Chapter CXXI: Conclusion: Italy

Having now treated of all the works of Nature, let me end with a word about our native land. Throughout the whole earth, wherever the vault of heaven extends, there is no country so beautiful, or which, for the productions of Nature, merits so high a rank as Italy, that ruler and second parent of the world; recommended as she is by her men, her women, her generals, her soldiers, her slaves, her superiority in the arts, and the illustrious examples of genius which she has produced. Her situation, too, is equally in her favor; the salubrity and mildness of her climate; the easy access which she offers to all nations; her coasts indented with so many harbors; the propitious breezes that ever prevail on her shores; advantages, all of them, due to her situation, lying as she does, midway between the East and the West. Add to this, the abundant supply of her waters, the salubrity of her groves, the repeated intersections of her mountain ranges, the comparative innocuousness of her wild animals, the fertility of her soil, and the singular richness of her pastures. In short, whatever there is that can minister comfort to the life of man is nowhere else to be found in greater perfection. The cereals, wine, oil, wool, flax, tissues, and oxen--the finest are here. No horses are preferred to those of Italy for the course; while in mines of gold, silver, copper, and iron, Italy is held inferior to no country whatsoever. Ever teeming with these treasures, she lavishes upon us all her bounties of land and sea.

Hail to thee, Nature, thou parent of all things! and do thou deign to show thy favor unto me, who, alone of all the citizens of Rome, have, in thy every department, thus made known thy praise.

FOOTNOTES

[1]The Romans carried the art of short-hand to its highest perfection,
as appears from the following epigram of Martial:

"_Currant verba licet, manus est velocius illis;
Nondum lingua suum, dextra peregit opus._"
xiv. 208.

"Swift though the words, (the pen still swifter sped)
The hand has finished, ere the tongue has said."

[2]It seems probable that this was the first eruption of Mount Vesuvius,
at least of any consequence. Dio, indeed, and other ancient authors
speak of it as burning before; but still they describe it as covered
with trees and vines, so that the eruptions must have been
inconsiderable.

[3]The Stoic and Epicurean philosophers held that the world would
eventually be destroyed by fire, and all things would fall into
original chaos, not excepting even the national gods themselves from
the destruction of this general conflagration.

[4]The allusion, otherwise obscure, is to the fact that some friends of
Catullus had filched a set of table-napkins, which had been given to
him by Veranius and Fabius, and substituted others in their place.

[5]"Sesculysses" and "Flextabula;" literally, Ulysses and a Half, and
Bend-table.

[6]Pliny the younger, in one of his letters (iii. 5), where he
enumerates all his uncle's publications, informs us, that he wrote
"a piece of criticism in eight books, concerning ambiguity of
expression." Melmoth's Pliny, i. 136.

[7]His real name was Tyrtamus, but in consequence of the beauty of his
style, he acquired the appellation by which he is generally known
from the words {theios phrasis}. Cicero refers to him in Brutus,
121; Orator, 17; and on various other occasions.

[8]"Spartum;" this plant was used to make bands for the vines and cables
for ships.

[9]The term _Mundus_ is used by Pliny, sometimes to mean _the earth_ and
its immediate appendages, the visible solar system; and at other
times _the universe_; while in some instances it is used in a rather
vague manner, without any distinct reference to either one or other
of the above designations. I have usually translated it by the term
_world_, as approaching nearest to the sense of the original.

[10]The astronomy of our author is derived mainly from Aristotle.

[11]This theory of the "music of the spheres" was maintained by
Pythagoras, but was derided by Aristotle.

[12]The letter {D}, in the constellation of the triangle; but except in
this one case, the constellations have no visible resemblance to the
objects of which they bear the name.

[13]Iliad, iii. 277, and Od. xii. 323.

[14]The author here alludes to the figures of the Egyptian deities that
were engraved on rings.

[15]His specific office was to execute vengeance on the impious.

[16]According to the most approved modern chronology, the middle of the
109th olympiad corresponds to the 211th year of the City, or 542
B.C.

[17]Nothing is known respecting the nature of these instruments.

[18]This is said by Livy to have occurred to Servius Tullius while he
was a child; lib. i. cap. 39; and by Virgil to Ascanius, Æn. ii.
632-5.

[19]By adding its deified emperors to the number of its divinities.

[20]Probably these mountains were a western branch of the Ural chain.

[21]From the Greek {pterophoros}, "wing-bearing" or "feather-bearing."

[22]This legendary race was said to dwell in the regions beyond Boreas,
or the northern wind, which issued from the Riphæn mountains, the
name of which was derived from {ripai} or "hurricanes" issuing from
a cavern, and which these heights warded off from the Hyperboreans
and sent to more southern nations. Hence they never felt the
northern blasts, and enjoyed a life of supreme happiness and
undisturbed repose. "Here," says Humboldt, "are the first views of a
natural science which explains the distribution of heat and the
difference of climates by local causes--by the direction of the
winds--the proximity of the sun, and the action of a moist or saline
principle."

[23]Pindar says, in the "Pythia," x. 56, "The Muse is no stranger to
their manners. The dances of girls and the sweet melody of the lyre
and pipe resound on every side, and wreathing their locks with the
glistening bay, they feast joyously. For this sacred race there is
no doom of sickness or of disease; but they live apart from toil and
battles, undisturbed by the exacting Nemesis."

[24]Pomponius Mela, who asserts that the sun rises here at the vernal
and sets at the autumnal equinox, is right in his position, and
Pliny is incorrect.

