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, Historia Animal. vi. 17 (570 b 19); Glossary of Greek Fishes, s.v.; Mair, introd. to his ed. of Oppian, pp. liii-lxi; Marx, RE, i. 2375-2377; ii. 2415; Schmid, Philologus, Suppb. xi, 1907-1910, p. 273; Brands, Grieksche Diernamen, pp. 147 f.; Cotte, Possions et animaux aquatiques au temps de Pline, pp. 69-73; Saint-Denis, Le Vocabulaire des animaux marins en latin classique, 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, De Natura Animal. i. 4; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxii. 11; Ovid, Hal. 9 ff.; Oppian, Hal. iv. 40 ff. Note also Aelian, De Natura Animal. 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, Nat. Hist. ix. 182; xxxii. 13; Ovid, Hal. 45 ff.; Oppian, Hal. 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, Frag. der griech. Hist. iii, p. 146, frag. 51 b. On the community spirit of elephants see also Aelian, De Natura Animal. 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.