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AELIAN: ON THE NATURE OF ANIMALS

-   BOOK 7

Translated by A.F.Scholfield (1958), with some minor alterations. Click on the G symbols to go to the Greek text of each section. Click on ** to go to the translator's footnotes. There is a list of contents beneath the translation.


Book 6

[1] G   I have ascertained that the cows in Susa are not unacquainted even with arithmetic. And that this is no idle boast the following story bears witness. In Susa the King has a large number of cows of which each one draws one hundred buckets daily to water the drier places in his parks. Now they perform with the utmost zest the task which has either been heaped upon them or to which they have long been accustomed, and you would never see one of them idling. If however you were to urge them to draw so much as one bucketful in excess of the century, you will neither persuade nor compel them, whether by blows or by soft words, to do so. This is what Ctesias says.

[2] G   At the foot of Atlas (this mountain is celebrated by historians and also by poets) there are marvellous pasture-lands and forests of the deepest, whose dense foliage is like that of groves all shady and over-arched. And that, you know, is where elephants are said to resort in old age when heavy with years. And Nature leads them as it were to a colony, giving them rest at last and providing them with a desired anchorage and harbour, so to speak, where they can live out the rest of their life. And they have a spring of drinking-water pure and welling up abundantly ; and they are regarded as sacred and are allowed to go unmolested; and they have an agreement with the barbarians in those parts that they shall not be hunted; and it is commonly said that they are under the care of certain gods of the district who are lords of wood and valley. And there is a story current about them, as follows. A certain King of that country was eager to kill some of them on account of the splendour and size of their tusks, in order to obtain a choice possession, for with the multitude of years and the lengthening of time these weapons of these creatures become enormous. So when this desire came upon him he despatched three hundred picked men to shoot this sacred herd. And all equipped they accomplished their journey with the utmost speed, and were actually nearing the spot when a pestilence suddenly seized them and laid them low: all died save only one, and he returned and rendered to him who had sent them a full account of the truly lamentable disaster. By this means it was discovered that the elephants were beloved of the gods.

[3] G   There is an animal in Paeonia ** called Monops, and it is the size of a shaggy bull. Now when this creature is pursued, in its agitation it excretes a fiery and acrid dung, so I am told; and should this happen to fall on any of the hunters, it kills him.

[4] G   It seems that a special characteristic of the bull is its docility, once it has been tamed and from being savage become gentle. At any rate bulls remain quiet when harnessed to litters, or if you want them to lie still on their back or with their head on the ground or to sink down on their knees and carry a boy or a girl on their neck. And you will even see a bull bearing a woman on its back or standing erect on its hind legs while it supports with ease the entire weight of its body on some object or other. And I have even seen men dancing on the backs of bulls, and the same men standing there motionless and undislodged.  

[5] G   Libya is the parent of a great number and a great variety of wild animals, and moreover it seems that the same country produces the animal called the Katoblepon {down-looking}. ** In appearance it is about the size of a bull, but it has a more grim expression, for its eyebrows are high and shaggy, and the eyes beneath are not large like those of oxen but narrower and bloodshot. And they do not look straight ahead but down on to the ground: that is why it is called ' down-looking.' And a mane that begins on the crown of its head and resembles horsehair, falls over its forehead covering its face, which makes it more terrifying when one meets it. And it feeds upon poisonous roots. When it glares like a bull it immediately shudders and raises its mane, and when this has risen erect and the lips about its mouth are bared, it emits from its throat pungent ** and foul-smelling breath, so that the whole air overhead is infected, and any animals that approach and inhale it are grievously afflicted, lose their voice, and are seized with fatal convulsions. This beast is conscious of its power; and other animals know it too and flee from it as far away as they can.

[6] G   Those who are adept at hunting elephants constantly tell us that when these beasts are pursued they dash forward and are carried along with irresistible force and an impetus that nothing can withstand; there is no stopping them; they even rush through the largest trees as though they were standing corn, smashing the trees like corn-stalks. In one place the trees overtop them and hold their leaves above them, in another they themselves are higher than the trees. Indeed they run with all their might and baffle their pursuers by the course they take; which is natural, for they are familiar with the country. And when they have got far away and are at a great distance ahead of the pursuing horsemen and have regained their courage through being secure from danger and feeling free, they pause and rest and are most glad to lay aside their anxious fears. And then at this time they bethink them of food. They feed, so I hear, on the bushy mastic that grows around ** the trees and the wild ivy that creeps with its dense foliage over them, also upon the young and tender leaves of the date-palm and upon the more sappy shoots and twigs of other plants.

But if their pursuers again approach, the elephants once more take to flight. And so when evening has overtaken them the pursuers bivouac, and by setting fire to the forest to some extent cut off the elephants' retreat and so bring them to a standstill. For elephants no less than lions have a horror of fire.  

[7] G   I learn from Aristotle ** that cranes flying in to land from the sea indicate to the intelligent man that a violent storm is threatening. But if the same birds are flying tranquilly, that is a promise of fine weather and a calm atmosphere; and if they make no sound they are reminding those who have experience that it will be fairly calm. And if they (?) fly in from the sea uttering their cries and confusing their order in their agitation, there again they are threatening a heavy storm. And if a shearwater utters its cry at dusk, it apparently signifies the same; if it flies straight to the sea, it is giving a hint that a rainstorm will burst from the sky. If however the weather is stormy, the hooting of an owl portends fair weather and a bright day; whereas if the weather is fair and the owl hoots softly, you must expect storms. If a raven croaks volubly and pecks and shakes its wings, it is the first to observe that a storm is coming. Again, if the raven, the crow, and the jackdaw utter their cries in the late afternoon, they teach us that we shall have a visitation by a storm. And if jackdaws, as the same writer says [Thphr. Sig. 16] , scream like hawks ** and fly now high now low, they point to frost and rain. If a crow caws softly at supper-time, it is inviting us to expect fair weather next day. If birds appear in great numbers and they are white, it is a certain indication that there will be heavy storms. When ducks and shearwaters flap their wings, they point to violent winds. And when birds come speeding into land from the sea, this is evidence of stormy weather. If the robin comes to cattle-sheds and houses, he is clearly trying to escape from a coming storm. Cockerels too and domestic fowls, when they flap their wings and step proudly and cluck, signify stormy weather. When birds bathe, it is a sign that wind is threatening, and it points to gusty weather. If during a storm birds fly towards one another and in and out, it is a sign of fine weather. When birds congregate about meres and on river banks, they know that a storm is coming. On the other hand when birds of the sea and lake come in to land, they know that there will be a heavy storm, whereas land birds hastening to moist places are heralds of fine weather, if, that is, they make no sound.

