Supposed halfe a man, and halfe an Asse,
That never shuts his eyes in quiet rest,
Till he his foes deare life hath round encompast.
Such were the Centaures in their tyrannie,
That liv’d by Humane flesh and villanie.”
--CHESTER.
THE GORGON.
In the title-page of one edition of “The Historie of Foure-footed
Beastes” (1607) Topsell gives this picture of the Gorgon; and he says,
respecting this curious animal, the following:--“Among the manifold and
divers sorts of Beasts which are bred in Affricke, it is thought that
the _Gorgon_ is brought foorth in that countrey. It is a feareful and
terrible beast to behold: it hath high and thicke eie-lids, eies not
very great, but much like an Oxes or Bugils, but all fiery bloudy, which
neyther looke directly forwarde, nor yet upwards, but continuallye downe
to the earth, and therefore are called in Greeke _Catobleponta_. From
the crowne of their head downe to their nose, they have a long hanging
mane, which makes them to look fearefully. It eateth deadly and
poysonfull hearbs, and if at any time he see a Bull, or other creature
whereof he is afraid, he presently causeth his mane to stand upright,
and, being so lifted up, opening his lips, and gaping wide, sendeth
forth of his throat a certaine sharpe and horrible breath, which
infecteth, and poysoneth the air above his head, so that all living
creatures which draw the breath of that aire are greevously afflicted
thereby, loosing both voyce and sight, they fall into leathall and
deadly convulsions. It is bred in _Hesperia_ and _Lybia_.
[Illustration]
“The Poets have a fiction that the _Gorgones_ were the Daughters of
_Medusa_ and _Phorcynis_, and are called _Steingo_, and by _Hesiodus_,
_Stheno_, and _Eyryale_ inhabiting the _Gorgadion_ Ilands in the
_Æthiopick Ocean_, over against the gardens of _Hesperia_. _Medusa_ is
said to have the haires of his head to be living Serpentes, against whom
_Perseus_ fought, and cut off his hed, for which cause he was placed in
heaven on the North side of the _Zodiacke_ above the Waggon, and on the
left hand holding the _Gorgons_ head. The truth is that there were
certaine _Amazonian_ women in _Affricke_ divers from the _Scythians_,
against whom _Perseus_ made warre, and the captaine of those women was
called _Medusa_, whom _Perseus_ overthrew, and cut off her head, and
from thence came the Poet’s fiction describing Snakes growing out of it
as is aforesaid. These _Gorgons_ are bred in that countrey, and have
such haire about their heads, as not onely exceedeth all other beastes,
but also poysoneth, when he standeth upright. Pliny calleth this beast
_Catablepon_,[29] because it continually looketh downwards, and saith
all the parts of it are but smal excepting the head, which is very
heavy, and exceedeth the proportion of his body, which is never lifted
up, but all living creatures die that see his eies.
“By which there ariseth a question whether the poison which he sendeth
foorth, proceede from his breath, or from his eyes. Whereupon it is more
probable, that like the Cockatrice, he killeth by seeing, than by the
breath of his mouth, which is not competible to any other beasts in the
world. Besides, when the Souldiers of _Marius_ followed _Iugurtha_,
they saw one of these _Gorgons_, and, supposing it was some sheepe,
bending the head continually to the earth, and moving slowly, they set
upon him with their swords, whereat the Beast, disdaining, suddenly
discovered his eies, setting his haire upright, at the sight whereof the
Souldiers fel downe dead.
“_Marius_, hearing thereof, sent other souldiers to kill the beaste, but
they likewise died, as the former. At last the inhabitantes of the
countrey, tolde the Captaine the poyson of this beast’s nature, and that
if he were not killed upon a Sodayne, with onely the sight of his eies
he sent death into his hunters: then did the Captaine lay an ambush of
souldiers for him, who slew him sodainely with their speares, and
brought him to the Emperour, whereupon _Marius_ sent his skinne to Rome,
which was hung up in the Temple of _Hercules_, wherein the people were
feasted after the triumphes; by which it is apparent that they kill with
their eies, and not with their breath....
“But to omit these fables, it is certaine that sharp poisoned sightes
are called _Gorgon Blepen_, and therefore we will followe the Authoritie
of _Pliny_ and _Athenæus_. It is a beast set all over with scales like a
Dragon, having no haire except on his head, great teeth like Swine,
having wings to flie, and hands to handle, in stature betwixt a Bull and
a Calfe.
