Latin Texts & Translations

The vulgar notion is, that the elephant goes with young ten years; ^[Note] but, according to Aristotle, it is two years only. He says also that the female only bears once, and then a single young one; that they live two hundred years, and some of them as much as three hundred. The adult age of the elephant begins at the sixtieth year. ^[Note] They are especially fond of water, and wander much about streams, and this although they are unable to swim, in consequence of their bulk. ^[Note] They are particularly sensitive to cold, and that, indeed, is their greatest enemy. They are subject also to flatulency, and to looseness of the bowels, but

to no other kind of disease. ^[Note] I find it stated, that on making them drink oil, any weapons which may happen to stick in their body will fall out; while, on the contrary, perspiration makes them the more readily adhere. ^[Note] If they eat earth it is poison to them, unless indeed they have gradually become accustomed by repeatedly doing so. They also devour stones as well; but the trunks of trees are their most favourite food. They throw down, with a blow from their forehead, palms of exceeding height, and when lying on the ground, strip them of their fruit. They eat with the mouth, but they breathe, drink, ^[Note] and smell with [the proboscis], which is not unaptly termed their "hand." They have the greatest aversion to the mouse of all animals, ^[Note] and quite loathe their food, as it lies in the manger, if they perceive that it has been touched by one of those animals. They experience the greatest torture if they happen to swallow, while drinking, a horseleech, an animal which people are beginning, I find, to call almost universally a "blood-sucker." ^[Note] The leech fastens upon the wind-pipe, and produces intolerable pain.

The skin of the back is extremely hard, that of the belly is softer. They are not covered with any kind of bristles, nor yet does the tail even furnish them with any protection from the annoyance of flies; for vast as these animals are, they suffer greatly from them. Their skin is reticulated, and invites these insects by the odour it exhales. Accordingly, when a swarm of them has settled on the skin, while extended and smooth, the elephant suddenly contracts it; and, in this way,

the flies are crushed between the folds which are thus closed. This power serves them in place of tail, mane, and hair. ^[Note]

Their teeth are very highly prized, and from them we obtain the most costly materials for forming the statues of the gods. Luxury has discovered even another recommendation in this animal, having found a particularly delicate flavour in the cartilaginous part of the trunk, for no other reason, in my belief, than because it fancies itself to be eating ivory. ^[Note] Tusks of enormous size are constantly to be seen in the temples; but, in the extreme parts of Africa, on the confines of Æthiopia, they are employed as door-posts for houses; and Polybius informs us, on the authority of the petty king Gulussa, ^[Note] that they are also employed as stakes in making fences for the folds of cattle.