1672 In various countries, and more especially in Egypt, the magicians profess to charm serpents by incantations; and it appears that they are able to acquire some power over them by imitating their natural cries. Cuvier informs us, that Geoffroi St. Hilaire had witnessed the fact, and was himself able to produce the effect.—B.
1673 Aristotle says, a matter of a yellow colour, ἰχῶρες ὠχροὶ.
1674 Probably, there is no foundation for this opinion: it does not appear that any animal, except man, has the faculty of weeping, i. e. of shedding tears, in connection with a peculiar condition of mind and feeling.—B. But query as to the horse. See c. 64 of the present Book, and the Introduction to vol. i. p. xvii.
1675 This supposed fear is without foundation, but appears to have been a generally received opinion, as it is referred to by Lucretius, B. iv. l. 714-725.—B.
1676 Seneca gives an account of this exhibition; he says that the lions were turned loose into the Circus, and that spearmen were sent by king Bocchus, who killed them with darts. Sylla was prætor A.U.C. 661, B.C. 92.—B.
1677 “Sagum.” This was the cloak worn by the Roman soldiers and inferior officers, in contradistinction to the “paludamentum“ of the general and superior officers. It was open in the front, and usually, though not always, fastened across the shoulders by a clasp. It was thick, and made of wool.
1678 This story is given also by Plutarch, in the life of Demetrius. Lysimachus was a Macedonian by birth, but son of Agathocles, a serf of Thessaly. Through his great courage, he became one of the body-guard of Alexander. Quintus Curtius tells us that, when hunting in Syria, he killed a lion of immense size single-handed, though not without receiving severe wounds in the contest. The same author looks upon this as the probable origin of the story here referred to by Pliny.
1679 This is mentioned by many ancient authors; by Plutarch, Pausanias, Seneca, Justin, and by Quintus Curtius, who thinks that the account usually given is fabulous.—B.
1680 Related by Plutarch, as among the acts of extravagance and folly, committed by Antony, which gave much disgust to the grave and respectable citizens of Rome.—B.
1681 A famous courtezan of the time of Cicero; being originally the freedwoman and mistress of Volumnius Eutrapelus, and then successively the mistress of Antony and the poet Gallus, who mentioned her in his poems under the name of Lycoris; she did not, however, continue faithful to him.
1682 Aulus Gellius, B. v. c. 14, and Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. viii. c. 48, relate a similar anecdote of Androclus or Androcles, who extracted a thorn from the foot of a lion.—B.
1683 The text is in a state of extreme confusion here, and so hopelessly mangled, that we can only guess at the sense of it. In Sillig’s edition, which is generally followed, it runs to this effect: “Neque profugienti, cum potuisset, fera institerat et procumbens ad arborem hiatu quo terruerat miserationem quærebat. Os morsu avidiore inhæserat dentibus cruciabatque inedia, tum pœna in ipsis ejus telis suspectantem ac velut mutis precibus orantem, dum fortuitu fidens non est contra feram; multoque diutius miraculo quam metu cessatum est.” Thus paraphrased by Sillig, who devotes a long Note to it: “The lion, therefore, being tormented by hunger and excessive pain, and thus punishing himself for his greediness in his own weapons (his teeth), looked up, and besought Elpis with silent prayers, as it were, not, as he trusted to the protection fortuitously given by the branches, to show himself distrustful of a wild beast.”
1684 This remark refers to what Pliny has related in c. 5, respecting the sagacity of the elephant.—B.
1685 Cuvier remarks, that this “panthera” is not the same as the πάνθηρ of the Greeks. From the description of its spots and other circumstances, he thinks that it was one of the African animals, known by modern naturalists as the leopard, which appear to have been confounded by the Romans with the panther. The term “leopardus” is not met with until after the age of Pliny; it was supposed to be the produce of the pardus, or male panther, and the lioness.—B.
1686 “Assectatoris sapientiæ”—“A follower of wisdom;” meaning a “philosopher.”
1687 This word here signifies, simply, a “serpent.”
1688 Ælian, Var. Hist. B. xiii. c. i., relates an occurrence of this kind, about Atalanta, and Justin, B. xliv. c. 4, about Habis, a king of Spain. As to the account of Romulus having been suckled by a wolf, it was generally regarded as a legendary tale by the Romans themselves. See Livy, B. i. c. 4, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiq. Rom. B. i.—B.
1689 Pliny, in B. xiii. c. 15, speaks of “tables of tiger and panther pattern,” as articles of ornamental furniture among the Romans, named from the peculiar patterns of the veins in the citrus wood, of which they were formed.—B.
1690 This, though mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 8, is probably incorrect; and still more the addition made by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. v. c. 40, that this odour is grateful to man. It has, however, induced some to conjecture, that the animal here described might be the civet; but the description given is inapplicable to that animal; nor, indeed, does the civet appear to have been known to the ancients. For further information, see the remarks of Cuvier, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 420, and Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 386. Pliny, in B. xxi. c. 18, says that no animal, except the panther, has any odour.—B.
1691 Meaning the “spotted” or “parti-coloured” female.
1692 Xenophon, in his Cynegeticon, says, that the pard is found on Mount Pangæus, in Macedonia; the truth of which is denied by Aristotle, who says that it is not to be found in Europe.
1693 He was tribune A.U.C. 670. Cicero says, Tusc. Quæst. B. iv. c. 39, that Aufidius, although blind, was eminent for his political and literary talents. He wrote a History of Greece.—B.
1694 4th of May, A.U.C. 696.—B.
1695 See also Suetonius, Life of Augustus. Martial, Spect. Ep. 18, relates a circumstance respecting a tame tiger, which occurrence appears to have taken place at the time when he wrote. Heliogabalus yoked tigers to his car, in imitation of Bacchus, as we are informed by Lampridius.
1696 “In cavea.” In the arena or centre of the amphitheatre. This word often signifies, however, the place where the senators, equites, and plebeians, sat in the theatre: and in the later writers it is used to signify the whole amphitheatre.
1697 A.U.C. 742.—B.
1698 In the winter of 1809 and 1810, an antique mosaic pavement was discovered at Rome, in which four tigers are represented, and which, it has been supposed, might possibly have some reference to those exhibited by Claudius. Martial, who lived a little after Pliny, speaks of tigers exhibited at Rome, by Domitian, in considerable numbers. Epig. B. viii. Ep. 26.—B.
1699 Cuvier remarks, that the account given of the two kinds of camels, and his description generally, is correct, with the exception of their antipathy to the horse. The caravans, he says, present a constant mixture of the two animals, and even, in Arabia, the young foals are occasionally suckled by the female camel.—B.
1700 We have a similar statement in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 1. Indeed, the account here given generally, is taken from him.—B.
1701 See B. xi. c. 62.
1702 Mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 17, and by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iii. c. 7; but, as stated above, it is incorrect.—B.
1703 At the time of rutting, according to Solinus.
1704 He speaks here of only one of the animals which resemble the camel; the giraffe, namely. The other, which he for the present omits, is the ostrich.
1705 The description of the giraffe, here given, is sufficiently correct, but we have a more minute account of it by Dion Cassius, B. xliii. In the time of the Emperor Gordian, ten of these animals were exhibited at Rome at once; a remarkable fact, when we bear in mind that so few have been imported into Europe for many centuries past. The giraffe is figured in the mosaic at Præneste, and under it is inscribed its name, nabi.—B. It has been found that it is unable to bear the winters of Europe.
1706 Its form being like that of the camel, while its spots resemble those of the leopard. Horace refers to it, when speaking of an object calculated to excite the vulgar gaze; “Diversum confusa genus panthera camelo”—“The race of the panther mingled with the camel,” Ep. B. ii.; Ep. i. l. 195.
