Hide browse bar Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position:
chapter:
chapter 1chapter 2chapter 3chapter 4chapter 5-18chapter 5chapter 6chapter 7chapter 8chapter 9chapter 10chapter 11chapter 12chapter 13chapter 14chapter 15chapter 16chapter 17chapter 18chapter 19chapter 20chapter 21chapter 22chapter 23chapter 24chapter 25chapter 26chapter 27chapter 28chapter 29chapter 30chapter 31chapter 32chapter 33chapter 34chapter 35chapter 36chapter 37chapter 38chapter 39chapter 40chapter 41chapter 42chapter 43chapter 44chapter 45chapter 46chapter 47chapter 48chapter 49chapter 50chapter 51chapter 52chapter 53chapter 54chapter 55chapter 56chapter 57chapter 58chapter 59chapter 60chapter 61chapter 62chapter 63chapter 64chapter 65chapter 66chapter 67chapter 68chapter 69chapter 70chapter 72chapter 73chapter 74chapter 75chapter 76chapter 77-98chapter 77chapter 78chapter 79chapter 80chapter 81chapter 82chapter 83chapter 84chapter 85chapter 86chapter 87chapter 88chapter 89chapter 90chapter 91chapter 92-5chapter 92chapter 93chapter 94chapter 95chapter 96chapter 97chapter 98chapter 99chapter 100chapter 101chapter 102-110chapter 102chapter 103chapter 104chapter 105chapter 106chapter 107chapter 108chapter 109chapter 110chapter 111chapter 112-17chapter 112chapter 113chapter 116chapter 117chapter 118chapter 119chapter 120chapter 121chapter 121Achapter 121Dchapter 121Echapter 121Fchapter 122chapter 123chapter 124-36chapter 124chapter 125chapter 126chapter 127chapter 128chapter 129chapter 130chapter 131chapter 132chapter 133chapter 134chapter 135chapter 136chapter 137chapter 138chapter 139chapter 140chapter 141chapter 142chapter 143chapter 144chapter 145chapter 146chapter 147-82chapter 147chapter 148chapter 149chapter 150chapter 151chapter 152chapter 153chapter 154chapter 155chapter 156chapter 157chapter 158chapter 159chapter 160chapter 161chapter 162chapter 163chapter 164chapter 165chapter 167chapter 168chapter 169chapter 170chapter 171chapter 172chapter 173chapter 174chapter 175chapter 176chapter 177chapter 178chapter 179chapter 180chapter 181chapter 182
This text is part of:
τὸ πολλόν. H. is quite right here; the crocodile sleeps on shore by day in the summer. Aristotle's description (H.A. v. 33, 558 a 17-24) is worth comparing with that of H.: ὁ δὲ ποτάμιος κροκόδειλος τίκτει μὲν ᾠὰ πολλά, τὰ πλεῖστα περὶ ἑξήκοντα, λευκὰ τὴν χρόαν, καὶ ἐπικάθηται δ᾽ ἡμέρας ἑξήκοντα (καὶ γὰρ καὶ βιοῖ χρόνον πολύν), ἐξ ἐλαχίστων δ᾽ ᾠῶν ζῷον μέγιστον γίνεται ἐκ τούτων: τὸ μὲν γὰρ ᾠὸν οὐ μεῖζόν ἐστι χηνείου, καὶ ὁ νεοττὸς τούτου κατὰ λόγον, αὐξανόμενος δὲ γίνεται καὶ ἑπτακαίδεκα πήχεων. λέγουσι δέ τινες ὅτι καὶ αὐξάνεται ἕως ἂν ζῇ. The whole of the latter part of the passage is borrowed, in several cases verbally, from H. Aristotle (ib. i. 11) also repeats the statement as to the crocodile ‘not moving its under-jaw’, and (ib. 9. 6) the account of the τροχίλος; the verbal similarities are not so marked in these passages. In ii. 10 Aristotle inserts most of H.'s other particulars, i.e. as to the crocodile's habits by day and night, as to its eyes and teeth, and as to its claws and skin. In this last passage the resemblance is again most marked. For the relations of H. and Aristotle on this subject cf. Diels, Hermes, xxii. 430-2, where the passages are given in full. ἑπτακαίδεκα. Some ancient writers give even larger estimates, e.g. Phylarchus (fr. 26, F.H.G. i. 340) speaks of one just over forty feet. The Nile crocodile only reaches fifteen feet in length, but further east another species is often over twenty feet long, while one monster of thirty-three feet is on record; E. B.11 vii. 479. γλῶσσαν. The tongue of a crocodile is very small; it is more accurate to say with Pliny (N.H. viii. 89) ‘linguae usu caret’. οὐδὲ κινέει. This statement, like that as to ‘no tongue’, was often made in antiquity, but is of course wrong; the crocodile raises its head to bite, and so presents the deceptive appearance of moving its upper jaw.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
Purchase a copy of this text (not necessarily the same edition) from Amazon.com
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.