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with blood. {ANT.} Absolutely. The blood of a deer has a certain property, and the blood of a bull has its own peculiar power. 28 {POL.} Your account leads to the truth, Antisthenes. But look at Ariston's son for me, how vigorously the young man rides. Yes, and he drags along a team of hunting dogs, as you see. His high-necked horse, its mane adorned with some golden chains, prances somehow and snorts at its gait, as if exulting in its spirit. And the boy, mounted, having taken the reins in his right hand, urges on the horse with his two feet and has made his way toward the city. And the young man is somehow delighted, for no lack of game has befallen him. Look how large a hare hangs from him. And from this a certain reflection has leapt into my mind. I heard a man say, in whom there is no boast of mythical fabrications, that hares are in labor with some of their offspring, have given birth to others, and still carry some in the womb half-formed. {ANT.} The nature of hares is most fertile, Polycrates. And what is said can be completely proven by something sufficient. Hare's 2 rennet, when applied to a childless woman, quickly made her pregnant and grants a nursing child to a barren woman. Conception, therefore, is not separated for hares, but while their offspring are still being brought to term, a kind of superfoetation occurs in them. Therefore, the hare has given birth to some, is in labor with others, and still carries others half-formed in its womb. Poets sing of Aegyptus and Danaus as most prolific, but the hare is superior to them, just as the man of Abdera said, and there is no harm in believing it. {POL.} By natural necessities, Antisthenes, you have persuaded us, relating to me something definite about hares. But I know not how the conversation has flown off to the race of crows and become airborne; for I perceive them as if they are prevented from drinking in the summertime. 30 {ANT.} The crows suffer a certain affliction in the summertime; and the affliction is a looseness of the bowels, O Polycrates. For this reason, rivers and springs and lakes are of no use to crows in the summer, lest by the liquid the looseness of their bowels should be intensified. Crows, therefore, know the art of diet, not having learned from Hippocrates, nor having been taught the medicines of Machaon or of Chiron. At any rate, in the summer the crows see Arethusa, and they see the streams of the Ister, yes, and the Nile flooding Egypt; but nevertheless it is not possible for them to drink, but as if they were being punished like Tantalus they pay this most bitter penalty. {POL.