1707 According to Dion Cassius, B. xliii., these games were celebrated A.U.C. 708.—B.
1708 This comparison can only be employed to indicate the mild nature of the giraffe.—B.
1709 In the older editions, the names here given to this animal were “chaus” and “ruphius;” the alteration was made by Hardouin from a MS. in the Royal Library of Paris, which he deemed of high authority, and has been adopted by all the modern editors. There is considerable doubt respecting the animal here designated by the name of “chama;” it appears to have been an inhabitant of Gaul, and in c. 34, is styled “lupus cervarius;” but the account does not enable us to identify it with any animal known to exist in that country.—B. It is generally supposed to have been a species of lynx.
1710 No doubt this description refers to some species of the monkey tribe, but it is uncertain to what one in particular. Its having been seen only once at Rome, shows that it was not of the most common kind; Cuvier, however, thinks it probable, that Pliny may have been incorrect in this; he supposes that it was the “Simia sphinx” of Linnæus, Lem. vol. iii. p. 395. According to Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 8, κηβος is merely a monkey with a tail; see also the account of Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xvii. c. 8.—B.
1711 Cuvier says, that this was the single-horned rhinoceros of India. The commentators have been at a loss to reconcile this description with the Epigram of Martial, Spect. Ep. xxii., where he speaks of the rhinoceros exhibited by Domitian, as having two horns. It has been proved that this latter was of the two-horned species, by the medals of that emperor, now in existence. Martial, Spect. Ep. ix., seems also to have been acquainted with the single-horned species. That with two horns is mentioned by Pausanias as the Æthiopian bull. We learn from modern naturalists, that the two-horned species is a native of the southern parts of Africa, while that with one horn is from Asia.—B.
1712 The other enemy is the dragon, as described in c. 11 and 12 of the present Book.—B.
1713 According to Cuvier, the lynx of Pliny is the Felis caracal of Linnæus: it is common in many parts of Asia and Africa, in the retired forest districts, and still exists in the Pyrenees and the mountains of Naples.—B.
1714 As far as the accounts of the sphinx are to be regarded as not entirely fabulous, we must suppose it to have originated in some species of the monkey tribe; perhaps the Simia troglodytes or chimpanzé.—B.
1715 Of course the winged horse is an imaginary being, nor does it appear what is the origin of the fable; the horns are an unusual appendage to the pegasus.—B. The pegasus and the rhinoceros together may have given rise to that fabulous animal, the unicorn. See, however, the Monoceros, mentioned in c. 31.
1716 Although a hybrid animal is produced by the union of the wolf and the dog, it does not form a permanent species. But, as Cuvier remarks, by the insertion of “velut,” Pliny seems to imply that the crocotta unites the physical properties of the two animals. Ctesias, Indic. c. 32, gives an account of the cynolycus, or “dog-wolf,” from which Pliny seems to have taken his crocotta.—B.
1717 It does not seem possible to determine what species of monkey is here designated; it is most probable that he himself had no accurate knowledge.—B.
1718 We may here refer to the judicious remarks of Cuvier, Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 427, 428, and Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 399, on the leucrocotta. It seems impossible to identify Pliny’s description with any known animal, and it is not unlikely that he has confused the accounts of authors who were speaking of different animals. Some of the characteristics of the leucrocotta agree with those of the Indian antelope, while others seem to resemble those of the hyæna.—B.
1719 Perhaps the eale may have been the two-horned rhinoceros, as some naturalists say that there is a degree of mobility in the horns of that animal; the same observation has been made with respect to the wild or forest bulls, the description of which animal, in Pliny, is probably from Diodorus Siculus.—B.
1720 This description of the mantichora appears to be taken from the Indica of Ctesias; it has been also adopted by Aristotle and Ælian, but they have qualified their accounts by some expressions of doubt, which are omitted by Pliny. It has been conjectured, that Ctesias took his description from the hieroglyphic figures in his time, probably common in the East, and still found in the ruins of the Assyrian and Persian cities, Nineveh and Persepolis, for instance.—B.
1721 Probably meaning, “not cloven.”
1722 Cuvier conjectures, that this is from Ctesias, and says, that a similar animal is to be seen on one of the sculptures of Persepolis.—B.
1723 Probably the stag of the Ganges, the “Cervus axis” of Linnæus; but if so, Pliny has omitted to mention the horns.—B.
1724 White apes are now unknown, as a distinct species, but individuals are occasionally found nearly without colour.—B.
1725 The “one-horned,” or the unicorn.
1726 We have a discussion by Cuvier, respecting the existence of the unicorn, or of any animal similar to that here described, with a single horn. He remarks, that the only single-horned quadruped of which we have any certain knowledge, is the rhinoceros, and that the only horns which have been discovered, and which can have been single horns, belong to it. There are five animals mentioned by the ancients, as having single horns, the Indian ass, the single-horned horse, the single-horned ox, the monoceros, described in the text, and the oryx of Africa, which Pliny speaks of in c. 79 of this Book, and in B. xi. c. 106. There are many curious accounts given by travellers of acknowledged veracity, respecting animals seen in the more remote parts of Asia and Africa, answering to the description of the unicorn, and there are representations of the same in ancient sculptures; but they do not amount to that kind of evidence which can at all supply the place of direct proof.—B.
1727 These will be found in B. v. c. 10.
1728 From καταβλέπω, “to look downwards.”
1729 Ælian describes this animal more in detail, Anim. Nat. B. vii. c. 5. Cuvier thinks it probable that it is the Antelope gnu; he remarks, that it has a very peculiar and mournful appearance; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 435; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 405.—B.
1730 This account of the basilisk’s eye, like that of the catoblepas, is entirely devoid of foundation.—B.
1731 Many species have certain marks on the head, which were supposed to resemble a crown.—B.
1732 There is probably no foundation for this account of the action of the effluvium of the weasel upon the basilisk or any other species of serpent.—B.
1733 Hence the proverbial expression applied to a person who is suddenly silent upon the entrance of another; “Lupus est tibi visus.”
1734 Cuvier says, that the wolves of Africa are of the ordinary size, and conjectures that this remark probably applies to the chakale, or “Canis aureus” of Linnæus, which is of the colour of the wolf, and the size of the fox, and is common throughout all Africa.—B.
1735 The opinion that men were converted into wolves by enchantment, or a preternatural agency, was at one time so generally received, as to have led to judicial processes, and the condemnation of the supposed criminal.—B. To the relator of the above story that men lose their voice on seeing a wolf, Scaliger wishes as many blows as at different times he had seen a wolf without losing his voice.
1736 This literally means “changing the skin;” was applied by some ancient medical writers to a peculiar form of insanity, where the patient conceives himself changed into a wolf, and named λυκανθρώπια, “lycanthropy.” The word appears to have been in common use among the Romans, and to have been applied by them to any one who had undergone a remarkable change in his character and habits; in this sense it is used by Plautus, Amphitryon, Prol. l. 123, and Bacchides, A. iv. sc. 4, l. 12.—B.
1737 It is not known who is here referred to; it is not probable that it is Fabius Pictor, the Roman historian.—B.
1738 It is rather curious to find Pliny censuring others for credulity; indeed he loses no opportunity of a hit at the Greeks, to whom, after all, he is greatly indebted. See Introduction to vol. i. p. 17.
1739 An account of the victories gained at the Olympic games.—B.
1740 It has been conjectured, that the epithet, “Lycæan,” Λύκαιος, was given to Jupiter by the Arcadians, for this supposed conversion of men into wolves, which was conceived to be effected by divine interposition.—B.
1741 It does not appear what is the foundation of this opinion; of course, it is without truth.—B.
1742 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 35, says that they couple once only in the year. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iv. c. 4, says that their bringing forth continues twelve days.—B.
1744 It is not easy to say whence this opinion was derived; the general character of the wolf is that of quickness and watchfulness, rather than stupidity.—B. But it would appear that it is the lynx that is alluded to.
1745 The cerastes, or horned serpent, is mentioned by Lucan, in his description of serpents, Pharsalia, B. ix. l. 716. One of the Scholiasts on Lucan relates a story that when Helen was eloping with Paris, she trod on the back of a cerastes, and broke it; from which circumstance, the whole race moved with a crooked course.
1746 Cuvier has observed this animal burying itself in the sand, and has seen the motion of its horns, but does not credit its alleged power of attracting birds; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 412.—B.
1747 The amphisbæna is mentioned by Lucan, B. ix. l. 719. “The dangerous amphisbæna, that moves on at either of its heads.”
1748 The account of the two heads is obviously incorrect; the idea has risen from the two extremities being nearly of the same size and appearance. It has been supposed, that there were certain serpents, with the power of moving with equal facility in both directions; and that the name, Ἀμφίσβαινα, was derived from this circumstance.—B.
1749 Lucan mentions the jaculus, B. ix. l. 720, and l. 822. In the last passage he says: “Behold! afar, around the trunk of a barren tree, a fierce serpent—Africa calls it the jaculus—wreathes itself, and then darts forth, and through the head and pierced temples of Paulus it takes its flight: nothing does venom there affect, death seizes him through the wound. It was then understood how slowly fly the stones which the sling hurls, how sluggishly whizzes the flight of the Scythian arrow.”
1750 There is an account of the jaculus, or, as it is called in Greek, Ἀκοντίας, Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 18; it is mentioned by Galen, Theriaca, c. 8.—B.
1751 In B. ix. l. 701, Lucan says: “Here the gore (of the Gorgon Medusa) which first from the sand lifted a head, raised the drowsy asp with its puffed-out neck.” The whole of this passage in Lucan is well worth the attention of those desirous to know something of the serpent-lore of the ancients.
1752 Cuvier says, that Geoffroi St. Hilaire has identified this animal with the Coluber haje of Linnæus, which has, from the earliest ages, been known as a native of Egypt, and where it still exists. Its two most remarkable characteristics are those here referred to; the puffing out of the neck when enraged, and its capacity of being tamed, or, as it is styled, enchanted. This last has been taken advantage of by the jugglers of that country from the most remote antiquity, as appears from the writings of Moses, and something of a similar nature is still practised. They remove the poison fangs, so as to render the animal harmless, and by certain sounds render it obedient to their call. It appears, also, that by pressing on the upper part of the spine, the animal is rendered paralytic, and may be said to be changed into a rod; this fact was witnessed by St. Hilaire. The asp is described by Aristotle, and is frequently mentioned by Ælian. Galen speaks of its deadly poison, in his Theriaca, c. 8. See Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 437-9; Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 414, 415.—B. Pliny mentions, however, in B. xxiii. c. 27, that the bite of the asp may be cured with vinegar.
1753 Both Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 29, and Ælian, ubi supra, speak of the extreme virulence of the poison of the asp, and Cuvier remarks that the haje, and the haga, which are species of the asp, are among the most formidable of the serpent tribe.—B.
1754 The method of attracting this serpent, by imitating the voice of the female, proves that there is some foundation for this statement.—B.
1755 The ichneumon of the ancients, the “Viverra ichneumon“ of Linnæus, is still common in Egypt, and renders essential service by destroying the eggs of serpents. With respect to what is here said of its covering its body with mud, to protect itself against the asp, the fact appears to be, that in searching for the eggs, which are deposited in the mud, its body becomes more or less covered with that substance, and may possibly in this way be less exposed to the attacks of the asp. The contest of the asp and the ichneumon is mentioned by Ælian, B. iii. c. 22.—B.
1756 Many of the ancients have described the crocodile; of these, the most important, for the correctness of the description, are Herodotus, B. ii. c. 68; Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 10, et alibi; and Diodorus Siculus, B. i.—B.
1757 The tongue of the crocodile is flat, and, as afterwards stated, B. xi. c. 65, adheres to the lower jaw, so as to be incapable of motion.—B.
1758 This account was first given by Herodotus, ubi supra; and, from the form of the head and the neighbouring parts, depicts what would naturally occur to the observer; but it is not correct. The actual state of the parts, and their connection with each other, as Cuvier informs us, were first satisfactorily explained by Geoffroi Saint Hilaire.—B.
1759 Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. v. c. 52, observes, that this is the case with the tortoise, and similar animals.—B.
1760 Cuvier says, that when it leaves the egg, the young animal is only six inches long, and that it ultimately attains a size of from thirty to forty feet.—B.
1761 Herodotus says, that it remains all night in the water, as being warmer than the external air. So also Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 10.—B.
1762 The water of the Nile abounds with small leeches, which attach to the throat of the crocodile, and, as it has no means of removing them, it allows a little bird to enter its mouth for this purpose; this is described by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6, and by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iii. c. 2.—B.
1763 Although this account is sanctioned by all the ancient naturalists, it is called in question by Cuvier; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 441; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 421.—B.
1764 There is a small lizard, called by the modern naturalists the Lacerta scincus; but Cuvier conceives that this cannot be the animal here referred to, because it is so very much smaller than the ichneumon, that no one would have thought of comparing them; and, what seems a better reason, because it is not found in the Nile. From the account of the scincus in B. xxviii. c. 30, it is probable that the animal here referred to is a species of monitor, popularly called the land crocodile. Herodotus, B. iv. c. 192, speaks of the land crocodile as found in Libya; it is also mentioned by Pausanias, Corinthiaca, c. 20, and by Prosper Alpinus, Ægypt. B. iv. c. 5.—B. The scincus is probably the “Lacerta ouaran” of Cuvier.
1765 Cuvier remarks, that this account cannot really apply to the dolphin, because none of the cetacea possess the spines here described. He investigates the subject with his usual sagacity, and concludes, with much probability, that the animal here referred to was a squalus, the Squalus centrina, or spinax of Linnæus; Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 443, 444; Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 422, 423. We have an account of the contest between the crocodile and the dolphin in Seneca, Nat. Quæst. B. iv. c. 2.—B.
1766 We have some account of the Tentyritæ in Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. x. c. 21.—B. See B. xxviii. c. 6.
1767 See B. vii. c. 2. The best description of the Psylli is that given by Lucan in B. ix. l. 892, et seq., where he describes the march of Cato’s army across the burning coasts of the Syrtes.
1768 This, as Cuvier remarks, is the case with the crocodiles of North America, which, like other reptiles, become torpid during the cold season; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 444; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 424.—B.
1769 Cuvier remarks, as singular, that the descriptions given by the ancients of the hippopotamus should have been incorrect, more especially with reference to Herodotus, who had visited Egypt, and who has described some of the animals of that country with considerable accuracy; Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 444, 445; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 425. Pliny has copied the description of Herodotus, B. ii. c. 71, almost verbatim, and the same has been done by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 7. Even the Latin authors, such as Diodorus Siculus and Ælian, who might have seen the animal in Rome, continued to transcribe the account of Herodotus.—B.
1770 Herodotus and Aristotle, ubi supra, assert, that his hide is so hard, that spears and other missiles are formed from it; the statement of Pliny is, however, much more correct.—B.
1772 Pliny, speaking of the hippopotamus, in B. xxviii. c. 31, styles it, “the discoverer of the art of letting blood.”—B.
1773 Cuvier remarks upon this and the following Chapter, that they are entirely fabulous. The diseases, remedies, and instructions given by the animals are equally imaginary, although Pliny has taken the whole from authors of credit, and it has been repeated by Plutarch, De Iside, and by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. ii. c. 35, and many others. Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 446; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 426.—B.
1774 Cuvier has given an interesting account of the ibis, the opinions entertained of it by various travellers and naturalists, and a detail of the examination which he made of two of its mummies, which were brought by Grobert to Paris, from the wells of Sakhara. These mummies were found to be similar to those previously examined by Buffon, Shaw, and others, and proved the ibis of the ancient Egyptians to have been a species of curlew. This opinion he further supports by a reference to various sculptures and mosaics, where this bird is represented, and he remarks upon the errors into which most travellers and historians have fallen as to it; the only correct account he conceives to be that of the African traveller, Bruce, who describes and figures it under the name of Abou hannès. See the extract in Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 633, et seq., from his Recherches sur les Ossements Fossiles, vol. i. p. 141, et seq. Herodotus gives an account of the ibis, B. i. c. 75, 76, but it is not correct.—B.
