Page:The whole familiar colloquies of Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam.djvu/394

390 FAMILIAR COLLOQUIES. I have heard a very famous story of a boy who was beloved by one ; and a more famous one than that, about Arion. Ep. Besides that, in catching mullets the fishermen make use of the assistance of dolphins instead of dogs, and when they have caught their prey, give them part for their pains. Nay, more than that, they suffer themselves to be chastised if they commit any fault in their Imnting them. They fre- quently appear to mariners at sea, rejoicing and playing upon the top of the waves ; sometimes swimming to the ship sides, and leaping over the spread sails, they are so delighted with the conversation of men. But again, as a dolphin is so very great a lover of men, so he is a mortal enemy to the crocodile. He goes out of the sea, and dares to venture into the River Nile, where the crocodile domineers, and attacks the monstrous animal that is defended with teeth, claws, and scales, more impenetrable than iron, when he himself is not very well framed for biting neither, his mouth inclining to his breast. Yet, for all that, he runs violently upon his enemy, and coming near him, diveth down on a sudden, gets under his belly, and setting up his fins, pricks him in the soft part of his belly, which is the only place he can be wounded in. Jo. It is a wonderful thing that an animal should know his enemy, though he never saw him before in his life ; and to know both why he should be attacked, and where he can be hurt, and how to defend him- self, when a man has not that faculty, who would not have sense enough to be afraid of a basilisk, unless he were warned beforehand, and taught by having received harm.

Ep. A horse, you know, is a creature devoted to the service of man ; and there is a capital enmity between him and a bear, that is an enemy to man. He knows his enemy, though he has never seen him before, and presently prepares himself to engage him. Jo. What arms does he fight with ? Ep. Rather with art than strength. He leaps over the enemy, and strikes his hind legs on his head. The bear, on the other hand, claws at the soft part of the horse's belly. The poison of an asp is incurable to a man ; and the ichneumon makes war with the asp, and is likewise a mortal enemy to the crocodile. An elephant is also very well affected towards mankind ; for they very kindly shew the way to a traveller that has happened to lose it, and they know and love their teacher. There are likewise examples of an extraordinary love toward mankind ; for one of them fell in love with an Egyptian maid that sold garlands, and another loved Menander of Syracuse so affectionately that he would not eat his victuals when he was out of sight.

But not to mention any more of this nature, though there is abundance related : When King Bacchus had a mind to exercise his cruelty toward thirty persons, he determined to expose them, bound to stakes, to so many elephants ; but they that were sent out among the elephants to provoke them could never bring them to be executioners of the king's cruelty. There is likewise a very destructive antipathy between this creature so friendly to mankind, and the Indian dragons, which are reported to be the largest that are, so that they oftentimes both perish in the engagement. There is the like disagreement between the eagle and the lesser dragon, although it is harmless towards men, as it has been reported to have borne amorous affections towards certain maidens. There is likewise a deadly enmity between the eagle and