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Satyrs

He also mentions and delineates a curious Ape which closely resembles the classical Satyr: “Under the Equinoctiall, toward the East and South, there is a kind of Ape called Ægopithecus, an Ape like a Goate. For there are Apes like Beares, called Arctopitheci, and some like Lyons, called Leontopitheci, and some like Dogs, called Cynocephali, as is before expressed; and many other which have a mixt resemblance of other creatures in their members.

“Amongst the rest there is a beast called PAN; who in his head, face, horns, legs, and from the loynes downward resembleth a Goat, but in his belly, breast, and armes, an Ape: such a one was sent by the King of Indians to Constantine, which, being shut up in a cave or close place, by reason of the wildnesse thereof, lived there but a season, and when it was dead and bowelled, they pouldred it with spices, and carried it to be seene at Constantinople: the which beast having beene seene of the ancient Græcians, were so amazed at the strangenesse thereof, that they received it for a God, as they did a Satyre, and other strange beasts.”

I have said that Topsell has mixed the Ape and the Satyr, inextricably – but as his version has the charm of description and anecdote, I give it with little curtailment.

“As the Cynocephali, or Baboun Apes have given occasion to some to imagine (though falsly) there were such men, so the Satyre, a most rare and seldom seene beast, hath occasioned other to thinke it was a Devil; and the Poets with their Apes, the Painters, Limners, and Carvers, to encrease that superstition, have therefore described him with hornes on his head, and feet like Goates, whereas Satires have neither of both. And it may be that Devils have at some time appeared to men in this likenes, as they have done in the likeness of the Onocentaure and wild Asse, and other shapes; it being also probable that Devils take not any dænomination or shape from Satyres, but rather the Apes themselves, from Devils whom they resemble, for there are many things common to the Satyre Apes, and devilish Satyres, as their human shape, their abode in solitary places, their rough hayre, and lust to women, wherewith all other Apes are naturally infected; but especially Satyres…

“Peradventure the name of Satyre is more fitly derived from the Hebrew, Sair, Esa. 34, whereof the plural is Seirim, Esa. 13, which is interpreted monsters of the Desart, or rough hairy Fawnes; and when Iisim is put to Seir, it signifieth Goats.

“The Chaldæans, for Seirim, render Schedin; that is, evill devills; and the Arabians, lesejathin, that is Satanas: the Persyans, Devan, the Illyrians, Devadai, and Dewas: the Germans, Teufel. They which passed through the world, and exercised dauncing and other sports for Dionisius, were called Satyres, and sometimes Tytiri, because of their wanton songes; sometimes Sileni (although the difference is, that the smaller and younger beasts are called Satiri, the elder, and greater, Sileni;) Also Bacchæ and Nymphæ, wherefore Bacchus is pictured riding in a chariot of vine branches, Silenus ridinge beside him on an Asse, and the Bacchæ or Satyres shaking togetheer their staulkie Javelines and Paulmers.²⁶ By reason of their leaping they are called Scirti, and the anticke or satyrical dauncing, Sicinnis, and they also sometimes Sicinnistæ; sometimes Ægipanæ; wherefore Pliny reporteth, that among the westerne Ethiopians, there are certain little hilles full of the Satirique Ægipanæ, and that, in the night-time they use great fires, piping and dansing, with a wonderful noise of Tymbrels and Cymbals; and so also in Atlas amongest the Moores, whereof there was no footing, remnant, or appearance, to be found in the daytime.

“… There are also Satires in the Eastern mountaines of India, in the country of the Cartaduli, and in the province of the Comari and Corudæ, but the Cebi spoken of before, bred in Ethiopia, are not Satyres (though faced like them:) nor the Prasyan Apes, which resemble Satyres in short beards. There are many kindes of these Satyres better distinguished by names than any properties naturall known unto us. Such are the Ægipanæ, before declared, Nymphes of the Poets, Fawnes, Pan and Sileni, which, in time of the Gentiles were worshipped for Gods; and it was one part of their religion to set up the picture of a Satyre at their dores and gates, for a remedy against the bewitching of envious persons.

“… Satyres have no humaine conditions in them, nor any other resemblance of men besides their outward shape; though Solinus speakes of them like as of men. They carry their meate under their chin as in a store house, and from thence being hungry, they take it forth to eat, making it ordinary with them every day, which is but annuall in the Formicæ lions; being of very unquiet motions above other Apes. They are hardly taken, except sicke, great with yong, old or asleepe; for Sylla had a Satyre brought him, which was taken asleepe neare Apollonia, in the holy place Nymphæum, of whom he (by divers interpreters) demanded many questions, but received no answer, save only a voice very much like the neighing of a horse, wherof he being afraid, sent him away alive.

