VIEW OF NAPLES AND MT. VESUVIUS.
THE
BOYS’ AND GIRLS’
PLINY
BEING PARTS OF PLINY’S “NATURAL HISTORY”
EDITED FOR BOYS AND GIRLS, WITH AN INTRODUCTION
BY
JOHN S. WHITE, LL.D.
HEAD-MASTER BERKELEY SCHOOL
EDITOR OF “THE BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ PLUTARCH” AND “THE BOYS’ AND GIRLS’ HERODOTUS”
WITH FIFTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW YORK AND LONDON
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
The Knickerbocker Press
COPYRIGHT BY
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
1885
CONTENTS.
BOOK I.
DEDICATION. CHAP. PAGE [Caius Plinius Secundus to his Friend Titus Vespasian] 1 BOOK II.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD AND THE ELEMENTS. [I. The Character and Form of the World] 9 [II. Of God] 12 [III. The Dimensions of the World] 15 [IV. Of the Stars which appear suddenly, or of Comets] 16 [V. The Doctrine of Hipparchus about the Stars] 17 [VI. Of the Stars which are Named Castor and Pollux] 18 [VII. Of Thunder and Lightning] 19 [VIII. Nature of the Earth] 20 [IX. Italy] 25 [X. The Hyperboreans] 27 [XI. Britannia] 29 [XII. Mount Atlas] 30 [XIII. The Island of Taprobana] 31 BOOK III.
MAN, HIS BIRTH AND HIS ORGANIZATION. [I. Man] 37 [II. The Wonderful Forms of Different Nations] 40 [III. Instances of Extraordinary Strength] 49 [IV. Instances of Remarkable Agility and Acuteness of Sight] 50 [V. Vigor of Mind, and Courage] 51 [VI. Men of Remarkable Genius and Wisdom] 57 BOOK IV.
THE NATURE OF TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS. [I. Elephants; their Capacity] 60 [II. The Combats of Elephants] 66 [III. The Way in which Elephants are Caught] 68 [IV. The Age of the Elephant, and Other Particulars] 69 [V. The Lion] 71 [VI. Wonderful Feats Performed by Lions] 74 [VII. Panthers and Tigers] 78 [VIII. The Camel] 80 [IX. The Rhinoceros and the Crocotta] 82 [X. The Animals of Æthiopia; Wild Beasts which Kill with their Eyes] 84 [XI. Wolves; Serpents] 85 [XII. The Crocodile and the Hippopotamus] 88 [XIII. Prognostics of Danger Derived from Animals] 92 [XIV. The Hyæna] 93 [XV. Deer] 94 [XVI. The Chameleon] 97 [XVII. Bears and their Cubs] 98 [XVIII. Hedgehogs] 100 [XIX. The Wild Boar] 101 [XX. Apes] 102 BOOK V.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS. [I. The Dog; Examples of its Attachment to its Master] 104 [II. The Horse] 107 [III. The Ox] 112 [IV. The Egyptian Apis] 114 [V. Sheep and their Wool] 115 [VI. Different Kinds of Cloths] 118 [VII. Goats] 120 BOOK VI.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF FISHES. [I. Why the Largest Animals are Found in the Sea] 121 [II. The Forms of the Tritons and Nereids] 124 [III. The Balæna and the Orca] 125 [IV. Dolphins] 127 [V. The Various Kinds of Turtles] 133 [VI. Distribution of Aquatic Animals into Various Species] 134 [VII. Fishes Valued for the Table] 139 [VIII. Peculiar Fishes] 142 [IX. Bloodless Fishes] 144 [X. Various Kinds of Shell-Fish] 151 [XI. Pearls] 153 [XII. The Nature of the Murex and the Purple] 160 [XIII. Bodies which have a Third Nature, that of the Animal and Vegetable Combined] 164 [XIV. The Shark] 165 [XV. Oyster-Beds, and Fish-Preserves] 167 [XVI. Land-Fishes] 169 [XVII. How the Fish Called the Anthias is Taken] 170 [XVIII. The Echeneis and the Torpedo] 172 [XIX. The Instincts and Peculiarities of Fishes] 174 [XX. Coral] 176 [XXI. The Various Kinds of Oysters] 177 BOOK VII.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. [I. The Ostrich] 180 [II. The Phœnix] 181 [III. The Eagle] 182 [IV. The Vulture and the Hawk] 187 [V. The Crow, the Raven, and the Owl] 191 [VI. The Woodpecker of Mars] 193 [VII. The Peacock and the Rooster] 194 [VIII. The Goose] 197 [IX. Cranes] 198 [X. Storks and Swans] 199 [XI. Foreign Birds which Visit Us] 201 [XII. Swallows] 203 [XIII. Birds which take their Departure from Us in Winter] 204 [XIV. The Nightingale] 206 [XV. The Halcyons: the Halcyon Days that are Favorable to Navigation] 208 [XVI. The Instinctive Cleverness Displayed by Birds in the Construction of their Nests] 209 [XVII. The Acanthyllis and the Partridge] 210 [XVIII. Pigeons] 213 [XIX. Different Modes of Flight and Progression in Birds] 215 [XX. Strange and Fabulous Birds] 216 [XXI. The Art of Cramming Poultry.—Aviaries] 224 [XXII. Peculiarities of Animals] 226 BOOK VIII.
THE VARIOUS KINDS OF INSECTS. [I. The Extreme Smallness of Insects] 232 [II. Whether Insects Breathe, and Whether they have Blood] 234 [III. Bees] 236 [IV. The Mode in which Bees Work] 238 [V. The Mode of Government of the Bees] 242 [VI. Wasps and Hornets] 244 [VII. The Silk-Worm] 245 [VIII. Spiders] 246 [IX. Locusts] 248 [X. Ants] 250 BOOK IX.
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF METALS. [I. Gold] 252 [II. The Origin of Gold Rings] 254 [III. Coins of Gold] 256 [IV. Silver] 260 [V. Mirrors] 261 [VI. Instances of Immense Wealth] 263 [VII. Instances of Luxury in Silver Plate] 265 [VIII. Bronze] 268 [IX. Statues of Bronze] 271 [X. The most Celebrated Colossal Statues in the City] 277 [XI. Of the most Celebrated Works in Bronze, and of the Artists who Executed them] 280 [XII. Iron] 287 [XIII. An Account of Paintings and Colors] 289 [XIV. The Earliest Painters] 292 [XV. Artists who Painted with the Pencil] 296 [XVI. Various other Kinds of Painting] 311 [XVII. The Inventors of the Art of Modelling] 313 [XVIII. Works in Pottery] 315 [XIX. Sculpture] 318 [XX. Obelisks] 323 [CONCLUSION.—Italy] 326
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE [View of Naples and Mt. Vesuvius] Frontispiece. [The Indian Elephant] 43 [African Elephant.—Loxodonta Africana] 66 [Gambian Lion.—Leo Gambianus] 72 [Wild Cat.—Felis Catus] 75 [Margay.—Leopardus Tigrinus] 77 [Jaguar.—Leopardus Onca] 78 [Tiger.—Tigris Regális] 79 [Camel.—Camélus Arábicus] 80 [Giraffe.—Giraffa Camelopárdalis] 81 [Indian Rhinoceros.—Rhinóceros Unicornis] 82 [Keittoa, or Sloan’s Rhinoceros.—Rhinoceros Keittoa] 83 [Viper, or Adder.—Pelias Berus] 87 [Hippopotamus, or Zeekoe.—Hippopotamus Amphibius] 91 [Common Mouse.—Mus Músculus (White, Brown and Pied Varieties)] 92 [Caribou.—Larandus Rangifer] 95 [Syrian Bear, or Dubb.—Ursus Isabellinus] 99 [Hedgehog.—Erinaceus Europæus] 100 [Wild Boar.—Sus Scrofa] 101 [Silvery Gibbon.—Hylóbates Leuciscus] 102 [The Orang-Outan.—Simia Sátyrus] 103 [Maltese Dog.—Canis Familiáris] 105 [Thibet Dog.—Canis Familiáris] 106 [Mustang] 109 [Zebra.—Ásinus Zebra] 110 [Ass.—Ásinus Vulgaris] 111 [Merino, or Spanish Sheep] 116 [Musk Ox.—Ovibos Moschátus] 119 [Sea-Elephant.—Morunga proboscidea] 122 [Rorqual.—Physalus Böops] 126 [Spermaceti Whale.—Cátodon Macrocéphalus] 126 [Dolphin.—Delphinus Delphis] 130 [Group of Seals] 135 [Long-Spined Chætodon.—Heinochus Monoceros] 141 [Filamentous Gunard.—Pelor filamentosum] 143 [Otter.—Lutra Vulgaris] 171 [Bald, or White-Headed Eagle.—Haliaëtus Leucocephalus] 183 [Martial Eagle.—Spizáëtus bellicosus] 186 [Group of Falcons] 189 [Stork.—Ciconia Alba] 200 [Spotted King Fisher.—Céryle Guttáta] 217 [Rhinoceros Hornbill.—Búceros Rhinoceros] 218 [King Penguin.—Aptenodytes Pennantii] 222 [Gigantic Salamander.—Sieboldia Maxima] 226 [Hemigale.—Hemigale Hardwickii] 227 [Group of Rodent Animals] 229 [The Cat.—Felis Domestica] 230 [Merian’s Opossum.—Philander Dorsigerus] 251 [Panda, or Wah.—Aiúlrus Fulgens] 276 [Colossus at Rhodes] 279
INTRODUCTION.
In the little village of Como, in that province of Northern Italy called by the Romans “Gaul-this-side-the-Alps,” was born, twenty-three years after the coming of our Lord, Caius Plinius Secundus, known to us by the shorter name of “Pliny.” His boyhood was spent in his native province, but we find him in Rome in his sixteenth year attending the lectures of Apion, the grammarian. Like Herodotus he became a great traveller for those days, visiting Africa, Egypt and Greece, and in his twenty-third year he served in Germany under Pomponius Secundus, by whom he was greatly beloved, and was soon promoted to the command of a troop of cavalry. He appears to have remained in the army, journeying about extensively in Germany and Gaul, until he was twenty-eight years old, when he returned to Rome and devoted himself to the study of law. But his natural taste for literary work speedily developed itself, and, abandoning his forensic pursuits, he set to work upon a life of his friend Pomponius and an account of “The Wars in Germany,” which filled twenty books when completed, no part of which is now extant. In the reign of Nero, Pliny was appointed procurator, or comptroller of the revenue, in Nearer Spain. During his absence upon this mission his brother-in-law, Caius Cæcilius, died, leaving one son, a boy ten years of age, Caius Plinius Cæcilius Secundus—afterwards a famous lawyer and the author of the “Letters”—whom he adopted immediately upon his return from Spain, A.D. 70. To this nephew we are indebted for nearly all we know of Pliny’s personal character and mode of life, a very entertaining description of which he gives in a letter to his friend, Baebius Macer:
“It gives me great pleasure to find you such a reader of my uncle’s works as to wish to have a complete collection of them, and to ask me for the names of them all. I will act as index then, and you shall know the very order in which they were written, for the studious reader likes to know this. The first work of his was a treatise in one volume, ‘On the Use of the Dart by Cavalry;’ this he wrote when in command of one of the cavalry corps of our allied troops. It is drawn up with great care and ingenuity. Next came ‘The Life of Pomponius Secundus,’ in two volumes. Pomponius had a great affection for him, and my uncle thought he owed this tribute to his memory. ‘The History of the Wars in Germany’ was in twenty books, in which he gave an account of all the battles we were engaged in against that nation. A dream he had while serving in the army in Germany first suggested the design of this work to him. He imagined that Drusus Nero, who extended his conquests very far into that country, and there lost his life, appeared to him in his sleep, and entreated him to rescue his memory from oblivion. Next comes a work entitled ‘The Student,’ in three parts, which from their length spread into six volumes: a work in which is discussed the earliest training and subsequent education of the orator. His ‘Questions of Latin Grammar and Style,’ in eight books, was written in the latter part of Nero’s reign, when the tyranny of the times made it dangerous to engage in literary pursuits requiring freedom and elevation of tone. He completed the history which Aufidius Bassus left unfinished, and added to it thirty books. And lastly he has left thirty-seven books on Natural History, a work of great compass and learning, and as full of variety as nature herself. You will wonder how a man as busy as he was could find time to compose so many books, and some of them, too, involving such care and labor. But you will be still more surprised when you hear that he pleaded at the bar for some time, that he died in his fifty-sixth year, and that the intervening time was employed partly in the execution of the highest official duties, and partly in attendance upon those emperors who honored him with their friendship. But he had a quick apprehension, marvellous power of application, and was of an exceedingly wakeful temperament. He always began to study at midnight at the time of the feast of Vulcan, not for the sake of good luck, but for learning’s sake; in winter generally at one in the morning, but never later than two, and often at twelve. He was a most ready sleeper, insomuch that he would sometimes, whilst in the midst of his studies, fall off and then wake up again. Before day-break he used to wait upon Vespasian, who also used his nights for transacting business in, and then proceed to execute the orders he had received. As soon as he returned home, he gave what time was left to study. After a short and light refreshment at noon, agreeably to the good old custom of our ancestors, he would frequently in the summer, if he was disengaged from business, lie down and bask in the sun; during which time some author was read to him, while he took notes and made extracts, for out of every book he read he made extracts; indeed it was a maxim of his, that ‘no book was so bad but some good might be got out of it.’ When this was over, he generally took a cold bath, then some slight refreshment and a little nap. After this, as if it had been a new day, he studied till supper-time, when a book was again read to him, from which he would take down running notes. I remember once when his reader had mis-pronounced a word, one of my uncle’s friends at the table made him go back to where the word was and repeat it; upon which my uncle said to his friend, ‘You understood it, didn’t you?’ ‘Yes,’ said the other. ‘Why then,’ said he, ‘did you make him go over it again? We have lost more than ten lines by this interruption.’ Such an economist he was of time! In the summer he used to rise from supper by daylight, and in winter as soon as it was dark: a rule he observed as strictly as if it had been a law of the state. Such was his manner of life amid the bustle and turmoil of the town: but in the country his whole time was devoted to study, except only when in the bath. When I say in the bath I mean while he was in the water, for all the while he was being rubbed and wiped, he was employed either in hearing some book read to him or in dictating himself. In going about anywhere, as though he were disengaged from all other business, he applied his mind wholly to that single pursuit. Always by his side was a short-hand[1] writer, with book and tablets, who, in the winter, wore a particular sort of warm gloves, that the sharpness of the weather might not occasion any interruption to my uncle’s studies: and for the same reason, when in Rome, he was always carried in a chair. I recollect his once taking me to task for walking. ‘You need not,’ he said, ‘lose these hours.’ For he looked upon every hour as lost that was not given to study. Through this extraordinary application he found time to compose the several treatises I have mentioned, besides one hundred and sixty volumes of extracts which he left me in his will, consisting of a kind of common-place, written on both sides, in a very small hand, which renders the collection doubly voluminous. He used himself to tell us that when he was comptroller of the revenue in Spain, he could have sold these manuscripts to Largius Licinus for four hundred thousand sesterces ($16,000), and then the collection was not so extensive as now. When you consider the books he has read, and the volumes he has written, are you not inclined to suspect that he never was engaged in public duties or was ever in the confidence of his prince? On the other hand, when you are told how indefatigable he was in his studies, are you not inclined to wonder that he read and wrote no more than he did? For, on one side, what obstacles would not the business of a court throw in his way? and on the other, what might not such intense application effect? It amuses me when I hear myself called a studious man, who in comparison with him am the merest idler. But why do I mention myself, who am diverted from these pursuits by numberless affairs both public and private? Who among those whose whole lives are devoted to literary pursuits would not blush and feel himself the most confirmed of sluggards by the side of him? I see I have run out my letter farther than I had originally intended, which was only to let you know, as you asked me, what works he had left behind him. But I trust this will be no less acceptable to you than the books themselves, as it may, possibly, not only excite your curiosity to read his works, but also your emulation to copy his example, by some attempts of a similar nature. Farewell.”
In his great work of thirty-seven books upon Natural History—the only one which has come down to us—Pliny has compiled a vast encyclopædia of all human knowledge of his time, comprising more than twenty thousand subjects, and necessitating, as he himself states, the perusal of two thousand volumes—almost all of which have perished—the works of five hundred authors, to which he has added countless matters derived from his personal enquiry, experience and observation. Among his enthusiastic admirers in modern times are the eminent naturalists, Cuvier and Buffon. The former in less extravagant but equally appreciative terms accords to Pliny a high place among the writers of classical antiquity. “The work of Pliny,” he says, “is one of the most precious monuments that have come down to us from ancient times, and affords proof of an astonishing amount of erudition in one who was a warrior and a statesman. To appreciate with justice this vast and celebrated composition, it is necessary to regard it in several points of view—with reference to the plan proposed, the facts stated, and the style employed. The plan proposed by the writer is of immense extent—it is his object to write not simply a Natural History in our restricted sense of the term, not an account merely, more or less detailed, of animals, plants, and minerals, but a work which embraces astronomy, physics, geography, agriculture, commerce, medicine, and the fine arts—and all these in addition to natural history properly so called; while at the same time he continually interweaves with his narrative information upon the arts which bear relation to man considered metaphysically, and the history of nations,—so much so indeed, that in many respects this work was the Encyclopædia of its age. It was impossible in running over, however cursorily, such a prodigious number of subjects, that the writer should not have made us acquainted with a multitude of facts, which, while remarkable in themselves, are the more precious from the circumstance that at the present day he is the only author extant who relates them. It is to be regretted however that the manner in which he has collected and grouped this mass of matter, has caused it to lose some portion of its value, from his mixture of fable with truth. But if Pliny possesses little merit as a critic, it is far otherwise with his talent as a writer, and the immense treasury which he opens to us of Latin terms and forms of expression: these, from the very abundance of the subjects upon which he treats, render his work one of the richest repositories of the Roman language. Wherever he finds it possible to give expression to general ideas or to philosophical views, his language assumes considerable energy and vivacity, and his thoughts present to us a certain novelty and boldness which tend in a very great degree to relieve the dryness of his enumerations, and, with the majority of his readers, excuse the insufficiency of his scientific indications. He is always noble and serious, full of the love of justice and virtue, detestation of cruelty and baseness, of which he had such frightful instances before his eyes, and contempt for that unbridled luxury which in his time had so deeply corrupted the Roman people. For these great merits Pliny cannot be too highly praised, and despite the faults which we are obliged to admit in him when viewed as a naturalist, we are bound to regard him as one of the most meritorious of the Roman writers, and among those most worthy to be reckoned in the number of the classics who wrote after the reign of Augustus.”
