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WORKS OF ARISTOTLE
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DE MIRABILIBUS AUSCULTATIONIBUS
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THE
WORKS OF ARISTOTLE
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH UNDER THE EDITORSHIP
OF
J. A. SMITH M.A.
FELLOW OF BALLIOL COLLEGE
W. D. ROSS M.A.
FELLOW OF ORIEL COLLEGE
OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
^itil^^
v
HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK
TORONTO AND MELBOURNE
PREFACE
It was the desire of the late Master of Balliol, Dr. Ben- jamin Jowett, as formulated in his will, that the proceeds from the sale of his works, the copyright in which he bequeathed to Balliol College, should be used to promote the study of Greek Literature, especially by the publication of new translations and editions of Greek authors. In a codicil to his will he expressed the hope that the translation of Aristotle's works begun by his own translation of the Politics should be proceeded with as speedily as possible. The College resolved that the funds thus accruing to them should, in memory of his services to the College and to Greek letters, be applied to the subvention of a series of translations of the works of Aristotle. Through the co-operation, financial and other, of the Delegates of the University Press it has now become possible to begin the realization of this design. By agreement between the College and the Delegates of the Press the present editors were appointed to superintend the carrying out of the scheme. The series is published at the joint expense and risk of the College and the Delegates of the Press.
The editors have secured the co-operation of various scholars in the task of translation. The translations make no claim to finality, but aim at being such as a scholar might construct in preparation for a critical edition and commentary. Wherever new readings are proposed the fact will be indi- cated, but notes justificatory of conjectural emendations or defensive of novel interpretations will, where admitted, be
193397
PREFACE
reduced to the smallest compass. The editors, while retaining a general right of revision and annotation, will leave the responsibility for each translation to its author, whose name will in all cases be given,
J. A. S. W. D. R.
PARTS PUBLISHED OR IN THE PRESS
/ r PARVA NATURALIA : by J. I. Beare and G. R. T. Ross. DE LINEIS INSECABILIBUS : by H. H. Joachim. METAPHYSICA (Vol. VIII) : by W. D. Ross. DE MIRABILIBUS AUSCULTATIONIBUS : by L. D. Dowdall. HISTORIA ANIMALIUM (Vol. IV) : by D'A. W, Thompson. DE GENERATIONS ANIMALIUM : by A. Platt.
October, 1909.
DE MIRABILIBUS AUSCULTATIONIBUS
BY
LAUNCELOT D. DOWDALL, B.D., LL.B.
UNIVERSITY
OF
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1909
HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK
TORONTO AND MELBOURNE
M^1
PREFACE
In the following translation I have followed in the main the text of Apelt (Teubner, 1898) which rests on the recen- sion of Bekker, while the Laurentian MS. (S*) is closely followed, with a few exceptions. Very different from this is the text of Beckmann (Gottingen, 1786) ; but his learned notes have been useful. I must acknowledge my obligations also to the Latin version in Bussemaker's edition (Didot, 1878), and to the German rendering of Schnitzer (Stuttgart, i8(5o). My thanks are due to Mr. Kenyon of the British Museum for kindly transcribing for me Hermann's emen- dation (ch. 133) before Apelt's edition came to my hand. Many valuable suggestions are due to the kindness of Mr. W. D. Ross, Fellow of Oriel College, Oxford.
L. D. D.
Hove. /jme 30, 1 909.
The De Mirabilibus Auscultationibus, though undoubtedly not written by Aristotle, has been included in this series from a wish to omit, as nearly as possible, no part of the corpus associated with Aristotle's name and printed in the standard editions of his works. Much of the book is at least of Peripatetic origin.
W. D. R. Oxford. October 21, 1909.
DE MIRABILIBUS AUSCULTATIONIBUS
CONTENTS
CHAP.
1. The Bison.
2. The Piety of Camels.
3. The Cuckoo.
4. Cretan Goats.
5. Achaean Stags.
6. Leopard's Bane.
7. The Sandpiper.
8. The Hedgehog.
9. Cephallenian Goats. ^10. Wild Asses.
11. The Tortoise.
12. Martens.
i^. The Woodpecker.
14. The Pelican.
15. Blackbirds.
16. Flower-honey.
17. Cappadocian Honey.
18. Box-honey.
19. Tree-honey.
20. Bees' Food.
21. Bees.
22. Honey-wine.
23. Thessalian Serpents.
24. Laconian Serpents.
25. Mice.
26. Mice and Gold.
27. Scorpions.
28. Mice of Cyrene.
29. A Marvellous Whirlpool.
30. The Elk (Tarandos).
31. The Madman of Abydos.
32. Nocturnal Madness.
33. Fire-mixture and Fire-stone.
34. The Island of Lipara.
35. Fires in Media and Persia.
36. Fire in Atitania. 27. Volcanoes.
38. Fire in Lipara : Eruptions of
Etna.
39. Fire in Lydia.
40. Fire-streams in Sicily.
41. Fire-stone (Spinos).
42. Mines in Macedonia.
43. Copper in Cyprus.
CHAP.
44. The Island of Melos.
45. Paeonian Gold.
46. Gold of the Oxus.
47. Pierian Gold.
48. Chalybian Iron.
49. Indian Copper.
50. Celtic Tin.
51. The Pantheon Olive.
52. What happened in the Mines
of Pergamos.
53. The Ascanian Lake.
54. The Wells of Pythopolis.
55. The Sicihan Strait.
56. The Spring near Syracuse. ^
57. The Spring of Palici. '^
58. The Copper of Demonesus.
59. The Cave of Demonesus.
60. Concerning Eagles.
61. Indian Lead.
62. The Copper of the Mossynoeci.
63. Hibernating Birds and Fish.
64. Bees and Grasshoppers.
65. The Hedgehog.
66. Jealousy of the Spotted Lizard.
67. Bears' Fat.
68. Dumb Frogs and Solid-hoofed
Swine.
69. Fruitful Mules.
70. Frogs of Seriphos.
71. Wandering Fish.
72. Fish on Dry Land.
7^. Fish obtained by Digging.
74. Paphlagonian Fish.
75. The Stag's Horn.
76. The Lynx.
77. The Sea-calf.
78. Circaean Poison.
79. The Birds of Diomedes.
80. Fruitfulness of Umbria.
81. The Amber Islands.
82. Flowers and Wheat of Sicily.
83. Crete without Wild Beasts.
84. Island of the Carthaginians.
85. Road of Heracles.
VI
CONTENTS
CHAP.
86. Celtic Poison.
87. Silver in Iberia.
88. The Balearic Islands (Gym-
nesiae).
89. The Massilian Lake.
90. Ligurian Slingers.
91. Ligurian Women.
92. The Ligurian River.
93. The Mine of Aethaleia.
94. The City of Oenarea.
95. Cumaean Sibyl and River
Cetus.
96. The Mantle of Alcimenes.
97. lapygia and Heracles.
98. The lapygian Stone.
99. The Orchomenian Cave. 100. Sardinia and Aristaeus. loi. Noises at Lipara. The
Wonderful Cave.
102. Lake Avernus.
103. The Siren Islands.
104. Mount Delphium.
105. The Danube. Voyage of the
Argonauts.
106. Sacrifices to the Dead at
Tarentum.
107. Philoctetes and Tlepolemus.
108. The Tools of Epeus-
109. Daunia and the Arms of
Diomedes. no. Legend of the Bronze Neck- lace.
111. Sicilian Crocus.
112. The Miraculous Lake in
Sicily.
113. The Fragrant Mountain and
Oil-spring.
114. The Burning Spring.
115. Burning Stones.
116. Thracian Barley.
117. The Healing Fountain.
118. Falconry,
119. Venetian Jackdaws.
120. The Beetles' Death.
121. The Fatal Spring.
122. Hares' Livers. Place of
Death. Temple of Dio- nysus.
123. The Miracle of Dionysus.
Kites.
124. Moles.
125. Amphibious Mice.
126. The Crows of Crannon.
127. Bitumen of Apollonia. Burn-
ing Ground.
CHAP.
128. Illyrian Cattle.
129. Paeonian Wild Oxen.
130. The Sicilian Strait.
131. The Tomb of Deiope.
132. Palm-island.
133. The Old Inscription.
134. Salt obtained by Digging.
135. Spanish Silver.
136. Deserts beyond Gades.
Shoals of Tunnies.
137. The Pedasaean Goat.
138. Illyrian Salt.
139. The Scorpion-Fighter.
140. Naxian Wasps.
141. Scythian Poison.
142. The Cyprian Snake.
143. The Wild Pear of Ceos.
144. White Bears.
145. The Hyaena.
146. The Lion- Killer.
147. Vultures and Beetles.
148. The Lizards' Bite.
149. Mesopotamian Snakes. -
150. Snakes of the Euphrates.
151. The Sacred Snake.
152. The Sacred Water of Tyana.
153. The Sacred Olive.
154. The Race of the Pious.
155. The Contrivance of Phidias.
1 56. The Statue of Bitys.
