Chapter XXVI: Book X: The Natural History of Birds (7)

[931] Cuvier remarks that this story must have been originally told with reference to the race of large apes. He says, however, that some men have the “os coccygis” greatly prolonged, and mentions a painter of celebrity in Paris who had this malformation. “But from this to an actual tail,” says he, “the distance is very great.” In these times we have the (perhaps doubtful) account by M. de Couret, of the Niam Niams, a race in Abyssinia or Nubia, with tails at least two inches in length. Few will fail to recollect Lord Monboddo’s theory, that mankind originally had tails, but wore them off in lapse of time by climbing up the trees.

[932] As far as there is any truth in this account, it must refer to certain kinds of apes: but with respect to the size of the ears, it is, of course, greatly exaggerated.—B.

[933] Or Cophes, see B. vi. c. 25.

[934] There are many tribes who live on the sea-coast, and who inhabit a barren country, with a bad climate, whose diet is almost confined to fish, and who feed their cattle on it. This is the case in some parts of Iceland, and even, to a certain extent, among the people of the Hebrides.—B.

[935] Or dog’s-headed ape, the baboon: see B. vi. c. 35, and Note [902], p. 130.

[936] Perhaps these appearances may be referred to effects of what is termed “mirage,” a phenomenon which is described by travellers in different parts of the torrid zone.—B. And in the temperate regions as well; Switzerland and the Hartz mountains, for instance.

[937] Columella, B. viii. c. 8, speaks of the fecundity of the Egyptians, but without ascribing any particular cause for it.—B.

[938] “Quinos.” The old reading was “binos,” “two” children only; but Aristotle, in reference, no doubt, to the same circumstance, says, Hist. Anim. B. vii., “One woman, at four births, gave birth to twenty children. For she brought forth five at a time, and the greater part of them were reared.”

[939] It was a very general opinion, that the waters of the Nile possess the property of promoting fecundity. Seneca mentions it as an acknowledged fact, Nat. Quæst. B. iii. c. 25.—B.

[940] There are well-authenticated accounts of four children having been produced at one birth; but, beyond this, we have no statements in which we can place much confidence. In a note by Dalechamps, we have an example of the credulity of the authors who have treated on this topic, as well modern as ancient.—B. In the recent volumes, however, of “Notes and Queries,” we find some apparently well-authenticated cases of women being delivered of five children at a birth. Nathaniel Wanley, in his “Wonders of the Little World,” also gives some apparently authentic instances of as many as five children being born at a birth: but we must be excused giving credit to the story, quoted by him, of Matilda or Margaret, Countess of Henneberg, who was said to have been delivered, on the Friday before Palm-Sunday, in 1276, “of 365 children, half sons and half daughters, with the exception of one, which was an hermaphrodite, all complete and well-fashioned, of the bigness of chickens new hatched, saith Camerarius.”

[941] From Hermaphroditus, the son of Hermes or Mercury, and Aphrodite or Venus. According to the poetic story as told by Ovid, Met. B. iv., he was united in one body, which bore the characteristics of both sexes, with the nymph Salmacis.

[942] Two cases of this description are mentioned by Livy, B. xxvii. c. 37, and B. xxxi. c. 12. In this latter passage, Livy enumerates the following prodigious births; among the Sabines, two children of doubtful sex; at Frusino, a lamb with a sow’s head; at Sinuessa, a pig with a human head; and among the Lucani, a foal with five feet. He informs us that the hermaphrodites were thrown into the sea.—B.

[943] Cuvier says, “From time to time we do see persons of this nature; and it is not long ago that such a being was exhibited in Paris, though certainly not of a nature to have been ‘in deliciis,’ at the present day.”

[944] Pliny gives further particulars of this theatre in B. xxxvi. c. 24. It was the first stone theatre erected at Rome, and was built B.C. 55, and contained 40,000 spectators.

[945] Solinus, the ape of Pliny, absolutely takes the meaning of this passage to be, that Eutychis herself was exhibited on the stage by the orders of Pompey.

[946] For Tralles, in Asia Minor, see B. v. c. 29.

[947] Cuvier speaks of the wife of a porter at the Jardin du Roi, at Paris, who, to his knowledge, had been the mother of thirty children.

[948] It seems doubtful whether Pliny means that the statue of Alcippe was also to be seen in the Theatre of Pompey. Tatianus tells the same story of one Glaucippe, and it is not improbable that under that name he refers to the same person. He says that a bronze statue of her was made by Niceretus, the Athenian. Hardouin suggests that this is the story alluded to by Livy, B. xxvii., and by Valerius Maximus, B. i. c. 6, in their statement that, among other portents, a boy was born with the head of an elephant.

[949] Cuvier remarks, that it is not an uncommon circumstance, both in man and in other animals, for an atrophy of the maxillary bones to cause the nose to sink down, and produce some resemblance to the trunk of an elephant. To this circumstance, he refers the tales met with, of women, sows, and dogs having produced elephants; see also Val. Maximus, B. vi. c. 5.—B.

[950] As to this war, see B. ii. c. 85. The portents observed on this occasion were collected by the historian Sisenna, as we learn from Cicero, De Divin. B. ii.

[951] We find that this incredible tale is not only told by Julius Obsequens, but, according to Dalechamps, by Cornelius Gemma, a comparatively modern writer.—B.

[952] Cuvier remarks, that, in certain quadrupeds, individuals are occasionally born with the upper jaw preternaturally small, so much so, that the lower jaw, by its projection, bears some resemblance to a human chin. He had seen a case of this description at Geneva, in a calf, supposed, even by persons of information, to be the produce of an unnatural connection of a cow with a Savoyard shepherd. This subject is treated very philosophically by Lucretius, B. v. c. 876, _et seq._ With respect to the supposed Hippocentaur of Thessaly, Cuvier remarks upon the successive additions which the story had gained, in the writings of various authors. Cicero, in various parts of his writings, refers to the account of the Hippocentaur as a fabulous tale; Tusc. Quæst. B. i. c. 27; de Nat. Deor. B. i. c. 38, and B. ii. c. 2; De Divin. B. ii. c. 21.—B.

