Part 36 (1/2)

19. Some also are killed by means of a little bird called the trochilus, which, while seeking for some picking of small food, and flying gently about the beast while asleep, tickles its cheeks till it comes to the neighbourhood of its throat. And when the hydrus, which is a kind of ichneumon, perceives this, it penetrates into its mouth, which the bird has caused to open, and descends into its stomach, where it devours its entrails, and then comes forth again.

20. But the crocodile, though a bold beast towards those who flee, is very timid when it finds a brave enemy. It has a most acute sight, and for the four months of winter is said to do without food.

21. The hippopotamus, also, is produced in this country; the most sagacious of all animals dest.i.tute of reason. He is like a horse, with cloven hoofs, and a short tail. Of his sagacity it will be sufficient to produce two instances.

22. The animal makes his lair among dense beds of reeds of great height, and while keeping quiet watches vigilantly for every opportunity of sallying out to feed on the crops. And when he has gorged himself, and is ready to return, he walks backwards, and makes many tracks, to prevent any enemies from following the straight road and so finding and easily killing him.

23. Again, when he feels lazy from having his stomach swollen by excessive eating, it rolls its thighs and legs on freshly-cut reeds, in order that the blood which is discharged through the wounds thus made may relieve his fat. And then he smears his wounded flesh with clay till the wounds get scarred over.

24. This monster was very rare till it was first exhibited to the Roman people in the aediles.h.i.+p of Scaurus, the father of that Scaurus whom Cicero defended, when he charged the Sardinians to cherish the same opinion as the rest of the world of the authority of that n.o.ble family.

Since that time, at different periods, many specimens have been brought to Rome, and now they are not to be found in Egypt, having been driven, according to the conjecture of the inhabitants, up to the Blemmyae[135]

by being incessantly pursued by the people.

25. Among the birds of Egypt, the variety of which is countless, is the ibis, a sacred and amiable bird, also valuable, because by heaping up the eggs of serpents in its nest for food it causes these fatal pests to diminish.

26. They also sometimes encounter flocks of winged snakes, which come laden with poison from the marshes of Arabia. These, before they can quit their own region, they overcome in the air, and then devour them.

This bird, we are told, produces its young through its mouth.

27. Egypt also produces innumerable quant.i.ties of serpents, destructive beyond all other creatures. Basilisks, amphisbaenas,[136] scytalae, acontiae, dipsades, vipers, and many others. The asp is the largest and most beautiful of all; but that never, of its own accord, quits the Nile.

28. There are also in this country many things exceedingly worthy of observation, of which it is a good time now to mention a few. Everywhere there are temples of great size. There are seven marvellous pyramids, the difficulty of building which, and the length of time consumed in the work, are recorded by Herodotus. They exceed in height anything ever constructed by human labour, being towers of vast width at the bottom and ending in sharp points.

29. And their shape received this name from the geometricians because they rise in a cone like fire (p??). And huge as they are, as they taper off gradually, they throw no shadow, in accordance with a principle of mechanics.

30. There are also subterranean pa.s.sages, and winding retreats, which, it is said, men skilful in the ancient mysteries, by means of which they divined the coming of a flood, constructed in different places lest the memory of all their sacred ceremonies should be lost. On the walls, as they cut them out, they have sculptured several kinds of birds and beasts, and countless other figures of animals, which they call hieroglyphics.

31. There is also Syene, where at the time of the summer solstice the rays surrounding upright objects do not allow the shadows to extend beyond the bodies. And if any one fixes a post upright in the ground, or sees a man or a tree standing erect, he will perceive that their shadow is consumed at the extremities of their outlines. This also happens at Meroe, which is the spot in Ethiopia nearest to the equinoctial circle, and where for ninety days the shadows fall in a way just opposite to ours, on account of which the natives of that district are called Antiscii.[137]

32. But as there are many other wonders which would go beyond the plan of our little work, we must leave these to men of lofty genius, and content ourselves with relating a few things about the provinces.

XVI.

-- 1. In former times Egypt is said to have been divided into three provinces: Egypt proper, the Thebais, and Libya, to which in later times two more have been added, Augustamnica, which has been cut off from Egypt proper, and Pentapolis, which has been detached from Libya.

2. Thebais, among many other cities, can boast especially of Hermopolis, Coptos, and Antinous, which Hadrian built in honour of his friend Antinous. As to Thebes, with, its hundred gates, there is no one ignorant of its renown.

3. In Augustamnica, among others, there is the n.o.ble city of Pelusium, which is said to have been founded by Peleus, the father of Achilles, who by command of the G.o.ds was ordered to purify himself in the lake adjacent to the walls of the city, when, after having slain his brother Phocus, he was driven about by horrid images of the Furies; and Ca.s.sium, where the tomb of the great Pompey is, and Ostracine, and Rhinocolura.

4. In Libya Pentapolis is Cyrene, a city of great antiquity, but now deserted, founded by Battus the Spartan, and Ptolemais, and Arsinoe, known also as Teuchira, and Darnis, and Berenice, called also Hesperides.

5. And in the dry Libya, besides a few other insignificant towns, there are Paraetonium, Chaerecla, and Neapolis.

6. Egypt proper, which ever since it has been united to the Roman empire has been under the government of a prefect, besides some other towns of smaller importance, is distinguished by Athribis, and Oxyrynchus, and Thmuis, and Memphis.

7. But the greatest of all the cities is Alexandria, enn.o.bled by many circ.u.mstances, and especially by the grandeur of its great founder, and the skill of its architect Dinocrates, who, when he was laying the foundation of its extensive and beautiful walls, for want of mortar, which could not be procured at the moment, is said to have marked out its outline with flour; an incident which foreshowed that the city should hereafter abound in supplies of provisions.

8. At Inibis the air is wholesome, the sky pure and undisturbed; and, as the experience of a long series of ages proves, there is scarcely ever a day on which the inhabitants of this city do not see the sun.