1775 The fabulous account of the powers of this herb is referred to in B. xxv. c. 53, and supported by the highest authorities; among others, by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6.; Cicero, De Nat. Deor. B. ii. c. 50; Virgil, Æn. B. xii. c. 412.—B.
1776 See B. xxii. c. 45, for a similar cure. It is not known what plant is here alluded to, but it has been thought to be the cinara, or artichoke.
1777 The Chelidonium majus of Linnæus. It probably derived its name from the swallow, χελίδων, because its flowers appear at the time that bird makes its first appearance in the spring. This supposed property is mentioned by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iii. c. 25. Pliny speaks of its efficacy in diseases of the eyes, B. xxv. c. 50, and c. 91.—B.
1778 Pliny speaks of the medical virtues of cunile bubula, in B. xx. c. 61; Columella, B. vi. c. 13, says that it is a cure for scabies. It is not certain what is the plant here referred to; it is considered identical with origanum, by Hardouin, and has been supposed by some to be marjoram, or pennyroyal. The effect of the cunile on the tortoise is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6; by Plutarch, Nat. Quæst.; Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 12; and by Albertus Magnus, B viii. Tr. ii. c. 2; but there is some difference in their statements. Some speak of it as an antidote, enabling the tortoise to counteract the poison of the serpent, while others regard it as giving the tortoise increased vigour to resist the attacks.
1779 Aristotle, ubi supra, and Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iv. c. 14, refer to this supposed fact, which is without foundation, so far, at least, as the contest of the weasels with the serpents and the rue are concerned. The hostility of the weasel to the mouse is probably correct. Pliny again refers to it, B. xx. c. 51, and it forms the subject of one of Phædrus’s Fables, B. iv. c. 2.—B.
1780 We have the same account in Plutarch.—B. Plutarch speaks, however, of the river crab.
1781 Pliny refers to this effect, B. xx. c. 95; he speaks also of its application to the eyes of the animal; it is probable, that feniculum and marathrum both refer to the same plant; the latter being the ordinary Greek, and the former the Latin, name. This effect of the feniculum is also mentioned by Ælian, B. ix. c. 16.—B.
1782 “Si vero squamæ obtorpuere;” Hardouin supposes that this applies particularly to the eyes.—B. There can be little doubt that he is correct in that supposition.
1783 Aristotle, ubi supra, and Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 4, state that the dragon takes the juice of the picris into the stomach, when overloaded with food. The exact plant referred to, under that name, cannot be ascertained for certain; but it appears probable, that it is a wild lettuce or endive, or some plant belonging to that family.—B.
1784 This effect of aconite, and the antidote for it, are mentioned in B. xxvii. c. 2; they are also mentioned by Aristotle, ubi supra; and by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iv. c. 49, and alluded to by Cicero, De. Nat. Deor. B. ii. c. 50. It appears from a statement of Tavernier, as referred to by Hardouin, that the same antidote against poisoned weapons is still employed in the island of Java.—B.
1785 From the Greek παρδαλιαγχὴς, “pard-strangle.”
1786 This is again referred to, B. xxix. c. 39.—B.
1787 “Quod persequi immensum est æque scilicet quam reliquam cum singulis hominum societatem.” The meaning of this passage is obscure, and extremely doubtful.
1788 This is alluded to by Cicero in his letters to Atticus, and is mentioned by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 41; B. xi. c. 19; and Var. Hist. B. i. c. 11.—B. The same is still said of rats, whence our expression “to rat,” i. e. to desert a falling cause.
1789 The priests of this college, or augurs, were among the most important public functionaries in the Roman state, both from the rank of the individuals and the political power which they derived from their office.—B. The augurs, or diviners by birds, held the highest rank in the state; but the power of their college greatly declined in the later period of the Roman history. It was finally abolished by the Emperor Theodosius.
1790 Other instances are mentioned by Diodorus Siculus, B. iii. Justin, B. xv. c. 2, and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xvii. c. 41.—B. Showers of frogs are a thing not unknown in England even. They are probably caused by whirlwinds acting upon waters which are the haunt of these animals.
1791 The ravages of locusts have been known in all ages; their destructive effects in Egypt and Judea, have formed the subject of a very elaborate dissertation by Bochart, in his work on the “Animals of Scripture,” Part i. B. iv. c. 3 and 4.—B.
1792 Used as a place of banishment by the Romans. See B. iv. c. 28, and c. 82, of the present Book.
1795 “Solipugis.” There has been much discussion as to the word here employed by Pliny, and the animal which he intends to designate. The solipugus, solpugus, solipuga, or solipunga, probably different names of the same animal, is mentioned by various writers; among others, by Lucan, Phars. B. ix. l. 837; Diodorus Siculus, B. iii.; Strabo, B. xvi.; and Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xvii. c. 40. It is again referred to in B. xxix. c. 16. The description given is, however, too indefinite to enable us to identify it with any known animal; it would almost seem to indicate something between the spider and the ant.—B. We still hear in modern times of the venomous and destructive nature of the red ants on the coast of Guinea; and it is not improbable that it is to these that Pliny alludes.
1796 See B. v. c. 33.
1797 This is mentioned by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xv. c. 26.—B. The scolopendra is one of the multipede insects.
1798 Aristotle, De Gener. Anim. B. iii. c. 6, and Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 32, accounts for the vulgar error, by stating that the hyæna has a peculiar structure of the parts about the anus, which might, to an unpractised eye, give the idea, that it possesses the generative organs of both sexes. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. i. c. 25, and Oppian, Cyneget. B. iii. c. 289, have adopted this erroneous opinion. What is said respecting the hyæna, in the remaining part of this Chapter, is mostly without foundation.—B.
1799 We have had some account given of the mantichora, in c. 30. The mantichora and the corocotta are altogether imaginary.—B. Cuvier, in Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 447; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 439, thinks that the stories of the corocotta and the catoblepas, owe their origin to mutilated accounts of the hyæna, and the animal known to us as the gnu.
1800 According to Cuvier, what Pliny here says respecting the herds of wild asses, and the power of the old males, is correct; but it is doubtful whether there is any foundation for what is said about the castration of the newly-born animals; Ajasson, ubi supra; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 440.—B.
1801 “De aquaticis et iisdem terrestribus;” although these words are inserted in the title of this Chapter, the subject is not treated of in it.—B.
1802 Pliny here adopts the vulgar opinion respecting the origin of the substance called “castor,” and in B. xxxii. c. 13, gives a more correct description, which he had derived from a physician, named Sextius. It is a fetid, oily substance, secreted by a gland situate near the prepuce. Cuvier remarks, that when the gland becomes distended with this secretion, the animal may probably get rid of it by rubbing the part against a stone or tree, and in this way, leave the castor for the hunters, thus giving rise to the vulgar error. Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 448; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 440.—B.
1803 The beaver has the most powerful teeth of any animal of the class Rodentia, to which it belongs; it uses them for cutting down trees, with which it constructs its habitation. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B, viii. c. 5, refers to this.—B.
1804 The tail is covered with a kind of scale, and is flattened; but, in its internal organization, is formed like those of other quadrupeds.—B.
1805 See B. xxxii. c. 52.
1806 Pliny, speaking of the different kinds of frogs, B. xxxii. c. 18, says, “There are some which live only in the hedges, and thence have the name of rubeta, or bramble frogs.” It seems impossible to identify this reptile with any of our known animals: and we may conclude that there is no foundation for the statement. Ælian gives an account of the venomous nature of this animal. Anim. Nat. B. xvii. c. 12.—B.
