20. But perhaps we may seem ridiculous for signalizing beasts in this manner because they learn, since we find that Democritus affirms us to have been their scholars in the greatest matters;—of the spider, in weaving and repairing what we tear or wear out; of the swallow, in building houses; and of the mournful swan and nightingale, in singing and imitation. Moreover in others we observe a threefold practice of physic, both natural and inbred. For tortoises make use of marjoram and weasels eat rue, when they have devoured a serpent; and dogs purge themselves from abounding gall with a certain sort of grass. The dragon quickens the dimness of his sight with fennel; and the bear, coming forth of her cave after long emaciation, feeds upon the wild arum, for the acrimony of that herb opens and separates her guts when clung together. At other times, being overcloyed with food, she repairs to the emmet-hills, and thrusting forth her tongue all soft and unctuous, by reason of the sweet kind of slime that all besmears it, till it be crowded with emmets, at length swallows them down her throat, and so recovers. And it is reported that the Egyptians observe and imitate the bird called ibis, in purging and cleansing her bowels with the briny sea-water. For which reason the priests, when they hallow themselves, make use of the water of which the ibis has drunk; for that those birds will not drink the water, if it be medicinal or otherwise infected. Some beasts there are that cure themselves by abstinence; as wolves and lions, who, when they are gorged with flesh, lie still and digest their crudities by the warmth of one another’s bodies. It is reported also of the tiger, that if a kid be thrown to her, she will not eat in two days; but growing almost famished the third day, if she be not supplied with another, she will tear down the cage that holds her, if she have strength enough; yet all this while she will not meddle with the first kid, as being her companion and fellow-housekeeper. More than this, the elephants are said to make use of chirurgery; for that being brought to persons wounded, they will draw forth the heads of spears and arrows out of their bodies with little pain, and without dilacerating and mangling the flesh. The Cretan goats, which by eating dittany expel the arrows shot into their bodies, taught women with child to understand the virtue of that herb, so prevalent to expel the birth. For those goats being wounded seek no other cure, but presently seek out and hunt for dittany.
20. γελοῖοι δʼ ἴσως ἐσμὲν ἐπὶ τῷ μανθάνειν τὰ ζῷα σεμνύνοντες, ὧν ὁ Δημόκριτος ἀποφαίνει μαθητὰς ἐν τοῖς μεγίστοις γεγονότας ἡμᾶς ἀράχνης ἐν ὑφαντικῇ καὶ ἀκεστικῇ, χελιδόνος ἐν οἰκοδομίᾳ καὶ τῶν λιγυρῶν, κύκνου καὶ ἀηδόνος, ἐν ᾠδῇ κατὰ μίμησιν. ἰατρικῆς δὲ πολὺ τῶν τριῶν εἰδῶν ἑκάστου καὶ γενναῖον ἐν αὐτοῖς μόριον ὁρῶμεν· οὐ γὰρ μόνον τῷ φαρμακευτικῷ χρῶνται, χελῶναι μὲν ὀρίγανον γαλαῖ δὲ πήγανον, ὅταν ὄφεως φάγωσιν, ἐπεσθίουσαι κύνες δὲ πόᾳ τινὶ καθαίροντες ἑαυτοὺς χολεριῶντας· ὁ δὲ δράκων τῷ μαράθρῳ τὸν ὀφθαλμὸν ἀμβλυώττοντα λεπτύνων καὶ διαχαράττων· ἡ δʼ ἄρκτος, ὅταν ἐκ τοῦ φωλεοῦ προέλθῃ, τὸ ἄρον ἐσθίουσα πρῶτον τὸ ἄγριον ἡ γὰρ δριμύτης ἀνοίγει συμπεφυκὸς αὐτῆς τὸ ἔντερον· ἄλλως δʼ ἀσώδης γενομένη πρὸς τὰς μυρμηκιὰς τρέπεται καὶ κάθηται προβάλλουσα λιπαρὰν καὶ μαλακὴν ἰκμάδι γλυκείᾳ τὴν γλῶσσαν, ἄχρι οὗ μυρμήκων ἀνάπλεως γένηται· καταπίνουσα γὰρ ὠφελεῖται. τῆς τʼ ἴβεως τὸν ὑποκλυσμὸν ἅλμῃ καθαιρομένης Αἰγύπτιοι συνιδεῖν καὶ μιμήσασθαι λέγουσιν· οἱ δ’ ἱερεῖς ὕδατι χρῶνται, περιαγνίζοντες ἑαυτούς, ἐξ οὗ πέπωκεν ἶβις ἂν γὰρ ᾖ φαρμακῶδες ἢ νοσηρὸν ἄλλως τὸ ὕδωρ, οὐ πρόσεισιν. ἀλλὰ καὶ τροφῆς τροφῆς ἀποσχέσει ἔνια θεραπεύονται, καθάπερ λύκοι καὶ λέοντες, ὅταν κρεῶν γένωνται διακορεῖς, ἡσυχίαν ἄγουσι κατακείμενοι καὶ συνθάλποντες ἑαυτούς. τίγριν δέ φασιν, ἐρίφου παραδοθέντος αὐτῇ, χρωμένην διαίτῃ μὴ φαγεῖν ἐφʼ ἡμέρας δύο, τῇ δὲ τρίτῃ πεινῶσαν αἰτεῖν ἄλλο καὶ τὴν γαλεάγραν σπαράσσειν ἐκείνου δὲ φείσασθαι οἰομένην σύντροφον ἔχειν ἤδη καὶ σύνοικον. οὐ μὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ χειρουργίᾳ χρῆσθαι τοὺς ἐλέφαντας ἱστοροῦσι καὶ γὰρ ξυστὰ καὶ λόγχας καὶ τοξεύματα, παριστάμενοι τοῖς τετρωμένοις, ἄνευ σπαραγμοῦ ῥᾳδίως καὶ ἀβλαβῶς ἐξέλκουσιν. αἱ δὲ Κρητικαὶ αἶγες, ὅταν τὸ δίκταμνον φάγωσιν, ἐκβάλλουσαι τὰ τοξεύματα ῥᾳδίως καταμαθεῖν ταῖς ἐγκύοις τὴν βοτάνην παρέσχον ἐκτρωτικὴν δύναμιν ἔχουσαν· ἐπʼ οὐδὲν γὰρ ἄλλο τρωθεῖσαι φέρονται καὶ ζητοῦσι καὶ διώκουσιν ἢ τὸ δίκταμνον.
21. But these things, though wonderful, are not so much to be admired as are those beasts that understand the use of numbers and have the power of reckoning, like the oxen about Susa. For there are oxen in that place that water the king’s gardens with portable buckets, of which the number is fixed. For every ox carries a hundred buckets every day, and more you cannot force them to take or carry, would you never so fain; insomuch that, when constraint has been used for experiment’s sake, nothing could make them stir after they had carried their full number. Such an accurate account do they take, and preserve the same in their memory, as Ctesias the Cnidian relates it. The Libyans deride the Egyptians for the fables which they report of the oryx, which, as they say, makes a great noise upon the same day, at the very hour, when the Dogstar, which they call Sothes, rises. However, this is certain, that all their goats, when that star rises truly with the sun, turn themselves and stand gazing toward the east; which is a most unquestionable argument of that star’s having finished its course, and agrees exactly with the astronomer’s observations.
