No More Learning

When a sea-bird, emerging from the water, sees the sea-eagle, he
in terror dives under, intending to rise again elsewhere; the eagle,
however, owing to its keenness of vision, keeps flying after him until
he either drowns the bird or catches him on the surface. The eagle
never attacks these birds when they are in a swarm, for they keep
him off by raising a shower of water-drops with their wings.

35

The cepphus is caught by means of sea-foam; the bird snaps at
the foam, and consequently fishermen catch it by sluicing with showers
of sea-water. These birds grow to be plump and fat; their flesh has
a good odour, excepting the hinder quarters, which smell of shoreweed.

36

Of hawks, the strongest is the buzzard; the next in point of
courage is the merlin; and the circus ranks third; other diverse kinds
are the asterias, the pigeon-hawk, and the pternis; the broaded-winged
hawk is called the half-buzzard; others go by the name of
hobby-hawk, or sparrow-hawk, or 'smooth-feathered', or 'toad-catcher'.
Birds of this latter species find their food with very little
difficulty, and flutter along the ground. Some say that there are
ten species of hawks, all differing from one another. One hawk, they
say, will strike and grab the pigeon as it rests on the ground, but
never touch it while it is in flight; another hawk attacks the
pigeon when it is perched upon a tree or any elevation, but never
touches it when it is on the ground or on the wing; other hawks attack
their prey only when it is on the wing. They say that pigeons can
distinguish the various species: so that, when a hawk is an assailant,
if it be one that attacks its prey when the prey is on the wing, the
pigeon will sit still; if it be one that attacks sitting prey, the
pigeon will rise up and fly away.

In Thrace, in the district sometimes called that of Cedripolis,
men hunt for little birds in the marshes with the aid of hawks. The
men with sticks in their hands go beating at the reeds and brushwood
to frighten the birds out, and the hawks show themselves overhead
and frighten them down. The men then strike them with their sticks and
capture them. They give a portion of their booty to the hawks; that
is, they throw some of the birds up in the air, and the hawks catch
them.

In the neighbourhood of Lake Maeotis, it is said, wolves act
in concert with the fishermen, and if the fishermen decline to share
with them, they tear their nets in pieces as they lie drying on the
shore of the lake.

37

So much for the habits of birds.

In marine creatures, also, one In marine creatures, also, one
may observe many ingenious devices adapted to the circumstances of
their lives. For the accounts commonly given of the so-called
fishing-frog are quite true; as are also those given of the torpedo.
The fishing-frog has a set of filaments that project in front of its
eyes; they are long and thin like hairs, and are round at the tips;
they lie on either side, and are used as baits. Accordingly, when
the animal stirs up a place full of sand and mud and conceals itself
therein, it raises the filaments, and, when the little fish strike
against them, it draws them in underneath into its mouth. The
torpedo narcotizes the creatures that it wants to catch,
overpowering them by the power of shock that is resident in its
body, and feeds upon them; it also hides in the sand and mud, and
catches all the creatures that swim in its way and come under its
narcotizing influence. This phenomenon has been actually observed in
operation. The sting-ray also conceals itself, but not exactly in
the same way. That the creatures get their living by this means is
obvious from the fact that, whereas they are peculiarly inactive, they
are often caught with mullets in their interior, the swiftest of
fishes. Furthermore, the fishing-frog is unusually thin when he is
caught after losing the tips of his filaments, and the torpedo is
known to cause a numbness even in human beings. Again, the hake, the
ray, the flat-fish, and the angelfish burrow in the sand, and after
concealing themselves angle with the filaments on their mouths, that
fishermen call their fishing-rods, and the little creatures on which
they feed swim up to the filaments taking them for bits of sea-weed,
such as they feed upon.

Wherever an anthias-fish is seen, there will be no dangerous
creatures in the vicinity, and sponge-divers will dive in security,
and they call these signal-fishes 'holy-fish'. It is a sort of
perpetual coincidence, like the fact that wherever snails are
present you may be sure there is neither pig nor partridge in the
neighbourhood; for both pig and partridge eat up the snails.

The sea-serpent resembles the conger in colour and shape, but is
of lesser bulk and more rapid in its movements. If it be caught and
thrown away, it will bore a hole with its snout and burrow rapidly
in the sand; its snout, by the way, is sharper than that of ordinary
serpents. The so-called sea-scolopendra, after swallowing the hook,
turns itself inside out until it ejects it, and then it again turns
itself outside in. The sea-scolopendra, like the land-scolopendra,
will come to a savoury bait; the creature does not bite with its
teeth, but stings by contact with its entire body, like the
so-called sea-nettle. The so-called fox-shark, when it finds it has
swallowed the hook, tries to get rid of it as the scolopendra does,
but not in the same way; in other words, it runs up the
fishing-line, and bites it off short; it is caught in some districts
in deep and rapid waters, with night-lines.

The bonitos swarm together when they espy a dangerous
creature, and the largest of them swim round it, and if it touches one
of the shoal they try to repel it; they have strong teeth. Amongst
other large fish, a lamia-shark, after falling in amongst a shoal, has
been seen to be covered with wounds.

Of river-fish, the male of the sheat-fish is remarkably
attentive to the young. The female after parturition goes away; the
male stays and keeps on guard where the spawn is most abundant,
contenting himself with keeping off all other little fishes that might
steal the spawn or fry, and this he does for forty or fifty days,
until the young are sufficiently grown to make away from the other
fishes for themselves. The fishermen can tell where he is on guard:
for, in warding off the little fishes, he makes a rush in the water
and gives utterance to a kind of muttering noise. He is so earnest
in the performance of his parental duties that the fishermen at times,
if the eggs be attached to the roots of water-plants deep in the
water, drag them into as shallow a place as possible; the male fish
will still keep by the young, and, if it so happen, will be caught
by the hook when snapping at the little fish that come by; if,
however, he be sensible by experience of the danger of the hook, he
will still keep by his charge, and with his extremely strong teeth
will bite the hook in pieces.

All fishes, both those that wander about and those that are
stationary, occupy the districts where they were born or very
similar places, for their natural food is found there. Carnivorous
fish wander most; and all fish are carnivorous with the exception of a
few, such as the mullet, the saupe, the red mullet, and the chalcis.
The so-called pholis gives out a mucous discharge, which envelops
the creature in a kind of nest. Of shell-fish, and fish that are
finless, the scallop moves with greatest force and to the greatest
distance, impelled along by some internal energy; the murex or
purple-fish, and others that resemble it, move hardly at all. Out of
the lagoon of Pyrrha all the fishes swim in winter-time, except the
sea-gudgeon; they swim out owing to the cold, for the narrow waters
are colder than the outer sea, and on the return of the early summer
they all swim back again. In the lagoon no scarus is found, nor
thritta, nor any other species of the spiny fish, no spotted
dogfish, no spiny dogfish, no sea-crawfish, no octopus either of the
common or the musky kinds, and certain other fish are also absent; but
of fish that are found in the lagoon the white gudgeon is not a marine
fish. Of fishes the oviparous are in their prime in the early summer
until the spawning time; the viviparous in the autumn, as is also
the case with the mullet, the red mullet, and all such fish. In the
neighbourhood of Lesbos, the fishes of the outer sea, or of the
lagoon, bring forth their eggs or young in the lagoon; sexual union
takes place in the autumn, and parturition in the spring. With
fishes of the cartilaginous kind, the males and females swarm together
in the autumn for the sake of sexual union; in the early summer they
come swimming in, and keep apart until after parturition; the two
sexes are often taken linked together in sexual union.