[25]Britain was spoken of by some of the Greek writers as superior to
all other islands in the world. Dionysius, in his Periegesis, says,
"that no other islands whatsoever can claim equality with those of
Britain."

[26]Said to have been so called from the whiteness of its cliffs
opposite the coast of Gaul.

[27]The distance here given by Pliny is far too great, the shortest
distance, from Dover to Calais, being 21 miles.

[28]Probably the Grampian range is here referred to.

[29]The people of South Wales.

[30]The Orkney Islands.

[31]Probably the islands now known as the Shetlands.

[32]The opinions as to the identity of ancient Thule have been numerous
in the extreme. The common, and apparently the best founded opinion,
is that Thule is the island of Iceland.

[33]Like others of the ancient writers, Pliny falls into the error of
considering Atlas, not as an extensive chain of mountains, but as an
isolated mountain, surrounded by sands. With reference to its
height, the whole range declines considerably from west to east; the
highest summits in Morocco reaching to nearly 13,000 feet, in Tunis
not 5000.

[34]It is now universally agreed among the learned that the island of
Taprobana is the modern Ceylon.

[35]A general term, probably, for the great peninsula of India, below
the Ganges.

[36]It is probable that the passage here referred to is from Cape
Comorin to Ceylon, and not from Cape Ramanan Cor, the nearest part
of the continent.

[37]Possibly the word "Radijah," or "Rajah," denoting the rank which he
held, may have been here taken by Pliny for his name.

[38]Probably Cape Ramanan Cor, which is in reality the nearest point to
the coast of Ceylon.

[39]He alludes to coral reefs, no doubt.

[40]The Romans evidently misunderstood their language, for, as Gosselin
remarks, it is quite impossible that the Pleiades should be a
constellation unknown at that time to the people of Ceylon; but, on
the other hand, it would be equally true that the Great Bear was
concealed from them.

[41]This also originated in misapprehension of their language on the
part of the Romans.

[42]In Ceylon seven months in the year the shadows fell to the north,
and during the remaining five to the south.

[43]The Seræ here spoken of must not be taken for the Seres or supposed
Chinese.

[44]Or "Bacchus." This means that he wears a long robe with a train;
much like the dress, in fact, which was worn on the stage by tragic
actors.

[45]We may hence conclude, that the practice of swathing young infants
in tight bandages prevailed at Rome, in the time of Pliny, as it
still does in France.

[46]This reminds us of the terms of the riddle proposed to Oedipus by
the Sphinx: "What being is that, which, with four feet, has two feet
and three feet, and only one voice; but its feet vary, and when it
has most it is weakest?" to which he answered, That it is man, who
is a quadruped in childhood, two-footed in manhood, and moving with
the aid of a staff in old age.

[47]This is contrary to facts now well known.

[48]It was this feeling that prompted the common saying among the
ancients, "Homo homini lupus"--"Man to man is a wolf;" and most true
it is, that

"Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn."

[49]The figures of the Gryphons or Griffins are found not uncommonly on
the friezes and walls at Pompeii. In the East, where there were no
safe places of deposit for money, it was the custom to bury it in
the earth; hence, for the purpose of scaring depredators, the story
was carefully circulated that hidden treasures were guarded by
serpents and dragons. There can be little doubt that these stories,
on arriving in the western world, combined with the knowledge of the
existence of gold in the Uralian chain and other mountains of the
East, gave rise to the stories of the Griffins and the Arimaspi. It
has been suggested that the Arimaspi were no other than the modern
Tsheremis, who dwelt on the left bank of the Middle Volga, not far
from the gold districts of the Uralian range. It has been
conjectured, that the fabulous tales of the combats of the Arimaspi
with the Griffins, were invented by the neighboring tribes of the
Essedones, who were anxious to throw a mystery over the origin of
the gold, that they might preserve the traffic in their own hands.
The Altai Mountains, in the north of Asia, contain many gold mines,
which are still worked, as well as traces of former workings.

[50]We have an account of the Arimaspi, and of Aristeas, in Herodotus,
B. iv.

[51]One of the pleasures promised to the Gothic warriors, in the
paradise of Odin, was to drink out of the skulls of their enemies.

[52]It is well known that nothing of this kind was ever observed in any
human eye.

[53]In all ages, it has been a prevalent superstition, that those
endowed with magical qualities will not sink in water, encouraged,
no doubt, by the cunning of those who might wish to make the charge
a means of wreaking their vengeance. If they sank, they were to be
deemed innocent, but if they floated, they were deemed guilty, and
handed over to the strong arm of the law.

[54]This remark is not contained in any of the works of Cicero now
extant.

[55]Cuvier observes, that these people probably exercise some deception,
analogous to that practised by a Spaniard, who exhibited himself in
Paris, and professed to be incombustible, but who, eventually, was
the dupe of his own quackery, and paid the penalty with his life.

[56]Plutarch relates these supposed facts in his life of Pyrrhus; they
remind us of the supposed efficacy of the royal touch in curing the
disease termed the "King's evil."

[57]Popularly known as the "banyan tree."

[58]The _bambos arundinacea_, or bamboo cane, is a reed or plant of the
grass kind, which frequently grows to the height of the tallest
trees. The stem is hollow, and the parts of it between the joints
are used by the natives to form their canoes. We have an account of
them in Herodotus, B. iii.

[59]It does not appear that the stature of the Indians exceeds that of
the inhabitants of the temperate zones.

