On this chapter see T. Weidlich, , p. 42. Yet perhaps it is ridiculous for us to make a parade of animals distinguished for learning when DemocritusDiels-Kranz, ii, p. 173, frag. 154; Cf. Bailey on Lucretius, v. 1379 (vol. iii, p. 1540 of his edition); Aelian, xii. 16. declares that we have been their pupils in matters of fundamental importance: of the spider in weaving and mending, of the swallow in homebuilding, of the sweet-voiced swan and nightingaleCf. 973 a supra. in our imitation of their song. Further, of the three divisions of medicine,As given here, cure by (1) drugs, (2) diet, (3) surgery. There are five divisions in Diogenes Laertius, iii. 85; al. we can discern in animals a generous portion of each; for it is not cure by drugs alone of wrhich they make use. After devouring a serpent tortoisesCf. Mor. 918 c, 991 e; Aelian, vi. 12 and Thompson on Aristotle, ix. 6 (612 a 24); of wounded partridges and storks and doves in Aelian, op. cit. v. 46 (Aristotle, op. cit. 612 a 32). take a dessert of marjoram, and weaselsAristotle, ix. 6 (612 a 28). of rue. DogsSee Thompson on Aristotle, ix. 6 (612 a 6); add Sextus Empiricus, , i. 71. purge themselves when bilious by a certain kind of grass. The snakePliny, xx. 254. Other details of snake diet in Aelian, vi. 4. sharpens and restores its fading sight with fennel. When the she-bear comes forth from her lair,As in 971 d-e supra. the first thing she eats is wild arumProbably the Adam-and-Eve ( L.), since the Italian arum ( Mill.) was cultivated. See Aristotle, viii. 17 (600 b 11); ix. 6 (611 b 34); Pliny, viii. 129; Aelian, vi. 3. Oribasius ( iii. 24. 5) characterizes wild arum as an aperient.; for its acridity opens her gut which has become constricted. At other times, when she suffers from nausea,When she has swallowed the fruit of the mandrake, according to Pliny, viii. 101. she resorts to anthills and sits, holding out her tongue all running and juicy with sweet liquor until it is covered with ants; these she swallowsAristotle, viii. 4 (594 b 9); Aelian, vi. 3; Sextus Empiricus, op. cit. i. 57. and is alleviated. The EgyptiansCf. Aelian, ii. 35; vii. 45; Pliny, viii. 97; Cicero, , ii. 50. declare that they have observed and imitated the ibis’ clyster-like purging of herself with brine; and the priests make use of water from which an ibis has drunk to purify themselves; for if the water is tainted or unhealthy in any way, the ibis will not approach it.

Then, too, some beasts cure themselves by a short fast, like wolvesCf. Aelian, iv. 15; see the hippopotamus in Amm. Marc. xx. 15. 23. and lions who, when they are surfeited with flesh, lie still for a while, basking in the sun. And they say a tigress, if a kid is given her, will keep fasting for two days without eating; on the third, she grows hungry and asks for some other food. She will even pull her cage to pieces, but will not touch the kid which she has now come to regard as a fellow-boarder and room mate.Of a leopard in Aelian, vi. 2. This account seems to indicate a lacuna in our text explaining why the tigress did not eat the kid in the first place: because she had already had enough to eat.

Yet again, they relate that elephants employ surgery: they do, in fact, bring aid to the woundedFor an example see the anecdote of Porus in 970 d supra, 977 b infra; Juba, frag. 52 (Jacoby); Aelian, vii. 45. by easily and harmlessly drawing out spears and javelins and arrows without any laceration of the flesh. And Cretan goats,Cf. 991 f infra; Philo, 38 (p. 119); Vergil, xii. 415; Thompson on Aristotle, ix. 6 (612 a 3); Pease, , 1948, p. 472. when they eat dittany,Cretan dittany ( L.); Pliny, xx. 156. easily expel arrows from their bodies and so have presented an easy lesson for women with child to take to heart, that the herb has an abortive propertyCf. Pease, op. cit. p. 471.; for there is nothing except dittany that the goats, when they are wounded, rush to search for.

These matters, though wonderful, are less surprising than are those creatures which have cognition of number and can count,Cf. Aelian, iv. 53. as do the cattle near Susa. At that place they irrigate the royal park with water raised in buckets by wheels, and the number of bucketfuls is prescribed. For each cow raises one hundred bucketfuls each day, and more you could not get from her, even if you wanted to use force. In fact, they often try to add to the number to see; but the cow balks and will not continue when once she has delivered her quota, so accurately does she compute and remember the sum, as CtesiasFrag. 53 b, ed. Gilmore (p. 196); Cf. Aelian, vii. 1. of Cnidus has related.

The Libyans laugh at the Egyptians for telling a fabulous tale about the oryx,See Mair on Oppian, ii. 446. that it lets out a cryA sneeze, according to Pliny, ii. 107; Aelian, vii. 8. at that very day and hour when the star rises that they call Sothis,Cf. Mor. 359 d, 376 a. which we call the Dog Star or Sirius. At any rate, when this star rises flush with the sun, practically all the goats turn about and look toward the east; and this is the most certain sign of its return and agrees most exactly with the tables of mathematical calculation.They watched for the first sight of Sirius before daybreak about June 20; the date shifted in the Egyptian calendar.

But that my discourse may add its finishing touch and terminate, let me make the move from the sacred line See 783 b with Fowler’s note; also 1116 e; Plato, , 739 a; and Gow on Theocritus, vi. 18. The meaning is probably something like let me play my last trump, or commit my last reserve. and say a few words about the divine inspiration and the mantic power of animals. It is, in fact, no small or ignoble division of divination, but a great and very ancient one, which takes its name from birdsOrnithoscopy or ornithomancy (Cf. Leviticus xix. 26); Latin augurium, auspicium. See also Plato, , 244 d, , 85 b.; for their quickness of apprehension and their habit of responding to any manifestation, so easily are they diverted, serves as an instrument for the god, who directs their movements, their calls or cries, and their formations which are sometimes contrary, sometimes favouring, as winds are; so that he uses some birds to cut short, others to speed enterprises and inceptions to the destined end. It is for this reason that EuripidesPerhaps , 159; Cf. also 405 d for the phrase. calls birds in general heralds of the gods; and, in particular, SocratesPlato, , 85 b. says that he considers himself a fellow-slave of the swans. So again, among monarchs PyrrhusCf. Mor. 184 d; , x. 1 (388 a-b); , vi. 2 (322 a); Aelian, vii. 45. liked to be called an Eagle and AntiochusCf. Mor. 184 a. This Antiochus was not, strictly speaking, a king, but the younger son of Antiochus II. a Hawk. But when we deride, or rail at, stupid and ignorant people we call them fish. Really, we can produce cases by the thousand of signs and portents manifested to us by the gods through creatures of land and air, but not one such can the advocate for aquatic creatures name.This charge is answered in 976 c infra. No, they are all deaf and blindCf. the fragment of Epicharmus cited above in 961 a. so far as foreseeing anything goes, and so have been cast aside into the godless and titanicCf. Plato, , 701 b-c (and Shorey, , p. 629); 942 a supra and Cherniss’ note ( xlvi, 1951, p. 157, n. 95); see also 996 c c infra with the note. region, as into a Limbo of the Unblessed, where the rational and intelligent part of the soul has been extinguished. Having, however, only a last remnant of sensation that is clogged with mud and deluged with water, they seem to be at their last gasp rather than alive.

HERACLEON. Raise your brows, dear Phaedimus, and rouse yourself to defend us the sea folk, the island-dwellers ! This bout of argument has become no child’s play, but a hard-fought contest, a debate which lacks only the actual bar and platform.That is, it is so realistic that one might imagine oneself in the lawcourts or the public assembly.

