CHAP. 50. (32.)—STAGS.

Stags, although the most mild of all animals, have still their own

feelings of malignancy;[1810] when hard pressed by the hounds, of

their own accord they fly for refuge to man; and when the females

bring forth, they are less anxious to avoid the paths which bear

traces of human footsteps, than solitary spots which offer a retreat

to wild beasts.[1811] They become pregnant after the rising of the

constellation Arcturus;[1812] they bring forth after a gestation of

eight months, and sometimes produce two young ones. They separate

after conception, but the males, upon being thus abandoned, become

maddened with the fury of their passion; they dig up the earth, and

their muzzles become quite black, until they have been washed by the

rain.[1813] The females, before they bring forth, purge themselves by

means of a certain herb, which is called seselis, by the use of which

parturition is rendered more easy. After delivery, they take a mixture

of the two plants called seselis[1814] and aros,[1815] and then return

to the fawn; they seem desirous, for some reason or other, that

their first milk, after parturition, should be impregnated with the

juice of these plants. They then exercise the young ones in running,

and teach them how to take to flight, leading them to precipices,

and showing them how to leap. The sexual passion of the male having

been now satisfied, he repairs to the pasture lands with the greatest

eagerness. When they feel themselves becoming too fat, they seek some

retired spot, thus acknowledging the inconvenience arising from their

bulk. Besides this, they continually pause in their flight, stand

still and look back, and then again resume their flight when the enemy

approaches. This pause is occasioned by the intense pain which they

feel in the intestines, a part which is so weak, that a very slight

blow will cause them to break within. The barking of a dog instantly

puts them to flight, and they always run with the wind, in order that

no trace of them may be left. They are soothed by the shepherd’s pipe

and his song;[1816] when their ears are erect, their sense of hearing

is very acute, but when dropped, they become deaf.[1817]

In other respects the stag is a simple animal, which regards every

thing as wonderful, and with a stupid astonishment; so much so, indeed,

that if a horse or cow happens to approach it, it will not see the

hunter, who may be close at hand, or, if it does see him, it only gazes

upon his bow and arrow. Stags cross the sea in herds, swimming in a

long line, the head of each resting on the haunches of the one that

precedes it, each in its turn falling back to the rear. This has been

particularly remarked when they pass over from Cilicia to the island

of Cyprus. Though they do not see the land, they still are able to

direct themselves by the smell. The males have horns, and are the only

animals that shed them every year, at a stated time in the spring; at

which period they seek out with the greatest care the most retired

places, and after losing them, remain concealed, as though aware that

they are unarmed. Still, however, they envy us the good that these

might do us; for it is said the right horn, which possesses, as it

were, certain medicinal properties, can never be found, a circumstance

the more astonishing, from the fact that they change their horns every

year, even when kept in parks;[1818] it is generally thought that they

bury their horns in the ground. The odour of either horn, when burnt,

drives away serpents and detects epilepsy. They also bear the marks

of their age on the horns, every year, up to the sixth,[1819] a fresh

antler being added; after which period the horns are renewed in the

same state, so that by means of them their age cannot be ascertained.

Their old age, however, is indicated by their teeth, for then they have

only a few, or none at all; and we then no longer perceive, at the base

of their horns, antlers projecting from the front of the forehead, as

is usually the case with the animal when young.

When this animal is castrated it does not shed its horns, nor are they

reproduced. When the horns begin to be reproduced, two projections are

to be seen, much resembling, at first, dry skin; they grow with tender

shoots, having upon them a soft down like that on the head of a reed.

So long as they are without horns, they go to feed during the night.

As the horns grow, they harden by the heat of the sun, and the animal,

from time to time, tries their strength upon the trees; when satisfied

with their strength, it leaves its retreat.

Stags, too, have been occasionally caught with ivy green and growing on

their horns,[1820] the plant having taken root on them, as it would on

any piece of wood, while the animal was rubbing them against the trees.

The stag is sometimes found white, as is said to have been the case

with the hind of Q. Sertorius, which he persuaded the nations of Spain

to look upon as having the gift of prophecy.[1821] The stag, too,

fights with the serpent: it traces out the serpent’s hole, and draws

it forth by the breath of its nostrils,[1822] and hence it is that the

smell of burnt stags’ horn has the remarkable power of driving away

serpents. The very best remedy for the bite of a serpent is the rennet

of a fawn that has been killed in the womb of its mother.

The stag is generally admitted to be very long lived; some were

captured at the end of one hundred years with the golden collars which

Alexander the Great had put upon them, and which were quite concealed

by the folds of the skin, in consequence of the accumulation of

fat.[1823] This animal is not subject to fever, and, indeed, it is a

preservative against that complaint. We know that of late some women of

princely rank have been in the habit of eating the flesh of the stag

every morning, and that they have arrived at an extreme old age, free

from all fevers. It is, however, generally supposed that the animal

must be killed by a single wound to make sure of it possessing this

virtue.

(33.) Of the same species is an animal, which only differs from the

stag in having a beard and long hair about the shoulders: it is called

tragelaphus,[1824] and is produced nowhere except on the banks of the

Phasis.[1825]

CHAP. 51.—THE CHAMELEON.

Africa is almost the only country that does not produce[1826] the

stag, but then it produces the chameleon,[1827] although it is much

more commonly met with in India. Its figure and size are that of a

lizard, only that its legs are straight and longer. Its sides unite

under its belly, as in fishes, and its spine projects in a similar

manner. Its muzzle is not unlike the snout of a small hog, so far as

in so small an animal it can be. Its tail is very long, and becomes

smaller towards the end, coiling up in folds like that of the viper.

It has hooked claws, and a slow movement like that of the tortoise;

its body is rough like that of the crocodile; its eyes are deep sunk

in the orbits, placed very near each other, very large, and of the

same colour as the body. It never closes them, and when the animal

looks round, it does so, not by the motion of the pupil, but of the

white of the eye.[1828] It always holds the head upright and the mouth

open, and is the only animal which receives nourishment neither by meat

nor drink, nor anything else, but from the air alone.[1829] Towards

the end of the dog-days[1830] it is fierce, but at other times quite

harmless. The nature of its colour, too, is very remarkable, for it is

continually changing; its eyes, its tail, and its whole body always

assuming the colour of whatever object is nearest, with the exception

of white and red.[1831] After death, it becomes of a pale colour. It

has a little flesh about the head, the jaws, and the root of the tail,

but none whatever on the rest of the body. It has no blood whatever,

except in the heart and about the eyes, and its entrails are without a

spleen.[1832] It conceals itself during the winter months, just like

the lizard.

CHAP. 52.—OTHER ANIMALS WHICH CHANGE COLOUR; THE TARANDUS, THE LYCAON,

AND THE THOS.

The tarandrus,[1833] too, of the Scythians, changes its colour, but

this is the case with none of the animals which are covered with hair,

except the lycaon[1834] of India, which is said to have a mane on the

neck. But with respect to the thos,[1835] (which is a species of wolf,

differing from the common kind in having a larger body and very short

legs, leaping with great activity, living by the chase, and never

attacking man); it changes its coat, and not its colour, for it is

covered with hair in the winter, and goes bare in summer. The tarandrus

is of the size of the ox; its head is larger than that of the stag, and

not very unlike it; its horns are branched, its hoofs cloven, and its

hair as long as that of the bear. Its proper colour, when it thinks

proper to return to it, is like that of the ass. Its hide is of such

extreme hardness, that it is used for making breast-plates. When it is

frightened, this animal reflects the colour of all the trees, shrubs,

and flowers, or of the spots in which it is concealed; hence it is that

it is so rarely captured. It is wonderful that such various hues should

be given to the body, but still more so that it should be given to the

hair.

CHAP. 53. (35.)—THE PORCUPINE.

India and Africa produce the porcupine, the body of which is covered

with prickles. It is a species of hedgehog, but the quills of the

porcupine are longer, and when it stretches the skin, it discharges

them like so many missiles. With these it pierces the mouths of the

dogs which are pressing hard upon it, and even sends its darts to some

distance further.[1836] It conceals itself during the winter months,

which, indeed, is the nature of many animals, and more especially the

bear.

CHAP. 54. (36.)—BEARS AND THEIR CUBS.

Bears couple in the beginning of winter,[1837] and not after the

fashion of other quadrupeds; for both animals lie down and embrace each

other.[1838] The female then retires by herself to a separate den,

and there brings forth on the thirtieth day, mostly five young ones.

When first born, they are shapeless masses of white flesh, a little

larger than mice;[1839] their claws alone being prominent. The mother

then licks them gradually into proper shape. There is nothing more

uncommon than to see a she-bear in the act of parturition.[1840] The

male remains in his retreat for forty days, the female four months.

