Tuesday, November 7, 2023
ORNITOLOGICA
ACALANTHIS (ACANTHIS). 'Axo^.avdig (dxavdig). Gold-
finch, thistle-finch. Carduelis elegans. Vid. Fowler, A Year with the Birds, p. 243. Note IV, ruscinia. English literary parallels: Wild canary, summer yellow-bird,
thistle-bird. Celia Thaxter : YcUon'-bird. Roswell Park: To a Goldfinch. Send up your full notes like worshipful prayers; Yellow-bird, sing while the summer's before you. — Celia Thaxter.
Let the tiny yellow birds
Still repeat their shining words.
While across our senses steal
Hints of things no words reveal. — Carman-Hovey.
A summer evening scene with attendant background of bird-song:
Tum tenuis dare rursus aquas, et pascere rursus
Solis ad occasum, cum frigidus aera vesper
Temperat, et saltus reficit iam roscida luna,
Litoraque alcyonem resonant, acalanthida dumi.
— Verg., Geor. Ill, 335.
Cf. Serv. in loc. : Alii lusciniam esse volunt, alii vero carduelem,
quae spinis et carduis pascitur. \'id. Note IV, ruscinia.
The thistle-birds have changed their dun,
For yellow coats, to match the sun. — Henry Van Dyke,
The yellow-hammer by the way-side picks
Mutely the thistle's seed. — Wilcox.
The acantliis, with the nightingale, is represented (by implication)
as endowed with great powers of song:
Nyctilon ut cantu rudis exsuperaverit Alcon?
Astyle, credibile est, si vincat acanthida cornix,
Vocalem superet si dirus aedona bubo.
— Calp. VI, 6.
A-poise upon the mullein's tipmost top,
And bendinix down its rod of gold.
The thistle-finch all liquidly lets drop
Melodies manifold. — Mifflin.
\'id. Robinson. The Poets' Birds, London, 1883. passim, for most
of the Eiiroi-)ean birds in this study as they appear in the poets of England.
The author boldly assumes that the British poets (save Tennyson) know
next to nothing at first hand of their own native birds and that in this
regard they are vastly inferior to the poets of America. Naturally his
treatment of the subject is wholly unsympathetic and unfair, though at
times suggestive. The work is, however, so full of errors that it must be
used with great caution. Cf. int. al. Swanton (Review), A Literary
Curiosity. Atlant. 54, 398.
ACCIPITER. KiQxo;. Hawk. A general name for diurnal birds of prey. The accurate identification of the various species is impossible.
American parallel : Hawk.
The name is applied as a title of reproach to a rapacious man :
Inpure, inhoneste, iniure, inlex, labes popli,
Pecuniai accipiter avide atque invide.
— Plaut., Pers. 408.
Disagreeable situations are proverbially called 'hawks'-nests':
Em, accipitrina haec nunc erit.
— Plaut., Bacch. 274.
Hawks are not worth snaring :
Quia non rete accipitri tennitur neque milvo.
Qui male faciunt nobis: illis qui nihil faciunt tennitur
Quia enim in illis fructus est, in illis opera luditur.
— Ter., Phorm. 330.
Cf. Cautus enim metuit foveam lupus accipiterque
Suspectos laqueos. — Hor., Ep. I, 16, 50.
H mind were immortal and subject to metempsychosis, the hawk
would flee from its traditional prey, the dove :
Tremeretque per auras
Aeris accipiter fugiens veniente columba.
— LucR. HI, 751.
Cf. Coombs has a stand west of Nut meadow, and he says that he
has just shot fourteen hawks there which were after pigeons. — Thoreau,
op. cit./ p. ii6.
Birds at night are ofttimes aroused by dreams of the onslaught of
hawks and birds of prey :
At variae fugiunt vokicres pinnisque repente
SolHcitant divom nocturno tempore kicos,
Accipitres somno in leni si proeUa pugnas
Edere sunt persectantes visaeque volantes.
— LucR. IV, 1007.
Cf. The bird from out its dream
Breaks with a sudden cry. — Howei.ls.
Then half wing-openings of the sleeping bird,
Some dream of danger to her young hath stirred. — Lanier.
And sleeping birds, touched with a silly glee,
Waken at midnight from their blissful dreams,
And carol brokenly. — Lampman.
The calls and cries of hawks and birds of the sea vary with their
habits and environment :
Postremo genus alituum variaeque volucres,
Accipitres atque ossifragae mergique marinis
Fluctibus in salso victum vitamque petentes,
Longe alias alio iaciunt in tempore voces,
Et quom de victu certant praedaque repugnant.
— LucR. V, 1078.
For the note of the hawk, vid. A nth. Lat. 762. 24.
Accipitres pipant milvus hiansque lupit.
Cf. also Anth. Lat. 733, 6; Wackernagel, op. cit., p. 50.
Cf. Hark, the sharp, insistent cry,
Where the hawk patrols the sky. — Roberts.
There shrieks the hovering hawk at noon. — Bryant.
The hawk is portrayed as the foe of smaller birds :
Natura humanis omnia sunt paria : qui pote, plus urget, piscis ut
saepe minutos magnu' comest, ut avis enicat accipiter.
(Marcopolis.) — Varr., Men. Reliq. 2.
'For list of works in this study, see Bibliography.
Cf. Forsitan hano volucrcm ( i.e.. accipitcr) rapto quae vivit et omnes
Terret avcs. semper pennas habuisse putetis.
— Ov., Met. XI, 291.
The hawk, in a simile dcscrihinq; tlie capture and slaying' of the son
of .\unu.s by Camilla, is portrayed as seizing a dove in mid-air:
Ouam facile accipiter saxo sacer ales ab alto
Consequitur ])ennis sublimem in tiube columbam,
Conprcnsanique tenet, pedibusque eviscerat uncis.
Turn cruor et volsae labuntur ab aethere plumae.
— \'i£RG., Aen. XI, 721,
Cf. Hor.. Od. I. T,7, 17: Ov.. Met. V, Cx)^.
This dominant instinct to pursue doves as prey, is the survival of
the militant spirit of Daedalion, who was metamorphosed into a hawk:
Illius virtus reges gentesque subegit,
Quae nunc Thisbaeas agitat mutata columbas.
— Ov., Met. XI, 299.
Cf. On steel-blue wings, with eyes intent on crime,
A hawk through tangled brush pursues the quail. — Rice.
Wild pigeons, early on the wing,
Woke overhead low thundering —
Blue, rearward columns mounting high.
Scared by the gray hawk's greedy cry. — Hosmer.
For the metamorphosis of Phoebus into a hawk, cf. Ov., Met. VI, 122.
Cf. Thee, bright-eyed hawk!
Soul-emblem, sunwards soaring, as to God. — Bailey.
This militant spirit was a cause of hatred toward the bird :
Odimus accipitrem, quia vivit semper in armis.
— Ov., Ars Amat. II, 147.
Menelaus was mad in leaving Helen accessible to Paris :
Accipitri timidas credis, furiose, columbas.
— Ov., Ars Amat. II, 363.
Various bird enmities were lulled by Arion's music:
Et sine lite loquax cum Palladis alite cornix
Sedit, et accipitri iuncta columba fuit.
— Ov., Fast. II, 89.
Cf. With cawing crows that follow,
The hunted hawk wings wearily and screams. — Cawein.
The dove once smitten by a hawk never outlives its fear:
Terretur minimo pennae stridore columba
Unguibus, accipiter, saucia facta tuis.
— Ov., Trist. I, I, 75.
The dove in airy speed may balk
Her swooping enemy the hawk. — Hosmer.
From swooping hawk may tear away
The partridge, and its haunt regain. — Hosmer.
Birds fleeing from hawks enter even the homes of men. In like
manner Ovid turns to Messalinus :
Accipitremque timens pennis trepidantibus ales
Audet ad humanos fessa venire sinus
Nee se vicino dubitat committere tecto.
— Ov., Ex Ponto, II, 2, 37.
Cf . : Alauda accipitrem adeo timet, ut in hominura sinus confugiat,
et loco manens vel in terra sedens capi se permittat. — Albertus.
I cannot help admiring the great gray hawk. How bold, how bright,
how swift he is ! Let him but show his shadow and the shrieking hens
scatter, flying to cover : and the blood-red cock, that braggart of the barn-
yard, hides his proud crest in fear. — Cawein, Nature Notes, p. 17.
Daedalus awaits the coming of Icarus even as the mother bird
''ollects her brood when dispersed by the onslaught of a hawk :
Callidus medium senex
Daedalus librans iter
Nube sub media stetit,
Alitem exspectans suam
(Qualis accipitris minas
Fugit et sparsos metu
Conligit fetus avis).
—Sen., Oed. 899.
Idaeus is as helpless in saving his brother from Diomedes, as a
mother bird is against a hawk :
Ut volucris, derepta sui cum corpora nati
Accipitrem laniare videt nee tendere contra
Auxilium nee ferre suo valet anxia nato.
Quodque potest, levibus plangit sua pectora pennis.
— SiL. Ital., //. Lat. 417.
Vor references to the liawk in aiii^uries vid. Sil. Ital. IV, 103; Stat.,
Thcb. Ill, 509; and supra \'erg., Acn. XI, 721. sacer ales.
The metamorphosis of Daedalion into a hawk by Apollo, with some
description of the bird in question:
Cum se Daedalion saxo misisset ab alto,
I'ecit avcm ct subitis pendentem sustulit alis,
Oraque adunca dedit, curvos dedit unguibus hamos,
Virtutem antiquam, maiores corpore vires.
Et nunc accipiter, nullis satis aequus, in omnes
Saevit avcs. aliisque dolens fit causa dolendi.
— Ov., Met. XI, 340.
A liawk. now a mere decoy, grimly mourns that the captured game
IS not his own :
Praedo fuit volucrum : famulus nunc aucupis idem
Decipit et captas non sibi maeret aves.
{Accipiter.) — Mart. XIV, 216.
A sparrow while upbraiding a hare which had been seized by an
eagle, is pounced upon by a hawk and is in turn rebuked by the dying
hare :
Oppressum ab aquila et fletus edentem graves
Leporem obiurgabat passer: 'Ubi pernicitas
Xota," inquit, 'ilia est? Quid ita cessarunt pedes?'
Dum loquitur, ipsum accipiter necopinum rapit
Questuque vano clamitantem interficit.
Lepus semianimus : 'Mortis en solacium !
Qui modo securus nostra inridebas mala,
Simili querela fata deploras tua.' — Phaed. I, 9, 3.
For the Fable of the Hawk as arbiter between two quarrelling Cocks,
one of which he seized, cf. Phaed., Fah. Aes., App. II, 6.
A hawk, while befooling a nightingale, is caught by a fowler:
Accipiter ad lusciniae nidum dum sedet
Auritum speculans, illic pullos invenit.
Mater periclo mota prolis advolat
Supplexque, pullis ut parcat suis, rogat.
Accipiter: 'Quod vis," inquit, 'faciam, si bona
Cantaris voce carmina modulatum mihi.'
At ilia, quamvis excideret animus, tamen
Metu coacta est et cantavit denique
Dolore plena. Praedam qui captaverat
Accipiter illi : 'Non tu cantasti bene,
Et unum e pulHs, apprehendit unquibus
Coepitque devorare. Ex diverse venit
Auceps et calamo clam levato perfidum
Visco contingit atque in terram deiecit.
Quicumque fraudcs alii tendit subdolas
Timere debet, ne ipse capiatur dolo.
— Phaed., Fab. Aes., App. II, i8.
For the Fable of the Hawk, Stork and Goose, in which the last is
seized by the first, after a compact for protection with the stork, vid.
Phaed., Fab. Aes., App. II, 23.
ACREDULA. An unknown bird (?).
Acredida has been taken at various times as either a bird^ (thrush,
lark, owl, swallow, nightingale) or as a frog.^ Cicero {De Div. I, 8, 14),
translates the okokvyoiv of Aratus, Phaen. 948, with acredula. Many
therefore, following Aristot., H. A. 4, 9, 11, prefer to take acredula as
a kind of frog. But oXoXvywv, in the Greek tradition, is just as inde-
terminate as acredula!' In both Cicero and the De Philomela, the
acredula is introduced in the midst of a category of birds. The descrip-
tions of the song of the acredula (as a bird), with its touches of sadness,
and the use of the word cantus agree with the ancient attitude toward
bird-song in general. Furthermore, in his next chapter Cicero speaks
specifically of the ranunculi, and a similar reference* appears later in
the De Philomela. As we shall see, the song of birds at dawn and in
the spring is fairly common in the classical poets. For these reasons
it seems to me highly probable that acredula was understood in these
passages as a bird.
^Cf. Gesner, op. cit., p. 76.
'So apparently Thompson, who does not cite oXoXvydiv in his Glossary. Thes.
Ling. Lat. s. v. Genus ranarum ut videt. Isidorus records the double tradi-
tion, but apparently differentiates acredula (bird) from agredula (frog). Orig.
^2, 7, 37 : Eadem luscinia et acredula dicitur ; Orig. 12, 6, 59 : Agredulae ranae
parvulae in sicco vel agro morantes, unde et nuncupatae.
"Cf. Schol. Theoc. VII, 139.
*Ci. with the passages below :
\'os quoque signa videtis, aquai dulcis alumnae,
Cum clamore paratis inanis fundere voces
Absurdoque sono fontis et stagna cietis.
— Cic, De Div. I, 9.
Garrula limosis rana coaxat aquis.
(De Philomela.) — Anth. Lat. 762, 64.
In this connection certain references to frogs in the American
potns are of interest :
The croaking; frogs, wlioni nipjung winter kil'd
Like birds now cliirp, and hop about the field.
{The Four Seasons. Spring.)
— -A N X !•: Br ADS rREET.
The frogs, nocturnal knights of song,
Are nightly wide awake;
I have no doubt they sing to sleep
The tadpoles small and great. — Abbott.
Wheii Aristophanes in Greek
The tone essayed to hit,
"Pompholygopaphlasmasin"
Was near as he could get.
But this implies the bubbling sound
That voice in water makes :
Thy unimpeded, natural song
Was brekekex, koax. — Bigelow(?).
(Eolopoesis.)
The frog's hoarse bassoon, and the loon's tremulous shriek.
— Street.
Those guttural harps the green-frogs tune. — Cawein.
How dreary to be somebody !
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog! — Emily Dickinson.
I am sure the notorious frogs of Hor., Sat. I, 5, were part of the
choir of spring. Vid. CI. Rev., 1901, p. 117 and p. 166. Vid. s. v
TURDUS.
The vernal and matutinal songs of the ocredula :
Et matutinis acredula vocibus instat,
Vocibus instat et adsiduas iacit ore querellas,
Cum primum gelidos rores aurora remittit.
— Cic, De Div. I, 8.
Vere calente novos componit acredula cantus
Matutinali tempore rurirulans.
(De Philomela.) — Anth. Lat. 762, 15.
The interpretation of Isid., Orig. 12, 7, 37: Luscinia avis inde
nomen sumpsit, quod cantu suo significare solet diei surgentem exortum, quasi lucinia. Eadem et acredula, de qua Cicero in Prognosticis : et
matutinos exercet acredula cantus.
For the form acredula, cf. Wackernagel, op. cit., p. 75 : "So konnte
auch das edida, worauf ausser acredula und Hccdula, noch monedula,
qiicrqucdula und (Isid., Orig. XII, 7) coredulus ausgehen, mit dEiSeiv
und driScov zu verbinden sein." The term acredula is still in use as the
name of a genus of birds akin to the genus Parus. Cf. Newton, op. cit.,
p. 968.
For the onomatopoetic verbs of bird song in Latin, vid. passim
Anth. Lat. 762; Wackernagel, op. cit. passim; Peck, Onomatopoetic
Words in Latin (Class. Studies in Honor of Henry Drisler, p. 226).
AEDON. 'Ariftwv. Nightingale.
Vid. S. V. LUSCINIA.
AFRA AVIS, (Libyca, Numidica). MeXeayQig, xETQa^. Guinea-
fowl. A'umida Mclcagris.
Described by Col., VIII, 8, 2; Africana est quam plerique Numid-
icam dicunt. meleagridi similis, nisi quod rutilam galeam et cristam
capite gerit, quae utraque sunt in meleagride coerulea.
This is of interest, as it shows the difference between the Greek
(MeXeayQig) and the Roman fowls. This agrees with the geographical
distribution of the probable progenitors. Cf. Newton, op. cit., p. 399;
Thompson, op. cit., s. v. v. supra ; Hehn, op. cit., p. 358.
Guinea-fowls as table birds :
Non Afra^ avis descendat in ventrem meum.
— HoR., Epod. 2, 53.
Cf. also Stat., Silv. I, 6, 78; II, 4, 28; vid. s. v. phasianus.
Si Libycae nobis volucres et Phasides essent,
Acciperes, at nunc accipe chortis aves.
—Mart. XIII, 45.
Ansere Romano quamvis satur Hannibal esset,
Ipse suas numquam barbarus edit aves.
—Mart. XIII, 73.
The guinea-fowl was brought to Italy after Hannibal's time. Cf. Hehn.
op. cit., p. 309.
l6 THK niKOS OV Till-: I.ATIN PORTS
Nec frustum capreae subducere nee latus Afrae
Novit avis iiostcr, tirunculus ac rudis omni
Tempore ct exignac furtis imbutus ofellae.
— Juv. XI, 142.
A Roman farm-yard scene :
Vacatur omnis turba sordidae chortis
Ar^itus anscr, gemmeique pavones.
Nomenciue licbet quae rubentibus pennis,
Et picta perdix, Numidicaeque guttatae,
£t impiorum phasiana Colcborum.
—Mart. Ill, 58, 12.
About my farm tame fowls should rove.
Geese and turkeys, ducks and dove ;
Nor should I want the guinea-hen.
Which imitates the chatt'ring wren. — Brlknap (Duyckinck).
He heard the chorus of the farm-yards, the jubilee of the birds.
— Trowbridge.
The metamorphosis of the sisters of Meleager :
Post cinerem, cineres haustos ad pectora pressant,
AfFusaeque iacent tumulo ; signataque saxo
Nomina complexae; lacrimas in nomina fundunt.
Quas, Parthaoniae tandem Letoia clade
Exsatiata domus, praeter Gorgenque, nurumque
Nobilis Alcmenae, natis in corpore pennis
Adlevat, et longas per bracchia porrigit alas ;
Corneaque ora facit, versasque per aera mittit.
— Ov., Met. VIII, 538.
Cf. Ael. IV, 42; Plin. X, 38, i; also Hyg., Fab. 174: At sorores
eius praeter Gorgen et Deianiram flendo deorum voluntate in aves
transfiguratae quae Meleagrides vocantur : at coniunx eius Alcyone
moriens in luctu decessit.
ALCEDO (ALCYON). 'AAv.vojv. Halcyon, kingfisher.
A Iced o ispida.
American parallel : Belted kingfisher.
Hosmer: The Kingfisher.
Luders (Stedman) : The Haunts of Halcyon.
Maurice Thompson : The Kingfisher.
The halcyon is one of the four great song-birds of the Greeks and
Romans. From early times it has been traditionally identified with the
ALCEDO 17
kingfisher, but the myths and associations, far more even than in the
case of the swan, swallow and nightingale, resist rationalization. They
seem hopelessly lost in the mystic symbolism of forgotten astronomic
lore. In the Latin poets the whole treatment of the bird seems influ-
enced by the metamorphosis idea, which as usual ascribes a tone of
sadness, as if the bird were but continuing a former human sorrow.
The American references to our own belted kingfisher are purely natur-
alistic and, as such, represent the one chief difference between the
modern and ancient attitudes toward bird-life in general.
Alcedonia, the brooding period of the halcyons, is proverbially used
to indicate a period of peace and quiet :
Tranquillum est, Alcedonia sunt circum forum.
— Plaut., Cas. 26.
lam hercle tu periisti, nisi illam mihi tam tranquillam facis
Quam mare olimst quam ibi alcedo pullos educit suos.
— Plaut., Poen. 355.
And singing thoughts, like Halcyon birds,
Drift lightly o'er the waveless calm.
Near and more near the summer shore,
The isles of balm. — Mace.
Then, rocking near some cavern's emerald gleam,
Thou seem'st the soul of halcyonian days —
The restful Spirit of the sea supreme. — Mifflin.
Whose undulations rose and fell
Like ocean's soft and vernal swell,
When poets feign'd upon its breast
The wave-nursed Halcyon's floating nest. — Webber (Kettell).
And this the litany we pray:
That God who made may keep us free ;
That storms may vex no more the sea,
Where, brooding 'neath a cloudless day.
Still sits Alcyone. — Gordon.
Art thou the bird of eld
That built its nest upon the cradling deep,
Owning a charm when wind and wave rebelled,
To hush them into sleep? — Hosmer.
Not there, not there Peace builds her halcyon nest :
Wild revel scares her from wealth's towering dome.
And misery frights her from the poor man's home.
Nor dwells she in the cloister, where the sage
Ponders the mystery of some time-stained page.
— Embury (Griswold).
l8 TllK lURDS OF Tin-: LATIN I'OKTS
Halcyon prophecies come to pass.
In haunts of bream and bass. — Maurice Thompson
His is the halcyon table
That never seats but one.
And whatsoever is consumed
The same amounts remain. — Emily Dickinson.
{Hotc)
A simile seemins^ly illustrative of the habits and ilig-ht of the halcyon:
Alcyonis' ritu litus pervolgans feror.
— Pacuv. ( Ribb. Trag. Rom. Frag., p. 149.)
Thine undulatinj^ tlij^ht
Mimics the billow in its rise and fall. — Hosmer.
On noiseless wing along that fair blue sea,
The halcyon flits. — Longfellow.
As, when the kingfisher flits o'er his bay. — Lowell.
The halcyon flutters in winter's track. — Coates (Stedman).
Let me lie here, far off from Zante's shore,
Where Susquehanna spreads her liquid miles ;
To watch the circles from the dripping oar ;
To see her halcyon dip, her eagle soar. — Mifflin.
Certain habits of the halcyon are signs whereby to judge the weather:
Non tepidum ad solem pinnas in litore pandunt
Dilectae Thetidi " alcyones. — Verc^., Geor. I, 398.
Vergil's simple observation of the halcyon's habits and his freedom
from the traditions of metamorphosis, etc., mark a characteristic which
makes him the greatest Roman nature-poet.
Cf. also Prop. HI, 7, 61 : A miser alcyonum scopulis afifligar acutis.
'Cf. the explanation of Varro, L. L. VII, 88: Haec enim avis graece dicitur
dXxvcjv, nostri nunc alcedo: haec hieme quod pullos dicitur tranquillo mari facere,
cos dies Alcyonios appellant. Quod est in versu 'alcyonis ritu,' id est cius institute.
'Cf. Neri., op. cit. : Era sacro a Teti perche dicevasi covasse sulle acque e fra
le canne, e perche Alcione, figlia di Eolo, essendo inconsolabile per la morte del
suo sposo Ceice, figlio di Lucifero, perito in un naufragio, essendosi gettata in
mare, fu dagli Dei, per ricompensa, trasformata col suo sposo in un uccello, che
da lei si nomo. Gli antichi riguardarono questo uccello come simbolo di pace.
ALCEDO 19
Propertius calls upon the halcyons to lull the fury of a gale:
Et merito, quoniam potui fugisse puellani !
Nunc ego desertas^ alloquor alcyonas.
— Prop. I, 17, i.
On the morning of Cynthia's birthday the poet prays that no sug-
gestion of sorrow may cross his way, not even the plaintive songs of
halcyon and nightingale :
Aspiciam nullos hodierna luce dolentes,
Et Niobae lacrimas supprimat ipse lapis,
Alcyonum ^ positis requiescant ora querelis,
Increpet absumptum nee sua mater Itym.
— Prop. Ill, 10, 7.
Ceyx is lost at sea. His wife Alcyone, finding his dead body, is
filled with inordinate grief, so that both are metamorphosed into birds:
Insilit (Alcyone) hue; mirumque fuit potuisse ; volabat,
Percutiensque levem modo natis aera pennis
Stringebat summas ales miserabilis undas.
Dumque volat, maesto similem plenumque querelae
Ora dedere sonum tenui crepitantia rostro.
Ut vero tetigit mutum et sine sanguine corpus,
Dilectos artus amplexa recentibus alis,
Frigida nequiquam duro dedit oscula rostro.
Senserit hoc Ceyx, an vultum motibus undae
Tollere sit visus, populus dubitabat. At ille
Senserat, et tandem, superis miserantibus, ambo
Alite mutantur. Fatis obnoxius isdem
Tunc quoque mansit amor, nee coniugiale solutum
Foedus in alitibus. Coeunt fiuntque parentes ;
Perque dies placidos hiberno tempore septem
'The adjective desertas is a true description of the halcyons (cf. Ov., Her.
17, 81: Alcyones solae), and is also a transferred epithet with a toucli of the
pathetic fallacy, suggestive of the love-lorn poet's own heart :
Cf. And when he heaved a sigh profound
The sympathetic swallow swept the ground. — Emerson.
The summer-bird his sorrow heard. — Emerson.
Passing the song of the hermit-bird and the tallying
song of my soul. — Whitman.
'To take alcyonum here and elsewhere in Propertius with Butler as 'merely
seabirds' is to ignore the metamorphosis of the bird, which is the underlying cause
of the tone of sorrow.
20 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Incubat Alcyone pendentibus aequore nidis.
Tunc iacet unda maris : ventos custodit et arcet
Aeolus egressu praestatque nepotibus aequor.
Hos aliquis senior iunctini freta lata volantes
Spectat et ad finem servatos laudat amores.
— Ov., Met. XI, 731.
A song that is sad as the lone sea-bird's
When it seeks its mate with plaintive words. — Strong.
For another tradition of the metamorphosis of Alcyone, cf. Ov., Met.
VII, 401 ; Serv., in \ erg., Geor. I, 399.
For Alcyone, the Pleiad, who shared the couch of Neptune, cf. Ov.
F. IV, 172; U.,Her. XIX, 133.
Halcyon heavenly blue ;
Lone contur, nighest to the star of day
Ranging, of winged life. — Bailey.
For a passing reference to the sons of Alcyoneus, who threw them-
selves into the sea and were metamorphosed into halcyons, cf. Claud.,
Rapt. Pros. 185.
With the above compare these unique American accounts of meta-
morphosis :
And he heard the kingfisher
Who from his God escaped with crumpled crest
And the white medal hanging on his breast.
— Bayard Taylor.
"Go! Thou shalt fish for minnows all thy Hfe!"
Wrathful, the King the magic sentence heard;
He strove to answer, but he only chirr-r-ed;
His royal robe was changed to wings of blue,
His crown a ruby crest, — away he flew !
So every summer day along the stream
The vain king-fisher darts, an azure gleam.
And scolds the angler with a mocking scream.
— Henry Van Dyke.
It is deadly sorrow which causes the plaintive songs of Progne and
Alcyone. Ovid seeks the same method of relief :
Est aliquid, fatale malum per verba levare :
Hoc querulam Prognen Alcyouemque facit.
— Ov., Trist. V, I, 59.
ALCEDO 21
The plaintive notes of the lonely halcyons seem sweet to the ears
of Leander as he crosses the strait :
Alcyones solae, memores Ceycis amati,
Nescio quid visae sunt mihi dulce queri.
— Ov., Her. XVIII, 8i.
The laments of Livia over her dead son are like complaints of the
halcyons to the unheeding waters :
Alcyonum tales ventosa per aequora questus
Ad surdas tenui voce sonantur aquas.
— Cons, ad Liv. 107.
The halcyons come to Andromeda and with sympathetic songs of
sorrow and with shadowing wings, seek to comfort and protect her:
Te circum Alcyones pennis planxere volantes
Fleveruntque tuos miserando carmine casus
Et tibi contextas umbram fecere per alas.
— Manil., Astron. V, 558.
Octavia bids her laments to exceed those of halcyon, nightingale
and swallow, for her grief is greater than theirs :
Age, tot tantis onerata malis,
Repete assuetos iam tibi questus
Atque aequoreas vince Alcyonas,
Vince et volucres Pandionias
Gravior namque his fortuna tua est.
— Sen., Oct. 5.
In a chorus to Cassandra advising lamentation as a relief to sorrow,
the halcyon — with some description of its nest and young — is placed
among the four great song-birds of antiquity. As usual, sorrow and
grief are thought of as the essential qualities in their songs :
Non quae verno mobile carmen
Ramo cantat tristis aedon
Ityn in varios modulata sonos,
Non quae tectis Bistonis ales
Residens summis impia diri
Furta mariti garrula narrat,
Lugere tuam potuit digne
Conquesta domum. Licet ipse velit
Clarus niveos inter olores
Histrum cycnus Tanainque colens
Extrema loqui, licet alcyones
22 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Ceyca suiim fluctu leviter
Plangcnte soneiit. cum tranquillo
Male confisae credunt iterum
Pelage audaces fetusque sues
Nido pavidae si titubante fovent.
— Sen., Ag. 670.
The idea of sorrow associated with the halcyon and other metamor-
photic birds, is maintained even in speaking of the nest and in depicting
scenes of general bird-life:
Addita de querulo volucrum medicamina nido
Ore fugant maculas, Alcyonea vocant.
— Ov., De Med. Fac. 77.
Vid. Hor., Epod. 11, 26: Quci-untur in silvis aves, and cf. the wide
use of the adjective queriilus as a bird epithet. The scholiast to Horace
tells us that queror, etc. was originally applied to the voices of all animals,
but he cites only Verg., Geor. i, 378 (ranac) and Gear. 3, 328 (cicadae).
Vid. Porphyr. ad loc.
Contrast the above with these American descriptions of the king-
fisher's note and habits :
When pacing through the oaks he heard
The rattle of the kingfisher. — ExMERson.
His are resplendent eyes ;
His mien is kingliwise ;
And down the May wind rides he like a king,
With more than royal purple on his wing.
— Maurice Thompson.
Over the river, loud-chattering, aloft in the air, the king-fisher,
Hung, ere he dropped, like a bolt in the water beneath him.
— Howells-Piatt.
Thy voice is like in sound
The twirHng of a watchman's rattle loud. — Hosmer.
He laughs by the summer stream
Where the lilies nod and dream,
As through the sheen of water cool and clear
He sees the chub and sunfish cutting sheer.
— Maurice Thompson.
The kingfisher watches, where o'er him his foe.
The fierce hawk, sails circling, each moment more low.
— Street.
AIXKDO 23
The kingfisher flies with a crack-cr-r-r-ack and a limping- or flitting
flight. — Thoreau, op. cit., p. 192.
The halcyon follows her nest and young when set adrift by the
waves and bemoans their loss :
Fluctus ab undisoni ceu forte crepidine saxi
Cum rapit halcyones miserae fetumque laremque,
It super aegra parens queriturque tumentibus undis
Certa sequi, quocumque ferant, audetque pavetque,
Icta fatiscit aquis donee domus haustaque fluctu est;
Ilia dolens vocem dedit et se sustulit alis.
— Val. Flacc. IV, 44.
Another similar situation of bird mother-love is portrayed :
Fluctivagam sic saepe domum madidosque penates
Alcyone deserta gemit, cum pignora saevus
Auster et algentes rapuit Thetis invida nidos.
Mergitur orba iterum, penitusque occulta sub undis
Limite non uno, liquidum qua subter eunti
Lucet inter, miseri nequidquam funera nati
Vestigat, plangitque tamen. — Stat., Theb. IX, 360.
Vid. also Stat., Silv. Ill, 5, 57.
For a very curious conception (apparently allegorical) of the hal-
cyon, with nest and young, vid. Anth. Lat. 383.
