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Roman Natural History

PLINY THE ELDER

Gaius Plinius Secondus Maior (23-79 CE), called Plinius the Elder, was a

Roman scholar and natural historian. HisNatural History is an encyclopedic

work that aims to set down everything the Romans knew on geography,

anthropology, zoology, botany, agriculture, pharmacology, etc. He died

during the devastating eruption of the Vesuvius, while attempting to rescue

a friend and his family. His nephew, Pliny the Younger, wrote about the

eruption and his uncle's death.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History(77-79 CE)

From: Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, transl. and notes by John Bostock and

H.T. Riley (London: Taylor and Francis, 1855), vol. 2.

Book 9, ch. 4. (5.)The forms of the tritons and nereids.

A deputation of persons from Olisipo,1

that had been sent for the purpose,

brought word to the Emperor Tiberius that a triton had been both seen

and heard in a certain cavern, blowing a conch-shell,2

and of the form

1 Lisbon. See B. iv. c. 35.2 One of the Scholiasts on Homer says, that before the discovery of the brazen

trumpet by the Tyrrhenians, the conch-shell was in general use for that

purpose. Hardouin, with considerable credulity, remarks here, that it is no fable,

that the nereids and tritons had a human face; and says that no less than fifteen

instances, ancient and modern, had been adduced, in proof that such was thefact. He says that this was the belief of Scaliger, and quotes the book of

Aldrovandus on Monsters, p. 36. But, as Cuvier remarks, it is impossible to

explain these stories of nereids and tritons, on any other grounds than the

fraudulent pretences of those who have exhibited them, or asserted that they

have seen them. "It was only last year," he says, "that all London was resortingto see a wonderful sight in what is commonly called a mermaid. I myself had

the opportunity of examining a very similar object: it was the body of a child, in

the mouth of which they had introduced the jaws of a sparus [probably our

'gilthead'], while for the legs was substituted the body of a lizard. The body of

the London mermaid," he says, "was that of an ape, and a fish attached to it

supplied the place of the hind legs."

under which they are usually represented. Nor yet is the figure generally

attributed to the nereids3

at all a fiction; only in them, the portion of the

body that resembles the human figure is still rough all over with scales. For

one of these creatures was seen upon the same shores, and as it died, its

plaintive murmurs were heard even by the inhabitants at a distance. The

legatus of Gaul,4

too, wrote word to the late Emperor Augustus that aconsiderable number of nereids had been found dead upon the sea-shore.

I have, too, some distinguished informants of equestrian rank, who state

that they themselves once saw in the ocean of Gades a sea-man,5

which

bore in every part of his body a perfect resemblance to a human being,

and that during the night he would climb up into ships; upon which the

side of the vessel where he seated himself would instantly sink downward,

and if he remained there any considerable time, even go under water.

[...] Turranius has also left accounts of several nereids, and he speaks of

a monster6

that was thrown up on the shore at Gades, the distance

between the two fins at the end of the tail of which was sixteen cubits, and

its teeth one hundred and twenty in number; the largest being nine, andthe smallest six inches in length.

M. Scaurus, in his dileship, exhibited at Rome, among other wonderful

things, the bones of the monster to which Andromeda was said to have

been exposed, and which he had brought from Joppa, a city of Juda.

These bones exceeded forty feet in length, and the ribs were higher than

3 Primarily the nereids were sea-nymphs, the daughters of Nereus and Doris.

Dalechamps informs us, that Alexander ab Alexandro states that he once saw a

nereid that had been thrown ashore on the coasts of the Peloponnesus, that

Trapezuntius saw one as it was swimming, and that Draconetus Bonifacius, the

Neapolitan, saw a triton that had been preserved in honey, and which many had

seen when taken alive on the coast of Epirus. We may here remark, thatthe triton is the same as our "merman," and the nereid is our "mermaid."

4 Of Gallia Lugdunensis, namely. The legatus was also called "rector," and

"proprtor."5 Or "mer-man," as we call it. Dalechamps, in his note, with all the credulity of

his time, states that a similar sea-man had been captured, it was said, in thepreceding age in Norway, and that another had been seen in Poland, dressed

like a bishop, in the year 1531. Juvenal, in his 14th Satire, makes mention of the

"monsters of the ocean, and the youths of the sea."6 Judging from the account of it here given, and especially in relation to the

teeth, Cuvier is inclined to think that the cachelot whale, the Physeter

macrocephalus of Linnus, is the animal here alluded to.


