400 pliny's ttatueal history. [Book XXXVII. 



Sicyon, and of a river Crathis there, which discharges itself 

 from a lake into the Ocean, the banks of which are frequented 

 by birds which he calls '* meleagrides"^° and '* penelopes :" it is 

 here that, according to him, electrum is produced, in manner 

 aboVe mentioned. Theomenes says that near the Greater 

 Syrtis are the Gardens of the Hesperides, and Lake Electrum : 

 on the banks, he says, are poplars, from the summits of which 

 amber falls into the water below, where it is gathered by the 

 maidens of the Hesperides. 



Ctesias asserts that there is in India ^^ a river called Hypo- 

 barus, a word which signifies ^' bearer of all good things ;" 

 that this river flows from the north into the Eastern Ocean, 

 where it discharges itself near a mountain covered with trees 

 which produce electrum ; and that these trees are called 

 " siptachorse," the meaning of which is " intense sweetness." 

 Mithridates says, that off the shores of Germany there is an 

 island called " Serita,"^^ covered with a kind of cedar, from 

 which amber falls upon the rocks. According to Xenocrates, 

 this substance is called, in Italy, not only ** succinum," but 

 *' thieum " as well, the Scythian name of it, for there also it 

 is to be found, being "sacrium :" others, he says, are of opi- 

 nion that it is a product of Numidia. But the one that has 

 surpassed them all is Sophocles, the tragic poet ; a thing that 

 indeed surprises me, when I only consider the surpassing 

 gravity of his lofty style, the high repute that he enjoyed in 

 life, his elevated position by birth at Athens, his various ex- 

 ploits, and his high military command. According to him, 

 amber is produced in the countries beyond India, from the tears 

 that are shed for Meleager, by the birds called " meleagrides !"^ 

 "Who can be otherwise than surprised that he should have be- 

 lieved such a thing as this, or have hoped to persuade others 

 to believe it ? What child, too, could possibly be found in such 

 a state of ignorance as to believe that birds weep once a year, 

 that their tears are so prolific as this, or that they go all the 

 way from Greece, where Meleager died, to India to weep ? 

 " But then," it will be said, " do not the poets tell many other 

 stories that are quite as fabulous ?" Such is the fact, no doubt, 



«> See B. X. c. 38. 



^^ All this is based, Ajasson thinks, upon the stories of Hindoo mythology. 

 ^* The old reading is " Osericta :" Ajasson identifies it with the island 

 of Oesel in the Baltic. 83 See B. x. c. 38. 