Among the later honors conferred upon Pliny was one which indirectly cost him his life—his appointment by Vespasian, A.D. 74, as prefect of the Roman fleet on the west coast of Italy. Three years later, in the great eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and the destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii, he met his romantic end in the execution of his duty, the story of which is again graphically told by the younger Pliny in two letters to his friend Tacitus the historian:—
“Your request that I would send you an account of my uncle’s death, in order to transmit a more exact relation of it to posterity, deserves my acknowledgments; for, if this accident shall be celebrated by your pen, the glory of it, I am well assured, will be rendered forever illustrious. And notwithstanding he perished by a misfortune, which, as it involved at the same time a most beautiful country in ruins, and destroyed so many populous cities, seems to promise him an everlasting remembrance notwithstanding he has himself composed many and lasting works; yet I am persuaded, the mentioning of him in your immortal writings, will greatly contribute to render his name immortal. Happy I esteem those to be to whom by provision of the gods has been granted the ability either to do such actions as are worthy of being related or to relate them in a manner worthy of being read. My uncle was at that time with the fleet under his command at Misenum, in the Bay of Naples. On the 24th of August, about one in the afternoon, my mother desired him to observe a cloud which appeared of a very unusual size and shape. He had just taken a turn in the sun, and, after bathing himself in cold water, and making a light luncheon, had gone back to his books: he immediately arose and went out upon a piece of rising ground, where he could get a better sight of this very uncommon appearance. A cloud was ascending from a mountain, afterwards found to be Vesuvius, the appearance of which I cannot more accurately describe than by likening it to that of a pine tree, for it shot up to a great height in the form of a very tall trunk, spreading itself out at the top into a sort of branch. It appeared sometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted, according as it was either more or less impregnated with earth and cinders.[2] This phenomenon seemed to a man of such learning and research as my uncle extraordinary and worth further looking into. He accordingly ordered a light vessel to be got ready, and gave me leave, if I liked, to accompany him. I preferred to go on with my work; and it so happened that he had himself given me something to write out. Just as he was coming out of the house, tablets in hand, he received a note from Rectina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the utmost alarm at the imminent danger which threatened her; as her villa lay at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, there was no way of escape but by sea; she earnestly entreated him therefore to come to her assistance. So he changed his first intention, and what he had begun from a philosophical, he now carried out in a noble and generous spirit. He ordered the galleys to put to sea, and went himself on board with an intention of assisting not only Rectina, but the several other towns which lay thickly strewn along that beautiful coast. Hastening then to the place from which others were fleeing in the utmost terror, he steered his course direct to the point of danger, and with so much calmness and presence of mind as to be able to make and dictate his observations upon all the phenomena of that dreadful scene. He was now so close to the mountain that the cinders, which grew thicker and hotter the nearer he approached, fell into the ships, together with pumice-stones, and great black pieces of burning rock: they were in danger of getting aground by the sudden retreat of the sea, as well as from the vast fragments which rolled down from the mountain, and obstructed all the shore. Here for a moment he stopped to consider whether or not he should turn back; but when the pilot advised him to do so, he exclaimed, ‘Fortune favors the brave; steer to Pomponianus.’ Pomponianus was at Stabiae (now called Castelamare), separated by a bay, which the sea, after several insensible windings, forms with the shore. He had already sent his baggage on board the ships, for though he was not at that time in actual danger, yet being within sight of it, and extremely near, he determined, if it should in the least increase, to put to sea as soon as the wind, which was blowing dead in-shore, should go down. It was favorable, however, for carrying my uncle to Pomponianus, whom he found in the greatest consternation: he embraced him tenderly, encouraging and urging him to keep his spirits, and, the more effectually to soothe his fears by seeming unconcerned himself, ordered a bath to be got ready, bathed and sat down to supper with great cheerfulness, or at least, what is just as heroic, with every appearance of it. Meanwhile broad flames shone out in several places from Mount Vesuvius, which the darkness of the night contributed to render still brighter and clearer. My uncle, to soothe the apprehensions of his friend, assured him that it was only the burning of the villages, which the country people had abandoned to the flames: after this he retired to rest, and was so little disquieted as to fall into a sound sleep: for his breathing, which, on account of his corpulence, was rather heavy and sonorous, was heard by the attendants outside. The court which led to his apartment was now almost filled with stones and ashes, and if he had continued there any longer, it would have been impossible for him to have made his way out. So he was awakened, and getting up, went to Pomponianus and the rest of his company, who were feeling too anxious to think of sleep. They consulted together whether it would be most prudent to trust to the houses, which now rocked from side to side with frequent and violent concussions as though shaken from their very foundations; or fly to the open fields, where the calcined stones and cinders, though light, fell in such large showers as to threaten destruction. In this choice of dangers they resolved for the fields: but I must say that while the rest of the company were hurried into this resolution by their fears, my uncle embraced it upon cool and deliberate consideration. They tied pillows upon their heads with napkins, and went out, and this was their whole defence against the storm of stones that fell round them. It was now day everywhere else, but there a deeper darkness prevailed than in the thickest night, alleviated, however, in some degree by torches and other lights of various kinds. They thought proper to go farther down upon the shore to see if they might safely put out to sea, but found the waves still running extremely high and boisterous. There my uncle, laying himself down upon a sail-cloth, which was spread for him, called twice for some cold water, which he drank, when immediately the flames, preceded by a strong whiff of sulphur, dispersed the rest of the party, and obliged him to rise. He raised himself up with the assistance of two of his servants, and instantly fell down dead; suffocated, as I conjecture, by the noxious vapor, having always had a weak throat, which was often inflamed. As soon as it was light again, which was not till the third day after this melancholy accident, his body was found untouched and without any marks of violence upon it, in the dress in which he fell, and looking more like a man asleep than dead. During all this time my mother and I were at Misenum. * * * After my uncle had left us, I spent the time in my studies until it was the hour for my bath, after which I went to supper, and then fell into a short and uneasy sleep. A trembling of the earth had been noticed for many days before, which did not alarm us much, as this is quite an ordinary occurrence in Campania; but it was so particularly violent that night that it not only shook but actually overturned, as it would seem, everything about us. My mother rushed into my chamber, where she found me rising in order to awaken her. We sat down in the open court of the house, which occupied a small space between the buildings and the sea. As I was at that time but eighteen years of age, I know not whether I should call my behavior, in this dangerous juncture, courage or folly; but I took up Livy, and amused myself turning over that author, and even making extracts from him, as if I had been perfectly at my leisure. Just then, a friend of my uncle’s, who had lately come to him from Spain, joined us, and observing me sitting by my mother with a book in my hand, reproved her for her calmness, and me at the same time for my careless security: nevertheless I went on with my author. Though it was now morning, the light was still exceedingly faint and doubtful; the buildings all around us tottered, and though we stood upon open ground, yet as the place was narrow and confined, it was not possible to remain without imminent danger: we therefore resolved to quit the town. A panic-stricken crowd followed us, and, as to a mind distracted with terror every suggestion seems more prudent than its own, pressed on us in dense array to drive us forward as we came out. When at a convenient distance from the house, we stopped in the midst of a most dangerous and dreadful scene. The chariots, which we had ordered to be drawn out, were so agitated backwards and forwards, though upon the most level ground, that we could not keep them steady, even by supporting them with large stones. The sea seemed to roll back upon itself, and to be driven from its banks by the convulsive motion of the earth; it is certain at least that the shore was considerably enlarged, and several sea animals were left upon it. On the other side, a dreadful black cloud, broken with rapid, zigzag flashes, revealed behind it variously shaped masses of flame: these last were like sheet-lightning, but much larger. Upon this our Spanish friend, whom I mentioned above, addressing himself to my mother with great energy and urgency, said: ‘If your brother be safe, he certainly wishes you may be so too: and if he has perished, it was his desire, no doubt, that you might both survive him: so why do you delay your escape a moment?’ ‘We could never think of our own safety,’ said she, ‘while we are uncertain of his.’ Upon this our friend left us, and withdrew from the danger with the utmost precipitation. Soon afterwards, the cloud began to descend, and cover the sea. It had already surrounded and concealed the island of Capri and the promontory of Misenum. My mother now besought, urged, even commanded me to make my escape at any rate, which, as I was young, I might easily do; as for herself, she said, her age and corpulency rendered all attempts of that sort impossible; however, she would willingly meet death if she could have the satisfaction of seeing that she was not the occasion of mine. But I absolutely refused to leave her, and, taking her by the hand, compelled her to go with me. She complied with great reluctance, and not without many reproaches to herself for retarding my flight. The ashes now began to fall upon us, though in no great quantity. I looked back; a dense, dark mist seemed to be following us, spreading itself over the country like a cloud. ‘Let us turn out of the high-road,’ I said, ‘while we can still see, for fear that, should we fall in the road, we should be pressed to death in the dark, by the crowds that are following us.’ We had scarcely sat down when night came upon us, not such as we have when the sky is cloudy, or when there is no moon, but that of a room when it is shut up, and all the lights put out. You might hear the shrieks of women, the screams of children, and the shouts of men; some calling for their children, others for their parents, others for their husbands, and seeking to recognize each other by the voices that replied; one lamenting his own fate, another that of his family; some wishing to die, from the very fear of dying; some lifting their hands to the gods; but the greater part convinced that there were now no gods at all, and that the final, endless night of which we have heard had come upon the world.[3] Some augmented the real terrors by others imaginary or wilfully invented. I remember some who declared that one part of Misenum had fallen, and that another was on fire; it was false, but they found people to believe them. It now grew rather lighter, which we imagined to be not the forerunner of an approaching burst of flames, as in truth it was, but the return of day: however, the fire fell at a distance from us: then we were immersed again in thick darkness, and a heavy shower of ashes rained upon us, which we were obliged every now and then to stand up to shake off, otherwise we should have been crushed and buried in the heap. I might boast that, during all this scene of horror, not a sigh or expression of fear escaped me, for my support was grounded in that miserable, though mighty consolation, that all mankind were involved in the same calamity, and that I was perishing with the world itself. At last this dreadful darkness was dissipated by degrees, like a cloud or smoke; the real day returned, and even the sun shone out, though with a lurid light, as when an eclipse is coming on. Every object that presented itself to our eyes, now extremely weakened, seemed changed, being covered deep with ashes as with snow. We returned to Misenum, where we refreshed ourselves as well as we could, and passed an anxious night between hope and fear; though with a much larger share of the latter; for the earthquake still continued, and many frenzied persons ran up and down heightening their own and their friends’ calamities by terrible predictions. However, my mother and I, notwithstanding the danger we had passed, and that which still threatened us, had no thoughts of leaving the place, till we could receive some news of my uncle.
“And now, please read this narrative without any view of inserting it in your history, of which it is not in the least worthy; indeed, you must lay it to your own request if my account does not appear worth even the trouble of a letter. Farewell.”
In the preparation of the most interesting parts of Pliny’s Natural History for younger readers, I have had constant recourse for foot-notes to the annotations of those devoted students of Pliny—Cuvier, Bostock, and Ajasson, whose work can rarely be improved upon. The literal rendering of the original Latin text has been closely followed, and in all instances where the author’s statements have proved in the light of modern science to be erroneous (unless evidently preposterous) attention has been called to the fact.
With this volume I reluctantly bring to completion the brief series of classical authors best adapted for the reading of boys and girls, in the preparation of which the greater part of my leisure hours during the past three years has been occupied. Plutarch, Herodotus, Pliny—a trio of illustrious names! Of how many can it be truly said, as of them, the world is wiser and better for their living?
New York City,
July 1, 1885.
Natural History of Pliny.
Book I.
DEDICATION.
CAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS TO HIS FRIEND TITUS VESPASIAN.
This treatise on Natural History, a novel work in Roman literature, which I have just completed, I have taken the liberty to dedicate to you, most gracious Emperor, an appellation peculiarly suitable to you, while, on account of his age, that of great is more appropriate to your Father;—
“For still thou ne’er wouldst quite despise
The trifles that I write;”
if I may be allowed to shelter myself under the example of Catullus, my fellow-countryman. For he, as you know, when his napkins[4] had been changed, expressed himself a little harshly, from his anxiety to show his friendship for his dear little Veranius and Fabius. At the same time this importunity of mine may effect, what you complained of my not having done in another too forward epistle of mine; it will put upon record, and let all the world know, with what kindness you exercise the imperial dignity. You have had the honor of a triumph, and of the censorship, have been six times consul, and have shared in the tribunate; and, what is still more honorable, whilst you have held them in conjunction with your Father, you have presided over the Equestrian order, and been the Prefect of the Prætorians: all this you have done for the service of the Republic, and, at the same time, have regarded me as a fellow-soldier and a messmate. Nor has the extent of your prosperity produced any change in you, except that it has given you the power of doing good to the utmost of your wishes. And whilst all these circumstances increase the veneration which other persons feel for you, with respect to myself, they have made me so bold, as to wish to become more familiar. You must, therefore, blame yourself for any fault of this kind that I may commit.
But, although I have laid aside my blushes, I have not gained my object; for you still awe me, and keep me at a distance, by the majesty of your understanding. In no one does the force of eloquence and of tribunitian oratory blaze out more powerfully! With what glowing language you thunder forth the praises of your Father! How dearly you love your Brother! How admirable is your talent for poetry! What a fertility of genius you possess, so as to enable you to imitate your Brother! But who is there that is bold enough to form an estimate on these points, if he is to be judged by you, and, more especially, if you are challenged to do so? For the case of those who merely publish their works is very different from that of those who expressly dedicate them to you. In the former case I might say, Emperor! why do you read these things? They are written only for the common people, for farmers or mechanics, or for those who have nothing else to do; why do you trouble yourself with them? Indeed, when I undertook this work, I did not expect that you would sit in judgment upon me; I considered your situation much too elevated for you to descend to such an office. Besides, we possess the right of openly rejecting the opinion of men of learning. Marcus Tullius Cicero himself, whose genius is beyond all competition, uses this privilege; and, remarkable as it may appear, employs an advocate in his own defence:—“I do not write for very learned people; I do not wish my works to be read by Manius Persius, but by Junius Congus.” And if Lucilius, who first introduced the satirical style, applied such a remark to himself, and if Cicero thought proper to borrow it, and that more especially in his treatise “De Republica,” how much reason have I to do so, who have such a judge to defend myself against! And by this dedication I have deprived myself of the benefit of challenge; for it is a very different thing whether a person has a judge given him by lot, or whether he voluntarily selects one; and we always make more preparation for an invited guest, than for one that comes in unexpectedly.
I am well aware, that, placed as you are in the highest station, and gifted with the most splendid eloquence and the most accomplished mind, even those who come to pay their respects to you, do it with a kind of veneration: on this account I ought to be careful that what is dedicated to you should be worthy of you. But the country people, and, indeed, some whole nations offer milk to the Gods, and those who cannot procure frankincense substitute in its place salted cakes; for the Gods are not dissatisfied when they are worshipped by every one to the best of his ability. But my temerity will appear the greater by the consideration, that these volumes, which I dedicate to you, are of such inferior importance. For they do not admit of the display of genius, nor, indeed, is mine one of the highest order; they admit of no excursions, nor orations, nor discussions, nor of any wonderful adventures to tickle the fancy of the reader. The nature of things, and life as it actually exists, are described in them; and often the lowest department of it; so that, in very many cases, I am obliged to use rude and foreign, or even barbarous terms, and these often require to be introduced by a kind of preface. And, besides this, my road is not a beaten track, nor one which the mind is much disposed to travel over. There is no one among us who has ever attempted it, nor is there any one individual among the Greeks who has treated of all the topics. Most of us seek for nothing but amusement in our studies, while others are fond of subjects that are of excessive subtilty, and completely involved in obscurity. My object is to treat of all those things which the Greeks include in the Encyclopædia, which, however, are either not generally known or are rendered dubious from our ingenious conceits. And there are other matters which many writers have given so much in detail that we quite loathe them. It is, indeed, no easy task to give novelty to what is old, and authority to what is new; brightness to what is become tarnished, and light to what is obscure; to render what is slighted acceptable, and what is doubtful worthy of our confidence; to give to all a natural manner, and to each its peculiar nature. It is sufficiently honorable and glorious to have been willing even to make the attempt, although it should prove unsuccessful.
I have included in thirty-six books twenty thousand topics, all worthy of attention, gained by the careful perusal of one hundred select authors, and of about two thousand volumes, of which a few only are in the hands of the studious, on account of the obscurity of the subjects. To these I have made considerable additions of things, which were either not known to my predecessors, or which have been lately discovered. Nor can I doubt but that there still remain many things which I have omitted; for I am a mere mortal, and one that has many occupations. I have, therefore, been obliged to compose this work at interrupted intervals, by night as well as by day, so that you will find that I have not been idle even during this period. The day I devote to you, exactly portioning out my sleep to the necessity of my health, and contenting myself with this reward, that while we are musing on these subjects, as Varro says, we are adding to the length of our lives; for life properly consists in being awake.
I consider it to be courteous and to indicate an ingenuous modesty, to acknowledge the sources whence we have derived assistance, and not to act as most of those have done whom I have examined. For I must inform you, that in comparing various authors with each other, I have discovered, that some of the latest and most dignified writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making any acknowledgment; not avowedly rivalling them, in the manner of Virgil, or with the candor of Cicero, who, in his treatise “De Republica,” professes to coincide in opinion with Plato, and in his Essay on Consolation for his Daughter, says that he follows Crantor, and, in his Offices, Panæcius; volumes, which, as you well know, ought not merely to be always in our hands, but to be learned by heart. For it is surely the mark of a perverted mind and a bad disposition, to prefer being caught in a theft to returning what we have borrowed, especially when we have acquired capital, by usurious interest.
The Greeks were wonderfully happy in their titles. One work they called Κηριον, which means that it was as sweet as a honeycomb; another Κερας Αμαλθειας, or Cornu Copiæ, so that you might expect to get even a draft of pigeon’s milk from it. Then they have their Flowers, their Muses, Magazines, Manuals, Gardens, Pictures, and Sketches, all of them titles for which a man might be tempted even to forfeit his bail. But when you enter upon the works, O ye Gods and Goddesses! how full of emptiness! Our duller countrymen have merely their Antiquities, or their Examples, or their Arts. I think one of the most humorous of them has his Nocturnal Studies. Varro, indeed, is not much behind him, when he calls one of his satires A Trick and a Half,[5] and another, Turning the Tables. Diodorus was the first among the Greeks who laid aside this trifling manner and named his history The Library. Apion, the grammarian,—he whom Tiberius Cæsar called the Trumpeter of the World, but would rather seem to be the Bell of the Town-Crier,—supposed that every one to whom he inscribed any work would thence acquire immortality. I do not regret not having given my work a more fanciful title.
That I may not, however, appear to inveigh so completely against the Greeks, I should wish to be considered under the same point of view with those inventors of the arts of painting and sculpture, of whom you will find an account in these volumes, whose works, although they are so perfect that we are never satisfied with admiring them, are inscribed with a temporary title, such as “Apelles, or Polycletus, was doing this;” implying that the work was only commenced and still imperfect, and that the artist might benefit by the criticisms that were made on it and alter any part that required it, if he had not been prevented by death. It is also a great mark of their modesty, that they inscribed their works as if they were the last which they had executed, and as still in hand at the time of their death. I think there are but three works of art which are inscribed positively with the words “such a one executed this;” of these I shall give an account in the proper place. In these cases it appears, that the artist felt the most perfect satisfaction with his work, and certainly these pieces have excited the envy of every one.
I freely admit, that much may be added to my works; not only to this, but to all which I have published. By this admission I hope to escape from the carping critics, and I have the more reason to say this, because I hear that there are certain Stoics and Logicians, and also Epicureans (from the Grammarians I expected as much), who are virulent against the little work I published on Grammar.[6] But I well know, that even a woman once wrote against Theophrastus, a man so eminent for his eloquence that he obtained from it his name, which signifies the Divine[7] Speaker.
Because the public good requires that you should be spared as much as possible from all trouble, I have subjoined to this epistle the contents of each of the following books, and have used my best endeavors to prevent your being obliged to read them all through. And this, which was done for your benefit, will also serve the same purpose for others, so that any one may search for what he wishes, and may know where to find it. This has been already done among us by Valerius Soranus, in his work which he entitled “On Mysteries.”
The 1st book is the Preface of the Work, dedicated to Titus Vespasian Cæsar.
The 2d is on the World, the Elements, and the Heavenly Bodies.
The 3d, 4th, 5th and 6th books are on Geography, in which is contained an account of the situation of the different countries, the inhabitants, the seas, towns, harbors, mountains, rivers, and dimensions, and the various tribes, some of which still exist while others have disappeared.
The 7th is on Man, and the Inventions of Man.
The 8th on the various kinds of Land Animals.
The 9th on Aquatic Animals.
The 10th on the various kinds of Birds.
The 11th on Insects.
The 12th on Odoriferous Plants.
The 13th on Exotic Trees.
The 14th on Vines.
The 15th on Fruit Trees.
The 16th on Forest Trees.
The 17th on Plants raised in nurseries or gardens.
The 18th on the nature of Fruits and the Cerealia, and the pursuits of the Husbandman.
The 19th on Flax, Broom,[8] and Gardening.
The 20th on the Cultivated Plants that are proper for food and for medicine.
The 21st on Flowers and Plants that are used for making Garlands.
The 22d on Garlands, and Medicines made from Plants.
The 23d on Medicines made from Wine and from cultivated Trees.
The 24th on Medicines made from Forest Trees.
The 25th on Medicines made from Wild Plants.
The 26th on New Diseases, and Medicines made, for certain Diseases, from Plants.
The 27th on some other Plants and Medicines.
The 28th on Medicines procured from Man and from large Animals.
The 29th on Medical Authors, and on Medicines from other Animals.
The 30th on Magic, and Medicines for certain parts of the Body.
The 31st on Medicines from Aquatic Animals.
The 32d on the other properties of Aquatic Animals.
The 33d on Gold and Silver.
The 34th on Copper and Lead, and the workers of Copper.
The 35th on Painting, Colors, and Painters.
The 36th on Marbles and Stones.
The 37th on Gems.
Book II.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE WORLD AND THE ELEMENTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE CHARACTER AND FORM OF THE WORLD.
The world,[9] and whatever that be which we otherwise call the heavens, by the vault of which all things are enclosed, we must conceive to be a Deity, to be eternal, without bounds, neither created, nor subject, at any time, to destruction. To inquire what is beyond it is no concern of man, nor can the human mind form any conjecture respecting it. It is sacred, eternal, and without bounds, all in all; indeed including everything in itself; finite, yet like what is infinite; the most certain of all things, yet like what is uncertain, externally and internally embracing all things in itself; it is the work of nature, and itself constitutes nature.
To go out of this world and to search for what is beyond it would be madness, perfect madness, as if one who is ignorant of his own dimensions could ascertain the measure of anything else, or as if the human mind could see what the world itself cannot contain.
That the universe has the form of a perfect globe we learn from the name which has been uniformly given to it, as well as from numerous natural arguments. For not only does a figure of this kind return everywhere into itself[10] and sustain itself, also including itself, requiring no adjustments, not sensible of either end or beginning in any of its parts, and is best fitted for that motion, with which, as will appear hereafter, it is continually turning round; but still more, because we perceive it, by the evidence of the sight, to be, in every part, convex and central, which could not be the case were it of any other figure.
The rising and the setting of the sun clearly prove, that this globe is carried round in the space of twenty-four hours, in an eternal and never-ceasing circuit, and with incredible swiftness. I am not able to say, whether the sound caused by the whirling about of so great a mass be excessive, and, therefore, far beyond what our ears can perceive, nor, indeed, whether the resounding of so many stars, all carried along at the same time and revolving in their orbits, may not produce a kind of delightful harmony of incredible sweetness.[11] To us, who are in the interior, the world appears to glide silently along, both by day and by night.
Various circumstances in nature prove to us, that there are impressed on the heavens innumerable figures of animals and of all kinds of objects, and that its surface is not perfectly polished like the eggs of birds, as some celebrated authors assert. This is evident to the eye; for, in one part, we have the figure of a wain, in others of a bear, of a bull, and of a letter;[12] while, in the middle of them, over our heads, there is a white circle.
