bountifull reward unto him that would kill _Sphinx_, upon which occasion
the Corinthian _Œdipus_ came unto her, being mounted on a swift courser,
and accompanied with some _Thebans_ in the night season, slue her. Other
say that _Œdipus_ by counterfaiting friendshippe, slue her, making shew
to be of her faction; and _Pausanius_ saith, that the former Riddle, was
not a Riddle, but an Oracle of _Apollo_, which _Cadmus_ had received,
whereby his posterity should be inheritors of the _Theban_ kingdome; and
whereas _Œdipus_, being the son of _Laius_, a former king of that
countrey, was taught the Oracle in his sleepe, he recouvered the
kingdome usurped by _Sphinx_ his sister, and, afterwards, unknown,
married his mother Jocasta.
“But the true morall of this poetical fiction is by that learned
_Alciatus_, in one of his emblems, deciphered; that her monstrous treble
formed shape signified her lustfull pleasure under a Virgin’s face, her
cruell pride, under the Lyon’s clawes, her winde-driven leuitye, under
the Eagles, or birdes feathers, and I will conclude with the wordes of
_Suidas_ concerning such monsters, that the _Tritons_, _Sphinges_, and
_Centaures_, are the images of those things, which are not to be founde
within the compasse of the whole world.”
APES.
Sluper, who could soar to the height of delineating a Cyclops, is equal
to the occasion when he has to deal with Apes, and here he gives us an
Ape which, unfortunately, does not seem to have survived to modern
times--namely, one which wove for itself coarse cloth, probably of
rushes; had a cloak of skin, and walked upright, with the aid of a
walking-stick, and was so genteel, that, having no boots, he seems to
have blacked his feet. And thus he sings of it:
“Pres le Peru par effect le voit on,
Dieu a donné au Singe telle forme.
Vestu dejonc, s’appuyant d’un baston,
Estãt debout, chose aux hõmes cõforme.”
[Illustration]
Before quitting the subject of Apes, I cannot refrain from noticing
another of this genus mentioned by Topsell, and that is the
Arctopithecus or Bear Ape:--“There is in America a very deformed beast,
which the inhabitants call _Haut_ or _Hauti_, and the Frenchmen
_Guenon_, as big as a great Affrican Monkey. His belly hangeth very low,
his head and face like unto a childes, and being taken, it will sigh
like a young childe. His skin is of an ashe-colour, and hairie like a
Beare: he hath but three clawes on a foote, as longe as foure fingers,
and like the thornes of Privet, whereby he climbeth up into the highest
trees, and for the most part liveth of the leaves of a certain tree,
beeing of an exceeding heighth, which the _Americans_ call _Amahut_, and
thereof this beast is called _Haut_. Their tayle is about three fingers
long, having very little haire thereon; it hath beene often tried, that
though it suffer any famine, it will not eate the fleshe of a living
man, and one of them was given me by a French-man, which I kept alive
sixe and twenty daies, and at the last it was killed by Dogges, and in
that time when I had set it abroad in the open ayre, I observed that,
_although it often rained, yet was that beast never wet_.[28] When it is
tame, it is very loving to a man, and desirous to climbe uppe to his
shoulders, which those naked _Amerycans_ cannot endure, by reason of the
sharpnesse of his Clawes.”
ANIMAL LORE.
We are indebted to Pliny for much strange animal lore--which, however,
will scarcely bear the fierce light of modern investigation. Thus, he
tells us of places in which certain animals are not to be found, and
narrates some very curious zoological anecdotes thereon. “It is a
remarkable fact, that nature has not only assigned different countries
to different animals, but that even in the same country it has denied
certain species to certain localities. In Italy, the dormouse is found
in one part only, the Messian forest. In Lycia, the gazelle never passes
beyond the mountains which border upon Syria; nor does the wild ass in
that vicinity pass over those which divide Cappadocia from Cilicia. On
the banks of the Hellespont, the stags never pass into a strange
territory, and, about Arginussa, they never go beyond Mount Elaphus;
those upon the mountains, too, have cloven ears. In the island of
Poroselene, the weasels will not so much as cross a certain road. In
Bœotia, the moles, which were introduced at Lebadea, fly from the very
soil of that country, while in the neighbourhood, at Orchomenus, the
very same animals tear up all the fields. We have seen coverlets for
beds made of the skin of these creatures, so that our sense of religion
does not prevent us from employing these ominous animals for the
purposes of luxury.