} Well done on your knowledge! Well done, plane tree, how sweetly the cicadas perched on the new shoots of the branches chirp for me. And from this a discussion about cicadas has entered my mind; it falls to me to extol the works of nature. The female cicada is by nature altogether voiceless, as if out of modesty ashamed of chattering. 31 Do you not see this cicada sitting on the branch in an orderly fashion, very silently, as if it had been taught the doctrines of Pythagoras? {ANT.} Cicadas are somewhat cold by nature. For this reason they begin their song after the solstice, and when the sun is ascendant they let loose their sound, and at the hour of midday they are more songful. The female cicada, then, is much colder than the male, and nature commands silence for her, imposing an intensity of coldness; for this reason there is no chattering female cicada, but like some Theano keeping silent about the ineffable, she seems to me to obey Homer teaching "3speech shall be for men"3. {POL.} I was pleased by the account. 32 But come now, change the subject, as the saying goes; for just now a report has come to me from Egypt, bringing an account not unmusical. They say the Egyptians plot against the eggs of the ibises, lest their offspring should bring forth some evil. For the Egyptians commonly report that a certain dreadful animal somehow has its origin from them. Is what is said some nonsense or a fable? {ANT.} It does not seem so to me; for the discovery is truly wise and Egyptian; and if you desire to hear the account, I have something to tell you, my friend. This bird delights in eating foul-smelling things; and it especially rejoices also in the hunting of venomous creatures, being most voracious. But the ibis is also an enemy to snakes, just like the basilisk; for this reason

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αἵμασιν. {ΑΝΤ.} Πάνυ μὲν οὖν· ἔχει τινὰ αἷμα ἐλάφειον ἰδιότητα, ἔχει δὲ καὶ ταύρειον ἐνέργειαν ἰδιάζουσαν. 28 {ΠΟΛ.} ᾿Αληθείας ἐπαγωγὸς ὁ λόγος, ᾿Αντίσθενες. ᾿Αλλὰ τὸν ᾿Αρίστωνος θέα μοι παῖδα, ὡς συντόνως ὁ νεανίας ἱππάζεται. ναὶ δὴ καὶ ξυνωρίδα κυνηγετῶν ἐπισύρεται ὡς ὁρᾷς. ὑψαύχην ὁ ἵππος αὐτῷ χρυσοῖς τισιν ὅρμοις τὴν χαίτην κοσμούμενος ἐπιγαυριᾷ πως καὶ φρυάττεται τῷ βαδίσματι, ὥσπερ ἐμβλακευόμενος τῷ φρονήματι. ὁ δὲ παῖς ἔποχος τὰς ἡνίας τῇ δεξιᾷ ἐπειλημμένος χειρί, ἀνασοβεῖ τοῖν ποδοῖν τὸν ἵππον καὶ πρὸς ἄστυ τὸν δρόμον πεποίηται. καὶ γέγηθέ πως ὁ νεανίας· οὐ γὰρ ἀθηρία τις αὐτῷ ἐντετύχηκε. θέα μοι ἡλίκος αὐτῷ λαγῶς ἀπῃώρηται. καί τις ἐντεῦθέν μοι εἰσπεπήδηκε θεωρία. ᾿Ανδρὸς ἤκουσά του λέγοντος, παρ' ᾧ κόμπος μυθικῶν πλασμάτων οὐκ ἔνεστι, τοὺς λαγῶς τὰ μὲν τῶν ἐκγόνων ὠδίνειν, τὰ δὲ τετοκέναι, ἔνια δ' ἡμιτελῆ ἔτι φέρεσθαι τῇ γαστρί. {ΑΝΤ.