Of molluscs the sepia is the most cunning, and is the only
species that employs its dark liquid for the sake of concealment as
well as from fear: the octopus and calamary make the discharge
solely from fear. These creatures never discharge the pigment in its
entirety; and after a discharge the pigment accumulates again. The
sepia, as has been said, often uses its colouring pigment for
concealment; it shows itself in front of the pigment and then retreats
back into it; it also hunts with its long tentacles not only little
fishes, but oftentimes even mullets. The octopus is a stupid creature,
for it will approach a man's hand if it be lowered in the water; but
it is neat and thrifty in its habits: that is, it lays up stores in
its nest, and, after eating up all that is eatable, it ejects the
shells and sheaths of crabs and shell-fish, and the skeletons of
little fishes. It seeks its prey by so changing its colour as to
render it like the colour of the stones adjacent to it; it does so
also when alarmed. By some the sepia is said to perform the same
trick; that is, they say it can change its colour so as to make it
resemble the colour of its habitat. The only fish that can do this
is the angelfish, that is, it can change its colour like the
octopus. The octopus as a rule does not live the year out. It has a
natural tendency to run off into liquid; for, if beaten and
squeezed, it keeps losing substance and at last disappears. The female
after parturition is peculiarly subject to this colliquefaction; it
becomes stupid; if tossed about by waves, it submits impassively; a
man, if he dived, could catch it with the hand; it gets covered over
with slime, and makes no effort to catch its wonted prey. The male
becomes leathery and clammy. As a proof that they do not live into a
second year there is the fact that, after the birth of the little
octopuses in the late summer or beginning of autumn, it is seldom that
a large-sized octopus is visible, whereas a little before this time of
year the creature is at its largest. After the eggs are laid, they say
that both the male and the female grow so old and feeble that they are
preyed upon by little fish, and with ease dragged from their holes;
and that this could not have been done previously; they say also
that this is not the case with the small and young octopus, but that
the young creature is much stronger than the grown-up one. Neither
does the sepia live into a second year. The octopus is the only
mollusc that ventures on to dry land; it walks by preference on
rough ground; it is firm all over when you squeeze it, excepting in
the neck. So much for the mollusca.

It is also said that they make a thin rough shell about them
like a hard sheath, and that this is made larger and larger as the
animal grows larger, and that it comes out of the sheath as though out
of a den or dwelling place.

The nautilus (or argonaut) is a poulpe or octopus, but one
peculiar both in its nature and its habits. It rises up from deep
water and swims on the surface; it rises with its shell down-turned in
order that it may rise the more easily and swim with it empty, but
after reaching the surface it shifts the position of the shell. In
between its feelers it has a certain amount of web-growth,
resembling the substance between the toes of web-footed birds; only
that with these latter the substance is thick, while with the nautilus
it is thin and like a spider's web. It uses this structure, when a
breeze is blowing, for a sail, and lets down some of its feelers
alongside as rudder-oars. If it be frightened it fills its shell
with water and sinks. With regard to the mode of generation and the
growth of the shell knowledge from observation is not yet
satisfactory; the shell, however, does not appear to be there from the
beginning, but to grow in their cases as in that of other
shell-fish; neither is it ascertained for certain whether the animal
can live when stripped of the shell.

38

Of all insects, one may also say of all living creatures, the most
industrious are the ant, the bee, the hornet, the wasp, and in point
of fact all creatures akin to these; of spiders some are more
skilful and more resourceful than others. The way in which ants work
is open to ordinary observation; how they all march one after the
other when they are engaged in putting away and storing up their food;
all this may be seen, for they carry on their work even during
bright moonlight nights.

39

Of spiders and phalangia there are many species. Of the venomous
phalangia there are two; one that resembles the so-called wolf-spider,
small, speckled, and tapering to a point; it moves with leaps, from
which habit it is nicknamed 'the flea': the other kind is large, black
in colour, with long front legs; it is heavy in its movements, walks
slowly, is not very strong, and never leaps. (Of all the other species
wherewith poison-vendors supply themselves, some give a weak bite, and
others never bite at all. There is another kind, comprising the
so-called wolf-spiders. ) Of these spiders the small one weaves no web,
and the large weaves a rude and poorly built one on the ground or on
dry stone walls. It always builds its web over hollow places inside of
which it keeps a watch on the end-threads, until some creature gets
into the web and begins to struggle, when out the spider pounces.
The speckled kind makes a little shabby web under trees.

There is a third species of this animal, preeminently clever and
artistic. It first weaves a thread stretching to all the exterior ends
of the future web; then from the centre, which it hits upon with great
accuracy, it stretches the warp; on the warp it puts what
corresponds to the woof, and then weaves the whole together. It sleeps
and stores its food away from the centre, but it is at the centre that
it keeps watch for its prey. Then, when any creature touches the web
and the centre is set in motion, it first ties and wraps the
creature round with threads until it renders it helpless, then lifts
it and carries it off, and, if it happens to be hungry, sucks out
the life-juices--for that is the way it feeds; but, if it be not
hungry, it first mends any damage done and then hastens again to its
quest of prey. If something comes meanwhile into the net, the spider
at first makes for the centre, and then goes back to its entangled
prey as from a fixed starting point. If any one injures a portion of
the web, it recommences weaving at sunrise or at sunset, because it is
chiefly at these periods that creatures are caught in the web. It is
the female that does the weaving and the hunting, but the male takes a
share of the booty captured.

Of the skilful spiders, weaving a substantial web, there are two
kinds, the larger and the smaller. The one has long legs and keeps
watch while swinging downwards from the web: from its large size it
cannot easily conceal itself, and so it keeps underneath, so that
its prey may not be frightened off, but may strike upon the web's
upper surface; the less awkwardly formed one lies in wait on the
top, using a little hole for a lurking-place. Spiders can spin webs
from the time of their birth, not from their interior as a superfluity
or excretion, as Democritus avers, but off their body as a kind of
tree-bark, like the creatures that shoot out with their hair, as for
instance the porcupine. The creature can attack animals larger than
itself, and enwrap them with its threads: in other words, it will
attack a small lizard, run round and draw threads about its mouth
until it closes the mouth up; then it comes up and bites it.

40

So much for the spider. Of insects, there is a genus that has no
one name that comprehends all the species, though all the species
are akin to one another in form; it consists of all the insects that
construct a honeycomb: to wit, the bee, and all the insects that
resemble it in form.