[60]This account probably originated in a species of monkey generally
considered to be the baboon, with a projecting muzzle, called, from
this circumstance, "cynocephalus," or the "Dog's head." This account
of the cynocephali is repeated by Aulus Gellius. It is a pity that
Pliny should have adopted so many ridiculous fables, on the doubtful
authority of Ctesias.

[61]These are the great apes, which are found in some of the Oriental
islands. We may suppose that this description is taken from some
incorrect account of a large kind of ape; but it seems impossible to
refer it to any particular species.

[62]Can these be the Chinese?

[63]Either silk or cotton.

[64]Cuvier remarks, that these accounts are not capable of any
explanation, being mere fables.

[65]Iliad, B. iii. l. 3-6. Their story is also referred to by Ovid and
Juvenal.

[66]Pliny, elsewhere, speaks of the use of vipers' flesh as an article
of diet, and gives some minute directions for its preparation. It
was supposed to be peculiarly nutritive and restorative, and it has
been prescribed for the same purpose by modern physicians. There is
a medal in existence, probably struck by the Emperor Commodus, in
order to commemorate the benefit which he was supposed to have
derived from the use of the flesh of vipers.

[67]Cuvier remarks that this story must have been originally told with
reference to the race of large apes.

[68]The dog-faced ape--the baboon.

[69]The gladiators called Samnites, were armed with the peculiar
"scutum," or oblong shield, used by the Samnites, a greave on the
left leg, a sponger on the breast, and a helmet with a crest.

[70]Philippides must have gone one hundred and forty-two miles in two
days, and the other one hundred and fifty miles in one day.

[71]This statement must have been in some of his lost works.

[72]His works in ivory were said to have been so small, that they could
scarcely be seen without placing them on a black surface.

[73]Or Bacchus.--"Father Liber" is the name always given to him by
Pliny.

[74]"Magnus." Plutarch states, that, on his return from Africa, Sylla
saluted him with the name of "Magnus," which surname he ever
afterwards retained. He also says that the law did not allow a
triumph to be granted to any one who was not either consul or
prætor.

[75]When a Roman overcame an enemy with whom he had been personally
engaged, he took possession of some part of his armor and dress,
which might bear testimony to the victory; this was termed the
"spolium." The words "hasta pura," or victor's spear, signify a
lance without an iron head. We are told that it was given to him who
gained the first victory in a battle; it was also regarded as an
emblem of supreme power, and as a mark of the authority which one
nation claimed over another.

[76]Among the Jews and other nations of antiquity, it was considered an
essential point for the priests to be without blemish, perfect and
free from disease.

[77]Some of these are given by Valerius Maximus. It is very doubtful,
however, if Greece did not greatly excel Rome in this respect.

[78]This remark is not found in any of Cæsar's works now extant.

[79]Cuvier remarks, that this account of the elephant's superior
intelligence is exaggerated, it being no greater than that of the
dog, if, indeed, equal to it. The opinion may perhaps have arisen
from the dexterity with which the animal uses its trunk; but this is
to be ascribed not to its own intelligence, but to the mechanical
construction of the part. The Indians, from whom we presume that
Pliny derived his account, have always regarded the elephant with a
kind of superstitious veneration.

[80]Plutarch informs us, that Pompey had resolved to have his chariot
drawn by four elephants, but, finding the gate too narrow, he was
obliged to use horses.

[81]However ill adapted the elephant may appear, from its size and form,
for this feat, we have the testimony of Seneca, Suetonius, Dion
Cassius, and Ælian, to the truth of the fact. Suetonius tells us
that a horseman ascended a tight rope on an elephant's back.

[82]Plutarch, in his treatise on the Shrewdness of Animals, tells us
that this wonderful circumstance happened at Rome. But it would be
curious to know in what way the elephant showed that he was
"conning" over his lesson.

[83]Ælian informs us, that he had seen an elephant write Latin
characters. Hardouin remarks, that the Greek would be {Autos egô tad
egrapsa, laphyra te Kelta anethêka}.

[84]Probably the great quantity of fossil ivory which has been found may
have given rise to this tale.

[85]Tables and bedsteads were not only covered or veneered with ivory
among the Romans, but, in the later times, made of the solid
material, as we learn from Ælian and Athenæus.

[86]It is scarcely necessary to remark, that these statements respecting
the sagacity of the elephant in connection with their teeth, are
without foundation.

[87]There are coins extant struck to commemorate this victory, in which
there is the figure of an elephant.

[88]This remark is incorrect; when the water is sufficiently deep, they
swim with ease; and if the end of the trunk remains exposed to the
atmosphere, they can dive below the surface, or swim with the body
immersed.

[89]Although these stories of the generosity and clemency of the lion
are in a great measure fabulous, still the accounts of those who
have had the best opportunity of becoming acquainted with the
character of different animals, agree in ascribing to the lion less
ferocity and brutality, in proportion to its size and strength, than
to other animals of the same family.

[90]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 ever been imported into Europe or America. The
Giraffe is figured in the mosaic at Præneste and, under it, is
inscribed its name--nabi. It has been found that the giraffe is
unable to bear the winters of Europe and the United States.

[91]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.

[92]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 Nineveh and Persepolis.

[93]This account of the basilisk's eye, like that of the catoblepas, is
entirely devoid of foundation.

[94]Hence the proverbial expression applied to a person who is suddenly
silent upon the entrance of another; "Lupus est tibi visus."--"You
have seen a wolf."

[95]This literally means "changing the skin;" it was applied by some
ancient medical writers to a peculiar form of insanity, where the
patient conceives himself changed into a wolf.

