Plutarch, De sollertia animalium, Harold Cherniss (Translator), William C. Helmbold (Translator), 19

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[19] As for starlings¹ and crows and parrots which learn to talk and afford their teachers so malleable and imitative a vocal current to train and discipline, they seem to me to be champions and advocates of the other animals in their ability to learn, instructing us in some measure that they too are endowed both with rational utterance² and with articulate voice; for which reason it is quite ridiculous to admit a comparison of them with creatures who have not enough voice even to howl or groan.³ And what music, what grace do we not find in the natural, untaught warbling of birds ! To this the most eloquent and musical of our poets bear witness⁴ when they compare their sweetest songs and poems to the singing of swans and nightingales. Now since there is more reason in teaching than in learning, we must yield assent to Aristotle⁵ when he says that animals do teach: a nightingale, in fact, has been observed instructing her young how to sing. A further proof that supports him is the fact that birds which have been taken young from the nest and bred apart from their mothers sing the worse for it⁶; for the birds that are bred with their mothers are taught and learn, not for pay or glory, but for the joy of rivalling each other in song and because they cherish the beautiful in their utterance rather than the useful.

On this subject I have a story to tell you which I heard myself from many Greeks and Romans who were eye-witnesses. A certain barber at Rome had his shop directly opposite the precinct which they call the Market of the Greeks.⁷ He bred up a wonderful prodigy of a jay⁸ with a huge range of tones and expressions, which could reproduce the phrases of human speech and the cries of beasts and the sound of instruments - under no compulsion, but making it a rule and a point of honour to let nothing go unrepeated or unimitated. Now it happened that a certain rich man was buried from that quarter to the blast of many trumpets and, as is customary, there was a halt in front of the barber-shop while the trumpeters, who were applauded and encored, played for a long time. From that day on the jay was speechless and mute, not letting out even a peep to request the necessities of life; so those who habitually passed the place and had formerly wondered at her voice, were now even more astonished at her silence. Some suspected that she had been poisoned by rival bird-trainers, but most conjectured that the trumpets had blasted her hearing and that her voice had been simultaneously extinguished. Now neither of these guesses was correct: it was self-discipline, it would seem, and her talent for mimicry that had sought an inner retreat as she refitted and prepared her voice like a musical instrument. For suddenly her mimicry returned and there blazed forth none of those old familiar imitations, but only the music of the trumpets,⁹ reproduced with its exact sequences and every change of pitch and rhythm and tone. I conclude, as I said before,¹⁰ that self-instruction implies more reason in animals than does readiness to learn from others.

Still, I believe that I should not pass over one example at least of a dog’s learning,¹¹ of which I myself was a spectator at Rome. The dog appeared in a pantomime with a dramatic plot and many characters and conformed in its acting at all points with the acts and reactions required by the text. In particular, they experimented on it with a drug that was really soporific, but supposed in the story to be deadly. The dog took the bread that was supposedly drugged, swallowed it, and a little later appeared to shiver and stagger and nod until it finally sprawled out and lay there like a corpse, letting itself be dragged and hauled about, as the plot of the play prescribed. But when it recognized from the words and action that the time had come, at first it began to stir slightly, as though recovering from a profound sleep, and lifted its head and looked about. Then to the amazement of the spectators it got up and proceeded to the right person and fawned on him with joy and pleasure so that everyone, and even Caesar himself (for the aged Vespasian¹² was present in the Theatre of Marcellus), was much moved.

De sollertia animalium. Plutarch. Harold Cherniss (Translator), William C. Helmbold (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1957.

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Current edition Perseus

Whether land or sea animals are cleverer (English) (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. XII. Cherniss, Harold, and Helmbold, William C., translators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1957 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Πότερα τῶν ζῴων φρονιμώτερα τὰ χερσαῖα ἢ τὰ ἔνυδρα Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol. VI. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1895.) — 19 focus