There are nine varieties, of which six are gregarious-the bee, the
king-bee, the drone bee, the annual wasp, and, furthermore, the
anthrene (or hornet), and the tenthredo (or ground-wasp); three are
solitary-the smaller siren, of a dun colour, the larger siren, black
and speckled, and the third, the largest of all, that is called the
humble-bee. Now ants never go a-hunting, but gather up what is ready
to hand; the spider makes nothing, and lays up no store, but simply
goes a-hunting for its food; while the bee--for we shall by and by
treat of the nine varieties--does not go a-hunting, but constructs its
food out of gathered material and stores it away, for honey is the
bee's food. This fact is shown by the beekeepers' attempt to remove
the combs; for the bees, when they are fumigated, and are suffering
great distress from the process, then devour the honey most
ravenously, whereas at other times they are never observed to be so
greedy, but apparently are thrifty and disposed to lay by for their
future sustenance. They have also another food which is called
bee-bread; this is scarcer than honey and has a sweet figlike taste;
this they carry as they do the wax on their legs.

Very remarkable diversity is observed in their methods of
working and their general habits. When the hive has been delivered
to them clean and empty, they build their waxen cells, bringing in the
juice of all kinds of flowers and the 'tears' or exuding sap of trees,
such as willows and elms and such others as are particularly given
to the exudation of gum. With this material they besmear the
groundwork, to provide against attacks of other creatures; the
bee-keepers call this stuff 'stop-wax'. They also with the same
material narrow by side-building the entrances to the hive if they are
too wide. They first build cells for themselves; then for the
so-called kings and the drones; for themselves they are always
building, for the kings only when the brood of young is numerous,
and cells for the drones they build if a superabundance of honey
should suggest their doing so. They build the royal cells next to
their own, and they are of small bulk; the drones' cells they build
near by, and these latter are less in bulk than the bee's cells.

They begin building the combs downwards from the top of the
hive, and go down and down building many combs connected together
until they reach the bottom. The cells, both those for the honey and
those also for the grubs, are double-doored; for two cells are
ranged about a single base, one pointing one way and one the other,
after the manner of a double (or hour-glass-shaped) goblet. The
cells that lie at the commencement of the combs and are attached to
the hives, to the extent of two or three concentric circular rows, are
small and devoid of honey; the cells that are well filled with honey
are most thoroughly luted with wax. At the entry to the hive the
aperture of the doorway is smeared with mitys; this substance is a
deep black, and is a sort of dross or residual by-product of wax; it
has a pungent odour, and is a cure for bruises and suppurating
sores. The greasy stuff that comes next is pitch-wax; it has a less
pungent odour and is less medicinal than the mitys. Some say that
the drones construct combs by themselves in the same hive and in the
same comb that they share with the bees; but that they make no
honey, but subsist, they and their grubs also, on the honey made by
the bees. The drones, as a rule, keep inside the hive; when they go
out of doors, they soar up in the air in a stream, whirling round
and round in a kind of gymnastic exercise; when this is over, they
come inside the hive and feed to repletion ravenously. The kings never
quit the hive, except in conjunction with the entire swarm, either for
food or for any other reason. They say that, if a young swarm go
astray, it will turn back upon its route and by the aid of scent
seek out its leader. It is said that if he is unable to fly he is
carried by the swarm, and that if he dies the swarm perishes; and
that, if this swarm outlives the king for a while and constructs
combs, no honey is produced and the bees soon die out.

Bees scramble up the stalks of flowers and rapidly gather the
bees-wax with their front legs; the front legs wipe it off on to the
middle legs, and these pass it on to the hollow curves of the
hind-legs; when thus laden, they fly away home, and one may see
plainly that their load is a heavy one. On each expedition the bee
does not fly from a flower of one kind to a flower of another, but
flies from one violet, say, to another violet, and never meddles
with another flower until it has got back to the hive; on reaching the
hive they throw off their load, and each bee on his return is
accompanied by three or four companions. One cannot well tell what
is the substance they gather, nor the exact process of their work.
Their mode of gathering wax has been observed on olive-trees, as owing
to the thickness of the leaves the bees remain stationary for a
considerable while. After this work is over, they attend to the grubs.
There is nothing to prevent grubs, honey, and drones being all found
in one and the same comb. As long as the leader is alive, the drones
are said to be produced apart by themselves; if he be no longer
living, they are said to be reared by the bees in their own cells, and
under these circumstances to become more spirited: for this reason
they are called 'sting-drones', not that they really have stings,
but that they have the wish without the power, to use such weapons.
The cells for the drones are larger than the others; sometimes the
bees construct cells for the drones apart, but usually they put them
in amongst their own; and when this is the case the bee-keepers cut
the drone-cells out of the combs.

There are several species of bees, as has been said; two of
'kings', the better kind red, the other black and variegated, and
twice as big as the working-bee. The best workingbee is small,
round, and speckled: another kind is long and like an anthrene wasp;
another kind is what is called the robber-bee, black and flat-bellied;
then there is the drone, the largest of all, but devoid of sting,
and lazy. There is a difference between the progeny of bees that
inhabit cultivated land and of those from the mountains: the
forest-bees are more shaggy, smaller, more industrious and more
fierce. Working-bees make their combs all even, with the superficial
covering quite smooth. Each comb is of one kind only: that is, it
contains either bees only, or grubs only, or drones only; if it
happen, however, that they make in one and the same comb all these
kinds of cells, each separate kind will be built in a continuous row
right through. The long bees build uneven combs, with the lids of
the cells protuberant, like those of the anthrene; grubs and
everything else have no fixed places, but are put anywhere; from these
bees come inferior kings, a large quantity of drones, and the
so-called robber-bee; they produce either no honey at all, or honey in
very small quantities. Bees brood over the combs and so mature them;
if they fail to do so, the combs are said to go bad and to get covered
with a sort of spider's web. If they can keep brooding over the part
undamaged, the damaged part simply eats itself away; if they cannot so
brood, the entire comb perishes; in the damaged combs small worms
are engendered, which take on wings and fly away. When the combs
keep settling down, the bees restore the level surface, and put
props underneath the combs to give themselves free passage-room; for
if such free passage be lacking they cannot brood, and the cobwebs
come on. When the robber-bee and the drone appear, not only do they do
no work themselves, but they actually damage the work of the other
bees; if they are caught in the act, they are killed by the
working-bees. These bees also kill without mercy most of their
kings, and especially kings of the inferior sort; and this they do for
fear a multiplicity of kings should lead to a dismemberment of the
hive. They kill them especially when the hive is deficient in grubs,
and a swarm is not intended to take place; under these circumstances
they destroy the cells of the kings if they have been prepared, on the
ground that these kings are always ready to lead out swarms. They
destroy also the combs of the drones if a failure in the supply be
threatening and the hive runs short of provisions; under such
circumstances they fight desperately with all who try to take their
honey, and eject from the hive all the resident drones; and oftentimes
the drones are to be seen sitting apart in the hive. The little bees
fight vigorously with the long kind, and try to banish them from the
hives; if they succeed, the hive will be unusually productive, but
if the bigger bees get left mistresses of the field they pass the time
in idleness, and no good at all but die out before the autumn.
Whenever the working-bees kill an enemy they try to do so out of
doors; and whenever one of their own body dies, they carry the dead
bee out of doors also. The so-called robber-bees spoil their own
combs, and, if they can do so unnoticed, enter and spoil the combs
of other bees; if they are caught in the act they are put to death. It
is no easy task for them to escape detection, for there are
sentinels on guard at every entry; and, even if they do escape
detection on entering, afterwards from a surfeit of food they cannot
fly, but go rolling about in front of the hive, so that their
chances of escape are small indeed. The kings are never themselves
seen outside the hive except with a swarm in flight: during which time
all the other bees cluster around them. When the flight of a swarm
is imminent, a monotonous and quite peculiar sound made by all the
bees is heard for several days, and for two or three days in advance a
few bees are seen flying round the hive; it has never as yet been
ascertained, owing to the difficulty of the observation, whether or no
the king is among these. When they have swarmed, they fly away and
separate off to each of the kings; if a small swarm happens to
settle near to a large one, it will shift to join this large one,
and if the king whom they have abandoned follows them, they put him to
death. So much for the quitting of the hive and the swarmflight.
Separate detachments of bees are told off for diverse operations; that
is, some carry flower-produce, others carry water, others smooth and
arrange the combs. A bee carries water when it is rearing grubs. No
bee ever settles on the flesh of any creature, or ever eats animal
food. They have no fixed date for commencing work; but when their
provender is forthcoming and they are in comfortable trim, and by
preference in summer, they set to work, and when the weather is fine
they work incessantly.

