Chapter 388

1679This 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.

1680Related 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.

1681A 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.

1682Aulus 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.

1683The 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.”

1684This remark refers to what Pliny has related in c. 5, respecting the sagacity of the elephant.—B.

1685Cuvier remarks, that this “panthera” is not the same as theπάνθηρof 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.”

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

1688Ælian, 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.

1689Pliny, 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.

1690This, 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.

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

1692Xenophon, 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.

1693He was tribuneA.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.

16944th of May,A.U.C.696.—B.

1695See 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.

1697A.U.C.742.—B.

1698In 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.

1699Cuvier 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.

1700We have a similar statement in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 1. Indeed, the account here given generally, is taken from him.—B.

1701See B. xi. c. 62.

1702Mentioned 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.

1703At the time of rutting, according to Solinus.

1704He speaks here of onlyoneof the animals which resemble the camel; the giraffe, namely. The other, which he for the present omits, is the ostrich.

1705The 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.

1706Its 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.

1707According to Dion Cassius, B. xliii., these games were celebratedA.U.C.708.—B.

1708This comparison can only be employed to indicate the mild nature of the giraffe.—B.

1709In 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.

1710No 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,κηβοςis merely a monkey with a tail; see also the account of Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xvii. c. 8.—B.

1711Cuvier 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.

1712The other enemy is the dragon, as described in c. 11 and 12 of the present Book.—B.

1713According 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.

1714As 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.

1715Of 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.

1716Although 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.

1717It 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.

1718We 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.

1719Perhaps 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.

1720This 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.

1721Probably meaning, “not cloven.”

1722Cuvier conjectures, that this is from Ctesias, and says, that a similar animal is to be seen on one of the sculptures of Persepolis.—B.

1723Probably the stag of the Ganges, the “Cervus axis” of Linnæus; but if so, Pliny has omitted to mention the horns.—B.

1724White apes are now unknown, as a distinct species, but individuals are occasionally found nearly without colour.—B.

1725The “one-horned,” or the unicorn.

1726We 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.

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

1728Fromκαταβλέπω, “to look downwards.”

1729Ælian 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.

1730This account of the basilisk’s eye, like that of the catoblepas, is entirely devoid of foundation.—B.

1731Many species have certain marks on the head, which were supposed to resemble a crown.—B.

1732There 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.

1733Hence the proverbial expression applied to a person who is suddenly silent upon the entrance of another; “Lupus est tibi visus.”

1734Cuvier 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.

1735The 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.

1736This 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 namedλυκανθρώπια, “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.

1737It is not known who is here referred to; it is not probable that it is Fabius Pictor, the Roman historian.—B.

1738It is rather curious to find Pliny censuring others forcredulity; 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.

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

1740It 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.

1741It does not appear what is the foundation of this opinion; of course, it is without truth.—B.

1742Aristotle, 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.

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

1744It 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.

1745The 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.

1746Cuvier 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.

1747The amphisbæna is mentioned by Lucan, B. ix. l. 719. “The dangerous amphisbæna, that moves on at either of its heads.”

1748The 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.

1749Lucan 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.”

1750There 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.

1751In 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.

1752Cuvier 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.

1753Both 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.

1754The method of attracting this serpent, by imitating the voice of the female, proves that there is some foundation for this statement.—B.

1755The 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.

1756Many 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.

1757The 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.

1758This 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.

1759Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. v. c. 52, observes, that this is the case with the tortoise, and similar animals.—B.

1760Cuvier 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.

1761Herodotus 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.

1762The 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.

1763Although 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.

1764There 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.

1765Cuvier 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.

1766We have some account of the Tentyritæ in Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. x. c. 21.—B. See B. xxviii. c. 6.

1767See 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.

1768This, 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.

1769Cuvier 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.

1770Herodotus 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.7of this Book.

1772Pliny, speaking of the hippopotamus, in B. xxviii. c. 31, styles it, “the discoverer of the art of letting blood.”—B.

1773Cuvier 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.

1774Cuvier 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 hisRecherches 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.

1775The 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.

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