BOOK VIII. Liv. 129-LV. 132 



called wake-robin to loosen the bowels, which are 

 otherwise constipated, and they rub their teeth on 

 tree-stumps to get their mouths into training. Their 

 eyes have got dim, which is the chief reason why 

 they seek for hives, so that their face may be stung 

 by the bees to reheve that trouble with blood. A 

 bear's weakest part is the head, which is the Uon's 

 strongest ; consequently if when hard pressed by an 

 attack they are going to fling themselves down from 

 a rock they make the jump with their head covered 

 with their fore paws, and in the arena are often 

 killed by their head being broken by a buffet. The 

 Spanish provinces believe that a bear's brain contains 

 poison, and when bears are killed in shows their heads 

 are burnt in the presence of a witness, on the ground 

 that to drink the poison drives a man bear-mad. Bears 

 even walk on two feet, and they crawl down trees 

 backward. They tire out buUs with their weight by 

 hanging by all four feet from their mouth and horns ; 

 and no other animal's stupidity is more cunning in 

 doing harm. It is noted in the Annals that on 19 Sep- 

 tember in the consulship " of Marcus Piso and Marcus 

 Messala, Domitius Ahenobarbus as curule aedile 

 provided in the circus a hundred Numidian bears 

 and the same number of Ethiopian huntsmen. I 

 am surprised at the description of the bears as 

 Numidian, since it is known that the bear does not 

 occur in Africa. 



LV. The mice of the Black Sea reffion also hibernate, Hibernation 



Of fl€ld-J7liC€ 



at all events the white ones, which are stated to have 

 a very discriminating palate, though I am curious to 

 know how the authorities detected this. Alpine 

 mice,'' wliich are the size of badgers, also hibernate, 

 but these carry a supply of fodder into their caves 



93 