The bee, when quite young and in fact only three days old, after
shedding its chrysalis-case, begins to work if it be well fed. When
a swarm is settling, some bees detach themselves in search of food and
return back to the swarm. In hives that are in good condition the
production of young bees is discontinued only for the forty days
that follow the winter solstice. When the grubs are grown, the bees
put food beside them and cover them with a coating of wax; and, as
soon as the grub is strong enough, he of his own accord breaks the lid
and comes out. Creatures that make their appearance in hives and spoil
the combs the working-bees clear out, but the other bees from sheer
laziness look with indifference on damage done to their produce.
When the bee-masters take out the combs, they leave enough food behind
for winter use; if it be sufficient in quantity, the occupants of
the hive will survive; if it be insufficient, then, if the weather
be rough, they die on the spot, but if it be fair, they fly away and
desert the hive. They feed on honey summer and winter; but they
store up another article of food resembling wax in hardness, which
by some is called sandarace, or bee-bread. Their worst enemies are
wasps and the birds named titmice, and furthermore the swallow and the
bee-eater. The frogs in the marsh also catch them if they come in
their way by the water-side, and for this reason bee-keepers chase the
frogs from the ponds from which the bees take water; they destroy also
wasps' nests, and the nests of swallows, in the neighbourhood of the
hives, and also the nests of bee-eaters. Bees have fear only of one
another. They fight with one another and with wasps. Away from the
hive they attack neither their own species nor any other creature, but
in the close proximity of the hive they kill whatever they get hold
of. Bees that sting die from their inability to extract the sting
without at the same time extracting their intestines. True, they often
recover, if the person stung takes the trouble to press the sting out;
but once it loses its sting the bee must die. They can kill with their
stings even large animals; in fact, a horse has been known to have
been stung to death by them. The kings are the least disposed to
show anger or to inflict a sting. Bees that die are removed from the
hive, and in every way the creature is remarkable for its cleanly
habits; in point of fact, they often fly away to a distance to void
their excrement because it is malodorous; and, as has been said,
they are annoyed by all bad smells and by the scent of perfumes, so
much so that they sting people that use perfumes.

They perish from a number of accidental causes, and when their
kings become too numerous and try each to carry away a portion of
the swarm.

The toad also feeds on bees; he comes to the doorway of the
hive, puffs himself out as he sits on the watch, and devours the
creatures as they come flying out; the bees can in no way retaliate,
but the bee-keeper makes a point of killing him.

As for the class of bee that has been spoken of as inferior or
good-for-nothing, and as constructing its combs so roughly, some
bee-keepers say that it is the young bees that act so from
inexperience; and the bees of the current year are termed young. The
young bees do not sting as the others do; and it is for this reason
that swarms may be safely carried, as it is of young bees that they
are composed. When honey runs short they expel the drones, and the
bee-keepers supply the bees with figs and sweet-tasting articles of
food. The elder bees do the indoor work, and are rough and hairy
from staying indoors; the young bees do the outer carrying, and are
comparatively smooth. They kill the drones also when in their work
they are confined for room; the drones, by the way, live in the
innermost recess of the hive. On one occasion, when a hive was in a
poor condition, some of the occupants assailed a foreign hive; proving
victorious in a combat they took to carrying off the honey; when the
bee-keeper tried to kill them, the other bees came out and tried to
beat off the enemy but made no attempt to sting the man.

The diseases that chiefly attack prosperous hives are first of all
the clerus-this consists in a growth of little worms on the floor,
from which, as they develop, a kind of cobweb grows over the entire
hive, and the combs decay; another diseased condition is indicated
in a lassitude on the part of the bees and in malodorousness of the
hive. Bees feed on thyme; and the white thyme is better than the
red. In summer the place for the hive should be cool, and in winter
warm. They are very apt to fall sick if the plant they are at work
on be mildewed. In a high wind they carry a stone by way of ballast to
steady them. If a stream be near at hand, they drink from it and
from it only, but before they drink they first deposit their load;
if there be no water near at hand, they disgorge their honey as they
drink elsewhere, and at once make off to work. There are two seasons
for making honey, spring and autumn; the spring honey is sweeter,
whiter, and in every way better than the autumn honey. Superior
honey comes from fresh comb, and from young shoots; the red honey is
inferior, and owes its inferiority to the comb in which it is
deposited, just as wine is apt to be spoiled by its cask;
consequently, one should have it looked to and dried. When the thyme
is in flower and the comb is full, the honey does not harden. The
honey that is golden in hue is excellent. White honey does not come
from thyme pure and simple; it is good as a salve for sore eyes and
wounds. Poor honey always floats on the surface and should be
skimmed off; the fine clear honey rests below. When the floral world
is in full bloom, then they make wax; consequently you must then
take the wax out of the hive, for they go to work on new wax at
once. The flowers from which they gather honey are as follows: the
spindle-tree, the melilot-clover, king's-spear, myrtle,
flowering-reed, withy, and broom. When they work at thyme, they mix in
water before sealing up the comb. As has been already stated, they all
either fly to a distance to discharge their excrement or make the
discharge into one single comb. The little bees, as has been said, are
more industrious than the big ones; their wings are battered; their
colour is black, and they have a burnt-up aspect. Gaudy and showy
bees, like gaudy and showy women, are good-for-nothings.

Bees seem to take a pleasure in listening to a rattling noise; and
consequently men say that they can muster them into a hive by rattling
with crockery or stones; it is uncertain, however, whether or no
they can hear the noise at all and also whether their procedure is due
to pleasure or alarm. They expel from the hive all idlers and
unthrifts. As has been said, they differentiate their work; some
make wax, some make honey, some make bee-bread, some shape and mould
combs, some bring water to the cells and mingle it with the honey,
some engage in out-of-door work. At early dawn they make no noise,
until some one particular bee makes a buzzing noise two or three times
and thereby awakes the rest; hereupon they all fly in a body to
work. By and by they return and at first are noisy; then the noise
gradually decreases, until at last some one bee flies round about,
making a buzzing noise, and apparently calling on the others to go
to sleep; then all of a sudden there is a dead silence.