With respect to the name, I am influenced by the unanimous opinions of all nations. For what the Greeks, from its being ornamented, have termed κοσμος, we, from its perfect and complete elegance, have termed mundus. The name cœlum, no doubt, refers to its being engraved, as it were, with the stars, as Varro suggests. In confirmation of this idea we may adduce the Zodiac, in which are twelve figures of animals; through them it is that the sun has continued his course for so many ages.
I do not find that any one has doubted that there are four elements. The highest of these is supposed to be fire, and hence proceed the eyes of so many glittering stars. The next is that spirit, which both the Greeks and ourselves call by the same name, air.
It is by the force of this vital principle, pervading all things and mingling with all, that the earth, together with the fourth element, water, is balanced in the middle of space. These are mutually bound together, each remaining in its appropriate place by the never-ceasing revolution of the world.
Between this body and the heavens there are suspended, in this aërial spirit, seven stars, separated by determinate spaces, which, on account of their motion, we call planets or wandering bodies, although, in reality, none are less so. The sun is carried along in the midst of these, a body of great size and power, the ruler, not only of the seasons and of the different climates, but also of the stars themselves and of the heavens. When we consider his operations, we must regard him as the life, or rather the mind of the universe, the chief regulator and the God of nature; he also lends his light to the other stars. He is most illustrious and excellent, beholding all things and hearing all things—qualities which are ascribed to him exclusively by the prince of poets, Homer.[13]
CHAPTER II.
OF GOD.
I consider it, therefore, an indication of human weakness to inquire into the figure and form of God. For whatever God be, if there be any God distinct from the world, and wherever he exists, he is all sense, all sight, all hearing, all life, all mind, and all within himself. To believe that there are a number of Gods, derived from the virtues and vices of man, as Chastity, Concord, Understanding, Hope, Honor, Clemency, and Fidelity; or, according to the opinion of Democritus, that there are only two, Punishment and Reward, indicates still greater folly. Human nature, weak and frail as it is, mindful of its own infirmity, has made these divisions, so that every one might have recourse to that which he supposed himself to stand more particularly in need of. Hence we find different names employed by different nations; the inferior deities are arranged in classes, and diseases and plagues are deified, in consequence of our anxious wish to propitiate them. It was from this cause that a temple was dedicated to Fever, at the public expense, on the Palatine Hill, and that an altar was erected to Good Fortune on the Esquiline. Hence we may understand how it comes to pass that there is a greater population of the Celestials than of human beings, since each individual makes a separate God for himself, adopting his own Juno and his own Genius. To suppose that some gods should be old and always gray-headed and others young and like children, some of a dark complexion, winged, lame, produced from eggs, living and dying on alternate days, is puerile and foolish enough. But it is the height of impudence to imagine that they have contests and quarrels, and that there are Gods of theft and of various crimes. To assist man is to be a God; this is the path to eternal glory. This is the path which the Roman nobles formerly pursued, and this is the path which is now pursued by the greatest ruler of our age, Vespasian Augustus, he who has come to the relief of an exhausted empire, as well as by his sons. The ancient mode of remunerating those who deserved it was to regard them as Gods. For the names of all the Gods, as well as of the stars that I have mentioned above, have been derived from their services to mankind. And with respect to Jupiter and Mercury, and the rest of the celestial nomenclature, who does not admit that they have reference to certain natural phenomena?
But it is ridiculous to suppose, that the great head of all things, whatever it be, pays any regard to human affairs. Can we believe, or rather can there be any doubt, that it is not polluted by such a disagreeable and complicated office? It is not easy to determine which opinion would be most for the advantage of mankind, since we observe some who have no respect for the Gods, and others who carry it to a scandalous excess. They are slaves to foreign ceremonies; they carry on their fingers the Gods and the monsters whom they worship;[14] they condemn and they lay great stress on certain kinds of food; they impose on themselves dreadful ordinances, not even sleeping quietly. They do not marry or adopt children, or indeed do anything else, without the sanction of their sacred rites. There are others, on the contrary, who will cheat in the very Capitol, and will forswear themselves even by Jupiter Tonans,[15] and while these thrive in their crimes, the others torment themselves with their superstitions to no purpose.
Among these discordant opinions mankind have discovered for themselves a kind of intermediate deity, by which our scepticism concerning God is still increased. For all over the world, in all places, and at all times, Fortune is the only god whom every one invokes; she alone is spoken of, she alone is accused and is supposed to be guilty; she alone is in our thoughts, is praised and blamed, and is loaded with reproaches; wavering as she is, conceived by the generality of mankind to be blind, wandering, inconstant, uncertain, variable, and often favoring the unworthy. To her are referred all our losses and all our gains, and in casting up the accounts of mortals she alone balances the two pages of our sheet. We are so much in the power of chance, that change itself is considered as a God, and the existence of God becomes doubtful.
But there are others who reject this principle and assign events to the influence of the stars, and to the laws of our nativity; they suppose that God, once for all, issues his decrees and never afterwards interferes. This opinion begins to gain ground, and both the learned and the unlearned vulgar are falling into it. Hence we have the admonitions of thunder, the warnings of oracles, the predictions of sooth-sayers, and things too trifling to be mentioned, as sneezing and stumbling with the feet reckoned among omens. The late Emperor Augustus relates, that he put the left shoe on the wrong foot, the day when he was near being assaulted by his soldiers. And such things as these so embarrass improvident mortals, that among all of them this alone is certain, that there is nothing certain, and that there is nothing more proud or more wretched than man. For other animals have no care but to provide for their subsistence, for which the spontaneous kindness of nature is all-sufficient; and this one circumstance renders their lot more especially preferable, that they never think about glory, or money, or ambition, and, above all, that they never reflect on death.
The belief, however, that on these points the Gods superintend human affairs is useful to us, as well as that the punishment of crimes, although sometimes tardy, from the Deity being occupied with such a mass of business, is never entirely remitted. And indeed this constitutes the great comfort in this imperfect state of man, that even the Deity cannot do everything. For he cannot procure death for himself, even if he wished it, which, so numerous are the evils of life, has been granted to man as our chief good. Nor can he make mortals immortal, or recall to life those who are dead; nor can he effect, that he who has once lived shall not have lived, or that he who has enjoyed honors shall not have enjoyed them; nor has he any influence over past events but to cause them to be forgotten. And, if we illustrate the nature of our connection with God by a less serious argument, he cannot make twice ten not to be twenty, and many other things of this kind.
CHAPTER III.
THE DIMENSIONS OF THE WORLD.
The stadium is equal to one hundred and twenty-five of our Roman paces, or six hundred and twenty-five feet. Posidonius supposes that there is a space of not less than forty stadia around the earth, whence mists, winds and clouds proceed; beyond this he supposes that the air is pure and liquid, consisting of uninterrupted light; from the clouded region to the moon there is a space of two million of stadia, and thence to the sun of five hundred million. It is in consequence of this space that the sun, notwithstanding his immense magnitude, does not burn the earth. Many persons have imagined that the clouds rise to the height of nine hundred stadia. These points are not completely made out, and are difficult to explain; but we have given the best account of them that has been published.
CHAPTER IV.
OF THE STARS WHICH APPEAR SUDDENLY, OR OF COMETS.
A few things still remain to be said concerning the world; for stars are suddenly formed in the heavens themselves; of these there are various kinds.
The Greeks name these stars comets, we name them Crinitæ, as if shaggy with bloody locks, and surrounded with bristles like hair. Some of them have a mane hanging down from their lower part, like a long beard, some vibrate like a dart with a very quick motion. It was one of this kind which the Emperor Titus described in his very excellent poem, as having been seen in his fifth consulship; and this was the last of these bodies which has been observed. Some are short and pointed, of a pale color, and shine like a sword without any rays; others of an amber color emit a few rays from their margin only. One kind exhibits the figure of a cask, appearing convex and emitting a smoky light; another has the appearance of a horn; it is like the one which was visible when the Greeks fought at Salamis. Occasionally you see one like a burning torch; and again one like a horse’s mane; the latter often has a very rapid motion, like a circle revolving on itself. There is also a white comet, with silver hair, so brilliant that it can scarcely be looked at, exhibiting, as it were, the aspect of the Deity in a human form. There are some also that are shaggy, having the appearance of a fleece, surrounded by a kind of crown. There was one, where the appearance of a mane was changed into that of a spear; it happened in the 109th olympiad, in the 398th year of the City.[16] The shortest time during which any one of them has been observed to be visible is seven days, the longest one hundred and eighty days.
Rome is the only place in the whole world where there is a temple dedicated to a comet—the one which was thought by the late Emperor Augustus to be auspicious to him, from its appearing during the games which he was celebrating in honor of Venus, not long after the death of his father Cæsar. He expressed his joy in these terms: “During the very time of these games of mine, a hairy star was seen during seven days, in the part of the heavens which is under the Great Bear. It rose about the eleventh hour of the day, was very bright, and was conspicuous in all parts of the earth. The common people supposed the star to indicate, that the soul of Cæsar was admitted among the immortal Gods.” This is what he proclaimed in public, but, in secret, he rejoiced at this auspicious omen, interpreting it as produced for himself; and, to confess the truth, it really proved a salutary omen for the world at large.
Some persons suppose that these stars are permanent and that they move through their proper orbits, but that they are only visible when they recede from the sun. Others suppose that they are produced by an accidental vapor together with the force of fire, and that, from this circumstance, they are liable to be dissipated.
CHAPTER V.
THE DOCTRINE OF HIPPARCHUS ABOUT THE STARS.
Hipparchus, who can never be sufficiently commended, as one who more especially proved the relation of the stars to man, and that our souls are a portion of heaven, discovered a new star that was produced in his own age, and, by observing its motions on the day in which it shone, he was led to doubt whether this does not often happen, that those stars have motion which we suppose to be fixed. And the same individual attempted, what might seem presumptuous even in a deity, to number the stars for posterity and to express their relations by appropriate names; having previously devised instruments,[17] by which he might mark the place and the magnitude of each individual star. In this way it might be easily discovered, not only whether they were destroyed or produced, but whether they changed their relative positions, and likewise, whether they were increased or diminished; the heavens being thus left as an inheritance to any one, who might be found competent to complete his plan.
CHAPTER VI.
OF THE STARS WHICH ARE NAMED CASTOR AND POLLUX.
I have seen, during the night-watches of the soldiers, a luminous appearance, like a star, attached to the javelins on the ramparts. They also settle on the yard-arms and other parts of ships while sailing, producing a kind of vocal sound, like that of birds flitting about. When they occur singly they are mischievous, so as even to sink the vessels, and if they strike on the lower part of the keel, setting them on fire. When there are two of them they are considered auspicious, and are thought to predict a prosperous voyage, as it is said that they drive away that dreadful and terrific meteor named Helena. On this account their efficacy is ascribed to Castor and Pollux, and they are invoked as gods. They also occasionally shine round the heads of men in the evening,[18] which is considered as predicting something very important. But there is great uncertainty respecting the cause of all these things, and they are concealed in the majesty of nature.
CHAPTER VII.
OF THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.
It cannot be denied, that fire proceeding from the stars which are above the clouds, may fall on them, as we frequently observe on serene evenings, and that the air is agitated by the impulse, as darts, when they are hurled, whiz through the air. And when it arrives at the cloud, a discordant kind of vapor is produced, as when hot iron is plunged into water, and a wreath of smoke is evolved. Hence arise squalls. And if wind or vapor be struggling in the cloud, thunder is discharged; if it bursts out with a flame, there is a thunderbolt; if it be long in forcing out its way, it is simply a flash of lightning. By the latter the cloud is simply rent, by the former it is shattered. Thunder is produced by the stroke given to the condensed air, and hence it is that the fire darts from the chinks of the clouds. It is possible also that the vapor, which has risen from the earth, being repelled by the stars, may produce thunder, when it is pent up in a cloud; nature restraining the sound whilst the vapor is struggling to escape; but when it does escape, the sound bursting forth, as is the case with bladders that are distended with air. It is possible also that the spirit, whatever it be, may be kindled by friction, when it is so violently projected. It is possible that, by the dashing of the two clouds, the lightning may flash out, as is the case when two stones are struck against each other.
We have accounts of many different kinds of thunderbolts. Those which are dry do not burn objects, but dissipate them; while those which are moist do not burn, but blacken them. There is a third kind, which is called bright lightning, of a very wonderful nature, by which casks are emptied, without the vessels themselves being injured, or there being any other trace left of their operation. Gold, copper, and silver are melted, while the bags which contain them are not in the least burned, nor even the wax seal much defaced. Among the prognostics which took place at the time of Catiline’s conspiracy, Marcus Herennius, a magistrate of the borough of Pompeii, was struck by lightning when the sky was without clouds.
CHAPTER VIII.
NATURE OF THE EARTH.
Next comes the earth, on which alone of all parts of nature we have bestowed the name that implies maternal veneration. It is appropriated to man as the heavens are to God. She receives us at our birth, nourishes us when born, and ever afterwards supports us; lastly, embracing us in her bosom when we are rejected by the rest of nature, she then covers us with especial tenderness; rendered sacred to us, inasmuch as she renders us sacred, bearing our monuments and titles, continuing our names, and extending our memory, in opposition to the shortness of life. In our anger we imprecate her on those who are now no more, as if we were ignorant that she is the only being who can never be angry with man. The water passes into showers, is concreted into hail, swells into rivers, is precipitated in torrents; the air is condensed into clouds, rages in squalls; but kind, mild, and indulgent earth, always ministering to the wants of mortals, how many things do we compel her to produce spontaneously! What odors and flowers, nutritive juices, forms and colors! With what good faith does she render back all that has been entrusted to her! It is the vital spirit which must bear the blame of producing noxious animals; for the earth is constrained to receive the seeds of them, and to support them when they are produced. The fault lies in the evil nature which generates them. The earth will no longer harbor a serpent after it has attacked any one, and thus she even demands punishment in the name of those who are indifferent about it themselves. She pours forth a profusion of medicinal plants, and is always producing something for the use of man.
But it must be acknowledged, that everything which the earth has produced, as a remedy for our evils, we have converted into the poison of our lives. For do we not use iron, which we cannot do without, for this purpose? But although this cause of mischief has been produced, we ought not to complain; we ought not to be ungrateful to this one part of nature. How many luxuries and how many insults does she not bear for us! She is cast into the sea, and, in order that we may introduce seas into her bosom, she is washed away by the waves. She is continually tortured for her iron, her timber, stone, fire, corn, and is even much more subservient to our luxuries than to our mere support. What indeed she endures on her surface might be tolerated, but we penetrate also into her bowels, digging out the veins of gold and silver, and the ores of copper and lead; we also search for gems and certain small pebbles, driving our trenches to a great depth. We tear out her entrails in order to extract the gems with which we may load our fingers. How many hands are worn down that one little joint may be ornamented! If the infernal regions really existed, certainly these burrows of avarice and luxury would have penetrated into them. And truly we wonder that this same earth should have produced anything noxious! But, I suppose, the savage beasts protect her and keep off our sacrilegious hands. For do we not dig among serpents and handle poisonous plants along with those veins of gold? But the Goddess shows herself more propitious to us, inasmuch as all this wealth ends in crimes, slaughter, and war, and that, while we drench her with our blood, we cover her with unburied bones; and being covered with these and her anger being thus appeased, she conceals the crimes of mortals. I consider the ignorance of her nature as one of the evil effects of an ungrateful mind.
Every one agrees that it has the most perfect figure. We always speak of the ball of the earth, and we admit it to be a globe bounded by the poles. It has not indeed the form of an absolute sphere, from the number of lofty mountains and flat plains; but if the termination of the lines be bounded by a curve, this would compose a perfect sphere. And this we learn from arguments drawn from the nature of things, although not from the same considerations which we made use of with respect to the heavens. For in these the hollow convexity everywhere bends on itself, and leans upon the earth as its centre. Whereas the earth rises up solid and dense, like something that swells up and is protruded outwards. The heavens bend towards the centre, while the earth goes from the centre, the continual rolling of the heavens about it forcing its immense globe into the form of a sphere.
On the question whether there be antipodes there is a great contest between the learned and the vulgar. We maintain, that there are men dispersed over every part of the earth, that they stand with their feet turned towards each other, that the vault of the heavens appears alike to all of them, and that they, all of them, appear to tread equally on the middle of the earth. If any one should ask, why those situated opposite to us do not fall, we directly ask in return, whether those on the opposite side do not wonder that we do not fall. But I may make a remark, that will appear plausible even to the most unlearned, that if the earth were of the figure of an unequal globe, like the seed of a pine, still it may be inhabited in every part.
But of how little moment is this, when we have another miracle rising up to our notice! The earth itself is pendent and does not fall with us; it is doubtful whether this be from the force of the spirit which is contained in the universe, or whether it would fall did not nature resist, by allowing of no place where it might fall. For as the seat of fire is nowhere but in fire, nor of water except in water, nor of air except in air, so there is no situation for the earth except in itself, everything else repelling it. It is indeed wonderful that it should form a globe, when there is so much flat surface of the sea and of the plains. And this was the opinion of Dicæarchus, a peculiarly learned man, who measured the heights of mountains, under the direction of the kings, and estimated Pelion, which was the highest, at one thousand two hundred and fifty paces perpendicular, and considered this as not affecting the round figure of the globe. But this appears to me to be doubtful, as I well know that the summits of some of the Alps rise up by a long space of not less than fifty thousand paces. But what the vulgar most strenuously contend against is, to be compelled to believe that the water is forced into a rounded figure; yet there is nothing more obvious to the sight among the phenomena of nature. For we see everywhere, that drops, when they hang down, assume the form of small globes, and when they are covered with dust, or have the down of leaves spread over them, they are observed to be completely round; and when a cup is filled, the liquid swells up in the middle. But on account of the subtile nature of the fluid and its inherent softness, the fact is more easily ascertained by our reason than by our sight. And it is even more wonderful, that if a very little fluid only be added to a cup when it is full, the superfluous quantity runs over, whereas the contrary happens if we add a solid body, even as much as would weigh twenty denarii. The reason of this is, that what is dropt in raises up the fluid at the top, while what is poured on it slides off from the projecting surface. It is from the same cause that the land is not visible from the body of a ship when it may be seen from the mast; and that when a vessel is receding, if any bright object be fixed to the mast, it seems gradually to descend and finally to become invisible. And the ocean, which we admit to be without limits, if it had any other figure, could it cohere and exist without falling, there being no external margin to contain it?
We must believe, that the great artist, Nature, has so arranged it, that as the arid and dry earth cannot subsist by itself and without moisture, nor, on the other hand, can the water subsist unless it be supported by the earth, they are connected by a mutual union. The earth opens her harbors, while the water pervades the whole earth, within, without, and above; its veins running in all directions, like connecting links, and bursting out on even the highest ridges; where, forced up by the air, and pressed out by the weight of the earth, it shoots forth as from a pipe, and is so far from being in danger of falling, that it bounds up to the highest and most lofty places. Hence the reason is obvious, why the seas are not increased by the daily accession of so many rivers.
The earth has, therefore, the whole of its globe girt, on every side, by the sea flowing round it. And this is not a point to be investigated by arguments, but what has been ascertained by experience.
The globe is divided into five parts, termed zones, and all that portion is subject to severe cold and perpetual frost, which is under the two extremities, about each of the poles, the nearer of which is called the north, and the opposite the south, pole. The middle of the earth, over which is the orbit of the sun, is parched and burned by the flame, and is consumed by being so near the heat. There are only two of the zones which are temperate, those which lie between the torrid and the frigid zones, and these are separated from each other, in consequence of the scorching heat of the heavenly bodies. It appears, therefore, that the heavens take from us three parts of the earth; how much the ocean steals is uncertain. The curve of the globe both reveals and conceals different objects from the inhabitants of its different parts. If the earth had been flat, everything would have been seen at the same time, from every part of it, and the nights would not have been unequal; while the equal intervals of twelve hours, which are now observed only in the middle of the earth, would in that case have been the same everywhere.
Hence it is that there is not any one night and day the same, in all parts of the earth, at the same time; the intervention of the globe producing night, and its turning round producing day.
CHAPTER IX.
ITALY.
I am by no means unaware that I may be justly accused of ingratitude and indolence, if I describe briefly and in a cursory manner the land which is at once the foster-child and the parent of all lands; chosen by the providence of the Gods to render even heaven itself more glorious,[19] to unite the scattered empires of the earth, to bestow a polish upon men’s manners, to unite the discordant and uncouth dialects of so many different nations by the powerful ties of one common language, to confer the enjoyments of discourse and of civilization upon mankind, to become, in short, the mother-country of all nations of the Earth.
But how shall I commence this undertaking? So vast is the number of celebrated places (what man living could enumerate them all?), and so great the renown attached to each individual nation and subject, that I feel myself quite at a loss. The city of Rome alone, which forms a portion of it, a face well worthy of shoulders so beauteous, how large a work would it require for an appropriate description! And then, too, the coast of Campania, taken singly by itself! so blest with natural beauties and opulence, that it is evident that when nature formed it she took a delight in accumulating all her blessings in a single spot—how am I to do justice to it? And then the climate, with its eternal freshness and so replete with health and vitality, the sereneness of the weather so enchanting, the fields so fertile, the hillsides so sunny, the thickets so free from every danger, the groves so cool and shady, the forests with a vegetation so varying and so luxuriant, the breezes descending from so many a mountain, the fruitfulness of its grain, its vines, and its olives so transcendent; its flocks with fleeces so noble, its bulls with necks so sinewy, its lakes recurring in never-ending succession, its numerous rivers and springs which refresh it with their waters on every side, its seas so many in number, its havens and the bosom of its lands opening everywhere to the commerce of all the world, and eagerly stretching forth into the very midst of the waves, for the purpose of aiding as it were the endeavors of mortals!