“When hares have been brought to Ithaca, they die as soon as ever they
touch the shore, and the same is the case with rabbits, on the shores of
the island of Ebusus; while they abound in the vicinity, Spain namely,
and the Balearic isles. In Cyrene, the frogs were formerly dumb, and
this species still exists, although croaking ones were carried over
there from the Continent. At the present day, even, the frogs of the
island of Seriphos are dumb; but when they are carried to other places,
they croak; the same thing is also said to have taken place at
Sicandrus, a lake of Thessaly. In Italy, the bite of a shrew-mouse is
venomous; an animal which is not to be found in any region beyond the
Apennines. In whatever country it exists, it always dies immediately if
it goes across the rut made by a wheel. Upon Olympus, a mountain of
Macedonia, there are no wolves, nor yet in the isle of Crete. In this
island there are neither foxes nor bears, nor, indeed, any kind of
baneful animal, with the exception of the phalangium, a species of
spider. It is a thing still more remarkable, that in this island there
are no stags, except in the district of Cydon; the same is the case with
the wild boar, the woodcock, and the hedgehog.”
He further tells us of animals which will injure strangers only, as also
animals which injure the natives only.
“There are certain animals which are harmless to the natives of the
country, but destroy strangers; such as the little serpents at
Tirynthus, which are said to spring out of the earth. In Syria, also,
and especially on the banks of the Euphrates, the serpents never attack
the Syrians when they are asleep, and even if they happen to bite a
native who treads upon them, their venom is not felt; but to persons of
any other country they are extremely hostile, and fiercely attack them,
causing a death attended with great torture. On this account the Syrians
never kill them. On the contrary, on Latmos, a mountain of Caria, as
Aristotle tells us, strangers are not injured by the scorpions, while
the natives are killed by them.”
He also throws some curious light, unknown to modern zoologists, on the
antipathies of animals one to another. He says:--“There will be no
difficulty in perceiving that animals are possessed of other instincts
besides those previously mentioned. In fact, there are certain
antipathies, and sympathies among them, which give rise to various
affections, besides those which we have mentioned in relation to each
species, in its appropriate place. The Swan and the Eagle are always at
variance, and the Raven and the Chloreus seek each other’s eggs by
night. In a similar manner, also, the Raven and the Kite are perpetually
at war with one another, the one carrying off the other’s food. So,
too, there are antipathies between the Crow and the Owl, the Eagle and
the Trochilus; between the last two, if we are to believe the story,
because the latter has received the title of ‘the king of birds;’ the
same, again, with the Owlet and all the smaller birds.
“Again, in relation to the terrestrial animals, the Weasel is at enmity
with the Crow, the Turtle-dove with the Pyrallis, the Ichneumon with the
Wasp, and the Phalangium with other Spiders. Among aquatic animals,
there is enmity between the Duck and the Seamew, the Falcon known as the
‘Harpe,’ and the Hawk called the ‘Triorchis.’ In a similar manner, too,
the Shrew-mouse and the Heron are ever on the watch for each other’s
young; and the Ægithus, so small a bird as it is, has an antipathy for
the Ass; for the latter, when scratching itself, rubs its body against
the brambles, and so crushes the bird’s nest; a thing of which it stands
in such dread, that, if it only hears the voice of the Ass when it
brays, it will throw its eggs out of the nest, and the young ones,
themselves, will, sometimes, fall to the ground in their fright; hence
it is that it will fly at the Ass, and peck at its sores with its beak.
“The Fox, too, is at war with the Nisus, and Serpents with Weasels and
Swine. Æsalon is the name given to a small bird that breaks the eggs of
the Raven, and the young of which are anxiously sought by the Fox;
while, in its turn, it will peck at the young of the Fox, and even the
parent itself. As soon as the Ravens espy this, they come to its
assistance, as though against a common enemy. The Acanthis, too, lives
among the brambles; hence it is that it also has an antipathy to the
Ass, because it devours the bramble blossoms. The Ægithus and the
Anthus, too, are at such mortal enmity with each other, that it is the
common belief that their blood will not mingle; and it is for this
reason that they have the bad repute of being employed in many magical
incantations. The Thos and the Lion are at war with each other; and,
indeed, the smallest objects and the greatest, just as much.
Caterpillars will avoid a tree that is infested with Ants. The Spider,
poised in its web, will throw itself on the head of a Serpent, as it
lies stretched beneath the shade of the tree where it has built, and,
with its bite, pierce its brain; such is the shock, that the creature
will hiss from time to time, and then, seized with vertigo, coil round
and round, while it finds itself unable to take to flight, or so much as
to break the web of the spider, as it hangs suspended above; this scene
only ends with its death.”