If they happen to have no den, they construct a retreat with branches

and shrubs, which is made impenetrable to the rain and is lined with

soft leaves. During the first fourteen days they are overcome by so

deep a sleep, that they cannot be aroused by wounds even. They become

wonderfully fat, too, while in this lethargic state. This fat is much

used in medicine; and it is very useful in preventing the hair from

falling off.[1841] At the end of these fourteen days they sit up, and

find nourishment by sucking their fore-paws.[1842] They warm their

cubs, when cold, by pressing them to the breast, not unlike the way

in which birds brood over their eggs. It is a very astonishing thing,

but Theophrastus believes it, that if we preserve the flesh of the

bear, the animal being killed in its dormant state, it will increase in

bulk, even though it may have been cooked.[1843] During this period no

signs of food are to be found in the stomach of the animal, and only

a very slight quantity of liquid; there are a few drops of blood only

near the heart, but none whatever in any other part of the body.[1844]

They leave their retreat in the spring, the males being remarkably

fat: of this circumstance, however, we cannot give any satisfactory

explanation, for the sleep, during which they increase so much in bulk,

lasts, as we have already stated, only fourteen days.[1845] When they

come out, they eat a certain plant, which is known as aros,[1846] in

order to relax the bowels, which would otherwise become in a state of

constipation; and they sharpen the edges of their teeth against the

young shoots of the trees. Their eye-sight is dull, for which reason

in especial, they seek the combs of bees, in order that from the bees

stinging them in the throat and drawing blood, the oppression in the

head may be relieved.[1847] The head of the bear is extremely weak,

whereas, in the lion, it is remarkable for its strength: on which

account it is, that when the bear, impelled by any alarm, is about to

precipitate itself from a rock, it covers its head with its paws. In

the arena of the Circus they are often to be seen killed by a blow on

the head with the fist. The people of Spain have a belief, that there

is some kind of magical poison in the brain of the bear, and therefore

burn the heads of those that have been killed in their public games;

for it is averred, that the brain, when mixed with drink, produces

in man the rage of the bear.[1848] These animals walk on two feet,

and climb down trees backwards.[1849] They can overcome the bull, by

suspending themselves, by all four legs, from its muzzle and horns,

thus wearing out its powers by their weight. In no other animal is

stupidity found more adroit in devising mischief. It is recorded in our

Annals, that on the fourteenth day before the calends of October,[1850]

in the consulship of M. Piso and M. Messala, Domitius Ahenobarbus, the

curule ædile, brought into the Circus one hundred Numidian bears, and

as many Æthiopian hunters. I am surprised to find the word Numidian

added, seeing that it is well known that there are no bears produced in

Africa.[1851]

CHAP. 55. (37.)—THE MICE OF PONTUS AND OF THE ALPS.

The mice of Pontus also conceal themselves during the winter; but only

the white ones.[1852] I wonder how those authors, who have asserted

that the sense of taste in these animals is very acute, found out

that such is the fact. The Alpine mice, which are the same size as

badgers, also conceal themselves;[1853] but they first carry a store

of provisions into their retreat. Some writers, indeed, say that the

male and female, lying on their backs alternately, hold in their paws a

bundle of gnawed herbs, and, the tail of each in its turn being seized

by the teeth of the other, in this way, they are dragged into their

hole; hence it is, that at this season their hair is found to be rubbed

off their backs. There is a similar animal also in Egypt,[1854] which

sits, in the same way, upon its haunches, and walks on two feet, using

the fore feet as hands.

CHAP. 56.—HEDGEHOGS.

Hedgehogs also lay up food for the winter; rolling themselves on

apples as they lie on the ground, they pierce one with their quills,

and then take up another in the mouth, and so carry them into the

hollows of trees. These animals also, when they conceal themselves

in their holes, afford a sure sign that the wind is about to change

from north-east to south.[1855] When they perceive the approach of

the hunter, they draw in the head and feet, and all the lower part of

the body, which is covered by a thin and defenceless down only, and

then roll themselves up into the form of a ball, so that there is no

way of taking hold of them but by their quills. When they are reduced

to a state of desperation, they discharge a corrosive urine, which

injures their skin and quills, as they are aware that it is for the

sake of them that they are hunted. A skilful hunter, therefore, will

only pursue them when they have just discharged their urine. In this

case the skin retains its value; while in the other case, it becomes

spoilt and easily torn, the quills rotting and falling off, even though

the animal should escape with its life. For this reason it is that it

never moistens itself with this poisonous fluid, except when reduced to

the last stage of desperation; for it has a perfect hatred for its own

venomous distillation, and so careful is the animal, so determined to

wait till the very last moment, that it is generally caught before it

has employed this means of defence.

They force it to unroll itself, by sprinkling warm water upon it, and

then, suspended by one of its hind legs, it is left to die of hunger;

for there is no other mode of destroying it, without doing injury

to its skin. This animal is not, as many of us imagine, entirely

useless to man. If it were not for the quills which it produces, the

soft fleece of the sheep would have been given in vain to mankind;

for it is by means of its skin, that our woollen cloth is dressed.

From the monopoly of this article, great frauds and great profits

have resulted;[1856] there is no subject on which the senate has more

frequently passed decrees, and there is not one of the Emperors, who

has not received from the provinces complaints respecting it.[1857]

CHAP. 57. (38.)—THE LEONTOPHONUS, AND THE LYNX.[1858]

There are also two other animals, whose urine possesses very wonderful

properties. We have heard speak of a small animal, to which the name of

leontophonus[1859] has been given, and which is said to exist only in

those countries where the lion is produced; if its flesh is only tasted

by the lion, so intensely venomous is its nature, that this lord of

the other quadrupeds instantly expires. Hence it is, that the hunters

of the lion burn its body to ashes, and sprinkle a piece of flesh with

the powder, and so kill the lion by means of the ashes even—so fatal to

it is this poison! The lion, therefore, not without good reason hates

the leontophonus, and after destroying its sight, kills it without

inflicting a bite: the animal, on the other hand, sprinkles the lion

with its urine, being well aware that this too is fatal to it.

The urine of the lynx, in the countries[1860] where that animal is

produced, either becomes crystallized, or else hardens into a precious

stone, resembling the carbuncle, and which shines like fire.[1861] This

is called lyncurium;[1862] and hence it is, that many persons believe

that this is the way in which amber is produced. The lynx, being well

aware of this property, envies us the possession of its urine, and

therefore buries it in the earth;[1863] by this, however, it becomes

solid all the sooner.

CHAP. 58.—BADGERS AND SQUIRRELS.

The badger, when alarmed, shows its fear by a different kind of

artifice; inflating the skin, it distends it to such a degree, as

to repel equally the blows of men and the bite of dogs.[1864] The

squirrel, also, has the power of foreseeing storms, and so, stopping

up its hole at the side from which the wind blows, it leaves the other

side open; besides which, the tail, which is furnished with longer hair

than the rest of the body, serves as a covering for it. It appears,

therefore,[1865] that some animals lay up a store of food for the

winter, while others pass the time in sleep, which serves them instead

of food.

CHAP. 59. (39.)—VIPERS AND SNAILS.

It is said, that the viper is the only one among the serpents that

conceals itself in the earth; the others lurking either in the

hollows of trees or in holes in the rocks.[1866] Provided they are

not destroyed by cold, they can live there, without taking food, for

a whole year.[1867] During the time that they are asleep in their

retreat, none of them are venomous.

A similar state of torpor exists also in snails. These animals again

become dormant during the summer, adhering very powerfully to stones;

and even, when turned up and pulled away from the stones, they will not

leave their shells. In the Balearic isles, the snails which are known

as the cave-snail,[1868] do not leave their holes in the ground, nor

do they feed upon any green thing, but adhere to each other like so

many grapes. There is another less common species also, which is closed

by an operculum that adheres to the shell.[1869] These animals always

burrow under the earth, and were formerly never found, except in the

environs of the Maritime Alps: they have, however, of late been dug up

in the territory of Liternum;[1870] the most valued, however, of all,

are those of the island of Astypalæa.[1871]

CHAP. 60.—LIZARDS.[1872]

It is said, that the lizard, the greatest enemy of all to the snail,

never prolongs its life beyond six months. The lizards of Arabia are

a cubit in length,[1873] while those upon Nysa,[1874] a mountain of

India, are twenty-four feet long, their colour being either yellow,

purple, or azure blue.

CHAP. 61. (40.)—THE QUALITIES OF THE DOG; EXAMPLES OF ITS ATTACHMENT

TO ITS MASTER; NATIONS WHICH HAVE KEPT DOGS FOR THE PURPOSES OF WAR.

