BOOK XI. xLv. 124-127 



way ; but to the crook-horn, the African name for 

 which is addax," upright horns twisted with a coil of 

 wrinkles and sharpened at the end into a smooth 

 point, so as to make them suitable for lyres * ; also 

 horns that are movable, Hke ears, to the cattle of 

 Phrygia ; horns pointing towards the ground to 

 those belonging to the Cave-dwellers, which conse- 

 quently graze with the neck bent sideways ; to other 

 creatures a single horn, and this placed in the middle 

 of the head or between the nostrils, as we have said: 

 moreover some have strong horns for charging, 

 others for striking ; some horns curved forward, 

 some backward, some for tossing in various ways — 

 curving backward, curving together, curving out- 

 ward ; all ending in a point ; in one kind horns used 

 instead of hands for scratching the body ; with snails 

 used for exploring the way in advance — these 

 fleshy, as those of the horned snake ; these creatures 

 sometimes have one horn, snails always two, so as 

 both to be stretched forward and to spring back. 



The northern barbarians use the horns of the Use.i 0] 

 aurochs for drinking, and fill the two horns of a single '"'"'• 

 head with wine ; others point their spears with horn 

 tips. With us horn is cut into transparent plates to 

 give a wider diffusion to a Ught enclosed in It, and 

 it is also apphed to many other articles of luxury, 

 sometimes dyed, sometimes painted, sometimes 

 v>hat is called from a certain kind of picture ' en- 

 graved.' All animals' horns are hollow and solid 

 solely at the tip, but only stags have horns that are 

 entirely soUd and that are shed every year. Farmers 

 heal the hooves of their oxen when worn by greasing 

 the horn of the hoof with fat ; and the substance of 

 horn is so ductile that even the horns of Uving cattle 



511 



