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1 Most of the circumstances here mentioned appear to have been taken from Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 24 and 36; Varro, B. ii. c. 8; and Columella, B. vi. c. 37.—B.
2 It is expressly stated by Columella, ubi supra, that the mules '"produced from a horse and a female ass, are in all respects most like the mother."
3 This is explained by Columella, ubi supra, who remarks, that when a stallion is admitted to a female in the full heat of its passion, it often causes mischief; which is not the case when its ardour has been a little subdued by having been worked for some time.—B.
4 Varro, ubi supra, says: "The produce of a mare and a male ass is a mule, of a horse and a female ass a hinnus."
5 Varro, B. ii. c. 1, alludes to this occurrence; Livy mentions two instances, B. xxvi. c. 23, and B. xxxvii. c. 3; these prodigies were said both to have occurred at Reatc.—B.
6 Herodotus relates two cases, which were regarded as presaging some extraordinary event, B. iii. c. 153, and B. vii. c. 57. Juvenal, Sat. xiii. 1. 66, and Suetonius, Life of Galba, c. 4, speak of a pregnant mule as a most extraordinary circumstance; it seems to have given rise to a proverbial expression among the Romans.—B.
7 Cuvier remarks, that there is, in the deserts of Asia, a peculiar animal, with undivided hoofs, the Equus hemionus of naturalists, and the Dgiggetai of the Tartars, which bears a resemblance to our mules, but is not the produce of the horse and the ass; he refers us to Professor Pallas's account of it in Acad. Petrop. Nov. Cor. vol. xix. p. 394; Ajasson, vol. vi. p. 461; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 505.—B.
8 Pliny repeats this advice in B. xxx. c. 53; it is, of course, entirely without foundation.—B.
9 The epigram of Martial previously referred to bears this title.—B. See N. 69, p. 324.
10 This temple was the Parthenon. This anecdote is mentioned by Arist. Hist Anim. B. vi. c. 24; Ælian, Anim. Nat. B. vi. c. 49.—B.
11 In which they probably exposed their samples for sale, as our farmers do in small bags. The phrase is ἀπὸ τῶν τηλιῶν, in Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 24, from whom Pliny takes the story.
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(3):
- LSJ, ναβοῦς
- Lewis & Short, Nabdalsa
- Lewis & Short, cămēlŏpardălis