[8] G   I have heard that the Egyptians assert that the antelope is the first creature to know when the Dog-star rises, and testifies to the fact by sneezing. The Libyans are equally bold in stoutly maintaining that in their country the goats also know in advance; they also give clear signs of impending rain. For when they emerge from their pens they rush at full speed to their fodder. Later, when satisfied, they turn towards home, and facing in that direction remain still and wait for the herdsman to gather them in as quickly as possible.

And Hipparchus ** in the reign of Hieron the Tyrant ** was sitting in the theatre wearing a leather jerkin, and astonished people by knowing in advance out of the clear weather then prevalent that a storm was coming. And Hieron in his admiration of the man congratulated the people of Nicaea in Bithynia on having Hipparchus as a citizen. And when at Olympia Anaxagoras, ** likewise clad in a leather jerkin, was watching the Olympic Games and a storm of rain burst, all Hellas sang his praises, and claimed that his wisdom was more that of a god than of a man. And few if any are surprised that an ox, if rain threatens, lies down on his right side, contrariwise if fair weather is coming, on his left. And I have also heard the following facts which are calculated to astonish one. If an ox bellows and sniffs the air, rain is inevitable. And if oxen eat copiously and more than is their custom, it portends a storm. When sheep dig the ground with their hoofs, it is likely to mean a storm; and if the rams mount them early in the day, it promises an early storm; and the same when goats lie huddled together. When pigs appear in cornland, they inform us that the rain is departing. Now when lambs and kids leap on one another and frisk about, they promise a bright day. But when martens squeak and mice likewise, they are conjecturing that there will be a violent storm. When wolves quit lonely places and make straight for inhabited districts, they show thereby that they dread the onslaught of a coming storm. If a lion visits cornlands, it presages a drought. And if beasts of burden gambol and low more than is their custom , it shows that storm and rain are on their way; and if besides, they toss up the dust with their hoofs, it signifies the same. If hares are seen in great numbers in the same places, it signifies fair weather. In all these matters men fall behind: they only know these changes when they occur.

[9] G   Here are further facts which I have heard touching hawks. The ministers of Apollo ** in Egypt say that there are certain men called ' hawk-keepers ' for this reason: they feed and tend the hawks belonging to the god. Now the whole race of hawks is consecrated to this god, but there are certain sacred birds which are fed upon carefully prepared food and which seem in nowise to differ from offerings made to the god. Now the men who have been charged with the care of these birds tell the uninformed that each of them (they are tended in a sacred grove) lays eggs in its nest. ** They have, it is true, the care of all hawks, but these sacred ones are their special charge. ** They take out the brains of birds which have been caught and throw them to the newly born hawks: soft food for tender chicks. But to those that are full-grown the keepers serve flesh and sinews, which furnish strengthening nourishment for birds of prey. Those however that are in the intermediate stage between chicks and full-grown birds are served with the hearts, ** and one may see the remains of them. So the aforesaid difference of foods concedes the point that hawks know what is appropriate and agreeable to each age; and they are particular about it and would never touch food unsuited to their age. At a certain season quails visit their country and other birds arrive in flocks, and these sacred hawks feast on them also.

[10] G   The following story, I think, also affords evidence of the unbreakable affection which dogs have for those who keep them. In one of the civil wars at Rome when Galba the Roman was murdered, ** there was not one of the man's enemies that was able to cut off his head, although countless numbers competed for this trophy, until they had killed the hound at his side that had been reared under his care and that maintained its affection with the utmost loyalty and fought on behalf of its dead master, as though it were a fellow soldier, sharer of the same tent, and friend to the very last. It is worth knowing ' what a deed was this, wrought' not ' by a man ' [Hom. Od. 4. 242] , I declare, but by a faithful hound of valiant spirit.

Pyrrhus of Epirus was on a journey when he came upon the corpse of a man who had been killed, with his dog standing beside and guarding its master to prevent anybody from adding outrage to murder. Now it happened that this was the third day for which the dog was keeping its assiduous and most patient watch, unfed. And so when Pyrrhus learnt this he took pity on the dead man and ordered him to be buried; but as for the dog, he directed that it should be cared for and gave it whatever one offers a dog with one's hand, in sufficient quantity and of a nature to induce it to be friendly and well-disposed towards him; and little by little Pyrrhus drew the dog away. So much then for that. Now not so long after, there was a review of the hoplites, and the King whom I mentioned above was looking on, and that same dog was at his side. For most of the time it remained silent and completely gentle. But directly it saw the murderers of its master in the review, it could not contain itself or remain where it was, but leaped upon them, barking and tearing them with its claws, and by frequently turning towards Pyrrhus did its best to make him see that it had caught the murderers. And so a suspicion dawned upon the King and those about him, and the way in which the dog barked at the aforesaid men caused them to reflect. The men were seized and put on the rack and confessed their crime.

To those who trample upon the ordinance of Zeus the god of fellowship and of affection and betray their friends in life and after death, all this seems a mere tale. But for my part I do not follow those who fail to appreciate the excellence of Nature which, if she has given brutes a share of kindliness and affection, has certainly given a larger share to us rational beings. But they make no use of her gift. And what need is there to add to my story all the other crimes which men have committed against their friends for the sake of base gain, hatching plots and acting the traitor ? It fills me with pain that a dog should be shown to have more loyalty, more kindly feeling than man.

[11] G    Here is another story which has come to my ears: it is about the octopus. There was a rock rising from the sea, though not to a great height. Now once upon a time an octopus crawled up it and spread out its tentacles and was glad to warm itself (the weather was inclined to be stormy), though it did not at once assume the colour of the rock. Octopuses do this naturally, to protect themselves against those who have designs upon them, and also that they themselves may ambush fishes. Now an eagle, quick to mark its prey (though it got no good thereby), swooped with all the force of its wings upon the octopus, reckoning to secure a ready meal for itself and its young. But the creature's tentacles wreathed themselves round the eagle, and clinging fast to its hated enemy dragged it down, and it was a case of ' The hungry wolf,' ** as you might say. And presently the eagle was floating dead upon the sea for the sake of its meal. Birds in fact suffer countless misadventures of this kind, and men even more: for example, Cyrus the Second, the son of Cambyses, ** among the Massagetae celebrated by Herodotus [1. 214]; Polycrates ** also [id. 3. 125] who hastened to Oroetes with the intention of laying hands on his gold, and any who

' working for another's ill, wreaks ill for his own heart.' [Anon.]