THE MANTICORA.
Of curious animals, other than Apes, depicted as having some approach to
the human countenance, perhaps the most curious is the Manticora. It is
not a _parvenu_; it is of ancient date, for Aristotle mentions it.
Speaking of the dentition of animals, he says:--“None of these genera
have a double row of teeth. But, if we may believe Ctesias, there are
some which have this peculiarity, for he mentions an Indian animal
called Martichora, which had three rows of teeth in each jaw; it is as
large and rough as a lion, and has similar feet, but its ears and face
are like those of a man; its eye is grey, and its body red; it has a
tail like a land Scorpion, in which there is a sting; it darts forth the
spines with which it is covered, instead of hair, and it utters a noise
resembling the united sound of a pipe and a trumpet; it is not less
swift of foot than a stag, and is wild, and devours men.”
Pliny also quotes Ctesias, but he slightly diverges, for he says it has
azure eyes, and is of the colour of blood; he also affirms it can
imitate the human speech. _Par parenthèse_ he mentions, in conjunction
with the Manticora, another animal similarly gifted:--“By the union of
the hyæna with the Æthiopian lioness, the Corocotta is produced, which
has the same faculty of imitating the voices of men and cattle. Its gaze
is always fixed and immoveable; it has no gums in either of its jaws,
and the teeth are one continuous piece of bone; they are enclosed in a
sort of box, as it were, that they may not be blunted by rubbing against
each other.”
_Mais, revenons à nos moutons_, or rather Mantichora. Topsell, in making
mention of this beast, recapitulates all that Ctesias has said on the
subject, and adds:--“And I take it to be the same Beast which _Avicen_
calleth _Marion_, and _Maricomorion_, with her taile she woundeth her
Hunters, whether they come before her or behinde her, and, presently,
when the quils are cast forth, new ones grow up in their roome,
wherewithal she overcometh all the hunters; and, although India be full
of divers ravening beastes, yet none of them are stiled with a title of
_Andropophagi_, that is to say, Men-eaters; except onely this
_Mantichora_. When the Indians take a Whelp of this beast, they fall to
and bruise the buttockes and taile thereof, so that it may never be fit
to bring (_forth_) sharp quils, afterwards it is tamed without peril.
This, also, is the same beast which is called _Leucrocuta_, about the
bignesse of a wilde Asse, being in legs and hoofes like a Hart, having
his mouth reaching on both sides to his eares, and the head and face
of a female like unto a Badgers. It is also called _Martiora_, which in
the Parsian tongue, signifieth a devourer of men.”
[Illustration]
Du Bartas, in “His First Week, or the Birth of the World,” mentions our
friend as being created:--
“Then th’ _Vnicorn_, th’ _Hyæna_ tearing tombs,
Swift _Mantichor’_, and _Nubian Cephus_ comes;
Of which last three, each hath, (as heer they stand)
Man’s voice, Man’s visage, Man like foot and hand.”
It is mentioned by other writers--but I have a theory of my own about
it, and that is, that it is only an idealised laughing hyæna.
THE LAMIA.
The Lamiæ are mythological--and were monsters of Africa, with the face
and breast of a woman, the rest of the body like that of a serpent; they
allured strangers, that they might devour them; and though not endowed
with the faculty of speech, their hissings were pleasing. Some believed
them to be evil spirits, who, in the form of beautiful women, enticed
young children, and devoured them; according to some, the fable of the
Lamiæ is derived from the amours of Jupiter with a beautiful woman,
Lamia, whom Juno rendered deformed, and whose children she destroyed;
Lamia became insane, and so desperate, that she ate up all the children
which came in her way.
Topsell, before entering upon the natural history of the Lamia, as an
animal, tells the following story of it as a mythological being:--“It is
reported of _Menippus_ the Lycian, that he fell in love with a strange
woman, who at that time seemed both beautifull, tender, and rich, but,
in truth, there was no such thing, and all was but a fantastical
ostentation; she was said to insinuate her selfe, into his familiaritie
after this manner: as he went upon a day alone from _Corinth_ to
_Senchræa_, hee met with a certaine phantasme, or spectre like a
beautifull woman, who tooke him by the hand, and told him she was a
_Phœnician_ woman, and of long time had loved him dearely, having sought
many occasions to manifest the same, but could never finde opportunitie
untill that day, wherefore she entreated him to take knowledge of her
house, which was in the Suburbes of _Corinth_, therewithall pointing
unto it with her finger, and so desired his presence. The young man
seeing himselfe thus wooed by a beautiful woman, was easily overcome by
her allurements, and did oftimes frequent her company.