The more truly traditional conception of the halcyon, with nest and
young unharrassed by storms, is portrayed in the following lines :
Cum sonat alcyones cantu, nidosque natantes
Immota gestat, sopitis fluctibus, unda.
— SiL. Ital. XIV, 275.
In a metrical inscription, three of the traditional song-birds, includ-
ing the halcyon, are portrayed as joining in laments with a father for
his dead wife and son :
Cum te, nate, fleo, planctus dabit Attica aedo
Et comes ad lachrimas veniet pro coniuge Siren
Semper et Alcyone flebit te voce suprema
Et tristis mecum resonabet carmen et Echo
Oebaliusque dabit mecum tibi murmura cycnus.
— C. I. L. VI, 25063.
The words voce suprema seem to suggest a confused reminiscence
of the swan's death song.
24 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Throned on a limb, lit by the sun's soft beam,
A lone kingfisher sat. as if in a dream. — Wallace.
I know not, but the Past,
When I behold thee, bird, her face unveils,
And back on busy recollection, fast
Crowd old, romantic tales. — Hosmer.
ANAS. NiiTxa. Duck.
Hosmer: Tlic Jl'ood-duck.
Like several other bird names, the dimiinitive is used as a term of
endearment :
Die igitur med aneticulam, columbam vel catellum
Hirundinem, monerulam, passerculum putillum.
— Plaut., Asin. 693.
My little love !
My duck! my dove! — Fessenden.
Jackdaws, ducks and quails are the pets of patrician children. A
pun:
Nam ubi illo adveni, quasi patriciis pueris aut monerulae
Aut anites aut coturnices dantur, quicum lusitent,
Itidem haec mihi advenienti upupa qui me delectem datast.
— Plaut., Capt. 1002.
Exposure is nothing to a duck. Proverbial :
Utinam fortuna nunc anetina uterer,
Ut quom exiissem ex aqua, arerem tamen.
— Plaut., Rud. 533.
Some description of the wild duck and its pursuit by night:
Neque qua vagipennis anates remipedas buxeirostris pecudes palu-
dibus nocte nigra ad lumina lampadis sequeris.
(Sexagesis.) — Varro, Men. Reliq. 5.
The wild duck alert on the stream. — Stead.
Where 'mid the river's rustling reeds
The water fowl to plumpness feeds. — Arlo Bates.
In their early flight.
Towards the creek or muddy sedge, the ducks
Oft coast along the wood. — M'Kinnon.
For the wild duck, fluvialis anas, pursued by the hawk, vid. supra,
s. V. accipiter; also Ov., Met. XI, 771.
ANAS 25
The duck as a basis of comparison :
Et anatis habeas orthopygium macr.ae.
— Mart. Ill, 93, 12.
How ducks were served on the table :
Tota quidem ponatur anas ; sed pectore tantum
Et cervice sapit: cetera redde coco.
—Mart. XIII, 52.
Aside, twin ducks a savoury sage exhale. — M'Kinnon.
What first I want is daily bread,
And canvass-backs and wine. — John Quincy Adams.
His grace, the Canvas-back, My Lord
Anas and Anser — both served up by dozens
At Boston's Rocher, half-way to Nahant. — Holmes.
Ducks bursting with pistachio nuts. — Bayard Taylor.
A gift of ducks sent to a friend by Ausonius. Some description of
their characteristics and markings :
Tum, quas vicinae suggessit praeda lacunae,
Anates maritas iunximus,
Remipedes, lato populantes caerula rostro
Et crure rubras Punico.
Tricolor vario pinxit quas pluma colore,
Collum columbis aemulas.
Defrudata meae non sunt h'aec fercula mensae.
Vescente te, fruimur magis.
Vale bene, ut valeam.
— Aus., Ep. Ill, II.
A duck, beside an isle of wood,
Within a watery streak was steering,
Dipping his green head in the flood,
When, quick his bill of yellow rearing.
With a loud whiz he flew away. — Street.
And from yon nook of clustered water-plants.
The wood-duck, shaking its rich purple neck.
Skims forth, displaying through the liquid glass
Its yellow feet, as if upborne in air. — Street.
Or crested wood-duck, rich in all the dies
That tinge the fleecy robes of vernal skies. — Alsop.
26 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
The far-famed canvass-backs at once we know,
Their broad flat bodies wrapt in pencilled snow;
The burnished chestnut o'er their necks that shone.
Spread deepening round each breast a sable zone.
{The Foresters.) — Alexander Wilson.
Ducks, when leaving the sea, foretell the coming of storms :
Latipedemque anatem cernes excedere ponto
Saepius et summa nebulas se tendere rupe
Inde etiam ventos mox adfore praemonet usus.
— AviEN., 1685.
A bit of observation as to the duck's note :
Pausitat arborea damans de fronde palumbes
In fluviisque natans forte tetrinnit anas.
— A nth. Lai. 762, 21.
Cf. Suet., Reliq. 161 : "Anatum (vox est) tetrissitare."
Cf. also Wackernagel, op. cit., p. 49.
Among the reeds the ducklings cry. — Burns.
And gabbling in sequestered cove,
The black duck oiled her breast, and dove. — Hosmer.
The silver scream
Of wild duck startled from their marshy bed. — Valentine.
The wild duck from his reedy bed
Summons his fellow. — Carman-Hovey.
It rang out over the marshes,
And the army of ducks was still. — Ballard.
The ducks and geese are riotous, an' strainin' hard to sing.
What's the reason?
Oh, the reason's cause it's gittin' spring. — Ben King.
ANSER. Xiiv. Goose.
Cf. especially Thompson, op. cit., s. v. ; Keller, op. cit., p. 288.
American parallels : Wild goose, brant.
Roberts : The Flight of the Geese.
Thaxter: Wild Geese.
Sigourney: To a Goose.
Field: Gosling Stew.
In a simile, reference is made to tlie driving- away of geese from fields
of grain :
Sed est hnic unus servos violentissumus,
Qui ubi quamque nostrarum videt prope hasce aedis adgrediri
Item ut de frumento anseres, clamore apsterret, abigit.
— Plaut., True. 250.
Cf. Avien., Arat. 1758: Gramina si carpit semensa anser.
Here, leave the geese. Carlo, to nibble their grass. — Street.
Cf. also Priap. 61, 10.
Improbns anser
Strymoniaeque grues et amaris intiba fibris
Officiunt aut vnnbra nocet. — Verc, Geor. I, 119.
A proverbial reference to the softness of goose marrow^ :
Cinaede Thalle, mollior cuniculi capillo
Vel anseris medullula vel imula oricill'a.
—Cat. XXV, i.
Cf. Priap. 64: Quidam mollior anseris medulla.
Their sense of smell is very keen. Thus they saved the Roman
citadel.
Et humanum longe presentit odorem
Romulidarum arcis servator candidus anser.
— LucR. IV, 683.
Cf. Isid., Orig. XII, 7: Nullum animal ita odorem hominis sentit ut
anser.
Other references to the same incident, which often recurs in the
Roman writers :
In summo custos Tarpeiae Manlius arcis
Stabat pro templo et Capitolia celsa tenebat,
Romuleoque recens horrebat regia culmo.
Atque hie auratis volitans argenteus anser
Porticibus Gallos in limine adesse canebat.
— Verg., Aen. VIII, 652.
Anseris et tutum voce fuisse lovem.
— Prop. IV, 4, 12.
Haec servavit avis Tarpeia templa Tonantis.
—Mart. XIII, 74.
Nee servaturis vigili Capitolia voce
Cederet anseribus nee amanti flumina cycno.
— Ov., Met. II, 137.
28 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Sed reppulit uiuis
Turn quoque totam aciem, Senones dum garrulus anser
Nuntiat et vigilat vestrum sine niilite fatum.
— Sehul. V, 83.
Do those worthies know
That when old Rome had let the ruffian Gauls
Tread on her threshold of vitality,
And all her sentinels were comatose,
Thy clarion-call did save her? Mighty strange
To call thee fool! — Sigournev.
By cackling, as their sires saved Rome. — Halleck.
Geese are as guards more wise than dogs. A description of the abode
of sleep :
Xon vigil ales ibi cristati cantibus oris
Evocat Auroram, nee voce silentia rumpunt
Sollicitive canes canibusque sagacior ' anser.
— Ov., Met. XI, 597.
The feathers of the goose and various other birds were used in
making decoys :
Dat tibi pennarum terrentia millia vultur,
Dantque grues, cycnique senes et candidus anser.
— Nemes., Cyn. 312.
In one of the most aj^preciative passages of bird life in the Latin
poets, Ovid gives the reasons for the destruction of birds, viz., that they
reveal the purposes of the gods. The Capitoline geese are forgotten :
Intactae fueratis aves, solacia ruris,
Adsuetum silvis, innocuumque genus ;
Quae facitis nidos, quae plumis ora fovetis,
Et facili dulces editis ore modos.
Sed nihil ista iuvant, quia linguae crimen habetis,
Dique putant mentes vos aperire suas.
Nee tamen id falsum : nam, dis ut proxima quaeque,
Nunc penna veras, nunc datis ore notas.
Tuta diu volucrum proles, tunc denique caesa est,
luveruntque deos indicis exta sui.
Ergo saepe suo coniunx abducta marito
Uritur Idaliis alba columba focis.
Nee defensa iuvant Capitolia, quo minus anser
Det iecur in lances, Inachi lauta, tuas,
Nocte deae Nocti cristatus caeditur ales.
Quod tepidum vigili provocet ore diem.
— Ov., T^ast. I, 441.
*The modern proverbial 'stupid as a goose' was unknown in antiquity. — Kelier.
ANSER 29
For punning references to Anscr the poet vid. s. v. cycnus, and cf.
Verg., Eel. IX, 35 ; Ov., Trist. II, 435 ; Prop. II, 34, 83.
Cf. for something of the same tone :
Come, let me lead thee o'er this "second Rome!"
Where tribunes rule, where dusky Davi bow,
And what was Goose-Creek once is Tiber now.
(Poems relating to America. From — Thomas Moore.
the City of Washington.)
The cackling or hissing note of geese :
Caccabat hinc perdix et graccitat improbus anser.
— Anth. Lot. 762, 19.
Dum miluus iugilat, trinnit tunc improbus anser.
— Anth. Lat. 733, 11.
Cf. Argutus anser, Mart. Ill, 68, 13 ; and argiitus olor, Verg., Eel.
IX, 36; "With regular anserine clangor," Thoreau, op. cit., p. 51 ; Wacker-
nagel, op. cit., p. 50.
Around the ducks their gabbling frolicks play'd.
While o'er the stream the aged gander sway'd.
The saucy monarch of the mimic main.
With num'rous plumy subjects in his train :
And oft he scar'd the ling'ring truant boys
Along the banks, with fearful hissing noise. — Chatterton.
The fowls loud cackling swarm about the yard ;
The snowy geese harangue their numerous brood.
(The Foresters.) — Alexander Wilson.
Philemon and Baucis attempt to kill their only goose for the enter-
tainment of their guests Jupiter and Mercury. The goose flies to the gods
for protection and is saved :
Unicus anser erat, minimae custodia villae,
Quem dis hospitibus domini mactare parabant.
Ille celer penna tardos aetate fatigat
Eluditque diu ; tandemque est visus ad ipsos
Confugisse deos. Superi vetuere necari.
— Ov., Met. Vni, 684.
Pates de foie gras :
Deinde secuti
Mazonomo pueri magno discerpta ferentes
Membra gruis, sparsi sale multo non sine farre,
Pinguibus et ficis pastum iecur anseris albae.
— HoR., Sat. II, 8, 91.
30 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Aspice. quani tunicat mag'no iecur anserc mains !
Miratus tlices, 'Hoc. ros^o, crcvit ubi ?'
—Mart. XIII. 58.
Cf. Juv. \". 114; Pcrs. IV. 71; Stat.. Silv. IV. 0. 9; Pet., Sat. 65;
ct al.
But he coukl cook a goose as brown
As any man that set foot on
The mist-kissed shores of Oregon. — Miller.
A goose was vowed to Alars by VcHus. When the god demanded
its fulfillment, the goose gladly hastened to the altar. A silver statue of
the goose, with tokens, commemorates the deed :
Ipse suas anser properavit laetus ad aras
Et cecidit Sanctis hostia parva focis.
Octo vides patulo pendere numismata rostro
Alitis? Haec extis condita nuper erant
Quae litat argento pro te, non sanguine, caesa.
Victima iam ferro non opus esse docet.
— Mart. IX, 31, 5.
The g'oose was sacred also to Isis and Osiris.
Cf. Juv. 6. 540; Anth. Lot. 395, 43.
Jupiter as the consort of Leda, is referred to once as the 'Amyclaeus
anser' :
Ciris Amyclaeo formosior ansere Ledae.^
— Verg., Ciris 489,
You tell me, with a little scorn.
That all my swans are veriest geese. — Coolidge.
(Optimism.)
A resume of the usefulness of the Roman goose :
Aedibus in nostris volitans argenteus anser,
Dulcisono strepitu colla canora levat.
Ales grata bono duplici ; nam fercula mensae
Couplet et adservat nocte silente domum.
Solus Tarpeia canibus in rupe quietis
Eripuit Gallis Romula tecta vigil.
(De Ansere.) — Anth. Lat. 106.
'This may be the original form of the myth. The swan was substituted in a
later and more aesthetic age. Cf. Keller, op. cit., p. 228 and 455. Buckland,
Mythological Birds Ethnologically Considered. Anthrop. Jour. 4, 277. See this
important article also for illuminating discussion of the mythology of the dove>
eagle, hawk, owl, peacock and phoenix.
AQUILA 31
Meantime, the worthy and hard-working goose
Hath rear'd up gosHngs, fed us with her flesh,
Lull'd us to sleep upon her softest down,
And with her quills maintained the lover's love.
And saved the tinsel of the poet's brain. — Sigourney.
For the Fable of the Stork, Goose and Hawk vid. s. v. accipiter.
For the Fable of the Goose that laid the golden egg vid. Avianus,
Fab. 33.
I move the owl
Be straightway swept from the usurper's seat.
And thou forthwith be voted for, to fill
Minerva's arms. — Sigourney.
AQUILA. 'Aetog. Eagle.
For the best discussion of identifications and astronomic lore vid.
Thompson, op. cit., s. v. 'Aetog; Harting, op. cit., chap. I; Boraston,
The Birds of Homer. Jour, of Hell. Studies, vol. 31.
For the eagle in mythology and ancient art vid. Keller, op. cit., s. v.
In the American poets the eagle is mentioned more often than any
other bird.
Neal (Kettell) : The Eagle.
Percival : To the Eagle.
Street : The Gray Forest Eagle.
Melville (Stedman) : The Eagle of the Blue.
Simms : The Slain Eagle.
Epithets. Characteristics :
Fulva aquila, Verg., Aen. XI, 751 ; Nuntia fulva lovis, Cic, Carm.
frag. 18; Ales fulva lovis, Sil. Ital. XII, 56; Fulvus lovis ales, Verg.,
Aen. XII, 247; Av., Arat. 1007, et passim; lovis pinnata satelles, Cic,
Mar. Biicheler, P. M., p. 305 ; Aquila minore pinna. Mart. X, 19, 10; keen-
sighted, Hor., Sat. I, 3, 27; Densis pinnis, Enn., Ann. 149; Praedator,
Ov., Met. VI, 516; Improbus, Verg., Aen. XII, 250; Aquilis coruscis,
Ciris 529; Ferox aquila, Hon, Carm. IV, 4, 31 ; Tremebundis pennis,
Cic, Arat. 329, et al.
As the bird of Jupiter :
Satelles lovis, Cic, ex Aes. Biicheler, P. M., p. 309; Famulae lovis.
Juv. XIV, 81; lovis ales, Ov., Met. VI, 516; Verg., Aen. I, 394, et
passim; Armiger lovis, Ov., Met. XV, 386; Sil. Ital. X, 108, et passim;
lovis praepes, Ov., Met. IV, 714; Verg., Aen. V, 254; Flammiger ales.
32 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Stat.. Thcb. \'III. 675; Fuhninis ales. Her., Carm. IV , 4, i; Volncrum
regina, Mart. V. 55; Avis regis, Mart. X, 19; Regiu ales. Ov., Met. IV,
362; dizum gratissiiim regi, Ov., Met. XII, 561, et passim.
The nimble messenger of Jove
On earth ahghts not from above
With step so light as theirs. — Hopkinson.
(The British Light Infantry. 1778.)
And Jove's swift eagles soared above the vales, — Proctor.
O pine tree ! Jove sends down his word to you
By his own eagle from the heights of heaven. — Valentine,
An Eagle, soaring in his pride of place.
Was seen, the head of Japheth hovering o'er ;
A thunderbolt the pluming stranger bore.
— Allen ( Duyckinck ) .
And looked the fable of the Greek —
The bird with thunder in his beak.
(The Bird of Washington.) — Warfield-Lee (Griswold).
Thou with the gods upon Olympus dwelt,
The emblem and the favorite bird of Jove —
And godlike power in thy broad wings hast felt
Since first they spread o'er land and sea to rove.
{To the Eagle.) — Kinney (Griswold).
Speak! speak! Through this dark cloud
The eyes of Zeus's eagle cannot pierce. — Moody.
Sounds. Clangor :
Sil. Ital. X\'U, 55 ; Anth. Lat. 762, 27.
And above him wheeled and clamored
The Keneu, the great war-eagle. — Longfellow.
Nesting habits and young :
Non aliter, quam cum pedibus praedator obuncis
Deposuit nido leporem lovis ales in alto.
— Ov., Met. VI, 516.
Aquila in sublimi quercu nidum fecerat.
— Phaed. II, 4, I.
Cf. also Verg., Aen. IX, 563 ; Sil. Ital. IV, 55 ; XII, 55, et al.
The eagle from Bellona's eyrie. — Stedman.
Like eagle's nest built in the air. — Miller.
AQUILA 33
The youthful Drusus, in a splendid simile, is likened to the eagle's
young that are driven from the nest to seek their prey :
Hor., Carm. IV, 4. Cf. Schmid, De aquila, quae apud Iloratiiun
Carm., IV, 4.
But like the fledgling eaglet leave the nest. — Sill.
A reference to the eagle-stone, lapis aetites. Cf . Plin. X, 3, 4 :
Quaeque sonant feta tepefacta sub alite saxa.
— Luc. VI, 673.
Dicuntur quidam lapides inveniri in Armenia, qui praegnantes vocan-
tur, eo, quod habent lapillos intra se, et prosunt partui, quos et aquilae
sub se ponunt cum ovis, ne incendantur ipsius (aquilae) calore. — Schol.
jp. Olid., Weber, C. P. L., p. 719.
The callow young are tried by the sun test :
Utque lovis volucer, calido cum protulit ovo
Implumes natos, solis convertit ad ortus :
Qui potuere pati radios, et lumine recto
Sustinuere diem caeli, servantur in usus:
Qui Phoebo cessere, iacent. — Luc. IX, 900.
Armiger baud aliter magni lovis, anxia nido
Cum dignos nutrit gestanda ad fulmina fetus,
Observam spectans ora ad Phaethontia prolem,
Explorat dubios Phoebea lampade natos.
— SiL. Ital. X, 108.
The eagle and the sun in the American poets :
Thro' the far clouds, the eagle cleft his way,
And soar'd, and wanton'd in the flanics of day.
{Creation.) — Timothy Dwight.
The eagle eye that mocks the God of day. — Paulding.
{The Backzvoodsmen.)
Go climb the fields of air, the heights explore,
Beyond where even eagles dare to soar. — Allen (Kettell),
The eagle was always the friend of the sun. — Holmes.
The bird, whose pinion courts the sunbeam's fire.
— Sprague (Griswold),
34 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
(Apollo) thou in whose bright
And hottest rays the eagle fills his eye
With quenchless fire, and far, far up on high
Screams out his joy to thee. — GexX. Albert Pike.
Your eagle climbing to the sun
Keeps not the straightest course in sight. — Miller.
To soar like eagles in the blaze of noon,
Above the gaping crowd of friends and foes. — Halleck.
Still, like the eaglet on its new-fledged wing,
Her spirit-glance bespoke the daughter of a king.
SiGOURNEY.
A sun-bent eagle stricken
From his high soaring down. — Willis.
What ! soar'd the old eagle to die at the sun !
Lies he stiff with spread wings at the goal he had won !
— Willis.
Hither the eagles fly, and lay their eggs ;
Then bring their young ones forth out of those crags,
And force them to behold Sol's majesty.
In mid-noon glory, with a steady eye. — Roger Wolcott.
{Connecticut River.)
How the eagle sharpens his beak:
Here the old eagle his long beak belays
Upon a rock, till he renews his days. — Roger Wolcott.
{Connecticut River.)
Whilst now and then the eagle gray
Pointed his beak and soared away. — Street.
Flight. The grandeur in the spectacle of a soaring eagle was felt
by the Roman poets :
Utque volans alte raptum cum fulva draconem
Fert aquila, implicuit pedes, atque unguibus haesit;
Saucius at serpens sinuosa volumina versat,
Arrectisque horret squamis, et sibilat ore,
Arduus insurgens ; ilia baud minus urget obunco
Luctantem rostro, simul aethera verberat alis.
— Verg., a en. XI, 751.
Oualis ubi aut leporem aut candenti corpore cycnum
Sustulit alta petens pedibus lovis armiger uncis.
— Verg., Aen. IX, 560.
AQUILA 35
The death of Periclymenus, and his metamorphosis into a soaring
eagle :
Tendit in hunc nimium certos Tirynthius arcus,
Atque inter nubes subhmia membra ferentem,
Pendentemque ferit, lateri qua iungitur ala.
— Ov., Met. XII, 564.
Cf. Fronto, 146, lyn: Aqnilarum maiestate volare.
Apul., Flor. 8 : Paene eodem loco pendula circumtuetur.
Cf. Beneath a tilted hawk is balancing. — Sill.
The lofty Eagle, and the Stork fly low,
The Peacock and the Ostrich, share in woe.
— Anne Bradstreet.
To wastes
O'er which the eagle hovered. — Bryant.
Skies where desert eagle wheels and screams. — Bryant.
Gloriously the morning breaks,
And the eagle's on his cloud. — Longfellow.
The hawk sailing where men have not yet sailed.
— Whitman.
The eagle and his prey. The swan :
Namque volans rubra fulvus lovis ales in aethra
Litoreas agitabat aves turbamque sonantem
Agminis aligeri : subito cum lapsus ad undas
Cycnum excellentem pedibus rapit improbus uncis.
— Verg., Aen. XII, 247.
Cf. Verg.. Aen. I, 394; IX, 563; Stat.. Theb. III. 524; VIII. 674;
IX, 858, et al.
The dove. The proverbial prey also of the hawk. Cf. Sil. Ital.
IV, 114.
Sic aquilam penna fugiunt trepidante columbae.
— Ov., Met. I, 506.
Ut fugiunt aquilam, timidissima turba, columbae.
— Ov., Ars. Amat. I, 117.
Sed carmina tantum
Nostra valent, Lycida, tela inter jMartia, quantum
Chaonias dicunt aquila veniente columbas.
—Verg., Ed. IX, 11.
36 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Birds in general :
Et lovis in multas devolat ales aves.
— Ov., Ars A mat.. Ill, 420.
Master of all fowls and feathers. — Longfellow.
Pursues him like audacious eagle
In quest of plover, snipe or sea-gull. — Fessenden.
Not for this
Did great Columbus tame his eagle soul
To jostle with daws that perch in courts. — Lowell.
The hare :
Aut dumis subit. albenti si sensit in aethra
Librantem nisus aquilam, lepus ore citato.
— SiL. Ital. V, 283.
Cf. Verg., Aen. IX, 560; Ov., Met. VI, 517; Phaed., Fab. I, 9; Juv.
XIV, 81.
With darting haste, behold her ample size.
Full to th' enjoy'd, though distant victim hies,
Couch'd horrid now she nimbly hovers o'er
Her untorn prey, in raptures at its gore.
Back to her nest she shapes her upward flight,
Her young suck up the blood, with dire delight.
— Devens (Kettell).
The lamb. Excitement of shepherds and dogs :
Vid. The Eagle and the Lamb. (Painting by Audubon.) Journal,
vol. I, p. 242 and p. 299.
Talia constanti laevum lovis armiger aethra
Advenit, et validis fixani erigit unguibus agnam.
At procul e stabulis trepidi clamore sequuntur
Pastores fremitusque canum ; citus occupat auras
Raptor, et Aegaei super effugit alta profundi.
Accipit augurium Aesonides, laetusque superbi
Tecta petit Peliae. — Val. Flacc. I, 156.
Hooh ! hooh ! how the eagle screams.
As the blood of the fawn from his talons streams ! — Street.
Serpents. The most striking picture perhaps is the battle between
an eagle and serpent in midair :
AQUILA 37
Verg., Aen. XI, 751. Vid. supra. Almost equally vivid are the
following descriptions :
Denique nitentem contra, elabique volentem
Implicat, ut serpens, quam regia sustinet ales,
Sublimemque rapit: pendens caput ilia pedesque
Alligat, et cauda spatiantes implicat ales.
— Ov., Met. IV, 361.
Utque lovis praepes, vacuo cum vidit in arvo
Praebentem Phoebo liventia terga draconem,
Occupat aversum, neu saeva retorqueat ora,
Squamigeris avidos figit cervicibus ungues.
— Ov., Met. IV, 714.
Haud secus, occubuit saxi quos vertice fetus
Ales fulva lovis, tacito si ad culmina nisu
Evasit serpens, terrctque propinquus hiatu :
Ilia, hostem rostro atque assuetis fulmina ferre
Unguibus incessens, nidi circumvolat orbem.
— SiL. Ital. XII, 55.
For other prey:
Cf. Phaed. I, 28: Vulpi catuli; Id. II, 6: Testudinem; Id. II, 4, 15.
Porcelli; Juv. XIV, 81 : Capream; Hor., Carm. IV, 4, 9 : In ovilia.
For Prometheus and an eagle instead of a vulture. Cf. Cic, Ex
Acs. {Tusc. Dis. II, X). This confusion is common in Greek. Vid.
Thompson, op. cit., p. 3.
On the eagle in augury int. al. cf. the following:
Cic, De Div. I, 47, 106; Verg., Aen. I, 393 ; Id. XII, 244; Val. Place.
I, 156; Si!. Ital. IV, 104.
For the eagle with Ganymede portrayed in the arts as described by
the poets, cf. int. al. Plaut., Men. 143; Verg., Aen. V, 250; Mart. V, 50;
Id. X, 19; Val. Flacc. 11, 408; Stat., Theb. I, 548; Sil. Ital. XV, 421.
As Ganymede by the eagle was snatched up. — Lowell.
Recall that sound as of a lute.
When from the empyrean deep,
We saw the eagle downward sweep.
And, as we gazed in wonder mute,
Bear up a lad from 'mid his sheep.
Who dropped a shepherd's fiute. — Mifflin.
{The Slopes of Helicon.)
For an attempt to rationalize the Ganymede myth vid. Keller, op. cit.
P- 439-
38 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIxN POETS
Cf. Margaret Fuller, Ganymede to his Eagle. (Suggested by a work
of Thorwaldsen's.)
Fables :
The Eagle, Crow, and Tortoise: Phaed. II, 6. The Eagle, Cat, and
Sow: Id. II, 4. The Eagle's strength is a gift from the Fates: Id. Ill,
18. The Eagle and Kite wedded: Aes. Fab. XXXIV.
Various proverbial associations :
'Nil' narras? Visa verost, quod dici solet,
Aquilae senectus. — Tf.r., Heaut. 520.
Tarn dispar aquilae columba non est.
— Mart. X, 65, 12.
Quid congregare cum leonibus vulpes
Aquilisque similes faccre noctuas quaeris?
— Mart. X, 100, 3.
References to the eagle as a military standard. Maximus Cotta is
addressed by Ovid :
Vos eritis nostrae portus et ara fugae
Vos ego complector, Geticis si cingar ab armis.
Utque meas aquiJas, vos mea signa sequar.
— Ov., Ex Pont. II, 8, 68.
The conquered eagles of Crassus :
Signa, decus belli, Parthus Romana tenebat,
Romanaeque aquilae signifer hostis erat.
— Ov., Fast. V, 585.
These are they whose fathers carried the conquering eagles.
Over all Gaul and across the sea to Ultima Thule.
— Johnson (Stedman).
For it was Trajan that carried the battle-flushed eagles to
Dacia. — Hay.
Cf. The condor, frowning from a southern plain,
Borne on a standard, leads a numerous train. — Barlow.
( Colnmhiad. )
Cf. Turn from the eagles ; woo the dove.
For it will glad the angels more
If you will train a vine above
A lowly cottage door. — Waterman.
{Peace on Earth.)
Who bides at home, nor looks abroad.
He carries the eagles — he masters the sword. — Emerson.
AQUILA 39
A battle scene with graphic details :
Gallus at, in castris duni credita signa tuetur,
Concidit ante aquilae rostra cruenta suae.
— Prop. \', i, 95.
The splendid devotion of a dying standard-bearer. The finest touch
of patriotic war verse in Latin literature :
Inde honor ac sacrae custodia ]\larte sub omni
Alitis : hinc causam nutrivit gloria leti.
Namque, necis certus, captae prohibere nequiret
Cum Poenos aquilae, postquam subsidere fata
Viderat, et magna pugnam inclinare ruina,
Occulere interdum et terrae mandare parabat:
Sed, subitis victus telis, labentia membra
Prostravit super atque iniecta niorte tegebat.
Verum ubi lux nocte e Stygia miseroque sopore
Reddita, vicini de strage cadaveris hasta
Erigitur, soloque vigens conamine, late
Stagnantem caede et facilem discedere terram
Ense fodit, clausamque aquilae infelicis adorans
Effigiem, palmis languentibus aequat harenas.
Supremus fessi tenuis tum cessit in auras
Halitus, et magnam misit sub Tartara mentem.
— SiL. It.\l. VI. 25.
For thee they fought, for thee they fell.
And their oath was on thee laid ;
To thee the clarions raised their swell.
And the dying warrior prayed. — Perciv.\l.
Emblem of Freedom, when thou cleav'st the air —
Emblem of Tyranny, when bathed in blood !
Thou wert the genius of Rome's sanguine wars :
Heroes have fought and freely bled for thee.
{To the Eagle.) — Kinney (Griswold).
Our eagle's wing-
Shall mount, our eagle shall be king!
And jackals shall be heard no more
When Freedom's monarch bird shall soar. — Read.
Then from his mansion in the sun
She called her eagle bearer dowai
And gave into his mighty hand
The symbol of her chosen land. — Drake.
Vid. also The Conquered Banner, Ryan: "The priest- Tyrtaeus of
the South" (Sladen).
40 THK RIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
The eagle as a military standard was an object of worship and
reverence. Cf. Sil. Ital. \l. 37. supra; Cic. Lot. I. 24; \'al. Max. VI, I,
II : Suet.. Col. 14.
Ilia quitlem faeno ; see! erat reverentia faeno,
Quantani nunc aquilas cernis habere tuas.
— Ov., Fast. Ill, 115.
For the constellation aquila vid. int. al. Cic, .-Irat. 87, 294, 372;
Ov., Fast. V, ■;7,2\ \I, 196; Manil. I. 342, 620, 684; Y, 487, 710.
The Swan and Eagle wing- their silent flight ;
And. from their spangled pinions, as they flew.
On Israel's vales of verdure shower the dew. — Pierpont.
{Airs of Palestine.)
Once, could the Roman Eagle soar
Beyond the reach of human eye ;
But now, she plumes her wing, no more.
No more invades the sky. — William Lake.
(Columbia's Eagle.)
ARDEA. 'EgcoSiog. Heron.