PHAEDIMUS. Not so, Heracleon, but an ambush laid with malice aforethought has been disclosed. While we are still tipsy and soused from yesterday’s bout, this gentleman, as you see, has attacked us with premeditation, cold sober. Yet there can be no begging off. Devotee of PindarFrag. 272, ed. Turyn (228 Schroeder, 215 Bowra); cf. Mor. 783 b; Leutsch and Schneidewin, , i, p. 44; Plato, , 421 d. though I am, I do not want to be addressed with the quotation To excuse oneself when combat is offered Has consigned valour to deep obscurity; for we have much leisurePerhaps merely a passing allusion to some such passage as Plato, , 258 e rather than, as Bernardakis thought, a quotation from an unknown tragic poet (Nauck, p. 869, Adesp. 138).; and it is not our discourse that will be idle, but our dogs and horses, our nets and seines of all kinds, for a truce is granted for to-day because of our argument to every creature both on land and sea. Yet do not fear: I shall use itEither our leisure or the truce, i.e. the holiday Plutarch has given his pupils (see the Introduction to this essay). with moderation, introducing no opinions of philosophers or Egyptian fables or unattested tales of Indians or Libyans. But those facts that may be observed everywhere and have as witnesses the men who exploit the sea and acquire their credit from direct observation, of these I shall present a few. Yet there is nothing to impede illustrations drawn from land animals: the land is wide open for investigation by the senses. The sea, on the other hand, grants us but a few dubious glimpses. She draws a veil over the birth and growth, the attacks and reciprocal defences, of most of her denizens. Among these there are no few feats of intelligence and memory and community spirit that remain unknown to us and so obstruct our argument. Then too, land animalsCf. Pliny, ix. 1. by reason of their close relationship and their cohabitation have to some extent been imbued with human manners; they have the advantage of their breeding and teaching and imitation, which sweetens all their bitterness and sullenness, like fresh water mixed with brine, while their lack of understanding and dullness are roused to life by human contacts. Whereas the life of sea creatures, being set apart by mighty bounds from intercourse with men and having nothing adventitious or acquired from human usage, is peculiar to itself, indigenous, and uncontaminated by foreign ways, not by distinction of Nature, but of location. For their Nature is such as to welcome and retain such instruction as reaches them. This it is that renders many eels tractable, like those that are called sacred in ArethusaCf. Aelian, viii. 4.; and in many places there are fish which will respond to their own names,Cf. Pliny, x. 193: Aelian, xii. 30. as the story goes of Crassus’Not in the , but derived from the same source as Aelian, viii. 4; cf. the remarks in the , vii. 4 (82 a). The story is also recounted in 89 a, 811 a; Macrobius, iii. 15. 4; Porphyry, , iii. 5. Hortensius, too, wept bitterly at the death of his pet moray (Pliny, ix. 172). moray, upon the death of which he wept. And once when DomitiusL. Domitius Ahenobarbus, consul in 54 b.c., a bitter political opponent of Crassus and the Triumvirate. said to him, Isn’t it true that you wept when a moray died ? he answered, Isn’t it true that you buried three wives and didn’t weep ?

The priests’ crocodilesCf. Aelian, loc. cit. not only recognize the voice of those who summon them and allow themselves to be handled, but open their mouths to let their teeth be cleaned by hand and wiped with towels. Recently our excellent Philinus came back from a trip to Egypt and told us that he had seen in Antaeopolis an old woman sleeping on a low bed beside a crocodile, which was stretched out beside her in a perfectly decorous way.

They have long been telling the tale that when King PtolemyAelian, loc. cit., does not know which Ptolemy is meant; Cf. the story of Apis and Germanicus in Pliny, viii. 185; Amm. Marc. xxii. 14. 8. summoned the sacred crocodile and it would not heed him or obey in spite of his entreaties and requests, it seemed to the priests an omen of his death, which came about not long after; whence it appears that the race of water creatures is not wholly unendowed with your precious gift of divination.Cf. 975 b supra; Pliny, ix. 55. Indeed, I have heard that near Sura,Aelian, viii. 5; Pliny, xxxii. 17. a village in Lycia between Phellus and Myra, men sit and watch the gyrations and flights and pursuits of fish and divine from them by a professional and rational system, as others do with birds.

But let these examples suffice to show that sea animals are not entirely unrelated to us or cut off from human fellowship. Of their uncontaminated and native intelligence their caution is strong evidence. For nothing that swims and does not merely stick or cling to rocks is easily taken or captured without trouble by man as are asses by wolves, bees by bee-eaters,A bird: Aristotle, ix. 13 (615 b 25); Aelian, v. 11; Pliny, x. 99. cicadas by swallows, and snakes by deer, which easily attract them.Aelian, viii. 6; v. 48. This, in fact, is why deer are called elaphoi, not from their swiftness,Elaphrotes. but from their power of attracting snakes.Helxis opheos, a fantastic etymology. Neither derivation is correct, elaphos being related to the Lithuanian elnis, deer. For the references see Mair on Oppian, ii. 234. So too the ram draws the wolf by stamping and they say that very many creatures, and particularly apes, are attracted to the panther by their pleasure in its scent.See Thompson on Aristotle, ix. 6 (612 a 13); add Aelian, viii. 6; v. 40. But in practically all sea-creatures any sensation is suspect and evokes an intelligently inspired defensive reaction against attack, so that fishing has been rendered no simple or trivial task, but needs all manner of implements and clever and deceitful tricks to use against the fish.

This is perfectly clear from ready examples: no one wants to have an angler s rod too thick, though it needs elasticity to withstand the thrashing of such fish as are caught; men select, rather, a slender rod so that it may not cast a broad shadow and arouse suspicion.Cf. Gow on Theocritus, xxi. 10. In the next place, they do not thicken the line with many plies when they attach the loop and do not make it rough; for this, too, betrays the lure to the fish. They also contrive that the hairs which form the leader shall be as white as possible; for in this way they are less conspicuous in the sea because of the similarity of colour. The remark of the PoetHomer, , xxiv. 80-82.: Like lead sheIris going to visit Thetis. sank into the great sea depths, Like lead infixed in hora of rustic ox Which brings destruction to the ravenous fish - some misunderstand this and imagine that the ancients used ox-hair for their lines, alleging that keras It means, of course, horn as above in Homer, , xxiv. 81. means hair and for this reason keirasthai means to have one’s hair cut and koura is a haircut Or lock of hair. and the keroplastes Horn-fashioner, so called from the horn-like bunching together of the hair: see the scholia on , xxiv. 81. in ArchilochusEdmonds, , ii, p. 126, frag. 57; Diehl, , i, p. 228, frag. 59. See the note on 967 f supra. is one who is fond of trimming and beautifying the hair. But this is not so: they use horse-hair which they take from males, for mares by wetting the hair with their urine make it weak.Cf. . 915 f - 916 a. AristarchusNot Aristotle, as the mss. read. See Platt, v. 255. declares that there is nothing erudite or subtle in these lines; the fact is that a small piece of horn was attached to the line in front of the hook, since the fish, when they are confronted by anything else, chew the line in two.The section of horn was put around the line. It was therefore a tube. It was in front of the hook as one held it in his hand and attached it to the line. It was therefore at the hook end of the leader. Its hardness prevented the line from being severed. Its neutral coloration prevented the fish from being frightened off. Note that Oppian ( iii. 147) comments on the use of a hook with an abnormally long shank for the same purpose (Andrews). They use rounded hooksA prototype of the Sobey hook. to catch mullets and bonitos, whose mouths are smallSee Thompson on Aristotle, ix. 37 (621 a 19); Mair on Oppian, iii. 144.; for they are wary of a broader hook. Often, indeed, the mullet suspects even a rounded hook and swims around it, flipping the bait with its tail and snatching up bits it has dislodged; or if it cannot do this, it closes its mouth and purses it up and with the tips of its lips nibbles away at the bait.Cf. Pliny, ix. 145; Oppian, iii. 524 ff.

