by
Pliny the Elder and John S. White

Pline l’Ancien Savant Naturaliste

Book V.
Domestic Animals

Chapter I.
The Dog; Examples of Its Attachment to Its Master

Among the animals that are domesticated with mankind have occurred many circumstances that deserve to be known. Among these animals are more particularly those faithful friends of man, the dog, and the horse. We have an account of a dog that fought against a band of robbers, in defending its master; and although it was pierced with wounds, still it would not leave the body, from which it drove away all birds and beasts. Another dog, in Epirus, recognized the murderer of its master, in the midst of an assemblage of people, and, by biting and barking at him, extorted from him a confession of his crime. A king of the Garamantes was brought back from exile by two hundred dogs, who maintained the combat against all his opponents. The people of Colophon and Castabala kept troops of dogs, for the purposes of war; and these used to fight in the front rank, and never retreat; they were the most faithful of auxiliaries, and yet required no pay. After the defeat of the Cimbri, their dogs defended their movable houses, which were carried upon wagons. When Jason, the Lycian, had been slain, his dog refused to take food, and died of famine. When the funeral pile of King Lysimachus was lighted, his dog, to which Darius gives the name of Hyrcanus, threw itself into the flames, and the dog of King Hiero did the same. Philistus gives a similar account of Pyrrhus, the dog of the tyrant Gelon.

Maltese Dog. — Canis Familiáris.

Among ourselves, Volcatius, a man of rank, who instructed Cascellius in the civil law, as he was riding on his Asturian jennet, towards evening, from his country-house, was attacked by a robber, and was only saved by his dog. The senator Cælius, too, while lying sick at Placentia, was surprised by armed men, but received not a wound from them until they had first killed his dog. But a more extraordinary fact than all, took place in our own times, and is testified to by the public register of the Roman people. In the consulship of Junius and Silius, when Titius Sabinus was put to death together with his slaves, for the affair of Nero, the son of Germanicus, it was found impossible to drive away a dog which belonged to one of them from the prison; nor could it be forced away from the body, which had been cast down the Gemitorian steps; but there it stood howling, in the presence of vast multitudes of people; and when some one threw a piece of bread to it, the animal carried it to the mouth of its master. Afterwards, when the body was thrown into the Tiber, the dog swam into the river, and endeavored to raise it out of the water; quite a throng of people gathered to witness this instance of an animal’s fidelity.

Dogs are the only animals that are sure to know their masters; and if they suddenly meet him as a stranger they will instantly recognize him. They are the only animals that will answer to their names, and recognize the voices of the family. They recollect a road along which they have passed, however long it may be. Next to man, there is no living creature whose memory is so retentive. By sitting down on the ground, we may arrest their most impetuous attack, even when prompted by the most violent rage.

Thibet Dog. — Canis Familiáris.

In daily life we have discovered many other valuable qualities in this animal; but its intelligence and sagacity are more especially shown in the chase. It discovers and traces out the tracks of the animal, leading by the leash the sportsman who accompanies it straight up to the prey; and as soon as it has perceived it, how silent it is, and how secret but significant is the indication which it gives, first by the tail and afterwards by the nose! Oftentimes even when worn out with old age, blind, and feeble, they are carried by the huntsman in his arms, being still able to point out the coverts where the game is concealed, by snuffing with their muzzles at the wind.

Among the Gauls their packs of hounds have, each of them, one dog who acts as the guide and leader. This dog they follow in the chase, and him they carefully obey; for these animals have even a notion of subordination among themselves. It is asserted that the dogs keep running when they drink at the Nile, for fear of becoming a prey to the voracity of the crocodile. When Alexander the Great was on his Indian expedition, he was presented by the king of Albania with a dog of unusual size; being greatly delighted with its noble appearance, he ordered bears, and after them wild boars, and then deer, to be let loose before it; but the dog lay down, and regarded them with contempt. The noble spirit of the general became irritated by the sluggishness thus manifested by an animal of such vast bulk, and he ordered it to be killed. The report of this reached the king, who accordingly sent another dog, and at the same time sent word that its powers were to be tried, not upon small animals, but upon the lion or the elephant; adding that he had had originally but two, and that if this one were put to death, the race would be extinct. Alexander, without delay, procured a lion, which in his presence was instantly torn to pieces. He then ordered an elephant to be brought, and never was he more delighted with any spectacle; for the dog, bristling up its hair all over the body, began by thundering forth a loud barking, and then attacked the animal, leaping at it first on one side and then on the other, attacking it in the most skillful manner, and then again retreating at the opportune moment, until at last the elephant, being rendered quite giddy by turning round and round, fell to the earth, and made it quite re-echo with his fall.

Chapter II.
The Horse

King Alexander had a very remarkable horse which was called Bucephalus, either on account of the fierceness of its aspect, or because it had the figure of a bull’s head marked on its shoulder. It is said, that he was struck with its beauty when he was only a boy, and that it was purchased from the stud of Philonicus, the Pharsalian, for thirteen talents. When it was equipped with the royal trappings, it would suffer no one except Alexander to mount it, although at other times it would allow any one to do so. A memorable circumstance connected with it in battle is recorded of this horse; it is said that when it was wounded in the attack upon Thebes, it would not allow Alexander to mount any other horse. Many other circumstances, of a similar nature, occurred respecting it; so that when it died, the king duly performed its obsequies, and built around its tomb a city, which he named after it.

Cæsar, the Dictator, it is said, had a horse, which would allow no one to mount him but himself, and its forefeet were like those of a man; indeed it is thus represented in the statue before the temple of Venus. The late Emperor Augustus also erected a tomb to his horse; on which occasion Germanicus Cæsar wrote a poem, which still exists. There are at Agrigentum many tombs of horses, in the form of pyramids. The Scythian horsemen make loud boasts of the fame of their cavalry. On one occasion, one of their chiefs was slain in single combat, and when the conqueror came to take the spoils of the enemy, he was set upon by the horse of his opponent, and trampled on and bitten to death.

Their docility, too, is so great, that we find it stated that the whole of the cavalry of the Sybarite army were accustomed to perform a kind of dance to the sound of musical instruments. These animals also foresee battles; they lament over their masters when they have lost them, and sometimes shed tears of regret for them. When King Nicomedes was slain, his horse put an end to its life by fasting. Phylarchus relates, that after Centaretus, the Galatian, had slain Antiochus in battle he took possession of his horse, and mounted it in triumph; upon which the animal, inflamed with indignation, became quite ungovernable and threw himself headlong down a precipice, so that they both perished together. Philistus relates, that a horse of Dionysius once stuck fast in a morass, but as soon as he disengaged himself, he followed the steps of his master, with a swarm of bees, which had settled on his mane; and that it was in consequence of this portent, that Dionysius gained possession of the kingdom.

Mustang.

These animals possess an intelligence which exceeds all description. Those who have to use the javelin are well aware how the horse, by its exertions and the supple movements of its body, aids the rider in any difficulty he may have in throwing his weapon. They will even present to their master the weapons collected on the ground. The horses too, that are yoked to the chariots in the Circus, beyond a doubt display remarkable proofs how sensible they are to encouragement and to glory. In the Secular games, which were celebrated in the Circus, under the Emperor Claudius, when the charioteer Corax, who belonged to the white party, was thrown from his place at the starting-post, his horses took the lead and kept it, opposing the other chariots, overturning them, and doing everything against the other competitors that could have been done, had they been guided by the most skilful charioteer; and while we quite blushed to behold the skill of man excelled by that of the horse, they arrived the winners at the goal, after going over the whole of the prescribed course. Our ancestors considered it as a still more remarkable portent, that when a charioteer had been thrown from his place, in the plebeian games of the Circus, the horses ran to the Capitol, just as if he had been standing in the car, and went three times round the temple there. But the greatest prodigy of all, is the fact that the horses of Ratumenna came from Veii to Rome, with the palm branch and chaplet, he himself having fallen from his chariot, after having gained the victory; from which circumstance the Ratumennian gate derived its name.

Zebra. — Ásinus Zebra.

When the Sarmatæ are about to undertake a long journey, they prepare their horses for it, by making them fast the day before, during which they give them but little to drink; by these means they are enabled to travel on horseback, without stopping, for one hundred and fifty miles. Some horses are known to live fifty years. The poet Virgil has very beautifully described the points which ought more especially to be looked for, as constituting the perfection of a horse; I myself have also treated of the same subject, in my work on the Use of the Javelin by Cavalry, and I find that pretty nearly all writers are agreed respecting them. The points requisite for the Circus are somewhat different, however; and while horses are put in training for other purposes at only two years old, they are not admitted to the contests of the Circus before their fifth year. We have an account of a horse having lived to its seventy-fifth year. If a foal has lost its mother, the other mares in the herd that have young, will take charge of the orphan. The more spirited a horse is, the deeper does it plunge its nose into the water while drinking.

Gallicia and Asturia, countries of Spain, produce a species of horse which have a peculiar pace of their own, very easy for the rider, which arises from the two legs of the same side being moved together. By studying the nature of this step our horses have been taught the movement, which we call ambling.

Ass. — Ásinus Vulgáris.

Marcus Varro informs us that Quintus Axius, the senator, paid for an ass the sum of four hundred thousand sesterces (or nearly $16,000). I am not sure whether this did not exceed the price ever given for any other animal. It is certainly a species of animal singularly useful for ploughing, and other farm labor. The attachment of asses to their young is great in the extreme, but their aversion to water is still greater. They will pass through fire to get at their foals, while the very same animal, if the smallest stream intervenes, will tremble, and not dare so much as to wet even its feet. In their pastures they never drink at any but the usual watering-place, and make it their care to find some dry path by which to get at it. They will not pass over a bridge either, when the water can be seen between the planks beneath. Wonderful to relate, too, if their watering-places are changed, though they should be ever so thirsty, they will not drink without being either beaten or caressed. They ought always to have plenty of room for sleeping; for they are subject to various disturbances in their sleep, when they repeatedly throw out their feet, and would immediately lame themselves by coming in contact with any hard substance; so that it is necessary that they should be provided with an empty space. Mæcenas was the first person who had the young of the ass served up at his table; they were in those times much preferred to the onager or wild ass; but, since his time, the taste has gone out of fashion.

The best wild asses are those of Phrygia and Lycaonia. Africa glories in the wild foals which she produces, as excelling all others in the flavor of their flesh. It appears from some Athenian records, that a mule once lived to the age of eighty years. The people were greatly delighted with this animal, because on one occasion, when, on the building of a temple in the citadel (the Parthenon), it had been left behind on account of its age, it persisted in promoting the work by accompanying and assisting them; in consequence of which a decree was passed, that the dealers in corn were not to drive it away from their sieves.

Chapter III.
The Ox

We find it stated, that the oxen of India are of the height of camels, and that the extremities of their horns are four feet apart. In our part of the world the most valuable oxen are those of Epirus, owing, it is said, to the attention paid to their breed by King Pyrrhus. He brought them to a very large size, and descendants of this breed are to be seen at the present day. The ox is the only animal that walks backwards while it is feeding; among the Garamantes, they feed in no other manner. Cattle that are bred in the Alps, although very small of body, give a great quantity of milk, and are capable of enduring much labor; they are yoked by the horns, and not by the neck. The oxen of Syria have no dewlap, but have a hump on the back. Those of Caria in Asia, are unsightly in appearance, having a hump hanging over the shoulders from the neck; and their horns are movable; they are said, however, to be excellent workers, though those which are either black or white are condemned as worthless for labor. Oxen must be broken when they are three years old; after that it is too late, and before too early. The ox is most easily broken by yoking it with a trained animal. The ox is our closest companion, both in labor generally, and in the operations of agriculture. Our ancestors considered it of so much value, that there is an instance cited of a man being brought before the Roman people, on a day appointed, and condemned, for having killed an ox, in order to humor the whim of his wife, who said that she had never tasted tripe; and he was driven into exile, just as though he had killed one of his own peasants.