\'arious species are included in the generic ardea.
American parallels : Heron, egret.
Thompson : The Death of the White Heron.
Cawein: The Heron; Id.: The Blue Heron.
And boggy marges of the mere,
Whereon I see the heron stand,
Knee-deep in sable slush of sand.
— Maurice Thompson.
Where tall blue herons stretch lithe necks, and lean
Over clear currents flowing cool and thin.
Through the clean furrows of the pebbly floor.
— Maurice Thompson.
A solitary heron wings its way
Southward — save this no sound or touch of life.
— Aldrich.
So silent is the air, so hushed, so mute,
That e'en the sentinel heron does not fear
But stands erect, nor drops his lifted foot. — Mifflin.
ARDliA 41
And near its edge, like some gray streak,
Stands gaunt the still fiy-up-the-creek. — Cawein.
( The Mill-water. )
A heron* plume of snow hung o'er ;
Memorial of that bird that swept
Its way to Hah-yoh-wont-hah dread,
And whose pure plumage long was kept
To deck the bravest warrior's head. — Street.
While like the spirit of the coming night
The heron wings on hig-h his sullen flight. — Arlo Bates.
Signs of approaching storm :
lam sibi turn curvis male temperat unda carinis
Cum medio celeres revolant ex aequore mergi
Clamoremque ferunt ad litora cumque marinae
In sicco ludunt fulicae notasque paludis
Deserit atque altam supra volat ardea nubem.
— Verg., Geor. I. 360.
Cf. Luc. V, 555. Anth. Lat. 772, 37: Hinc super ardea nubcs.
Isid., Orig. 12, 7, 21 : (Ardea) formidat enim imbres, et super nubes
evolat, ut procellas nubium sentire non possit : cum autem altius vola-
verit, significat tempestatem.
When he leaves the seacoast, and traces on wing the courses of the
creeks or rivers upwards, he is said to prognosticate rain ; when down-
wards, dry weather. — Alexander Wil.son, op. cit., s. v. great heron.
The city of Ardea, where the bird ardea arose Phoenix-like from
the ruins. Cf. Verg., Aen. VII, 411 :
Cadit Ardea, Turno
Sospite dicta potens. Quam postquam Dardanus ignis
Abstulit et tepida latuerunt tecta favilla,
Congerie e media turn primum cognita praepes
Subvolat et cineres plausis everberat alis.
Et sonus et macies et pallor et omnia captam
Quae deceant urbem. nomen quoque mansit in ilia
Urbis ; et ipsa suis deplangitur ardea pennis.
— Ov., Met. XIV, 573.
The cry of the heron :
A flock of nearly a hundred blue herons alighted on a small island
near us, Londoners', and made the air ring witli their noise. — Celia
Thaxter {Letters, p. 175).
*In Seneca the heron is called Sah-dah-ga-ah, meaning 'the bird of the
clouds.'— /^M/^tor'j note.
42 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN" POETS
The Hern's hoarse clang, or Sea-guH's lonely cry. — Alsop.
And the heron, the Shuh-shuh-gah,
From the melancholy moorlands,
Gave a cry of lamentations,
Gave a cry of pain and anguish. — Longfellow.
No bird is heard ; no throat to whistle awake
The sleepy hush ; to let its music leak
Fresh, bubble-like, through bloom-roofs of the brake:
Only the green-blue heron, famine weak —
Searching the stale pools of the minnowless creek, —
Utters its call. — Cawein.
(Drouth.)
ATTAGENA (ATTAGEN). 'ATTayi'iv. The Francolin. Tetrao
francoliniis.
American parallels: Partridge, prairie-hen, etc.
Francolins — delicious eating . . . uttered their grated calls near
by. — Roosevelt, African Game Trails, p. 344.
The simplicity of early days :
Piscis adhuc illi populo sine fraude natabat,
Ostreaque in conchis tuta suis.
Nee Latium norat, quam praebet Ionia dives,
Nee quae Pygmaeo sanguine gaudet, avem ;
Ft praeter pinnas nihil in pavone placebat.
— Ov., Fast. VI, 173.
The attagena is the finest of all game birds :
Inter sapores fertur alitum primus
lonicarum gustus attagenarum.
—Mart. XIII, 61.
Horace deprecates high living:
Non Afra avis descendat in ventrem meum,
Non attagen lonicus,
lucundior quam lecta de pinguissimis
Oliva ramis arborum, etc.
— HoR., Epod n, 54.
x\nd men had better stomachs to religion
Than I to capon, turkey-cock or pigeon.
{Nezv England's Crisis.) — Benjamin Tompson.
BUBO 43
BUBO. Btiag. Owl. eagle owl.
Strix bubo.
American parallel: Great-horned owl. Bubo Virginianus.
Proctor: The Ozvl.
Celia Thaxter : The Great White Owl.
The mournful notes of an owl on the roof-top add to the gloom of
deserted Dido :
Solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo
Saepe queri et longas in fletum ducere voces.
— Verg., Aen. IV, 462.
Cf. [Hos. Get.] Medea 124 (Anth. Lot., p. 66). Bubo is feminine
only here in the Latin poets : vid. Serv. in loc.
The tremulous sob of the complaining owl. — Wordsworth.
There I hear the moping owl,
His dismal whoopings roll.
Upon the heavy ear of night,
In sounds that would thy soul affright. — Birtha.
A charm to keep owls away, which has widely survived in modern
lore and practice :
Hinc Am}-thaonius, docuit quern plurima Chiron,
Nocturnas crucibus volucres suspendit et altis
Culminibus vetuit feralia carmina flere.
— Col. X, 348.
Ascalaphus is metamorphosed into an owl. Some description of the
bird and an interpretation of its note :
Ingemuit regina Erebi testemque profanam
Fecit avem, sparsumque caput Phlegethontide lympha
In rostrum ei plumas et grandia lumina vertit.
Ille sibi ablatus fulvis amicitur in alis,
Inque caput crescit, longosque reflectitur ungues,
Vixque movet natas perinertia bracchia pennas :
Foedaque fit volucris, venturi nuntia luctus,
Ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen.
— Ov., Met. V, 54^.
Among other omens of woe to come, an owl was present at the
marriage of Tereus and Progne :
Eumenides stravere torum, tectoque profanus
Incubuit bubo thalamique in culmine sedit.
Hac ave coniuncti Progne Tereusque. parentes
Hac ave sunt facti. — Ov., Met. VI, 431.
44 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
The fateful note of the owl and other warnings did not prevent
IMyrrha from incestuous union with Conyras, her father :
Ter pedis offensi signo est revocata, ter omen
Funereus bubo letali carmine fecit.
It tamen. et tenebrae minuunt, noxque atra pudorem.
— Ov., Met. X, 452.
The gloomy calls of innin-nerablc owls attend the death of Caesar:
Tristia mille locis Stygius^ dedit om.nia bubo :
JMille locis lacrimavit ebur, cantusque feruntur
Auditi Sanctis et verba minantia lucis.
— Ov., Met. XV, 791.
Likewise, great numbers of owls frequented the ill-omened Roman
camp at Cannae :
Obseditque frequens castrorum limina bubo.
— SiL. Ital. VIII, 634.
The ill-boding notes of an owl were heard when Ibis was born :
Sedit in adverso nocturnus culmine bubo
Funereoque graves edidit ore sonos.
Ov., Ibis 223.
Medea uses the heart of an owl in her incantations before the altar
of Hecate. Cf. Ov., Amor. I, 12, 19.
Mortifera carpit gramina ac serpentium
Saniem exprimit miscetque et obscenas aves
Maestique cor bubonis et raucae strigis
Exsecta vivae viscera. — Sen., Med. 731.
Another incantation :
Latratus habet ilia canum gemitusque luporum
Quod trepidus bubo, quod strix nocturna queruntur.
Quod stridunt ululantque ferae, quod sibilant anguis.
—Luc. VI, 686.
The owl with its gloomy note is one of the birds of Hades :
Hie vultur, illic luctifer bubo gemit
Omenque triste resonat infaustae strigis.
— Sen., Her. Fur. 686.
^The epithet Stygius may be due to the metamorphosis association. Ascalaphus
was the son of Styx. But vid. infra.
BUBO 45
Hie dirae volucres pastusque cadavere vultur
Et niultus bubo ac sparsis strix sanguine pennis.
— SiL. Ital. XIII, 597.
In aug-ury, the note of an owl from the left annuls the propitious
notes of other birds :
Nee caelum servare licet : tonat augure surdo,
Et laetae iurantur aves bubone sinistro.
—Luc. V, 395.
For other augural references to owls :
Vid. Stat., Thcb. Ill, 508; Claud., In Exitrop. II, 406.
Owls in proverbial comparisons, symbolizing the impossible :
Vocalem superet si dirus aedona bubo.
— Calp. VI, 8.
Praepes funereo cum vulture ludat hirundo,
Cum bubone gravi nunc philomela sonet.
— Anth. Lat. 390, 27.
And hawk and sparrow shared a nest. — Lanier.
In a simile a comparison is made with the notes of the owl :
Qualis et horrendus funesto carmine bubo
Conqueritur deflenda gemens dum tristia maestus
Funerea sub nocte canit, sic anxia nutrix
Ingemit et tremulas diffundit maesta querelas.
— Drag. X, 307.
The huho is associated with Pallas :
Pallada bubo vehit, sed earn rota nulla figurat.
— Anth. Lat. 939.
The onomatopoetic verb for the call of the owl — with its traditional
mterpretation :
Bubulat horrendum ferali murmure bubo
Humano generi tristia fata ferens.
— Anth. Lat. 762, 37.
Cf. Varr., De L. L. 5, 11 ; Isid.. Orig. 12, 7, 39. Wackernagel. op.
cit., p. 49.
And the hoarse owl, that now and then booms out
His harsh, unearthlv, melancholv shout. — Gen. Albert Pike.
46 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
And the solemn owl, with his dull "too-wdioo."
Settles down on the side of the old canoe. — Emily R. Page.
{The Old Cattoe.' Poets of Vermont, p. 419.)
BUTIO. 'AoTEQiac. Bittern.
Ardca St el lay is.
American parallel : Greater Bittern. Dutio mugitans.
Vid. Endicott, Bitterns. Am. Nat. 3, 169.
The bittern slunk
Amongst the sedge — and lonely hern, that waits
His prey, oft stranded by the insidious ebb. — M'Kinnon.
As the hawk whose glance of tawny fire
Is on the bittern's wing. — Pollock.
The dying thunders roll o'er dale and scar ;
In the still pool the bittern sees the star. — Mifflin.
Naturally enough, neither Lucretia nor Margaret Davidson had any
exact knowledge of bird life. But such errors as the following are com-
paratively rare in the American poets :
The woods echo round the bittern's shrill scream,
As he dips his black wing in the wave of the stream.
— Lucretia Davidson.
The onomatopoetic call of the marsh frequenting bittern :
Ast ululant ululae lugubri voce canentes
Inque paludiferis butio butit aquis.
— Anth. Lat. 762, 41.
Vid. Newton, op. cit., p. 40: " 'Butter-bump' corrupted into 'Botley-
bumb' and perhaps other uncouth forms, has reference to the booming or
bellowing sound for which this species was famous." Cf. Germ. Rohr-
dommel. Wackernagel, op. cit., p. 57.
^This poem is printed in the last edition of General Pike's poems with the
following note :
"While the authorship of this beautiful poem has been credited to General
Pike, it has also been denied that he wrote it, and he himself is said to have stated
that the honor did not belong to him but to a young lady whose name has never
been mentioned to the knowledge of the editor of this volume. The verses were
republished in the Gazette a few years ago with this reference : 'We do not know
from what paper or magazine they were taken — but it was understood that Gen.
Pike was the author.' " It is interesting to note that in its newspaper migration
from Vermont to Arkansas — from Page to Pike — the little poem of fifty lines has
suffered twenty-four textual variations.
CASSITA ^7
And as a bitore bumbleth in the mire. — Chaucer.
The bittern lone, that shakes the solid ground,
While thro' still midnight groans the hollow sound.
— Alexander Wilson.
The bittern's boom. — Emerson.
It is the bittern's solemn cry. — Peterson (Stedman).
Making the solemn bittern stir
Like a half-wakened slumberer. — Sladen.
Uprising from sedgy brink
The lonely bittern's cry will sink
Upon the startled ear. — Hoffman (Oris wold).
Or, faintly heard, a bittern cries
Across the tasseled waterweeds. — Stein.
When bitterns boom, and flapping fly. — Strong.
Strange insects whir, and stalking bitterns boom.
— Emma Lazarus.
CASSITA. KoQvbakog. Crested Lark. Alauda cristata.
The skylark {Alauda arvensis), so frequent in all modern literature,
strangely enough seems to have made little impression upon the ancient
poets. Cf. Theoc. VII, 141 and X, 50. Its song was apparently unnoted
or ignored. Even Aristotle does not mention the ecstacy of the soaring
bird.^ This neglect is due to conditions of migration and to the fact that
no great metamorphosis myth made the bird prominent in popular fancy.
This in turn, I believe, is to be explained by the fact that the song is too
joyous for the dramatic sorrows of metamorphosis. Dante (Par. XX,
73) responds to the later feeling:
Oual lodoletta, che in acre si spazia
Prima cantando, e poi tace contenta
Dell'ultima dolcezza che la sazia.
American literary parallels: Meadow lark, bobolink.
Vid. Burroughs, Birds and Poets, p. 17.
^In his delightful 'Idylls of Greece,' Sutherland portrays the song of the lark
with great charm — but the descriptions are neither Greek nor Roman. E. g. :
From the fields near-by a lark soar'd up and up
In measured flights with ever beating wing.
And trill'd its benediction o'er a world
Superlatively peaceful.
4^ THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Sprague's Pipit (No doubt, destined to figure in the future poetical
literature of the West.— Burroughs.) has not yet come into its manifest
inheritance.
Low : To a Lark.
Hogg (Stedman) : The Lark.
Piatt : A Word until a Skylark.
Thompson : To an English Skylark.
Garland : The Meadozv Lark.
Dunbar : The Meadozv Lark.
Matthews: The Meadozv Lark.
Kceler: Az'ila and Sturnellns. A myth of the meadozv lark's song
at dazvn.
When the bonny gray morning just peeps from the skies,
And the lark mounting, tunes her sweet lay;
With a mind unincumbered by care I arise.
(Independent Farmer.) — Susanna Rowson.
The lark had called me at the birth of dawn,
My cheerful toils and rural sports to share.
— John Trumbull.
In clouds th' embosom'd lark her matin sings.
(Conquest of Canaan.) — Timothy Dwight.
Or see before us from the lawn
The lark go up to greet the dawn. — Timrod.
Hear the new, golden flood of song
The lark pours to the blue. — Higginson.
The meadow-lark at dawn that sings. — Higginson.
Jolliest of our birds of singing,
Best he loved the Bob-o-link. — Whittier.
Of the glad bobolink, whose lyric throat
Pealed like a tangle of small bells afloat. — Roberts.
The linked bubblings of the bobolink. — Roberts.
Why, Fd give more for one live bobolink
Than a square mile o' larks in printer's ink. — Lowell.
My colleague. Professor J. O. Snyder, reports having heard the
bobolink several times this past summer (1913) in Nevada. The bird
seems to be following the alfalfa and irrigation projects westward.
CASSITA 49
In the meads,
Shorn of their hay, the yellow-breasted larks
Melodious sung. — M'Kinnon.
Gayly sings the meadow lark,
Bidding all the birds assemble. — Sherman (Sladen).
The lark and its young portrayed in a prose Fable from Aesop, the
beauty of which as a type of its kind is fairly without a parallel in litera-
ture :
Avicula, inquit (Aesopus), est parva, nomen est cassita. Habitat
nidulaturque in segetibus, id ferme temporis, ut appetat messis pullis iam
pluniantibus. Ea cassita in sementes forte congesserat tcmpestiviores ;
propterea frumentis flavescentibus pulli etiam tunc involucres erant.
Dum igitur ipsa iret cibum pullis quaesituni monet eos, ut, si quid ibi rei
novae fieret dicereturve, animadvertcrent idque uti sibi, ubi redisset,
nuntiarent. Dominus postea segetum illarum filiuni adolescentem vocat,
et; 'Videsne,' inquit, 'haec ematurisse et manus iam postulare? Idcirco
die crastini, ubi primum diluculabit. fac amicos adeas et roges, veniant
operamque mutuam dent et messim banc nobis adiuvent.' Haec ubi ille
dixit, discessit. Atque, ubi redit cassita, pulli tremibundi. trepiduli
circumstrepere orareque matrem, ut iam statim properet inque alium
locum sese asportet: 'Nam dominus,' inquiunt, 'misit, qui amicos roget,
uti luce oriente veniant et metant.' Mater iubet eos otioso animo esse : 'Si
enim dominus,' inquit, 'messim ad amicos reiecit, crastino seges non
metetur neque necessum est, hodie uti vos auferam.' Die, inquit, postero
mater in pabulum volat. Dominus, quos rogaverat, opperitur. Sol fervit,
et fit nihil. It dies, et amici nulli eunt. Turn ille rursum ad filium:
'Amici isti magnam partem,' inquit, 'cessatores sunt. Quin potius imus et
cognatos adfinesque nostros oramus, ut adsint eras tempori ad metendum?'
Itidem hoc pulli pavefacti matri nuntiant. Mater hortatur, ut turn
quoque sine metu ac sine cura sint, cognatos adfinesque nullos ferme tarn
esse obsequibiles, ait, ut ad laborem capessendum nihil cunctentur et
statim dicto oboediant. 'Vos modo,' inquit, 'advertite, si [modo] quid
denuo dicetur.' Alia luce orta, avis in pastum profecta est. Cognati
et adfines operam quam rogati sunt dare supersederunt. Ad postremum
igitur domJnus filio. 'Valeant.' inquit, 'amici cum propinquis. AfiFeres
primo luci falcas duas : imam egomet mihi et tu tibi capies alteram, et
frumentum nosmetipsi manibus nostris eras metemus.' Id ubi ex pullis
dixisse dominum mater audivit. 'Tempus,' inquit, 'est cedendi et abeundi :
fiet nunc dubio procul, quod futurum dixit. In ipso enim iam vertitur,
cuia res est, non in alio, unde petitur.' Atque ita cassita nidum migravit,
seges a domino demessa est. Hunc, Aesopi apologum Q. Ennius in
satiris scite admodum et venuste versibus quadratis composuit. Quorum
duo postremi isti sunt, quos habere cordi et memoriae operae pretium esse
hercle puto:
Hoc erit tibi argumentum semper in promptu situm,
Nequid exspectes amicos, quod tute agere possies.
— Gell. li, 29, 3.
50 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
The lark's keen joy was shed!
For what though the morning sulky was
And the punctual sun belated,
His nest was snug in the tufted grass,
Soft-lined and stoutly plaited.
And shine sun or stay away
Nests must be celebrated! — Moody.
He rose, and singing passed from sight —
A shadow kindling with the sun.
His joy ecstatic flamed, till light
And heavenly song were one. — Tabb.
(The Lark.)
Oh, Lark of Europe, downward fluttering near.
Like some spent leaf at best.
You'd never sing again if you could hear
My Blue-Bird of the West! — Mrs. Piatt.
CAVANNUS. Kixxd6ri, etc. AnOwl(?).
Vid. s. V. TERDix, Anth. Lot. 390, 29.
CEYX. Kfjli|. A mythical bird.
Vid. s. V. ALCEDO for the myth of Ceyx and Alcyone. Ceyx as
a bird-name is probably the same as Ki\E, (cf. Horn., Od. XV, 479), which
has been identified by Netolicka, Naturh. aus Homer, p. 14, as the Great
Crested Grebe, Podiceps cristatus, since the cry of this bird suggests
the name Ceyx. The grebes, as is well known, build rude floating nests
of aquatic plants. The observation of this fact and the mythical asso-
ciation of the ceyx and the halcyon may be the naturalistic basis of the
myths concerning the floating nests of the halcyons. Cf. Plin. 32, 8, 27,
For a reference to the floating nests of the Podiceps cristatus vid. Newton,
op. cit., p. 630. Boraston, The Birds of Homer, Jour, of Hell. Studies,
vol. 31, identifies the Krjl from its note kik ! as the Common Tern.
CICONIA. neAaoyog. Stork. Ciconia alba.
American literary parallels : Stork, crane.
Bayard Taylor: The Village Stork.
Field : The Stork.
CICONIA 51
Stands the well-sweep in the lane,
On its one leg, like a crane
Long and gaunt. — Trowp.ridge.
The stork in heaven knoweth
Her own appointed time
And like an arrow goeth
Back to our colder clime. — Hosmer.
As when autumnal storms awake their force
The storks^ foreboding tempt their southern course,
From all the fields collecting throngs arise,
Mount on the wing and crowd along the skies. — Barlow.
(Cohmbiad.)
The Praenestines shorten ciconia to conea :
As. Perii ! 'rabonem'? Guam esse dicam banc beluam?
Quin tu 'arrabonem' dicis? Tr. 'A,' facio lucri,
Ut Praenestinis conea est ciconia.
— Plaut., True. 689.
In a simile, reference is made to falling storks — smitten in midair by
lightning :
At nos caduci naufragi ut ciconiae,
Quarum bipinnis fulminis plumas vapor
Percussit, alte maesti in terram cecidimus.
— Varro, Sat. Men. Biicheler, Petr. Sat., p. 190.
Vines are best planted when the stork ( Candida avis) arrives, as a
harbinger of spring :
Optuma vinetis satio, cum vere rubenti
Candida venit avis longis invisa colubris.
— Verg., Gcor. 11. 310.
Cf. Isid., Orig. XII, 7: Ciconiae veris nuntiae, soci^tUis comite=^.
serpentium hostes. Sid. II, 14, 2: Usque ad adventum hirundineum
vel ciconinum lani Numaeque ninguidos menses.
A certain Rufus brought into fashion the eating of yoimg storks:
Tutus erat rhombus tutoque ciconia nido
Donee vos auctor docuit praetorius.
— HoR., Sat. II. 2, 49.
'Here Barlow clearly had in mind the Homeric and later classical epic similes
referring to the fall migration of the crane. Vid. s. v. grus.
^2 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
The crane {grus) later came into vog-iie. cf. Plin. X, 30, 3: Cornelius
Nepos, qui Augusti principatu obiit, scribit ciconias niagis placere, quara
grues : cum haec nunc ales inter primas expetatur, illam nemo velit
attigisse. \'id. s. v. grus.
This bird when fat is considered by many to be excellent eating. —
Alexander Wilson, op. cit., s. v. American Bittern.
The young are said to be excellent for the table, and even old birds,
when in good order, and properly cooked, are esteemed by many. — Alex-
ander Wilson, op. cit., s. v. Great Heron.
The Rufus mentioned above was rejected and this epigram against
him followed :
Ciconiarum Rufus iste conditor
Hie est duobus elegantior Plancis.
Suffragiorum puncta non tulit septem.
Ciconiarum populus ultus est mortem.
— Porphyr. in loc, Biich., P. L. M., p. 327.
Antigone, daughter of Laomedon, was metamorphosed into a stork:
Pinxit et Antigonem, ausam contendere quondam
Cum magni consorte lovis, quam regia luno
In volucrem vertit: nee profuit Ilion illi
Laomedonve pater, sumptis quin Candida pennis
Ipsa sibi plaudat crepitante ciconia rostro.
— Ov., Met. VI, 93.
Cf. Serv. ad. Aen. I, 27: 'Spretae formae' referunt ad Antigonam,
Laomedontis filiam, quam a lunone propter formae adrogantiam in
ciconiam constat esse conversam.
And sacred stork, thought human soul disguised. — Bailey.
A brief description of the habits of the stork, which is not a winter
resident. The affection felt for the bird:
Ciconia etiam grata peregrina hospita
Pietaticultrix gracilipes crotalistria
Avis, exul hiemis, titulus tepidi temporis,
Ncquitiae nidum in caccabo fecit modo.
— PuR. Syr., Ribb. Com. Rom. Frag., p. 304.
Cf. Isid., Orig. XII, 7, 17: Eximia illis circa filios pietas ; nam adeo
nidos impensius fovent, ut assiduo in cubitu plumas exuant. Quantum
CICONIA 53
autem temporis impenderint in foetibus educandis, tantum et ipsae in-
vicem a pullis aluntur. Plin. X, 23, 32: Genetricum senectam invicem
educant. Juv. I, 116: Quaeque salutatio crepitat Concordia nido.
And the sparrow finds her nest
In the temple's sacred rest. — Tick nor.
My nest upon a temple stands. — Bayard Taylor.
Did he give us the beautiful stork above
On the chimney top with its large round nest?
— Longfellow.
Behind the back of Janus, no one imitating ( with fingers) the clapping
of the stork's bill, makes mockery of the god :
O lane, a tergo quem nulla ciconia pinsit.
— Pers. I, 58.
Isid., Orig. 20, 15, 3: Ciconia levat ac deprimit rostrum dum clangit.
The feeding habits of storks, young and old :
Serpente ciconia pullos
Nutrit et inventa per devia rura lacerta
Illi eadem sumptis quaerunt animalia pinnis.
—Juv. XIV, 74.
Plin. X, 24: Illis in Thessalia tantus honor serpentium exitio
habitus est, ut ciconiam occidere capitale est, eadem legibus poena, qua
in homicidas.
The Fable of the Fox and the Stork :
Ad coenam vulpis dicitur ciconiam
Prior invitasse, et illi in patina liquidam
Posuisse sorbitionem, quam nullo modo
Gustare esuriens potuerit ciconia.
Quae vulpem cum revocasset, intrito cibo
Plenam lagonam posuit: huic rostrum inserens
Satiatur ipsa et torquet convivam fame.
Quae cum lagonae collum frustra lamberet,
Peregrinam sic locutam volucrem accepimus :
'Sua quisque exempla debet aequo animo pati.'
— Phaed. I, 26.
Field: The Cobbler and Stork. The association of the stork with
the beginnings of babyhood does not occur in ancient literature.
54 THE BIRDS OF THli LATIN POETS
A folk-lore tale from Oppiatius :
In Italia (inquit Oppianus), ut fertur, cum serpens quidam ad
nidum prorepens ciconiarum pnllos devorasset et alteram deinde sequentis
anni foeturam sic iter perdidisset, ciconiae tertio demuni anno reversae,
novam quandam avem et prius non visam (quae brevior quidem ciconiis
erat, sed rostrum magnum et acutum ensis instar a capite exerebat)
secum adduxerunt. indicata nimirum ei foetus calamitate sui, sive polli-
citationibus ullis sive verbis, ut opem ferret invitatam. Nam utrum
aves et animantes aliae. suum inter se colloquium nobis ignotum misceant,
in dubium vocari potest. Avis haec, nondum absoluto ciconarium foetu,
coniuncta eis non erat: pullis vero iam exclusis cum parentes ad com-
parandum pullis avique custodi victum longius avolarent, ipsa nidum non
deseruit, ut serpenti obsisteret. Serpens igitur paulo post progressus e
latibulo, pullos aggreditur : et licet ab ave custode rostro impeteretur, non
statim recessit, sed erectus corpore, caudaeque innitens, se opponebat, et
secundo iam ictus spiris involere custodem frustra moliebatur, utcunque
plurimis se flexibus insinuaret, nam facile evadebat avis in sublime se
recipiens. Sic dum ille perdere, haec servare pullos annituntur, plurimis
tandem ille vulneribus confossus iacuit : at non impune, avem enim in
conflictu dentibus venerantis adeo laesit, ut omnes ei pennae defluerent.
Cum vero revertendi tempus appetiisset, ac reliquae ciconiae, iam avo-
lassent, parentes cum pullis servatis, ut beneficii memores se declararent,
tantis permanserunt. donee novis ei pennis renatis simul avolarent.
— Opp.. Ixcut., Gesner, op. cit., p. 256.
The clattering note of the stork's bill :
Longoque ciconia collo
Glottorat et ranas grandi rapit improba rostro.
—Anth. Lat. 733, 7.
Glottorat immenso maerens ciconia rostro.
— Anth. Lat. 762, 29.
Vid. Wackernagel, op. cit. 75, 137; Isid., Orig. XII, 7. Ciconiae
vocatae a sono, quo crepitant, quasi cicaniae, quem sonum oris potius esse
constat, quam vocis, quia eum quatiente rostro faciunt.
Cf. supra, Pers. I, 58. Ov. Met. VI. 97 and Juv. i, 116; where
crepitare is wrongly taken by Mayor, as it is also in the lexicons :
Mettendo i denti in nota di cicogna. — Dante, Inf. XXXI, 36.
He just glanced downward
And snapped to his beak. — Christina G. Rosetti.
Thus mused the stork, with snap of beak. — Bayard Taylor.
COLUMBA 55
COLUMBA. UEQiaxegd, nileia. Pigeon, dove. Colnmba livia.
Blue-rock pigeon. Rock-dove.
Colnmba was the name usually applied to both the wild blue-rock
pigeon and to its descendant, the domestic pigeon. Colnmba and palum-
bes were sometimes confused.
American parallels : Dove, pigeon, ring dove.
Newton, op. cit., p. 163. Fowler, op. cit. 219-223.
Lorrenz: Die Taube im Alterthnmc.
Thompson, op. cit., p. 132: Astronomic lore.
Philip Robinson : The Poets' Birds. Atlantic 49, 675.
Benjamin (Griswold) : The Dove's Errand.
Willis : The Belfry Pigeon.
Mace: The Tzvo Doves.
Some reflections on the relation of the dove to Venus, to whom the
dove was sacred:
Et Veneris dominae volucres, mea turba, columbae
Tinguunt Gorgoneo punica rostra lacu.
— Prop. Ill, 3, 27.
Punica is more accurate for the ring-dove (palumbes) than for
the rock-dove (columba).
See white winged swans, see red bill'd doves. — Miller.
To Venus' shrine no altars raised are.
No venom'd shafts from painted quiver fly:
Nor wanton Doves of Aphrodite's carr.
— John Rogers (Kettell).
The blue-eyed Aphrodite, whom the doves.
White as her breasts, delight in following. — Sutherland.
Sed cape torquatae, Venus o regina, columbae
Ob meritum ante tuos guttura secta focos.
—Prop. IV, 5, 65.
Torquatae seems to point to the ring-dove, cf. Mart. XIII, 67, Tor-
quatus palumbus.
Nor the pigeon so glossy a ring on her throat. — Alice Gary.
In Aen. VI, 190 ff. Vergil, I believe, had the ring-dove or wood-
pigeon in mind, although he uses columbae. Gf. Morris, op. cit., vol. IV,
p. 170: 'The rock-pigeon does not perch in trees.'
56 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Necte comaiii niyrto ; iiiaternas iunge columbas.
Qui deccat, currum vitricus ipse dabit:
Inque date curru. populo clamante triumphum,
Stabis et adiunctas arte movebis aves.
— Ov., Am. I. 2, 23.
Ne violes teneras periuio dente columbas,
Tradita si Gnidiac sunt tibi sacra deae.
—Mart. XIIT. 66.
Hie iuvenum lapsus suaque aut externa rcvolvit
Vulnera, {pro! quanta est Paphii reverentia, mater,
Numinis!) hie nostrae deflevit fata columbae!
— Stat., Silv. I, 2, 100.
Cf. Mart. I. 7: \"II, 14.