The sea-bass is braver than your elephantCf. 974 d supra.: it is not from another, but from himself without assistance, that he extracts the barb when he is caught by the hook; he swings his head from side to side to widen the wound, enduring the pain of tearing his flesh until he can throw off the hook.Cf. Aelian, i. 40, of the tunny; Ovid, 39 f. and Oppian, iii. 128 ff., of the bass. The fox-sharkPlutarch seems here to have confused this fish with the so-called scolopendra (of which he writes correctly in 567 b; see also Mair on Oppian, ii. 424). Cf. Aristotle, ix. 37 (621 a 11); Aelian, ix. 12; i. 5; Mair on Oppian, iii. 144; Pliny, ix. 145. There are fish (but not sharks) which can disgorge their stomachs and swallow them again. Note that hasty reading of Aristotle l.c. could easily cause this misstatement (Andrews). does not often approach the hook and shuns the lure; but if he is caught, he immediately turns himself inside out, for by reason of the elasticity and flexibility of his body he can naturally shift and twist it about, so that when he is inside out, the hook falls away.

Now the examples I have given indicate intelligence and an ingenious, subtle use of it for opportune profit; but there are others that display, in combination with understanding, a social sense and mutual affection, as is the case with the barbierThe anthias of the above passage is probably the Mediterranean barbier, Serranus anthias C.V., although elsewhere it is sometimes obviously a much larger fish of uncertain identity. On the identification Cf. Thompson on Aristotle, vi. 17 (570 b 19); s.v.; Mair, introd. to his ed. of Oppian, pp. liii-lxi; Marx, , i. 2375-2377; ii. 2415; Schmid, , Suppb. xi, 1907-1910, p. 273; Brands, , pp. 147 f.; Cotte, , pp. 69-73; Saint-Denis, , pp. 5-7. Cf. also 981 e infra. and the parrot-fish. For if one parrot-fish swallows the hook, the others present swarm upon the line and nibble it away; and the same fish, when any of their kind have fallen into the net, give them their tails from outside; when they eagerly fix their teeth in these, the others pull on them and bring them through in tow.On this story cf. also Aelian, i. 4; Pliny, xxxii. 11; Ovid, 9 ff.; Oppian, iv. 40 ff. Note also Aelian, v. 22, on mice. And barbiers are even more strenuous in rescuing their fellows: getting under the line with their backs, they erect their sharp spines and try to saw the line through and cut if off with the rough edge.Cf. Pliny, ix. 182; xxxii. 13; Ovid, 45 ff.; Oppian, iii. 321 ff.

Yet we know of no land animal that has the courage to assist another in danger - not bear or boar or lioness or panther. True it is that in the arena those of the same kind draw close together and huddle in a circle; yet they have neither knowledge nor desire to help each other. Instead, each one flees to get as far as possible from a wounded or dying fellow. That tale of the elephantsCf. 972 b supra; Jacoby, iii, p. 146, frag. 51 b. On the community spirit of elephants see also Aelian, v. 49; vi. 61; vii. 15; al. carrying brushwood to the pits and giving their fallen comrade a ramp to mount is monstrous and far-fetched and dictates, as it were, that we are to believe it on a king’s prescription - that is, on the writs of Juba.Juba was king of Mauretania (25 b.c. - c. a.d. 23). Suppose it to be true: it merely proves that many sea creatures are in no way inferior in community spirit and intelligence to the wisest of the land animals. As for their sociability, I shall soon make a special plea on that topic.

Now fishermen, observing that most fish evade the striking of the hook by such countermoves as wrestlers use, resorted, like the Persians,Cf. Herodotus, vi. 31; iii. 149; Plato, 698 d; Fraenkel on Aesch. 358. On kinds of nets see Mair, L.C.L. , pp. xl ff. to force and used the dragnet, since for those caught in it there could be no escape with the help of reason or cleverness. For mullet and rainbow-wrasseCoris iulis Gth. Cf. Thompson on Aristotle, ix. 3 (610 b 7); , p. 91; Schmid, op. cit. p. 292; Brands, op. cit. p. 157; Cotte, op. cit. pp. 59-60; Saint-Denis, op. cit. p. 52. are caught by casting-nets and round nets, as are also the breamIn particular, probably C.V. On the identification cf. Thompson on Aristotle, vi. 7 (570 b 20); , p. 161; Cotte, op. cit. pp. 105-107; Saint-Denis, op. cit. pp. 65-66. and the sargueIn particular, probably Sargus culgaris Geoff. On the identification Cf. Thompson on Aristotle, v. 9 (543 a 7); , pp. 227-228; Cotte, op. cit. pp. 105-107; Saint-Denis, op. cit. pp. 99, 107-108; Keller, , ii, p. 370; Gossen-Steier, , Second Series, ii. 365. and the gobyA term mostly for the black goby, Gobius niger L., the most common Mediterranean species. On the identification Cf. Thompson on Aristotle, viii. 14 (598 a 12); , pp. 137-139; Gossen, , Second Series, ii. 794-796. and the sea-bass. The so-called net fish, that is surmulletThe red or plain surmullet, Mullus barbatus L., and the striped or common surmullet, Mullus surmuletus L. On this fish cf. Cotte, op. cit. pp. 98-101; Keller, op. cit. ii, pp. 364 f.; Prechac, xiv (1936), pp. 102-105; xvii (1939), p. 279; Saint-Denis, op. cit. pp. 68 f.; Schmid, op. cit. pp. 310-312; Steier, , xvi. 496-503; Thompson, , pp. 264-268; Andrews, , xlii (1949), pp. 186-188. and giltheadChrysophrys aurata C.V., called gilthead from the golden band that runs from eye to eye. On this fish cf. Wellmann, , iii. 2517-2518; Keller, op. cit. ii, pp. 369 ff.; , vii. 1578; Schmid, op. cit. pp. 297-298; Thompson, , pp. 292-294; Cotte, op. cit. pp. 73-74; Saint-Denis, op. cit. pp. 80-81. and sculpin,Scorpaena scrofa, L. and S. porcus L. On this fish Cf. Cotte, op. cit. pp. 111-113; Saint-Denis, op. cit. pp. 103-104; Thompson on Aristotle, v. 9 (543 a 7); , pp. 245 f. are caught in seines by trawling: accordingly it was quite correct for Homer, v. 487; Cf. Platt, v, p. 255; Fraenkel, Aesch. ii, p. 190. to call this kind of net a catch-all. Codfish,Principally the hake and rockling, sp. and sp. Not to be confused with γαλεός, a general term for sharks and dogfishes. Cf. Andrews, , xxxix (1949), pp. 1-16. like bass,Cf. Oppian, iii. 121 ff. have devices even against these. For when the bass perceives that the trawl is approaching, it forces the mud apart and hammers a hollow in the bottom. When it has made room enough to allow the net to overrun it, it thrusts itself in and waits until the danger is past.

Now when the dolphin is caught and perceives itself to be trapped in the net, it bides its time, not at all disturbed but well pleased, for it feasts without stint on the fish that have been gathered with no trouble to itself. But as soon as it comes near the shore, it bites its way through the net and makes its escape. Yet if it should not get away in time, on the first occasion it suffers no harm: the fishermen merely sew rushes to its crest and let it go. But if it is taken a second time, they recognize it from the seam and punish it with a beating. This, however, rarely occurs: most dolphins are grateful for their pardon in the first instance and take care to do no harm in the future.On the alliance of dolphins and fisherman see Aelian, ii. 8; xi. 12; Pliny, ix. 29 ff.