Among the animals, also, that are domesticated with mankind, there are

many circumstances that are far from undeserving of being known: among

these, there are more particularly that most faithful friend of man,

the dog, and the horse. We have an account of a dog that fought against

a band of robbers, in defending its master; and although it was pierced

with wounds, still it would not leave the body, from which it drove

away all birds and beasts. Another dog, again, in Epirus, recognized

the murderer of its master, in the midst of an assemblage of people,

and, by biting and barking at him, extorted from him a confession of

his crime. A king of the Garamantes also was brought back from exile

by two hundred dogs, which maintained the combat against all his

opponents. The people of Colophon[1875] and Castabala[1876] kept troops

of dogs, for the purposes of war; and these used to fight in the front

rank, and never retreat; they were the most faithful of auxiliaries,

and yet required no pay. After the defeat of the Cimbri, their dogs

defended their moveable houses, which were carried upon waggons. Jason,

the Lycian, having been slain, his dog refused to take food, and died

of famine. A dog, to which Darius gives the name of Hyrcanus, upon the

funeral pile of King Lysimachus being lighted, threw itself into the

flames,[1877] and the dog of King Hiero did the same. Philistus also

gives a similar account of Pyrrhus, the dog of the tyrant Gelon: and

it is said, also, that the dog of Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, tore

Consingis,[1878] the wife of that king, in consequence of her wanton

behaviour, when toying with her husband.

Among ourselves, Volcatius, a man of rank, who instructed Cascellius in

the civil law,[1879] as he was riding on his Asturian jennet, towards

evening, from his country-house, was attacked by a robber, and was only

saved by his dog. The senator Cælius,[1880] too, while lying sick at

Placentia, was surprised by armed men, but received not a wound from

them until they had first killed his dog. But a more extraordinary fact

than all, is what took place in our own times, and is testified by the

public register of the Roman people. In the consulship of Appius Junius

and P. Silius, when Titius Sabinus[1881] was put to death, together

with his slaves, for the affair of Nero, the son of Germanicus, it was

found impossible to drive away a dog which belonged to one of them from

the prison; nor could it be forced away from the body, which had been

cast down the Gemitorian steps;[1882] but there it stood howling, in

the presence of vast multitudes of people; and when some one threw a

piece of bread to it, the animal carried it to the mouth of its master.

Afterwards, when the body was thrown into the Tiber, the dog swam into

the river, and endeavoured to raise it out of the water; quite a throng

of people being collected to witness this instance of an animal’s

fidelity.

Dogs are the only animals that are sure to know their masters; and if

they suddenly meet him as a stranger, they will instantly recognize

him. They are the only animals that will answer to their names, and

recognize the voices of the family. They recollect a road along which

they have passed, however long it may be. Next to man, there is no

living creature whose memory is so retentive. By sitting down on the

ground, we may arrest their most impetuous attack, even when prompted

by the most violent rage.

In daily life we have discovered many other valuable qualities in this

animal; but its intelligence and sagacity are more especially shown

in the chase. It discovers and traces out the tracks of the animal,

leading by the leash[1883] the sportsman who accompanies it straight up

to the prey; and as soon as ever it has perceived it, how silent it is,

and how secret but significant is the indication which it gives, first

by the tail and afterwards by the nose![1884] Hence it is, that even

when worn out with old age, blind, and feeble, they are carried by the

huntsman in his arms, being still able to point out the coverts where

the game is concealed, by snuffing with their muzzles at the wind. The

Indians raise a breed between the dog and the tiger,[1885] and for this

purpose tie up the females in the forests when in heat. The first two

litters they look upon as too savage to be reared, but they bring up

the third.

The Gauls do the same with the wolf and the dog;[1886] and their packs

of hounds have, each of them, one of these dogs, which acts as their

guide and leader. This dog they follow in the chase, and him they

carefully obey; for these animals have even a notion of subordination

among themselves. It is asserted that the dogs keep running when they

drink at the Nile, for fear of becoming a prey to the voracity of the

crocodile.[1887] When Alexander the Great was on his Indian expedition,

he was presented by the king of Albania with a dog of unusual size;

being greatly delighted with its noble appearance, he ordered bears,

and after them wild boars, and then deer, to be let loose before it;

but the dog lay down, and regarded them with a kind of immoveable

contempt. The noble spirit of the general became irritated by the

sluggishness thus manifested by an animal of such vast bulk, and he

ordered it to be killed. The report of this reached the king, who

accordingly sent another dog, and at the same time sent word that its

powers were to be tried, not upon small animals, but upon the lion or

the elephant; adding, that he had had originally but two, and that

if this one were put to death, the race would be extinct. Alexander,

without delay, procured a lion, which in his presence was instantly

torn to pieces. He then ordered an elephant to be brought, and never

was he more delighted with any spectacle; for the dog, bristling up

its hair all over the body, began by thundering forth a loud barking,

and then attacked the animal, leaping at it first on one side and then

on the other, attacking it in the most skilful manner, and then again

retreating at the opportune moment, until at last the elephant, being

rendered quite giddy by turning round and round, fell to the earth, and

made it quite re-echo with his fall.

CHAP. 62.—THE GENERATION OF THE DOG.[1888]

This animal brings forth twice in the year; it is capable of bearing

young when a year old, and gestation continues for sixty days. The

young ones are born blind, and the greater the supply of nourishment

from the mother’s milk, the more slowly do they acquire their sight;

still, however, this never takes place later than the twentieth day, or

earlier than the seventh. It is said by some writers, that if only one

is born, it is able to see on the ninth day; and that if there are two,

they begin to see on the tenth, every additional one causing the power

of seeing to come a day later. It is said, too, that the females which

are produced by the mother in her first litter, are subject to the

night-mare.[1889] The best dog of the litter is the one which is last

in obtaining its sight, or else the one which the mother carries first

into her bed.

CHAP. 63.—REMEDIES AGAINST CANINE MADNESS.[1890]

Canine madness is fatal to man during the heat of Sirius,[1891] and,

as we have already said, it proves so in consequence of those who are

bitten having a deadly horror of water.[1892] For this reason, during

the thirty days[1893] that this star exerts its influence, we try to

prevent the disease by mixing dung from the poultry-yard with the

dog’s food; or else, if they are already attacked by the disease, by

giving them hellebore.

(41.) We have a single remedy against the bite, which has been but

lately discovered, by a kind of oracle, as it were—the root of the

wild rose, which is called cynorrhodos,[1894] or dog-rose. Columella

informs us, that if, on the fortieth day after the birth of the pup,

the last bone of the tail is bitten off, the sinew will follow with

it; after which, the tail will not grow, and the dog will never become

rabid.[1895] It is mentioned, among the other prodigies, and this I

take to be one indeed, that a dog once spoke;[1896] and that when

Tarquin was expelled from the kingdom, a serpent barked.

CHAP. 64. (42.)—THE NATURE OF THE HORSE.

King Alexander had also a very remarkable horse;[1897] it was called

Bucephalus, either on account of the fierceness of its aspect, or

because it had the figure of a bull’s head marked on its shoulder. It

is said, that he was struck with its beauty when he was only a boy, and

that it was purchased from the stud of Philonicus, the Pharsalian, for

thirteen talents.[1898] When it was equipped with the royal trappings,

it would suffer no one except Alexander to mount it, although at

other times it would allow any one to do so. A memorable circumstance

connected with it in battle is recorded of this horse; it is said that

when it was wounded in the attack upon Thebes, it would not allow

Alexander to mount any other horse. Many other circumstances, also, of

a similar nature, occurred respecting it; so that when it died, the

king duly performed its obsequies, and built around its tomb a city,

which he named after it.[1899]

It is said, also, that Cæsar, the Dictator, had a horse, which would

allow no one to mount but himself, and that its fore-feet were like

those of a man; indeed it is thus represented in the statue before the

temple of Venus Genetrix.[1900] The late Emperor Augustus also erected

a tomb to his horse; on which occasion Germanicus Cæsar[1901] wrote a

poem, which still exists. There are at Agrigentum many tombs of horses,

in the form of pyramids.[1902] Juba informs us, that Semiramis was so

greatly enamoured of a horse, as to have had connection with it.[1903]

The Scythian horsemen make loud boasts of the fame of their cavalry. On

one occasion, one of their chiefs having been slain in single combat,

when the conqueror came to take the spoils of the enemy, he was set

upon by the horse of his opponent, and trampled on and bitten to death.

Another horse, upon the bandage being removed from his eyes, found

that he had covered his mother, upon which he threw himself down a

precipice, and was killed. We learn, also, that for a similar cause, a

groom was torn to pieces, in the territory of Reate.[1904] For these

animals have a knowledge of the ties of consanguinity, and in a stud

a mare will attend to its sister of the preceding year, even more

carefully than its mother.

Their docility, too, is so great, that we find it stated that the

whole of the cavalry of the Sybarite army were accustomed to perform

a kind of dance to the sound of musical instruments. These animals

also foresee battles; they lament over their masters when they have

lost them, and sometimes shed tears[1905] of regret for them. When

King Nicomedes was slain, his horse put an end to its life by fasting.

