Philo Judaeus, De Aeternitate Mundi, ed. Siegfried Reiter, ed. Leopold Cohn, 128

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[128] τὸ παραπλήσιον μέντοι καὶ
τοὺς κατὰ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν δράκοντάς φασι πάσχειν· ἀνέρποντας γὰρ ἐπὶ τὰ ¹² μέγιστα τῶν ζῴων, ἐλέφαντας, περὶ νῶτα καὶ νηδὺν ἅπασαν εἱλεῖσθαι, φλέβα δ’ ἣν ἂν τύχῃ διελόντας ἐμπίνειν τοῦ αἵματος, ἀπλήστως ἐπισπωμένους βιαίῳ πνεύματι καὶ συντόνῳ ῥοίζῳ· μέχρι μὲν οὖν τινος ἐξαναλουμένους ἐκείνους ἀντέχειν ὑπ’ ἀμηχανίας ἀνασκιρτῶντας καὶ τῇ προνομαίᾳ τὴν πλευρὰν τύπτοντας ὡς καθιξομένους τῶν δρακόντων, εἶτα ἀεὶ
κενουμένου τοῦ ζωτικοῦ, πηδᾶν μὲν μηκέτι δύνασθαι, κραδαινομένους δ’ ἑστάναι, μικρὸν δ’ ὕστερον καὶ τῶν σκελῶν ἐξασθενησάντων, κατασεισθέντας ὑπὸ λιφαιμίας ἀποψύχειν, πεσόντας δὲ τοὺς αἰτίους τοῦ θανάτου συναπολλύναι τρόπῳ τοιῷδε·

De Aeternitate Mundi. Philo Judaeus. ed. Siegfried Reiter, ed. Leopold Cohn. Germany. 2014.

Funding provided by European Social Fund Saxony.

Current edition First1KGreek

De Aeternitate Mundi (Greek) (Philo Judaeus. Opera quae supersunt, Volume 6. Cohn, Leonard; Reiter, Siegfried, editors. Berlin: Reimer, 1915.)

Translations (1)

On the Incorruptibility of the World First1KGreek (The works of Philo Judaeus, the contemporary of Josephus, volume 4. Yonge, C. D., translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1855.) — 128 focus

[128] And they say that the dragons in India are exposed to the same kind of fate, for that they crawl upon the greatest of all beasts, namely elephants, and creep over their backs and the whole of their bellies, and then, if they can find a vein, they divide that and drink the blood, sucking it insatiably, with a strong breath and a vigorous noise. Meantime the elephants, though greatly drained, and though becoming gradually exhausted, hold out for some time, leaping about in their perplexity, and lashing their sides with their trunks in the hope of being able to shake off the dragons. After a time, as the vital principle is continually becoming more and more exhausted, they are no longer able to leap about, but stand trembling and quivering, and after a little more time their legs become too weak to support them, and they are thrown down and die for want of blood. And when they are fallen down those animals which were the causes of their death die with them in the following manner:

Notes on the current edition

De aeternitate mundi

1.
1 οὐκ ἀκίνητον Ε οὐχ om. UHE νεκροῦται] νεκροῖτα᾿ ἄν Cumont
2 δυσωδέστατον MUE: τὸ δυσωδέστατον HP (v) γίγνεται E 2.3 ἥ γε μὴν ἀέρος φθορὰ scripsi: ἇί γε μὴν ἀέρος φθοραὶ codd.
3 δῆλον codd.: δῆλαι Bernays; δῆλοι coni. Cumont ἀποθνήσκων M
4 στοχασάμενος M: στοχαζόμενος UHPE (v) εὐπρεπείαις U(E cod. b)
5 τάκληθοῦς E: τοῦ ἀληθοῦς MUHP εἴποιμι εἴποιμι HP (Turn.)
6 πάντων MUPE: ἁπάντων H (v) μεμοίρανται H(P?)
7 χωλόν—112
16 πνιγῇ τελευτῶσιν om. E χωλόν] χωλὸς Ἥφαιστος Cumont οἱ om. U
8 γεγονὸς ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ· 016 σκηριπτόμενον] γεγονὼς ἐξ αὐτοῦ Διός σκηριπτόμενος Cumout: post Διός add. ὅτι Comperz κατὰ τὴν] κάτα τὸν M
9 ὕλης μονὴν ἐξαναλωθείσης om. U ὕλην H μονήν] νομὴν Useuer (Cumont)