Brute beasts do not realise these dangers; human beings do, but fail to guard against them. What use to you, Cyrus and Polycrates, were a tongue, speech, teachers, beatings ? I say nothing of the others, for why should I give the most profitable advice to men who are deaf and senseless ?

[12] G   Let the women of Paeonia be proud: let them assume arrogant airs, since their conduct is celebrated. This is what they do: on their head they carry a vessel full of water, their neck held straight so that as they walk the vessel shall remain erect without upsetting. They attach their children to their breast before suckling them; and fastening the rein of their husband's horse to one arm lead it to drink, while they use their hands to spin thread. It was this that moved Darius to admiration when some young Paeonians, having equipped their sister in the manner described, brought her before him as he sat in judgment, in order that he might be attracted by such a concentration of self-help and show mercy to their country.

And yet how far more impressive is Nature than the Paeonian women. A bitch was hunting; the quarry was a hare and the bitch was pregnant. As soon as she had attained the object of her pursuit, she left it to her master and drawing aside, dropped (so they say) nine puppies, which she then reared. And if the women of Liguria pride themselves that they also after giving birth rise up and devote themselves to their household duties, they will, on hearing what the aforesaid bitch did, forgo their pride and hide their heads in shame.

[13] G   Aristotle has told the story of the labour-loving mule, and so have we earlier on, ** but the episode of the dog,, which also occurred in Athens, is not irrelevant.

A temple-thief who had waited for the midmost hour of night and had watched till men were deep asleep, came to the shrine of Asclepius and stole a number of offerings without, as he supposed, being seen. There was however in the temple an excellent watcher, a dog, more awake than the attendants, and it gave chase to the thief and never stopped barking, as with all its might it summoned others to witness what had been done. And so at first the thief and his companions in that crime pelted the dog with stones; finally he dangled bread and cakes in front of it. He had been careful to bring these things with him as an attraction to dogs, as he supposed. Since however the dog continued to bark when the thief came to the house where he lodged and when he came out again, it was discovered where the dog belonged, while the inscriptions and the places where the offerings were set up lacked the missing objects. The Athenians therefore concluded that this man was the thief, and by putting him on the rack discovered the whole affair. And the man was sentenced in accordance with the law, while the dog was rewarded by being fed and cared for at the public expense for being a faithful watcher and second to none of the attendants in vigilance.

[14] G   The goat, it seems, is in fact skilful at curing that mist of the eyes which doctors call 'cataract', and it is even said that men have learnt this cure from the goat. The method is as follows. When the goat perceives that its sight has become clouded it goes to a bramble and applies its eye to a thorn. The thorn pricks it and the fluid is discharged, but the pupil remains unharmed and the goat regains its sight without any need of man's skill and manipulation.

[15] G   Young elephants cross a river by swimming, but the full-grown ones, if covered by the stream, raise their trunks above the water, while the mother-elephants carry their newly born young upon their tusks. It is the young who take the lead in danger and hardship; out of respect for their elders they give way to them in drinking and feeding, and they have no need at all of the laws of Lycurgus. An elephant old and weak or stricken with disease would never be abandoned by his fellows in the herd, but they stay beside him loyally and hasten to lend him strength on all occasions, especially when they are being pursued; and they fight on his behalf and through staying by him receive wounds, when they could escape. The females would never desert the young they have borne, but they too remain loyally at their side even though hunters press hard upon them, and they would sooner relinquish their life than their offspring.

When I was a boy I knew an aged woman, Laenilla by name, and everybody used to point at her, and a story was told of her to this effect. My elders used to tell me that she had passionately loved a servant and used to sleep with him, thereby bringing a slur upon her own children. They were well-born and belonged to the Senatorial order in Rome by descent from their fathers and remoter ancestors. Now the children for very shame were angry with their mother for her behaviour and admonished her gently and spoke to her in private of the shamefulness of her conduct. But she, seething with lust and putting her love above her sons, accused them before the magistrate, alleging that they were plotting against him. The magistrate having a ready ear for calumny, and being of a suspicious and cowardly nature (those are attributes of an ignoble character), believed her. So her sons who had done no wrong were put to death, while the woman reaped the reward of her informing and slept freely with the slave.

O gods of our fathers, O Artemis of the child-bed, and goddesses of birth, the daughters of Hera, why, when we recall calamities that befell recently and in our own day, should we speak any more of Colchian Medea or Attic Procne ?

[16] G   Eagles seize tortoises and then dash them on rocks from a height, and having smashed the tortoise's shell they extract and eat the flesh. It was in this way, I am told, that Aeschylus of Eleusis, the tragic poet, met his end. Aeschylus was seated upon a rock, meditating, I suppose, and writing as usual. He had no hair on his head and was bald. Now an eagle supposing his head to be a rock, let the tortoise which it was holding fall upon it. And the missile struck the aforesaid poet and killed him.

[17] G   The Ceryl and the Halcyon feed side by side and live together...  And when the Ceryls are feeble with age the Halcyons place them on their back and carry them about upon their middle wing-feathers, as they are called. Women however look down upon those who are ageing, and cast their eyes on youths. And husbands are eager after girls and take no notice of their elderly legal wives: creatures gifted with speech are not ashamed to live more unreasonably than unreasoning animals.

[18] G   The Egyptians who live about the region called Coptus assert that no more than a pair of ravens is seen there. And even those Romans who guard the mountain district because of the Emerald Mine, ** they also maintain that the same number of this species live there. And in that place there is a temple in honour of Apollo to whom, they say, the birds are sacred.

[19] G   Here again I may as well speak of the peculiarities of animals. The sheep and the ass seem inclined to be sluggish; fawns, roe-deer, gazelles, antelopes, hares (which poets style ' cowerers ') are timorous creatures. Timorous also are sparrows among birds, and the mullet among fishes. Baboons and goats are lecherous, and it is even said that the latter have intercourse with women - a fact which Pindar [fr. 201 S] appears to marvel at. And even hounds are said to have assaulted women, and indeed it is reported that a woman in Rome was accused by her husband of adultery, and the adulterer in the case was stated to be a hound. And I have heard that baboons have fallen madly in love with girls and have even raped them, being more wanton than the little boys in the all-night revels of Menander. ** The partridge is extremely lecherous and given to adultery; at any rate these birds are said to go after the hens stealthily and with hardly a sound. Dogs do not admit others to share their food on any account; at any rate they often tear one another over a bone, just like Menelaus and Paris over Helen. I am told that the dogs of Memphis are the only ones that pool their prey and share their food. The hog is implacable and devoid of justice; at any rate these creatures eat one another's dead bodies. And the majority of fishes do the same. But the most impious of all is the hippopotamus, for it even eats its own father. Flies and dogs are without shame and are not easily checked.