Why doves are dear to Venus :
Quae autem causa sit ficta, propter quam Venus columba delecta sit,
talis est ; quod Venus et Cupido, cum quodam tempore voluptatis gratia
in quosdam nitentes descendissent campos, I'asciva contentia certare coe-
perunt, qui plus sibi gemmates colligeret flores. Quorum Cupido adiutus
mobilitate pennarum, postquam naturam corporis volatu superavit, victus
est numero. Peristera enim nympha subito accurrit et adiuvando Ve-
nerem superiorem effecit cum poena sua. Cupido siquidem indignatus
mutavit puellam in avem, quae a Graecis jteQioteQoi appellatur. Sed
poenam honor minuit. Venus namque consolatura puellae et innocentis
transfigurationem. columbam in tutela sua esse mandavit.
— Lact., ad Stat. Theb. IV, 226.
In Euphratem flumen de coelo ovum mira magnitudine cecidisse
dicitur, quod pisces ad ripam evoluerunt. Super quod columbae con-
sederunt et excalfactum excludisse Venerem.
— Hyg., Fab. 197.
Veneri consccratas, proper fetum frequentem et coitum.
— Serv., ad Verg. Aen. VI, 193.
Cf. also Ov., Met. XV, 389; Sil. Ital. IV, 106.
Take Venus, with her turtle doves. — Fessenden.
How doves were sacrified to Venus. Soothsaying:
Ergo saepe suo coniunx abducta marito
Uritur Idaliis alba columba focis.
— Ov., Fast. I, 451.
Cf. supra. Prop. IV, 5, 65.
Calidae pulmone columbae
Tractato Armenius vel Commagenus haruspex.
— Juv. VI, 549.
COLUMBA 57
Lovers ever ran before the clock.
Oh, ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly. — Shakespeare.
Pity thou,
And I will offer thee white doves, whose note
Sounds softer in the woods than hynming lutes.
— Sutherland.
And since from Aphrodite's dove
The pattern of the fan was given
No wonder it breathes of Love. — Holmes.
Even as, wafted by her doves.
She kissed the faces of the yearning waves. — Stedman.
Vid. also Gen. Albert Pike: Hymn to Venus.
Color and descriptive epithets applied to the dove :
Alba, albulus, albiplumen, niveo, sine labe, pulchra, torquatae,
aeriae, praecipites, sublimem in nube, timidus, timidissima, trepidas,
pavidae, placida, trepidante penna, teneras, castus, blanda, sine felle,
molles, Argoa.
Love to her
Was whiter than the foam-white doves that warmed
The rosy feet of Venus. — Sutherland.
In the east
The sky is like the bosom of a dove,
All gray and crimson. — Sutherland.
How the oracles of Zeus at Dodona and in Libya were occasioned by
two doves from Thebes :
Nam cui dona lovi non divulgata per orbem,
In gremio Thebes geminas sedisse columbas?
Ouarum, Chaonias pennis quae contigit oras,
Implet fatidico Dodonida murmure quercum.
At quae, Carpathium super aequor vecta, per
Auras in Libyen niveis tranavit concolor alis,
Hanc sedem templo C>i;hereia condidit ales ;
Hie, ubi nunc aram lucosque videtis opacos,
Ductore electo gregis, admirabile dictu,
Lanigeri capitis media inter cornua perstans,
Marmaricis ales populis responsa canebat.
— SiL. Ital. Ill, 677.
The air with birds they flocked ; oracular dove.
Thrice holy in tradition from the egg.
Hid by Aturian turtle, and the flood.
To Jordan's sacred streamlet. — Bailey.
58 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Where once the mighty voice of Jove
Rang through Dodona's haunted grove,
No more the dove with sable plumes
Swept through the forest's georgeous glooms.
— Sarah Helen Whitman.
Cf. Herod. H. 55.
For a discussion of the doves at Dodona, vid. Jebb, Soph., Track.
1166. Appendix: Serv. ad. Verg., Aen. IH, 466.
For doves in Palestine, vid. Tib. I, 7, 17; Hyg. 197.
White dove-cots were preferred. Other references to dove-cots.
Totus autem locus et ipsae columbarum cellae poliri debent albo
tectorio. quoniam eo colore praecipue delectatur hoc genus avium.
Oolum. 8, 8.
Aspicis, ut veniant ad Candida tecta columbae,
Accipiat nullas sordida turris aves?
— Ov,, Trist. I, 9, 7.
God ! if I might in this white dove-cote dwell. — Higginson.
A poor soiled dove of this dear St. Mark. — Miller.
Cf. Gould, The Dove on the Chimney.
Quaeque gerit similes Candida turris aves,
Munera sunt dominae.
— Mart. XH, 31, 6.
Quasque colat turres, Chaonis ales habet.
— Ov., A. A. II, 150.
Nam prius incipient turres vitare columbae,
Antra ferae, pecudes gramina, mergus aquas ;
Quam male se praestat veteri Graecinus amico.
— Ov., Ex Pont. I, 6, 51.
Sonantque turres plausibus columbarum.
—Mart. HI, 58, 18.
And hear, from their high perch along the eaves.
The bright-necked pigeons call. — Elizabeth A. Allen.
Qualiter Idaliae volucres, ubi mollia frangunt
Nubila, iam longum coeloque domoque gregatae.
Si iunxit pennas diversoque hospita tractu
Venit avis, cunctae primum mirantur et horrent :
Mox propius propiusque volant, atque aere in ipso
Paulatim fecere suam. plausuque secundo
Circueunt hi^ares et ad alta cubilia ducunt.
— Stat., Ach. I, 372.
COLUMBA 59
The epithet hilares is almost unique as applied to bird life among the
Roman poets. The note of joy is the prevailing modern concept, save
where the ancient tradition is followed. Vid. s. v. luscinia and Note
IV, RUSCINIA.
Sic ubi perspicuae scandentem limina turris
Idaliae volucres fulvum adspexere draconem,
Intus agunt natos et feta cubilia valiant
Unguibus, imbellesque citant ad proelia pennas.
Mox merit licet ille retro, tamen aera nudum
Candida turba timet, tandemque ingressa volatus
Horret et a mediis etiamnum respicit astris.
—Stat., Theh. XII, 15.
There too the dove-cot stood, with its meek and innocent in-
mates
Murmuring ever of love. — Longfellow.
There must have been a dove-cote too, I know,
Where white-winged birds like Spirits come and go.
— Stedman.
Cf. also Varr., R. R. Ill, 7; Juv. Ill, 200.
The metamorphosis of Dercetis and her daughter Semiramis :
Ilia, quid e multis referat (nam plurima norat),
Cogitat et dubia est, de te. Babylonia, narret,
Derceti, quam versa squamis velantibus artus
Stagna Palaestini credunt motasse figura
An magis, ut sumptis illius filia pennis
Extremos albis in turribus egerit annos.
— Ov., Met. IV, 44.
But all agree that from no lawful bed.
This great renowned empress issued.
For which she was obscurely nourished.
Whence rose that fable, she by birds was fed.
(Semiramis.) — Anne Bradstreet.
The poets feign'd her turn'd into a dove,
Leaving the world to Venus soar'd above.
(Semiramis.) — Anne Bradstreet.
Medea passes over the city of Alcidamas, whose daughter was trans-
formed into a dove :
Transit et antiquae Cartheia moenia Ceae.
Qua pater Alcidamas placidam de corpore natae
Miratus erat nasci potuisse columbam.
— Ov., Met. VII, 368.
6o THE RIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Tenderly her dove-eyes glistened. — Morris.
And then a dove, dear nunlike dove
With eyes all tenderness. — Miller.
Now what is thy secret, serene g'ray dove? — Miller.
How the daughters of Anius were changed into doves:
Nee qua ratione figuram
Perdiderint, potui scire aut nunc dicere possum :
Summa mali nota est : pennas sumpsere tuaeque
Coniugis in volucres. niveas abiere columbas.
— Ov., Met. XIII, 672.
Where, transform'd to sacred doves,
Many a blessed Indian roves
Through the air on wing, as white
As those wond'rous stones of light. — Thomas Moore.
{Poems relating to America.)
Daedalion, metamorphosed into a hawk, preys upon the Thisbean
doves :
Illius virtus reges gentesque subegit,
Quae nunc Thisbaeas agitat mutata columbas.
— Ov., Met. XI, 299.
Cf. Horn., //. II, 502; Stat., Theh. VII, 261. Doves are still found
in enormous numbers at Kokosi, on the site of ancient Thisbe, and from
this fact Chandler identified the site. Vid. Frazer, Pans., vol. V, p. 160.
References to the Argo, Symplegades and Dove:
Tuque tuo Colchum propellas remige Phasim,
Peliacaeque trabis totuni iter ipse legas,
Qua rudis Argoa natat inter saxa columba
In faciem prorae pinus adacta novae.
— Prop. Ill, 22, 11.
Et qui movistis duo litora, cum ratis Argo
Dux erat ignoto missa columba mari.
— Prop. II, 16, 39.
QuaHs et ille fuit, quo praecipiente columba
Est data Palladiae praevia duxque rati.
— Ov., lb. 265.
How a dove (possibly a carrier-pigeon — cf. Thompson, op. cit., p.
143 j came to Aretulla:
COI.UMBA 6l
Aera per taciturn delapsa sedentis in ipsos
Fluxit Aretullae blanda columba sinus.
Luserat hoc casus, nisi inobservata maneret
Permissaque sibi nollet abire fuga.
Si meliora piae fas est sperare sorori
Et dominum nmndi flectere vota valent,
Haec a Sardois tibi forsitan exulis oris
Fratre reversuro, nuntia venit avis.
— Mart. VIII, 32.
Bear gently, Ocean's carrier-dove,
Thy errands to and fro. — Whittif.r.
True as the homing-bird flies with its message.
— Ward (Stedman).
Like homeward pigeon with uncaged wing. — Lampman.
But nightly, like white courier doves
They all come home to rest. — Higginson.
As some stray carrier-pigeon onward 'hies
O'er alien spire, and dim cathedral dome,
With weakening pinions, that reluctant roam
Athwart the high, inhospitable skies ;
Famished and faint, with eager, yearning eyes.
Whirled by the winds above the wild sea's foam,
Till, at the last, outworn, he gains his home,
Falls at his mistress's feet, content, and dies. — Mifflin.
Medea flees to Jason even as a dove flees when seeing the shadow of
a hawk:
Ecce autem pavidae virgo de more columbae.
Quae super ingenti circumdata praepetis umbra
In quemcumque tremens hominem cadit : baud secus ilia
Acta timore gravi mediam se immisit.
— Val. Flacc. VIII, 32.
But fly all helpless here to me
A fluttered dove that night of dread. — Miller.
Like shadows by a brilliant day
Cast down from falcons on their prey.
— PiNKNEY (Duyckinck).
Whose omen flits
Across thy heart as o'er a troop of doves
The fearful shadow of the kite.— Lowell.
Seest thou shadows sailing by
As the dove with startled eye
Sees the falcon's shadow fly? — Longfellow.
62 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
For columba used as a term of endearment, vid. Plant., Asiii. 693 ;
Cos. 138. This use is by no means 'very frequent' (cf. Thompson, op.
cit.. p. 142).
Very hkely the poor chick sheds copious tears. — Field.
I kissed him and called him my little bird
O' th' woods, my dove, my darling. — Alice Gary.
Poor little dove! Thou tremblest like a leaf.— Longfellow.
Cruel death !
To take away my dove, my lamb, my darling. — Longfellow.
My sad, sweet dove. — Miller.
A Christian use of columba from the grave of an unknown pope:
Quam domino fuerant devota mente parentes.
Qui confessorem talem genuere potentem
Adque sacerdotem sanctum, sine felle columbam,
Divinae legis sincero corde magistrum.
— BiJcH., Cann. Epig. 787.
The Holy Dove of Peace, the promised giiest.
Folded its fragrant pinions on my breast.
— Sarah Helen Whitman.
With patient hand Jesus in clay once wrought.
And made a snowy dove that upward flew.
(Jesus and the Dove.) — Maria Lowell (Griswold).
Go then, my Dove, but now no longer mine !
Leave Earth and now in Heavenly Glory shine.
{Epitaph of Abigail, his z^'ife, 1703. ) — Cotton Mather.
So with the wings of Faith and Love,
And feathers of an Holy Dove,
She bid this wretched world adieu
And swiftly up to Heaven flew. — Noyes.
(.'/ consolatory poem, addressed to Cotton Mather
upon the death of his wife. 1703.)
A soft dove gray that shrouds the dead. — Miller.
As regards color, white doves are most common :
Et ille nunc superbus et superfiuens
Perambulabit omnium cubilia
Ut albulus columbus aut Adoneus?
—Cat. XXIX, 6.
63
Nee tantum niveo gavisast ulla columbo
Compar, quae multo dicitur iniprobus
Oscula mordenti semper decerpere rostro.
Quam quae praecipue multivolast mulier.
—Cat. LXVIII, 124.
Nam fuit haec quondam niveis argentea pennis
Ales, ut aequaret totas sine labe columbas.
— Ov., Met. II, 536.
Et variis albae iunguntur saepe columbae.
— Ov., Her. XV, 37.
Lilia tu vincis ne adhuc delapsa ligustra,
Et Tiburtino monte quod albet ebur ;
Spartanus tibi cedet olor Paphiaeque columbae,
Cedet Erythraeis eruta gemma vadis.
—Mart. VIII, 28, 11.
Absit ut albiplumem valeat calcare columbam
Inter tot niveas rustica milvus avis.
— Anth. Lat., 729, 3.
Ad iuga blanda sedet niveas moderata columbas,
Non satianda donis, divae soror alma.
— Anth. Lat. 941, 22.
It was white as whitest dove. — Higginson.
The white doves filled the air.
Like white souls of the saints. — Longfellow.
References to other colors :
Pluma columbarum quo pacto in sole videtur,
Quae sita cervices circum collumque coronat ;
Namque alia fit uti claro sit rubro pyropo.
Inter dum quodam sensu fit uti videatur
Inter caeruleum viridis miscere zmaragdos.
— LucR. II, 799.
Colla Cytheriacae splendent agitata columbae.
— Baehrens, p. L. M.. p. 368.
A white dove drowned in Tuscan wine. — Miller.
And rows of doves that sit on beams.
With plump and glossy breasts. — Alice Cary.
The reflections from their necks were very beautiful. — Tiioreau.
op. cit., p. 113.
64 THK BiRns OF Till-: latin poets
Cf. Cic. Acad. Tl. u). yg; Sen.. A'aY. Quacst. I. 5. 6; Aus., Epist.
111. 15.
Notes on the nesting habits of the dove :
Qualis spelunca subito commota columba
Cui donius et dulces latebroso in pumice nidi
Fertur in arva volans, plausumque exterrita pennis
Dat tecto ingentem, mox aere lapsa quieto
Radit iter liquidum, celeres neque commovet alas.
— Verg., a en. V, 213.
This is one of the most exact descriptions of bird life in the Latin
poets. Columba is here applied to the wild rock-dove, the progenitor of
our domesticated pigeons. Cf. Shairp, op. cit., p. 165.
Piscium et summa genus haesit ulmo
Nota quae sedes fuerat columbis.
— HoR., Od. I, 2, 9.
The change to pahmibis is, of course, better ornithology, but it is
unnecessary, for while columba is usually applied to the rock-dove
and the domesticated pigeon, and palumbes to the wood- or stock-dove
(which Horace has in mind here), yet there existed at all times a slight
mingling of names, habits, and mythological lore. Cf. especially sine
fellc colnmbam and palumbes sine felle. By Wordsworth the ring-dove is
repeatedly called the stock-dove. Cf. Mackie, op. cit., p. 82.
True as the stock-dove to her shallow nest
And to the grove that holds it. — Wordsworth.
He went to her as goes the wild grey dove
Straight to its mate, though hills rise high, and hide
The brake where bides its loved one and their nest.
— Sutherland.
Pet name for a child. The mss. show the expected confusion of
columbo and palumbo. The former is more likely correct:
y\t cur non potius, teneroque columbo,
Et similes regum pueris, poppare minutum
Poscis, et iratus mammae lallare recusas?
— Pers. hi, 16.
Yet they contrived to rear their little dove,
And he repaid them with the tenderest love. — Timrod.
COI.UMBA 65
Doves feed their young- by regurgitation. Some references and
similes derived from this fact. The conjugal 'affection of doves was
proverbial :
Ubi quid dederam, quasi colunibae pulli in ore ambae meo
usque eratis. — Plaut., Asin. 209.
Sinuque amicani refice frigidam caldo
Columbulatim labra conserens labris.
— Cn. Matius, Baeiirens, P. L. M ., p. 282.
Oscula dat cupido blanda columba mari.
— Ov., Am. II, 6, 56.
Exemplo iunctae tibi sint in amore columbae.
Masculus et totum femina coniugiuni.
— Prop. II, 15, 27.
Issa est purior osculo columbae.
— Mart. I, 109, 2.
Basia me capiunt blandas imitata columbas.
— Mart. XI, 104, 9,
Amplexa collum basioque tarn longo
Blandita, quam sunt nuptiae columbarum.
Rogare coepit Phyllis amphoram vini.
—Mart. XII, 65, 8.
Cf. also Cat. LXVIII, 125 supra; Plin. X, 104.
The loving turtle and his lovely spouse.
From bough to bough, in deep affection move.
And with chaste joy reciprocate their love.
— Roger Wolcott.
The wail of an unmated dove. — Miller.
Far down the wood, a one-desiring dove. — Lanier.
The righteous man that wandering dove received,
And to her mate restored, who, with sad moans,
Had wonder'd at her absence. — Sigourney.
The turtle on yon' withered bough
Who lately moaned her murdered mate,
Has found another partner now. — Freneau.
Monday Captain Hall called to speak to me about my paper on
Pigeons ; he complained that I expressed the belief that Pigeons were
possessed of affection and tenderest love, and that this raised the brute
species to a level with man. — Audubon, Journal, vol. I, p. 212.
66 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
A pun on the word columbus:
Ch. Isti capiti dicito.
Credo alium in aliam beluam hominein vortier:
Illic in columbum. credo, leno vortitur,
Nam in colunibari collus hau multo post erit ;
In nervuom ille hodie nidanienta congeret.
— Plaut., Riid. 886.
'Stocks' and 'stock-dove' show the piin ; but the tame pigeon, not the
stock-dove, was probably in the poet's mind.
Cupid's wings compared to the ruffled back of a much handled dove :
Horrida pendebant molles super ora capilli,
Et visa est oculis horrida pinna meis ;
Quolis in aeriae tergo solet esse columbae,
Tractantum multae quam tetigere manus.
—Ox., Ex Pont. 111,3, 17-
The pet dove of Stella :
Stellae delicium mei columba,
Verona licet audiente dicam,
Vicit. Maxime, passerem Catulli.
Tanto Stella mens tuo Catullo,
Ouanto passere maior est columba.
"' — Mart. I, y.
For the proverbial preying of eagles upon doves.
Cf. Verg., Eel. IX, 13; Ov., Met. I, 506; A. A. I, 117; Mart. X, 65,
12, etc. Vid. s. V. aquila.
For the traditional preying of hawks upon doves.
Cf. Lucr. Ill, 752 ; Verg., Aen. XI, 721 ; Ov., Met. V, 605 ; VI, 529 ;
Fast. II, 50; Trist. I, i, 75; Hor., Od. I, 37, 17; Sil. Ital. V, 282, etc.
Vid. S. V. ACCIPITER.
For the association of dove and kite, vid. Hor., Ep. XVI, 32; vid.
S. V. MILVUS.
For the raven and dove, vid. Juv. II, 63, vid. s. v. corvus.
For the swan and dove, vid. Anth. Lat. 939, vid. s. v. cycnus.
References to the note of the dove :
Sonantque turres plausibus columbarum.
—Mart. Ill, 58, 18.
Et castus turtur atque columba gemunt.
— Anth. Lat. 762, 20.
(>7
Ite agite, o iuvenes, et desudate medullis.
Omnibus inter vos ! non murmura vestra columbae,
Brachia non hederae, non vincant oscula conchae.
— Anth. Lat. 711.
Cf. VVackernagel, op. cit., p. 59; Winteler, op. cit., p. 17.
He did not cease : but cooed and cooed :
And somewhat pensively he wooed. — Wordsworth.
Wihy the note of the dove is full of sadness :
But under Abel's date-palm trees
The dove forgot its tone,
And since, o'er other lands and seas,
It makes its plaintive moan ;
Thus Deity hath marked the crime
For cycles passing round —
The blood that flowed in Adam's time
Is crying from the ground —
For this is why the dove declares
Its tearful, sad unrest. — Stanton.
For the dove as a target for archers, vid. Verg., Aen. V, 488.
For the dove on a cup as a work of art, vid. Mart. VIII, 6, 10
The dove was hewn in Karnah stone
Before fair Jordan's banks were known. — Miller.
For the Fable of the Kite and the Doves, vid. s. v. milvus.
A later myth. How pearls are polished :
As pearls, we're told, that fondling doves
Have play'd with, wear a smoother whiteness.
{Poems relating to America.) — Thomas Moore.
CORNICULA. K0X0165. Jackdaw.
Corvus monedula, L.
American parallel : Blue- jay.
The corniciilu who robbed birds of their plumage is reduced to
ridicule :
Quid mihi Celsus agit? Monitus multumque monendus
Privatas ut quaerat opes et tangere vitet
Scripta, Palatinus quaecumque recepit Apollo ;
Ne, si forte suas repetitum venerit olim
Grex avium plumas, moveat cornicula risum
Furtivis nudata coloribus? — Hor., Ep. I, 3, 15.
68 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Cf. also Phacd. I, 3, s. v. c.raculus.
To shine in borrowed i^luines. with base design. — Freneau.
A jackdaw faitli, mischievous, chatt'ring thing.
Dress'd in a plume of every heathen's wing. — Cliffton.
Who. jackdaws still, the peacock's pomp assume,
And strut in pride with half a pilfer'd plume.
— Lincoln (Kettell).
CORNIX. KoQtovi]. Crow. Corvus corotie.
American parallels : Crow, raven.
Wilson (Stedman) : To a Croze.
Trowbridge: IVatching the Crozes.
Hosmer: The Crozv. Id.: Origin of the Crozv.
Gardner: A Flock of Mythological Crozvs. Pop. Sci. Mo. 18, 43.
The long life of the crow is proverbial in the Latin poets :
Mvit et armiferae cornix invisa Minervae,
Ilia quidem saeclis vix moritura novem.
— Ov., Am. II, 6, 35.
Cf. int. al. Lucr. \', 1083: cornicuni ut saecla vetusta; Ov., Met.
\'ll, 274: novem cornicis saecula passae; Hor., Od. Ill, 17, 9: annosa
cornix; Priap. 61, 11: cornix anus; Aus., Id. XVIII, 3; Anth. Lat.
344. 2: Ant quantum cornix atque elefans superest.
A raven once an acorn took
From Bashan's strongest, stoutest tree ;
He hid it near a murmuring brook,
And lived another oak to see. — Freneau.
The oldest crow that caws below
Recalls no sadder case. — Tichnor.
The century living crow. — Bryant.
The many-wintered crow. — Tennyson.
And all noisy on the tree-tops caw-ed the rooks, that ancient race.
— Linen.
Sed Cinarae breves
.\nnos fata dederunt,
Servatura diu parem
Cornicis vetulae temporibus Lvcen.
—Hor., Od. IV, 13, 22.
CORN IX 69
lam cornicibus omnibus superstes
Hoc tandem sita prurit in sepulchre
Calvo Plotia cum Melonthione. — Mart. X, 67, 5.
Rex Pylius, magno si quidquam credis Homero,
Exemplum vitae fuit a cornice secundae.
— Juv. X, 247.
How the crow as a weather prophet foretells the coming of storms :
Et partim mutant cum tempestibus una
Raucisonos cantus cornicum et saecla vetusta
Corvorumque greges ubi aquam dicuntur et imbris
Poscere et interdum ventos aurasque vocare.
— LucR. V, 1082.
Fuscaque non numquam cursans per litora cornix
Demcrsit caput et fluctum cervice recepit.
— Cic, Proiy. 222f.
Turn cornix plena pluviam vocat improba voce
Et sola in sicca secum spatiatur^ arena.
— Verg., Geor. I, 388.
A comparison of the above lines from Verg., Cic, and Lucr. might
seem to give some support for the genuineness of the marginal line found
in mss. Med. and Gud. at Verg., Geor. I, 389: Aut caput obiectat queru-
lum venientibus undis. The resemblance, however, to Geor. I, 386, is
suspicious ; furthermore, the epithet querulus as applied to the crow is
unique, and is apparently due to the metamorphosis association. But cf. :
Who feeds the ravens, when the croaking brood
Raise hoarsely querulous their plaint to God?
— Devens (Kettell).
Quodque caput spargens undis, velut occupet imbrem,
Instabili gressu metitur litora cornix.
-Luc. V, 556.
Cras foliis nemus
Multis et alga litus inutili
Demissa tempestas ab Euro
Sternet, aquae nisi fallit augur
Annosa cornix. — Hor., Od. HI. 17, 6.
'Cf. In there stepped a stately Raven of the saintly days of yore. — Poe.
In the bare cornfield stalked the silent crow. — Mifflin.
Along the brim the lovely plover stalks
And to his visionary fellow talks. — Knapp(?) (Duyckinck).
(A New England Pond.)
TO THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Antequam stantes repetat paludes
Imbrium divina avis imminentum,
Oscineni corvuni prece suscitabo
Solis ab ortu. — Hor., Od. Ill, 27, 9.
Or gloom the strand, and croak the coming storm.
{Conquest of Canau)i.) — Dvvight.
Warned is the reaper of foul weather nigh.
When the prophetic creature, in its flight,
With changed note in its discordant cry.
Moves like a gliding kite.
While louder grows that wild, presageful call,
Sheaves are piled high upon the harvest wain,
And the stack neatly rounded ere the fall
Of hail, and driving rain. — Hosmer.
Cf. Cawein, The Raiu-Crozv. With us this name is most often
applied to the cuckoo. \'id. Alexander Wilson, op. cit., s. v. yellow-
billed CUCKOO.
How the crow appeared in omens and warnings :
Impetritum, inauguratumst : quovis admittunt aves,
Picus et cornix est ab laeva, corvus, parra ab dextera
Consuedent. — Plaut., Asin. 259.
Quod nisi me quacumque novas incidere lites
Ante sinistra cava monuisset ab dice cornix.
Nee tuus hie Moeris, nee viveret ipse Menalcas.
— Verg., Eel. IX, 14.
From the second line is evidently made Verg., Eel. 1, 18:
Saepe sinistra cava praedixit ab ilice cornix.
Cf. And the ill-omened cawing of the crow. — Longfellow.
Cf. Cic, De Div. I, 39; Hopf., op. cit., p. 115.
Sis licet felix, ubicumque mavis,
Et memor nostri, Galatea, vivas,
Teque nee laevus vetet ire picus.
Nee vaga cornix. — HoR., Od. Ill, 27, 13.
Heard with alarm the cawing of the crow,
That mingled with universal mirth.
Cassandra-like, prognosticating woe. — Longfellow.
CORNIX 71
How the crow was used in incantations :
Cornicum imnieritas emit ungue genas,
Consuluitque striges nostro de sanguine, ct in me
Hippomenes fetae semina legit equae.
— Prop. IV, 5, 13.
Nee defuit illic
Squamea Cinyphii tenuis membrana chelydri
Vivacisque iecur cervi ; quibus insuper addit
Ora caputque novem cornicis saecula passae.
— Ov., Met. VII, 272.
How a crow tried to dissuade a raven, then the favorite bird of
Apollo (and pure white), from revealing to the god the infidelity of the
nymph Coronis. As a warning to the raven the crow tells her own story :
how for tale-bearing (when she was yet the maiden Coronis) concerning
the basket in which Erechthonius was concealed, she had been banished
from the protection of Minerva and succeeded by the owl.
The first words of the crow to the raven :
Quem garrula motis
Consequitur pennis, scitetur ut omnia, cornix ;
Auditaque viae causa, "Non utile carpis,"
Inquit, "iter. Ne sperne meae praesagia linguae."
— Ov., Met. II, 547.
For the garrulity of the crow cf.
And from the wood-top calls the crow through all the gloomy
day. — Bryant.
Shrieks the crow the live long day. — Whittier.
Whole flocks o' camp-meetin' crows
Shoutin' hallelujah. — Dunbar.
How the crow saw the basket opened :
Abdita fronde levi densa spectabar ab ulmo.
Quid facerent. — Ov., Met. II, 557.
The crow moralizes upon her action and gives a warning to other
birds: „ ... ^. ^ ,■
I ro quo mihi gratia talis
Redditur, ut dicar tutela pulsa^ Minervae,
Et ponar post noctis avem." Mea poena volucres
Admonuisse potest, ne voce pericula quaerant.
— Ov., Met. II, 562.
'Cf. Ov., Am. 11, 6, 2>'^: Cornix invisa Minerva. "Cf. s. v. NOCTUA.
y2 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
How Coronis was metamorphosed into a crow by Minerva to save
her from the violence of Neptune:
Forma mihi nocuit. Nam cum per litora lentis
Passibus. ut soleo, summa spatiarer arena,
\'idit et incaluit pelag-i deus ; utque precando
Tempora cum blandis absunipsit inania verbis ;
Vim parat et sequitur. Fugio, densumque reHnquo
Litus, et in molli nequidquam lassor arena.
Inde deos hominesque voco: nee contigit uUum
Vox mea mortalem. Mota est pro viro;ine virgo,
AuxiHumque tulit. Tendebam brachia coelo:
Brachia coeperunt levibus nigrescere pennis.
Reicere ex humeris vestem moHbar : at ilia
Pluma erat, inque cutem radices egerat imas.
Plangere nuda meis conabar pectora palmis :
Sed neque iam palmas, nee pectora nuda gerebam.
Currebam : nee, ut ante, pedes retinebat arena
Sed summa tollebar humo ; mox acta per auras
Evehor, et data sum comes inculpata Minervae.
Quid tamen hoc prodest, si diro facta volucris
Crimine Nyctimene nostro successit honori ?
— Ov., Met. II, 572.
For the hostility of the crows and owls cf. int. al. Ov., F. II, 89:
Et sine lite loquax cum Palladis alite cornix.
The Crow himself sometimes falls a prey to the superior strength
and rapacity of the Great Owl, whose weapons of offense are by far the
more formidable of the two. — Alexander Wilson, op. cit., s. v. crow.
Why the crows avoid the Acropolis of Athens and the regions near
Cumae :
Is locus est Cumas aput, acri sulphure montes
Oppleti calidis ubi fumant fontibus aucti.
Est et Athenaeis in moenibus, arcis in ipso
Vertice, Palladis ad templum Tritonidis almae.
Quo numquam pennis appellunt corpora raucae
Cornices, non cum fumant altaria donis ;
Usque adeo fugitant, non iras Palladis acris
Pervigili causa, Graium ut cecinere poetae ;
Sed natura loci opus efificit ipsa suapte.
— LucR. VI, 747.
Lapwing and reptile shun the curst abode,
And the foul dragon, now no more a god.
Trails off his train ; the sickly raven flies ;
A wide strong-stencht Avernus chokes the skies. — Barlow.
{Columhiad.)
coRvus 73
Cf. Leake, Athens I, p. 206. "As to the crow, the explanation seems
to be that these birds, which are seen in great numbers around the rocks
of the Acropolis, seldom rise to the summit."
For a dream in which a crow appears as symbolic of a trouble-
causing procuress, cf. Ov., Ajh. Ill, 5.
For Tranio (as a crow) and two old men (as vultures), vid. Plant.,
Most. 822 if., S. V. VULTUR.
For proverbial reference to the crow and the acanthis vid. s. v.
ACALANTHIS.
For a speaking crow vid. Suet., Dom. 27, ; Baehrens, P. L. M., p. 370.
For the Fable of the Eagle, Crow and Tortoise, vid. s. v. aquila.
For the Fable of the Crane, Crow and Countryman, vid. s. v. grus.
