large as an Argolic shield; the Prawns of India are even larger than crayfish. Now these Prawns ascend the river Ganges from the sea and have claws of immense size and rough to the touch, whereas I learn that those that quit the Red Sea for the Indus have smooth spines, and the feelers attached to them are long and curly, but they have no claws.
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§ 16.14 The river-Turtle of India has a shell as large as a full-sized skiff. At any rate each one has a capacity of ten medimni of pulse. There are also land-TOrtoises, and these may be the size of the aigest clods of earth which are turned up in deep ploughing, provided the soil is yielding and the slough goes deep and cuts a furrow without difficulty md brings up the clods. And they say; that these Iortoises shed their covering. Now the ploughmen and all who work in the fields dig them out with mattocks and extract them as we extract caterpillars from plants which are worm-eaten. The flesh of Tortoises is sweet and they are fat and by no means bitter like the Turtles.
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§ 16.15 In our country also there are intelligent animals, but they are few and not so numerous as in India. In that land, for example, are the Elephant, the Parrot, the Sphinx -ape, and the Satyrs,? as they are called. The Indian Ant too, it seems, is a clever creature. True, the Ants of our country excavate their holes and burrow below ground and construct hidden lairs, as it were, by digging in, the earth, and wear themselves out with their mysterious and secret mining operations, so to speak. But the Ants of India construct litxle houses of material brought together, and these are not in low-lying, level country, which is easily flooded, but high up on rising ground. And there with indescribable skill they bore passages and what you might call Egyptian galleries or Cretan labyrinths and make a place for themselves, not straight ahead or easy to penetrate but out of the way past a maze of tunnels; and on the top they leave a single hole through which they themselves enter and bring into their storehouses all the seeds which they select. You see, they construct their caves high up in order to ascape from inundations and floods from rivers, rhe result of this clever move is that they are living as it were in watch-towers or on islands at a time when all the land around their hillocks becomes a lake. Now these mounds, although merely heaped up, are so far from being dissolved and eaten away by an inundation that they are actually strengthened primarily by the morning dew, for they are, so to say, clothed beneath with a fine but strong coating of frost resulting from the dew; then at the base they are bound round with a bark-like coating of weeds from the river mud. Juba long ago wrote about the Ants of India; but this is all I have to say at present.
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§ 16.16 In the country of the Ariani of India there is a Chasm of Pluto, and at the bottom there are certain mysterious galleries, hidden paths, and passages unseen of man, though they are in fact deep and extend a very long way. But how they came to be and how they were dug, neither the Indians can say nor have I been at the pains to discover. Now the Indians bring to the spot over thirty thousand beasts — sheep, goats, cattle, and horses. And everyone who has been scared by some dream or has encountered some omen divine or human, or who has seen some bird in an unfavourable quarter, casts into the Chasm what his personal means can afford by way of ransom for himself, sacrificing the life of an animal for his own life. And the victims are brought there without being hauled with ropes or otherwise compelled, and make the journey of their own free will owing to some mysterious attraction or spell. Then, as they stand on the brink, of their own accord they leap into the Chasm and are no more seen of the human eye once they have fallen into this mysterious and yawning Chasm of earth, while above are heard the lowing of cattle, the baa of sheep, the neighing of horses, and the bleating of goats. And anyone who walks over the surface of the land and comes to the spot and listens will hear the aforesaid animals for a very long while. And the confused sounds never cease, since every day the Indians send in animals for their own redemption. Now whether it is only the recent victims that are audible or some of the earlier ones also, I cannot, say, but audible they are. So much for this singular trait in the animals of that country.
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§ 16.17 It is commonly reported that in the Great Sea, as it is called, there is an island of immense area, and I have heard that its name is Taprobane. And I learn that this island is very long and high: its length is seven thousand stades and its width five thousand; it has no cities, only seven-hundred-and-fifty villages, and the dwellings where the inhabitants lodge are made of wood and even of reeds. Now in this sea Turtles of immense size are hatched, and their shells are made into roofs, for a single shell measures fifteen cubits across, so that quite a number of persons can live underneath; and it keeps out the most fiery sun and affords a welcome shade; moreover it resists a downpour of rain, and, being stronger than any tiles, it shakes off pelting showers, while the inmates beneath listen to it being pounded, as though the water were descending upon a tiled roof. Yet they have no need to exchange old for new as you must with a broken tile, for the Turtle's shell is hard and resembles a rock that ias been hollowed out or the roof of a cavern vaulted by nature.
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§ 16.18 Now this island which they call Taprobane in the Great Sea has groves of palm-trees wonderfully planted in lines, just as in luxurious parks shady trees are planted by those in charge; it has also pasturing grounds for numerous Elephants of the largest size. And these Elephants of the island are more powerful and bigger than those ofthe mainland, and may be judged naturally cleverer in every way. And so the people; build huge ships (for the island of course has dense forests) and transport the Elephants to the mainland opposite, and having crossed, sell them to the King of the Calingae. But owing to the size of the island those who live in the middle of it do not even know the sea but live, as though they were on the mainland and only learn by report of the sea that surrounds and encircles them. Whereas those that live near to the sea are ignorant of the way in which Elephants are hunted and only know of it by hearsay: they devote them: selves to catching fish and sea-monsters, For they assert that the sea which surrounds the circuit its of their island breeds a multitude past numbering' of fishes and monsters, and moreover that they have the heads of lions and leopards and wolves and rams, and, still more wonderful to relate, that there are some which have the forms of satyrs with the faces of women, and these have spines attached in place of hair. They tell of others too which have strange forms whose appearance not even men skilled in painting and in combining bodies of diverse shapes to make one marvel at the sight, could portray with accuracy or represent for all their artistic skill;; for these creatures have immense and coiling tails, while for feet they have claws or fins. Γ learn too that they are amphibious and that at night they graze the fields, for they eat the grass as cattle and rooks do; they enjoy the ripe fruit of the date-palm and therefore shake the trees with their coils, which being supple and capable of embracing, they iling round them. So when the shower of dates has fallen because of this violent shaking, they feed upon it. And then as the night Wanes and before it is clear daylight these creatures plunge into the ocean and disappear as the dawn begins to glow. They say that there are also numerous Whales which lie in wait for the tunnies; they do not however come up on to the land. They also say that there are two kinds of Dolphin, the one savage, sharp-toothed, and absolutely merciless and without pity towards fishermen, the other naturally gentle and tame. At any rate it gambols and swims around, and resembles a fawning puppy, and if you handle it, it will allow you to do so, and if you throw food to it, it will receive it gladly.
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§ 16.19 The Sea-hare (I mean that which is found in the Great Sea; the other kind in the other sea I have mentioned above) resembles the land animal in every respect except in its fur. For the fur of the land-hare seems smooth and is not hard to the touch. Whereas the Sea-hare's fur is prickly and erect, and if one touches it one is stabbed. They say that it swims on the surface ripples of the sea and does not dive into the depths, and that it swims very fast. It is not easily caught alive, the reason being that it never falls into a net, nor yet will it approach the line and bait of a fishing-rod. When however this Hare through sickness and inability to swim is cast up on shore, anyone who touches it with his hand dies if he is not treated. Moreover even if he touches this hare with a stick, he suffers the same fate thereby, just like those who touch a basilisk. But they say that there is a root which grows in the island by the Great Sea and that it is well-known to everybody, and is an antidote to fainting. At any rate if it is applied to the nose of the fainting man it revives him. But if he is not treated, his malady grows worse until the man dies. Such power, you see, has this hare to work destruction.