157. The Black Mountains.
158. The White-leaved Rod.
159. The Stone called 'Modon'.
160. The Plant called 'Sistros'.
161. The Mad Vine,
162. The Cylindrical Stone.
163. The Love- Plant.
164. Putrefaction- Serpents
(Sepes).
165. The Dark Adder and the
Viper.
166. The Nile-Stone.
167. The Sound-minded Stone
(Sophron).
168. The Rhine and Danube.
169. The Sybaris and Crathis.
1 70. The Wool-dyeing Rivers.
171. The Lance- Herb.
172. The Fountain Arethusa.
173. The Stone of Madness.
174. The Changing Stone.
175. The Golden Bull of Artemis.
176. Aetolian Moles.
177. Pregnancy of Elephants.
178. Pleasant. Madness.
DE MIRABILIBUS AUSCULTATIONIBUS
U.Nf/VERs/Tvll
DE MIRABILIBUS AUSCULTATIONIBUS
1 Men say that in Paeonia, on the mountain called 830* Hesaenus, which forms the boundary between the Paeonian 5 and Maedian ^ districts, there is found a wild beast, which is called Bolinthos,^ but by the Paeonians is named Monaepos. They state that this in its general nature is similar to the
ox, but surpasses it in size and strength, and moreover is distinguished from it by its mane ; for like the horse it has 10 a mane hanging down very thick from the neck, and from the crown of the head as far as the eyes. It has horns, not such as oxen have, but bent downwards, the tip being low down near the ears ; and these severally contain more than three pints, and are very black, and shine as though ^5 they were peeled ; ^ and when the hide is stripped off it occupies a space capable of containing eight couches. When the animal is struck with a weapon it flees, and only stops when it is quite exhausted. Its flesh has an agreeable taste. It defends itself by kicking, and voiding excrement over a distance of about twenty-four feet. It easily and frequently employs this kind of defence, and the 20 excretion hums so severely that the hair of the dogs is scraped off. They say, however, that the excrement pro- duces this effect only when the animal is disturbed, but when it is undisturbed it does not burn. When they bring forth young, assembling in larger numbers and being all gathered closely together, the full-grown ones bring forth, and void excrement as a defence round their young ; for the animal discharges a large quantity of this excretion.
2 In Arabia aiunt camelos non inire matres suas ; sed 830** etiamsi quis cogat, nolunt ; namque curatorem admissario aliquando destitutum operto* matrem submisisse ferunt pullo. Is^ vero coitum tunc quidem, ut videtur, absolvit; paulo tamen post armentarium morsibus necavit. ^°
^ fxrjdiKrjp MSS. Sylburg corrects to MaidiKrjp. Cf. c. 115. ^ Bison, or wild ox, probably the same as the Bonasos. ' Gesner conj. XeXiTraarfxeva. Cf. HzsL An. ix. 45. * al. opertam. Cf. Hist, An. ix. 47 ; Ovid, Met. x. 324.
AR. M. A. 3
830^ DE MIRABILIBUS
Men say that the cuckoos in Hellce, when about to 3 breed, do not build a nest, but lay their eggs in the nests of ring-doves or turtle-doves, and neither sit on their eggs, nor hatch them, nor rear their young ; but when the chick 15 is born and reared, it expels its companions from the nest. Moreover, it appears, it grows large and beautiful, so that it easily overcomes the rest. They say that the ring-doves also take such a delight in it that they even assist it to drive out their own young.
ao The she-goats in Crete, when they are shot with arrows, 4 seek, it would appear, for the dittany, which grows there ; for as soon as they have eaten it, they straightway expel the arrows from their bodies.
Men say that some of the stags in Achaea, when they 5 have shed their horns, proceed to places of such a kind that 831^ they cannot be easily found ; and that they act in this way because they have no means of defence, and also because the parts from which they have shed their horns give them pain ; and it is stated that, in the case of many of these animals, ivy is seen growing in the place of the horns.
Men say that in Armenia a certain poison grows, which 6 is called leopard's bane. So, when a leopard is seen, they anoint a victim with this, and let it go. When the leopard 5 touches it, she goes, it would appear, in quest of human excrement. Therefore the hunters put it in a vessel, and suspend it from a tree, so that the leopard, by leaping up towards it and becoming exhausted, may be paralysed by 10 it, and fall into their power.
Men say that in Egypt the sandpipers fly into the mouths 7 of the crocodiles, and cleanse their teeth, pulling out the pieces of flesh, which stick in their snouts, while the croco- diles are pleased, and do them no harm.
IS Men say that the hedgehogs in Byzantium perceive when 8 north or south winds are blowing, and immediately change their holes ; and, when the winds are southerly, make their holes opening out of the ground, but, when they are northerly, out of the walls.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 3-15 831*
9 The she-goats in Cephallenia do not drink, as it appears, 20 like other quadrupeds ; but daily turning their faces towards the sea, open their mouths, and take in the breezes.
10 In Syria inquiunt inter silvestres asinos ^ unum praeire armento, atque si iunior aliquis pullus feminam conscenderit, ducem indignari, et hunc tantisper persequi, dum compre- hendat ac in crura posteriora conquiniscens ore verenda 25 evellat.
11 Men say that tortoises, when they have eaten part of a viper, eat marjoram as an antidote, and, if the creature fails to find it at once, it dies ; that many of the country-
' folk, wishing to prove whether this is true, whenever they see it acting in this manner, pluck up the marjoram, and 30 when they have done so, the tortoise is presently seen dying.
12 Viverrae aiunt genitalia esse reliquorum animalium na- 831^ turae absimilia,dum ipsis, quomodocumque demum affectis, semper sint instar ossium solida. Singulare urinae stillicidio laborantibus remedium esse perhibent rasaque exhiberi.
13 Men say that the bird called the woodpecker climbs 5 upon the trees like lizards, both hanging from and standing on the branches. It is further stated that it feeds upon the grubs out of the trees, and digs so deeply into the trees, in its search for the grubs, that it even brings the trees down.
lA Men say that the pelicans dig up the mussels that are 10 found in the rivers, and swallow them ; then, when they have devoured a large quantity of these, they vomit them up again, and thereupon eat the meat of the mussels, but do not touch the shells.
15 Men say that in Cyllene in Arcadia the blackbirds are born white, which happens nowhere else, and that they 15 give utterance to various sounds, and go forth by the light of the moon ; but that, if any one should attempt to capture them by day, they are caught with great difficulty.
^ ova>v : iTTTvav Beckm. ; but cf. Plin. viii. 30, Oppian, Ven, iii. 205.
B 3
831^ DE MIRABILIBUS
It IS stated by certain persons that what is called flower- l6 20 honey is produced in Melos and Knidos, and that, while fragrant in smell, it lasts for only a short time ; and that in it ^ bee-bread is produced.
In some parts of Cappadocia they say that the honey is I? made without a honey-comb, and that in consistency it resembles olive-oil.
At Trapezus in Pontus the honey gathered from the 18 box-tree is produced, having an oppressive smell, and they 25 say that this drives out of their senses those who are sound in mind, while it completely cures those who suffer from epilepsy.
Men say that in Lydia also the honey is gathered from 19 the trees in abundance, and that the inhabitants form out of it balls without wax, and cutting off portions by 30 very violent rubbing ^ make use of it. It is produced indeed in Thrace likewise, not so solid, but as it were of a sandy nature. They say that all honey when congealed preserves 832^ an equal volume, not like water and all other liquids.
The grass of Chalcis and almonds are most useful for 20 making honey ; for they say that a very large quantity is produced by them.
People say that bees are stupefied by unguents, and are 21 unable to endure the smell of them ; while some say that 5 they especially sting those who have been anointed.
They say that among the Illyrians those who are called 22 Taulantians make wine out of honey. When they have squeezed out the honey-combs, they pour water on the honey, and boil it in a caldron until half is consumed ; then they pour it out into earthen jars, fill them half ^ full, and lay them on boards ; and on these they say it ferments for 10 a long time, and becomes like wine, while for the rest it is sweet and strong. But now they state that this mode of preparation was adopted also among some of the in- habitants of Greece, so that the drink did not differ from
' Buss, reads 6\iyoxp6iiop de Kara rqv e., omitting iv rovra.
^ Because of the hardness of the honey.
^ Tjixiaeay al. rjdiaTa. Probably, as Heyne thinks, these words crept into the text from a marginal gloss. Apelt conj. ncofxaaavTes for noirj' aavT€f, rejecting f]^iorea : cf. 845* 6.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 16-29 83a*
old wine, and that in later times, when they inquired into the method of mixing it, they were unable to discover it.
23 They relate that in Thessaly once upon a time so large
a number of serpents was bred alive that, if they had not 15 been exterminated by the storks, the inhabitants would have left the country. Wherefore they also honour the storks, and it is unlawful to kill them, and, if any one kills them, he becomes liable to the same penalties as a homicide.
