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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 mountain2 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 Demetrius28 the physician, Democritus,29 Theophrastus,30 Euanthes,31 Agriopas,32 who wrote the "Olympionicæ," King Hiero,33 King Attalus34 Philometor, Ctesias,35 Duris,36 Philistus,37 Archytas,38 Phylarchus,39 Amphilochus40 of Athens, Anaxapolis41 the Thasian, Apollodorus42 of Lemnos, Aristophanes43 the Milesian, Antigonus44 the Cumæan, Agathocles45 of Chios, Apollonius46 of Pergamus, Aris- tander47 of Athens, Bacchius48 of Miletus, Bion49 of Soli, Chiæreas50 the Athenian, Diodorus51 of Priene, Dion52 the Colophonian, Epigenes53 the Rhodian, Euagon54 of Thasos, Euphronius55 of Athens, Hegesias56 of Maronea, the Menanders57 of Priene and of Heraclea, Menecrates58 the poet, Androtion59 who wrote on Agriculture, Æschrion60 who wrote on Agriculture, Lysimachus61 who wrote on Agriculture, Dionysius62 who translated Mago, Diophanes63 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."

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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