[1608] Florus, B. i. c. 18, states, that this was practised in the

later engagements with Pyrrhus, and that by these means the elephants

were either destroyed or rendered useless. Cuvier remarks, that the

trunk is composed of small muscles and fatty matter, enveloped by a

tendinous membrane, and covered with skin.—B.

[1609] A.U.C. 678.—B.

[1610] “Venus the Conqueror.” This temple was dedicated by Pompey,

after his conquests in the East, in his second consulship, B.C. 55.

[1611] Pliny here refers to an art, practised among the Romans, of

throwing up a shield into the air, in such a manner that, after

performing a circuit, it would fall down on a certain spot; this trick

is also alluded to by Martial, B. ix. Ep. 39.—B. The exercise with

the boomerang, which was known to the ancient Assyrians, and has been

borrowed in modern times from the people of Australasia, seems to have

been somewhat similar to this.

[1612] “Clathri.” These were gratings of iron trellis-work, placed in

front of the lowest row of the spectators, to protect them from the

wild beasts. This exhibition took place in Pompey’s Amphitheatre, in

the Campus Martius. The arena of the amphitheatre was mostly surrounded

by a wall, distinguished by the name of “podium,” which was generally

about eighteen feet in height, and the top of which was protected by

this trellis-work. In the present instance, however, the “podium” can

hardly have been so much as eighteen feet in height.

[1613] “Euripis.” Julius Cæsar caused a canal, ten feet wide, to be

formed in the Circus Maximus, around the bottom of the “podium,” to

protect the spectators from the wild beasts. These “euripi” probably

took their name from the narrow channel so called, which lay between

Bœotia and the island of Eubœa.

[1614] We learn, however, from Lampridius, in his Life of Heliogabalus,

that this euripus was afterwards restored to the Circus.

[1615] Tacitus and Suetonius mention this separation of the equites

from the rest of the spectators: it took place A.U.C. 816.—B. Up to

the time of Augustus, A.U.C. 758, the senators, equites, and people

sat indiscriminately in the Circus; but that emperor, and after him

Claudius, Nero, and Domitian, separated the senators and the equites

from the commons.

[1616] There are coins which bear the figure of an elephant and the

word Cæsar, probably struck in commemoration of these games.—B.

[1617] The practice of placing towers filled with soldiers on the backs

of the elephants is alluded to by Lucretius, B. v. l. 1301, and by

Juvenal, Sat. xii. l. 110.—B. It still prevails in India.

[1618] “Consummation gladiatorum.” There is some doubt about the exact

meaning of this. It may mean, “at the conclusion of the gladiatorial

games,” as exhibited; or, what is more probable, “as the crowning

exploit of the gladiators,” who wished thereby to secure their

manumission, which was granted after remarkable feats of valour. Cælius

Rhodiginus, B. xi. c. 11, prefers this last meaning: Dalechamps, with

whom Ajasson coincides, the first.

[1619] “Postea singulis.” Those who coincide with Dalechamps and

Ajasson, as to the meaning, would read it, that at the end of the

gladiatorial games, the elephants fought singly one against another,

the gladiators having retired from the arena.

[1620] Pliny here uses the word “manu,” “hand,” which although, as he

afterwards remarks, it may not be an inappropriate metaphor, could

scarcely be admitted in our language.—B.

[1621] This trait has been observed in all ages; the elephant has been

known to remove with its trunk a child lying in its way, and in danger

of being injured. It appears to have an instinctive dread of trampling

on a living animal; the same has also been observed in the horse.—B.

[1622] “Hordeo succo;” the exact meaning has been the subject of much

discussion; it probably refers to some preparation of barley used by

the ancients, perhaps a maceration of the corn in water; it is scarcely

to be supposed, however, that the words are to be taken literally.—B.

[1623] Albertus Magnus, in his work on Animals, B. viii. c. 3, gives

a fuller account of this method of taking the wild elephant. He says:

“A man, riding on a tame elephant, guides him to the woods, and when

he has met with some wild ones, drives the tame one against them,

and makes it strike them with its trunk: the tame one, being better

fed, soon conquers the wild elephant, and throws him to the ground;

upon which, the man leaps upon him, and flogs him with a whip, and

immediately the other becomes quiet.” Strabo, B. xv., gives a different

account of the mode of catching and taming the elephant in India.

[1624] This appears to have been taken from Plutarch; and we have the

same statement in Ælian, who particularly speaks of the sagacity of the

animal, in endeavouring to extricate itself from the trench.—B.

[1625] We have the same account given by Ælian and by Strabo.—B.

[1626] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 18, remarks, that the violence

of the animal, which is produced by an accidental cause, as also that

arising from venereal excitement, are counteracted by opposite modes of

treatment; the one by depriving it of food, the other by over-feeding

it; the former, in order to break its strength, and the latter, to

divert it into a different channel.—B.

[1627] Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. i. c. 38, states that the Romans employed

this mode of terrifying the elephants brought against them by

Pyrrhus.—B.

[1628] That this was the general opinion among the ancients, we learn

from Polybius, Ælian, Livy, Diodorus Siculus, and others. Cuvier

remarks, that this may have been the case with the animals from

Barbary, or the north of Africa, but that it is not so with those from

the middle or south of that continent.—B.

[1629] It has been stated, in a Note to chap. 5, that Mr. Corse found

the period of the gestation of the elephant to be between twenty and

twenty-one months.—B.

[1630] Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iv. c. 31, considers the age of sixty to be

the prime period of their life, not the commencement of their prime.—B.

[1631] This remark is incorrect; when the water is sufficiently deep,

it swims with ease; and if the end of the trunk remains exposed to

the atmosphere, it can dive below the surface, or swim with the body

immersed.—B.

[1632] Cuvier remarks, that this statement is incorrect. He dissected

three elephants at Paris, and found that their death had been caused by

inflammation of the lungs and chest. The species of elephant, which now

inhabits Asia and Africa, is certainly not adapted to a cold climate;

but the numerous remains of elephants found in the north of Asia, prove

that a species formerly existed, capable of enduring great cold. It is

to be observed, that this species was covered with a thick, furry coat

of wool and hair.—B.

[1633] This is from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 26; but it is

scarcely necessary to remark, that it is without foundation. Ælian,

Anim. Nat. B. ii. c. 18, refers to it, and explains it by supposing

that the oil was not drunk, but applied externally; which is less

improbable.—B.

[1634] They suck the fluid into the cavity of the trunk, and bend the

trunk into the mouth, where it is received and swallowed in the usual

manner.—B.

[1635] This dislike is confirmed by Cuvier.—B.

[1636] “Sanguisuga.”

[1637] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 1, remarks, that the elephant

is the least hairy of all animals.—B.

[1638] Cuvier remarks, that the trunk, being composed of a mixture of

delicate muscular fibres and rich fat, would, when properly prepared,

afford an article of food that might be very palatable.—B.

[1639] We learn from Livy, B. xlii. c. 23, that Gulussa was the son of

Massinissa.—B.

[1640] In c. 8 of this Book.—B.

[1641] We learn from Cuvier, that the elephants of Africa and Asia

belong to different species, distinguished by the form of the head, and

some peculiarities in the structure of the teeth.—B.

[1642] By the term “dragon,” we may suppose that Pliny refers to some

of the great serpents which exist in hot climates, and are of such vast

size, that they might perhaps be able to perform some of the exploits

here ascribed to the dragon.—B.

[1643] This account appears to be entirely without foundation.—B.

[1644] The idea of the elephant’s blood being cold, and sought after by

the dragon, is, of course, without foundation; its blood being of the

same temperature with that of other quadrupeds.—B.

[1645] Cuvier states, that in India and America there are serpents of

the genus boa, or python, thirty feet or more in length. He observes,

that there are various species of aquatic reptiles in the seas of

India, but that they never swim twisted together, or with their heads

elevated. Ælian gives an account of the great size of the dragons in

Æthiopia.—B.

[1646] Cuvier remarks, that there are no serpents with crests on the

head, and that Juba must have been thinking probably of some animal of

the genus lacertus, when he made this statement. We may here remark,

that the “basiliscus,” or “king of serpents,” was said by the poets to

have a crown on its head, as denoting its kingly rank. See c. 33 of

this Book.

[1647] It is well known, that certain serpents have the jaws and fauces

so constructed, that they will allow of the passage of an animal more

bulky than themselves; they first crush its bones, and form it into

a kind of pulp, and then pass it, without further change, into the

stomach, where it is slowly dissolved by the gastric juices.—B.

[1648] Supposed to have been in Mysia, or Bithynia, considerably to the

west of Pontus.—B.

[1649] This account is entirely without foundation. The same statement

is made by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. ii. c. 21, who probably copied it from

Metrodorus. There are stories of the power which serpents possess of

fascinating birds by the eye, but they are not improbably without

foundation.—B. There is little doubt, however, that some serpents have

the power, by some means or other, of fascinating the birds which they

make their prey.

[1650] This is referred to by many ancient writers; among others, by

Livy, B. xviii.; Florus, B. ii. c. 2; Valerius Maximus, B. i. c. 8; and

Aulus Gellius, B. vi. c. 3.—B.

[1651] As Cuvier remarks, it is difficult to conceive what he means

by the boa of Italy. At the present day, the longest Italian serpents

are the Æsculapian serpent (a harmless animal), and the “Coluber

quadrilineatus” of Linnæus, neither of which exceeds ten feet in

length. The one here mentioned, was probably, as Cuvier suggests, one

of the genuine boa or python species; but, as he says, where did it

come from? and how did it get there?

[1652] It is doubtful whether any one ever witnessed a serpent sucking

a cow, but it seems to have been generally believed, and it is

therefore probable, that the name of the animal was derived from this

circumstance.—B. It is still believed of the common snake in some parts

of this country. The reading “primo” has been preferred to “trimo,”

that adopted by Sillig.

[1653] Cuvier remarks upon the two animals here mentioned, the bison

and the urus, that Europe, at the present time, contains only one

species of wild ox, the bison, or aurochs of the Germans, which still

exists, although in small numbers only, in the forests of Lithuania.

There are, however, fossil remains, in different parts of the north of

Europe, of other animals of the same genus, which may have been the

urus of Pliny, and not extinct when he wrote. Ajasson, vol. vi. pp.

413, 414; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 365. The description by Cæsar of the

urus of Gaul, Bell. Gall. B. vi. c. 26, seems to agree with the remains

of the fossil animal, and may, therefore, be considered as confirming

the opinion, that both animals were in existence when Pliny wrote.—B.

[1654] This appears to have been a species of antelope, the Antelope

bubalus of Linnæus. Cuvier observes, that Strabo places it among the

gazelles, and Aristotle associates it with the stag and the deer, while

Oppian’s description of the urus, agrees with those of the gazelle.—B.

[1655] We learn from various travellers, that there are troops of

wild horses and asses in many parts of Tartary and the neighbouring

countries; but it is doubtful whether they have proceeded from

an original wild stock, or may not have been the produce of some

individuals which had accidentally escaped from the domestic state.—B.

[1656] No doubt Pliny has fallen into an error on this subject, and his

elk and achlis are, in reality, the same animal. The description of the

latter, for the most part, applies to the former, with the exception of

the want of joints in the legs, which is entirely without foundation.

Cæsar’s account of the elk, Bell. Gall. B. vi. c. 27, agrees generally

with Pliny’s account of the achlis; he also says, that the legs of the

alces are “without articulations and joints.”

[1657] The Romans had but a very imperfect knowledge of the

Scandinavian peninsula. They supposed it to be surrounded by the ocean,

and to be composed of many islands, which Ptolemy calls Scandiæ. Of

these, the largest bore especially the name of Scandia or Scandinavia,

by which name the modern Sweden was probably indicated. See B. iv. c.

30.

[1658] Pliny’s account is from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 45,

but, as is often the case, with considerable exaggerations. Aristotle

says, that these animals eject their excrements to a distance of four

feet, and that it is of so acrid a nature, as to cause the hair of the

dog to fall off. The word jugerum is generally used as a measure of

superficial surface.—B.

[1659] Pliny here renders the Greek πλέθρον, by “jugerum,” which is

ordinarily a measure of superficies. In the present case, therefore, it

must mean a measure of _length_, of 100 Grecian, or 104 Roman feet.

[1660] The pard of Pliny, as we shall find stated below, is the male of

the panther.

[1661] Cuvier remarks, that all the feline animals have retractile

claws, drawn by an elastic ligament into a sheath, and protruded when

required for the purpose of prehension. The sheath is formed of a

duplicature or fold of the skin and the subjacent cellular membrane.—B.

[1662] What Pliny states here, is without foundation. He supposes

that the leopard is the produce of a pard, or male panther, and the

female of the lion; but this is incorrect, the leopard being a distinct

species of animal.—B.

[1663] Herodotus, B. iii. c. 108, gives the same account, which is

refuted by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 31. Aulus Gellius, B. xiii.

c. 7, refers to Herodotus, and the refutation by Aristotle.—B.

[1664] The account here given of the lioness generally, Aristotle gives

respecting the Syrian lioness only, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 31; there is

some reason to believe that Aristotle is not correct in what he says.

The account given by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iv. c. 33, is nearly the same

with that of Pliny.—B.

[1665] There is much in this account that is incorrect. It is well

ascertained that the cubs of the lion are proportionably as large and

as perfectly formed as the young of other animals that belong to the

same family.—B.

[1666] Herodotus, B. vii. c. 126, and Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii.

c. 28, give a similar account of the district in which lions are

found.—B. Littré remarks, that this statement of Pliny is probably

formed, as originally suggested by M. Maury, upon the fact, that the

lions of Europe, as we learn from Herodotus, attacked the camels of

Xerxes, on his invasion of Europe.