[96]It is rather curious to find Pliny censuring others for _credulity_;
the fact is he loses no opportunity of a hit at the Greeks, to whom,
after all, he is greatly indebted.

[97]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."

[98]The tongue of the crocodile is flat, and adheres to the lower jaw,
so as to be incapable of motion.

[99]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 the trochilus to enter its mouth for this purpose
also.

[100]Although this account is sanctioned by all the ancient naturalists,
it is called in question by Cuvier and other modern writers.

[101]The animal here referred to was not the dolphin but the Squalus
centrina, or spinax of Linnæus.

[102]Cuvier says that no antlers are added after the eighth year.

[103]This is mentioned by Aristotle, but it is quite unfounded. Without
doubt the story arose from the fact that the stag in September rubs
the velvet off his horns against the trees, until it hangs in
strings from the antlers. These are at first greenish in color, then
brown as they grow dry and fall off.

[104]Buffon remarks, such tales are without foundation, the life of the
stag being not more than thirty or forty years.

[105]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.

[106]This is another of the erroneous opinions respecting the chameleon,
which has been very generally adopted. It forms the basis of
Merrick's poem of the Chameleon. The animal assumes various shades
or tints, but the changes depend upon internal or constitutional
causes, not upon any external object.

[107]This is, of course, without foundation, the honey being the sole
object sought.

[108]We learn from Strabo, Ind. Hist. B. xv., that, in catching the
monkey, the hunters took advantage of the propensity of these
animals to imitate any action they see performed. "Two modes," he
says, "are employed in taking this animal, as by nature it is taught
to imitate every action, and to take to flight by climbing up trees.
When the hunters see an ape sitting on a tree, they place within
sight of it a dish full of water, with which they rub their eyes;
and then slyly substituting another in its place, full of bird-lime,
retire and keep upon the watch. The animal comes down from the tree,
and rubs its eyes with the bird-lime, in consequence of which the
eyelids stick together, and it is unable to escape." Ælian also
says, Hist. Anim. B. xvii. c. 25, that the hunters pretend to put on
their shoes, and then substitute, in their place, shoes of lead; the
animal attempts to imitate them, and, the shoes being so contrived,
when it has once got them on, it finds itself unable to take them
off, or to move, and is consequently taken.

[109]It is said that the Emperor Charles V. had a monkey that played
chess with him.

[110]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.

[111]We here find Pliny tripping, for he has previously said, that man
is the only animated being that sheds tears. In this Book, also, he
represents the lion as shedding tears.

[112]There were four parties or factions of the charioteers who were
named from the color of their dress.

[113]The famous Bologna sausages are made, it is said, of asses' flesh.

[114]This peculiarity in their mode of taking their food is mentioned by
Herodotus, who ascribed it to the extraordinary length of the horns.

[115]
{Kai rhêgea kala}
{Porphyr embaleein, storesai d' ephyperthe tapêtas.}

Odyssey, B. iv. l. 427. "And to throw on fair coverlets of purple,
and to lay carpets upon them."

[116]"I have macerated unbleached flax in vinegar saturated with salt,
and after compression have obtained a felt, with a power of
resistance quite comparable with that of the famous armor of Conrad
of Montferrat; for neither the point of a sword, nor even balls
discharged from fire-arms, were able to penetrate it." _Memoir on
the substance called Pilina, by Papadopoulo-Vretos._

[117]The "gausapa," or "gausapum," was a kind of thick cloth, very
woolly on one side, and used especially for covering tables and
beds, and making cloaks to keep out the wet and cold. The wealthier
Romans had it made of the finest wool, and usually of a purple
color. It seems also to have been sometimes made of linen, but still
with a rough surface.

[118]From {amphimalla}, "napped on both sides." They probably resemble
our baizes or druggets, or perhaps the modern blanket.

[119]About the time of Augustus, the Romans began to exchange the
"toga," which had previously been their ordinary garment, for the
more convenient "lacerna" and "pænula," which were less encumbered
with folds, and better adapted for the usual occupations of life.

[120]According to the commonly received account, Tanaquil was the wife
of Tarquinius Priscus, and a native of Etruria; when she removed to
Rome, and her husband became king, her name was changed to Caia
Cæcilia.

[121]The prætexta is described by Varro as a white toga, with a purple
band or border; it was worn by boys until their seventeenth year,
and by young women until their marriage.

[122]The trabea differed from the prætexta, in being ornamented with
stripes (trabes) of purple, whence its name.

[123]Helen is introduced, Iliad, B. iii. l. 125, weaving an embroidered
garment, in which were figured the battles of the Greeks and
Trojans. It was probably somewhat of the nature of modern tapestry.

[124]The first sum amounts to about $23,000, the latter to $115,000.

[125]These are all, of course, excessive exaggerations.

[126]Hardouin remarks, that the Basques of his day were in the habit of
fencing their gardens with the ribs of the whale, which sometimes
exceeded twenty feet in length; and Cuvier says, that at the present
time, the jaw-bone of the whale is used in Norway for the purpose of
making beams or posts for buildings.