For the Fable of the Crow and the Sheep, vid. Phaed., Fab. Nov. 24.
CORVUS. KoQa^. Raven. Corvtts corax, L.
The name corvus was applied also by Roman writers to both the
crow and the rook.
For a discussion of conms and comix cf . Fowler : A Year with the
Birds, p. 234 flf.
American parallels : Raven, crow.
Macdonald : Consider the Rarens.
Poe : The Raven.
The raven, originally white, was made black because of his tale-
bearing to Apollo concerning the nymph Coronis.
Vid. the charming paraphrase by Saxe, How the Raven Became
Black.
Di maris adnuerant : habili Saturnia curru
Ingreditur liquidum pavonibus aethera pictis,
Tam nuper pictis caeso pavonibus Argo,
Quam tu nuper eras, cum candidus ante fuisses,
Corve loquax, subito nigrantes versus in alas.
Nam fuit haec quondam niveis argentea pennis
Ales, ut aequaret totas sine labe columbas,
Nee servaturis vigili Capitolia voce
Cederet anseribus. nee amanti flumina cycno.
Lingua fuit damno ; lingua faciente loquaci
Cui color albus erat. nunc est contrarius albo.
— Ov.. ^fct. II, 531.
No raven's notes her sacred groves annoy. — R. T. Paine.
74 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
How the raven was forbidden by Apollo to consort with white birds :
Sperantenique sibi non falsae praemia linguae,
Inter aves albas vetuit oonsistere corvuni.
— Ov., Met. II, 631.
The color of ravens in ilight:
Conveniebat enim, corvos quoque saepe volantis
Ex albis album pennis iactare colorem.
— LucR. II, 820.
A plagiarized page suggests a raven among swans :
Sic niger in ripis errat cum forte Caystri,
Inter Ledaeos ridetur corvus olores.
—Mart. I, 53, 7.
An old man who dyed his hair black :
Mentiris invenem tinctis, Lentine, capillis ;
Tam subito corvus, qui modo cygnus eras.
— Mart. Ill, 43, i.
Cf. Anth. Lat. 182.
When gay and raven-headed. — Carlton.
His locks are black as a raven. — Longfellow.
'Tis not the hair like raven's plume. — Tichnor.
M. Valerius won his cognomen Corvinus from the aid given him by
a raven :
Ex uno quidam celebres, aut torquis adempti,
Aut corvi titulos auxiliaris habent.
— Ov., Faj;t. I, 601.
Atque hie, egregius linguae, nomenque superbum,
Corvinus, Phoebea sedet cui casside fulva
Ostentans ales proavitae insignia pugnae,
Plenus et ipse deum, et socium terrente pavore,
Immiscet precibus monita atque his vocibus infit.
— SiL. Ital. \, yj.
Cf. Prop. Ill, II, 64: Est cui cognomen corvus habere; Liv. 7,
26: Conserenti iam manum Romano corvus repente in galea consedit in
hostem versus. Cf. also Man., Astr. I, 778.
For the age of the Corvx vid. s. v. cornix.
Corvi as weather prophets :
Cf. Hor., Od. Ill, 27, 8.
Et e pastu decedens agmine mag-no
Corvoruin increpuit densis exercitus alls.
— Verg., Geor. I, 381.
Cf. Lucr. V. 1084. s. V. coRNix. Class. Rei'. 1904, p. 280. Note by
Mr. Powell : "Vergil's exact knowledge of rooks may be illustrated
by 'corvorum exercitus,' which refers not merely to their numbers,
but to their military precision and discipline." Cf. Anth. Lat. yy2, 47:
Corvus et agmina confert.
A beautiful picture of the return of the corvi to their nests and young
after a storm :
Tuni liquidas corvi presso ter gutture voces
Aut quater ingeminant, et saepe cubilibus altis,
Nescio qua praeter solitum dulcedine laeti,
Inter se in foliis strepitant ; iuvat imbribus actis
Progeniem parvam dulcisque revisere nidos.
— Verg.. Geor. I, 410.
The corvi here, as often, are probably rooks.
Cf. Fowler, op. cit., p. 143; Glover, op. cit., p. 112; Thompson, op.
cit., s. v., p. 91.
'Presso gutture' means 'with clear, deep note.' Vid. Powell, CI. Rev.
1904, p. 280.
Sweet throat, come back ! O liquid, mellow throat.
— Brown (Stedman).
In eager flights the birds wing to their nests.
— TiLLEY (Stedman").
A raven on the left is a bad sign :
Cf. Cic, De Div. I, 39.
Non temere est quod corvos cantat mihi nunc ab laeva manu :
Semul radebat pedibus terram et voce crocibat sua.
— Plaut., Aul. 624.
And heard the boding raven croak his song. — Ciiatterton.
That raven on yon left-hand oak
(Curse on his ill-betiding croak!)
Bodes me no good. — Gay.
With sympathetic wo. thy noontide ray.
Phoebus, suspend ; ye clouds, obscure the day ;
Her face let Cynthia veil.
Thick darkness spread her wing.
And the night-raven sing.
While Britons their sad fate bewail. — Pietas et Gratulatio.
yd THE BIRDS OF THE I-ATIN POETS
The boding raven e'en forgets to croak,
And nature seems in silent agony. — Susanna Rowson.
(JThundcrstorm.^
And she heard, in her ear, a tlcath-bell toll,
And the raven croak on a blasted tree.
{Crystalina, a Fairy Tale.) — By an American (Kettell).
Caw ! Caw ! the rooks are calling.
It is a sound of woe, a sound of woe. — Longfellow.
An expression of gratitude to a raven for his timely warning:
Ni subvenis&et corvus, periissem miser.
Nimis hercle ego ilium corvom ad me veniat velim
Qui indicium fecit, ut ego illic aliquid boni
Dicam ; nam quod edit tam duini quam perduim.
— Plaut., Aul. 669.
A raven on the right is a good sign :
Plant., Asin. 259. Vid. also s. v. cornix. Augury was a special
gift to the raven from the fates: Phaed. Ill, 18 (vid. s. v. aquila).
Priapus makes a reference to ravens :
Mentior at si quid, merdis caput inquiner albis
Corvorum. — Hor., Sat. I, 8, 37.
The raven often says 'good-day' first:
Nunquam dicis Ave, sed reddis, Naevole, semper,
Quod prior et corvus dicere saepe solet.
— Mart. Ill, 95, i.
Cf. Mart. XIV, 74: Corve salutator. For an explanation of the
obscene allusion in the next Hne cf. Arist., De Gen. Ill, 6, 7566; Plin. X,
15: Macr. II. 4.
Ravens as scavenger birds :
Atque ideo, postquam ad Cimbros stragemque volabant
Qui nunquam attigerant maiora cadavera corvi,
Nobilis ornatur lauro collega secunda.
— Juv. VIII. 251.
Non equidem dubito, quin primum inimica bonorum
Lingua execta avido sit data vulturio;
Efifossos oculos voret atro gutture corvus,
Intestina canes, cetera membri lupi.
—Cat. CVIII, 3.
coRvus "jy
Mere trunks of ice, though Hnin'd like human frames,
And lately warmed with life's endearing flames,
They cannot taint the air, the world infest.
Nor can you tear one fibre from their breast.
No! from their visual sockets as they lie.
With beak and claws you cannot pluck an eye —
The frozen orb, preserving- still its form.
Defies your talons as it braves the storm,
But stands and stares to God as if to know
In what curst hands he leaves his world below !
Fly then, or starve, though all the dreadful road
From Minsk to Moscow with their bodies strow'd
May count some myriads, yet they cannot suffice
To feed you more beneath these dreadful skies. — Barlow.
(Advice to a Raven in Russia.)
These lines are from Barlow's last poem, which was written in Europe
during Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. Vid. Duyckinck, op. cit., vol. I,
p. 414.
For the mating of the raven and dove as symbolic of the impossible
cf. Anth. Lat. 390, 30, s. v. columba.
The raven broods very late in the year :
Corvus maturis frugibus ova refert.
— Anth. Lat. 690, 2.
The breeding habits of the raven and crow were totally unnoted in
antiquity.
Cf. Hudson, op. cit. p. 174: "The raven is the earliest bird to breed
in England : the nest building begins in January and the eggs are laid
in February and March."
The winter-fearless crow. — "John Philip Varley."
How the raven appears in Latin proverbs :
"Non hominem occidi." Non pasces in cruce corvos.
— HoR., Ep. I, 16, 48.
Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas.
— Ju\'. H, 63.
Felix ille tamen corvo quoque rarior albo.
— Juv. Vn, 202.
An passim sequeris corvos testaque lutoque,
Securus quo pes ferat, atque ex tempore vivis?
— Pers. hi, 61.
78 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
The last reference is the equivalent of the English, 'A wild goose
chase.' Cf. Aes., Ag. 394, and Eur., Auge, Fr. 271, Nauck.
Ah ! foolish man ! that sets his heart upon
Such empty shadows, such wild Fowl as these.
— Michael Wic.gleswgrth,
For ravens as poets vid. Pers., Prol. 12, s. v. pica.
For the raven as the bird of Apollo cf . Ov., Met. V, 329 : Delius in
corvo; Fast. II, 250: 'I. mea,' dixit (Phoebus), 'avis'; Met. II, 545; Stat.,
Sih'. II, 4, 17: Planga Phoebeius ales; Stat., Theb. Ill, 506: Comes
obscurus tripodum ; Petron., Sat. 122: Delphicus ales; Aus., Idyll XI,
I, 5: Phoebeius oscen ; Cat. LX\'I, 57: Famulum (vid. note by Ellis).
For the constellation of Corvus vid. Cic, Arat. 219, 292; Ov., Fast.
II. 243.
For the I'^able of the Fox and the Raven vid. Phaedr. I, 3 ; Hor., Ep.
I, 17, 50; Sat. II, 5. 55. Cf. Carryl, The Sycophantic Fox and the
Gullible Raven.
For the Fable of the Traveller and the Raven vid. Aes. Fab. XXI.
For the call of the raven cf. Wackernagel, op. cit., p. 43; Anth.
Lat. 762. 28: Crocitat corvus.
The raven croaked. — Emerson.
Crows and blackbirds, jays and ravens.
Clamorous on the dusky tree tops. — Longfellow.
And de ole crow croak: 'Don' work, no, no.' — Lanier.
'Karock, karock,' the ravens cry. — Strong.
COTURNIX. "O^Tvi. Quail. Coturnix communis, or C. dactyli-
sonans.
L. L. Quaquila; O. Fr. Quaille ; M. Fr. Caille; Ital. Quaglia.
American parallel: O. Virginianus; Quail, 'Bob-white', Colin. The
last is given by Hernandez as the original old Mexican name.
Harris: The Bonny Brozvii Quail.
Johnson : Bob-zvhite.
References to Delos, Ortygia, and the metamorphosis of Latona, etc.
into quails do not occur in the Latin poets, but vid. :
From somewhere hidden in the dreamy dale —
Latona's sorrow yet within her note —
Reft of her comrades, o'er the stubbled oat
We heard the calling of the lonely quail— Mifflin.
COTURNIX 79
Coturnix used as a term of endearment :
Die me igitur tuom passerculum, gallinam, coturniccm,
Agnellum, haedillum me tuom die esse vel vitellum,
Prehende auriculis, compara labella cum labellis.
— Plaut., Asin. 666.
Quails were given as pets to patrician lads :
Nam ubi illo adveni, quasi patriciis pueris aut monerulae
/\ut anites aut coturnices dantur, quicum lusitent,
Itidem haec mihi advenienti upupa, qui me delectem, datast.
— Plaut., Capt. 1002.
Quails fatten on hellebore :
Praeterea, nobis veratrum est acre venenum,
At capris adipes et coturnicibus auget.
— LucR. IV, 640.
Cf. Plin. X, 197 ; X, 33 ; Thompson, op. cit., p. 125.
Quails live in constant strife and thereby become old :
Ecce, coturnices inter sua praelia vivunt,
Forsitan et fiant inde frequenter anus.
— Ov., Am. II, 6, 27.
Cf. Newton, op. cit., p. 755 : "During both migrations immense
numbers are netted for the market. On capture they are placed in long,
narrow, low cages, darkened to prevent the prisoners from fighting."
In a simile Martial likens himself to a parrot and an anonymous poet
to a quail :
Credis hoc, Prisce,
Voce ut loquatur psittacus coturnicis,
Et concupiscat esse Canus ascaules ?
— Mart. X, 3, 7.
Quails are too worthless to offer in sacrifice :
Verum haec nimia est impensa, coturnix
Nulla umquam pro patre cadet.
— Juv. XII, 97.
Cf. also Phaed. I, 3. s. v. graculus.
And clouds of quails, from every region driven,
Blacken'd the fields, and fill'd the bounds of heaven.
(Conquest of Canaan.) — Timothy Dwight.
80 THE BIRDS OF THE I-ATIN POETS
The call and flight of the quail :
Scar'd by the pond'rous mower starts the rail.
Or. whirring, flies the "frighted, ominous quail.
— Chatterton.
When the quail all day
Pipe on the chaparral hill. — Miller.
But the quail, whose quick whistle has lured me along,
No more will recall his stray'd mate with his song.
— Street.
And. tilted on the ridered rails
Of deadnin" fences, "Old Bob White"
Whissels his name in high delight. — Riley.
The bobwhite's liquid yodel, and the whir of sudden flight.
— Riley.
CUCULUS. Koy.y.v'E,. Cuckoo. Cucnlus canorus.
CuchIus is onomatopoetic. Cf. Anth. Lat. 762, 35 : Et cuculi cu-
culant.
American literary parallels : Black-billed cuckoo, yellow-billed cuckoo,
cow-bunting. The last named (after the manner of the European cuckoo)
intrudes its eggs into the nests of other birds.
Hosmer: The Cuckoo.
Saxe (from Yriarte) : Fable of the Bee and the Cuckoo.
Wordsworth : Ode to the Cuckoo.
Logan : To the Cuckoo.
Matthew Arnold: Thyrsis.
Cuculus used as a term of reproach, a usage probably first suggested
by the vagabond habits of the bird :
. . . Immo es, ne nega, omnium (hominum) pol nequissumus
At enim cubat cuculus. Surge, amator, i domum.
— Plaut., Asin. 923 (cf. 934).
Mocks married men : for thus sings he.
Cuckoo, cuckoo ! O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear. — Shakespeare.
Hephaistos, the lame cuckold. — Stedman.
But indolence, like the cow-bird,
That's hatched in an alien nest. — Trowbridge.
It can't build nests, for it's — ^the air!
I know a boy that knows! — Mrs. Piatt.
(His Views of the Cuckoo.)
CUCULUS 8l
Cf. also Plant.. Pseud. 96; 7Vm. 245; Pers. 282 and possibly 173.
How Jupiter, in the form of a cuckoo, beguiled Juno on Mount Tho-
max. V'id. Pausan II. 17, 4, and Schol. ad Theocr. XV, 16:
Oft there came
Blest visions to his soul of forms divine; —
Of white-armed Juno, in that hour of love,
When, fondling close the cuckoo, tempest-chilled,
She all unconscious in that form did press
The mighty sire of the eternal gods
To her soft bosom. — Grace Greenwood.
It was an insult to call a belated pruner a cuckoo. A hint from the
spring migration and spring song of the bird :
Tum Praenestinus salso multoque fluenti
Expressa arbusto regerit convicia, dnrus
Vindemiator et invictus, cui saepe viator
Cessisset, magna compellans voce cuculum.
— HoR., Sat. I, 7, 28.
Or heard from branch of flowering thorn
The song of friendly cuckoo warn
The tardy-moving swain. — Allston.
Cf. Plin. 18, 66, 249; Aus., Idyll. X, 167.
A cuckoo chuckles, half throttled on a neighboring tree.
— Thoreau, op. cit., p. III.
And the cuckoo's shy, complaining note
Mocks the maidens in the corn. — Bayard Taylor.
The cuckoo in American lore foretells the coming of rain :
"Here in this book," she said, — in faltering tones.
As sweet and sad as those the cuckoo frames,
Hid in her leafy covert, when the wind
Sighs from the east and clouds are set for rain. — Proctor.
The call of the cuckoo to its mates during the spring migration :
Nunc cuculus cantans socios^ iter ire perurget.^
—Anth. Lat. 733, 13.
^Burmann ; the ms. reading is unintelligible.
*Cf. Newton, op. cit., p. 119: "Its arrival is at once proclaimed by the peculiar
and in nearly all languages onomatopoetic cry of the cock — a true song, since it
is confined to the male sex and to the season of love."
S2 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
IIqcoto; tcov j^t)]V(ov {'|.ilv to '?uq dyvf^^t^^v: l)i(in., Dc Avibns, i, 13.
The cuckoo told his name to all the hills. — Tennyson.
Sure, he's arrived,
The tell-tale cuckoo ; Spring's his confidant,
And he lets out her April purposes ! — Robert Browning.
Hark how the jolly cuckoos sing
Cuckoo! to welcome in the spring. — John Lyly.
The cuckoo's April call. — Bayard Taylor.
I hear a cuckoo's silver call.
That stirs the slumberous solitude
W^ith many a mellow rise and fall. — Proctor.
Again the year is at the prime
With flush of rose and cuckoo-croon. — Scollard.
Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,
No winter in thy year. — Logan.
Cares the cuckoo for the woods
When the red leaves are down? — Sill.
And beyond the meadow the cuckoo lingers. — Strong.
From that spot I heard a Cuckoo cry, for I do not, like the English,
call it singing. Many people speak in raptures of the sweet voice of the
Cuckoo, and the same people tell me in cold blood that we have no birds
that can sing in America. I wish they had a chance to judge of the
powers of the Mock-bird, the Red Thrush, the Cat-bird, the Oriole, the
Indigo Bunting and even the Whip-poor-will. — Audubon, Journal, vol.
I, p. 245-
Logan, whose "Cuckoo" will sing forever.
For a brief moment, my attention caught. — Hosmer.
CYCNUS and OLOR. Kvjxvoc;. Swan. Mute swan, Cygnus olor.
Whistling swan or whooper, C. musicus.
American parallels : Trumpeter swan and whistling swan.
Hosmer: Address to the Swan.
The exalted position of the swan in the ancient poets can be
rationalized only by its connection with astronomical lore and myths of
metamorphosis, whose inner meanings are for the most part veiled to
us. fCf. Thompson, op. cit. Preface and passim.) The widely attested
belief in the swan's song, however, does, I believe, rest upon real observation, later expanded by the associations and influences mentioned
above. In this connection the following testimony from Elliot, op. cit.,
p. 24, is of more than ordinary interest :
"The song of the dying swan has been the theme of poets for
centuries, and is generally considered one of those pleasing myths that are
handed down through the ages. I had killed many swan and never heard
aught from them at any time, save the familiar notes that reach the ears
of every one in their vicinity. But once, when shooting in Currituck
Sound over water belonging to a club of which I am a member, in com-
pany with a friend, a number of swan passed over us at a considerable
height. We fired at them, and one splendid bird was mortally hurt. On
receiving his wound the wings became fixed and he commenced at once his
song, which was continued until the water was reached, nearly half a mile
away. I am perfectly familiar with every note a swan is accustomed to
utter, but never before nor since have I heard any like those sung by this
stricken bird. Most plaintive in character and musical in tone, it sounded
at times like the soft running of the notes in an octave.
And now 'twas like all instruments,
Now like a lonely flute ;
And now it is an angel's song
Which makes the heavens be mute.
and as the sound was borne to us, mellowed by the distance, we stood
astonished, and could only exclaim,
'We have heard the song of the dying swan.' "
For the other side int. al. cf. Harting, op. cit., p. 201 ff. Neri, op.
cit., p. 10. "II canto dei cigni celebrato da tutti i poeti e pura finzione,
emettendo anzi quest' animale un suono sgradevolissimo."
Ferrariae multos cygnos vidimus, sed cantores sane malos, neque
melius ansere canere. — Scaliger, quoted by Thompson (op. cit., p. 107),
who is also a dissenter.
Epithets :
Albus, amans flumina, Amyclaeus, argutus, candens, candidus,
canorus, cantans, Caystrius, Cyllenius, dulcis, flebilis, fluvialis,, flumineus,
Idalius, innocuus, Ledaeus, loquax. lugubri voce, moribundus, niveus,
plumeus, purpureus, Oebalius, raucus, Spartanus, senex.
The haunts of swans. The Minco, the Po, etc. :
Saltus et saturi petito longinqua Tarenti,
Et qualem infelix amisit Mantua campum,
Pascentem niveos herboso flumine cycnos.
— Verg., Geor. II, 197.
The swan, once familiar in the region of Mantua, is now rarely to be
seen. This condition has been brought about by possible changes in the
climate and by the drainage of swamps and marshes. Vid. Glover, op. cit.,
p. 112. Fowler. Year with Birds, pp. 143, 148, 153.
The wild swan swims the waters' azure breast
With graceful sweep, or, startled, soars away,
Cleaving with mounting wing the clear, bright air.
— Ellet (Griswold).
Then other swans wide-winged and white as snow.
Flew overhead and topp'd the timbered hills. — Miller.
Speed thou upon thy white swans' wings. — Field.
Hand procul Hennaeis lacus est a moenibus altae,
Nomine Fergus, aquae. Non illo plura Caystros
Carmina cvgnorum labentibus audit in undis.
— Ov., Met. V, 385.
Haud secus atque alto in luco cum forte catervae
Consedere avium, piscosove amne Padusae
Dant sonitum rauci per stagna loquacia cycni.
— Yerg., Ae>i. XI, 456.
Rauci is almost unique as an epithet of real observation applied to
the ordinary note of the swan, without the influence of the usual metamor-
phosis association. It is truly Vergilian.
Cf. Et canoras non tacere diva iussit alites.
lam loquaces ore rauco stagna cycni perstrepunt.
— Pert'. Veil. 85.
Guiltless swans frequent the Elysian fields of the birds:
Colle sub Elysio nigra nemus dice frondens,
Udaque perpetuo gramine terra viret.
Si qua fides dubiis : volucrum locus ille piarum
Dicitur, obscenae quo prohibentur aves.
Illic innocui late pascuntur olores,
Et vivax Phoenix, unica semper avis.
— Ov.. Am. II, 6, 49.
Ovid, in his sweetest verse.
Loved thy praises to rehearse ;
Flaccus, in his polished lay.
Tribute unto thee did pay,
And in Plato's mighty tome
Ever wilt thou find a home. — Hosmer.
A swan soft floating tow'ds a magic strand. — Lanier.
Swans the prey of eagles :
Namque volans rubra fulvus lovis ales in aethra
Litoreas agitabat aves turbamque sonantem
Agminis aligeri ; subito cum lapsus ad undas
Cygnum excellentem pedibus rapit improbus uncis.
— Verg., Aen. XII, 247.
Qualis ubi aut leporem aut candenti corpore cygnum
Sustulit alta petens pedibus lovis armiger uncis.
— Verg., Aen. IX, 560.
Vid. s. V. AQUiLA. Cf. int. al. Verg., Aen. I, 392. Stat., Theb.
111,524; VIII, 674.
The swan was a good omen to sailors :
Cygnus in auspiciis semper laetissimus ales,
Hunc optant nautae, quia se non mergit in undas.
— Aem. Mac, Baehrens, P. L. M., p. 344.
For the color of the swan vid. Epithets, supra, and cf . the following :
Hor., Od. IV, I. 10; Ov., Met. II. 536; Mart. I, 115, 2; VIII, 28, 13;
Val. Flacc. VI. 102: Sil. Ital. XIII, 115: XIV, 190. et al.
Throat as white as the throat of a swan
And all as proudly graceful held. — Carlton.
A perfect wife is as rare as a black swan. Proverbial.
Rara avis in terris nigroque simillima cygno.
— Juv. VI, 165.
An honest treasure like a black-plumed swan,
Not every day our eyes may look upon. — Holmes.
No rara avis was honest John
(That's the Latin for "sable swan"). — Saxe.
A negro slave's name :
Nanum cuiusdam Atlanta vocamus :
Aethiopem Cycnum parvam extortamque puellam
Europen. — Juv. VIII, 33.
Ovid is now becoming old :
lam mea cycneas imitantur tempora plumas,
Inficit et nigras alba senecta comas.
^ — Ov., TV. IV, 8. I.
For an old man who dyeil his hair, cf. Mart. Ill, 43.
For the constellation vid. int. al. Thompson, op. cit., p. 107; Manil.
Astron. I. 335; II, 31 et al. : Stat., Theb. VI. 521 ; Anth. Lat. 761, 9.
The sw^n in various comparisons of poets :
Lucretius (swallow) and Epicurus (swan), Lucr. Ill, 7; Horace
(bee) and Pindar (swan), Hor., Od. IV, 2, 25; Fidentius (crow) and
Martial (swan). Mart. I, 53, 7. For the goose and swan in this con-
nection cf. \'ero-.. Eel. IX, 36; Prop. Ill, 26, 84 et al.. and vid. s. v.
ANSER.
Cf. Mifflin. Sonnet. Milton (Eagle).
Horace becomes a swan :
lam iam residunt cruribus asperae
Pelles, et album nmtor in alitem
Superne, nascunturque plumae.
Per digitos humerosque plumae.
— HoR., Od. II, 20, 9.
The transformation of the poet into a swan realistically portrayed
before our eyes is a very bold treatment of the Roman poetic usage of
the metamorphosis idea, and the Ode should be interpreted and estimated
with this usage in mind. Cf. the more symbolical treatment of Eur.,
Frag. 903.
Well might the Roman Swan, along
The pleasing Tiber pour his song,
When bless'd with ease and quiet;
Oft did he grace Maecenas' board,
Who would for him throw by the lord,
And in I'alernian riot. — Evans (Kettell).
"Rare old Ben" could find no name
Worthy of a Shakespeare's fame
But thine own, majestic bird!
Now a consecrated word
With unmatched poetic love
Intertwined for evermore. — Hosmer.
Not every crow, nor croaking raven,
Can match the tuneful swan of Avon. — Fessenden.
When the Swan of sweet Avon touched hand to the lyre.
— Matthews. /8
But again I ask'd,
'*What nurtured Shakespeare?" The rejoicing birds
Wove a wild song, whose burden seem'd to be,
He was their pupil when he chose, and knew
Their secret maze of melody to wind,
Snatching its sweetness for his winged strain
With careless hand. — Sigourney.
How often gazing where a bird reposes,
Rocked on wavelets, drifting with the tide,
I lose myself in strange metempsychosis
And float a sea-fowl at a sea-fowl's side. — Howells.
From my window turning
I find myself a plumeless biped still ;
No beak, no claws, no sign of wings discerning —
In fact with nothing birdlike but my quill. — Howells.
My Calderon, my nightingale,
My Arab soul in Spanish feathers. — Lowell.
New England's poet-laureate
Telling us spring has come again. — Aldrich.
(The Blue Bird.)
Let Tennyson his Lilian sing
And lovely Oriana,
And scale the skies with tireless wing,
In praise of Mariana. — Gen. Albert Pike.
Like his own sky-lark, up at Heaven's gate,
Above the earth and all its meaner things,
He sang, and soared higher than mortal ken.
(Shelley.) — Gen. Albert Pike.
There, like her lark, gay Chaucer leads the day.
The matin carol of his country's day. — Barlow.
(Columbiad.)
Swift I mount me on the plume
Of my Wakon-Bird, and fly. — Thomas Moore.
(Poems Relating to America.)
Why is't thus, this sylvan Petrarch
Pours all night his serenade?
'Tis for some proud w^oodland Laura,
His sad sonnets are all made!
But he changes now his measure —
Gladness bubbling from his mouth —
Jest, and gibe, and mimic pleasure —
Winged Anacreon of the South!
(The Mocking Bird.) — Meek.
The metamorphosis of Cycnus (tlie son of Sthenekis and king of
Ligairia), into a swan, with a description of the process:
Adfuit huic monstro proles Sthenelei'a Cycnus,
Qui tibi materno quamvis a sanguine iunctus,
^lente tamen. Phaethon, propior fuit. Ille relicto,
(Nam Ligurum po])ulos et inagnas rexerat urbes)
Imperio ripas virides anmemque querehs
Eridanum implerat silvamque sororibus auctam,
Cum vox est tenuata viro, canaeque capillos
Dissimulant plumae, coHumque e pectore longum
Porrigitur, digitosque Hgat iunctura rubentes,
Penna latus velat, tenet os sine acumine rostrum.
Fit nova Cycnus avis nee se caeloque lovique
Credit, ut iniuste missi memor ignis ab illo :
Stagna petit patulosque lacus. ignemque perosus
Quae colat, elegit contraria fiumina fiammis.
— Ov,. Met. II, 367.
Namque ferunt luctu Cycnum Phaethontis amati,
Populeas inter frondes umbramque sororum
Dum canit et maestum Musa solatur amorem,
Canentem molli pluma duxisse senectam,
Linquentem terras et sidera voce sequentem.
— Verg., a en. X, iSq.
Cf. Thomas (Stedman). The Tears of the Poplars.
Vid. Hyg., Fab. 144: Cygnus autem rex Liguriae, qui fuit Phaethonti
propinquus, dum deflet propinquum, in cygnum conversus est. Is quoque
moriens flebile canit.
The story of Cycnus, the son of Apollo and Hyrie, who was meta-
morphosed into a swan. His mother, from grief, became thereupon the
lake of Hyrie :
Inde lacus Hyries videt et Cycneia tempe.
Quae subitus celebravit olor. Nam Phyllius illic
Imperio pueri volucresque ferumque leonem
Tradiderat domitos ; taurum quoque vincere iussus
Vicerat, et, spreto totiens iratus amore
Praemia poscenti taurum suprema negabat.
Ille indignatus, 'cupies dare." dixit, et alto
Desiluit saxo. Cuncti cecidisse putabant :
Factus olor niveis pendebat in acre pennis.
At genetrix Hyrie, servati nescia, flendo
Delicuit stagnumque suo de nomine fecit.
— Ov., Met. Vn, 371.
As some calm, still lake, whereon
Sinks the snowy-bosomed swan,
And the glistening water-rings
Circle round her moving wings. — Whittier.
For other associations for Apollo and the swan vid. Lucr. II, 503 ;
Auth. Lot. 691, 5; Mart. IX. 43, i. with which cf. Whitman:
Where the neck of the long lived swan is curving and
winding.
The myth of Leda and the swan :
Qualis erat Leda, quam plumis aditus albis
Callidus in falsa lusit adulter ave.
— Ov.. Afu. I, 10, 3.
Dat mihi Leda lovem cycno decepta parentem.
Quae falsam gremio credula fovit avem.
— Ov.. Her. XVII, 55.
Non ego fluminei referam mendacia cycni
Nee querar in plumis delituisse lovem.
— Ov., Her. VIII, 67.
Vid. also Ov., Met. VI, 109; Her. XVI, 249; Am. I, 3, 21 ; Verg.,
Cat. IX, 2y, Sen.. Oct. 204. 762; Manil., Astron. I, 337; Aet. 87; Mart.
IX, 104. 2; Stat., Theb. X, 503; Val. Flacc. I, 431; Carni. Epig. 345,
1549, 23 ; Anth. Lat. 59 ; 141 ; 199, 93 ; 808, 46. et al. vid. s. v. .\nser.
And a swan
(Sire, by the light of Heaven's twin orbs, mis-told.)
— Bailey.
Two stately snow-white swans are seen.
Whose every motion bears the trace
Of that majestic haughty grace
Jove left the fabled bird which gave
Its form from Juno's wrath to save. — Clarke.
Yon snow-white cloud that sails sublime in ether
Is but the sovereign Zeus, who like a swan
Flies to fair-ankled Leda. — Longfellow.
