Plutarch, De sollertia animalium, Harold Cherniss (Translator), William C. Helmbold (Translator), 35

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[35] But, dear Poseidon! What an absurd and ridiculous error I have almost fallen into: while I am spending my time on seals and frogs, I have neglected and omitted the wisest of sea creatures, the most beloved of the gods!¹ For what nightingales are to be compared with the halcyon² for its love of sweet sound, or what swallows for its love of offspring, or what doves for its love of its mate, or what bees for its skill in construction ? What creature’s procreation and birth pangs has the god³ so honoured ? For Leto’s parturition,⁴ so they say, only one island⁵ was made firm to receive her; but when the halcyon lays her eggs, about the time of the winter solstice, the god⁶ brings the whole sea to rest, without a wave, without a swell. And this is the reason why there is no other creature that men love more. Thanks to her they sail the sea without a fear in the dead of winter for seven days and seven nights.⁷ For the moment, journey by sea is safer for them than by land. If it is proper to speak briefly of her several virtues, she is so devoted to her mate that she keeps him company, not for a single season, but throughout the year. Yet it is not through wantonness that she admits him to her company, for she never consorts at all with any other male; it is through friendship and affection, as with any lawful wife. When by reason of old age the male becomes too weak and sluggish to keep up with her, she takes the burden on herself, carries him and feeds him, never forsaking, never abandoning him; but mounting him on her own shoulders, she conveys him everywhere she goes and looks after him, abiding with him until the end.⁸

As for love of her offspring and care for their preservation, as soon as she perceives herself to be pregnant, she applies herself to building the nest,⁹ not making pats of mud or cementing it on walls and roofs like the house-martin¹⁰; nor does she use the activity of many different members of her body, as when the bee employs its whole frame to enter and open the wax, with all six feet pressing at the same time to fashion the whole mass into hexagonal cells, But the halcyon, having but one simple instrument, one piece of equipment, one tool - her bill and nothing else, co-operating with her industry and ingenuity - what she contrives and constructs would be hard to believe without ocular evidence, seeing the object that she moulds - or rather the ship that she builds. Of many possible forms, this alone cannot be capsized¹¹ or even wet its cargo. She collects the spines of garfish¹² and binds and weaves them together, some straight, others transverse, as if she were thrusting woven threads through the warp, adding such bends and knots of one with another that a compact, rounded unit is formed, slightly prolate in shape, like a fisherman’s weel. When it is finished, she brings and deposits it beside the surging waves, where the sea beats gently upon it and instructs her how to mend and strengthen whatever is not yet good and tight, as she observes it loosened by the blows. She so tautens and secures the joints that it is difficult even for stones or iron to break or pierce it. The proportions and shape of the hollow interior are as admirable as anything about it; for it is so constructed as to admit herself only, while the entrance remains wholly hidden and invisible to others - with the result that not even a drop of water can get in. Now I presume that all of you have seen this nest; as for me, since I have often seen and touched it, it comes to my mind to chant the words

Once such a thing in Delos near Apollo’s shrine¹³

I saw, the Altar of Horn, celebrated as one of the Seven Wonders of the World¹⁴ because it needs no glue or any other binding, but is joined and fastened together, made entirely of horns taken from the right side of the head.¹⁵ Now may the god¹⁶ be propitious to me while I sing of the Sea Siren¹⁷ - and indeed, being both a musician and an islander, he should laugh good-naturedly at my opponents’ scoffing questions. Why should he not be called a conger-slayer or Artemis be termed a surmullet-slayer?¹⁸ Since he well knows that Aphrodite, born of the sea, regards practically all sea creatures as sacred and related to herself and relishes the slaughter of none of them. In Leptis,¹⁹ you know, the priests of Poseidon refrain entirely from any sea food, and those initiated into the mysteries at Eleusis hold the surmullet in veneration, while the priestess of Hera at Argos abstains from this fish to pay it honour. For surmullets are particularly good at killing and eating the sea-hare, which is lethal to man.²⁰ It is for this reason that surmullets possess this immunity, as being friendly and life-saving creatures.

