This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Table of Contents:
But perhaps we may seem ridiculous for signalizing
beasts in this manner because they learn, since we find
that Democritus affirms us to have been their scholars in
the greatest matters;—of the spider, in weaving and
repairing what we tear or wear out; of the swallow, in
building houses; and of the mournful swan and nightingale, in singing and imitation. Moreover in others we
observe a threefold practice of physic, both natural and
inbred. For tortoises make use of marjoram and weasels
eat rue, when they have devoured a serpent; and dogs
[p. 192]
purge themselves from abounding gall with a certain sort
of grass. The dragon quickens the dimness of his sight
with fennel; and the bear, coming forth of her cave after
long emaciation, feeds upon the wild arum, for the acrimony of that herb opens and separates her guts when
clung together. At other times, being overcloyed with
food, she repairs to the emmet-hills, and thrusting forth
her tongue all soft and unctuous, by reason of the sweet
kind of slime that all besmears it, till it be crowded with
emmets, at length swallows them down her throat, and so
recovers. And it is reported that the Egyptians observe
and imitate the bird called ibis, in purging and cleansing
her bowels with the briny sea-water. For which reason
the priests, when they hallow themselves, make use of the
water of which the ibis has drunk; for that those birds
will not drink the water, if it be medicinal or otherwise
infected. Some beasts there are that cure themselves by
abstinence; as wolves and lions, who, when they are
gorged with flesh, lie still and digest their crudities by the
warmth of one another's bodies. It is reported also of
the tiger, that if a kid be thrown to her, she will not eat
in two days; but growing almost famished the third day,
if she be not supplied with another, she will tear down
the cage that holds her, if she have strength enough; yet
all this while she will not meddle with the first kid, as
being her companion and fellow-housekeeper.
More than this, the elephants are said to make use of
chirurgery; for that being brought to persons wounded,
they will draw forth the heads of spears and arrows out
of their bodies with little pain, and without dilacerating
and mangling the flesh.
The Cretan goats, which by eating dittany expel the
arrows shot into their bodies, taught women with child to
understand the virtue of that herb, so prevalent to expel
the birth. For those goats being wounded seek no other
cure, but presently seek out and hunt for dittany.
[p. 193]
Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals. Translated from the Greek by several hands. Corrected and revised by. William W. Goodwin, PH. D. Boston. Little, Brown, and Company. Cambridge. Press Of John Wilson and son. 1874. 5.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.