(The Masque of Pandora.)
The antique poetic records of the swan as a bird of Venus occur in
the Latin poets only.
The goddess comes to stricken Adonis in a chariot drawn by swans :
Vecta levi cnrru medias Cytherea per auras
Cypron olorinis nonduni pervenerat ahs.
Agnovit longe gemitum niorientis et albas
Flcxit aves ilhic. — Ov., Met. X, 717.
\'enus borne by her swans with Amor as auriga:
Sic fata, levavit
Sidereos artus thalamique egressa superbum
Limen, Amyclaeos ad frcna citavit olores,
lungit Amor laetamque vehens per nubila matrem
Gemmato temone sedet. lam Thybridis arces
Ihacae : pandit nitidos domus alta penates,
Claraque gaudentes plauserunt hmia cycni.
— Stat., Silv. I, 2, 140.
\'id. also Hor., Od. Ill, 28, 14; Prop. IV, 3, 39; Ov., Met. X, 708;
Stat., 5"//t'. Ill, 4, 22; 111,4,46; Theb.V,63; Sil. Ital. VII, 440; Anth.
Lat. 939, 2.
In silver traces fix'd unto her car.
Four snowy swans, proud of the imperial fair,
Wing'd lightly on, each in gay beauty dress'd,
Smooth'd the soft plumage that adorn'd her breast.
Sacred to her the lucent chariot drew,
Or whether wildly through the air she flew.
Or whether to the dreary shades of night,
Oppress'd with gloom she downward bent her flight,
Or proud aspiring sought the bless'd abodes,
And boldly shot among the assembled gods.
— Godfrey (Kettell).
Purer type the fabling mind
Grace to picture cannot find,
And when Art on canvas drew
Venus, born of ocean blue.
Yoked to chariot of the queen,
Swans, with arching neck, were seen. — Hosmer.
Beside them stood a chariot dazzling bright,
Yok'd with two beauteous swans of purest white.
— LucRETiA Davidson.
The song of swans as they return from their feeding grounds :
Ceu quondam nivei liquida inter nubilia cycni
Cum sese e pastu referunt et longa canoros
Dant per colla modos ; sonat amnis et Asia longe
Pulsa palus. — Verg., Aen. VII, 699.
Drensare is the technical verb for the swan's song or note:
Grus gruit in gronnis, cygni prope flumina drensant.
— Anth, Lat. 762, 23.
The swan's song is contrasted with the trumpet's blare:
Nee simili penetrant aureis primordia
Cum tuba depresso graviter sub murm\
Et reboat raucum regio cita barbara hc.uain
Et validis cygni torrentibus ex Heliconis
Cum liquidam tollunt lugubri voce querelam.
— LucR. IV, 544.
But, hark! — what sound — out of the dewy deep,
How like a far-off bugle's shrillest note
It sinks into the listening wilderness.
A Swan — I know her by the trumpet-tone.
(To a Szvan, flying by night — Noble (Duyckinck).
on the Banks of the Huron.)
Never listened mortal ear
To voice more full and clear,
Not unlike in depth of tone
Blast of conch-shell loudly blown.
Or a far-off trumpet wail
Modulated by the gale. — Hosmer.
According to Mr. Shields, the cry of the Trumpeter Swan resembles
the tones of the French horn. — Wheelock: Birds of California, s. v.
Seebohm, who studied its habits in Siberia, says the notes of the
whooper resemble those of a bass trombone. — Knowlton-Ridgway :
Birds of the World, p. 173.
Cf. And the owl across the twilight
Trumpets to his gloomy fellow. — Roberts.
A long, low bugle-note
From the white-throated sparrow of the woods
Begins to swell and float. — Mace.
The joyous spring song of migrant swans:
Patriis concentibus audis
Exultare gregem, quales, cum pallida cedit
Bruma, renidentem deducunt Strymona cvcni.
—Stat., Theb. VII, 285.
92 THE RIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Sailing on the wind to northward,
Flying in great flocks. like arrows,
• Like huge arrows shot through heaven,
Passed the swan, the Mahuahbezec,
Speaking almost as a man speaks. — Longfellow.
At last I saw her watch the swan
Surge toward the north, surge on and on. — Miller.
The short song of the swan excels that of migrating crane;
Suavidicis potius quam multis versibus edam :
Parvus ut est cycni melior canor, ille gruum quam
Clamor in aetheriis dispersus nubibus austri.
— LucR. IV. 1 80.
In song the swan is surpassed by the nightingale :
ludice me cycnus et garrula cedat hirundo,
Cedat et inlustri psittacus ore tibi.
—Anth. Lat. 658, 19.
Here silver swans with nightingales set spells.
Which sweetly charm the traveller.
{Mrs. Anne Bradstreet and her Poems.)
— John Rogers.
The power of the muses :
O, testudinis aureae
Dulcem quae strepitum. Pieri, temperas,
O mutis quoque piscibus
Donatura cvcni. si libeat, sonum.
_HoR., Od. IV, 3, 17.
For him, who sang like you his deathless songs,
O swans Strymonian, chaunt some dolorous dirge
Immortal and melodious as his own ! — Mifflin.
(The Lament for Bion.)
The death song of the swan :
Sic ubi fata vocant, udis abiectus in herbis
Ad vada Maeandri concinit albus olor.
— Ov., /7^r. VII, I.
Reddidit icta suos pollice chorda sonos,
Flebilibus veluti numeris canentia dura
Traiectus penna tempora cantat olor.
— Ov.. Fast. II, 108.
CYC N us 93
Penna is here an arrow. Cf. Gesner, op. cit., p. 360: Moriturus
flebilem cantum emittit, fixa prius in cerebro penna: quod niiror Aris-
totelem ac Plinium vel ignorasse vel si scivxrunt, non tradidisse.
— Perottus.
Dulcia defecta modulatur carmina lingua
Cantator cycnus funeris ipsi sui.
—Mart. XIII, 77.
Vid. also int. al. Ov., Met. XIV, 430 ; Sen., Hippol. 301 ; Agam. 680 ;
Mart. \, T,7, i ; Stat., Silv. II, 4, 10; V, 3. 80; Stat., Theb. V, 341 ; Sil.
Ital. XI, 438; Lact., De Phoen. 49; Plin. X. 32, i.
Still would I believer be
In the tale they tell of thee —
Breathing in the hour of death
Music with thy latest breath ;
Tuning, with a failing tongue,
Strains the sweetest ever sung. — Hosmer.
Then shall come singers
Singing no swan song. — Lowell.
Ovid, like a swan, is singing his own death song:
Utque iacens ripa deflere Caystrius ales
Dicitur ore suam deficiente necein,
Sic ego, Sarmaticas longe proiectus in oras,
Efficio. taciturn ne mihi funus eat.
— Ov., Trist. V, I, II.
Cf. Whittier, Tlie Swan Song of Parson Avery.
How sweet the eloquence of dying men!
Hence poets feigned the music of the Swan,
When death upon her lays his icy hand,
She melts away in melancholy strains.
— Thomas Godfrey (Duyckinck).
Nor Goethe sing with swan-like sweetness more.
(1832.) — RoswELL Park.
Where some lost maid wide chaplets wreathes,
And, swan-like, there her own dirge breathes.
— S PRAGUE (Griswold.)
He is floating down, by himself to die ;
Death darkens his eye, and unplumes his wings,
Yet his sweetest song is the last he sings.
— DoANE (Griswold).
The swan's last song is sweetest. — Halleck,
The pale swan in her watery nest
Begins the sad dirge of her certain ending. — Shakespeare.
Above, fly cranes, geese, ducks, herons and teals ;
And swans, which take such pleasure as they fly,
They sing their hymns oft long before they die.
{Connecticut River.) — Roger Wolcott.
DIOMEDEAE AVES. Ardea. 'EQCo8i6g. Heron.
Exact species indeterniinant, but this general identification seems
most in harmony with the mjth, the tradition and the natural character-
istics alluded to by Ovid and V'ergil.
For a full treatment, especially of the Greek sources, of the myth
and legend, vid. Thompson, op. cit., p. 59. Holland, Herovogel in der
Griechischen Mythologie. Heyne, Excursus; Verg., Aen. XI, 271.
The Latin prose versions are of interest :
Hae aves hodieque Latine Diomedeae vocantur, Graeci eas eqcoSioij!;.
Habitant autem in insula, quae est baud longe a Calabria, in conspectu
Tarentinae civitatis. Quin etiam de his avibus dicitur quod Graecis
navibus laetae occurrant, alienas vehementer fugiant, memores et ori-
ginis suae et quod Diomedes ab Illyriis interemptus est.
— Serv. ad Verg., Aen. XI, 271.
Nam et Diomedem fecerunt deum (sc. Graeci), quem poena divinitus
inrogata perhibent ad suos non revertissee ; eiusque socios in volucres
fuisse converses non fabuloso poeticoque mendacio, sed historica attesta-
tione confirmant : quibus nee deus ut putant factus humanam revocare
naturam vel ipse potuit vel certe a love suo rege tamquam caelicola
novicius impetravit. Quin etiam templum eius esse aiunt in insula
Diomedea, non longe a monte Gargano, qui est in Apulia, et hoc templum
circumvolare atque incolere has alites tam mirabili obsequio, ut aquam
impleant et aspergant ; et eo si Graeci venerint vel Graecorum stirpe
prognati, non solum quietas esse, verum et insuper adulare; si autem
alienigenas viderint, subvolare ad capita, tamque gravibus ictibus, ut etiam
perimant, vulnerare. Nam duris et grandibus rostris satis ad haec proelia
perhibentur armatae. — S. Aug., De civ. Dei XVIII, 16.
Cf. also Plin. X, 44, 61 ; Isid. 12, 7, 28.
The metamorphosis of the comrades of Diomedes :
Numerusque ex agmine maior
Subvolat et remos plausis circumvolat alis.
Si volucrum quae sit subitarum forma, requiris,
Ut non cycnorum, sic albis proxima cycnis.
— Ov., Met XIV, 506.
95
Nunc etiam horribili visu portenta sequuntur,
Et socii amissi petierunt aethera pennis
Fluminibusque vagantur aves — heu dira nieorum
Supplicia ! — et scopulos lacrimosis^ vocibus implent.
— Verg., Aen. XI, 271.
DROSCA. Song- thrush. Vid. s. v. turdus.
EPOPS (UPUPA). "Ejioij;. Hoopoe.
Cf. Thompson, op. cit., p. 54; Newton, op. cit. s. v. Hoopoe.
Tereus metamorphosed into a hoopoe. A description of the bird
in question :
Ille dolore suo poenaeque cupidine velox
Vertitur in volucrem, cui stant in vertice cristae
Prominet immodicum pro longa cupidine rostrum
Nomen epops volucri, facies armata videtur.
— Ov., Met. VI, 671.
For Tereus vid. Verg., Ed. VI, 78; Aet. 585; Sen., Thyest 275;
Anth. Lat. 199, 53; 808, 4; s. v. v. luscini.\, hirundo, passim.
Cf. Verg., Cul. 253 : Orbus epops maeret volucres evectus in auras.
For the familiar pun on Upupa (Epops) vid. Plant., Capt. 1004.
Cf. Go, borrow me a crow, a crow without feather. — Shakespeare.
He knows a handsaw from a hawk whenever winds are southerly.
— Field.
When these young hands first closed upon a goose :
I have a scar upon my thimble finger. — Holmes.
FICEDULA. Swo^ig. Figeater.
A name given indiscriminately to many small birds which in the
autumn frequent gardens. Cf. Newton, op. cit. s. v. fig-eater.
Motacilla ficedula or Silvia hortcnsis.
Thompson (op. cit., p. 163) thinks that the Black-cap Warbler
(Silvia atricapilla) satisfies the prose statements better than any other
species yet suggested.
American parallel: Reed-bird, (bobolink).
'Due to influence of metamorphosis association.
96 THE BIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
The 'reed-bird' of the Roman fable :
Cerea quae patulo lucet ficedula hinibo,
Cum tibi forte datur, si sapis. adde piper.
—Mart. XIII, 5.
Cum me ficus alat, cum pascar dulcibus uvis,
Cur potius nomen non dedit uva mihi?
(Ficedula.) —Mart. XIII, 49.
Nee meHus de se cuiquam sperare propinquo
Concedet iuvenis, qui radere tubera terrae,
Boletum condire et eodem iure natantes
Mergere ficedulas didicit nebulone parente
Et cana monstrante gula. — Juv. XIV, 6.
Vid. also Plaut., Capf. 163; Lucil. 726; Baehrens, P. L. M. 529;
Petr. ZZ-
There the hunter stealthily lurks for the hare or the pheasant,
Or for the birds in the twigs at the great feast of the fruit.
{Greek Idyl. In the Olives.) — Snider.
FRINGILLUS. Smvo;. Chaffinch( ?).
Fringilla coelebs.
American parallels : Finch, indigo-bird, linnet.
The spring song of the fringilli:
Nunc sturnos inopes fringillorumque querelas
Audit, et arguto passere vernat ager.
—Mart. IX, 55. 7.
Sjiivog, Arat. 1024, is translated by Avienus with fringilla, in a
passage where the morning song of the bird is said to be prophetic
of approaching storms. Querelas above is an echo of the traditional
Roman attitude toward the song of birds. Here it is notably false ac-
cording to modern feeling, if the equation Fringillus = chaffinch is true.
Cf. Hudson, op. cit., p. 135 : "It is a loud song and a joyous sound; 'Gay
as a chaffinch,' is a proverbial saying of the French."
And early linnets hail the purple spring. — R. T. Paine.
The yellow finches perched and sang
Their few notes sweet and loud.— Htgginson.
FULICA 97
FULICA. . X. 21. (Trans, by Freneau.)
The ;;/tvx/ tortell the coming of storms :
lam sibi turn curvis male temperat unda carinis,
Cum medio celeres revolant ex aequore niergi
Clamoremquc ferunt ad litora.
— Verg., Gcor. I, 360.
Vergil has here applied the name mcri^ns to the EQcaSiog (heron)
of Aratus. Cf. Plin. 18. 87.
r)lent with the sea-mew's clangor. — Bay.\rd Taylor.
The love of the Jiicr<^us for the sea is like that of Gracinus for Ovid:
Nam prius incipiant turres vitare columbae,
Antra ferae, pecudes gramina, mergus aquas,
Guam male se praestet veteri Graecinus amico.
— Ov., Ex Pont. I, 6, 51.
Cf. Mergus et aequora scandit. — Anth. Laf. 772, 38.
He came to the green ocean's brim
And saw the wdieeling sea-birds skim. — Emerson.
But lightly as the sea-bird swings
She floats the depths above. — Holmes.
The feeding calls of mergi and other birds:
Postremo, genus alitum variaeque volucres,
Accipitres atque ossifragae mergique marinis
Fluctibus in salso victum vitamque petentes,
Longe alias alio iaciunt in tempore voces,
Et quom de victu certant praedaque repugnant.
— Lucr. V, 1076.
For the story of the metamorphosis of Aesacus into a mergus vid.
Ov. Met. XI, 749 if.
The actual metamorphosis of Aesacus into a mergus, with some
description of the bird and its habits :
Dixit et e scopulo, quern rauca subederat unda,
Decidit in pontum. Tethys miserata cadentem
Molliter excepit nantemque per aequora pennis
Texit, et optatae non est data copia mortis
Indignatur amans. invitum vivere cogi
145
Obstarique animae, misera de sede volenti
Exire. utque novas umeris adsumpserat alas,
Subvolat atque iterum corpus super aequora mittit,
Pluma levat casus : furit Aesacus inque profundum
Pronus abit letique viam sine fine retemptat.
Fecit amer maciem: longa inter nodia crurum,
Longa manet cervix, caput est a corpore longe ;
Aequora amat nomen tenet, quia mergitur illo.
— Ov., Met. XI, 783.
Suddenly drops the gull and breaks the glassy tide.
LOWKI.L.
Up from the stream with sluggish flaps.
Struggles the gull and floats away. — Lowell.
MERULA. Kooaiicpog. Blackbird.
Turdus merula.
American literary parallels : Crackle, redwing, blackbird, robin.
Tennyson : The Blackbird.
Ben King: De Blackbird fetched de Spring.
Ben King : The Blackbird and the Thrush.
A playful reference to the alarm-song of the blackbird :
Sed facitodum merula per vorsus quod cantat [tu| colas:
"Cum cibo cum quiqui" facito ut veniant, quasi eant Sutrium.
— Plaut., Cas. 523.
The text adopted is that of Lindsay. For a discussion of the
passage vid. CI. Rev. 1891, p. 323; Id., 1892, p. 124 and p. 227. Lindsay
thus translates : "But see that you follow what the blackbird sings in its
stave, see that they come 'food or no food,' as if they were marching to
Sutrium." Verbal interpretations of the songs of birds by children and
country folk are fairly common. Lindsay quotes 'a little bit of bread
and no cheese,' as applied to the song of the yellow-hammer by English
children.
And the blackbird sang, 'She is sorry, sorry, sorry.
Let her in ! Let her in !' — Kingsley.
Loquacious black-birds in the sunny brake
Thick settling. — M'Kinnon.
14^^ TH1-: niRns of tue latin poets
The red-wing Hutes his o-ka-lee. — Emerson.
Just come the blackbirds chatt'rin' in tall trees. — Lowell.
Within niy limits, lone and still
Tile blackbird pipes in artless trill. — Warton.
The blackbirds jangle in the tops
Of hoary, antlered sycamores. — Howells.
Blackbirds are singing
Clear hylas ringing. — Channing (Stedman).
The flock of blackbirds chattering in council overhead.
— Crosry (Stedman).
Then, like a congress of blackbirds, held
In ancient tree-tops in October eves. — Bayard Taylor.
No blackbird bates his jargoning
For passing Cavalry. — Emily Dickinson.
The frolic of the blackbirds. — Whittier.
Even the blackbirds in yon leafless tree
Wheezing and squeaking in discordant glee. — Lampman.
In English gardens, green and bright and full of fruity
treasure,
I heard the blackbird with delight repeat his merry measure,
— Henry Van Dyke.
The sudden blackbirds bluster on the boughs. — Matthews. .
A 'blackbirder' with eyes aloft falls into a pit and calls for aid :
Hie, dum sublimis versus ructatur et errat.
Si veluti merulis intentus decidit auceps
In puteum foveamve, licet, 'Succurrite,' longum
Clamet, To cives!' non sit qui tollere curet.
— HoR., A. P. 457.
Many years ago, one election day, when he and other boys or young
men were out gunning to see how many birds they could kill, Jonathan
Hildreth. who lived near by, saw one of these birds (Scarlet Tanager)
on the top of a tree before him in the woods, but did not see a ditch that
crossed his course between him and it. As he raised his gun, he ex-
claimed, 'Fire never redder!' and, taking a step or two forward, with his
eyes fixed on the bird, fell headlong into the ditch ; and so the name
became a byword among his fellows. — Thoreau, op. cit., p. 328.
MERULA [47
Blackbirds form part of a banquet :
Deinde secuti
Mazonomo pueri magno discerpta ferentes
Membra gruis sparsi sale multo non sine farre,
Pinguibus et ficis pastum iecur anseris albae,
Et leporum avolsos, ut multo suavius, armos,
Quam si cum lumbis quis edit; tum pectore adusto
Vidimus et merulas poni et sine clune palumbes,
Suaves res, si non causas narraret earum et
Naturas dominus. — HoR., Sat. II, 8, 85.
The blackbird's song:
Et merulus modulans tarn pulchris zinzitat odis,
Nocte ruente tamen cantica nulla cantit.
— Anth. Lai. 762, 13.
These words of appreciation are remarkably modern in tone. Cf.
Tennyson, The Blackbird. The blackbird like the lark did not get its
full meed of honor among the ancients. As with the lark, there was
lacking a great metamorphosis myth to fix and hold the bird in popular
fancy.
Cf. the onomatopoetic verb cinsitare with Plaut., Cas. 524, Cum
cibo cum quiqui. They may reflect the same notes, though more likely
the Plautine words are taken from the bird's winter notes. Cf. Plin. X,
28, hieme balbutit.
The blackbird from a neighboring thorn
With music brims the cup of morn. — Timrod.
Like the merle's note when its ecstatic heart
Is packed with summer-time. — Aldrich.
And the blackbird left the piping of
His amorous airy glee. — Alice Cary.
Or blackbirds' note, the harbinger of love. — Freneau.
To my ear the blackbird is the most satisfying of English birds. —
Chapman, An American's Impression of English Birds. Scrib. 39, 715.
148 Till-: niRos ov the latin poets
MILVUS. 'IxtIvo;, Kite.
l-\uco Diiiiiis. also M. Icliitiis and M. atcr, both being migrants in
Italy.
.\nierican parallels: Swallow-tailed kite, falcon.
Stoddard (Stednian ) : The Falcon.
A kite threatened with a law suit for theft :
Pulnientuni prideni eripuit ei milvos ;
Homo ad praetorem plorabundus devenit;
Infit ibi postulare plorans, eiulans,
Ut sibi liceret milvom vadarier.
— Plaut., Aitl. 316.
A picture of a kite hovering greedily in circling flight over the
entrails of a sacrifice:
Ut volucris visis rapidissima milvus extis,
Dum timet et densi circumstant sacra ministri,
Flectitur in gyrum, nee longius audet abire,
Spemque suam motis avidus circumvolat alis.
Sic super Actaeas agilis Cyllenius arces
Inclinat cursus et easdem circinat auras.
— Ov., Met. II, 716.
Cf. Vivit edax vultur ducensque per aera gyros
Milvus et pluviae graculus auctor aquae.
— Ov., Am. 11, 6. 33.
Another English name for the kite is glcad or gled — cognate with
glide.
The clocking hen her chirping chickins leads
With wings and beak defends them from the gleads.
(Four Seasons. Sprini^.) — Annk Bradstreet.
Has any Whitret's direfu' jaws,
Or greedy Gled's fell squeezing claws,
Made thy wee lord a feast? — Alexander Wilson.
Save when the falcon, poised on wheeling wings.
— Bayard Taylor.
Yonder bird,
Which floats, as if at rest,
In those blue tracts above the thunder. — Timrod.
Don't the buzzards ooce around u{) thare jest like they've
alius done? — Riley.
Er a hawk — away up there,
'Pearantly frose in the air. — Riley.
149
And the shadder o' the buzzard as he goes 'a-lacein' by.
— Riley.
Distances were proverbially measured by the flight of the kite :
Die, passer, cui tot montes, tot praedia servas
Appula, tot milvos intra tua pascua lassos?
-Juv. IX, 54.
Nostin' Vettidi praedia? Cuius?
Dives arat Curibus quantum non milvus errat.
—Per. TV, 25.
South as far
As ever eagle cleaved his way. — Millicr.
I know a falcon swift and peerless. — Lowell.
The kite mounts to the very stars :
Hinc prope summa rapax milvus ad astra volat.
— Mart. IX, 54.
Cf. Petr. 37, Qua milvi volant.
He followed his high heart
To swim on sunshine. — Lowell.
A procurer likened to a kite and as such feared :
Tene sis me arte, mea voluptas ; male ego metuo milvos.
Mala ilia bestiast, ne forte me auferat pullum tuom.
— Plaut., Poen. 1292.
The heartless falcon, poised for flight. — L.\TiiROP (Sladen),
The greed of cooks and kites is on a par :
An tu invenire postulas quemquam coquom
Nisi milvinis aut aquilinis ungulis?
— Plaut., Pseud. 851.
Cf. Petr. 49. Mulier, quae mulier! milvinum genus.
The kite's hunger was proverbial
Madida quae mi adposita in
Cf. 'Hungry as a wolf.' 'Wolfsbaren.' 'Boi)Xi|.iia
Madida quae mi adposita in mensam milvinam suggerant.
— Plaltt., Men. 212.
150 Till-: niRDS OK TIIF, LATIN POETS
The swoop of the kite soinetiines fails :
Vidi petere niilvoni, etiani quoni nihil auferret tamen.
— Plaut., Rud. 1 124.
The flight of the kite as a weather sign :
lugere volitans milvus
Aquam c nubibus tortani indicat
Fore ut tegelluni pastor sibi suniat.
— Varr., Men. Rel. 464.
For the mating of kite and dove, as symbolic of the impossible, cf.
Hor., £/>. X\I. T,2\ Anth. Lat. 729, 4.
Cf. Tis hard for one so good and young
To suffer thus ! The poor white dove
Was murdered by a falcon's love. — Read.
And the swift hawk had ne'er the warbler torn.
— Alexander Wilson.
Whilst dove and vulture, in promiscuous fright,
With staggering wing confusedly outpoured.
—Wills (Kettell).
The eagle, with his soaring crest.
Disdained the robin's lowdy nest. — Street.
The falcon shrunk
From the meek dove. — Holmes.
For the myth of how the kite became a constellation vid. Ov., Fast.
HI. 793-
For the Fable of the Kite, who having been made King of the Doves,
later devoured them. cf. P^haed. I. Fab. 31. S. v. columba.
For the Fable of the marriage of the Eagle and Kite cf. Aes.
Fab. 30. S. V. aquila.
The Fable of the sick Kite, whose vows were of no avail, because of
his temple thefts and desecrations :
Multos cum menses aegrotasset milvus
Nee iam videret esse vitae spem suae,
Matrem rogabat, sancta circuiret loca.
Et pro salute vota faceret maxima.
Faciam, inquit, fili ; sed opem ne non impetrem,
Vehementer vereor ; nam qui delubra omnia
Vastasti et cuncta polluisti altaria
Sacrificiis nullis parcens, nunc quid vis, rogem?
— Aes. Fab., App. II. Fab. I.
MONEDULA I5I
The cry of the kite :
Accipitres pipant milvus hiansque lupit.
— Anth. Lat. 762, 24.
Dum milvus iugilat, trinnit tunc improbus anser.
— Anth. Lat. 733, 11.
Cf. Wackernagel, op. cit. s. v. milvus.
MONEDULA. KoXoiog. Jackdaw.
Corvus monedula L. Vid. s. v. v. corniculus, graculus.
American parallels: Blue- jay, magpie.
There the noisy blue-jay comes. — Whittier.
The crested blue- jay flitting swift. — Whittier.
The jackdaw as a pet bird for boys:
Nam ubi illo adveni, quasi patriciis pueris aut monerulae
Aut anites aut coturnices dantur, quicum lusitent,
Itidem haec mihi advenienti upupa qui me delectem datast.
— Plaut., Capt. 1002.
Monerula as a term of endearment :
Die igitur med aneticulam. columbam vel catellum,
Hirundinem, monerulam, passerculum putillum.
— Plaut., Asin. 693.
Arne, who betrayed her country for gold, is changed into a jack-
daw, which also has a passion for gold :
Marmoreamque Paron, quamque impia prodidit Arne
Mutata est in avem, quae nunc quoque diligit aurum,
Nigra pedes, nigris velata monedula pennis.
— Ov., Met. VII, 465.
As is the case usually with Ovid, the appearance and habits of the
jackdaw are accurately described. Cf. Plin. X, 10, 41. Monedulae, cui
soli avi furacitas auri argentique praecipue mira est. Cf. also Cic,
Flacc. 31.
Cf. Grant Allen, Aesthetic Feeling in Birds. Pop. Sci. Mo. 17, 650.
And in the hollow thereof was found the nest of the magpie
Into whose clay-built walls the necklace of pearls was woven.
— Longfellow.
152 TUK lilKPS OF TllK LATIN' I'OliTS
MEROPS. Mfoovj'. Tlie I'.ce-cater.
Mcrof's apUutcr L.
Broderip: Bec-catcrs. etc. l-'rascr. 57. 342.
American literary parallels: King-bird, 'hec-bird."
Alexander Wilson : The King-bird.
Crevecceur: Letters from an American Farmer. Letter //.
The hostility of the M crops and of Progne to bees :
Absint et picti sqiialontia terga lacerti
Ping-uibus a stabulis nicropesque aliaeqtie volucres,
Et nianibus Progne pectus signata cruentis ;
Omnia nam late vastant ipsasque volantes
Ore ferunt dulcem nidi immitibus escam.
— Verg., Geor. IV, 13.
Cf. Serv. ad loc. Aleropes aves vocantur apiastrae, quia apes co-
medunt.
Did wasps or king-birds bring dismay? — Freneau.
(Honey Bee.)
The kingbird, hovers, darting on his prey ;
And takes the ventured argosy of sweets,
Then boasts his conquest on the adjacent branch,
Where, like a pirate hauled against the wind.
He waits another sail. — Read.
Here o'er the woods the tyrant Kingbird sails,
Spreads his long wings, and every foe assails;
Snaps the returning bee with all her sweets,
Pursues the Crow, the diving Hawk defeats,
Darts on the Eagle downwards from afar,
And 'midst the clouds, prolongs the whirling war.
— Alexander Wilson.
And the sunny chaplet spread
O'er the sleeping fly-bird's head.
Till, with dreams of honey blest.
Haunted, in his downy nest,
By the garden's fairest spells.
Dewy buds and fragrant bells,
Fancy all his soul embowers
In the fly-bird's heaven of flowers. — Thomas Moore.
(Poems relating to America.)
The poet here probably has in mind the humming-bird .
NOCTUA 153
The note of the bee-eater is like that of wren and swallow :
Regulus atque merops et rubro pectore progne
Consimili modulo zinzizulare sciunt.
— A nth. Lat. 762, 43.
The bees have sucked the clover,
And the honey-birds call and hover
Over the hollow tree. — Rose Terry Cooke.
Strait he alights, and from the pear-tree spies
The circling stream of humming insects rise ;
Selects his prey; darts on the busy brood,
And shrilly twitters o'er his savory food.
— Alexander Wil.son.
The bee-bird of the woodland,
That finds the honeyed hollows
Of ancient oaks, for others —
Even as these, am I. — Bayard Taylor.
NOCTUA. naili. The little Owl.
Athene noctua.
American parallels : The screech owl, saw-whet owl, et al.
Low : To the Owl.
Hosmer: The Owl.
Cawein: The Screech Ozvl.
I'd say as much, wert thou Minerva's owl. — Tim rod.
The call of the noctua resembles 'Tu Tu :
Ma. Tu, tu istic inquam. Pe. Vin adferri noctuam,
Quae 'tu tu' usque dicat tibi ? Nam nos iam defessi sumus.
— Plaut., Men. 653.
My Owl sounds hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo. — Thoreau, op cit., p. 184.
Cf. Anth. Lat. 762, 40, Noctua lucifuga cucubit in tenebris.
Cf. Wackernagel, op. cit., 49.
The owl calls from the house tops at night, as a weather prophet :
At nebulae magis ima petunt campoque recumbunt,
Solis et occasum servans de culmine summo
Nequiquam seros exercet noctua cantus.
— Verg., Gear. I, 401.
Cf. Serv. ad. loc. Noctua significat pluviam, si cecinerat post solis
occasum.
154 Tin-: RIRIKS OF THE LATIN POETS
The heron on the sand-bar.
And the rain-owl made reply. — Ballard.
Note — The raiii-o:,'l here is probably the cuckoo.
a. Echoes the owl aloof —
The last of all, — upon the roof. — Read.
The call as an ill omen :
Sive in finitimo genuiit stans noctua tigno,
Seu voluit tang-i parca lucerna mero,
Ilia dies hornis caedem denuntiat agnis,
Succinctique calent ad nova lucra popae.
—Prop. V, 3, 59.
Nor bird of night her hateful note resounds. — Freneau.
And as at Rome a like committee
Who found an owl within their city
With solemn rites and grave processions
At every shrine perform'd lustrations,
And, lest infection might take place
From such grim fowls with feather'd face,
All Rome attends him through the street. — Trumbull.
{M' Fin gal. 17S2.)
