HALIEUTICA, II. 47-70 



fraught with doom and one for another furnishes 

 food. Some ** overpower the weaker by force of 

 jaws and strength ; others have venomous mouth ; 

 others have spines wherewith to defend them with 

 deadly blows— bitter, sharp points of fiery wrath. 

 And those to whom God hath not given strength, and 

 who have no sharp sting springing from the body, to 

 these he hath given a weapon of the mind, even 

 crafty counsel of many devices ; these by guile 

 ofttimes destroy a strong and mightier fish. 



Thus the Cramp-fish ^ of tender flesh is endowed 

 with a specific of valour, self-taught in its own limbs. 

 For soft of body and altogether weak and sluggish it 

 is weighed down mth slowness,*' and you could not 

 say you see it swimming ; hard to mark is its path as 

 it crawls and creeps through the grey water. But in 

 its loins it hath a piece of craft, its strength in weak- 

 ness : even two rays planted in its sides, one on either 

 hand. If one approach and touch these, straightway 

 it quenches the strength of his body and his blood is 

 frozen within him and his limbs can no longer carry 

 him but he quietly pines away and his strength is 

 drained by stupid torpor. Knowing well'' what a 

 gift it hath received from God, the Cramp-fish lays 

 itself supine among the sands and so remains, lying 

 unmoving as a corpse. But any fish that touches its 



' A. 620 b -25 a.\iffKOVTO.i (^drpaxos, vapK-rj, rpiryujv') yap 

 ?X<"'Tes Kearpia^ TroXXct/ctt Sires avTol /3pa5irrarot tov T6.Xi<TT0v 

 tCiv IxOvuv ; Claudian, I.e. 3 Ilia quidem mollis segnique 

 obnixa natatii ' Reptat. 



<* Plin. ix. 14-3 novit torpede vim suam ipsa non terpens 

 mersaque in limo se occultat piscium qui supernantes 

 obtorpuere corripiens ; Claudian, I.e. 8 Conscia sortis | 

 Utitur ingenio longeque extenta per algas | Attactu confisa 

 subit. Imraobilis haeret : | Qui tetigere iacent. Successu 

 laeta resurgit | Et \ivos impune ferox depasc-itur artus. 



287 