21. ἧττον δὲ ταῦτα θαυμαστά, καίπερ ὄντα θαυμάσια, ποιοῦσιν αἱ νόησιν ἀριθμοῦ καὶ δύναμιν τοῦ ἀριθμεῖν ἔχουσαι φύσεις, ὥσπερ ἔχουσιν αἱ περὶ Σοῦσα βόες· εἰσὶ γὰρ αὐτόθι τὸν βασιλικὸν παράδεισον ἄρδουσαι περιάκτοις ἀντλήμασιν, ὧν ὥρισται τὸ πλῆθος· ἑκατὸν γὰρ ἑκάστη βοῦς ἀναφέρει καθʼ ἡμέραν ἑκάστην ἀντλήματα πλείονα δʼ οὐκ ἔστιν οὔτε λαβεῖν οὔτε βιάσασθαι βουλόμενον· ἀλλὰ καὶ πείρας ἕνεκα πολλάκις προστιθέντων, ὑφίσταται καὶ οὐ πρόεισιν, ἀποδοῦσα τὸ τεταγμένον· οὕτως ἀκριβῶς συντίθησι καὶ καταμνημονεύει τὸ κεφάλαιον, ὡς Κτησίας ὁ Κνίδιος ἱστόρηκε. Λίβυες δʼ Αἰγυπτίων καταγελῶσι μυθολογούντων περὶ τοῦ ὄρυγος, ὡς φωνὴν ἀφιέντος ἡμέρας ἐκείνης καὶ ὥρας ἧς ἐπιτέλλει τὸ ἄστρον, ὃ Σῶθιν αὐτοὶ Κύνα δὲ καὶ Σείριον ἡμεῖς καλοῦμεν· τὰς γὰρ αὑτῶν ὁμοῦ πάσας αἶγας, ὅταν ἀνάσχῃ μεθʼ ἡλίου τὸ ἄστρον ἀτρεκῶς, ἐκεῖ στρεφομένας ἀποβλέπειν πρὸς τὴν ἀνατολὴν καὶ τεκμήριον τοῦτο τῆς περιόδου βεβαιότατον εἶναι καὶ μάλιστα τοῖς μαθηματικοῖς κανόσιν ὁμολογούμενον.
22. But that my discourse may draw to a conclusion, let us (as the saying is) move the stone over the sacred line, and add something concerning the divinity and prophetic nature with which our terrestrial creatures are endued. Which when we consider, we shall find that that part of soothsaying which is founded upon the observation of birds is not the meanest or most ignoble, but very ancient and in great esteem. For the smartness and intelligible faculty of birds, together with their capability to receive all impressions of fancy, afford the Deity a convenience to make use of those faculties as instruments, that he may turn them into motion, sounds, chirpings, and forms, now to stop and stay, anon to drive forward like the winds; by means of some of these stopping short, by the means of others directing to their end, the actions and impetuous impulses of men. Therefore Euripides in general calls birds the criers of the Gods; and particularly Socrates styles himself a fellow-servant with the swans. As among princes, Pyrrhus was pleased with the surname of Eagle; and Antiochus loved to be called Antiochus the Falcon. But they who deride men as insipid and void of ingenuity call them by the names of fish. And whereas we can produce millions of things and accidents which are foretold us by land and flying creatures, there is not any one such example that the patrons of water-animals call produce in their behalf; but being all void of hearing, perfectly sottish, and without any sight, discerning, or providence, they are all thrown apart into that same place, unblest and hideous, called the sea, as it were into the region of the ungodly, where the rational and intellectual part of the soul is extinguished; being animated with only some diminutive portion, the lowest that may be imagined, of a confused and overwhelmed sense, so that they rather seem to palpitate than breathe.
22. ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΙΜΟΣ. ἵνα δὲ κορυφὴν ὁ λόγος ἐπιθεὶς ἑαυτῷ παύσηται, φέρε κινήσαντες τὴν ἀφʼ ἱερᾶς βραχέα περὶ θειότητος αὐτῶν καὶ μαντικῆς εἴπωμεν. οὐ γάρ τι μικρὸν οὐδʼ ἄδοξον, ἀλλὰ πολὺ καὶ παμπάλαιον μαντικῆς μόριον οἰωνιστικὴ κέκληται τὸ γὰρ ὀξὺ καὶ νοερὸν αὐτῶν καὶ διʼ εὐστροφίαν ὑπήκοον ἁπάσης φαντασίας ὥσπερ ὀργάνῳ τῷ θεῷ παρέχει χρῆσθαι καὶ τρέπειν ἐπί τε κίνησιν ἐπί τε φωνὰς καὶ γηρύματα καὶ σχήματα νῦν μὲν ἐνστατικὰ νῦν δὲ φορὰ καθάπερ πνεύματα ταῖς μὲν ἐπικόπτοντα ταῖς δʼ ἐπευθύνοντα πράξεις καὶ ὁρμὰς εἰς τὸ τέλος. διὸ κοινῇ μὲν ὁ Εὐριπίδης θεῶν κήρυκας ὀνομάζει τοὺς ὄρνιθας ἰδίᾳ δέ φησιν ὁ Σωκράτης ὁμόδουλον ἑαυτὸν ποιεῖσθαι τῶν κύκνων· ὥσπερ αὖ καὶ τῶν βασιλέων ἀετὸς μὲν ὁ Πύρρος ἥδετο καλούμενος Ἰέραξ δʼ ὁ Ἀντίοχος· ἰχθῦς; δὲ τοὺς ἀμαθεῖς καὶ ἀνοήτους; λοιδοροῦντες ἢ σκώπτοντες ὀνομάζομεν. ἀλλὰ δὴ μυρίων μυριάκις εἰπεῖν παρόντων, ἃ προδείκνυσιν ἡμῖν καὶ προσημαίνει τὰ πεζὰ καὶ πτηνὰ παρὰ τῶν θεῶν, ἓν οὐκ ἔστι τοιοῦτον ἀποφῆναι τῷ προδικοῦντι τῶν ἐνύδρων, ἀλλὰ κωφὰ πάντα καὶ τυφλὰ τῆς προνοίας εἰς τὸν ἄθεον καὶ τιτανικὸν ἀπέρριπται τόπον ὥσπερ ἀσεβῶν χῶρον, οὗ τὸ λογικὸν καὶ νοερὸν ἐγκατέσβεσται τῆς ψυχῆς, ἐσχάτῳ δέ τινι συμπεφυρμένης καὶ κατακεκλυσμένης αἰσθήσεως μορίῳ, σπαίρουσι μᾶλλον ἢ ζῶσιν ἔοικεν.
