I am not unaware that you will think that my examples are rather a hodge-podge; but it is not easy to find naturally clever animals doing anything which illustrates merely one of their virtues. Their probity, rather, is revealed in their love of offspring and their cleverness in their nobility; then, too, their craftiness and intelligence is inseparable from their ardour and courage. Those, nevertheless, who are intent on classifying and defining each separate occasion will find that dogs give the impression of a mind that is at once civil and superior when they turn away from those who sit on the ground - which is presumably referred to in the linesHomer, , xiv. 30 f.; cf. Pliny, viii. 146; Antigonus, 24; Aristotle, , ii. 3. 6 (1380 a 24). The dogs barked and rushed up, but wise Odysseus Cunningly crouched; the staff slipped from his hand; for dogs cease attacking those who have thrown themselves down and taken on an attitude that resembles humility.Cf. Pliny, viii. 48, of the lion.

They relate further that the champion of the Indian dogs, one greatly admired by Alexander,There are nearly as many emendations of this phrase as there have been scholars interested in Plutarch’s text. Van Herwerden’s version, as having the liveliest sense, has been preferred. It is by no means certain, however, though supported by Aelian, viii. 1; Pliny, viii. 149; cf. also Pollux, v. 43-44 and the parallels cited by Bethe ad loc. See also Aelian, iv. 19 and Diodorus, xvii. 94. when a stag was let loose and a boar and a bear, lay quiet and still and disregarded them; but when a lion appeared, it sprang up at once to prepare for the fray, showing clearly that it chose to match itself with the lionPliny, viii. 149 f., adds the elephant as a worthy match. and scorned all the others.

Hounds that hunt hares, if they themselves kill them, enjoy pulling them to piecesSo break up; Xenophon, , vii. 9. and eagerly lap up the blood; but if, as frequently happens, a hare in desperation exhausts all its breath in a final sprint and expires, the hounds, when they come upon it dead, will not touch it at all, but stand there wagging their tails, as much as to say that they do not strive for food, but for victory and the honour of winning.

There are many examples of cunning, but I shall dismiss foxes and wolvesCf. Pindar, , ii. 84; Oppian, , iii. 266. and the tricks of crane and daw (for they are obvious), and shall take for my witness Thales,Omitted in Diels-Kranz, , not without reason. Cf. Aelian, vii. 42. the most ancient of the Wise Men,See the ( 146 b ff.). not the least of whose claims to admiration, they say, was his getting the better of a mule by a trick. For one of the mules that were used to carry salt, on entering a river, accidentally stumbled and, since the salt melted away, it was free of its burden when it got up. It recognized the cause of this and bore it in mind. The result was that every time it crossed the river, it would deliberately lower itself and wet the bags, crouching and bending first to one side, then to the other. When Thales heard of this, he gave orders to fill the bags with wool and sponges instead of salt and to drive the mule laden in this manner. So when it played its customary trick and soaked its burden with water, it came to know that its cunning was unprofitable and thereafter was so attentive and cautious in crossing the river that the water never touched the slightest portion of its burden even by accident.

PartridgesCf. 992 b infra; 494 e and the references there; add Pliny, x. 103; Philo, 35 (p. 117) (probably referring to partridges, though the Latin version reads palumbae); Antigonus, 39; Aelian, iii. 16; xi. 38; Aristotle, 613 b 31. exhibit another piece of cunning, combined with affection for their young. They teach their fledglings, who are not yet able to fly, to lie on their backs when they are pursued and to keep above them as a screen some piece of turf or rubbish. The mothers meanwhile lure the hunters in another direction and divert attention to themselves, fluttering along at their feet and rising only briefly until, by making it seem that they are on the point of being captured, they draw them far away from their young.

When haresCf. Aelian, xiii. 11; vi. 47. return for repose, they put to sleep their leverets in quite different places, often as much as a hundred feet apart, so that, if man or dog comes near, they shall not all be simultaneously in danger. The hares themselves run to and fro and leave tracks in many places, but last of all with a great leap they leave their traces far behind, and so to bed.

The she-bear, just prior to the state called hibernation,Cf. Aelian, vi. 3; Pliny, viii. 126 f.; Mair on Oppian, iii. 173 (L.C.L.). before she becomes quite torpid and heavy and finds it difficult to move, cleans out her Iair and, when about to enter, approaches it as lightly and inconspicuously as possible, treading on tiptoe, then turns around and backs into the den.These precautions seem to have been successful (though Cf. the implications of Pliny, viii. 128), since Aristotle ( viii. 17, 600 b 6 f.) says that either no one (or very few) has ever caught a pregnant bear. Cf. Pliny, viii. 95 and Amm. Marc. xxii. 15. 22, of the hippopotamus entering a field backwards.

Hinds are inclined to bear their young beside a public road where carnivorous animals do not comeAristotle ( ix. 5, 611 a 17) notes that highways were shunned by wild animals because they feared men. Cf. also Antigonus, 35 and Mair on Oppian, ii. 207 (L.C.L.).; and stags, when they observe that they have grown heavy by reason of their fat and surplus flesh, vanish and preserve themselves by hiding when they do not trust to their heels.Cf. Pliny, viii. 113; [Aristotle], 5; 611 a 23.

