Part 6

“To leave therefore these fables, and come to the true description of the _Lamia_, we have in hand. In the foure and thirty chapter of Esay, we do find this called a beast _Lilith_ in the Hæbrew, and translated by the auncients _Lamia_, which is threatened to possesse _Babell_. Likewise in the fourth chapter of the Lamentations, where it is said in our English translation, that the Dragons lay forth their brests, in Hæbrew they are called _Ehannum_, which, by the confession of the best interpreters, cannot signifie Dragons, but rather Sea calves, being a generall word for strange wilde beasts. How be it the matter being wel examined, it shall appeare that it must needes be this Lamia, because of her great breastes, which are not competible either to the Dragon, or Sea calves; so then, we wil take it for graunted, by the testimony of holy Scripture, that there is such a beast as this _Cristostinius_. _Dion_ also writeth that there are such beasts in some parts of _Libia_, having a Woman’s face, and very beautifull, also very large and comely shapes on their breasts, such as cannot be counterfeited by the art of any painter, having a very excellent colour in their fore parts, without wings, and no other voice but hissing like Dragons: they are the swiftest of foote of all earthly beasts, so as none can escape them by running, for, by their celerity, they compasse their prey of beastes, and by their fraud they overthrow men. For when they see a man, they lay open their breastes, and by the beauty thereof, entice them to come neare to conference, and so, having them within their compasse, they devoure and kill them.

“Unto the same things subscribe _Cælius_ and _Giraldus_, adding also, that there is a certaine crooked place in _Libia_ neare the Sea-shore, full of sand like to a sandy Sea, and all the neighbor places thereunto are deserts. If it fortune at any time, that through shipwrack, men come there on shore, these beasts watch uppon them, devouring them all, which either endevour to travell on the land, or else to returne backe againe to Sea, adding also, that when they see a man they stand stone still, and stir not til he come unto them, looking down upon their breasts or to the ground, whereupon some have thought, that seeing them, at their first sight have such a desire to come neare them, that they are drawne into their compasse, by a certaine naturall magicall witchcraft.... The hinderparts of the beast are like unto a Goate, his fore legs like a Beares, his upper parts to a woman, the body scaled all over like a Dragon, as some have affirmed by the observation of their bodies, when _Probus_, the Emperor, brought them forth unto publike spectacle; also it is reported of them, that they devoure their own young ones, and therefore they derive their name _Lamia_, of _Lamiando_; and thus much for this beast.”

THE CENTAUR.

This extraordinary combination of man and animal is very ancient--and the first I can find is Assyrian. Mr. W. St. Chad Boscawen, in one of his British Museum Lectures (afterwards published under the title of _From under the Dust of Ages_), speaking of the seasons and the zodiacal signs, in his lecture on _The Legend of Gizdhubar_, says:--“Gizdhubar has a dream that the stars of heaven are falling upon him, and, like Nebuchadnezzar, he can find no one to explain the hidden meaning to him. He is, however, told by his huntsman, Zaidu, of a very wise creature who dwells in the marshes, three days’ journey from Erech.... The strange being, whom this companion of the hero is despatched to bring to the Court, is one of the most interesting in the Epic. He is called Hea-bani--‘he whom Hea has made.’ This mysterious creature is represented on the gems, as half a man, and half a bull. He has the body, face, and arms of a man, and the horns, legs, hoofs, and tail of a bull. Though in form rather resembling the satyrs, and in fondness for, and in association with the cattle, the rustic deity Pan, yet in his companionship with Gizdhubar, and his strange death, he approaches nearer the Centaur Chiron, who was the companion of Heracles.

“By his name he was the son of Hea, whom Berosus identifies as Cronos, as Chiron was the son of Cronos. Like Chiron, he was celebrated for his wisdom, and acted as the counsellor of the hero, interpreting his dreams, and enabling him to overcome the enemies who attacked him. Chiron met his death at the hand of Heracles, one of whose poisoned arrows struck him, and, though immortal, he would not live any longer, and gave his immortality to Prometheus.... Zeus made Chiron among the stars a Sagittarius. Here again we have a striking echo of the Chaldæan legend, in the Erech story. According to the arrangement of tablets, the death of Hea-bani takes place under the sign of Sagittarius, and is the result of some fatal accident during the combat between Gizdhubar and Khumbaba. Like the Centaurs, before his call to the Court of Gizdhubar, Hea-bani led a wild and savage life. It is said on the tablets ‘that he consorted with the wild beasts. With the gazelles he took his food by night, and consorted with the cattle by day, and rejoiced his heart with the creeping things of the waters.’

