Claudius Aelianus

Claudius Aelianus (Ancient Greek: Κλαύδιος Αἰλιανός, Klaúdios Ailianós; c. 175 – c. 235 AD), commonly Aelian), born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severus and probably outlived Elagabalus, who died in 222.

Quotes

Varia Historia

Ποικίλη ἱστορία
Greek text cited from M. R. Dilts, Claudii Aeliani Varia historia (Leipzig, 1974).

• Δεινοὶ κατὰ κοιλίαν εἰσὶν οἱ πολύποδες καὶ πᾶν ὁτιοῦν φαγεῖν ἄμαχοι. πολλάκις οὖν οὐδὲ ἀλλήλων ἀπέχονται, ἀλλὰ τῷ μείζονι ὁ βραχύτερος ἁλοὺς καὶ ἐμπεσὼν τοῖς ἀνδρειοτέροις θηράτροις τοῖς καλουμένοις τοῦ ἰχθύος πλοκάμοις, εἶτα αὐτῷ γίνεται δεῖπνον. ἐλλοχῶσι δὲ οἱ πολύποδες καὶ τοὺς ἰχθῦς τὸν τρόπον τοῦτον. ὑπὸ ταῖς πέτραις κάθηνται καὶ ἑαυτοὺς εἰς τὴν ἐκείνων μεταμορφοῦσι χροιὰν καὶ τοῦτο εἶναι δοκοῦσιν ὅπερ οὖν καὶ πεφύκασιν αἱ πέτραι. οἱ τοίνυν ἰχθῦς προσνέουσιν οἱονεὶ τῇ πέτρᾳ τοῖς πολύποσιν, οἱ δὲ ἀφυλάκτους ὄντας αὐτοὺς περιβάλλουσι ταῖς ἐξ ἑαυτῶν ἄρκυσι ταῖς πλεκτάναις.
  • The Polypusses are so ravenous that they devour all they light on; so that many times they abstain not even from one another. The lesser taken by the greater, and falling into his stronger nets, (which are usually called the hairs or grasps of the Fish) becometh his prey. They also betray Fishes in this manner; lurking under the Rocks they change themselves to their colour, and seem to be all one with the Rock it self. When therefore the Fishes swim to the Rocks, and so to the Polypus, they intangle them in their nets, or grasps.
  • I.1 (tr. Thomas Stanley, 1665)

• Ὑφαντικὴν καὶ ὑφαίνειν, [καὶ] δῶρα Ἐργάνης δαίμονος, οὔτε ἴσασιν αἱ φάλαγγες οὔτε εἰδέναι βούλονται. ἢ τί ποτ᾿ ἂν καὶ χρήσαιτο τῷ τοιῷδε ἐσθήματι τὸ τοιοῦτον θηρίον; τὸ δὲ ἄρα ⟨***⟩ πάγη καὶ οἱονεὶ κύρτος ἐστὶ τοῖς ἐμπίπτουσι. καὶ ἡ μὲν ἀρκυωρεῖ πάνυ σφόδρα ἀτρεμοῦσα, καὶ ἔοικεν ἀκινήτῳ· καὶ τὸ μὲν ἐνέπεσεν, ὅ τί ποτέ ἐστι τὸ ἐμπεσόν, ἡ δὲ ἔχει δαῖτα. τοσοῦτον δ᾿ ἐμπίπτει, ὅσον καὶ τὸ ὕφασμα κατέχειν δυνατόν ἐστι καὶ ἐκείνῃ δειπνεῖν ἀπόχρη.
  • The art of weaving and the gifts of the goddess Ergane, Spiders neither know nor require: For what should such a Creature doe with woven garments? The web is onely spred as a net for such things as fall into it, whilest she standing still, immovable, keeps watch: Whatsoever falls in she eats; it being as much as the web can hold, is enough to satisfie her hunger.
  • I.2 (tr. Thomas Stanley, 1665)

• ὅτι δέ εἰσι φιλῳδοί, τοῦτο μὲν ἤδη καὶ τεθρύληται. ἐγὼ δὲ ᾄδοντος κύκνου οὐκ ἤκουσα, ἴσως δὲ οὐδὲ ἄλλος· πεπίστευται ⟨δ᾿⟩ οὖν ὅτι ᾄδει. καὶ λέγουσί γε αὐτὸν μάλιστα ⟨κατ᾿⟩ ἐκεῖνον εἶναι τὸν χρόνον εὐφωνότατόν τε καὶ ᾠδικώτατον, ὅταν ᾖ περὶ τὴν καταστροφὴν τοῦ βίου. διαβαίνουσι δὲ καὶ πέλαγος, καὶ πέτονται [καὶ] κατὰ θαλάσσης, καὶ αὐτοῖς οὐ κάμνει τὸ πτερόν.
  • It is commonly reported they sing sweetly, but I never heard a Swan sing, nor perhaps any man else: Yet it is believed she sings, and then especially (as is said) she sings most sweetly and pleasantly when she draws near her end. They cross the Sea and fly too over it, yet their wings never are tired.
  • I.14 (tr. Thomas Stanley, 1665)

