532 PLINY'S NATUBAL HISTORY. [Book X. 



the story of the dish, of Clodius .ZEsopus, 10 the tragic actor, 

 which was valued at one hundred thousand sesterces, and in 

 which were served up nothing but birds that had been remark- 

 able for their song, or their imitation of the human voice, and 

 purchased, each of them, at the price of six thousand sesterces ; 

 he being induced to this folly by no other pleasure than that 

 in these he might eat the closest imitators of man ; never for 

 a moment reflecting that his own immense fortune had been 

 acquired by the advantages of his \oice ; a parent, indeed, 

 right worthy of the son of whom we have already made men- 

 tion, 11 as swallowing pearls. It would not, to say the truth, 

 be very easy to come to a conclusion which of the two was 

 guilty of the greatest baseness ; unless, indeed, we are ready to 

 admit that it was less unseemly to banquet upon the most 

 costly of all the productions of Nature, than to devour 12 tongues 

 which had given utterance to the language of man. 



CHAP. 73. (52.) THE GENERATION OF BIRDS I OTHEE OVIPAROUS 



ANIMALS. 



The generation of birds would appear to be very simple, 

 while at the same time it has its own peculiar marvels. In- 

 deed, there are quadrupeds as well that produce eggs, the 

 chameleon, for instance, the lizard, and those of the serpent 

 tribe of which we have previously spoken. 13 Of the feathered 

 race, those which have hooked talons are comparatively unpro- 

 lific ; the cenchris 14 being the only one among them that lays 

 more than four eggs. Nature has so ordained it in the birds, 

 that the timid ones should be more prolific than those which 

 are courageous. The ostrich, the common fowl, and the par- 

 tridge, are the only birds that lay eggs in considerable num- 

 bers. Birds have two modes of coupling, the female crouching 

 on the ground, as in the barn-door fowl, or else standing, as is 

 the case with the crane. 



CHAP. 74. THE VARIOUS KINDS OF EGGS, AND THEIR NATURE. 



Some eggs are white, as those of the pigeon and partridge, 



10 Valerius Maximus, B. ix. c. 1, tells this story of the profligate son of 

 ^Esopus. - 11 B. ix. c. 59. 



12 " Hominum linguas," Pliny says ; a singularly inappropriate expres- 

 sion, it would appear. 



13 See B, viii. c. 37. 



14 The tinnunculus, probably, of c. 52. 