[20] G   Wolves are exceedingly fierce, and the Egyptians assert that they even eat one another, and that the way in which they plot against each other is, they say, as follows. They gather round in a circle and then start to run. And when any of their number is overcome with dizziness from running round and round and collapses, the rest fall upon him as he lies, tear him to pieces, and eat him. They do this whenever their hunting is unsuccessful. For with them, provided they do not go hungry, nothing else counts; just as with evil men nothing counts but money. 

[21] G   It seems that the monkey is the most mischievous of animals; and even worse when it attempts to copy man. For example, a monkey observed from a distance a nurse washing a baby in a tub, observed how first of all she took off its swaddling clothes and then after the bath wrapped it up; it marked where she laid it to rest, and when it saw the place unguarded, sprang in through an open window, from which it had a view of everything; took the baby from its cot; stripped it as it had chanced to see the nurse do; brought the tub out, and (there was water heating on some embers) poured boiling water over the wretched baby and even caused it to die most miserably.

[22] G   It seems that the hyena also and the Corocottas, ** as they call it, are viciously clever animals. At any rate the hyena prowls about cattle-folds by night and imitates men vomiting. And at the sound dogs come up, thinking it is a man. Whereupon it seizes and devours them. I shall now relate the villainy of the Corocottas, of which I have actually heard. It conceals itself in thickets and then listens to woodcutters calling one another by name, and even to anything they say. And then it imitates their voices and speaks (though the story may be fabulous) with a voice that sounds human at any rate, calling out the name which it has heard. And the man who has been called approaches: the animal withdraws and calls again: the man follows the voice all the more. But when it has drawn him away from his fellow-workers and has got him alone, it seizes him and kills him and then makes a meal off him after luring him on with its call.

[23] G   The Lion knows how to take vengeance on one who has previously done him an injury, and even though the vengeance be not immediate,

' yet doth he keep his anger thereafter in his bosom, until he accomplish it' [Hom. Il. 1. 82 ] .

And Juba of Mauretania, ** the father of the boy who was a hostage at Rome, bears witness to this. He was marching once through the desert against some tribes who had revolted, when one of the youths who ran beside him, well-born, handsome, and already fond of the chase, struck with a javelin a lion that chanced to appear by the roadside : he hit the mark and wounded the beast, but failed to kill it. But the expedition was in haste; the animal drew off, and the boy who had wounded it hurried by with the rest. Now when a whole year had passed and Juba had accomplished his purpose, returning by the same way he arrived at the spot where the lion had happened to be wounded. And in spite of the multitude of men that same lion came forward and, without touching anyone else, seized him who a year ago had wounded it, and pouring forth the gathered anger which it had been nursing all that while, tore to pieces the boy whom it had recognised. But not a soul took vengeance : they were afraid of the fierce and absolutely terrifying anger of the lion. And besides, their journey made them hasten.

[24] G   I have heard that there are different species and various tribes of crabs, for there are some that live on rocks, but there are others besides, which mud, seaweed, and sand generate. And they have many shapes and many names. And the Runner-crabs as they are called (and most appropriately) roam hither and thither, for it is neither their wish nor their nature to remain quiet and at rest in the same place, but they wander about the beaches where they were born; and they do in fact go further afield, just as human beings who are fond of travel. The occasion of their wandering so far is their desire for more food of some kind. Now in the Thracian Bosphorus whenever the current comes down strongly from the Euxine, the crabs wish to force their way upstream, but, as is natural, the stream breaks with too great violence round the headlands, so that if they should want to go against it, it will altogether thrust them back and defeat them. Now the crabs are already aware of this, and whenever they come near a headland each one halts in some bay-like spot and waits for the others. Then when they have congregated in one spot, they crawl up on to the land and scramble up on to the cliffs and so pass by on foot that part of the sea where the current is strongest. Then having surmounted and passed the promontory, they descend once more to the sea. But the fishermen spare them because it is of their own free will that the crabs crawl out on to the land: the men wish also to be spared themselves: they cannot bear to appear more cruel than the waves.

[25] G   I know that I have somewhere earlier on ** spoken of jealousy on the part of an animal not only extremely prudent but also extremely continent: it was, if my memory is sound, the Purple Coot. And I have now heard of a lap-dog in Sicily that was the enemy of adulterers and a bitter foe to all of that class. The adulterer had concealed himself indoors, the lecherous woman having heard that her husband was returning from a journey; and the man was, as he supposed, well-situated for a hiding-place : for the servants, or those who were in league with their mistress to conceal the crime (there were ' such as were stewards of mirrors and of perfumes,' as Euripides says [Or. 1112]), ** and the doorkeepers too had been bribed, and this made the adulterer bold. However matters did not turn out as intended; far from it. For the lap-dog kept barking and even scratching with its paws at the door in such a way as to alarm the master and to cause him by its action to guess that there was some mischief lurking. So naturally enough he threw open the door and caught the adulterer. The man had a sword and was waiting till night fell so that he might kill the master of the house and thereupon marry the aforesaid woman.

[26] G   Here is another example of the cleverness of goats. They know full well that human spittle is deadly to other animals and they keep away from it, just as we also try to avoid anything that would injure a man were he to taste of it. Indeed it has happened before now that a man has in his ignorance and unconsciously swallowed some poison; but as to goats, the aforesaid spittle would never take them unawares. And doubtless the same spittle is most effective at killing even sea-scolopendras. A goat that is destined for slaughter is well aware of it: witness the fact that it will no longer touch food. And a goat disdains to bring up the rear of a flock of sheep, but must take the lead, and proclaims it by its gait. At any rate she walks ahead of them, and the he-goat walks ahead of the she-goats as well: his beard gives him confidence, and by some mysterious natural instinct he sets the male above the female. 