[1667] Cuvier remarks, that we have no knowledge of the lion with

curled hair, so frequently spoken of by the ancients. He suggests that

there may have been a peculiar variety between the rivers Achelous and

Nestus or Mestus, or perhaps, more probably, that it was altogether

imaginary. He states also, that we no longer see lions without manes,

but that Olivier had seen some at Bagdat. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix.

c. 44, speaks of the two species of lions, and describes them nearly as

Pliny has done.—B.

[1668] According to Cuvier, this is not the case; the lion passes its

urine just as the other animals of the same family. Pliny again refers

to the odour of the lion’s breath, in B. xi. c. 115.—B.

[1669] The lion, like other carnivorous animals, is able to receive

a large quantity of food into the stomach, and to remain for a

proportionably longer period without eating; but the statement

respecting its taking food on alternate days, is without foundation.

There does not appear to be any ground for the account of the mode by

which it relieves the stomach when overcharged.—B.

[1670] We learn from Cicero, Ep. Fam. B. v. Ep. 12, that Polybius wrote

a history of the Numantine war, in which we may presume the account

here referred to was contained.—B.

[1671] Although these accounts of the generosity and clemency of the

lion are in a great measure fabulous, still the accounts of those

who have had the best opportunity of becoming acquainted with the

character of different animals, agree in ascribing to it less ferocity

and brutality, in proportion to its size and strength, than to other

animals of the same family.—B.

[1672] In various countries, and more especially in Egypt, the

magicians profess to charm serpents by incantations; and it appears

that they are able to acquire some power over them by imitating their

natural cries. Cuvier informs us, that Geoffroi St. Hilaire had

witnessed the fact, and was himself able to produce the effect.—B.

[1673] Aristotle says, a matter of a _yellow_ colour, ἰχῶρες ὠχροὶ.

[1674] Probably, there is no foundation for this opinion: it does not

appear that any animal, except man, has the faculty of weeping, i. e.

of shedding tears, in connection with a peculiar condition of mind and

feeling.—B. But query as to the horse. See c. 64 of the present Book,

and the Introduction to vol. i. p. xvii.

[1675] This supposed fear is without foundation, but appears to have

been a generally received opinion, as it is referred to by Lucretius,

B. iv. l. 714-725.—B.

[1676] Seneca gives an account of this exhibition; he says that the

lions were turned loose into the Circus, and that spearmen were sent by

king Bocchus, who killed them with darts. Sylla was prætor A.U.C. 661,

B.C. 92.—B.

[1677] “Sagum.” This was the cloak worn by the Roman soldiers and

inferior officers, in contradistinction to the “paludamentum“ of the

general and superior officers. It was open in the front, and usually,

though not always, fastened across the shoulders by a clasp. It was

thick, and made of wool.

[1678] This story is given also by Plutarch, in the life of Demetrius.

Lysimachus was a Macedonian by birth, but son of Agathocles, a serf of

Thessaly. Through his great courage, he became one of the body-guard

of Alexander. Quintus Curtius tells us that, when hunting in Syria,

he killed a lion of immense size single-handed, though not without

receiving severe wounds in the contest. The same author looks upon this

as the probable origin of the story here referred to by Pliny.

[1679] This is mentioned by many ancient authors; by Plutarch,

Pausanias, Seneca, Justin, and by Quintus Curtius, who thinks that the

account usually given is fabulous.—B.

[1680] Related by Plutarch, as among the acts of extravagance and

folly, committed by Antony, which gave much disgust to the grave and

respectable citizens of Rome.—B.

[1681] A famous courtezan of the time of Cicero; being originally the

freedwoman and mistress of Volumnius Eutrapelus, and then successively

the mistress of Antony and the poet Gallus, who mentioned her in

his poems under the name of Lycoris; she did not, however, continue

faithful to him.

[1682] Aulus Gellius, B. v. c. 14, and Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. viii. c.

48, relate a similar anecdote of Androclus or Androcles, who extracted

a thorn from the foot of a lion.—B.

[1683] The text is in a state of extreme confusion here, and so

hopelessly mangled, that we can only guess at the sense of it. In

Sillig’s edition, which is generally followed, it runs to this effect:

“Neque profugienti, cum potuisset, fera institerat et procumbens ad

arborem hiatu quo terruerat miserationem quærebat. Os morsu avidiore

inhæserat dentibus cruciabatque inedia, tum pœna in ipsis ejus telis

suspectantem ac velut mutis precibus orantem, dum fortuitu fidens non

est contra feram; multoque diutius miraculo quam metu cessatum est.”

Thus paraphrased by Sillig, who devotes a long Note to it: “The lion,

therefore, being tormented by hunger and excessive pain, and thus

punishing himself for his greediness in his own weapons (his teeth),

looked up, and besought Elpis with silent prayers, as it were, not, as

he trusted to the protection fortuitously given by the branches, to

show himself distrustful of a wild beast.”

[1684] This remark refers to what Pliny has related in c. 5, respecting

the sagacity of the elephant.—B.

[1685] Cuvier remarks, that this “panthera” is not the same as the

πάνθηρ of the Greeks. From the description of its spots and other

circumstances, he thinks that it was one of the African animals,

known by modern naturalists as the leopard, which appear to have been

confounded by the Romans with the panther. The term “leopardus” is

not met with until after the age of Pliny; it was supposed to be the

produce of the pardus, or male panther, and the lioness.—B.

[1686] “Assectatoris sapientiæ”—“A follower of wisdom;” meaning a

“philosopher.”

[1687] This word here signifies, simply, a “serpent.”

[1688] Ælian, Var. Hist. B. xiii. c. i., relates an occurrence of this

kind, about Atalanta, and Justin, B. xliv. c. 4, about Habis, a king of

Spain. As to the account of Romulus having been suckled by a wolf, it

was generally regarded as a legendary tale by the Romans themselves.

See Livy, B. i. c. 4, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiq. Rom. B.

i.—B.

[1689] Pliny, in B. xiii. c. 15, speaks of “tables of tiger and panther

pattern,” as articles of ornamental furniture among the Romans, named

from the peculiar patterns of the veins in the citrus wood, of which

they were formed.—B.

[1690] This, though mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 8, is

probably incorrect; and still more the addition made by Ælian, Anim.

Nat. B. v. c. 40, that this odour is grateful to man. It has, however,

induced some to conjecture, that the animal here described might be the

civet; but the description given is inapplicable to that animal; nor,

indeed, does the civet appear to have been known to the ancients. For

further information, see the remarks of Cuvier, Ajasson, vol. vi. p.

420, and Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 386. Pliny, in B. xxi. c. 18, says that

no animal, except the panther, has any odour.—B.

[1691] Meaning the “spotted” or “parti-coloured” female.

[1692] Xenophon, in his Cynegeticon, says, that the pard is found on

Mount Pangæus, in Macedonia; the truth of which is denied by Aristotle,

who says that it is not to be found in Europe.

[1693] He was tribune A.U.C. 670. Cicero says, Tusc. Quæst. B. iv. c.

39, that Aufidius, although blind, was eminent for his political and

literary talents. He wrote a History of Greece.—B.

[1694] 4th of May, A.U.C. 696.—B.

[1695] See also Suetonius, Life of Augustus. Martial, Spect. Ep. 18,

relates a circumstance respecting a tame tiger, which occurrence

appears to have taken place at the time when he wrote. Heliogabalus

yoked tigers to his car, in imitation of Bacchus, as we are informed by

Lampridius.

[1696] “In cavea.” In the arena or centre of the amphitheatre. This

word often signifies, however, the place where the senators, equites,

and plebeians, sat in the theatre: and in the later writers it is used

to signify the whole amphitheatre.

[1697] A.U.C. 742.—B.

[1698] In the winter of 1809 and 1810, an antique mosaic pavement was

discovered at Rome, in which four tigers are represented, and which,

it has been supposed, might possibly have some reference to those

exhibited by Claudius. Martial, who lived a little after Pliny, speaks

of tigers exhibited at Rome, by Domitian, in considerable numbers.

Epig. B. viii. Ep. 26.—B.

[1699] Cuvier remarks, that the account given of the two kinds of

camels, and his description generally, is correct, with the exception

of their antipathy to the horse. The caravans, he says, present a

constant mixture of the two animals, and even, in Arabia, the young

foals are occasionally suckled by the female camel.—B.

[1700] We have a similar statement in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c.

1. Indeed, the account here given generally, is taken from him.—B.

[1701] See B. xi. c. 62.

[1702] Mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 17, and by Ælian,

Anim. Nat. B. iii. c. 7; but, as stated above, it is incorrect.—B.

[1703] At the time of rutting, according to Solinus.

[1704] He speaks here of only _one_ of the animals which resemble the

camel; the giraffe, namely. The other, which he for the present omits,

is the ostrich.

[1705] The description of the giraffe, here given, is sufficiently

correct, but we have a more minute account of it by Dion Cassius, B.

xliii. In the time of the Emperor Gordian, ten of these animals were

exhibited at Rome at once; a remarkable fact, when we bear in mind that

so few have been imported into Europe for many centuries past. The

giraffe is figured in the mosaic at Præneste, and under it is inscribed

its name, nabi.—B. It has been found that it is unable to bear the

winters of Europe.

[1706] Its form being like that of the camel, while its spots resemble

those of the leopard. Horace refers to it, when speaking of an object

calculated to excite the vulgar gaze; “Diversum confusa genus panthera

camelo”—“The race of the panther mingled with the camel,” Ep. B. ii.;

Ep. i. l. 195.

[1707] According to Dion Cassius, B. xliii., these games were

celebrated A.U.C. 708.—B.

[1708] This comparison can only be employed to indicate the mild nature

of the giraffe.—B.

[1709] In the older editions, the names here given to this animal were

“chaus” and “ruphius;” the alteration was made by Hardouin from a MS.

in the Royal Library of Paris, which he deemed of high authority, and

has been adopted by all the modern editors. There is considerable

doubt respecting the animal here designated by the name of “chama;” it

appears to have been an inhabitant of Gaul, and in c. 34, is styled

“lupus cervarius;” but the account does not enable us to identify it

with any animal known to exist in that country.—B. It is generally

supposed to have been a species of lynx.

[1710] No doubt this description refers to some species of the monkey

tribe, but it is uncertain to what one in particular. Its having been

seen only once at Rome, shows that it was not of the most common kind;

Cuvier, however, thinks it probable, that Pliny may have been incorrect

in this; he supposes that it was the “Simia sphinx” of Linnæus, Lem.

vol. iii. p. 395. According to Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 8,

κηβος is merely a monkey with a tail; see also the account of Ælian,

Anim. Nat. B. xvii. c. 8.—B.

[1711] Cuvier says, that this was the single-horned rhinoceros

of India. The commentators have been at a loss to reconcile this

description with the Epigram of Martial, Spect. Ep. xxii., where he

speaks of the rhinoceros exhibited by Domitian, as having two horns.

It has been proved that this latter was of the two-horned species, by

the medals of that emperor, now in existence. Martial, Spect. Ep. ix.,

seems also to have been acquainted with the single-horned species. That

with two horns is mentioned by Pausanias as the Æthiopian bull. We

learn from modern naturalists, that the two-horned species is a native

of the southern parts of Africa, while that with one horn is from

Asia.—B.

[1712] The other enemy is the dragon, as described in c. 11 and 12 of

the present Book.—B.

[1713] According to Cuvier, the lynx of Pliny is the Felis caracal of

Linnæus: it is common in many parts of Asia and Africa, in the retired

forest districts, and still exists in the Pyrenees and the mountains of

Naples.—B.

[1714] As far as the accounts of the sphinx are to be regarded as

not entirely fabulous, we must suppose it to have originated in

some species of the monkey tribe; perhaps the Simia troglodytes or

chimpanzé.—B.

[1715] Of course the winged horse is an imaginary being, nor does

it appear what is the origin of the fable; the horns are an unusual

appendage to the pegasus.—B. The pegasus and the rhinoceros together

may have given rise to that fabulous animal, the unicorn. See, however,

the Monoceros, mentioned in c. 31.

[1716] Although a hybrid animal is produced by the union of the wolf

and the dog, it does not form a permanent species. But, as Cuvier

remarks, by the insertion of “velut,” Pliny seems to imply that the

crocotta unites the physical properties of the two animals. Ctesias,

Indic. c. 32, gives an account of the cynolycus, or “dog-wolf,” from

which Pliny seems to have taken his crocotta.—B.

[1717] It does not seem possible to determine what species of monkey is

here designated; it is most probable that he himself had no accurate

knowledge.—B.

[1718] We may here refer to the judicious remarks of Cuvier, Ajasson,

vol. vi. pp. 427, 428, and Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 399, on the

leucrocotta. It seems impossible to identify Pliny’s description with

any known animal, and it is not unlikely that he has confused the

accounts of authors who were speaking of different animals. Some of

the characteristics of the leucrocotta agree with those of the Indian

antelope, while others seem to resemble those of the hyæna.—B.

[1719] Perhaps the eale may have been the two-horned rhinoceros, as

some naturalists say that there is a degree of mobility in the horns

of that animal; the same observation has been made with respect to the

wild or forest bulls, the description of which animal, in Pliny, is

probably from Diodorus Siculus.—B.

[1720] This description of the mantichora appears to be taken from the

Indica of Ctesias; it has been also adopted by Aristotle and Ælian, but

they have qualified their accounts by some expressions of doubt, which

are omitted by Pliny. It has been conjectured, that Ctesias took his

description from the hieroglyphic figures in his time, probably common

in the East, and still found in the ruins of the Assyrian and Persian

cities, Nineveh and Persepolis, for instance.—B.

[1721] Probably meaning, “not cloven.”

[1722] Cuvier conjectures, that this is from Ctesias, and says, that a

similar animal is to be seen on one of the sculptures of Persepolis.—B.

[1723] Probably the stag of the Ganges, the “Cervus axis” of Linnæus;

but if so, Pliny has omitted to mention the horns.—B.

[1724] White apes are now unknown, as a distinct species, but

individuals are occasionally found nearly without colour.—B.