Further, among the many examples of wariness, precaution, or evasion, we must not pass over that of the cuttlefishCf. Aristotle, ix. 37 (621 b 28); Athenaeus, 323 d-e; Pliny, ix. 84; Horace, i. 4. 100; Aelian, i. 34; Mair on Oppian, iii. 156.: it has the so-called mytis Aristotle, iv. 1 (524 b 15); iv. 5 (679 a 1). beside the neckUnder the mouth, says Aristotle. full of black liquid, which they call ink. Tholos, mud,turbidity. When it is come upon, it discharges the liquid to the purpose that the sea shall be inked out and create darkness around it while it slips through and eludes the fisherman’s gaze. In this it imitates Homer’sFor example, , v. 345. gods who often in a dark cloud snatch up and smuggle away those whom they are pleased to save. But enough of this.

As for cleverness in attacking and catching prey, we may perceive subtle examples of it in many different species. The starfish,[Aristotle], v. 15 (548 a 7 f.), an interpolated passage; nor can we be certain that it was known to Plutarch. See also Mair on Oppian, ii. 181. for example, knowing that everything with which it comes in contact dissolves and liquefies, offers its body and is indifferent to the contact of those that overtake or meet it. You know, of course, the property of the torpedoOr electric ray or crampfish: for the ancient references see Thompson on Aristotle, ic. 37 (620 b 12-23); , pp. 169-172; Aelian, i. 36; ix. 14; Pliny, ix. 143; Mair, L.C.L. , p. lxix, and on ii. 56; iii. 149; Philo, 30 (p. 115); Antigonus, 48; Boulenger, , pp. 189 f.: not only does it paralyse all those who touch it, but even through the net creates a heavy numbness in the hands of the trawlers. And some who have experimented further with it report that if it is washed ashore alive and you pour water on it from above, you may perceive the numbness mounting to the hand and dulling your sense of touch by way of the water which, so it seems, suffers a change and is first infected.Cf. the upward infection of the basilisk, Pliny, viii. 78. Having, therefore, an innate sense of this power, it never makes a frontal attack or endangers itself; rather, it swims in a circle around its prey and discharges its shocks as if they were darts, thus poisoning first the water, then through the water the creature which can neither defend itself nor escape, being held fast as if by chains and frozen stiff.

The so-called fishermanThe fishing-frog, Lophius piscatorius L.: Aristotle, ix. 37 (620 b 12); Pliny, ix. 144; Mair on Oppian, ii. 86; Strömberg, , pp. 122 f. is known to many; he gets his name from his actions. Aristotle ix. 37 (622 a 1); cf. iv. 1 (524 a 3), iv. 6 (531 b 6); Pliny, ix. 83 ff.; Mair on Oppian, ii. 122. says that the cuttlefish also makes use of this stratagem: he lets down, like a fishing line, a tentacle from his neck which is naturally designed to extend to a great length when it is released, or to be drawn to him when it is pulled in. So when he espies a little fish, he gives it the feeler to bite and then by degrees imperceptibly draws it back toward himself until the prey attached to the arm is within reach of his mouth.

As for the octopus’ change of colour,Cf. Aristotle, ix. 37 (622 a 8); Mair on Oppian, ii. 233. Athenaeus, 316 f, 317 f, 513 d; Pliny, ix. 87; Antigonus, 25, 50; Aelian, i. 1; and Wellmann, , li, p. 40. PindarFrag. 43 Schroeder, 208 Turyn, 235 Bowra (p. 516, ed. Sandys L.C.L.); cf. . 916 c and Turyn’s references. has made it celebrated in the words To all the cities to which you resort Bring a mind like the changing skin of the seabeast; and Theognis215-216; cf. . 96 f, 916 c. There are many textual variants, but none alters the sense. likewise: Be minded like the octopus’ hue: The colour of its rock will meet the view.Or Keep a mind as multicoloured as the octopus, With the rock whereon it sits homologous (Andrews).

The chameleon,See Thompson on Aristotle, ii. 11 (503 b 2); Ogle on iv. 11 (692 a 22 ff.). See also Aelian, , iv. 33; and cf. Pliny, viii. 122 for the chameleon’s exclusive diet of air; nec alio quam aeris alimento. to be sure, is metachromatic, but not from any design or desire to conceal itself; it changes colour uselessly from fear, being naturally timid and cowardly. And this is consistent with the abundance of air in it, as TheophrastusFrag. 189 Wimmer (p. 225); Aristotle says merely, The change takes place when it is inflated by air. says; for nearly the whole body of the creature is occupied by its lungs,Which confirms Karsch’s emendation of Aristotle, ii. 11 (503 b 21); for Theophrastus and Plutarch must have had lungs and not membranes in their text of Aristotle. which shows it to be full of air and for this reason easily moved to change colour. But this same action on the part of the octopus is not an emotional response, but a deliberate change, since it uses this device to escape what it fears and to capture what it feeds on: by this deceit it can both seize the latter, which does not try to escape, and avoid the former, which proceeds on its way. Now the story that it eats its own tentaclesSee 965 e supra and the note; Pliny, ix. 87; 1059 e, 1098 e, fr. 53 (Bernardakis, vol. VII, p. 77). is a lie, but it is true that it fears the moray and the conger. It is, in fact, maltreated by them; for it cannot do them harm, since they slip from its grasp. On the other hand, when the crawfishThe langouste as distinguished from the homard; see Aelian, i. 32; ix. 25; x. 38; Thompson on Aristotle, viii. 2 (590 b 16); , pp. 102 ff.; Pliny, ix. 185; Antigonus, 92. has once got them in its grasp, it wins the victory easily, for smoothness is no aid against roughness; yet when the octopus has once thrust its tentacles inside the crawfish, the latter succumbs. And so Nature has created this cycleThe octopus is worsted by the moray and the conger, which in turn are defeated by the crawfish, which (to complete the cycle) becomes the octopus’ prey. The whole engagement is graphically portrayed in Oppian, ii. 253-418. For Nature’s battle see, e.g., Pliny, viii. 79. and succession of mutual pursuit and flight as a field for the exercise and competitive practice of adroitness and intelligence.

We have, to be sure, heard AristotimusCf. 972 a supra. Valentine Rose, curiously enough, emended to Aristotle (see ix. 6, 612 b 4) and included this passage in Frag. 342. See further Mair on Oppian, ii. 226. telling us about the hedgehog’s foreknowledge of the winds; and our friend also admired the V-shaped flight of cranes.Cf. 967 b supra. I can produce no hedgehog of Cyzicus or Byzantium,Perhaps he is learnedly confuting Aristotimus (972 a supra) by drawing on Aristotle. but instead the whole body of sea-hedgehogs,i.e. the sea-urchin, regarded by the ancients as a sort of marine counterpart of the hedgehog because of the similar spines. which, when they perceive that storm and surf are coming, ballast themselves with little stonesCf. 967 b supra, of bees. in order that they may not be capsized by reason of their lightness or be swept away by the swell, but may remain fixed in position through the weight of their little rocks.

Again, the cranes’ change of flight against the windCf. 967 b supra. is not merely the action of one species: all fish generally have the same notion and always swim against wave and current, taking care that a blast from the rear does not fold back their scales and expose and roughen their bodies. For this reason they always present the prow of their bodies to the waves, for in that way head first they cleave the sea, which depresses their gills and, flowing smoothly over the surface, keeps down, instead of ruffling up, the bristling skin. Now this, as I have said, is common to all fish except the sturgeon,Probably usually the common sturgeon, Acipenser sturio: see Thompson, , pp. 62 f.; Aelian, viii. 28, speaks of it as a rare and sacred fish; see 981 d infra. Cf. Milton’s Ellops drear ( x. 525). which, they say, swims with wind and tide and does not fear the harrowing of its scales since the overlaps are not in the direction of the tail.

