BOOK VIII. vn. 22-viii. 25 



battle against the same number of infantry as on the 

 former occasion and an equal number of cavahy ; and 

 subsequently for the emperors Claudius and Nero 

 elephants versus men single-handed, as the crowning 

 exploit of the gladiators' careers. 



A story is told that the animal's natural gentleness umiieness oj 

 towards those not so strong as itself is so great that ^^f^vhanu. 

 if it gets among a flock of sheep it will remove with 

 its trunk those that come in its way, so as not 

 unwittingly to crush one. Also they never do any 

 liarm unless provoked, and that although they go 

 about in herds, being of all animals the least solitary 

 in habit. When surrounded by horsemen they with- 

 draw the weak ones or those that are exhausted or 

 wounded into the middle of their column, and 

 advance into the fighting hne in relays as if by 

 command or strategy. 



When captured they are very quickly tamed by Eiephants 

 means of barlev iuice. VIII. The method of cap- (^ciptured fnr 



. •'t 1 . . /• 1 . T r (lomeslica- 



turing them in India is lor a mahout riding one 01 iwnand 

 the domesticated elephants to find a wild elephant ■^"'•^'"' ' 

 alone or detach it from the herd and to flog it, and 

 when it is tired out he cHmbs across on to it and 

 manages it as he did his previous mount. Africa 

 captures elephants by means of pit-falls ; when an 

 elephant straying from the herd falls into one of 

 these all the rest at once collect branches of trees 

 and roll down rocks and construct ramps, exerting 

 every efFort in the attempt to get it out. Previously 

 for the purpose of taming them the kings used to 

 round them up with horsemen into a trench made 

 by hand so as to deceive them by its length, and 

 when they were enclosed within its banks and ditches 

 they were starved into submission ; the proof of this 



19 