[953] Consuls A.U.C. 581.

[954] See B. iii. c. 9. Hardouin remarks that Aulus Gellius, in copying from this passage, seems to have read the word “Casini,” as though it were C. Asinii, meaning that the boy belonged to one C. Asinius. However, it is pretty clear that the reading adopted is the right one, Pliny having been careful to give the various localities at which these wonderful facts occurred.

[955] Phlegon tells us that this happened in the first year of Nero, and that the name of the youth, while supposed to be a girl, was Philotis.

[956] See B. v. c. 4, 5.

[957] A case of this description is mentioned by Ambrose Paré. The individual was brought up as a girl, but, in consequence of a sudden muscular exertion, the organs of the male were developed, which had previously been concealed internally. It may be remarked, that a great proportion of the well-authenticated cases of a supposed change of sex have been from the female to the male, evidently of the kind mentioned by Paré, where the male organs have been concealed in childhood, and become subsequently developed. Cases, however, have occasionally occurred of the contrary kind, arising probably from the unusual size of the clitoris; there are also certain cases, where, from the malformation of the parts, the sex is actually doubtful, or where even a certain degree of the two may exist, as has been stated above, in Note 51 to Chapter 2. This paragraph of Pliny is quoted by Aulus Gellius, B. ix. c. 4.—B.

[958] This does not correspond with the fact, as it exists in our time; a circumstance which may probably depend upon our improvement in the obstetrical art. Nor is the opinion, that both twins are less likely to live, if of different sexes, sanctioned by modern experience.—B.

[959] “Feminas gigni celerius quam mares;” there has been much discussion among the commentators, both with respect to the meaning of these words, and the fact to which they are supposed to refer. Hardouin interprets the phrase, “crescere, perfici, vigere, adolescere;” Cuvier translates it, “les filles sont portées moins long-temps par leur mère.” There is, however, no foundation for this opinion as to a difference in the period of the gestation.—B.

[960] There may be some ground for this opinion; it is maintained by Aristotle in his Hist. Anim.—B. As also by Galen.

[961] This statement is made upon the authority of Hippocrates, Aphor. B. v. c. 48, and Aristotle, Hist. Anim.; but is probably without foundation.—B.

[962] Animals have a certain period for generation, because they are more immediately affected by the seasons, whereas, in the human race, the arts of life render these fixed terms unnecessary.—B.

[963] Notwithstanding all the observations of the moderns, the question is scarcely decided respecting the length of time to which pregnancy may be prolonged. Cuvier says, that the experiments of Tessier have shewn, that there is a greater latitude in animals than had previously been supposed; he also remarks, that the same animals when domesticated, become less regular in this respect than in the wild state.—B.

[964] Dalechamps has collected authorities to prove, that a child may survive, when born even at an earlier period; but this, although not absolutely impossible, is improbable in the highest degree.—B.

[965] Ajasson expresses himself at a loss to identify this Pomponius; but thinks that it may have been either Julius Pomponius Græcinus, consul A.U.C. 759, or L. Pomponius, consul A.U.C. 794, A.D. 41.

[966] Caius Caligula. The name of this woman, who was first his mistress and then his wife, was Milonia Cæsonia. She was neither handsome nor young when Caligula first admired her: but was noted for her extreme licentiousness, and at the time when she first became intimate with Caligula, had already had three children. She and her daughter, by him, were put to death on the day on which he was murdered. Corbulo has been mentioned in B. vi. c. 8.

[967] Celsus, B. ii. c. 1, speaks of the fortieth day, as one of the critical periods of childhood; the others are the seventh month, the seventh year, and the period of puberty.—B.

[968] Who appears to have urged the great lapse of time that had intervened between the death of the alleged father and the birth of his opponent.

[969] Questions of this nature, of great importance, involving property and title, have been the subject of judicial consideration in our times; the longest period to which pregnancy may be protracted seems still not to be determined, but the general result has been to shorten it. Aulus Gellius, B. iii. c. 16, has collected the opinions of many of the ancients on this subject.—B.

[970] Most of the statements made in this Chapter appear to be taken from Aristotle’s History of Animals; they are, however, either without foundation or much exaggerated, and very incorrect.—B.

[971] This opinion, although without foundation, is supported by the authority of Hippocrates, Aphor. B. v. c. 42.—B.

[972] This singular opinion is referred to by Aulus Gellius, B. iii. c. 16.—B.

[973] Ælian, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 54, mentions the smell of an extinguished lamp, as producing abortion in a mare.—B.

[974] “Tinctoria mens;” there has been much discussion, whether the text does not require correction here; and various conjectural emendations have been proposed, but not with much success. If the word “tinctoria” was employed by Pliny, it may be regarded as one of those bold, and somewhat metaphorical expressions, which are not unfrequently found in his writings.—B.

[975] Valerius Maximus makes the same statement as to the death of Anacreon, and says that “having lived to an extreme old age, he was supporting his decayed strength by chewing raisins, when one grain, more obstinate than the rest, stuck in his parched throat, and so ended his life.” This story has been looked upon by some of the modern scholars as a fiction of the poets.

[976] This explanation of the name is given by Aulus Gellius, B. xvi. c. 6.—B. It is very doubtful what are the roots from which it is formed; though Pliny evidently thinks that the word is only a corruption of the Latin “ægre partus,” “born with difficulty;” a notion savouring of absurdity.