[27] G   It seems that sheep are in fact the most readily obedient of animals and have been taught by Nature to submit to rule. At all events they give heed to the shepherd and his dogs, and they even follow goats. Also they are devoted to one another and consequently less exposed to the attacks of wolves. For a sheep does not wander away by itself, nor yet does it separate itself from its fellow, as goats do. The Arabians maintain that their flocks grow fat upon music rather than upon fodder. They like eating saline things, because they add a flavour to their drink. Moreover sheep know this too: that the north wind and the south wind, no less than the rams which mount them, are their allies in promoting fertility. And this also they know, that whereas the north wind tends to produce males, the south wind produces females. And a sheep that is being covered faces in this direction or in that according as it wants a male or a female offspring. So Achilles needed to pray in order that his friend lying on the pyre might be burned, and Iris summoned the winds for him, O noble Homer [Il. 23. 194 ff.] , promising them, if they came, a sacrifice by way of reward. And the son of Neocles ** taught the Athenians to sacrifice to the Winds. But sheep without any trouble have them ready and unsummoned to help them to pregnancy. And so shepherds also are good at looking out for them. At any rate when the south wind blows they put the rams to the sheep, in order that their offspring may preferably be female.

[28] G   When Icarius was slain by the relatives of those who, after drinking wine for the first time, fell asleep (for as yet they did not know that what had happened was not death but a drunken stupor), the people of Attica suffered from a disease, Dionysus thereby (as I think) avenging the first and the oldest man who cultivated his plants. ** At any rate the Pythian oracle declared that if they wanted to be restored to health they must offer sacrifice to Icarius and to Erigone his daughter and to her hound which was celebrated for having, in its excessive love for its mistress, refused to outlive her. Euripides is not serious when he says [Med. 54]

' Good slaves are grieved and their hearts are gripped when things go ill with their masters,' 

for where is the man who died in consequence of his master's death, ** although this is what a dog - a slave  - did?

[29] G   Now here is a further testimony to the peculiar goodwill which dogs bear towards those who keep them. A man of Colophon arrived at Teos with the intention of buying up certain articles, for he was a merchant and made his profits by retailing and exchanging his purchases. And he brought with him money, a servant, and a dog; and the slave carried the money. But on the journey the servant stepped aside - he had a pressing call of nature - and the dog followed him. Now the young man put down the money-bag and forgot to pick it up again and went on his way. But the dog lay down on the money and remained quietly there. And when the master and his servant arrived at Teos they returned without doing any business, not having the means to make purchases. They turned aside however along the same road where the servant left the purse and found their own dog lying upon it and hardly breathing from starvation. But directly the dog saw its master and its fellow-slave it moved off the moneybag and in the same instant gave up its post of guardian and its life.

So then even the dog Argus, ** O divine Homer, was no fiction of yours, no poetical exaggeration, if indeed the events which I have narrated really befell the man of Teos. **

[30] G   There is a species of crab called Peteliae {flyers}. ** They are paler in appearance than other crabs and are generated in the mud. And when scared they actually fly, for they possess tiny wings which give them a slight lift and lessen their weight. When walking however they have no need of them, but when frightened these wings afford them a certain not very considerable assistance, for as they do not fly high and are unable to travel through the air, they are caught; and some people eat these crabs. And they do say that they are good for sciatica if eaten during an attack.

[31] G   Hermit-crabs are born without a shell and select for themselves the shell that makes the best house for them to live in. They even enter the shell of the purple-shellfish if they can find one empty, and the shell of the whelk. And so long as it is large enough to cover them they are satisfied with their lodging. But if their body grows they migrate to another dwelling, and they find quantities of such shells.

[32] G   Whelks even have a King and submit most obediently to his rule. And this King exceeds all others in size and beauty. And if it is expedient for him to sink, he is the first to do so; if to come up again, he leads the way; and when he moves to another place the rest follow him. The man who succeeds in catching this King knows well that his affairs will prosper. Moreover if a man sees a King Whelk being caught, he goes away in more cheerful spirits, imagining that he too will have some good fortune. And at Byzantium a prize is offered for the man who catches the aforesaid fish: each of his fellow-anglers contributes an Attic drachma to the one who catches it, and that is the prize.

[33] G   Waves roll sea-urchins out of their haunts, dash them on to the dry land, and hurl them with the utmost violence out of the sea. So for fear of this, whenever these creatures perceive the waves rippling and beginning to swell to greater violence, they pick up with their prickles as many pebbles as they can carry and have some ballast, so that they are not easily rolled about and do not undergo what they dread.

[34] G   The Purple Shellfish is exceedingly gluttonous and possesses an unusually long tongue which it thrusts through everything that it can. By this means it draws in whatever it eats, and by this means it is caught. And the way in which it is hunted is this: men weave a weel, small and of close texture, and inside there is a whelk and this has been inserted in the centre of the weel. Now the Purple Shellfish struggles to extend its tongue to the utmost and to reach its prey. And it is forced to project the whole length if it is not to miss what it longs for. And when it has inserted its tongue it sucks until the tongue is so swollen with surfeiting that the creature cannot withdraw it again. So there it remains caught, and the fisherman observing this, catches for the second time what has already been caught by its own gluttony.

[35] G   The Scolopendra ** is a creature of the sea and looks exactly like the land-scolopendra (centipede). And if a man's skin come in contact with it, he at once feels a stinging and irritation, and has the same kind of pain as from the plant they call the nettle. And sea-anemones also produce an itching, but not so violent; and they are better to eat when the equinox is past.

[36] G   Whenever elephants are routed by hunters and begin to stampede like soldiers in war, they do not scatter and take to flight singly but in a herd, and they press against one another as they cling to their fellows. Round the outside are the young animals, the most pugnacious, you might say; in the middle the old elephants and the mothers, and beneath them the baby elephants, each mother hiding her own. And these little ones are very seldom to be seen. And even lions, if they catch sight of them herded together, lions which up to that moment have inspired fear and consternation, either flee at full speed or cower down one here and another there, like fawns, in terror of the elephants.

The elephant does not turn and face its pursuers, unless it be to protect its young or sick ones : then it is irresistible.

[37] G   When Porus the King of the Indians had received many wounds in the battle ** against Alexander, his elephant proceeded with its trunk to pick out the javelins gently and cautiously; and in spite of its own numerous wounds it did not pause until it knew that its master was collapsing through copious loss of blood and was swooning. ** And so it lay down beneath him and remained crouching to prevent Porus from falling from a height and damaging his body even more.

[38] G   Their hounds used to accompany the people of Hyrcania and Magnesia to war, and in fact these allies were an advantage and a help to them. An Athenian took with him a dog as fellow-soldier to the battle of Marathon, and both are figured in a painting in the Stoa Poecile, ** nor was the dog denied honour but received the reward of the danger it had undergone in being seen among the companions of Cynaegeirus, ** Epizelus, and Callimachus. They and the dog were painted by Micon, ** though some say it was not his work but that of Polygnotus ** of Thasos.