The hive is known to be in good condition if the noise heard
within it is loud, and if the bees make a flutter as they go out and
in; for at this time they are constructing brood-cells. They suffer
most from hunger when they recommence work after winter. They become
somewhat lazy if the bee-keeper, in robbing the hive, leave behind too
much honey; still one should leave cells numerous in proportion to the
population, for the bees work in a spiritless way if too few combs are
left. They become idle also, as being dispirited, if the hive be too
big. A hive yields to the bee-keeper six or nine pints of honey; a
prosperous hive will yield twelve or fifteen pints, exceptionally good
hives eighteen. Sheep and, as has been said, wasps are enemies to
the bees. Bee-keepers entrap the latter, by putting a flat dish on the
ground with pieces of meat on it; when a number of the wasps settle on
it, they cover them with a lid and put the dish and its contents on
the fire.
It is a good thing to have a few drones in a hive, as
their presence increases the industry of the workers. Bees can tell
the approach of rough weather or of rain; and the proof is that they
will not fly away, but even while it is as yet fine they go fluttering
about within a restricted space, and the bee-keeper knows from this
that they are expecting bad weather. When the bees inside the hive
hang clustering to one another, it is a sign that the swarm is
intending to quit; consequently, occasion, when a bee-keepers, on
seeing this, besprinkle the hive with sweet wine. It is advisable to
plant about the hives pear-trees, beans, Median-grass, Syrian-grass,
yellow pulse, myrtle, poppies, creeping-thyme, and almond-trees.
Some bee-keepers sprinkle their bees with flour, and can distinguish
them from others when they are at work out of doors. If the spring
be late, or if there be drought or blight, then grubs are all the
fewer in the hives. So much for the habits of bees.

41

Of wasps, there are two kinds. Of these kinds one is wild and
scarce, lives on the mountains, engenders grubs not underground but on
oak-trees, is larger, longer, and blacker than the other kind, is
invariably speckled and furnished with a sting, and is remarkably
courageous. The pain from its sting is more severe than that caused by
the others, for the instrument that causes the pain is larger, in
proportion to its own larger size. These wild live over into a
second year, and in winter time, when oaks have been in course of
felling, they may be seen coming out and flying away. They lie
concealed during the winter, and live in the interior of logs of wood.
Some of them are mother-wasps and some are workers, as with the
tamer kind; but it is by observation of the tame wasps that one may
learn the varied characteristics of the mothers and the workers. For
in the case of the tame wasps also there are two kinds; one consists
of leaders, who are called mothers, and the other of workers. The
leaders are far larger and milder-tempered than the others. The
workers do not live over into a second year, but all die when winter
comes on; and this can be proved, for at the commencement of winter
the workers become drowsy, and about the time of the winter solstice
they are never seen at all. The leaders, the so-called mothers, are
seen all through the winter, and live in holes underground; for men
when ploughing or digging in winter have often come upon mother-wasps,
but never upon workers. The mode of reproduction of wasps is as
follows. At the approach of summer, when the leaders have found a
sheltered spot, they take to moulding their combs, and construct the
so-called sphecons,-little nests containing four cells or thereabouts,
and in these are produced working-wasps but not mothers. When these
are grown up, then they construct other larger combs upon the first,
and then again in like manner others; so that by the close of autumn
there are numerous large combs in which the leader, the so-called
mother, engenders no longer working-wasps but mothers. These develop
high up in the nest as large grubs, in cells that occur in groups of
four or rather more, pretty much in the same way as we have seen the
grubs of the king-bees to be produced in their cells. After the
birth of the working-grubs in the cells, the leaders do nothing and
the workers have to supply them with nourishment; and this is inferred
from the fact that the leaders (of the working-wasps) no longer fly
out at this time, but rest quietly indoors. Whether the leaders of
last year after engendering new leaders are killed by the new brood,
and whether this occurs invariably or whether they can live for a
longer time, has not been ascertained by actual observation; neither
can we speak with certainty, as from observation, as to the age
attained by the mother-wasp or by the wild wasps, or as to any other
similar phenomenon. The mother-wasp is broad and heavy, fatter and
larger than the ordinary wasp, and from its weight not very strong
on the wing; these wasps cannot fly far, and for this reason they
always rest inside the nest, building and managing its indoor
arrangements. The so-called mother-wasps are found in most of the
nests; it is a matter of doubt whether or no they are provided with
stings; in all probability, like the king-bees, they have stings,
but never protrude them for offence. Of the ordinary wasps some are
destitute of stings, like the drone-bees, and some are provided with
them. Those unprovided therewith are smaller and less spirited and
never fight, while the others are big and courageous; and these
latter, by some, are called males, and the stingless, females. At
the approach of winter many of the wasps that have stings appear to
lose them; but we have never met an eyewitness of this phenomenon.
Wasps are more abundant in times of drought and in wild localities.
They live underground; their combs they mould out of chips and
earth, each comb from a single origin, like a kind of root. They
feed on certain flowers and fruits, but for the most part on animal
food. Some of the tame wasps have been observed when sexually
united, but it was not determined whether both, or neither, had
stings, or whether one had a sting and the other had not; wild wasps
have been seen under similar circumstances, when one was seen to
have a sting but the case of the other was left undetermined. The
wasp-grub does not appear to come into existence by parturition, for
at the outset the grub is too big to be the offspring of a wasp. If
you take a wasp by the feet and let him buzz with the vibration of his
wings, wasps that have no stings will fly toward it, and wasps that
have stings will not; from which fact it is inferred by some that
one set are males and the other females. In holes in the ground in
winter-time wasps are found, some with stings, and some without.
Some build cells, small and few in number; others build many and large
ones. The so-called mothers are caught at the change of season, mostly
on elm-trees, while gathering a substance sticky and gumlike. A
large number of mother-wasps are found when in the previous year wasps
have been numerous and the weather rainy; they are captured in
precipitous places, or in vertical clefts in the ground, and they
all appear to be furnished with stings.

42

So much for the habits of wasps.

Anthrenae do not subsist by culling from flowers as bees do, but
for the most part on animal food: for this reason they hover about
dung; for they chase the large flies, and after catching them lop
off their heads and fly away with the rest of the carcases; they are
furthermore fond of sweet fruits. Such is their food. They have also
kings or leaders like bees and wasps; and their leaders are larger
in proportion to themselves than are wasp-kings to wasps or
bee-kings to bees. The anthrena-king, like the wasp-king, lives
indoors. Anthrenae build their nests underground, scraping out the
soil like ants; for neither anthrenae nor wasps go off in swarms as
bees do, but successive layers of young anthrenae keep to the same
habitat, and go on enlarging their nest by scraping out more and
more of soil. The nest accordingly attains a great size; in fact, from
a particularly prosperous nest have been removed three and even four
baskets full of combs. They do not, like bees, store up food, but pass
the winter in a torpid condition; the greater part of them die in
the winter, but it is uncertain whether that can be said of them
all, In the hives of bees several kings are found and they lead off
detachments in swarms, but in the anthrena's nest only one king is
found. When individual anthrenae have strayed from their nest, they
cluster on a tree and construct combs, as may be often seen
above-ground, and in this nest they produce a king; when the king is
full-grown, he leads them away and settles them along with himself
in a hive or nest. With regard to their sexual unions, and the
method of their reproduction, nothing is known from actual
observation. Among bees both the drones and the kings are stingless,
and so are certain wasps, as has been said; but anthrenae appear to be
all furnished with stings: though, by the way, it would well be
worth while to carry out investigation as to whether the anthrena-king
has a sting or not.