23. HERACLEO. Pluck up your brows then, friend Phaedimus; after all this, it is time to rouse thyself in the defence of the islanders, and others that live by the seaside. For this has been no frivolous discourse, but a hard fought contest, and a continued piece of rhetoric that wanted only lattices and a pulpit to give it the honor it deserved. PHAEDIMUS. Therefore, you see, it is plain here has been foul play and treachery in the case, for a person sober and upon premeditation to set upon us when we were stomach-sick and dozed with our last night’s compotation. But there is no way to avoid the combat; for that, being an imitator of Pindar, it shall never be said of me,Combats refused, when nobly set upon,Have virtue into deepest darkness thrown.For we have leisure enough, as having not only allowed ourselves a vacation from jollity and balls, but our hounds and horses a relaxation from their labors, and withal having hung up our drag-nets and spears, as having also this day granted, for disputation’s sake, a general truce to all creatures, as well upon the land as in the sea. However, fear not; for I will use it moderately, without producing either the opinions of philosophers or the fables of the Egyptians, or the relations either of the Indians or Libyans, wanting testimony; but such as shall be verified by good witnesses, who have made it their business to toil upon the ocean, and such as are evident to the eye. For to say truth, there is not any one of those examples produced from the land which is not apparent and openly manifested to our sense. Whereas the sea affords few but such as are difficult to be discerned, as concealing the generation and nourishment of most of her creatures, their antipathies, and ways of preserving themselves; in reference to which many acts of understanding, memory, and community are unknown to us, so that we cannot be so copious in our discourse. Then again, land animals, by reason of their familiarity and cohabitation, being in some measure accustomed to the conditions of men, become capable of their nutriture, education, and imitation; which sweetens and allays all their acerbity and moroseness, like the mixture of fresh water with sea brine, and awakening that which is slow and disordered in them, inflames it with human motions. Whereas the living of sea animals being by many degrees remote from the converse of men, and having nothing adventitious or that may be said to be acquired by custom and familiarity, is altogether peculiar, genuine, and unmixed with manners strange and foreign to them; which proceeds not from Nature, but from the place itself. For Nature, receiving and cherishing whatever knowledge comes to herself, affords it also to fish, and makes many eels tame and familiar to men, which for that reason are called sacred, like those in the fountain Arethusa; so that in many places there are fish that will hear and obey when called by their names, as the story goes of Crassus’s mullet, upon the death of which he wept. For which when Domitius twitted him in these words, Did not you weep when your mullet died?—he retorted upon him again, Did you not bury three wives and never weep at all? The crocodiles belonging to the priests not only know the voices of those that call them, and suffer themselves to be stroked and handled, but gaping hold out their teeth to be cleansed and wiped by the hands of the priests. Lately Philinus, after he had been long travelling in Egypt, returning to us, told us how he saw, in the city which derives its name from Anteus, an old woman sleeping by the side of a crocodile, upon a low soft bed well and decently dressed up. In ancient histories we find that when King Ptolemy called the sacred crocodile, and when the crocodile neither vouchsafed to appear at his call nor would answer to the earnest expostulations of the priests, it was looked upon as a prognostication of the death of the king, which happened soon after. Which shows that the race of water-animals is neither without a share of that inestimable thing called prophetic signification, nor undeserving those honors ascribed to land creatures. For that about Sura, which is a village in Lycia between Phellus and Myra, I have heard it credibly reported, that there are certain persons who make it their business to watch the turns, flights, and pursuits of the fish, whence, by a certain art which they have, they gather predictions, as others from the observation of birds.
23. ΗΡΑΚΛΕΩΝ. ἄναγε τὰς ὀφρῦς, ὦ φίλε Φαίδιμε, καὶ διέγειρε σεαυτὸν ἡμῖν τοῖς ἐνάλοις καὶ νησιώταις οὐ παιδιὰ τὸ χρῆμα τοῦ λόγου γέγονεν, ἀλλʼ ἐρρωμένος ἀγὼν καὶ ῥητορεία κιγκλίδων ἐπιδέουσα καὶ βήματος.ΦΑΙΔΙΜΟΣ. ἐνέδρα μὲν οὖν, ὦ Ἡρακλέων, σὺν δόλῳ καταφανής· κραιπαλῶσι γὰρ ἔτι τὸ χθιζὸν καὶ βεβαπτισμένοις νήφων, ὡς ὁρᾷς, ὁ γενναῖος ἐκ παρασκευῆς ἐπιτέθειται. παραιτεῖσθαι δʼ οὐκ ἔστιν· οὐ γὰρ βούλομαι Πινδάρου ζηλωτὴς; ὢν ἀκοῦσαι τὸτιθεμένων ἀγώνων πρόφασιςἀρετὰν ἐς αἰπὺν ἔβαλε σκότον·σχολὴ μὲν γὰρ πολλὴ πάρεστιν ὑμῖν, ἀργούντων οὐ χορῶν ἀλλὰ κυνῶν καὶ ἵππων καὶ δικτύου καὶ πάσης σαγήνης, διὰ τοὺς λόγους ἐκεχειρίας κοινῇ πᾶσι τοῖς ζῴοις κατά τε γῆν καὶ κατὰ θάλατταν δεδομένης τὸ σήμερον. ἀλλὰ μὴ φοβηθῆτε· χρήσομαι γὰρ αὐτῇ μετρίως, οὔτε δόξας φιλοσόφων οὔτε Αἰγυπτίων μύθους οὔτʼ ἀμαρτύρους Ἰνδῶν ἐπαγόμενος ἢ Λιβύων διηγήσεις· ἃ δὲ πανταχοῦ μάρτυρας ἔχει τοὺς ἐργαζομένους τὴν θάλατταν ὁρώμενα καὶ δίδωσι τῇ ὄψει πίστιν, τούτων ὀλίγα παραθήσομαι. καίτοι τῶν ἐν γῇ παραδειγμάτων ἐπιπροσθοῦν οὐδέν ἐστιν, ἀλλʼ ἀνεῳγμένη παρέχει τῇ αἰσθήσει τὴν ἱστορίαν· ἡ δὲ θάλασσα μικρὰ κατιδεῖν καὶ γλίσχρα δίδωσι τῶν δὲ πλείστων κατακαλύπτει γενέσεις καὶ τροφὰς ἐπιθέσεις τε καὶ φυλακὰς ἀλλήλων, ἐν αἷς οὐκ ὀλίγα καὶ συνέσεως; ἔργα καὶ μνήμης καὶ κοινωνίας ἀγνοούμενα βλάπτει τὸν λόγον. ἔπειτα τὰ μὲν ἐν γῇ διὰ τὴν