[127]Hardouin, with excessive credulity, says that it is no fable, that
the nereids and tritons had a human face; and says that no less than
fifteen instances, ancient and modern, had been adduced, in proof
that such was the fact. He says that this was the belief of
Scaliger, and quotes the book of Aldrovandus on Monsters. But, as
Cuvier remarks, it is impossible to explain these stories of nereids
and tritons, on any other grounds than the fraudulent pretences of
those who have exhibited them, or asserted that they have seen them.
"It was only last year," he says, "that all London was resorting to
see a wonderful sight in what is commonly called a mermaid. I myself
had the opportunity of examining a very similar object: it was the
body of a child, in the mouth of which they had introduced the jaws
of a sparus, or 'gilt-head,' while for the legs was substituted the
body of a lizard." "The body of the London mermaid," he says, "was
that of an ape, and a fish attached to it supplied the place of the
hind legs."

[128]In his description of the dolphin Pliny has confused the
peculiarities of the seal, the porpoise, the flying-fish and the
squalus, with those of the dolphin.

[129]He implies that the dolphin knows that it is "simus," or
"flat-nosed," for which reason it is particularly fond of being
called "Simo," or "flat-nose," a piece of good taste and
intelligence remarkable even in a dolphin.

[130]Ovid tells the story of Arion more fully, and in beautiful
language, in the Fasti, B. ii. l. 92.

[131]According to Cuvier the fore-feet were here taken for horns, being
in the turtle long, narrow, and pointed.

[132]"Fremitu." From their lowing noise, the French have also called
these animals "veaux de mer," and we call them "sea-calves." Lopez
de Gomara, one of the more recent writers on Mexico, in his day,
gave an account of an Indian sea-calf, or manati, as it was called
by the natives, that had become quite tame, and answered readily to
its name; and although not very large, it was able to bear ten men
on its back. He also tells us of a much more extraordinary one,
which Aldrovandus says he himself had seen at Bologna, which would
give a cheer for the Christian princes when asked, but would refuse
to do so for the Turks.

[133]There are specimens of about 6000 kinds of fishes, in the Cabinet
du Roi in Paris.

[134]He means, that in consequence of the lucrative nature of this
fishery, it thence obtained the name of the "golden" horn.

[135]Seneca has two passages on this subject, which strongly bespeak the
barbarous tastes of the Romans. He says: "A mullet even, if just
caught, is thought little of, unless it is allowed to die in the
hand of your guest. They are carried about enclosed in globes of
glass, and their color is watched as they die--ever changing by the
struggles of death into various shades and hues." And again: "There
is nothing, you say, more beautiful than the colors of the dying
mullet; as it struggles and breathes forth its life, it is first
purple, and then a paleness gradually comes over it; and then,
placed as it is between life and death, an uncertain hue comes over
it."

[136]Seneca speaks of this cruel custom of pickling fish alive. "Other
fish, again, they kill in sauces, and pickle them alive. There are
some persons who look upon it as quite incredible that a fish should
be able to live underground. How much more so would it appear to
them, if they were to hear of a fish swimming in sauce, and that the
chief dish of the banquet was killed at the banquet, feeding the eye
before it does the gullet?"

[137]Juvenal, Sat. iv. l. 15, speaks of a mullet being bought for 6000
sesterces, a thousand for every pound, and Suetonius tells us that
in the reign of Tiberius three mullets were sold for 30,000
sesterces. It is in allusion to this kind of extravagance that
Juvenal says, in the same Satire, that it is not unlikely that the
fisherman could be bought as a slave for a smaller sum than the fish
itself. At the above rate, each of these mullets sold for nearly
$400 of our money.

[138]{Apo tou echein nêas.} "From holding back ships."

[139]This division of the bloodless fish, made first by Aristotle, into
the mollusca, testacea, and crustacea, has been followed by
naturalists almost down to the present day.

[140]Probably this is merely the reproduction of the story of the
nautilus with exaggerated details.

[141]It is now known, thanks to the research of Swammerdam, that the
black points at the extremity of the great horns of the land snail,
and at the base of them in the water snail, are eyes.

[142]All this theory is, of course, totally imaginary. The pearl itself
is nothing else but a diversion, so to speak, of the juices, whose
duty it is to line the interior of the shell, to thicken and so
amplify it; and consequently, the pearl is the result of some
malady. It is possible for them to be found in all shell-fish; but
they have no beauty in them, unless the interior of the shell, or,
as we call it, the mother-of-pearl, is lustrous and beautiful
itself. Hence the finest of them come from the east, and are
furnished by the kind of bivalve, called by Linnæus, "Mytilus
margaritiferus," which has the most beautiful mother-of-pearl in the
interior that is known. The parts of the Indian sea which are
mentioned by Pliny, are those in which the pearl oyster is still
found in the greatest abundance.

[143]Procopius tells a wonderful story in relation to this subject. He
says, that the sea-dogs are wonderful admirers of the pearl-fish,
and follow them out to sea; that when the sea-dogs are pressed by
hunger, they go in quest of prey, and then return to the shell-fish
and gaze upon it. A certain fisherman, having watched for the moment
when the shell-fish was deprived of the protection of its attendant
sea-dog, which was seeking its prey, seized the shell-fish, and made
for the shore. The sea-dog, however, was soon aware of the theft,
and making straight for the fisherman, seized him. Finding himself
thus caught, he made a last effort, and threw the pearl-fish on
shore, upon which he was immediately torn to pieces by its
protector.

[144]These alabaster boxes for unguents mentioned elsewhere by Pliny
were usually pear-shaped; and as they were held with difficulty in
the hand, on account of their extreme smoothness, they were called
{alabastra}, from {a}, "not," and {labysthai}, "to be held." Such
was the offer made to our Saviour, of an "alabaster box of ointment
of spikenard, very precious." Seneca says that the Roman matrons
were not satisfied unless they had two or three patrimonies
suspended from each ear.