43

Humble-bees produce their young under a stone, right on the
ground, in a couple of cells or little more; in these cells is found
an attempt at honey, of a poor description. The tenthredon is like the
anthrena, but speckled, and about as broad as a bee. Being epicures as
to their food, they fly, one at a time, into kitchens and on to slices
of fish and the like dainties. The tenthredon brings forth, like the
wasp, underground, and is very prolific; its nest is much bigger and
longer than that of the wasp. So much for the methods of working and
the habits of life of the bee, the wasp, and all the other similar
insects.

44

As regards the disposition or temper of animals, as has been
previously observed, one may detect great differences in respect to
courage and timidity, as also, even among wild animals, in regard to
tameness and wildness. The lion, while he is eating, is most
ferocious; but when he is not hungry and has had a good meal, he is
quite gentle. He is totally devoid of suspicion or nervous fear, is
fond of romping with animals that have been reared along with him
and to whom he is accustomed, and manifests great affection towards
them. In the chase, as long as he is in view, he makes no attempt to
run and shows no fear, but even if he be compelled by the multitude of
the hunters to retreat, he withdraws deliberately, step by step, every
now and then turning his head to regard his pursuers. If, however,
he reach wooded cover, then he runs at full speed, until he comes to
open ground, when he resumes his leisurely retreat. When, in the open,
he is forced by the number of the hunters to run while in full view,
he does run at the top of his speed, but without leaping and bounding.
This running of his is evenly and continuously kept up like the
running of a dog; but when he is in pursuit of his prey and is close
behind, he makes a sudden pounce upon it. The two statements made
regarding him are quite true; the one that he is especially afraid
of fire, as Homer pictures him in the line-'and glowing torches,
which, though fierce he dreads,'-and the other, that he keeps a steady
eye upon the hunter who hits him, and flings himself upon him. If a
hunter hit him, without hurting him, then if with a bound he gets hold
of him, he will do him no harm, not even with his claws, but after
shaking him and giving him a fright will let him go again. They invade
the cattle-folds and attack human beings when they are grown old and
so by reason of old age and the diseased condition of their teeth
are unable to pursue their wonted prey. They live to a good old age.
The lion who was captured when lame, had a number of his teeth broken;
which fact was regarded by some as a proof of the longevity of
lions, as he could hardly have been reduced to this condition except
at an advanced age. There are two species of lions, the plump,
curly-maned, and the long-bodied, straight maned; the latter kind is
courageous, and the former comparatively timid; sometimes they run
away with their tail between their legs, like a dog. A lion was once
seen to be on the point of attacking a boar, but to run away when
the boar stiffened his bristles in defence. It is susceptible of
hurt from a wound in the flank, but on any other part of its frame
will endure any number of blows, and its head is especially hard.
Whenever it inflicts a wound, either by its teeth or its claws,
there flows from the wounded parts suppurating matter, quite yellow,
and not to be stanched by bandage or sponge; the treatment for such
a wound is the same as that for the bite of a dog.

The thos, or civet, is fond of man's company; it does him no
harm and is not much afraid of him, but it is an enemy to the dog
and the lion, and consequently is not found in the same habitat with
them. The little ones are the best. Some say that there are two
species of the animal, and some say, three; there are probably not
more than three, but, as is the case with certain of the fishes,
birds, and quadrupeds, this animal changes in appearance with the
change of season. His colour in winter is not the same as it is in
summer; in summer the animal is smooth-haired, in winter he is clothed
in fur.

45

The bison is found in Paeonia on Mount Messapium, which
separates Paeonia from Maedica; and the Paeonians call it the monapos.
It is the size of a bull, but stouter in build, and not long in the
body; its skin, stretched tight on a frame, would give sitting room
for seven people. In general it resembles the ox in appearance, except
that it has a mane that reaches down to the point of the shoulder,
as that of the horse reaches down to its withers; but the hair in
its mane is softer than the hair in the horse's mane, and clings
more closely. The colour of the hair is brown-yellow; the mane reaches
down to the eyes, and is deep and thick. The colour of the body is
half red, half ashen-grey, like that of the so-called chestnut
horse, but rougher. It has an undercoat of woolly hair. The animal
is not found either very black or very red. It has the bellow of a
bull. Its horns are crooked, turned inwards towards each other and
useless for purposes of self-defence; they are a span broad, or a
little more, and in volume each horn would hold about three pints of
liquid; the black colour of the horn is beautiful and bright. The tuft
of hair on the forehead reaches down to the eyes, so that the animal
sees objects on either flank better than objects right in front. It
has no upper teeth, as is the case also with kine and all other horned
animals. Its legs are hairy; it is cloven-footed, and the tail,
which resembles that of the ox, seems not big enough for the size of
its body. It tosses up dust and scoops out the ground with its hooves,
like the bull. Its skin is impervious to blows. Owing to the savour of
its flesh it is sought for in the chase. When it is wounded it runs
away, and stops only when thoroughly exhausted. It defends itself
against an assailant by kicking and projecting its excrement to a
distance of eight yards; this device it can easily adopt over and over
again, and the excrement is so pungent that the hair of hunting-dogs
is burnt off by it. It is only when the animal is disturbed or alarmed
that the dung has this property; when the animal is undisturbed it has
no blistering effect. So much for the shape and habits of the
animal. When the season comes for parturition the mothers give birth
to their young in troops upon the mountains. Before dropping their
young they scatter their dung in all directions, making a kind of
circular rampart around them; for the animal has the faculty of
ejecting excrement in most extraordinary quantities.

46

Of all wild animals the most easily tamed and the gentlest is
the elephant. It can be taught a number of tricks, the drift and
meaning of which it understands; as, for instance, it can taught to
kneel in presence of the king. It is very sensitive, and possessed
of an intelligence superior to that of other animals. When the male
has had sexual union with the female, and the female has conceived,
the male has no further intercourse with her.

Some say that the elephant lives for two hundred years;
others, for one hundred and twenty; that the female lives nearly as
long as the male; that they reach their prime about the age of
sixty, and that they are sensitive to inclement weather and frost. The
elephant is found by the banks of rivers, but he is not a river
animal; he can make his way through water, as long as the tip of his
trunk can be above the surface, for he blows with his trunk and
breathes through it. The animal is a poor swimmer owing to the heavy
weight of his body.

47

The male camel declines intercourse with its mother; if his keeper
tries compulsion, he evinces disinclination. On one occasion, when
intercourse was being declined by the young male, the keeper covered
over the mother and put the young male to her; but, when after the
intercourse the wrapping had been removed, though the operation was
completed and could not be revoked, still by and by he bit his
keeper to death. A story goes that the king of Scythia had a
highly-bred mare, and that all her foals were splendid; that wishing
to mate the best of the young males with the mother, he had him
brought to the stall for the purpose; that the young horse declined;
that, after the mother's head had been concealed in a wrapper he, in
ignorance, had intercourse; and that, when immediately afterwards
the wrapper was removed and the head of the mare was rendered visible,
the young horse ran way and hurled himself down a precipice.