ὁμοφυλίαν καὶ τὴν συνδιαίτησιν ἁμωσγέπως συναναχρωννύμενα τοῖς ἀνθρωπίνοις ἤθεσιν ἀπολαύει καὶ τροφῆς καὶ διδασκαλίας καὶ μιμήσεως· ἣ τὸ μὲν πικρὸν ἅπαν καὶ σκυθρωπὸν ὥσπερ ἐπιμιξία ποτίμου θάλασσαν ἐφηδύνει, τὸ δὲ δυσξύνετον ἅπαν καὶ νωθρὸν ἐπεγείρει ταῖς μετʼ ἀνθρώπων κινήσεσιν ἀναρριπιζόμενον. ὁ δὲ τῶν ἐνάλων βίος ὅροις μεγάλοις τῆς πρὸς ἀνθρώπους ἀπῳκισμένος ὁμιλίας ἐπείσακτον οὐδὲν οὐδὲ συνειθισμένον ἔχων ἴδιός ἐστι καὶ αὐθιγενὴς καὶ ἄκρατος ἀλλοτρίοις ἤθεσι διὰ τὸν τόπον, οὐ διὰ τὴν φύσιν. ἡ γὰρ φύσις ὅσον ἐξικνεῖται μαθήσεως ἐπʼ αὐτὴν δεχομένη καὶ στέγουσα παρέχει πολλὰς; μὲν ἐγχέλεις ἱερὰς λεγομένας ἀνθρώποις χειροήθεις, ὥσπερ τὰς ἐν τῇ Ἀρεθούσῃ, πολλαχοῦ δʼ ἰχθῦς ὑπακούοντας αὐτῶν ὀνόμασιν ὥσπερ τὴν Κράσσου μύραιναν ἱστοροῦσιν, ἧς· ἀποθανούσης ἔκλαυσεν ὁ Κράσσος καί ποτε Δομετίου πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰπόντος οὐ σὺ μυραίνης ἀποθανούσης ἔκλαυσας; ἀπήντησεν· οὐ σὺ τρεῖς θάψας γυναῖκας οὐκ ἐδάκρυσας; οἱ δὲ κροκόδειλοι τῶν ἱερέων οὐ μόνον γνωρίζουσι τὴν φωνὴν καλούντων καὶ τὴν ψαῦσιν ὑπομένουσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διαχανόντες παρέχουσι τοὺς ὀδόντας ἐκκαθαίρειν ταῖς χερσὶ καὶ περιμάττειν ὀθονίοις. ἔναγχος δὲ Φιλῖνος ὁ βέλτιστος ἥκων πεπλανημένος ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ παρʼ ἡμᾶς διηγεῖτο γραῦν ἰδεῖν ἐν Ἀνταίου πόλει κροκοδείλῳ συγκαθεύδουσαν ἐπὶ σκίμποδος εὖ μάλα κοσμίως παρεκτεταμένῳ. πάλαι δʼ ἱστοροῦσι, Πτολεμαίου τοῦ βασιλέως παρακαλουμένου, τὸν ἱερὸν κροκόδειλον μὴ ἐπακούσαντα μηδὲ πεισθέντα λιπαροῦσι καὶ δεομένοις τοῖς ἱερεῦσι δόξαι προσημαίνειν τὴν μετʼ οὐ πολὺ συμβᾶσαν αὐτῷ τοῦ βίου τελευτὴν ὥστε μηδὲ τῆς πολυτιμήτου μαντικῆς ἄμοιρον εἶναι τὸ τῶν ἐνύδρων γένος μηδʼ ἀγέραστον ἐπεὶ καὶ περὶ Σοῦραν πυνθάνομαι, κώμην ἐν τῇ Λυκίᾳ Φελλοῦ μεταξὺ καὶ Μύρων, καθεζομένους ἐπʼ ἰχθύσιν ὥσπερ οἰωνοῖς διαμαντεύεσθαι τέχνῃ τινὶ καὶ λόγῳ ἑλίξεις καὶ φυγὰς καὶ διώξεις αὐτῶν ἐπισκοποῦντας.
24. But let these examples suffice to show, that fish are not altogether strangers to mankind, nor altogether void of human affection. But for a great and common demonstration of their unmixed and natural understanding, we find that there is not any fish that swims, unless they be such as stick and cling to the rocks, which is so easily taken by men, as asses are seized by wolves, bees by bee-eaters, grasshoppers by swallows, serpents by harts. And these last are therefore called ἔλαφοι, not from their swiftness (ἐλαφρότης), but from a faculty which they have of drawing serpents to them (ἕλκειν ὄφεις). So sheep call the wolf by the sound of their feet, and the panther allures to her paws both apes and other creatures by the fragrant smell of her body. But so suspicious is the sense of all water animals, and so watchful are they to avoid all baits and treacheries against them, by reason of their extraordinary cunning, that fishing thereby becomes no easy or single labor, but a toil that requires various instruments and many tricks of human cunning and deceit. This is apparent from examples near at hand. For no man desires an angling-rod too thick, though strong enough to hold against the twitches of the fish when taken; but rather they require it slender, lest by casting too great a shadow upon the water, it should frighten the suspicious creature. In the next place, they never knit too many knots in the line, but make it as smooth as may be, for that would too much discover the deceit; and then for the hairs which are next the hook, they endeavor to get the whitest they can meet with; for so, by reason of the likeness of color, they lie the more easily concealed in the water. Therefore some there are who, wrongly expounding the following verses of Homer,She to the bottom quickly sinks, like lead,Which fixt to horn of rustic ox descends,And brings destruction to the greedy fish,believe that the ancients made use of ox-hair for their lines with which they angled, alleging that κέρας then signified hair,—from whence κείρασθαι, to be shaved, and κουρά, shaving,—and that κεροπλάστης in Archilochus signified one who takes delight in trimming and decking the hair. But this is an error. For they made use of horse-hair, more especially that of male horses. For mares, by moistening their tails with their urine, render the hair weak and brittle. Though Aristotle will not allow any thing to be said in all this that requires such extraordinary subtlety. Only he says, that the lower piece of the line was fortified with a little hollow piece of horn, lest the fish should come at the line itself and bite it off; moreover, that they made use of round hooks to catch mullets and tunnies, in regard they had but small mouths, for that they were afraid of a straight hook. He also further says, that the mullet many times suspecting the round hook, will swim round about it, flapping the bait with his tail, and then turning round, secures to himself so much as he has broken off. Or if he cannot do that, he shuts his mouth close, and with the extremities of his lips nibbles off some part of the bait. The fish called labrax behaves himself more stoutly than the elephant; for when he perceives himself struck with the hook, without assistance he sets himself at liberty, widening the wound by flinging his head to and fro, and enduring the painful twingings of the hook, till he have freed himself from it with the loss of his flesh. The sea fox (or the fish called alopex) seldom bites, but avoids the deceit; but if he chance to be taken, he presently turns the inside of his body outward. For by reason of the strength and moisture of his body, he has a peculiar faculty to turn it so that, the inside coming to be outermost, the hook falls off. These things demonstrate understanding, and a subtle and extraordinary use of it in the nick and juncture of time.
