Part 5
“It is certaine, that the devills do many waies delude men in the likeness of _Satyres_; for, when the drunken feasts of _Bacchus_ were yearely celebrated in _Parnassus_, there were many sightes of _Satyres_, and voyces, and sounding of cymbals heard: yet it is likely that there are men also like Satyres, inhabiting in some desart places; for _S. Ierom_, in the life of _Paul the Eremite_, reporteth that there appeared to _S. Anthony_, an _Hippocentaure_ such as the Poets describe, and presently he saw, in a rocky valley adjoining, a little man having croked nostrils, hornes growing out of his forhed, and the neather part of his body had Goat’s feet; the holy man, not dismayed, taking the shield of faith, and the breastplate of righteousnesse, like a good souldior of Christ, pressed toward him, which brought him some fruites of palmes as pledges of his peace, upon which he fed in the journey; which Saint _Anthony_ perceiving, he asked him who he was, and received this answere; I am a mortall creature, one of the inhabitants of this Desart, whom the Gentiles (deceived with error) doe worship, and call _Fauni_, _Satyres_, and _Incubi_: I am come in ambassage from our flocke, intreating that thou would’st pray for us unto the common GOD, who came to save the world; the which words were no sooner ended, but he ran away as fast as any foule could fly. And least this should seeme false, under _Constantine_ at _Alexandria_ there was such a man to be seene alive, and was a publick spectacle to all the World; the carcasse thereof, after his death, was kept from corruption by heat, through salt, and was carried to _Antiocha_ that the Emperor himself might see it.
“_Satyres_ are very sildom seene, and taken with great difficulty, as is before saide: for there were two of these founde in the woods of _Saxony_ towards _Dacia_, in a desart, the female was killed by the darts of the hunters, and the biting of Dogs, but the male was taken alive, being in the upper parts like a man, and in the neather partes like a Goat, but all hairy throughout: he was brought to be tame, and learned to go upright, and also to speake some wordes, but with a voice like a Goat, and without all reason.
“The famous learned man _George Fabricius_, shewed me this shape of a monstrous beast that is fit to be joyned to the story of _Satyres_. There was, (saide he,) in the territory of the Bishop of _Salceburgh_, in a forrest called _Fannesbergh_, a certaine foure-footed beast, of a yellowish carnation colour, but so wilde that he would never be drawne to looke upon any man, hiding himselfe in the darkest places, and beeing watched diligently, would not be provoked to come forth so much as to eate his meate--so that in a very short time it was famished. The hinder legs were much unlike the former, and also much longer. It was taken about the year of the Lord, one thousand five hundred, thirty, whose image being here so lively described, may save us further labour in discoursing of his maine and different parts and proportion.”
THE SPHYNX.
“The SPHYNGA or _Sphinx_, is of the kind of Apes, but his breast up to his necke, pilde and smooth without hayre: the face is very round, yet sharp and piked, having the breasts of women, and their favor, or visage, much like them: In that part of the body which is bare with out haire, there is a certaine red thing rising in a round circle, like millet seed, which giveth great grace & comeliness to their coulour, which in the middle part is humaine: Their voice is very like a man’s, but not articulate, sounding as if one did speake hastily, with indignation or sorrow. Their haire browne, or swarthy coulour. They are bred in _India_, and _Ethiopia_. In the promontory of the farthest _Arabia_ neere _Dira_, are _Sphinges_, and certaine _Lyons_, called _Formicæ_, so, likewise, they are to be found amongest the _Trogloditæ_.
“As the _Babouns_ and _Cynocephali_ are more wilde than other Apes, so the _Satyres_ and _Sphynges_ are more meeke and gentle, for they are not so wilde that they will not bee tamed, nor yet so tame, but they will revenge their own harmes; as appeared by that which was slayne in a publike spectacle among the _Thebanes_. They carrye their meat in the store houses of their own chaps or cheeks, taking it forth when they are hungry, and so eat it.