[977] M. Vipsanius Agrippa, the son-in-law of Augustus, having married his dissolute daughter, Julia. He was the son of Lucius Agrippa, and was descended from a very obscure family. He divorced his wife Marcella, to marry Julia, the widow of Marcellus, and the daughter of Augustus, by his third wife, Scribonia.

[978] Agrippina, the daughter of Agrippa and Julia, was the mother of the Emperor Caligula; and of a second Agrippina, who became the mother of Nero, by whose order she was put to death.—B.

[979] Julia, the daughter of Augustus, so notorious for her depravity, who, as already stated, was the wife of Agrippa.—B. See c. 46 of the present Book.

[980] From cædo, “to cut,” apparently. The Cæsones were a branch of the Fabian family. There has been considerable difference of opinion among the commentators respecting the individuals referred to in this Chapter. The subject is discussed at length in the Notes of Hardouin, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 62.—B. So in Macbeth, act v. sc. 7, Macduff says to Macbeth—

“And let the angel whom thou still hast serv’d,
Tell thee, Macduff was from his mother’s womb
Untimely ripp’d.”

[981] The commentators are not agreed respecting the origin of this name; Dalechamps suggests, that it was originally Opiscus, from ὀπίσθιον, “because one follows close upon another.”—B.

[982] Hardouin says, that this is the case with the hare and the dasypus, which is a species of hare; but there is probably no foundation for the statement. Pliny repeats it in a subsequent passage, B. viii. c. 81.—B.

[983] Pliny evidently considers this a case of superfœtation, and looks upon it as not uncommon in the human species: whereas it is now considered impossible.

[984] This refers to the mythological tale of Jupiter and Amphitryon.—B.

[985] See B. v. c. 44.

[986] Most of these statements appear to be taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim.—B.

[987] There has been much discussion respecting the meaning of this passage and the fact to which it refers. Aristotle, Hist. Anim., says, that marks made on the arm are transmitted for three generations; and Pliny, in B. xxii. c. 2, informs us, that the Daci and the Sarmatæ “make written marks upon their bodies.” The same custom prevails among the lower orders, sailors especially, in our own times. We may also remark the analogy which it hears to the practice of tattooing, so general among the Polynesian and other barbarous nations.—B.

[988] The reader may be amused by a perusal of the collection of wonderful cases of this kind, which has been made by Dalechamps; see Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 65, note 4.—B.

[989] Aristotle, in his History of Animals, relates a similar, but not the same, story; he says that it occurred in Sicily, though he afterwards speaks of it as having happened in Elis. It is conjectured by Ajasson, that the individual might have been born in Sicily, and have exhibited himself in Elis, as a wrestler. If we are really to believe that his complexion was that of an Æthiopian, it is much more probable that his mother may have had connection with a negro.—B.

[990] Few readers will fail here to recall to mind the story about the clock, in the opening chapter of “Tristram Shandy.”

[991] Dalechamps refers us to a remark of the same kind in Cicero, Tusc. Quæst. B. i. c. 80; but Ajasson remarks, that the resemblance mentioned by Cicero refers to the mind and manners, not to the body; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 67.—B.

[992] Aulus Gellius says, that he was one of the royal family.

[993] This man resembled Antiochus III., surnamed the Great, to such a degree, that when that monarch had been slain in a tumult by his people, his wife, Laodice, daughter of Mithridates V., King of Pontus, put Artemon into a bed, pretending that he was the king, but dangerously ill. Many persons were admitted to see him; and all believed that they were listening to the words of their king, when he recommended to them Laodice and her children.

[994] This circumstance is related by Valerius Maximus, but he speaks of Vibius as being “ingenuæ stirpis,” “of good family.”—B.

[995] Hardouin expands the words “os probum,” into “liberale, venustum, gratum, venerandum, probandum,” B. xxxvii. c. 6.—B.

[996] See B. xxxvii. c. 6.

[997] The Latin word “strabo,” means “squinting,” or “having a cast” or “defect in the eye.”

[998] The word “mimus” was applied by the Romans to a species of dramatic performance, as well as to the persons who acted in them. The Roman mimes were imitations of trivial and sometimes indecent occurrences in life, and scarcely differed from comedy, except in consisting more of gestures and mimicry than of spoken dialogue. Sylla was very fond of these performances, and they had more charms for the Roman populace than the regular drama. As to the mime Salvitto, here mentioned, see B. xxxv. c. 2.

[999] This anecdote, and the one respecting Spinther and Pamphilus, are mentioned also by Val. Maximus, B. ix. c. 24.—B.

[1000] A celebrated orator and satirical writer of the time of Augustus and Tiberius. He is mentioned in the Index of authors at the end of B. xxxvi., where he is called Longulanus, as being a native of Longula, a town of Latium. It was even thrown in his teeth, that he was the offspring of adultery, and that this low-born person was his father.

[1001] “Mirmillonis.” Many of the editions make this word to be a proper name, and “Armentarius” to signify the calling of the person described, as being a herdsman. The “Mirmillones” were a peculiar class of gladiators, said to have been so called from their having the image of a fish, called “mormyr,” on their helmets.

[1002] We assume the sestertium to be equivalent to somewhat more than eight pounds sterling; this sum will be about £1600.—B.

[1003] “Proscripter animus.” According to Hardouin, this means “delighting in proscription,” alluding to the well-known proscriptions of the triumvirate, in which Antony acted so conspicuous a part.—B.

[1004] This opinion is maintained by Hippocrates, and by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vii. c. 8, and is referred to by Lucretius, B. iv. c. 1242, _et seq._—B.

[1005] The case of Livia and that of Agrippina, referred to by Pliny, are mentioned by Suetonius, in the Life of Augustus, c. 63; and that of Caligula, c. 7.—B.

[1006] M. Junius Silanus, consul under Claudius, A.D. 46, with Valerius Asiaticus. He was poisoned by order of the younger Agrippina, that he might not stand in the way of Nero.