24. ΦΑΙΔΙΜΟΣ.ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἔστω τοῦ μὴ παντάπασιν ἐκφύλου μηδʼ ἀσυμπαθοῦς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἱκανὰ δείγματα· τῆς δʼ ἀκράτου καὶ φυσικῆς συνέσεως μέγα δήλωμα τὸ κοινόν ἐστιν· οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως εὐχείρωτον ἀνθρώπῳ νηκτόν, ὃ μὴ πέτραις προσέχεται καὶ προσπέφυκεν, οὐδʼ ἁλώσιμον ἄνευ πραγματείας, ὡς λύκοις μὲν ὄνοι καὶ μέροψι μέλισσαι χελιδόσι δὲ τέττιγες, ἐλάφοις δʼ ὄφεις ἀγόμενοι ῥᾳδίως ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ᾗ καὶ τοὔνομα πεποίηται παρώνυμον οὐ τῆς ἐλαφρότητος ἀλλὰ τῆς ἕλξεως τοῦ ὄφεως,, καὶ τὸ πρόβατον προσκαλεῖται τῷ ποδὶ τὸν λύκον· τῇ δὲ παρδάλει τὰ πλεῖστα προσχωρεῖν χαίροντα τῇ ὀσμῇ μάλιστα δὲ τὸν πίθηκον λέγουσι. τῶν δὲ θαλαττίων ὁμοῦ τι πάντων ἡ προαίσθησις ὕποπτος οὖσα καὶ πεφυλαγμένη πρὸς τὰς ἐπιθέσεις ὑπὸ συνέσεως, οὐχ ἁπλοῦν τὸ τῆς ἄγρας ἔργον οὐδὲ φαῦλον ἀλλʼ ὀργάνων τε παντοδαπῶν καὶ σοφισμάτων ἐπʼ αὐτὰ δεινῶν καὶ ἀπατηλῶν δεόμενον ἀπείργασται. καὶ τοῦτο δῆλόν ἐστιν ἀπὸ τῶν πάνυ προχείρων. τὸν μὲν γὰρ ἀσπαλιευτικὸν κάλαμον οὐ βούλονται πάχος ἔχειν, καίπερ εὐτόνου δεόμενοι πρὸς τοὺς σπαραγμοὺς τῶν ἁλισκομένων, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἐκλέγονται τὸν λεπτόν, ὅπως μὴ πλατεῖαν ἐπιβάλλων σκιὰν ἐκταράττῃ τὸ ὕποπτον αὐτῶν. ἔπειτα τὴν ὁρμιὰν οὐ ποιοῦσι πολύπλοκον τοῖς ἅμμασι τῶν βρόχων οὐδὲ τραχεῖαν ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῦτο τοῦ δόλου γίγνεται τεκμήριον αὐτοῖς. καὶ τῶν τριχῶν τὰ καθήκοντα πρὸς τὸ ἄγκιστρον ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα λευκὰ φαίνεσθαι μηχανῶνται μᾶλλον γὰρ οὕτως ἐν τῇ θαλάττῃ διʼ ὁμοιότητα τῆς χρόας λανθάνουσι. τὸ δʼ ὑπὸ τοῦ ποιητοῦ λεγόμενονἡ δὲ μολυβδαίνῃ ἰκέλη ἐς βυσσὸν ὄρουσεν,ἣτε κατʼ ἀγραύλοιο βοὸς κέρας ἐμβεβαυῖαἔρχεται ὠμηστῇσιν ἐπʼ ἰχθύσι κῆρα φέρουσα·παρακούοντες ἔνιοι βοείαις θριξὶν οἴονται πρὸς τὰς ὁρμιὰς χρῆσθαι τοὺς παλαιούς· κέρας γὰρ τὴν τρίχα λέγεσθαι καὶ τὸ κείρασθαι διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τὴν κουράν· καὶ τὸν παρʼ Ἀρχιλόχῳ κεροπλάστην φιλόκοσμον εἶναι περὶ κόμην καὶ καλλωπιστήν. ἔστι δʼ οὐκ ἀληθές· ἱππείαις γὰρ θριξὶ χρῶνται, τὰς τῶν ἀρρένων λαμβάνοντες· αἱ γὰρ θήλειαι. τῷ οὔρῳ τὴν τρίχα βεβρεγμένην ἀδρανῆ ποιοῦσιν. Ἀριστοτέλης δέ φησι μηδὲν ἐν τούτοις λέγεσθαι σοφὸν ἢ περιττὸν ἀλλὰ τῷ ὄντι κεράτιον περιτίθεσθαι πρὸ τοῦ ἀγκίστρου περὶ τὴν ὁρμιάν, ἐπεὶ πρὸς ἄλλο ἐρχόμενοι διεσθίουσι. τῶν δʼ ἀγκίστρων τοῖς μὲν στρογγύλοις, ἐπὶ κεστρέας καὶ ἀμίας χρῶνται μικροστόμους ὄντας τὸ γὰρ εὐθύτερον εὐλαβοῦνται· πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τὸ στρογγύλον ὁ κεστρεὺς ὑποπτεύων ἐν κύκλῳ περινήχεται, τῇ οὐρᾷ περιρραπίζων τὸ ἐδώδιμον καὶ ἀνακάπτων τὸ ἀποκρουόμενον· ἂν δὲ μὴ δύνηται, συναγαγὼν τὸ στόμα καὶ περιστείλας, τοῖς χείλεσιν ἄκροις ἐπιψαύων ἀποκνίζει τοῦ δελέατος. ὁ δὲ λάβραξ ἀνδρικώτερον τοῦ ἐλέφαντος οὐχ ἕτερον ἀλλʼ αὐτὸς ἑαυτόν, ὅταν περιπέσῃ τῷ ἀγκίστρῳ, βελουλκεῖ, τῇ δεῦρο κἀκεῖ παραλλάξει τῆς κεφαλῆς ἀνευρύνων τὸ τραῦμα καὶ τὸν ἐκ τοῦ σπαραγμοῦ πόνον ὑπομένων, ἄχρι ἂν ἐκβάλῃ τὸ ἄγκιστρον. ἡ δʼ ἀλώπηξ οὐ πολλάκις μὲν ἀγκίστρῳ πρόσεισιν ἀλλὰ φεύγει τὸν δόλον, ἁλοῦσα δʼ εὐθὺς ἐκτρέπεται πέφυκε γὰρ διʼ εὐτονίαν καὶ ὑγρότητα μεταβάλλειν τὸ σῶμα καὶ στρέφειν, ὥστε τῶν ἐντὸς ἐκτὸς γενομένων ἀποπίπτειν τὸ ἄγκιστρον.
25. Other examples there are which show not only this same understanding and knowledge, but the community and mutual affection of fish. Thus, if one scate happen to swallow the hook, all the rest of the scates that are in the same shoal presently crowd together and bite the line in pieces. The same scates, if any of their companions fall into the net, give the prisoners their tails to take hold of with their teeth, and so draw them forth by main force. But the fish called anthiae with far more courage assist their fellows in distress. For getting under the line with their backs, and setting up their fins, with these, as with sharp saws, they endeavor to cut it in two. Now we know no land animal that will assist and defend his kind in danger; neither the bear, nor the wild boar, nor the lion, nor the panther. True it is that, when they are in herds together, they will gather into a circle and defend each other in common; but no single land animal either knows or cares to assist a single companion, but flies and shifts for himself as far off as he can from the beast that is wounded and lies a dying. For as for that old story of elephants filling up the ditches with heaps of adjoining materials, whether wood or earth, for the unfortunate elephant the more easily to get up again, this, my good friend, is extremely uncouth and foreign to us, as if we were bound to believe Juba’s books by virtue of a royal edict. However, if it is true, it does but serve to show that many of the marine creatures are nothing inferior in understanding and community to the most intelligent of the land animals. But as for their mutual society, we shall discourse apart of that by itself.