“The name of this _Sphynx_ is taken from ‘binding,’ as appeareth by the Greek notation, or else of delicacie and dainty nice loosnesse, (wherefore there were certain common strumpets called _Sphinctæ_, and the _Megarian Sphingas_ was a very popular phrase for notorious harlots), hath given occasion to the poets to faigne a certaine monster called _Sphynx_, which they say was thus derived. _Hydra_ brought foorth the _Chimæra_, _Chimæra_ by _Orthus_, the _Sphynx_, and the _Nemæan_ Lyon: now, this _Orthus_ was one of _Geryon’s_ dogges. This _Sphynx_ they make a treble formed monster, a Mayden’s face, a Lyon’s legs, and the wings of a fowle; or, as _Ansonius_ and _Varinus_ say, the face and head of a mayde, the body of a dogge, the winges of a byrd, the voice of a man, the clawes of a Lyon, and the tayle of a dragon: and that she kept continually in the _Sphincian_ mountaine; propounding to all travailers that came that way an _Ænigma_, or Riddle, which was this: _What was the creature that first of all goeth on foure legges; afterwards on two, and, lastly, on three_: and all of them that could not dissolve that Riddle, she presently slew, by taking them, and throwing them downe headlong, from the top of a Rocke. At last _Œdipus_ came that way, and declared the secret, that it _was a man, who in his infancy creepeth on all foure_, afterward, _in youth, goeth upon two legs_, and last of all, _in olde age taketh unto him a staffe which maketh him to goe, as it were, on three legs_; which the monster hearing, she presently threwe down herselfe from the former rocke, and so she ended. Whereupon Œdipus is taken for a subtill and wise opener of mysteries.
“But the truth is, that when _Cadmus_ had married an _Amazonian_ woman, called _Sphynx_, and, with her, came to _Thebes_, and there slew _Draco_ their king, and possessed his kingdom, afterwards there was a sister unto _Draco_ called _Harmona_, whom _Cadmus_ married, _Sphynx_ being yet alive. She, in revenge, (being assisted by many followers,) departed with great store of wealth into the mountaine _Sphincius_, taking with her a great Dogge, which _Cadmus_ held in great account, and there made daily incursions or spoiles upon his people. Now, _ænigma_, in the _Theban_ language, signifieth an inrode, or warlike incursion, wherfore the people complained in this sort. _This GRECIAN SPHINX robbeth us, in setting up with an ÆNIGMA, but no man knoweth after what manner she maketh this ÆNIGMA._
“_Cadmus_ hereupon made proclamation, that he would give a very bountifull reward unto him that would kill _Sphinx_, upon which occasion the Corinthian _Œdipus_ came unto her, being mounted on a swift courser, and accompanied with some _Thebans_ in the night season, slue her. Other say that _Œdipus_ by counterfaiting friendshippe, slue her, making shew to be of her faction; and _Pausanius_ saith, that the former Riddle, was not a Riddle, but an Oracle of _Apollo_, which _Cadmus_ had received, whereby his posterity should be inheritors of the _Theban_ kingdome; and whereas _Œdipus_, being the son of _Laius_, a former king of that countrey, was taught the Oracle in his sleepe, he recouvered the kingdome usurped by _Sphinx_ his sister, and, afterwards, unknown, married his mother Jocasta.
“But the true morall of this poetical fiction is by that learned _Alciatus_, in one of his emblems, deciphered; that her monstrous treble formed shape signified her lustfull pleasure under a Virgin’s face, her cruell pride, under the Lyon’s clawes, her winde-driven leuitye, under the Eagles, or birdes feathers, and I will conclude with the wordes of _Suidas_ concerning such monsters, that the _Tritons_, _Sphinges_, and _Centaures_, are the images of those things, which are not to be founde within the compasse of the whole world.”
APES.
Sluper, who could soar to the height of delineating a Cyclops, is equal to the occasion when he has to deal with Apes, and here he gives us an Ape which, unfortunately, does not seem to have survived to modern times--namely, one which wove for itself coarse cloth, probably of rushes; had a cloak of skin, and walked upright, with the aid of a walking-stick, and was so genteel, that, having no boots, he seems to have blacked his feet. And thus he sings of it:
“Pres le Peru par effect le voit on, Dieu a donné au Singe telle forme. Vestu dejonc, s’appuyant d’un baston, Estãt debout, chose aux hõmes cõforme.”