The way in which hedgehogs defend and guard themselves has occasioned the proverbSee Shorey on Plato, , 423 e (L.C.L.); Leutsch and Schneidewin, , i, p. 147, Zenobius, v. 68; attributed by Zenobius to Archilochus (Diehl, , i, p. 241, frag. 103; Edmonds, , ii, p. 174, frag. 118) and to Homer. Zenobius also quotes five lines from Ion, of which the last two are Plutarch’s next quotation.: The fox knows many tricks, but the hedgehog one big one; for when the fox approaches, as IonNauck, p. 739; frag. 38, verses 4 f. (see the preceding note). says, it, Curling its spiny body in a coil, Lies still, impregnable to touch or bite. But the provision that the hedgehog makes for its young is even more ingenious. When autumn comes, it creeps under the vines and with its paws shakes down to the ground grapes from the bunches and, having rolled about in them, gets up with them attached to its quills. Once when I was a child I saw one, like a creeping or walking bunch of grapes!The mss. add an unnecessary explanation: so covered with fruit was it as it walked. Cf. Pliny, viii. 133; Aelian, iii. 10; vi. 169. Then it goes down into its hole and delivers the load to its young for them to enjoy and draw rations from. Their lair has two openings, one facing the south, the other the north; when they perceive that the wind will change, like good skippers who shift sail, they block up the entrance which lies to the wind and open the other.Cf. 979 a infra; Aristotle, ix. 6 (612 b 4 ff.); Pliny, viii. 133; Cf. viii. 138, of squirrels. On animals who predict the weather see Pliny, xviii. 361-364. And a man in CyzicusAristotle (loc. cit.) says Byzantium (and see infra, 979 b). observing this acquired a reputation for being able to predict unaided which way the wind would blow.

Elephants, as JubaMüller, iii, p. 474; Jacoby, iii, pp. 146 f., frag. 51 a, 53; Cf. Pliny, viii. 24; Aelian, viii. 15; vi. 61; and see the criticism in 977 d-e infra. On the mutual assistance of elephants see Philostratus, ii. 16. declares, exhibit a social capacity joined with intelligence. Hunters dig pits for them, covering them with slender twigs and light rubbish; when, accordingly, any elephant of a number travelling together falls in, the others bring wood and stones and throw them in to fili up the excavation so that their comrade can easily get out. He also relates that, without any instruction, elephants pray to the gods, purifying themselves in the seaCf. Pliny, viii. 1 f.; Dio Cassius, xxxix. 38. 5. and, when the sunThe moon in Aelian, iv. 10, but the sun in vii. 44; of tigers in Philostratus, ii. 28. rises, worshipping it by raising their trunks, as if they were hands of supplication. For this reason they are the animal most loved of the gods, as Ptolemy PhilopatorAelian, vii. 44: Ptolemy IV (c. 244-205 b.c.), who reigned 221-205. The decisive defeat of Antiochus III was at Raphia in 217. For the gods loving elephants see Aelian, vii. 2; al. has testified; for when he had vanquished Antiochus and wished to honour the gods in a really striking way, among many other offerings to commemorate his victory in battle, he sacrificed four elephants. Thereafter, since he had dreams by night in which the deity angrily threatened him because of that strange sacrifice, he employed many rites of appeasement and set up as a votive offering four bronze elephants to match those he had slaughtered.

Social usages are to be found no less among lions. For young lions take along with them to the hunt the old and slow; when the latter are tired out, they rest and wait, while the young lions hunt on. When they have taken anything, they summon the others by a roaring like the bleat of a calf; the old ones hear it at once and come to partake in common of the prey.Cf. Aelian, ix. 1.

The loves of some animals are wild and furious, while others have a refinement which is not far from human and an intercourse conducted with much grace. Such was the elephant which at Alexandria played the rival to AristophanesCf. Aelian, i. 38 (Cf. vii. 43); Pliny, viii. 13. the grammarian. They were, in fact, in love with the same flower-girl; nor was the elephant’s love the less manifest: as he passed by the market, he always brought her fruit and stood beside her for a long time and would insert his trunk, like a hand,Cf. Mair on Oppian, ii. 524 for additional authorities. within her garments and gently caress her fair breasts.

The serpent that fell in love with an Aetolian womanTold somewhat differently, and of a Jewish woman, in Aelian, vi. 17. used to visit her at night and slip under some part of her body next the skin and coil about her without doing her any harm at all, either intentional or accidental; but always at daybreak it was decent enough to glide away. And this it did constantly until the kinsmen of the woman removed her to a house at some distance. The serpent did not come to her for three or four nights; but all the time, we may suppose, it was going about in search of her and missing its goal. At last, when it had somehow found her with difficulty, it embraced her, not with that former gentleness it had used, but rather more roughly, its coils binding her hands to her body, and with the end of its tail it lashed the calves of her legs, displaying a light and tender anger that had in it more indulgence than punishment.

As for the goose in Aegium that loved a boy and the ram that set his heart on GlauceAlso a goose in Pliny, x. 51. Both stories are in Aelian, v. 29 (cf. i. 6; viii. 11); for Glauce see also Gow’s note on Theocritus, iv. 31. the harp-player, since these are famous tales and I rather imagine you have had enough of such to spoil your appetite for more,More in Aelian, xii. 37; al. I omit them.