1807 As Cuvier remarks, it is impossible that any animal can discharge by vomiting what Pliny terms the “coagulum,” which is the fourth stomach of a ruminant animal; the same substance which, under the name of rennet, is employed to coagulate milk. He conjectures, that the error may have originated in the observation, that occasionally in fish, when suddenly drawn out of the water, the air-bladder is protruded from the mouth, which may have been mistaken for the stomach. The circumstance is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 23, and by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. iii. c. 19, as well as the vomiting of the bile; respecting this latter, we may remark, that vomiting is produced in various animals, when under the influence of extreme terror.—B.
1808 The gecko, according to Littré.
1809 This is incorrect; the bite of this animal, wherever found, is never fatal.—B.
1810 This refers to what will be found stated in this Chapter, that stags conceal their horns, when they fall off, that they may not be used in medicine.—B.
1811 This is mentioned by Aristotle, Plutarch, and Ælian, but it must be considered as very doubtful.—B.
1812 See B. xviii. c. 74.
1813 It seems that Pliny here attributes the blackening of the mouths of the stags to their turning up the earth with their muzzles; Aristotle, however, refers it to a constitutional cause, arising from their violent sexual excitement; Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 29.—B.
1814 Or seseli, probably hart-wort. See B. xx. c. 87, and B. xxv. c. 52.
1815 We learn from Hardouin, that there has been much discussion respecting the plants or other substances which the female is supposed to eat after parturition. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6, asserts that it eats the chorion, the membrane in which the fœtus has been enveloped, and afterwards the herb seselis. To make the account of Pliny agree with that of Aristotle, some of the commentators have even supposed, that chorion here means the name of a plant, and they have proposed to substitute the word chorion for aros in the text.—B. Aros is probably the present “Arum maculatum,” or wake-robin. See p. 307, N. 1846.
1816 Aristotle, Plutarch, and Xenophon speak of the influence of music on these animals.—B.
1817 Aristotle, ubi supra, mentions this respecting their ears; the same takes place, to a certain extent, with all animals that have large external auricles.—B.
1818 Aristotle, ubi supra, Ælian, ubi supra, and B. iii. c. 17, and Theophrastus, in a fragment on the Envious among Animals, agree in stating that one of the horns of the stag is never found, although they differ respecting the individual horn, whether the right one or the left. Aristotle says that it is the left, while Theophrastus and Ælian agree with the statement of Pliny.—B.
1819 Cuvier says, that no antlers are added after the eighth year.—B.
1820 This, as well as most of the statements respecting the growth of the horns, is mentioned by Aristotle, ubi supra, but it is quite unfounded.—B.
1821 This story of the white hind of Sertorius, is given in detail by Aulus Gellius, B. xv. c. 22, who tells us that it was given to him by a native of Lusitania, upon which Sertorius pretended that it had been sent from Diana, who, through it, held converse with him, and instructed him how to act. Plutarch, Frontinus, and Valerius Maximus, also relate the story.
1822 This story, which is obviously incorrect, is mentioned by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. ii. c. 9; and is again referred to in B. xxviii. c. 42.—B.
1823 Graguinus, Hist. Franc. B. ix. c. 3, relates a still more wonderful anecdote of a similar nature; but, as Buffon remarks, such tales are without foundation, the life of the stag not being more than thirty or forty years. Cuvier, also, says that its life does not exceed thirty-six or forty years.—B.
1824 The real nature of the tragelaphus of Pliny, and the hippelaphus, or horse-stag of Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 1, which appear to be the same animal, had long remained a disputed question among naturalists, when, as Cuvier states, the point was decided by Alphonse Duvaucel, who ascertained that it was a species of stag, which inhabited the mountains of the north of Hindostan.—B.
1825 And in Arabia as well, according to Diodorus Siculus, B. ii.
1826 This fact is confirmed by Cuvier, who observes, that it is the more remarkable that Africa should be without stags, as it abounds in gazelles of all forms and colours. He supposes that those travellers, who affirm that they have seen stags in this country, had really met with gazelles, which they mistook for those animals; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 451; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 453.—B.
1827 Cuvier remarks, that Pliny’s account of the chameleon appears to be taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 11, but that it is less correct. He notices Aristotle’s account of the eye, which is more accurately given than the account of Pliny; Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 451, 452; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 454.—B. The chameleon receives its name from the Greek χαμαὶ λέων, “the lion on the ground.”
1828 See B. xi. c. 55.
1829 One of those popular errors which have descended from the ancients to our times; the chameleon feeds on insects, which it seizes by means of its long flexible tongue; the quantity of food which it requires appears, however, to be small in proportion to its bulk.—B.
1830 “Circa caprificos.” Some commentators would understand this in reference to the wild fig-tree, and take it to mean that the animal is more furious when in its vicinity. The conjecture of Hardouin, however, seems more reasonable. He takes “caprificos” to mean the same as the “caprificialis dies,” mentioned in B. xi. c. 15, as being sacred to Vulcan, and falling towards the end of the dog-days.
1831 This is another of the erroneous opinions respecting the chameleon, which has been very generally adopted. It forms the basis of Merrick’s popular poem of the Chameleon. The animal, indeed, assumes various shades or tints, but the changes depend upon internal or constitutional causes, not any external object. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. ii. c. 14, refers to the change of colour, but does not allude to its colour having any connection with that of the object with which it comes in contact.—B.
1832 The quantity of muscular fibre and blood in the chameleon is no doubt small in proportion to the bulk of the animal, although not much less than in other animals of the same natural order; its spleen is very minute, as Cuvier says, not larger than the seed of a lentil.—B.
1833 Cuvier remarks, that this account is from the anonymous treatise De Mirab. Auscult. p. 1152, and from Theophrastus; and that it was probably derived, in the first instance, from the imperfect account which the ancients possessed of the reindeer, the hair of which animal becomes nearly white in the winter, and in the summer of a brown or grey colour. Bekmann, however, who has written a commentary on the above-mentioned treatise, supposes that the tarandrus is the elk. Cuvier conceives, that the animal described by Cæsar, Bell. Gall. B. vi. c. 26, as inhabiting the Hercynian Forest, which he designates as “bos cervi figurâ,” is the reindeer; and suggests that “tarandrus” may have originated in the German, das rennthier. Ajasson, vol. vi. pp. 453, 454; Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 456, 457. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. ii. c. 16, speaks of the change of colour in the tarandrus in a way which does not correspond with any animal known to exist.—B. Pliny’s stories of the tarandrus, thos, and chameleon are ridiculed by Rabelais, B. iv. c. 3.
1834 Cuvier supposes that the lycaon of Pliny is the Indian tiger, which has a mane; but what is said of its change of colour is incorrect.—B.
1835 Naturalists have differed respecting the identity of the animal here described, but Cuvier conceives, that Bochart has proved it to be the canis aureus chakal (jackal) of Linnæus. The description given by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ii. c. 17, and B. ix. c. 44, agrees with this supposition; it is also described by Oppian, Halieut. B. ii. c. 615.—B.
1836 It is possible that the quills of the porcupine may be stuck into the skin of the dog so firmly, as to be detached from their natural situation; but there is no reason to believe that they can be darted out or projected by any exertion of the animal. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. i. c. 31, and B. xii. c. 26, describes the hystrix; see also Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 30.—B.
1837 Cuvier remarks, that this account of the bear is generally correct; he points out, however, certain errors, which will be duly noticed. Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 3, gives an account of the parturition of the bear.—B.
1838 This description of their mode of coupling, though from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 30, is not correct. Buffon and other naturalists assure us that they do not differ herein from other quadrupeds.—B.
1839 Aristotle says, that the cubs are born blind, without hair, and that their limbs are ill formed, which is correct; but the account here given is greatly exaggerated.—B.
1840 As the birth takes place when the mother is in her winter retreat, it can have been witnessed only when in the menagerie.—B.
1841 This is referred to in B. xxviii. c. 46; this property of the fat of the bear is also mentioned by Galen and by Dioscorides, and it still retains its place among our popular remedies; but it is difficult to conceive that it can have any virtue above other fatty substances of the same consistence.—B.