“There was a certaine wise man, and a Philosopher, which espied the
same, and spake unto _Menippus_ in this manner, ‘O formose, et a
formorsis, expetitie mulieribus, ophin thalpies, cai se ophis,’ that is
to say, ‘O fair _Menippus_, beloved of beautiful women, art thou a
serpent, and dost nourish a serpent?’ by which words he gave him his
first admonition, or incling of a mischiefe; but not prevayling,
_Menippus_ proposed to marry with this spectre, her house to the outward
shew, being richly furnished with all manner of houshold goods; then
said the wise man againe unto _Menippus_, ‘This gold, silver, and
ornaments of house, are like to _Tantalus_ Apples, who are said by
_Homer_ to make a faire shew, but to containe in them no substance at
all; even so, whatsoever you conceave of this riches, there is no matter
or substance in the things which you see, for they are onely inchaunted
images, and shadowes, which that you may beleeve, this your neate bride
is one of the _Empusæ_, called _Lamia_, or _Mormolicæ_, wonderfull
desirous of commerce with men, and loving their flesh above measure; but
those whom they doe entice, afterwards they devoure without love or
pittie, feeding upon their flesh.’ At which words the wise man caused
the gold and silver plate, and household stuffe, cookes, and servants to
vanish all away. Then did the spectre like unto one that wept, entreate
the wise man that he would not torment her, nor yet cause her to
confesse what manner of person she was; but he on the other side being
inexorable, compelled her to declare the whole truth, which was, that
she was a Phairy, and that she purposed to use the companie of
_Menippus_, and feede him fat with all manner of pleasures, to the
extent that, afterward, she might eate up and devour his body, for all
their kinde love was only to feed upon beautiful yong men....
“To leave therefore these fables, and come to the true description of
the _Lamia_, we have in hand. In the foure and thirty chapter of Esay,
we do find this called a beast _Lilith_ in the Hæbrew, and translated by
the auncients _Lamia_, which is threatened to possesse _Babell_.
Likewise in the fourth chapter of the Lamentations, where it is said in
our English translation, that the Dragons lay forth their brests, in
Hæbrew they are called _Ehannum_, which, by the confession of the best
interpreters, cannot signifie Dragons, but rather Sea calves, being a
generall word for strange wilde beasts. How be it the matter being wel
examined, it shall appeare that it must needes be this Lamia, because of
her great breastes, which are not competible either to the Dragon, or
Sea calves; so then, we wil take it for graunted, by the testimony of
holy Scripture, that there is such a beast as this _Cristostinius_.
_Dion_ also writeth that there are such beasts in some parts of _Libia_,
having a Woman’s face, and very beautifull, also very large and comely
shapes on their breasts, such as cannot be counterfeited by the art of
any painter, having a very excellent colour in their fore parts, without
wings, and no other voice but hissing like Dragons: they are the
swiftest of foote of all earthly beasts, so as none can escape them by
running, for, by their celerity, they compasse their prey of beastes,
and by their fraud they overthrow men. For when they see a man, they lay
open their breastes, and by the beauty thereof, entice them to come
neare to conference, and so, having them within their compasse, they
devoure and kill them.
[Illustration]
“Unto the same things subscribe _Cælius_ and _Giraldus_, adding also,
that there is a certaine crooked place in _Libia_ neare the Sea-shore,
full of sand like to a sandy Sea, and all the neighbor places thereunto
are deserts. If it fortune at any time, that through shipwrack, men come
there on shore, these beasts watch uppon them, devouring them all, which
either endevour to travell on the land, or else to returne backe againe
to Sea, adding also, that when they see a man they stand stone still,
and stir not til he come unto them, looking down upon their breasts or
to the ground, whereupon some have thought, that seeing them, at their
first sight have such a desire to come neare them, that they are drawne
into their compasse, by a certaine naturall magicall witchcraft.... The
hinderparts of the beast are like unto a Goate, his fore legs like a
Beares, his upper parts to a woman, the body scaled all over like a
Dragon, as some have affirmed by the observation of their bodies, when
_Probus_, the Emperor, brought them forth unto publike spectacle; also
it is reported of them, that they devoure their own young ones, and
therefore they derive their name _Lamia_, of _Lamiando_; and thus much
for this beast.”
THE CENTAUR.