[1725] The “one-horned,” or the unicorn.

[1726] We have a discussion by Cuvier, respecting the existence of

the unicorn, or of any animal similar to that here described, with

a single horn. He remarks, that the only single-horned quadruped of

which we have any certain knowledge, is the rhinoceros, and that the

only horns which have been discovered, and which can have been single

horns, belong to it. There are five animals mentioned by the ancients,

as having single horns, the Indian ass, the single-horned horse, the

single-horned ox, the monoceros, described in the text, and the oryx

of Africa, which Pliny speaks of in c. 79 of this Book, and in B.

xi. c. 106. There are many curious accounts given by travellers of

acknowledged veracity, respecting animals seen in the more remote parts

of Asia and Africa, answering to the description of the unicorn, and

there are representations of the same in ancient sculptures; but they

do not amount to that kind of evidence which can at all supply the

place of direct proof.—B.

[1727] These will be found in B. v. c. 10.

[1728] From καταβλέπω, “to look downwards.”

[1729] Ælian describes this animal more in detail, Anim. Nat. B.

vii. c. 5. Cuvier thinks it probable that it is the Antelope gnu; he

remarks, that it has a very peculiar and mournful appearance; Ajasson,

vol. vi. p. 435; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 405.—B.

[1730] This account of the basilisk’s eye, like that of the catoblepas,

is entirely devoid of foundation.—B.

[1731] Many species have certain marks on the head, which were supposed

to resemble a crown.—B.

[1732] There is probably no foundation for this account of the action

of the effluvium of the weasel upon the basilisk or any other species

of serpent.—B.

[1733] Hence the proverbial expression applied to a person who is

suddenly silent upon the entrance of another; “Lupus est tibi visus.”

[1734] Cuvier says, that the wolves of Africa are of the ordinary size,

and conjectures that this remark probably applies to the chakale, or

“Canis aureus” of Linnæus, which is of the colour of the wolf, and the

size of the fox, and is common throughout all Africa.—B.

[1735] The opinion that men were converted into wolves by enchantment,

or a preternatural agency, was at one time so generally received, as to

have led to judicial processes, and the condemnation of the supposed

criminal.—B. To the relator of the above story that men lose their

voice on seeing a wolf, Scaliger wishes as many blows as at different

times he had seen a wolf without losing his voice.

[1736] This literally means “changing the skin;” was applied by some

ancient medical writers to a peculiar form of insanity, where the

patient conceives himself changed into a wolf, and named λυκανθρώπια,

“lycanthropy.” The word appears to have been in common use among the

Romans, and to have been applied by them to any one who had undergone a

remarkable change in his character and habits; in this sense it is used

by Plautus, Amphitryon, Prol. l. 123, and Bacchides, A. iv. sc. 4, l.

12.—B.

[1737] It is not known who is here referred to; it is not probable that

it is Fabius Pictor, the Roman historian.—B.

[1738] It is rather curious to find Pliny censuring others for

_credulity_; indeed he loses no opportunity of a hit at the Greeks, to

whom, after all, he is greatly indebted. See Introduction to vol. i. p.

17.

[1739] An account of the victories gained at the Olympic games.—B.

[1740] It has been conjectured, that the epithet, “Lycæan,” Λύκαιος,

was given to Jupiter by the Arcadians, for this supposed conversion

of men into wolves, which was conceived to be effected by divine

interposition.—B.

[1741] It does not appear what is the foundation of this opinion; of

course, it is without truth.—B.

[1742] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 35, says that they couple

once only in the year. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iv. c. 4, says that their

bringing forth continues twelve days.—B.

[1743] See c. 28 of the present Book. He alludes probably to the lynx.

[1744] It is not easy to say whence this opinion was derived; the

general character of the wolf is that of quickness and watchfulness,

rather than stupidity.—B. But it would appear that it is the lynx that

is alluded to.

[1745] The cerastes, or horned serpent, is mentioned by Lucan, in

his description of serpents, Pharsalia, B. ix. l. 716. One of the

Scholiasts on Lucan relates a story that when Helen was eloping with

Paris, she trod on the back of a cerastes, and broke it; from which

circumstance, the whole race moved with a crooked course.

[1746] Cuvier has observed this animal burying itself in the sand, and

has seen the motion of its horns, but does not credit its alleged power

of attracting birds; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 412.—B.

[1747] The amphisbæna is mentioned by Lucan, B. ix. l. 719. “The

dangerous amphisbæna, that moves on at either of its heads.”

[1748] The account of the two heads is obviously incorrect; the idea

has risen from the two extremities being nearly of the same size and

appearance. It has been supposed, that there were certain serpents,

with the power of moving with equal facility in both directions; and

that the name, Ἀμφίσβαινα, was derived from this circumstance.—B.

[1749] Lucan mentions the jaculus, B. ix. l. 720, and l. 822. In the

last passage he says: “Behold! afar, around the trunk of a barren

tree, a fierce serpent—Africa calls it the jaculus—wreathes itself,

and then darts forth, and through the head and pierced temples of

Paulus it takes its flight: nothing does venom there affect, death

seizes him through the wound. It was then understood how slowly fly the

stones which the sling hurls, how sluggishly whizzes the flight of the

Scythian arrow.”

[1750] There is an account of the jaculus, or, as it is called in

Greek, Ἀκοντίας, Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 18; it is mentioned by

Galen, Theriaca, c. 8.—B.

[1751] In B. ix. l. 701, Lucan says: “Here the gore (of the Gorgon

Medusa) which first from the sand lifted a head, raised the drowsy

asp with its puffed-out neck.” The whole of this passage in Lucan is

well worth the attention of those desirous to know something of the

serpent-lore of the ancients.

[1752] Cuvier says, that Geoffroi St. Hilaire has identified this

animal with the Coluber haje of Linnæus, which has, from the earliest

ages, been known as a native of Egypt, and where it still exists. Its

two most remarkable characteristics are those here referred to; the

puffing out of the neck when enraged, and its capacity of being tamed,

or, as it is styled, enchanted. This last has been taken advantage

of by the jugglers of that country from the most remote antiquity,

as appears from the writings of Moses, and something of a similar

nature is still practised. They remove the poison fangs, so as to

render the animal harmless, and by certain sounds render it obedient

to their call. It appears, also, that by pressing on the upper part

of the spine, the animal is rendered paralytic, and may be said to be

changed into a rod; this fact was witnessed by St. Hilaire. The asp is

described by Aristotle, and is frequently mentioned by Ælian. Galen

speaks of its deadly poison, in his Theriaca, c. 8. See Ajasson, vol.

vi. pp. 437-9; Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 414, 415.—B. Pliny mentions,

however, in B. xxiii. c. 27, that the bite of the asp may be cured with

vinegar.

[1753] Both Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 29, and Ælian, _ubi

supra_, speak of the extreme virulence of the poison of the asp, and

Cuvier remarks that the haje, and the haga, which are species of the

asp, are among the most formidable of the serpent tribe.—B.

[1754] The method of attracting this serpent, by imitating the voice of

the female, proves that there is some foundation for this statement.—B.

[1755] The ichneumon of the ancients, the “Viverra ichneumon“ of

Linnæus, is still common in Egypt, and renders essential service by

destroying the eggs of serpents. With respect to what is here said of

its covering its body with mud, to protect itself against the asp, the

fact appears to be, that in searching for the eggs, which are deposited

in the mud, its body becomes more or less covered with that substance,

and may possibly in this way be less exposed to the attacks of the asp.

The contest of the asp and the ichneumon is mentioned by Ælian, B. iii.

c. 22.—B.

[1756] Many of the ancients have described the crocodile; of these, the

most important, for the correctness of the description, are Herodotus,

B. ii. c. 68; Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 10, _et alibi_; and

Diodorus Siculus, B. i.—B.

[1757] The tongue of the crocodile is flat, and, as afterwards stated,

B. xi. c. 65, adheres to the lower jaw, so as to be incapable of

motion.—B.

[1758] This account was first given by Herodotus, _ubi supra_; and,

from the form of the head and the neighbouring parts, depicts what

would naturally occur to the observer; but it is not correct. The

actual state of the parts, and their connection with each other, as

Cuvier informs us, were first satisfactorily explained by Geoffroi

Saint Hilaire.—B.

[1759] Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. v. c. 52, observes, that this is the case

with the tortoise, and similar animals.—B.

[1760] Cuvier says, that when it leaves the egg, the young animal is

only six inches long, and that it ultimately attains a size of from

thirty to forty feet.—B.

[1761] Herodotus says, that it remains all night in the water, as being

warmer than the external air. So also Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c.

10.—B.

[1762] The water of the Nile abounds with small leeches, which attach

to the throat of the crocodile, and, as it has no means of removing

them, it allows a little bird to enter its mouth for this purpose; this

is described by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6, and by Ælian, Anim.

Nat. B. iii. c. 2.—B.

[1763] Although this account is sanctioned by all the ancient

naturalists, it is called in question by Cuvier; Ajasson, vol. vi. p.

441; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 421.—B.

[1764] There is a small lizard, called by the modern naturalists

the Lacerta scincus; but Cuvier conceives that this cannot be the

animal here referred to, because it is so very much smaller than the

ichneumon, that no one would have thought of comparing them; and, what

seems a better reason, because it is not found in the Nile. From the

account of the scincus in B. xxviii. c. 30, it is probable that the

animal here referred to is a species of monitor, popularly called the

land crocodile. Herodotus, B. iv. c. 192, speaks of the land crocodile

as found in Libya; it is also mentioned by Pausanias, Corinthiaca,

c. 20, and by Prosper Alpinus, Ægypt. B. iv. c. 5.—B. The scincus is

probably the “Lacerta ouaran” of Cuvier.

[1765] Cuvier remarks, that this account cannot really apply to the

dolphin, because none of the cetacea possess the spines here described.

He investigates the subject with his usual sagacity, and concludes,

with much probability, that the animal here referred to was a squalus,

the Squalus centrina, or spinax of Linnæus; Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 443,

444; Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 422, 423. We have an account of the contest

between the crocodile and the dolphin in Seneca, Nat. Quæst. B. iv. c.

2.—B.

[1766] We have some account of the Tentyritæ in Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. x.

c. 21.—B. See B. xxviii. c. 6.

[1767] See B. vii. c. 2. The best description of the Psylli is that

given by Lucan in B. ix. l. 892, _et seq._, where he describes the

march of Cato’s army across the burning coasts of the Syrtes.

[1768] This, as Cuvier remarks, is the case with the crocodiles of

North America, which, like other reptiles, become torpid during the

cold season; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 444; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 424.—B.

[1769] Cuvier remarks, as singular, that the descriptions given by

the ancients of the hippopotamus should have been incorrect, more

especially with reference to Herodotus, who had visited Egypt, and who

has described some of the animals of that country with considerable

accuracy; Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 444, 445; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 425.

Pliny has copied the description of Herodotus, B. ii. c. 71, almost

verbatim, and the same has been done by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii.

c. 7. Even the Latin authors, such as Diodorus Siculus and Ælian, who

might have seen the animal in Rome, continued to transcribe the account

of Herodotus.—B.

[1770] Herodotus and Aristotle, _ubi supra_, assert, that his hide

is so hard, that spears and other missiles are formed from it; the

statement of Pliny is, however, much more correct.—B.

[1771] “Euripo.” See the Notes to c. 7 of this Book.

[1772] Pliny, speaking of the hippopotamus, in B. xxviii. c. 31, styles

it, “the discoverer of the art of letting blood.”—B.

[1773] Cuvier remarks upon this and the following Chapter, that they

are entirely fabulous. The diseases, remedies, and instructions given

by the animals are equally imaginary, although Pliny has taken the

whole from authors of credit, and it has been repeated by Plutarch, De

Iside, and by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. ii. c. 35, and many others. Ajasson,

vol. vi. p. 446; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 426.—B.

[1774] Cuvier has given an interesting account of the ibis, the

opinions entertained of it by various travellers and naturalists,

and a detail of the examination which he made of two of its mummies,

which were brought by Grobert to Paris, from the wells of Sakhara.

These mummies were found to be similar to those previously examined by

Buffon, Shaw, and others, and proved the ibis of the ancient Egyptians

to have been a species of curlew. This opinion he further supports

by a reference to various sculptures and mosaics, where this bird is

represented, and he remarks upon the errors into which most travellers

and historians have fallen as to it; the only correct account he

conceives to be that of the African traveller, Bruce, who describes and

figures it under the name of Abou hannès. See the extract in Lemaire,

vol. iii. p. 633, _et seq._, from his _Recherches sur les Ossements

Fossiles_, vol. i. p. 141, _et seq._ Herodotus gives an account of the

ibis, B. i. c. 75, 76, but it is not correct.—B.

[1775] The fabulous account of the powers of this herb is referred

to in B. xxv. c. 53, and supported by the highest authorities; among

others, by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6.; Cicero, De Nat. Deor.

B. ii. c. 50; Virgil, Æn. B. xii. c. 412.—B.

[1776] See B. xxii. c. 45, for a similar cure. It is not known what

plant is here alluded to, but it has been thought to be the cinara, or

artichoke.

[1777] The Chelidonium majus of Linnæus. It probably derived its name

from the swallow, χελίδων, because its flowers appear at the time that

bird makes its first appearance in the spring. This supposed property

is mentioned by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iii. c. 25. Pliny speaks of its

efficacy in diseases of the eyes, B. xxv. c. 50, and c. 91.—B.

[1778] Pliny speaks of the medical virtues of cunile bubula, in B. xx.

c. 61; Columella, B. vi. c. 13, says that it is a cure for scabies. It

is not certain what is the plant here referred to; it is considered

identical with origanum, by Hardouin, and has been supposed by some to

be marjoram, or pennyroyal. The effect of the cunile on the tortoise

is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6; by Plutarch, Nat.

Quæst.; Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 12; and by Albertus Magnus, B viii.