24 Likewise also it is related that there was once in Lacedaemon so great a multitude of serpents that the 20
' Lacedaemonians, owing to a scarcity of corn, used them as food ; whence also they say that the Pythian priestess called them ' serpent-necked '}
25 It is said that in the island of Gyaros ^ the mice eat iron.
26 Men say that among the Chalybians, in an islet situated beyond them, gold is collected by mice in large numbers : wherefore also, as it appears, they rip up those that are 25 found in the mines.
27 It is said that travellers going from Susa to Media meet with an immense multitude of scorpions at the second stage. So the King of the Persians, whenever he was passing through the place, remained there for three days, ordering all his men to hunt them down ; and he gave a prize to him 30 who caught the greatest number. '
28 Men say that in Cyrene there is not merely one sort 832^ of mice, but several kinds differing both in forms and in colours ; for some are broad-faced, like mustelae,'^ and some like hedgehogs, which they call ' echines '.
29 In Cilicia they say that there is a whirlpool, in which birds, and animals besides, that have been suffocated, when 5 immersed come to life again.
^ Meziriac conj. 6(J)io^6povs.
^ The MSS. read Kvnpcp. Marsilius Cagnatus suggests Tvapco (one of the Sporades) on the authority of Antigonus Caryst. c. 21, and Plin. viii. 57.
^ The weasel is not broad-faced. It is doubtful what animal Aristotle is referring to. Cf. Bonitz's I/tdex, 145^ 43,
832*^ DE MIRABILIBUS
Among the Scythians who are called Geloni, they say 30 that there is a certain wild animal, excessively rare indeed,
10 which is named Tarandos.^ Now this is said to change the colour of its hair, according to the place in which it may be ; and for this reason it is hard to catch ; for it becomes in colour like to trees and places, and its sur- roundings generally. But the most wonderful thing is its changing its hair ; for other animals change the colour
15 of the skin, such as the chameleon and polypus. In size it resembles an ox, while the form of its face is like that of a stag.
It is said that a certain man in Abydos being deranged 31 in mind, and coming into the theatre during many days 30 looked on (as though actors were performing a play), and applauded ; and, when he was restored to his senses, he declared that that was the happiest time he had ever spent.
Moreover they say that at Tarentum a certain wine- 32 merchant was mad at night, but sold his wines during the day : he also kept the key of the cellar attached to his 35 girdle, and though many tried to steal it from him and get possession of it, he never lost it.
In the island of Tenos they say there is a small bowl 33 containing a mixture, from which people kindle fire very readily. Moreover in the Thracian Bithynia^ there is found in the mines the stone which is called *spinos',^ 30 from which they say that fire is kindled.
People say that in the island of Lipara there is a certain * 34 place where the air is sucked down into the earth, and that if they bury a pot there they can put therein what- ever they please and boil it.
833^ Both in Media and in Psittacene, a district of Persia, 35 there are fires burning, that in Media small, but that in Psittacene large and with a bright flame ; for which reason also the King of the Persians constructed kitchens near it.
^ Elk, or reindeer. ^ Sithonia ? (conj. Sylburg). ' Alum-slate .^ * Reading with Apelt nva danvorjv instead of vulg. rives yrjv. This local use of elo-nvor] is peculiar.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 30-42 833*
Both these are in level, not in elevated places. These fires 5 are conspicuous both by night and by day, while those in Pamphylia are seen only at night.
36 They say also that at Atitania, near the borders of the district of Apollonia, there is a certain rock, and fire rising from it is not visible, but whenever oil is poured thereon blazes up.
37 It is said that the places outside the Pillars of Hercules 10 burn, some constantly, others at night only, as Hanno's Circumnavigation relates. The fire also in Lipara is visible and flaming, yet not by day, but only at night. They say also that in Pithecusae the ground is fiery, and extraordi- 15 narily hot, yet not burning.
38 vXenophanes states that the fire in Lipara once failed for sixteen years, but returned in the seventeenth year. They say that the lava-stream in Etna is neither flaming nor continuous, but returns only after an interval of many years.
39 It is said that in Lydia a vast amount of fire blazed up, ao and continued burning for seven days.
40 The lava-stream in Sicily is an extraordinary pheno- menon. The breadth of the fire that blazes up amounts to forty stadia, while the height to which it is carried amounts to three.
41 They say that the stone in Thrace which is called 25 'spinos' burns when split in two, and that it also, like charcoal-embers, when put together again, and sprinkled with water, burns ; and that the stone called * marieus ^ ' does the same.
42 At Philippi in Macedonia they state that there are mines, the refuse from which, they say, increases and pro- 30 duces gold, and that this is an observable fact.
* Cod. Vind., with two other MSS., has fiapiddv, for which Salmasius suggests vd(j)dav. Sylburg suggests OpaKiauy the Thracian stone being mentioned in c. 115. Cf. Alexandri Problemata^ p. 322 Xi'^os dpaKiasy v8aTi fxev KaLOjieuo^, eXalco de (r^€vvvfievos.
833^ DE MIRABILIBUS
They say that in Cyprus, at the place called Tyrrhias,^ 43 copper is produced in like manner ; for men having cut it up, as it appears, into small pieces, sow it, and then, when the rains have come on, it grows and springs up, and so is collected.
They say that in the island of Melos, in those parts of 44 5 the ground that are dug up, the earth fills itself up again.
In Paeonia they state that when continuous showers have 45 fallen, and the ground is thoroughly soaked, there is found what is called gold without fire.^ They state, too, that in Paeonia the ground is so rich in gold that many persons 10 have found gold even exceeding a pound in weight. And they say that certain persons, who had found them, brought two nuggets to the king, one weighing three pounds, the other five ; and they say that these are set beside him on the table, and, if he eats anything, he first offers a libation upon them.
15 They say that among the Bactrians also the river Oxus 4^ carries down numerous small nuggets of gold, and more- over that in Iberia the river called Theodorus ^ both throws out much gold on its banks, and likewise also carries it down the stream.
They state also that in Pieria, a district of Macedonia, 47 20 some uncoined gold was buried by the ancient kings, and, while there were four cavities, from one of them gold grew up a span in length.
It is said that the production of the Chalybian and 48 Amisenian* iron is very peculiar; for it grows together, as at least they assert, from the sand that is carried down
25 by the rivers. Some say that they simply wash this, and smelt it in a furnace ; but others that, after frequently wash- ing the deposit left by the first washing, they burn it, and insert what is called the fire-proof stone which is abundant in the country. This iron is far more beautiful than the
30 other kinds. But if it were not burnt in the furnace it
^ Meursius conj. t6 \ey. Kovpiou. Cf Strabo, xiv. p. 683. â– ^ i. e. unsmehed, solid.
^ Identified with the Durius, mod. Douro. Cf. Rose, Arisf. frag., p. 206 (Teubner). Beckm. conj. Qepfxcodav (in Cappadocia).
* Amisuswas a town in Pontus, mod. Eski Samsun. Rose conj. do-rjfxov.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 43~5^ 834^
would not at all differ, as it appears, from silver. Now they say that it alone is not liable to rust, but that it is not very plentiful.
49 They say also that among the Indians the copper is so bright, pure, and free from rust that it cannot be dis- tinguished in colour from gold ; moreover that among the cups of Darius there are certain goblets, and these not 5 inconsiderable in number, as to which, except by their smell, one could not otherwise decide whether they are of copper or gold.
50 They say that the Celtic tin melts much more quickly than lead. A proof of its fusibility is that it is believed to melt even in water : at any rate, it seems, it stains quickly. Now it melts in the cold ^ also, when the weather is frosty, 10 because, as they say, the hot substance inherent in it is by reason of its weakness shut up and compressed within.
51 ' In the Pantheon ^ there is an olive-tree, which is called that * of the beautiful crowns '. But all its leaves are con- trary in appearance to those of other olive-trees ; for it ^ has the pale-green outside, instead of inside, and it sends 15 forth branches, like those of the myrtle, suitable for crowns. From this Heracles took a shoot, and planted it at Olympia. and from it are taken the crowns which are given to the combatants. This tree is near the river Ilissus, sixty ^ stadia distant from the river. It is sur- rounded by a wall, and a severe penalty is imposed on 20 any one who touches it. From this the Eleians took the shoot, and planted it in Olympia, and from it they took the crowns which they bestowed.
52 In the Lydian mines near Pergamos, which also Croesus
had worked, the following incident occurred. When a
certain war arose the workmen fled to them ; but, as the 25
mouth was built up, they were suffocated ; and a long
time afterwards, when the mines were cleared out, vessels,
which they used to employ for daily uses, such as jars
^ Beckm. conj. ^i^yyiacnv. ^ At Athens.
' Kuster reads e^a yap oIk, dXX* ivTos. But the schol. explains ;(Xa)pa by XeiiKa.