Phylarchus relates, that Centaretus,[1906] the Galatian, after he had

slain Antiochus in battle, took possession of his horse, and mounted

it in triumph; upon which the animal, inflamed with indignation,

regardless of the rein and become quite ungovernable, threw itself

headlong down a precipice, and they both perished together. Philistus

relates, that Dionysius having left his horse stuck fast in a morass,

the animal, as soon as it disengaged itself, followed the steps of its

master, with a swarm of bees, which had settled on its mane; and that

it was in consequence of this portent, that Dionysius gained possession

of the kingdom.[1907]

CHAP. 65.—THE DISPOSITION OF THE HORSE; REMARKABLE FACTS CONCERNING

CHARIOT HORSES.

These animals possess an intelligence which exceeds all

description.[1908] Those who have to use the javelin are well aware

how the horse, by its exertions and the supple movements of its body,

aids the rider in any difficulty he may have in throwing his weapon.

They will even present to their master the weapons collected on the

ground. The horses too, that are yoked to the chariots in the Circus,

beyond a doubt, display remarkable proofs how sensible they are to

encouragement and to glory. In the Secular games, which were celebrated

in the Circus, under the Emperor Claudius, when the charioteer Corax,

who belonged to the white party,[1909] was thrown from his place at the

starting-post, his horses took the lead and kept it, opposing the other

chariots, overturning them, and doing every thing against the other

competitors that could have been done, had they been guided by the most

skilful charioteer; and while we quite blushed to behold the skill of

man excelled by that of the horse, they arrived at the goal, after

going over the whole of the prescribed course. Our ancestors considered

it as a still more remarkable portent, that when a charioteer had

been thrown from his place, in the plebeian games of the Circus,[1910]

the horses ran to the Capitol, just as if he had been standing in the

car, and went three times round the temple there. But what is the

greatest prodigy of all, is the fact that the horses of Ratumenna came

from Veii to Rome, with the palm branch and chaplet, he himself having

fallen from his chariot, after having gained the victory; from which

circumstance the Ratumennian gate derived its name.[1911]

When the Sarmatæ are about to undertake a long journey, they prepare

their horses for it, by making them fast the day before, during which

they give them but little to drink; by these means they are enabled to

travel on horseback, without stopping, for one hundred and fifty miles.

Some horses are known to live fifty years; but the females are not so

long-lived.[1912] These last come to their full growth at the fifth

year, the males a year later. The poet Virgil has very beautifully

described the points which ought more especially to be looked for,

as constituting the perfection of a horse;[1913] I myself have also

treated of the same subject, in my work[1914] on the Use of the Javelin

by Cavalry, and I find that pretty nearly all writers are agreed

respecting them.[1915] The points requisite for the Circus are somewhat

different, however; and while horses are put in training for other

purposes at only two years old, they are not admitted to the contests

of the Circus before their fifth year.

CHAP. 66.—THE GENERATION OF THE HORSE.[1916]

The female of this animal carries her young for eleven months, and

brings forth in the twelfth. The connection takes place at the vernal

equinox, and generally in both sexes, at the age of two years; but the

colt is much stronger when the parents are three years old. The males

are capable of covering up to the thirty-third year, and it is not

till after the twentieth that they are taken for this purpose from

the Circus. At Opus,[1917] it is said, a horse served as a stallion

until his fortieth year; though he required some assistance in raising

the fore part of the body. There are few animals, however, in which

the generative powers are so limited, for which reason it is only

admitted to the female at certain intervals;[1918] indeed it cannot

cover as many as fifteen times in the course of one year.[1919] The

sexual passion of the mare is extinguished by cropping her mane; she is

capable of bearing every year up to the fortieth. We have an account

of a horse having lived to its seventy-fifth year. The mare brings

forth standing upright, and is attached, beyond all other animals, to

her offspring. The horse is born with a poisonous substance on its

forehead, known as hippomanes,[1920] and used in love philtres; it

is the size of a fig, and of a black colour; the mother devours it

immediately on the birth of the foal, and until she has done so, she

will not suckle it. When this substance can be rescued from the mother,

it has the property of rendering the animal quite frantic by the smell.

If a foal has lost its mother, the other mares in the herd that have

young, will take charge of the orphan. It is said that the young of

this animal cannot touch the earth with the mouth for the first three

days after its birth. The more spirited a horse is, the deeper does it

plunge its nose into the water while drinking. The Scythians prefer

mares for the purposes of war, because they can pass their urine

without stopping in their career.

CHAP. 67.—MARES IMPREGNATED BY THE WIND.

It is well known that in Lusitania, in the vicinity of the town

of Olisipo[1921] and the river Tagus, the mares, by turning their

faces towards the west wind as it blows, become impregnated by its

breezes,[1922] and that the foals which are conceived in this way are

remarkable for their extreme fleetness; but they never live beyond

three years. Gallicia and Asturia are also countries of Spain; they

produce a species of horse known to us as thieldones,[1923] and when

smaller, asturcones;[1924] they have a peculiar and not common pace

of their own, which is very easy, and arises from the two legs of the

same side being moved together;[1925] it is by studying the nature of

this step that our horses have been taught the movement which we call

ambling.[1926] Horses have very nearly the same diseases as men;[1927]

besides which, they are subject to an irregular action of the bladder,

as, indeed, is the case with all beasts of burden.[1928]

CHAP. 68. (45.)—THE ASS, ITS GENERATION.

M. Varro informs us that Quintus Axius, the senator, paid for an ass

the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces;[1929] I am not sure

whether this did not exceed the price ever given for any other animal.

It is certainly a species of animal singularly useful for labour and

ploughing,[1930] but more especially for the production of mules.[1931]

In these animals also, the country in which they are born is taken

into consideration; in Greece, those from Arcadia[1932] are the most

valued; and in Italy, those of Reate.[1933] The ass is an animal which

is unable to endure cold,[1934] for which reason it is that it is

never produced in Pontus; nor is it allowed to cover at the vernal

equinox, like other cattle, but at the summer solstice. The males are

less proper for covering, when out of work. The earliest age at which

the females are ever capable of bearing is the thirtieth month, but

the usual time begins at the age of three years. The number to which

it gives birth is the same as the mare, which it also resembles, in

the length of its gestation, and in its mode of bringing forth; but

the female will discharge the generative fluid from the womb, being

unable to retain it, unless by blows she is forced to run immediately

after being covered. They seldom bring forth two at one birth.[1935]

When the she-ass is about to bring forth, she shuns the light and seeks

darkness, in order to escape the observation of man. Asses are capable

of breeding throughout the whole of their life, which extends to thirty

years. Their attachment to their young is great in the extreme, but

their aversion to water is still greater. They will pass through fire

to get at their foals, while the very same animal, if the smallest

stream intervenes, will tremble, and not dare so much as to wet even

its feet. Nor yet in their pastures will they ever drink at any but the

usual watering-place, and they make it their care to find some dry path

by which to get at it. They will not pass over a bridge either, when

the water can be seen between the planks beneath.[1936] Wonderful to

relate, too, if their watering-places are changed, though they should

be ever so thirsty, they will not drink without being either beaten or

caressed. They ought always to have plenty of room for sleeping; for

they are very subject to various diseases in their sleep, when they

repeatedly throw out their feet, and would immediately lame themselves

by coming in contact with any hard substance; so that it is necessary

that they should be provided with an empty space. The profit which

is derived from these animals exceeds that arising from the richest

estate. It is a well-known fact, that in Celtiberia there are some

she-asses which have produced to their owners as much as four hundred

thousand sesterces.[1937] In the rearing of she-mules it is said to

be particularly necessary to attend to the colour of the hair of the

ears and the eyelids, for, although the rest of the body be all of one

colour, the mule that is produced will have all the colours that are

found in those parts. Mæcenas was the first person who had the young

of the ass served up at his table;[1938] they were in those times much

preferred to the onager or wild ass;[1939] but, since his time, the

taste has gone out of fashion. An ass, after witnessing the death of

another ass, survives it but a very short time only.

CHAP. 69. (44.)—THE NATURE OF MULES,[1940] AND OF OTHER BEASTS OF

BURDEN.