The bull has a proud air, a stern forehead, shaggy ears, and horns which appear always ready, and challenging to the combat; but it is by his fore feet that he manifests his threatening anger. As his rage increases, he stands, lashing back his tail every now and then, and throwing up the sand against his belly; being the only animal that excites himself by these means. We have seen them fight at the word of command, and shown as a public spectacle; these bulls whirled about and then fell upon their horns, and at once were up again; then, at other times, they would lie upon the ground and let themselves be lifted up; they would even stand in a two-horsed chariot, while moving at a rapid rate, like so many charioteers. The people of Thessaly invented a method of killing bulls, by means of a man on horseback, who would ride up to them, and seize one of the horns, and so twist their neck. Cæsar the Dictator was the first person who exhibited this spectacle at Rome.

Bulls are selected as the very choicest of victims, and are offered up as the most approved sacrifice for appeasing the gods. Of all the animals that have long tails, this is the only one whose tail is not of proportionate length at birth; and in this animal alone it continues to grow until it reaches its heels. It is on this account, that in making choice of a calf for a victim, due care is taken that its tail reaches to the pastern joint; if it is shorter than this, the sacrifice is not deemed acceptable to the gods. This fact has also been remarked, that calves, which have been carried to the altar on men’s shoulders, are not generally acceptable to the gods, and also, if they are lame, or of a species which is not appropriate, or if they struggle to get away from the altar. It was a not uncommon prodigy among the ancients, for an ox to speak; upon such a fact being announced to the senate, they were in the habit of holding a meeting in the open air.

Chapter IV.
The Egyptian Apis

In Egypt an ox is even worshipped as a deity; they call it Apis. It is distinguished by a conspicuous white spot on the right side, in the form of a crescent. There is a knot also under the tongue, which is called “cantharus.” This ox is not allowed to live beyond a certain number of years; but is then destroyed by being drowned in the fountain of the priests. They then go, amid general mourning, and seek another ox to replace it; and the mourning is continued, with their heads shaved, until such time as they have found one; it is not long, however, at any time, before they meet with a successor. When one has been found, it is brought by the priests to Memphis. There are two temples appropriated to it, which are called thalami, and to these the people resort to learn the auguries. According as the ox enters the one or the other of these places, the augury is deemed favorable or unfavorable. It gives answers to individuals, by taking food from the hand of those who consult it. It turned away from the hand of Germanicus Cæsar, who died not long after. It commonly lives in secret; but, when it comes forth in public, the multitudes make way for it, and it is attended by a crowd of boys, singing hymns in honor of it; it appears to be sensible of the adoration thus paid to it, and to court it. These crowds, too, suddenly become inspired, and predict future events. There is a spot in the Nile, near Memphis, which, from its figure, they call Phiala (the goblet); here they throw into the water a dish of gold, and another of silver, every year upon the days on which they celebrate the birth of Apis. These days are seven in number, and it is a remarkable thing, that during this time, no one is ever attacked by the crocodile; on the eighth day, however, after the sixth hour, these beasts resume all their former ferocity.

Chapter V.
Sheep and Their Wool

Many thanks do we owe to the sheep, both for appeasing the gods, and for giving us the use of its fleece. As oxen cultivate the fields which yield food for man, so to sheep are we indebted for the defence of our bodies.

There are two principal kinds of sheep, the covered and the colonic, or common sheep; the former is the more tender animal, but the latter is more nice about its pastures, for the covered sheep will feed even on brambles. The best coverings for sheep are brought from Arabia.

The most esteemed wool of all is that of Apulia, and that which in Italy is called Grecian wool, in other countries Italian. The fleeces of Miletus hold the third rank. The Apulian wool is shorter in the hair, and owes its high character to the cloaks that are made of it. That which comes from the vicinity of Tarentum and Canusium is the most celebrated; and there is a wool from Laodicea, in Asia, of a similar quality. There is no white wool superior to that of the countries bordering on the Padus, nor up to the present day has any wool exceeded the price of one hundred sesterces (or about $4.00) per pound. The sheep are not shorn in all countries; in some places it is still the custom to pull off the wool. There are so many various colors of wool, that we lack terms to express them all. Pollentia, in the vicinity of the Alps, produces black fleeces of the best quality; Asia, the red fleeces; those of Canusium are of a tawny color; and those of Tarentum have a peculiar dark tint. The wool of Istria is much more like hair than wool, and is not suitable for the fabrication of stuffs upon which a long nap is required.

