CHAP. 84. (59.)—ANIMALS WHICH INJURE STRANGERS ONLY, AS
ALSO ANIMALS WHICH INJURE THE NATIVES OF THE COUNTRY
ONLY, AND WHERE THEY ARE FOUND.
Besides this, there are certain animals, which are harmless
to the natives of the country, but destroy strangers; such are
the little serpents at Tirynthus,[1] which are said to spring from
out of the earth. In Syria, also, and especially on the banks
of the Euphrates, the serpents never attack the Syrians when
they are asleep, and even if they happen to bite a native who
treads upon them, their venom is not felt; but to persons of
any other country they are extremely hostile, and fiercely attack them, causing a death attended with great torture. On
this account, the Syrians never kill them. On the contrary,
on Latmos, a mountain[2] of Caria, as Aristotle tells us, strangers
are not injured by the scorpions, while the natives are killed
by them. But I must now give an account of other animals
as well, and of the productions of the earth.[3]
SUMMARY.—Remarkable events, narratives, and observations,
seven hundred and eighty-seven.
ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Mucianus,[4] Procilius,[5] Verrius
Flaccus,[6] L. Piso,[7] Cornelius Valerianus,[8] Cato the Censor,[9] Fenestclla,[10] Trogus,[11] the Register of the Triumphs,[12] Columella,[13]
Virgil,[14] Varro,[15] Lucilius,[16] Metellus Scipio,[17] Cornelius Cel-
sus,[18] Nigidius,[19] Trebius Niger,[20] Pomponius Mela,[21] Mamilius Sura.[22]
FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—King Juba,[23] Polybius,[24] Herodotus,[25] Antipater,[26] Aristotle,[27] Demetrius[28] the physician, Democritus,[29] Theophrastus,[30] Euanthes,[31] Agriopas,[32] who wrote
the "Olympionicæ," King Hiero,[33] King Attalus[34] Philometor, Ctesias,[35] Duris,[36] Philistus,[37] Archytas,[38] Phylarchus,[39] Amphilochus[40] of Athens, Anaxapolis[41] the Thasian, Apollodorus[42]
of Lemnos, Aristophanes[43] the Milesian, Antigonus[44] the Cumæan, Agathocles[45] of Chios, Apollonius[46] of Pergamus, Aris-
tander[47] of Athens, Bacchius[48] of Miletus, Bion[49] of Soli,
Chiæreas[50] the Athenian, Diodorus[51] of Priene, Dion[52] the
Colophonian, Epigenes[53] the Rhodian, Euagon[54] of Thasos,
Euphronius[55] of Athens, Hegesias[56] of Maronea, the Menanders[57] of Priene and of Heraclea, Menecrates[58] the poet,
Androtion[59] who wrote on Agriculture, Æschrion[60] who wrote
on Agriculture, Lysimachus[61] who wrote on Agriculture,
Dionysius[62] who translated Mago, Diophanes[63] who made an
epitome of the work of Dionysius, King Archelaus,[64] Nicander.[65]
1. See B. iv. c. 9.
2. See B. v. c. 31.
3. More especially of trees, plants, flowers, medicinal substances, metals,
and gems, which form the most prominent subjects of the remaining Books
after the eleventh, which concludes the account of the animals.—B.
4. See end of B. ii.
5. A Roman historian, and a contemporary of Cicero. He is thought to
have written on early Roman history, as Varro quotes his account of the
Curtian Lake, and on the later history of Rome, as we have seen Pliny
referring to him in c. 2, respecting Pompey's triumph on his return from
Africa. He was held in high estimation by Pomponius Atticus, but seems
not to have been so highly esteemed as a writer by Cicero.
6. See end of B. iii.
7. See end of B. ii.
8. Of this writer nothing seems to be known. He probably flourished
in the reign of Tiberius or Caligula.
9. See end of B. iii.
10. A Roman historian, who flourished in the reign of Augustus, and
died A. D. 21, in the seventieth year of his age. His great work was called
"Annales," and extended to at least twenty-two books, and seems to have
contained much minute, though not always accurate, information with regard to the internal affairs of the city; only a few fragments remain,
which bear reference to events subsequent to the Carthaginian wars. He
is also thought to have written a work called "Epitoma." A treatise
was published at Vienna, in 1510, in two Books, "On the Priesthood and
Magistracy of Rome," under the name of Fenestella; but it is in reality
the composition of Andrea Domenico Fiocchi, a Florentine jurist of the
fourteenth century.
11. See end of B. vii.
12. See end of B. v.
13. L. Junius Moderatus Columella. He was a native of Gades, or Cadiz, and was a contemporary of Celsus and Seneca. He is supposed to have
resided at Rome, and from his works it appears that he visited Syria and
Cilicia. It has been conjectured that he died at Tarentum. His great
work is a systematic treatise upon Agriculture, divided into Twelve Books.
14. See end of B. vii.
15. See end of B. ii.
16. C. Lucilius, the first Roman satirical poet of any importance, was
born B.C. 148, and died B. C. 103. From Juvenal we learn that he was
born at Suessa of the Aurunci, and from Velleius Paterculus and Horace
other particulars respecting him. He is supposed to have been either the
maternal grand-uncle or maternal grandfather of Pompeius Magnus. If
not absolutely the inventor of Roman satire, he was the first to mould it
into that form which was afterwards fully developed by Horace, Juvenal,
and Perseus. He is spoken of in high terms as a writer by Cicero.
Horace, and Quintilian.
17. The father of Cornelia, the wife of Pompeius Magnus. After his
defeat by Cæsar at the battle of Thapsus, he stabbed himself, and leaped
into the sea. In what way he distinguished himself as an author, does
not appear.
