346 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book VIII 



colour of copper, the others are black. No species whatever 

 of the swine is found in Arabia. 



CHAP. 79. (53.) ANIMALS IN A HALF-WILD STATE. 



In no species is the union with the wild animal so easy af 

 in that of the swine ; the produce of such unions was callec 

 by the ancients hybrid, 16 or half savage; which appellatior 

 has also been transferred to the human race, as it was to C 

 Antonius, the colleague of Cicero in his consulship. Noi 

 only, however, with respect to the hog, but all other animaL 

 as well, wherever there is a tame species, there is a correspond- 

 ing wild one as well ; a fact which is equally true with refer- 

 ence to man himself, as is proved by the many races of wile 

 men of which we have already spoken. 17 There is no kind ol 

 animal, however, that is divided into a greater number of va- 

 rieties than the goat. There are the capraea, 18 the rupicapr^ 

 or rock-goat, and the ibex, an animal of wonderful swiftness, 

 although its head is loaded with immense horns, which bear 

 strong resemblance to the sheath of a sword. 19 By means oJ 

 these horns the animal balances itself, when it darts along 

 the rocks, as though it had been hurled from a sling ; 20 more 

 especially when it wishes to leap from one eminence to ano- 

 ther. There are the oryges also, 21 which are said to be the 



16 There has been some difference of opinion respecting the derivation 

 of this word, but it is generally used to express a " mongrel," i. e. an ani- 

 mal whose parents are of different natures, or, when applied to the human 

 species, of different countries. B. 



17 See B. vii. c. 2. 



18 It is not easy to determine what animals Pliny intended to designate, 

 Cuvier employs the terms " chevreuils, chamois, and bouquetins," as tht 

 corresponding words in the French. In English we have no names tc 

 express these varieties ; we may, however, regard them generally, as dif- 

 ferent species of wild goats. Cuvier conceives that the Linnsean names 01 

 the animals mentioned were, probably, Cervus capreolus, Antelope rupicapra, 

 and Capra ibex. B. 



19 The resemblance may be supposed to consist in the horns being hol- 

 low, and tap-ering to a point. B. 



20 There is considerable difficulty in ascertaining the correct reading, 

 or the exact meaning which the writer intended to convey by the words 

 employed. B. 



21 There is some difficulty in determining the nature of the variety 

 which Pliny terms " oryges ;" Hardouin has collected the opinions of natu- 

 ralists, and we have some remarks by Cuvier ; he refers to Buffo n's 

 account of the Antelope oryx, as agreeing, in the essential points, with the 

 description given by Pliny; Lemaire, vol. iii. p. 554. See B. xi. c. 106. 



