﻿EELIS SPEL^A. 169 



The scene of one of the prettiest stories recorded by iElian is laid in Mount Pangseum, 

 the very mountain quoted by Xenophon as the haunt of Lions some five hundred years 

 before ■} — " Eudemus tells the tale that in Pangseum, in Thrace, a Bear attacked the lair of 

 a Lion while it was unguarded, and killed the cubs that were small and too weak to defend 

 themselves, and when the father and mother came home from hunting somewhere, and saw 

 their children lying dead, they were very much aggrieved, and attacked the Bear ; and 

 she was afraid and climbed up into a tree as quickly as she could, and settled herself 

 down, trying to avoid the attack. Now, when they saw that they could not avenge them- 

 selves on her, the Lioness did not cease to watch the tree, but sat down in ambush at the 

 foot, eying the bear, that was covered with blood. But the Lion, as it were, without 

 purpose and distraught with grief, after the manner of a man, rushed off to the moun- 

 tains, and chanced to light on a woodcutter, who in terror let fall his axe ; but the Lion 

 fawned upon him, and reaching up saluted him as well as he could, and licked his face 

 with his tongue. And the man took courage. And the Lion encircled him with his 

 tail, and led him, and did not suffer him to leave his axe behind, but pointed with his 

 foot for it to be taken up. And when the man did not understand he took it up in his 

 mouth and reached it to him. And he followed while the Lion led him to his den. And 

 when the Lioness saw him she came and made signs, looking at the pitiable spectacle, and 

 then up at the Bear. Then the man perceived and understood that the Lion has suffered 

 cruel wrong from the Bear, and cut down the tree with might and main. And the tree 

 fell, and the Lions tore the Bear in pieces ; but the man the Lion led back again, safe and 

 sound, to the place where he lighted on him, and returned him to the very tree he had 

 been cutting." 



This simple story, tested by the light of history, implies that the Lions some time 

 dwelt in the neighbourhood of Pangaeuin. It is a very fair example of the valuable evi- 

 dence that may be obtained from the analysis of myths, its historical corroboration being 

 a mere accident. To the same class belong the story of the slaughter of the Nemean 

 Lion, the conditions of marriage imposed on Admetus by Pelias, and those imposed on 

 Tydeus and Polynices, that we have already quoted. They respectively imply that the 

 Lion formerly lived in Nemea, and in company with the Wild Boar in the forests of 

 Pherae and Argos. The mythical evidence is most important in this particular, that it 

 proves that the range of the Lion was becoming more and more restricted before the 

 •Historic Period commenced in Greece. If we add to this the geological testimony that the 

 animal spread through the greater part of North-western and Central Europe during the 

 Post-glacial epoch, and that of History as to its limited range, we are enabled to realise 

 that the animal gradually retreated from Europe, step by step, until at last it became 

 extinct some time between the days of Aristotle, B.C. 340, and those of Dio Chrysostom 

 Rhetor, a.d. 80 to 100. 



1 Lib. iii, cap. xxi. 