} Γονιμωτάτη τις ἡ τῶν λαγωῶν ἐστι φύσις, Πολύκρατες. ἱκανὸν δέ τῳ τεκμηριῶσαι κομιδῇ τὸ λεγόμενον. λαγῴα 2 πυτία ἄπαιδι γυναικὶ ἐντιθεμένη ἐγκύμονα θᾶττον ἐποίησε καὶ παῖδα ὑποτίτθιον στείρᾳ χαρίζεται. ἡ τοίνυν σύλληψις οὐ κεχώρισται τοῖς λαγῷς, ἀλλ' ἔτι τελεσφορουμένων τῶν ἐκγόνων ἐπισύλληψις ὥσπερ αὐτοῖς ἐπιγίνεται. οὐκοῦν ἃ μὲν τέτοκεν ὁ λαγῶς, ἃ δὲ ὠδίνει, ἃ δὲ ἡμιτελῆ ἔτι προφέρεται τῇ γαστρί. Αἴγυπτον καὶ ∆αναὸν πολυτεκνοτάτους ᾄδουσι ποιηταί, ἀλλ' ἐκείνων ὑπέρτερος ὁ λαγῶς, καθάπου ἔφη [μὲν] ὁ ᾿Αβδηρίτης, τὸ δὲ πιστεύειν ἀζήμιον. {ΠΟΛ.} Φυσικαῖς ἡμᾶς ἀνάγκαις, ᾿Αντίσθενες, πέπεικας ἑδραῖόν τί μοι περὶ λαγωῶν διηγούμενος. ᾿Αλλ' ἐπὶ τὰ τῶν κοράκων γένη οὐκ οἶδ' ὅπως ἐξέπτη ὁ λόγος καὶ μετάρσιος γέγονε· καὶ γὰρ αἰσθάνομαι ὥσπερ ἀπειργομένων ὥρᾳ θέρους ὑδρεύεσθαι. 30 {ΑΝΤ.} Πεπόνθασί τι πάθος ὥρᾳ θέρους οἱ κόρακες· τὸ δὲ πάθος ῥύσις ἐστὶ γαστρός, ὦ Πολύκρατες. ἐντεῦθεν ποταμοὶ καὶ πηγαὶ καὶ λίμναι οὐδέν τι χρῆμα θέρους τοῖς κόραξιν, ἵνα μήπου τῷ ὑγρῷ ἡ τῆς γαστρὸς σχοίη ῥύσις ἐπίτασιν. ἴσασι τοίνυν διαίτης τέχνην καὶ κόρακες, οὐχ ῾Ιπποκράτην μαθόντες, οὐ τὰ Μαχάωνος παιδευθέντες ἢ τὰ Χείρωνος φάρμακα. ὁρῶσι γοῦν τὴν ᾿Αρέθουσαν ὥρᾳ θέρους οἱ κόρακες, ὁρῶσι δὲ καὶ τοῦ ῎Ιστρου τὰ ῥεῖθρα, ναὶ μὴν καὶ τὸν Νεῖλον τὴν Αἴγυπτον πελαγίζοντα· ἀλλ' ὅμως πίνειν ἐκείνοις οὐκ ἔνεστιν, ἀλλ' οἷα Τάνταλοι κολαζόμενοι δριμυτάτην ταύτην τὴν δίκην εἰσπράττονται. {ΠΟΛ.} Εὖ σοι τῆς ἐπιστήμης· εὖγε τῆς πλατάνου, ὡς ἡδύ μοι τερετίζουσιν ἐν τοῖς νεοβλάστοις τῶν κλάδων οἱ τέττιγες ἐποχούμενοι. Καί τις ἐντεῦθέν με περὶ τεττίγων λόγος εἰσέδυ· ἐξαίρειν ἔπεστί μοι τὰ τῆς φύσεως ἔργα. θήλεια καθάπαξ τέττιξ ἄφωνος πέφυκεν, ὥσπερ αἰσχυνομένη σωφροσύνῃ τὸ λάλον. 31 οὐχ ὁρᾷς κοσμίως τήνδε τὴν τέττιγα ἐφιζάνουσαν τῷ κλάδῳ ἄγαν σιωπηλῶς, ὥσπερ τὰ Πυθαγόρου διδαχθεῖσαν διδάγματα; {ΑΝΤ.} Ψυχροί τινες τὴν φύσιν οἱ τέττιγες. διὸ μετὰ τροπὰς ἀπάρχονται τῆς ᾠδῆς, καὶ ἡλίου ὑπαρχομένου τὸν ἑαυτῶν μεθίασι κέλαδον, ὥρᾳ τε μεσημβρίας εἰσὶν ᾠδικώτεροι [τέττιγες]. τέττιξ οὖν θήλεια κατὰ πολὺ ψυχροτέρα τοῦ ἄρρενος καὶ φύσις αὐτῇ τὴν σιωπὴν ἐγκελεύεται ἐπίτασιν ἐντιθεῖσα ψυχρότητος· διὸ κωτίλος τέττιξ οὐκ ἔνεστι θήλεια, ἀλλ' οἷά τις Θεανὼ σιωπῶσα τὰ ἄρρητα, ὥσπερ ῾Ομήρῳ μοι δοκεῖ πειθαρχεῖν "3μῦθος ἄνδρεσσι μελήσει"3 διδάσκοντι. {ΠΟΛ.} ῞Ησθην τῷ λόγῳ. 32 ᾿Αλλ' ἄγε δὴ μετάβηθι, ὁ λόγος ἐρεῖ· ἀρτίως γάρ μοι ἡ θεωρία ἀφίκετο ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου ἐνεγκαμένη λόγον οὐκ ἄμουσον. φασὶ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους τοῖς τῶν ἴβεων ἐπιβουλεύειν ᾠοῖς, ἵνα μή που κακόν τι τὰ τούτων τελεσφορήσῃ γεννήματα. Ζῷον γάρ τι δεινὸν ἐντεῦθέν πως ἔχειν τὴν γένεσιν περιθρυλλοῦσιν Αἰγύπτιοι. ἆρα λῆρός τις ἢ μυθολόγημα τὸ λεγόμενον; {ΑΝΤ.} Οὔ μοι δοκεῖ· σοφὸν γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς καὶ Αἰγύπτιον τὸ ἐφεύρεμα· εἰ δέ που καὶ τοῦ λόγου ἀκούειν ἐρᾷς, ἔχω τί σοι λέξαι, φιλότης. ἥδεται τουτὶ τὸ ὄρνεον τὰ δυσώδη σιτούμενον· χαίρει δὲ μάλιστα καὶ ταῖς τῶν ἰοβόλων ἄγραις πολυβορώτατον ὄν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς ὄφεσιν ἴβις, καθάπερ ὁ βασιλίσκος, πολέμιον· διὸ