270 ' PLiirr's natubai histobt. [Book VIII. 



CHAP. 21. ■WONDEKFUI FEATS PEKFOSMED BY LIONS. 



It was formerly a very difficult matter to catch the lion, and 

 it was mostly done by means of pit-falls. In the reign, how- 

 ever, of the Emperor Claudius, accident disclosed a method 

 •which appears almost disgraceful to the name of such an 

 animal ; a Gaetulian shepherd stopped a lion, that was rushing 

 furiously upon him, by merely throwing his cloak' over the 

 animal ; a circumstance which afterwards afforded an exhibition 

 in the arena of the Circus, when the frantic fury of the animal 

 was paralyzed in a manner almost incredible by a light covering 

 being thrown over its head, so much so, that it was put into 

 •chains without the least resistance; we must conclude, therefore, 

 that all its strength lies in its eyes. This circumstance Venders 

 what was done by Lysimachus"" less wonderful, who strangled 

 a lion, with which he had been shut up by command of Alex- 

 ander." 



Antony subjected lions to the yoke, and was the first at 

 Eome to harness them to his chariot ;" and this during the 

 civil war, after the battle on the plains of Pharsalia ; not, 

 indeed, without a kind of ominous presage, a prodigy that 

 foretold at the time how that generous spirits were about to be 

 subdued. But to have himself drawn- along in this man- 

 ner, in company with the actress Cytheris," was a thing that 



' " Sagum." ThU was the cloat worn by the Homan soldiers and in- 

 ferior officers, in contradistinction to the " paludamentnm " of the general 

 and superior officers. It was open in the front, and usnally, though not 

 always, festened across the shoulders by a clasp. It was thick, and made 

 of wool. 



10 This story is given also by Plutarch, in the life of Demetrius. Lysi- 

 machus was a Macedonian by birth, but son of Agathocles, a serf of Thes- 

 saly. Through his great courage, he became one of the body-guard of 

 Alexander. Quintus Curtius tells us that, when hunting in Syria, he 

 killed a lion of immense size single-handed, though not without receiving 

 severe wounds in the contest. The same author looks upon this as the 

 probable origin of the story here referred to by Pliny. 



" This is mentioned by many ancient authors ; by Plutarch, Pansanias, 

 Seneca, Justin, and by Quintus Ourtius, who thinks that the account usually 

 given is fabulous. — B. 



'2 Related by Plutarch, as among the acts of extravagance and folly, 

 committed by Antony, which gave much disgust to the gi-ave and respect- 

 able citizens of Borne. — B. 



" A famous courtezan of the time of Cicero ; being originally the freed- 