[19] Ψᾶρες δὲ καὶ κόρακες καὶ ψιττακοὶ μανθάνοντες διαλέγεσθαι καὶ τὸ τῆς φωνῆς πνεῦμα τοῖς διδάσκουσιν εὔπλαστον οὕτω καὶ μιμηλὸν ἐξαριθμεῖν 973a καὶ ῥυθμίζειν παρέχοντες ἐμοὶ δοκοῦσι, προδικεῖν 10 καὶ συνηγορεῖν τοῖς ἄλλοις ζῴοις ἐν τῷ μανθάνειν, τρόπον τινὰ διδάσκοντες ἡμᾶς, ὅτι καὶ προφορικοῦ λόγου καὶ φωνῆς ἐνάρθρου μέτεστιν αὐτοῖς· καὶ πολὺς κατάγελως τὸ πρὸς ταῦτα καταλιπεῖν ἐκείνοις σύγκρισιν, οἷς οὐδʼ ὅσον ὠρύσασθαι 15 μέτεστιν οὐδʼ ὅσον στενάξαι φωνῆς. τούτων δὲ καὶ τοῖς αὐτοφυέσι καὶ τοῖς ἀδιδάκτοις γηρύμασιν ὅση μοῦσα καὶ χάρις ἔπεστιν, οἱ λογιώτατοι καὶ καλλιφωνότατοι μαρτυροῦσι, τὰ ἣδιστα ποιήματα καὶ μέλη μέλεσι κύκνων καὶ ἀηδόνων 20 ᾠδαῖς ἀπεικάζοντες, ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦ μαθεῖν τὸ διδάξαι λογικώτερον, ἤδη πειστέον Ἀριστοτέλει λέγοντι καὶ 973b τοῦτο τὰ ζῷα ποιεῖν· ὀφθῆναι γὰρ ἀηδόνα νεοσσὸν ᾅδειν προδιδάσκουσαν. μαρτυρεῖ δʼ αὐτῷ τὸ φαυλότερον ᾄδειν ὅσαις συμβέβηκε μικραῖς ἁλούσαις 25 ἀποτρόφοις τῶν μητέρων γενέσθαι διδάσκονται γὰρ αἱ συντρεφόμεναι καὶ μανθάνουσιν οὐ διὰ μισθὸν οὐδὲ πρὸς δόξαν ἀλλὰ τῷ χαίρειν διαμελιζόμεναι καὶ τὸ καλὸν ἀγαπᾶν μᾶλλον ἢ τὸ χρειῶδες τῆς φωνῆς. ἔχω δὲ περὶ τούτου καὶ λόγον εἰπεῖν 5 πρὸς ὑμᾶς, ἀκούσας Ἑλλήνων τε πολλῶν καὶ Ῥωμαίων 973c παραγενομένων. κουρεὺς γάρ τις ἐργαστήριον ἔχων ἐν Ῥώμῃ πρὸ τοῦ τεμένους, ὃ καλοῦσιν Ἑλλήνων ἀγοράν, θαυμαστόν τι χρῆμα πολυφώνου καὶ πολυφθόγγου κίττης ἔτρεφε, καὶ ἀνθρώπου ῥήματα 10 καὶ θηρίων φθόγγους καὶ ψόφους ὀργάνων ἀνταπεδίδου, μηδενὸς ἀναγκάζοντος ἀλλʼ αὑτὴν ἐθίζουσα καὶ φιλοτιμουμένη μηδὲν ἄρρητον ἀπολιπεῖν μηδʼ ἀμίμητον. ἔτυχε δέ τις ἐκεῖθεν τῶν πλουσίων ἐκκομιζόμενος ὑπὸ σάλπιγξι πολλαῖς, καὶ γενομένης 15 ὥσπερ εἴωθε κατὰ τὸν τόπον ἐπιστάσεως, εὐδοκιμοῦντες οἱ σαλπικταὶ καὶ κελευόμενοι πολὺν χρόνον ἐνδιέτριψαν ἡ δὲ κίττα μετὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ἐκείνην ἄφθογγος ἦν καὶ ἄναυδος, οὐδὲ τὴν αὑτῆς 973d ἐπὶ τοῖς ἀναγκαίοις πάθεσιν ἀφιεῖσα φωνήν. τοῖς 20 οὖν πρότερον αὐτῆς θαυμάζουσι τὴν φωνήν, τότε θαῦμα μεῖζον ἡ σιωπὴ παρεῖχε, κωφὸν ἀκροάμα τοῖς συνήθως παροδεύουσι τὸν τόπον· ὑποψίαι δὲ φαρμάκων ἐπὶ τοὺς ὁμοτέχνους ἦσαν· οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι τὰς σάλπιγγας εἴκαζον ἐκπλῆξαι τὴν ἀκοήν, ἦν δʼ 25 ἀκοῇ συγκατεσβέσθαι τὴν φωνήν. ἦν δʼ οὐδέτερα τούτων, ἀλλʼ ἄσκησις ὡς ἔοικε καὶ ἀναχώρησις εἰς ἑαυτὸ τοῦ μιμητικοῦ, καθάπερ ὄργανον ἐξαρτυομένου 973e τὴν φωνὴν καὶ παρασκευάζοντος· ἄφνω γὰρ αὖθις ἧκε καὶ ἀνέλαμψεν οὐδὲν τῶν συνήθων καὶ· παλαιῶν μιμημάτων ἐκείνων, ἀλλὰ τὰ μέλη τῶν σαλπίγγων αὐταῖς περιόδοις φθεγγομένη καὶ μεταβολὰς 5 πάσας καὶ κρουμάτων διεξιοῦσα πάντας ῥυθμούς· ὥστε, ὅπερ ἔφην, τῆς εὐμαθείας λογικωτέραν εἶναι τὴν αὐτομάθειαν ἐν αὐτοῖς. πλὴν ἕν γέ τι μάθημα κυνὸς οὐ δοκῶ μοι παρήσειν, γενόμενος ἐν Ῥώμῃ θεατής. παρὼν γὰρ ὁ κύων μίμῳ 10 πλοκὴν ἔχοντι δραματικὴν καὶ πολυπρόσωπον ἄλλας τε μιμήσεις ἀπεδίδου τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις πάθεσι καὶ 973f πράγμασι προσφόρους, καὶ φαρμάκου ποιουμένων ἐν αὐτῷ πεῖραν ὑπνωτικοῦ μὲν ὑποκειμένου δʼ εἶναι θανασίμου, τὸν τʼ ἄρτον, ᾧ δῆθεν ἐμέμικτο 15 τὸ φάρμακον, ἐδέξατο καὶ καταφαγὼν ὀλίγον ὕστερον ὅμοιος ἦν ὑποτρέμοντι καὶ σφαλλομένῳ καὶ καρηβαροῦντι τέλος δὲ προτείνας ἑαυτὸν ὥσπερ νεκρὸς ἔκειτο, καὶ παρεῖχεν ἕλκειν καὶ μεταφέρειν, ὡς ὁ τοῦ δράματος ὑπηγόρευε λόγος. ἐπεὶ 20 δὲ τὸν καιρὸν ἐκ τῶν λεγομένων καὶ πραττομένων ἐνόησεν, ἡσυχῆ τὸ πρῶτον ἐκίνησεν ἑαυτόν, ὥσπερ ἐξ ὕπνου βαθέος ἀναφερόμενος, καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν 974a ἐπάρας διέβλεψεν· ἔπειτα θαυμασάντων, ἐξαναστὰς ἐβάδιζε πρὸς ὃν ἔδει· καὶ προσῄκαλλε χαίρων 25 καὶ φιλοφρονούμενος, ὥστε πάντας ἀνθρώπους καὶ Καίσαρα παρῆν γὰρ ὁ γέρων Οὐεσπασιανὸς ἐν τῷ Μαρκέλλου θεάτρῳ συμπαθεῖς γενέσθαι.