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.) — 35 focus

[35]

ΦΑΙΔΙΜΟΣ.

ἀλλʼ οἷον, ὦ φίλε Πόσειδον, ὀλίγου πάθος ὡς ἄτοπον πέπονθα καὶ καταγέλαστον, εἴ με διατρίβοντα περὶ φώκας καὶ βατράχους τὸ σοφώτατον καὶ θεοφιλέστατον ἐξέφυγε καὶ παρῆλθε τῶν ἐνάλων. ποίας γὰρ ἀηδόνας ἄξιον τῷ φιλομούσῳ τῆς ἀλκυόνος ἢ τῷ 10 φιλοτέκνῳ χελιδόνας ἢ τῷ φιλάνδρῳ πελειάδας; ἢ τῷ τεχνικῷ παραβάλλειν μελίττας; τίνος δὲ γενέσεις καὶ τόκους καὶ ὠδῖνας ὁ θεὸς οὕτως ἐτίμησε; τὰς μὲν γὰρ Λητοῦς γονὰς μίαν ἑδρασθεῖσαν ὑποδέξασθαι νῆσον ἱστοροῦσι, τῇ δʼ ἀλκυόνι τικτούσῃ περὶ τροπὰς 15 πᾶσαν ἵστησι θάλασσαν ἀκύμονα καὶ ἀσάλευτον. 983a ὅθεν οὐδὲν ἔστι ζῷον ἄλλο, ὃ οὕτω φιλοῦσιν ἄνθρωποι, διʼ ἣν ἑπτὰ μὲν ἡμέρας ἑπτὰ δὲ νύκτας ἐν ἀκμῇ χειμῶνος ἀδεῶς πλέουσι, τῆς κατὰ γῆν πορείας τηνικαῦτα τὴν διὰ τῆς θαλάσσης ἀσφαλεστέραν 20 ἔχοντες. εἰ δὲ δεῖ καὶ περὶ ἑκάστης τῶν ἀρετῶν ἃς ἔχει βραχέα φάναι, φίλανδρος μὲν οὕτως ἐστίν, ὥστε μὴ καθʼ ἕνα καιρὸν ἀλλὰ διʼ ἔτους συνεῖναι καὶ προσδέχεσθαι τὴν τοῦ ἄρρενος ὁμιλίαν οὐ διὰ τὸ ἀκόλαστον ἄλλῳ γὰρ οὐ μίγνυται τὸ 25 παράπαν ἀλλʼ ὑπʼ εὐνοίας ὥσπερ γυνὴ γαμετὴ 983b καὶ φιλοφροσύνης· ὅταν δὲ διὰ γῆρας ἀσθενὴς ὁ ἄρρην γένηται συνέπεσθαι καὶ βαρύς, ὑπολαβοῦσα γηροφορεῖ καὶ γηροτροφεῖ, μηδαμοῦ προϊεμένη μηδὲ καταλείπουσα χωρίς· ἀλλὰ τοῖς ὤμοις ἐκεῖνον ἀναθεμένη καὶ κομίζει πανταχόσε καὶ θεραπεύει καὶ σύνεστιν ἄχρι τελευτῆς. τῷ δὲ φιλοτέκνῳ καὶ πεφροντικότι 5 τῆς σωτηρίας τῶν γεννωμένων συναισθανομένη κύουσαν ἑαυτὴν τάχιστα τρέπεται πρὸς ἐργασίαν τῆς νεοττιᾶς, οὐ φύρουσα πηλὸν οὐδὲ προσερείδουσα