The tunnyCf. Aelian, ix. 42; Aristotle, viii. 13 (598 b 25 f.). is so sensitive to equinox and solstice that it teaches even men themselves without the need of astronomical tables; for wherever it may be when the winter solstice overtakes it, in that same place it stands and stays until the equinox. As for that clever device of the crane,See 967 c supra. the grasping of the stone by night so that if it falls, she may awake from sleep - how much cleverer, my friend, is the artifice of the dolphin, for whom it is illicit to stand still or to cease from motion.Reiske may have been right in suspecting a trimeter of unknown origin in these words. For its nature is to be ever activeCf. Aelian, xi. 22. The dolphin even nurses its young while in motion; Pliny, xi. 235; and cf. Aristotle, ii. 13 (504 b 21 ff.).: the termination of its life and its movement is one and the same. When it needs sleep, it rises to the surface of the sea and allows itself to sink deeper and deeper on its back, lulled to rest by the swinging motion of the ground swellAs it were, the cradle of the deep. until it touches the bottom. Thus roused, it goes whizzing up, and when it reaches the surface, again goes slack, devising for itself a kind of rest combined with motion.But see Pliny, x. 210, where it is reported that dolphins are actually heard snoring. And they say that tunnies do the same thing for the same reason.

Having just a moment ago given you an account of the tunny’s mathematical foreknowledge of the reversal of the sun, of which Aristotle viii. 13 (598 b 25). is a witness, I beg you to hear the tale of their arithmetical learning. But first, I swear, I must mention their knowledge of optics, of which AeschylusNauck, p. 96, frag. 308; Cf. Aelian, ix. 42. seems not to have been ignorant, for these are his words: Squinting the left eye like a tunny fish. They seem, indeed, to have poor sight in one eye. And it is for this reason that when they enter the Black Sea, they hug one bank on the right, and the otherSee Thompson on Aristotle, viii. 13 (598 b 19 ff.); , p. 84; Pliny, ix. 50. They follow the opposite shore when returning, thus keeping the same eye towards the land. when they are going out, it being very prudent and sagacious of them always to entrust the protection of themselves to the better eye. Now since they apparently need arithmetic to preserve their consociation and affection for each other, they have attained such perfection of learning that, since they take great pleasure in feeding and schooling together,Cf. Aristotle, ix. 2 (610 b 1 f.); Aelian, xv. 3, 5. they always form the school into a cube, making it an altogether solid figure with a surface of six equal plane sides; then they swim on their way preserving their formation, a square that faces both ways. Certainly a hooerA watcher posted on a tall mast to warn fishermen of the approach of a shoal and to give a count. See Thompson on Aristotle, iv. 10 (537 a 19); , p. 87; Gow on Theocritus, iii. 26; Mair on Oppian, iii. 638. Accounts of the ancient tunny fishery are given by Thompson, , pp. 84-88; Pace, , N.S. xii (1931/2), pp. 326 ff.; and Rhode, , Suppb. xviii (1900), pp. 1-78. An account of the ancient and the modern tunny fishery is given by Parona, , no. 68, 1919. watching for tunnies who counts the exact number on the surface at once makes known the total number of the shoal, since he knows that the depth is equal one to one with the breadth and the length.

Schooling together has also given the bonitos their name of amia Similarly, Athenaeus (vii. 278 a; Cf. 324 d) quotes Aristotle as defining amia as not solitary, i.e. running in schools. Actually the term is probably foreign, perhaps of Egyptian origin (Cf. Thompson, , p. 13). and I think this is true of year-old tunnies as well.Plutarch takes pelamys to be compound of pelein to be and hama with, with references to their running in schools. It was also anciently presumed to be a compound of pelos mud and myein be shut in or enclosed, because of its habit of hiding in the mud (Cf. Aristotle, 599 b 18; Pliny, ix. 47). Most scholars now regard it as a loan from the Mediterranean substratum, although Thompson (, p. 198) suggests that it may be of Asiatic origin, since it was used especially of the tunny in the Black Sea. As for the other kinds which are observed to live in shoals in mutual society, it is impossible to state their number. Let us rather, therefore, proceed to examine those that have a special partnership, that is, symbiosis. One of these is the pinna-guard,See Thompson, , p. 202. over which ChrysippusVon Arnim, ii, p. 208, frag. 729 b (Athenaeus, 89 d). Cf. also fragments 729, 729 a, and 730. On the place of the pinna in Chrysippus’ theology see A. S. Pease, xxxiv (1941), p. 177. spilled a very great deal of ink; indeed it has a reserved seat in every single book of his, whether ethical or physical.Cf. . 1035 b, 1038 b. Chrysippus has obviously not investigated the sponge-guardA little crab that lives in the hollow chambers of a sponge. See Thompson, loc. cit. ; otherwise he could hardly have left it out. Now the pinna-guard is a crab-like creature, so they say, who lives with the pinnaOn this bivalve shellfish see Thompson, , p. 200; Mair on Oppian, ii. 186. and sits in front of the shell guarding the entrance. It allows the pinna to remain wide open and agape until one of the little fish that are their prey gets within; then the guard nips the flesh of the pinna and slips inside; the shell is closed and together they feast on the imprisoned prey.

The sponge is governed by a little creature not resembling a crab, but much like a spider.Nevertheless, it is a crab, Typton spongicola. Now the spongeCf. Aelian, viii. 16; Aristotle, v. 16 (548 a 28 ff.); Pliny, ix. 148; Antigonus, 83; Mair on Oppian, v. 656; Thompson, , pp. 249-250. is no lifeless, insensitive, bloodless thing; though it clings to the rocks,Cf. W. Jaeger, , p. 116, n. 1. as many other animals do, it has a peculiar movement outward and inward which needs, as it were, admonition and supervision. In any case it is loose in texture and its pores are relaxed because of its sloth and dullness; but when anything edible enters, the guard gives the signal, and it closes up and consumes the prey. Even more, if a man approaches or touches it, informed by the scratching of the guard, it shudders, as it were, and so closes itself up by stiffening and contracting that it is not an easy, but a very difficult, matter for the hunters to undercut it.

The purplefishSee Aristotle, v. 15 (546 b 19 ff.) quoted in Athenaeus, 88 d - 89 a; iii. 11 (761 b 32 ff.); Thompson, , pp. 209-218. lives in colonies which build up a comb together, like bees. In this the species is said to propagate; they catch at edible bits of oystergreen and seaweed that stick to shells, and furnish each other with a sort of periodic rotating banquet, as they feed one after another in series.

And why should anyone be surprised at the community life of these when the most unsociable and brutal of all creatures bred in river, lake, or sea, the crocodile, shows himself marvellously proficient at partnership and goodwill in his dealings with the Egyptian plover?See Herodotus, ii. 68; Thompson on Aristotle, ix. 6 (612 a 20); , p. 287. Some authorities such as Pliny, viii. 90 and Oppian, iii. 415 ff., state that the ichneumon attacks the crocodile while its mouth is open for the plover’s operations. Cf. Boulenger, , p. 104, for a modern factual account (see also his , p. 146). The plover is a bird of the swamps and river banks and it guards the crocodile, not supplying its own food, but as a boarder making a meal of the crocodile’s scraps.Cf. Aelian, iii. 11; xii. 15; [Aristotle], 7. Now when it perceives that, during the crocodile’s sleep, the ichneumonCf. 966 d supra. is planning to attack it, smearing itself with mud like an athlete dusting himself for the fray, the bird awakes the crocodile by crying and pecking at it. And the crocodile becomes so gentle with it that it will open its mouth and let it in and is pleased that the bird quietly pecks out, with its bill, bits of flesh which are caught in the teeth and cleans them up. When it is now satisfied and wants to close its mouth, it tilts its snout upward as an indication of its desire and does not let it down until the plover, at once perceiving the intention, flies out.