Before quitting the subject of Apes, I cannot refrain from noticing another of this genus mentioned by Topsell, and that is the Arctopithecus or Bear Ape:--“There is in America a very deformed beast, which the inhabitants call _Haut_ or _Hauti_, and the Frenchmen _Guenon_, as big as a great Affrican Monkey. His belly hangeth very low, his head and face like unto a childes, and being taken, it will sigh like a young childe. His skin is of an ashe-colour, and hairie like a Beare: he hath but three clawes on a foote, as longe as foure fingers, and like the thornes of Privet, whereby he climbeth up into the highest trees, and for the most part liveth of the leaves of a certain tree, beeing of an exceeding heighth, which the _Americans_ call _Amahut_, and thereof this beast is called _Haut_. Their tayle is about three fingers long, having very little haire thereon; it hath beene often tried, that though it suffer any famine, it will not eate the fleshe of a living man, and one of them was given me by a French-man, which I kept alive sixe and twenty daies, and at the last it was killed by Dogges, and in that time when I had set it abroad in the open ayre, I observed that, _although it often rained, yet was that beast never wet_.[28] When it is tame, it is very loving to a man, and desirous to climbe uppe to his shoulders, which those naked _Amerycans_ cannot endure, by reason of the sharpnesse of his Clawes.”
ANIMAL LORE.
We are indebted to Pliny for much strange animal lore--which, however, will scarcely bear the fierce light of modern investigation. Thus, he tells us of places in which certain animals are not to be found, and narrates some very curious zoological anecdotes thereon. “It is a remarkable fact, that nature has not only assigned different countries to different animals, but that even in the same country it has denied certain species to certain localities. In Italy, the dormouse is found in one part only, the Messian forest. In Lycia, the gazelle never passes beyond the mountains which border upon Syria; nor does the wild ass in that vicinity pass over those which divide Cappadocia from Cilicia. On the banks of the Hellespont, the stags never pass into a strange territory, and, about Arginussa, they never go beyond Mount Elaphus; those upon the mountains, too, have cloven ears. In the island of Poroselene, the weasels will not so much as cross a certain road. In Bœotia, the moles, which were introduced at Lebadea, fly from the very soil of that country, while in the neighbourhood, at Orchomenus, the very same animals tear up all the fields. We have seen coverlets for beds made of the skin of these creatures, so that our sense of religion does not prevent us from employing these ominous animals for the purposes of luxury.
“When hares have been brought to Ithaca, they die as soon as ever they touch the shore, and the same is the case with rabbits, on the shores of the island of Ebusus; while they abound in the vicinity, Spain namely, and the Balearic isles. In Cyrene, the frogs were formerly dumb, and this species still exists, although croaking ones were carried over there from the Continent. At the present day, even, the frogs of the island of Seriphos are dumb; but when they are carried to other places, they croak; the same thing is also said to have taken place at Sicandrus, a lake of Thessaly. In Italy, the bite of a shrew-mouse is venomous; an animal which is not to be found in any region beyond the Apennines. In whatever country it exists, it always dies immediately if it goes across the rut made by a wheel. Upon Olympus, a mountain of Macedonia, there are no wolves, nor yet in the isle of Crete. In this island there are neither foxes nor bears, nor, indeed, any kind of baneful animal, with the exception of the phalangium, a species of spider. It is a thing still more remarkable, that in this island there are no stags, except in the district of Cydon; the same is the case with the wild boar, the woodcock, and the hedgehog.”
He further tells us of animals which will injure strangers only, as also animals which injure the natives only.
“There are certain animals which are harmless to the natives of the country, but destroy strangers; such as the little serpents at Tirynthus, which are said to spring out of the earth. In Syria, also, and especially on the banks of the Euphrates, the serpents never attack the Syrians when they are asleep, and even if they happen to bite a native who treads upon them, their venom is not felt; but to persons of any other country they are extremely hostile, and fiercely attack them, causing a death attended with great torture. On this account the Syrians never kill them. On the contrary, on Latmos, a mountain of Caria, as Aristotle tells us, strangers are not injured by the scorpions, while the natives are killed by them.”