“There be Ilandes called _Gorgonies_, wherein these monster-_Gorgons_
were bredde, and unto the daies of _Pliny_, the people of that countrey
retained some part of their prodigious nature. It is reported by
_Xenophon_, that _Hanno_, King of _Carthage_, ranged with his armie in
that region, and founde there, certaine women of incredible swiftenesse
and perniscitie of foote. Whereof he tooke two onely of all that
appeared in sight, which had such roughe and sharp bodies, as never
before were seene. Wherefore, when they were dead, he hung up their
skinnes in the Temple of _Juno_, for a monument of their straunge
natures, which remained there untill the destruction of _Carthage_. By
the consideration of this beast, there appeareth one manifest argument
of the Creator’s devine wisdome and providence, who hath turned the eies
of this beaste downeward to the earth, as it were thereby burying his
poyson from the hurt of man; and shaddowing them with rough, long and
strong haire, that their poysoned beames should not reflect upwards,
untill the beast were provoked by feare or danger, the heavines of his
head being like a clogge to restraine the liberty of his poysonfull
nature, but what other partes, vertues or vices, are contained in the
compasse of this monster, God onely knoweth, who, peradventure, hath
permitted it to live uppon the face of the earth, for no other cause but
to be a punishment and scourge unto mankind; and an evident example of
his owne wrathfull power to everlasting destruction. And this much may
serve for a description of this beast, untill by God’s providence, more
can be known thereof.”
THE UNICORN.
What a curious belief was that of the Unicorn! Yet what mythical animal
is more familiar to Englishmen? In its present form it was not known to
the ancients, not even to Pliny, whose idea of the Monoceros or Unicorn
is peculiar. He describes this animal as having “the head of a stag, the
feet of an elephant, the tail of the boar, while the rest of the body
is like that of the horse: it makes a deep lowing noise, and has a
single black horn, which projects from the middle of its forehead, two
cubits in length. This animal, it is said, cannot be taken alive.”
Until James VI. of Scotland ascended the English throne as James I., the
Unicorn, as it is now heraldically portrayed (which was a supporter to
the arms of James IV.) was almost unknown--vide _Tempest_, iii. 3. 20:--
“_Alonzo._ Give us kind keepers, heavens: what were these?
_Sebastian._ A living drollery. Now I will believe that there are
unicorns.”
Spenser, who died before the accession of James I., and therefore did
not write about the supporters of the Royal Arms, alludes (in his
_Faerie Queene_) to the antagonism between the Lion and the Unicorne.
“Likë as the lyon, whose imperial poure
A proud rebellious unicorn defyes,
T’avoide the rash assault, and wrathful stoure
Of his fiers foe, him to a tree applyes,
And when him rouning in full course he spyes,
He slips aside: the whiles that furious beast,
His precious horne, sought of his enimyes,
Strikes in the stroke, ne thence can be released,
But to the victor yields a bounteous feast.”
Pliny makes no mention of the Unicorn as we have it heraldically
represented, but speaks of the Indian Ass, which, he says, is only a
one-horned animal. Other old naturalists, with the exception of Ælian,
do not mention it as our Unicorn--and his description of it hardly
coincides. He says that the Brahmins tell of the wonderful beasts in the
inaccessible regions of the interior of India, among them being the
Unicorn, “which they call _Cartazonon_, and say that it reaches the
size of a horse of mature age, possesses a mane and reddish-yellow hair,
and that it excels in swiftness through the excellence of its feet and
of its whole body. Like the elephant it has inarticulate feet, and it
has a boar’s tail; one black horn projects between the eyebrows, not
awkwardly, but with a certain natural twist, and terminating in a sharp
point.”
[Illustration]
Guillim, who wrote on heraldry in 1610, gives, in his Illustrations,
indifferently the tail of this animal, as horse or ass; and, as might be
expected from one of his craft, magnifies the Unicorn exceedingly:--“The
Unicorn hath his Name of his one Horn on his Forehead. There is another
Beast of a huge Strength and Greatness, which hath but one Horn, but
that is growing on his Snout, whence he is called _Rinoceros_, and both
are named _Monoceros_, or _One horned_. It hath been much questioned
among Naturalists, which it is that is properly called the Unicorn: And
some hath made Doubt whether there be any such Beast as this, or no.
But the great esteem of his Horn (in many places to be seen) may take
away that needless scruple....
“Touching the invincible Nature of this Beast, _Job_ saith, ‘_Wilt thou
trust him because his Strength is great, and cast thy Labour unto him?
Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it
into thy Barn?_’ And his Vertue is no less famous than his Strength, in
that his Horn is supposed to be the most powerful Antidote against
Poison: Insomuch as the general Conceit is, that the wild Beasts of the
Wilderness use not to drink of the Pools, for fear of the venemous
Serpents there breeding, before the Unicorn hath stirred it with his
Horn. Howsoever it be, this Charge may very well be a Representation
both of Strength or Courage, and also of vertuous Dispositions and
Ability to do Good; for to have Strength of Body, without the Gifts and
good Qualities of the Mind, is but the Property of an Ox, but where both
concur, that may truly be called Manliness. And that these two should
consort together, the Ancients did signify, when they made this one
Word, _Virtus_, to imply both the Strength of Body, and Vertue of the
Mind....
“It seemeth, by a Question moved by _Farnesius_, That the Unicorn is
never taken alive; and the Reason being demanded, it is answered ‘That
the greatness of his Mind is such, that he chuseth rather to die than to
be taken alive: Wherein (saith he) the Unicorn and the valiant-minded
Souldier are alike, which both contemn Death, and rather than they will
be compelled to undergo any base Servitude or Bondage, they will lose
their Lives.’...
“The Unicorn is an untameable Beast by Nature, as may be gathered from
the Words of _Job, chap. 39_, ‘_Will the Unicorn serve thee, or will he
tarry by thy Crib? Can’st thou bind the Unicorn with his Band to labour
in the Furrow, or will he plough the Valleys after thee?’_”
Topsell dilates at great length on the Unicorn. He agrees with Spenser
and Guillim, and says:--“These Beasts are very swift, and their legges
have no Articles (_joints_). They keep for the most part in the desarts,
and live solitary in the tops of the Mountaines. There was nothing more
horrible than the voice or braying of it, for the voice is strain’d
above measure. It fighteth both with the mouth and with the heeles, with
the mouth biting like a Lyon, and with the heeles kicking like a
Horse.... He feereth not Iron nor any yron Instrument (as _Isodorus_
writeth) and that which is most strange of all other, it fighteth with
his owne kind, yea even with the females unto death, except when it
burneth in lust for procreation: but unto straunger Beasts, with whome
he hath no affinity in nature, he is more sotiable and familiar,
delighting in their company when they come willing unto him, never
rising against them; but, proud of their dependence and retinue, keepeth
with them all quarters of league and truce; but with his female, when
once his flesh is tickled with lust, he groweth tame, gregall, and
loving, and so continueth till she is filled and great with young, and
then returneth to his former hostility.”
There was a curious legend of the Unicorn, that it would, by its keen
scent, find out a maiden, and run to her, laying its head in her lap.
This is often used as an emblem of the Virgin Mary, to denote her
purity. The following is from the Bestiary of Philip de Thaun, and, as
its old French is easily read, I have not translated it:--
“Monoceros est Beste, un corne ad en la teste,
Purceo ad si a nun, de buc ad façun;
Par Pucele est prise; or vez en quel guize.
Quant hom le volt cacer et prendre et enginner,
Si vent hom al forest ù sis riparis est;
Là met une Pucele hors de sein sa mamele,
Et par odurement Monosceros la sent;
Dunc vent à la Pucele, et si baiset la mamele,
En sein devant se dort, issi veut à sa mort;
Li hom suivent atant ki l’ocit en dormant
U trestont vif le prent, si fais puis sun talent.
Grant chose signifie.”...
Topsell, of course, tells the story:--“It is sayd that Unicorns above
all other creatures, doe reverence Virgines and young Maides, and that
many times at the sight of them they grow tame, and come and sleepe
beside them, for there is in their nature a certaine savor, wherewithall
the Unicornes are allured and delighted; for which occasion the _Indian_
and _Ethiopian_ hunters use this stratagem to take the beast. They take
a goodly, strong, and beautifull young man, whom they dresse in the
Apparell of a woman, besetting him with divers odoriferous flowers and
spices.
“The man so adorned they set in the Mountaines or Woods, where the
Unicorne hunteth, so as the wind may carrie the savor to the beast, and
in the meane season the other hunters hide themselves: the Unicorne
deceaved with the outward shape of a woman, and sweete smells, cometh to
the young man without feare, and so suffereth his head to bee covered
and wrapped within his large sleeves, never stirring, but lying still
and asleepe, as in his most acceptable repose. Then, when the hunters,
by the signe of the young man, perceave him fast and secure, they come
uppon him, and, by force, cut off his horne, and send him away alive:
but, concerning this opinion wee have no elder authoritie than
_Tzetzes_, who did not live above five hundred yeares agoe, and
therefore I leave the reader to the freedome of his owne judgment, to
believe or refuse this relation; neither is it fit that I should omit
it, seeing that all writers, since the time of _Tzetzes_, doe most
constantly beleeve it.