* Perhaps ' six ' should be read» as ^' = 60 might easily arise from e^. Schol. Theocr. iv. 7 says okto)*
834^ DE MIRABILIBUS
30 and the like, were found petrified. These, being filled with whatever liquid it might be, had been turned to stone, as well as the bones of the men.
In the Ascanian lake the water is so impregnated with 53 soda that garments have need of no other cleansing sub- stance ; if one leaves them too long in the water they fall to pieces.
Near the Ascanian lake is Pythopolis, a village about 54 35 one hundred and twenty stadia distant from Cius, in which 834^ all the wells are dried up in the winter, so that one cannot dip a pitcher into them ; but in the summer they are filled up to the brim.
The strait between Sicily and Italy increases and dimin- 55 ishes along with the changes of the moon. 5 It is stated also that on the road to Syracuse there 5^ is in a meadow a spring, neither large nor containing much water ; but, when once a great crowd met at the place, it supplied water in abundance.
There is also a certain spring in Palici ^ in Sicily^ about 57 as large as the space ten couches would occupy. This throws up water to the height of six cubits, so that it 10 is thought by those who see it that the plain will be inundated ; and again it returns to its original state. There is also a form of oath, which is considered to be sacred there ; whatever oaths a man swears he writes on a little tablet, and throws into the water. If therefore he swears truly, the tablet floats on the top ; but if he 15 swears falsely, they say that the tablet grows heavy and dis- appears, while the man is burnt. Wherefore the priest takes security from him that some one shall purify the temple.
Demonesus, the island of the Chalcedonians, received 58
ao its name from Demonesus, who first cultivated it. The
place contains the mine of cyanos and gold-solder. Of
this latter the finest sort is worth its weight in gold, for
it is also a remedy for the eyes. In the same place there
* It was called 1) ToyvIlaXiKayu XifivT], mod. Lago di Naftia. We should have expected eV IlaXtKrj, as the Palici were twin sons of Zeus and Thalia, whose temple stood near a volcanic lake, in which two jets of gas throw up the water to a great height, and hence became sacred to the two indigenous deities, called Palici 6ia to dnodavouTcxs rrdXiv els dvdpoiTTovs Ueo-Oai. Cf. Sotion, 8. Steph. Byzant. UaXiKrj.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 52-63 834^
is also copper, obtained by divers, two fathoms below the surface of the sea, from which was made the statue in Sicyon in the ancient temple of Apollo, and in Pheneus the so-called statues of mountain-copper. On these is the 25 inscription — ' Heracles, son of Amphitryon, having cap- tured Elis, dedicated them '. Now he captured Elis guided, in accordance with an oracle, by a woman, whose father, Augeas, he had slain. Those who dig the copper become very sharp-sighted, and those who have no eye- lashes grow them : wherefore also physicians use the 30 flower of copper ^ and Phrygian ashes for the eyes.
59 Now in the same place there is a cave which is called the pretty ^ cave. In this pillars have been formed by con- gelation from certain drippings of water : and this becomes evident from their being contracted ^ towards the ground, for the narrowest * part is there.^
60 Of the offspring of a pair of eagles, so long as they pair 35 together, every second one is a sea-eagle. Now from the 835* sea-eagles springs an osprey, and from these black eagles and vultures : yet these on the other hand do not bring 5 the breed of vultures to a close, but produce the great vultures, and these are barren. And a proof is this, that
no one has ever seen a nest of a great vulture. 61 A wonderful thing they say happens among the Indians with regard to the lead there ; for when it has been melted and poured into cold water it jumps out of the water.
62 Men say that the copper of the Mossynoeci is very brilliant and white, no tin being mixed with it ; but there 10 is a kind of earth there, which is smelted with it.^ They state that the man who discovered the mixture did not inform any one ; so the copper vessels formerly produced in these parts were excellent, but those subsequently made were no longer so.
63 Men state that in Pontus some birds during the winter 15
^ Capillary red copper-ore.
^ Or hollowed : cf. Horn. Od. ix. 114 eV o-TrfVo-i yhaf^ivpoim.
^ Weise reads avayayrj. * Weise o-reyj/oraroj/.
° fto-i . . . arcvoiraTai has been suggested.
^ This seems to have been cadmia, and the mixture what is called Prince Rupert's metal, or white copper. The Mossynoeci lived on the southern shores of the Black Sea, and derived their name from the wooden towers {yi-oaavv) in which they dwelt. Cf Xen. Anab. v. 4. 26.
836* DE MIRABILIBUS
the Spartan, and that having been examined they were put to death by the Tarentines.
In the island of Diomedeia, which lies in the Adriatic, 79 they say there is a temple of Diomedes, wonderful and holy, and round the temple there sit in a circle birds of
10 a large size, having great hard beaks. These birds, they state, if Greeks land at the place, keep quiet ; but if any of the barbarians who live around them approach, they fly up, and soaring in the air swoop down upon their heads, and, wounding them with their beaks, kill them. The
15 story goes that the companions of Diomedes were meta- morphosed ^ into these, when they had been shipwrecked off the island and Diomedes was treacherously slain by Aeneas, who was then king of those regions.
20 Among the Unibrians they say that the cattle bring 80 forth young three times in the year, and that the earth yields many times more fruit than the seed that is sown : that the women also are prolific, and rarely bring forth only one child at a time, but most of them have two or three.
25 In the Amber islands, which are situated in the corner 81 of the Adriatic, they say that there are two statues erected, the one of tin, the other of bronze, wrought after the ancient fashion. It is stated that these are works of Daedalus, a memorial of old times, when he, fleeing before
30 Minos from Sicily and Crete, put in to these places. But they say that the river Eridanus^ formed these islands by alluvial deposit. Moreover, as it appears, there is near the river a lake, containing hot water, and a smell exhales from it heavy and unpleasant, and neither does any animal drink from it, nor does a bird fly over it, but falls and dies. 836 It has a circumference of two hundred stadia, a width of about ten. Now the inhabitants tell the story that Phae- thon, when struck by the thunderbolt, fell into this lake ; and that therein are many black poplars, from which falls 5 what is called amber.^ This, they say, resembles gum, and
* Cf. Lycophr. 594 rriKpav eTaipau enTepoifjLevTjv ldo)v | olaxvofiiKTOv poipav. "^ Po.
^ For the story of the tears of the Hehades being changed into amber cf. Ov. Met^ ii. 365. So Marcianus, the geographer, describes amber
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 78-84 836^
hardens like a stone, and, when collected by the inhabitants, is carried over to the Greeks. To these islands, therefore, they state that Daedalus came, and, having obtained possession of them, dedicated in one of them his own statue, and in the other that of his son Icarus ; but that 10 afterwards, when the Pelasgians, who had been expelled from Argos, sailed against them, Daedalus fled, and arrived at the island of Icarus.
82 In Sicily, in the neighbourhood of the place called Enna,^ there is said to be a cave, round about which 15 they assert that there not only grows a quantity of other kinds of flowers at every season of the year, but that especially an immense space is covered with violets, which fill the adjoining country with fragrance, so that the hunts- men are unable to track the hares, as their dogs are overcome by the smell. Through this chasm there is an invisible subterranean passage, by which they say Pluto 20 carried ofl" Proserpine. In this place it is said that wheat
is found, resembling neither the native sorts, which people use, nor other kinds that are imported, but possessed of a great peculiarity. And this they use as an argument to 25 prove that the wheat-fruit appeared first among them- selves ; whence also they lay claim to Demeter, affirming that the goddess was born amongst them.
83 In Crete men say that there are no wolves, bears, and vipers, and similarly no wild beasts like them, because Zeus was born therein.
84 In the sea outside the Pillars of Hercules they say that 30 an island was discovered by the Carthaginians, desolate, having wood of every kind, and navigable rivers, and admirable for its fruits besides, but distant several days' voyage from them. But, when the Carthaginians often 837* came to this island because of its fertility, and some even dwelt there, the magistrates of the Carthaginians gave notice that they would punish with death those who should
sail to it, and destroyed all the inhabitants, lest they should 5
thus — o (fyaaiv elvai baKpvov anoKiOov^iivov | Biavyfs, alyeipcov aTroora- XayfjLo. Ti.
^ The Laurentian MS. has ewav : vulgo anur). Instead oinepl r. k. 'e. Weise reads rfj KoXovuhrj Airvij. So Beckm. Cf. Sil. Ital. xiv. 238 sqq.
837^ DE MIRABILIBUS
spread a report about it, or a large number might gather together to the island in their time,^ get possession of the authority, and destroy the prosperity of the Carthaginians.
From Italy as far as the country of the Celts, Celto- 85 ligurians, and Iberians, they say there is a certain road,
10 called the * road of Heracles ', by which whether a Greek or a native travels, he is watched by the neighbouring tribes, so that he may receive no injury ; for those amongst whom the injury has been done must pay the penalty.