18. See end of B. vii.
19. See end of B. vi.
20. He was one of the companions of L. Lucullus, proconsul in Bætica,
the province of Spain, B. C. 150. His work on Natural History is several
times referred to by Pliny.
21. See end of B. iii.
22. A writer on Agriculture, mentioned by Varro and Columella. Nothing more seems to be known of him.
23. See end of B. v.
24. See end of B. iv.
25. See end of B. ii.
26. Of Tarsus, a Stoic philosopher, the disciple and successor of Diogenes,
and the teacher of Panætius, about B. C. 144. Of his personal history but
little is known. Mention is made of his History of Animals by the
Scholiast upon Apollonius Rhodius.
27. See end of B. ii.
28. There were several physicians of this name; one was a native of
Apamea in Bithynia, a follower of Herophilus, who flourished in the third
or second century B.C.; another lived about the same period, and is by
some supposed to have been the same as the last. No particulars seem to
he known of the individual here mentioned.
29. See end of B. ii.
30. See end of B. iii.
31. Of Miletus. He wrote on mythical subjects, and is mentioned as
an author by Diogenes Lærtius; but nothing further seems to have been
known respecting him.
32. Some of the MSS. call him Acopas, or Copas. He was the author of an account of the victors at the Olympic games, the work here referred to
by Pliny.
33. Hiero II., the king of Syracuse, and steady friend and ally of the
Romans. He died probably a little before the year B.C. 216, having attained the age of ninety-two. Varro and Columella speak of a Treatise on
Agriculture written by him.
34. Attalus III., king of Pergamus, son of Eumenes II. and Stratonice,
daughter of Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia. In his will he made the
Roman people his heirs. Being struck with remorse for the murders and
other crimes of which he had previously been guilty, he abandoned all
public business, and devoted himself to the study of physic, sculpture, and
gardening, on which he wrote a work. He died B. C. 133, of a fever, with
which he was seized through exposing himself to the sun's rays, while
engaged in erecting a monument to his mother.
35. See end of B. ii.
36. See end of B. vii.
37. An historian of Syracuse, one of the most celebrated of antiquity,
though, unfortunately, none of his works have come down to us. He was
born about B.C. 435, and died B. C. 356. He wrote histories of Egypt,
Libya, Syria, and Phœnicia.
38. A Greek of Tarentum, famous as a philosopher, mathematician, statesman, and general. The lives of him by Aristoxenus and Aristotle are unfortunately lost. He lived probably about B. C. 400, and he is said to have
saved the life of Plato by his influence with the tyrant Dionysius. He
was finally drowned in the Adriatic. He attained great skill as a prac-
tical mechanician; and his flying dove of wood was one of the wonders of
antiquity. The fragments and titles of works ascribed to him are very
numerous, but the genuineness of some is doubted.
39. See end of B. vii.
40. A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella. In
B. xviii. c. 43, Pliny speaks of a work of his on lucerne clover and cytisus.
41. Or Anaxipolis. He was a writer on Agricultural subjects, and is
mentioned by Varro and Columella; but nothing further is known respecting him.
42. A writer on Agriculture. He is supposed to have lived before the
time of Aristotle, and is also mentioned by Varro. No further particulars
are known respecting him.
43. A writer on Agriculture; Varro calls him a native of Mallus, in
Cilicia.
44. A native of Cumæ or Cymæ, in Asia Minor, a Greek writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.
45. A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.
46. A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro, Columella, Galen,
and the Scholiast on Nicander.
47. The most famous among the soothsayers of Alexander the Great. He
probably wrote the work on Prodigies, which is referred to by Pliny in
B. xvii. c. 38, and elsewhere, as also by Lucian the satirist.
48. A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.
49. See end of B. vi.
50. A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.
51. A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.
52. A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.
53. See end of B. ii.
54. A writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro and Columella.
55. Or Euphonius, a writer on Agriculture, also mentioned by Varro and
Columella. Nothing further is known relative to him.
56. See end of B. vii.
57. Menander of Priene was a writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by
Varro and Columella. Menander of Heraclea was a writer on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro.
58. A poet who wrote on Agriculture, mentioned also by Varro. It is
not improbable that he is the same person with the Menecrates of Smyrna,
the author of two epigrams in the Greek Anthology.
59. A Greek writer on Agriculture, who wrote before the time of Theophrastus, by whom he is mentioned, as also by Athenæus and Varro.
60. He is mentioned also by Varro, but nothing is known of him.
61. He is often referred to by Varro and Columella. He is also supposed to have been the writer of a History of Thebes, mentioned by the
Scholiast and Apollonius Rhodius, B. iii.
62. Cassius Dionysius of Utica. He translated into Greek the twenty-
eight Books on Husbandry written by Mago the Carthaginian, in the
Punic language. Of Mago nothing further is known.
63. Diophanes of Bithynia made an epitome of the same work in Greek,
and dedicated it to King Deiotarus. Columella styles Mago the Father of
Agriculture.
64. Made king of Cappadocia by Antony, B. C. 34. He died at Rome, at
an advanced age, A.D. 17. Plutarch attributes to King Archelaus—if, indeed, this was the same—a treatise on Minerals.
65. A native of Claros, near Colophon, in Ionia. It is not a matter of
certainty, but it is most probable, that he lived in the reign of Ptolemy V.,
who died B.C. 181. He was a poet, grammarian, and physician. His
"Theriaca," a poem on the wounds inflicted by venomous animals, still
exists, as also another called "Alexipharmia."