τοίχοις καὶ ὀρόφοις ὥσπερ αἱ χελιδόνες, οὐδὲ χρωμένη πολλοῖς τοῦ σώματος ἐνεργοῖς μέρεσιν, 10 ὥσπερ τῆς μελίττης ἐνδυομένης τῷ σώματι καὶ τὸ κηρίον ἀνοιγούσης ὁμοῦ ψαύοντες οἱ ἓξ πόδες 983c εἰς ἑξάγωνα τὸ πᾶν ἀγγεῖα διαιροῦσιν· ἡ δʼ ἀλκυὼν ἓν ὄργανον ἁπλοῦν ἓν ὅπλον ἓν ἐργαλεῖον ἔχουσα, τὸ στόμα, καὶ μηδὲν ἄλλο τοῦ φιλοπόνου καὶ φιλοτέχνου 15 συνεργόν, οἷα μηχανᾶται καὶ δημιουργεῖ χαλεπόν ἐστι πεισθῆναι μὴ καταμαθόντας ὄψει τὸ πλαττόμενον ὑπʼ αὐτῆς μᾶλλον δὲ ναυπηγούμενον, σχημάτων πολλῶν μόνον ἀπερίτρεπτον καὶ ἀβάπτιστον συλλέξασα γὰρ τὰς τῆς βελόνης ἀκίδας 20 συντίθησι καὶ συνδεῖ πρὸς ἀλλήλας ἐγκαταπλέκουσα τὰς μὲν εὐθείας τὰς δὲ πλαγίας, ὥσπερ ἐπὶ στήμονι κρόκην ἐμβάλλουσα, προσχρωμένη καμπαῖς καὶ περιαγωγαῖς διʼ ἀλλήλων, ὥστε διαρμόσαι καὶ γενέσθαι στρογγύλον ἐνήρεμον, πρόμηκες ἐκ τοῦ σχήματος, 25 983d ἁλιευτικῷ κύρτῳ παραπλήσιον. ὅταν δὲ συντελέσῃ, φέρουσα παρέθηκε παρὰ τὸ κλύσμα τοῦ κύματος, ὅπου προσπίπτουσα μαλακῶς ἡ θάλασσα τὸ μὲν οὐ καλῶς ἀραρὸς ἐδίδαξεν ἀκέσασθαι καὶ καταπυκνῶσαι, χαλώμενον ὁρῶσαν ὑπὸ τῆς πληγῆς τὰ δʼ 5 ἡρμοσμένα κατασφίγγει καὶ πήγνυσιν, ὥστε καὶ λίθῳ καὶ σιδήρῳ δυσδιάλυτον εἶναι καὶ δύστρωτον. οὐδενὸς δʼ ἧσσον ἀξιοθαύμαστόν ἐστιν ἥ τε συμμετρία τό τε σχῆμα τῆς τοῦ ἀγγείου κοιλότητος πεποίηται γὰρ αὐτὴν ἐκείνην μόνην ἐνδυομένην 10 δέχεσθαι τοῖς δʼ ἄλλοις τυφλὸν εἶναι πάντῃ καὶ κρύφιον, ὥστε παριέναι μηδὲν εἴσω μήτε τῆς γῆς 983e μήτε τῆς θαλάττης. οἶμαι μὲν οὖν μηδένα ὑμῶν ἀθέατον εἶναι τῆς νεοττιᾶς· ἐμοὶ δὲ πολλάκις ἰδόντι καὶ θιγόντι παρίσταται λέγειν καὶ ᾄδειν 15