From the union of the male ass and the mare a mule is produced in the

thirteenth month, an animal remarkable for its strength in laborious

work. We are told that, for this purpose, the mare ought not to be less

than four years old, nor more than ten. It is said also that these two

species will repulse each other, unless the male has been brought up,

in its infancy, upon the milk of the other species; for which reason

they take the foals away from the mare, in the dark, and substitute

for them the male colts of the ass. A mule may also be produced from

a horse and a female ass; but it can never be properly broken in,

and is incorrigibly sluggish,[1941] being in all respects as slow as

an old animal. If a mare has conceived by a horse, and is afterwards

covered by an ass, the first conception is abortive; but this is not

the case when the horse comes after the ass. It has been observed,

that the female is in the best state for receiving the male in the

seventh day after parturition, and that the males are best adapted

for the purpose when they are fatigued.[1942] A female ass, which

has not conceived before shedding what are called the milk-teeth, is

considered to be barren; which is also looked upon as the case when a

she-ass does not become pregnant after the first covering. The male

which is produced from a horse and a female ass, was called by the

ancients “hinnulus,” and that from an ass and a mare “mulus.”[1943]

It has been observed that the animal which is thus produced by the

union of the two species is of a third species, and does not resemble

either of the parents; and that all animals produced in this way, of

whatever kind they may be, are incapable of reproduction; she-mules are

therefore barren. It is said, indeed, in our Annals, that they have

frequently brought forth;[1944] but such cases must be looked upon only

as prodigies.[1945] Theophrastus says that they commonly bring forth

in Cappadocia; but that the animal of that country is of a peculiar

species.[1946] The mule is prevented from kicking by frequently giving

it wine to drink.[1947] It is said in the works of many of the Greek

writers, that from the union of a mule with a mare, the dwarf mule is

produced, which they call “ginnus.” From the union of the mare and the

wild ass, when it has been domesticated, a mule is produced which is

remarkably swift in running, and has extremely hard feet, and a thin

body, while it has a spirit that is quite indomitable. The very best

stallion of all, however, for this purpose, is one produced from a

union of the wild ass and the female domesticated ass. The best wild

asses are those of Phrygia and Lycaonia. Africa glories in the wild

foals which she produces, as excelling all others in flavour; these are

called “lalisiones.”[1948] It appears from some Athenian records, that

a mule once lived to the age of eighty years. The people were greatly

delighted with this animal, because on one occasion, when, on the

building of a temple in the citadel,[1949] it had been left behind on

account of its age, it persisted in promoting the work by accompanying

and assisting them; in consequence of which a decree was passed, that

the dealers in corn were not to drive it away from their sieves.[1950]

CHAP. 70. (45.)—OXEN; THEIR GENERATION.

We find it stated, that the oxen of India are of the height of camels,

and that the extremity of their horns are four feet asunder. In our

part of the world the most valuable oxen are those of Epirus, owing, it

is said, to the attention paid to their breed by King Pyrrhus.[1951]

This perfection was acquired by not permitting them to breed until

after their fourth year. By these means he brought them to a very large

size, and descendants of this breed are still to be seen at the present

day. But in our times, we set heifers to breed in their first year, or,

at the latest, in their second. Bulls are fit for breeding in their

fourth year; one being sufficient, it is said, for ten cows during the

whole year. If the bull, after covering, goes to the right side, the

produce will be a male; if to the left, a female.[1952] Conception

takes place after a single union; but if, by any accident, it should

not have taken place, the cow seeks the male again, at the end of

twenty days. She brings forth in the tenth month; whatever may be

produced before that time cannot be reared. Some writers say, that the

birth takes place the very day on which the tenth month is completed.

This animal but rarely produces twins. The time of covering begins at

the rising of the Dolphin, the day before the nones of January,[1953]

and continues for the space of thirty days. Sometimes it takes place

in the autumn; and among those nations which live upon milk, they

manage so as to have a supply of it at all times of the year. Bulls

never cover more than twice in the same day. The ox is the only animal

that walks backwards while it is feeding; among the Garamantes, they

feed in no other manner.[1954] The females live fifteen years at the

longest, and the males twenty; they arrive at their full vigour in

their fifth year. It is said that they are made fat by being washed

in warm water, or by having the entrails inflated with air by means of

a reed, introduced through an incision in the skin. We must not look

upon those kinds as having degenerated, the appearance of which is not

so favourable. Those that are bred in the Alps, although very small

of body, give a great quantity of milk, and are capable of enduring

much labour; they are yoked by the horns, and not by the neck. The

oxen of Syria have no dewlap, but they have a hump on the back. Those

of Caria also, which is in Asia, are unsightly[1955] in appearance,

having a hump hanging over the shoulders from the neck; and their horns

are moveable;[1956] they are said, however, to be excellent workers,

though those which are either black or white are condemned as worthless

for labour.[1957] The horns of the bull are shorter and thinner than

those of the ox. Oxen must be broken in when they are three years old;

after that time it is too late, and before that time too early. The

ox is most easily broken in by yoking it with one that has already

been trained.[1958] This animal is our especial companion, both in

labour generally, and in the operations of agriculture. Our ancestors

considered it of so much value, that there is an instance cited of a

man being brought before the Roman people, on a day appointed, and

condemned, for having killed an ox, in order to humour an impudent

concubine of his, who said that she had never tasted tripe; and he

was driven into exile, just as though he had killed one of his own

peasants.[1959]

The bull has a proud air, a stern forehead, shaggy ears, and horns

which appear always ready, and challenging to the combat; but it is

by his fore feet that he manifests his threatening anger. As his rage

increases, he stands, lashing back his tail[1960] every now and then,

and throwing up the sand against his belly; being the only animal that

excites himself by these means. We have seen them fight at the word of

command, and shown as a public spectacle; these bulls whirled about and

then fell upon their horns, and at once were up again; then, at other

times, they would lie upon the ground and let themselves be lifted up;

they would even stand in a two-horsed chariot, while moving at a rapid

rate, like so many charioteers.[1961] The people of Thessaly invented a

method of killing bulls, by means of a man on horseback, who would ride

up to them, and seize one of the horns, and so twist their neck. Cæsar

the Dictator was the first person who exhibited this spectacle at Rome.

Bulls are selected as the very choicest of victims, and are offered up

as the most approved sacrifice for appeasing the gods.[1962] Of all the

animals that have long tails, this is the only one whose tail is not of

proportionate length at the moment of birth; and in this animal alone

it continues to grow until it reaches its heels. It is on this account,

that in making choice of a calf for a victim, due care is taken that

its tail reaches to the pastern joint; if it is shorter than this, the

sacrifice is not deemed acceptable to the gods. This fact has also been

remarked, that calves, which have been carried to the altar on men’s

shoulders, are not generally acceptable to the gods; and also, if they

are lame, or of a species which is not appropriate,[1963] or if they

struggle to get away from the altar. It was a not uncommon prodigy

among the ancients, for an ox to speak;[1964] upon such a fact being

announced to the senate, they were in the habit of holding a meeting in

the open air.

CHAP. 71. (46.)—THE EGYPTIAN APIS.[1965]

In Egypt an ox is even worshipped as a deity; they call it Apis. It

is distinguished by a conspicuous white spot on the right side, in

the form of a crescent. There is a knot also under the tongue, which

is called “cantharus.”[1966] This ox is not allowed to live beyond

a certain number of years; it is then destroyed by being drowned in

the fountain of the priests. They then go, amid general mourning, and

seek another ox to replace it; and the mourning is continued, with

their heads shaved, until such time as they have found one; it is not

long, however, at any time, before they meet with a successor. When

one has been found, it is brought by the priests to Memphis. There are

two temples appropriated to it, which are called thalami,[1967] and

to these the people resort to learn the auguries. According as the

ox enters the one or the other of these places, the augury is deemed

favourable or unfavourable. It gives answers to individuals, by taking

food from the hand of those who consult it. It turned away from the

hand of Germanicus Cæsar, and not long after he died.[1968] In general

it lives in secret; but, when it comes forth in public, the multitudes

make way for it, and it is attended by a crowd of boys, singing hymns

in honour of it; it appears to be sensible of the adoration thus paid

to it, and to court it. These crowds, too, suddenly become inspired,

and predict future events. Once in the year a female is presented to

the ox, which likewise has her appropriate marks, although different

from those on the male; and it is said that she is always killed the

very same day that they find her. There is a spot in the Nile, near

Memphis, which, from its figure, they call Phiala;[1969] here they

throw into the water a dish of gold, and another of silver, every year

upon the days on which they celebrate the birth of Apis.[1970] These

days are seven in number, and it is a remarkable thing, that during

this time, no one is ever attacked by the crocodile; on the eighth day,

however, after the sixth hour, these beasts resume all their former

ferocity.