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those of the Indian elephant, while the back-bone was a foot and a half7

in

thickness.

Book 8, ch. 30. (21.)The lynx, the sphinx, the crocotta, and the monkey.

thiopia produces the lynx8

in abundance, and the sphinx, which has

brown hair and two mamm on the breast,9

as well as many monstrous

kinds of a similar nature; horses with wings, and armed with horns, which

are called pegasi10

; the crocotta, an animal which looks as though it had

been produced by the union of the wolf and the dog,11

for it can break any

thing with its teeth, and instantly on swallowing it digest it with the

7 Solinus, generally a faithful mimic of Pliny, makes the measure only half a

foot. Cuvier says that there can be little doubt that the bones represented to

have been those of the monster to which Andromeda was exposed, were the

bones, and more especially the lower jaws, of the whale. Ajasson certainly

appears to have mistaken the sense of this passage. He says that it must not be

supposed that Pliny means the identical bones of the animal which was about

to devour Andromeda, but of one of the animals of that kind; and he exercises

his wit at the expense of those who would construe the passage differently, in

saying that these bones ought to have been sent to those who show in their

collections such articles as the knife with which Cain slew Abel. Now, there can

be no doubt that these bones were notthose of the monster which the poets tell

us was about to devour Andromeda; but the Romans certainly supposed that

they were, and Pliny evidently thought so too, for in B. v. c. 14, he speaks of the

chains by which she was fastened to the rock, at Joppa, as still to be seen there.

M. milius Scaurus, the younger, is here referred to.8 According to Cuvier, the lynx of Pliny is the Felis caracal of Linnus: it is

common in many parts of Asia and Africa, in the retired forest districts, and still

exists in the Pyrenees and the mountains of Naples.9 As far as the accounts of the sphinx are to be regarded as not entirely

fabulous, we must suppose it to have originated in some species of the monkey

tribe; perhaps the Sinlia troglodytes or chimpanz.10 Of course the winged horse is an imaginary being, nor does it appear what is

the origin of the fable; the horns are an unusual appendage to the pegasus. The

pegasus and the rhinoceros together may have given rise to that fabulousanimal, the unicorn. See, however, the Monoceros, mentioned in c. 31.

11 Although a hybrid animal is produced by the union of the wolf and the dog,

it does not form a permanent species. But, as Cuvier remarks, by the insertion

of "velut," Pliny seems to imply that the crocotta unites the physical properties

of the two animals. Ctesias, Indica c. 32, gives an account of the cynolycus, or

"dog-wolf," from which Pliny seems to have taken his crocotta.

stomach; monkeys, too, with black heads, the hair of the ass, and a voice

quite unlike that of any other animal.12

There are oxen, too, like those of

India, some with one horn, and others with three; the leucrocotta, a wild

beast of extraordinary swiftness, the size of the wild ass, with the legs of a

stag, the neck, tail, and breast of a lion, the head of a badger, a cloven

hoof, the mouth slit up as far as the ears, and one continuous bone insteadof teeth

13; it is said, too, that this animal can imitate the human voice.

Among the same people, there is also found an animal called eale; it is the

size of the river-horse, has the tail of the elephant, and is of a black or

tawny colour.14

It has also the jaws of the wild boar, and horns that are

moveable, and more than a cubit in length, so that, in fighting, it can

employ them alternately, and vary their position by presenting them

directly or obliquely, according as necessity may dictate. But the wild bulls

which this country produces are the fiercest of all; they are larger than our

domestic bull, and exceed all the others in swiftness; are of a tawny colour,

with azure eyes, and the hair turned the contrary way; while the jaws open

as far as the ears, and the horns are as moveable as those of the eale. Thehide of this animal is as hard as flint, and effectually resists all wounds.

These creatures pursue all the other wild beasts, while they themselves

can only be taken in pitfalls, where they always perish from excess of rage.