[145]The pearls as fully bespoke the importance of the wearer, as the
lictor did of the magistrate whom he was preceding. The honor of
being escorted by one or two lictors, was usually granted to the
wives and other members of the imperial family.

[146]Tavernier speaks of a remarkable pearl, that was found at Catifa,
in Arabia (the fishery alluded to by Pliny), and which he bought for
the sum of $500,000, of our money. It is pear-shaped, the elenchus
of the ancients, regular, and without blemish. The diameter is .63
of an inch, at the largest part, and the length from two to three
inches. It is now in the possession of the Shah of Persia.

[147]The Roman consuls were clothed with the toga prætexta, the color of
which was Syrian purple. All children of free birth wore the
prætexta, edged with purple, and the purple laticlave or broad hem
of the senator's toga distinguished him from the eques, who wore a
toga with an angusticlave, or narrow hem.

[148]"Xerxen togatum," or "the Roman Xerxes," in allusion to Xerxes
cutting a canal through the Isthmus, which connected the Peninsula
of Mount Athos with Chalcidice.

[149]An absurd tradition, invented to palliate the disgrace of his
defeat.

[150]If there was any foundation at all for the story, there can be
little doubt that a trick was played for the purpose of imposing
upon Caligula's superstitious credulity, and that the rowers as well
as the diving sailors were in the secret.

[151]"Delay."

[152]Of this work, begun by Ovid during his banishment in Pontus, and
probably never completed, only a fragment of one hundred and
thirty-two lines has come down to us.

[153]Martial, B. iv. Ep. 30, speaks of this being the case at the
fish-ponds of Baiæ, where the Emperor's fish were in the habit of
making their appearance when called by name.

[154]"Inaures." He probably means ornaments suspended from the gills, a
thing which, in the case of eels, might be done.

[155]The seat of the worship of the half-fish goddess, Addirga,
Atergatis, Astarte, or Derceto.

[156]Theophrastus reckons coral among the precious stones, and Pliny
would seem to be at a loss whether to consider it as an animal or a
vegetable.

[157]From the Greek {keireitai}, "cut short."

[158]It is at the spawning season that this milky liquid is found in the
oyster; a period at which the meat of the fish is considered
unwholesome as food. We have a saying that the oyster should never
be eaten in the months without an r; that the same, too, was the
opinion in the middle ages is proved by the Leonine line:

"Mensibus erratis vos ostrea manducatis."
"In the r'd months you may your oysters eat."

[159]Literally, "Having beautiful eyebrows."

[160]Those of Rutupæ, the present Richborough in Kent, were highly
esteemed by the Romans. See Juvenal, Sat. 4. l. 141.

[161]They probably gave the name of "oyster" to some other shell-fish of
large size. In Cook's Voyages we read of cockles in the Pacific,
which two men were unable to carry.

[162]From {tris}, "thrice," and {dyknô}, "to bite."

[163]Ajasson, however, remarks that many persons are unable to digest
oysters in an uncooked state.

[164]Father Lobo, in his account of Abyssinia, says that when the
ostrich is running at great speed, it throws the stones behind with
such violence, that they would almost seem to be thrown at those in
pursuit.

An ostrich, Cuvier says, will swallow anything, but it is by no
means able to digest everything. He says, that he has seen ostriches
with the stomach ruptured by nails which they have swallowed, or
dreadfully torn by pieces of glass.

[165]All these relations are neither more nor less than so many absurd
fables or allegories, but the description given is exactly that of a
bird which does exist--the golden pheasant.

[166]Five hundred and thirty-two years.

[167]This erroneous notion is still entertained by the French peasantry.

[168]Cuvier remarks, that this is not a very good reason; but we have
not yet been able to find a better.

[169]Cuvier denies this story, but says, that when the foster-mother is
a very small bird, the young cuckoo will take the whole of her head
in his beak when receiving food.

[170]Our Jackdaw probably, the Corvus graculus. It has been said, that
in its admiration of shining objects, it will take up a burning
coal; a trick which has before now caused conflagrations.

[171]Picus, the son of Saturn, king of Latium. He was skilled in augury,
and was said to have been changed into a woodpecker.

[172]Valerius Maximus says, that seventeen members of this family fell
at the battle of Cannæ.

[173]M. Mauduit, in a learned discussion many pages in length,
satisfactorily shows that this is not entirely fabulous, but that
the wild swan of the northern climates really is possessed of a
tuneful note or cadence. Of course, the statement that it only sings
just before its death, must be rejected as fabulous.

[174]The "mother of the quails." Frederic II., in his work, De Arte
Venandi, calls the "rallus," or "rail," the "leader of the quails."

[175]Either hemlock or hellebore.

[176]This bird in reality builds no nest, but lays its eggs in holes on
the water side. The objects taken for its nest are a zoophyte called
_halcyonium_ by Linnæus, and similar in shape to a nest.

[177]Not moss, Cuvier says, but blades of grass and the silken fibres of
the poplar and other aquatic trees.

[178]"Without feet." This was supposed to be the case with the martinet,
the _Hirundo apus_ of Linnæus.

[179]By nestling in the dust. Throwing dust over the body was one of the
ancient modes of purification.

[180]"Lustrant," "perform a lustration." This was done by the Romans
with a branch of laurel or olive, and sometimes bean-stalks were
used.

[181]This is the jay, the Corvus glandarius of Linnæus; but they are not
more apt at speaking than the other kinds.

[182]These are merely freaks of Nature.

[183]Britannicus, the son of Claudius, and Nero, his stepson.