“Hea-Bani was true and loyal to Gizdhubar, and when Istar (the Assyrian Venus), foiled in her love for Gizdhubar, flew to heaven to see her father Anu (the Chaldæan Zeus), and to seek redress for the slight put upon her, the latter created a winged bull, called ‘The Bull of Heaven,’ which was sent to earth. Hea-Bani, however, helps his lord, the bull is slain, and the two companions enter Erech in triumph. Hea-Bani met with his death when Gizdhubar fought Khumbaba, and ‘Gizdhubar for Hea-Bani his friend wept bitterly and lay on the ground.’”

Thus, centuries before the Romans had emerged from barbarism, we have the prototype of the classical Centaur, the man-horse. The fabled Centaurs were a people of Thessaly--half-men, half-horses--and their existence is very cloudy. Still, they were often depicted, and the two examples of a male and female Centaur, from a fresco at Pompeii, are charmingly drawn. It will be seen that both are attended by Bacchantes bearing thyrses--a delicate allusion to their love of wine; for it was owing to this weakness that their famous battle with the Lapithæ took place. The Centaurs were invited to the marriage of Hippodamia with Pirithous, and, after the manner of cow-boys “up town,” they got intoxicated, were very rude, and even offered violence to the women present. That, the good knights, Sir Hercules and Sir Theseus, could not stand, and with the Lapithæ, gave the Centaurs a thrashing, and made them retire to Arcadia. They had a second fight over the matter of wine, for the Centaur Pholus gave Hercules to drink of wine meant for him, but in the keeping of the Centaurs, and these ill-conditioned animals resented it, and attacked Hercules with fury. They were fearfully punished, and but few survived.

Pliny pooh-poohs the mythical origin of the Centaurs, and says they were Thessalians, who dwelt along Mount Pelion, and were the first to fight on horseback. Aldrovandus writes that, according to Licosthenes, there were formerly found, in the regions of the Great Tamberlane, Centaurs of such a form as its upper part was that of a man, with two arms resembling those of a toad, and he gives a drawing from that author, so that the reader might diligently meditate whether such an animal was possible in a natural state of things; but the artist seems to have forgotten the fore-legs.

“The Onocentaur is a monstrous beast; Supposed halfe a man, and halfe an Asse, That never shuts his eyes in quiet rest, Till he his foes deare life hath round encompast. Such were the Centaures in their tyrannie, That liv’d by Humane flesh and villanie.”

--CHESTER.

THE GORGON.

In the title-page of one edition of “The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes” (1607) Topsell gives this picture of the Gorgon; and he says, respecting this curious animal, the following:--“Among the manifold and divers sorts of Beasts which are bred in Affricke, it is thought that the _Gorgon_ is brought foorth in that countrey. It is a feareful and terrible beast to behold: it hath high and thicke eie-lids, eies not very great, but much like an Oxes or Bugils, but all fiery bloudy, which neyther looke directly forwarde, nor yet upwards, but continuallye downe to the earth, and therefore are called in Greeke _Catobleponta_. From the crowne of their head downe to their nose, they have a long hanging mane, which makes them to look fearefully. It eateth deadly and poysonfull hearbs, and if at any time he see a Bull, or other creature whereof he is afraid, he presently causeth his mane to stand upright, and, being so lifted up, opening his lips, and gaping wide, sendeth forth of his throat a certaine sharpe and horrible breath, which infecteth, and poysoneth the air above his head, so that all living creatures which draw the breath of that aire are greevously afflicted thereby, loosing both voyce and sight, they fall into leathall and deadly convulsions. It is bred in _Hesperia_ and _Lybia_.