CHAP. 72. (47.)—SHEEP, AND THEIR PROPAGATION.[1971]

Many thanks, too, do we owe to the sheep, both for appeasing the gods,

and for giving us the use of its fleece. As oxen cultivate the fields

which yield food for man, so to sheep are we indebted for the defence

of our bodies. The generative power lasts in both sexes from the second

to the ninth year, sometimes to the tenth.[1972] The lambs produced

at the first birth are but small. The season for coupling, in all of

them, is from the setting of Arcturus, that is to say, the third day

before the ides of May,[1973] to the setting of Aquila, the tenth day

before the calends of August.[1974] The period of gestation is one

hundred and fifty days. The lambs that are produced after this time are

feeble; the ancients called those that were born after it, cordi.[1975]

Many persons prefer the lambs that are born in the winter to those of

the spring, because it is of much more consequence that they should

have gained strength before the summer solstice than before the winter

one; consequently, the sheep is the only animal that is benefitted

by being born in the middle of winter. It is the nature of the ram

to reject the young and prefer the old ones, and he himself is more

serviceable when old,[1976] and when deprived of his horns.[1977] He

is also rendered less violent by having one horn pierced towards the

ear. If the right testicle is tied up, the ram will generate females,

and if the left, males.[1978] The noise of thunder produces abortion

in sheep, if they are left alone; to prevent such accidents, they are

brought together into flocks, that they may be rendered less timid by

being in company. When the north-east wind blows, males are said to be

conceived; and when the south wind, females. In this kind of animal,

the mouth of the ram is especially looked to, for whatever may be the

colour of the veins under the tongue, the wool of the young one will be

of a similar colour.[1979] If these veins are many in number, it will

be mottled. Any change, too, in their water or drink, will render them

mottled.[1980]

There are two principal kinds of sheep, the covered[1981] and the

colonic,[1982] or common sheep; the former is the more tender animal,

but the latter is more nice about its pastures, for the covered sheep

will feed on brambles even. The best coverings for sheep are brought

from Arabia.[1983]

CHAP. 73. (43.)—THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF WOOL, AND THEIR COLOURS.[1984]

The most esteemed wool of all is that of Apulia, and that which in

Italy is called Grecian wool, in other countries Italian. The fleeces

of Miletus hold the third rank.[1985] The Apulian wool is shorter in

the hair, and only owes its high character to the cloaks[1986] that are

made of it. That which comes from the vicinity of Tarentum and Canusium

is the most celebrated; and there is a wool from Laodicea, in Asia, of

a similar quality.[1987] There is no white wool superior to that of the

countries bordering on the Padus,[1988] nor up to the present day has

any wool exceeded the price of one hundred sesterces per pound.[1989]

The sheep are not shorn in all countries; in some places it is still

the custom to pull off the wool.[1990] There are various colours of

wool; so much so, indeed, that we want terms to express them all.

Several kinds, which are called native,[1991] are found in Spain;

Pollentia, in the vicinity of the Alps,[1992] produces black fleeces of

the best quality; Asia, as well as Bætica,[1993] the red fleeces, which

are called Erythræan; those of Canusium are of a tawny colour;[1994]

and those of Tarentum have their peculiar dark tint.[1995] All kinds of

wool, when not freed from the grease,[1996] possess certain medicinal

properties. The wool of Istria is much more like hair than wool, and is

not suitable for the fabrication of stuffs that have a long nap;[1997]

so too is that which Salacia,[1998] in Lusitania, finds the most useful

for making its chequered cloths. There is a similar wool, too, found

about Piscenæ,[1999] in the province of Narbonensis, as also in Egypt;

a garment, when it has been worn for some time, is often embroidered

with this wool, and will last for a considerable time.

The thick, flocky wool has been esteemed for the manufacture of

carpets from the very earliest times; it is quite clear, from what

we read in Homer, that they were in use in his time.[2000] The Gauls

embroider them in a different manner from that which is practised by

the Parthians.[2001] Wool is compressed also for making a felt,[2002]

which, if soaked in vinegar,[2003] is capable of resisting iron

even; and, what is still more, after having gone through the last

process,[2004] wool will even resist fire; the refuse, too, when taken

out of the vat of the scourer, is used for making mattresses,[2005]

an invention, I fancy, of the Gauls. At all events, it is by Gallic

names that we distinguish the different sort of mattresses[2006] at the

present day; but I am not well able to say at what period wool began to

be employed for this purpose. Our ancestors made use of straw[2007] for

the purpose of sleeping upon, just as they do at present when in camp.

The gausapa[2008] has been brought into use in my father’s memory, and

I myself recollect the amphimalla[2009] and the long shaggy apron[2010]

being introduced; but at the present day, the laticlave tunic[2011] is

beginning to be manufactured, in imitation of the gausapa.[2012] Black

wool will take no colour. I shall describe the mode of dyeing the

other kinds of wool when speaking of the sea-purple,[2013] or of the

nature of various plants.[2014]

CHAP. 74.—DIFFERENT KINDS OF CLOTHS.

Varro informs us, he himself having been an eye-witness, that in the

temple of Sancus,[2015] the wool was still preserved on the distaff and

spindle of Tanaquil,[2016] who was also called Caia Cæcilia; and he

says that the royal waved[2017] toga, formerly worn by Servius Tullius,

and now in the temple of Fortune, was made by her. Hence was derived

the custom, on the marriage of a young woman, of carrying in the

procession a dressed distaff and a spindle, with the thread arranged

upon it. Tanaquil was the first who wove the straight tunic,[2018]

such as our young people wear with the white toga;[2019] newly-married

women also. Waved garments were at first the most esteemed of all:

after which those composed of various colours[2020] came into vogue.

Fenestella informs us, that togas with a smooth surface, as well

as the Phryxian togas,[2021] began to be used in the latter part of

the reign of Augustus. Thick stuffs, in the preparation of which the

poppy[2022] was used, are of more ancient date, being mentioned by the

poet Lucilius, in his lines on Torquatus. The prætexta[2023] had its

origin among the Etrurians. I find that the trabea[2024] was first

worn by the kings; embroidered garments are mentioned by Homer,[2025]

and in this class originated the triumphal robes.[2026] The Phrygians

first used the needle for this purpose,[2027] and hence this kind of

garment obtained the name of Phrygionian. King Attalus, who also lived

in Asia, invented the art of embroidering with gold, from which these

garments have been called Attalic.[2028] Babylon was very famous for

making embroidery in different colours, and hence stuffs of this kind

have obtained the name of Babylonian.[2029] The method of weaving

cloth with more than two threads was invented at Alexandria; these

cloths are called polymita;[2030] it was in Gaul that they were first

divided into chequers.[2031] Metellus Scipio, in the accusation which

he brought against Cato,[2032] stated that even in his time Babylonian

covers for couches were selling for eight hundred thousand sesterces,

and these of late, in the time of the Emperor Nero, had risen to four

millions.[2033] The prætextæ of Servius Tullius, with which the statue

of Fortune, dedicated by him, was covered,[2034] lasted until the

death of Sejanus; and it is a remarkable fact, that, during a period

of five hundred and sixty years, they had never become tattered,[2035]

or received injury from moths. I myself have seen the fleece upon

the living animal dyed purple, scarlet, and violet,—a pound and a

half[2036] of dye being used for each,—just as though they had been

produced by Nature in this form, to meet the demands of luxury.

CHAP. 75.—THE DIFFERENT SHAPES OF SHEEP; THE MUSMON.

In the sheep, it is considered a proof of its being of a very fair

breed, when the legs are short, and the belly is covered with wool;

when this part is bare, they used to be called apicæ, and were looked

upon as worthless.[2037] The tail of the Syrian sheep is a cubit in

length,[2038] and it is upon that part that most of the wool is found.

It is considered too early to castrate lambs before they are five

months old.

(49.) There is in Spain, and more especially in Corsica, a peculiar

kind of animal called the musmon,[2039] not very unlike a sheep, but

with a fleece which more resembles the hair of the goat than the wool

of the sheep. The ancients gave the name of umbri[2040] to the breed

between this animal and the sheep. The head of the sheep is the weakest

part of all, on which account it is obliged, when it feeds, to turn

away from the sun.[2041] The animals which are covered with wool are

the most stupid of all.[2042] When they are afraid to enter any place,

if one is only dragged into it by the horns, all the rest will follow.

The longest duration of their life is ten years; but in Æthiopia it is

thirteen. Goats live in that country eleven years, but in other parts

of the world mostly eight years only. Both of these animals require to

be covered not more than four times to ensure conception.

CHAP. 76. (50.)—GOATS AND THEIR PROPAGATION.

The goat occasionally brings forth as many as four at a birth; but

this is rarely the case.[2043] It is pregnant five months, like the

sheep. Goats become barren when very fat. There is little advantage

to be derived from their bringing forth before their third year,

or after the fourth, when they begin to grow old.[2044] They are

capable of generating in the seventh month, and while they are still

sucking. In both sexes those that have no horns are considered the

most valuable.[2045] A single coupling in the day is not sufficient;

the second and the following ones are more effectual. They conceive

in the month of November, so as to bring forth in the month of March,

when the buds are bursting; this is sometimes the case with them when

only one year old, and always with those of the second year; but the

produce of those which are three years old is the most valuable.[2046]

They continue to bring forth for a period of eight years. Cold produces

abortion. When their eyes are surcharged, the female discharges the

blood from the eye by pricking it with the point of a bulrush, and the

male with the thorn of a bramble.

Mutianus relates an instance of the intelligence of this animal, of

which he himself was an eye-witness. Two goats, coming from opposite

directions, met on a very narrow bridge, which would not admit of

either of them turning round, and in consequence of its great length,

they could not safely go backwards, there being no sure footing on

account of its narrowness, while at the same time an impetuous torrent

was rapidly rushing beneath; accordingly, one of the animals lay down

flat, while the other walked over it.

Among the males, those are the most esteemed which have flat noses and

long hanging ears,[2047] the shoulders being covered with very thick

shaggy hair; the mark of the most valuable among the females is the

having two folds[2048] hanging down the body from under the neck. Some

of these animals have no horns; but where there are horns, the age

of the animal is denoted by the number of knots on them. Those that

have no horns give the most milk.[2049] According to Archelaus,[2050]

they breathe, not through the nose, but the ears,[2051] and they are

never entirely free from fever,[2052] from which circumstance it is,

probably, that they are more animated than sheep, more ardent, and

have stronger sexual passions. It is said also, that they have the

power of seeing by night as well as in the day, for which reason those

persons who are called Nyctalopes,[2053] recover the power of seeing

in the evening, by eating the liver of the he-goat. In Cilicia, and

in the vicinity of the Syrtes, the inhabitants shear the goat for the

purpose of clothing themselves.[2054] It is said that the she-goats in

the pastures will never look at each other at sun-set, but lie with

their backs towards one another,[2055] while at other times of the day

they lie facing each other and in family groups. They all have long

hair hanging down from the chin, which is called by us aruncus.[2056]

If any one of the flock is taken hold of and dragged by this hair,

all the rest gaze on in stupid astonishment; and the same happens

when any one of them has eaten of a certain herb.[2057] Their bite is

very destructive to trees, and they make the olive barren by licking

it;[2058] for which reason they are not sacrificed to Minerva.[2059]

CHAP. 77. (51.)—THE HOG.[2060]

The period for coupling the hog lasts from the return of the west wind

to the vernal equinox; the proper age commences in the eighth month,

indeed, in some places, in the fourth even, and continues until the

eighth year.[2061] They bring forth twice in the year, the time of

gestation being four months; the number at a birth amounts to twenty

even, but they cannot rear so large a number.[2062] Nigidius informs

us, that those which are produced within ten days of the winter

solstice are born with teeth. One coupling is sufficient, but it is

repeated, on account of their extreme liability to abortion; the remedy

for which is not to allow coupling the first time the female is in

heat, nor until its ears are flaccid and pendant. The males do not

generate after they are three years old. When the females become feeble

from old age, they receive the males lying down.[2063] It is not looked

upon as anything portentous when they eat their young. The young of the

hog is considered in a state of purity for sacrifice when five days

old,[2064] the lamb on the seventh day, and the calf on the thirtieth.

Coruncanius asserts, that ruminant animals are not proper for victims

until they have two teeth.[2065] It has been supposed, that when a

pig has lost one eye, it will not live long;[2066] otherwise, these

animals generally live up to fifteen, or sometimes twenty years. They

sometimes become mad; besides which, they are liable to other diseases,

especially to quinsy[2067] and to scrofula.[2068] It is an indication

that the hog is diseased, when blood is found at the root of a bristle

pulled from its back, and when it holds its head on one side while

walking. When the female becomes too fat, she has a deficiency of milk;

the first litter is always the least numerous. Animals of this kind

delight in rolling in the mud.[2069] The tail is curled, and it has

also been remarked, that those are a more acceptable offering to the

gods, whose tail is turned to the right than those which have it turned

to the left. They may be fattened in sixty days, and more especially

if they have been kept without food for three days before fattening.

The swine is by far the most brutish of all the animals, and it has

been said, and not unaptly, that life has been given them in place of

salt.[2070] And yet it has been known, that these animals, when carried

away by thieves, have recognized the voice of their keeper; and when

a vessel has been under water through the inclination of one of its

sides, they have had the sense to go over to the other side. The leader

of the herd will even learn to go to market, and to different houses

in the city. In the wild state also, they have the sense to pass their

urine in plashy places, that they may destroy all traces of them, and

so lighten themselves for flight.[2071] The female is spayed, just

as is done with the camel; after they have fasted two days, they are

suspended by the hind feet, and the orifice of the womb is cut; after

this operation, they fatten more quickly.[2072]

M. Apicius[2073] made the discovery, that we may employ the same

artificial method of increasing the size of the liver of the sow, as

of that of the goose;[2074] it consists in cramming them with dried

figs, and when they are fat enough, they are drenched with wine mixed

with honey, and immediately killed. There is no animal that affords

a greater variety to the palate of the epicure; all the others have

their own peculiar flavour, but the flesh of the hog has nearly

fifty different flavours. Hence it is, that there are whole pages of

regulations made by the censors, forbidding the serving up at banquets

of the belly, the kernels,[2075] the testicles, the womb, and the

cheeks. However, notwithstanding all this, the poet Publius,[2076] the

author of the Mimes, when he ceased to be a slave, is said to have

given no entertainment without serving up the belly of a sow, to which

he also gave the name of “sumen.”

CHAP. 78.—THE WILD BOAR; WHO WAS THE FIRST TO ESTABLISH PARKS FOR WILD

ANIMALS.

The flesh of the wild boar is also much esteemed. Cato, the Censor, in

his orations, strongly declaimed against the use of the brawn of the

wild boar.[2077] The animal used to be divided into three portions, the

middle part of which was laid by,[2078] and is called boar’s chine. P.

Servilius Rullus was the first Roman who served up a whole boar at a

banquet; the father of that Rullus, who, in the consulship of Cicero,

proposed the Agrarian law. So recent is the introduction of a thing

which is now in daily use. The Annalists have taken notice of such a

fact as this, clearly as a hint to us to mend our manners; seeing that

now-a-days two or three boars are consumed, not at one entertainment,

but as forming the first course only.

(52.) Fulvius Lupinus was the first Roman who formed parks[2079] for

the reception of these and other wild animals: he first fed them in the

territory of Tarquinii: it was not long, however, that imitators were

found in L. Lucullus and Q. Hortensius.[2080] The wild sow brings forth

once only in the year. The males are very fierce during the rutting

time; they fight with each other, having first hardened their sides by

rubbing them against the trees, and covered themselves with mud. The

females, as is the case with animals of every kind, become more fierce

just after they have brought forth. The wild boar is not capable of

generating before the first year. The wild boar of India[2081] has two

curved teeth, projecting from beneath the muzzle, a cubit in length;

and the same number projecting from the forehead, like the horns of the

young bull. The hair of these animals, in a wild state, is the colour

of copper, the others are black. No species whatever of the swine is

found in Arabia.

CHAP. 79. (53.)—ANIMALS IN A HALF-WILD STATE.

In no species is the union with the wild animal so easy as in that

of the swine; the produce of such unions was called by the ancients

hybrid,[2082] or half savage; which appellation has also been

transferred to the human race, as it was to C. Antonius, the colleague

of Cicero in his consulship. Not only, however, with respect to the

hog, but all other animals as well, wherever there is a tame species,

there is a corresponding wild one as well; a fact which is equally

true with reference to man himself, as is proved by the many races of

wild men of which we have already spoken.[2083] There is no kind of

animal, however, that is divided into a greater number of varieties

than the goat. There are the capræa,[2084] the rupicapra or rock-goat,

and the ibex, an animal of wonderful swiftness, although its head is

loaded with immense horns, which bear a strong resemblance to the

sheath of a sword.[2085] By means of these horns the animal balances

itself, when it darts along the rocks, as though it had been hurled

from a sling;[2086] more especially when it wishes to leap from one

eminence to another. There are the oryges also,[2087] which are said to

be the only animals that have the hair the contrary way, the points

being turned towards the head. There are the dama also,[2088] the

pygargus,[2089] and the strepsiceros,[2090] besides many others which

strongly resemble them. The first mentioned of these animals,[2091]

however, dwell in the Alps; all the others are sent to us from the

parts beyond sea.

CHAP. 80. (54.)—APES.

The different kinds of apes, which approach the nearest to the human

figure, are distinguished from each other by the tail.[2092] Their

shrewdness is quite wonderful. It is said that, imitating the hunters,

they will besmear themselves with bird-lime, and put their feet into

the shoes, which, as so many snares, have been prepared for them.[2093]

Mucianus says, that they have even played at chess, having, by

practice, learned to distinguish the different pieces, which are made

of wax.[2094] He says that the species which have tails become quite

melancholy when the moon is on the wane, and that they leap for joy

at the time of the new moon, and adore it. Other quadrupeds also are

terrified at the eclipses of the heavenly bodies. All the species of

apes manifest remarkable affection for their offspring. Females, which

have been domesticated, and have had young ones, carry them about and

shew them to all comers, shew great delight when they are caressed,

and appear to understand the kindness thus shewn them. Hence it is,

that they very often stifle their young with their embraces. The

dog’s-headed ape[2095] is of a much fiercer nature, as is the case with

the satyr. The callitriche[2096] has almost a totally different aspect;

it has a beard on the face, and a tail, which in the first part of it

is very bushy. It is said that this animal cannot live except in the

climate of Æthiopia, which is its native place.

CHAP. 81. (55.)—THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF HARES.

There are also numerous species of hares. Those in the Alps are

white,[2097] and it is believed that, during the winter, they live

upon snow for food; at all events, every year, as the snow melts, they

acquire a reddish colour; it is, moreover, an animal which is capable

of existing in the most severe climates. There is also a species of

hare, in Spain, which is called the rabbit;[2098] it is extremely

prolific, and produces famine in the Balearic islands, by destroying

the harvests. The young ones, either when cut from out of the body

of the mother, or taken from the breast, without having the entrails

removed, are considered a most delicate food; they are then called

laurices.[2099] It is a well-known fact, that the inhabitants of the

Balearic islands begged of the late Emperor Augustus the aid of a

number of soldiers, to prevent the too rapid increase of these animals.

The ferret[2100] is greatly esteemed for its skill in catching them.

It is thrown into the burrows, with their numerous outlets, which the

rabbits form, and from which circumstance they derive their name,[2101]

and as it drives them out, they are taken above. Archelaus informs us,

that in the hare, the number of cavernous receptacles in the body for

the excrements always equals that of its years;[2102] but still the

numbers are sometimes found to differ. He says also, that the same

individual possesses the characteristics of the two sexes, and that it

becomes pregnant just as well without the aid of the male. It is a kind

provision of Nature, in making animals which are both harmless and good

for food, thus prolific. The hare, which is preyed upon by all other

animals, is the only one, except the dasypus,[2103] which is capable of

superfœtation;[2104] while the mother is suckling one of her young, she

has another in the womb covered with hair, another without any covering

at all, and another which is just beginning to be formed. Attempts

have been made to form a kind of stuff of the hair of these animals;

but it is not so soft as when attached to the skin, and, in consequence

of the shortness of the hairs, soon falls to pieces.

CHAP. 82. (56.)—ANIMALS WHICH ARE TAMED IN PART ONLY.

Hares are seldom tamed, and yet they cannot properly be called wild

animals; indeed, there are many species of them which are neither tame

nor wild, but of a sort of intermediate nature; of the same kind there

are among the winged animals, swallows and bees, and among the sea

animals, the dolphin.

(57.) Many persons have placed that inhabitant of our houses, the

mouse, in this class also; an animal which is not to be despised, for

the portents which it has afforded, even in relation to public events.

By gnawing the silver shields at Lanuvium,[2105] mice prognosticated

the Marsian war; and the death of our general, Carbo, at Clusium,[2106]

by gnawing the latchets with which he fastened his shoes.[2107] There

are many species of this animal in the territory of Cyrenaica; some

of them with a wide, others with a projecting, forehead, and some

again with bristling hair, like the hedgehog.[2108] We are informed

by Theophrastus, that after the mice had driven the inhabitants of

Gyara[2109] from their island, they even gnawed the iron; which they

also do, by a kind of natural instinct, in the iron forges among the

Chalybes. In gold mines, too, their stomachs are opened for this

purpose, and some of the metal is always to be found there, which they

have pilfered,[2110] so great a delight do they take in stealing! We

learn from our Annals, also, that at the siege of Casilinum,[2111] by

Hannibal, a mouse was sold for two hundred denarii,[2112] and that the

person who sold it perished with hunger, while the purchaser survived.

To be visited by white mice is considered as indicative of a fortunate

event; but our Annals are full of instances in which the singing[2113]

of a mouse has interrupted the auspices.[2114] Nigidius informs us,

that the field-mouse conceals itself during winter: this is also said

to be the case with the dormouse, which the regulations of the censors,

and of M. Scaurus, the chief of the senate, when he was consul,[2115]

have banished from our tables,[2116] no less than shell-fish and

birds, which are brought from a foreign country. The dormouse is also

a half-wild animal, and the same person[2117] made warrens for them

in large casks, who first formed parks for wild boars. In relation to

this subject, it has been remarked that dormice will not mate, unless

they happen to be natives of the same forest; and that if those are

put together that are brought from different rivers or mountains, they

will fight and destroy each other. These animals nourish their parents,

when worn out with old age, with a singular degree of affection. This

old age of theirs is put an end to by their winter’s rest, when they

conceal themselves and sleep; they are young again by the summer. The

field-mouse[2118] also enjoys a similar repose.

CHAP. 83. (58.)—PLACES IN WHICH CERTAIN ANIMALS ARE NOT TO BE FOUND.

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 peculiar localities.[2119] In Italy

the dormouse is found in one part only, the Messian forest.[2120]

In Lycia the gazelle never passes beyond the mountains which border

upon Syria;[2121] 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[2122] they never go beyond Mount Elaphus; those upon that

mountain, too, have cloven ears. In the island of Poroselene,[2123]

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 skins 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;[2124] 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 in 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.[2125] In Italy, the

bite of the shrew-mouse[2126] 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.[2127] In this island there are neither

foxes, nor bears, nor, indeed, any kind of baneful animal,[2128] with

the exception of the phalangium, a species of spider, of which I

shall speak in its appropriate place.[2129] It is a thing still more

remarkable, that in this island there are no stags, except in the

district of Cydon;[2130] the same is the case with the wild boar, the

woodcock,[2131] and the hedgehog. In Africa, there are neither wild

boars, stags, deer, nor bears.

CHAP. 84. (59.)—ANIMALS WHICH INJURE STRANGERS ONLY, AS ALSO ANIMALS

WHICH INJURE THE NATIVES OF THE COUNTRY ONLY, AND WHERE THEY ARE FOUND.

Besides this, there are certain animals, which are harmless to the

natives of the country, but destroy strangers; such are the little

serpents at Tirynthus,[2132] which are said to spring from 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[2133] of Caria, as Aristotle tells us, strangers are

not injured by the scorpions, while the natives are killed by them.

But I must now give an account of other animals as well, and of the

productions of the earth.[2134]

* * * * *

Summary.—Remarkable events, narratives, and observations, seven hundred

and eighty-seven.

* * * * *

Roman authors quoted.—Mucianus,[2135] Procilius,[2136] Verrius

Flaccus,[2137] L. Piso,[2138] Cornelius Valerianus,[2139] Cato

the Censor,[2140] Fenestella,[2141] Trogus,[2142] the Register of

the Triumphs,[2143] Columella,[2144] Virgil,[2145] Varro,[2146]

Lucilius,[2147] Metellus Scipio,[2148] Cornelius Celsus,[2149]

Nigidius,[2150] Trebius Niger,[2151] Pomponius Mela,[2152] Mamilius

Sura.[2153]

* * * * *

Foreign authors quoted.—King Juba,[2154] Polybius,[2155]

Herodotus,[2156] Antipater,[2157] Aristotle,[2158] Demetrius[2159]

the physician, Democritus,[2160] Theophrastus,[2161] Euanthes,[2162]

Agriopas,[2163] who wrote the “Olympionicæ,” King Hiero,[2164]

King Attalus,[2165] Philometor, Ctesias,[2166] Duris,[2167]

Philistus,[2168] Archytas,[2169] Phylarchus,[2170] Amphilochus[2171]

of Athens, Anaxapolis[2172] the Thasian, Apollodorus[2173] of

Lemnos, Aristophanes[2174] the Milesian, Antigonus[2175] the

Cumæan, Agathocles[2176] of Chios, Apollonius[2177] of Pergamus,

Aristander[2178] of Athens, Bacchius[2179] of Miletus, Bion[2180]

of Soli, Chæreas[2181] the Athenian, Diodorus[2182] of Priene,

Dion[2183] the Colophonian, Epigenes[2184] the Rhodian, Euagon[2185]

of Thasos, Euphronius[2186] of Athens, Hegesias[2187] of Maronea, the

Menanders[2188] of Priene and of Heraclea, Menecrates[2189] the poet,

Androtion[2190] who wrote on Agriculture, Æschrion[2191] who wrote on

Agriculture, Lysimachus[2192] who wrote on Agriculture, Dionysius[2193]

who translated Mago, Diophanes[2194] who made an epitome of the work of

Dionysius, King Archelaus,[2195] Nicander.[2196]