25. ΦΑΙΔΙΜΟΣ. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν γνῶσιν ἐμφαίνει καὶ χρῆσιν ἐπὶ καιρῷ τοῦ συμφέροντος εὐμήχανον καὶ περιττήν ἄλλα δʼ ἐπιδείκνυται μετὰ τοῦ συνετοῦ τὸ κοινωνικὸν καὶ τὸ φιλάλληλον, ὥσπερ ἀνθίαι καὶ σκάροι. σκάρου μὲν γὰρ ἄγκιστρον καταπιόντος, οἱ παρόντες σκάροι προσαλλόμενοι τὴν ὁρμιὰν ἀποτρώγουσιν οὗτοι δὲ καὶ τοῖς εἰς κύρτον ἐμπεσοῦσι τὰς οὐρὰς παραδόντες ἔξωθεν ἕλκουσι δάκνοντας προθύμως καὶ συνεξάγουσιν. οἱ δʼ ἀνθίαι τῷ συμφύλῳ βοηθοῦσιν ἰταμώτερον τὴν γὰρ ὁρμιὰν ἀναθέμενοι κατὰ τὴν ῥάχιν καὶ στήσαντες ὀρθὴν τὴν ἄκανθαν ἐπιχειροῦσι διαπρίειν τῇ τραχύτητι καὶ διακόπτειν. καίτοι χερσαῖον οὐδὲν ἴσμεν ἑτέρῳ κινδυνεύοντι τολμῶν ἀμύνειν, οὐκ ἄρκτον οὐ σῦν οὐδὲ λέαιναν οὐδὲ πάρδαλιν ἀλλὰ συγχωρεῖ μὲν εἰς ταὐτὸν ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις τὰ ὁμόφυλα καὶ κύκλῳ μετʼ ἀλλήλων περίεισιν·ʼ ἑτέρῳ δʼ ἕτερον οὐκ οἶδεν οὐδὲ φρονεῖ βοηθεῖν, ἀλλὰ φεύγει καὶ ἀποπηδᾷ πορρωτάτω γιγνόμενα τοῦ τετρωμένου καὶ θνήσκοντος. ἡ δὲ τῶν ἐλεφάντων ἱστορία, φίλε, τῶν εἰς τὰ ὀρύγματα φορούντων καὶ τὸν ὀλισθόντα διὰ χώματος ἀναβιβαζόντων ἔκτοπός ἐστι δεινῶς καὶ ἀλλοδαπή, καὶ καθάπερ ἐκ βασιλικοῦ διαγράμματος ἐπιτάττουσα πιστεύειν αὐτῇ τῶν Ἰόβα βιβλίων· ἀληθὴς δʼ οὖσα πολλὰ δείκνυσι τῶν ἐνάλων μηδὲν ἀπολειπόμενα τῷ κοινωνικῷ καὶ συνετῷ τοῦ σοφωτάτου τῶν χερσαίων. ἀλλὰ περὶ κοινωνίας αὐτῶν ἴδιος ἔσται τάχα λόγος.
26. Now the fishermen, observing how that most fish avoided the casts of their hooks by cunning or by striving with the tackling, betook themselves to force,—as the Persians use to serve their enemies in their wars, — making use of nets, that there might be no escape for those that were caught either by the help of reason or subtlety. Thus mullets and the fish called julides are taken with sweep-nets and drag-nets, as are also several other sorts of fish called mormuri, sargi, gobii, and labraces; those that are called casting-nets catch the mullet, the gilthead, and the scorpion fish; and therefore Homer calls this sort of net πανάγρα, or the all-sweeper. And yet there are some fish that are too cunning for these nets. Thus the labrax, perceiving the drawing of the sweep-net, with the force of his body beats a hollow place in the mud, where he lays himself close till the net be gone over him. But as for the dolphin, when he finds himself taken and in the midst of the net, he remains there without being in the least perplexed, but falls to with a great deal of joy, and feasts upon the numerous fry within the meshes; but so soon as he comes near the shore, he bites his way through the net with his teeth and swims away. Or if he chance to be taken, the fishermen do him no other harm the first time, but only sew a sort of large bulrush to the finny crown upon his head, and so let him go. If they take him a second time, they punish him with stripes, well knowing him again by the prints of the needle. But that rarely happens. For having got pardon the first time, for the most part of them, they acknowledge the favor, and abstain from spoil for the future. Moreover, among the many examples that make evident the wariness of fish in avoiding the deceits and craft of the fishermen, it would not be convenient to pass by that of the cuttle-fish. For this fish, carrying near his neck at certain black and inky sort of liquor, so soon as he perceives himself discovered, throws that liquor forth, and darkens all the water round about him in such a manner makes his escape; imitating therein Homer’s Deities, who, when they had a mind to save any of their heroes, hid them in an azure cloud. But of this enough.
26. ΦΑΙΔΙΜΟΣ. οἱ δʼ ἁλιεῖς συνορῶντες ὥσπερ ἀλεξήμασι παλαισμάτων τὰ πλεῖστα διακρουόμενα τὰς ἀπʼ ἀγκίστρου βολὰς ἐπὶ βίας ἐτράπησαν, καθάπερ οἱ Πέρσαι σαγηνεύοντες, ὡς τοῖς ἐνσχεθεῖσιν οὐδεμίαν ἐκ λογισμοῦ καὶ σοφίας διάφευξιν οὖσαν. ἀμφιβλήστροις μὲν γὰρ καὶ ὑποχαῖς κεστρεῖς καὶ ἰουλίδες ἁλίσκονται, μόρμυροί τε καὶ σαργοὶ καὶ κωβιοὶ καὶ λάβρακες· τὰ δὲ βολιστικὰ καλούμενα, τρίγλαν καὶ χρυσωπὸν καὶ σκορπίον, γρίποις τε καὶ σαγήναις σύρουσι περιλαμβάνοντες τῶν δικτύων οὖν τὸ γένος ὀρθῶς Ὅμηρος πανάγραν προσεῖπεν. ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς ταῦτα μηχαναὶ ταῖς γαλαῖς εἰσιν ὥσπερ τῷ λάβρακι συρομένην γὰρ αἰσθανόμενος βίᾳ διίστησι καὶ τύπτει κοιλαίνων τοὔδαφος ὅταν δὲ ποιήσῃ ταῖς ἐπιδρομαῖς τοῦ δικτύου χώραν, ἔωσεν ἑαυτὸν καὶ προσέχεται, μέχρι ἂν παρέλθῃ. δελφὶς δὲ περιληφθείς, ὅταν συναίσθηται γεγονὼς ἐν ἀγκάλαις σαγήνης, ὑπομένει μὴ ταραττόμενος ἀλλὰ χαίρων· εὐωχεῖται γὰρ ἄνευ πραγματείας ἀφθόνων ἰχθύων παρόντων ὅταν δὲ πλησίον τῇ γῇ προσίῃ, φαγὼν τὸ δίκτυον ἄπεισιν. εἰ δὲ μὴ φθαίη διαφυγών, τὸ πρῶτον οὐδὲν ἔπαθε δεινὸν ἀλλὰ διαρράψαντες αὐτοῦ περὶ τὸν λόφον ὁλοσχοίνους ἀφῆκαν· αὖθις δὲ ληφθέντα πληγαῖς κολάζουσι, γνωρίσαντες ἐκ τοῦ διαρράμματος. σπανίως δὲ τοῦτο συμβαίνει συγγνώμης γὰρ τυγχάνοντες τὸ πρῶτον εὐγνωμονοῦσιν οἱ πλεῖστοι καὶ φυλάττονται τὸ λοιπὸν μὴ ἀδικεῖν. ἔτι δὲ πολλῶν τῶν πρὸς εὐλάβειαν καὶ προφυλακὴν καὶ ἀπόδρασιν ὄντων παραδειγμάτων, οὐκ ἄξιόν ἐστι τὸ τῆς σηπίας παρελθεῖν. τὴν γὰρ καλουμένην μύτιν παρὰ τὸν τράχηλον ἔχουσα πλήρη ζοφερᾶς ὑγρότητος, ἣν θόλον καλοῦσιν, ὅταν καταλαμβάνηται, μεθίησιν ἔξω, τεχνωμένη, τῆς θαλάττης διαθολωθείσης ποιήσασα περὶ αὑτὴν σκότος, ὑπεκδῦναι καὶ ἀποδρᾶναι τὴν τοῦ θηρεύοντος ὄψιν· ἀπομιμουμένη τοὺς Ὁμήρου θεοὺς κυανέῃ νεφέλῃ πολλάκις οὓς; ἂν σῶσαι θέλωσιν ὑφαιρουμένους καὶ διακλέπτοντας. ἀλλὰ τούτων μὲν ἅλις.