For the present I forbear to speak of its genius, its manners, its men, and the nations whom it has conquered by eloquence and force of arms. The very Greeks themselves, a race fond in the extreme of expatiating on their own praises, have amply given judgment in its favor, when they named but a small part of it ‘Magna Græcia.’ But we must be content to do on this occasion as we have done in our description of the heavens; we must only touch upon some of these points, and take notice of but a few of its stars. I only beg my readers to bear in mind that I am thus hastening on for the purpose of giving a general description of everything that is known to exist throughout the whole earth.
I may premise by observing that this land very much resembles in shape an oak leaf, being much longer than it is broad; towards the top it inclines to the left, while it terminates in the form of an Amazonian buckler, in which the spot at the central projection is the place called Cocinthos, while it sends forth two horns at the end of its crescent-shaped bays, Leucopetra on the right and Lacinium on the left. It extends in length one thousand and twenty miles, if we measure from the foot of the Alps at Prætoria Augusta, through the city of Rome and Capua to the town of Rhegium, which is situated on the shoulder of the Peninsula, just at the bend of the neck as it were. Its breadth is variable, being four hundred and ten miles between the two seas of the far north. At about the middle, and in the vicinity of the city of Rome, from the spot where the river Aternus flows into the Adriatic sea, to the mouth of the Tiber, the distance is one hundred and thirty-six miles, and a little less from Castrum-novum on the Adriatic sea to Alsium on the Tuscan; but in no place does it exceed two hundred miles in breadth.
CHAPTER X.
THE HYPERBOREANS.
In the far North, beyond the Riphæan[20] mountains, is the region known by the name of Pterophoros,[21] because of the perpetual fall of snow there, the flakes of which resemble feathers; a part of the world which has been condemned by the decree of nature to lie immersed in thick darkness; suited for nothing but the generation of cold, and to be the asylum of the chilling blasts of the northern winds.
Behind these mountains, and beyond the region of the northern winds, there dwells, if we choose to believe it, a happy race, known as the Hyperborei,[22] a race that lives to an extreme old age, and which has been the subject of many marvellous stories.[23] At this spot are supposed to be the hinges upon which the world revolves, and the extreme limits of the revolutions of the stars. Here we find light for six months together, given by the sun in one continuous day. To these people there is but one rising of the sun for the year, and that at the summer solstice,[24] and but one setting, at the winter solstice. This region, warmed by the rays of the sun, is of a most delightful temperature, and exempt from every noxious blast. The abodes of the natives are the woods and groves, the gods receive their worship singly and in groups, while all discord and every kind of sickness are things utterly unknown. Death comes upon them only when satiated with life; after a career of feasting, in an old age sated with every luxury, they leap from a certain rock there into the sea; and this they deem the most desirable mode of ending existence. Some writers have placed these people, not in Europe, but at the very verge of the shores of Asia. Others again have placed them midway between the two suns, at the spot where it sets to the Antipodes and rises to us; a thing however that cannot possibly be, in consequence of the vast tract of sea which there intervenes. Those writers who place them nowhere but under a day which lasts for six months, state that in the morning they sow, at mid-day they reap, at sunset they gather in the fruits of the trees, and during the night conceal themselves in caves. Nor are we at liberty to entertain any doubts as to the existence of this race; so many authors are there who assert that they were in the habit of sending their first-fruits to Delos to present them to Apollo, whom they especially worship. Virgins used to carry them, who for many years were held in high veneration, and received the rites of hospitality from the nations that lay on the route; until at last, in consequence of repeated violations of good faith, the Hyperboreans came to the determination to deposit these offerings upon the frontiers of the people who adjoined them, and they in their turn were to convey them on to their neighbors, and so from one to the other, till they should have arrived at Delos. However, this custom, even, in time fell into disuse.
CHAPTER XI.
BRITANNIA.
Opposite to the west coast of Europe is the island called Britannia, so celebrated in the records of Greece[25] and of our own country. It is situate to the north-west, and, with a large tract of intervening sea, lies opposite to Germany, Gaul, and Spain, by far the greater part of Europe. Its former name was Albion.[26] This island is distant from the coast of the nation of the Morini,[27] at the spot where the passage across is the shortest, fifty miles. Pytheas and Isidorus say that its circumference is 4875 miles. It is barely thirty years since any extensive knowledge of it was gained by the successes of the Roman arms, and even as yet they have not penetrated beyond the vicinity of the Caledonian[28] forest. Agrippa believes its length to be 800 miles, and its breadth 300; he also thinks that the breadth of Hibernia is the same, but that its length is less by 200 miles. This last island is situated beyond Britannia, the passage across being the shortest from the territory of the Silures,[29] a distance of thirty miles. Of the remaining islands none is said to have a greater circumference than one hundred and twenty-five miles. Among these there are the Orcades,[30] forty in number, and situated within a short distance of each other, the seven islands called Acmodæ.[31] The most remote of all that we find mentioned is Thule,[32] in which, there is no night at the summer solstice, when the sun is passing through the sign of Cancer, while on the other hand at the winter solstice there is no day. Some writers are of opinion that this state of things lasts for six whole months together.
CHAPTER XII.
MOUNT ATLAS.
Through the nation of the Autololes lies the road to Mount Atlas, the most fabulous locality even in Africa.
From the midst of the sands, according to the story, this mountain[33] raises its head to the heavens; rugged and craggy on the side which looks toward the shores of the ocean to which it has given its name, while on that which faces the interior of Africa it is shaded by dense groves of trees, and refreshed by flowing streams; fruits of all kinds springing up there spontaneously to such an extent, as more than to satiate every possible desire. Throughout the daytime, no inhabitant is to be seen; all is silent, like that dreadful stillness which reigns in the desert. A religious horror steals imperceptibly over the feelings of those who approach, and they feel themselves smitten with awe at the stupendous aspect of its summit, which reaches beyond the clouds, and well nigh approaches the very orb of the moon. At night, they say, it gleams with fires innumerable lighted up; it is then the scene of the gambols of the Satyr crew, while it re-echoes with the notes of the flute and the pipe, and the clash of drums and cymbals. All this is what authors of high character have stated, in addition to the labors which Hercules and Perseus there experienced. The space which intervenes before you arrive at this mountain is immense, and the country quite unknown.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE ISLAND OF TAPROBANA.
Taprobana,[34] under the name of the “land of the Antipodes,” was long looked upon as another world: the age and the arms of Alexander the Great were the first to give satisfactory proof that it was an island. Onesicritus, the commander of his fleet, has informed us that the elephants of this island are larger, and better adapted for warfare than those of India; and from Megasthenes we learn that it is divided by a river, and that their country is more productive of gold and pearls of great size than even India. Eratosthenes has also given the dimensions of this island, as being seven thousand stadia in length, and five thousand in breadth: he states also that there are no cities, but villages to the number of seven hundred. It begins at the Eastern sea, and lies extended opposite to India, east and west. In former times when the navigation was confined to vessels constructed of papyrus with the tackle peculiar to the Nile, this island was supposed to be twenty days’ sail from the country of the Prasii,[35] but the distance has been estimated at no more than seven days’ sail,[36] reckoned at the speed which can be attained by vessels of our construction. The sea that lies between the island and the mainland is full of shallows, not more than six paces in depth; but in certain channels it is of such extraordinary depth, that no anchor has ever found a bottom. For this reason it is that the vessels are constructed with prows at either end; so that there may be no necessity for tacking while navigating these extremely narrow channels. The tonnage of these vessels is three thousand amphoræ. In traversing their seas, the people of Taprobana take no observations of the stars, and indeed the Great Bear is not visible to them; but they carry birds out to sea, which they let go from time to time, and so follow their course as they make for the land. They devote only four months in the year to the pursuits of navigation, and are particularly careful not to trust themselves on the sea during the next hundred days after our summer solstice, for in those seas it is at that time the middle of winter.
So much we learn from the ancient writers; it has fallen to our lot, however, to obtain a still more accurate knowledge of these people; for, during the reign of the Emperor Claudius, an embassy came from even this distant island to Rome. The circumstances under which this took place were as follows: Annius Plocamus had farmed from the treasury the revenues arising from the Red Sea. A certain freedman of his, while sailing around Arabia, was carried away by a gale from the north beyond the coast of Carmania. In the course of fifteen days he had drifted to Hippuros, a port of Taprobana, where he was most kindly and most hospitably received by the king; and having, after a study of six months, become well acquainted with the language, was enabled to answer all his enquiries relative to the Romans and their emperor. But of all that he heard, the king was more particularly struck with surprise at our rigid notions of justice, on ascertaining that among the coins found on the captive, the denarii were all of equal weight, although the different figures on them plainly showed that they had been struck in the reigns of several emperors. By this circumstance especially, the king was prompted to form an alliance with the Romans, and accordingly sent to Rome an embassy, consisting of four persons, the chief of whom was Rachias.[37]
From these persons we learned that in Taprobana there are five hundred towns, and that there is a harbor that lies facing the south, and adjoining the city of Palæsimundus, the most famous city in the isle, the king’s place of residence, and containing a population of two hundred thousand. They also informed us that in the interior there is a lake called Megisba, three hundred and seventy-five miles in circumference, and containing islands which are fertile, though for pasturage only. In this lake they informed us two rivers take their rise, one of which, called Palæsimundus, flows into the harbor near the city of that name, by three channels, the narrowest of which is five stadia in width, the largest fifteen: while the other, Cydara by name, takes a direction northward, towards the Indian coast. We learned also that the nearest point of the Indian coast is a promontory known as Coliacum,[38] distant from the island four days’ sail, and that midway between them lies the island of the Sun. They stated also that those seas are of a deep green tint; besides which, there are numerous trees growing at the bottom, so much so, that the rudders of the vessels frequently break off portions of their foliage.[39] They were as much astonished at the constellations which are visible to us, the Great Bear and the Pleiades,[40] as though they had now beheld a new expanse of the heavens; and they declared that in their country the moon can only be seen above the horizon[41] from the eighth to its sixteenth day. They also stated that Canopus, a large bright star, gives light to them by night. But what surprised them more than anything else, was that the shadow of their bodies was thrown towards our hemisphere.[42] They also informed us that the side of their island which lies opposite to India is ten thousand stadia in length, and runs in a southeasterly direction—that beyond the Emodian Mountains they look towards[43] the Seræ, whose acquaintance they had also made in the pursuits of commerce; that the father of Rachias had frequently visited their country, and that the Seræ always came to meet them on their arrival. These people, they said, exceeded the ordinary human height, had flaxen hair, and blue eyes, and made an uncouth sort of noise by way of talking, having no language of their own for the purpose of communicating their thoughts. The rest of their information relative to the Seræ was of a similar nature to that communicated by our merchants. It was to the effect that the merchandise on sale was left by them upon the opposite bank of a river on their coast, and it was then removed by the natives, if they thought proper to deal on terms of exchange. On no grounds ought luxury with greater reason to be detested by us, than if we only transport our thoughts to these scenes, and then reflect, what are its demands, to what distant spots it sends in order to satisfy them, and for how mean and how unworthy an end!
But yet Taprobana even, isolated as it is by nature from the rest of the world, is not exempt from our vices. Gold and silver are held in esteem even there. They have a marble which resembles tortoise-shell in appearance; this, as well as their pearls and precious stones, is highly valued; all our luxuries in fact, those even of the most exquisite nature, are there carried to the very highest pitch. They asserted that their wealth was much greater than ours, but admitted that we knew better than they how to obtain real enjoyment from opulence.
In this island no slavery exists; they do not prolong their sleep to day-break, nor do they sleep during any part of the day; their buildings are only of a moderate height from the ground; the price of corn is always the same; they have no courts of law and no litigation. Hercules is the deity whom they worship; and their king is chosen by the people, an aged man always, distinguished for his mild and clement disposition, and without children. If after he has been elected king, he happens to become the father of children, his abdication is the consequence; this is done that there may be no danger of the sovereign power becoming hereditary. Thirty advisers are provided for him by the people, and it is only by the advice of the majority of them that any man is condemned to capital punishment. Even then, the person so condemned has a right of appealing to the people, in which case a jury consisting of seventy persons is appointed. Should these acquit the accused, the thirty counsellors are no longer held in any estimation, but are visited with the greatest disgrace. The king wears the costume of Father Liber,[44] while the rest of the people dress like the natives of Arabia. If the king is found guilty of any offence, he is condemned to death; but no one slays him; all turn their backs upon him, and refuse to hold any communication or even discourse with him. Their festivals are celebrated with the chase, the most valued sports being the pursuit of the tiger and the elephant. The lands are carefully tilled; the vine is not cultivated there, but of other fruits there is great abundance. They take great delight in fishing, and especially in catching turtles; beneath the shells of which whole families find an abode, of such vast size are they to be found. These people look upon a hundred years as a comparatively short life. So much have we learned respecting Taprobana.
Book III.
MAN, HIS BIRTH AND HIS ORGANIZATION.
CHAPTER I.
MAN.
Remarkable as is the present state of the world, and of the countries, nations, seas, islands, and cities which it contains, the nature of the animated beings which exist upon it, is hardly in any degree less worthy of our contemplation than its other features; if, indeed, the human mind is able to embrace the whole of so diversified a subject. Our first attention is justly due to Man, for whose sake all other things appear to have been produced by Nature; though, on the other hand, with so great and so severe penalties for the enjoyment of her bounteous gifts, that it is far from easy to determine, whether she has proved to him a kind parent, or a merciless step-mother.
In the first place, she obliges him alone, of all animated beings, to clothe himself with the spoils of the others; while, to all the rest, she has given various kinds of coverings, such as shells, crusts, spines, hides, fur, bristles, hair, down, feathers, scales, and fleeces. The very trunks of the trees even, she has protected against the effects of heat and cold by a bark, which is, in some cases, twofold. Man alone, at the very moment of his birth cast naked upon the naked earth, she abandons to cries, to lamentations, and, a thing that is the case with no other animal whatever, to tears: this, too, from the very moment that he enters upon existence. But as for laughter, why, by Hercules!—to laugh, if but for an instant only, has never been granted to man before the fortieth day from his birth, and even then it is looked upon as a miracle of precocity. Introduced thus to the light, man has fetters and swathings instantly put upon all his limbs,[45] a thing that falls to the lot of none of the brutes even that are born among us. Born to such singular good fortune, there on his back lies the animal which is destined to command all the others, fast bound hand and foot, and weeping aloud! such being the penalty which he has to pay on beginning life, and that for the sole fault of having been born. Alas! for the folly of those who can think after such a beginning as this, that they have been born for the display of vanity!
The earliest presage of future strength, the earliest bounty of time, confers upon him naught but the resemblance to a quadruped.[46] How soon does man gain the power of walking? How soon does he gain the faculty of speech? How soon is his mouth fitted for mastication? How long are the pulsations of the crown of his head to proclaim him the weakest of all animated beings? And then, the diseases to which he is subject, the numerous remedies which he is obliged to devise against his maladies, and those thwarted every now and then by new forms and features of disease. While other animals have an instinctive knowledge of their natural powers; some, of their swiftness of pace, some of their rapidity of flight, and some again of their power of swimming; man is the only one that knows nothing, that can learn nothing without being taught; he can neither speak, nor walk, nor eat—in short, he can do nothing, at the prompting of nature only, but weep. For this it is, that many have been of opinion, that it were better not to have been born, or if born, to have been annihilated at the earliest possible moment.
To man alone, of all animated beings, has it been given, to grieve, to him alone to be guilty of luxury and excess; and that in modes innumerable. Man is the only being that is a prey to ambition, to avarice, to an immoderate desire of life, to superstition,—he is the only one that troubles himself about his burial, and even what is to become of him after death. By none is life held on a tenure more frail; none are more influenced by unbridled desires for all things; none are sensible of fears more bewildering; none are actuated by rage more frantic and violent. Other animals, in fine, live at peace with those of their own kind; we only see them unite to make a stand against those of a different species. The fierceness of the lion is not expended in fighting with its own kind; the sting of the serpent is not aimed at the serpent;[47] and the monsters of the sea even, and the fishes, vent their rage only on those of a different species. But with man,—by Hercules! most of his misfortunes are occasioned by man.[48]
What is there that does not appear marvellous, when it comes to our knowledge for the first time? How many things, too, are looked upon as quite impossible, until they have been actually effected? But it is the fact, that every moment of our existence we are distrusting the power and the majesty of Nature, if the mind, instead of grasping her in her entirety, considers her only in detail. Not to speak of peacocks, the spotted skins of tigers and panthers, and the rich colors of so many animals, a trifling thing apparently to speak of, but of inestimable importance, when we give it due consideration, is the existence of so many languages among the various nations, so many modes of speech, so great a variety of expressions; that to another, a man who is of a different country, is almost the same as no man at all. And then, too, the human features and countenance, although composed of but some ten parts or a little more, are so fashioned, that among so many thousands of men, there are no two in existence who cannot be distinguished from one another, a result which no art could possibly have produced, when confined to so limited a number of combinations. In most points, however, of this nature, I shall not be content to pledge my own credit only, but shall confirm it in preference by referring to my authorities, which shall be given on all subjects of a nature to inspire doubt. My readers, however, must make no objection to following the Greeks, who have proved themselves the most careful observers, as well as of the longest standing.
CHAPTER II.
THE WONDERFUL FORMS OF DIFFERENT NATIONS.
There are certain tribes of the Scythians, and, indeed, many other nations, which feed upon human flesh. This fact itself might, perhaps, appear incredible, did we not recollect, that in the very centre of the earth, in Italy and Sicily, nations formerly existed with these monstrous propensities, the Cyclopes, and the Læstrygones, for example; and that, very recently, on the other side of the Alps, it was the custom to offer human sacrifices, after the manner of those nations; and the difference is but small between sacrificing human beings and eating them.
In the vicinity also of those who dwell in the northern regions, and not far from the spot from which the north wind arises, and the place which is called its cave, and is known by the name of Geskleithron, the Arimaspi are said to exist, a nation remarkable for having but one eye, and that placed in the middle of the forehead. This race is said to carry on a perpetual warfare with the Griffins, a kind of monster, with wings, as they are commonly[49] represented, for the gold which they dig out of the mines, and which these wild beasts retain and keep watch over with a singular degree of cupidity, while the Arimaspi are equally desirous to get possession of it. Many authors have corroborated this fact, among the most illustrious of whom are Herodotus and Aristeas of Proconnesus.[50]
Beyond the other Scythian Anthropophagi, there is a country called Abarimon, situated in a certain great valley of Mount Imaus, the inhabitants of which are a savage race, whose feet are turned backwards, relatively to their legs: they possess wonderful velocity, and wander about indiscriminately with the wild beasts. We learn from Beeton, whose duty it was to take the measurements of the routes of Alexander the Great, that this people cannot breathe in any climate except their own, for which reason it is impossible to take them before any of the neighboring kings; nor could any of them be brought before Alexander himself.
The Anthropophagi, whom we have previously mentioned as dwelling ten days’ journey beyond the Borysthenes, according to the account of Isigonus of Nicæa, were in the habit of drinking out of human skulls,[51] and placing the scalps, with the hair attached, upon their breasts, like so many napkins. The same author relates, that there is, in Albania, a certain race of men (the Albinoes), whose eyes are of a sea-green color, and who have white hair from their earliest childhood, and that these people see better in the night than in the day. He states also that the Sauromatae, who dwell ten days’ journey beyond the Borysthenes, take food only every other day. Isigonus says there are among the Triballi and the Illyrii, some persons who have the power of fascination with the eyes, and can even kill those on whom they fix their gaze for any length of time, especially if their look denotes anger.
A still more remarkable circumstance is, the fact that these persons have two pupils in each eye. Apollonides says, that there are certain females of this description in Scythia, who are known as Bythiæ, and Phylarchus states that a tribe of the Thibii in Pontus, and many other persons as well, have a double pupil in one eye, and in the other the figure of a horse.[52] He also remarks, that the bodies of these persons will not sink in water,[53] even though weighed down by their garments. Cicero also, one of our own writers, makes the remark, that the glances of all women who have a double pupil is noxious.[54]
Not far from the city of Rome, in the territory of the Falisci, a few families are found, who are known by the name of Hirpi. These people perform a yearly sacrifice to Apollo, on Mount Soracte, on which occasion they walk over a burning pile of wood, without even being scorched. On this account, by virtue of a decree of the senate, they are always exempted from military service, and from all other public duties.[55]
THE INDIAN ELEPHANT.
Some individuals, again, are born with certain parts of the body endowed with properties of a marvellous nature. Such was the case with King Pyrrhus, the great toe of whose right foot cured diseases of the spleen, merely by touching the patient.[56] We are also informed, that this toe could not be reduced to ashes together with the other portions of his body; upon which it was placed in a coffer, and preserved in a temple.