They say that among the Celts there is a poison called 86 by them 'arrow-poison', which they assert produces cor- ruption so quickly that the Celtic huntsmen, when they
15 have shot a stag, or any other animal, run up to it in haste, and cut out the wounded part of the flesh, before the poison spreads, as well for the sake of the food as to prevent the animal from putrefying. They say, however, that the bark of the oak was found to be an antidote for this; but others maintain that the antidote is something
20 different, a leaf, which they call ravenswort,^ because a raven, which had tasted the poison, and become sick, was observed by them to hasten for this leaf, and, after devouring it, to be delivered from its pain.
In Iberia they say that, when the coppices were set on 87
25 fire by certain shepherds, and the earth was heated by the wood, the country visibly flowed with silver ; and when, after some time, earthquakes succeeded, and the ground in different places burst asunder, a large quantity of silver was collected, which brought in no ordinary revenue to the Massilians.
30 In the islands called Gymnesiae,^ that lie off the coast 88 of Iberia, which they assert to be the largest, after the so- called seven * islands, they say that oil is not produced from olives, but from the turpentine-tree in very large quantities, and adapted for every purpose. Moreover they affirm that the Iberians, who inhabit those islands, are so
35 fond of women that they give to the merchants four or
five males in exchange for one female. When they receive
^ Reading eV alroov. ^ Hawkweed. ^ Balearic.
* i. e. Sardinia, Sicily, Cyprus, Crete, Euboea, Corsica, and Lesbos. Timaeus op. Strabo, xiv. p. 967.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 84-93 ^37*
their pay, while serving with the Carthaginians, they pur- chase, it seems, nothing else but women ; for no man amongst them is allowed to have gold or silver. But as a reason for their forbidding the introduction of money, 5 some such statement as this is added, that Heracles made his expedition against Iberia for the sake of the riches of the inhabitants.
89 In the country of the Massilians, on the borders of Liguria, they say there is a certain lake, and that this boils up and overflows, and casts out so great a quantity 10 of fish as to surpass belief. But whenever the monsoons blow the soil is heaped up upon it (such dust arises there), and its surface becomes solid like the ground, and the natives, piercing it with tridents,^ easily take out of it as 15 much fish as they please.
90 It is said that some of the Ligurians sling so skilfully that, when they see several birds, they contend with one another about which bird each is preparing to strike, pre- suming that all will easily hit their mark.
91 They say that there is also this peculiarity amongst them : 20 the women bring forth whilst engaged in work, and after washing the child with water, they immediately dig and hoe, and attend to their other household duties, which they were obliged to perform before the time of their delivery.
92 This is also a marvel among the Ligurians : they say 35 that there is a river ^ in their country whose stream is lifted up on high and flows along so that those on the other side cannot be seen.
93 In Etruria there is said to be a certain island named Aethaleia, in which out of a certain mine in former days copper was dug, from which they say that all the copper vessels amongst them have been wrought ; that afterwards 30 it could no longer be found : but, when a long interval of time had elapsed, from the same mine iron was produced, which the Etrurians, who inhabit the town called Popu- lonium, use to the present day.
* A three-pronged fishing-spear, called in Scotland a leister. 2 Arno. Cf. Strab. v. 340.
837* DE MIRABILIBUS
Now in Etruria there is a certain city called Oenarea,^ 94 which they say is exceedingly strong ; for in the midst of 35 it there is a lofty hill, rising upwards to the height of thirty stadia, and having at its foot wood of all sorts, and waters. 838* They say, therefore, that the inhabitants, fearing lest some one should become despot, set over themselves those of their slaves who had been manumitted, and these have dominion over them ; but every year they appoint others of the same class in their stead.
5 At Cumae in Italy there is shown, it appears, a sub- 95 terranean bed-chamber of the prophetic Sibyl, who, they say, was of a very great age, and had always remained a virgin, being a native of Erythrae, but by some of the 10 inhabitants of Italy called a native of Cumae, and by some named Melancraera.^ It is said that this place is under the sway of the Lucanians. They state moreover that in those parts about Cumae there is a certain river called Cetus,^ and they say that whatever is thrown into this is after a con- siderable time first coated over, and finally turns into stone.
15 Men say that for Alcimenes, the Sybarite, a mantle was 96 prepared of such magnificence, that it was exhibited at Lacinium during the festival of Hera, to which all the Italians assemble, and that it was admired more than all the things that were shown there. Of this they say that
20 Dionysius the Elder obtained possession, and sold it to the Carthaginians for one hundred and twenty talents. It was of purple, fifteen cubits in width, and w^as adorned on either side with little figures inwoven, above with Susa,
35 below with Persians ; in the middle were Zeus, Hera, Themis, Athene, Apollo, and Aphrodite. Near each extremity was Alcimenes, and on both sides Sybaris.
In the neighbourhood of the lapygian promontory, from 97 a certain place in which, as the legends relate, the fight of 30 Heracles with the giants took place, they say that ichor
^ Steph. Byzant., who has copied these words, gives Olva as the name of the city. Victorius reads OvXareppa (=Volaterra). The description in the text corresponds with Strabo's account of Volaterra, v. p. 154.
* Black-haired.
^ Cod. Vind. KaKennav (some MSS. MaKfrrnau). The correction was made by a later hand. The Silarus seems meant, cp. Sil. Ital. viii. 582.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 94-100 838*
flows in great abundance, and of such a nature that, owing to the oppressiveness of the smell, the sea off that place is innavigable. They state besides that in many parts of Italy many memorials of Heracles still exist on the roads by which he travelled. Near Pandosia in lapygia footprints of the god are shown, on which no one must tread.
98 There is also in the neighbourhood of the lapygian promontory a stone big enough to load a waggon, which 838^ they say was lifted up by him ^ and transferred to this spot, and it was actually moved with one finger.
99 In the city of the Orchomenians in Boeotia they say that a fox was seen, which, being pursued by a dog, entered 5 into a certain subterranean passage, and that the dog entered along with her and, barking, produced a great noise, as though he found a wide space about him ; but the hunts- men, thinking there was something marvellous there, broke open the entrance, and forced their way in as well: and that, seeing the light coming in by certain holes, they had 10 a clear view of all that was in the cave, and went and reported it to the magistrates.
100 In the island of Sardinia they say there are many
beautiful buildings constructed in the ancient Greek style,
and, amongst others, domes carved in remarkable pro- 15
portions. It is said that these were built by lolaus, son of
Iphicles, when he, having taken with him the Thespiadae,
the sons of Heracles, sailed to those parts with the intention
of settling there, considering that they belonged to him
through his relationship with Heracles, because Heracles 20
was lord, of all the western land. This island, as it appears,
was formerly called Ichnussa, because it was shaped in its
outline very similarly to a human footstep.^ It is stated to
have been previously fertile and productive ; for the legend
states that Aristaeus, whom they assert to have been most
skilful in agriculture among the ancients, ruled over these 25
parts, which were formerly occupied by many large birds.
At the present day, however, it is no longer fertile, because
when ruled by the Carthaginians it had all its fruits that
were useful for food destroyed, and death was fixed as the
' Sc. Heracles. ^ Gr. Ix^oS'
C 2
839^ DE MIRABILIBUS
clearer proofs of this, that they ^ did not sail out through
30 the Symplegades, citing the poet himself as a witness in the case of those regions ; for (say they) he, pointing out the gravity of the danger, states that it is impossible to sail past the place ^ —
Planks of ships and bodies of men together are carried
By the waves of the sea and storms of fire destructive.
840* As regards the ' Dark Rocks ' indeed it is not said that
they send forth fire ; but it happens near the strait which
divides Sicily from Italy, as the eruptions of fire are found
on both sides ; while not only is the island continually
5 burning, but also the stream of lava round Etna often spreads over the country.
In Tarentum they say that at certain times people offer 106 sacrifices to the shades of the Atridae, Tydidae, Aeacidae, and Laertiadae, and besides that they celebrate a sacrifice separately to the Agamemnonidae on another special day,
10 on which it is unlawful for the women to taste the victims offered to those heroes. There is also amongst them a temple of Achilles. Now it is said that after the Tarentines had taken it, the place which they at present inhabit was called Heraclea ; but in the early times, when the lonians were in possession, it was named Pleum ^
15 and at a still earlier date it was called Sigeum by the Trojans, who had gained possession of it.
Among the Sybarites Philoctetes is said to be honoured; 107 for that on his return from Troy he founded in the Crotonian territory the town called Macalla,^ which they say is one hundred and twenty stadia distant;^ and historians relate that he dedicated the bow and arrows
20 of Heracles in the temple of Apollo the sea-god:^ but from thence they say that the Crotonians, during their dominion, took them, and dedicated them in the temple of Apollo in their own city. Now it is said that having died there * he lies by the river Sybaris, after he had given
^ sc. the Argonauts. ^ q^^ ^ii. 67. ^ Polieum ? conj. Sahnasius.