[39] G   Those who maintain that hinds do not grow horns have no regard for witnesses to the contrary, none for Sophocles who says

' And down from the steep crags came roaming an antlered hind ' [fr. 89 P] ;

and again

' Lifting its nostrils ... and the points of its antlers {the hind) moved on in peace ' [ib. ] .

This is what the son of Sophillus wrote in his Aleadae. And Euripides in his Iphigenia ** says

' But I will place in the very hands of the Achaeans an antlered hind, which they will slay and boast they have slain your daughter' [fr. 857 N ] .

And the same Euripides says in his Temenidae that the ' Labour ' of Heracles ** had horns, in the following verses:

' And he came in quest of the golden-horned deer, braving one fearful task in his mighty labours, over mountain haunts to meadows untrodden, and to groves where flocks graze' [fr. 740 N ] .

And the Theban minstrel ** in one of his Epinician odes sings thus:

' Necessity laid upon him by Eurystheus through his father urged him on to fetch the hind with the golden horns ' [Pind. 0l. 3. 28 ] . **

And Anacreon says of the hind

' Even as a new-born fawn unweaned, which, when forsaken by its horned mother in the forest, is affrighted ' [fr. 39 D ] .

Those who falsify the reading and go so far as to say that we should write ἐροέσσης (for κεροέσσης) are soundly refuted by Aristophanes of Byzantium; and I am convinced by his refutation. **

[40] G   Now here are further instances afforded by dogs of loyalty unsurpassable. When Polus ** the tragic actor died and his body was burning, the dog which he had kept sprang on to the pyre and was burned to death along with him. When the body of Mentor ** was burning, his Eretrian hounds of their own accord were burned to death and shared his end. Theodoras, ** an excellent harp-player, was placed in the coffin by his relatives, and his Maltese lap-dog threw itself into the receptacle and was buried along with him. And I have heard that there is a race of beings in Ethiopia among whom a dog is king, and they obey his wishes: when he whimpers they know that he is in a good temper, but when he barks they understand that he is angry. If Hermippus is in anyone's view a competent authority, he should carry conviction from having cited Aristocreon as a witness to his story. This has not escaped my notice and it was opportune that I remembered it.

[41] G   Lacydes the peripatetic philosopher ** possessed a remarkable goose. At any rate it was deeply devoted to its keeper: when he went for a walk, it went too; when he sat down, it would remain still and would not leave him for a moment. And when it died Lacydes gave it a most costly funeral as though he were burying a son or a brother. And Pyrrhus of Epirus had an elephant which was so fond of its master that when Pyrrhus was killed at Argos, ** though its driver had fallen off, it would not halt and remain still until it had rescued him from the hands of the enemy and had brought him back to his friends.

[42] G   Thales of Miletus ** repaid the malice of a mule which he detected with great subtlety. A mule was carrying a load of salt and once, when crossing a river, by accident stumbled and was upset. Consequently the salt was soaked and melted, and the mule was delighted to be eased of its burden. So the Mule realising the difference between labour and relaxation took a lesson for the future from its accident and deliberately contrived what before it had unwillingly undergone. It was impossible for the muleteer to drive it by any other road away from the river. So when Thales heard the man's explanation, he thought that he must contrive to punish the mule for its malice and ordered the man to load it with sponges and wool on top of the salt. But the mule all unaware of the plot stumbled as usual, and having saturated its burden with water, realised that its trick was turned to its own undoing; so after that it made the crossing without disturbance and kept control of its legs and preserved the salt undamaged.

[43] G   I learn that at Antioch in Syria there was a tame elephant and that as it went to its feeding- grounds it used to take great pleasure in the sight of a woman who sold garlands, and would stand close by her and clean her face with its trunk. Accordingly the woman used to hang out as a bait to charm it a garland woven of the season's flowers, and every day it was the elephant's practice to accept, and hers to offer it. In course of time the woman departed this life, and the elephant, missing its customary fare and not seeing the woman of its desire, grew savage like a lover who has lost his loved one. And the creature that till then had been of the gentlest was inflamed with passion like men who are overwhelmed with excess of grief and driven out of their senses.

[44] G   Elephants do obeisance to the rising sun by lifting their trunks like hands to face its beams, and that, you see, is why they are beloved of the god.

Let Ptolemy Philopator be a trustworthy witness to the fact. With the aid of the god he overcame Antiochus, ** and in sacrificing for his victory and to propitiate the Sun he not only offered sacrifices on a magnificent scale but even went so far as to offer four of the very largest elephants as victims, paying homage, as he supposed, to the god by this very sacrifice. But a vision in his sleep troubled him: the god seemed to threaten him for this unusual and strange offering. And he in his fear caused four elephants to be made of bronze and offered them to the god in place of those he had slaughtered, hoping to placate him and to ensure his favour. Elephants for their part worship the gods, whereas mankind is in doubt whether in fact there are gods, and, if there are, whether they take thought for us.

[45] G   (i). The Priests of Egypt do not purify themselves with water of every kind, nor even with such water as they may chance upon, but only with that from which they believe an Ibis has drunk. For they know full well that this bird would never drink water that was dirty or that had been tainted with any drugs; for they believe that the bird possesses a certain prophetic faculty, seeing that it is sacred.

(ii). I learn that unwounded elephants pick spears and javelins out of those that have been wounded, with caution, just as though they understood the practice of surgery and had acquired skill in these matters.

(iii). It seems that people in olden times paid regard even to brute beasts in the following way. Pyrrhus of Epirus delighted to be called ' the eagle,' and Antiochus, so it is said, to be called ' the Hawk.' ** I have mentioned these cases together, different though they are; an intelligent man will find them worth knowing.

[46] G   Mithridates of Pontus ** when asleep was unwilling to entrust his own safety to weapons and spearmen, and for that reason he kept as bodyguard a bull, a horse, and a stag that had been tamed. Accordingly these animals guarded him while he slept, and if ever anyone approached they at once perceived it by his breathing. And they would wake the King, the bull by bellowing, the horse by neighing, and the stag by bleating.