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§ 16.20 In certain regions of India (I mean in the very heart of the country) they say that there are impassable mountains full of wild life,'and that they contain just as many animals as our own country produces, only wild. For they say that even the sheep there are wild, the dogs too and the goats and the cattle, and that they roam at their own sweet will in freedom and uncontrolled by any herdsman. Indian historians assert that their numbers are past counting, and among the historians we must reckon the Brahmins, for they also agree in telling the same story. And in these same regions there is said to exist a one-horned beast which they call Cartazonus. It is the size of a full-grown horse, has the mane of a horse, reddish hair, and is very swift of foot. Its feet are, like those of the elephant, not articulated and it has the tail of a pig. Between its eyebrows it has a horn growing out; it is not smooth but has spirals of quite natural growth, and is black in colour! This horn is also, said to be exceedingly sharp. And I am told that the creature has the most discordant and powerful voice of all animals. When other animals approach, it does, not object but is gentle; with its own kind however it is inclined to be quarrelsome. And they say that not only do the males instinctively butt and fight one another, but that they display the same temper towards the females, and carry their contentiousness to such a length that it ends only in the death of their defeated rival. The fact is that strength resides in every part of the animal's body, and the power of its horn is invincible. It likes lonely grazing-grounds where it roams in solitude, but at the mating season, when it associates with the female, it becomes gentle and the two even graze side by side. Later when the season has passed and the female is pregnant, the male Cartazonus of India reverts to its savage and solitary state. They say that the foals when quite young are taken to the King of the Prasii and exhibit their strength one against another in the public shows, but nobody remembers a full-grown animal having been captured.
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§ 16.21 When one has passed the mountains that border upon India there will come into view densely wooded glens oh the inner side of the; mountains, and the Indians call the region Colunda. And in these glens, they say, creatures resembling Satyrs roam at large; their whole body is shaggy and they have a Horse's tail at their waist. And if left to themselves and not troubled, they live among the thickets and subsist off the trees, but whenever they hear the sound of huntsmen or the baying of dogs they run up to the mountain ridges with a speed that none can overtake, for they are inured to roaming the mountains. And from there they fight by rolling down rocks upon their assailants, and many are they that are caught and destroyed. These are the reasons why they are hard to capture, so they say that few indeed, and these at long intervals, are despatched to the Prasii, and of these few it was either sick animals or pregnant females that were despatched: the accident of their capture was due in the case of the males to their tardiness, in the case of the females to their being big-bellied.
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§ 16.22 The Sciratae also are a people on the other side of India, and they are snub-nosed, and are permanently so either from having their noses dinted in tender infancy or because they are born like that. And in their country there occur Snakes of enormous size, some of which seize and devour the flocks, while others suck out their blood, just as the goatsuckers do in Greece: the latter I know I have mentioned earlier on at the most appropriate place.
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§ 16.23 Docility, it seems, is another characteristic of the Horse; witness the following account I have heard, that the inhabitants of Sybaris in Italy devoted an excessive amount of thought to delicate living; of other matters and pursuits they knew nothing, but spent their entire time in easy-going sloth and extravagance. To explain in detail all that went on in Sybaris would make a long story now; the following tale however attests their unsurpassed luxuriousness. Their horses had been trained to dance in time to the music of the pipe at their hour for banqueting. Accordingly the inhabitants of Croton knowing this (they were at war with Sybaris ), had their trumpet with its piercing note that summons to arms silenced; they collected pipes and pipe-players, and when they were at close quarters and within a bowshot, the players struck up the dance-music. At the sound the horses of the people of Sybaris, imagining that they were in the midst of a wine-party, shook off their riders and began to leap about and dance. And they not only threw the ranks into confusion but also'danced away' the war.
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§ 16.24 I have spoken earlier on of the horses which are called lycospades, and I will now describe some further characteristics of which I have heard. Their face is compact, short, and snub-nosed. They are said to be fond of the Greek people, to understand them by some mysterious means, and to maintain a natural friendship for them, so that if Greeks approach them, touch them, and pat them with the hollow of their hand, they do not resent it or shy away, but pass their days at their side as though they were tethered, and when the Greeks lie down to sleep they will sleep at their side. If however some foreigner approaches, then, just as hounds on the scent recognise animals by their tracks, so do these mares know the man's origin, and neigh and flee away as though they were afraid of some wild beast. But their delight is in familiar friends who give them fodder and generally tend them, and they are anxious to appear beautiful, especially in the eyes of their drivers. The proof of this is that when they go swimming they advance far into the lake or sea or spring in their eagerness to sleek their faces, so that nothing disfiguring or unlovely from the manger or from their journey may befoul their beauty. Fragrant unguents and the scent of perfumes are as dear to a lycospade horse as they are to a bride. And Homer testifies to the natural love which all horses have for unguents when he says'For so mighty a charioteer and so gentle have they lost, who right often would pour upon their manes smooth oil when he had washed them in clear water.' And Semonides describing how women are born and moulded after animals of all kinds, says that the horse's love of ornament and of perfumes is innate in some women also. These are his words'But another is born of a dainty, long-maned mare: she turns away from servile tasks and drudgery; she will never touch a mill or pick up a sieve or cast muck out of the house, nor, since she would escape the soot, will she sit by the oven. Only by constraint does she take a man to her bosom. And every day she washes off the dirt twice, sometimes thrice, and anoints herself with perfumes. And always she wears her deep tresses combed and shaded with flowers. Such a woman is fair to look upon — for others, but to her husband, a plague, unless he be a despot or sceptred lord who delights his heart with such gauds.'
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§ 16.25 Here, I think, are further characteristics of Horses. In order that their Horses may not panic, the Persians accustom them to noises and the clang of bronze, and sound them so that in war they may never be afraid of the rattle of full armour and the clash of swords upon shields. And they throw dummy corpses stuffed with straw beneath their feet in order that they may get used to trampling on corpses in war and may not through terror at some unnerving occurrence be useless in encountering men-at-arms. Nor did this escape the notice of Homer, as he himself shows. At any rate we learn in pur childhood from the Iliad how the Thracian Rhesus and his companions with him were slain. This is the story we learn. The son of Tydeus slaughters the Thracians, while the son of Laertes draws the slain men away by the, feet for fear lest the Thracian horses, being newcomers, get entangled among the dead bodies and panic, and through being unused to them may leap aside as though they were treading upon some terrifying objects. But once Horses have learnt a thing, they will not forget what they have learnt, so clever are they at learning whatever is of any advantage; I have spoken earlier on of their capacity for affection and how far they will feel it.
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§ 16.26 In frosty regions when the snow falls and the cold is at its worst the Sheep have no gall (they are found to be in this condition When penned up and unable to get fresh fodder), but at the beginning of spring they go out to the pastures and; become filled with gall. And this, they say, is a constant occurrence especially in the Sheep of Scythia.
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§ 16.27 Agatharcides asserts that there is in Libya a certain race of men who are called Psylli. So far as their general way of life is cohcernea they differ not a whit from other men, except that, compared with men of other nations, their bodies have an unusual and marvellous quality: they alone are uninjured by the numerous creatures that bite or strikte. At any rate they do not feel either the bite of a snake or the prick of a spider which is fatal to others, or even the sting planted by a scorpion, and whenever one of these creatures comes near and touches a Psyllian and inhales the odour from him, it is as though it had tasted some drug, that brings on a drowsiness inducing insensibility, for it becomes quite weak and relaxed until the man has passed by. And their manner of proving that their children are either their own or bastards by testing them among reptiles, just as artizans test gold in the fire, I have described earlier on.