Merino, or Spanish Sheep.

The thick, flocky wool has been esteemed for the manufacture of carpets from the very earliest times; it is quite clear, from what we read in Homer, that they were in use in his time. Some kinds of wool are compressed for making a felt, which, if soaked in vinegar, is capable of resisting iron even; and, what is still more, after having gone through the last process, wool will even resist fire; the refuse, too, when taken out of the vat of the scourer, is used for making mattresses, an invention, I fancy, of the Gauls. At all events, it is by Gallic names that we distinguish the various sorts of mattresses at the present day; but I am not well able to say at what period wool began to be employed for this purpose. Our ancestors made use of straw for the purpose of sleeping upon, just as they do at present when in camp. The gausapa has been brought into use in my fathers memory, and I myself recollect the amphimalla and the long shaggy apron being introduced; but at the present day, the laticlave tunic is beginning to be manufactured, in imitation of the gausapa. Black wool will take no color.

Chapter VI.
Different Kinds of Cloths

Varro informs us, as an eye-witness, that in the temple of Sancus, the wool was still preserved on the distaff and spindle of Tanaquil, who was also called Caia Cæcilia; and he says that the royal waved (or “watered”) toga, formerly worn by Servius Tullius, and now in the temple of Fortune, was made by her. Hence was derived the custom, on the marriage of a young woman, of carrying in the procession a dressed distaff and a spindle, with the thread arranged upon it. Tanaquil was the first who wove the straight tunic, such as our young people and newly-married women wear with the white toga. Waved garments were at first the most esteemed of all: after which those composed of various colors came into vogue. Fenestella informs us, that togas with a smooth surface, as well as the Phryxian togas of crisp and crinkly wool, began to be used in the latter part of the reign of Augustus. The prætexta had its origin among the Etrurians. I find that the trabea was first worn by the kings; embroidered garments are mentioned by Homer, and in this class originated the triumphal robes. The Phrygians first used the needle for this purpose, and hence this kind of garment obtained the name of Phrygian. King Attalus, who also lived in Asia, invented the art of embroidering with gold, from which these garments have been called Attalic. Babylon was very famous for making embroidery in different colors, so that stuffs of this kind have obtained the name of Babylonian. The method of weaving cloth with more than two threads was invented at Alexandria; and in Gaul cloths were first woven into checkered plaids. Metellus Scipio, in the accusation which he brought against Cato, stated that even in his time Babylonian covers for couches were selling for eight hundred thousand sesterces, and these of late, in the time of the Emperor Nero, had risen to four millions. The prætextæ of Servius Tullius, with which the statue of Fortune, dedicated by him, was covered, lasted until the death of Sejanus; and it is a remarkable fact that, during a period of five hundred and sixty years, they had never faded or received injury from moths. I myself have seen the fleece upon the living animal dyed in strips of three colors, purple, scarlet, and violet, — a pound and a-half of dye being used for each, — just as though they had been produced by Nature in this form, to meet the demands of luxury.

Musk Ox. — Ovibos Moschátus.

In the sheep, it is considered a proof of its being of a very fair breed, when the legs are short, and the belly is covered with wool; when this part is bare, they are looked upon as worthless. The tail of the Syrian sheep is a cubit in length, and upon that part most of the wool is found.

Chapter VII.
Goats

Some of these animals have no horns; but where there are horns, the age of the animal is denoted by the number of knots on them. In Cilicia, and in the vicinity of the Syrtes, the inhabitants shear the goat for the purpose of clothing themselves. It is said that the she goats in the pastures will never look at each other at sun-set, but lie with their backs towards one another, while at other times of the day they lie facing each other and in family groups. They all have long hair hanging down from the chin. If any one of the flock is taken hold of and dragged by this hair, all the rest gaze on in stupid astonishment.