The so-called guide The name and the activity are appropriate to the pilot-fish (Cf. Oppian, v. 62 ff.; Aelian, ii. 13), but the description fits rather one of the globe-fishes, such as Diodon hystrix (cf. Thompson, , p. 75). See also Pliny, ix. 186; xi. 165, who calls it the sea mouse. Actually the pilot is just a sponger and accompanies the shoals with the sole object of picking up such crumbs as may fall from their table. Boulenger, , p. 105. is a small fish, in size and shape like a goby; but by reason of the roughness of its scales it is said to resemble a ruffled bird. It always accompanies one of the great whales, swimming in front of it and directing its course so that it may not go aground in shallows or be cut off in some lagoon or strait from which exit may be difficult. The whale follows it, as a ship obeys the helm, changing course with great docility. And whatever else, creature or boat or stone, it embraces in its gaping jaws is at once destroyed and goes to its ruin completely engulfed; but that little fish it knows and receives inside its mouth as in a haven. While the fish sleeps within, the whale remains motionless and lies by; but when it comes out again, the beast accompanies it and does not depart from it day or night; or, if it does, it gets lost and wanders at random. Many, indeed, have been cast up on the land and perished, being, as it were, without a pilot.Cf. the whole passage in Oppian, v. 70-349 on the destruction of whales. We, in fact, were witnesses of such a mishap near Anticyra not long ago; and they relate that some time ago, when a whale came aground not far from BoulisFor the unknown Bouna or Bounae of the mss. C. O. Müller (², p. 482) proposed Boulis, a town to the east of Anticyra on the Phocian Gulf. and rotted, a plague ensued.

Is it, then, justifiable to compare with these associations and companionships those friendships which AristotleFrag. 354, ed. V. Rose. says exist between foxes and snakes because of their common hostility to the eagle; or those between bustards and horsesCf. Aelian, ii. 28 and Mair on Oppian, ii. 406. because the former like to approach and pick over the dung ? As for me, I perceive even in ants or bees no such concern for each other. It is true that every one of them promotes the common task, yet none of them has any interest in or regard for his fellow individually.

PHAEDIMUS. And we shall observe this difference even more clearly when we turn our attention to the oldest and most important of social institutions and duties, those concerned with generation and procreation. Now in the first place those fish that inhabit a sea that borders on lagoons or receives rivers resort to these when they are ready to deposit then; eggs, seeking the tranquillity and smoothness of fresh water, since calm is a good midwife. Besides, lagoons and rivers are devoid of sea monsters,See 981 e infra; Pliny, ix. 71. so that the eggs and fry may survive. This is the reason why the Black Sea is most favoured for spawning by very many fish. It breeds no large sea beasts at all except an infrequent seal and a small dolphinCf. Aristotle, viii. 13 (598 b 2); Pliny, ix. 49 f.; Aelian, iv. 9; ix. 59; Mair on Oppian, i. 599; Amm. Marc. xxii. 8. 47; Thompson, , pp. 54, 281.; besides, the influx of rivers - and those which empty into the Black Sea are numerous and very large - creates a gentle blend conducive to the production of offspring. The most wonderful tale is told about the anthias,On the identity see note on 977 c supra. which Homer, xvi. 407. calls Sacred Fish. See Gow on Theocritus, frag. 3. Homer does not call the anthias Sacred Fish, but merely alludes to a sacred fish; and in later times several were so regarded. Yet some think that sacred means important, just as we call the important bone os sacrum The last bone of the spine. and epilepsy, an important disease, the sacred disease.Cf. [Hippocrates], (L.C.L., vol. ii, pp. 138 ff.); Herodotus, iii. 33; Plato, , 85 a-b. Others interpret it in the ordinary sense as meaning dedicated or consecrated. EratosthenesPowell, , p. 60, frag. 12. 3; Hiller, frag. 14 (p. 31). seems to refer to the giltheadSee Mair on Oppian, i. 169. when he says Swift courser golden-browed, the sacred fish. Many say that this is the sturgeon,See 979 c supra. They are wrong, for while both the gilthead and the sturgeon were sacred fish, the description points clearly to the gilthead. which is rare and hard to catch, though it is often seen off the coast of Pamphylia. If any ever do succeed in catching it, they put on wreaths themselves and wreathe their boats; and, as they sail past, they are welcomed and honoured with shouts and applause. But most authorities hold that it is the anthias that is and is called sacred, for wherever this fish appears there are no sea monsters. Sponge-fishersCf. 950 c supra; Pliny, ix. 153; Thompson, , p. 15. may dive in confidence and fish may spawn without fear, as though they had a guarantor of their immunity. The reason for this is a puzzle: whether the monsters avoid the anthias as elephants do a pigCf. Aelian, i. 38; viii. 28; xvi. 36; al.. and lions a cock,Cf. Aelian, iii. 31; vi. 22; viii. 28; al. or whether there are indications of places free from monsters, which the fish comes to know and frequents, being an intelligent creature with a good memory.

PHAEDIMUS. Then again the care of the young is shared by both parents: the males do not eat their own young, but stand by the spawn to guard the eggs, as Aristotle ix. 37 (621 a 21 ff.); cf. Herodotus, ii. 93. relates. Some follow the female and sprinkle the eggs gradually with milt, for otherwise the spawn will not grow, but remains imperfect and undeveloped. In particular the wrasseThe phycis is almost certainly one of the wrasses, probably in particular Crenilabrus pavo C.V. See Mair, L.C.L. , p. liii; Thompson, , pp. 276-278; Andrews, , xxxix (1949), pp. 12-14. makes a sort of nest of seaweed, envelops the spawn in it, and shelters it from the waves.

The affection of the dogfishCf. . 494 c; 730 e; Thompson on Aristotle, vi. 10 (565 a 22 ff., b 2 ff.); , pp. 39-42; Mair on Oppian, i. 734. for its young is not inferior in warmth and kindliness to that of any of the tamest animals; for they lay the egg, then sustain and carry the newlyhatehed young, not without, but within themselves, as if from a second birth. When the young grow larger, the parents let them out and teach them to swim close by; then again they collect them through their mouths and allow their bodies to be used as dwelling-places, affording at once room and board and sanctuary until the young become strong enough to shift for themselves.Aristotle ( 565 b 24) reports that some dogfish brought forth their young by the mouth and took them therein again. Athenaeus (vii. 294 e) says that the dogfish took the young just hatched into its mouth and emitted them again. Plutarch has a somewhat garbled version of this presumed process, blended with data on the parental care of dolphins (cf. Plin. ix. 21) (Andrews).

Wonderful also is the care of the tortoise for the birth and preservation of her young. To bear them she comes out of the sea to the shore near at hand; but since she is unable to incubate the eggs or to remain on dry land for long, she deposits them on the strand and heaps over them the smoothest and softest part of the sand. When she has buried and concealed them securely,Cf. Pliny, ix. 37; contrast the forgetful lizard (x. 187). some say that she scratches and scribbles the place with her feet, making it easy for her to recognize; others affirm that it is because she has been turned on her back by the male that she leaves peculiar marks and impressions about the place. But what is more remarkable than this, she waits for the fortieth dayCf. Aelian, i. 6. (for that is the number required to develop and hatch out the eggs) and then approaches. And each tortoise recognizes her own treasure and opens it more joyously and eagerly than a man does a deposit of gold.

