[2051] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 9, refers to this opinion, as being erroneous; Ælian. Hist. Anim. B. i. c. 53, supposes that they breathe both through the nose and the ears.—B.
[2052] Varro, ubi supra, remarks, “that no one in his senses speaks of a goat in health; for they are never without fever.”
[2053] Meaning those who cannot see at night, who have a weak sight, and therefore require a strong light to distinguish objects. See also, as to the Nyctalopes, B. xxviii. c. 47. The same remedy, the liver of the goat, is recommended for its cure.—B. See also B. xxviii. c. 11.
[2054] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. viii. c. 28, says that the inhabitants of Cilicia shear the goats in the same manner as the sheep.—B.
[2055] This is mentioned by Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 3.—B.
[2056] Aristotle, Hist. Anim. B. ix. c. 3, refers to the beard of the goat, under the name of ἤρυγγον.
[2057] According to Hardouin, the herb referred to is the “eryngium;” probably the “eringo:” he cites various authorities in support of his opinion.—B.
[2058] This is repeated in B. xvii. c. 24.—B.
[2059] Varro, B. i. c. 2, says: “Hence it is that they sacrificed no goats to Minerva, on account of the olive;” he then explains why the circumstance of the goat injuring the olive-tree was a reason for not offering it in sacrifice to Minerva, the patroness of this tree. Ovid, on the other hand, in the Fasti, B. i. l. 360, says that the goat was sacrificed to Bacchus, because it gnawed the vine.
[2060] We have an account of the hog in Varro, B. ii. c. 4, from whom most of Pliny’s remarks are probably derived.—B.