THE LION OF ANDROCLES 



Apion, surnamed Plistonices, was a man of much reading, with a wide 

 and varied knowledge of things Greek. 



He relates how an immense combat of wild animals was being given to 

 the people in the Circus Maximus. " I happened to be in Rome and was 

 myself a spectator of this thing," he says. "There were numerous wild 

 beasts there, exceeding the largest wild animals in size ; and all were remark- 

 able for their beauty or ferocity. But above all the others, the fierceness of 

 the lions was a wonder to all men ; and of one lion in particular beyond 

 all the others. The attentive eyes of all were fixed on this one lion by 

 reason of the vigour and size of his frame, the horrible resonance of his roar, 

 and the sinews and the mane that coiled about his neck. A slave belonging 

 to a man of consular rank was brought into the arena with several others, and 

 his name was Androcles. The lion, says Apion, as soon as it saw him in the 

 distance suddenly stood still, as if in wonder ; then gradually and gently, as if 

 recognising him, it drew nigh to the man, and softly and quietly wagged its 

 tail in the manner and fashion of a fawning dog, and pressed itself against 

 the man's body and with its tongue licked the legs and hands of the man who 

 was almost dead with fright. Under the blandishments of the terrible beast 

 Androcles recovered the courage he had lost and gradually turns his eyes to 

 look at the lion. And then, says Apion, you could see the man and lion 

 happy and congratulating each other, as it were, on their mutual recognition. 

 Straightway the people, as he relates, were excited to mighty shouts by 

 so marvellous an occurrence, and Androcles was summoned by Caesar 

 and asked why that most ferocious lion had spared him alone. Then 

 Androcles related an extraordinary and wonderful story. When my master, 

 he said, was appointed to the proconsular Government of the African 

 province, I was driven by his undeserved and daily blows to run away, and in 

 order to secure a safer concealment from my master, who was governor of the 

 land, I retired to the solitude of the fields and sandy wastes ; and if food 

 failed, my intention was to seek death somehow. Then, he continued, 

 as the sun was at the zenith and blazing, I gained the shelter of a secluded 

 and shady corner and entering I hid myself in it. Not long after, this lion 

 came to the same cave with a wounded and bleeding foot, uttering groans and 

 cries indicating the pain and agony of his wound, and Androcles remarked 

 that his spirit was appalled and terrified at the first sight of the approaching 

 lion. But the lion, he continued, as soon as it had entered what proved 