The accounts given of the crocodile are similar in other respects, but the animal’s ability to estimate the right place goes beyond man’s power to guess or calculate the cause. Hence they affirm that this creature’s foreknowledge is divine and not rational. For neither to a greater or a less distance, but just so far as the Nile will spread that season and cover the land in flood, just so far does she go to deposit her eggs, with such accuracy that any farmer finding the eggs may know himself and predict to others how far the river will advance.See Aelian, v. 52; and compare B. Evans, , p. 33. And her purpose in being so exact is to prevent either herself or her eggs getting wet when she sits on them. When they are hatched, the one which, upon emerging, does not immediately seize in its mouth anything that comes along, fly or midge or worm or straw or plant, the mother tears to pieces and bites to deathCf. Aelian, ix. 3; contrast Pliny, x. 10; Antigonus, 46, of the sea eagle; Lucan, ix. 902 ff., of the eagle. See also Julian, 59 (383 c); 78 (418 d) with Wright’s note (L.C.L. vol. iii, p. 259, n. 2).; but those that are bold and active she loves and tends, thus bestowing her affection by judgement, as the wisest of men think right, not by emotion.Apparently with reference to Theophrastus, frag. 74 (cf. . 482 b).

Furthermore, sealsCf. Aelian, ix. 9; Oppian, i. 686 ff.; Pliny, ix. 41. too bear their young on dry land and little by little induce their offspring to try the sea, then quickly take them out again. This they do often at intervals until the young are conditioned in this way to feel confidence and enjoy life in the sea.

Frogs in their coupling use a call, the so-called ololygon,See Gow on Theocritus, vii. 139; Boulenger, , pp. 67 f. a cry of wooing and mating. When the male has thus attracted the female, they wait for the night together, for they cannot consort in the water and during the day they are afraid to do so on land; but when the darkness falls, they come out and embrace with impunity. On other occasions when their cry is shrill, it is because they expect rain.Cf. . 912 c-d; Aratus, , 946 ff.; Cf. Aelian, vi. 19; ix. 13. And this is among the surest of signs.

But, dear Poseidon! What an absurd and ridiculous error I have almost fallen into: while I am spending my time on seals and frogs, I have neglected and omitted the wisest of sea creatures, the most beloved of the gods!As it is to Thetis: Virgil, , i. 399. For what nightingales are to be compared with the halcyonSee Thompson, ; Kraak, (3rd series), vii. 142; Pliny, x. 89 ff.; Aelian, vii. 17; Gow on Theocritus, vii. 57; and the pleasant work found in mss. of Lucian and Plato. for its love of sweet sound, or what swallows for its love of offspring, or what doves for its love of its mate, or what bees for its skill in construction ? What creature’s procreation and birth pangs has the godPoseidon. so honoured ? For Leto’s parturition,For the birth of Apollo and Artemis. so they say, only one islandDelos, the wandering island. was made firm to receive her; but when the halcyon lays her eggs, about the time of the winter solstice, the godPoseidon. brings the whole sea to rest, without a wave, without a swell. And this is the reason why there is no other creature that men love more. Thanks to her they sail the sea without a fear in the dead of winter for seven days and seven nights.The Halcyon Days (Suidas, s.v.); Aristotle, v. 8 (542 b 6 ff.); Aelian, i. 36; Pliny, xviii. 231; al. For the moment, journey by sea is safer for them than by land. If it is proper to speak briefly of her several virtues, she is so devoted to her mate that she keeps him company, not for a single season, but throughout the year. Yet it is not through wantonness that she admits him to her company, for she never consorts at all with any other male; it is through friendship and affection, as with any lawful wife. When by reason of old age the male becomes too weak and sluggish to keep up with her, she takes the burden on herself, carries him and feeds him, never forsaking, never abandoning him; but mounting him on her own shoulders, she conveys him everywhere she goes and looks after him, abiding with him until the end.Cf. Alcman’s famous lines: frag. 26 Edmonds (, i, p. 72, L.C.L.), frag. 94 Diehl (, ii, p. 34); Antigonus, 23; al.

As for love of her offspring and care for their preservation, as soon as she perceives herself to be pregnant, she applies herself to building the nest,Cf. . 494 a-b; Aristotle, ix. 13 (616 a 19 ff.); Aelian, ix. 17. not making pats of mud or cementing it on walls and roofs like the house-martinCf. 966 d-e supra.; nor does she use the activity of many different members of her body, as when the bee employs its whole frame to enter and open the wax, with all six feet pressing at the same time to fashion the whole mass into hexagonal cells, But the halcyon, having but one simple instrument, one piece of equipment, one tool - her bill and nothing else, co-operating with her industry and ingenuity - what she contrives and constructs would be hard to believe without ocular evidence, seeing the object that she moulds - or rather the ship that she builds. Of many possible forms, this alone cannot be capsizedAristotle (loc. cit.), on the contrary, seems to say (though his text is corrupt; see Thompson ad loc.): The opening is small, just enough for a tiny entrance, so that even if the nest is upset, the sea does not enter. or even wet its cargo. She collects the spines of garfishBelone was usually a term for the garfish and the needlefish, neither of which has spines of any size. Thompson (, pp. 31-32) rightly regards the meaning of belone here as indeterminable. Cf. also 494 a, which is almost certainly mistranslated in the L.C.L. edition. and binds and weaves them together, some straight, others transverse, as if she were thrusting woven threads through the warp, adding such bends and knots of one with another that a compact, rounded unit is formed, slightly prolate in shape, like a fisherman’s weel. When it is finished, she brings and deposits it beside the surging waves, where the sea beats gently upon it and instructs her how to mend and strengthen whatever is not yet good and tight, as she observes it loosened by the blows. She so tautens and secures the joints that it is difficult even for stones or iron to break or pierce it. The proportions and shape of the hollow interior are as admirable as anything about it; for it is so constructed as to admit herself only, while the entrance remains wholly hidden and invisible to others - with the result that not even a drop of water can get in. Now I presume that all of you have seen this nest; as for me, since I have often seen and touched it, it comes to my mind to chant the words Once such a thing in Delos near Apollo’s shrineHomer, , vi. 162. That there was some religious mystery associated with the so-called nest is indicated by the close of Plutarch’s description. (Thompson on Aristotle, loc. cit.) I saw, the Altar of Horn, celebrated as one of the Seven Wonders of the WorldCf. Strabo, xiv. 2. 5. because it needs no glue or any other binding, but is joined and fastened together, made entirely of horns taken from the right side of the head.Curiously enough, the , xxi. 2 (9 e) says the left side. Now may the godApollo. From this point on the text of the rest of this chapter is very bad and full of lacunae. The restorations adopted here are somewhat less than certain. be propitious to me while I sing of the Sea SirenThis is not fulfilled and so is presumably an indication of another lacuna toward the end of Phaedimus’ speech, the location of which we cannot even guess. - and indeed, being both a musician and an islander, he should laugh good-naturedly at my opponents’ scoffing questions. Why should he not be called a conger-slayer or Artemis be termed a surmullet-slayer?Cf. 966 a supra. Since he well knows that Aphrodite, born of the sea, regards practically all sea creatures as sacred and related to herself and relishes the slaughter of none of them. In Leptis,Andrews suspects a confusion here and at 730 d with Lepidotonpolis on the Nile, not far below Thebes, apparently a focal point of a taboo on eating the bynni, allegedly due to its consumption of the private parts of Osiris when they were thrown into the river (cf. . 358 b). you know, the priests of Poseidon refrain entirely from any sea food, and those initiated into the mysteries at Eleusis hold the surmullet in veneration, while the priestess of Hera at Argos abstains from this fish to pay it honour. For surmullets are particularly good at killing and eating the sea-hare, which is lethal to man.Cf. Aelian, ii. 45; ix. 51; xvi. 19; Pliny, ix. 155; Philostratus, vi. 32. It is for this reason that surmullets possess this immunity, as being friendly and life-saving creatures.

