Chapter XVI: Book VIII: The Nature of the Terrestrial Animals (4)

CHAP. 79. (53.)—ANIMALS IN A HALF-WILD STATE.

In no species is the union with the wild animal so easy as in that of the swine; the produce of such unions was called by the ancients hybrid,[2082] or half savage; which appellation has also been transferred to the human race, as it was to C. Antonius, the colleague of Cicero in his consulship. Not only, however, with respect to the hog, but all other animals as well, wherever there is a tame species, there is a corresponding wild one as well; a fact which is equally true with reference to man himself, as is proved by the many races of wild men of which we have already spoken.[2083] There is no kind of animal, however, that is divided into a greater number of varieties than the goat. There are the capræa,[2084] the rupicapra or rock-goat, and the ibex, an animal of wonderful swiftness, although its head is loaded with immense horns, which bear a strong resemblance to the sheath of a sword.[2085] By means of these horns the animal balances itself, when it darts along the rocks, as though it had been hurled from a sling;[2086] more especially when it wishes to leap from one eminence to another. There are the oryges also,[2087] which are said to be the only animals that have the hair the contrary way, the points being turned towards the head. There are the dama also,[2088] the pygargus,[2089] and the strepsiceros,[2090] besides many others which strongly resemble them. The first mentioned of these animals,[2091] however, dwell in the Alps; all the others are sent to us from the parts beyond sea.

CHAP. 80. (54.)—APES.

The different kinds of apes, which approach the nearest to the human figure, are distinguished from each other by the tail.[2092] Their shrewdness is quite wonderful. It is said that, imitating the hunters, they will besmear themselves with bird-lime, and put their feet into the shoes, which, as so many snares, have been prepared for them.[2093] Mucianus says, that they have even played at chess, having, by practice, learned to distinguish the different pieces, which are made of wax.[2094] He says that the species which have tails become quite melancholy when the moon is on the wane, and that they leap for joy at the time of the new moon, and adore it. Other quadrupeds also are terrified at the eclipses of the heavenly bodies. All the species of apes manifest remarkable affection for their offspring. Females, which have been domesticated, and have had young ones, carry them about and shew them to all comers, shew great delight when they are caressed, and appear to understand the kindness thus shewn them. Hence it is, that they very often stifle their young with their embraces. The dog’s-headed ape[2095] is of a much fiercer nature, as is the case with the satyr. The callitriche[2096] has almost a totally different aspect; it has a beard on the face, and a tail, which in the first part of it is very bushy. It is said that this animal cannot live except in the climate of Æthiopia, which is its native place.

CHAP. 81. (55.)—THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF HARES.

There are also numerous species of hares. Those in the Alps are white,[2097] and it is believed that, during the winter, they live upon snow for food; at all events, every year, as the snow melts, they acquire a reddish colour; it is, moreover, an animal which is capable of existing in the most severe climates. There is also a species of hare, in Spain, which is called the rabbit;[2098] it is extremely prolific, and produces famine in the Balearic islands, by destroying the harvests. The young ones, either when cut from out of the body of the mother, or taken from the breast, without having the entrails removed, are considered a most delicate food; they are then called laurices.[2099] It is a well-known fact, that the inhabitants of the Balearic islands begged of the late Emperor Augustus the aid of a number of soldiers, to prevent the too rapid increase of these animals. The ferret[2100] is greatly esteemed for its skill in catching them. It is thrown into the burrows, with their numerous outlets, which the rabbits form, and from which circumstance they derive their name,[2101] and as it drives them out, they are taken above. Archelaus informs us, that in the hare, the number of cavernous receptacles in the body for the excrements always equals that of its years;[2102] but still the numbers are sometimes found to differ. He says also, that the same individual possesses the characteristics of the two sexes, and that it becomes pregnant just as well without the aid of the male. It is a kind provision of Nature, in making animals which are both harmless and good for food, thus prolific. The hare, which is preyed upon by all other animals, is the only one, except the dasypus,[2103] which is capable of superfœtation;[2104] while the mother is suckling one of her young, she has another in the womb covered with hair, another without any covering at all, and another which is just beginning to be formed. Attempts have been made to form a kind of stuff of the hair of these animals; but it is not so soft as when attached to the skin, and, in consequence of the shortness of the hairs, soon falls to pieces.