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§ 16.28 Callias in the tenth book of his History of Agathocles of Syracuse says that the Cerastes inflicts a terrible bite, for it kills dumb animals and human beings unless a Libyan belonging to the race of Psylli happens to be at hand. At any rate if a Psyllian comes in answer to a summons or is present by chance and sees that the victim is still only in slight pain, by simply spitting on the wound he alleviates the pain and conjures away the poison by his spittle! If however he finds the man in a sore plight and in intolerable suffering, he takes a large mouthful of water behind his teeth, and this same water with which he has rinsed his mouth he pours into a cup and gives to the stricken man to swallow. But if the poison is too strong even for this medicine, the Psyllian lies down naked beside the sick man also naked, and applying to him by friction the innate power of his own skin, renders the man free of the poison. And Nicander of Colophon should be sufficient witness to this when he says'I have heard how the race of Psylli in Libya suffer not at all from the festering wounds inflicted by the creatures that are nurtured by Syrtis, mother of sands, and well-skilled are they to succour others also, when afflicted by their blows; not working with simples, but from their own limbs, skin touching skin,' and so on.
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§ 16.29 Empedocles, the natural philosopher, who of course also speaks about the characteristics of animals, says that there are some creatures of composite nature, differing in, so far as they are two forms combined, but conjoined in a single body. These are his words:'Many creatures are begotten with two faces and two breasts: some born of a cow have the fore-parts of a man; others on the contrary spring up begotten of a matt but with the head of a cow; others again mingle the limbs of a mail with those of a woman, being endowed with parts veiled in shadow.'
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§ 16.30 Callisthenes of Olynthus asserts that in Lycia the Goats are shorn just as sheep are; everywhere else, for they have such wonderfully thick, fine fleeces that qne might say that their hair hung down in curls or ringlets. Moreover those who make tackle for ships use them for weaving ropes.
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§ 16.31 Ctesias in his account of India asserts that the people called Cynamolgi ( dog -milkers) keep a great number of hounds as large as those of Hyrcania, and, in particular, that they are keen dog -breeders. The Cnidian writer gives the reasons as follows. From the summer solstice up to mid-winter herds of cattle come roaming; like a swarm of bees or a wasps' nest that has been disturbed these cattle are past numbering. And they are wild and aggressive and vent their fury with their horns in a terrible fashion. Being unable to check them by any other means the Cynamolgi let loose their hounds, which they always breed for this purpose, upon them, and the hounds overcome and destroy them without any difficulty. Thereupon the men select such portions of the flesh as they consider suitable for eating, the; residue they set aside for the hounds and are glad indeed to give them a share, an offering as it were to benefactors. And during the season when these cattle are no longer on the move the Cynamolgi have the hounds to help them in their pursuit of other beasts. The bitches they milk; hence their name, for they drink hounds' milk just as we drink that of sheep and goats.
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§ 16.32 In his work on agriculture Aeschylides says that in Ceos each of the farmers owns but few sheep, the reason being that the soil of Ceos is exceedingly poor and has no pasture-land. So they throw tree-medick and fig-leaves and the fallen leaves of the olive to the flocks, also the husks of various kinds of pulse, and they even sow thistles among their crops, all of which afford excellent feeding for the sheep. And from them they obtain milk which when curdled produces the finest cheese. And the same writer says that it is called Cythnian and that it is sold at the rate of ninety drachmas a talent. And lambs also are produced that are of remarkable beauty and are sold not at the price of ordinary lambs but for a far more impressive figure.
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§ 16.33 Phoenician histories state that the Cows of that country are so tall that the milkers for all their great height have to stand or else need a stool to enable them to reach the teats. And among the Libyans who; border upon India I learn that there are herds of cattle that graze moving backwards, the reason being that Nature made an initial blunder or failed to pay attention, because their horns grow in front of their eyes and prevent them,from seeing what lies immediately, ahead, and so she obliges them to move backwards, and they lower their heads and crop the grass. Again, Aristotle says that among the Neuri the horns and ears of the cattle spring from the same source and are knit together. And the same writer says that in a certain place in Libya the goats have their teats attached to the chest. Let me add the following statement also from the son of Nicomachus: he says that among the Budini who live on the banks of the Cariscus a white sheep does not occur, they are all black.
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§ 16.34 Nymphodorus says that Sardinia is an excellent mother of flocks. The goats which she nourishes are animals deserving admiration, for the natives clothe themselves in their skins and these afford them protection; and in the winter the skins keep them warm, and in the summer by some mysterious natural property keep them cool. The hair on the hides actually grows to the length of a cubit. And it seems that during frosty weather the wearer must turn the hairs of this garment inwards to the skin, but in summer outwards, if he wants to keep warm during the frost and not to be suffocated in the summer.
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§ 16.35 What? Are we to leave the name of Orthagoras without a mention? He says in his account of India that there is a village which has been given the name of Coytha, and that the herdsmen give dried fish as fodder to the goats of that country when in their pens.
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§ 16.36 I have stated earlier on that the Elephant dreads a pig; I how wish to tell what happened at Megara when the Megarians were besieged by Antigonus, and the story I have to tell is as follows. When the Macedonians were pressing them hard, they smeared some pigs with liquid pitch, set a light to them, and let them loose against tne enemy. Goaded with pain and shrieking because of their burns, the pigs fell upon the troops of Elephants, driving them mad and throwing them into terrible confusion. So the Elephants broke ranks and were no longer tractable in spite of having been trained since they were small, either because Elephants by some instinct hate and loathe pigs, or because they dread the shrill and discordant sound of their voices. In consequence those who train young Elephants, being aware of this, keep pigs along with them, so it is said, in order that through herding together the Elephants may get to fear them less.
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§ 16.37 Among the people called Psylli in India (there are other Psylli in Libya also) the Horses are no bigger than rams, the Sheep look as small as lambs, while the Asses, Mules, Cattle, and domestic animals of every kind are proportionately small. They say that neither the domestic nor the wild Pig exists in India, and the Indians revolt at the idea of eating this animal: they would no more eat pork than they would human flesh.
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§ 16.38 I have heard that in Metropolis near Ephesus there is a lake and hear to it a cavern. Now this cave contains a host of Snakes past numbering, and they say that their size is enormous and their bite terrible. The story goes that they emerge from the cave, crawl out as far as the lake near by, and swim about, but if they try to go further afield than the water they cannot, for while they are about to pass on to the land huge Crabs lie in wait for them, and these raise their claws, seize, throttle, and kill the Snakes. And so through fear of their enemy the Snakes remain where they are, and the land for them is inaccessible, for they dread the vigilance of the Crabs and the punishment which they inflict. And the people round about would long ago have been utterly destroyed, had not the aforesaid Crabs by some mysterious instinct encircled the margin of the lake and by keeping off the Snakes had ensured that all was peace thereabouts.