Entranced by Arion's voice, the crow and owl ceased their enmity.
V'id. Ben King, The Owl and the Crozv.
Et sine lite loquax cum Palladis alite cornix
Sedit, et accipitri iuncta columba fuit. , ,
— Ov., Fast. II, 89.
For the hostility of other birds to the owl cf. Ov., Met. XI, 67; Plin.
X, 19. For another reference to the owl in relation to Minerva cf. Ov.,
Met. II, 563. For the metamorphosis of Nyctimine into an owl by
Minerva cf. Ov., Met. II, 589. Serv. ad. Verg., Gcor. I, 403.
}''or Pallas, Goddess chaste, discreet and wise,
Gave thee that sober air and visage sad. — Low.
Black from the forge of Belzebub,
And grim with metaphysic scowl.
With quill just pluck'd from wing of owl.
— Dr. Lemuel Hopkins.
Aw^ards her moping sage in common with the owl.
— Hill (Griswold).
NOCTUA 155
His image flamed out on the terrible shield
That Pallas up-bore when arrayed for the field ;
An Emblem that Wisdom, when others are blind,
Clear-sighted, a path through the darkness will find.
— Hos.\fi-:R.
The wisest of the wild fowl.
Bird of Jove's blue-eyed maid — the owl. — Halleck.
I ask my peers.
The erudite and learned in the law,
Why the recusant owl is singled out
As Wisdom's bird? — Sigourney.
The Nightingale should be her bird
And not the Owl, big-eyed and solemn. — Aldricii.
Dear goose, thou'rt greatly wrong'd. I move the owl
Be straightway swept from the usurper's seat,
And thou forthwith be voted for, to fill
Minerva's arms. — Sigourney.
Once one of them (owls) perched over one of the windows and sat
motionless, looking exactly like an owl of Pallas Athene. — Roosevelt.
Martial is an eagle, a plagiarist an owl :
Quid congregare cum leonibus vulpes,
Aquilisque similes facere noctuas quaeres?
— Mart. X, 100, 3.
In the morning and by day the owl's eyesight is dim :
Et Hadrianus dulcius culex cantet.
Videasque quantum noctuae vident mane.
— Mart. Ill, 93, 9.
Dim, like the day-struck owl, ye grope in light.
{The Conspiracy of Kings.) — Barlows
He faced the east, where the sunshine streamed
On the singing, sparkling sea.
And he blinked with his yellow eyes, that seemed
All sightless and blank to be.
(The Great Jl'hile Ozi'l.) — Celia Thaxter.
Roll thy wild eyeballs like the day-struck owl.
(The Anarchiud.) — Humphreys, Barlow, Hopkins,
Trumbull.
IS6 THI-: UIKDS OF TIIK LATIN TOETS
The owl hoots at noon that the eaj^lc is bhnd. — Holmes.
Only a blind owl Hoating- by. — Matthf.ws.
Anil the blinking- owl from the dead oak peeps. — Strong.
A reference to oi^'lish eves:
Tun etiani cum noctuinis oculis 'odium' me vocas?
— Plaut., Cur. 191.
The owlet's eyes our lanterns be. — Drake.
The staring owl her note has sung. — Frenfau.
The aforesaid owl.
With his dull, staring eyes, what hath he done
To benefit mankind? — Sigourney.
And rolls around his wondering eyes,
Like a wise owl, in great surprise. — Maxw^ell (Kettell).
Ez an owl by daylight amongst a Hock of teazin chirpers.
Sees clear'n mud the wickedness o' eatin little birds.
— Lowell.
But cf.
Thus pigeons, doves and other fowls,
Are often sacrificed by owls.
Barely because this bird of prey
Is blest with better eyes than they. — Hitchcock.
A house, which even owls would ignore :
Aedes emit Aper, sed quas nee noctua vellet
Esse suas : adeo nigra vetusque casa est.
— Mart. XI. 34.
And when I tread the consecrated aisle,
And hear thee pour thy melancholy scream,
I'll ponder on my destiny the while;
The world of spirits shall be all my theme. — Low.
(To an Owl.)
I know not if the night-owl calls
From Feudal battlements of stone
Inhabited by him alone. — David Starr Jordan.
The owlet roosts above its door. — Cawi'.in.
(The Haunted House.)
ONOCROTALUS 1 57
The Fable of the Owl and the Cicada :
Cicada acerbuni noctuae convicium
Faciebat, solitae victum in tenebris quaerere,
Cavoque ramo capere somnum interdiu.
Rogata est, ut taceret. Multo validius
Clamare coepit. Rursiis adniota prece,
Accensa niagis est. Noctua, ut vidit sibi
Nullum esse auxilium, et verba contemni sua,
Hac est aggressa garrulani fallacia :
Dormire quia me non sinunt cantus tui,
Sonare cithara quos putes Apollinis,
Potare est animus nectar, quod Pallas mihi
Nuper donavit : si non fastidis, veni ;
Una bibamus. Ilia, quae ardebat siti,
Simul cognovit vocem laudari suam,
Cupide advolavit. Noctua, egressa e cavo,
Crepitantem consecuta est, et leto dedit.
Sic, viva quod negarat, tribuit mortua.
— Phaed. Ill, i6, 2.
Hark! 'twas the screech-owl's melancholy scream. — Low.
(Winter.)
Bird of ^linerva! denizen of night! — Low.
ONOCROTALUS. 'OvoxpoToAog. TO/.exdv. Pelican.
Pelecanus onocrotalus. P. crispus.
Thompson, op. cit., p. 122, 134, s. v. IleAexdv.
Vid. Chapman, An Intimate Study of the Pelican. Cent. 71, 198.
American parallel : Pelican. P. erythrorhynchns .
The drowsy pelican wings home his way. — Freneau.
Full brother to the hungry pelican.— Freneau.
They swim like the swans and like pelicans callj^ — Miller. .
The flapping pelican feeds about. — Stedman.
And like as grim-beaked pelicans level file,
Across the sunset toward their nightly isle. — Lanier.
Gray Pelican, poised where yon broad shallows shine,
Know'st thou, that finny foison all is mine
In the bag below^ thy beak — yet thine, not less?
I sail with thee.
Thy Pelican's self is mine. — Lanier.
158 THE lURnS OF THK LATIN POETS
A Spot it was the bronzcn fislicrnicn
Had fancied not. and left inviolate
To screaming giill and wheeling pelican. — Sutherland.
The gullet of the pelican is referred to in a simile:
Lytlia tarn laxa est. equitis quam cuius aeni,
Quam veteres braccae Britonis pauperis et quam
Turpe Ravennatis guttur onocrotali.
— Mart. XI, 21.
Cf. Martialis Ravennatem onocrotalum cognominat. a civitate Italiae
circa quam conspicitur (in paludibus scilicet), quamcjuam Bellonius
Galliae et Italiae incognitum esse scribit, nisi quod interdum in lacu
Mantuae videatur. — Gesner. op. cit.. p. (x)6.
Uteri, qui huius avis faucibus haeret. tanta est capacitas, ut ipsi
viderimus, ingentis staturae hominem ocreatum pedem usque ad genu
in fauces immittentem eximentemque sine laesione. — Perottus, Gesner,
op. cit., p. 607.
The later myth of how 'the pelican turneth her beak against her breast
and therewith pierces it till the blood gusheth out, wherewith she nourish-
eth her young' is easily explained by the coloring and feeding habits of the
bird. It was used by the early Christians, like the hibernation fallacy,
as an emblem of 'piety,' and as such passed over into heraldic symbolism.
I have not found a trace of it in the Latin and American poets covered
in this study. Vid. Thompson, op. cit., p. 134; Broderip, Fraser 58,
537 ; Acad. 25, 97 ; Set. Am. S. 55, 22952 ; and cf. :
The painful pelican
Self-sacrificial. — Bailey.
OSSIFRAGA. Vid. s. v. haliaeetos.
PALUMBES. alunibes. inde cercus turtur.
—Mart. III. 58, 19.
Cf. riin. X\'III, 267. A sign that suniiiier is passing. I'alumbium
utique exaudi gemitus. Transisse solstitium caveto putes, nisi cum in-
ciibantem videris palumbem.
Cf. \\'ackernagel. op. cit.. p. 59; Winteler, op. cit., p. 17.
The stock-dove plaining through its gloom profound.
(Gertrude of JVyoming.) — Thomas Campbell.
Quiet by nothing harsher broken
Than wood-doves' meditative coo. — Lowell.
In the covert of the ]~>ine trees
Cooed the pigeon, the Omime. — Longfellow.
Groves where Cowper's stock-dove cooes. — Brown.
(First Sight of Iltiglaiid.)
PARRA. Oivdv^if?). An unidentified bird.
Perhaps one of the owls. "Griinspecht oder Schleiereule." Gemoss.
The various owls are possible American parallels.
Cf. Larcom, The Siinset-hird of Dominica.
The parra, when seen on the right, is a good omen :
Unde sumam ? Quem intervortam ? Quo banc celocem
conferam?
Inpetritum, inauguratumst ; (]uovis admittunt aves.
Picus et cornix ab laeva; corvus, parra ab dextera
Consuadent. — Plai-t., .hin. 257.
The call of the parra associated with other inauspicious omens:
Impios parrae recinentis omen
Ducat, et praegnans canis, aut ab agro
Rava decurrens lupa Lanuvino
Fetaque vulpes. — Hor., Od. Ill, 2y, i.
There rose an owl's cry. from the woods below,
Like a lost spirit. — Sill.
The hollow, quivering, loud-repeated howl,
Full overhead, betrays the haggard owl ;
Who. well for her. in muffling darkness past.
Else this heart-sinking scream had been her la.st.
(The Foresters.) — Alexander Wilson.
PARRUS 163
PARRUS. Alyi'^aXogC ?). Titmouse (traditional identification).
American literary parallels — which seem best to suit the references
below : Song-sparrow, ground-sparrow. The Chickadee is a literary
parallel for the traditional identification.
Vid. Trowbridge, Midzvinter.
Marian Douglas (Griswold) : My Winter Friend (The Chickadee).
Frances H. Green : The Chickadee's Song.
Hathaway: Chickadee.
Bryant : The Song-sparrozv.
Jones Very: Our Native Sparrozv; English Sparrozvs.
Dinsmoor (Duyckinck) : The Sparrozv.
A bird that stays in wintry days,
A friend indeed is he ;
And better than all other birds
I love the chickadee. — Marian Douglas (Griswold).
{My Winter Friend.)
The parrus sings all night long, but pleases no one with its song:
Parrus enim quamquam per noctem tinnipet omnem,
Sed sua vox nulli iure placere potest.
— Anth. Lat. y62, 9.
The reference here may be to one of the the smaller owls.
Cf. The zi'hetsazi's tinkle, and the owl's loud shout. — Street.
The parrus is a field-bird :
Haec inter merulae dulci modulamine cantus
Zinzilat et laetis parrus nunc tinnipat arvis.
—Anth. Lat. 733, 8.
He your steadfast brother was.
Lowly field-bird of the grass. — Carman-Hovey.
PASSER. 2TQOvd6g. Sparrow.
Various species were connoted by passer.
American parallels : Song-sparrow, et al.
Burroughs: The Golden Crozvned Sparrozv of Alaska.
Cawein : The Bush-Sparrozv.
Dunbar: The Sparrozv.
Henry Van Dyke: The Song-Sparrozv.
Forsyth: The English Sparrozv.
104 Till-: UIKDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Gould : 77it' Sf>arroic.
Hirst (Stednian): The Fringilla niclodia.
Lampinau : The Soug-sparrotc.
Larcom: ./ Sofii^-S{>arroic in Mareh ; The Field Sparroiv; The
Sing-azcay Bird (the white-throated sparrow).
Lathrop: The Song-Sparrow.
Thomas: The J'esper Sparrou\
Valentine : Sparrou's.
West: The White-throated Sparrozv.
Cannan-Hovey : Ornithology.
Vid. S. V. PARRUS.
Like Apollonius of old,
Who knew the tales of sparrows told. — Whittier.
Lesbia's sparrow :
Passer, deliciae meae puellae,
Ouicum ludere, quern in sinu tenere,
Qui primum digitum dare atpetenti
Et acris solet incitare morsus.
—Cat. II, I.
The free-born sparrows of the air.
That flit about her windows fair,
Enjoy her smile and have her care. — Wallace.
Lugete, o Veneres Cupidinesque
Et quantum est hominum venustiorum.
Passer mortuus est meae puellae,
Passer, deliciae meae puellae,
Quem plus ilia oculis suis amabat :
Nam mellitus erat suamque novat
Ipsam tam bene quam puella matrem.
Nee sese a gremio illius movebat,
Sed circumsiliens modo hue modo illuc
Ad solam dominam usque pipilabat.
—Cat. Ill, I.
Vid. Matthew Arnold, Poor Mathias.
Best taken as the common sparrow, but to the Roman reader other
associations would inevitably occur. Cf. Gesner, op. cit., p. 622.
Passer ille Catullianus allegorice. ut arbitror, obsceniorem quempiam
celat intellectum. quem salva verecundia nequimu= enuntiare. Cf. Festus,
s. v. Strutheum.
PARRUS 165
For echoes of these two inimitable bird poems vid. Juv. \'f, 8; Mart.
I, 7; I, 109; IV, 14; VII, 14; XIV, yj, et al.
Poe's Raven holds an analogous position in American literature.
Cf. Sarah Helen Whitman, The Raven (passim).
There comes Poe, with his Raven. — Lowell.
The terrible mig-ht do, mother, — some wild, unearthly story ;
I might ride, for a Pegasus, a nightmare into glory.
But then that "Raven" there, mother, above that 'chamber-door,'
I asked him- if 'twould be a hit, — quoth the raven,
"Never more !" — 'Grace Greenwood.'
For passercuhis as a term of endearment vid. s. v. coturnix. Plaut.,
Asin. 666, s. v. anas. Plaut., Asin. 693. Cf. also Varro, Maripor. For
pullus passer in the same connotation vid. s. v. columba.
The association of the sparrow with Venus does not occur in the
Latin poets. Vid. Sappho, Fr. i, 9.
To thy chariot yoked, fair fleet sparrows drew thee,
Flapping fast their wings ; round the dark earth circling
From the lofty heaven down through middle ether
Quickly descending. — Elizabeth Akers.
{Ode to Aphrodite. Sappho.)
Passer as a term of reproach :
Die, passer, cui tot montes, tot praedia servas.
-Juv. IX, 54.
Cf. Plin. X, 107. Priap. 26, 6.
For the Fable of the Sparrow and the Hare. vid. s. v. aquila. For
the mother bird and the eight young devoured by the serpent at Aulis, vid.
Ov., Met. XII, IS : Sil. Ital., //. Lat. 147.
Perhaps, while here thou sweetly sung.
Some serpent stole thy new-fledg'd young;
Or boys, perhaps, in cruel play
Have borne thy tender care away. — Bayard.
{Address to the Robin Red-Breast. The
Columbian Muse, 1794, p. 179.)
The sparrow as a harbinger of spring:
Nunc sturnos inopes fringillarumque querelas
Audit, et arguto passere vernat ager.
—Mart. IX, 55, 7.
lOb Till-: BIRDS OF Till-: I.ATIX 1H)KTS
\\ hile the song-sparrow warbling from her perch
Tells you tliat spring is near. — Bryant.
The Easter sparrow repeats her song,
A merry warbler, she chides the blossoms,
Tiie idle blossoms that sleep so long. — Bryant.
Here when the Spring begins to call
The sparrow sings his madrigal ;
Through sleet and hail, in shine or rain,
I hear him o'er and o'er again :
"Resilio! Silio! Silio! Sil!" — Rose Terry Cooke.
The gray song-sparrows, full of spring, have sung
Their clear thin silvery tunes in leafless trees. — Lampman.
The autumn song:
And sparrows fill the autumn air
With merry muting. — Mitchell (Stedman).
Other references to the sparrow's song. Vid. Wackernagel, op. cit.
P- 58.
Hinc titiare cupit diversa per avia passer.
—Anth. Lat. jt^t,, 4.
Pessimus et passer sons titiare solet.
— Anth. Lat. 762, 30.
Every little s])arrow twitters. — Sill.
The sparrow with its simple notes. — Whitman.
The song-sparrow's exquisite warble
Is born in the heart of the rose. — Larcon.
Here cat- and blue-bird and wood-sparrow wrote
Their presence on the silence with a tune. — Cawein.
PASSER MARINUS. Y.xQov^ov.6.\vc\loq. Ostrich.
Struthio camelus.
The ostrich in the circus :
Vola curriculo. Pa. Istuc marinus passer per circum solet.
— Plaut., Pers. 198.
The ales equus of Cat. LXVT, 54, is probably an ostrich.
Ct. Giant-paced mooa ; ostrich, feathery steed. — Bailey.
PASSER MARIN US 167
The boast of the kite in the Fable of the Eagle and the Kite:
Aquila cum tristis assideret milvo
In arbore. Vultu quid te tarn maesto, hie ait,
Conspicio? Ouaero, dixit ilia, coniug-em
Pareni nee invenire possum. Me accipe,
Te multo qui sum fortior. Quid? An potes
Ex rapto victum quaerere? Unguibus meis
Struthiocamelum rapui prensuni saepuis.
—Aes. Fab. XXX.
No entail
The first-born lifting into bloated pomp,
Tainting with lust, and sloth, and pride, and rage.
The world around him : all the race beside.
Like brood of ostrich, left for chance to rear.
And every foot to trample. — Timothy Dwight.
(Greenfield Hill.)
Didst thou the ostrich clothe with plumes so neat,
Who leaves her eggs exposed to heedless feet?
Hatch'd by the genial influence of the sun.
Alone, the unfledged brood are left to run.
In flight she scorns the rider and his steed ;
Through eddies of the sand unspurn'd. her speed
Impetuously she skims ; than winds more fleet,
She triumphs in th' alertness of her feet. — Devens (Kettell).
As desert birds are by the sun
Warmed into life within their nests. — Clarke.
For Love, when he would safely keep
His head in secret hiding deep
Is but an ostrich in the sand. — Read.
PAVO. Taco?. Peacock. Pavo cristatus.
The peacock's beauty is typical of its kind :
Aurea pavonum ridenti imbuta lepore
Saecla, novo rerum superata colore iacerent
Et contemptus odor smyrnae mellisque sapores,
Et cycnea mele Phoebeaque daedala chordis
Carmina consimili ratione oppressa silerent.
— LucR. II, 502.
i68 Till-: niKns ov Tin-: latin poets
Colors due to the effect of sunshine :
Caudaque pavonis. larga cum kice repleta est,
Consimili niutat ratione obversa colores.
— LucR. II, 806.
Full on the morn the jieacock op'd his beams.
{Creation.) — Timothy Dwight.
Sylvia shone out, no peacock finer. — Trumbull.
r.rilliant traits of mind.
And genius, clear and countless as the dies
Upon the peacock's plumage. — Halleck.
She brings the magic of an Indian night
Where smolder peacock-breasts of phosphor-green,
Ruffled by jungle zephyrs ne'er so light. — Riggs.
Men laud the peacock's beauty:
Laudatas homini volucris lunonia pennas
Explicat, et forma muta superbit avis.
— Ov., Med. Fac. 33.
But cf. Et praeter pennas nihil in pavone placebat.
— Ov., Fast. VI, 177.
Cui comparatus indecens erat pavo,
Inamabilis sciurus, et frequens phoenix.
— Mart. V, 37, 12.
Didicit iam dives avarus
Tantum admirari, tantum laudare disertos,
Ut pueri lunonis avem. — Juv. VII, 30.
The parrot is more beautiful than the peacock:
Occidit aeriae celeberrimae gloria gentis
Psittacus, ille plagae viridis regnator Eoae ;
Quem non gemmata volucris lunonia cauda
Vinceret adspectu, gelidi non Phasidis ales.
— Stat. Silv. II, 4, 24.
Cf. Mart. Ill, 58, 13. Gemmeique pavones.
The phoenix has some of the colors of the peacock :
Effigies inter pavonis mixta figuram
Cernitur et pictam Phasidis inter avem.
— Lacv., De Phoen. 143.
PAVO 169
The peacock's pride and haughtiness :
Laudatas ostendat avis lunonia pennas :
Si tacitus spectes, ilia recondit opes.
— Ov., A. A. I, 625.
Cf. Plin. X, 22; Col. IX, II. Pavo etiam ad libideni extimulatur,
semet ipsum, veluti mirantem, caudae gemmantibus pennis protegit, idque
cum facit, rotare dicitur.
Cic, Fin. Ill, 5, 18. Cauda pavoni ad ornatum data est.
Laudato pavone superbior ; acrior igni ;
Asperior tribulis ; feta truculentior ursa.
— Ov., Met. XIII, 801.
Explicat ipsa suas ales lunonia pennas.
— Ov., Am. II, 6, 55.
Miraris quoties gemmantes explicat alas,
Et potes hunc saevo tradere, dure, coquo?
—Mart. XIII, 70.
Quin tu igitur, summa nequidquam pelle decorus
Ante diem blando caudam iactare popello
Desinis, Anticyras, melior sorbere meracas.
— Pers. IV, 14.
Saepe etiam perdix iacet et lunonius ales,
Gemmatam pinnis solitus producere caudam.
— Antli. Lat. 199, 69.
The peacock view, still exquisitely fair,
When clouds forsake, and when invest the air:
His gems now brightened by a noontide ray ;
He proudly waves his feathers to the day.
A strut, majestically slow, assumes,
And glories in the beauty of his plumes. — Devens (Kettell).
On the hitching-block, boys, grandly satisfied,
See the old peacock, boys, on the sunny side. — Riley.
The peacock as a table bird :
Vix tamen eripiam, posito pavone velis quin
Hoc potius quam gallina tergere palatum.
Corruptus vanis rerum ; quia veneat auro
Rara avis, et picta pandat spectacula cauda ;
Tanquam ad rem attineat quidquam. Num vesceris ista,
Quam laudas, pluma? Cocto num adest honor idem?
Carne tamen quamvis distat nihil hac magis ilia.
Imparibus formis deceptum te natet. Esto.
— HoR., Sat. II, 2, 22,.
170 THE BIRDS OF Tllli LATIN POETS
Quanta est gula. quae sibi totos
Ponit apros. animal propter convivia natum !
Poena tamen praesens, cum tu deponis amictus
Turgidus, et crudum pavonem in balnea portas :
Hinc subitae mortcs atque intestata senectus.
— Juv. I, 140.
For other references to the peacock in this connection int. al. vid.
Hor.. Sat. I. 2. 115; Pub. Syr. ;,04: Plin. X, 20; Var., R. R. Ill, 6;
Col. VIII. II.
A fan made of peacock feathers :
Et modo pavonis caudae llabclla superbae.
Et manibus dura frig^us habere pila.
— Prop. Ill, 15, 11.
Cf. Ov.. ^[ct. XV\ 385. lunonis volucrem, quae cauda sidera portat.
The rufflinheasant :
Effigies inter pavonis mixta figuram
Cernitur et pictam Phasidis inter avem,
— Lact., De Phoen. 143.
De Capone Phasianacio.
Candida Phoebeo praefulgunt ora rubore,
Crista riget radiis, ignea barba micat.
Alae colla comae pectus femur inguina cauda
Paestanis lucent floridiora rosis.
Flammea sic rutilum distinguit pinna colorem,
Ut vibrare putes plumea membra faces.
— Anth Lat. 132.
PIIOENICOPTERUS 177
PHOENICOPTERUS. ritain's glory)
My raging flame did make a mournful story.
But inaugre all. that I or foes could do.
That Phoenix from her bed, is risen new.
{The Four Elements, fire). — Anne Bradstrket.
Reviving Norfolk from her ashes springs,
A golden phoenix on refulgent wings. — Barlow.
{Columbiad.)
If every age, in new unconscious prime,
Rose, like a phoenix, from the tires of time.
To wing its way unguided and alone. — Thomas Moore.
{Poems relating to America.)
Out of her ashes let a Phoenix rise
That may outshine the first and be more wise.
{New England's Crisis.) — Benjamin Tompson.
This phoenix built her nest of spice,
Like to the Birds of Paradise;
Which, when a fever set on fire.
Her soul took wing and soared higher;
But left choice ashes here behind,
Christ will for resurrection find. — Noyes.
(A consolatory poem — to Cotton Mather,
at the death of his zvife. 1703.)
Thou art but ashes — dust ; no Phoenix thou,
That, after crumbling on the funeral pyre,
Rises triumphant by its own bright fire. — Stoddard.
As Phoenix, 'mid consuming flame.
Takes on new life and upward springs. — Wallace.
{Love.)
A wicked wag, who meant to deride,
Called honest John, "Old Phoenix Macbride,"
Because he rose from his ashes. — Saxe.
The resurrection of the phoenix was a hopeful parallel to the early
ChristiaiLs ;
Sicut avis Phoenix meditatur a morte renasci,
Dat nobis exemplum, post funera surgere posse ;
Hoc Deus omnipotens vel maxime credere suadet.
Quod veniet tempus defunctorum vivere rursum,
Sint licet nunc pulvis, iaceant licet ossa nuciata.
— CoMMOD., Carm. Apol. 139.
PICA 183
Sed tamen ad Manes foenix me serbat in aura
Qui mecum properat se reparare sibi.
— BucHKLER, Cann. Epig. 13 18.
Post flanimas cineresque suos nova surgere foenix
Scit. — BiJciiELER, Carm. Epig. 1802.
Vita mihi mors est; morior si coepero nasci.
Sed prius est fatum leti, quam lucis origo
Sic solus Manes ipsos mihi dico parentes.
{Phoenix.') —Anth. Lat. 286, XXXI.
Th' ostricii with her plumes, th' eagle with her eyn
The phoenix too (if any be) are mine. — Anne Bradstreet.
{The Four Elements. Air.)
No fabled Phoenix from his bier revives ;
His ashes perish, but his Country lives! — R. T. Paine.
The resurrection of the phoenix associated with the rays of the sun:
Namque docet Phoenix, ustis reparata favillis
Omnia Phoebeo vivescere corpora tactu.
Haec vitam de morte petit, post fata vigorem,
Nascitur ut pereat, perit ut nascatur ab igni,
Una cadit totiens surgitque ac deficit una ;
Rupe sedet, capitur radiis, et lumine Phoebi
Suscipit inmissum recidiva morte calorem.
— Anth. Lat. 389, 31.
A second Pope, like that Arabian bird
Of which no age can boast but one, may yet
Awake the muse of Schuylkill's stream. — Freneau.
And man once more, self-ruin'd Phoenix, rise
On wings of Eden, to his native skies.
{Greenfield Hills.) — Timothy Dwight.
Here, Science, thy last stage of being lies.
No other Phoenix from thy dust shall rise — Cliffton.
PICA. Kiaoa. Magpie, jay.
P. rustica. Thompson, op. cit., p. 84, takes xiooa as the jay, Garrulns
glandariiis. Pica, as am.ong the Italians of today, seems to have been
applied to both magpie and jay. Plin. X, 29, describes the magpie as a
recent addition to the birds about Rome.
American parallels: Blue jay, crow, and in the West the magpie.
Vid. Alexander Wilson, op. cit., s. v. Magpie.
184 THE RIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Emily Dickinson : 77a' Blue Jay.
Ben King: /';;; a Blue Jay.
The nine daughters of Pierus, metamorphosed into magpies, sahite
Minerva and the nine muses:
Musa loquchatnr, pcnnae sonuere per auras.
\'oxque salutantum ramis veniebat ab altis.
Suspicit et Hnguae quaerit tam certa loquentes
Unde sonent, hominemque putat love nata locutum.
Ales erat. numeroque novem, sua fata querentes,
Institerant ramis imitantes omnia picae.
— Ov., Met. V, 294.
Changed (not degraded) as a Magpie talk'd.
(FJamiltoniad.) — Joiix Williams.
A plowman, saluted by a magpie, answers:
Inde salutatus picae respondet arator.
— Mart. IX, 54, 9.
Cf. Pica salutatrix si tibi. Lause, placet.
—Mart. VII. 87, 6.
Jay-bird tol' me,
Tol" me in the morning.
— C AR M a n -PTovey .
When domesticated he is easily taught to imitate the human voice,
and to articulate words pretty distinctly. — Alexander Wilson, op. cit.,
s. V. Magpie.
The actual metamorphosis of the daughters of Pierus into magpies :
Rident Emathides spernuntque minacia verba,
Conataeque loqui et magno clamore protervas
Intentare manus, pennas exire per ungues
Aspexere suos. operiri bracchia plumis ;
Alteraque alterius rigido concrescere rostro
Ora videt, volucresque novas accedere silvis ;
Dumque volunt plangi, per bracchia mota levatae
Aere pendebant, nemorum convicia, picae.
Xunc quoque in alitibus facundia prisca remansit
Raucaque garrulitas studiumque immane loquendi.
— Ov., Met. V, 669.
Cf. Stat., Sill'. II, 4, 19. Sturnus et Aonio versae certamine picae.
But chatt'ring magpies, perching on each spray,
Devoured the blooms or pick'd the fruit away.
— Chatterton.
Heard them chattering like the magpies. — Longfellow.
PICA 185
The 'raven poets and poetess pies.' Persius alludes to the literary
ladies of his time:
Quis expedivit psittaco suum chaere
Picasque docuit verba nostra conari ?
Magister artis ingenique largitor
Venter, ne,<2:atas artifex sequi voces.
Quod si dolosi spes refulserit nummi,
Corvos poetas et poctridas picas
Cantare credas Pegaseium nectar.
— Pers., Prol. 8.
Cf. Mart. I, 53, 10.
A magpie comments on the clearness of his speech :
Pica loquax certa dominum te voce saluto :
Si me non videas. esse negabis avem.
—Mart. XIV, 76.
Jaybird chattin' wif a bee.
Trying to teach him grammah. — Dunbar.
Martial complains when a magpie instead of a dove is served to him:
Sunt tibi boleti, f ungos ego sumo suillos :
Res tibi cum rhombo est. at mihi cum sparulo.
Aureus immodicis turtur te clunibus implet.
Ponitur in cavea mortua pica mihi.
— Mart. Ill, 60, 5.
De Pica, quae humanas voces imitabatur.
Pica hominum voces cuncta ante animalia monstrat
Et docto externum perstrepit ore melos.
Nee nunc oblita est, quidnam prius esset in orbe :
Aut haec Picus erat aut homo rursus inest.
— Anth. Lat. 370.
And the noisy magpies about the gables.
Chattered and gossiped of this and that. — Strong.
The note and imitative powers of the magpie :
Pica loquax varias concinnat gutture voces,
Scurrili strepitu omne quod audit ait.
— Anth. Lat. 762, 32.
Kept by a woman as chipper as a jay. — Bret Harte.
De Catto qui comedens picam mortuus est.
Mordaces morsu solitus consumere mures
Invisum et domibus perdere dente genus
Cattus in obscuro cepit pro sorice picam
Multiloquumque vorax sorbuit ore caput.
iS6 THK niRDS or the latin poets
Poena tanien praosens praedoncni jilectit cdacem,
Nam claudunt rabidam cornea labra gulam.
Faucibus obsessis vitalis semita cessit
Et satur escali vuhierc raptor obit.
Non habet exenipluiu vohicris vindicta pereniptae.
Ht^steni pica suuni niortua discruciat.
—A nth. Lat. i8i.
A later myth :
The magpies fly in pairs (an evil omen
It were to see but one). — Mrs. Piatt.
(Early Spring in Ireland.)