27. Now for the extraordinary subtlety of fish in hunting and catching their own prey, we shall meet with several examples of it in several fish. Particularly the starfish, understanding his own nature to be such that whatever he touches dissolves and liquefies, readily offers his body, and permits himself to be touched by all that come near him. You know yourself the property of the torpedo or cramp fish which not only benumbs all those that touch it, but also strikes a numbness through the very net into the hands of them that go about to take him. And some that have had greater experience of this fish report that, if it happen to fall alive upon the land, they that pour water upon it shall presently perceive a numbness seizing upon their hands and stupefying their feeling, through the water affected with the quality of the fish. And therefore, having an innate sense of this faculty, it never makes any resistance against any thing, nor ever is it in danger. Only swimming circularly about his prey, he shoots forth the effluviums of his nature like so many darts, and first infects the water, then the fish through the water, which is neither able to defend itself nor to escape, being (as it were) held in chains and frozen up. The fish called the fisherman is well known to many, who has his name given him from his manner of catching fish; whose art, as Aristotle writes, the cuttle-fish makes use of, for he lets down, like a line, a certain curl which Nature has given him, so ordered as to let it run out at length or draw it to him again, as he sees occasion. This, when he sees any of the lesser fish approach, he offers them to bite, and then by degrees pulls the curl nearer and nearer by virtue of the bait, till he has drawn his prey within the reach of his mouth. And as for the polypus’s changing his color, Pindar has made it famous in these words:In any city may that man exposeHis safety, who well knowsLike sea-bred polypus to range,And vary color upon every change.In like manner Theognis:Change manners with thy friends, observing thusThe many-colored, cunning polypus;Who let him stick to whatsoever rock,Of the same color does his body look.It is true the chameleon changes color, not out of any design or to conceal himself, but out of fear, being naturally timorous and trembling at every noise he hears. And this is occasioned by the extraordinary abundance of breath which he enjoys, as Theophrastus affirms. For the whole body of this creature wants but little of being nothing else but lungs; which demonstrates him to be full of spirits, and consequently apt to change. But this same change of the polypus is no product of any affection of the mind, but a kind of action. For he changes on purpose, making use of this artifice to escape what he fears, and to get the food which he lives by. For by fraud, those things that he will take never avoid him, and those things he will escape pass him by without taking any notice of him. For that he devours his own claws is an untruth, but that he is afraid of the lamprey and conger is certain; for by these he is ill treated, not being able to return them any injury, by reason of their being so slippery. Though on the other side the crawfish, having once got them within his claws, holds them with ease. For slenderness affords no help against roughness; but when the polypus comes to thrust his horns into the body of the crawfish, then also the crawfish dies. And this same vicissitude of avoiding and pursuing one another has Nature infused into them on purpose to exercise their subtlety and understanding.
27. ΦΑΙΔΙΜΟΣ.τῆς δʼ ἐπιχειρητικῆς καὶ θηρευτικῆς δεινότητος αὐτῶν ἐν πολλοῖς σοφίσματα κατιδεῖν ἔστιν. ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἀστήρ, ὧν ἂν ἅψηται, πάντα διαλυόμενα καὶ διατηκόμενα γιγνώσκων, ἐνδίδωσι τὸ σῶμα καὶ περιορᾷ ψαυόμενον ὑπὸ τῶν παρατρεχόντων ἢ προσπελαζόντων. τῆς δὲ νάρκης ἴστε δήπου τὴν δύναμιν, οὐ μόνον τοὺς θιγόντας αὐτῆς ἐκπηγνύουσαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ τῆς σαγήνης βαρύτητα ναρκώδη ταῖς χερσὶ τῶν ἀντιλαμβανομένων ἐμποιοῦσαν. ἔνιοι δʼ ἱστοροῦσι, πεῖραν αὐτῆς ἐπὶ πλέον λαμβάνοντες, ἂν ἐκπέσῃ ζῶσα, κατασκεδαννύντες ὕδωρ ἄνωθεν, αἰσθάνεσθαι τοῦ πάθους ἀνατρέχοντος ἐπὶ τὴν χεῖρα καὶ τὴν ἁφὴν ἀμβλύνοντος ὡς ἔοικε διὰ τοῦ ὕδατος τρεπομένου καὶ προπεπονθότος. ταύτης οὖν ἔχουσα σύμφυτον αἴσθησιν μάχεται μὲν ἐξ ἐναντίας πρὸς οὐδὲν οὐδὲ διακινδυνεύει· κύκλῳ δὲ περιιοῦσα τὸ θηρευόμενον ὥσπερ βέλη διασπείρει