[184]The nephew and son of Tiberius.

[185]Festus says that the "fane of Rediculus was without the Porta
Capena; it was so called because Hannibal, when on the march from
Capua, turned back (redierit) at that spot, being alarmed at certain
portentous visions."

[186]Albert Magnus says that swallows _can_ be tamed.

[187]The trunk of the gnat, Cuvier says, contains five silken and
pointed threads, which together have the effect of a sting.

[188]They respire by orifices in the sides of the body, known to
naturalists as _stigmata_. The whole body, Cuvier says, forms in a
measure, a system of lungs.

[189]The various noises made by insects are in reality not the voice, as
they are not produced by air passing through a larynx.

[190]They have a nourishing fluid, which is of a white color, and acts
in place of blood.

[191]All insects have a brain, a sort of spinal marrow, and nerves; they
have no fat except when in the chrysalis state; but they have a
fibrous flesh of a whitish color. They have also viscera, trachea,
nerves, and a most complicated organization.

[192]Cuvier says that the three kinds of cells are absolutely necessary,
and that they do not depend on the greater or less abundance. The
_king_ of the ancients is what we know as the _queen_ bee.

[193]They do not work, but are the males of the hive.

[194]The queen has a sting, like the working bees, but uses it less
frequently.

[195]The true version is, that after killing the insect they bury it
with their eggs as food for their future young.

[196]Cuvier says that some have been known nearly a foot long, but not
more.

[197]Julius Obsequens speaks of a pestilence there, created by the dead
bodies of the locusts, which caused the death of 8000 persons.

[198]It is in reality their larvæ that they thus bring out to dry. The
working ants, or neutrals, are the ones on which these labors
devolve; the males and females are winged, the working ants are
without wings.

[199]By this is probably meant the Canis corsac, the small fox of India,
by some mistake represented by travellers as an ant.

[200]This vase of Semiramis was her drinking bowl, in much the same
sense that the great cannon at Dover was Queen Elizabeth's "pocket
pistol."

[201]The specific gravity of lead is 11.352, and of silver only 10.474.

[202]From the words {met alla}, "one after another."

[203]By public enactment probably; samples of the false denarius being
sold for the purpose of showing the difference between it and the
genuine coin.

[204]The first person mentioned in Roman history as having the cognomen
"Dives," is Publius Licinius Crassus. As he attained the highest
honors of the state, and died universally respected, he cannot be
the person so opprobriously spoken of by Pliny.

[205]Who cut off his head after his death, and poured molten gold down
his throat.

[206]According to some authorities, he was a Lydian. He derived his
wealth from his gold mines in the neighborhood of Celænæ in Phrygia,
and would appear, in spite of Pliny's reservation, to have been
little less than a king. His five sons accompanied Xerxes; but
Pythius, alarmed by an eclipse of the sun, begged that the eldest
might be left behind. Upon this, Xerxes had the youth put to death,
and his body cut in two, the army being ordered to march between the
portions, which were placed on either side of the road. His other
sons were all slain in battle, and Pythius passed the rest of his
life in solitude.

[207]So called from the silversmiths who respectively introduced them.

[208]"Æris Metalla." The word "Æs" does not correspond to our word
"brass;" the brass of the moderns being a compound of copper and
zinc, while the "Æs" of the ancients was mostly composed of copper
and tin, and therefore is more correctly designated by the word
"bronze." Mr. Westmacott says that the ancient "Æs" has been found,
upon analysis, to contain no zinc, but in nearly every instance to
be a mixture of copper and tin, like our bronze. Beckmann says, on
the other hand, that the mixture of zinc and copper now called
"brass," first discovered by ores, abundant in zinc, _was certainly
known to the ancients_.

[209]The colleges of the priests and of the augurs being the first two
associated bodies.

[210]B.C. 146.

[211]Pisistratus. These statues are mentioned elsewhere by Pliny as
being the workmanship of Praxiteles.

[212]The Luperci were the priests of Pan, who, at the celebration of
their games, called Lupercalia, were in the habit of running about
the streets of Rome, with no other covering than a goat's skin tied
about the loins.

[213]Pliny has forgotten the gilded chariot, with six horses, which
Cneius Cornelius dedicated in the Capitol, two hundred years before
Augustus; there is also an ancient inscription which mentions
chariots of this description.

[214]By one Leptines, at Laodicea.

[215]The mode in which the fingers were placed, so as to serve the
purpose here indicated, is supposed to have been by their forming
the letters which were the Roman numerals for the figures in
question.

[216]The Colossus at Rhodes was begun by Chares, but he committed
suicide, in consequence of having made some mistake in the estimate;
the work was completed by Laches, also an inhabitant of Lindos.

It remained on the spot where it was thrown down for nearly nine
hundred years, until the year 653 A.D., when Moavia, khalif of the
Saracens, after the capture of Rhodes, sold the materials; it is
said that it required nine hundred camels to remove the pieces.

The Bartholdi statue of "Liberty enlightening the World" is even
larger than the Colossus at Rhodes.

[217]St. Jerome informs us, that Vespasian removed the head of Nero, and
substituted that of the Sun with seven rays.

[218]There is no work of Phidias now in existence; the sculptures in the
Parthenon were, however, executed by his pupils and under his
immediate directions, so that we may form some judgment of his
genius and taste. There is a foot in the British Museum, said to be
the work of Phidias.

[219]Praxiteles held a high rank among the ancient sculptors, and may be
considered as second to Phidias alone.

