Click on a word to bring up parses, dictionary entries, and frequency statistics
γῆ μὲν Αἰθιοπίς ῾γείτων δὲ καὶ μάλα ἀγαθὸς καὶ ἀξιόζηλος τὸ τῶν θεῶν λουτρόν, ὃ Ὅμηρος ἡμῖν Ὠκεανὸν ᾄδεἰ οὐκοῦν ἥδε ἡ γῆ δρακόντων μήτηρ ἐστὶ μεγέθει μεγίστων: καὶ γάρ τοι καὶ ἐς τριάκοντα ὀργυιὰς προήκουσι, καὶ τὸ ὄνομα μὲν τὸ ἀπὸ γενεᾶς οὐ καλοῦνται, φονέας δὲ ἐλεφάντων φασὶν αὐτούς, καὶ ἁμιλλῶνται πρὸς γῆρας τὸ μήκιστον οἵδε οἱ δράκοντες. καὶ λόγοι μὲν Αἰθίοπες ἐνταῦθά μοι ἵστανται. λέγουσι δὲ Φρύγιοι λόγοι καὶ ἐν Φρυγίᾳ γίνεσθαι δράκοντας, καὶ προήκειν αὐτοὺς ἐς δέκα ὀργυιάς, καὶ μεσοῦντος θέρους ὁσημέραι μετὰ πλήθουσαν ἀγορὰν ἐξέρπειν τῶν φωλεῶν. καὶ παρὰ τῷ ποταμῷ τῷ καλουμένῳ Ῥυνδάκῳ τὸ μέν τι τῆς σπείρας [p. 45] ἀπήρεισαν ἐς τὴν γῆν, τὸ λοιπὸν δὲ σῶμα ἀναστήσαντες πᾶν, ἀτρέμα καὶ ἡσυχῆ τὴν φάρυγγα ἀνατείναντες καὶ μέντοι καὶ τὸ στόμα ἀνοίξαντες, εἶτα τὰ πτηνὰ ἕλκουσιν οἱονεὶ ἴυγγι τῷ ἄσθματι. τὰ δὲ ἐς τὰς ἐκείνων ἐσπίπτει γαστέρας ὑπὸ τῆς παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐκπνοῆς συρόμενα αὐτοῖς πτεροῖς. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἰδίᾳ ἐκείνοις δρᾶται ἐς ἡλίου δυσμάς: εἶτα ἑαυτοὺς οἱ δράκοντες ἀποκρύψαντες ἐλλοχῶσι τὰς ποίμνας καὶ ἐκ τῆς νομῆς ἐπὶ τὰ αὔλια ἰούσας αἱροῦσι, καὶ πολὺν φόνον ἐργασάμενοι καὶ τοὺς νομέας συνδιέφθειραν πολλάκις, καὶ ἔχουσι δεῖπνον ἄφθονόν τε καὶ ἀμφιλαφές.
Claudii Aeliani de natura animalium libri xvii, varia historia, epistolae, fragmenta, Vol 1. Aelian. Rudolf Hercher. In Aedibus B.G. Teubneri. Lipsiae. 1864. Keyboarding.
Google Digital Humanities Awards Program 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.