Tr. ii. c. 2; but there is some difference in their statements. Some

speak of it as an antidote, enabling the tortoise to counteract the

poison of the serpent, while others regard it as giving the tortoise

increased vigour to resist the attacks.

[1779] Aristotle, _ubi supra_, and Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iv. c. 14,

refer to this supposed fact, which is without foundation, so far, at

least, as the contest of the weasels with the serpents and the rue

are concerned. The hostility of the weasel to the mouse is probably

correct. Pliny again refers to it, B. xx. c. 51, and it forms the

subject of one of Phædrus’s Fables, B. iv. c. 2.—B.

[1780] We have the same account in Plutarch.—B. Plutarch speaks,

however, of the _river_ crab.

[1781] Pliny refers to this effect, B. xx. c. 95; he speaks also

of its application to the eyes of the animal; it is probable, that

feniculum and marathrum both refer to the same plant; the latter being

the ordinary Greek, and the former the Latin, name. This effect of the

feniculum is also mentioned by Ælian, B. ix. c. 16.—B.

[1782] “Si vero squamæ obtorpuere;” Hardouin supposes that this applies

particularly to the eyes.—B. There can be little doubt that he is

correct in that supposition.

[1783] Aristotle, _ubi supra_, and Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 4, state

that the dragon takes the juice of the _picris_ into the stomach, when

overloaded with food. The exact plant referred to, under that name,

cannot be ascertained for certain; but it appears probable, that it is

a wild lettuce or endive, or some plant belonging to that family.—B.

[1784] This effect of aconite, and the antidote for it, are mentioned

in B. xxvii. c. 2; they are also mentioned by Aristotle, _ubi supra_;

and by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iv. c. 49, and alluded to by Cicero, De.

Nat. Deor. B. ii. c. 50. It appears from a statement of Tavernier,

as referred to by Hardouin, that the same antidote against poisoned

weapons is still employed in the island of Java.—B.

[1785] From the Greek παρδαλιαγχὴς, “pard-strangle.”

[1786] This is again referred to, B. xxix. c. 39.—B.

[1787] “Quod persequi immensum est æque scilicet quam reliquam cum

singulis hominum societatem.” The meaning of this passage is obscure,

and extremely doubtful.

[1788] This is alluded to by Cicero in his letters to Atticus, and

is mentioned by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 41; B. xi. c. 19; and

Var. Hist. B. i. c. 11.—B. The same is still said of rats, whence our

expression “to rat,” _i. e._ to desert a falling cause.

[1789] The priests of this college, or augurs, were among the most

important public functionaries in the Roman state, both from the rank

of the individuals and the political power which they derived from

their office.—B. The augurs, or diviners by birds, held the highest

rank in the state; but the power of their college greatly declined in

the later period of the Roman history. It was finally abolished by the

Emperor Theodosius.

[1790] Other instances are mentioned by Diodorus Siculus, B. iii.

Justin, B. xv. c. 2, and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xvii. c. 41.—B. Showers

of frogs are a thing not unknown in England even. They are probably

caused by whirlwinds acting upon waters which are the haunt of these

animals.

[1791] The ravages of locusts have been known in all ages; their

destructive effects in Egypt and Judea, have formed the subject of a

very elaborate dissertation by Bochart, in his work on the “Animals of

Scripture,” Part i. B. iv. c. 3 and 4.—B.

[1792] Used as a place of banishment by the Romans. See B. iv. c. 28,

and c. 82, of the present Book.

[1793] See c. 82 of the present Book, and B. x. c. 85.—B.

[1794] The “dog-milkers.” See B. vi. c. 35.

[1795] “Solipugis.” There has been much discussion as to the word here

employed by Pliny, and the animal which he intends to designate. The

solipugus, solpugus, solipuga, or solipunga, probably different names

of the same animal, is mentioned by various writers; among others, by

Lucan, Phars. B. ix. l. 837; Diodorus Siculus, B. iii.; Strabo, B.

xvi.; and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xvii. c. 40. It is again referred to in

B. xxix. c. 16. The description given is, however, too indefinite to

enable us to identify it with any known animal; it would almost seem to

indicate something between the spider and the ant.—B. We still hear in

modern times of the venomous and destructive nature of the red ants on

the coast of Guinea; and it is not improbable that it is to these that

Pliny alludes.

[1796] See B. v. c. 33.

[1797] This is mentioned by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xv. c. 26.—B. The

scolopendra is one of the multipede insects.

[1798] Aristotle, De Gener. Anim. B. iii. c. 6, and Hist. Anim. B. vi.

c. 32, accounts for the vulgar error, by stating that the hyæna has

a peculiar structure of the parts about the anus, which might, to an

unpractised eye, give the idea, that it possesses the generative organs

of both sexes. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. i. c. 25, and Oppian, Cyneget.

B. iii. c. 289, have adopted this erroneous opinion. What is said

respecting the hyæna, in the remaining part of this Chapter, is mostly

without foundation.—B.

[1799] We have had some account given of the mantichora, in c. 30.

The mantichora and the corocotta are altogether imaginary.—B. Cuvier,

in Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 447; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 439, thinks that

the stories of the corocotta and the catoblepas, owe their origin to

mutilated accounts of the hyæna, and the animal known to us as the gnu.

[1800] According to Cuvier, what Pliny here says respecting the herds

of wild asses, and the power of the old males, is correct; but it is

doubtful whether there is any foundation for what is said about the

castration of the newly-born animals; Ajasson, _ubi supra_; Lemaire,

vol. iii. p. 440.—B.

[1801] “De aquaticis et iisdem terrestribus;” although these words are

inserted in the title of this Chapter, the subject is not treated of in

it.—B.

[1802] Pliny here adopts the vulgar opinion respecting the origin of

the substance called “castor,” and in B. xxxii. c. 13, gives a more

correct description, which he had derived from a physician, named

Sextius. It is a fetid, oily substance, secreted by a gland situate

near the prepuce. Cuvier remarks, that when the gland becomes distended

with this secretion, the animal may probably get rid of it by rubbing

the part against a stone or tree, and in this way, leave the castor for

the hunters, thus giving rise to the vulgar error. Ajasson, vol. vi. p.

448; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 440.—B.

[1803] The beaver has the most powerful teeth of any animal of the

class Rodentia, to which it belongs; it uses them for cutting down

trees, with which it constructs its habitation. Aristotle, Hist. Anim.

B, viii. c. 5, refers to this.—B.

[1804] The tail is covered with a kind of scale, and is flattened;

but, in its internal organization, is formed like those of other

quadrupeds.—B.

[1805] See B. xxxii. c. 52.

[1806] Pliny, speaking of the different kinds of frogs, B. xxxii. c.

18, says, “There are some which live only in the hedges, and thence

have the name of rubeta, or bramble frogs.” It seems impossible to

identify this reptile with any of our known animals: and we may

conclude that there is no foundation for the statement. Ælian gives an

account of the venomous nature of this animal. Anim. Nat. B. xvii. c.

12.—B.

[1807] As Cuvier remarks, it is impossible that any animal can

discharge by vomiting what Pliny terms the “coagulum,” which is the

fourth stomach of a ruminant animal; the same substance which, under

the name of rennet, is employed to coagulate milk. He conjectures, that

the error may have originated in the observation, that occasionally

in fish, when suddenly drawn out of the water, the air-bladder is

protruded from the mouth, which may have been mistaken for the stomach.

The circumstance is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 23,

and by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iii. c. 19, as well as the vomiting of the

bile; respecting this latter, we may remark, that vomiting is produced

in various animals, when under the influence of extreme terror.—B.

[1808] The gecko, according to Littré.

[1809] This is incorrect; the bite of this animal, wherever found, is

never fatal.—B.

[1810] This refers to what will be found stated in this Chapter, that

stags conceal their horns, when they fall off, that they may not be

used in medicine.—B.

[1811] This is mentioned by Aristotle, Plutarch, and Ælian, but it must

be considered as very doubtful.—B.

[1812] See B. xviii. c. 74.

[1813] It seems that Pliny here attributes the blackening of the

mouths of the stags to their turning up the earth with their muzzles;

Aristotle, however, refers it to a constitutional cause, arising from

their violent sexual excitement; Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 29.—B.

[1814] Or seseli, probably hart-wort. See B. xx. c. 87, and B. xxv. c.

52.

[1815] We learn from Hardouin, that there has been much discussion

respecting the plants or other substances which the female is supposed

to eat after parturition. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6, asserts

that it eats the chorion, the membrane in which the fœtus has been

enveloped, and afterwards the herb seselis. To make the account of

Pliny agree with that of Aristotle, some of the commentators have even

supposed, that _chorion_ here means the name of a plant, and they have

proposed to substitute the word _chorion_ for _aros_ in the text.—B.

Aros is probably the present “Arum maculatum,” or wake-robin. See p.

307, N. [1846].

[1816] Aristotle, Plutarch, and Xenophon speak of the influence of

music on these animals.—B.

[1817] Aristotle, _ubi supra_, mentions this respecting their ears; the

same takes place, to a certain extent, with all animals that have large

external auricles.—B.

[1818] Aristotle, _ubi supra_, Ælian, _ubi supra_, and B. iii. c. 17,

and Theophrastus, in a fragment on the Envious among Animals, agree in

stating that one of the horns of the stag is never found, although they

differ respecting the individual horn, whether the right one or the

left. Aristotle says that it is the left, while Theophrastus and Ælian

agree with the statement of Pliny.—B.

[1819] Cuvier says, that no antlers are added after the eighth year.—B.

[1820] This, as well as most of the statements respecting the growth

of the horns, is mentioned by Aristotle, _ubi supra_, but it is quite

unfounded.—B.

[1821] This story of the white hind of Sertorius, is given in detail

by Aulus Gellius, B. xv. c. 22, who tells us that it was given to him

by a native of Lusitania, upon which Sertorius pretended that it had

been sent from Diana, who, through it, held converse with him, and

instructed him how to act. Plutarch, Frontinus, and Valerius Maximus,

also relate the story.

[1822] This story, which is obviously incorrect, is mentioned by Ælian,

Anim. Nat. B. ii. c. 9; and is again referred to in B. xxviii. c. 42.—B.

[1823] Graguinus, Hist. Franc. B. ix. c. 3, relates a still more

wonderful anecdote of a similar nature; but, as Buffon remarks, such

tales are without foundation, the life of the stag not being more than

thirty or forty years. Cuvier, also, says that its life does not exceed

thirty-six or forty years.—B.

[1824] The real nature of the tragelaphus of Pliny, and the

hippelaphus, or horse-stag of Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 1, which

appear to be the same animal, had long remained a disputed question

among naturalists, when, as Cuvier states, the point was decided by

Alphonse Duvaucel, who ascertained that it was a species of stag, which

inhabited the mountains of the north of Hindostan.—B.

[1825] And in Arabia as well, according to Diodorus Siculus, B. ii.

[1826] This fact is confirmed by Cuvier, who observes, that it is the

more remarkable that Africa should be without stags, as it abounds in

gazelles of all forms and colours. He supposes that those travellers,

who affirm that they have seen stags in this country, had really met

with gazelles, which they mistook for those animals; Ajasson, vol. vi.

p. 451; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 453.—B.

[1827] Cuvier remarks, that Pliny’s account of the chameleon appears

to be taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 11, but that it is

less correct. He notices Aristotle’s account of the eye, which is more

accurately given than the account of Pliny; Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 451,

452; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 454.—B. The chameleon receives its name from

the Greek χαμαὶ λέων, “the lion on the ground.”

[1828] See B. xi. c. 55.

[1829] One of those popular errors which have descended from the

ancients to our times; the chameleon feeds on insects, which it seizes

by means of its long flexible tongue; the quantity of food which it

requires appears, however, to be small in proportion to its bulk.—B.

[1830] “Circa caprificos.” Some commentators would understand this in

reference to the wild fig-tree, and take it to mean that the animal is

more furious when in its vicinity. The conjecture of Hardouin, however,

seems more reasonable. He takes “caprificos” to mean the same as the

“caprificialis dies,” mentioned in B. xi. c. 15, as being sacred to

Vulcan, and falling towards the end of the dog-days.

[1831] This is another of the erroneous opinions respecting the

chameleon, which has been very generally adopted. It forms the basis of

Merrick’s popular poem of the Chameleon. The animal, indeed, assumes

various shades or tints, but the changes depend upon internal or

constitutional causes, not any external object. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B.

ii. c. 14, refers to the change of colour, but does not allude to its

colour having any connection with that of the object with which it

comes in contact.—B.

[1832] The quantity of muscular fibre and blood in the chameleon is no

doubt small in proportion to the bulk of the animal, although not much

less than in other animals of the same natural order; its spleen is

very minute, as Cuvier says, not larger than the seed of a lentil.—B.

[1833] Cuvier remarks, that this account is from the anonymous treatise

De Mirab. Auscult. p. 1152, and from Theophrastus; and that it was

probably derived, in the first instance, from the imperfect account

which the ancients possessed of the reindeer, the hair of which animal

becomes nearly white in the winter, and in the summer of a brown or

grey colour. Bekmann, however, who has written a commentary on the

above-mentioned treatise, supposes that the tarandrus is the elk.

Cuvier conceives, that the animal described by Cæsar, Bell. Gall. B.

vi. c. 26, as inhabiting the Hercynian Forest, which he designates as

“bos cervi figurâ,” is the reindeer; and suggests that “tarandrus” may

have originated in the German, _das rennthier_. Ajasson, vol. vi. pp.

453, 454; Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 456, 457. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. ii. c.

16, speaks of the change of colour in the tarandrus in a way which does

not correspond with any animal known to exist.—B. Pliny’s stories of

the tarandrus, thos, and chameleon are ridiculed by Rabelais, B. iv. c.

3.

[1834] Cuvier supposes that the lycaon of Pliny is the Indian tiger,

which has a mane; but what is said of its change of colour is

incorrect.—B.

