14

gives birth. But whenever one is brought down into a pit, and another elephant sees it, it goes and gathers many elephants, and coming, they pull up the fallen one, gently lifting it. The dragon in India creeps up around the back of the elephant, and coils around its entire belly, and whatever vein it happens to cut, it insatiably gorges itself on the blood, drawing it in with a violent breath and a sustained hissing. The elephant leaps about, and with its trunk strikes its sides, as if the dragon were sitting there; then, as its blood is drained, no longer able to leap, it stands trembling, and a little later it falls, as its legs have grown weak; then it also expires, and 744 it traps the dragon along with it; and the dragon, unable to loosen the bond it had placed around it, and being pressed by the weight of the elephant, suffocates and dies. The horse is hot in its desire for the female. The donkey is sluggish, and keen of hearing, and has a good memory. The camel is resentful. The wolf is untamed. The ox is steady. The dog is grateful, and loves its master; for often it has died with them when they were murdered on the road; and others have even denounced the murderers and brought it about that they suffered their just punishment. Some have supposed the hyena, suspecting that every year it changes its female nature to male, or its male nature to female. But it is not so; for the animal, being very licentious, has a protuberance in front of the passage under its tail, similar to the female pudenda, which has no passage, but only a hollow, serving no uterine need, and receives only empty lust. On account of its excessive lewdness, therefore, both the male and the female have this peculiarity; for when the passages are filled and occupied with gestation, they engage in unnatural intercourse with each other. Hence it is very rare to find a female hyena; for gestations do not occur continuously for the animal. The hare is most incontinent with respect to copulation. The female gives birth monthly, and having given birth is again mounted by any male hare, and conceives while still suckling; for she is not satisfied with one. They say the griffin is an animal of the very largest size, so as to cast a shadow the size of a field; and it seizes a lion as easily as an eagle among us seizes a hare. There is an animal, the charadrius, mentioned by Moses, most white, having no spot of another color over its whole body; and they say its excretions cure those with weak sight. They relate that it stays in the royal courts, becoming a prophet of life and death to sick men. For when, they say, some illness befalls, they bring the charadrius before him, and if it attends to the sick person, and the sick person to it, the charadrius swallows his disease, and flies up into the ether of the sun, and there disperses the man's disease; but if it does not attend, they know that the sick person will die. The unicorn is a small animal, like a kid, exceedingly fierce. It has only one horn on the top of its head, and is hunted in this way: They throw a pure virgin before it; and it leaps into her lap; and she, warming it, carries it away to the houses of kings. There is an animal called the beaver, very gentle and quiet; and its testicles are useful for healing. Therefore, being pursued for this by hunters, it cuts off its own testicles, and stops its pursuers. And if others pursue it, it shows itself having been castrated, and turns the hunters from the chase. 745 The ant-lion has a father with the face of a lion, and a mother of an ant. And the father is a flesh-eater, but the mother a grain-eater, and they beget the two-natured ant-lion, having the face of a lion, and the rear part of an ant; and being able to eat neither meat nor grains, it dies. The onager is a herd-leader, and of the males that are born, it crushes their testicles, and they do not procreate. The

