143 OEIGIN^AL ARTICLES. 



speedily be rendered tame, as the elepliaut for instance. Again, (ani- 

 mals may be divided) in another way, for all tame races are also wild, 

 as horses, oxen, pigs, sheep, goats and dogs. Some animals are able 

 to make a loud noise, some are mute, others are possessed with a voice, 

 and of these latter some have a language, others are incapable of 

 uttering distinct sounds ; some are garrulous, others are silent, some 

 are songsters, others are unable to sing ; but to sing and talk most at 

 the season of copulation is common to all birds. Some animals fre- 

 quent the fields as the wood-pigeon, others the hills as the hoopoe, 

 others live with man as the pigeon. Again, some are very prone 

 to venery, as the tribe of partridges and cocks, others preserve 

 chastity, as the crow family which seldom copulate. Again, some 

 animals are given to defend themselves, others to keeji watch against 

 the approach of danger ; in the first class I include such as either 

 attack other animals or defend themselves when injured ; by the 

 second class I mean those which have in themselves something which 

 serves as a means of avoiding suffering. 



In disposition animals differ in the follomng particulars ; some are 

 gentle and demure and not stubborn, as the ox, while others are 

 passionate, stubborn, and stupid, like the wild boar; others are 

 sagacious and timid like the stag and the hare ; others mean and 

 insidious like serpents ; others liberal, brave, and noble, like the 

 lion ;* others generous, fierce, and insidious, like the wolf; by noble 

 I mean that Avhich is descended from a good race, by generous that 

 which does not degenerate from its own nature. And some animals 

 are cunning and full of mischief, like the fox ; others lull of spirit, 

 loving, and fawning, like the dog ; others gentle, and readily tamed, 

 like the elephant ; others are modest, and always on the watch like 

 the goose ; others are envious and fond of display, like the peacock. 

 But of living things man alone is capable of deliberating ; many 

 animals share in memory and ability to learn, but no other being 

 except man is capable of reminiscence. 



Of each particidar kind of animals, both with respect to then' 



* The Lion is saifl to be ivytvr]g,the WoW ytwaiog. The former tenn may 

 be properly rendered "noble;" it is not so easy to give a suitable translation of 

 the latter Greek word. In the Rhetoric (ii. 15, § S), Aristotle makes again the same 

 distinction between these two terms — ivytvi'ig is " that which refers to 

 excellence of birth," yivvcuog "that which does not degenerate from its natiu'e" — 

 the English word ' generons,' though now not used in the sense attributed to 

 ytvvaloc, appears originally to have been sometimes so understood ; its opposite 

 quality 'degencrous' or "degenerate," implies a falling from the original healthy 

 and vigorous qualities that belong to the genus, [tie, oenvs) and in this sense the 

 expression ' degenerate ' continues to be used ; and while we can speak of a 

 ' degenerate' breed of cattle, are unable, b}^ the employment of the simple term 

 ' generate,' or ' generous,' to express the opposite quahty of an animal perpetuating 

 its own vigorous characteristics to succeeding generations ; JM. Camus renders 

 yivvaioQhy "vigoureux;" it may be rcjuarked that the word "generous" has 

 by some writers been applied to animals, as " a generous pack of hounds " — or 

 " a fjencrous stud " ; we licar too " of (jcnerovs wine." Does not this epithet imply 

 what Ai-istotlc means by ytwalog, viz. "that which will not degenerate." 