48

Among the sea-fishes many stories are told about the dolphin,
indicative of his gentle and kindly nature, and of manifestations of
passionate attachment to boys, in and about Tarentum, Caria, and other
places. The story goes that, after a dolphin had been caught and
wounded off the coast of Caria, a shoal of dolphins came into the
harbour and stopped there until the fisherman let his captive go free;
whereupon the shoal departed. A shoal of young dolphins is always,
by way of protection, followed by a large one. On one occasion a shoal
of dolphins, large and small, was seen, and two dolphins at a little
distance appeared swimming in underneath a little dead dolphin when it
was sinking, and supporting it on their backs, trying out of
compassion to prevent its being devoured by some predaceous fish.
Incredible stories are told regarding the rapidity of movement of this
creature. It appears to be the fleetest of all animals, marine and
terrestrial, and it can leap over the masts of large vessels. This
speed is chiefly manifested when they are pursuing a fish for food;
then, if the fish endeavours to escape, they pursue him in their
ravenous hunger down to deep waters; but, when the necessary return
swim is getting too long, they hold in their breath, as though
calculating the length of it, and then draw themselves together for an
effort and shoot up like arrows, trying to make the long ascent
rapidly in order to breathe, and in the effort they spring right
over the a ship's masts if a ship be in the vicinity. This same
phenomenon is observed in divers, when they have plunged into deep
water; that is, they pull themselves together and rise with a speed
proportional to their strength. Dolphins live together in pairs,
male and female. It is not known for what reason they run themselves
aground on dry land; at all events, it is said that they do so at
times, and for no obvious reason.

49

Just as with all animals a change of action follows a change
of circumstance, so also a change of character follows a change of
action, and often some portions of the physical frame undergo a
change, occurs in the case of birds. Hens, for instance, when they
have beaten the cock in a fight, will crow like the cock and endeavour
to tread him; the crest rises up on their head and the tail-feathers
on the rump, so that it becomes difficult to recognize that they are
hens; in some cases there is a growth of small spurs. On the death
of a hen a cock has been seen to undertake the maternal duties,
leading the chickens about and providing them with food, and so intent
upon these duties as to cease crowing and indulging his sexual
propensities. Some cock-birds are congenitally so feminine that they
will submit patiently to other males who attempt to tread them.

50

Some animals change their form and character, not only at
certain ages and at certain seasons, but in consequence of being
castrated; and all animals possessed of testicles may be submitted
to this operation. Birds have their testicles inside, and oviparous
quadrupeds close to the loins; and of viviparous animals that walk
some have them inside, and most have them outside, but all have them
at the lower end of the belly. Birds are castrated at the rump at
the part where the two sexes unite in copulation. If you burn this
twice or thrice with hot irons, then, if the bird be full-grown, his
crest grows sallow, he ceases to crow, and foregoes sexual passion;
but if you cauterize the bird when young, none of these male
attributes propensities will come to him as he grows up. The case is
the same with men: if you mutilate them in boyhood, the
later-growing hair never comes, and the voice never changes but
remains high-pitched; if they be mutilated in early manhood, the
late growths of hair quit them except the growth on the groin, and
that diminishes but does not entirely depart. The congenital growths
of hair never fall out, for a eunuch never grows bald. In the case
of all castrated or mutilated male quadrupeds the voice changes to the
feminine voice. All other quadrupeds when castrated, unless the
operation be performed when they are young, invariably die; but in the
case of boars, and in their case only, the age at which the
operation is performed produces no difference. All animals, if
operated on when they are young, become bigger and better looking than
their unmutilated fellows; if they be mutilated when full-grown,
they do not take on any increase of size. If stags be mutilated, when,
by reason of their age, they have as yet no horns, they never grow
horns at all; if they be mutilated when they have horns, the horns
remain unchanged in size, and the animal does not lose them. Calves
are mutilated when a year old; otherwise, they turn out uglier and
smaller. Steers are mutilated in the following way: they turn the
animal over on its back, cut a little off the scrotum at the lower
end, and squeeze out the testicles, then push back the roots of them
as far as they can, and stop up the incision with hair to give an
outlet to suppurating matter; if inflammation ensues, they cauterize
the scrotum and put on a plaster. If a full-grown bull be mutilated,
he can still to all appearance unite sexually with the cow. The
ovaries of sows are excised with the view of quenching in them
sexual appetites and of stimulating growth in size and fatness. The
sow has first to be kept two days without food, and, after being
hung up by the hind legs, it is operated on; they cut the lower belly,
about the place where the boars have their testicles, for it is
there that the ovary grows, adhering to the two divisions (or horns)
of the womb; they cut off a little piece and stitch up the incision.
Female camels are mutilated when they are wanted for war purposes, and
are mutilated to prevent their being got with young. Some of the
inhabitants of Upper Asia have as many as three thousand camels:
when they run, they run, in consequence of the length of their stride,
much quicker than the horses of Nisaea. As a general rule, mutilated
animals grow to a greater length than the unmutilated.

All animals that ruminate derive profit and pleasure from the
process of rumination, as they do from the process of eating. It is
the animals that lack the upper teeth that ruminate, such as kine,
sheep, and goats. In the case of wild animals no observation has
been possible; save in the case of animals that are occasionally
domesticated, such as the stag, and it, we know, chews the cud. All
animals that ruminate generally do so when lying down on the ground.
They carry on the process to the greatest extent in winter, and
stall-fed ruminants carry it on for about seven months in the year;
beasts that go in herds, as they get their food out of doors, ruminate
to a lesser degree and over a lesser period. Some, also, of the
animals that have teeth in both jaws ruminate; as, for instance, the
Pontic mice, and the fish which from the habit is by some called
'the Ruminant', (as well as other fish).

Long-limbed animals have loose faeces, and broad-chested animals
vomit with comparative facility, and these remarks are, in a general
way, applicable to quadrupeds, birds, and men.

49B

A considerable number of birds change according to season the
colour of their plumage and their note; as, for instance, the owsel
becomes yellow instead of black, and its note gets altered, for in
summer it has a musical note and in winter a discordant chatter. The
thrush also changes its colour; about the throat it is marked in
winter with speckles like a starling, in summer distinctly spotted:
however, it never alters its note. The nightingale, when the hills are
taking on verdure, sings continually for fifteen days and fifteen
nights; afterwards it sings, but not continuously. As summer
advances it has a different song, not so varied as before, nor so
deep, nor so intricately modulated, but simple; it also changes its
colour, and in Italy about this season it goes by a different name. It
goes into hiding, and is consequently visible only for a brief period.