[47] G   The young offspring of wild animals have different appellations, and the majority at any rate have two names. The young of lions, for instance, are called σκύμνοι and λεοντιδεῖς, as Aristophanes of Byzantium testifies; and of leopards, σκύμνοι and ἄρκηλοι, although there are those who assert that ἄρκηλοι are a different kind of leopard. But the young of jackals are habitually called σκύμνοι only; and the same with tigers and ants ** and panthers. And it appears that the young of lynxes are similarly spoken of; at any rate in the Dithyrambs, as they are called, of Lasus we find the young of a lynx spoken of in this way. We hear too of the σκύμνοι and also of the πιθηκιδεῖς of monkeys, and of the πῶλοι of antelopes, ' And I should not be surprised if we heard of the πῶλοι of gazelles also ' says the same Aristophanes. ' But the young of dogs and wolves would be called σκύμνοι ' he says. And young wolves are in fact also called λυκιδεῖς, whereas a full-grown wolf of the largest size would be called μονόλυκος. The young of hares are λαγιδεῖς, but a fully grown hare poets like to call πτῶξ; the Spartans, ταχίνας. The young of foxes are called ἀλωπεκιδεῖς, while their mother is called κερδώ and σκαφώρη and σκινδαφός. Men call the young of wild swine μολόβρια, and you may hear Hipponax in some passage [fr. 68 D] speaking of an actual boar as μολοβρίτης. And there are certain pigs that are called μονίαι. People habitually call gazelles ζόρκες and πρόκες. And the young of porcupines and similar creatures are called ὄβρια; the word is mentioned by Euripides in his Peliades [fr. 616 N] and by Aeschylus in his Agamemnon ** and his Dictyulci [fr. 48 N ] . But the young of birds and of snakes and of crocodiles are called ψάκαλοι by some, among whom are the people of Thessaly. And people call little new-hatched birds ὀρτάλιχοι, and the young of chickens ἀλεκτοριδεῖς; and again they speak of χηνιδεῖς and χηναλωπεκιδεῖς and form words like them on the same principle. But Achaeus the tragic poet called the young of the swallow μόσχος [fr. 47 N] .

[48] G   That memory is an attribute even of animals, and that this is a characteristic acquired without the system and science of mnemonics which certain wonder-workers claim to have invented, the following facts demonstrate. One Androcles by name, who happened to be a slave in the household of a Roman senator, ran away from his master after committing some offence, the nature and extent of which I am unable to state. Well, he arrived in Libya and was for avoiding towns and, as the saying is, ' marked their places only by the stars ' ** and went on into the desert. And being parched by the excessive and fiery heat of the sun, he was glad to take refuge and to rest under a caverned rock. This rock, it seems, was the lair of a lion. Now the lion returned from hunting, injured from having been pierced with a sharp stake, and when it encountered the young man it looked at him in a gentle manner and began to fawn upon him, extending its paw and imploring him as best it could to have the stake plucked out. Androcles at first shrank back. But when he saw that the beast was in gentle mood, and realised what was the matter with its paw, he extracted what was hurting it and rid the lion of its pain. The lion therefore in joy at being healed paid him his fee by treating him as its guest and friend, and shared with him the spoils of its chase. And while the lion ate its food raw, as is the custom of lions, Androcles used to cook his for himself. And they enjoyed a common table each as was his nature. And this was how Androcles lived for the space of three years. After a time, as his hair grew to an excessive length and he was troubled with a violent itching, he forsook the lion and trusted himself to fortune. Then as he was wandering about he was caught, questioned as to whom he belonged to, and sent bound to his master in Rome. The master punished his servant for the injury he had done him and he was condemned to be given to the wild beasts to eat. It chanced that the same Libyan lion had also been caught and was let loose in the arena together with the young man destined for death, him who had shared that very lion's home and dwelling. The man for his part did not know the lion again, but the animal immediately recognised the man, fawned upon him, and letting its whole body sink down, threw itself at his feet. And at last Androcles recognised his host and throwing his arms round it, greeted it like a comrade returned after absence. But as he was thought to be a magician; a leopard also was let loose upon him. And when it rushed at Androcles the lion came to the rescue of its former healer and remembering how they used to feed together, tore the leopard to pieces. The spectators, as was natural, were dumbfounded, and the man who was giving the shows summoned Androcles and learnt the whole story. And the report spread through the multitude, and the populace on learning the truth shouted aloud that both man and lion must be set free. Memory is indeed one of the attributes of animals.

And there is a corresponding story to the same effect as the above . . . in Samos in front of Dionysus of the Open Mouth . . .  , ** might be thought to know the lair also. For this too he must consult Eratosthenes, Euphorion, and others who narrate it.

Book 8



FOOTNOTES


(1)    Paeonia, mountainous district north of Macedonia. The animal was the Aurochs, now extinct.    

(2)    Generally considered to be the Gnu.    

(3)    Lobeck, Path. 476 . ὀξοβαρές  = graveolens.    

(4)     It looks as if Aelian thought the mastic tree, Pistacia lentiscus, which may be anything up to 20 ft. high, was a parasite like ivy and clung to (περιπεφυκυῖαν) larger trees.    

(5)    The treatise de Signis tempestatum, on which this section appears to be based and which was formerly ascribed to Aristotle, is now counted among the writings of Theophrastus. See vol. 2 of Sir A. F. Hort's Theophrastus (Loeb Class. Lib.).    

(6)    Or ' hover like hawks ' ? (Hort ad loc.)    

(7)    Hipparchus of Nicaea, famous astronomer, 2nd century B.C.    

(8)    No 'Tyrant' of this name is known to have lived in the 2nd century B.C.    

(9)    Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, 5th cent. B.C., taught that physical phenomena were due to natural causes. His doctrines were regarded as impious and he was forced to quit Athens.    

(10)    I.e. Horus; cp. NA 10.14.    

(11)    The sentence appears pointless and perhaps there is a lacuna at the end.    

(12)    The text is uncertain, and the translation provisional.    

(13)    But see NA 2.42.    

(14)    This seems to be the Galba who was Roman Emperor for six months, A.D. 68, and was murdered by his soldiers. Cp. Suet. Galba 20. 2 and Mooney's note ad loc.    

(15)     The proverb took its origin from Aesop's fable (223, ed. Chambry) of the hungry wolf who overhears a mother threatening to give her child to the wolf unless it stops crying.   Later she says to the child, 'If the wolf comes we will kill it.'   See Leutsch, Paroemiog. Gr. 1. 273; 2. 121, 510; Babrius 16.    

(16)    Cyrus the First was the son of Cambyses.    

(17)    Polycrates, Tyrant of Samos, fell victim to a plot by the Persian satrap Oroetes, c. 522 B.C.    

(18)    See 6.49.    

(19)    Smaragdus, the Egyptian Emerald Mine, lay east of the Nile near the Red Sea, between Berenice and the mountain range of Lepte. See Geogr. Jl 16 (1900) 537.    