He also throws some curious light, unknown to modern zoologists, on the antipathies of animals one to another. He says:--“There will be no difficulty in perceiving that animals are possessed of other instincts besides those previously mentioned. In fact, there are certain antipathies, and sympathies among them, which give rise to various affections, besides those which we have mentioned in relation to each species, in its appropriate place. The Swan and the Eagle are always at variance, and the Raven and the Chloreus seek each other’s eggs by night. In a similar manner, also, the Raven and the Kite are perpetually at war with one another, the one carrying off the other’s food. So, too, there are antipathies between the Crow and the Owl, the Eagle and the Trochilus; between the last two, if we are to believe the story, because the latter has received the title of ‘the king of birds;’ the same, again, with the Owlet and all the smaller birds.
“Again, in relation to the terrestrial animals, the Weasel is at enmity with the Crow, the Turtle-dove with the Pyrallis, the Ichneumon with the Wasp, and the Phalangium with other Spiders. Among aquatic animals, there is enmity between the Duck and the Seamew, the Falcon known as the ‘Harpe,’ and the Hawk called the ‘Triorchis.’ In a similar manner, too, the Shrew-mouse and the Heron are ever on the watch for each other’s young; and the Ægithus, so small a bird as it is, has an antipathy for the Ass; for the latter, when scratching itself, rubs its body against the brambles, and so crushes the bird’s nest; a thing of which it stands in such dread, that, if it only hears the voice of the Ass when it brays, it will throw its eggs out of the nest, and the young ones, themselves, will, sometimes, fall to the ground in their fright; hence it is that it will fly at the Ass, and peck at its sores with its beak.
“The Fox, too, is at war with the Nisus, and Serpents with Weasels and Swine. Æsalon is the name given to a small bird that breaks the eggs of the Raven, and the young of which are anxiously sought by the Fox; while, in its turn, it will peck at the young of the Fox, and even the parent itself. As soon as the Ravens espy this, they come to its assistance, as though against a common enemy. The Acanthis, too, lives among the brambles; hence it is that it also has an antipathy to the Ass, because it devours the bramble blossoms. The Ægithus and the Anthus, too, are at such mortal enmity with each other, that it is the common belief that their blood will not mingle; and it is for this reason that they have the bad repute of being employed in many magical incantations. The Thos and the Lion are at war with each other; and, indeed, the smallest objects and the greatest, just as much. Caterpillars will avoid a tree that is infested with Ants. The Spider, poised in its web, will throw itself on the head of a Serpent, as it lies stretched beneath the shade of the tree where it has built, and, with its bite, pierce its brain; such is the shock, that the creature will hiss from time to time, and then, seized with vertigo, coil round and round, while it finds itself unable to take to flight, or so much as to break the web of the spider, as it hangs suspended above; this scene only ends with its death.”
THE MANTICORA.
Of curious animals, other than Apes, depicted as having some approach to the human countenance, perhaps the most curious is the Manticora. It is not a _parvenu_; it is of ancient date, for Aristotle mentions it. Speaking of the dentition of animals, he says:--“None of these genera have a double row of teeth. But, if we may believe Ctesias, there are some which have this peculiarity, for he mentions an Indian animal called Martichora, which had three rows of teeth in each jaw; it is as large and rough as a lion, and has similar feet, but its ears and face are like those of a man; its eye is grey, and its body red; it has a tail like a land Scorpion, in which there is a sting; it darts forth the spines with which it is covered, instead of hair, and it utters a noise resembling the united sound of a pipe and a trumpet; it is not less swift of foot than a stag, and is wild, and devours men.”
Pliny also quotes Ctesias, but he slightly diverges, for he says it has azure eyes, and is of the colour of blood; he also affirms it can imitate the human speech. _Par parenthèse_ he mentions, in conjunction with the Manticora, another animal similarly gifted:--“By the union of the hyæna with the Æthiopian lioness, the Corocotta is produced, which has the same faculty of imitating the voices of men and cattle. Its gaze is always fixed and immoveable; it has no gums in either of its jaws, and the teeth are one continuous piece of bone; they are enclosed in a sort of box, as it were, that they may not be blunted by rubbing against each other.”