1842 This, which appears to be a vulgar error, is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 17; by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 3; and by Oppian, Halieut. B. ii.—B.
1843 We have a somewhat similar account in the treatise De Mirab. Auscult. p. 1155.—B.
1844 Probably from Aristotle, ubi supra.—B.
1845 This apparent anomaly has been attempted to be explained, by supposing that the bears lay up a plentiful store of provisions in their winter retreats, which they consume while they remain without exercise.—B.
1846 Pliny enumerates, at considerable length, the varieties of aros, in B. xxiv. c. 92; it is also described in B. xix. c. 30; it is probably a species of arum.—B. See pp. 299, 300, N. 1815.
1847 This is, of course, without foundation.—B.
1848 This supposed noxious quality is entirely without foundation.—B.
1849 This probably refers more particularly to the mode in which the bear descends from trees or poles, in the supine posture, not, as is the case in most other animals, with the head downwards.—B.
1850 18th September.
1851 It appears, from the remarks of Cuvier, to be still doubtful whether the bear be really a native of Africa; see Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 457; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 466.—B.
1852 It is supposed that the white mouse of Pontus, mentioned also by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 17, is the ermine, or else the marten; but, as Cuvier remarks, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 457, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 467, the ermine does not hibernate.—B.
1853 Cuvier, ubi supra, conceives that the Alpine mouse is the marmot; but he remarks, that it is inferior in size to the badger.—B.
1854 Cuvier, ubi supra, conceives the Egyptian mouse to be the jerboa, the Mus jaculus of Linnæus; but it is much smaller than the marmot. Pliny, in B. x. c. 85, says, that the Egyptian mouse walks on two feet, as does the mouse of the Alps. Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 37, and Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xv. c. 26, refer to the mouse of Egypt.—B. Probably the Mus cahirinus.
1855 The faculty which these and other animals possess of foreseeing the weather and the future direction of the wind, is mentioned by Plutarch, and as existing especially in the hedgehog. It is also mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 6; but it is not confined, as Pliny states, to its change in one direction only. It has been suggested by some commentators, that, by a slight alteration in the text, the statement may be extended to a change of the wind in either direction, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 468.—B.
1856 The teasel, or carding thistle, is now used for this purpose; as also iron wires, crooked and sharpened at the point. Not a single quill, probably of the hedgehog, is now used in the manufacture of cloth.
1857 Dalechamps suggests that these complaints were probably to the effect that thistles and thorns were employed instead of the quills of the hedgehog; that the skin of the hedgehog was brought to market in a bad state; and again, that the rich merchants were in the habit of buying them up, and forestalling the market. Hardouin quotes an edict of the Emperor Zeno against monopolies of hedgehogs and carding materials, if, indeed, that is the meaning of the word “pectinum.”
1858 These statements are from the treatise De Mirab. Ausc., but, as Cuvier remarks, are fabulous, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 470; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 458.—B.
1859 Λεοντοφονὸς, the “lion-killer.”
1861 This fable is referred to by Ovid, Metam. B. xv. l. 414, and by Theophrastus in his Treatise on Stones.
1862 See B. xxxvii. c. 11.
1863 It is not unusual for animals to cover their excrements with earth, probably from the fact of their being annoyed by the unpleasant odour.—B.
1864 This statement respecting the “meles,” or badger, as well as what is said of the prescience of the squirrel, is without foundation. There has been some difference of opinion respecting the identity of the animal, which Pliny calls “meles;” by some it has been supposed to be the polecat, or else the weasel.—B.
1865 This bears reference to what is said of bears in c. 54, and of Alpine mice and hedgehogs.
1866 This statement is contrary to the account given by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 15; he says, that while other serpents conceal themselves in holes in the earth, vipers conceal themselves under rocks.—B.
1867 Cuvier remarks, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 458, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 473, that nothing is more striking, either to the vulgar or to the man of science, than the long abstinence from food which serpents are capable of enduring.—B.
1868 Cavatica.
1869 This is the case with the Helix Pomatia, and still more so with the Helix Neritoidea, which is very common in the neighbourhood of Nice, and which, at the approach of winter, is furnished with an operculum of great thickness.—B.
1870 See B. iii. c. 9.
1871 See B. iv. c. 23. The Romans valued them as a delicate food.
1872 This account appears to be principally from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 29.—B.
1873 According to Cuvier, Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 458, and Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 475, the species of lizard named monitor, frequently exceeds this size; but he remarks, in reference to the size of the Indian lizard, that none of the saurians, except the crocodile, attains the length here mentioned.—B.
1875 See B. v. c. 31.
1876 See B. v. c. 22, and B. vi. c. 3.
1877 This anecdote is referred to by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 25. He gives an account of the dog of Gelon, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 62, and Var. Hist. B. i. c. 13.—B.
1878 Tzetzes, Chil. iii. of his History, calls her Ditizela, and thus alludes to this story: “The said Nicomedes had a dog of very large size, and of Molossian breed, which manifested great fidelity to him. One day seeing his mistress, the wife of Nicomedes, and the mother of Prusias, Zielus, and Lysandra, Ditizela, by name, and a Phrygian by birth, toying with the king, he took her for an enemy, and rushing on her, tore her right shoulder.” It is supposed that she died of the injuries thus received. Some editions call her Condingis, and others Cosingis.
1879 A. Cascellius was an eminent Roman jurist, but nothing seems to be known of his preceptor, Volcatius, whose prænomen is thought to have been Mucius. Cascellius was noted for his great eloquence and his stern republican principles; and of Cæsar’s conduct and government he spoke with the greatest freedom. He never advanced in civic honours beyond the quæstorship, though he was offered the consulship by Augustus; which he declined. He is frequently quoted in the Digest. Horace, in his Art of Poetry, ll. 371, 372, pays a compliment to the legal reputation of Cascellius, who is also mentioned by Valerius Maximus and Macrobius.
1880 From Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 10, it appears that his name was Cælius Calvus, but probably no further particulars are known of him.
1881 He was a distinguished Roman eques, and a friend of Germanicus; for which reason he incurred the hatred of Sejanus. To satisfy the vengeance of Tiberius and his favourite Sejanus, one Latinus Latiaris, a supposed friend of Sabinus, induced him to speak in unguarded terms of Sejanus and Tiberius, and then betrayed his confidence. He was put to death in prison.
1882 More commonly called the Gradus or Scalæ Gemoniæ, “the stairs of wailing;” a place down which the bodies of the criminals were thrown, when executed in prison.—B.
1883 “Lorum,” the leather thong by which the dogs were held until the proper moment, when they were “let slip” upon their prey.
1884 This is mentioned by Gratian, Cyneget. l. 237.—B.
1885 This practice is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 33, and Diodorus Siculus, B. xvii. But Cuvier informs us, that neither the tiger nor the panther are capable of generating with the dog; he supposes that the account was invented to enhance the value of the spotted or striped dogs, which were brought from India.—B.
1886 The dog is capable of generating with the wolf; and as what is termed the shepherd’s dog much resembles the wolf, Cuvier conceives it not impossible, that it may have originated from this mixture; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 459; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 481.—B.
1887 This is mentioned by Ælian, in his Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 53, and his Var. Hist. B. i. c. 4. It likewise forms the subject of one of Phædrus’s Fables.
1888 These statements are probably, for the most part, from Aristotle, Hist. Anim, B. v. c. 14, and B. vi. c. 20.—B.
1889 “Faunos cerni.” Hardouin remarks on these words; “Flitting before the sight, and rushing upon each other, like the Ephialtes,” and refers, for a farther explanation, to his commentary on the passage in B. xxv. c. 10, where the subject is treated more at large. The Ephialtes is generally supposed to have been what we term incubus or nightmare.—B.