Ctesias informs us, that among these same thiopians, there is an animal

found, which he calls the mantichora15

; it has a triple row of teeth, which

12 It does not seem possible to determine what species of monkey is here

designated; it is most probable that he himself had no accurate knowledge.13 We may here refer to the judicious remarks of Cuvier; Ajasson, vol. vi. pp.

427, 428; and Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 399, on the leucrocotta. It seems impossible to

identify Pliny's description with any known animal, and i t is not unlikely that hehas confused the accounts of authors who were speaking of different animals.

Some of the characteristics of the leucrocotta agree with those of the Indian

antelope, while others seem to resemble those of the hyna.14 Perhaps the eale may have been the two-horned rhinoceros, as some

naturalists say that there is a degree of mobility in the horns of that animal; thesame observation has been made with respect to the wild or forest bulls, the

description of which animal, in Pliny, is probably from Diodorus Siculus.15 This description of the mantichora appears to be taken from the Indica of

Ctesias; it has been also adopted by Aristotle and lian, but they have qualified

their accounts by some expressions of doubt, which are omitted by Pliny. It has

been conjectured, that Ctesias took his description from the hieroglyphic


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fit into each other like those of a comb, the face and ears of a man, and

azure eyes, is of the colour of blood, has the body of the lion, and a tail

ending in a sting, like that of the scorpion. Its voice resembles the union of

the sound of the flute and the trumpet; it is of excessive swiftness, and is

particularly fond of human flesh.

Book 8, ch. 34. (22.)

Wolves; the origin of the story of Versipellis.

In Italy also it is believed that there is a noxious influence in the eye of a

wolf; it is supposed that it will instantly take away the voice of a man,16

if it

is the first to see him. Africa and Egypt produce wolves of a sluggish and

stunted nature17

; those of the colder climates are fierce and savage. That

men have been turned into wolves, and again restored to their original

form,18

we must confidently look upon as untrue, unless, indeed, we are

ready to believe all the tales, which, for so many ages, have been found to

figures in his time, probably common in the East, and still found in the ruins of

the Assyrian and Persian cities, Nineveh and Persepolis, for instance.16 Hence the proverbial expression applied to a person who is suddenly silent

upon the entrance of another; "Lupus est tibi visus."17 Cuvier says, that the wolves of Africa are of the ordinary size, and

conjectures that this remark probably applies to the chakale, or "Canis aureus"

of Linnus, which is of the colour of the wolf, and the size of the fox, and is

common throughout all Africa.18 The opinion that men were converted into wolves by enchantment, or a

preternatural agency, was at one time so generally received, as to have led to

judicial processes, and the condemnation of the supposed criminal. To the

relator of the above story that men lose their voice on seeing a wolf, Scaliger

wishes as many blows as at different times he had seen a wolf without losing

his voice.

be fabulous. But, as the belief of it has become so firmly fixed in the minds

of the common people, as to have caused the term "Versipellis"19

to be

used as a common form of imprecation, I will here point out its origin.

Euanthes, a Grecian author of no mean reputation, informs us that the

Arcadians assert that a member of the family of one Anthus is chosen by

lot, and then taken to a certain lake in that district, where, aftersuspending his clothes on an oak, he swims across the water and goes

away into the desert, where he is changed into a wolf and associates with

other animals of the same species for a space of nine years. If he has kept

himself from beholding a man during the whole of that time, he returns to

the same lake, and, after swimming across it, resumes his original form,

only with the addition of nine years in age to his former appearance. To

this Fabius20

adds, that he takes his former clothes as well. It is really

wonderful to what a length the credulity21

of the Greeks will go! There is

no falsehood, if ever so barefaced, to which some of them cannot be found

to bear testimony.

So too, Agriopas, who wrote the Olympionics,

22

informs us thatDemnetus, the Parrhasian, during a sacrifice of human victims, which the

Arcadians were offering up to the Lycan23

Jupiter, tasted the entrails of a

boy who had been slaughtered; upon which he was turned into a wolf, but,

ten years afterwards, was restored to his original shape and his calling of

an athlete, and returned victorious in the pugilistic contests at the Olympic

games.

19 This literally means "changing the skin;" it was applied by some ancient

medical writers to a peculiar form of insanity, where the patient conceives

himself changed into a wolf, and named, "lycanthropy." The wordappears to have been in common use among the Romans, and to have been

applied by them to any one who had undergone a remarkable change in hischaracter and habits; in this sense it is used by Plautus, Amphitryon, Prol. 1.