India, and the region of Æthiopia more especially, abounds in wonders. In India the largest of animals are produced; their dogs, for example, are much bigger than those of any other country. The trees, too, are said to be of such vast height, that it is impossible to send an arrow over them. This is the result of the singular fertility of the soil, the equable temperature of the atmosphere, and the abundance of water; which, if we are to believe what is said, are such, that a single fig-tree[57] is capable of affording shelter to a whole troop of horse. The reeds here are also of such enormous length, that each portion of them, between the joints, forms a tube, of which a boat is made that is capable of holding three men.[58] It is a well-known fact, that many of the people here are more than five cubits in height.[59] These people never expectorate, are subject to no pains, either in the head, the teeth, or the eyes, and rarely in any other parts of the body; so well is the heat of the sun calculated to strengthen the constitution. Their philosophers, who are called Gymnosophists, remain in one posture, with their eyes immovably fixed upon the sun, from its rising to its setting, and, during the whole of the day, they are accustomed to stand in the burning sands on one foot, first one and then the other. According to the account of Megasthenes, dwelling upon a mountain called Nulo, there is a race of men who have their feet turned backwards, with eight toes on each foot.
On many of the mountains again, there is a tribe of men who have the heads of dogs,[60] and clothe themselves with the skins of wild beasts. Instead of speaking, they bark; and, furnished with claws, they live by hunting and catching birds. According to the story, as given by Ctesias, the number of these people is more than a hundred and twenty thousand. He speaks also of another race of men, who are known as Monocoli, who have only one leg, but are able to leap with surprising agility. The same people are also called Sciapodæ, because they are in the habit of lying on their backs, during the time of the extreme heat, and protect themselves from the sun by the shade of their feet. These people, he says, dwell not very far from the Troglodytæ; to the west of whom again there is a tribe who are without necks, and have eyes in their shoulders.
Among the mountainous districts of the eastern parts of India, in what is called the country of the Catharcludi, we find the Satyr,[61] an animal of extraordinary swiftness. These go sometimes on four feet, and sometimes walk erect; they have also the features of a human being. On account of their swiftness, these creatures are never to be caught, except when they are either aged or sickly. Tauron gives the name of Choromandæ to a nation which dwell in the woods and have no proper voice. These people screech in a frightful manner; their bodies are covered with hair, their eyes are of a sea-green color, and their teeth like those of the dog. Eudoxus tells us, that in the southern parts of India, the men have feet a cubit in length; while those of the women are so remarkably small, that they are called Struthopodes or sparrow-footed.[62]
Megasthenes places among the Nomades of India, a people who are called Scyritæ. These have merely holes in their faces instead of nostrils, and flexible feet, like the body of the serpent. At the very extremity of India, on the eastern side, near the source of the river Ganges, there is the nation of the Astomi, a people who have no mouths; their bodies are rough and hairy, and they cover themselves with a down[63] plucked from the leaves of trees. These people subsist only by breathing and by the odors which they inhale through the nostrils. They support themselves upon neither meat nor drink; when they go upon a long journey they only carry with them various odoriferous roots and flowers, and wild apples, that they may not be without something to smell at. But an odor, which is a little more powerful than usual, easily destroys them.[64]
Beyond these people, and at the very extremity of the mountains, the Trispithami and the Pygmies are said to exist; two races which are but three spans in height, that is to say, twenty-seven inches only. They enjoy a salubrious atmosphere, and a perpetual spring, being sheltered by the mountains from the northern blasts; it is these people that Homer[65] has mentioned as being warred upon by cranes. It is said, that they are in the habit of going down every spring to the sea-shore, in a large body, seated on the backs of rams and goats, and armed with arrows, and there destroy the eggs and the young of those birds; that this expedition occupies them for the space of three months, and that otherwise it would be impossible for them to withstand the increasing multitudes of the cranes. Their cabins, it is said, are built of mud, mixed with feathers and egg-shells. Aristotle says, that they dwell in caves; but, in all other respects, he gives the same details as other writers.
Isigonus informs us, that the Cyrni, a people of India, live to their four hundredth year; and he is of opinion that the same is the case also with the Æthiopian Macrobii, the Seræ, and the inhabitants of Mount Athos. In the case of these last, it is supposed to be owing to the flesh of vipers,[66] which they use as food; in consequence of which, they are free also from all noxious animals, both in their hair and their garments.
According to Onesicritus, in those parts of India where there is no shadow, the bodies of men attain a height of five cubits and two palms, and their life is prolonged to one hundred and thirty years; they die without any symptoms of old age, and just as if they were in the middle period of life. Ctesias mentions a tribe known by the name of Pandore, whose locality is in the valleys, and who live to their two hundredth year; their hair is white in youth, and becomes black in old age. On the other hand, there are some people joining up to the country of the Macrobii, who never live beyond their fortieth year, and there is never more than one child in a family. This circumstance is also mentioned by Agatharchides, who states, in addition, that they live on locusts, and are very swift of foot. Clitarchus and Megasthenes give these people the name of Mandi, and enumerate as many as three hundred villages which belong to them. Their women marry in the seventh year of their age, and become old at forty.
Artemidorus states that in the island of Taprobana, life is prolonged to an extreme length, while, at the same time, the body is exempt from weakness. Among the Calingæ, a nation also of India, the women marry at five years of age, and do not live beyond their eighth year. In other places again, there are men born with long hairy tails, and of remarkable swiftness of foot; while there are others that have ears so large as to cover the whole body.[67]
There is a tribe of Æthiopian Nomades dwelling on the banks of the river Astragus, towards the north, and about twenty days’ journey from the ocean. These people are called Menismini; they live on the milk of the animal which we call cynocephalus,[68] and rear large flocks of these creatures. In the deserts of Africa, men are frequently seen to all appearance, and then vanish in an instant.
Nature, in her ingenuity, has created all these marvels in the human race, with others of a similar nature, as so many amusements to herself, though they appear miraculous to us. But who is there that can enumerate all the things that she brings to pass each day, I may almost say each hour? As a striking evidence of her power, let it be sufficient for me to have cited whole nations in the list of her prodigies.
Let us now proceed to mention some other particulars connected with Man, the truth of which is universally admitted.
It is a subject for pity, and even for a feeling of shame, when one reflects that the origin and life of the most vain of all animated beings is so frail: Thou man, who placest thy confidence in the strength of thy body, thou, who dost embrace the gifts of Fortune, and look upon thyself, not only as her fosterling, but even as her own born child, thou, whose mind is ever thirsting for blood, thou who, puffed up with some success or other, dost think thyself a god—by how trifling a thing might thy life have been cut short! Even this very day, something still less even may have the same effect, the puncture, for instance, of the tiny sting of the serpent; or even, as befell the poet Anacreon, the swallowing of the stone of a raisin, or of a single hair in a draught of milk, by which the prætor and senator, Fabius, was choked, and so met his death. He only, in fact, will be able to form a just estimate of the value of life, who will always bear in mind the extreme frailty of its tenure.
CHAPTER III.
INSTANCES OF EXTRAORDINARY STRENGTH.
Varro, speaking of persons remarkable for their strength, gives us an account of Tributanus, a celebrated gladiator, and skilled in the use of the Samnite arms;[69] he was a man of meagre person, but possessed of extraordinary strength. Varro makes mention of his son also, who served in the army of Pompey. He says, that in all parts of his body, even in the arms and hands, there was a network of sinews, extending across and across. The latter of these men, having been challenged by an enemy, vanquished him with a single finger of the right hand, and that unarmed, and then seized and dragged him to the camp. Vinnius Valens, who served as a centurion in the prætorian guard of Augustus, was in the habit of holding up wagons laden with casks, until they were emptied; and of stopping a carriage with one hand, and holding it back, against all the efforts of the horses to drag it forward. He performed other wonderful feats also, an account of which may still be seen inscribed on his monument. Varro, also, gives the following statement: “Fusius, who used to be called the ‘bumpkin Hercules,’ was in the habit of carrying his own mule; while Salvius was able to mount a ladder, with a weight of two hundred pounds attached to his feet, the same to his hands, and two hundred pounds on each shoulder.” I myself once saw,—a most marvellous display of strength,—a man of the name of Athanatus walk across the stage, wearing a leaden breast-plate of five hundred pounds weight, while shod with buskins of the same weight. When Milo, the wrestler, had once taken his stand, there was not a person who could move him from his position; and when he grasped an apple in his hand, no one could so much as open one of his fingers.
CHAPTER IV.
INSTANCES OF REMARKABLE AGILITY AND ACUTENESS OF SIGHT.
It was considered a very great thing for Philippides to run one thousand one hundred and sixty stadia, the distance between Athens and Lacedæmon, in two days, until Amystis, the Lacedæmonian courier, and Philonides, the courier of Alexander the Great, ran from Sicyon to Elis in one day, a distance of thirteen hundred and five stadia.[70] In our own times, too, we are fully aware that there are men in the Circus, who are able to keep on running for a distance of one hundred and sixty miles; and that lately, in the consulship of Fonteius and Vipstanus, there was a child eight years of age, who, between morning and evening, ran a distance of seventy-five miles. We become all the more sensible of these wonderful instances of swiftness, upon reflecting that Tiberius Nero, when he made all possible haste to reach his brother Drusus, who was then sick in Germany, reached him in three stages, travelling day and night on the road; the distance of each stage was two hundred miles.
Instances of acuteness of sight are to be found stated, which, indeed, exceed all belief. Cicero informs us, that the Iliad[71] of Homer was written on a piece of parchment so small as to be enclosed in a nut-shell. He makes mention also of a man who could distinguish objects at a distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles. Marcus Varro says, that the name of this man was Strabo; and that, during the Punic war, from Lilybæum, the promontory of Sicily, he was in the habit of seeing the fleet come out of the harbor of Carthage, at a distance of over fifty miles, and could even count the number of the vessels. Callicrates used to carve ants and other small animals in ivory, so minute in size, that other persons were unable to distinguish their individual parts. Myrmecides also was famous in the same line;[72] this man made, of similar material, a chariot drawn by four horses, which a fly could cover with its wings; as well as a ship which might be covered by the wings of a tiny bee.
CHAPTER V.
VIGOR OF MIND, AND COURAGE.
The most remarkable instance, I think, of vigor of mind in any man ever born, was that of Cæsar, the Dictator. I am not at present alluding to his valor and courage, nor yet his exalted genius, which was capable of embracing everything under the face of heaven, but I am speaking of that innate vigor of mind, which was so peculiar to him, and that promptness which seemed to act like a flash of lightning. We find it stated that he was able to write or read, and, at the same time, to dictate and listen. He could dictate to his secretaries four letters at once, and those on the most important business; and, indeed, if he was busy about nothing else, as many as seven. He fought as many as fifty pitched battles, being the only commander who exceeded M. Marcellus in this respect, he having fought only thirty-nine. In addition, too, to the victories gained by him in the civil wars, one million one hundred and ninety-two thousand men were slain by him in his battles. For my own part, however, I am not going to set down as a subject for high renown what was really an outrage committed upon mankind, even though he may have been acting under the strong influence of necessity; and, indeed, he himself confesses as much, in his omission to state the number of persons who perished by the sword in the civil wars.
With much more justice we may award credit to Pompey the Great for having taken from the pirates no less than eight hundred and forty-six vessels: though at the same time, over and above the great qualities previously mentioned, we must with equal justice give Cæsar the peculiar credit of a remarkable degree of clemency, a quality, in the exercise of which, even to repentance, he excelled all other individuals whatsoever. The same person has left us one instance of magnanimity, to which there is nothing that can be at all compared. While one, who was an admirer of luxury, might perhaps on this occasion have enumerated the spectacles which he exhibited, the treasures which he lavished away, and the magnificence of his public works, I maintain that it was the great proof, and an incomparable one, of an elevated mind, for him to have burnt with the most scrupulous carefulness the papers of Pompey, which were taken in his desk at the battle of Pharsalia, and those of Scipio, taken at Thapsus, without so much as reading them.
But now, as it belongs fully as much to the glorious renown of the Roman Empire, as to the victorious career of a single individual, I shall proceed on this occasion to make mention of all the triumphs and titles of Pompey: the splendor of his exploits having equalled not only that of those of Alexander the Great, but even of Hercules, and perhaps of Father Liber[73] even. After having recovered Sicily, where he first commenced his career as a partisan of Sylla, but in behalf of the republic, after having conquered the whole of Africa, and reduced it to subjection, and after having received for his share of the spoil the title of “Great,”[74] he was decreed the honors of a triumph; and he, though only of equestrian rank, a thing that had never occurred before, re-entered the city in the triumphal chariot; immediately after which, he hastened to the west, where he left it inscribed on the trophy which he raised upon the Pyrenees, that he had, by his victories, reduced to subjection eight hundred and seventy-six cities, from the Alps to the borders of Farther Spain. After having put an end to the civil war, which indeed was the primary cause of all the foreign ones, he, though still of only equestrian rank, again entered Rome in the triumphal chariot, having thus often proved himself a general before having been a common soldier. After this, he was despatched to the shores of all the various seas, and then to the East, whence he brought back to his country many titles of honor, resembling therein those who conquer at the sacred games—for, be it remembered, it is not they that are crowned, but their respective countries. Upon the shrine in the temple of Minerva, which he consecrated from the spoils that he had gained, are these words:—“Cneius Pompeius Magnus, Imperator, having brought to an end a war of thirty years’ duration, and having defeated, routed, put to the sword, or received the submission of, twelve millions two hundred and seventy-eight thousand men, having sunk or captured eight hundred and forty-six vessels, having received as allies one thousand five hundred and thirty-eight cities and fortresses, and having conquered all the country from the Mæotis to the Red Sea, dedicates this shrine as a votive offering due to Minerva.” Such, in few words, is the sum of his exploits in the East. The following are the introductory words descriptive of the triumph which he celebrated on the 29th and 30th of September, in the consulship of M. Piso and M. Messala (B.C. 61): “After having delivered the sea-coast from the pirates, and restored the seas to the people of Rome, he enjoyed a triumph over Asia, Pontus, Armenia, Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, Cilicia, Syria, the Scythians, Judæa, the Albanians, Iberia, the island of Crete, the Basterni, and, in addition to all these, the kings Mithridates and Tigranes.”
The most glorious, however, of all glories, resulting from these exploits, was, as he himself says, in the speech which he made in public relative to his previous career, that Asia Minor, which he received as the boundary of the empire, he left as its centre. If any one should wish, on the other hand, in a similar manner, to pass in review the exploits of Cæsar, who has shown himself greater still than Pompey, why then, he must enumerate all the countries in the world, a task, I may say, without an end!
A minute inquiry by whom the greatest valor has ever been exhibited, would lead to an endless discussion, especially if all the fables of the poets are to be taken for granted. Lucius Siccius Dentatus, who was tribune of the people in the consulship of Spurius Tarpeius and Aulus Aterius (B.C. 454), not long after the expulsion of the kings, has very numerous testimonies in his favor. This hero fought one hundred and twenty battles, was eight times victorious in single combat, and was graced with forty-five wounds in the front of the body, without one on the back. The same man also carried off thirty-four spoils, was eighteen times presented with the victor’s spear,[75] and received twenty-five pendants, eighty-three torcs, or golden ornaments, one hundred and sixty bracelets, twenty-six crowns, a fisc or chest of money, ten prisoners, and twenty oxen. He followed in the triumphal processions of nine generals, who mainly owed their victories to his exertions; besides all which, a thing that I look upon as the most important of all his services, he denounced to the people Titus Romilius, one of the generals of the army, at the end of his consulship, and had him convicted of having made an improper use of his authority.
The military honors of Manlius Capitolinus would have been no less splendid than his, if they had not been all effaced at the close of his life. Before his seventeenth year, he had gained two spoils, and was the first of equestrian rank who received a mural crown; he also gained six civic crowns, thirty-seven donations, and had twenty-three scars on the fore-part of his body. He saved the life of P. Servilius, the master of the horse, receiving wounds on the same occasion in the shoulders and the thigh. Besides all this, unaided, he saved the Capitol, when it was attacked by the Gauls, and through that, the state itself; a thing that would have been the most glorious act of all, if he had not so saved it, in order that he might, as its king, become its master. But in all matters of this nature, although valor may effect much, fortune does still more.
No person living, in my opinion at least, ever excelled Marcus Sergius, although his great-grandson, Catiline, tarnished the honors of his name. In his second campaign he lost his right hand; and in two campaigns he was wounded three and twenty times—so severely that he could scarcely use either his hands or his feet; still, attended by a single slave, he afterwards served in many campaigns, though but an invalided soldier. He was twice taken prisoner by Hannibal, (for it was with no ordinary enemy that he would engage,) and twice did he escape from his captivity, after having been kept, without a single day’s intermission, in chains and fetters for twenty months. On four occasions he fought with his left hand alone, two horses being slain under him. He had a right hand made of iron, and attached to the stump, after which he fought a battle, and raised the siege of Cremona, defended Placentia, and took twelve of the enemy’s camps in Gaul. All this we learn from an oration of his, which he delivered when, in his prætorship, his colleagues attempted to exclude him from the sacred rites, on the ground of his infirmities.[76] What heaps upon heaps of crowns would he have piled up, if he had only had other enemies! For, in matters of this nature, it is of the first importance to consider in what times the valor of each man has fallen. What civic crowns did Trebia, what did the Ticinus, what did Lake Thrasymenus afford? What crown was there to be gained at Cannæ, where it was deemed the greatest effort of valor to have escaped from the enemy? Other persons have been conquerors of men, no doubt, but Sergius conquered even Fortune herself.
CHAPTER VI.
MEN OF REMARKABLE GENIUS AND WISDOM.
Among so many different pursuits, and so great a variety of works and objects, who can select the palm of glory for transcendent genius? Unless perchance we should agree in opinion that no more brilliant genius ever existed than the Greek poet Homer, whether we look at the happy subject of his work, or the excellence of its execution. For this reason it was that Alexander the Great, when he found among the spoils of Darius, the King of Persia, a casket for perfumes, enriched with gold, precious stones, and pearls, covered as he was with the dust of battle, deemed it beneath a warrior to make use of unguents, and, when his friends were pointing out to him its various uses, exclaimed, “Nay, but by Hercules! let the casket be used for preserving the poems of Homer;” that so the most precious work of the human mind might be placed in the keeping of the richest work of art. It was the same conqueror, too, who gave directions that the descendants and house of the poet Pindar should be spared, at the taking of Thebes. He likewise rebuilt Stagira, the native city of Aristotle, uniting to the extraordinary brilliancy of his exploits this speaking testimony of his kindliness of disposition.
Dionysius the tyrant, who otherwise manifested a natural propensity for cruelty and pride, sent a vessel crowned with garlands to meet Plato, that high-priest of wisdom; and on his disembarkation, received him on the shore, in a chariot drawn by four white horses. Isocrates was able to sell a single oration of his for twenty thousand dollars. When Æschines, the great Athenian orator, had read to the Rhodians the speech which he had made on the accusation of Demosthenes he then read the defence made by Demosthenes, through which he had been driven into exile among them. When they expressed their admiration of it, he exclaimed:—“How much more would you have admired it, if you had heard him deliver it himself;” a striking testimony, indeed, given in adversity, to the merit of an enemy!
The nobles of Rome have given their testimony in favor of foreigners, even. After Pompey had finished the war against Mithridates, he went to call at the house of Posidonius, the famous teacher of philosophy, but forbade the lictor to knock at the door, as was the usual custom; and he, to whom both the eastern and the western world had yielded submission, ordered the fasces to be lowered before the door of a learned man.
The elder Africanus ordered that the statue of Ennius should be placed in his tomb, and that the illustrious surname which he had acquired, I may say, as his share of the spoil on the conquest of the third part of the world, should be read over his ashes, along with the name of the poet. The Emperor Augustus, now deified, forbade the works of Virgil to be burnt, in opposition to the modest directions to that effect, which the poet had left in his will: a prohibition which was a greater compliment paid to his merit, than if he himself had recommended his works.
Marcus Varro is the only man, who, during his lifetime, saw his own statue erected. This was placed in the first public library that was ever built, and which was formed by Asinius Pollio with the spoils of our enemies. The fact of this distinction being conferred upon him by one who was in the first rank, both as an orator and a citizen, and at a time, too, when there was so great a number of men distinguished for their genius, was not less honorable to him, in my opinion, than the naval crown which Pompey bestowed upon him in the war against the pirates. The instances that follow among the Romans, if I were to attempt to reckon them, would be found to be innumerable; for it is the fact that this one nation has furnished a greater number of distinguished men in every branch than all the countries of the world taken together.[77]
But what atonement could I offer to thee, Marcus Tullius Cicero, were I to be silent respecting thy name? or on what ground am I to pronounce thee especially preëminent? On what, indeed, that can be more convincing than the most abundant testimony that was offered in thy favor by the whole Roman people? Thou speakest, and the tribes surrender the Agrarian law, or, in other words, their very subsistence; thou advisest them to do so, and they pardon Roscius, the author of the law for the regulation of the theatres, and, without any feelings of resentment, allow a mark to be put upon themselves by allotting them an inferior seat; thou entreatest, and the sons of proscribed men blush at having canvassed for public honors: before thy genius Catiline took to flight, and it was thou who didst proscribe Marcus Antonius. Hail, then, to thee, who wast the first of all to receive the title of Father of thy country, who wast the first of all, while wearing the toga, to merit a triumph, and who didst obtain the laurel for oratory. Great father, thou, of eloquence and of Latin literature! as the Dictator Cæsar, once thy enemy, wrote in testimony of thee,[78] thou didst require a laurel superior to every triumph! How far greater and more glorious to have enlarged so immeasurably the boundaries of the Roman genius, than those of its sway!