1890 All these remedies are perfectly useless.—B.
1891 Pliny details the noxious effects, conceived to be produced by the influence of Sirius, in B. ii. c. 40, and, among others, its tendency to produce canine madness. In B. xxix. c. 32, he enumerates the various remedies proposed for the disease; these, however, are equally inefficacious with those mentioned here.—B.
1892 We have an account of this disease in Celsus, B. v. c. 27, and especially of the peculiar symptom from which it derives its classical denomination. It is remarkable that Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 22, speaking of canine madness, says, that it is communicated by the dog to all animals, except man.—B. See B. vii. c. 13.
1893 It appears that there was a difference of opinion as to the number of days during which the Dog-star continued to exercise its influence.—B.
1894 The history of this supposed discovery is related more at large, B. xxv. c. 2 and 6. The popular name of the plant is still the “dog-rose.”—B.
1895 Columella says, that the operation prevents the tail from acquiring “fœdum incrementum,” “a foul increase;” and, as many shepherds say, secures the animal from the disease.—B.
1896 This is one of the marvellous tales related by Julius Obsequens, c. 103.—B.
1897 Plutarch, in his Life of Alexander, gives some account of this celebrated horse, and Aulus Gellius, B. v. c. 2, devotes a chapter to it.—B.
1898 Ajasson estimates the price to have been 70,200 francs, £2925 sterling.—B.
1899 Situate on the river Hydaspes; Q. Curtius calls it Bucephalus.—B. See B. vi. c. 23, where it is called Bucephala.
1900 This account is given by Suetonius, Life of Julius Cæsar, c. 61. Cuvier suggests that the hoofs may have been notched, and that the sculptor probably exaggerated the peculiarity, so as to produce the resemblance to a human foot.—B.
1901 The nephew of Tiberius and the father of the Emperor Caligula.—B.
1902 Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. xii. c. 40, states that three mares of Miltiades and Evagoras, which had been victorious in the Olympic games, were buried with sepulchral honours in the Ceramicus.—B.
1903 Ajasson suggests, with much plausibility, that when connections of this description are mentioned, the report originated from persons who had significant names, as Lebœuf and Poulain; analogous to our names of Lamb, Bull, Hog, &c.—B.
1904 See B. iii. c. 17.
1905 We here find Pliny tripping, for he has previously said, in B. vii. c. 1, that man is the only animated being that sheds tears. See also c. 19 of the present Book, where he represents the lion as shedding tears.
1906 Ælian calls him Centoarates. Antiochus I., or Soter, is here alluded to. He was killed in battle with the Galli or Galatians, B.C. 261.
1907 Mentioned by Cicero, De Divin. B. i. c. 33.—B.
1908 Hardouin refers to the works of Busbequius, in which we meet with nearly the same account of the sagacity of the horse, as in Pliny; Lemaire, iii. 489.
1909 As already mentioned in the Note to c. 54 of the last Book, there were four parties or factions of the charioteers who were named from the colour of their dress.
1910 The games of the Circus were divided into the Patrician and the Plebeian; the first being conducted by generals, consuls, and the curule ædiles, the latter by the ædiles of the people.—B.
1911 Related somewhat more at large by Plutarch, in his Life of Publicola.—B.
1912 Many of these particulars are from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 22.—B.
1913 Georgics, B. iii. l. 72, et seq.—B.
1914 See Introduction to vol. i. p. vii.
1915 Varro, de Re Rust. B. ii. c. 7; and Columella, B. vi. c. 29, have treated on this subject at considerable length.—B.
1916 The materials of this chapter appear to have been principally taken from Aristotle, Varro, and Columella.—B.
1917 See B. iv. c. 12.
1918 Varro, ubi supra, gives considerably different directions on this point; he says, “Intercourse is to be allowed, at the proper season of the year, twice a day, morning and evening.”
1919 This sentence in Columella, ubi supra, seems to illustrate the meaning, which is somewhat obscure. “Veruntamen nec minus quam quindecim, nec plures quam viginti, unus debet implere”—“One male ought to be coupled with not more than twenty females, nor less than fifteen.”
1920 Cuvier states, that the hippomanes is a concretion occasionally found in the liquor amnii of the mare, and which it devours, from the same kind of instinctive feeling which causes quadrupeds generally to devour the afterbirth. He remarks, however, that this can have no connection with the attachment which the mother bears to her offspring; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 459; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 495. The hippomanes is said to have been employed by the sorceresses of antiquity, as an ingredient in their amatory potions. See Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 24, and Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xiv. c. 18.—B. See also B. xxviii. c. 11.
1921 Now Lisbon. See B. iv. c. 35.
1922 The accounts given, by Phœnician navigators, of the fertility of Lusitania, and the frequency of the mild western breezes, gave rise to the fable here mentioned, which has been generally received by the ancients; and that not merely by the poets, as Virgil, Geor. B. iii. l. 274, 275, but by practical writers, as Varro, B. ii. c. 1, and Columella, B. vi. c. 27. Justin, however, B. xliv. c. 3, attributes the opinion to the great size of the horses, and their remarkable fleetness, from which they were said to be the sons of the wind.—B.
1923 The origin and meaning of this name is not known.—B.
1924 Martial describes the peculiar short, quick step of the “asturco,” in one of his Epigrams, B. xiv. Ep. 199.—B.
1925 “Alterno crurum explicatu glomeratio;” it would not be possible to give a literal translation, but we may judge of the meaning by the context.—B. He clearly alludes to a movement like our canter.
1926 “Tolutim carpere incursus;” Hardouin explains this by a reference to Plautus, Asinaria, A. iii. sc. 3, l. 116. “Tolutim ni badizas”—“If you do not amble, lifting up your feet.”
1927 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 24, gives an account of the diseases of horses.—B.
1928 “Genere veterino;” so called, according to Hardouin, from “vectura,” “carriage,” as applicable to horses, asses, and mules; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 497.—B.
1929 There is considerable difficulty in ascertaining the exact amount of sums of money mentioned by the ancients. “We read in Varro, B. ii. c. 1, and B. ii. c. 8, of enormous prices said to have been given for asses, and the particular case of Axius is mentioned, B. iii. c. 2; according to the usual estimate, the sum here mentioned amounts to upwards of £3200 sterling.—B.
1930 See B. xvii. c. 5.
1931 Varro, B. i. c. 20, and B. iii. c. 16, and Columella, B. vii. c. 1, enlarge upon the valuable qualities of the ass for agricultural purposes; Columella, B. vi. c. 37, treats at length upon the production of mules.—B.
1932 See a passage in Plautus, in which the superior excellence of the asses of Arcadia is referred to; Asinaria, A. ii. sc. 2, l. 67.—B.
1933 See B. iii. c. 17.
1934 This property is mentioned by Herodotus, B. iv. c. 28, and by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 27, also De Gener. Anim. B. ii. c. 8, and by Strabo, B. vii. The ass is a native of Arabia, and degenerates when brought into a cold climate.—B.
1935 These circumstances appear to have been taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 14, and B. vi. c. 23.—B.
1936 “Per raritatem eorum translucentibus fluviis.”—B.
1937 Upwards of £3200 sterling.—B.
1938 An epigram of Martial, B. xiii. Ep. 97, appears to refer to the employment of the young ass as an article of food.—B. The famous sausages of Bologna are made, it is said, of asses’ flesh.
1939 The onager, according to Cuvier, is the same with the ass, in the wild state; it still exists in large herds in various parts of Southern Asia, and is called by the Tartars, Kulan.—B.
1940 Most of the circumstances here mentioned appear to have been taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 24 and 36; Varro, B. ii. c. 8; and Columella, B. vi. c. 37.—B.
1941 It is expressly stated by Columella, ubi supra, that the mules “produced from a horse and a female ass, are in all respects most like the mother.”
1942 This is explained by Columella, ubi supra, who remarks, that when a stallion is admitted to a female in the full heat of its passion, it often causes mischief; which is not the case when its ardour has been a little subdued by having been worked for some time.—B.