[1007] He is first mentioned in B.C. 168, when he was serving in the army of Æmilius Paulus, in Macedonia, and was sent to Rome with two other envoys to announce the defeat of Perseus. He united with the aristocracy in opposing the measures of the Gracchi; and the speech which he delivered against Tiberius Gracchus, is spoken of by Cicero in high terms, as replete with true eloquence.

[1008] He left four sons and two daughters; some writers say three. The ten individuals, over and above his children and grandchildren, may have consisted of the wives and husbands of his sons and daughters _then_ living, as also of others who had died in his lifetime.

[1009] 11th of April.

[1010] See B. iii. c. 8.

[1011] This fact is mentioned by Valerius Maximus, B. viii. c. 13. There is some variation in the spelling of the name of the son of Masinissa; Solinus calls him Mathumannus.—B.

[1012] Hardouin gives a detailed account of the children of Cato, by which it appears that the Licinian branch descended from the issue by his wife Licinia, and the Saloniani, of whom Cato of Utica was one, from his son Salonianus, by his second wife, Salonia.—B.

[1013] Volusius Saturninus is again mentioned in the 49th Chapter, as a remarkable instance of longevity; also by Tacitus, B. xiii. c. 30.—B.

[1014] This reading seems preferable to sixty-second, adopted by Sillig; as there would be nothing very remarkable in a man becoming a father when sixty-two years of age.

[1015] Some of the “simiæ” are subject to a periodical discharge, analogous to that of the human female; but, according to Cuvier, it is in smaller quantity, and not at stated periods. The females of various other animals, when in a state to receive the male, have a discharge from the same parts, but totally different in its properties, and the mode in which it makes its appearance. Virgil, Geor. B. iii. l. 280, _et seq._, refers to this subject.—B.

[1016] Pliny makes some further remarks on these substances in a subsequent place, see B. x. c. 84; where he says they are produced without the intercourse of the male; this point has been much discussed, and is perhaps scarcely yet decided.—B.

[1017] There is no actual resemblance between moles and schirri; they are produced by different causes, and exist in different parts of the body. Moles are always formed in the womb, and probably have some connection with the generative functions; while schirri are morbid indurations, which make their appearance in various parts of the body. Hippocrates gives some account of moles, in his work on the Diseases of Women. They are also noticed by Aristotle.—B.

[1018] All the poisonous and noxious effects which were attributed by the ancients to the menstrual discharge, are without the slightest foundation. The opinions entertained on this point by the Jews, may be collected from Leviticus, c. xv. ver. 19, _et seq._ Pliny enlarges upon this subject in a subsequent place. See B. xxviii. c. 23.—B.

[1019] Both Josephus, Bell. Jud. B. iv. c. 9, and Tacitus, Hist. B. v. c. 6, give an account of this supposed action of this fluid on the bitumen of Lake Asphaltites; the statement is no doubt entirely unfounded, but it is a curious instance of popular credulity.—B.

[1020] There are still somewhat similar superstitions in existence, even in this country among others; it is not uncommonly believed that meat will not take salt from the hands of a female during the discharge of the catamenia.

[1021] This statement is without foundation.—B.

[1022] The fact is true, that females in whom the menstrual discharge does not take place, are seldom, if ever, capable of conception; but it does not depend on the cause here assigned. See the remarks of Cuvier, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 82, and Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 173.—B.

[1023] Pliny clearly alludes to an opinion expressed by Galen, in which he says, “that if women while giving suck, have sexual intercourse, the milk becomes tainted.” Hardouin remarks, that Pliny shows considerable caution here in bringing forward Nigidius as the propounder of these opinions, the truth of which he himself seems to have doubted.

[1024] It is generally admitted, that the female is more disposed to conceive just after the cessation of each periodical discharge. We are informed by the French historians, that their king, Henry II., and his wife Catharine, having been childless eleven years, made a successful experiment of this description, by the advice of the physician Fernel; see Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 83.—B.

[1025] This is one of the many idle tales referred to by Pliny, entirely without foundation.—B.

[1026] This account is correct, to the extent that the first teeth that appear are the two central incisors of the upper jaw; the next are the two lower central incisors, then the upper lateral incisors, the lower lateral incisors, and the upper and lower canines. The molars follow a different order, the lower ones appearing before the upper.—B.

[1027] Hardouin mentions a number of authors who relate cases of this nature. It is said to have taken place with our king Richard III. See Shakespeare, Richard III., Act i. Scene 4. An individual of very different character and fortune, Louis XIV., is said to have been born with two teeth in the upper jaw.—B.

[1028] A town of Latium; we learn from Livy, B. i. c. 53, that it was captured and plundered by Tarquinius Superbus, but he makes no mention of Valeria. See B. iii. c. 9.

[1029] It is stated by Seneca, De Consol. c. 16, that Cornelia survived a large family of children, all of whom were carried off early in life; of these the two celebrated Gracchi, Tiberius and Caius, met with violent deaths. The peculiarity here referred to, probably consisted in an imperforated hymen, a mal-formation which not very unfrequently exists, and requires a surgical operation.—B.

[1030] This circumstance is mentioned by Val. Maximus, B. i. c. 8.—B. We learn from Plutarch, that the same was the case also with Pyrrhus, king of Epirus: Euryphæus also, the Cyrenian, and Euryptolemus, the king of Cyprus. Herodotus, B. ix., speaks of a skull found on the plain of Platæa, with a similar conformation.

[1031] Although the teeth, and especially their enamel, form the most indestructible substance which enters into the composition of the body, it is not absolutely so; a certain proportion of them consisting of animal matter, which is consumed, when exposed to a sufficient heat; the earthy part may also be dissolved by the appropriate chemical re-agents.—B.