* Tzetzes on Lycophr. 927 states that Macalla contained the sepulchre of Philoctetes, which received divine honours from the people. No trace of the town remains. ^ i. e. from Croton.
^ Probably we should read 'AXai'ou, i. e. releasing from wanderings. So Wesseling from Tzetzes on Lycophr. 911 Traucr^eW t^s aA?;s, 'AXai'ou 'ATrdAXcoj/os Upov kti^ci.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 105-110 840*
help to the Rhodians, who along with Tlepolemus had been 25 carried out of their course to those parts, and had engaged in battle with the barbarians who inhabited that country.
108 In that part of Italy which is called Gargaria, close to Metapontium, they say there is a temple of Athene Heilenia, where they state that the tools of Epeus were dedicated, which he had prepared for the construction of 30 the wooden horse ; he having given this surname ; ^ for Athene appeared to him in a dream and desired him to dedicate the tools ; and he being therefore delayed in putt- ing out to sea was cooped up^ in the place, unable to sail out : whence the temple was called that of Athene Heilenia.
109 In the district which bears the name of Daunia, there 840^ is said to be a temple called that of the Achaean Athene,
in swhich bronze axes and the arms of Diomedes and his companions are dedicated. In this place they state that 5 there are dogs which do no harm to such of the Greeks as come there, but fawn upon them, as though they were most familiar to them. Now all the Daunians and the neighbouring tribes, both men and women, wear black garments, apparently for the following reason — because it is said that the Trojan women, who had been taken 10 captives, and had come to those parts, fearing that they might experience hard slavery at the hands of the women who already belonged to the Achaeans in their native land, set fire to their ships, in order that they might escape from the expected slavery, and at the same time, that they, being united in wedlock with those men, now 15 compelled to stay, might have them for their husbands. The poet has also very admirably described them ; ^ for one may see those women likewise, it seems, * robe- trailing ' and ' deep-bosomed \ no In the country of the Peucetians * they say there is 20 a temple of Artemis, in which, they state, is dedicated the bronze necklace celebrated in those parts, with the inscription — ' Diomede to Artemis '. Now the legend re-
^ sc. to the goddess.
^ Gr. elXeladai.
^ II. vi. 442, vii. 297, xiv. 105, xviii. 122.
* rieuKej/rivot? S*. The Peucetii were a people of Apulia.
840^ DE MIRABILIBUS
lates that he put it round the neck of a stag, and that it ^ adhered there ; and in this way having been afterwards found by Agathocles, king of the Sicilians, it was, they affirm, dedicated in the temple of Zeus. ^
25 On the promontory of Sicily, called the promontory of iii Pelorus, it is stated that so much saffron grows that, while by some of the Greeks dwelling in those parts it is not known what a valuable flower it is, on the promontory of
30 Pelorus all who wish bring home large waggon loads of it, and in the spring-time strew their beds and stages ^ with saffron.
Polycritus, who has written the history of Sicily in verse, 112 states that in a certain part of the interior there is a little lake, with a circumference about that of a shield, and this
35 contains water transparent indeed, but somewhat turbid. 841^ Now if any one enters this, intending to wash himself, it increases in breadth ; but if a second person * enters, it grows wider still ; and finally, having grown larger, it becomes wide enough for the reception of even fifty men. 5 But whenever it has received this number, swelling up again from the bottom it casts the bodies of the bathers high in the air and out on the ground ; but, as soon as this has occurred, it returns once more to the original form of its circumference. And not only in the case of men does this occur with regard to it, but also, if a quadruped enters, it experiences the same result.
10 In the dominion of the Carthaginians ^ they say there is II3 a mountain which is called Uranion,^ full of all kinds of wood and variegated with many flowers, so that the con- tiguous places over a wide extent partaking of its fragrance waft to the travellers a most agreeable odour. Near this
15 spot they say that there is a spring of oil, and that it has a smell like that of cedar sawdust. But they say that the person who approaches it must be chaste, and, if this is
^ sc. the necklace. ^ We should probably read rrjs Beov.
^ This is difficult. Natalis renders ' cum . . . et thoros et umbracula faciant ex croco ' : so Montesaurus — * lectulos tentoriave sibi ex eo croco praeparant *. Schnitzer — inachen sie ihre Matratzen u. Zeltdecken aus Safra7i. But probably A. means that they strew their couches and stages with the flowers of saffron, instead of the mere essence. Cf. Lucret. ii. 416 ; Ovid, A. A. \. 104.
* Sylburg conj. bevr^pos for MS. devrepop. ^ i.e. in Sicily.
^ i. e. heavenly. Beckm. reads Fcopiov, Cod. Vind. Ovviov.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 110-118 841*
the case, it spouts up the oil in greater abundance, so that it can be safely drawn.
114 Men say that near this spring also there is a natural rock 20 of great size. Now they say that when summer is come
it sends up a flame of fire, but when winter arrives, from the same place it sends gushing up a stream of water so cold that, when compared with snow, it does not dififer from it. And this, they declare, is not a secret occurrence, nor does it appear for only a short time ; but it sends forth 25 the fire throughout the whole summer, and the water throughout the whole winter.
115 It is reported that in that part of Thrace which is called the country of the Sinti and Maedi, there is a certain river named Pontus, in which are carried down certain stones 30 which burn, and are of a nature opposed to that of charcoal from wood ; for while fanned they are quickly extinguished, but when sprinkled with water they blaze up and kindle better. Now, when they are burning, they have a smell 841^ similar to that of bitumen, so bad and pungent that no creeping thing remains in the place while they are burning.
116 They say, moreover, that in their country there is a cer- tain place, not very small, about twenty stadia in extent, that bears barley, which the men indeed use ; but the horses and oxen, or any other animal, will not eat it : nay, not 5 even does any pig or dog venture to taste the excrement of men who after eating a cake or bread made from this barley have voided it, as death results from it.
117 At Scotussae in Thessaly they say there is a little fountain from which flows water of such a kind that in ic a moment it heals wounds and bruises both of men and of beasts of burden ; ^ and if any one throws wood into it, with- out having quite broken it, but having merely split it, this unites, and is restored again to its original state.
118 In Thrace above Amphipolis they say that a thing 15
happens, which is wonderful and incredible to those who
have not seen it ; for the boys, going forth from the villages
and neighbouring districts to catch little birds, take the
, ^ Theopompus ap. Plin. xxxi. 2 makes the same statement, as also Sotion, de Fhwi. p. 124, on the authority of Isigonus. Cf. Antigonus Car. p. 157.
841^ DE MIRABILIBUS
hawks to help in catching them, and they do so in this 20 manner : — When they have advanced to a suitable spot they call the hawks by name with a loud cry ; and, when they hear the boys' voice, they come and frighten away the birds ; these in terror of them take refuge in the bushes, where the boys strike them down with sticks and capture them. But 25 what one would be most of all surprised at is this — whenever the hawks themselves have seized any of the birds, they throw them down to the bird-catchers, while the boys return home, after giving some portion of all their booty to the hawks.
Another marvel also they say occurs among the Heneti : ^ 119 30 that countless myriads of jackdaws are frequently borne to their country, and eat up the corn when the people have sown it. To them the Heneti offer gifts, before the 842^ birds are about to fly to the borders of the land, throwing before them seeds of all kinds of fruits. Now if the jack- daws taste these they do not come over into their country, and the Heneti know that they will be in peace ; but, if they do not taste them, the people thereupon expect an attack to be made upon them by their enemies.
5 In the Thracian Chalcidice,^ near Olynthus, they say I20 there is a place called Cantharolethros,^ a little larger in size than a threshing-floor ; and that when any other living creature reaches the spot it departs again ; but none of 10 the beetles that come there do so ; but they going round and round the place die from hunger.
Among the Thracian Cyclopes there is a little spring 121 containing water, which in appearance indeed is pure, transparent, and like all others ; but, when an animal drinks of it, straightway it perishes.
15 Men say that in Crastonia, near the country of the 122 Bisaltae, the hares that are captured have two livers ; and that there is a certain place, about a rood in extent, into which whatever animal Renters dies. There is in the same place, besides, a temple of Dionysus, large and
20 beautiful, in which, when the festival and sacrifice take
^ i.e. Venetians. "^ Beckm. reads Chalcis.
^ i. e. Beetles' death.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 1 18-127 842*
place, it is said that a great blaze of fire is seen when the god is going to produce a good season, and that all those who are assembled round the sacred enclosure see it ; when, however, he intends to cause unfruitfulness, this light is not seen, but darkness extends over the place, as during the other nights.
123 In Elis they relate that there is a certain building about 25 eight furlongs distant from the city, in which, at the festival of Dionysus, they place three empty copper caldrons. Having done this, they request any of the Greeks staying in the city, who wishes, to examine the vessels, and to seal the doors of the house : then, when they are about to open 30 them, they point out the seals to the citizens and strangers first of all, before they do so. They on entering find the caldrons indeed full of wine, but the floor and the walls uninjured, so that it is impossible to entertain a suspicion that they accomplish this by some trick. Moreover, they say that amongst the same people there are kites, which snatch 35 the meat from those who carry it through the market- 842** place, but do not touch the flesh of the sacred victims.