Mutianus relates an instance of the intelligence of this animal, of which he himself was an eye-witness. Two goats, coming from opposite directions, met on a very narrow bridge, which would not admit of either of them turning round, and in consequence of its great length, they could not safely go backwards, there being no sure footing on account of its narrowness, while at the same time an impetuous torrent was rapidly rushing beneath; accordingly, one of the animals lay down flat, while the other walked over it.

Book VI.
The Natural History of Fishes

Chapter I.
Why the Largest Animals Are Found in the Sea

We have now given an account of the animals which we call terrestrial, and which live as it were in a sort of society with man. Among the remaining ones, it is well known that the birds are the smallest; we shall therefore first describe those which inhabit the seas, rivers, and standing waters.

Among these there are many to be found that exceed in size any of the terrestrial animals; the evident cause of which is the superabundance of moisture with which they are supplied. Very different is the lot of the winged animals, whose life is passed soaring aloft in the air. But in the seas, spread out as they are far and wide, forming an element at once so delicate and so vivifying, many animals are to be found of monstrous form. Hence it is that the vulgar notion may very possibly be true, that whatever is produced in any other department of Nature, is to be found in the sea as well; while, at the same time, many other productions are there to be found which nowhere else exist. That there are to be found in the sea the forms, not only of terrestrial animals, but of inanimate objects, is easy to be understood by all who will take the trouble to examine the grape-fish, the sword-fish, the saw-fish, and the cucumber-fish, which last so strongly resembles the real cucumber both in color and in smell. We shall find the less reason then to be surprised to find that in so small an object as a shell-fish the head of the horse is to be seen protruding from the shell.

Sea-Elephant. — Morunga proboscidea.

But the largest and most numerous of all these animals are those found in the Indian seas; among which there are balænæ, four jugera in extent, and the pristis, two hundred cubits long: here also are found cray-fish four cubits in length, and in the river Ganges there are to be seen eels three hundred feet long. But at sea, more especially about the time of the solstices, these monsters are to be seen. For then in these regions the whirlwinds blow, the rains descend, the hurricane comes rushing down, hurled from the mountain heights, while the sea is stirred up from the very bottom, and the monsters are driven from their depths and rolled upwards on the crest of the billow. Once upon a time the fleet of Alexander the Great met with such vast multitudes of tunnies, that he was able to make head against them only by facing them in order of battle, just as he would have done an enemy’s fleet. Had the ships not done this, but proceeded in a straggling manner, they could not possibly have made their escape. No noises, no sounds, no blows had any effect on these fish; by nothing short of the clash of battle were they to be terrified, and by nothing less than their utter destruction were they overpowered.

There is a large peninsula in the Red Sea, known by the name of Cadara: as it projects into the deep it forms a vast gulf, which it took the fleet of King Ptolemy twelve whole days and nights to traverse by dint of rowing, for not a breath of wind was to be perceived. In the recesses of this becalmed spot more particularly, the sea-monsters attain so vast a size that they are quite unable to move. The commanders of the fleets of Alexander the Great have related that the Gedrosi, who dwell upon the banks of the river Arabis, are in the habit of making the doors of their houses with the jaw-bones of fishes, and raftering the roofs with their bones, many of which were found as much as forty cubits in length. At this place, too, the sea-monsters, just like so many cattle, were in the habit of coming on shore, and, after feeding on the roots of shrubs, they would return; some of them, which had the heads of horses, asses, and bulls, found a pasture in the crops of grain.

The largest animals found in the Indian Sea are the pistrix and the balæna; while of the Gallic Ocean the physeter, or blower, is the most bulky inhabitant, raising itself aloft like some vast column, and, as it towers above the sails of ships, belching forth, as it were, a deluge of water. In the ocean of Gades there is a tree, with outspread branches so vast, that it is supposed that it is for that reason it has never yet entered the Straits. There are fish also found there which are called sea-wheels, in consequence of their singular conformation; they are divided by four spokes, the nave being guarded on every side by a couple of eyes.