[1032] Powerful acids for instance; but they destroy the enamel. Lord Bacon recommends the ashes of tobacco as a whitener of the teeth; but that has been found to have a similar effect.

[1033] We find in Haller, El. Phys. B. ix. c. 2, 4, 8, and in other physiologists, a minute account of the effects produced by the teeth in the articulation of the various letters which compose the alphabet.—B.

[1034] See B. iii. c. 3, and B. iv. c. 35. He does not say how many teeth the Turduli naturally had, but no doubt he is mistaken.

[1035] Pliny repeats this statement in B. xi. c. 63, and extends it to the females of the sheep, goat, and hog. In the natural condition of the mouth, the number of the teeth is the same in both sexes; but, according to the observations of Cuvier, what are called the “wisdom” teeth, though occasionally deficient in both sexes, are most frequently so in the female.—B.

[1036] He seems to allude to the younger Agrippina, the mother of the emperor Domitius Nero; neither her life, her character, nor her ultimate fate seem, however, to have entitled her to be called a favourite of Fortune. Her mother, the first Agrippina, grand-daughter of Augustus, appears, on the other hand, to have been a woman of virtuous character, and spotless chastity, without a vice, with the exception, perhaps, of ambition.

[1037] See B. x. c. 10.

[1038] It was one of the tenets of the Stoics, that the world was to be alternately destroyed by water and by fire. The former element having laid it waste on the occasion of the flood of Deucalion, the next great catastrophe, according to them, is to be produced by fire. Pliny has previously alluded to this opinion, B. ii. c. 110.—B.

[1039] Cuvier remarks, that in the alluvial tracts throughout Europe, Siberia, and America, and probably also in other parts of the world, bones have been found, which have belonged to very large animals, such as elephants, mastodons, and whales; and when discovered, the common people, and sometimes even anatomists, have mistaken them for the bones of giants. He especially mentions the case of the bones of an elephant, found near Lucerne, in the sixteenth century, and supposed by Plater to have belonged to a man seventeen feet in height. Cuvier conceives that no man in modern times has exceeded the height of seven feet, and even these cases are extremely rare; for further information he refers to his _Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles_. Some of the best authenticated facts of unusually tall men are in Buffon, Nat. Hist. vol. ii. p. 276, and vol. iii. p. 427.—B. The skeleton of O’Brien, in the Museum of the College of Surgeons, in London, is about seven feet and a half in height.

[1040] The story of the birth of Orion is beautifully told by Ovid, Fasti, B. v. l. 493. _et seq._ He was often represented by the poets as of gigantic stature, and after his death was fabled to have been placed among the stars, where he appears as a giant. It is not improbable that, like the Cyclopes, Hercules, and Atlas, he may have been one of the earliest benefactors of mankind, and an assiduous improver of their condition; whence the story of his gigantic size.

[1041] A gigantic son of Poseidon or Neptune, and Iphimedeia, one of the Alöeidæ.

[1042] We have an account of this supposed discovery of the body of Orestes in Herodotus, B. i. c. 68, and a reference to it, with some pertinent remarks, in Aulus Gellius, B. iii. c. 10.—B.

[1043] Il. B. v. l. 303, 4, B. xii. l. 449: this opinion of Homer was adopted by many of the Latin poets; for example, by Virgil, B. xii. l. 900; by Juvenal, Sat. xv. l. 69, 70; and by Horace, Od. B. iii. O. 6, _sub finem_.

[1044] Columella speaks of Cicero as mentioning this Pollio, and stating that he was a foot taller than any one else. It is most probably in Cicero’s lost book, “De Admirandis,” that this mention was made of him.

[1045] Hardouin supposes that this was not an individual name, but a term derived from the Hebrew, descriptive of his remarkable size.—B. He supposes also that not improbably this was the same individual that is mentioned by Tacitus, Annals, B. xii. c. 12, as Acharus, a king of the Arabians.

[1046] According to our estimate of the Roman measures, this would correspond to about nine feet four and a half inches of our standard.—B.

[1047] “Conditorio Sallustianorum.” The more general meaning attributed to the word “conditorium,” is “tomb” or burial-place. We learn from other sources that the famous “gardens of Sallust” belonged to the emperor Augustus, and it is not improbable that there was a museum there of curiosities, in which these remarkable skeletons were kept.

[1048] “Loculis.” It is not quite clear whether this word has the meaning here of chest or coffin, or of a niche or cavity made in the wall of the tomb.

[1049] Among the objects of curiosity which were exhibited by Augustus to the Roman people, as related by Suetonius, c. 43, was a dwarf named Lucius, who is there described; but he would appear to be a different person from any of those here mentioned.—B.

[1050] Seneca also mentions him in his Consolation to Marcia, c. 23.

[1051] The procurator of a province was an officer appointed by the Cæsar to perform the duties discharged by the quæstor in the other provinces.

[1052] We have an ingenious dissertation by Ajasson, the object of which is to show, that the Tacitus here referred to, is not the historian, but his father, and consequently, that the boy prematurely born must have been the historian’s brother, not his son.—B.

[1053] It is not clear whether Pliny intended to apply all these three observations to the female, or only the last of them; it appears, however, that the remark is, in either case, without foundation.—B. He appears to intend that his observations should apply more especially to the strength of the arm.

[1054] This is incorrect; the human body, after death, does not float until decomposition has commenced, when it becomes more or less buoyant, in consequence of the formation of gases, which partially distend the cavities; but we do not observe any difference in the two sexes in this respect.—B.

[1055] This statement is altogether incorrect.—B.

[1056] The total abstinence from liquids in dropsy, was a point much insisted upon by medical practitioners, even in modern times; but it is now generally conceived to have been derived from a false theory, and not to be essential to the cure of the disease, while it imposes upon the patient a most severe privation. A moderate use of fluids is even favourable to the operation of the remedies that are employed in this disease.—B.

