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things that have happened. Therefore the feathers of eagles are in a way destructive. For they partake of a certain putrid nature. And the feathers of other birds would not be saved if they came near eagle feathers; for they perish more quickly. {POL.} Very wisely, my dear friend. But look, Antisthenes, at the paintings of Apelles for me; I have marveled, man, at the decorum of the painting. Behold for me this Indian animal, how the creator of the painting has excellently variegated it. The story is that an elephant does not drink before it has muddied the streams with its trunk. 16 {ANT.} What is said is not fabricated; an elephant is terrified seeing its own shadow in water. For this reason they say the Indians watch for a moonless night whenever they ferry this animal across waters. Let the elephant, by turning away from its own shadow, instruct the mythical Narcissus to abstain from loves foreign to nature. {POL.} I admire the power of the theory, how you are altogether skilled in pursuing the principles of nature. But come now, philosophize for me the principles concerning the torpedo fish; and may the pompous tongue of the Corinthian numb the problems about which he boasts concerning the torpedo fish. He was saying that those who work the sea, if ever a torpedo fish is caught in the net, their hands are immediately affected as they pull up the net with the ropes. How then, my good man, does the animal defend itself against the hunters through the ropes? {ANT.} Pericles has moved his tongue to the sea of wonders. Keep your mind within the bounds of knowledge, eager to explore as it were an Atlantic sea of theory. But I, Polycrates, will charm your desire with a few small words. 17 {POL.} You may speak, O noble one. For the words put forth seem to me both witty and beneficial to the people. I shall not leave you today, no, by my best love. {ANT.} The air has been allotted a most impressionable nature; for it is by nature resonant and transparent and lets scents pass through. For certain divine providences have excellently crafted it in this way, so that sympathies and effects might somehow occur through it in this region around the earth. This, therefore, is the cause of many affections and effects. For how have those with diseased eyes often made those who see them partakers of the affection? Yes indeed, since the surrounding air is like a borderland for us of both health and sickness. Therefore, through the air that is present, the torpedo fish also knows how to produce a certain effect on those who approach it, even if they do not touch it. And I will tell you proof of this as well. The magnet, which they