Δήλῳ δή ποτε τοῖον Ἀπόλλωνος παρὰ ναῷ

τὸν κεράτινον βωμὸν εἶδον ἐν τοῖς ἑπτὰ καλουμένοις θεάμασιν ὑμνούμενον, ὅτι μήτε κόλλης δεόμενος μήτε τινὸς ἄλλου δεσμοῦ διὰ μόνων τῶν δεξιῶν συμπέπηγε καὶ συνήρμοσται κεράτων. ἵλεως 20 δʼ ὁ θεὸς εἴη καὶ πρός τι μουσικὸν ὄντα καὶ νησιώτην, ὑμνουμένης τῆς πελαγίου σειρῆνος, εὐμενῶς καὶ καταγελᾶν τῶν ἐρωτημάτων ἐκείνων, ἃ σκώπτοντες ἐρωτῶσιν οὗτοι, δια τί Ἀπολλων συθ οὐδὲ τριγλοβο δὴ γινώσκοντα Ἀφροδίτην ὁμου 983f κατὰ θάλατταν ποιουμένην αὑτῆς ἱερὰ καὶ ἀδελφὰ καὶ μηδενὶ φονευομένῳ χαίρουσαν. ἐν δὲ Λέπτει τοὺς ἱερεῖς τοῦ Ποσειδῶνος οὐδὲν ἔναλον τὸ παράπαν 5 ἐσθίοντας τρίγλαν δὲ τοὺς ἐν Ἐλευσῖνι μύστας σεβομένους ἴστε, καὶ τῆς Ἥρας ἐν Ἄργει τὴν ἱέρειαν ἀπεχομένην ἐπὶ τιμῇ τοῦ ζῴου· τὸν γὰρ θαλάττιον λαγωόν, ὅς ἐστιν ἀνθρώπῳ θανάσιμος, κτείνουσιν αἱ τρίγλαι μάλιστα καὶ καταναλίσκουσι 10 διὸ ταύτην ὡς φιλάνθρωπα καὶ σωτήρια ζῷα τὴν ἄδειαν ἔχουσι. 984a

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.) — 35 focus

[35] But what absurdity, dearest Neptune, would this passion of mine lead me into! How ridiculous should I appear, if trifling among sea-calves and frogs, I should omit one of the marine animals, the wisest and most beloved by the Gods! For what nightingales are to be compared with the halcyon for music? or who will presume to prefer the swallow’s love of offspring, the dove’s love of her mate, or the art and curiosity of the bees, to those virtues ascribed to the halcyon? One only island, as history tells us, received and entertained Latona when she gave birth; which island, floating before, was then made firm land. But when the halcyon brings forth, about the winter solstice, the whole ocean remains calm and undisturbed without the wrinkle of a wave. So that there is not any other creature for which man has so great an affection, seeing that for her sake for seven days and seven nights together, in the depth of winter, they sail without fear of shipwreck, and make their voyages upon the sea with greater safety than they travel upon the land.

But if it be required that we should make a brief recital of her particular virtues, she is so great an example of conjugal affection, that she does not keep company with her mate for a single season, but for the whole year together, and that not for wantonness (for she never couples but with her own), but out of affection and friendship, like a truly virtuous married wife. And when her mate through age becomes infirm and not able to bear her company, she takes care of him, and feeds and carries him about in his old age, never forsaking nor leaving him alone, but taking him upon her shoulders, carries him from place to place, never abandoning him till death.

As to her affection towards her young ones and care of their preservation, so soon as she perceives herself near the time of her bringing forth, she presently betakes herself to the making of her nest. For the building of which, she neither makes use of mud and dirt nor props it up with walls and rafters, like the swallows; nor does she use several members of her body to work with, like the bees, that employ their whole body to enter the wax and open their cells, with their six feet fashioning their six-sided apartments. For the halcyon having but one single instrument, one single tool, which is her bill, nor any other help to assist her in labor and her care of her young ones, what a wonderful master-piece of workmanship does she erect? Insomuch that it is a difficult thing for them that have not well considered it to believe their eyesight; her workmanship seeming rather the art of a shipwright than of a common builder; of all inventions being the only form not to be overwhelmed and washed by the waves. To this purpose she gathers together the thorns of the sea-needle -some straight, others oblique, like the woof in the loom -and twists and binds them where the thread and yarn are interwoven one within another, till she has framed a nest round and oblong, resembling the usual fisher-boats. This when she has finished she launches into the sea, where the waves beating gently upon it direct to reform what is amiss, by consolidating the loose and ill compacted parts, where the water has forced any entrance; insomuch that at length she fastens and strengthens what she has put together in such a manner, that it is not to be broken or pierced either by stones or steel. Nor is the symmetry and form of the inside and cavity of the nest less to be admired. For it is so contrived as only to receive herself; the entrance into it not being to be found by any other creature, nor can the sea itself find a way into it. I am apt to believe that there is none of you who never saw this nest. But for my own part, that have often seen and handled one of them, I may safely say, that I In Delos’ temple near Apollo’s shrine, Something like this, a fabric most divine, have seen. That is to say, the horned altar, celebrated for one of the seven wonders of the world, which without the help of parget, glue, soder, paste, or any other binding, is framed only of horns that grew on the right side of the head of the beast.