[1057] From the Greek ἀγελαστὸς, “one who does not laugh.” Cicero refers to this peculiarity in the character of Crassus, in his treatise De Finibus, B. v. c. 92; and in the Tusc. Quest. B. iii. c. 3, he informs us, on the authority of Lucilius, that Crassus never laughed but once in his life.—B. And then, on seeing a donkey eating thistles; upon which he exclaimed, “Similem habent labia lactucam,” “Like lips, like lettuce.”

[1058] “Without passion;” equivalent to our English word “apathetical.”—B.

[1059] The daughter of M. Antony by Octavia. She was the mother of Germanicus Cæsar, and the grandmother of the emperor Caligula, whom she lived to see on the throne, and who is supposed to have hastened her death. She was celebrated for her beauty and chastity—a rare virtue in those days.

[1060] Pliny, B. xxxi. c. 45, says, that this state of the bones is found in fishermen, from their being exposed to the action of the sea and salt water; but both the fact and the supposed cause are without foundation.—B.

[1061] “Cornei.”

[1062] It would appear that the Samnites were not only one of the most warlike people, with whom the Romans had to contest in the infancy of their state, but that they were particularly celebrated as gladiators.—B.

[1063] 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.

[1064] The term “nervus” was generally applied by the ancients to the sinews or tendons; they had a very indistinct knowledge of what are properly called the “nerves.”—B.

[1065] Pintianus suggests another reading here, which would appear to be much more consistent with probability. “Inermi dextrâ superatum, et uno digito postremo correptum in castra,” &c.—“Conquered him with the right hand, and that unarmed, and then with a single finger dragged him to the camp.”

[1066] “Rusticellus.”

[1067] Philonides has been already mentioned, B. ii. c. 73, as being in the habit of going from Sicyon to Elis in nine hours.—B.

[1068] We may consult the learned notes of Ajasson, Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 99, respecting the exact distances here indicated by Pliny. We may remark, that a stadium is about one-eighth of a mile, according to which estimate, Philippides must have gone 142 miles in two days, and the other 150 miles in one day; as it is implied, that these journeys were performed on foot, even the former of them is obviously impossible.—B. Query, however, as to this last assertion; according to recent pedestrian feats, it does not appear to be absolutely impossible.

[1069] See B. ii. c. 72.

[1070] This feat is no less incredible than those mentioned above.—B.

[1071] We have an account of this journey of Tiberius in Dion Cassius. Val. Maximus, B. v. c. 6, also enumerates this among the extraordinary examples of fraternal affection.—B. We learn also from Suetonius, that on learning the accident, a fall from his horse, which had happened to his brother Drusus, Tiberius took horse at Ticinum, and travelled night and day till he reached his brother, who was then in Germany, near the Rhine. He accompanied the body to Rome, preceding it on foot all the way. There is extant a “Consolation to Livia Augusta,” written on this occasion, some have thought, by Pedo Albinovanus, but it is more likely to have been the work of Ovid.

[1072] This statement must have been in some of his lost works.

[1073] Pliny probably here refers to a passage in the Acad. Quæst. B. iv. c. 81, where Cicero speaks of a person who could see objects, it was said, at a distance of 1800 stadia, equal exactly to 125 miles.—B.

[1074] The actual distance between the promontory of Sicily and the nearest part of Carthage is between fifty and sixty miles. The acute vision of Strabo is mentioned by Val. Maximus, B. i. c. 8.—B.

[1075] See also B. xxxvi. c. 4. He was a Lacedæmonian sculptor, who, according to Athenæus, also executed embossed work on vases.

[1076] His works in ivory were said to have been so small, that they could scarcely be seen without placing them on black hair.

[1077] Cicero, Acad. Quæst. B. iv. c. 120, speaks of “one Myrmecides, a maker of minute objects of art;” Ælian, Vac. Hist. B. i. c. 17, also speaks of these minute performances of Myrmecides, and styles them “a waste of time.” Pliny, in a subsequent part of his work, B. xxxi. c. 4, speaks of similar minute works, executed by these artists in marble; but the account which he gives is scarcely credible.—B.

[1078] See B. xxxvi. c. 5.

[1079] It would appear that there is a little confusion here of events. Sybaris, so noted for its luxury and effeminacy, was destroyed by the people of Crotona, under the command of the athlete Milo, B.C. 510. In B.C. 360. the Crotoniats were defeated at the river Sagras, by the Locrians and Rhegians, 10,000 in number, although they are said to have amounted to 130,000. Now it was on the occasion of this _latter battle_, that, according to Cicero, De Nat. Deor. B. ii., the noise was heard at Olympia, where the games were being celebrated. Be it as it may, the story is clearly fabulous.

Evelyn is much more deserving of credit, where we find him stating in his Diary, that in his garden, at Say’s Court, at Deptford, he heard the guns fired in one of our engagements with the Dutch fleet, at a distance thence of nearly 200 miles.]

[1080] Ajasson discusses at some length, the possibility of the fact here mentioned, and concludes, that it is not to be credited: he estimates the distance between these two places at 120 miles.—B.

[1081] As to the miraculous annunciation of the victory of Marius and Catulus over the Cimbri, see B. ii. c. 58.

[1082] Meaning, thereby, the twin brothers, Castor and Pollux; who were said to have announced at Rome the victory gained the day before by Paulus Æmilius over King Perseus.

[1083] This circumstance is mentioned by Pausanias, in his Attica. She was an Athenian hetæra, or courtesan, beloved by Aristogiton, or, according to Athenæus, by Harmodius. On the murder of Hipparchus, the son of Pisistratus, she was put to the torture, being supposed to have been privy to the conspiracy; but she died under her sufferings without making any disclosure, and, according to one account, bit off her tongue, that no secret might be betrayed by her. The Athenians erected in her honour a bronze statue of a lioness (in reference to her name), without a tongue, in the vestibule of the Acropolis.

