Xll INTRODUCTION. 



It is not very obvious wby the Cicada specially was 

 praised as "earth-born." Moufat says as to this 

 point:* — " Mira est Cicadarum generatio, nt apnd 

 auctores legimiis. Nam Intum si non debito tempore 

 effodiatiir, Cicadas progignere testatnr Paracelsus, 

 atque ante eum Hesychius. Ob banc causam Plato, 

 Cicadas homines olim fuisse affirmat ex terra ortos, 

 Musarum vero beneficio in Cicadas versos." From 

 which we may gather that moist earth breeds Cicadas 

 spontaneously, and, accordingly, Paracelsus recom- 

 mends that the ground should be early ploughed, 

 otherwise the Cicadae become an injury and pest to the 

 farmer. The assumption of the title "earth-born," by 

 the ancient Greeks, probably had reference to the line 

 in Homer, where he says of the Grreeks : — ■ 



" Noble-souled Erechtheus's lieritap^e, 

 Child of the fertile soil by Pallas reared." 



As Erechtheus was one of the first traditional chiefs 

 of Athens, the inhabitants, as children also of the soil, 

 revered him. 



The Greeks included Cicadas amongst their pets, 

 and confined them in rush-made cages for their song, 

 and, it would appear also, to watch their amatory ways. 

 We quote from Moufat' s text, which is by no means so 

 clear as might be wished : — " Sane Lya3 (Lysias ?) 

 verba ilia ex Alexide in Thrasone Atheniae citata 



aoi) OS syui ov TTca ttote eioov oude KE^KUT:r,v, yvvcci^ ou xittocv, ouo an^ov', 



ouh TETTiya, oij^e r^uyom fideiu faciuut amplissimam 

 vocalem fuisse Cercopam, et a Cicadarum gente 

 alienam ; nisi forte, ut marem foeminamque turturem, 

 voluptatis gratia, caveis includerunt Grseci ; ita etiam 

 masculo Cicadse Cercopem foemenam adjunctam fuisse 

 statuamus," &c., wiiich may be translated: — "Certainly 

 the words of Lysias, ' I have never yet seen in your 

 house. Lady, either a Cercopis, or a jay, or a night- 

 ingale, or a Cicada, or a turtle,' give us reason to 

 suppose that the Cercopis was gifted with a voice, but 



- Moufat, I.e., 132. f Geor. Iv. 1447; Ovid, Fast. Iv. 461. 