This extraordinary combination of man and animal is very ancient--and
the first I can find is Assyrian. Mr. W. St. Chad Boscawen, in one of
his British Museum Lectures (afterwards published under the title of
_From under the Dust of Ages_), speaking of the seasons and the zodiacal
signs, in his lecture on _The Legend of Gizdhubar_, says:--“Gizdhubar
has a dream that the stars of heaven are falling upon him, and, like
Nebuchadnezzar, he can find no one to explain the hidden meaning to
him. He is, however, told by his huntsman, Zaidu, of a very wise
creature who dwells in the marshes, three days’ journey from Erech....
The strange being, whom this companion of the hero is despatched to
bring to the Court, is one of the most interesting in the Epic. He is
called Hea-bani--‘he whom Hea has made.’ This mysterious creature is
represented on the gems, as half a man, and half a bull. He has the
body, face, and arms of a man, and the horns, legs, hoofs, and tail of a
bull. Though in form rather resembling the satyrs, and in fondness for,
and in association with the cattle, the rustic deity Pan, yet in his
companionship with Gizdhubar, and his strange death, he approaches
nearer the Centaur Chiron, who was the companion of Heracles.
“By his name he was the son of Hea, whom Berosus identifies as Cronos,
as Chiron was the son of Cronos. Like Chiron, he was celebrated for his
wisdom, and acted as the counsellor of the hero, interpreting his
dreams, and enabling him to overcome the enemies who attacked him.
Chiron met his death at the hand of Heracles, one of whose poisoned
arrows struck him, and, though immortal, he would not live any longer,
and gave his immortality to Prometheus.... Zeus made Chiron among the
stars a Sagittarius. Here again we have a striking echo of the Chaldæan
legend, in the Erech story. According to the arrangement of tablets, the
death of Hea-bani takes place under the sign of Sagittarius, and is the
result of some fatal accident during the combat between Gizdhubar and
Khumbaba. Like the Centaurs, before his call to the Court of Gizdhubar,
Hea-bani led a wild and savage life. It is said on the tablets ‘that he
consorted with the wild beasts. With the gazelles he took his food by
night, and consorted with the cattle by day, and rejoiced his heart
with the creeping things of the waters.’
“Hea-Bani was true and loyal to Gizdhubar, and when Istar (the Assyrian
Venus), foiled in her love for Gizdhubar, flew to heaven to see her
father Anu (the Chaldæan Zeus), and to seek redress for the slight put
upon her, the latter created a winged bull, called ‘The Bull of Heaven,’
which was sent to earth. Hea-Bani, however, helps his lord, the bull is
slain, and the two companions enter Erech in triumph. Hea-Bani met with
his death when Gizdhubar fought Khumbaba, and ‘Gizdhubar for Hea-Bani
his friend wept bitterly and lay on the ground.’”
[Illustration]
Thus, centuries before the Romans had emerged from barbarism, we have
the prototype of the classical Centaur, the man-horse. The fabled
Centaurs were a people of Thessaly--half-men, half-horses--and their
existence is very cloudy. Still, they were often depicted, and the two
examples of a male and female Centaur, from a fresco at Pompeii, are
charmingly drawn. It will be seen that both are attended by Bacchantes
bearing thyrses--a delicate allusion to their love of wine; for it was
owing to this weakness that their famous battle with the Lapithæ took
place. The Centaurs were invited to the marriage of Hippodamia with
Pirithous, and, after the manner of cow-boys “up town,” they got
intoxicated, were very rude, and even offered violence to the women
present. That, the good knights, Sir Hercules and Sir Theseus, could not
stand, and with the Lapithæ, gave the Centaurs a thrashing, and made
them retire to Arcadia. They had a second fight over the matter of wine,
for the Centaur Pholus gave Hercules to drink of wine meant for him, but
in the keeping of the Centaurs, and these ill-conditioned animals
resented it, and attacked Hercules with fury. They were fearfully
punished, and but few survived.
[Illustration]
Pliny pooh-poohs the mythical origin of the Centaurs, and says they were
Thessalians, who dwelt along Mount Pelion, and were the first to fight
on horseback. Aldrovandus writes that, according to Licosthenes, there
were formerly found, in the regions of the Great Tamberlane, Centaurs of
such a form as its upper part was that of a man, with two arms
resembling those of a toad, and he gives a drawing from that author,
so that the reader might diligently meditate whether such an animal was
possible in a natural state of things; but the artist seems to have
forgotten the fore-legs.
[Illustration]