solstice, and that at periodical seasons they retire and conceal themselves in some calm capacious bay, in which they take a delight in bringing forth. This fact, however, is known to the Orca, an animal which is particularly hostile to the Balæna, and the form of which cannot be in any way accurately described, but as an enormous mass of flesh, armed with teeth. This animal attacks the Balæna in its place of retirement, and with its teeth tears its young, or else attacks the females which have just brought forth, and, indeed, while they are still pregnant; and, as they rush upon them, it pierces them just as though they had been attacked by the beak of a Liburnian Galley. The female Balænæ, devoid of all flexibility, without energy to defend themselves, and overburdened by their own weight; weakened, too, by gestation, or else the pains of recent parturition, are well aware that their only resource is to take flight in the open sea, and to range over the whole face of the ocean; while the Orcæ, on the other hand, do all in their power to meet them in their flight, throw themselves in their way, and kill them either cooped up in a narrow passage, or else drive them on a shoal, or dash them to pieces against the rocks. When these battles are witnessed, it appears just as though the sea were infuriate against itself; not a breath of wind is there to be felt in the bay, and yet the waves, by their pantings and their repeated blows, are heaved aloft in a way which no whirlwind could effect.
“An Orca has been seen even in the port of Ostia, where it was attacked by the Emperor Claudius. It was while he was constructing the harbour there that this orca came, attracted by some hides, which, having been brought from Gaul, had happened to fall overboard there.
By feeding upon these for several days it had quite glutted itself, having made for itself a channel in the shoaly water. Here, however, the sand was thrown up by the action of the wind to such an extent that the creature found it quite impossible to turn round; and while in the act of pursuing its prey, it was propelled by the waves towards the shore, so that its back came to be perceived above the level of the water, very much resembling in appearance the keel of a vessel turned bottom upwards. Upon this, Cæsar ordered a number of nets to be extended at the mouth of the harbour, from shore to shore, while he himself went there with the Prætorian Cohorts, and so afforded a spectacle to the Roman people; for boats assailed the monster, while the soldiers on board showered lances upon it. I, myself, saw one of the boats sunk by the water which the animal, as it respired, showered down upon it.”
Olaus Magnus thus writes “Of the fight between the Whale and the Orca. A Whale is a very great fish, about one hundred, or three hundred foot long, and the body is of a vast magnitude, yet the Orca, which is smaller in quantity, but more nimble to assault, and cruel to come on, is his deadly Enemy. An Orca is like a Hull turned inwards outward; a Beast with fierce Teeth, with which, as with the Stern of a Ship, he rends the Whale’s Guts, and tears its Calve’s body open, or he quickly runs and drives him up and down with his prickly back, that he makes him run to Fords and Shores. But the Whale, that cannot turn its huge body, not knowing how to resist the wily Orca, puts all its hopes in flight; yet that flight is weak, because this sluggish Beast, burdned by its own weight, wants one to guide her, to fly to the Foords, to escape the dangers.”
The Dolphin.
Pliny says:—“The Dolphin is an animal not only friendly to man, but a lover of music as well; he is charmed by melodious concerts, and more especially by the notes of the water organ. He does not dread man, as though a stranger to him, but comes to meet ships, leaps and bounds to and fro, vies with them in swiftness, and passes them even when in full sail.
“In the reign of the late Emperor Augustus, a dolphin which had been carried to the Lucrine Lake, conceived a most wonderful affection for the child of a certain poor man, who was in the habit of going that way from Baiæ to Puteoli to school, and who used to stop there in the middle of the day, call him by his name of Simo, and would often entice him to the banks of the lake with pieces of bread which he carried for the purpose. At whatever hour of the day he might happen to be called by the boy, and although hidden and out of sight at the bottom of the water, he would instantly fly to the surface, and after feeding from his hand, would present his back for him to mount, taking care to conceal the spiny projection of his fins in their sheath, as it were; and so, sportively taking him up on his back, he would carry him over a wide expanse of sea to the school at Puteoli, and in a similar manner bring him back again. This happened for several years, until, at last, the boy happened to fall ill of some malady, and died. The Dolphin, however, still came to the same spot as usual, with a sorrowful air, and manifesting every sign of deep affliction, until at last, a thing of which no one felt the slightest doubt, he died purely of sorrow and regret.
“Within these few years also, another at Hippo Diarrhytus, on the coast of Africa, in a similar manner used to receive his food from the hands of various persons, present himself for their caresses, sport about among the swimmers, and carry them on his back. On being rubbed with unguents by Flavianus, the then pro-consul of Africa, he was lulled to sleep, as it appeared, by the sensation of an odour so new to him, and floated about just as though he had been dead. For some months after this, he carefully avoided all intercourse with man, just as if he had received some affront or other; but, at the end of that time, he returned, and afforded just the same wonderful scenes as before. At last, the vexations that were caused them by having to entertain so many influential men who came to see this sight, compelled the people of Hippo to put the animal to death....
“Hegesidemus has also informed us, that, in the city of Iasus (the island and city of Caria), there was another boy also, Hermias by name, who in a similar manner used to traverse the sea on a dolphin’s back, but that, on one occasion, a tempest suddenly arising, he lost his life, and was brought back dead: upon which, the dolphin, who thus admitted that he had been the cause of his death, would not return to the sea, but lay down upon dry land and there expired.”
Du Bartas gives us a new trait in the Dolphin’s character:—