[1835] Naturalists have differed respecting the identity of the animal

here described, but Cuvier conceives, that Bochart has proved it to be

the canis aureus chakal (jackal) of Linnæus. The description given by

Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 17, and B. ix. c. 44, agrees with this

supposition; it is also described by Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. c. 615.—B.

[1836] It is possible that the quills of the porcupine may be stuck

into the skin of the dog so firmly, as to be detached from their

natural situation; but there is no reason to believe that they can be

darted out or projected by any exertion of the animal. Ælian, Anim.

Nat. B. i. c. 31, and B. xii. c. 26, describes the hystrix; see also

Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 30.—B.

[1837] Cuvier remarks, that this account of the bear is generally

correct; he points out, however, certain errors, which will be duly

noticed. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 3, gives an account of the

parturition of the bear.—B.

[1838] This description of their mode of coupling, though from

Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 30, is not correct. Buffon and other

naturalists assure us that they do not differ herein from other

quadrupeds.—B.

[1839] Aristotle says, that the cubs are born blind, without hair, and

that their limbs are ill formed, which is correct; but the account here

given is greatly exaggerated.—B.

[1840] As the birth takes place when the mother is in her winter

retreat, it can have been witnessed only when in the menagerie.—B.

[1841] This is referred to in B. xxviii. c. 46; this property of the

fat of the bear is also mentioned by Galen and by Dioscorides, and it

still retains its place among our popular remedies; but it is difficult

to conceive that it can have any virtue above other fatty substances of

the same consistence.—B.

[1842] This, which appears to be a vulgar error, is mentioned by

Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 17; by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c.

3; and by Oppian, Halieut. B. ii.—B.

[1843] We have a somewhat similar account in the treatise De Mirab.

Auscult. p. 1155.—B.

[1844] Probably from Aristotle, _ubi supra_.—B.

[1845] This apparent anomaly has been attempted to be explained, by

supposing that the bears lay up a plentiful store of provisions in

their winter retreats, which they consume while they remain without

exercise.—B.

[1846] Pliny enumerates, at considerable length, the varieties of

aros, in B. xxiv. c. 92; it is also described in B. xix. c. 30; it is

probably a species of arum.—B. See pp. 299, 300, N. [1815].

[1847] This is, of course, without foundation.—B.

[1848] This supposed noxious quality is entirely without foundation.—B.

[1849] This probably refers more particularly to the mode in which the

bear descends from trees or poles, in the supine posture, not, as is

the case in most other animals, with the head downwards.—B.

[1850] 18th September.

[1851] It appears, from the remarks of Cuvier, to be still doubtful

whether the bear be really a native of Africa; see Ajasson, vol. vi. p.

457; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 466.—B.

[1852] It is supposed that the white mouse of Pontus, mentioned also

by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 17, is the ermine, or else the

marten; but, as Cuvier remarks, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 457, Lemaire, vol.

iii. p. 467, the ermine does not hibernate.—B.

[1853] Cuvier, _ubi supra_, conceives that the Alpine mouse is the

marmot; but he remarks, that it is inferior in size to the badger.—B.

[1854] Cuvier, _ubi supra_, conceives the Egyptian mouse to be the

jerboa, the Mus jaculus of Linnæus; but it is much smaller than the

marmot. Pliny, in B. x. c. 85, says, that the Egyptian mouse walks on

two feet, as does the mouse of the Alps. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B.

vii. c. 37, and Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xv. c. 26, refer to the mouse of

Egypt.—B. Probably the Mus cahirinus.

[1855] The faculty which these and other animals possess of foreseeing

the weather and the future direction of the wind, is mentioned by

Plutarch, and as existing especially in the hedgehog. It is also

mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6; but it is not

confined, as Pliny states, to its change in one direction only. It

has been suggested by some commentators, that, by a slight alteration

in the text, the statement may be extended to a change of the wind in

either direction, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 468.—B.

[1856] The teasel, or carding thistle, is now used for this purpose;

as also iron wires, crooked and sharpened at the point. Not a single

quill, probably of the hedgehog, is now used in the manufacture of

cloth.

[1857] Dalechamps suggests that these complaints were probably to the

effect that thistles and thorns were employed instead of the quills

of the hedgehog; that the skin of the hedgehog was brought to market

in a bad state; and again, that the rich merchants were in the habit

of buying them up, and forestalling the market. Hardouin quotes an

edict of the Emperor Zeno against monopolies of hedgehogs and carding

materials, if, indeed, that is the meaning of the word “pectinum.”

[1858] These statements are from the treatise De Mirab. Ausc., but, as

Cuvier remarks, are fabulous, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 470; Ajasson, vol.

vi. p. 458.—B.

[1859] Λεοντοφονὸς, the “lion-killer.”

[1860] See c. 30 of this Book.

[1861] This fable is referred to by Ovid, Metam. B. xv. l. 414, and by

Theophrastus in his Treatise on Stones.

[1862] See B. xxxvii. c. 11.

[1863] It is not unusual for animals to cover their excrements with

earth, probably from the fact of their being annoyed by the unpleasant

odour.—B.

[1864] This statement respecting the “meles,” or badger, as well as

what is said of the prescience of the squirrel, is without foundation.

There has been some difference of opinion respecting the identity of

the animal, which Pliny calls “meles;” by some it has been supposed to

be the polecat, or else the weasel.—B.

[1865] This bears reference to what is said of bears in c. 54, and of

Alpine mice and hedgehogs.

[1866] This statement is contrary to the account given by Aristotle,

Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 15; he says, that while other serpents conceal

themselves in holes in the earth, vipers conceal themselves under

rocks.—B.

[1867] Cuvier remarks, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 458, Lemaire, vol. iii.

p. 473, that nothing is more striking, either to the vulgar or to the

man of science, than the long abstinence from food which serpents are

capable of enduring.—B.

[1868] Cavatica.

[1869] This is the case with the Helix Pomatia, and still more so

with the Helix Neritoidea, which is very common in the neighbourhood

of Nice, and which, at the approach of winter, is furnished with an

operculum of great thickness.—B.

[1870] See B. iii. c. 9.

[1871] See B. iv. c. 23. The Romans valued them as a delicate food.

[1872] This account appears to be principally from Aristotle, Hist.

Anim. B. v. c. 29.—B.

[1873] According to Cuvier, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 458, and Lemaire, vol.

iii. p. 475, the species of lizard named monitor, frequently exceeds

this size; but he remarks, in reference to the size of the Indian

lizard, that none of the saurians, except the crocodile, attains the

length here mentioned.—B.

[1874] See B. vi. c. 23.

[1875] See B. v. c. 31.

[1876] See B. v. c. 22, and B. vi. c. 3.

[1877] This anecdote is referred to by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 25.

He gives an account of the dog of Gelon, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 62, and

Var. Hist. B. i. c. 13.—B.

[1878] Tzetzes, Chil. iii. of his History, calls her Ditizela, and thus

alludes to this story: “The said Nicomedes had a dog of very large

size, and of Molossian breed, which manifested great fidelity to him.

One day seeing his mistress, the wife of Nicomedes, and the mother of

Prusias, Zielus, and Lysandra, Ditizela, by name, and a Phrygian by

birth, toying with the king, he took her for an enemy, and rushing on

her, tore her right shoulder.” It is supposed that she died of the

injuries thus received. Some editions call her Condingis, and others

Cosingis.

[1879] A. Cascellius was an eminent Roman jurist, but nothing seems to

be known of his preceptor, Volcatius, whose prænomen is thought to have

been Mucius. Cascellius was noted for his great eloquence and his stern

republican principles; and of Cæsar’s conduct and government he spoke

with the greatest freedom. He never advanced in civic honours beyond

the quæstorship, though he was offered the consulship by Augustus;

which he declined. He is frequently quoted in the Digest. Horace,

in his Art of Poetry, ll. 371, 372, pays a compliment to the legal

reputation of Cascellius, who is also mentioned by Valerius Maximus and

Macrobius.

[1880] From Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 10, it appears that his name

was Cælius Calvus, but probably no further particulars are known of him.

[1881] He was a distinguished Roman eques, and a friend of Germanicus;

for which reason he incurred the hatred of Sejanus. To satisfy the

vengeance of Tiberius and his favourite Sejanus, one Latinus Latiaris,

a supposed friend of Sabinus, induced him to speak in unguarded terms

of Sejanus and Tiberius, and then betrayed his confidence. He was put

to death in prison.

[1882] More commonly called the Gradus or Scalæ Gemoniæ, “the stairs of

wailing;” a place down which the bodies of the criminals were thrown,

when executed in prison.—B.

[1883] “Lorum,” the leather thong by which the dogs were held until the

proper moment, when they were “let slip” upon their prey.

[1884] This is mentioned by Gratian, Cyneget. l. 237.—B.

[1885] This practice is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c.

33, and Diodorus Siculus, B. xvii. But Cuvier informs us, that neither

the tiger nor the panther are capable of generating with the dog; he

supposes that the account was invented to enhance the value of the

spotted or striped dogs, which were brought from India.—B.

[1886] The dog is capable of generating with the wolf; and as what is

termed the shepherd’s dog much resembles the wolf, Cuvier conceives it

not impossible, that it may have originated from this mixture; Ajasson,

vol. vi. p. 459; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 481.—B.

[1887] This is mentioned by Ælian, in his Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 53, and

his Var. Hist. B. i. c. 4. It likewise forms the subject of one of

Phædrus’s Fables.

[1888] These statements are probably, for the most part, from

Aristotle, Hist. Anim, B. v. c. 14, and B. vi. c. 20.—B.

[1889] “Faunos cerni.” Hardouin remarks on these words; “Flitting

before the sight, and rushing upon each other, like the Ephialtes,” and

refers, for a farther explanation, to his commentary on the passage

in B. xxv. c. 10, where the subject is treated more at large. The

Ephialtes is generally supposed to have been what we term incubus or

nightmare.—B.

[1890] All these remedies are perfectly useless.—B.

[1891] Pliny details the noxious effects, conceived to be produced

by the influence of Sirius, in B. ii. c. 40, and, among others, its

tendency to produce canine madness. In B. xxix. c. 32, he enumerates

the various remedies proposed for the disease; these, however, are

equally inefficacious with those mentioned here.—B.

[1892] We have an account of this disease in Celsus, B. v. c. 27, and

especially of the peculiar symptom from which it derives its classical

denomination. It is remarkable that Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c.

22, speaking of canine madness, says, that it is communicated by the

dog to all animals, _except man_.—B. See B. vii. c. 13.

[1893] It appears that there was a difference of opinion as to the

number of days during which the Dog-star continued to exercise its

influence.—B.

[1894] The history of this supposed discovery is related more at

large, B. xxv. c. 2 and 6. The popular name of the plant is still the

“dog-rose.”—B.

[1895] Columella says, that the operation prevents the tail from

acquiring “fœdum incrementum,” “a foul increase;” and, as many

shepherds say, secures the animal from the disease.—B.

[1896] This is one of the marvellous tales related by Julius Obsequens,

c. 103.—B.

[1897] Plutarch, in his Life of Alexander, gives some account of this

celebrated horse, and Aulus Gellius, B. v. c. 2, devotes a chapter to

it.—B.

[1898] Ajasson estimates the price to have been 70,200 francs, £2925

sterling.—B.

[1899] Situate on the river Hydaspes; Q. Curtius calls it

Bucephalus.—B. See B. vi. c. 23, where it is called Bucephala.

[1900] This account is given by Suetonius, Life of Julius Cæsar, c.

61. Cuvier suggests that the hoofs may have been notched, and that the

sculptor probably exaggerated the peculiarity, so as to produce the

resemblance to a human foot.—B.

[1901] The nephew of Tiberius and the father of the Emperor Caligula.—B.

[1902] Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xii. c. 40, states that three mares of

Miltiades and Evagoras, which had been victorious in the Olympic games,

were buried with sepulchral honours in the Ceramicus.—B.

[1903] Ajasson suggests, with much plausibility, that when connections

of this description are mentioned, the report originated from persons

who had significant names, as Lebœuf and Poulain; analogous to our

names of Lamb, Bull, Hog, &c.—B.

[1904] See B. iii. c. 17.

[1905] We here find Pliny tripping, for he has previously said, in

B. vii. c. 1, that man is the only animated being that sheds tears.

See also c. 19 of the present Book, where he represents the lion as

shedding tears.

[1906] Ælian calls him Centoarates. Antiochus I., or Soter, is here

alluded to. He was killed in battle with the Galli or Galatians, B.C.

261.

[1907] Mentioned by Cicero, De Divin. B. i. c. 33.—B.

[1908] Hardouin refers to the works of Busbequius, in which we meet

with nearly the same account of the sagacity of the horse, as in Pliny;

Lemaire, iii. 489.

[1909] As already mentioned in the Note to c. 54 of the last Book,

there were four parties or factions of the charioteers who were named

from the colour of their dress.

[1910] The games of the Circus were divided into the Patrician and

the Plebeian; the first being conducted by generals, consuls, and the

curule ædiles, the latter by the ædiles of the people.—B.

[1911] Related somewhat more at large by Plutarch, in his Life of

Publicola.—B.

[1912] Many of these particulars are from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi.

c. 22.—B.

[1913] Georgics, B. iii. l. 72, et seq.—B.

[1914] See Introduction to vol. i. p. vii.

[1915] Varro, de Re Rust. B. ii. c. 7; and Columella, B. vi. c. 29,

have treated on this subject at considerable length.—B.

[1916] The materials of this chapter appear to have been principally

taken from Aristotle, Varro, and Columella.—B.

[1917] See B. iv. c. 12.

[1918] Varro, _ubi supra_, gives considerably different directions

on this point; he says, “Intercourse is to be allowed, at the proper

season of the year, twice a day, morning and evening.”

[1919] This sentence in Columella, _ubi supra_, seems to illustrate

the meaning, which is somewhat obscure. “Veruntamen nec minus quam

quindecim, nec plures quam viginti, unus debet implere”—“One male ought

to be coupled with not more than twenty females, nor less than fifteen.”

[1920] Cuvier states, that the hippomanes is a concretion occasionally

found in the liquor amnii of the mare, and which it devours, from the

same kind of instinctive feeling which causes quadrupeds generally

to devour the afterbirth. He remarks, however, that this can have no

connection with the attachment which the mother bears to her offspring;

Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 459; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 495. The hippomanes

is said to have been employed by the sorceresses of antiquity, as

an ingredient in their amatory potions. See Aristotle, Hist. Anim.

B. viii. c. 24, and Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xiv. c. 18.—B. See also B.

xxviii. c. 11.

[1921] Now Lisbon. See B. iv. c. 35.

[1922] The accounts given, by Phœnician navigators, of the fertility

of Lusitania, and the frequency of the mild western breezes, gave rise

to the fable here mentioned, which has been generally received by the

ancients; and that not merely by the poets, as Virgil, Geor. B. iii.

l. 274, 275, but by practical writers, as Varro, B. ii. c. 1, and

Columella, B. vi. c. 27. Justin, however, B. xliv. c. 3, attributes

the opinion to the great size of the horses, and their remarkable

fleetness, from which they were said to be the sons of the wind.—B.

[1923] The origin and meaning of this name is not known.—B.

[1924] Martial describes the peculiar short, quick step of the

“asturco,” in one of his Epigrams, B. xiv. Ep. 199.—B.

[1925] “Alterno crurum explicatu glomeratio;” it would not be possible

to give a literal translation, but we may judge of the meaning by the

context.—B. He clearly alludes to a movement like our canter.

[1926] “Tolutim carpere incursus;” Hardouin explains this by a

reference to Plautus, Asinaria, A. iii. sc. 3, l. 116. “Tolutim ni

badizas”—“If you do not amble, lifting up your feet.”

[1927] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 24, gives an account of the

diseases of horses.—B.

[1928] “Genere veterino;” so called, according to Hardouin, from

“vectura,” “carriage,” as applicable to horses, asses, and mules;

Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 497.—B.

[1929] There is considerable difficulty in ascertaining the exact

amount of sums of money mentioned by the ancients. “We read in Varro,

B. ii. c. 1, and B. ii. c. 8, of enormous prices said to have been

given for asses, and the particular case of Axius is mentioned, B. iii.

c. 2; according to the usual estimate, the sum here mentioned amounts

to upwards of £3200 sterling.—B.

[1930] See B. xvii. c. 5.

[1931] Varro, B. i. c. 20, and B. iii. c. 16, and Columella, B. vii.

c. 1, enlarge upon the valuable qualities of the ass for agricultural

purposes; Columella, B. vi. c. 37, treats at length upon the production

of mules.—B.

[1932] See a passage in Plautus, in which the superior excellence of

the asses of Arcadia is referred to; Asinaria, A. ii. sc. 2, l. 67.—B.

[1933] See B. iii. c. 17.

[1934] This property is mentioned by Herodotus, B. iv. c. 28, and

by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 27, also De Gener. Anim. B.

ii. c. 8, and by Strabo, B. vii. The ass is a native of Arabia, and

degenerates when brought into a cold climate.—B.

[1935] These circumstances appear to have been taken from Aristotle,

Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 14, and B. vi. c. 23.—B.

[1936] “Per raritatem eorum translucentibus fluviis.”—B.

[1937] Upwards of £3200 sterling.—B.

[1938] An epigram of Martial, B. xiii. Ep. 97, appears to refer to

the employment of the young ass as an article of food.—B. The famous

sausages of Bologna are made, it is said, of asses’ flesh.

[1939] The onager, according to Cuvier, is the same with the ass, in

the wild state; it still exists in large herds in various parts of

Southern Asia, and is called by the Tartars, Kulan.—B.

[1940] Most of the circumstances here mentioned appear to have been

taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 24 and 36; Varro, B. ii. c.

8; and Columella, B. vi. c. 37.—B.

[1941] It is expressly stated by Columella, _ubi supra_, that the mules

“produced from a horse and a female ass, are in all respects most like

the mother.”

[1942] This is explained by Columella, _ubi supra_, who remarks,

that when a stallion is admitted to a female in the full heat of its

passion, it often causes mischief; which is not the case when its

ardour has been a little subdued by having been worked for some time.—B.

[1943] Varro, _ubi supra_, says: “The produce of a mare and a male ass

is a mule, of a horse and a female ass a _hinnus_.”

[1944] Varro, B. ii. c. 1, alludes to this occurrence; Livy mentions

two instances, B. xxvi. c. 23, and B. xxxvii. c. 3; these prodigies

were said both to have occurred at Reate.—B.

[1945] Herodotus relates two cases, which were regarded as presaging

some extraordinary event, B. iii. c. 153, and B. vii. c. 57. Juvenal,

Sat. xiii. l. 66, and Suetonius, Life of Galba, c. 4, speak of a

pregnant mule as a most extraordinary circumstance; it seems to have

given rise to a proverbial expression among the Romans.—B.

[1946] Cuvier remarks, that there is, in the deserts of Asia,

a peculiar animal, with undivided hoofs, the Equus hemionus of

naturalists, and the Dgiggetai of the Tartars, which bears a

resemblance to our mules, but is not the produce of the horse and the

ass; he refers us to Professor Pallas’s account of it in Acad. Petrop.

Nov. Com. vol. xix. p. 394; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 461; Lemaire, vol.

iii. p. 505.—B.

[1947] Pliny repeats this advice in B. xxx. c. 53; it is, of course,

entirely without foundation.—B.

[1948] The epigram of Martial previously referred to bears this

title.—B. See N. [1938], p. 324.

[1949] This temple was the Parthenon. This anecdote is mentioned by

Arist. Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 24; Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 49.—B.

[1950] In which they probably exposed their samples for sale, as our

farmers do in small bags. The phrase is ἀπὸ τῶν τηλιῶν, in Aristotle,

Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 24, from whom Pliny takes the story.

[1951] This alleged superiority is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim.

B. iii. c. 91, by Varro, B. ii. c. 5, and by Columella, B. vi. c. 1;

but it is remarked by Dalechamps and Hardouin, that the appellation of

Pyrrhic given to these oxen, was more probably derived from their red

colour, πυῤῥὸς, than from the name of the king. The materials of this

chapter are principally from the above writers, especially Aristotle,

Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 21, and B. viii. c. 7.—B.

[1952] This singular notion is mentioned by Varro and Columella, _ubi

supra_; Cuvier says, that it is the origin of the pretended secret

of producing the sexes at pleasure, which was published by Millot;

Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 461.—B.

[1953] 4th January. See B. xviii. c. 64.

[1954] This is mentioned by Herodotus, B. iv. c. 183; this peculiarity

in their mode of taking their food is ascribed to the extraordinary

length of the horns; it is also mentioned by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xvi.

c. 33.—B.

[1955] “Fœdi visu.” This is very similar to the expression used by

Virgil, Georg. B. iii., when describing the points of an ox, l.

52,—“oui turpi caput”—“the head of which is unsightly”— probably in

allusion to its large size.

[1956] According to Cuvier, there is an ox, in warm climates, which has

a mass of fat on the shoulders, and whose horns are only attached to

the skin; Buffon has described it under the name of Zebu; Ajasson, vol.

vi. p. 461; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 512.—B.

[1957] “Ad laborer damnantur;” with respect to the colour, Varro, B.

ii. c. 5, has the following remarks: “The best colours are black, red,

pale red, and white. The latter ones are the most delicate, the first

the most hardy. Of the two middle ones, the first is the best, and both

are more valuable than the first and last.”

[1958] We have an account of this process in Columella, B. ii. c. 6.—B.

[1959] This anecdote is related by Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 1.

Virgil, Georg. B. ii. l. 537, speaks of the use of oxen in food, as

a proof of the degeneracy of later times, and as not existing during

the Golden Age; “Ante Impia quad cœsis gens est epulata juvencis.”

This feeling is alluded to by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xii. c. 34, and by

Suetonius, Life of Domitian, c. ix.—B.

[1960] It is doubtful whether this is the meaning of “alternos

replicans orbes,” or what indeed is the meaning. Most editions omit

“orbes,” thus making the matter still worse.

[1961] Hardouin supposes that this alludes to the exhibition of

oxen hunted at the exhibition of shows and in the Circus, for the

gratification of the Roman people.—B.

[1962] Referred to by Virgil, Georg. B. ii. ll. 145, 146, “et maxima

taurus Victima,” “and the bull the largest victim of all.”—B.

[1963] In reference to this remark, we may mention the passage in

Virgil, Æn. B. iii. c. 119, “Taurum Neptuno, taurum tibi, pulcher

Apollo.” “A bull to thee, Neptune, a bull to thee, beauteous Apollo.”

[1964] Instances are mentioned by Livy, B. xxxv. c. 21, and by Val.

Maximus, B. i. c. 65.—B.

[1965] We have an account of Apis in Herodotus, B. iii. c. 28; also in

Pomponius Mela, B. i. c. 9; and in Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xi. c. 10.—B.

[1966] “Quem cantharum appellant.” According to Dalechamps, “So called

from the blackness of the colour, and its resemblance to a beetle.”

Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 516. He refers the reader to a further account in

B. xxx. c. 30.—B.

[1967] From the Greek θάλαμοι, “bed-chambers.”

[1968] Tacitus, Ann. B. ii. c. 69, gives an account of the sickness

of Germanicus after his return from Egypt, but does not refer to the

circumstance here mentioned.—B.

[1969] The “goblet.” See B. v. c. 10.

[1970] Seneca, Quæst. Nat. B. iv. c. 2, gives an account of this

ceremony, but does not refer to the birth of Apis.—B.

[1971] The contents of this Chapter appear to be principally from

Varro, B. ii. cc. 1, 2, and Columella, B. vii. cc. 2, 3, 4.—B.

[1972] This account is probably from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c.

14; B. vi. c. 19; and B. ix. c. 3, where we have various particulars

respecting the production and mode of life of the sheep.—B.

[1973] 13th May.

[1974] 23rd July.

[1975] Varro, _ubi supra_, gives a somewhat different account: “Those

lambs are called ‘cordi,’ which are born after their time, and have

remained in the womb, called χορίον, from which they take that name.”—B.

[1976] The expression “senecta melior,” here employed, is limited by

Columella, _ubi supra_, to the third year.—B.

[1977] Columella, B. vii. c. 8, remarks, “When deprived of his horns

he knows himself to be disarmed, as it were, and is not so ready to

quarrel and is less vehement in his passion.”

[1978] Columella, B. vii. c. 23, refers to this practice; he informs

us, B. vi, c. 28, that it is practised with respect to the horse. It is

also referred to by Aristotle, De Gen. Anim. B. iv. c. 1.—B.

[1979] For this we have the authority of Aristotle, _ubi supra_, and of

Columella, _ubi supra_, who quotes from Virgil in support of it, Geor.

B. iii. l. 387, _et seq._—B. “Although the ram be white himself, if

there is a black tongue beneath the palate, reject him, that he may not

tinge the fleece of the young with black spots.”

[1980] Varro, B. ii. c. 2, remarks, “While the coupling is taking

place, you must use the same water; for if it is changed, it will

render the wool spotted, and injure the womb.”

[1981] “Tectæ.” The context shows that this means covered with skins or

a woollen girth, probably on account of their delicate nature, while

the common sheep of husbandry, or the “colonic” sheep, were able to

endure the rigour of the weather without any such protection.

[1982] The words are _tectum_ and _colonicum_; Columella, B. vii. c.

4, uses the terms _molle_ and _hirsutum_, and Varro, B. ii. c. 2,

_pellitum_ and _hirtum_. The first obtained its name from its being

covered with skins, to protect its delicate fleece. The colonic is so

called, from “colonus,” a “husbandman,” this kind being so common as to

be found in any village; whereas the tectæ were rare.

[1983] We have some account of the Arabian sheep in Ælian, Anim. Nat.

B. x. c. 4.—B. Columella says, that the wool which was brought over to

make these coverings, was only to be obtained at a very great price.

[1984] The greatest part of this Chapter appears to be taken, with

little variation, from Columella, B. vii. c. 2-4.—B.

[1985] Here Pliny differs from Columella, who remarks, B. vii. c. 2,

“Our people considered the Milesian, Calabrian, and Apulian wool as of

excellent quality, and the Tarentine the best of all.”

[1986] “Pænula” was a check cloak, used chiefly by the Romans when

travelling, instead of the toga, as a protection against the cold and

rain. It was used by women as well as men. It was long, and without

sleeves, and with only an opening for the head. Women were forbidden by

Alexander Severus to wear it in the city. It was made particularly of

the woolly substance known as gausapa.

[1987] The wool of Laodicea is celebrated by Strabo, B. xii.—B.

[1988] Columella, B. vii. c. 2, particularly notices the excellence of

the wool of Altinum, situate near the mouth of the Padus or Po. The

following epigram of Martial, B. xiv. c. 155, may be presumed to convey

the opinion of the respective merits of the different kinds of wool;

it is entitled “Lanæ albæ:” “Velleribus primis Apulia; Parma secundis

Nobilis; Altinum tertia laudat ovis.” “Apulia is famed for its fleeces

of the first quality, Parma for the second, while Altinum is praised

for those of the third.”—B.

[1989] About twelve shillings sterling.—B.

[1990] Varro remarks, B. ii. c. 2, that the term “vellus,” obviously

from “vello,” “to pluck,” proves that the wool was anciently plucked

from the sheep, before shearing had been invented.—B.

[1991] “Quas nativas appellant.” The term “nativa,” as applied to

the wool, has been supposed to refer to those fleeces that possess a

natural colour, and do not require to be dyed.—B.

[1992] Martial, B. xiv. Ep. 157, calls the fleeces of Pollentia

“lugentes,” “mournful,” from their black colour; they are also

mentioned by Columella, _ubi supra_, and by Silius Italicus, B. viii.

l. 599.—B.

[1993] Martial, B. v. c. 37, describing the charms of a lady, says,

“surpassing with her locks the fleece of the Bætic sheep,” no doubt

referring to the colour. In another Epigram, B. xii. E. 200, he speaks

of the “aurea vellera,” the “golden fleece” of Bætis.—B.

[1994] Martial has two Epigrams on the wool of Canusium, B. xiv. E.

127, and E. 129. In the former it is designated as “fusca,” tawny; in

the latter, “rufa,” red.—B.

[1995] “Suæ pulliginis.”—B.

[1996] The term here used, “succidus,” is explained by Varro, B. ii.

c. 11: “While the newly-clipped wool has the sweat in it, it is called

‘succida.’” See B. xxix. c. 9.

[1997] “Pexis vestibus.” According to Hardouin, the “pexa vestis,”

was worn by the rich, and had a long and prominent nap, in

contradistinction to the smooth or worn cloths. He refers to a passage

in Horace, B. i. Ep. i. l. 95, and to one in Martial, B. ii. E. 58,

which appear to sanction this explanation. See Lem. vol. iii. p. 524.—B.

[1998] See B. iv. c. 35.

[1999] See B. iii. c. 5. Now Pezenas.

[2000]

Καὶ ῥήγεα καλὰ

Πορφύρ’ ἐμβαλέειν, στορέσαι δ’ ἐφύπερθε τάπητας.

Od. B. iv. l. 427. “And to throw on fair coverlets of purple, and to

lay carpets upon them.”

[2001] These were probably much like what we call “Turkey” carpets.

[2002] The name given to this article, “lana coacta,” “compressed

wool,” correctly designates its texture. The manufacturers of it were

called “lanarii coactores,” and “lanarii coactiliarii.”

[2003] “I have macerated unbleached flax in vinegar saturated with

salt, and after compression have obtained a felt, with a power of

resistance quite comparable with that of the famous armour of Conrad of

Montferrat; seeing that neither the point of a sword, nor even balls

discharged from fire-arms, were able to penetrate it.” _Memoir on the

substance called Pilina, by Papadopoulo-Vretos, on the Mem. presented

to the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres_, 1845, as

quoted by Littré.

[2004] Pliny probably conceived that by the removal of all the grease

from the wool, or the “purgamentum,” it became less combustible.—B.

[2005] “Tomentum;” an Epigram of Martial, B. xiv. E. 160, explains the

meaning of this word.—B.

[2006] See B. xix. c. 2.

[2007] Probably in the form of what we call “palliasses.”

[2008] The “gausapa,” or “gausapum,” was a kind of thick cloth, very

woolly on one side, and used especially for covering tables, beds, and

making cloaks to keep out the wet and cold. The wealthier Romans had it

made of the finest wool, and mostly of a purple colour. It seems also

to have been sometimes made of linen, but still with a rough surface.

[2009] From ἀμφίμαλλα, “napped on both sides.” They probably resembled

our baizes or druggets, or perhaps the modern blanket.

[2010] Pliny again makes mention of the “ventrale,” or apron, in B.

xxvii. c. 28.

[2011] He seems to allude here to the _substance_ of which the

laticlave tunic was made, and not any alteration in its cut or shape.

Some further information on the laticlave or broad-striped tunic will

be found in B. x. c. 63.

[2012] About the time of Augustus, the Romans began to exchange the

“toga,” which had previously been their ordinary garment, for the more

convenient “lacerna” and “pænula,” which were less encumbered with

folds, and better adapted for the usual occupations of life.—B.

[2013] See B. ix. c. 62.

[2014] See B. xxi. c. 12.

[2015] This deity was also called Sangus, or Semo Sancus; and Ovid,

Fasti, B. vi. c. 216, _et seq._, gives us much information concerning

him. He was of Sabine origin, and identical with Hercules and Dius

Fidius. If we may judge from the derivation of the name, it is not

improbable that he presided over the sanctity of oaths. His temple at

Rome was on the Quirinal, opposite to that of Quirinus, and near the

gate which from him derived the name of “Sanqualis porta.” He was said

to have been the father of the Sabine hero Sabus.

[2016] According to the commonly received account, Tanaquil was the

wife of Tarquinius Priscus, and a native of Etruria; when she removed

to Rome, and her husband became king, her name was changed to Caia

Cæcilia.—B.

[2017] “Undulata;” it has been suggested that this means the same as

our stuffs which we term “watered.”—B.

[2018] “Tunica recta;” according to Festus, it was “so called from

being woven perpendicularly by people standing.”—B. It probably means

woven from top to bottom and cross-wise in straight lines.

[2019] “Toga pura;” so called from being white, without a mixture of

any other colour.

[2020] “Sororiculata;” there is much uncertainty respecting the

derivation of this word and its meaning, but it is generally supposed

to signify some kind of stuff, composed of a mixture of different

ingredients or of different colours.—B. “Orbiculata,” “with round

spots,” is one reading, and probably the correct one.

[2021] According to Hardouin, these were cloths which imitated the

crisp and prominent hair of the Phryxian fleece, Lemaire, vol. iii. p.

529. Some editions read “Phrygianas.”

[2022] “Papaverata;” there is considerable difficulty in ascertaining

the meaning of this word, as applied to garments. Pliny, in two other

passages, speaks of a certain species of poppy—“from this, linens

receive a peculiar whiteness,” B. xix. “From this, linens receive a

brilliant whiteness in time,” B. xx. c. 78. It would appear, in these

cases, that the fibres of the stem of the poppy were mixed with the

flax; though, perhaps, this would be scarcely practicable with wool.—B.

[2023] The prætexta is described by Varro as a white toga, with a

purple band; it was worn by males, until their seventeenth year, and by

young women until their marriage.—B.

[2024] The trabea differed from the prætexta, in being ornamented with

stripes (trabes) of purple, whence its name.—B.

[2025] Helen is introduced, Il. B. iii. l. 125, weaving an embroidered

garment, in which were figured the battles of the Greeks and Trojans.

It was probably somewhat of the nature of modern tapestry.—B.

[2026] See B. ix. c. 60.

[2027] This passage, in which the needle is said to have been used,

proves that when the word “pictæ” is applied to garments, it is

equivalent to our term “embroidered.”—B.

[2028] Pliny refers to the “Attalica tunica,” B. xxxiii. c. 29, and to

the “Attalica vestis,” B. xxxvi. c. 20, and B. xxxvii. c. 6; Propertius

speaks of “Attalica aulæa,” B. ii. c. 32, l. 12, “Attalicas torus,” B.

ii. c. 13, l. 22, and B. iv. c. 5, l. 24, and “Attalicæ vestes,” B.

iii. c. 18, l. 19.—B.

[2029] Plautus, Stich. A. ii. s. 2, l. 54, speaks of “Babylonica

peristromata, consuta tapetia,” “Babylonian hangings, and embroidered

tapestry;” and Martial, B. viii. Ep. 28, l. 17, 18, of “Babylonica

texta,” “Babylonian textures.”—B.

[2030] From Martial’s epigram, entitled “Cubicularia polymita,” B.

xiv. Ep. 150, we may conclude that the Egyptian polymita were formed

in a loom, and of the nature of tapestry, while the Babylonian were

embroidered with the needle. Plautus probably refers to the Egyptian

tapestry, in the Pseud. A. i. s. 2, l. 14, “Neque Alexandrina belluata

conchyliata tapetia”—“Nor yet the Alexandrine tapestries, figured over

with beasts and shells.”

[2031] “Scutulis divider.” This term may mean “squares,” “diamonds,” or

“lozenges,” something like the segments into which a spider’s web is

divided. It is not improbable that he alludes here to the plaids of the

Gallic nations.

[2032] We have an account of this contention in Plutarch, and we may

presume that this accusation was produced at that time.—B.

[2033] The first sum amounts to about £4,600 sterling, the latter to

£23,000.—B.

[2034] The following lines in Ovid, Fasti, B. vi. l. 569, _et seq._,

have been supposed to refer to this temple, and prove that the account

of it is correct.

“Lux eadem, Fortuna, tuaque est, auctorque, locusque.

“Sed superinjectis quis latet æde togis?

“Servius est....”

“The same day is thine, O Fortune; the same the builder, the same the

site. But who is this that lies hid beneath the garments covering him?

It is Servius.”

[2035] Perhaps “changed their colour” may be a better translation of

“defluxisse.”

[2036] “Sesquipedalibus libris.” It seems impossible to translate this

literally. Hardouin explains it by supposing that the fleeces were dyed

in strips of three colours, each strip being half a foot in breadth,

and that three of these required a pound of the dyeing materials.—B.

[2037] Pliny probably took this from Varro, B. ii. c. 2. This term is

derived from πείκω, “to shear,” with the negative prefix.—B.

[2038] The word “cubitales” alone is used, which might be supposed to

refer only to the length of the tail; but Hardouin conceives that it

must also apply to the breadth, and refers to Aristotle, Hist. Anim.

B. viii. c. 28, and others, in proof of the great size which the tails

of the Syrian sheep attain, and which would not be indicated by merely

saying that they are a cubit long; this being little more than the

ordinary length in other countries.—B.

[2039] According to Hardouin, this term, or some word nearly resembling

it, was applied to mules or mongrels, as well as to individual animals

of diminutive size or less perfect form.—B. Called “moufflon” by the

French.

[2040] The term “umbri” appears to have been applied to a mongrel or

less perfect animal; like “musmon,” it is of uncertain derivation.—B.

[2041] So also Varro, _ubi supra_, and Columella, B. vii. c. 3.—B. See

also B. xviii. c. 76.

[2042] This remark, and the others in the remainder of this Chapter,

appear to be taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 3.—B.

[2043] We have an account of the generation of the goat in Aristotle,

Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 19. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iii. c. 38, says that

the goats of Egypt sometimes produce five young ones at a birth.—B.

[2044] Columella, B. vii. c. 6, gives a somewhat different account; he

says, “Before its sixth year it is old—so that when five years old, it

is not suitable for coupling.”—B.

[2045] According to Columella, _ubi supra_, “Because those with horns

are usually troublesome, from their uncertainty of temper.”—B.

[2046] There has been considerable difference of opinion respecting

the reading of the original, whether the word “utiles,” or “inutiles,”

was the one here employed. Hardouin conceives it was the latter, and

endeavours to reconcile the sense with this reading; Lemaire, vol. iii.

pp. 538, 539. But, notwithstanding his high authority, there is still

great doubt on the matter.—B.

[2047] “Infractis,” probably in contradistinction to erect ears.

Columella, _ubi supra_, terms them, “flaccidis et prægrandibus

auribus”—“flaccid ears, and very large.”—B.

[2048] “Laciniæ;” Varro, B. ii. c. 3, describes them as “mammulas

pensiles;” Columella, _ubi supra_, calls them “verruculas;” he,

however, assigns this appendage to the male goat.—B.

[2049] The word “mutilus” is employed, which Hardouin interprets,

“having had the horns removed.” But the same word is applied by

Columella, B. vii. c. 6, to an animal naturally without horns.—B.

[2050] On this reference to Archelaus, Dalechamps remarks that he is

incorrect; but refers to Varro, _ubi supra_, who ascribes this opinion

to Archelaus; Lemaire. vol. iii. p. 540.—B.

[2051] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 9, refers to this opinion, as

being erroneous; Ælian. Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 53, supposes that they

breathe both through the nose and the ears.—B.

[2052] Varro, _ubi supra_, remarks, “that no one in his senses speaks

of a goat in health; for they are never without fever.”

[2053] Meaning those who cannot see at night, who have a weak sight,

and therefore require a strong light to distinguish objects. See also,

as to the Nyctalopes, B. xxviii. c. 47. The same remedy, the liver of

the goat, is recommended for its cure.—B. See also B. xxviii. c. 11.

[2054] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 28, says that the inhabitants

of Cilicia shear the goats in the same manner as the sheep.—B.

[2055] This is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 3.—B.

[2056] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 3, refers to the beard of the

goat, under the name of ἤρυγγον.

[2057] According to Hardouin, the herb referred to is the “eryngium;”

probably the “eringo:” he cites various authorities in support of his

opinion.—B.

[2058] This is repeated in B. xvii. c. 24.—B.

[2059] Varro, B. i. c. 2, says: “Hence it is that they sacrificed no

goats to Minerva, on account of the olive;” he then explains why the

circumstance of the goat injuring the olive-tree was a reason for not

offering it in sacrifice to Minerva, the patroness of this tree. Ovid,

on the other hand, in the Fasti, B. i. l. 360, says that the goat was

sacrificed to Bacchus, _because_ it gnawed the vine.

[2060] We have an account of the hog in Varro, B. ii. c. 4, from whom

most of Pliny’s remarks are probably derived.—B.

[2061] Varro, B. ii. c. 4, and Columella, B. vii. c. 9. fix upon the

seventh year.—B.

[2062] Varro, and Columella, _ubi supra_, recommend that the sow should

not be allowed to rear more than eight young ones at each birth.—B.

[2063] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 13.—B.

[2064] Varro, _ubi supra_, says on the tenth day; Hardouin endeavours

to prove that the number in Varro was originally five.—B.

[2065] The term “bidens,” employed by Pliny, although it literally

means “having two teeth,” has been referred to the age of the animal,

as indicated rather by the respective size of the teeth than by their

number. It has been supposed to designate an animal of two years old,

when the canine teeth of the lower jaw had become prominent.—B.

[2066] This is also referred to by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 18,

but is without foundation.—B.

[2067] Aristotle, _ubi supra_, B. viii. c. 26. It is mentioned as a

frequent occurrence by Plautus, Trinum. A. ii. s. 4, l. 139.—B.

[2068] Columella, B. vii. c. 10, gives directions for the treatment of

hogs affected with scrofula. The name of the disease has been supposed

to be derived from the frequency of its occurrence in this animal,

anciently called “scrofa.”

[2069] It may appear unnecessary to refer to authorities on this

subject, which is a matter of daily observation; it has, however, been

stated by some naturalists, that the hog, in its wild state, does not

exhibit any of the filthy propensities so generally observed in it when

domesticated.—B.

[2070] This saying is found in Varro, B. ii. c. 4; it is referred to

by Cicero, De Nat. Deor. B. ii. c. 64, and ascribed to Chrysippus; “ne

putisceret, animam ipsam pro sale datam.”—B. “That they are only of use

for their flesh, which is kept from putridity by their life, which acts

as salt.”

[2071] Pliny speaks of this more at large in B. xxviii. c. 60.—B.

[2072] This operation, and the effect of it, are mentioned by

Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 79, and by Columella, B. vii. c. 9.—B.

[2073] There were three Romans of this name, celebrated for their skill

in gastronomy; of these the most illustrious lived in the reigns of

Augustus and Tiberius. A treatise (probably spurious) is extant, to

which his name is attached, entitled “De Arte Culinariâ”—“On the Art of

Cookery.” Pliny refers to him again, B. xix. c. 41, and he is mentioned

by many others of the classical writers.—B.

[2074] See B. x. c. 1. A much more cruel mode of increasing the liver

of this animal, by confining it in hot ovens, is practised at the

present day, to satisfy the palate of the admirers of the Strasburg

_patés de foies gras_.

[2075] Pliny, in B. ix. c. 66, employs the expression “tonsillæ in

homine, in sue glandulæ,” as if he considered them analogous parts.—B.

See Plautus _passim_.

[2076] Publius Syrus was a comic performer and a writer, who acquired

considerable celebrity; he lived during the reign of Augustus.—B.

[2077] “Aprugnum callum;” Plautus, in detailing the preparations for a

feast, enumerates the following articles, “pernam, callum, glandium,

sumen;” Pseudolus, A. i. s. 2, l. 32; all of which are parts of the hog.

[2078] “Ponebatur.” Littré and Ajasson render this, “placed at table.”

It would appear, however, that the meaning is that this part was put by

for salting, and the other parts were served at table while fresh.

[2079] “Vivaria;” Varro, B. iii. c. 12, and Aulus Gellius, B. ii. c.

20, give an account of the different places which were employed by

the Romans for preserving animals of various descriptions, with their

appropriate designations. Varro names the inventor Fulvius Lippinus.—B.

[2080] Varro, B. iii. c. 13, gives an animated description of a visit

to what he calls the leporarium of Hortensius, where, besides hares,

as the name implies, there was a multitude of stags, boars, and other

four-footed animals.

[2081] Ælian, De Anim. Nat. B. xvi. c. 37, says, that no boar, either

wild or tame, is produced in India, and that the Indians never use the

flesh of this animal, as they would regard the use of it with as much

horror as of human flesh.—B. The “Sus babiroussa” is probably meant by

Pliny.

[2082] There has been some difference of opinion respecting the

derivation of this word, but it is generally used to express a

“mongrel,” _i. e._ an animal whose parents are of different natures,

or, when applied to the human species, of different countries.—B.

[2083] See B. vii. c. 2.

[2084] It is not easy to determine what animals Pliny intended

to designate. Cuvier employs the terms “chevreuils, chamois, and

bouquetins,” as the corresponding words in the French. In English we

have no names to express these varieties; we may, however, regard them

generally, as different species of wild goats. Cuvier conceives that

the Linnæan names of the animals mentioned were, probably, Cervus

capreolus, Antelope rupicapra, and Capra ibex.—B.

[2085] The resemblance may be supposed to consist in the horns being

hollow, and tapering to a point.—B.

[2086] There is considerable difficulty in ascertaining the correct

reading, or the exact meaning which the writer intended to convey by

the words employed.—B.

[2087] There is some difficulty in determining the nature of the

variety which Pliny terms “oryges;” Hardouin has collected the opinions

of naturalists, and we have some remarks by Cuvier; he refers to

Buffon’s account of the Antelope oryx, as agreeing, in the essential

points, with the description given by Pliny; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 554.

See B. xi. c. 106.

[2088] Cuvier remarks, that there is some doubt respecting the dama of

Pliny; he is, however, disposed to regard it as a species of antelope.

Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 464, 465; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 554.—B.

[2089] The term pygargus is derived from the words πυγὴ ἀργὸς, denoting

“white buttocks.” Probably a kind of gazelle.

[2090] “With twisted horns.” It is probable that Pliny intended to

designate a species of antelope.—B. See B. xi. c. 45.

[2091] In this division Pliny, probably, included what he has termed

the “capræa,” the rupicapra, and the ibex.—B.

[2092] Some of these animals are entirely without a tail, and this

circumstance has been employed to form the primary division of the

simiæ into the two species, those with and those without tails. We have

an epigram of Martial, in which this is referred to. “Si mihi cauda

foret, cercopithecus eram”—“If I had but a tail, I should be a monkey.”

B. iv. Ep. 102.—B. See B. xi. c. 100.

[2093] We learn from Strabo, Ind. Hist. B. xv., that, in catching the

monkey, the hunters took advantage of the propensity of these animals

to imitate any action they see performed. “Two modes,” he says, “are

employed in taking this animal, as by nature it is taught to imitate

every action, and to take to flight by climbing up trees. The hunters,

when they see an ape sitting on a tree, place within sight of it a

dish full of water, with which they rub their eyes; and then, slyly

substituting another in its place, full of bird-lime, retire and keep

upon the watch. The animal comes down from the tree, and rubs its

eyes with the bird-lime, in consequence of which the eyelids stick

together, and it is unable to escape.” Ælian also says, Hist. Anim.

B. xvii. c. 25, that the hunters pretend to put on their shoes, and

then substitute, in their place, shoes of lead; the animal attempts to

imitate them, and, the shoes being so contrived, when it has once got

them on, it finds itself unable to take them off, or to move, and is

consequently taken.

[2094] There has been some difficulty in ascertaining the exact

reading here; but the meaning seems to be, that the pieces were made

of wax, and that the animals had learned to distinguish them from each

other, and move them in the appropriate manner; how far this is to be

credited, it is not easy to decide, but it would certainly require very

strong and direct evidence. We are told that the Emperor Charles V. had

a monkey that played at chess with him.—B.

[2095] In the original, termed “cynocephali,” “dog’s-headed;” an

appellation given to them, according to Cuvier, from their muzzle

projecting like that of a dog; we have an account of this species in

Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 13.—B. Probably the baboon. See B. vi.

c. 35, and B. vii. c. 2. The satyr is, perhaps, the uran-utang. See B.

v. c. 8, and B. vii. c. 2.

[2096] Or “fine-haired monkey;” supposed to be the Silenus of Linnæus;

it is described by Buffon, under the name of Callitrix.—B. It seems to

be also called the “Simia hamadryas.”

[2097] Hardouin gives references to the authors who have observed

this change in the colour of the hare, apparently depending upon the

peculiar locality, and its consequent exposure to a low temperature.

Cuvier considers it as characteristic of a peculiar species, the Lepus

variabilis, “which being peculiar to the highest mountains, and the

regions of the north, is white in winter.”—B.

[2098] Or coney, “cuniculus.” Hardouin makes some observations upon the

derivation of this term, to show that Pliny was mistaken in supposing

it to be of Spanish origin; we have also an observation of Cuvier’s to

the same effect.—B.

[2099] “Laurices;” we have no explanation of this word in any of the

editions of Pliny. Its origin appears to be quite unknown.

[2100] According to Cuvier, the Mustela furo of Linnæus. Ajasson, _ubi

supra_.—B.

[2101] Because, as Varro says, De Re Rus. B. iii. c. 12, they are in

the habit of making burrows—cuniculos—in the earth.

[2102] This reference to the opinion of Archelaus appears to be from

Varro, _ubi supra_; the same reference is made by Ælian, Hist. Anim. B.

ii. c. 2.—B.

[2103] Respecting the dasypus of Pliny, it has been doubted whether it

be a distinct species, a variety of the hare, or merely a synonyme.—B.

[2104] It is by some contended, that the human female, and perhaps some

other animals, have occasionally been the subjects of what is termed

superfœtation; whereas, according to Pliny, in the hare and the dasypus

it takes place frequently, but in no other animals.—B. On this subject,

see B. vii. c. 9.

[2105] This is referred to by Cicero, in his treatise, De Divinatione,

B. i. c. 44, and B. ii. c. 27; in the latter he treats it as an idle

tale.—B.

[2106] See B. iii. c. 8.

[2107] C. Papirius Carbo, a contemporary and friend of the Gracchi. In

B.C. 119, the orator, Licinius Crassus, brought a charge against him,

the nature of which is not known; but Carbo put an end to his life, by

taking cantharides.

[2108] These different species are thus characterized by Cuvier:

“Les premiers sont les souris et les rats, de formes ordinaires; les

seconds, les grandes musaraignes [shrew-mice] de la taille du rat,

telles que l’on en trouve en Egypte; les troisiemes, une espece de

souris particuliere à l’Egypte, et peut-être à la Barbarie, armée

d’epines parmi ses poils dont Aristote avait deja parlé (B. vi. l. 37,

_cap. ult._) et que M. Geoffroy a retrouvée et nommée mus cahirinus.”

Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 467, and Lemaire, _ubi supra_.—B. See B. viii. c.

55, and B. x. c. 85.

[2109] Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 11, mentions this circumstance, but

says that it occurred in the island of Paros. For Gyara, see B. iv. c.

23.

[2110] We have two passages in Livy, B. xxvii. and B. xxx., where gold

is said to have been gnawed by mice.—B.

[2111] See B. iii. c. 9. In B.C. 217, this place was occupied by Fabius

with a strong garrison, to prevent Hannibal from passing the Vulturnus;

and the following year, after the battle of Cannæ, was occupied by

a small body of Roman troops, who, though little more than 1000 in

number, withstood the assaults of Hannibal during a protracted siege,

until compelled by famine to surrender.

[2112] This sum would be about £7.—B.

[2113] It is by no means improbable that “occentus” here means

“singing,” and not merely “squeaking;” as the singing of a mouse would

no doubt be deemed particularly ill-boding in those times. At the

present day, a mouse has been heard to emit a noise which more nearly

resembled singing than squeaking; and a “singing mouse” has been the

subject of an exhibition more than once.

[2114] We have frequent allusions to this occurrence in the writings of

the Romans, some of which are referred to by Dalechamps; Lemaire, vol.

iii. p. 563.—B.

[2115] A.U.C. 639; it does not appear what was the cause of this

prohibition.—B.

[2116] See B. xxxvi. c. 2.

[2117] Fulvius Lupinus, as already stated in c. 78.—B.

[2118] “Nitelis.” See B. xvi. c. 69. Probably the animal now known as

the Myoxus nitela of Linnæus.

[2119] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 33.—B.

[2120] According to Hardouin, this forest is termed, in modern times,

Bosco di Baccano; it is nine miles S.W. of Rome.

[2121] Cuvier informs us, that “Le dorcas des Grecs n’est le daim,

comme le dit Hardouin, mais le chevreuil; car Aristote (De Partib.

Anim. l. iii. c. 2) dit que c’est le plus petit des animaux à cornes

que nous connaissions (sans doute en Grèce); et le dorcas Libyca,

très-bien decrit par Ælien (l. xiv. c. 4), est certainement la gazelle

commune, ‘antelope dorcas,’” Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 467, 468; Lemaire,

vol. iii. p. 565. Respecting the localities here mentioned, it has been

proposed to substitute Cilicia for Syria, Syria and Lycia being at a

considerable distance from each other.—B.

[2122] See B. v. c. 39.

[2123] See B. v. c. 38.

[2124] See B. iii. c. 11, and the Note to the passage. See also c. 81

of this Book.

[2125] Ælian, B. ii. c. 37, gives the same account of the frogs of

Seriphos and the lake of Thessaly, but gives the name of Pierus to the

lake.—B.

[2126] “Mus araneüs; the ‘shrew-mouse,’” according to Cuvier, “La

musaraigne n’est pas venimeuse. Il s’en faut beaucoup qu’elle n’existe

pas au nord des Apennins; et elle ne périt point passe qu’elle a

traversé une ornière, quoique souvent elle puisse y être écrasée. C’est

un des quadrupèdes que l’on tue le plus aisément par un coup léger.”

Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 468.—B.

[2127] Ælian, B. iii. c. 32, gives the same account, which he professes

to have taken from Theophrastus.—B.

[2128] This is also stated by Ælian.

[2129] B. xi. c. 23, and B. xxix. c. 27.—B.

[2130] See B. iv. c. 20.

[2131] “Attagenæ;” the commentators have suspected some inaccuracy with

respect to this word, as we have no other remarks on birds in this part

of Pliny’s work; Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 567, 568.—B.

[2132] See B. iv. c. 9.

[2133] See B. v. c. 31.

[2134] More especially of trees, plants, flowers, medicinal substances,

metals, and gems, which form the most prominent subjects of the

remaining Books after the eleventh, which concludes the account of the

animals.—B.

[2135] See end of B. ii.

[2136] A Roman historian, and a contemporary of Cicero. He is thought

to have written on early Roman history, as Varro quotes his account

of the Curtian Lake, and on the later history of Rome, as we have

seen Pliny referring to him in c. 2, respecting Pompey’s triumph on

his return from Africa. He was held in high estimation by Pomponius

Atticus, but seems not to have been so highly esteemed as a writer by

Cicero.

[2137] See end of B. iii.

[2138] See end of B. ii.

[2139] Of this writer nothing seems to be known. He probably flourished

in the reign of Tiberius or Caligula.

[2140] See end of B. iii.