Translations (1)

Which are the most crafty, water-animals or those creatures that breed upon the land? Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. V. Goodwin, William W., editor; Philips, John, translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1874.) — 19 focus

[19] But as for starlings, magpies, and parrots, that learn to talk, and afford their teachers such a spirit of voice, so well tempered and so adapted for imitation, they seem to me to be patrons and advocates in behalf of other creatures, by their talent of learning what they are taught; and in some measure to teach us that those creatures also, as well as we, partake of vocal expression and articulate sound. From whence I conclude it a most ridiculous thing in them that would compare these creatures with a sort of mute animals, I mean the fish, that have not voice enough to howl or make a mournful noise. Whereas, in the natural and untaught notes of these creatures, what music, what a charming grace do we observe! To which the famous poets and choicest singers among men bear testimony, while they compare their sweetest odes and poems to the singing of swans and melody of nightingales. Now in regard there is more of reason in teaching than in learning, we are to believe Aristotle,¹ who assures us that terrestrial animals do that likewise, in regard that nightingales have been observed instructing their young ones to sing. Of which this may be a sufficient proof, that such nightingales are known to sing worse that are taken very young from the nest and deprived of the education of the old one. For they both learn and are taught from the old one, not for hire or to get reputation, but merely out of a delight in mixing their notes together, and because they have a greater love for that which is excellent and curious in the voice than for what is profitable. Concerning which I have a story to tell you, which I heard from several Greeks and Romans, who were eye-witnesses of the thing.