τὰς ἀπορροάς, φαρμάττουσα τὸ ὕδωρ πρῶτον, εἶτα τὸ ζῷον διὰ τοῦ ὕδατος, μήτε ἀμύνεσθαι δυνάμενον μήτε φυγεῖν ἀλλʼ ἐνισχόμενον ὥσπερ ὑπὸ δεσμῶν καὶ πηγνύμενον. ὁ δὲ καλούμενος ἁλιεὺς; γνώριμος μέν ἐστι πολλοῖς· καὶ διὰ τοὔργον αὐτῷ γέγονε τοὔνομα ᾧ σοφίσματι καὶ τὴν σηπίαν χρῆσθαί φησιν ὁ Ἀριστοτέλης καθίησι γὰρ ὥσπερ ὁρμιὰν ἀπὸ τοῦ τραχήλου πλεκτάνην, μηκύνεσθαί τε πόρρω χαλώσης καὶ πάλιν συντρέχειν εἰς ἑαυτὴν ἀναλαμβανούσης ῥᾷστα πεφυκυῖαν. ὅταν οὖν τι τῶν μικρῶν ἰχθυδίων ἴδῃ πλησίον ἐνδίδωσι δακεῖν, καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν ἀναμηρύεται λανθάνουσα καὶ προσάγεται, μέχρι ἂν ἐν ἐφικτῷ τοῦ στόματος γένηται τὸ προσισχόμενον. τῶν δὲ πολυπόδων τῆς χρόας τὴν ἄμειψιν ὅ τε Πίνδαρος περιβόητον πεποίηκεν εἰπὼνποντίου θηρὸς χρωτὶ μάλιστα νόον,προσφέρων πάσαις πολίεσσιν ὁμίλεικαὶ Θέογνις ὁμοίωςπουλύποδος νόον ἴσχε πολυχρόου, ὃς ποτὶ πέτρῃτῇπερ ὁμιλήσῃ, τοῖος ἰδεῖν ἐφάνη.μεταβάλλει γὰρ ὁ μὲν χαμαιλέων οὐδέν τι μηχανώμενος οὐδὲ κατακρύπτων ἑαυτὸν ἀλλʼ ὑπὸ δέους ἄλλως τρέπεται, φύσει ψοφοδεὴς ὢν καὶ δειλός. συνέπεται δὲ καὶ πνεύματος πλῆρες, ὡς Θεόφραστος· ὀλίγον γὰρ ἀποδεῖ πᾶν τὸ σῶμα τοῦ ζῴου πλῆρες εἶναι πνεύμονος, ᾧ τεκμαίρεται τὸ πνευματικὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πρὸς τὰς μεταβολὰς εὔτρεπτον. τοῦ δὲ πολύποδος ἔργον ἐστὶν οὐ πάθος ἡ μεταβολὴ μεταβάλλει γὰρ ἐκ προνοίας, μηχανῇ χρώμενος τοῦ λανθάνειν ἃ δέδιε καὶ λαμβάνειν οἷς τρέφεται παρακρουόμενος γὰρ τὰ μὲν αἱρεῖ μὴ φεύγοντα τὰ δʼ ἐκφεύγει παρερχόμενα. τὸ μὲν γὰρ αὑτοῦ τὰς πλεκτάνας κατεσθίειν αὐτὸν ψεῦδός ἐστιν· τὸ δὲ μύραιναν δεδιέναι καὶ γόγγρον ἀληθές ἐστιν· ὑπʼ ἐκείνων γὰρ κακῶς πάσχει, δρᾶν μὴ δυνάμενος ἐξολισθανόντων. ὥσπερ αὖ πάλιν ὁ κάραβος ἐκείνων μὲν ἐν λαβαῖς γενομένων περιγίγνεται ῥᾳδίως ἡ γὰρ ψιλότης οὐ βοηθεῖ πρὸς τὴν τραχύτητα τοῦ δὲ πολύποδος εἴσω τὰς πλεκτάνας διωθοῦντος ἀπόλλυται. καὶ τὸν κύκλον τοῦτον καὶ τὴν περίοδον ταῖς κατʼ ἀλλήλων διώξεσι καὶ φυγαῖς γύμνασμα καὶ μελέτην ἡ φύσις αὐτοῖς ἐναγώνιον πεποίηκε δεινότητος καὶ συνέσεως.
28. Then again we have heard Aristotimus relating how the land hedge-hog had a perception of the rising of the wind, and praising the trigonal flight of cranes. But for my part, I produce no particular hedge-hog of Cyzicus or Byzantium, but all the sea hedge-hogs in general; who, when they perceive a storm coming, ballast themselves with little stones, lest they should be overturned by reason of their lightness or carried away by the rolling of the waves, which they prevent by the weight of their little stones. On the other side, the cranes’ order in their flight against the wind is not of one sort. But this is a general notion among all fish, that they always swim against the waves and the tide, and always take care lest the wind being in their tails should force their fins from their backs, and leave their naked bodies exposed to the cold and other inconveniences; and therefore they still oppose the prows of their bodies against the waves. For that while they thus cleave the waves at the top, the sea keeps their fins close, and lightly flowing over the superficies of their bodies, becomes less burdensome, besides that it suffers not their scales to rise. This, I say, is common to all fish, except that fish which is called ellops; which, as they report, always swims with the wind and tide, not minding the erection or opening of the scales, which do not lie towards the tail, as in other fish.
28. ΦΑΙΔΙΜΟΣ. ἀλλὰ μὴν ἐχίνου γέ τινα χερσαίου διηγήσατο πρόγνωσιν Ἀριστοτέλης πνευμάτων, ὃς ἐθαύμαζε καὶ γεράνων τὴν ἐν τριγώνῳ πτῆσιν. ἐγὼ δʼ ἐχῖνον μὲν οὐδένα Κυζικηνὸν ἢ Βυζάντιον, ἀλλὰ πάντας ὁμοῦ παρέχομαι τοὺς θαλαττίους, ὅταν αἴσθωνται μέλλοντα χειμῶνα καὶ σάλον, ἑρματιζομένους λιθιδίοις, ὅπως μὴ περιτρέπωνται διὰ κουφότητα μηδʼ ἀποσύρωνται γενομένου κλύδωνος, ἀλλʼ ἐπιμένωσιν ἀραρότως τοῖς πετριδίοις. ἡ δὲ γεράνων μεταβολὴ τῆς πτήσεως πρὸς ἄνεμον οὐχ ἑνὸς γένους ἐστὶν ἀλλὰ τοῦτο κοινῇ πάντες; ἰχθύες νοοῦντες ἀεὶ πρὸς κῦμα καὶ ῥοῦν ἀντινήχονται καὶ παραφυλάττουσιν ὅπως; μή, κατʼ οὐρὰν προσφερομένου τοῦ πνεύματος, ἡ λεπὶς ἀναπτυσσομένη λυπῇ τὸ σῶμα γυμνούμενον καὶ διατραχυνόμενον ὅθεν ἀεὶ συνέχουσιν ἑαυτοὺς ἀντιπρῴρους· σχιζομένη γὰρ οὕτω κατὰ κορυφὴν ἡ θάλασσα τά τε βράγχια καταστέλλει καὶ κατὰ τῆς ἐπιφανείας ῥέουσα λείως πιέζει καὶ οὐκ ἀνίστησι τὸ φρικῶδες. τοῦτο μὲν οὖν, ὥσπερ ἔφην, κοινόν ἐστι τῶν ἰχθύων, πλὴν τοῦ ἔλλοπος· τοῦτον δέ φασι κατʼἄνεμον καὶ ῥοῦν νήχεσθαι, μὴ φοβούμενον τὴν ἀναχάραξιν τῆς λεπίδος, ἅτε δὴ μὴ πρὸς οὐρὰν τὰς ἐπιπτυχὰς ἐχούσης.