BOOK VIII.] History of Nature. 5 



But long before this it is said that Father Liber did the 

 same in his Triumph for having Conquered India. Prod- 

 lius denieth that, coupled as they were, two in one Yoke, 

 they could possibly have entered in at the Gates of Rome in 

 Pompey's Triumph. In the Show of Gladiators, which Ger- 

 manicus Ccssar exhibited, the Elephants were seen to show 

 some disorderly Motions, after a manner of Dancing. It was 

 a common thing to fling Weapons through the Air, so that 

 the Winds had no power against them ; to flourish and meet 

 together in Fight like Gladiators, and to make Sport in a 

 Pyrrhic Dance ; and afterwards to go on Ropes ; to carry 

 (four together 1 ) one of them laid at ease in a Litter, re- 

 sembling the manner of Women newly brought to Bed ; and 

 some of them would enter a Dining-place where the Tables 

 were full of Guests, and pass among them with their foot- 

 opinion of Pliny only, but appears to have been common in ancient times. 

 ^Elian, whose " History of the Peculiar Nature of Animals " is chiefly 

 valuable for containing everything on the subject that floated on the sur- 

 face of popular observation, says, " At the first appearance of the new 

 moon I have heard that elephants leave the woods under the influence of 

 a certain natural and inexpressible intelligence, bearing with them 

 branches which they have plucked from the trees, which they bear 

 aloft and wave to and fro as they cast their looks upward, as if offering 

 some divine intercession to the goddess to be propitious and gracious to 

 them." B. iv. c. x. " They also worship the rising sun by lifting up their 

 trunks, like hands, to meet his rays, and on this account they are dear to 

 the god ; and of this fact Ptolemy Philopator is an excellent and un- 

 doubted witness." B. vii. c. 14. The reference of the author to this sove- 

 reign is built on a remarkable dream which he had on the occasion of 

 having offered the unusual sacrifice of four elephants on occasion of a 

 victory. The solemn ceremonies of the elephant on occasion of the death 

 of those of their own kind are referred to in the same work, b. v. c. 49. 

 Their adoration of the king was the result of discipline, b. xiii. c. 22 ; and 

 they also formed his night-watch, when perhaps he had learned to dis- 

 trust the fidelity of his guards. Wern. Club. 



1 If the elephants walked two and two, as they probably did when 

 thus carrying their companion, there must have been two ropes placed 

 in parallel lines. JElian, " De Animalibus," gives a most amusing account 

 of the performances of the elephants of Germanicus in the theatre ; but I 

 do not remember that he mentions this feat. A like exploit is, however, 

 mentioned by Seneca, Suetonius, and others. Wern. Club. 



