532 
plint's natueal history. 
[Book X.. 
the story of the dish of Clodius ^sopus/^ the tragic actor, 
which was valued at one hundred thousand sesterces, and in 
which were served up nothing but birds that had been remark- 
able for their song, or their imitation of the human voice, and 
purchased, each of them, at the price of six thousand sesterces ; 
he being induced to this folly by no other pleasure than that 
in "these he might eat the closest imitators of man ; never for 
a moment reflecting that his own immense fortune had been 
acquired by the advantages of his voice ; a parent, indeed, 
right worthy of the son of whom we have already made men- 
tion, as swallowing pearls. It would not, to saj the truth, 
be very easy to come to a conclusion which of the two was 
guilty of the greatest baseness; unless, indeed, we are ready to 
admit that it was less unseemly to banquet upon the most 
costly of all the productions of I^ature, than to devour tongues 
which had given utterance to the language of man. 
CHAP. 73. (52.) THE GENERATION OF BIRDS: OTHER OVIPAROUS 
ANIMALS. 
The generation of birds would appear to be very simple, 
while at the same time it has its own peculiar marvels. In- 
deed, there are quadrupeds as well that produce eggs, the 
chameleon, for instance, the lizard, and those of the serpent 
tribe of which we have previously spoken. Of the feathered 
race, those which have hooked talons are comparatively unpro- 
lific ; the cenchris^* being the only one among them that lays 
more than four eggs. Nature has so ordained it in the birds, 
that the timid ones should be more prolific than those which 
are courageous. The ostrich, the common fowl, and the par- 
tridge, are the only birds that lay eggs in considerable num- 
bers. Birds have two modes of coupling, the female crouching 
on the ground, as in the barn-door fowl, or else standing, as is 
the case with the crane. 
CHAP. 74. THE VARIOUS KINDS OF EGGS, AND THEIR NATURE. 
Some eggs are white, as those of the pigeon and partridge, 
Valerius Maximus, B. ix. c. 1, tells this story of the profligate son of 
iEsopus. ^ 11 B. ix. c. 59. 
12 " Hominum linguas," Pliny says ; a singularly inappropriate expres4 
sion, it would appear. 
13 See B, viii. c. 37. 
The tinnunculus, probably, of c. 52. 