_Mais, revenons à nos moutons_, or rather Mantichora. Topsell, in making mention of this beast, recapitulates all that Ctesias has said on the subject, and adds:--“And I take it to be the same Beast which _Avicen_ calleth _Marion_, and _Maricomorion_, with her taile she woundeth her Hunters, whether they come before her or behinde her, and, presently, when the quils are cast forth, new ones grow up in their roome, wherewithal she overcometh all the hunters; and, although India be full of divers ravening beastes, yet none of them are stiled with a title of _Andropophagi_, that is to say, Men-eaters; except onely this _Mantichora_. When the Indians take a Whelp of this beast, they fall to and bruise the buttockes and taile thereof, so that it may never be fit to bring (_forth_) sharp quils, afterwards it is tamed without peril. This, also, is the same beast which is called _Leucrocuta_, about the bignesse of a wilde Asse, being in legs and hoofes like a Hart, having his mouth reaching on both sides to his eares, and the head and face of a female like unto a Badgers. It is also called _Martiora_, which in the Parsian tongue, signifieth a devourer of men.”
Du Bartas, in “His First Week, or the Birth of the World,” mentions our friend as being created:--
“Then th’ _Vnicorn_, th’ _Hyæna_ tearing tombs, Swift _Mantichor’_, and _Nubian Cephus_ comes; Of which last three, each hath, (as heer they stand) Man’s voice, Man’s visage, Man like foot and hand.”
It is mentioned by other writers--but I have a theory of my own about it, and that is, that it is only an idealised laughing hyæna.
THE LAMIA.
The Lamiæ are mythological--and were monsters of Africa, with the face and breast of a woman, the rest of the body like that of a serpent; they allured strangers, that they might devour them; and though not endowed with the faculty of speech, their hissings were pleasing. Some believed them to be evil spirits, who, in the form of beautiful women, enticed young children, and devoured them; according to some, the fable of the Lamiæ is derived from the amours of Jupiter with a beautiful woman, Lamia, whom Juno rendered deformed, and whose children she destroyed; Lamia became insane, and so desperate, that she ate up all the children which came in her way.
Topsell, before entering upon the natural history of the Lamia, as an animal, tells the following story of it as a mythological being:--“It is reported of _Menippus_ the Lycian, that he fell in love with a strange woman, who at that time seemed both beautifull, tender, and rich, but, in truth, there was no such thing, and all was but a fantastical ostentation; she was said to insinuate her selfe, into his familiaritie after this manner: as he went upon a day alone from _Corinth_ to _Senchræa_, hee met with a certaine phantasme, or spectre like a beautifull woman, who tooke him by the hand, and told him she was a _Phœnician_ woman, and of long time had loved him dearely, having sought many occasions to manifest the same, but could never finde opportunitie untill that day, wherefore she entreated him to take knowledge of her house, which was in the Suburbes of _Corinth_, therewithall pointing unto it with her finger, and so desired his presence. The young man seeing himselfe thus wooed by a beautiful woman, was easily overcome by her allurements, and did oftimes frequent her company.
“There was a certaine wise man, and a Philosopher, which espied the same, and spake unto _Menippus_ in this manner, ‘O formose, et a formorsis, expetitie mulieribus, ophin thalpies, cai se ophis,’ that is to say, ‘O fair _Menippus_, beloved of beautiful women, art thou a serpent, and dost nourish a serpent?’ by which words he gave him his first admonition, or incling of a mischiefe; but not prevayling, _Menippus_ proposed to marry with this spectre, her house to the outward shew, being richly furnished with all manner of houshold goods; then said the wise man againe unto _Menippus_, ‘This gold, silver, and ornaments of house, are like to _Tantalus_ Apples, who are said by _Homer_ to make a faire shew, but to containe in them no substance at all; even so, whatsoever you conceave of this riches, there is no matter or substance in the things which you see, for they are onely inchaunted images, and shadowes, which that you may beleeve, this your neate bride is one of the _Empusæ_, called _Lamia_, or _Mormolicæ_, wonderfull desirous of commerce with men, and loving their flesh above measure; but those whom they doe entice, afterwards they devoure without love or pittie, feeding upon their flesh.’ At which words the wise man caused the gold and silver plate, and household stuffe, cookes, and servants to vanish all away. Then did the spectre like unto one that wept, entreate the wise man that he would not torment her, nor yet cause her to confesse what manner of person she was; but he on the other side being inexorable, compelled her to declare the whole truth, which was, that she was a Phairy, and that she purposed to use the companie of _Menippus_, and feede him fat with all manner of pleasures, to the extent that, afterward, she might eate up and devour his body, for all their kinde love was only to feed upon beautiful yong men....