A certain barber in Rome, who had a shop right against the temple which is called the Greeks’ Market, bred in his house a kind of a prodigy of a magpie, whose tongue would be always going with the greatest variety imaginable, sometimes imitating human speech, sometimes chattering her wild notes, and sometimes humoring the sounds of wind instruments; neither was this by any constraint, but as she accustomed herself, with a more than ordinary ambition, to leave nothing unspoken, nothing that her imitation should not master.

It happened a certain person of the wealthier sort, newly dead in the neighborhood, was carried forth to be buried with a great number of trumpets before him. Now in regard it was the custom of the bearers to rest themselves before the barber’s shop, the trumpeters being excellent in their art, and withal commanded so to do, made a long stop, sounding all the while.

After that day the magpie was altogether mute, not so much as uttering her usual notes by which she called for what she wanted, insomuch that they who before admired as they passed to and fro at the chattering and prating of the bird now much more wondered at her sudden silence; and many suspected her to have been poisoned by some that affected peculiar skill in teaching this kind of birds. But the greatest number were of opinion, that the noise of the trumpets had stupefied her hearing, and that by the loss of her hearing the use of her voice was likewise extinguished. But her unusual silence proceeded from neither of these causes, but from her retiring to privacy, by herself to exercise the imitation of what she had heard, and to fit and prepare her voice as the instrument to express what she had learned. For soon after she came of a sudden to sight again, but had quitted all her former customary imitations, and sounded only the music of the trumpets, observing all the changes and cadences of the harmony, with such exactness of time as was not to be imagined; an argument, as I have said before, that the aptness in those creatures to learn of themselves is more rational than readiness to be taught by others. Nor do I think it proper to pass by in silence one wonderful example of the docility of a dog, of which I myself was a spectator at Rome. This dog belonged to a certain mimic, who at that time had the management of a farce wherein there was great variety of parts, which he undertook to instruct the actors to perform, with several imitations proper for the matters and passions therein represented. Among the rest there was one who was to drink a sleepy potion, and after he had drunk it, to fall into a deadly drowsiness and counterfeit the actions of a dying person. The dog, who had studied several of the other gestures and postures, more diligently observing this, took a piece of bread that was sopped in the potion, and after he had ate it, in a short time counterfeited a trembling, then a staggering, and afterwards a drowsiness in his head. Then stretching out himself, he lay as if he had been dead, and seemed to proffer himself to be dragged out of the place and carried to burial, as the plot of the play required. Afterwards understanding the time from what was said and acted, in the first place he began gently to stir, as it were waking out of a profound sleep, and lifting up his head, he gazed about him. Afterwards to the amazement of the beholders, he rose up, and went to his master to whom he belonged, with all the signs of gladness and fawning kindness, insomuch that all the spectators, and even Caesar himself (for old Vespasian was present in Marcellus’s theatre) were taken with the sight.

Notes on the current edition

Whether land or sea animals are cleverer

1. Cf. Gellius, Noctes Atticae, xiii. 21. 25; Alciphron, Epp. iii. 30. 1; Philostratus, Vita Apoll. i. 7; vi. 36; al.

2. For the λόγος προφορικός see, e.g., Mor. 777 b-c.

3. Cf. Aristotle, Historia Animal. iv. 9 (535 b 14 ff.).

4. e.g., Bacchylides, iii. 97; Anth. Pal. vii. 414.

5. Historia Animal. iv. 19 (535 b 17); cf. ix. 1 (608 a 18); Cf. Aelian, De Natura Animal. iii. 40.

6. Cf. 992 b-c infra.

7. Graecostadium (see Platner and Ashby, A Topographical Dictionary of Rome, s.v.) or Forum Graecorum.

8. Cf. Porphyry, De Abstinentia, iii. 2 (p. 191. 8, ed. Nauck); Gow on Theocritus, v. 136; Aristotle, Historia Animal. ix. 13 (615 b 19 f.). See also the talking birds in Pliny, Nat. Hist. x. 118-134.

9. This is also the accomplishment of a homonymous bird in Aelian, De Natura Animal. vi. 19.

10. See 973 a supra.

11. Cf. the bears that acted a farce in Script. Hist. Aug., Vita Car. xix. 2.

12. Vespasian became emperor in a.d. 69 when he was 60 years old and died ten years later, so that this incident can be dated only within the decade.

Plutarch De sollertia animalium 19

Harold Cherniss (Translator), William C. Helmbold (Translator)

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