• Ὅτε ἧκεν ἡ ναῦς ἡ ἐκ Δήλου καὶ ἔδει Σωκράτην ἀποθνῄσκειν, ἀφίκετο εἰς τὸ δεσμωτήριον Ἀπολλόδωρος ὁ τοῦ Σωκράτους ἑταῖρος, χιτῶνά τε αὐτῷ φέρων ἐρίων πολυτελῆ καὶ εὐήτριον καὶ ἱμάτιον τοιοῦτο. καὶ ἠξίου ἐνδύντα αὐτὸν τὸν χιτῶνα καὶ θοἰμάτιον περιβαλόμενον εἶτα οὕτω πιεῖν τὸ φάρμακον. ἔλεγε γὰρ αὐτῷ καλῶν ἐνταφίων μὴ ἀμοιρήσειν, εἰ ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀποθάνοι· καὶ γὰρ οὖν καὶ προκεῖσθαι σὺν τῷ κόσμῳ τὸν νεκρὸν οὐ πάνυ τι ἀδόξως. ταῦτα τὸν Σωκράτην ὁ Ἀπολλόδωρος· ὁ δὲ οὐκ ἠνέσχετο, ἀλλ᾿ ἔφη πρὸς τοὺς ἀμφὶ τὸν Κρίτωνα καὶ Σιμμίαν καὶ Φαίδωνα· "καὶ πῶς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν καλῶς Ἀπολλόδωρος οὕτω δοξάζει, εἴ γε αὐτὸς πεπίστευκεν ὅτι μετὰ τὴν ἐξ Ἀθηναίων φιλοτησίαν καὶ τὸ τοῦ φαρμάκου πόμα ἔτι οὕτως ὄψεται Σωκράτην; εἰ γὰρ οἴεται τὸν ὀλίγῳ ὕστερον ἐρριμμένον ἐν ποσὶ καὶ κεισόμενόν γε εἶναι ἐμέ, δῆλός ἐστί με οὐκ εἰδώς."
  • When the Ship returned from Delus, and Socrates was now to die, Apollodorus (a friend of Socrates) coming to him in Prison brought his a Vest of fine cloth and rich, with a Gown of the same, desiring him that he would put on that Vest and Gown when he was to drink the poison; since he should not fail of handsome Funeral-Robes if he died in them. "For it is not unfit that a dead body should be covered with decent ornaments." Thus Apollodorus to Socrates. But he would not permit it, saying to Crito, Simmias and Phaedo, "How high an opinion hath Apollodorus of us, if he believe that after I have pledged the Athenians, and taken the potion, he shall see Socrates any more? For if he thinks that he which shall shortly lie at your feet extended on the ground is Socrates, it is certain he knows me not."
  • I.16 (tr. Thomas Stanley, 1665)

De Natura Animalium

Περὶ ζῴων ἰδιότητος

• ὁ κάστωρ ἀμφίβιόν ἐστι ζῷον, καὶ μεθ᾽ ἡμέραν μὲν ἐν τοῖς ποταμοῖς καταδὺς διαιτᾶται, νύκτωρ δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀλᾶται, οἷς ἂν περιτύχῃ τούτοις τρεφόμενος. οὐκοῦν ἐπίσταται τὴν αἰτίαν δι᾽ ἣν ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν οἱ θηραταὶ σὺν προθυμίᾳ τε καὶ ὁρμῇ τῇ πάσῃ χωροῦσι, καὶ ἐπικύψας καὶ δακὼν ἀπέκοψε τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ ὄρχεις, καὶ προσέρριψεν αὐτοῖς, ὡς ἀνὴρ φρόνιμος λῃσταῖς μὲν περιπεσών, καταθεὶς δὲ ὅσα ἐπήγετο ὑπὲρ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ σωτηρίας, λύτρα δήπου ταῦτα ἀλλαττόμενος. ἐὰν δὲ ᾖ πρότερον ἐκτεμὼν καὶ σωθεὶς εἶτα πάλιν διώκηται, ὃ δὲ ἀναστήσας ἑαυτὸν καὶ ἐπιδείξας ὅτι τῆς αὐτῶν σπουδῆς οὐκ ἔχει τὴν ὑπόθεσιν, τοῦ περαιτέρω καμάτου παρέλυσε τοὺς θηρατάς: ἧττον γάρ τοι τῶν κρεῶν ἐκείνοις φροντίς ἐστι. πολλάκις δὲ καὶ ἔνορχοι ὄντες, ὡς ὅτι πορρωτάτω ἀποσπάσαντες τῷ δρόμῳ, εἶτα ὑποστείλαντες τὸ σπουδαζόμενον μέρος, πάνυ σοφῶς καὶ πανούργως ἐξηπάτησαν, ὡς οὐκ ἔχοντες ἃ κρύψαντες εἶχον.
  • The Beaver is an amphibious creature: by day it lives hidden in rivers, but at night it roams the land, feeding itself with anything that it can find. Now it understands the reason why hunters come after it with such eagerness and impetuosity, and it puts down its head and with its teeth cuts off its testicles and throws them in their path, as a prudent man who, falling into the hands of robbers, sacrifices all that he is carrying, to save his life, and forfeits his possessions by way of ransom. If however it has already saved its life by self-castration and is again pursued, then it stands up and reveals that it offers no ground for their eager pursuit, and releases the hunters from all further exertions, for they esteem its flesh less. Often however beavers with testicles intact, after escaping as far away as possible, have drawn in the coveted part, and with great skill and ingenuity tricked their pursuers, pretending that they no longer possessed what they were keeping in concealment.
  • Bk. 6, ch. 34 (ed. Rudolf Hercher, 1864; tr. A. F. Scholfield, 1958)

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Claudius Aelianus on Wikipedia