“It is sayd by _Ælianus_ and _Albertus_, that, except they bee taken
before they bee two yeares old they will never bee tamed; and that the
Thrasians doe yeerely take some of their Colts, and bring them to their
King, which he keepeth for combat, and to fight with one another; for
when they are old, they differ nothing at all from the most barbarous,
bloodie, and ravenous beasts. Their flesh is not good for meate, but is
bitter and unnourishable.”
It is hardly worth while to go into all the authorities treating of the
Unicorn; suffice it to say, that it was an universal belief that there
were such animals in existence, for were not their horns in proof
thereof? and were they not royal presents fit for the mightiest of
potentates to send as loving pledges one to another? for it was one of
the most potent of medicines, and a sure antidote to poison. And they
were very valuable, too, for Paul Hentzner--who wrote in the time of
Queen Elizabeth--says that, at Windsor Castle, he was shown, among other
things, the horn of an Unicorn of above eight spans and a half in
length, _i.e._, about 6½ feet, valued at £10,000. Considering that money
was worth then about three times what it is now, an Unicorn’s horn was a
right royal gift.
Topsell, from whom I have quoted so much, is especially voluminous and
erudite on Unicorns; indeed, in no other old or new author whom I have
consulted are there so many facts (?) respecting this fabled beast to be
found. Here is his history of those horns then to be found in Europe:--
“There are two of these at _Venice_ in the Treasurie of S. _Marke’s_
Church, as _Brasavolus_ writeth, one at _Argentoratum_, which is
wreathed about with divers sphires.[30] There are also two in the
Treasurie of the King of _Polonia_, all of them as long as a man in his
stature. In the yeare 1520, there was found the horne of a _Unicorne_ in
the river _Arrula_, neare _Bruga_ in Helvetia, the upper face or out
side whereof was a darke yellow; it was two cubites (_3 feet_) in
length, but had upon it no plights[31] or wreathing versuus. It was very
odoriferous (especially when any part of it was set on fire), so that it
smelt like muske: as soone as it was found, it was carried to a Nunnery
called _Campus regius_, but, afterwards by the Governor of _Helvetia_,
it was recovered back againe, because it was found within his
teritorie....
“Another certaine friend of mine, being a man worthy to be beleeved,
declared unto me that he saw at _Paris_, with the Chancellor, being Lord
of _Pratus_, a peece of a Unicorn’s horn, to the quantity of a cubit,
wreathed in tops or spires, about the thicknesse of an indifferent
staffe (the compasse therof extending to the quantity of six fingers)
being within, and without, of a muddy colour, with a solide substance,
the fragments whereof would boile in the Wine although they were never
burned, having very little or no smell at all therein.
“When _Joannes Ferrerius_ of _Piemont_ had read these thinges, he wrote
unto me, that, in the Temple of _Dennis_, neare unto _Paris_, that there
was a Unicorne’s horne six foot long, ... but that in bignesse, it
exceeded the horne at the Citty of _Argentorate_, being also holow
almost a foot from that part which sticketh unto the forehead of the
Beast, this he saw himselfe in the Temple of S. _Dennis_, and handled
the horne with his handes as long as he would. I heare that in the
former yeare (which was from the yeare of our Lord), 1553, when
_Vercella_ was overthrown by the French, there was broght from that
treasure unto the King of France, a very great Unicorn’s horne, the
price wherof was valued at fourscore thousand Duckets.[32]
“_Paulus Poæius_ describeth an Unicorne in this manner; That he is a
beast, in shape much like a young Horse, of a dusty colour, with a maned
necke, a hayry beard, and a forehead armed with a Horne of the quantity
of two Cubits, being seperated with pale tops or spires, which is
reported by the smoothnes and yvorie whitenesse thereof, to have the
wonderfull power of dissolving and speedy expelling of all venome or
poison whatsoever.