123, and Bacchides, A. iv. sc. 4, 1. 12.20 It is not known who is here referred to; it is not probable that it is Fabius

Pictor, the Roman historian.21 It is rather curious to find Pliny censuring others for credulity; indeed he

loses no opportunity of a hit at the Greeks, to whom, after all, he is greatly

indebted.22 An account of the victories gained at the Olympic games.23 It has been conjectured, that the epithet, "Lycan,", was given to

Jupiter by the Arcadians, for this supposed conversion of men into wolves,

which was conceived to be effected by divine interposition.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=lukanqrw%2Fpia&la=greek&can=lukanqrw%2Fpia0http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=lukanqrw%2Fpia&la=greek&can=lukanqrw%2Fpia0http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=lukanqrw%2Fpia&la=greek&can=lukanqrw%2Fpia0http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=lu%2Fkaios&la=greekhttp://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=lu%2Fkaios&la=greekhttp://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=lu%2Fkaios&la=greekhttp://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=lu%2Fkaios&la=greekhttp://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/morph?l=lukanqrw%2Fpia&la=greek&can=lukanqrw%2Fpia0


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It is also commonly supposed, that the tail of this animal contains a small

lock of hair, which possesses an amatory power; and that when the

creature is caught, this hair is shed by it, but has no virtue whatever, unless

it is procured from the animal while alive.24

It is said that these animals

couple for no more than twelve days in the year25

; and that when pressed

by hunger they will eat earth. Among the points of augury, to have ourprogress cut short to the right by a wolf, if at the time its mouth is full, is

the best of omens. There is a species, which is known as the stag-wolf,

such as we have already said26

were brought from Gaul and exhibited in

the Circus by Pompeius Magnus. It is said, that however hungry this animal

may chance to be, if it only turns its head while eating, it immediately

becomes oblivious of the food that is before it, and takes its departure to

seek it elsewhere.27

Book 8, ch. 48. (30.)The various kinds of Polypi; their shrewdness.

[T]here is not an animal in existence, that is more dangerous for its powers

of destroying a human being28 when in the water. Embracing his body, itcounteracts his struggles, and draws him under with its feelers and its

numerous suckers, when, as often is the case, it happens to make an attack

upon a shipwrecked mariner or a child. If, however, the animal is

turned over, it loses all its power; for when it is thrown upon the back, the

arms open of themselves.

The other particulars, which the same author has given, appear still

24 It does not appear what is the foundation of this opinion; of course, it is

without truth.25 Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 35, says that they couple once only in the year.

lian,Anim. Nat. B. iv. c. 4, says that their bringing forth continues twelve days.26 See c. 28 of the present Book. He alludes probably to the lynx.27 It is not easy to say whence this opinion was derived; the general character

of the wolf is that of quickness and watchfulness, rather than stupidity. But itwould appear that it is the lynx that is alluded to.

28 The fishermen at the present day, upon the coast of Normandy, say that the

polypus, which they call the chatrou, is a most formidable enemy to swimmers

and divers; for when it has embraced any of the limbs with its tentacles, it

adheres with such tenacity, that it is quite impossible for a person to disengage

himself, or to move any of his limbs.

more closely to border upon the marvellous. At Carteia,29

in the preserves

there, a polypus was in the habit of coming from the sea to the pickling-

tubs30

that were left open, and devouring the fish laid in salt therefor it is

quite astonishing how eagerly all sea-animals follow even the very smell of

salted condiments, so much so, that it is for this reason, that the fishermen

take care to rub the inside of the wicker fish-kipes31

with them.

At last, byits repeated thefts and immoderate depredations, it drew down upon itself

the wrath of the keepers of the works. Palisades were placed before them,

but these the polypus managed to get over by the aid of a tree,32

and it

was only caught at last by calling in the assistance of trained dogs, which

surrounded it at night, as it was returning to its prey; upon which, the

keepers, awakened by the noise, were struck with alarm at the novelty of

the sight presented. First of all, the size of the polypus was enormous

beyond all conception; and then it was covered all over with dried brine,

and exhaled a most dreadful stench. Who could have expected to find a

polypus there, or could have recognized it as such under these

circumstances? They really thought that they were joining battle withsome monster, for at one instant, it would drive off the dogs by its horrible

fumes,33

and lash at them with the extremities of its feelers; while at

another, it would strike them with its stronger arms, giving blows with so

many clubs, as it were; and it was only with the greatest difficulty that it

could be dispatched with the aid of a considerable number of three-

pronged fish-spears.