1943 Varro, ubi supra, says: “The produce of a mare and a male ass is a mule, of a horse and a female ass a hinnus.”
1944 Varro, B. ii. c. 1, alludes to this occurrence; Livy mentions two instances, B. xxvi. c. 23, and B. xxxvii. c. 3; these prodigies were said both to have occurred at Reate.—B.
1945 Herodotus relates two cases, which were regarded as presaging some extraordinary event, B. iii. c. 153, and B. vii. c. 57. Juvenal, Sat. xiii. l. 66, and Suetonius, Life of Galba, c. 4, speak of a pregnant mule as a most extraordinary circumstance; it seems to have given rise to a proverbial expression among the Romans.—B.
1946 Cuvier remarks, that there is, in the deserts of Asia, a peculiar animal, with undivided hoofs, the Equus hemionus of naturalists, and the Dgiggetai of the Tartars, which bears a resemblance to our mules, but is not the produce of the horse and the ass; he refers us to Professor Pallas’s account of it in Acad. Petrop. Nov. Com. vol. xix. p. 394; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 461; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 505.—B.
1947 Pliny repeats this advice in B. xxx. c. 53; it is, of course, entirely without foundation.—B.
1949 This temple was the Parthenon. This anecdote is mentioned by Arist. Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 24; Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 49.—B.
1950 In which they probably exposed their samples for sale, as our farmers do in small bags. The phrase is ἀπὸ τῶν τηλιῶν, in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 24, from whom Pliny takes the story.
1951 This alleged superiority is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. iii. c. 91, by Varro, B. ii. c. 5, and by Columella, B. vi. c. 1; but it is remarked by Dalechamps and Hardouin, that the appellation of Pyrrhic given to these oxen, was more probably derived from their red colour, πυῤῥὸς, than from the name of the king. The materials of this chapter are principally from the above writers, especially Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 21, and B. viii. c. 7.—B.
1952 This singular notion is mentioned by Varro and Columella, ubi supra; Cuvier says, that it is the origin of the pretended secret of producing the sexes at pleasure, which was published by Millot; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 461.—B.
1953 4th January. See B. xviii. c. 64.
1954 This is mentioned by Herodotus, B. iv. c. 183; this peculiarity in their mode of taking their food is ascribed to the extraordinary length of the horns; it is also mentioned by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xvi. c. 33.—B.
1955 “Fœdi visu.” This is very similar to the expression used by Virgil, Georg. B. iii., when describing the points of an ox, l. 52,—“oui turpi caput”—“the head of which is unsightly”— probably in allusion to its large size.
1956 According to Cuvier, there is an ox, in warm climates, which has a mass of fat on the shoulders, and whose horns are only attached to the skin; Buffon has described it under the name of Zebu; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 461; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 512.—B.
1957 “Ad laborer damnantur;” with respect to the colour, Varro, B. ii. c. 5, has the following remarks: “The best colours are black, red, pale red, and white. The latter ones are the most delicate, the first the most hardy. Of the two middle ones, the first is the best, and both are more valuable than the first and last.”
1958 We have an account of this process in Columella, B. ii. c. 6.—B.
1959 This anecdote is related by Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 1. Virgil, Georg. B. ii. l. 537, speaks of the use of oxen in food, as a proof of the degeneracy of later times, and as not existing during the Golden Age; “Ante Impia quad cœsis gens est epulata juvencis.” This feeling is alluded to by Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xii. c. 34, and by Suetonius, Life of Domitian, c. ix.—B.
1960 It is doubtful whether this is the meaning of “alternos replicans orbes,” or what indeed is the meaning. Most editions omit “orbes,” thus making the matter still worse.
1961 Hardouin supposes that this alludes to the exhibition of oxen hunted at the exhibition of shows and in the Circus, for the gratification of the Roman people.—B.
1962 Referred to by Virgil, Georg. B. ii. ll. 145, 146, “et maxima taurus Victima,” “and the bull the largest victim of all.”—B.
1963 In reference to this remark, we may mention the passage in Virgil, Æn. B. iii. c. 119, “Taurum Neptuno, taurum tibi, pulcher Apollo.” “A bull to thee, Neptune, a bull to thee, beauteous Apollo.”
1964 Instances are mentioned by Livy, B. xxxv. c. 21, and by Val. Maximus, B. i. c. 65.—B.
1965 We have an account of Apis in Herodotus, B. iii. c. 28; also in Pomponius Mela, B. i. c. 9; and in Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. xi. c. 10.—B.
1966 “Quem cantharum appellant.” According to Dalechamps, “So called from the blackness of the colour, and its resemblance to a beetle.” Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 516. He refers the reader to a further account in B. xxx. c. 30.—B.
1967 From the Greek θάλαμοι, “bed-chambers.”
1968 Tacitus, Ann. B. ii. c. 69, gives an account of the sickness of Germanicus after his return from Egypt, but does not refer to the circumstance here mentioned.—B.
1969 The “goblet.” See B. v. c. 10.
1970 Seneca, Quæst. Nat. B. iv. c. 2, gives an account of this ceremony, but does not refer to the birth of Apis.—B.
1971 The contents of this Chapter appear to be principally from Varro, B. ii. cc. 1, 2, and Columella, B. vii. cc. 2, 3, 4.—B.
1972 This account is probably from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. v. c. 14; B. vi. c. 19; and B. ix. c. 3, where we have various particulars respecting the production and mode of life of the sheep.—B.
1973 13th May.
1974 23rd July.
1975 Varro, ubi supra, gives a somewhat different account: “Those lambs are called ‘cordi,’ which are born after their time, and have remained in the womb, called χορίον, from which they take that name.”—B.
1976 The expression “senecta melior,” here employed, is limited by Columella, ubi supra, to the third year.—B.
1977 Columella, B. vii. c. 8, remarks, “When deprived of his horns he knows himself to be disarmed, as it were, and is not so ready to quarrel and is less vehement in his passion.”
1978 Columella, B. vii. c. 23, refers to this practice; he informs us, B. vi, c. 28, that it is practised with respect to the horse. It is also referred to by Aristotle, De Gen. Anim. B. iv. c. 1.—B.
1979 For this we have the authority of Aristotle, ubi supra, and of Columella, ubi supra, who quotes from Virgil in support of it, Geor. B. iii. l. 387, et seq.—B. “Although the ram be white himself, if there is a black tongue beneath the palate, reject him, that he may not tinge the fleece of the young with black spots.”
1980 Varro, B. ii. c. 2, remarks, “While the coupling is taking place, you must use the same water; for if it is changed, it will render the wool spotted, and injure the womb.”
1981 “Tectæ.” The context shows that this means covered with skins or a woollen girth, probably on account of their delicate nature, while the common sheep of husbandry, or the “colonic” sheep, were able to endure the rigour of the weather without any such protection.
1982 The words are tectum and colonicum; Columella, B. vii. c. 4, uses the terms molle and hirsutum, and Varro, B. ii. c. 2, pellitum and hirtum. The first obtained its name from its being covered with skins, to protect its delicate fleece. The colonic is so called, from “colonus,” a “husbandman,” this kind being so common as to be found in any village; whereas the tectæ were rare.
1983 We have some account of the Arabian sheep in Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. x. c. 4.—B. Columella says, that the wool which was brought over to make these coverings, was only to be obtained at a very great price.
1984 The greatest part of this Chapter appears to be taken, with little variation, from Columella, B. vii. c. 2-4.—B.
1985 Here Pliny differs from Columella, who remarks, B. vii. c. 2, “Our people considered the Milesian, Calabrian, and Apulian wool as of excellent quality, and the Tarentine the best of all.”
1986 “Pænula” was a check cloak, used chiefly by the Romans when travelling, instead of the toga, as a protection against the cold and rain. It was used by women as well as men. It was long, and without sleeves, and with only an opening for the head. Women were forbidden by Alexander Severus to wear it in the city. It was made particularly of the woolly substance known as gausapa.