“The Poets have a fiction that the _Gorgones_ were the Daughters of _Medusa_ and _Phorcynis_, and are called _Steingo_, and by _Hesiodus_, _Stheno_, and _Eyryale_ inhabiting the _Gorgadion_ Ilands in the _Æthiopick Ocean_, over against the gardens of _Hesperia_. _Medusa_ is said to have the haires of his head to be living Serpentes, against whom _Perseus_ fought, and cut off his hed, for which cause he was placed in heaven on the North side of the _Zodiacke_ above the Waggon, and on the left hand holding the _Gorgons_ head. The truth is that there were certaine _Amazonian_ women in _Affricke_ divers from the _Scythians_, against whom _Perseus_ made warre, and the captaine of those women was called _Medusa_, whom _Perseus_ overthrew, and cut off her head, and from thence came the Poet’s fiction describing Snakes growing out of it as is aforesaid. These _Gorgons_ are bred in that countrey, and have such haire about their heads, as not onely exceedeth all other beastes, but also poysoneth, when he standeth upright. Pliny calleth this beast _Catablepon_,[29] because it continually looketh downwards, and saith all the parts of it are but smal excepting the head, which is very heavy, and exceedeth the proportion of his body, which is never lifted up, but all living creatures die that see his eies.

“By which there ariseth a question whether the poison which he sendeth foorth, proceede from his breath, or from his eyes. Whereupon it is more probable, that like the Cockatrice, he killeth by seeing, than by the breath of his mouth, which is not competible to any other beasts in the world. Besides, when the Souldiers of _Marius_ followed _Iugurtha_, they saw one of these _Gorgons_, and, supposing it was some sheepe, bending the head continually to the earth, and moving slowly, they set upon him with their swords, whereat the Beast, disdaining, suddenly discovered his eies, setting his haire upright, at the sight whereof the Souldiers fel downe dead.

“_Marius_, hearing thereof, sent other souldiers to kill the beaste, but they likewise died, as the former. At last the inhabitantes of the countrey, tolde the Captaine the poyson of this beast’s nature, and that if he were not killed upon a Sodayne, with onely the sight of his eies he sent death into his hunters: then did the Captaine lay an ambush of souldiers for him, who slew him sodainely with their speares, and brought him to the Emperour, whereupon _Marius_ sent his skinne to Rome, which was hung up in the Temple of _Hercules_, wherein the people were feasted after the triumphes; by which it is apparent that they kill with their eies, and not with their breath....

“But to omit these fables, it is certaine that sharp poisoned sightes are called _Gorgon Blepen_, and therefore we will followe the Authoritie of _Pliny_ and _Athenæus_. It is a beast set all over with scales like a Dragon, having no haire except on his head, great teeth like Swine, having wings to flie, and hands to handle, in stature betwixt a Bull and a Calfe.

“There be Ilandes called _Gorgonies_, wherein these monster-_Gorgons_ were bredde, and unto the daies of _Pliny_, the people of that countrey retained some part of their prodigious nature. It is reported by _Xenophon_, that _Hanno_, King of _Carthage_, ranged with his armie in that region, and founde there, certaine women of incredible swiftenesse and perniscitie of foote. Whereof he tooke two onely of all that appeared in sight, which had such roughe and sharp bodies, as never before were seene. Wherefore, when they were dead, he hung up their skinnes in the Temple of _Juno_, for a monument of their straunge natures, which remained there untill the destruction of _Carthage_. By the consideration of this beast, there appeareth one manifest argument of the Creator’s devine wisdome and providence, who hath turned the eies of this beaste downeward to the earth, as it were thereby burying his poyson from the hurt of man; and shaddowing them with rough, long and strong haire, that their poysoned beames should not reflect upwards, untill the beast were provoked by feare or danger, the heavines of his head being like a clogge to restraine the liberty of his poysonfull nature, but what other partes, vertues or vices, are contained in the compasse of this monster, God onely knoweth, who, peradventure, hath permitted it to live uppon the face of the earth, for no other cause but to be a punishment and scourge unto mankind; and an evident example of his owne wrathfull power to everlasting destruction. And this much may serve for a description of this beast, untill by God’s providence, more can be known thereof.”

THE UNICORN.

