270 
PLINY'S NATUEAL HISTOBT. 
[Book VIIL 
CHAP. 21. WONDEKFUL PEATS PEEPOEMED 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 renders 
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. Eut to have himself drawn along in this man- 
ner, in company with the actress Cytheris,^^ was a thing that 
^ " Sagum." This was the cloak worn by the Roman soldiers and in- 
ferior officers, in contradistinction to the " paludamentum " of the general 
and superior officers. It was open in the front, and usually, though not 
always, fastened across the shoulders by a clasp. It was thick, and made 
of wool. 
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. 
11 This is mentioned by many ancient authors ; by Plutarch, Pausanias, 
Seneca, Justin, and by Quintus Curtius, who thinks that the account usually 
given is fabulous. — B. 
12 Related by Plutarch, as among the acts of extravagance and folly, 
committed by Antony, which gave much disgust to the grave and respect- 
able citizens of Rome.- — B. 
13 A famous coui'tezan of the time of Cicero ; being originally the freed- 
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