[1084] This story is related by Val. Maximus, B. iii. c. 3, it is also alluded to by Cicero, Tus. Quæst. B. ii. c. 22, and De Nat. Deor. B. ii. c. 33; but he only speaks of his tortures, without mentioning what Pliny states of his biting off his tongue.—B. He was a philosopher of Abdera, of the school of Democritus, and flourished about B.C. 340. Towards Alexander the Great, whom he accompanied into Asia, he acted the part of a base flatterer. He was pounded to death in a mortar, by order of Nicocreon, king of Cyprus.

[1085] This statement is also made by Val. Maximus, B. viii. c. 7. Xenophon, Cyropædia, B. v., speaks of the retentive memory of Cyrus, but considerably qualifies the account here given: he says that Cyrus knew the names of all his commanders or prefects, and of all those to whom he had occasion to give particular orders.—B.

[1086] This account is similar to that given by Val. Maximus, B. viii. c. 7, and by Aulus Gellius, B. xvii. c. 7. We have a learned dissertation by Ajasson, in which he discusses the possibility of one individual understanding so great a number of languages, as well as the question, whether it is possible that so great a number of languages were spoken by the subjects of Mithridates. His conclusions greatly tend to prove both these points; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 295.—B.

[1087] This invention is referred to by Cicero, De Nat. Deor., B. ii. c. 86. Cicero also speaks of the remarkable powers of memory possessed by Charmidas and Metrodorus, De Oratore, B. ii. c. 88, and Tusc. Quæst. B. i. c. 24.—B.

[1088] Ajasson gives an account of some of the principal writers in what has been termed the science of Mnemonics, or artificial memory: he particularly commends the lectures of Aimé of Paris on the subject; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 310, _et seq._—B.

[1089] This circumstance is related by Val. Maximus, B. i. c. 8.—B.

[1090] This is not always the case. In dreams we often recollect past events and localities; we know in what part of the world we are, and even remember the substance of former dreams, and the fact that we have dreamt of a similar subject before.

[1091] The conqueror of Syracuse, and five times consul at Rome. He was Born B.C. 268, and was slain in an engagement with Hannibal, B.C. 208, in the vicinity of Venusia.

[1092] Ajasson remarks concerning the number of battles in which Cæsar is said to have been engaged, that it has probably been much exceeded by some of the great warriors of later times. He says that an individual, “who was raised over our heads and over all Europe, and so reigned much too long,” was personally engaged in nearly 300 battles.—B.

[1093] Who infested the coasts of Cilicia, and whom he dislodged from their strongholds, and almost utterly extirpated.

[1094] This fact is mentioned by Seneca, de Ira, B. ii. c. 26. Plutarch mentions a similar circumstance with respect to Pompey.—B.

[1095] Or Bacchus.—“Father Liber” is the name always given to him by Pliny.

[1096] “Magnus.” Plutarch states, that, on his return from Africa, Sylla saluted him with the name of “Magnus,” which surname he ever afterwards retained.—B.

[1097] Plutarch says, that the law did not allow a triumph to be granted to any one who was not either consul or prætor.—B.

[1098] Sertorius had joined the party of Marius and Cinna, in opposition to that of Sylla. He fled into Spain, and maintained the war successfully in that country, until he was treacherously assassinated by one of his supposed partisans. This may appear a sufficient reason for his not being mentioned by Pompey.—B.

[1099] “Toties imperator antequam miles.” He had been raised to the highest rank without passing through the various gradations of military life.—B.

[1100] Speaking of this honorary crown, Pliny says, B. xvi. c. 4, “At the present day it is not given to the victor himself, but proclamation is made that he confers the crown upon his country.”

[1101] It is noticed by the commentators, that Aulus Gellius, speaking of this building, calls it the Temple of Victory, B. x. c. 1; the error, it is supposed, may have arisen from Pompey having placed a statue of Victory in the Temple.—B.

[1102] 29th of September.

[1103] Pliny, referring to these events, in a subsequent place, B. xxvii. c. 6, says that it took place “pridie Kalend. Octob. die natalis sui.” Plutarch informs us, that the triumph lasted two days, a circumstance which may assist us in reconciling these dates. The same author gives a very minute detail of all the transactions here referred to.—B.

[1104] According to the chronology ordinarily adopted, this would be in the year of the City 692.—B.

[1105] By Asia, as we see from the geographical portion of this work, the ancients often designated not the large tract to which we now apply the name, but a comparatively small district lying on the east of the Ægean sea.—B.

[1106] See B. xiv. c. 5.

[1107] Val. Maximus adds, that he was the best lawyer of his time.—B.

[1108] We meet with a passage in Livy, B. xxxix. c. 44, illustrative of this view of Cato’s character. In Cicero’s treatise, De Senectute, where Cato bears a prominent part, frequent allusion is made to the strictness and even severity of his principles, although the general impression which we receive of his character and manners is highly interesting, and, upon the whole, not unamiable.—B.

[1109] Plutarch says, that nearly fifty impeachments were brought against him, the last when he was eighty-six years of age.—B.

[1110] There has been considerable difficulty in ascertaining who was the individual here referred to; the subject is discussed at some length by Hardouin, who shows that it is probable, that it was Lucius Cæcilius, who was slain in a battle with the Gauls, A.U.C. 470, and in the consulship of Dolabella and Domitius.—B.

[1111] The name of this consul has been the subject of much discussion among the commentators. Livy, B. iii. c. 31, has been referred to, as calling him Atermius; but in some of the best editions, he is named Aterius. The tribunate of Dentatus took place A.U.C. 299, fifty-five years after the expulsion of the kings.—B.