CHAP. 82. (56.)—ANIMALS WHICH ARE TAMED IN PART ONLY.

Hares are seldom tamed, and yet they cannot properly be called wild animals; indeed, there are many species of them which are neither tame nor wild, but of a sort of intermediate nature; of the same kind there are among the winged animals, swallows and bees, and among the sea animals, the dolphin.

(57.) Many persons have placed that inhabitant of our houses, the mouse, in this class also; an animal which is not to be despised, for the portents which it has afforded, even in relation to public events. By gnawing the silver shields at Lanuvium,[2105] mice prognosticated the Marsian war; and the death of our general, Carbo, at Clusium,[2106] by gnawing the latchets with which he fastened his shoes.[2107] There are many species of this animal in the territory of Cyrenaica; some of them with a wide, others with a projecting, forehead, and some again with bristling hair, like the hedgehog.[2108] We are informed by Theophrastus, that after the mice had driven the inhabitants of Gyara[2109] from their island, they even gnawed the iron; which they also do, by a kind of natural instinct, in the iron forges among the Chalybes. In gold mines, too, their stomachs are opened for this purpose, and some of the metal is always to be found there, which they have pilfered,[2110] so great a delight do they take in stealing! We learn from our Annals, also, that at the siege of Casilinum,[2111] by Hannibal, a mouse was sold for two hundred denarii,[2112] and that the person who sold it perished with hunger, while the purchaser survived. To be visited by white mice is considered as indicative of a fortunate event; but our Annals are full of instances in which the singing[2113] of a mouse has interrupted the auspices.[2114] Nigidius informs us, that the field-mouse conceals itself during winter: this is also said to be the case with the dormouse, which the regulations of the censors, and of M. Scaurus, the chief of the senate, when he was consul,[2115] have banished from our tables,[2116] no less than shell-fish and birds, which are brought from a foreign country. The dormouse is also a half-wild animal, and the same person[2117] made warrens for them in large casks, who first formed parks for wild boars. In relation to this subject, it has been remarked that dormice will not mate, unless they happen to be natives of the same forest; and that if those are put together that are brought from different rivers or mountains, they will fight and destroy each other. These animals nourish their parents, when worn out with old age, with a singular degree of affection. This old age of theirs is put an end to by their winter’s rest, when they conceal themselves and sleep; they are young again by the summer. The field-mouse[2118] also enjoys a similar repose.

CHAP. 83. (58.)—PLACES IN WHICH CERTAIN ANIMALS ARE NOT TO BE FOUND.

It is a remarkable fact, that nature has not only assigned different countries to different animals, but that even in the same country, it has denied certain species to peculiar localities.[2119] In Italy the dormouse is found in one part only, the Messian forest.[2120] In Lycia the gazelle never passes beyond the mountains which border upon Syria;[2121] nor does the wild ass in that vicinity pass over those which divide Cappadocia from Cilicia. On the banks of the Hellespont, the stags never pass into a strange territory, and about Arginussa[2122] they never go beyond Mount Elaphus; those upon that mountain, too, have cloven ears. In the island of Poroselene,[2123] the weasels will not so much as cross a certain road. In Bœotia, the moles, which were introduced at Lebadea, fly from the very soil of that country, while in the neighbourhood, at Orchomenus, the very same animals tear up all the fields. We have seen coverlets for beds made of the skins of these creatures, so that our sense of religion does not prevent us from employing these ominous animals for the purposes of luxury. When hares have been brought to Ithaca, they die as soon as ever they touch the shore, and the same is the case with rabbits, on the shores of the island of Ebusus;[2124] while they abound in the vicinity, Spain namely, and the Balearic isles. In Cyrene, the frogs were formerly dumb, and this species still exists, although croaking ones were carried over there from the continent. At the present day, even, the frogs in the island of Seriphos are dumb; but when they are carried to other places, they croak; the same thing is also said to have taken place at Sicandrus, a lake of Thessaly.[2125] In Italy, the bite of the shrew-mouse[2126] is venomous; an animal which is not to be found in any region beyond the Apennines. In whatever country it exists, it always dies immediately if it goes across the rut made by a wheel. Upon Olympus, a mountain of Macedonia, there are no wolves, nor yet in the isle of Crete.[2127] In this island there are neither foxes, nor bears, nor, indeed, any kind of baneful animal,[2128] with the exception of the phalangium, a species of spider, of which I shall speak in its appropriate place.[2129] It is a thing still more remarkable, that in this island there are no stags, except in the district of Cydon;[2130] the same is the case with the wild boar, the woodcock,[2131] and the hedgehog. In Africa, there are neither wild boars, stags, deer, nor bears.

CHAP. 84. (59.)—ANIMALS WHICH INJURE STRANGERS ONLY, AS ALSO ANIMALS WHICH INJURE THE NATIVES OF THE COUNTRY ONLY, AND WHERE THEY ARE FOUND.

Besides this, there are certain animals, which are harmless to the natives of the country, but destroy strangers; such are the little serpents at Tirynthus,[2132] which are said to spring from out of the earth. In Syria, also, and especially on the banks of the Euphrates, the serpents never attack the Syrians when they are asleep, and even if they happen to bite a native who treads upon them, their venom is not felt; but to persons of any other country they are extremely hostile, and fiercely attack them, causing a death attended with great torture. On this account, the Syrians never kill them. On the contrary, on Latmos, a mountain[2133] of Caria, as Aristotle tells us, strangers are not injured by the scorpions, while the natives are killed by them. But I must now give an account of other animals as well, and of the productions of the earth.[2134]

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Summary.—Remarkable events, narratives, and observations, seven hundred and eighty-seven.

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Roman authors quoted.—Mucianus,[2135] Procilius,[2136] Verrius Flaccus,[2137] L. Piso,[2138] Cornelius Valerianus,[2139] Cato the Censor,[2140] Fenestella,[2141] Trogus,[2142] the Register of the Triumphs,[2143] Columella,[2144] Virgil,[2145] Varro,[2146] Lucilius,[2147] Metellus Scipio,[2148] Cornelius Celsus,[2149] Nigidius,[2150] Trebius Niger,[2151] Pomponius Mela,[2152] Mamilius Sura.[2153]

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Foreign authors quoted.—King Juba,[2154] Polybius,[2155] Herodotus,[2156] Antipater,[2157] Aristotle,[2158] Demetrius[2159] the physician, Democritus,[2160] Theophrastus,[2161] Euanthes,[2162] Agriopas,[2163] who wrote the “Olympionicæ,” King Hiero,[2164] King Attalus,[2165] Philometor, Ctesias,[2166] Duris,[2167] Philistus,[2168] Archytas,[2169] Phylarchus,[2170] Amphilochus[2171] of Athens, Anaxapolis[2172] the Thasian, Apollodorus[2173] of Lemnos, Aristophanes[2174] the Milesian, Antigonus[2175] the Cumæan, Agathocles[2176] of Chios, Apollonius[2177] of Pergamus, Aristander[2178] of Athens, Bacchius[2179] of Miletus, Bion[2180] of Soli, Chæreas[2181] the Athenian, Diodorus[2182] of Priene, Dion[2183] the Colophonian, Epigenes[2184] the Rhodian, Euagon[2185] of Thasos, Euphronius[2186] of Athens, Hegesias[2187] of Maronea, the Menanders[2188] of Priene and of Heraclea, Menecrates[2189] the poet, Androtion[2190] who wrote on Agriculture, Æschrion[2191] who wrote on Agriculture, Lysimachus[2192] who wrote on Agriculture, Dionysius[2193] who translated Mago, Diophanes[2194] who made an epitome of the work of Dionysius, King Archelaus,[2195] Nicander.[2196]