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§ 16.39 Onesicritus of Astypalaea says that at the time of the expedition of Alexander, the son of Philip, there were in India two Snakes kept by Abisares the Indian, and that one of them measured a hundred and forty cubits, the other eighty. He says also that Alexander had a great desire to see them. Egyptian histories relate that in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus there were brought from Ethiopia to Alexandria two live Snakes and that one of them was fourteen cubits long, the other thirteen; and in the time of Ptolemy Euergetes three were brought, one was nine cubits long, the second seven, and the third snake one cubit less. And the Egyptians assert that they were tended with great care in the temple of Asclepius. And the same people maintain that Asps four cubits in length frequently occur. And so I have mentioned these facts in the course of discussing animal characteristics from a wish to demonstrate the length to which by nature they attain. Now historians of Chios also assert that in that island near the mountain named Pelinnaeus in a wooded glen filled with tall trees there was a snake of gigantic size whose very hiss made the inhabitants of Chios shudder. None of the farmers, none of the herdsmen dared to approach the spot and observe its size, but they were confident simply from its hiss that the beast was a monster to strike one with consternation. Now the discovery how large in fact it was, was due to a miraculous and truly wonderful contrivance. A furious and violent wind assailed the trees in the glen and they were hurled one against the other, and the boughs crashed together with such force that they generated flames, and a huge fire was kindled which embraced the entire region and encircled the monster. It was cut off, and being unable to creep out was burned to death. And so when the place was stripped, all lay bare to view. And the inhabitants of Chios, freed now from their dread, came to see, and discovered the bones to be of gigantic size and the head terrifying. From these they were able to guess how large and how awful the brute was while still alive.
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§ 16.40 There is a snake called the Seps and it has this remarkable quality: it changes the colour of its body so as to match the places through which it passes. The four fangs of its lower jaw are hollow, and membrane-like veils cover them and conceal the hollows. Directly the creature has struck, it projects its poison through these ducts, which at once makes a festering wound and very soon causes death.
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§ 16.41 Megasthenes states that in India there are winged Scorpions of immense size and that they give a sting somewhat like the Scorpions of Europe. He also says that there are Snakes there with wings, Si and that their visitations occur not during the daytime but by night, and that they emit urine which at once produces a festering wound on any body on which it may happen to drop. This is what Megasthenes says. Further, Polycleitus says that in the same country there are lizards of very great ai size and of many colours, and that their skins are wonderfully dappled with bright hues, and that they are extremely soft to the touch. And Aristotle says that there are lizards in Arabia two cubits long.
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§ 16.42 Pammenes in his work Concerning wild animals says that in Egypt there are Scorpions with wings and a double sting (this, he says, is not mere hearsay, but professes that it is his personal observation): there are also two-headed Snakes which have two ti feet in the region of the tail. Further, Ctesias of Cnidus says that in the neighbourhood of Sittace in Persia there is a river called the Argades, and that it contains a great number of Snakes whose bodies are entirely black except for the head, and this is white. There Snakes attain to as much as six feet in length. By day they are not visible, for they swim under water, but at night they kill those who come either to draw water or to wash their clothes. And the victims are numerous, either because they need water when their supply fails, or because they were busy during the day-time and unable to wash their clothes then.
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§ 17.1 BOOK XVII Alexander in his Voyage round the Red Sea says that he has seen Snakes forty cubits long, and a species of Crab whose shell measured one foot across in all directions, with claws attached and projecting to an enormous length. But nobody has designs upon them, the reason being that they are said to be sacred to Poseidon. And they are consecrated to the god, so that, as offerings to him, they are free from harm and immune from attack.
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§ 17.2 Cleitarchus in his work on India says that there are Snakes sixteen cubits long. He also relates that there is another species of Snake different in appearance from the rest, for it is a great deal shorter and its colour looks mottled as though it had been: painted with pigments: some have stripes of bronze; descending from the head to the tail, others look like silver, others again are stained red, and there are even some with a golden sheen. The same writer asserts that they give a terrible bite which kills very speedily.
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§ 17.3 Nymphis in the ninth book of his History of the Ptolemies says that in the country of the Troglodytes there are Vipers of surpassing size if compared with other vipers, for they measure as much as fifteen cubits. Moreover the Tortoises have shells large; enough to contain six Attic medimni.
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§ 17.4 The Prester also is a species of snake and if it bites, to begin with it makes men lethargic and quite incapable of bestirring themselves, and in the next place they gradually weaken and are unable to breathe. Further, the bite induces loss of memory, stops the flow from the bladder, and causes the hair to fall; then there ensues a choking which causes convulsions, and life ends in agonies.
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§ 17.5 Phylarchus in his twelfth book gives the following account of the Asps of Egypt. He says that they are treated with great respect, and as a result of this respect they become extremely gentle and tame. And so, being fed along with the children, they do no harm, but creep out of their lairs when called and come to the spot. And the way to call them is to snap one's fingers. Then the Egyptians give them presents in the way of friendship, for when they have finished their meal they Soak barley in wine and honey and place it on the table off which they happen to have dined. Then they snap their fingers and summon'the guests,' so to call them. And the Asps as at a signal assemble, creeping out from different quarters, and as they encircle the table, while the rest of their coils remain on the floor, they rear their heads up and lick the food; gently and by degrees they take their fill ofthe barley and eat it up. And if some need causes the Egyptians to rise during the night, they again snap their fingers: this is a signal for the Asps to make way for them and to withdraw. So the snakes realise the difference between this sound and the other and the reason for it, and promptly retire and disappear, creeping into their holes and lairs. Accordingly the man who has got out of bed neither treads upon nor encounters any of them.
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§ 17.6 The Crocodile often attains to an immense length. At any, rate they say that in the reign of Psammitichus, King of Egypt, there appeared a Crocodile twenty-five cubits long, and in the reign of Amasis there appeared one of twenty-six Cubits and four palms. And I have heard that in the Gulf of Laconia there are sea-monsters of immense size; that is why according to some grammarians Homer speaks of' Lacedaemon with its sea-monsters', And round about Cythera there are said to be sea-monsters still larger. And it appears that their sinews are useful for the stringing of harps and other instruments, and even for engines of war. And in addition to those that I have mentioned before there occur in the Red Sea Scorpion-fish and Gobies two and even three cubits long. And Amometus says that in Libya there is a certain city where the priests by their powerful spells draw Crocodiles sixteen cubits long from a certain lake. And Theocles in his fourth book says that round about Syrtis there are Sea-monsters larger than a trireme. And Onesicritus and Orthagoras say that round the coast of Gedrosia (this is no inconsiderable part of India ) there are Sea-monsters half a stade in length, and so powerful are they that, when they blow with their nostrils, they often hurl up a wave from the sea to such a height that ignorant and inexperienced people take it for a waterspout.
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§ 17.7 Aristotle says in the eighth book of his History of Animals that Elephants eat nine Macedonian medimni of barley, and in addition six of barley-groats, or even seven if you give it them. And he also says that they drink fourteen Macedonian metretae of water, and again eight more in the afternoon. Elephants, he says, live for two hundred years, and there are some that even attain to three hundred. The Camel greatly dislikes clear, pure water for drinking, and regards muddy, dirty water as the pleasantest. Indeed if it comes to a stream or-a lake, it does not bend down to drink until it has stirred up the slime with its feet and destroyed the beauty of the water. And if it goes unwatered, it can endure for as much as eight days.
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§ 17.8 In his writings about the Red Sea Pythagoras says that there is an animal that lives on the shores and is called Kepos. And it is well-named (kepos, garden), for it is of many colours. When full-grown it is the size of an Eretrian hound. But I wish to return to the subject of its varied colouring and to describe it as he writes. Its head, its back, and its spine down as far as the tail are a pure red, though you may observe a sprinkling of golden hairs. But its face including the cheeks is white, and from there golden stripes descend as far as the neck. The lower portions down to its chest and its forefeet are all white; its two breasts, which would fill your hand, are dark, but its belly is entirely white; its hind feet are black. As to the shape of its face, be sure you will not go wrong if you liken it to that of a baboon.
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§ 17.9 There is a certain creature which they call an Onocentaura and anybody who has seen one would never have doubted that the race of Centaurs once existed, and that artificers did not falsify Nature, but that time produced even these creatures by blending dissimilar bodies into one. But whether, in fact they came into being and visited us at one and the same period, or whether rumour; more ductile than any wax and too credulous, fashioned, them and by some miraculous combination fused the halves of a horse and a man while endowing them with a single soul — let us pass them by. But this creature of which my discourse set out to speak, I have heard described as follows.'Its face is like that of a man and is surrounded by thick hair. Its neck below its face, and its chest are also those of a man, but its teats are swelling and stand out on the breast; its shoulders, arms, and forearms, its hands too... chest down to the waist are also those of a man. But its spine, ribs, belly, and hind legs closely resemble those of an ass; likewise its colour is ashen, although beneath the flanks it inclines to white. The hands of this creature serve a double purpose, for when speed is necessary they run in front of the hind legs, and it can move quite as fast as other quadrupeds. Again, if it needs to pluck something, or to put it down, or to seize and hold it tight, what were feet become hands; it no longer walks but sits down. The creature has a violent temper. At any rate if captured it will not endure servitude and in its yearning for freedom' declines all food and dies of starvation. This also is the account given by Pythagoras and attested by Crates of Pergamum in Mysia.
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§ 17.10 Boeotia is free of Moles, and this animal does not burrow through at Lebadea, and if by some chance Moles are introduced from elsewhere they die. [But in the neighbourhood of Orchomenus they abound.] In Libya there is an absence of wild swine and of stags. In the Euxine there are neither cephalopod mollusca nor testacea, except on rare occasions and in small numbers. And Dinon says that in Ethiopia there occur the one-horned birds, swine with four horns, and sheep destitute of wool but with the hair of camels.
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§ 17.11 Those who are skilled at testing and investigating such matters assert that in Zacynthus people who are bitten by Malmignattes are not only assailed by all the symptoms that assail other victims elsewhere but by even more, for their entire body is infected with a torpor and a kind of trembling and a violent chill, and (there follow) vomitings which produce convulsions, and their member stands up. They have violent earache too, and the sole of either foot is painful. Moreover even those who touch them with their hands exhibit all the symptoms which I have enumerated. But it is startling to learn, and even more amazing to see, how when some persons unbitten tread in the water in which the victims have washed, or simply bathe their feet in it (as of course frequently happens; indeed this has been brought about before now through the evil, designs of enemies), they too suffer all the pains, incurred by the victims of the bite.
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§ 17.12 I learn that there is a species of Toad which it is fatal to drink and dangerous to look at. It is fatal to drink if a man crushes a Toad and then offers the blood to another to drink after he has with malicious intent poured it into wine Or such other beverages as accursed practitioners of these arts deem; suitable for mixing with it. The draught brings not; a lingering but an instant death. To gaze at a Toad, is harmful in this way. If a man sees the beast and then looks intently at it, face to face, while it, following its nature, retaliates with a bold gaze and also breathes forth the breath which though natural to it has an adverse effect on the human skin, it turns the man pale, so that anyone who had not seen him but met him for the first time would say that he had seen a sick man. And the pallor lasts for a few days only and then disappears.
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§ 17.13 The Stone-curlew, it seems, has this gift, which assuredly is by no means to be despised. At any rate if a, man who has become infected with jaundice gazes intently at it and it returns the gaze, without flinching, as though it were moved by jealousy against the man, this retaliatory gaze heals the man of the aforesaid complaint.
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§ 17.14 For my part I do not believe Eudoxus, but if others are persuaded by him, then they may believe Eudoxus when he says that after passing the Pillars of Heracles he saw upon some meres certain birds larger than oxen. That his statement fails to convince me I have already remarked. But what I have heard I do not suppress.
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§ 17.15 Aristotle says that when the female Partridge gets to leeward of the male bird, by some mysterious process of nature she becomes impregnated. This bird builds its nest in seven days, and in seven days lays its eggs, and in the same number of days rears its chicks. Timaeus, Heraclides, and Diocles the physician state that Toads have two livers, and that one of them is deadly, while the other is its natural rival, for it brings health.
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§ 17.16 Theopompus says that at the season of the third ploughing and sowing the Veneti who live on the shores of the Adriatic despatch presents to the Jackdaws, and these presents would be cakes of ground barley with honey and oil well and truly kneaded. The purpose of these presents is to placate the Jackdaws and to declare a truce, so that they shall refrain from digging up and collecting here and there the fruits of Demeter sown in the soil. And Lycus confirms this adding further: the following details... scarlet thongs, and after setting them out they withdraw. And the clouds of Jackdaws remain outside the boundaries, while two or three birds, selected like ambassadors from cities, are sent to take a good look and see how many presents there, are. After their inspection they return and summon the birds, giving the call which is natural for them to utter and for the others to respond to. And the birds come in clouds, and if they eat the aforesaid presents, the Veneti know that there is a truce between them and the aforesaid birds. If however they ignore and scorn them as skimpy and refuse to eat them, the inhabitants are confident that a famine will be the price they have to pay for this rejection. For if the aforesaid birds remain unfed and, so to say, unbribed, they swoop upon the ploughlands and pillage in the most distressing way the greater part of what has been sown, digging up and tracking out the seeds in their anger.
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§ 17.17 Amyntas in the work which he entitles Stages says that in Caspian territory there are numerous herds of cattle and of horses and that they are past counting. And he adds the following statement: at certain changes of the seasons Rats, visit the land in countless hordes; and he adduces as evidence the fact that when the perennial rivers come roaring, down, the Rats have no hesitation in swimming them, and by fixing their teeth in one another's tails, acquire support and make an unbreakable chain for the crossing of the strait. And when they have swum across to the ploughlands they cut the crops at the foot, creep up all over the trees, make a meal off the fruits, and cut through the branches, for they are capable of eating up even these. And so the Caspii to protect themselves against these raids and the ruin caused by the Rats, refrain from killing birds of prey, which in their turn come flying in clouds and snatch up the Rats and by some natural instinct of their own avert famine from the Caspii. The Foxes in Caspian territory are so numerous that they not only constantly visit the sheepfolds in the country but actually come up into the towns, And a Fox will appear in a house not, you may be sure, with any mischievous or thievish intent but as though it were tame. And they fawn and wag their tails (just like) lapdogs in our country. And the Rats, which are a chronic plague to the Caspii, are as large as the ichneumons of Egypt. And they are savage, destructive, and have strong teeth, and are even able to cut and eat through iron. And the Rats of Teredon in Babylonia are just the same, and the traders there bring their skins to the Persians, for they are soft and when sewn together make tunics that keep men warm. And these garments they call candytanes or'clothes-presses according to custom. And here is another amazing phenomenon about these Rats, if a pregnant Rat is caught and the foetus is removed, and after the dissection of the female the foetus in turn is opened, it too is found to contain a young Rat.
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§ 17.18 Here is another characteristic of the Sting-ray which I have learnt. When a man sees it al swimming below the surface, if he; begins to dance in his fishing-boat and utters taunts and jibes, and' moreover, should he chance to be a pipe-player, if he has his pipe as an, attraction and will play a tune; the Sting-ray is delighted (you know it has ears that are sensitive to music, so they say, and eyes that can appreciate dancing) and in answer to the spell floats gently; tb the surface. Meantime the fisherman continues to put forth all his enchantments as described, while some other hand manages, the creel and draws up the fish. And what, is, I think, the most extraordinary feature is that the fish is so beguiled that it is unaware that it has been caught.