[1112] When a Roman overcame an enemy with whom he had been personally engaged, he took possession of some part of his armour and dress, which might bear testimony to the victory; this was termed the “spolium.”—B.

[1113] “Hasta pura;” these words, according to Hardouin, 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.—B.

[1114] “Phaleris.” These were bosses, discs or crescents of metal, sometimes gold. They were mostly used in pairs, and as ornaments for the helmet; but we more commonly read of them as attached to the harness of horses, and worn as pendants from the head, so as to produce a terrific effect when shaken by the rapid movements of the horse.

[1115] The “torques” was an ornament of gold, twisted spirally and bent into a circular form, and worn among the upper classes of the Persians, the Gauls, and other Asiatic and northern nations. They are often found both in France and Ireland, as well as in this country, but varying greatly in size and weight.

[1116] Golden “armillæ,” or bracelets, were worn by the Gauls on the arms and the legs. The Sabines also wore them on the left arm, at the time of the foundation of Rome.

[1117] The word “fiscus” signifies a wicker basket or pannier, probably of peculiar construction, in which the Romans were accustomed to keep and carry about large sums of money. In process of time the word came to signify a treasure or money-chest.

[1118] We have nearly the same detail of the honours bestowed on Dentatus by Val. Maximus, B. iii. c. 2. Pliny again speaks of Dentatus, and the honours bestowed upon him, B. xxii. c. 5; and especially notices the “corona graminea,” the grass or obsidional crown, as the highest of his honours. The different kinds of honorary crowns are very fully described in B. xvi. c. 3, 4, and 5; in B. xxii. c. 4, we have a particular account of the “corona graminea;” in c. 5, mention is made of its having been given to Dentatus, and, in the next, other individuals are enumerated to whom it had been presented.—B.

[1119] T. Romilius Rocus Vaticanus was consul B.C. 455. Having defeated the Æqui, and gained immense booty, instead of distributing it among the soldiers, he and his colleague sold it, on account of the poverty of the treasury. They were, in consequence, brought to trial, and Veturius was sentenced to pay 10,000 asses. He was, however, elected augur in 453, as some compensation for the ill-treatment he had experienced.

[1120] Livy, B. iii. c. 31, gives an account of the conviction of Romilius, but says, that it was effected by C. Claudius Cicero, the tribune of the people. To obviate the discordance in the names, some commentators have proposed to substitute the words “Lucio Siccio” for “Claudio Cicerone.”—B.

[1121] We have an account of the victories, honours, and unfortunate fate of Manlius in Livy, B. vi. c. 14-20. In enumerating the honours conferred upon him, the numbers are given somewhat differently in c. 20; thirty spoils of enemies slain, forty donations from the generals, two mural and eight civic crowns.—B.

[1122] M. Sergius Silus. He was one of the city prætors B.C. 197.

[1123] 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.—B.

[1124] In allusion to the compliment paid by the senate to the consul, M. Terentius Varro, by whose rashness the battle of Cannæ was lost. On his escape and safe return to Rome, instead of visiting him with censure, he received the thanks of the senate, “that he had not despaired of the Republic.”

[1125] It appears somewhat remarkable, considering the extraordinary acts of valour here enumerated, as performed by Sergius, that we hear so little of him from other sources.—B.

[1126] Hardouin takes the meaning to be, that though ill fortune overtook the Romans in their wars with Hannibal, nevertheless Sergius defeated Fortune herself, in dying before his country was overwhelmed by those calamities.

[1127] Pliny informs us, B. xiii. c. 1, that the art of making perfumes originated with the Persians.—B.

[1128] The city was taken by him by assault, and all its buildings, with the exception of the house of Pindar, levelled to the ground; most of the inhabitants were slaughtered, and the rest sold as slaves.

[1129] Stagirus, or Stagira, a town of Macedonia, in Chalcidice, on the Strymonic Gulf. It was a colony of Andros, founded B.C. 656, and originally called Orthagoria. It was destroyed by Philip, and, according to some accounts, was rebuilt by _him_, as having been the native place of Aristotle.

[1130] Archilochus of Paros was one of the earliest Ionian lyric poets, and was the first who composed in Iambic verse according to fixed rules. He flourished about 714-676 B.C. Pliny speaks here of his murderers; but it is generally stated by historians that he was murdered by one individual by some called Calondas, or Corax, a Naxian, by others Archias.

[1131] We may here refer to some remarks by Hardouin and Ajasson on the actual sum obtained by Isocrates; Lemaire, vol. iii. pp. 126, 127.—B.

[1132] This anecdote is related by Cicero, De Oratore, B. iii. c. 56, and by Val. Maximus, B. viii. c. 10.—B.

[1133] This is rather a strong expression, and it is doubtful if the great historian at all deserves it. The facts of the case seem to have been as follow. Thucydides was employed in a military capacity, and was in command of an Athenian squadron of seven ships at Thasos, B.C. 424, when Eucles, who commanded in Amphipolis, sent for his assistance against Brasidas, who was before that town with an army. Fearing the arrival of a superior force, Brasidas offered favourable terms to Amphipolis, which were readily accepted, as there were but few Athenians in the place. Thucydides arrived at Eion, on the mouth of the Strymon, the evening of the same day on which Amphipolis surrendered: and though too late to save Amphipolis, prevented Eion from falling into the hands of the enemy. It was in consequence of this failure, that he became voluntarily an exile, perhaps to avoid the still severer punishment of death, which appears to have been the penalty of such a failure as that which he had, though unavoidably, committed. It is most probable that he returned to Athens about B.C. 403, the period of its liberation by Thrasybulus.

[1134] The following passage in Livy, B. vi. c. 34, may serve to illustrate this remark of Pliny:—“The lictors of Sulpicius, the military tribune, when he went home from the forum, knocked at the door with his staff, as the usual custom is.”