Book IV.
THE NATURE OF TERRESTRIAL ANIMALS.
CHAPTER I.
ELEPHANTS; THEIR CAPACITY.
The elephant is the largest of all the land animals, and in intelligence approaches the nearest to man. He understands the language of his country, obeys commands, and remembers all the duties which he has been taught. He is sensible alike of the pleasures of love and glory, and, to a degree that is rare among men even, possesses notions of honesty, prudence, and equity; he has a religious respect also for the stars, and a veneration for the sun and the moon.[79] It is said by some authors, that, at the first appearance of the new moon, herds of these animals come down from the forests of Mauritania to a river, the name of which is Amilo; and that they there purify themselves in solemn form by sprinkling their bodies with water; after which, having thus saluted the heavenly body, they return to the woods, carrying before them the young ones which are fatigued. They are supposed to have a notion, too, of the differences of religion; and when about to cross the sea, they cannot be prevailed upon to go on board the ship until their keeper has promised upon oath that they shall return home again. They have been seen, too, when worn out by disease, lying on their backs and throwing the grass up into the air, as if deputing the earth to intercede for them with its prayers. As a proof of their extreme docility, they pay homage to the king, fall upon their knees, and offer him the crown.
The first harnessed elephants that were seen at Rome, were in the triumph of Pompey the Great over Africa, when they drew his chariot; a thing that is said to have been done long before, at the triumph of Father Liber on the conquest of India. Procilius[80] says, that those which were used at the triumph of Pompey were unable to go in harness through the gate of the city. In the exhibition of gladiators which was given by Germanicus, the elephants performed a sort of dance with their uncouth and irregular movements. It was a common thing to see them throw arrows with such strength, that the wind was unable to turn them from their course, to imitate among themselves the combats of the gladiators, and to frolic through the steps of the Pyrrhic dance. After this, too, they walked upon the tight-rope,[81] and four of them would carry a litter in which lay a fifth, who pretended to be ill. They afterwards took their places at table, reclining upon couches which were filled with people; and so nicely did they manage their steps, that they did not so much as touch any of those who were drinking there.
It is a well-known fact,[82] that one of these animals, who was slower than usual in learning what was taught him, and had been frequently chastised with blows, was found conning over his lesson in the night-time. It is a most surprising thing also, that the elephant is able not only to walk up the tight-rope backwards, but to come down it as well, with the head foremost. Mutianus, who was three times consul, informs us that one of these animals had been taught to trace the Greek letters, and that he used to write in that language the following words: “I have myself written these words, and have dedicated the Celtic spoils.”[83] Mutianus states also, that he himself was witness to the fact, that when some elephants were being landed at Puteoli and were compelled to leave the ship, being terrified at the length of the platform, which extended from the vessel to the shore, they walked backwards, in order to deceive themselves by forming a false estimate of the distance.
These animals are well aware that the only spoil that we are anxious to procure of them is the part which forms their weapon of defence, by Juba called their horns, but by Herodotus, a much older writer, as well as by general usage and more appropriately, their teeth. Hence it is that, when their tusks have fallen off, either by accident or from old age, they bury them in the earth.[84] These tusks form the only real ivory, and, even in these, the part which is covered by the flesh is merely common bone, and of no value whatever; though, indeed, of late, in consequence of the insufficient supply of Ivory, they have begun to cut the bones as well into thin plates. Large teeth, in fact, are now rarely found, except in India, the demands of luxury[85] having exhausted all those in our part of the world. The youthfulness of the animal is ascertained by the whiteness of the teeth. These animals take the greatest care of their teeth; they pay especial attention to the point of one of them, that it may not be found blunt when wanted for combat; the other they employ for various purposes, such as digging up roots and pushing forward heavy weights. When they are surrounded by the hunters, they place those in front which have the smallest teeth, that the enemy may think that the spoil is not worth the combat; and afterwards, when they are weary of resistance, they break off their teeth, by dashing them against a tree, and in this manner pay their ransom.[86]
It is a wonderful thing, that most animals are aware why it is that they are sought after, and what it is, that, under all circumstances, they have to guard against. When an elephant happens to meet a man in the desert, who is merely wandering about, the animal, it is said, shows himself both merciful and kind, and even points out the way. But the very same animal, if he meets with the traces of a man, before he meets the man himself, trembles in every limb, for fear of an ambush, stops short and scents the wind, looks around him, and snorts aloud with rage; and then, without trampling upon the object trodden upon, digs it up, and passes it to the next one, who again passes it to the one that follows, and so on from one to the other, till it comes to the very last. The herd then faces about, returns, and ranges itself in order of battle; so strongly does the odor, in all cases, attach itself to the human footstep, even though, as is most frequently the case, the foot itself is not naked. In the same way, too, the tigress, which is the dread of the other wild beasts, and which sees, without alarm, the traces even of the elephant itself, is said at once, upon seeing the footsteps of man, to carry off her whelps. How has the animal acquired this knowledge? And where has it seen him before, of whom it stands in such dread? Doubt there can be none, that forests such as it haunts are but little frequented by man! It is not to be wondered at, if they are astonished at the print of a footstep before unknown; but how should they know that there is anything that they ought to dread? And, what is still more, why should they dread even the very sight of man, seeing that they are so far superior to him in strength, size, and swiftness? No doubt, such is the law of Nature, such is the influence of her power—the most savage and the very largest of wild beasts have never seen that which they have reason to fear, and yet instantly have an instinctive feeling of dread, when the moment has come for them to fear.
Elephants always move in herds. The oldest takes the lead, and the next in age brings up the rear. When they are crossing a river, they first send over the smallest, for fear lest the weight of the larger ones may increase the depth of the channel, by working away the bed of the river. We learn from Antipater, that King Antiochus had two elephants, which he employed in his wars, and to which he had given the names of celebrated men; and that they were aware too of this mark of distinction. Cato, in his Annals, while he has passed over in silence the names of the generals, has given that of an elephant called Surus, which fought with the greatest valor in the Carthaginian army, and had lost one of its tusks. When Antiochus was sounding the ford of a river, an elephant named Ajax, which on other occasions had always led the van, refused to enter the stream; upon which proclamation was made, that the first rank should belong to the one which should take the lead in passing over. One called Patroclus hazarded the attempt, and as a reward, the king presented it with some silver pendants, a kind of ornament with which these animals are particularly delighted, and assigned it all the other marks of command. Upon this, the elephant that had been degraded refused to take its food, and so preferred death to ignominy. Indeed their sense of shame is wonderful, and when one of them has been conquered, it flies at the voice of the conqueror, and presents him with earth and vervain.
Nor ought we to be surprised that such an animal should be sensible of affection: for Juba relates, that an elephant recognized, after the lapse of many years, an old man who had been its keeper in his youth. They would seem also to have an instinctive feeling of justice. King Bocchus once fastened thirty elephants to the stake, with the determination of wreaking his vengeance on them, by means of thirty others; but though men kept sallying forth among them to goad them on, he could not, with all his endeavors, force them to become the ministers of the cruelty of others.
Elephants were seen in Italy, for the first time, in the war with King Pyrrhus, in the year of the City 472; they were called “Lucanian oxen,” because they were first seen in Lucania. Seven years after this period, they appeared at Rome in a triumph. In the year 502 a great number of them were brought to Rome, which had been taken by the pontiff Metellus, in his victory gained in Sicily over the Carthaginians.[87] One hundred and forty-two of them were conveyed to our shores upon rafts, which were constructed on rows of hogsheads joined together. Verrius informs us, that they fought in the Circus, and that they were slain with javelins, for want of some better method of disposing of them; as the people neither liked to keep them nor yet to give them to the kings.
CHAPTER II.
THE COMBATS OF ELEPHANTS.
AFRICAN ELEPHANT.—Loxodonta Africana.
There is a famous combat mentioned of a Roman with an elephant, when Hannibal compelled our prisoners to fight against each other. The one who had survived all the others he placed before an elephant, and promised him his life if he should slay it; upon which the man advanced alone into the arena, and, to the great regret of the Carthaginians, succeeded in doing so. Hannibal, however, thinking that the news of this victory might cause a feeling of contempt for these animals, sent some horsemen to kill the man on his way home. In our battles with Pyrrhus it was found, on making trial, that it was extremely easy to cut off the trunks of these animals. In the second consulship of Pompey at the dedication of the temple of Venus Victrix, twenty elephants, or, as some say, seventeen, fought in the Circus against a number of Gætulians, who attacked them with javelins. One of these animals fought in a most astonishing manner; for, although pierced through the feet, it dragged itself on its knees towards the troop, and seizing their bucklers, tossed them aloft into the air: and as they came to the ground it greatly amused the spectators, for they whirled round and round in the air, just as if they had been thrown up with a certain degree of skill, and not by the frantic fury of a wild beast. Another very wonderful circumstance happened; an elephant was killed by a single blow. The weapon pierced the animal below the eye, and entered the vital part of the head. The elephants attempted, too, by their united efforts, to break down the enclosure, not without great confusion among the people who sat next to the iron gratings. It was in consequence of this circumstance, that Cæsar, the Dictator, when he was afterwards about to exhibit a similar spectacle, had the arena surrounded with trenches of water. These were lately filled up by the Emperor Nero, when he added the seats for the equestrian order. When, however, the elephants in the exhibition given by Pompey had lost all hopes of escaping, they implored the compassion of the multitude by attitudes which surpass all description, and with a kind of lamentation bewailed their unhappy fate. So greatly were the people affected by the scene, that, forgetting the general altogether, and his munificence displayed in their honor, the whole assembly rose up in tears, and showered curses on Pompey, of which he soon afterwards became the victim. They fought also in the third consulship of the Dictator Cæsar, twenty of them against five hundred foot soldiers. On another occasion twenty elephants, carrying towers, and each defended by sixty men, were opposed to the same number of foot soldiers as before, and an equal number of horsemen. Afterwards, under the Emperors Claudius and Nero, the last exploit that the gladiators performed was fighting single-handed with elephants.
The elephant is said to display such a merciful disposition towards animals that are weaker than itself, that, when it finds itself in a flock of sheep, it will remove with its trunk those that are in the way, lest it should unintentionally trample upon them. They will never do any mischief except when provoked, and they are of a disposition so sociable, that they always move about in herds, no animal being less fond of a solitary life. When surrounded by a troop of horsemen, they place in the centre of the herd those that are weak, weary, or wounded, and then take the front rank each in its turn, just as though they acted under command and in accordance with discipline.
CHAPTER III.
THE WAY IN WHICH ELEPHANTS ARE CAUGHT.
In India they are caught by the keeper guiding one of the tame elephants towards a wild one which he has found alone or has separated from the herd; upon which he beats it, and when it is fatigued mounts and manages it just the same way as the other. In Africa they take them in pit-falls; but as soon as an elephant gets into one, the others immediately collect boughs of trees and pile up heaps of earth, so as to form a mound, and then endeavor with all their might to drag him out. It was formerly the practice to tame them by driving the herds with horsemen into a narrow defile, artificially made in such a way as to deceive them by its length; and when thus enclosed by means of steep banks and trenches, they were rendered tame by the effects of hunger; as a proof of which, they would quietly take a branch that was extended to them by one of the men. At the present day, when we take them for the sake of their tusks, we throw darts at their feet, which are in general the most tender part of their body. The Troglodytæ, who inhabit the confines of Æthiopia, and who live entirely on the flesh of elephants procured by the chase, climb the trees which lie near the paths through which these animals usually pass. Here they keep a watch, and look out for the one which comes last in the train; leaping down upon its haunches, they seize its tail with the left hand, and fix their feet firmly upon the left thigh. Hanging down in this manner, the man, with his right hand, hamstrings the animal on one side, with a very sharp hatchet. The elephant’s pace being retarded by the wound, he then cuts the tendons of the other ham, and makes his escape; all of which is done with the very greatest celerity.
Elephants of furious temper are tamed by hunger and blows, while other elephants are placed near to keep them quiet, when the violent fit is upon them, by means of chains. Elephants, when tamed, are employed in war, and carry into the ranks of the enemy towers filled with armed men; and on them, in a very great measure, depends the ultimate result of the battles that are fought in the East. They tread under foot whole companies, and crush the men in their armor. The very least sound, however, of the grunting of the hog terrifies them: when wounded and panic-stricken, they invariably fall back, and become no less formidable for the destruction which they deal to their own side, than to their opponents.
CHAPTER IV.
THE AGE OF THE ELEPHANT, AND OTHER PARTICULARS.
Aristotle says that the elephant lives to the age of two hundred years, and in some instances the extraordinary age of three hundred years has been attained. The elephant is in his prime at his sixtieth year. They are especially fond of water, and wander much about streams, although they are unable to swim, in consequence of their bulk.[88] They are particularly sensitive to cold, which is really their greatest enemy. The trunks and foliage of trees are their favorite food. They throw down with a blow from their forehead, palms of exceedingly great height, and strip them of their fruit.
They eat with the mouth, but they breathe and smell with the proboscis which is not unaptly termed their “hand.” This they use as a drinking cup, for they suck the fluid into the cavity of the trunk, and bend the trunk into the mouth, where the water is received and swallowed in the usual manner. They have the greatest aversion to the mouse of all animals, and quite loathe their food, as it lies in the manger, if they perceive that it has been touched by one of these. They experience the greatest torture if they happen to swallow, while drinking, a horseleech, an animal which people are beginning, I find, to call almost universally a “blood-sucker.” The leech fastens upon the wind-pipe, and produces intolerable pain.
The skin of the back is extremely hard, that of the belly is softer. They are not covered with any kind of bristles, nor does the slender tail furnish them with any protection from the annoyance of flies; for vast as these animals are, they suffer greatly from them. Their skin is reticulated, and invites these insects by the odor it exhales. However, when a swarm of flies has settled on the skin, while it is extended and smooth, the elephant suddenly contracts it; and, in this way, the flies are crushed between the folds which are thus closed. This power serves them in place of tail, mane, and hair.
Luxury has discovered a curious recommendation in this animal, having found a particularly delicate flavor in the cartilaginous part of the trunk, for no other reason, in my belief, than because it fancies itself to be eating ivory. Tusks of enormous size are constantly to be seen in the temples; and in the extreme parts of Africa, on the confines of Æthiopia, they are employed as door-posts for houses.
CHAPTER V.
THE LION.
I think that I ought here to make some further mention of Aristotle, seeing that upon these subjects, I intend, in a great measure, to make him my guide. Alexander the Great, filled with a strong desire to become acquainted with the natures of animals, entrusted the prosecution of this design to Aristotle, a man who held the highest rank in every branch of learning; for which purpose he placed under his command some thousands of men in every region of Asia and Greece, comprising all those who followed the business of hunting, fowling, or fishing, or who had the care of parks, herds of cattle, the breeding of bees, fish-ponds, and aviaries, in order that no creature that was known to exist might escape his notice. By means of the information which he obtained from these persons, he was enabled to compose some fifty volumes, which are deservedly esteemed, on the subject of animals; of these I purpose to give an epitome, together with other facts with which Aristotle was unacquainted; and I beg the kind indulgence of my readers in their estimate of this work of mine, as by my aid they hastily travel through all the works of nature, and through the midst of subjects with which that most famous of all kings so ardently desired to be acquainted.
It is a remarkable fact, that pards, panthers, lions, and other animals of this kind have retractile claws, so that they can walk with the points of their nails concealed in a sheath in the paw, thus preventing them from becoming broken or blunted.
The noble appearance of the lion is especially to be seen in the male, who has the neck and shoulders covered with a mane.
The lion is the only one of all the wild beasts that shows mercy to the suppliant; after it has conquered, it will spare, and when enraged, it will vent its fury rather upon men than women, and never upon children, unless when greatly pressed by hunger. It is the belief in Libya, that it fully understands the entreaties which are addressed to it. At all events, I have heard it asserted as a fact, that a female slave, who was returning from Gætulia, was attacked by a number of lions in the forests; upon which she summoned sufficient courage to address them, and said that she was a woman, a fugitive, helpless creature, that she implored the compassion of the most generous of animals, the one that has the command of all the others, and that she was a prey unworthy of their high repute—and by these means effectually soothed their ferocity.[89] There are various opinions on this point, as to whether it is through some peculiar disposition of the animals, or merely by accident, that their fury is thus soothed by addressing them. As to what is alleged, too, about serpents, that they can be drawn from their holes by singing, and thus be made to yield themselves up to death, the truth or falsity of it has not by any means been satisfactorily ascertained.
GAMBIAN LION.—Leo Gambianus.
The tail of the lion gives indication of the state of his feelings, just as the ears do in the horse; for these are the distinguishing signs which Nature has given to each of the most generous of animals. Hence it is that, when pleased, the tail is without motion, and the animal fawns upon those who caress him; a thing, however, that very rarely happens, for his usual state is that of rage. He begins by beating the earth with his tail; and as he becomes more furious, he lashes his sides, as if trying to excite himself. His greatest strength is situated in the breast. When his hunger is satisfied, he becomes harmless. The generous disposition of the lion is especially manifested in time of danger; at the moment when, despising all weapons, he long defends himself solely by the great terror which he inspires, starting up at last, not as though constrained by danger, but as if enraged by the mad folly of his adversaries. This, however, is a still more noble feature of his courage—however numerous the dogs and hunters may be that press upon him, as he makes his retreat he comes to a stand every now and then upon the level plain, while he is still in view, and scowls contemptuously upon them: but as soon as he has entered the thickets and dense forests, he scours away at the swiftest possible pace, as though aware that the place itself will shelter his shame. When in pursuit, the lion advances with a leap, but he does not do so when in flight. When wounded, he discovers, with wonderful sagacity, the person who struck the blow, and will find him out, however great may have been the multitude of his pursuers. If a person has thrown a dart at him, but has failed to inflict a wound, the animal seizes him, whirls him round and throws him to the ground, but without wounding him. When the lioness is defending her whelps, it is said that she fixes her eyes steadily on the ground, that she may not be frightened at the spears of the hunters. In all other respects, these animals are equally free from deceit and suspicion. They never look at an object obliquely, and they dislike being looked at themselves in such a manner. It is generally believed, that, when the lion is dying, he bites at the earth, and sheds tears at his fate. Powerful, however, and fierce as this animal is, he is terrified by the motion of wheels or of an empty chariot, and still more on seeing the crest or hearing the crowing of a cock; but most of all, is he afraid of fire. The only malady to which the lion is subject, is loss of appetite; this, however, is cured by putting insults upon him, by means of the pranks of monkeys placed about him, a thing which rouses his anger; and as soon as he tastes their blood, he is relieved.
CHAPTER VI.
WONDERFUL FEATS PERFORMED BY LIONS.
It was formerly a very difficult matter to catch the lion, and it was mostly done by means of pit-falls. In the reign, however, of the Emperor Claudius, accident disclosed a method which appears almost disgraceful to the name of such an animal; a Gætulian shepherd stopped a lion, that was rushing furiously upon him, by merely throwing his cloak over the animal; a circumstance which afterwards afforded an exhibition in the arena of the Circus, when the frantic fury of the animal was paralyzed in a manner almost incredible by a light covering being thrown over its head, so that it could be put into chains without the least resistance. This circumstance renders what was done by Lysimachus less wonderful, who strangled a lion, with which he had been shut up by command of Alexander.
Antony subjected lions to the yoke, and was the first at Rome to harness them to his chariot; and this during the civil war, after the battle on the plains of Pharsalia; not, indeed, without a kind of ominous presage, a prodigy that foretold at the time that generous spirits were about to be subdued. But to have himself drawn along in this manner, in company with the actress Cytheris, was a thing that surpassed even the monstrous spectacles that were to be seen at that calamitous period. It is said that Hanno, one of the most illustrious of the Carthaginians, was the first who ventured to touch the lion with the hand, and to exhibit it in a tame state. It was on this account that he was banished; for it was supposed, that a man so talented and so ingenious would have it in his power to persuade the people to anything, and it was looked upon as unsafe to trust the liberties of the country to one who had so eminently triumphed over even ferocity itself. There have been some fortuitous occurrences cited which have given occasion to these animals to display their natural clemency. Mentor, a native of Syracuse, was met in Syria by a lion, who rolled before him in a suppliant manner; though smitten with fear and desirous to escape, the wild beast on every side opposed his flight, and licked his feet with a fawning air. Upon this, Mentor observed on the paw of the lion a swelling and a wound; from which, after extracting a splinter, he relieved the creature’s pain. There is a picture at Syracuse, which bears witness to the truth of this occurrence.
WILD CAT.—Felis Catus.
