Plinies Naturall Hiftorie. 



A there be of them in the countrey of Cyrene : fome with a broad flat foreheadjOthers with a fiiarp 

 pointed : and there be of them feene to have fharpe prickles,like to urchins and hedgehogs-Ti^^- 

 itfhrAfm rcporteth, That thefc vermine having difpeoplcd the ifiand Gyaros and driven away 

 the inhabitantSjgnawed & devoured every thing they could meet withall^even to their very yron, 

 Andrurelyitfeemcihthatitistheirnaturefotodoeifor even among the Chalybes, they Icrve 

 them (b in eating their yron and fteele within their very forges* Yea^and in gold mines they play 

 the hke part : and therefore when they be caught^ their bellies be ript by the pioners in the mine, 

 where they evermore find their ftollen good agatne. See what a deli ght this creature taketh ia 

 thceving. Wc read in the Chronicles^that whiles lay in fiege before Cafilinum^a rat 



was Ibid within the townc for two hundred Sefterces : the man who bought it at that price, 



». livedo but the partie who fold it for greedinefle of mony, died for hunger. By the learning of the 

 SoothfaierSjObferved it is^that if there be ftore of white ones bred, it is a good fignejand prefa- 

 geth prolperitie. And in truth our ttories are full of the like examples, and namely, that if rats be 

 heard to crie or fqueake in the time of ceremoniall taking the Au/pices and fignes of birdsjall is 

 niarrcd^andthatbufinelTecleanedafht. Higtdmsi^wki^ thatrats lieclofe hidden all Winterlike 

 as Dor-mice. By the edids of the Cenfors, and principally by an ad of 3/* Scaurti4 in his Con- 

 fullbipaprovided it wasj and ftreight order takenjthat no RatSjMiceiOr Dor-mice ihould be ier- 

 ved up to the table at their great fuppers and feafts : like as all Qiell fi(h or fouie fct out of forraine 

 countries farre remote. Counted areDor-mice betweene tame and wild:and verily he that firfl 

 devifed to keepe wild Bores in parkes/ound the meanes alfo to nourifli and feed thefe creatures 



p. in great tunncs5pipes3 and driefats . In the experiment and triall whereof,this hath beene found 

 and obfervcdjThac willingly thefe little creatures will not fort togetherj unlefic they were coun- 

 treymen (as it were) and bred in one and the fame forrcfl rand if iccbaimce that there bee emer- 

 mingled among them any flrangersjnamely ,fuch as had either fome river or mountain between 

 the places where they were bred, they kill one another with fighting. The young Dor-jnice are 

 cxceedingkind and loving to their fires that begat them : for when they bee old and feeble, full 

 tenderly they will feed and nourifli them. They renue tlicir age every yeare, by fleeping all Win- 

 ter : for they lie by it clofejfnug all the while, and are not to be« feen». But come the SiimmeE 

 once,they bet young and freili againti And thus the field Mice likewife take their reflj and dot 

 the fame. 



Chap, lviii* 

 e^Whdtcr€4turts live mthiit its certains pUc£S^ 



AWonderfull thing it is to fee, that Nature hath not oncly brought for th divers creatures 

 in fundrie countries : but alfoin one region under the fame climate, hath denied ibme of 

 tiiemtolive in ever)' quarter thereof. And namely in the forrefl of Moe(ja within Italic, 

 thefe Dor-mice arefcund but onely in one part thercof.i\nd inLyciathewildgoats,roebucks, 

 and does,never pafle the mountaine that confine upon the Syrians:no more than the wild Afles 

 tranflnount that hill which devidethCappadocia from Cilicia. Within Helleipont the Stags 

 £ and Hinds never goe forth and enter into the marches of other countries : and thofe that bee a- 

 bout ArginuffapafTe not the mountaine Elatus .-which may beknowneby thiSjihatall upon that 

 hill have their eares marked and flit.In the Ifland Porofelenum,rhe Weazels will norcrofle over 

 the high way. And about Lebadia in Boeotia, thofe moldwarpcsor wants that are brought 

 thither from other parts,will not abide the very foile,but fiie from it ; which neere by ,in Orcho- 

 menus undermine & hollow all their corn fields : andfuch itore there is ofthem,that I have feen 

 all the hangings,carpets,counterpointSjand coverlets ofchambers,made of their skins.See how 

 men for no religion and feare ofi^godi, will bee kept from taking their pleafures and making 

 theirdclights of thefe creatures, otherwife prodigious and portending things to come. The 

 ft range Hares that be brought into Ithaca,will not live there,b ut feeking to get away, are found 

 -p dead about the very bankes of the fea fide. In the Ifland Ebufus there bee no Connies at all : and 

 yet in Spainc and the Baleare Iflands there are fo many, that they pefter the whole countrie.Thc 

 Frogs were ever in Cyrenje naturally mute, and would not crie: but brought there were thither 

 out of the coniinent,fuch as would eric in the water : and that whole kind fiill remaineth vocalL 

 In the Ifland Scriphos you lhall not yec heare a Frog to crie ; let the fame bee carried foorth to 



X iij other 