also call the 18 Heraclean stone, is separate from the iron, and yet through the medium of the air we see the stone putting forth its power. And the sympathy that occurs with the palm plant, what mind does it not astonish? What hearing has it not filled with wonder? In the palm plant, the female kind is distinguished in one way and the male in another; then when the male and female are near each other, you might see the female letting down her branches like amorous foliage to the male, and, swelling with desire, longing for embrace. But since its branches sometimes do not reach the male, the cultivators devise something clever for it for its love; for they bind it to the male with ropes, and so the female comes to a sensation of the pleasure and rises up from its curvature and has brought its branches back to their proper form, as if having obtained the union with the male through the ropes. It is therefore not at all strange for the torpedo fish also to produce an effect on its hunters through the medium of the ropes. 1 {POL.} Amazing, what a speech! You seem to me, Antisthenes, to be very much a brother of nature. But the discussion desires to move from the sea to the dry land and hastens to channel the theory to the mainland. The Corinthian did not lie about the deer, that after shedding their antlers they flee their usual haunts, as if ashamed of the disfigurement that is then upon them. {ANT.} Someone might perhaps think that Pericles is joking, Polycrates, or is somehow Corybantically frenzied and mad, putting forward this nonsensical puzzle. But I have marveled at the man and I honor the love of beauty of the

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γενόμενα. διὸ καὶ φθαρτικά πως τῶν ἀετῶν τὰ πτερά. σηπεδονώδους γάρ τινος μετέχουσι φύσεως. καὶ οὐκ ἂν σωθείη ἑτέρων ἄττα κόμαις ἀετῶν πτερὰ πλησιάσαντα· θᾶττον γὰρ ἀπολώλασιν. {ΠΟΛ.} Λίαν νουνεχῶς, ὦ φιλότης. ᾿Αλλ' ὅρα μοι τοῦ ᾿Απελλοῦ, ᾿Αντίσθενες, πίνακας· τεθαύμακα τῆς γραφῆς, ἄνερ, τὸ κόσμιον. θέα μοι τὸ ᾿Ινδικὸν τουτὶ ζῷον ὅπως ὁ δημιουργὸς τῆς γραφῆς διεποίκιλεν ἄριστα. λόγος ἐστὶν ἐλέφαντα μὴ πρότερον πίνειν, πρὶν ἂν ὑποθολώσῃ τῇ προνομαίᾳ τὰ νάματα. 16 {ΑΝΤ.} Οὐκ ἐπίπλαστον τὸ λεγόμενον· μορμολύττεται σκιὰν τὴν αὑτοῦ ἐν ὕδατι ἐλέφας θεώμενος. διὸ καὶ τοὺς ᾿Ινδοὺς ἐπιτηρεῖν ἀσέληνον νύκτα φασὶν ὁπηνίκα διαπορθμεύουσι τουτὶ δι' ὑδάτων τὸ ζῷον. τὸν μυθικὸν Νάρκισσον παιδευέτω ἐλέφας τὴν ἑαυτοῦ σκιὰν ἀποστρέφεσθαι καὶ τῶν ξένων τῆς φύσεως ἐρώτων ἀπέχεσθαι. {ΠΟΛ.} ῎Αγαμαι τῆς θεωρίας τὴν δύναμιν, ὡς δεινὸς σὺ κομιδῇ φύσεως λόγους μετέρχεσθαι. ᾿Αλλ' ἄγε δὴ τοὺς περὶ νάρκης φιλοσόφει μοι λόγους· καὶ ἡ σοβαρὰ τοῦ Κορινθίου γλῶττα ναρκήσειε τὰ περὶ νάρκης μεγαλαυχουμένη προβλήματα. τοὺς θαλαττουργοῦντας ἔφασκεν, εἴποτε νάρκη τῷ κύρτῳ ἁλῷ, τὼ χεῖρε πάσχειν εὐθὺς τοῖς κάλοις ἐφελκομένους τὸν κύρτον. πῶς δῆτα, ὦ τᾶν, διὰ τῶν κάλων τοὺς θηρευτὰς τὸ ζῷον ἀμύνεται; {ΑΝΤ.