What a curious belief was that of the Unicorn! Yet what mythical animal is more familiar to Englishmen? In its present form it was not known to the ancients, not even to Pliny, whose idea of the Monoceros or Unicorn is peculiar. He describes this animal as having “the head of a stag, the feet of an elephant, the tail of the boar, while the rest of the body is like that of the horse: it makes a deep lowing noise, and has a single black horn, which projects from the middle of its forehead, two cubits in length. This animal, it is said, cannot be taken alive.”

Until James VI. of Scotland ascended the English throne as James I., the Unicorn, as it is now heraldically portrayed (which was a supporter to the arms of James IV.) was almost unknown--vide _Tempest_, iii. 3. 20:--

“_Alonzo._ Give us kind keepers, heavens: what were these?

_Sebastian._ A living drollery. Now I will believe that there are unicorns.”

Spenser, who died before the accession of James I., and therefore did not write about the supporters of the Royal Arms, alludes (in his _Faerie Queene_) to the antagonism between the Lion and the Unicorne.

“Likë as the lyon, whose imperial poure A proud rebellious unicorn defyes, T’avoide the rash assault, and wrathful stoure Of his fiers foe, him to a tree applyes, And when him rouning in full course he spyes, He slips aside: the whiles that furious beast, His precious horne, sought of his enimyes, Strikes in the stroke, ne thence can be released, But to the victor yields a bounteous feast.”

Pliny makes no mention of the Unicorn as we have it heraldically represented, but speaks of the Indian Ass, which, he says, is only a one-horned animal. Other old naturalists, with the exception of Ælian, do not mention it as our Unicorn--and his description of it hardly coincides. He says that the Brahmins tell of the wonderful beasts in the inaccessible regions of the interior of India, among them being the Unicorn, “which they call _Cartazonon_, and say that it reaches the size of a horse of mature age, possesses a mane and reddish-yellow hair, and that it excels in swiftness through the excellence of its feet and of its whole body. Like the elephant it has inarticulate feet, and it has a boar’s tail; one black horn projects between the eyebrows, not awkwardly, but with a certain natural twist, and terminating in a sharp point.”

Guillim, who wrote on heraldry in 1610, gives, in his Illustrations, indifferently the tail of this animal, as horse or ass; and, as might be expected from one of his craft, magnifies the Unicorn exceedingly:--“The Unicorn hath his Name of his one Horn on his Forehead. There is another Beast of a huge Strength and Greatness, which hath but one Horn, but that is growing on his Snout, whence he is called _Rinoceros_, and both are named _Monoceros_, or _One horned_. It hath been much questioned among Naturalists, which it is that is properly called the Unicorn: And some hath made Doubt whether there be any such Beast as this, or no. But the great esteem of his Horn (in many places to be seen) may take away that needless scruple....

“Touching the invincible Nature of this Beast, _Job_ saith, ‘_Wilt thou trust him because his Strength is great, and cast thy Labour unto him? Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy Barn?_’ And his Vertue is no less famous than his Strength, in that his Horn is supposed to be the most powerful Antidote against Poison: Insomuch as the general Conceit is, that the wild Beasts of the Wilderness use not to drink of the Pools, for fear of the venemous Serpents there breeding, before the Unicorn hath stirred it with his Horn. Howsoever it be, this Charge may very well be a Representation both of Strength or Courage, and also of vertuous Dispositions and Ability to do Good; for to have Strength of Body, without the Gifts and good Qualities of the Mind, is but the Property of an Ox, but where both concur, that may truly be called Manliness. And that these two should consort together, the Ancients did signify, when they made this one Word, _Virtus_, to imply both the Strength of Body, and Vertue of the Mind....

“It seemeth, by a Question moved by _Farnesius_, That the Unicorn is never taken alive; and the Reason being demanded, it is answered ‘That the greatness of his Mind is such, that he chuseth rather to die than to be taken alive: Wherein (saith he) the Unicorn and the valiant-minded Souldier are alike, which both contemn Death, and rather than they will be compelled to undergo any base Servitude or Bondage, they will lose their Lives.’...