(20)    No comedy of Menander of the name of Παννυχίς(-ίδες) is known; the reference is presumably general.    

(21)    Κοροκόττας : ' perhaps hyena ' (L-S); 0. Keller (Antike Tierwelt 1. 152) says that the word is of Libyan origin and denotes the speckled Libyan hyena, Hyaena crocuta, as distinct from the common striped species.    

(22)    Juba I, King of Numidia (not Mauretania), 1st cent. B.C., took the side of Pompey in the Civil War; after the battle of Thapsus he committed suicide.    

(23)    See 3.42.    

(24)    Our texts of Euripides have οἵους ἐνόπτρων ... ἐπιστάτας.    

(25)    Themistocles. Cp. Hdt. 7. 179.    

(26)    Icarius was instructed by Dionysus in the cultivation of the vine. Wine and its possible effects were till then unknown.    

(27)    See 6.25 fin.    

(28)    Homer Od. 17. 291; cp. NA 4. 40.    

(29)    This is a slip; the man came from Colophon.    

(30)    Thompson, Gk. fishes, s.v. καρκίνος, ' they suggest the little sand-hoppers,' which leap about but cannot fly.    

(31)    Not certainly identified; thought by some to be an annelid worm, e.g. Nereis, but for the fact that this does not sting.    

(32)    At the crossing of the Hydaspes (mod. Jhelum), 327 B.C.    

(33)    Porus survived to become the ally of Alexander.    

(34)    ' Painted Porch ' : a series of colonnades surrounding the Agora at Athens, decorated with paintings of episodes from the Persian Wars.    

(35)    Brother of the poet Aeschylus, famed for his bravery at Marathon, 490 B.C.   Epizelus (or Polyzelus) blinded at Marathon by a remarkable vision; see Hdt. 6. 117.   Callimachus, Athenian Polemarch, distinguished himself at Marathon and died there in a heroic attack on the Persian fleet.    

(36)    Athenian painter and sculptor, 5th century B.C., contemporary of Polygnotus; both artists painted frescoes in the Stoa Poecile.    

(37)    Polygnotus of Thasos, lived and worked at Athens, second half of 5th century B.C. One of the foremost of Greek painters.    

(38)    In neither of the extant plays on Iphigenia.    

(39)    The third ' Labour ' was to capture the Arcadian stag.    

(40)    Pindar.    

(41)    In consequence of an oath of his father Zeus, Heracles was forced to submit to the will of Eurystheus; see Hom. Il. 19. 95 ff. Ridgeway (Early age of Greece, 1. 360) considered the ' horned doe ' to be the reindeer of north Asia and Europe; it is the only kind of deer in which the female possesses horns.    

(42)    In all the examples except that from Anacreon the feminine can, as often, be taken as sexless = a deer.    

(43)    Polus, of Athens, 5th century B.C. He excelled in Sophoclean parts.    

(44)    Perhaps Mentor of Rhodes, 4th century B.C., mercenary soldier, later general, in the Persian army.    

(45)    No harpist of this name is known. The 'Theodoras' mentioned in Ael. VH 12. 17 was a piper, c. 300 B.C.    

(46)    Head of the 'Middle Academy,' c. 240-215 B.C.; his copious writings have perished. The above story may well be spiteful gossip.    

(47)    Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, struck on the head by a tile and killed while fighting at Argos, 272 B.C.    

(48)    Thales, 7th/6th century B.C., one of the Seven Sages of Greece, philosopher and mathematician.    

(49)    At the battle of Raphia , 217 B.C.    

(50)    Younger son of Antiochus I, whom he succeeded 245 B.C.; driven out of Asia Minor and killed in Egypt 227 B.C.   Justin. 27. 2 : 'Hierax' est cognominatus, quia non hominis sed accipitris ritu in alienis diripiendis vitarn sectaretur.    

(51)    Mithridates VI, Eupator, 2nd/1st century B.C., Rome's most formidable adversary in the East; defeated at length by Pompey, 65 B.C.    

(52)    Perhaps μύρμηξ is here to be interpreted as ' marmot'; see Hdt. 3. 102 with the commentators ad loc.    

(53)    At Ag. 143 Aesch. wrote ὀβρικάλοισι, it was therefore in the Dictyulci, that he must have written ὅβρια.    

(54)    Cp. 2.7.    

(55)    The passage is corrupt. The reference is to the story recorded by Pliny (HN 8. 57) of one Elpis of Samos who relieved a suffering lion, of how it showed its gratitude, and how Elpis dedicated a temple to Dionysus who had saved him.    




CONTENTS OF THIS BOOK

7.1 The cows of Susa
7.2 A home for aged elephants
7.3 The Aurochs
7.4 The bull, its docility
7.5 The 'Catoblepon'
7.6 The elephant when hunted
7.7 Birds as weather-prophets
7.8 Animals as weather-prophets
7.9 The hawk in Egypt
7.10 The dog's devotion to its master; Galba's dog
7.11 Octopus and eagle
7.12 The Women of Paeonia. A pregnant hound
7.13 Dog reveals sacrilege
7.14 The goat cures cataract
7.15 Elephants, their mutual devotion. Laenilla and her sons
7.16 Eagle and tortoise
7.17 Ceryl and Halcyon
7.18 The raven
7.19 Animal peculiarities
7.20 Hungry wolves
7.21 Monkey and baby
7.22 The Hyena. The 'Corocottas'
7.23 A Lion's vengeance
7.24 The crab : various species
7.25 Lap-dog reveals adulterer
7.26 The goat and human spittle
7.27 The sheep. Winds promote fertility
7.28 Icarius and the hound of Erigone
7.29 A faithful hound
7.30 The 'Flying crab'
7.31 The Hermit crab
7.32 The King Whelk
7.33 The Sea-urchin
7.34 The Purple Shellfish
7.35 The 'Scolopendra' of the sea
7.36 A stampede of elephants
7.37 Porus and his elephant
7.38 The dog as companion
7.39 A horned Hind
7.40 The dog's devotion to its master. Dog as king
7.41 Lacydes and his Goose. Pyrrhus and his elephant
7.42 Thales and his Mule
7.43 Elephant and flower-seller
7.44 The elephant a sun-worshipper
7.45 (i) Egyptian priests and their ablutions (ii) The elephant as surgeon (iii) Nicknames
7.46 Mithridates, his bodyguard
7.47 Names for the young of Animals
7.48 Androcles and the lion



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