124 It is said that at Coronea in Boeotia the animals called 5 moles cannot live, or dig up the ground, w^hile the rest of Boeotia possesses a large number of them.
125 ^t Lusi ^ in Arcadia men say there is a certain spring in which field-mice are found and swim, passing their lives in it. The same thing is said to occur likewise at Lampsacus.
126 At Crannon in Thessaly they say there are only two 10 crows ^ in the city. When these have hatched their young, they depart from the place, as it appears, but leave behind as many others of their ofl"spring.
127 In Apollonia, which lies near to the country of the 15 Taulantii,^ they say there is bitumen obtained by digging, and pitch springing up from the earth, in the same manner
^ Aova-ois Sylb. : MSS. KoKovarois. Antigonus, 152, on the authority of Theopompus, makes the same statement with regard to Lusi. So Plin. xxxi. 2. 2 Qf ^^ J 27^
^ Conj. Brodaeus instead of MS. 'ArXarnKwi/. Holsten. conj. 'ATivrdvoiv. Apelt reads 'ArXai^Tivoiv. Cf. c. 22. 36. TavXavripcov conj. Bussemaker. Codex Vindobon. ^AdirXarivaiv. (The point beneath rr implies that it is spurious.)
842^ DE MIRABILIBUS
as springs of water, in no respect differing from that of Macedonia, but that it is naturally blacker and thicker than that. And not far from this place there is a fire
20 burning at all times, as those who dwell in the neighbour- hood assert. The burning place, it appears, is not large, but about the size of the space occupied by five couches. This spot smells of sulphur and alum,^ and thick grass grows around, at which one would be most surprised, and
25 also large trees, not four cubits distant from the fire. Moreover, a fire burns constantly in Lycia and near Megalopolis in Peloponnesus.
It is said also that among the Illyrians the cattle bring 128 forth young twice in the year, and that most of them have twins, and that many goats bring forth three or four kids 30 at a time, and some even five or more ; and, besides, that they readily yield nine pints of milk. They say too that the hens do not lay merely once, as among other nations, but twice or thrice in the day.
It is said that the wild oxen in Paeonia are far larger 129 than those that are found in other nations, and that their 35 horns contain twenty-four pints, and those of some of them even more.
843^ Concerning the Sicilian Strait, apart from what many 130 other writers have written, this author ^ states that a por- tentous occurrence takes place : the billows, he says, being carried with a loud whistling sound from the Tyrrhenian 6 Sea, dash against both the promontories, that of Sicily and that of Italy, which is called Rhegium, and being borne from a great sea are shut up in a narrow space ; and when this occurs they raise the waves with a loud roar in mid- air to a very great height, as they dash upwards, so that 10 the rising of the waters is visible to those who are far away, not resembling the rising of the sea, but white and foaming, and similar to the sweeping movements which take place in excessively violent storms : and that some- times the waves meet each other on both the promontories
^ Or vitriol. ''â– Polycritus probably. Cf. c. 112. Sylburg
thinks that these two chapters should be connected together.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 127-132 843^
and produce a collision ^ incredible in description, and unen- 15 • durable for the eyes to behold ; but at other times parting, after dashing against each other, they show an abyss,^ so deep and horrible to those who are compelled to look on, that many are unable to restrain themselves, and fall, blinded with terror. But when the waves, after dashing 20 on either of the two places and being carried to the tops of the promontories, have descended again into the sea flowing beneath, then again with loud bellowing and great and swift eddies the sea boils up, and is lifted on high from the depths in confusion, and assumes alternately all kinds 25 of hues, for it appears at one time dark, at another blue, and oftentimes of a purplish colour : but no creeping thing can endure either to hear or to see the quick rush and length of this sea, and besides these its ebb, but all flee to the low-lying skirts of the mountains ; but, when the heaving 30 of the billows ceases, the eddies are borne on high, making such various twistings that they seem to produce movements resembling the coils of presteres,^ or some other large snakes.
131 Men say that, while the Athenians were building the 843^ temple of Demeter at Eleusis, a brazen pillar was found surrounded with rocks, on which had been inscribed — 'This is the tomb of Deiope', whom some state to have been the wife of Musaeus, others the mother of Triptolemus. 5
132 In one of the islands, called the islands of Aeolus, they say that a large number of palm-trees grow, whence it is also called ' Palm-island ' ; therefore that could not be true which is asserted by Callisthenes, that the tree* received its name from the Phoenicians, who inhabited the sea-coast 10
. of Syria. But some state that the Phoenicians themselves received this name from the Greeks, because they, first of all sailing over the sea, slew and murdered all, wherever they landed. And moreover in the language of the Perrhaebians the verb * phoenixai ' means * to stain with blood '.^
^ The Laurentian MS. reads crvyKkeia-fiov : so Beckm. The Cod. Vind. has (Tvy<\vaix6i/. ^ lit. make the prospect.
^ 7rpr]aTr]p(ov. The bite of these snakes caused the victim to swell {7rpr,6(o), and produced burning thirst. Cf. Lucan ix. 791 ' torridus prester'. Cf. Diosc. ed. Spengel, II. 71. 675. Lenz, Zoo/, d. Gr. u. Rom. 469. â– * i. e. phoenix.
° Nicander Alex. 187 has (j)oiv6s = (f)6vos. Cf. (Jiovevw.
843^ DE MIRABILIBUS
15 In what is called the Aeniac district, in the neighbour- 133 hood of the city named Hypate,^ an old pillar is said to have been discovered ; and the Aenianians, wishing to know to whom it belonged, as it had an inscription in ancient characters, sent certain persons to take it to Athens. But as they were proceeding through Boeotia, and were
20 communicating to some of their guest friends the object of their journey, it is said that they were conducted into the so-called Ismenium ^ at Thebes ; for there the meaning of the inscription could be most easily discovered, they said, adding that there were in that place some ancient dedicatory offerings having the forms of the letters similar to those of the one in question : whence they say that,
25 having found an explanation of the objects of their inquiry, from what was already known to them, they copied down the following lines : —
I Heracles offered the grove to the beaming goddess
Cythera, When I had Geryon's herds, and Erytheia for spoil ; For with desire for her the goddess had vanquished
my heart. 30 But here my wife Erythe brings forth Erython as her
offspring, Nymph-born maid Erythe, to whom I yielded the plain, Sacred memorial of love under the shade of the beech.
844^ With this inscription both that place corresponded, being
called Erythus, and also the fact that it was from thence,
and not from Erytheia, that he drove away the cows ; for
5 they say that nowhere either in the parts of Libya or
Iberia is the name of Erytheia to be found.
In the city called Utica in Libya, which is situated, as 134 they say, on the gulf between the promontory of Hermes ^ and that of Hippos, and about two hundred furlongs 10 beyond Carthage (now Utica also is said to have been founded by Phoenicians two hundred and eighty-seven years before Carthage itself, as is recorded in the Phoeni- cian histories), men state that salt is obtained by digging
^ In Thessaly. "^ i. e. temple of Ismenian Apollo.
^ Utica lay between the Hermaeum Promontorium, mod. Ras el Kanais, and the promontory of Apollo, mod. Ras Sidi Ali. Cf. Kiepert, who identifies the latter with C. Bon, though others identify it with C. Zibeeb, or C. Farina.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 133-137 844*
at a depth of eighteen feet, in appearance white and not solid, but resembling the most sticky gum ; and that when brought into the sun it hardens, and becomes like Parian 15 marble; and they say that from it are carved figures of animals, and utensils besides.
135 It is said that those of the Phoenicians who first sailed to Tartessus,^ after importing to that place oil^ and other small wares of maritime commerce, obtained for their return cargo so great a quantity of silver, that they were 20 no longer able to keep or receive it, but were forced, when sailing away from those parts, to make of silver not only all the other articles which they used, but also all their anchors.
135 They say that the Phoenicians who inhabit the city called Gades, when they sail outside the Pillars of Heracles 25 under an easterly wind for four days, arrive at certain desolate places, full of rushes and seaweed, and that these places are not covered with water, whenever there is an ebb, but, whenever there is a flood, they are overflowed, and in these there is found an exceeding great number of 30 tunnies, of a size and thickness surpassing belief, when they are stranded. These they salt, pack up in vessels, and convey to Carthage. They are the only fish which the Carthaginians do not export ; on account of their excellence for food, they consume them themselves.
137 In the district of Pedasa in Caria a sacrifice is celebrated 35 in honour of Zeus, at which they send in the procession 844^ a she-goat, with regard to which they say that a marvellous thing occurs ; for while it proceeds from Pedasa a distance of seventy furlongs, through a dense crowd of people looking on, it is neither disturbed in its progress, nor is turned out of the way, but, being tied with a rope, advances 5 before the man who holds the priesthood.