“The Unicorn is an untameable Beast by Nature, as may be gathered from the Words of _Job, chap. 39_, ‘_Will the Unicorn serve thee, or will he tarry by thy Crib? Can’st thou bind the Unicorn with his Band to labour in the Furrow, or will he plough the Valleys after thee?’_”

Topsell dilates at great length on the Unicorn. He agrees with Spenser and Guillim, and says:--“These Beasts are very swift, and their legges have no Articles (_joints_). They keep for the most part in the desarts, and live solitary in the tops of the Mountaines. There was nothing more horrible than the voice or braying of it, for the voice is strain’d above measure. It fighteth both with the mouth and with the heeles, with the mouth biting like a Lyon, and with the heeles kicking like a Horse.... He feereth not Iron nor any yron Instrument (as _Isodorus_ writeth) and that which is most strange of all other, it fighteth with his owne kind, yea even with the females unto death, except when it burneth in lust for procreation: but unto straunger Beasts, with whome he hath no affinity in nature, he is more sotiable and familiar, delighting in their company when they come willing unto him, never rising against them; but, proud of their dependence and retinue, keepeth with them all quarters of league and truce; but with his female, when once his flesh is tickled with lust, he groweth tame, gregall, and loving, and so continueth till she is filled and great with young, and then returneth to his former hostility.”

There was a curious legend of the Unicorn, that it would, by its keen scent, find out a maiden, and run to her, laying its head in her lap. This is often used as an emblem of the Virgin Mary, to denote her purity. The following is from the Bestiary of Philip de Thaun, and, as its old French is easily read, I have not translated it:--

“Monoceros est Beste, un corne ad en la teste, Purceo ad si a nun, de buc ad façun; Par Pucele est prise; or vez en quel guize. Quant hom le volt cacer et prendre et enginner, Si vent hom al forest ù sis riparis est; Là met une Pucele hors de sein sa mamele, Et par odurement Monosceros la sent; Dunc vent à la Pucele, et si baiset la mamele, En sein devant se dort, issi veut à sa mort; Li hom suivent atant ki l’ocit en dormant U trestont vif le prent, si fais puis sun talent. Grant chose signifie.”...

Topsell, of course, tells the story:--“It is sayd that Unicorns above all other creatures, doe reverence Virgines and young Maides, and that many times at the sight of them they grow tame, and come and sleepe beside them, for there is in their nature a certaine savor, wherewithall the Unicornes are allured and delighted; for which occasion the _Indian_ and _Ethiopian_ hunters use this stratagem to take the beast. They take a goodly, strong, and beautifull young man, whom they dresse in the Apparell of a woman, besetting him with divers odoriferous flowers and spices.

“The man so adorned they set in the Mountaines or Woods, where the Unicorne hunteth, so as the wind may carrie the savor to the beast, and in the meane season the other hunters hide themselves: the Unicorne deceaved with the outward shape of a woman, and sweete smells, cometh to the young man without feare, and so suffereth his head to bee covered and wrapped within his large sleeves, never stirring, but lying still and asleepe, as in his most acceptable repose. Then, when the hunters, by the signe of the young man, perceave him fast and secure, they come uppon him, and, by force, cut off his horne, and send him away alive: but, concerning this opinion wee have no elder authoritie than _Tzetzes_, who did not live above five hundred yeares agoe, and therefore I leave the reader to the freedome of his owne judgment, to believe or refuse this relation; neither is it fit that I should omit it, seeing that all writers, since the time of _Tzetzes_, doe most constantly beleeve it.

“It is sayd by _Ælianus_ and _Albertus_, that, except they bee taken before they bee two yeares old they will never bee tamed; and that the Thrasians doe yeerely take some of their Colts, and bring them to their King, which he keepeth for combat, and to fight with one another; for when they are old, they differ nothing at all from the most barbarous, bloodie, and ravenous beasts. Their flesh is not good for meate, but is bitter and unnourishable.”

It is hardly worth while to go into all the authorities treating of the Unicorn; suffice it to say, that it was an universal belief that there were such animals in existence, for were not their horns in proof thereof? and were they not royal presents fit for the mightiest of potentates to send as loving pledges one to another? for it was one of the most potent of medicines, and a sure antidote to poison. And they were very valuable, too, for Paul Hentzner--who wrote in the time of Queen Elizabeth--says that, at Windsor Castle, he was shown, among other things, the horn of an Unicorn of above eight spans and a half in length, _i.e._, about 6½ feet, valued at £10,000. Considering that money was worth then about three times what it is now, an Unicorn’s horn was a right royal gift.