PICUS. AovoxoAcuttrig, xeXsog. The green woodpecker. P. viri-
dis. llivico. The greater and lesser spotted woodpeckers. P. major
and minor. Cf. Aristotle, H. A. \'lll, 3, 593 and TX, 9, 614. Among
the Romans the name Picus was applied to all the various species of
woodpeckers. The occasional identification of the particular species a
Roman poet had in mind is dependent upon descriptive epithets and the
weighing of probabilities. The woodpecker is more prominent in the lore
of the Romans than in that of the Greeks because of the Pictis myth and
the association with Mars.
Vid. Broderip, Woodpeckers. Fraser 57, 46.
McManus : The Flicker on the Fence.
American parallels : Red-headed woodpecker,ycllow-hcimmer( flicker) ,
(high-hole), et al.
Hie avis est quaedam rubro formosa colore,
Gutture quae plumis est maculata nigris.
( Descriptio P ennsylvaniae , Anno 1729.) — Thomas Makin.
Translation :
The various woodpeckers here charm the sight;
Of mingled red, of beauteous black and white !
(History of Pennsylvania, p. 366.) — Proud.
The picus (here) on the left is a good omen, although ominous when
he works upon an elm :
Impetritum, inauguratumst ; quovis admittunt aves ;
Picus et cornix ab laeva, corvus, parra ab dextera
Consuadent ; certum herclest vostram consequi sententiam.
Sed quid hoc quod picus ulmum tundit? non temerariumst.
Certe hercle ego quantum ex augurio eius pici intellego,
Aut mihi in mundo sunt virgae aut atriensi Saureae.
— Plaut., Asin. 259.
picus 187
And woodpeckers explore the sides
Of rugged elms. — Co\vpi-:r.
The vaulting high-ho flings abroad his glee
In fluty laughter from the towering elm. — Lampman.
Naught heard but the tap of the woodpecker's bill. — Street.
And Picus minor plies his trade,
Hunting for dens by insects made ;
Knocking off flakes of dropping wood
To pound with his hammer their loathsome brood. — Hosmer.
The robins are the pipers.
The flickers beat the drum. — Craxdall.
{The Bird Army.)
The woodpecker drums on the birch. — Trowbridge.
The woodpecker, with curious bill.
Had made the wilderness reecho, shrill. — Marks.
Peckawood erpon de tree
Tappin' lak a hammah. — Dunbar.
Where the hammering 'red-heads' hopped awry. — Riley.
And that sassy little critter jes a-pecking all the day.
— Riley.
And from the frondous pine did ring
The hammer of the golden-wing. — Maurice Thompson.
Above him in the sycamore
The flicker beats a dull tattoo. — Maurice Thompson.
Hear the woodpecker, rap-a-tap !
See him with his cardinal's cap. — Maurice Thompson.
His bill an auger is.
His head, a cap and frill.
He laboreth at every tree,
A worm his utmost goal.
{The Woodpecker.) — Emily Dickinson.
The crested wood-cocks hammer on high.
{The Foresters.) — Alexander Wilson.
Every leaf was at rest, and I heard not a sound
But the woodpecker tapping the hollow beech-tree.
{Poems relating to America.) — Thomas Moore.
i88 Till-: lURDs OF rwK latin ports
The I'icus (here) on the left is with the comix a bad omen:
Sis Hcet felix ubicumque mavis,
Et niemor nostri, Galatea, vivas,
Teque nee laevus vetet ire pious
Nee vaga eornix. — Hor., Od. 111. 27, 13.
The Greeks faced the nortli. the Romans the south, when taking
note of birds in augury, hence "right" and 'left' are frequently confused
when the Romans followed the Greek tradition. Cf. Plin. X, 18, 20.
'Tis yon wood-pecker's warning note.
He is their seer and sentinel. — Sii.t,.
For the myth of Picus. who. on refusing the advances of Circe, by
virtue of his love for Canens. was metamorphosed into a woodpecker, vid.
Ov., Met. XIV, 320.
The actual metamorphosis of Picus :
Ille fugit, sed se solito velocius ipse
Currere miratus : pennas in corpore vidit,
Seque novani subito Latiis accedere silvis
Indignatus avem' duro fera robora rostro
Figit et iratus longis dat vulnera ramis f
Purpureum chlamydis pennae traxere colorem ;
Fibula quod fuerat vestemque momorderat aurimi,
Pluma fit. et fulvo cervix praecingitur auro,
Nee quicquam anti(|ui Pico, nisi nomina, restat.
— Ov., Met. XIV, 388.
'Ovid probably had in mind the greater spotted woodpecker, P. ftiajor.
^A bit of true ob.servation, as so often in Ovid. Cf. Newton, op. cit., p. 1047 :
"Both of these birds (P. major and P. minor) have an extraordinary habit of
causing, by quickly repeated blows of their beak on a branch, or even on a small
bough, a vibrating noise, louder than that of a watchman's rattle, and enough to
excite the attention of the most incurious."
Hudson, op. cit., p. 182 : "The most curious sound he makes is instrumental :
it is the love-call of the bird, produced by striking the beak on a branch so rapidly
as to produce a long jarring or rattling note." Vid. supra.
The woodpecker loud hammered. — Emerson.
The only hammer that I hear
Is wielded by the woodpecker. — LovvtLL.
A woodpecker pounded a pine top shell. — Miller.
picus 189
Two other descriptions of the metamorphosed i'icus:
Ipse Quirinali lituo parvaque sedebat
Succinctus trabea, laevaque ancile gerebat
Picus, equum domitor, quern capta cupidine coniunx
Aurea percussam virga versumque venenis
Fecit avem Circe, sparsit coloribus alas.
— Verg., a en. VI I, 187.
Hoc Picus, quondam nomen memorabile ab alto
Saturno, statuit genitor, quern carmine Circe
Exutum formae volitare per aethera iussit
Et sparsit croceum plumis fugientis honorem.
— SiL. Ital. VIII, 439.
Both Vergil and Silius seem to have P. major in mind. Cf
Serv. ad loc.
Rhea Silvia in a vision beholds a woodpecker and a she-wolf fighting
in defence of two palm trees (Romulus and Remus).
Terreor admonitu, corque timore micat,
Martia, picus, avis gemino pro stipite pugnant
Et lupa. Tuta per hos utraque palma fuit.
— Ov., Fast. Ill, 36.
Romulus and Remus, when exposed, were fed by a woodpecker :
Lacte quis infantes nescit crevisse ferino,
Et picum expositis saepe tulisse cibos?
— Ov., Fast. Ill, 53.
The name pici applied to the fabulous grifTins :
Picis divitiis, qui aureos montes colunt.
Ego solus supero.
— Plaut., Aid. 701.
Cf. Non. 2, 641. Picos, veteres esse voluerunt, quos Graeci YOv:ta<;
appellant.
I love their orchards where the gay woodpecker
Flits, flashing o'er you, like a winged jewel.
(Old Homes.) — Cawein.
190 Till-: r.IKDS OF TlIK LATIN I'dKTS
PORPHYRION. rioQcpi'Oitov. runilo .^allinule( ?).
/'cT/^/rvr;'," hyacijithus. \"h\. s. v. callinula.
American jiarallol : rurple gallinulc. a rare strag;gler in tlie Northern
States.
A play upon the name :
Xonien habet magni vohicris tam parva gigantis?
Et nomen prasini Porphvrionis habet.
—Mart. XIII, 78.
The marsli-hen cried and the tide was aihng
Under the skies of Augustine. — Cavvein.
PSITTACUS. ¥iTT(xxii. Parrot.
P. CKbicularis. \ id. Thompson, op. cit., p. 199.
American hterary parallels : Parrot, parroquet, cockatoo.
William Lake : Fable of the Parrot.
Ovid's lament over the dead parrot is one of the most graceful and
tender bird poems ever written. It must be read in the ancient spirit, with
its mingling of nature and human characteristics. The Psittacus of
Statius is vastly less attractive. Greek literature shows no parallel. In
English one is apt to recall Cowper's Elegy to the Bullfinch; Keat's Ode
to the Nightincrale, and Wordsworth's Ode to the Cuckoo. The American
poets have always turned to our native birds. In addition to the specific
titles given under each Roman species, wherever there seemed to be
certain points of resemblance, the following unattached titles will show
the wide range covered by our own poets. The list is of course only
representative.
Stoddard: The Albatross.
Holmes : My Aviary.
Dana : The little Beach-bird.
Aldrich : The Bluebird.
Akers : The Bobolink.
Hill : The Bobolink.
Stedman : The Songster (Canary).
Gallagher : The Cardinal Bird.
Venable : My Catbird.
Anon. : To the Catbird.
Goodrich : Birth-night of the Humming-birds.
Clarke, Tabb, Murray: The Humming-bird.
Street: The Loon.
. PSITTACUS 191
Burroughs : To the Lapland Lo)igsptir.
Roberts: The Night-hawk.
Flagg: The O' Lincoln Bird.
Fawcett: To an Oriole.
Hovvells: The Song of the Oriole.
Bolles : The Oven-bird.
Trowbridge : The Pewee.
Hathaway: Phebe.
Lathrop : The Phoebe-bird.
Stratton : The Robin's Madrigal.
Chadwick: The Golden-robin's Nest.
Doane : Robin Red-breast.
Thaxter: The Sandpiper.
Mason, Benton : The Scarlet Tanager.
Hathaway : Snoiv-bird.
Lampman : Snozvbirds.
Roberts: A Secret Song (Snow-bird).
Payne : The Southern Snozv-bird.
Lampman : The Warbling Vireo.
Bryant : To a Waterfowl.
The first poetic Hst of American birds :
Of Birds, there is a knavish robbing crew,
Which constantly the smaller tribes pursue ;
The hawk and eagle swoop the azure blue,
With sharp eyes prying.
The chicken saker-hawk, with talons fell ;
The sparrow-hawk; the vigilant castrel
Watching his enemy, till he may reel
And faint in flying.
The duck, the goose, the turkey, the proud swan.
The diver and the heron and the crane,
The snipe, the curlew, merlin and moorhen.
The foremost vieing;
The dove and pheasant, thievish blackbird, quail ;
The widgeon, which an epicure may hail ;
The teal and bob-o'-lincoln, all avail
For man's enjoyment.
But names are wanting wholly to explain
The numerous species of the feathered train ;
And surely the recital were a vain
Misspent employment. — Jacob Steendam.
{'Tlof van Nixiv-Nederland. 1661.
Translated by Henry C. Murphy. 1861.)
192 THE niKos OF Till-: latin ports
Ovid's -lament at the death of a parrot, which he had given Corinna.
The poet summons all good birds to the parrot's obsequies :
Psittacus. Eois imitatrix ales ab Indis.
Occidit : exsequias ite frequenter, aves ;
Ite, piae volucres. et plangitc pectora pinnis
Et rigido teneras ungue notate genas ;
Horrida pro macstis lanictur pluma capillis.
Pro longa resoncnt carmina vestra tuba !
— ()v.. .Ivi. II. 6, I.
Note throughout Ovid's poem the human attributes assigned to
the birds.
Hark to my Indian ])cauty —
My cockatoo, creamy white.
With roses under his feathers
That flash across the light. — Story (Stedman).
Before all others is summoned the affectionate turtle-dove, whose
friendship tor the parrot was comparable to that of Pylades for Orestes:
Omnes, quae liquido libratis in aere cursus,
Tu tamen ante alios, turtur amice, dole!
Plena fuit vobis omni concordia vita,
Et stetit ad finem longa tenaxque fides.
Quod fuit Argolico iuvenis Phoceus Orestae,
Hoc tibi, dum licuit, psittice, turtur erat.
— Ov.. Jm. II, 6, II.
Cf. Ov.. Her. XV, 38. Et niger a viridi turtur amatur ave.
Viridi ave is here, of course, the parrot.
On her hand a parrot green. — Holmes.
Of pea-green paraquets 'twixt neighbor trees. — Lanier.
The beauty of the parrot and his powers of mimicry and speecn :
Quid tamen ista fides, quid rari forma coloris,
Quid vox mutandis ingeniosa sonis?
Quid iuvat. ut datus es, nostrae placuisse puellae?
Infelix, avium gloria, nempe iaces !
Tu poteras fragiles pinnis hebetare zmaragdos
Tincta gerens rubro Punica rostra croco.
Non fuit in terris vocum simulantior ales.
Reddebas blaeso tarn bene verba sono !
— Ov., Am. n, 6. 17.
Occidit ilia loquax, humanae vocis imago,
Psittacus, extremo munus ab orbe datum !
— Ov., Amor. II, 37.
PSITTACUS 193
In plumes of gold and array'd in red. — Miller.
Hung all red-crowned and robed in green,
With belts of gold and blue between. — Miller.
To me a painted paroquet
Hath been a most familiar bird. — Poe.
Brighter plumes may greet the sun
By the banks of Amazon. — Hill.
That bright-wing'd paroquet. — Sigourney.
Over the curtained door Simorga sits,
The Bird of Ancient Days, whose wondrous green
Was caught from glimmering shades in tropic bower
Where first his eyes were opened to the day :
A bird mysterious, who climbs and speaks
And laughs and stretches out a hand like one
Of human kind. — Mrs. J. G. Smith.
Strange birds like the cockatoos, lories,
Spread wings, like great blossoms, illumed. — Cawein.
The parrot needed but little for sustenance. He talked so much that
he had little time for feasting.
Plenus eras minimo nee prae sermonis amore
In multos poteras ora vacare cibos ;
Nux erat esca tibi causaeque papavera somni,
Pellebatque sitim simplicis umor aquae.
— Ov., Am. 6, 29.
The last words of the dying parrot :
Nee tamen ignavo stupuerunt verba palato :
Clamavit moriens lingua, 'Corinna. vale !'
— Ov., Am. n, 6, 47.
A description of the Elysian grove, where the souls of the birds that
are blessed consort :
Colle sub Elysio nigra nemus ilice frondet,
Undaque perpetuo gramine terra viret :
Siqua fides dubiis, volucrum locus ille piarum
Dicitur, obscenae quo prohibentur aves ;
Illic innocui late pascuntur olores
Et vivat phoenix, unica semper avis :
Explicat ipsa suas ales lunonia pinnas,
Oscula dat cupido blanda columba marl.
Psittacus has inter nemorali sede receptus
Convertit volucres in sua verba pias.
— Ov., Atn. n, 6, 49.
194 TIIK HIRDS OF THE LATIN POETS
Where spirit-birds may fold their wings
Within Elysian portal.
And gleaners of divinest things
^Iay gather sweets immortal. — CRmc.E.
The parrot's grave and burial inscription :
Ossa tegit tumulus, tumulus pro corpore magnus,
Quo lapis exiguus par sibi carmen habet :
"Colligor ex ipso dominae placuisse sepulcro,
Ora fuere mihi plus ave docta loqui."
— Ov., Am. II, 6, 59.
Another funeral poem, in honor of a parrot which belonged to Melior,
a friend of Statius. How the parrot spent his last day and night :
Psittace, dux volucrum. domini facunda voluptas,
Humanae sollers imitator, psittace, linguae,
Quis tua tam subito praeclusit murmura fato?
Hesternas, miserande, dapes moriturus inisti
Nobiscum et gratae carpentem munera mensae
Errantemque toris mediae plus tempore noctis
\"idimus. Adfatus etiam meditataque verba
Reddideras. At nunc aeterna silentia Lethes
Ille canorus habes. Cedat Phaethontia vulgi
Fabula : non soli celebrant sua funera cygni.
— Stat., Silv. II, 4, i.
Birds with the gift of speech are summoned to the funeral :
Hue doctae stipentur aves, quis nobile fandi
lus Natura dedit : plangat Phoebeius ales^
Auditasque memor penitus dimittere voces
Sturnus et Aonio versae certamine picae
Quique refert iungens iterata vocabula perdix^
Et quae Bistonio queritur soror orba cubili :
Ferte simul gemitus cognataque ducite flammis
Funera et hoc cunctae miserandum addiscite carmen.
— Stat., Sih. II, 4, 16.
Cf. Plin. X, 117, 120, 121, 124; Apul., Flor. II; Manil. V, 379.
A description of the parrot. His powers of speech. His last rites
and the words uttered by the birds at his funeral :
'The raven.
The reading comix is attractive (cf. Plin. X, 124 et a!.), but quique is then
of course impossible.
PSITTACUS
Occidit aeriae celeberrima gloria g-entis
Psittacus, ille plagae viridis regnator Eoae,
Quem non gemmata volncris^ lunonia cauda
Vinceret aspectu, gelidi non Phasidis ales^
Nee quas^ humenti Numidae rapuere sub austro,
Ille salutator regum nomenqiie locutus
Caesareum et queruli quondam vice functus amici,
Nunc conviva levis monstrataque recklere verba
Tarn facilis, quo tu, Melior dilecte. recluso
Numquam solus eras. At non inglorius umbris
Mittitur: Assyrio cineres adolentur amomo
Et tenues Arabum respirant gramine plumae
Sicaniisque crocis. senio nee fessus inerti
Scandet odoratos Phoenix felicior ignes.
— Stat., Silv. II, 4. 24.
Or leave me here as now,
Bill, parrot-like and old with cracked voice, harping, screeching
— Whitman.
That screaming parrot makes my blood run cold. — Moody.
Other references to the parrot and his powers of speech :
Quis expedivit psittaco suum cliaerc.
Picasque docuit verba nostra conari ?
Magister artis ingenique largitor
Venter, negatas artifex sequi voces.
— Pers., Prol. 8.
Greek was the language of small talk, love talk, parrot talk.
GiLDERSLEEVE.
Voce ut loquatur psittacus coturnicis
Et concupiscat esse Canus ascaules?
— Mart. X, 3, 6.
Psittacus a vobis aliorum nomina discam :
Hoc didici per me dicere, Caesar. Have.
—Mart. XIV, 73.
ludice me cycnus et garrula cedat hirundo,
Cedat et inlustri psittacus ore tibi.
— Anth. Lat. 658. 19.
Psittacus humanas depromit voce loquelas
Atque suo domino chaere sonat vel ave.
— Anth. Lat. 762, 31.
195
'The peacock. "The pheasant. 'The guinea-fowl.
U)6 THK HIROS OF THE LATIN POKTS
a. Macaw ; and g-oKl-i>Teen parrot, human-tong-ued.
For craft and wit prediction famed of yore. — Bailey.
Behind us at our evening meal
The gray bird ate his fill,
Swung downward by a single claw.
And wiped his hooked bill. — Whittier.
QUERQUEDULA. KtoxovQi^ and xeoxiilaXAiq have been assumed
as possible originals for the cerceris in Varr.. L. L. V, 79.
Cf. Keller, Latcinische Volksetymologic, p. 52.
IvfoxriSric. as a gloss, also occurs.
Vid. Thompson, op. cit. s. v. v. NfixTa, pogxdc, and y^'^ccuxiov.
The querquedula is probably the Teal {Anas crecca) or the Garganey
{Anas querquedula). Cf. Gesner, op. cit., p. 103. "Easdem omnino
Ferrariae in Italia rustici qui in foro vendebant, nomen interroganti
mihi scavolos et cereeuolos (quasi querqiiedulas) appellarunt. Medio-
lani audio garganello dici, quod nomen aliqui etiam aliis anatibus aut
mergis improprie tribuant. Eliota Anglus querquedulas interpretatur
teale."
American parallel : Teal.
He told how teal and loon he shot. — Whittier.
Above the marshy islands flew
The green teal and the swift curlew. — Maurice Thompson.
A possible reference to the fall migration of the querquedulae :
Et ratione
Aut frigidos nimbos cito ac caduciter mentis
Pertimuerunt aquatilis querquedulae natantes.
— Varr., Men. 576.
The teal and mallard wanton o'er the flood. — Aisop.
O Nature ! gentle is thy might : —
Thy action is repose ; — the Eagle's flight
Is tranquil as the teal that sails so light
The hill-defended tarn. — Brown.
REGULUS 197
REGULUS, TqoxiAoc and probably oQ%ikog, (3(/.oi/.£vc. Wren.
Troglodytes europacus or Reguliis cristahis.
American parallels : Wren, kinglet, king-bird.
Alexander Wilson : The Disconsolate Wren.
Henry Van Dyke : The Ruhy-Crozmed Kinglet.
It is noteworthy that the wren, although one of the most observable
and sociable of the smaller birds and about which much later lore has
collected, seems to have touched the ancient poets scarcely at all. This is
due, as in several other cases, largely to the fact that no great metamor-
phosis myth with the wren gained popular acceptance.
Cf. int. al. Newton, op. cit.. p. 1050. The myth of the wren as 'King
of all the birds' is post-classical.
The fire-crowned king of the wrens.
From out the pines. — Tennyson.
I'll be king of the queen of the wrens
And all in a nest together. — Tennyson.
Where's your kingdom, little king?
Where the land you call your own.
Where your palace and your throne?
Fluttering lightly on the wing
Through the blossom-world of May,
Whither lies your royal way.
Little king? — Henry Van Dyke.
The wren's song is like that of the bee-eater and swallow :
Regulus atque merops et rubro pectore progne
Consimili modulo zinzizulare sciunt.
— Anth. Lat. 762, 43.
Sibilous shivering voice.
{Wood-wren.) — Gilbert White of Selborne.
For other references vid. Plin. VHI, 37; Plin., £/>. I, 5, 14.
Then came the wren with carols gay.
The customed roof and porch to greet.
{Frontenac, Canadian Spring.) — Street.
There are notes of joy from the hang-bird and wren.
— Bryant.
[98 THE BIKPS OV 'nil-. LATIN POETS
When first the wren
Was heard to chatter. — Bryant.
There's the htun of the bee and the chirp of the wren.
— Bryant.
The wren
Comes twittering- from liis brushy den.
— Mai-rick Thompson.
And from his pii^my house the wren looked out.
— Bayard Taylor.
Wrens sing all the winter through : frost excepted.
— Gilbert White of Selborne.
RUSTICA. ^y.oloKa^ and doxa^wWirta;. Woodcock.
Scolopax rusticula.
American parallels : Woodcock, snipe.
A table bird. Compared wdth the partrid,ge :
Rustica sim an perdix, quid refert, si sapor idem est?
Carior est perdix. Sic sapit ilia magis.
—Mart. XIII, 76.
The seasons send
Their wildest wanderers : the secret snipe,
That on the borders of the slimy field
Sucks up its draining juice. — M'Kinnon.
The woodcock in his moist retreat,
Heard not the falling of their feet. — Hosmer.
Bubbling within some basin green
So fringed with fern, the woodcock's bill
Scarce penetrates the leafy screen. — Street.
SCOLOPAX. Hy.oloKaE, and uoy.aloinag. Woodcock.
Scolopax rusticula.
American parallels : Woodcock, snipe.
A striking description of the appearance and feeding habits of the
bird:
SCOLOPAX 199
Cum neinus omne suo viridi spoliatur honore,
Fultus equi niveis silvas pete protinus altas
Exuviis : praeda est facilis et amoena scolopax.
Corpore non Paphiis avibus maiore videbis
Ilia sub aggeribus priinis, qua proluit humor,
Pascitur, exiguos sectans obsonia vermes.
At non ilia oculis, quibus est obtusior, etsi
Sint nimium grandes, sed acutis naribus instat ;
Impresso in terram rostri mucrone sequaces
Vermiculos trahit et vili dat praemia vitae.
— Xemes.(?), Anth. Lat. S84.
For discussion of authorship vid. Rhen. Mus. 52, p. 457.
Tread softly now, Carlo ! The woodcock is here :
He rises — his long bill thrust out like a spear. — Street.
When but a brown snipe flutters by
With rustling wing and piping cry. — Maurice THOMPSoisr.
The woodcock whirrs by bush and brake.
— Brow NELL.
The lonely snipe
O'er marshy fields, high in the dusky air
Invisible, but with faint, tremulous tones.
Hovering or playing o'er the listener's head. — Wilcox.
From yon grove the woodcock rises,
Mark her progress by her notes;
High in air her wings she poises,
Then like lightning down she shoots.
— Bleecker (Kettell).
As thick as pine trees in the wood.
Or snipes on Jersey shore.
(Eolopoesis.) — Bigelow(?).
The snipe darts from it like an arrow. — Street.
And the tilting snipe stood fearless of the truants wayward cry
And the splashing of the swimmer, in the days gone by.
— RiLEV.
Watch the snipes and killdees foolin' half the day. — Riley.
Or give me the marsh, with the brown snipe aflush.
And my gun's sudden flashes and resonant din.
— Maurice Thompson.
When but a brown snipe flutters by
With rustling wing and piping cry. — Maurice Thompson.
200 Tin-: niRDs of tup. latin poets
SPINTURNICIUM. ::£.-Tiv{>aol; An unknown bird. Possibly
one of tlio smaller om heaven the fiery dart,
I saw the "vulture passions" tear
The proud Caucasian heart. — Sarah Helen Whitman.
There Prometheus lay,
Chain'd to the cold rocks of Mount Caucasus —
The vulture at his vitals, and the links
Of the lame Lemnian festering in his flesh. — Willis.
Her memory is no Caucasus for thee,
And e'en her hovering hate would o'er thee fling
Too much of glory from its shadowy wing!
— Grace Greenwood.
While thus with fiery eye, and outspread wings.
The ruthless vulture to his victim clings,
With whetted beak deep in the quivering heart.
Oh, thou embodied meaning, master wrought.
(Tityus Chained in Tartarus.) — Stebbins (Griswold).
2l8 THK RIKOS O?' THE LATIN TOETS
In one passage the horror of the vultures themselves is portrayed:
Ipsae liorrent, si quaiulo i)ectore ab alto
Emergunt volucres ininiensaque membra iacentis
Spectant. dum miserae crescunt in pabula fibrae.
—Stat., Theb. XI, 13.
The myth of Prometheus and his torture:
Cing-itur inde sinus, et, qua sibi fida magis vis
Nulla, Prometheae florem de sanguine fibrae
Caucasium, tonitru nutritaque gramina promit.
Quae sacer ille nives inter tristesque pruinias.
Durat editque cruor, cum viscere vultur adeso
Tollitur e scopulis, et rostro irrorat aperto.
— Val. Flacc. VII, 355.
Vid. s. V. AQUiLA. Thompson, op. cit. s. v. 'Aetog.
The eagles of incessant thought still prey
Upon me here ; so, as Prometheus stood
Chained in Caucasus, there in his blood
The eternal Vulture gnawed. — Mifflin.
The beak-torn Titan's hungering pain! — Whittier.
God's bird of wrath ! Swift is thy wrath, O God,
Strong is thy jealousy! — Moody.
( The Fire-B ringer. )
Prometheus thus, in fabled days of old
Crown'd with success, grew arrogant and bold ;
Braved heaven's high lord, with blest immortals strove.
And raised his arm against the throne of Jove ;
The god enraged, with mighty vengeance hurl'd
The daring miscreant to the nether world ;
In durance stretch'd, and bound with massy chains,
Condemn'd to torment and eternal pains ;
On his torn breast a greedy vulture fares.
Sucks the warm blood, the tender liver tears ;
In vain devours, in vain the torrent flows,
Still, still, the bloody feast immortal grows.
— Peirce (Kettell).
Cf. supra for other definite references to the Prometheus myth and
vid. passim Longfellow, Prometheus: Lowell, Prometheus; Moody, The
Fire-Bringer.
For vultures as scavengers feeding upon the dead vid. Enn. Baehrens,
P. L. M. 93; Luc. IV, 680; Ov. Am. II, 6, 33; Trist. I, 6, 11 ; Ih. 169;
Juv. IV, 3; Mart. VI, 62. 4; Luc. VII, 835; Stat., Theb. Ill, 509; Val.
Flacc. IV, 69 ; et al.
VUl.TUR 219
And buried corpses there
Be raised, to feast the vultures of the air. — Freneau.
Gray captains leading bands of veteran men
And fiery youths to be the vultures' feast. — Bryant.
Thou passest o'er the battlefield
Where the dead lie stiff and stark
Where naught is heard save the vulture's scream.
— W. H. Tim ROD.
For a time in our colonial poets, the hawk came into fashion (of
course quite wrongly) as the typical scavenger bird of the battle-field:
Your bodies limb from limb this arm shall tear,
Nor sons nor wives nor sires nor infants spare,
But bid the hungry hawks your race devour
And call grim wolves to feast in floods of gore.
{Conquest of Canaan.) — Timothy Dwigiit.
The beasts shall rend them, and the hawks devour.
(Conquest of Canaan.) — Timothy Dwight.
Left in the field for foreign haivks to tear
Nor can our own vultures the banquet share.
(Columbiad.) — Barlow.
The wide beak'd hazck that now beholds me die,
Soon with his cowering train my flesh shall tear.
(Columbiad.) — Barlow.
The hazvks who range the fields of air
Are fatten'd with our gore. — William Munford.
(Patriots, who fell Nov. 4th, 179 1.)
But compare:
No hungry vulture, from the rock's tall brow,
Eyes the red field, and slaughtering host, below.
(Conquest of Canaan.) — Timothy Dwigiit.
And the vulture ghoul, in the lofty pine.
Looks down with an eager eye and beak. — Strong.
To be alone in this wide plain.
To hear the hungry vulture's wing,
And watch the fainting light of my existence wane.
(Death in the Desert.) — Gen. Albert Pike.
For how vultures anticipate their days of plenty vid. Plaut., Trur.
335 ; Capt. 840.
220 Till-: lURDS OF TIIF. LATIN I'OFTS
The evil birds of carnage hung and watched.
As ravening heirs watch o'er the miser's couch.
— Fairfield (Griswold).
O God, from vulture tlreams my soul defend. — Lanier.
The vulture as a type of reproach and detestation :
Xon herclc humanus ergo —
Xam volturio plus humani credo est.
— Plaut., Mil. Glor. 1043.
Turn autcm sunt alii qui tc volturium vocant
Hostisne an civis comedis parvi pendere.
— Plaut., Trin. loi.
Cf. Cic, In Pis. 16. 31 ; Cat. LXVI, 124; CVI, 4.
An imaginary fresco representing satirically a crow (Tranio), be-
deviling two vultures (Theopropides, Simo).
Tr. Viden pictum ubi ludificat una cornix vultorios duos?
Th. Non edepol video. Tr. At ego video: nam inter volturios
duos.
Cornix astat : ea volturios duos vicissim vellicat.
Quaeso hue ad me specta, cornicem ut conspicere possies.
lam vides? Th. Profecto nuUam equidem illic cornicem in-
tuor.
Tr. At tu istoc ad vos optuere, quoniam cornicem nequis
Conspicari, si volturios forte possis contui.
Th. Omnino, ut te apsoluam, nullam pictam conspicio hie
avem.
Tr. Age, iam mitto, ignosco : aetate non quis optuerier.
— Plaut., Most. 832.
Prof. G. D. Kellog's clever interpretation as an architectural joke
(Trans, and Proc. Atner. Phil. Assoc, vol. XLI, p. xliii), postulates,
I fear, more ornithology, architecture and Greek than either Plautus
himself could have used or his audience follow.
For the Fable of the 'Canis, Thesaurus et Volturius' vid. Phaed. I, 27 :
The mother-love of the vulture. This myth was later associated with
the pelican. Vid. Thompson, op. cit.. p. 48. S. v. onocrotalus.
Cf. The vulture, all maternal, typing thus
Earth, mountain crowned, the glory of the sea.
And mother of us all. — Bailey.
The vulture in proverbial sayings. An unlucky throw of dice :
lacit vulturios quattuor.
— Plaut., Ctirc. 2, 3, 78.
Of something impossible:
Vultur profert cornua.
— Claud., In Eutrop. I, 352.
Praepes funereo cum vulture ludat hirundo.
— Anth. Lat. 390, 27.
The cry of the vulture:
Dum clangunt aquilae, vultur pulpare probatur.
— Anth. Lat. 762, 2y.
She could scream like a vulture or wink like an owl.
— Freneau.
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