In the same manner, too, Elpis, a native of Samos, on landing from a vessel on the coast of Africa, observed a lion near the beach, opening his mouth in a threatening manner; upon which he climbed a tree, in the hope of escaping, while, at the same time, he invoked the aid of Father Liber; for it is the appropriate time for invocations when there is no room left for hope. The wild beast did not pursue him as he fled, although he might easily have done so; but, lying down at the foot of the tree, tried by the open mouth which had caused so much terror, to excite his compassion. It appeared that while he was devouring his food with too great avidity, a bone had stuck fast between his teeth, and he was perishing with hunger. Elpis, although he understood his mute entreaties, did not dare to risk trusting himself to so formidable a beast, so he remained stationary for some time, more from astonishment than from fear. At length, however, he descended from the tree and extracted the bone, the lion in the mean while extending his head, and aiding in the operation as far as it was necessary for him to do. The story goes on to say, that as long as the vessel remained off that coast, the lion showed his sense of gratitude by bringing to it whatever he had chanced to procure in the chase. In memory of this circumstance, Elpis consecrated a temple at Samos to Father Liber, which the Greeks, from the circumstance above related, called “the temple κεχηνότος Διονύσον,” or “temple of the open-mouthed Bacchus.” Can we wonder, after this, that the wild beasts should be able to recognize the footsteps of man, when of him alone of all animals they even hope for aid? For why should they not have recourse to others for assistance? Or how is it that they know that the hand of man has power to heal them? Unless, perhaps, it is that the violence of pain can force even wild beasts to risk everything to obtain relief.
Demetrius, the natural philosopher, relates an equally remarkable instance, in relation to a panther. The animal was lying in the middle of the road, waiting for some one to pass that way, when he was suddenly perceived by the father of one Philinus, an ardent lover of wisdom. Seized with fear, he immediately began to retreat; while the beast rolled itself before him, evidently with the desire of caressing him, at the same time manifesting signs of grief, which could not be misunderstood even in a panther. The animal had young ones, which had happened to fall into a pit at some distance from the place. The first dictates of compassion banished all fear, and the next prompted him to assist the animal. He accordingly followed her, as she gently drew him on by fixing her claws in his garment; and as soon as he discovered what was the cause of her grief and the price of his own safety, he took the whelps out of the pit, and they followed her to the end of the desert; whither he was escorted by her, frisking with joy and gladness, in order that she might more appropriately testify how grateful she was, and how little she had given him in return; a mode of acting which is but rarely found even among men.
MARGAY.—Leopardus Tigrinus.
Facts such as these induce us to give some credit to what Democritus relates, who says that a man, called Thoas, was preserved in Arcadia by a dragon. When a boy, he had become much attached to it, and had reared it very tenderly; but his father, being alarmed at the nature and monstrous size of the reptile, had it taken away and left in the desert. Thoas being here attacked by some robbers who lay in ambush, he was delivered from them by the dragon, which recognized his voice and came to his assistance. But as to what has been said respecting infants that have been exposed and nourished by the milk of wild beasts, as in the case of the founders of our city by a wolf, I am disposed to attribute such cases as these rather to the greatness of the destinies which have to be fulfilled, than to any peculiarity in the nature of the animals themselves.
CHAPTER VII.
PANTHERS AND TIGERS.
The panther and the tiger are nearly the only animals that are remarkable for a skin distinguished by the variety of its spots; whereas others have them of a single color, appropriate to each species. The lions of Syria alone are black. The spots of the panther are like small eyes, upon a white ground. It is said that all quadrupeds are terrified by the fierceness of their aspect; for which reason the creature conceals its head, and then springs unexpectedly upon its prey. It is said by some, that the panther has, on the shoulder, a spot which bears the form of the moon; and that, like it, it regularly increases to full, and then diminishes to a crescent. At present we apply the general names of varia and pard to all the numerous species of this animal, which are very common in Africa and Syria. Some writers distinguish the panther as being remarkable for its whiteness: and as yet I have not observed any other difference between them.
JAGUAR.—Leopardus Onca.
There was an ancient decree of the senate, which prohibited animals being imported from Africa into Italy; but Cnæus Aufidius, the tribune of the people, procured a law repealing this, which allowed of their being brought over for the games of the Circus. Scaurus, in his ædileship, was the first who sent over the parti-colored kind, one hundred and fifty in all; after which, Pompey sent four hundred and ten, and the late Emperor Augustus four hundred and twenty.
The same emperor was the first person who exhibited at Rome a tame tiger on the stage. This was in the consulship of Tubero and Fabius Maximus, at the dedication of the theatre of Marcellus, on the fourth day before the nones of May: the late Emperor Claudius exhibited four at one time.
TIGER.—Tigris Regális.
Hyrcania and India produce the tiger, an animal of tremendous swiftness, a quality which is more especially tested when we deprive it of all its whelps, which are always very numerous. They are seized by the hunter, who lies in wait for them, being provided with the fleetest horse he can possibly obtain, and which he frequently changes for a fresh one. As soon as the female finds her lair empty—for the male takes no care whatever of his offspring—headlong she darts forth, and traces them by the smell. Her approach is made known by her cries, upon which the hunter throws down one of the whelps; this she snatches up with her teeth, and more swift, even, under the weight, returns to her lair, and sets out in pursuit again; this she continues to do, until the hunter has reached his vessel, while the animal vainly vents her fury upon the shore.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CAMEL.
Camels are found feeding in herds in the East. Of these there are two different kinds, the Bactrian and the Arabian; the former kind having two humps on the back, the latter only one; they have also another hump under the breast, by means of which they support themselves when reclining. Both of these species, like the ox, have no teeth in the upper jaw. They are all of them employed as beasts of burthen, in carrying loads on the back, and they answer the purpose of cavalry in battle. Their speed is the same with that of the horse, but their power of holding out in this respect is proportioned in each to its natural strength: it will never go beyond its accustomed distance, nor will it receive more than its usual load. The camel can endure thirst for four days, and when it has the opportunity of obtaining water, it drinks, as it were, both for past and future thirst, having first taken care to trouble the water by trampling in it; without doing which, it would find no pleasure in drinking. They live fifty years, some indeed as much as one hundred.
CAMEL.—Camélus Arábicus.
GIRAFFE.—Giraffa Camelopárdalis.
There are two other animals, which have some resemblance to the camel. One of these is called, by the Æthiopians, the nabun. It has a neck like that of the horse, feet and legs like those of the ox, a head like that of the camel, and is covered with white spots upon a red ground; from which peculiarities it has been called the cameleopard.[90] It was first seen at Rome in the Circensian games held by Cæsar, the Dictator. Since that time too, it has been occasionally seen. It is remarkable for the singularity of its appearance, and from its very wild disposition it has obtained the name of the wild sheep.
CHAPTER IX.
THE RHINOCEROS AND THE CROCOTTA.
INDIAN RHINOCEROS.—Rhinoceros Unicornis.
At the games of Pompey the rhinoceros, an animal which has a single horn projecting from the nose, was also exhibited; it has been frequently seen since then. This is a natural-born enemy of the elephant. It prepares itself for the combat by sharpening its horn against the rocks; and in fighting directs it chiefly against the belly of its adversary, which it knows to be the softest part. The two animals are of equal length, but the legs of the rhinoceros are much the shorter: its skin is the color of box-wood.
KEITTOA, OR SLOAN’S RHINOCEROS.—Rhinóceros Keittoa.
Æthiopia produces the crocotta, an animal which looks as though it were a cross between the wolf and the dog, for it can break anything with its teeth, and instantly on swallowing it digest it with its stomach; monkeys, too, with black heads, the hair of the ass, and a voice quite unlike that of any other animal. And there are oxen, like those of India, some with one horn, and others with three; the leucrocotta, a wild beast of extraordinary swiftness, the size of the wild ass, with the legs of a stag, the neck, tail, and breast of a lion, the head of a badger, a cloven hoof, the mouth slit up as far as the ears, and one continuous bone instead of teeth;[91] it is said, too, that this animal can imitate the human voice. Among the same people, there is also found an animal called eale; it is the size of the river-horse, has the tail of the elephant, and is of a black or tawny color. It has also the jaws of the wild boar, and horns that are movable, and more than a cubit in length, so that, in fighting, it can employ them alternately, and vary their position by presenting them directly or obliquely, according as necessity may dictate. But the wild bulls which this country produces are the fiercest of all; they are larger than our domestic bull, and exceed all the others in swiftness; are of a tawny color, with azure eyes, and the hair turned the contrary way; while the jaws open as far as the ears, and the horns are as movable as those of the eale. The hide of this animal is as hard as flint, and effectually resists all wounds. These creatures pursue all the other wild beasts, while they themselves can only be taken in pitfalls, where they always perish from excess of rage. Ctesias informs us, that among these same Æthiopians, an animal is found, which he calls the mantichora;[92] it has a triple row of teeth, which fit into each other like those of a comb, the face and ears of a man, and azure eyes, is of the color of blood, has the body of the lion, and a tail ending in a sting, like that of the scorpion. Its voice resembles the union of the sound of the flute and the trumpet; it is of excessive swiftness, and is particularly fond of human flesh.
CHAPTER X.
THE ANIMALS OF ÆTHIOPIA; WILD BEASTS WHICH KILL WITH THEIR EYES.
Among the Hesperian Æthiopians is the fountain of Nigris, by many, supposed to be the head of the Nile. Near this fountain, there is found a wild beast, which is called the catoblepas; an animal of moderate size, but its head is remarkably heavy, and it only carries it with the greatest difficulty, being always bent down towards the earth. Were it not for this circumstance, it would prove the destruction of the human race; for all who behold its eyes, fall dead upon the spot.
There is the same power also in the serpent called the basilisk.[93] It is produced in the province of Cyrene, being not more than twelve fingers in length. It has a white spot on the head, strongly resembling a sort of a diadem. When it hisses, all the other serpents fly from it: and it does not advance its body, like the others, by a succession of folds, but moves along upright and erect upon the middle. It destroys all shrubs, not only by its contact, but those even that it has breathed upon; it burns up all the grass too, and breaks the stones, so tremendous is its noxious influence. It was formerly a general belief that if a man on horseback killed one of these animals with a spear, the poison would run up the weapon and kill, not only the rider, but the horse as well. To this dreadful monster the odor of the weasel is fatal, a thing that has been tried with success, for kings have often desired to see its body when killed; so true is it that it has pleased Nature that there should be nothing without its antidote. The animal is thrown into the hole of the basilisk, which is easily known from the soil around it being infected. The weasel destroys the basilisk by its odor, but dies itself in this struggle of nature against its own self.
CHAPTER XI.
WOLVES; SERPENTS.
In Italy also it is believed that there is a noxious influence in the eye of a wolf; it is supposed that it will instantly take away the voice of a man, if it is the first to see him.[94] Africa and Egypt produce wolves of a sluggish and stunted nature; those of the colder climates are fierce and savage. That men have been turned into wolves, and again restored to their original form, we must confidently look upon as untrue, unless, indeed, we are ready to believe all the tales, which, for so many ages, have been found to be fabulous. But, as the belief of it has become so firmly fixed in the minds of the common people, as to have caused the term “Versipellis”[95] to be used as a common form of imprecation, I will here point out its origin. Euanthes, a Grecian author of no mean reputation, informs us that the Arcadians assert that a member of the family of Anthus is chosen by lot, and then taken to a certain lake in that district, where, after suspending his clothes on an oak, he swims across the water and goes away into the desert, where he is changed into a wolf and associates with other animals of the same species for a space of nine years. If he has kept himself from beholding a man during the whole of that time, he returns to the same lake, and, after swimming across it, resumes his original form, only with the addition of nine years in age to his former appearance. To this Fabius adds, that he takes his former clothes as well. It is really wonderful to what a length the credulity[96] of the Greeks will go! There is no falsehood, if ever so barefaced, to which some of them cannot be found to bear testimony.
So, too, Agriopas informs us that Demænetus, the Parrhasian, during a sacrifice of human victims, which the Arcadians were offering up to the Lycæan Jupiter, tasted the entrails of a boy who had been slaughtered; upon which he was turned into a wolf, but, ten years afterwards, was restored to his original shape and his calling of an athlete, and returned victorious in the pugilistic contests at the Olympic games.
VIPER, OR ADDER.—Pelias Berus.
With reference to serpents, it is generally known, that they assume the color of the soil in which they conceal themselves. The different species of them are innumerable. The cerastes has little horns, often four in number, projecting from the body, by the movement of which it attracts birds, while the rest of its body lies concealed. The amphisbæna has two heads, that is to say, it has a second one at the tail, as though one mouth were too little for the discharge of all its venom. Some serpents have scales, some a mottled skin, and they are all possessed of a deadly poison. The jaculus[97] darts from the branches of trees; and it is not only to our feet that the serpent is formidable, for he even flies through the air just as though he were hurled from an engine. The neck of the asp puffs out, and there is no remedy whatever against its sting, except the instant excision of the affected part. This reptile, which is so deadly, is possessed of this one sense, or rather affection; the male and the female are generally found together, and the one cannot live without the other; hence it is that, if one of them happens to be killed, the other takes incredible pains to avenge its death. It follows the slayer of its mate, and will single him out among never so large a number of people, by a sort of instinctive knowledge; with this object it overcomes all difficulties, travels any distance, and is only to be avoided by the intervention of rivers or an accelerated flight. It is really difficult to decide, whether Nature has altogether been more liberal of good or of evil. First of all, however, she has given to this pest but weak powers of sight, and has placed the eyes, not in the front of the head, so that it may see straight before it, but in the temples, so that it is more frequently put in motion by the approach of the footstep than through the sight. The ichneumon, however, is its enemy to the very death.
This hostility is the especial glory of this animal, which is also produced in Egypt. It plunges itself repeatedly into the mud, and then dries itself in the sun: as soon as, by these means, it has armed itself with a sufficient number of coatings, it proceeds to the combat. Raising its tail, and turning its back to the serpent, it receives its stings, which are inflicted to no purpose, until at last, turning its head sideways, and viewing its enemy, it seizes it by the throat. Not content, however, with this victory, it conquers another creature, the crocodile, which is no less dangerous.
CHAPTER XII.
THE CROCODILE AND THE HIPPOPOTAMUS.
The Nile produces the crocodile, a destructive quadruped, and equally dangerous on land and in the water. This is the only land animal that does not enjoy the use of its tongue,[98] and the only one that has the upper jaw movable, and is capable of biting with it; and terrible is its bite, for the rows of its teeth fit into each other, like those of a comb. Its length exceeds eighteen cubits. It produces eggs about the size of those of the goose, and, by a kind of instinctive foresight, always deposits them beyond the limit to which the river Nile rises, when at its greatest height. There is no animal that arrives at so great a bulk as this, from so small a beginning. It is armed also with claws, and has a skin, that is proof against all blows. It passes the day on land, and the night in the water, in both instances on account of the warmth. When it has glutted itself with fish, it goes to sleep on the banks of the river, a portion of the food always remaining in its mouth; upon which, a little bird, which in Egypt is known as the trochilus, and, in Italy, as the king of the birds, for the purpose of obtaining food, invites the crocodile to open its jaws; then, hopping to and fro, it first cleans the outside of its mouth, next the teeth, and then the inside, while the animal opens its jaws as wide as possible, in consequence of the pleasure which it experiences from the titillation.[99] It is at these moments that the ichneumon, seeing it fast asleep in consequence of the agreeable sensation thus produced, darts down its throat like an arrow, and eats away its intestines.[100]
Like the crocodile, but smaller even than the ichneumon, is the scincus, which is also produced in the Nile, and the flesh of which is the most effectual antidote against poisons. But so great a pest was the crocodile to prove, that Nature was not content with giving it one enemy only; the dolphins, therefore, which enter the Nile, have the back armed with a spine,[101] which is edged like a knife, as if for this very purpose; and although these animals are much inferior in strength, they contrive to destroy the crocodile by artifice, which on the other hand attempts to drive them from their prey, and would reign alone in its river as its peculiar domain. For all animals have an especial instinct in this respect, and are able to know not only what is for their own advantage, but also what is to the disadvantage of their enemies; they fully understand the use of their own weapons, they know their opportunity, and the weak parts of those with which they have to contend.
The skin of the belly of the crocodile is soft and thin; aware of this, the dolphins plunge into the water, as if in great alarm, and diving beneath its belly, tear it open with their spines. There is a race of men also, who are peculiarly hostile to the crocodile; they are known as the Tentyritæ, from an island in the Nile which they inhabit. These men are of small stature, but of wonderful presence of mind, though for this particular object only. The crocodile is a terrible animal to those who fly from it, while at the same time it will fly from those who pursue it; these, however, are the only people who dare to attack it. They even swim in the river after it, and mount its back like so many horsemen; and just as the animal turns up its head for the purpose of biting them, they insert a club into its mouth, holding which at each end, with the two hands, it acts like a bit, and by these means they drive the captured animal on shore. They also terrify the crocodile so much even by their voice alone, as to force it to disgorge the bodies which it has lately swallowed, for the purpose of burial. This island, therefore, is the only place near which the crocodile never swims; for it is repelled by the odor of this race of men. The sight of the animal is said to be dull when it is in the water, but, when out of the water, piercing in the extreme; it always passes the four winter months in a cave, without taking food. Some persons say, that this is the only animal that continues to increase in size as long as it lives; it is very long-lived.
The Nile produces the hippopotamus, another wild beast, of a still greater size. It has the cloven hoof of the ox; the back, the mane, and the neighing of the horse; and the turned-up snout, the tail, and the hooked teeth of the wild boar, but is not so dangerous. The hide is impenetrable, except when it has been soaked with water; and it is used for making shields and helmets. This animal lays waste the standing corn, and determines beforehand what part it shall ravage on the following day; it is said also, that it enters the field backwards, to prevent any ambush being laid for it on its return.
HIPPOPOTAMUS, OR ZEEKOE.—Hippopotamus Amphibius.
Marcus Scaurus was the first to exhibit this animal at Rome, together with five crocodiles, at the games which he gave in his ædileship, in a piece of water which had been temporarily prepared for the purpose. The hippopotamus has even been our instructor in one of the operations of medicine. When the animal has become too bulky by continued overfeeding, it goes down to the banks of the river, and examines the reeds which have been newly cut; as soon as it has found a stump that is very sharp, it presses its body against it, and so wounds one of the veins in the thigh; and, by the flow of blood thus produced, the body, which would otherwise have fallen into a morbid state, is relieved; after which, it covers up the wound with mud.
CHAPTER XIII.
PROGNOSTICS OF DANGER DERIVED FROM ANIMALS.
Nature has bestowed upon many animals the faculty of observing the heavens, and of presaging the winds, rains, and tempests, each in its own peculiar way. It would be an endless labor to enumerate them all; just as much as it would be to point out the relation of each to man. For, in fact, they warn us of danger, not only by their fibres and their entrails, to which a large portion of mankind attach the greatest faith, but by other kinds of warnings as well. When a building is about to fall down, all the mice desert it, and the spiders with their webs are the first to drop. Divination from birds has been made a science among the Romans, and the college of its priests is looked upon as peculiarly sacred. In Thrace, when all parts are covered with ice, the foxes are consulted, an animal which, in other respects, is baneful from its craftiness. It has been observed, that this animal applies its ear to the ice, for the purpose of testing its thickness; and the inhabitants will never cross frozen rivers and lakes until the foxes have passed over them and returned.
COMMON MOUSE.—Mus Músculus (White, Brown and Pied Varieties).
We have accounts, too, no less remarkable, in reference even to the most contemptible of animals. Marcus Varro informs us, that a town in Spain was undermined by rabbits, and one in Thessaly, by mice; that the inhabitants of a district in Gaul were driven from their country by frogs, and a place in Africa by locusts; that the inhabitants of Gyarus, one of the Cyclades, were driven away by mice; and the Amunclæ, in Italy, by serpents. There is a vast desert tract on this side of the Æthiopian Cynamolgi, the inhabitants of which were exterminated by scorpions and venomous ants, and Theophrastus informs us, that the people of Rhœteum were driven away by multipede insects. But we must now return to the other kinds of wild beasts.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE HYÆNA.
The neck of the hyæna with the mane, runs continuously into the back-bone, so that the animal cannot bend this part without turning round the whole body. Many wonderful things are also related of this animal; and strangest of all, that it imitates the human voice among the stalls of the shepherds; and while there, learns the name of some one of them, and then calls him away, and devours him. It is said also, that it can imitate a man vomiting, and that, in this way, it attracts the dogs, and then falls upon them. It is the only animal that digs up graves, in order to obtain the bodies of the dead. The female is rarely caught: its eyes, it is said, are of a thousand various colors and changes of shade. It is said also, that on coming in contact with its shadow, dogs will lose their voice, and that, by certain magical influences, it can render any animal immovable, round which it has walked three times.
CHAPTER XV.
DEER.
The deer, although the mildest of all animals, has still its own feelings of malignancy; when hard pressed by the hounds it flies of its own accord for refuge to man. The deer exercise the young ones in running, and teach them how to take to flight, leading them to precipices, and showing them how to leap. When the stags feel themselves becoming too fat, they seek some retired spot, thus acknowledging the inconvenience arising from their bulk. Besides this, they continually pause in their flight, stand still and look back, and then again resume their flight, when the enemy approaches. The barking of a dog instantly puts them to flight, and they always run with the wind, in order that no trace of them may be left. They are soothed by the shepherd’s pipe and his song; when their ears are erect, their sense of hearing is very acute, but when dropped, they become deaf.
In other respects the deer is a simple animal, which regards everything as wonderful, and with a stupid astonishment; so much so, that if a horse or cow happens to approach it, it will not see the hunter, who may be close at hand, or, if it does see him, it only gazes upon his bow and arrow. Deer cross the sea in herds, swimming in a long line, the head of each resting on the haunches of the one that precedes it, each in its turn falling back to the rear. This has been particularly remarked when they pass over from Cilicia to the island of Cyprus. Though they do not see the land, they still are able to direct themselves by the smell. The males have horns, and are the only animals that shed them every year, at a stated time in the spring; at which period they seek out with the greatest care the most retired places, and after losing them, remain concealed, as though aware that they are unarmed. They also bear the marks of their age on the horns, every year, up to the sixth,[102] a fresh antler being added; after which period the horns are renewed in the same state, so that by means of them their age cannot be ascertained. Their old age, however, is indicated by their teeth, for then they have only a few, or none at all; and we then no longer perceive, at the base of their horns, antlers projecting from the front of the forehead, as is usually the case with the animal when young.