[220]Pliny has here confounded two artists of the same name; the
Polycletus who was the successor of Phidias, and was not much
inferior to him in merit, and Polycletus of Argos, who lived 160
years later, and who also executed many capital works, some of which
are here mentioned. It appears that Cicero, Vitruvius, Strabo,
Quintilian, Plutarch, and Lucian have also confounded these two
artists; but Pausanias, who is very correct in the account which he
gives us of all subjects connected with works of art, was aware of
the distinction; and it is from his observations that we have been
enabled to correct the error into which so many eminent writers had
fallen.

[221]Myron was born at Eleutheræ, in Boeotia; but having been presented
by the Athenians with the freedom of their city, he afterwards
resided there, and was always designated an Athenian.

[222]A person engaged in the five contests of quoiting, running,
leaping, wrestling, and hurling the javelin.

[223]Competitors in boxing and wrestling.

[224]The lines of Horace are well known, in which he says, that
Alexander would allow his portrait to be painted by no one except
Apelles, nor his statue to be made by any one except Lysippus.

[225]Two copies of this Ganymede are still in existence at Rome.

[226]There were two artists of this name, both natives of Samos. This
one is the elder Theodorus, and is mentioned by Pausanias as having
been the first to fuse iron for statues.

[227]What would Pliny say, if he could see and hear the revolvers,
rifles, mortars and Gatling guns of our day!

[228]Holbein and Mignard did the same, and Charles Felu of Antwerp, born
without arms, paints most successfully with his feet.

[229]"Inussisse;" meaning that he executed it in encaustic.

[230]"Penicillus." This was the hair-pencil or brush, which was used by
one class of painters, in contradistinction to the stylus or cestrum
used for spreading the wax-colors. Painters with the brush used what
we should term "water-colors;" oil-colors, in our sense of the word,
being unknown to the ancients.

[231]{Mômêsetai tis mallon ê mimêsetai}. This line is attributed by
Plutarch to Apollodorus.

[232]The "Chief of the Galli," or high-priest of Cybele.

[233]Achilles, which were awarded to Ulysses in preference to Ajax.

[234]Which would make the course of study extend over a period of twelve
years.

[235]Dr. Smith says: "The most natural explanation of this difficult
passage seems to be, that down the middle of the first line of
Apelles, Protogenes drew another, so as to divide it into two
parallel halves, and that Apelles again divided the line of
Protogenes in the same manner."

[236]The Latin form of which, as given by Erasmus, is "Nulla dies abeat
quin linea ducta supersit." "Let no day pass by, without an outline
being drawn, and left in remembrance."

[237]"Ne sutor ultra crepidam." "Let not the shoemaker go beyond his
last."

[238]See Matthew xiii. 57; Mark vi. 4. "A prophet is not without honor,
save in his own country."

[239]Odyss. B. vi. 1. 102.

[240]Sir Joshua Reynolds discovers in the account here given "an
artist-like description of the effect of glazing, or scumbling, such
as was practised by Titian and the rest of the Venetian painters."

[241]A service of three dishes.

[242]The ancient writers abound in praises of this wonderful statue.
Lucian, however, has given the most complete and artistic
description of it. It was supposed by the ancients, to represent
Venus as standing before Paris, when he awarded to her the prize of
beauty; but it has been well remarked, that the drapery in the right
hand, and the vase by the side of the figure, indicate that she has
either just left or is about to enter the bath. It was ultimately
carried to Constantinople, where it perished by fire in the reign of
Justinian. It is doubtful whether there are any copies of it in
existence. There is, however, a so-called copy in the gardens of the
Vatican, and another in the Glyptothek, at Munich. It is supposed
that Cleomenes, in making the Venus de Medici, imitated the Cnidian
Venus in some degree.

[243]This group is generally supposed to have been identical with the
Laocoön still to be seen in the Court of the Belvedere, in the
Vatican at Rome; having been found, in 1506, in a vault beneath the
spot known as the Place _de Sette Sale_, by Felix de Eredi, who
surrendered it, in consideration of a pension, to Pope Julius II.
The group, however, is not made of a _single_ block, which has
caused some to doubt its identity: but it is not improbable, that
when originally made, its joints were not perceptible to a common
observer. The spot, too, where it was found was actually part of the
palace of Titus. It is most probable that the artists had the
beautiful episode of Laocoön in view, as penned by Virgil, Æn. B.
II.

[244]So called from {obeliskos}, a "small spit," in consequence of their
tapering form.

[245]Meaning, probably, that in the Egyptian language, the same word is
used as signifying a "spit" and a "ray" of light; for it is
generally agreed that the word "obeliscus" is of Greek origin.

[246]This, Hardouin says, was the same obelisk that was afterwards
erected by Constantine, son of Constantine the Great, in the Circus
Maximus at Rome; whence it was removed by Pope Sextus V., in the
year 1588, to the Basilica of the Lateran.

[247]Evidently a stupendous monument, or rather aggregate of buildings,
erected by Ptolemy II., Philadelphus, in memory of his wife and
sister, Arsinoë.

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_With twenty-five very quaint Full-page Illustrations by_
Charles Bennett
_8vo. Full gilt. $2.00_

This is a reprint of a delightfully fanciful child's story, famous half a century ago. The illustrations have been redrawn and enlarged from the originals, and add greatly to the attractiveness of the book.

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
NEW YORK LONDON

Transcriber's Notes

--Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook
is public-domain in the country of publication.

--Silently corrected a few palpable typos.

--In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by
_underscores_.