} ᾿Επὶ τὴν θάλατταν τῶν θαυμάτων ὁ Περικλῆς τὴν γλῶτταν κεκίνηκεν. εἴσω τῶν ὅρων τῆς γνώσεως τὴν σὴν διάνοιαν ἔπεχε ᾿Ατλαντικὸν ὥσπερ πέλαγος θεωρίας ἱστορῆσαι γλιχόμενος. ἐγὼ δέ σου, Πολύκρατες, μικροῖς τισι ῥήμασι ψυχαγωγήσω τὸν ἔρωτα. 17 {ΠΟΛ.} Λέγοις ἄν, ὦ γενναῖος. ἀστεῖοι γάρ μοι δοκοῦσι καὶ δημωφελεῖς οἱ λόγοι προτίθεσθαι. οὐ μή σου ἀπολειφθείην τὸ τήμερον, οὐ μὰ τὸν ἐμὸν βέλτιστον ἔρωτα. {ΑΝΤ.} Εὐπαθεστάτην ὁ ἀὴρ φύσιν κληρωτικῶς ἀπενείματο· διηχὴς γὰρ καὶ διαφανὴς ἔφυ καὶ δίοσμος. οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὸν θεῖαι φροντίδες τινὲς δεδημιουργήκασιν ἄριστα, ἵνα πως συμπάθειαι καὶ ἐνέργειαι δι' ἐκείνου ἀνὰ τὸ περίγειον τουτὶ χωρίον συμβαίησαν. πολλῶν τοίνυν παθῶν καὶ ἐνεργειῶν αἴτιος οὗτος. πῶς γὰρ οἱ τὰς ὄψεις νοσοῦντες τοὺς ὁρῶντας σφᾶς πολλάκις τοῦ πάθους κοινωνοὺς ἐποιήσαντο; ναὶ μὴν τοῦ περιέχοντος ἀέρος μεταιχμίου δίκην ῥώσεως ἐνόντος ἡμῖν καὶ φαυλότητος. οὐκοῦν διὰ τοῦ ἐνόντος ἀέρος καὶ νάρκη ποιεῖν τι πάθος ἐπίσταται τοῖς αὐτῇ πλησιάζουσιν, εἰ καὶ μὴ ταύτης ἐφάψοιντο. ἐρῶ δέ σοι καὶ τοῦδε τεκμήριον. ἡ μαγνῆτις, ἣν καὶ 18 ῾Ηρακλείαν λίθον φασί, τοῦ σιδήρου διέστηκε, καὶ ὅμως διὰ μέσου τοῦ ἀέρος ὁρῶμεν τὴν ἐνέργειαν προβαλλομένην τὴν λίθον. ἡ δὲ καὶ περὶ τὸν φοίνικα τὸ φυτὸν γινομένη συμπάθεια ποίαν διάνοιαν οὐκ ἐξίστησι; ποίαν ἀκοὴν οὐκ ἐνεφόρησε θαύματος; ἐπὶ τοῦ φοίνικος τοῦ φυτοῦ ἄλλως τὸ τῶν θηλειῶν καὶ ἄλλως τὸ τῶν ἀρρένων διακρίνεται γένος· εἶτα πλησίον ὄντων ἀλλήλων τοῦ τε ἄρρενος καὶ τοῦ θήλεος, ἴδοις ἂν τὴν θήλειαν καθιεῖσαν τοὺς κλάδους οἷα κόμην ἐρωτικὴν τῷ ἄρρενι καὶ συμπλοκῆς ἐφιεμένην ὀργῶσαν. ἐπεὶ δ' οὐκ ἐξικνοῦνται ἔστιν ὅτε οἱ ταύτης πρὸς τὸν ἄρρενα κλάδοι, σοφόν τι παλαμῶνται ταύτῃ οἱ φυτουργοὶ πρὸς τὸν ἔρωτα· κάλοις γὰρ αὐτὴν περιδεσμοῦσι τῷ ἄρρενι, καὶ οὕτως ἐν αἰσθήσει τῆς ἀπολαύσεως ἡ θήλεια γίνεται καὶ ἐξανίσταται τῆς κυρτώσεως καὶ πρὸς τὸ οἰκεῖον τοὺς κλάδους ἐπανήγαγε σχῆμα, ὥσπερ διὰ τῶν κάλων τὴν τοῦ ἄρρενος λαχοῦσα συνάφειαν. ἄτοπον τοίνυν οὐδὲν ποιεῖν καὶ νάρκην τοῖς θηρεύουσι πάθος διὰ μέσων τῶν κάλων. 1 {ΠΟΛ.} Βαβαὶ τοῦ λόγου· ἀδελφὸς εὖ μάλα μοι, ᾿Αντίσθενες, φύσεως εἶναι δοκεῖς. ᾿Αλλ' ἐκ τῆς θαλάττης ἐπὶ τὴν χέρσον μετελθεῖν ὁ λόγος ἐρᾷ καὶ μετοχετεύειν ἐπὶ τὴν ἤπειρον τὴν θεωρίαν ἐπείγεται. τὰς ἐλάφους ὁ Κορίνθιος οὐκ ἐψεύσατο τὸ κέρας ἀποβαλούσας τῶν συνήθων ἀποφεύγειν χωρίων, ὥσπερ αἰσχυνομένας τὴν τέως αὐταῖς ἀκοσμίαν προσοῦσαν. {ΑΝΤ.} ∆όξειε μέν τις ἴσως παίζειν τὸν Περικλέα, Πολύκρατες, ἢ κορυβαντιᾶν πως καὶ μεμηνέναι, φλήναφον τοῦτο τὸ διαπόρημα προβαλλόμενον. ἐγὼ δὲ τὸν ἄνδρα τεθαύμακα καὶ τὸ φιλόκαλον γεραίρω τῆς