14

ἀποτίκτει· ἡνίκα δ' ἂν ἐς βόθρον κατενεχθῇ, καὶ ἄλλος ἐλέφας θεάσηται, πορευθεὶς συνάγει πολλοὺς ἐλέφαντας, καὶ ἐλθόντες τὸν πεπτωκότα ἀνασπῶσιν ἠρέμα ὑποκουφίζοντες. Ὁ δὲ δράκων ὁ κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδίαν περὶ τὰ νῶτα τοῦ ἐλέφαντος ἀνέρπει, καὶ τὴν νηδὺν πᾶσαν περιειλεῖται, καὶ ἣν ἂν τύχῃ φλέβα διελεῖν, ἀπλήστως ἐμφορεῖται τοῦ αἵματος, ἐπισπώμενος βιαίῳ πνεύματι, καὶ συντόνῳ ῥοίζῳ. Ὁ δὲ ἐλέφας σκιρτᾷ, καὶ τῇ προνομῇ τύπτει τὰ πλευρὰ, ὡς τοῦ δράκοντος καθεζόμενος· εἶτα ἐκκενουμένου τοῦ αἵματος, οὐκέτι πηδᾷν δυνάμενος, τρέμων ἵσταται, μικρὸν δὲ ὕστερον πίπτει, καὶ τῶν σκελῶν ἐξασθενησάντων· εἶτα καὶ ἀποψύχει, καὶ 744 συνεπιλαμβάνει τὸν δράκοντα· ὁ δὲ δράκων ὃν περιέθετο δεσμὸν λῦσαι μὴ δυνάμενος, καὶ τῷ βάρει τοῦ ἐλέφαντος πιεζόμενος, πνιγεὶς τελευτᾷ. Θερμὸς ὁ ἵππος πρὸς ἐπιθυμίαν τοῦ θήλεος. Νωθὸς ὁ ὄνος, καὶ ὀξυήκοος, καὶ μνήμων. Μνησίκακον κάμηλος. Ἀνήμερον λύκος. Εὐσταθὴς ὁ βοῦς. Εὐχάριστος ὁ κύων, καὶ φιλοδεσπότης· πολλάκις γὰρ καθ' ὁδὸν φονευομένοις αὐτοῖς ἐπαπέθανεν· ἕτεροι δὲ καὶ τοὺς φονεῖς κατεμήνυσαν, καὶ τὴν ἔνδικον πείσασθαι αὐτοὺς τιμωρίαν προεξένησαν. Τὴν δὲ ὕαιναν ὑπετόπησάν τινες ὑπονοήσαντες ἀμείβειν κατ' ἔτος τὴν θηλυκὴν φύσιν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄῤῥεν, ἢ τὴν ἄῤῥενα ἐπὶ τὸ θῆλυ. Ἔχει δὲ οὐχ οὕτως· τὸ γὰρ ζῶον, ἀσελγέστατον πάνυ ὑπάρχον, πρὸ τοῦ πόρου ὑπὸ τὴν κέρκον ἐξοχὴν κέκτηται, αἰδοίῳ θηλυκῷ παραπλήσιον, ὅπερ οὐκ ἔχει πόρον, ἢ μόνον κοιλότητα, εἰς οὐδὲν μήτρας χρειῶδες καθεστηκυῖαν, καὶ κενὴν μόνην λαγνείαν δέχεται. ∆ιὰ γοῦν τὸν ὑπερβάλλοντα πασχητιασμὸν τοῦτο ὁ ἄῤῥην καὶ ἡ θήλεια ἔχουσι τὸ ἰδίωμα· ὅταν γὰρ οἱ πόροι πεπληρωμένοι ἀσχολοῦνται περὶ τὴν κύησιν, ἐν ἀλλήλοις τὴν παρὰ φύσιν μίξιν ἐργάζονται. Ὅθεν σπανιώτατόν ἐστιν εὑρεῖν θήλειαν ὕαιναν· οὐ γὰρ συνεχεῖς αἱ κυήσεις τῷ ζώῳ γίγνονται. Ὁ δὲ λαγωὸς πρὸς συνουσίαν ἐστὶν ἀκρατέστερος. Ἡ δὲ θήλεια κατὰ μῆνα τίκτει, καὶ τεκοῦσα πάλιν ὑπὸ τοῦ τυχόντος λαγωοῦ ὀχεύεται, καὶ συλλαμβάνει ἔτι θηλαζομένη· οὐ γὰρ ἀρκεῖται ἑνί. Τὸν δὲ γρῦπα φασὶν εἶναι ζῶον παμμεγεθέστατον ὡς ἀρουραίαν σκιὰν ἐκτελεῖν· ἁρπάζει δὲ λέοντα οὕτως εὐχερῶς, ὡς ἀετὸς παρ' ἡμῖν λαγωόν. Ἔστι ζῶον χαραδριὸς ὁ παρὰ Μωϋσῇ μνημονευόμενος, λευκότατος, δι' ὅλον τὸ σῶμα μὴ ἔχων σπῖλον ἄλλης χρόας· καὶ τούτου τὰς ἐκρύσεις τοὺς ἀμβλυωποῦντας ἰᾶσθαί φασι. Καταμένειν δὲ αὐτὸν ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς ταῖς βασιλικαῖς ἱστοροῦσι, προφήτην ζωῆς καὶ θανάτου τοῖς κάμνουσι τῶν ἀνθρώπων γιγνόμενον. Ὅταν γὰρ, φασὶν, ἀῤῥωστία τις περιπέσῃ, ἄγουσιν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ τὸν χαραδριὸν, καὶ εἰ προσχῇ τῷ νοσοῦντι, καὶ ὁ νοσῶν αὐτῷ, καταπίνει τὴν νόσον ὁ χαραδριὸς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀνίπταται εἰς τὸν αἰθέρα τοῦ ἡλίου, κἀκεῖ τὴν νόσον τοῦ ἀνθρώπου διασκεδάζει· εἰ δὲ μὴ προσχῇ, γινώσκουσιν, ὅτι τελευτήσει ὁ κάμνων. Ὁ δὲ μονόκερως ζῶόν ἐστι μικρὸν, ὅμοιον ἐρίφῳ, δριμύτατον σφόδρα. Ἓν δὲ κέρας μόνον ἐπὶ τῆς κορυφῆς ἔχει τῆς κεφαλῆς, καὶ θηρᾶται τοιώσδε· Παρθένον ἁγνὴν ῥίπτουσιν αὐτοῦ ἐπίπροσθεν· ὁ δὲ εἰς τοὺς κόλπους αὐτῆς ἐφάλλεται· ἡ δὲ περιθάλπουσα αὐτὸν εἰς τοὺς οἴκους τῶν βασιλέων ἀποκομίζει. Ἔστι ζῶον καλούμενον καστόριον, ἤπιον πάνυ καὶ ἡσύχιον· χρησιμεύει δὲ τὰ αἰδοῖα αὐτοῦ πρὸς ἴασιν. ∆ιωκόμενον οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦτο ὑπὸ τῶν θηρευτῶν, ἀποκόπτει αὑτοῦ τὰ αἰδοῖα, καὶ ἐφίστησι τοὺς διώκοντας. Ἐπιδιωκόντων δὲ ἄλλων, ἀποκεκομμένον ἑαυτὸν δείκνυσι, καὶ ἐκκόπτει τοῦ δρόμου τοὺς θηρευτάς. 745 Ὁ δὲ μυρμηκολέων πατέρα ἔχει πρόσωπον λέοντος ἔχοντα, τὴν δὲ μητέρα μύρμηκος. Καὶ ὁ μὲν πατὴρ σαρκοφάγος ἐστὶν, ἡ δὲ μήτηρ ὀσπριοφάγος, καὶ γεννῶσι διφυῆ τὸν μυρμηκολέοντα, τὸ μὲν πρόσωπον ἔχοντα λέοντος, τὸ δὲ μέρος τὸ ὄπισθεν μύρμηκος· καὶ μὴ δυνάμενος μήτε κρέα μήτε ὄσπρια ἐσθίειν, ἀποθνήσκει. Ὁ δὲ ὄναγρος ἀγελάρχης ἐστὶ, καὶ τῶν γενομένων ἀῤῥένων θλᾷ τὰ αἰδοῖα, καὶ οὐ σπερματίζουσιν. Ὁ