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§ 17.19 Eudoxus says that the eastern Galatians act as follows, and if anyone regards his account as credible, he may believe it; if not, let him pay no attention to it. When Locusts invade their country in clouds and damage the crops, they put up certain prayers and offer sacrifices warranted to charm birds. And the birds lend an ear and come in a united host and destroy the Locusts. If however some Galatian should capture one of the birds, his punishment as laid down by the laws of the land is death. But if he is pardoned and let off, this throws the birds into a passion, and to avenge the captured bird they do not deign to respond if they do happen to be invoked again.
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§ 17.20 Aristotle says that a white Swallow occurs in Samos, and that if one puts out its eyes, it immediately becomes blind, but that later on'sight is restored and the eyes are enlightened', and once again it can see, according to his account.
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§ 17.21 I have heard that the Cinnamomus is a bird; also that it fetches twigs of the tree that bears its b name from the ends of the earth and builds nests in places which our historians, Herodotus and others, describe. And these birds seem to like constructing their couches and lodgings, (among sheer crags). Accordingly, those who are anxious to obtain these twigs shoot heavy arrows that go with a tremendous whizz from a bowstring strained to the utmost, at the nests. And the nests are shattered and the twigs come tumbling down, and they are the celebrated Cinnamon.
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§ 17.22 Let us make room for Cleitarchus also. He says that in India there occurs a bird with strongly amorous propensities and that it is called the Orion. Well now, let us depict it as he has described it. This'Orion' is the same size as the birds they call herons and its legs are red like theirs; its eyes are dark (in this respect it is unlike them), and Nature has taught it to make melody sweet as any bridal song with its alluring charms.
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§ 17.23 Cleitarchus says that the Catreus, as it is called, is a native of India, and is a bird of magnificent beauty. It might be about the same size as a peacock; the tips of its feathers are the colour of an emerald, and when it looks in another direction you cannot tell what its eyes are like. If however it looks you in the face, you will pronounce them to be vermilion all except the pupil, and this has a grey hue and a keen glance. And,what is white in the eyes of all other birds is pale brown in the Catreus. And its head feathers are a bluer-grey with saffron-coloured speckles sprinkled here and there! Its legs are an orange colour, and its note is as melodious and clear as the nightingale. Now the use of these birds for food is (prohibited) by the Indians, in order that spectators may feast their eyes upon them. At any rate there are to be seen in India birds entirely scarlet, the colour of the purest flame, and they fly in such multitudes that one would take them for clouds. Others however are mottled and it is not very easy to say what they look like, but for beauty and clarity of tone their singing is unsurpassed; they might be, if the expression is not too strong, Sirens, for these fabled maidens as celebrated by poets and portrayed by artists had wings.
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§ 17.24 The Swan's customary haunts are lakes, marshes, pools, and rivers with a ceaseless, gentle, tranquil flow. They are creatures of peace and attain to an old age that has no burdens for them. Their strength is redoubtable and that gives them confidence, but not to the extent that they are the aggressors in an injury, against an aggressor they will defend themselves; And so they have no difficulty in getting the better of eagles when the latter, venture to attack them. I have described earlier on how they do battle.
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§ 17.25 Cleitarchus says that in India there are Monkeys of a mottled hue and immense size. And in mountainous districts they are so numerous that, says Cleitarchus, Alexander, the son of Philip, and the army under his command also were quite terrified at the sight of their massed numbers, imagining that they saw an army marshalled and waiting in ambush for them. You see, the Monkeys happened to be standing upright when they appeared. These creatures are not to be caught with nets or by means of hounds following a scent, however great their skill in hunting. But this Monkey is ready to dance if it sees a man dancing; it is even willing to play the its pipe if it could learn how to blow. Further, if it catches sight of someone putting on his shoes, it imitates the action; and if a man underlines his eyes with lamp-black, it is anxious to do this too. Accordingly in place of the aforesaid objects men put out hollow, heavy shoes made of lead, to which they attach a noose underneath, so that when the Monkeys slip their feet into them they are caught ho in the snare and cannot escape. And as a bait for their eyes men put out bird-lime in place of lampblack. And an Indian after using a mirror in sight of the Monkeys, displaying not genuine mirrors but ones of a different kind, on to which they lace strong nooses. Such then is the apparatus which they employ. And so the Monkeys come and gaze steadily, imitating what they have seen. And from the reflecting surface opposite their sight there is a surge of strongly gluey substance that gums up their eyelids, when they gaze intently into it. Then being unable to see, they are caught without any difficulty, for they are no longer able to escape. Now touching Monkeys both Indian and non- Indian I have written an account elsewhere, but the foregoing chapter contains facts that must assuredly interest any man of intelligence.
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§ 17.26 I have no doubt that in India the Lions are of the very largest, the reason being that this' country is an excellent mother of other animals. And they are exceedingly wild and savage. The mane of these Lions is black in appearance, and when it bristles and stands upright it inspires such fear as to unnerve' a man. But if onCe they can be captured, they can be tamed, though not the largest of them. And they become gentle and are easily domesticated, so that they can be led by a rein to hunt prickets, deer, swine, bulls, and wild asses, for they are (so I have heard) clever at tracking by scent.
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§ 17.27 It is said that in Libya there used to exist a race of men called the Nomaei. They continued generally prosperous in a territory where the pastures were good and the land unquestionably rich, until finally they were wiped out when a vast horde of Lions of the very largest size and df irresistible boldness attacked them. The whole race to a man was destroyed by the Lions and perished utterly. A visitation by Lions in a masS is something that no creature can Withstand.
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§ 17.28 Euphorion says in his Commentaries that in primaeval times Samos was uninhabited, for there appeared in the island animals of gigantic size, which were savage and dangerous for a man to approach, and they were called Neades. Now these animals with their mere roar split the ground. So there is a proverbial saying current in Samos,'He roars louder than the Neades.' And the same writer asserts that their huge bones are displayed even to this day.
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§ 17.29 When the Indian King goes to battle against in his enemies a hundred thousand Elephants of war form the vanguard. And I learn that another three thousand of the largest and strongest bring up the rear, and these have been trained to overturn the enemies' walls by attacking them when the King gives the order; and they overturn them by the weight of their chest., Such is the account given by Ctesias, who writes that this is hearsay. But the same writer says that in Babylon he has seen date-palms completely uprooted by Elephants in the same way, the animals falling upon them with all their force. This they do if their Indian trainer orders them to do so.
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§ 17.30 Zenothemis says that a lake in Paeonia produces certain Fish, and if these are given, while still gasping, to cattle, the cattle are glad to take their fill of them, as others do of fodder. But if the Fish are dead the cattle refuse to touch them, so he says.