Furthermore, many of the Greeks have temples and altars to Artemis DictynnaAs though Artemis of the Net; see Callimachus, iii. 198. and Apollo Delphinios; and that place which the god had chosen for himself the poetHomer, , iii. 393 ff. (as restored by van Herwerden). For Delphinian Apollo see lines 495 f. says was settled by Cretans under the guidance of a dolphin. It was not, however, the god who changed his shape and swam in front of the expedition, as tellers of tales relate; instead, he sent a dolphin to guide the men and bring them to Cirrha.The port of Delphi. They also relate that Soteles and Dionysius, the men sent by Ptolemy SoterCf. . 361 f; Tacitus, , iv. 83-84. to Sinope to bring back Serapis, were driven against their will by a violent wind out of their course beyond Malea, with the Peloponnesus on their right. When they were lost and discouraged, a dolphin appeared by the prow and, as it were, invited them to follow and led them into such parts as had safe roadsteads with but a gentle swell until, by conducting and escorting the vessel in this manner, it brought them to Cirrha. Whence it carne about that when they had offered thanksgiving for their safe landing, they carne to see that of the two statues they should take away the one of Pluto, but should merely take an impress of that of Persephone and leave it behind.That is, in Sinope.

Well might the god be fond of the music-loving character of the dolphin,Cf. . 162 f; Pliny, xi. 137. to which PindarPage 597, ed. Sandys (L.C.L.); frag. 125, line 69-71 ed. Bowra (O.C.T.); frag. 222. 14-17, ed. Turyn. The quotation is found also in 704 f - 705 a. The lines were partially recovered in , iii. 408 b (1903); for the critical difficulties see Turyn’s edition. likens himself, saying that he is roused Like a dolphin of the sea Who on the waveless deep of ocean Is moved by the lovely sound of flutes. Yet it is even more likely that its affection for menPliny, x. 24. For Dionysus and the pirate-dolphins see the seventh and Frazer on Apollodorus, iii. 5. 3 (L.C.L., vol. i, p. 332). renders it dear to the gods; for it is the only creature who loves man for his own sake.The hunting of dolphins is immoral: Oppian, v. 416 (see the whole passage). Of the land animals, some avoid man altogether, others, the tamest kind, pay court for utilitarian reasons only to those who feed them, as do dogs and horses and elephants to their familiars. Martins take to houses to get what they need, darkness and a minimum of security, but avoid and fear man as a dangerous wild beast.Cf. . 728 a; but see Aelian, i. 52; Arrian, , i. 25. 8. To the dolphin alone, beyond all others, nature has granted what the best philosophers seek: friendship for no advantage. Though it has no need at all of any man, yet it is a genial friend to all and has helped many. The story of ArionHerodotus, i. 24; Mair on Oppian, v. 448. In 161 a ff. the story is told by an eye-witness at the banquet of the Seven Wise Men. is familiar to everyone and widely known; and you, my friend, opportunely put us in mind of the tale of Hesiod,Cf. 969 e supra. But you failed to reach the end of the tale.Homer, , ix. 56. When you told of the dog, you should not have left out the dolphins, for the information of the dog that barked and rushed with a snarl on the murderers would have been meaningless if the dolphins had not taken up the corpse as it was floating on the sea near the NemeonThe shrine of Zeus at Oeneon in Locris. and zealously passed it from group to group until they put it ashore at Rhium and so made it clear that the man had been stabbed.

MyrsilusMüller, iv, p. 459; Jacoby, ii, frag. 12; cf. . 163 b-d; Athenaeus, 466 c gives as his authority Anticleides. of Lesbos tells the tale of Enalus the Aeolian who was in love with that daughter of Smintheus who, in accordance with the oracle of Amphitrite, was cast into the sea by the Penthilidae, whereupon Enalus himself leaped into the sea and was brought out safe on Lesbos by a dolphin.

And the goodwill and friendship of the dolphin for the lad of IasusAelian, vi. 15 (cf. viii. 11), tells the story in great detail and with several differences; Cf. also the younger Pliny’s famous letter (ix. 33) on the dolphin of Hippo and the vaguer accounts in Aelian, ii. 6; Antigonus, 55; Philo, 67 (p. 132). Gulick on Athenaeus, 606 c-d collects the authorities; see also the dolphin stories in Pliny, ix. 25 ff. and Mair on Oppian, v. 458; Thompson, , pp. 54 f. Iasus is a city in Ionian Caris on the gulf of the same name. was thought by reason of its greatness to be true love. For it used to swim and play with him during the day, allowing itself to be touched; and when the boy mounted upon its back, it was not reluctant, but used to carry him with pleasure wherever he directed it to go, while all the inhabitants of Iasus flocked to the shore each time this happened. Once a violent storm of rain and hail occurred and the boy slipped off and was drowned. The dolphin took the body and threw both it and itself together on the land and would not leave until it too had died, thinking it right to share a death for which it imagined that it shared the responsibility. And in memory of this calamity the inhabitants of Iasus have minted their coins with the figure of a boy riding a dolphin.The story has a happier ending in one version found in Pliny, ix. 27: the dolphin dies, but Alexander the Great makes the boy head of the priesthood of Poseidon in Babylon.

From this the wild tales about CoeranusAelian, viii. 3; Athenaeus, 606 e-f cites from Phylarchus, Book XII (Jacoby, i, p. 340). There are many other examples of dolphins rescuing people, such as the fragment of Euphorion in Page, , i, p. 497 (L.C.L.). gained credence. He was a Parian by birth who, at Byzantium, bought a draught of dolphins which had been caught in a net and were in danger of slaughter, and set them all free. A little later he was on a sea voyage in a penteconter, so they say, with fifty pirates aboard; in the strait between Naxos and Paros the ship capsized and all the others were lost, while Coeranus, they relate, because a dolphin sped beneath him and buoyed him up, was put ashore at Sicinus,An island south of Paros. near a cave which is pointed out to this day and bears the name of Coeraneum.Cf. Edmonds, , ii, p. 321 (L.C.L.). It is on this man that Archilochus is said to have written the line Out of fifty, kindly Poseidon left only Coeranus.Edmonds, op. cit. ii, p. 164; Diehl, , i, p. 243. frag. 117. When later he died, his relatives were burning the body near the sea when a large shoal of dolphins appeared off shore as though they were making it plain that they had come for the funeral, and they waited until it was completed.On the grief of dolphins see Pliny, ix. 25, 33.

That the shield of Odysseus had a dolphin emblazoned on it, StesichorusEdmonds, , ii, p. 66, frag. 71. also has related; and the Zacynthians perpetuate the reason for it, as CritheusNothing whatever is known about this author, whose name may be given incorrectly in our mss. testifies. For when Telemachus was a small boy, so they say, he fell into the deep inshore water and was saved by dolphins who came to his aid and swam with him to the beach; and that was the reason why his father had a dolphin engraved on his ring and emblazoned on his shield, making this requital to the animal.

Yet since I began by saying that I would not tell you any tall tales and since, without observing what I was up to, I have now, besides the dolphins, run aground on both Odysseus and Coeranus to a point beyond belief, I lay this penalty upon myself: to conclude here and now.

ARISTOTIMUS.Perhaps rather Heracleon (975 c) or Optatus (965 d). So, gentlemen of the jury, you may now cast your votes.

SOCLARUS. As for us, we have for some time held the view of SophoclesNauck, p. 314, frag. 783; Pearson, iii, p. 69, frag. 867.: It is a marvel how of rival sides The strife of tongues welds both so close together. For by combining what you have said against each other, you will together put up a good fight against thoseThe Stoics, as always in this essay. who would deprive animals of reason and understanding.To some critics the ending is suspicious because of its brevity and vagueness; they regard it as added by an ancient editor who could not find the original termination. But the sudden turn at the end may merely indicate that the whole debate is in reality a single argument to prove the thesis that animals do have some degree of rationality (see also the Introduction to this dialogue).