HALIEUTICA, II. 306-337 



deceive ? Soon shall I assault the rock, if this cliff 

 receive thee within it and close and cover thee." And 

 straightway she fixes in him the curved hedge of her 

 teeth and devours him, pulHng him all trembling 

 from the rock. But he, even while he is rent, does 

 not leave the rock nor let go. Coiling he clings to 

 it till only his suckers remain fast. As when a city 

 is sacked by the hands of the foemen, and children 

 and women are haled away as the prize of the spear, 

 a man drags away a boy who clings to the neck and 

 arms of his mother ; the boy relaxes not his arms 

 that are twined about her neck, nor does the wailing 

 mother let him go, but is dragged with him herself ; 

 even so the poor body of the Poulpe, as he is dragged 

 away, clings to the wet rock and lets not go. 



The Crayfish " again destroys the Muraena,* savage 

 though she be, overcome by her valour fatal to her- 

 self. He stands near the rock in which dwells the 

 nimble Muraena and extends his two feelers and, 

 breathing hostile breath, challenges the Muraena to 

 battle : even as a chieftain, the champion of an army, 

 who, trusting in the prowess of his hands and his 

 skill in war, arrays in arms his strong body and 

 brandishing his sharp spears challenges any foeman 

 who will to meet him, and presently provokes another 

 chieftain. Even so the Crayfish whets the spirit of 

 the Muraena, and no laggard for battle is the dusky 

 fish, but rushing from her lair \\-ith arched neck and 

 quivering with wrath she goes to meet him. Yet 

 for all her terrible rage she hurts not the prickly 

 Crayfish ; vainly and idly she fixes in him her jaw 

 and rages with her hard teeth, which in her jaws 

 rebound as from a hard rock and grow weary and 



» Ael. ix. -25. " Ael. i. 33, ix. -25. 



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