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§ 17.31 I have heard that in Armenia there is a lofty rock which discharges a copious stream of water, And I am told that at the foot of the rock there is a square fountain, each side measuring half a stade, and the depth is three fathoms. I learn further that along with the aforesaid water there descend Fish often a, cubit long and even more, but sometimes less, though not much less. Some of them collapse half dead, Others fall gasping and die a violent death. And report states that they are a deep black-and unsightly to look at. And if man or beast eats of them, death follows immediately. Accordingly the Armenians, since their country is infested with numerous wild animals, collect these Fish and dry them by the heat of the sun; they then inince them, after bandaging nose and mouth in order to prevent themselves from inhaling the odours given off by the Fish in the process of being brayed, and so catching their death. Then after making the Fish into meal they sprinkle it about in the districts that are most infested with wild beasts; they even have a custom of mixing figs with the meal. And this, is the way in which,they destroy wild swine, gazelles, deer, bears, wild asses, and goats, and these too are wild. For these animals eat figs and meal. But they adopt a different device for killing lions, leopards, and wolves, which are carnivorous. They make a slit in the side of a tame sheep or goat deep enough to admit a hand, and sprinkle in some of that selfsame meal, and deadly indeed is the bait which is set before the above-mentioned animals. And so whenever a lion or a leopard or a wolf or other savage beast comes across the body and tastes it, it dies immediately. The whole country of Armenia is in fact the nurse and mother of wild animals, especially the plainlands bordering the river.
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§ 17.32 I have heard that in the land of the Caspii there is a lake of very wide extent, and that in it there occur large fishes which are called Oxyrhynchi. Now the Caspii hunt them and after salting, pickling, and drying them, pack them on to camels and transport them to Ecbatana. And after removing the fat they make meal from these fish; with the oil, which is extremely rich and free from any evil smell, they anoint themselves; but the inwards they extract and boil, and therefrom they make a glue which can be of great service, for it holds all objects together firmly, and sticks to whatever it has been attached to, and is very clear. And it holds all objects which it binds and unites, so tight that even if soaked in water for as much as ten days it will not dissolve or come away. Moreover workers in ivory use it and produce most beautiful pieces.
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§ 17.33 There is a story that among the Caspii there occurs a bird as large as the largest cockerels, of variegated hue, and gay with many colours. And it flies, so I hear, upside down with its legs extended upwards beneath its neck, seeming to sustain itself by these means; and it utters a note like that of a puppy; and it flies not high up in the sky but along the ground, being unable to soar. The following bird also is a Caspian, or rather an Indian, bird, for its generic type is spoken of both in the latter and in the former connection, and it may be the size of a goose. It has a broad but shallow head and long legs; its colour is variegated, for its back is beautified with purple markings while its belly beneath is the colour of the purest and most splendid scarlet, and its head and throat are both white. It makes a sound like a goat.
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§ 17.34 The Goats of the Caspii are a pure white but grow no horns; they are small and snub-nosed. Their Camels are past numbering, and the largest are the size of the largest horses and have beautiful hair. For their hair is so fine that it can compare with Milesian wool for softness. Accordingly their priests and the wealthiest and most powerful of the Caspii clothe themselves in garments made from Camels' hair.
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§ 17.35 Antenor in his History of Crete says that by way of an attack ordained of heaven a swarm of Bees, celebrated as copper-coloured, invaded the city of the people known as Rhaucii and planting their stings in them, inflicted the most grievous pain. So as the people were unable to endure the Bees' attack they quitted their country and went to some other spot where through affection for their'mother-city,' to use the Cretan idiom, they founded a second Rhaucus, since, even though the god drove them from their home, they could not endure to part utterly with the name. And Antenor states that there are still vestiges of this species of Bee on Mount Ida in Crete; they are not numerous, but they do still exist and are painful to encounter as the former were.
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§ 17.36 The Lion delights to eat the flesh of Camels. Herodotus bears witness to this when he says that Lions fell upon the Camels of Xerxes which were carrying his provisions, But they did no damage to any other living beings, neither beast of burden nor man, so he says. But in his examination of the food of Thracian Lions Herodotus shows little knowledge. The Arabians however, and all whose country is at once the mother and the nurse of Lions know these things. At any rate I should not be surprised if it were by some mysterious instinct that the Lion, in spite of having never seen one before, delights to eat the flesh of a Camel, if he chances to come across one. For a natural appetite kindles the desire for a specific food even in those who have never seen it before.
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§ 17.37 Some men, sixteen in all, reaping beneath a blazing sun and oppressed with thirst, despatched one pf their number to fetch water from a spring near by. So the man went off with his reaping sickle in his hand and the pail for drawing water Over his shoulder. On arrival he found an Eagle wrapped in the powerful grip of a snake. The Eagle, happened to have swooped upon it but failed to achieve its design and could not, as in Homer, carry their food to its young ones. Instead of that it fell into the serpent's coils and so far from killing was likely to be killed. So the husbandman knowing that the Eagle was the messenger and minister of Zeus and knowing too that the snake was an evil brute, cut the beast in two with the aforesaid sickle and released the Eagle from that inescapable grip that bound it. And yet all this was performed as a secondary purpose of the man's journey, and after drawing the water he returned, mixed it with the wine, and dispensed it to the company, whereupon they drained their cups at a single draught many times over at their luncheon. The man himself was intending to drink after the others, for he happened at that time to be rather their servant than their fellow at table; But when he raised the cup to his lips, the. Eagle which he had rescued and which, fortunately for him, was still lingering about the spot, to reward him for saving its life swooped upon the cup, dashed it from his hand, and spilt the drink. The man was annoyed, for he was indeed thirsty, and exclaimed'So it is you' (for he recognised the bird),'yet this is how you thank those who saved your life! I ask you, is this fair? And how should a man hereafter want to do a good turn to another from respect for Zeus who marks and watches over kind actions?' Such were his words and he felt parched. But turning round he saw the men who had drunk gasping and at the point of death. It seems, at a guess, that the snake had vomited into the spring and mingled the water with its poison. And so the Eagle repaid its saviour by similarly saving his life. Crates of Pergamum says that Stesichorus also sings of this in a poem which has not, I think, reached a wide public, and he has cited, in my opinion, a weighty witness from ancient times.
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§ 17.38 In the Caspian Sea, they say, there are islands in which there occur birds of different species, but one species has this peculiarity. It is said to be the size of a goose, though its legs resemble those of a crane. Its back is an intense scarlet, while its belly below is green. The neck is white and has saffron-coloured dots as it were sprinkled over it. It measures not less than two cubits; its head is narrow and long, its beak black, and its cry is like a frog's.
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§ 17.39 Megasthenes says that in the country of the Prasii (this is a part of India ) there are Monkeys as large as the largest hounds, and that they have tails five cubits long. They have also forelocks and thick, pendent beards. Their face is completely white, whereas their body is black, and they are tame and very fond of human beings, and they have not the naturally mischievous temperament of Monkeys elsewhere.
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§ 17.40 In India there is a region that lies about the river Astaboras in the country of the Rhizophagi (root-eaters), as they are called. About the time of of the rising of the Dog-star, mosquitoes, which appear in terrifying clouds such as to fill the sky, work widespread damage. It is about the lake called Aoratia (this too is in India, not far from the aforesaid river) that these insects, the Mosquitoes, abound, and the district not only is but is called a desert. And the Indians who live round about give the following reason for it: the aforesaid district was not formerly or originally barren of human beings, but scorpions overran the country in numbers that defied resistance, and in addition there came a crop of certain spiders which they call'four-jawed.' Now they say that these plagues tainted the air. For a time the inhabitants courageously held out against the invading plague and stood their ground energetically, but when resistance became utterly impossible and all their men-folk were destroyed, then at length, being at their wits' end how to defend themselves against the attack of the aforesaid visitants, they abandoned the country, and left their cherished and once most kindly fatherland a desert. Perhaps I shall not be wrong if I say that it was not even their'motherland.'
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§ 17.41 The incursion of an army of Fieldmice, far from beneficial, I can assure you, drove certain people in Italy from their native country, and made them exiles, as a drought or frost or some other unseasonable event might have done, by shearing away the ears of corn and cutting through the roots. And a horde of Sparrows invaded Media and drove out the of inhabitants by ruining and destroying the seeds. And half-formed Frogs fell in quantities from the sky of causing the Autariatae to emigrate to some other place. Further, a tribe in Libya, whom I have mentioned earlier on, were compelled by an invasion of Lions to quit their native country.
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§ 17.42 In Babylonia there occur Ants with the generative part of their body turned in a backward direction, contrary to its position in Ants elsewhere.
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§ 17.43 The Leopard of Caria and Lycia is not fierce-tempered, nor of a kind that can leap high, though its body is long. But when wounded with pikes and spears it offers resistance and does not readily yield to the steel, behaving as Homer describes:'Yet though pierced with a spear she does not cease.'
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§ 17.44 A description of the shape and appearance of the Rhinoceros would be stale three times over, for there are many Greeks and Romans who know it from having seen it. But there is no harm in describing the characteristics of its way of life. It has a horn at the end of its nose, hence its name. The tip of the horn is exceedingly sharp and its strength has been compared to iron. Moreover it whets it on rocks and will then attack an Elephant in close combat, although in other respects it is no match for it because of the Elephant's height and immense strength. And so the Rhinoceros gets under its legs and gashes and rips up its belly from below with its horn, and in a short space the Elephant collapses from loss of blood. Rhinoceros and Elephant fight for possession of a feeding ground, and one may come across many an Elephant that has met its death in the above manner. If however the Rhinoceros is not quick enough to do as described but is crushed is it runs underneath, the Elephant slings its trunk round it, holds it fast, drags it towards itself, falls upon it, and with its tusks hacks it to pieces as with axes. For even though the Rhinoceros has a hide so strong that no arrow can pierce it, yet the might of its assailant is extremely powerful.
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§ 17.45 It seems that those Ethiopian Bulls which they call'flesh-eaters' are the most savage of animals. They are twice the size of Bulls in Greece, and their speed is very great. Their hair is red, their eyes blue-grey, more so than the eyes of lions. In normal times they move their horns as they do their ears, but when fighting they raise them, making them stand strongly up, and so do battle; and once raised in passion owing to some truly wonderful natural cause their horns do not go aslant. No spear, no arrow can wound them: iron, you see, does not penetrate their hide, for the Bull raises its bristles and throws off the weapons showered upon; it in rain. And it attacks herds of horses and also wild animals. Accordingly herdsmen who wish to protect their flocks dig deep concealed ditches and by these means ambush the Bulls. And when they fall into these ditches they are choked with rage. Among the Troglodytes this is judged to be the king of beasts, and rightly so, for it possesses the courage of a lion, the speed of a horse, the strength of a bull, and is stronger than iron.
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§ 17.46 Mnaseas in his work On Europe says that there is a temple to Heracles and to his spouse whom poets celebrate as the daughter of Hera. Now they say that in the precincts of these temples a large number of tame birds are kept, adding that these birds are cockerels and hens. They feed and consort together according to their sex, are fed at the public expense, and are consecrated to the aforesaid gods. The hens feed in the temple of Hebe while their mates feed in the temple of Heracles. And a never-failing channel of clear water flows between them. Now on the one hand not a single hen ever appears in the temple of Heracles. On the other hand at the season of mating the cockerels fly across the channel and after consorting with the hens return again to their own quarters at the side of the god whom they serve, cleansed by the water that separates the sexes. And so to begin with, as a natural result of this union eggs are laid; later on when the hens have warmed them and hatched the chicks, the cockerels carry off the male birds and rear them, while the hens make it their business to rear their daughters.
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§ 17.epilogos EPILOGUE All that my own application, reflection, and labour augment my knowledge, all that the advance of understanding in these studies (as eminent scholars vied with each other in acquainting themselves with these matters) have traced out and discovered — all this I have now set down to the best of my ability. I have not through idleness omitted anything that I have learnt, as though animals, void of reason and of speech, were beneath my notice and to be despised, but here as elsewhere I have been fired by that love of knowledge which in me is inherent and innate; I am well aware that among those who keep a sharp look-out for money, or who are keen in the pursuit of honours and influence and all that brings reputation, there are some who will blame me for devoting my leisure to these studies, when I might have given myself airs and appeared in palaces and attained to considerable wealth. I however occupy myself with foxes and lizards and beetles and snakes and lions, with the habits of the leopard, the affectionate nature of the stork, the melodiousness of the nightingale, the sagacity of the elephant, and the shapes of fishes and the migrations of cranes and the various species of serpents, and so on — everything which in this account of mine has been carefully got together and observed. But it is no pleasure to me to be numbered among your rich men and to be compared with them. But if I exert myself and desire some how to count myself one of that company to which learned poets, and men clever at detecting and probing the secrets of nature, and writers who have attained the greatest experience, claim to belong, it is obvious that my own counsel is better than the judgment of those men. For I would rather attain to expert knowledge in at least one branch than to the belauded riches and possessions of your wealthiest men. So enough of this for the present. I am aware too that some will express disapproval because I have not in my discourse kept each creature separate by itself, and have not said in its own place all that is to be said about each, but have mixed the various kinds like a varied pattern in the course of describing a great number, at one point dropping the narrative about such-and-such animals, at another going back and stringing together other facts about their nature. Now in the first place, speaking for myself, I am no slave to another's judgment and will: I maintain that it is not my duty to follow another's lead wherever it may take me. And in the second place, since I was aiming to attract through the variety of my reading matter, and since I flee from the tedium arising from monotony, I felt that I ought to weave the tissue of this narrative of mine so as to resemble a meadow or a chaplet beautiful with its many colours, the many creatures, as it were, contributing their flowers. And although hunters regard the finding of even one animal as a piece of luck, I maintain that there is nothing splendid in finding the tracks or capturing the bodies of such a multitude of animals, whereas to track down the faculties which nature has seen fit to bestow upon them — that is splendid. What have they to say to this, your Cephaluses and Hippolytuses, and all the others so skilful in the chase upon the wild mountains, or again, among those who were skilled in fishing, Metrodorus of Byzantium, or his son Leonidas, or Demostratus, or any others who were past masters at the catching of fish? And there were many such, god knows! Painters too: the picture of a horse consummately drawn fills them with pride, as it did Aglaophon; or the picture of a fawn, as it did Apelles; or his statue of a calf, as it did Myron; or take any other work of art. But when one man displays and brings forth to the light of day his researches into the habits, the forms, the sagacity, the shrewdness, the justice, the temperance, the bravery, the affection, the filial piety of such a great number of animals, he cannot fail to claim immediate respect. Having reached this point in my discourse I am distressed that while praising the filial piety of unreasoning animals, I have to accuse men of the reverse. I shall not here enlarge on this subject, but this much I have every right to add — indeed I mentioned this point at the beginning of this treatise: it is not fair to censure me for repeating what all, or at any rate most, writers have said already. After all I could not create other animals, though I have given evidence that I have known a great many. Yet I have in fact mentioned certain characteristics which no other writer who has attempted the work on my scale has mentioned. But I prize truth in all spheres, most of all in this, and critics who handle me without malice will realise the quality of my work, the labour it cost, the dignity of its style and composition, and the propriety of the words and phrases employed.

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.