Now may the Deity that is somewhat musical and an islander be propitious to me,.. . while I deride the questions which those scoffers put,—wherefore Apollo may not be called mullet-shooter, when we find that Venus is called the mullet-protectrix; for which reason she is honored with temples adjoining to the sea, and sacred rights; and certain it is, that she is displeased when any mullet is killed. Therefore at Leptis the priests of Neptune never eat any thing that breeds in the sea; and you know the mullet is in great veneration among the professors of the Eleusinian mysteries; moreover, that the priestess of Juno at Argos abstains from the same fish; and the reason is because the mullets kill and destroy the sea-hare, which is pernicious to man, and therefore they spare those creatures that are kind and beneficial to him.

Notes on the current edition

Whether land or sea animals are cleverer

1. As it is to Thetis: Virgil, Georgics, i. 399.

2. See Thompson, Glossary of Greek Birds, s.v.; Kraak, Mnemosyne (3rd series), vii. 142; Pliny, Nat. Hist. x. 89 ff.; Aelian, De Natura Animal. vii. 17; Gow on Theocritus, vii. 57; and the pleasant work Halcyon found in mss. of Lucian and Plato.

3. Poseidon.

4. For the birth of Apollo and Artemis.

5. Delos, the wandering island.

6. Poseidon.

7. The Halcyon Days (Suidas, s.v.); Aristotle, Historia Animal. v. 8 (542 b 6 ff.); Aelian, De Natura Animal. i. 36; Pliny, Nat. Hist. xviii. 231; al.

8. Cf. Alcman’s famous lines: frag. 26 Edmonds ( Lyra Graeca, i, p. 72, L.C.L.), frag. 94 Diehl ( Anth. Lyrica, ii, p. 34); Antigonus, Hist. Mirab. 23; al.

9. Cf. Mor. 494 a-b; Aristotle, Historia Animal. ix. 13 (616 a 19 ff.); Aelian, De Natura Animal. ix. 17.

10. Cf. 966 d-e supra.

11. Aristotle ( loc. cit.), on the contrary, seems to say (though his text is corrupt; see Thompson ad loc.): The opening is small, just enough for a tiny entrance, so that even if the nest is upset, the sea does not enter.

12. Belone was usually a term for the garfish and the needlefish, neither of which has spines of any size. Thompson ( Glossary, pp. 31-32) rightly regards the meaning of belone here as indeterminable. Cf. also Mor. 494 a, which is almost certainly mistranslated in the L.C.L. edition.

13. Homer, Odyssey, vi. 162. That there was some religious mystery associated with the so-called nest is indicated by the close of Plutarch’s description. (Thompson on Aristotle, loc. cit.)

14. Cf. Strabo, xiv. 2. 5.

15. Curiously enough, the Life of Theseus, xxi. 2 (9 e) says the left side.

16. Apollo. From this point on the text of the rest of this chapter is very bad and full of lacunae. The restorations adopted here are somewhat less than certain.

17. This is not fulfilled and so is presumably an indication of another lacuna toward the end of Phaedimus’ speech, the location of which we cannot even guess.

18. Cf. 966 a supra.

19. Andrews suspects a confusion here and at Mor. 730 d with Lepidotonpolis on the Nile, not far below Thebes, apparently a focal point of a taboo on eating the bynni, allegedly due to its consumption of the private parts of Osiris when they were thrown into the river ( cf. Mor. 358 b).

20. Cf. Aelian, De Natura Animal. ii. 45; ix. 51; xvi. 19; Pliny, Nat. Hist. ix. 155; Philostratus, Vita Apoll. vi. 32.

Plutarch De sollertia animalium 35

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

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