The erithacus (or redbreast) and the so-called redstart change into
one another; the former is a winter bird, the latter a summer one, and
the difference between them is practically limited to the coloration
of their plumage. In the same way with the beccafico and the blackcap;
these change into one another. The beccafico appears about autumn, and
the blackcap as soon as autumn has ended. These birds, also, differ
from one another only in colour and note; that these birds, two in
name, are one in reality is proved by the fact that at the period when
the change is in progress each one has been seen with the change as
yet incomplete. It is not so very strange that in these cases there is
a change in note and in plumage, for even the ring-dove ceases to
coo in winter, and recommences cooing when spring comes in; in winter,
however, when fine weather has succeeded to very stormy weather,
this bird has been known to give its cooing note, to the
astonishment of such as were acquainted with its usual winter silence.
As a general rule, birds sing most loudly and most diversely in the
pairing season. The cuckoo changes its colour, and its note is not
clearly heard for a short time previous to its departure. It departs
about the rising of the Dog-star, and it reappears from springtime
to the rising of the Dog-star. At the rise of this star the bird
called by some oenanthe disappears, and reappears when it is
setting: thus keeping clear at one time of extreme cold, and at
another time of extreme heat. The hoopoe also changes its colour and
appearance, as Aeschylus has represented in the following lines:-

The Hoopoe, witness to his own distress,

Is clad by Zeus in variable dress:-

Now a gay mountain-bird, with knightly crest,

Now in the white hawk's silver plumage drest,

For, timely changing, on the hawk's white wing

He greets the apparition of the Spring.

Thus twofold form and colour are conferred,

In youth and age, upon the selfsame bird.

The spangled raiment marks his youthful days,

The argent his maturity displays;

And when the fields are yellow with ripe corn

Again his particoloured plumes are worn.

But evermore, in sullen discontent,

He seeks the lonely hills, in self-sought banishment.

Of birds, some take a dust-bath by rolling in dust, some take
a water-bath, and some take neither the one bath nor the other.
Birds that do not fly but keep on the ground take the dust-bath, as
for instance the hen, the partridge, the francolin, the crested
lark, the pheasant; some of the straight-taloned birds, and such as
live on the banks of a river, in marshes, or by the sea, take a
water-bath; some birds take both the dust-bath and the waterbath, as
for instance the pigeon and the sparrow; of the crooked-taloned
birds the greater part take neither the one bath nor the other. So
much for the ways of the above-mentioned, but some birds have a
peculiar habit of making a noise at their hinder quarters, as, for
instance, the turtle-dove; and they make a violent movement of their
tails at the same time that they produce this peculiar sound.

-THE END-
.

350 BC

NICOMACHEAN ETHICS

by Aristotle

translated by W. D. Ross

BOOK I

1

EVERY art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit,
is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has
rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim. But a
certain difference is found among ends; some are activities, others
are products apart from the activities that produce them. Where
there are ends apart from the actions, it is the nature of the
products to be better than the activities. Now, as there are many
actions, arts, and sciences, their ends also are many; the end of
the medical art is health, that of shipbuilding a vessel, that of
strategy victory, that of economics wealth. But where such arts fall
under a single capacity- as bridle-making and the other arts concerned
with the equipment of horses fall under the art of riding, and this
and every military action under strategy, in the same way other arts
fall under yet others- in all of these the ends of the master arts
are to be preferred to all the subordinate ends; for it is for the
sake of the former that the latter are pursued. It makes no difference
whether the activities themselves are the ends of the actions, or
something else apart from the activities, as in the case of the
sciences just mentioned.

2

If, then, there is some end of the things we do, which we desire for
its own sake (everything else being desired for the sake of this), and
if we do not choose everything for the sake of something else (for
at that rate the process would go on to infinity, so that our desire
would be empty and vain), clearly this must be the good and the
chief good. Will not the knowledge of it, then, have a great influence
on life? Shall we not, like archers who have a mark to aim at, be more
likely to hit upon what is right? If so, we must try, in outline at
least, to determine what it is, and of which of the sciences or
capacities it is the object. It would seem to belong to the most
authoritative art and that which is most truly the master art. And
politics appears to be of this nature; for it is this that ordains
which of the sciences should be studied in a state, and which each
class of citizens should learn and up to what point they should
learn them; and we see even the most highly esteemed of capacities
to fall under this, e. g. strategy, economics, rhetoric; now, since
politics uses the rest of the sciences, and since, again, it
legislates as to what we are to do and what we are to abstain from,
the end of this science must include those of the others, so that this
end must be the good for man. For even if the end is the same for a
single man and for a state, that of the state seems at all events
something greater and more complete whether to attain or to
preserve; though it is worth while to attain the end merely for one
man, it is finer and more godlike to attain it for a nation or for
city-states. These, then, are the ends at which our inquiry aims,
since it is political science, in one sense of that term.

3

Our discussion will be adequate if it has as much clearness as the
subject-matter admits of, for precision is not to be sought for
alike in all discussions, any more than in all the products of the
crafts. Now fine and just actions, which political science
investigates, admit of much variety and fluctuation of opinion, so
that they may be thought to exist only by convention, and not by
nature. And goods also give rise to a similar fluctuation because they
bring harm to many people; for before now men have been undone by
reason of their wealth, and others by reason of their courage. We must
be content, then, in speaking of such subjects and with such premisses
to indicate the truth roughly and in outline, and in speaking about
things which are only for the most part true and with premisses of the
same kind to reach conclusions that are no better. In the same spirit,
therefore, should each type of statement be received; for it is the
mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of
things just so far as the nature of the subject admits; it is
evidently equally foolish to accept probable reasoning from a
mathematician and to demand from a rhetorician scientific proofs.

Now each man judges well the things he knows, and of these he is a
good judge. And so the man who has been educated in a subject is a
good judge of that subject, and the man who has received an
all-round education is a good judge in general. Hence a young man is
not a proper hearer of lectures on political science; for he is
inexperienced in the actions that occur in life, but its discussions
start from these and are about these; and, further, since he tends
to follow his passions, his study will be vain and unprofitable,
because the end aimed at is not knowledge but action. And it makes
no difference whether he is young in years or youthful in character;
the defect does not depend on time, but on his living, and pursuing
each successive object, as passion directs. For to such persons, as to
the incontinent, knowledge brings no profit; but to those who desire
and act in accordance with a rational principle knowledge about such
matters will be of great benefit.

These remarks about the student, the sort of treatment to be
expected, and the purpose of the inquiry, may be taken as our preface.

4

Let us resume our inquiry and state, in view of the fact that all
knowledge and every pursuit aims at some good, what it is that we
say political science aims at and what is the highest of all goods
achievable by action. Verbally there is very general agreement; for
both the general run of men and people of superior refinement say that
it is happiness, and identify living well and doing well with being
happy; but with regard to what happiness is they differ, and the
many do not give the same account as the wise. For the former think it
is some plain and obvious thing, like pleasure, wealth, or honour;
they differ, however, from one another- and often even the same man
identifies it with different things, with health when he is ill,
with wealth when he is poor; but, conscious of their ignorance, they
admire those who proclaim some great ideal that is above their
comprehension. Now some thought that apart from these many goods there
is another which is self-subsistent and causes the goodness of all
these as well. To examine all the opinions that have been held were
perhaps somewhat fruitless; enough to examine those that are most
prevalent or that seem to be arguable.

Let us not fail to notice, however, that there is a difference
between arguments from and those to the first principles.