“For his horne being put into the water, driveth away the poison, that
he may drinke without harme, if any venemous beast shall drinke therein
before him. This cannot be taken from the Beast, being alive, for as
much as he cannot possible be taken by any deceit: yet it is usually
seene that the horne is found in the desarts, as it happeneth in Harts,
who cast off their olde horne thorough the inconveniences of old age,
which they leave unto the Hunters, Nature renewing an other unto them.
“The horne of this beast being put upon the Table of Kinges, and set
amongest their junkets and bankets, doeth bewray the venome, if there be
any suche therein, by a certaine sweat which commeth over it. Concerning
these hornes, there were two seene, which were two cubits in length, of
the thicknesse of a man’s Arme, the first at _Venice_, which the Senate
afterwards sent for a gift unto _Solyman_ the Turkish Emperor: the other
being almost of the same quantity, and placed in a Sylver piller, with a
shorte or cutted[33] point, which _Clement_ the Pope or Bishop of
_Rome_, being come unto _Marssels_ brought unto _Francis_ the King, for
an excellent gift.”... They adulterated the real article, for sale.
“_Petrus Bellonius_ writeth, that he knewe the tooth of some certaine
Beast, in time past, sold for the horne of a Unicorne (what beast may be
signified by this speech I know not, neither any of the French men which
do live amongst us) and so smal a peece of the same, being adulterated,
sold ‘sometimes for 300 Duckets.’ But, if the horne shall be true and
not counterfait, it doth, notwithstanding, seeme to be of that creature
which the Auncientes called by the name of an Unicorne, especially
_Ælianus_, who only ascribeth to the same this wonderfull force against
poyson and most grievous diseases, for he maketh not this horne white as
ours doth seeme, but outwardly red, inwardly white, and in the Middest
or secretest part only blacke.”
Having dilated so long upon the Unicorn, it would be a pity not to give
some idea of the curative properties of its horn--always supposing that
it could be obtained genuine, for there were horrid suspicions abroad
that it might be “the horne of some other beast brent in the fire, some
certaine sweet odors being thereunto added, and also imbrued in some
delicious and aromaticall perfume. Peradventure also, Bay by this means,
first burned, and afterwards quenched, or put out with certaine sweet
smelling liquors.” To be of the proper efficacy it should be taken new,
but its power was best shown in testing poisons, when it sweated, as did
also a stone called “the Serpent’s tongue.” And the proper way to try
whether it was genuine or not, was to give Red Arsenic or Orpiment to
two pigeons, and then to let them drink of two samples; if genuine, no
harm would result--if adulterated, or false, the pigeons would die.
It was also considered a cure for Epilepsy, the Pestilent Fever or
Plague, Hydrophobia, Worms in the intestines, Drunkenness, &c.,
&c.,--and it also made the teeth clean and white;--in fact, it had so
many virtues that “no home should be without it.”
And all this about a Narwhal’s horn!
THE RHINOCEROS.
The true Unicorn is, of course, the Rhinoceros, and this picture of it
is as early an one as I can find, being taken from Aldrovandus de Quad,
A.D. 1521. Gesner and Topsell both reproduce it, at later dates, but
_reversed_. The latter says that Gesner drew it from the life at
Lisbon--but having Aldrovandus and the others before me, I am bound to
give the palm to the former, and confess the others to be piracies. It
is certain, however, that whoever drew this picture of a Rhinoceros must
have seen one, either living or stuffed, for it is not too bizarre.
[Illustration]
Topsell approaches this animal with an awe and reverence, such as he
never shows towards any other beast; indeed, he gets quite solemn over
it, and he thus commences his _Apologia_:--“But for my part, which write
the English story, I acknowledge that no man must looke for that at my
hands, which I have not received from some other: for I would bee
unwilling to write anything untrue, or uncertaine out of mine owne
invention; and truth on every part is so deare unto mee, that I will not
lie to bring any man in love and admiration with God and his works, for
God needeth not the lies of men: To conclude, therefore, this Præface,
as the beast is strange, and never seene in our countrey, so my eyesight
cannot adde anything to the description; therefore harken unto that
which I have observed out of other writers.”
They were very rare beasts, among the early Roman Emperors, but in the
later Empire they were introduced into the Circus, but many centuries
rolled on before we, in England, were favoured with a sight of this
great animal. Topsell had not seen one, and he wrote in 1607, so we
accept his _Apologia_ with all his errors:--“_Oppianus_ saith that there
was never yet any distinction of sexes in these _Rhinocerotes_; for all
that ever have been found were males, and not females, but from hence
let no body gather that there are no females, for it were impossible
that the breede should continue without females.