Aelian, De Natura Animalium

βασκάνων ὀφθαλμοὺς καὶ γοήτων φυλάττεται καὶ τῶν ζῴων τὰ ἄλογα φύσει τινὶ ἀπορρήτῳ καὶ θαυμαστῇ. ἀκούω γοῦν βασκανίας ἀμυντήριον τὰς φάττας δάφνης κλωνία ἀποτραγούσας λεπτὰ εἶτα μέντοι ταῖς ἑαυτῶν καλιαῖς ἐντιθέναι τῶν νεοττίων φειδοῖ· ἰκτῖνοι δὲ ῥάμνον, κίρκοι δὲ πικρίδα, αἵ γε μὴν τρυγόνες τὸν τῆς ἴρεως καρπόν, ἄγνον δὲ κόρακες, οἱ δὲ ἔποπες τὸ ἀδίαντον, ὅπερ οὖν καὶ καλλίτριχον καλοῦσί τινες, ἀριστερεῶνα δὲ κορώνη, καὶ κιττὸν ἅρπη, καρκίνον δὲ ἐρωδιός, πέρδιξ δὲ καλάμου φόβην, θαλλὸν δὲ αἱ κίχλαι μυρρίνης. προβάλλεται δὲ καὶ κόρυδος ἄγρωστιν, ἀετοὶ δὲ τὸν λίθον, ὅσπερ οὖν ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀετίτης κέκληται. λέγεται δὲ οὗτος ὁ λίθος καὶ γυναιξὶ κυούσαις ἀγαθὸν εἶναι, ταῖς ἀμβλώσεσι πολέμιος ὤν.

Even the irrational animals, by some secret and wonderful nature, guard against the eyes of those who cast the evil eye and of sorcerers. I hear, for instance, that as a defence against the evil eye wood pigeons bite off slender sprigs of bay and then place them in their nests, to protect their chicks; kites [use] buckthorn, hawks pikris [a bitter herb], turtle-doves the seed of the iris, ravens chaste-tree, hoopoes maidenhair, which some also call kallitrichon [‘fair-hair’], the crow aristereōn [a herb], the harpē [a bird of prey] ivy, the heron a crab, the partridge the plume of a reed, thrushes a sprig of myrtle. The crested lark also puts couch-grass before [its nest], and eagles the stone which is accordingly named aetitēs [‘eagle-stone’] after them. This stone is said to be good for pregnant women too, being an enemy of miscarriage.

λέγει μὲν οὖν Εὐριπίδης δυσώνυμον τὸν φθόνον· οὗτος δὲ ἄρα ἐνοικεῖ καὶ τῶν ζῴων ἔστιν οἷς. ὁ γοῦν γαλεώτης, ὥς φησι Θεόφραστος, ὅταν ἀποδύσηται τὸ γῆρας, ἐπιστραφεὶς εἶτα μέντοι καταπιὼν ἀφανίζει αὐτό· δοκεῖ δὲ ἐπιλήψεως εἶναι τὸ γῆρας τὸ τοῦδε τοῦ ζῴου ἀντίπαλον. οἶδε δὲ καὶ ἔλαφος τὸ δεξιὸν κέρας ἔχων ἐς πολλὰ ἀγαθόν, καὶ μέντοι καὶ κατορύττει τε αὐτὸ καὶ ἀποκρύπτει φθόνῳ τοῦ τοσούτων τινα ἀπολαῦσαι. ἴυγγας δὲ ἐρωτικὰς τῷ πώλῳ συντίκτουσα ἵππος οἶδε· ταῦτά τοι καὶ ἅμα τῷ τεχθῆναι τὸ βρέφος ἣ δὲ τὸ ἐπὶ τῷ μετώπῳ σαρκίον ἀπέτραγεν. ἱππόμανες ἄνθρωποι καλοῦσιν αὐτό. καὶ οἱ γόητες τὰ τοιαῦτά φασιν ὁρμάς τινας ἑλκτικὰς ἐς μίξιν ἀκατάσχετον καὶ οἶστρον ἀφροδίσιον παρέχειν καὶ ἐξάπτειν. οὔκουν τὴν ἵππον ἐθέλειν ἀνθρώπους μεταλαγχάνειν τοῦ γοητεύματος τοῦδε, ὥσπερ οὖν ἀγαθοῦ μεγίστου φθονοῦσαν. οὐ γάρ;

Euripides calls envy ‘ill-named’; and it seems that it dwells in some animals too. The galeōtēs [gecko], for instance, as Theophrastus says, when it has shed its old skin, turns round and swallows it, making it vanish; for the old skin of this creature is thought to be a counter to epilepsy. The stag too knows that its right horn is good for many purposes, and so it buries and hides it, begrudging that anyone should enjoy such great benefits. The mare knows that she brings forth love-charms together with the foal; that is why, as soon as the young one is born, she bites off the bit of flesh on its forehead. People call it hippomanes. And the sorcerers say that such things provide and kindle certain impulses that draw towards irrepressible intercourse, and a sexual frenzy. So the mare does not want human beings to share in this charm, as if begrudging them a very great good. Is it not so?