CARIBOU.—Larandus Rangifer.
When the horns begin to be reproduced, two projections are to be seen, much resembling, at first, dry skin; they grow with tender shoots, having upon them a soft, velvety down like that on the head of a reed. So long as they are without horns, they go to feed during the night. As the horns grow, they harden by the heat of the sun, and the animal, from time to time, tries their strength upon the trees; when satisfied with their strength, it leaves its retreat.
Stags, too, have been occasionally caught with ivy, green and growing, on their horns,[103] the plant having taken root on them, as it would on any piece of wood, while the animal was rubbing them against the trees. The stag is sometimes found white, as is said to have been the case with the hind of Sertorius, which he persuaded the nations of Spain to look upon as having the gift of prophecy.
The stag is generally admitted to be very long lived; some were captured at the end of one hundred years with the golden collars which Alexander the Great had put upon them, and which were quite concealed by the folds of the skin, in consequence of the accumulation of fat.[104]
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CHAMELEON.
Africa is almost the only country that does not produce the stag, but it produces the chameleon, which, however, is much more commonly met with in India. Its figure and size are that of a lizard, only that its legs are straight and longer. Its sides unite under its belly, as in fishes, and its spine projects in a similar manner. Its muzzle is not unlike the snout of a small hog, so far as it can be in so small an animal. Its tail is very long, and becomes smaller towards the end, coiling up in folds like that of the viper. It has hooked claws, and a slow movement like that of the tortoise; its body is rough like that of the crocodile; its eyes are deep sunk in the orbits, placed very near each other, very large, and of the same color as the body. It never closes them, and when the animal looks round, it does so, not by the motion of the pupil, but of the white of the eye. It always holds the head upright and the mouth open, and is the only animal which receives nourishment neither by meat nor drink, nor anything else, but from the air alone.[105] Towards the end of the dog-days it is fierce, but at other times quite harmless. The nature of its color, too, is very remarkable, for it is continually changing; its eyes, its tail, and its whole body always assuming the color of whatever object is nearest, with the exception of white and red.[106] After death, it becomes of a pale color. It has a little flesh about the head, the jaws, and the root of the tail, but none whatever on the rest of the body. It has no blood whatever, except in the heart and about the eyes, and its entrails are without a spleen. It conceals itself during the winter months, just like the lizard.
CHAPTER XVII.
BEARS AND THEIR CUBS.
The cubs of bears when first born are shapeless masses of white flesh, a little larger than mice; their claws alone being prominent. The mother then licks them gradually into proper shape. Bears hibernate during three or four months of the winter season. If they happen to have no den, they construct a retreat with branches and shrubs, which is made impenetrable to the rain and is lined with soft leaves. During the first fourteen days they are overcome by so deep a sleep, that they cannot be aroused even by wounds. They become wonderfully fat, too, while in this lethargic state. This fat is much used in medicine; and it is very useful in preventing the hair from falling off. At the end of these fourteen days they sit up, and find nourishment by sucking their fore-paws. They warm their cubs, when cold, by pressing them to the breast, not unlike the way in which birds brood over their eggs. It is a very astonishing thing, but Theophrastus believes it that if we preserve the flesh of the bear, the animal being killed in its dormant state, it will increase in bulk, even though it may have been cooked. During this period no signs of food are to be found in the stomach of the animal, and only a very slight quantity of liquid; there are a few drops of blood only near the heart, but none whatever in any other part of the body. They leave their retreat in the spring, the males being remarkably fat: of this circumstance, however, we cannot give any satisfactory explanation, for the sleep, during which they increase so much in bulk, lasts, as we have already stated, only fourteen days. When they come out, they sharpen the edges of their teeth against the young shoots of the trees. Their eye-sight is dull, for which reason they seek the combs of bees, in order that from the bees stinging them in the throat and drawing blood, the oppression in the head may be relieved.[107] The head of the bear is extremely weak, whereas, in the lion, it is remarkable for its strength: on this account probably when the bear, impelled by any alarm, is about to precipitate itself from a rock, it covers its head with its paws. In the arena of the Circus they are often to be seen killed by a blow on the head with the fist. These animals walk on two feet, and climb down trees backwards. They can overcome the bull, by suspending themselves, by all four legs, from its muzzle and horns, thus wearing out its powers by their weight. In no other animal is stupidity found more adroit in devising mischief. It is recorded in our Annals, that in the consulship of Piso and Messala, Domitius brought into the Circus one hundred Numidian bears, and as many Æthiopian hunters.
SYRIAN BEAR, OR DUBB.—Ursus Isabellinus.
The mice of Pontus also conceal themselves during the winter; but only the white ones. I wonder how those authors, who have asserted that the sense of taste in these animals is very acute, found out that such is the fact. The Alpine mice (the marmot) which are the same size as badgers, also conceal themselves; but they first carry a store of provisions into their retreat. There is a similar animal also in Egypt, which sits in the same way, upon its haunches, and walks on two feet, using the fore feet as hands.
CHAPTER XVIII.
HEDGEHOGS.
Hedgehogs also lay up food for the winter; rolling themselves on apples as they lie on the ground, they pierce some with their quills, and then take up another in the mouth, and so carry them into the hollows of trees. These animals also, when they conceal themselves in their holes, afford a sure sign that the wind is about to change from north-east to south. When they perceive the approach of the hunter, they draw in the head and feet, and all the lower part of the body, which is covered by a thin and defenceless down only, and then roll themselves up into the form of a ball, so that there is no way of taking hold of them but by their quills.
HEDGEHOG.—Erinaceus Europæus.
They force it to unroll itself, by sprinkling warm water upon it, and then, suspended by one of its hind legs, it is left to die of hunger; for there is no other mode of destroying it, without doing injury to its skin. This animal is not, as many of us imagine, entirely useless to man. If it were not for the quills which it produces, the soft fleece of the sheep would have been given in vain to mankind; for it is by means of its skin, that our woollen cloth is dressed. From the monopoly of this article, great frauds and great profits have resulted; there is no subject on which the senate has more frequently passed decrees, and there is not one of the Emperors, who has not received from the provinces complaints respecting it.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE WILD BOAR.
The flesh of the wild boar is much esteemed. Cato the Censor, in his orations, strongly declaimed against the use of the brawn of the wild boar. The animal used to be divided into three portions, the middle part of which was laid by, and is called boar’s chine. Publius Servilius Rullus was the first Roman who served up a whole boar at a banquet; the father of that Rullus, who, in the consulship of Cicero, proposed the Agrarian law. So recent is the introduction of a thing which is now in daily use. The Annalists have taken notice of such a fact as this, clearly as a hint to us to mend our manners; seeing that now-a-days two or three boars are consumed, not at one entertainment, but as forming the first course only.
WILD BOAR.—Sus Scrofa.
Fulvius Lupinus was the first Roman who formed parks for the reception of these and other wild animals: he first fed them in the territory of Tarquinii: it was not long, however, before imitators were found in Lucullus and Hortensius. The wild boar of India has two curved teeth, projecting from beneath the muzzle, a cubit in length; and the same number projecting from the forehead, like the horns of the young bull. The hair of these animals, in a wild state, is the color of copper, the others are black. No species whatever of the swine is found in Arabia.
CHAPTER XX.
APES.
SILVERY GIBBON.—Hylóbates Leuciscus.
The different kinds of apes, which approach the nearest to the human figure, are distinguished from each other by the tail. Their shrewdness is quite wonderful. It is said that, imitating the hunters, they will besmear themselves with bird-lime, and put their feet into the shoes which, as so many snares, have been prepared for them.[108] Mucianus says, that they have even played at chess, having, by practice, learned to distinguish the different pieces, which are made of wax.[109] He says that the species which have tails become quite melancholy when the moon is on the wane, and that they leap for joy at the time of the new moon, and adore it. Other quadrupeds also are terrified at the eclipses of the heavenly bodies. All the species of apes manifest remarkable affection for their offspring. Females, which have been domesticated, and have had young ones, carry them about and show them to all comers, show great delight when they are caressed, and appear to understand the kindness thus shown them. Hence it is, that they very often stifle their young with their embraces. The dog-headed ape is of a much fiercer nature, as is the case with the satyr. The callitriche or “fine-haired monkey,” has almost a totally different aspect; it has a beard on the face, and a tail, which in the first part of it is very bushy. It is said that this animal cannot live except in the climate of Æthiopia, which is its native place.
THE ORANG-OUTAN.—Simia Sátyrus.
Book V.
DOMESTIC ANIMALS.
CHAPTER I.
THE DOG; EXAMPLES OF ITS ATTACHMENT TO ITS MASTER.
Among the animals that are domesticated with mankind have occurred many circumstances that deserve to be known. Among these animals are more particularly those faithful friends of man, the dog, and the horse. We have an account of a dog that fought against a band of robbers, in defending its master; and although it was pierced with wounds, still it would not leave the body, from which it drove away all birds and beasts. Another dog, in Epirus, recognized the murderer of its master, in the midst of an assemblage of people, and, by biting and barking at him, extorted from him a confession of his crime. A king of the Garamantes was brought back from exile by two hundred dogs, who maintained the combat against all his opponents. The people of Colophon and Castabala kept troops of dogs, for the purposes of war; and these used to fight in the front rank, and never retreat; they were the most faithful of auxiliaries, and yet required no pay. After the defeat of the Cimbri, their dogs defended their movable houses, which were carried upon wagons. When Jason, the Lycian, had been slain, his dog refused to take food, and died of famine. When the funeral pile of King Lysimachus was lighted, his dog, to which Darius gives the name of Hyrcanus, threw itself into the flames, and the dog of King Hiero did the same. Philistus gives a similar account of Pyrrhus, the dog of the tyrant Gelon.
MALTESE DOG.—Canis Familiáris.
Among ourselves, Volcatius, a man of rank, who instructed Cascellius in the civil law, as he was riding on his Asturian jennet, towards evening, from his country-house, was attacked by a robber, and was only saved by his dog. The senator Cælius, too, while lying sick at Placentia, was surprised by armed men, but received not a wound from them until they had first killed his dog. But a more extraordinary fact than all, took place in our own times, and is testified to by the public register of the Roman people. In the consulship of Junius and Silius, when Titius Sabinus was put to death together with his slaves, for the affair of Nero, the son of Germanicus, it was found impossible to drive away a dog which belonged to one of them from the prison; nor could it be forced away from the body, which had been cast down the Gemitorian steps; but there it stood howling, in the presence of vast multitudes of people; and when some one threw a piece of bread to it, the animal carried it to the mouth of its master. Afterwards, when the body was thrown into the Tiber, the dog swam into the river, and endeavored to raise it out of the water; quite a throng of people gathered to witness this instance of an animal’s fidelity.
Dogs are the only animals that are sure to know their masters; and if they suddenly meet him as a stranger they will instantly recognize him. They are the only animals that will answer to their names, and recognize the voices of the family. They recollect a road along which they have passed, however long it may be. Next to man, there is no living creature whose memory is so retentive. By sitting down on the ground, we may arrest their most impetuous attack, even when prompted by the most violent rage.
THIBET DOG.—Canis Familiáris.
In daily life we have discovered many other valuable qualities in this animal; but its intelligence and sagacity are more especially shown in the chase. It discovers and traces out the tracks of the animal, leading by the leash the sportsman who accompanies it straight up to the prey; and as soon as it has perceived it, how silent it is, and how secret but significant is the indication which it gives, first by the tail and afterwards by the nose! Oftentimes even when worn out with old age, blind, and feeble, they are carried by the huntsman in his arms, being still able to point out the coverts where the game is concealed, by snuffing with their muzzles at the wind.
Among the Gauls their packs of hounds have, each of them, one dog who acts as the guide and leader. This dog they follow in the chase, and him they carefully obey; for these animals have even a notion of subordination among themselves. It is asserted that the dogs keep running when they drink at the Nile, for fear of becoming a prey to the voracity of the crocodile. When Alexander the Great was on his Indian expedition, he was presented by the king of Albania with a dog of unusual size; being greatly delighted with its noble appearance, he ordered bears, and after them wild boars, and then deer, to be let loose before it; but the dog lay down, and regarded them with contempt. The noble spirit of the general became irritated by the sluggishness thus manifested by an animal of such vast bulk, and he ordered it to be killed. The report of this reached the king, who accordingly sent another dog, and at the same time sent word that its powers were to be tried, not upon small animals, but upon the lion or the elephant; adding that he had had originally but two, and that if this one were put to death, the race would be extinct. Alexander, without delay, procured a lion, which in his presence was instantly torn to pieces. He then ordered an elephant to be brought, and never was he more delighted with any spectacle; for the dog, bristling up its hair all over the body, began by thundering forth a loud barking, and then attacked the animal, leaping at it first on one side and then on the other, attacking it in the most skillful manner, and then again retreating at the opportune moment, until at last the elephant, being rendered quite giddy by turning round and round, fell to the earth, and made it quite re-echo with his fall.
CHAPTER II.
THE HORSE.
King Alexander had a very remarkable horse which was called Bucephalus, either on account of the fierceness of its aspect, or because it had the figure of a bull’s head marked on its shoulder. It is said, that he was struck with its beauty when he was only a boy, and that it was purchased from the stud of Philonicus, the Pharsalian, for thirteen talents. When it was equipped with the royal trappings, it would suffer no one except Alexander to mount it, although at other times it would allow any one to do so. A memorable circumstance connected with it in battle is recorded of this horse; it is said that when it was wounded in the attack upon Thebes, it would not allow Alexander to mount any other horse. Many other circumstances, of a similar nature, occurred respecting it; so that when it died, the king duly performed its obsequies, and built around its tomb a city, which he named after it.
Cæsar, the Dictator, it is said, had a horse, which would allow no one to mount him but himself, and its forefeet were like those of a man;[110] indeed it is thus represented in the statue before the temple of Venus. The late Emperor Augustus also erected a tomb to his horse; on which occasion Germanicus Cæsar wrote a poem, which still exists. There are at Agrigentum many tombs of horses, in the form of pyramids. The Scythian horsemen make loud boasts of the fame of their cavalry. On one occasion, one of their chiefs was slain in single combat, and when the conqueror came to take the spoils of the enemy, he was set upon by the horse of his opponent, and trampled on and bitten to death.
Their docility, too, is so great, that we find it stated that the whole of the cavalry of the Sybarite army were accustomed to perform a kind of dance to the sound of musical instruments. These animals also foresee battles; they lament over their masters when they have lost them, and sometimes shed tears[111] of regret for them. When King Nicomedes was slain, his horse put an end to its life by fasting. Phylarchus relates, that after Centaretus, the Galatian, had slain Antiochus in battle he took possession of his horse, and mounted it in triumph; upon which the animal, inflamed with indignation, became quite ungovernable and threw himself headlong down a precipice, so that they both perished together. Philistus relates, that a horse of Dionysius once stuck fast in a morass, but as soon as he disengaged himself, he followed the steps of his master, with a swarm of bees, which had settled on his mane; and that it was in consequence of this portent, that Dionysius gained possession of the kingdom.
MUSTANG.
These animals possess an intelligence which exceeds all description. Those who have to use the javelin are well aware how the horse, by its exertions and the supple movements of its body, aids the rider in any difficulty he may have in throwing his weapon. They will even present to their master the weapons collected on the ground. The horses too, that are yoked to the chariots in the Circus, beyond a doubt display remarkable proofs how sensible they are to encouragement and to glory. In the Secular games, which were celebrated in the Circus, under the Emperor Claudius, when the charioteer Corax, who belonged to the white party,[112] was thrown from his place at the starting-post, his horses took the lead and kept it, opposing the other chariots, overturning them, and doing everything against the other competitors that could have been done, had they been guided by the most skilful charioteer; and while we quite blushed to behold the skill of man excelled by that of the horse, they arrived the winners at the goal, after going over the whole of the prescribed course. Our ancestors considered it as a still more remarkable portent, that when a charioteer had been thrown from his place, in the plebeian games of the Circus, the horses ran to the Capitol, just as if he had been standing in the car, and went three times round the temple there. But the greatest prodigy of all, is the fact that the horses of Ratumenna came from Veii to Rome, with the palm branch and chaplet, he himself having fallen from his chariot, after having gained the victory; from which circumstance the Ratumennian gate derived its name.
ZEBRA.—Ásinus Zebra.
When the Sarmatæ are about to undertake a long journey, they prepare their horses for it, by making them fast the day before, during which they give them but little to drink; by these means they are enabled to travel on horseback, without stopping, for one hundred and fifty miles. Some horses are known to live fifty years. The poet Virgil has very beautifully described the points which ought more especially to be looked for, as constituting the perfection of a horse; I myself have also treated of the same subject, in my work on the Use of the Javelin by Cavalry, and I find that pretty nearly all writers are agreed respecting them. The points requisite for the Circus are somewhat different, however; and while horses are put in training for other purposes at only two years old, they are not admitted to the contests of the Circus before their fifth year. We have an account of a horse having lived to its seventy-fifth year. If a foal has lost its mother, the other mares in the herd that have young, will take charge of the orphan. The more spirited a horse is, the deeper does it plunge its nose into the water while drinking.
Gallicia and Asturia, countries of Spain, produce a species of horse which have a peculiar pace of their own, very easy for the rider, which arises from the two legs of the same side being moved together. By studying the nature of this step our horses have been taught the movement, which we call ambling.
ASS.—Ásinus Vulgáris.
Marcus Varro informs us that Quintus Axius, the senator, paid for an ass the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces (or nearly $16,000). I am not sure whether this did not exceed the price ever given for any other animal. It is certainly a species of animal singularly useful for ploughing, and other farm labor. The attachment of asses to their young is great in the extreme, but their aversion to water is still greater. They will pass through fire to get at their foals, while the very same animal, if the smallest stream intervenes, will tremble, and not dare so much as to wet even its feet. In their pastures they never drink at any but the usual watering-place, and make it their care to find some dry path by which to get at it. They will not pass over a bridge either, when the water can be seen between the planks beneath. Wonderful to relate, too, if their watering-places are changed, though they should be ever so thirsty, they will not drink without being either beaten or caressed. They ought always to have plenty of room for sleeping; for they are subject to various disturbances in their sleep, when they repeatedly throw out their feet, and would immediately lame themselves by coming in contact with any hard substance; so that it is necessary that they should be provided with an empty space. Mæcenas was the first person who had the young of the ass served up at his table;[113] they were in those times much preferred to the onager or wild ass; but, since his time, the taste has gone out of fashion.
The best wild asses are those of Phrygia and Lycaonia. Africa glories in the wild foals which she produces, as excelling all others in the flavor of their flesh. It appears from some Athenian records, that a mule once lived to the age of eighty years. The people were greatly delighted with this animal, because on one occasion, when, on the building of a temple in the citadel (the Parthenon), it had been left behind on account of its age, it persisted in promoting the work by accompanying and assisting them; in consequence of which a decree was passed, that the dealers in corn were not to drive it away from their sieves.
CHAPTER III.
THE OX.
We find it stated, that the oxen of India are of the height of camels, and that the extremities of their horns are four feet apart. In our part of the world the most valuable oxen are those of Epirus, owing, it is said, to the attention paid to their breed by King Pyrrhus. He brought them to a very large size, and descendants of this breed are to be seen at the present day. The ox is the only animal that walks backwards while it is feeding; among the Garamantes, they feed in no other manner.[114] Cattle that are bred in the Alps, although very small of body, give a great quantity of milk, and are capable of enduring much labor; they are yoked by the horns, and not by the neck. The oxen of Syria have no dewlap, but have a hump on the back. Those of Caria in Asia, are unsightly in appearance, having a hump hanging over the shoulders from the neck; and their horns are movable; they are said, however, to be excellent workers, though those which are either black or white are condemned as worthless for labor. Oxen must be broken when they are three years old; after that it is too late, and before too early. The ox is most easily broken by yoking it with a trained animal. The ox is our closest companion, both in labor generally, and in the operations of agriculture. Our ancestors considered it of so much value, that there is an instance cited of a man being brought before the Roman people, on a day appointed, and condemned, for having killed an ox, in order to humor the whim of his wife, who said that she had never tasted tripe; and he was driven into exile, just as though he had killed one of his own peasants.
The bull has a proud air, a stern forehead, shaggy ears, and horns which appear always ready, and challenging to the combat; but it is by his fore feet that he manifests his threatening anger. As his rage increases, he stands, lashing back his tail every now and then, and throwing up the sand against his belly; being the only animal that excites himself by these means. We have seen them fight at the word of command, and shown as a public spectacle; these bulls whirled about and then fell upon their horns, and at once were up again; then, at other times, they would lie upon the ground and let themselves be lifted up; they would even stand in a two-horsed chariot, while moving at a rapid rate, like so many charioteers. The people of Thessaly invented a method of killing bulls, by means of a man on horseback, who would ride up to them, and seize one of the horns, and so twist their neck. Cæsar the Dictator was the first person who exhibited this spectacle at Rome.