29 In Spain; see B. iii. c. 3. lian, Hist. Anim. B. vi. c. 13, tells a similar story

about a polypus at Puteoli.30 "Lacus": large tubs used in the process of pickling. This story, Cuvier

observes, is only surpassed by those told by the Norwegians relative to the

"kraken" of their seas, which, according to some versions of the fable, is apolypus of such vast size, that sailors have sometimes mistaken it for an island.

31 "Nassis." The "nassa" was a contrivance for catching fish by the junction of

osier or willow rods. It was probably made in the shape of a large bottle with a

narrow mouth, and placed with the mouth facing the current. Aristotle, Hist.

Anim. B. iv. c. 8, states, that the fishermen, when they were desirous of bringingthe fish out of their holes, were in the habit of rubbing the mouth of the holes

with salted flesh.32 Oppian, Halieut. B. i. c. 310, tells a story of a polypus, of the ozna species,

that was in the habit of climbing trees, and plundering the fruit.33 "Afflatu terribili." This, as Hardouin says, may either mean its bad smell, or

stinking water, ejected from its canal.


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AELIAN

Claudius Aelianus (c.175-c.235) was a Roman Sophist and teacher of

rhetoric. He spoke and wrote in Greek. His De Natura Animalium (usually

cited by its Latin title) collects odd stories, whether facts or fables, of

natural history, sometimes in order to convey a moral lesson. He usuallyquotes earlier authors (including Pliny) and fishermen, rather than work

from observation.

Aelian, On the Nature of Animals (c.235 CE)

From: Camilla Asplund Ingemark, "The Octopus in the Sewers: An Ancient Legend

Analogue,"Journal of Folklore Research 24:2 (2008): 148.

Book 13. Sect 6.

Octopuses gradually grow huge, and approach cetaceans [whales] and are

even counted amongst them. Indeed I hear of an octopusin Dicaearchia

(Puteoli) in Italy

whose body was swollen and which came to despise and

to disdain the food from the sea and its pasture. Then it approached land

and plundered food, also from dry land. Accordingly, through a certain

hidden sewer that discharged the refuse of the aforementioned city into

the sea, it swam up to a house lying by the sea, where Iberian merchants

stored their cargo, pickled fish from that region in stout vessels; and so it

threw its tentacles and gripped the earthenware so that the vessels were

broken, and consumed the pickled fish. As the merchants entered and saw

the fragments of pottery, and understood that a large quantity of their

cargo had disappeared, they were astounded and could not guess who had

despoiled them, as the doors were free of tampering, the roof was

undamaged, and the walls had not been dug through. They also saw theremains of the pickled fish that had been left behind by the uninvited guest.

They decided that one of their servants, the most courageous, would be

armed and lie in ambush in the house. During the night the octopus creeps

up to its customary meal and clasps the vessels just as a prizefighter taking

a stranglehold on his antagonist, by force and holding very firmly, and so

the robber, so to say, the octopus, crushed the earthenware very easily. It

was at the full moon, and the house was illuminated, and all could be

taken in at a glance. The servant did not attack on his own, as he was

afraid of the beast (for it was too great for one man), but early in the

morning he explains what has happened to the merchants. They do not

believe their ears. Then some remembered the greatness of their losses

and were for venturing the hazard and were eager to meet the enemy in

battle; others, in their thirst for this novel and incredible sight, locked

themselves [into the house] as voluntary allies together with the former.

Then in the evening, the thief again comes to visit, and hastens to itscustomary dinner. Then some block up the conduit, others arm

themselves against the enemy, and with choppers and sharpened razors

cut through the tentacles, as vinedressers and woodcutters lop off the

young shoots of an oak. Having cut its strength they killed it after a long

time with toil and not a little labour, and the strange thing was that

merchants hunted the fish on land. Mischief and craft plainly seem to us

to be characteristic of this animal.

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