2.
7 sqq. Heraclit. Alleg. Hoin. c.
26 (= schol. Β ad Hom. H. A 591) . . . ἐπεὶ ἡ πυρὸς οὐσία διπλὴ, καὶ τὸ μέν αἰθέριον . . . οὐδὲν ὑστεροῦν ἔχει πρός τελειότητα, τοῦ δὲ παρ’ ἡμῖν πυρὸς ἡ ὅλη οὐσία?), πρόσγειος οὔσα, φθαρτὴ καὶ διὰ τῆς ὑποτρεφούσης ὕλης ἕκαστα ζωπυρουμένη, διὰ τοῦτο τὴν μὲν ὀξυτάτην φλόγα συνεχῶς συνεχῶς Ἥλιόν τε καὶ Δία προσαγορεύει, τὸ δ’ ἐπὶ γῆς πῦρ Ἥφαιστον, ἑτοίμως ἁπτόμενόν τε καὶ σβεννύμενον· ὅθεν εἰκότως κατὰ σύγκρισιν ἐκείνου τοῦ ὁλοκλήρου τοῦτο νενόμισται χωλόν εἶναι τὸ πῦρ ἄλλως τε καὶ πάσα ποδῶν πήρωσις ἀεὶ τοῦ διαστηρίζοντος ἐπιδεῖται βάκτρου· τὸ δὴ παρ’ ἡμῖν πῦρ, ἄνευ τῆς τῶν ξύλων ἐπιθέσεως οὐ δυνηθὲν ἄν ἐπὶ πλέον παραμεῖναι, συμβολικῶς χωλὸν εἴρηται. Plut. de facie in orbe lunae
5 p. 922 a ὅτι μέντοι πῦρ ἀνθρακῶδες . . . οὐκ ἔχει διαμονὴν οὐδὲ σύστασιν ὅλως, ἐὰν μὴ στερεᾶς ὕλης καὶ στεγούσης ἄμα κοὶ τρεφούσης ἐπιλάβηται, βέλτιον οἶμαι συνορᾶν ἐνίων φιλοσόφων τοὺς ἐν παιδιὰ λέγοντας τὸν Ἥφαιστον εἰρῆσθαι χωλόν, ὅτι τὸ πῦρ ξύλων χωρὶς ὥσπερ οἱ χωλοὶ βακτηρίας οὐ πρόεισιν. Cornut. Tlieol. c.
19 p. 33,
14 (Lang) τὸ δ’ ἐν χρήσει καὶ ἀερομιγές (πῦρ) Ἥφαιστος . . . χωλὸς δέ παραδέδοται . . . τάχα δὲ ἀπό τοῦ μὴ δύνασθαι προβαίνειν δίχα ξυλώδους τινὸς ὡσὰν βάκτρου.
10 sqq. Plin. N. H. VIII
32 elephantos fert Africa . . . sed maximos India bellantesque cum iis perpetua discordia dracones tantae magnitudinis et ipsos, ut circuraplexu facili ambiant nexuque nodi praestriugant. commoritur ea dimicatio, victusque conruens conplexum elidit pondere. Ambro-s. Hexam. III 9,
40 ... draco elephantum ligat, cuius ruina mors victoris est. et ideo summa vi utrimque certatur, ille ut pedem alliget, in quo casus vincti sibi nocere non possit, iste ne posteriore extremus pede aut calle capiatur angusto, ubi vel ipse se non queat retorquere et draconera gravi proterere vestigio vel sequentis elephanti auxilium non habere. cf. Aelian. Nat. anira. VI 21.

Philo Judaeus De Aeternitate Mundi 128

ed. Siegfried Reiter, ed. Leopold Cohn

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition First1KGreek

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers