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 Pliny's Naturalis Historia : Books 8-11 Between the Ears - Satuday 26th March Read the extracts from Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia, about the sea, land and air, to be featured on Between The Ears on Saturday 26th March  SEAVelocissimum omnium animalium, non solum marinorum, est delphinus, ocior volucre, acrior telo. The swiftest of all animals, not only those of the sea, is the dolphin. It is swifter than a bird and darts faster than a javelin. Pro voce gemitus humano similis. For a voice they have a moan like that of a human being. Delphinus non homini tantum amicum animal, verum et musicae arti, The dolphin is an animal that is not only friendly to mankind but is also a lover of music, mulcetur symphoniae cantu, set praecipue hydrauli sono. and it can be charmed by singing in harmony, but particularly by the sound of the water organ. Maximum animal in Indico mari pristis et ballaena est, in Gallico oceano physeter, ingentis columnae modo se attollens altiorque navium velis diluviem quandam eructans. The largest animals in the Indian Ocean are the shark and the whale; the largest in the Bay of Biscay is the sperm whale, which rears up like a vast pillar higher than a ship's rigging and belches out a short of deluge. Ora ballaenae habent in frontibus ideoque summa aqua natantes in sublime nimbos efflant. Whales have their mouths in their foreheads and consequently when swimming on the surface of the water they blow clouds of spray into the air. Lolligo etiam volitat . . .. . . ambo autem, ubi sensere se adprehendi, effuso atramento, quod pro sanguine iis est, infuscata aqua absconduntur. The cuttle fish even flies. Both sexes, on perceiving they are being caught hold of, pour out a dark fluid which these animals have instead of blood, so darkening the water and concealing themselves. Cancris vita longa, pedes octoni, omnes in obliquum flexi. praeterea bina bracchia denticulatis forcipibus. superior pars in primoribus his movetur, inferiore inmobili. dexterum bracchium omnibus maius. Crabs are long lived. They have eight feet, all curved crooked. They also have two claws and denticulated nippers. The upper part moves and the lower half is fixed. The right claw is the larger in every specimen. Next Page  |
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