Αἰγυπτίους ἐγὼ πυνθάνομαι μαγείᾳ τινὶ ἐπιχωρίῳ τοὺς ὄρνιθας ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καταφέρειν· τῶν δὲ φωλεῶν τοὺς ὄφεις ἐπαοιδαῖς τισι καταγοητεύσαντες εἶτα μέντοι προάγουσι ῥᾷστα.

I learn that the Egyptians bring birds down from the sky by a kind of native magic; and having bewitched snakes with certain incantations, they then draw them out of their holes with the greatest ease.

ἴδιον δὲ τῶν ζῴων καὶ ἡ φιλανθρωπία. ἀετὸς γοῦν ἔθρεψε βρέφος. καὶ εἰπεῖν τὸν πάντα λόγον ἐθέλω, ὡς ἂν γένηται μάρτυς ὧν προεθέμην. Βαβυλωνίων βασιλεύοντος Σευηχόρου Χαλδαῖοι λέγουσι τὸν γενόμενον ἐκ τῆς ἐκείνου θυγατρὸς τὴν βασιλείαν ἀφαιρήσεσθαι τὸν πάππον. τοῦτο ἐκεῖνος πέφρικε, καὶ ἵνα εἴπω τι καὶ ὑποπαίσας Ἀκρίσιος γίνεται ἐς τὴν παῖδα· ἐφρούρει γὰρ πικρότατα. λάθρᾳ δὲ ἠ παῖς ʽἦν γὰρ τοῦ Βαβυλωνίου σοφώτερον τὸ χρεώνʼ τίκτει ὑποπλησθεῖσα ἔκ τινος ἀνδρὸς ἀφανοῦς. τοῦτο οὖν οἱ φυλάττοντες δέει τοῦ βασιλέως ἔρριψαν ἐκ τῆς ἀκροπόλεως· ἦν γὰρ ἐνταῦθα ἀφειργμένη ἡ προειρημένη. οὐκοῦν ἀετὸς τὴν ἔτι τοῦ παιδὸς καταφορὰν ὀξύτατα ἰδών, πρὶν ἢ τῇ γῇ προσαραχθῆναι τὸ βρέφος, ὑπῆλθεν αὐτὸ καὶ τὰ νῶτα ὑπέβαλε, καὶ κομίζει ἐς κῆπόν τινα, καὶ τίθησι πεφεισμένως εὖ μάλα. ὁ τοίνυν τοῦ χώρου μελεδωνὸς τὸ καλὸν παιδίον θεασάμενος ἐρᾷ αὐτοῦ καὶ τρέφει· καὶ καλεῖται Γίλγαμος, καὶ βασιλεύει Βαβυλωνίων. εἰ δέ τῳ δοκεῖ μῦθος τοῦτο, σύμφημι πειρώμενος ἐς ἰσχὺν κατεγνωκέναι αὐτόν· Ἀχαιμένη γε μὴν τὸν Πέρσην, ἀφʼ οὗ καὶ κάτεισιν ἡ τῶν Περσῶν εὐγένεια, ἀετοῦ τρόφιμον ἀκούω γενέσθαι.

Love of human beings is also characteristic of animals. An eagle, for instance, reared a baby. And I want to tell the whole story, so that it may bear witness to what I have proposed. When Seuechorus was king of the Babylonians, the Chaldeans said that the child born of his daughter would take the kingdom away from his grandfather. He shuddered at this and, if I may say it a little playfully, became an Acrisius towards his daughter, for he guarded her most harshly. But the girl (for fate was cleverer than the Babylonian) secretly gave birth, having been made pregnant by some obscure man. So the guards, for fear of the king, threw [the baby] from the citadel, for that was where the girl was shut up. Then an eagle, very keenly seeing the child while it was still falling, before the baby could be dashed against the ground, flew in beneath it and put its back under it, and carried it to a garden and set it down very gently. The keeper of the place, seeing the beautiful little child, loved it and reared it; and he was called Gilgamos, and became king of the Babylonians. If this seems a fable to anyone, I agree, having tried as hard as I can to find against it; but I do hear that Achaemenes the Persian, from whom the nobility of the Persians descends, was an eagle’s nursling.