[And they say that its horns contain twenty- four pints, and in some cases even more.] What is wonderful is that two crows stay continually about the temple of Zeus, while
^ A Phoenician settlement, probably the Tarshish of Scripture. It has been identified with the city of Carteia on Mt. Calpe, mod. Gibraltar.
844^ DE MIRABILIBUS
no other approaches the spot, and that one of them has the front part of its neck white.
In the country of those Illyrians who are called Ardiaei, 138
10 near the boundaries separating them from the Antariates, they say there is a great mountain, and near this a valley, from which water springs up, not at every season, but during the spring, in great abundance ; which the people take, and keep during the day indeed in a cellar, but
15 during the night they set it in the open air. And, after they have done this for five or six days, the water congeals, and becomes the most excellent salt, which they preserve especially for the sake of the cattle : for salt is not imported to them, because they live at a distance from the sea, and have no intercourse with others. They have therefore
20 most need of it for their cattle ; for they supply them with salt twice in the year ; but if they fail to do this, the result is that most of their cattle perish.
In Argos they say there is a species of locust which 139
35 is called the scorpion-fighter ; ^ for, as soon as it sees a scorpion, it attacks him, and likewise the scorpion attacks it. It chirps as it goes round him in a circle. The other, they say, raises his sting, and turns it round against his adversary in the same spot; then he gradually lets his sting drop, and at last stretches himself out altogether on the ground, while the locust runs round him. At last the locust
30 approaches and devours him. They say that it is good
to eat the locust as an antidote against the scorpion's sting.
They say that the wasps in Naxos, when they have 140
tasted the flesh of the viper (and its flesh, as it appears,
is agreeable to them), and when they have afterwards
stung any one, inflict so much pain, that their sting seems
more dangerous than that of the vipers.
845* They say that the Scythian poison, in which that people 141
dips its arrows, is procured from the viper. The Scythians,
it would appear, watch those that are just bringing forth
young, and take them, and allow them to putrefy for
some days. But when the whole mass appears to them
^ Similar to this was the locust called 6(f>iofxaxos. That in the text may be the wingless locust called daipaKos or ovos by Dioscor. ii. 57, who says that the Libyans at Leptis eat them greedily.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 137-146 845^
to have become sufficiently rotten, they pour human blood 5 into a little pot, and, after covering it with a lid, bury it in a dung-hill. And when this likewise has putrefied, they mix that which settles on the top,^ which is of a watery nature, with the corrupted blood of the viper, and thus make it a deadly poison.
142 At Curium^ in Cyprus they say there is a species of 10 snake, which has similar power to that of the asp in Egypt, except that, if it bites in the winter, it produces no effect, whether from some other reason, or because when congealed with cold the reptile loses its power of move- ment, and becomes completely powerless, unless it be warmed.
143 In Ceos they say there is a species of wild pear ^ of such 15 a kind that, if any one be wounded by its thorn, he dies.
144 In Mysia they say tliere is a white species of bears, which, when they are hunted, emit a breath of such a kind as to rot the flesh of the dogs, and likewise of other wild beasts, and render them unfit for food. But, if any one 20 approaches them with violence, they discharge, it appears, from the mouth a very great quantity of phlegm, which the animal blows upon the faces of the dogs, and of the men as well, so as to choke and blind them.
145 In Arabia they say there is a certain kind of hyaena, which, when it sees some wild beast, before being itself 25 seen, or steps on the shadow of a man, produces speech- lessness, and fixes them to the spot in such a way that they cannot move their body ; and it is said that they do this in the case of dogs also.
146 In Syria they say there is an animal, which is called the lion-killer ; for the lion, it seems, dies, whenever he eats any of it. He does not indeed do this willingly, but 30 rather flees from the animal ; but when the hunters, having caught and roasted it, sprinkle it, like white meal, over some other animal, they say that the lion, after tasting it, dies on the spot. This animal injures the lion even by making water upon it.
* Bonitz conj. €</)to-Ta/iei/oi'. * Cf. c. 43.
,^ The Schol. on Theocr. 24. 88 explains the word as aKavOatdis 4>vt6v f^ov ras alixncrias noiovai, ^yovv t) ajrios fj dyp'ia.
AR. M. A. D
846^ DE MIRABILIBUS
the summits of the so-called Black Mountains, but turn back when they have pursued them as far as these.
In the river Phasis it is related that a rod called the 158 30 ' White-leaved ' grows, which jealous husbands pluck, and throw round the bridal-bed,^ and thus preserve their marriage unadulterated.
In the Tigris they say there is a stone found, called in 159 the barbarian language Modon, with a very white colour, and that, if any one possesses this, he is not harmed by wild beasts.
35 In the Scamander they say a plant grows, called Sistros,^ 160 resembling chick-pea, and that it has seeds that shake, from which fact it has obtained its name : those who possess it (so it is said) fear neither demon nor spectre of any kind.
In Libya there is a vine, which some people call mad, 161 ^aQ^ that ripens some of its fruit, others it has like unripe grapes, and others in blossom, and this during a short time.
On Mount Sipylus they say there is a stone like a 162 cylinder, which, when pious sons have found it, they place 5 in the sacred precincts of the Mother of the Gods, and never err through impiety, but are always affectionate to their parents.
On Mount Taygetus (it is said) there is a plant called 163 Charisia,^ which women in the beginning of spring fasten round their necks, and are loved more passionately by their husbands.
10 Othrys is a mountain of Thessaly, which produces 164 serpents that are called Sepes,* which have not a single colour, but always resemble the place in which they live. Some of them have a colour like that of land-snails, while the scales of others are of a bright green ; but all of them
15 that dwell in the sands become like these in colour. When they bite they produce thirst. Now their bite is not rough and fiery, but malicious.
1 lit. maiden bed-chamber. ^ i. e. shaking-plant.
* i.e. love-plant. * i. e. putrefaction-serpents.
AUSCULTATIONIBUS 157-173 846^
165 When the dark-coloured adder copulates with the female, the female during the copulation bites off the head of the male ; therefore also her young ones, as though avenging 20 their father's death, burst through their mother's belly.
166 In the river Nile they say that a stone like a bean is produced, and that, if dogs see it, they do not bark. It is beneficial also to those who are possessed by some demon ; for, as soon as it is applied to the nostrils, the demon 25 departs.
167 In the Maeander, a river of Asia, they say that a stone is found, called by contradiction ' sound-minded ' ; for if one throws it into any one's bosom he becomes mad, and kills some one of his relations.
168 The rivers Rhine and Danube flow towards the north, one passing the Germans, the other the Paeonians. In the 30 summer they have a navigable stream, but in the winter they are congealed from the cold, and form a plain over which men ride.
169 Near the city of Thurium they say there are two rivers, the Sybaris and the Crathis. Now the Sybaris causes the horses that drink of it to be timorous, while the Crathis 35 makes men yellow-haired when they bathe in it.
170 In Euboea there are said to be two rivers ; the sheep that drink from one of them become white ; it is called Cerbes : the other is the Neleus, which makes them black.
171 Near the river Lycormas ^ it is said that a plant ^ grows, 847* which is like a lance, and is most beneficial in the case of dim sight.
172 They say that the fountain of Arethusa at Syracuse in Sicily is set in motion every five years.
173 On Mount Berecynthius ^ it is said that a stone is pro- 5 duced called 'the Sword', and if any one finds it, while the mysteries of Hecate are being celebrated, he becomes mad, as Eudoxus affirms.
^ A river of Aetolia, Plut. de Fluv. 8.
^ It was called o-dpicra-n from its shape.
^ In Phrygia, sacred to Cybele. It is elsewhere written BepeKVPTos.
\
847^ DE MIRABILIBUS AUSCULTATIONIBUS
On Mount Tmolus ^ it is said that a stone is produced 174 like pumice-stone, which changes its colour four times 10 in the day ; and that it is only seen by maidens who have not yet attained to years of discretion.
847^ On the altar of the Orthosian 2 Artemis it is said that 175 a golden bull stands, which bellows when hunters enter the temple.
Among the Aetolians it is said that moles see, but only 176 dimly, and do not feed on the earth, but on locusts.
5 They say that elephants are pregnant during the space 177 of two years, while others say during eighteen months ; and that in bringing forth they suffer hard labour.
They say that Demaratus, the pupil of the Locrian 178 Timaeus, having fallen sick, was dumb for ten days ; but on the eleventh, having slowly come to his senses after his delirium, he declared that during that time he had 10 lived most agreeably.
^ A mountain of Lydia, mod. Boz-dagh, from which the Pactolus rises.
^ She was also called Orthia, from Mt. Orthium or Orthosium in Arcadia. Cf. Hesych. 'Opdia, Aprefxis, ovT(iis etprjrai CLTTO Tov iv ^hpKabia X<*>piov, evOa Upbv ^Aprefxidos tdpvTat.
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