“Philostratus telleth another history, how that Apollonius and his colleagues, supping in a village of Ethiopia, beyond the fall of Nilus, they heard a sudden outcry of women calling to one another; some saying, Take him, others, Follow him; likewise provoking their husbands to helpe them: the men presently tooke clubs, stones, or what came first to hand, complaining of an injury done unto their wives. Now some ten moneths before, there had appeared a fearfull shew of a Satyre, raging upon their women, and had slain two of them, with whom he was in love: the companions of Apollonius quaked at the hearing hereof, and Nilus, one of them, swore (by Jove) that they being naked and unarmed, could not be able to resist him in his outragious lust, but that he would accomplish his wantonnes as before: yet, said Apollonius, there is a remedy to quaile these wanton-leaping beasts, which men say Midas used (for Midas was of kindred to Satyres, as appeared by his eares). This Midas heard his mother say, that Satyres loved to be drunke with wine, and then sleep soundly, and after that, be so moderate, mild and gentle, that a man might thinke they had lost their first nature.

“Whereupon he put wine into a fountain neere the highway, whereof, when the Satyre had tasted, he waxed meeke suddenly, and was overcome. Now that we thinke not this a fable (saith Apollonius) let us go to the Governor of the Towne, and inquire of him whether there be any wine to be had that we may offer it to the Satyre, wherunto all consented, and they filled foure great Egyptian earthen vessels with wine, and put it in the fountain where their cattel were watred: this done, Apollonius called the Satyre, secretly thretning him, and the Satire, inraged with the savour of the wine came; after he had drunke thereof, Now, said Apollonius, let us sacrifice to the Satyre, for he sleepeth, and so led the inhabitants to the dens of the Nymphs, distant a furlong from the towne, and shewed them the Satyre saying; Neither beat, cursse, or provoke him henceforth, and he shall never harme you.

“It is certaine, that the devills do many waies delude men in the likeness of Satyres; for, when the drunken feasts of Bacchus were yearely celebrated in Parnassus, there were many sightes of Satyres, and voyces, and sounding of cymbals heard: yet it is likely that there are men also like Satyres, inhabiting in some desart places; for S. Ierom, in the life of Paul the Eremite, reporteth that there appeared to S. Anthony, an Hippocentaure such as the Poets describe, and presently he saw, in a rocky valley adjoining, a little man having croked nostrils, hornes growing out of his forhed, and the neather part of his body had Goat’s feet; the holy man, not dismayed, taking the shield of faith, and the breastplate of righteousnesse, like a good souldior of Christ, pressed toward him, which brought him some fruites of palmes as pledges of his peace, upon which he fed in the journey; which Saint Anthony perceiving, he asked him who he was, and received this answere; I am a mortall creature, one of the inhabitants of this Desart, whom the Gentiles (deceived with error) doe worship, and call Fauni, Satyres, and Incubi: I am come in ambassage from our flocke, intreating that thou would’st pray for us unto the common GOD, who came to save the world; the which words were no sooner ended, but he ran away as fast as any foule could fly. And least this should seeme false, under Constantine at Alexandria there was such a man to be seene alive, and was a publick spectacle to all the World; the carcasse thereof, after his death, was kept from corruption by heat, through salt, and was carried to Antiocha that the Emperor himself might see it.

“Satyres are very sildom seene, and taken with great difficulty, as is before saide: for there were two of these founde in the woods of Saxony towards Dacia, in a desart, the female was killed by the darts of the hunters, and the biting of Dogs, but the male was taken alive, being in the upper parts like a man, and in the neather partes like a Goat, but all hairy throughout: he was brought to be tame, and learned to go upright, and also to speake some wordes, but with a voice like a Goat, and without all reason.

“The famous learned man George Fabricius, shewed me this shape of a monstrous beast that is fit to be joyned to the story of Satyres. There was, (saide he,) in the territory of the Bishop of Salceburgh, in a forrest called Fannesbergh, a certaine foure-footed beast, of a yellowish carnation colour, but so wilde that he would never be drawne to looke upon any man, hiding himselfe in the darkest places, and beeing watched diligently, would not be provoked to come forth so much as to eate his meate – so that in a very short time it was famished. The hinder legs were much unlike the former, and also much longer. It was taken about the year of the Lord, one thousand five hundred, thirty, whose image being here so lively described, may save us further labour in discoursing of his maine and different parts and proportion.”

The Sphynx

“The Sphynga or Sphinx, is of the kind of Apes, but his breast up to his necke, pilde and smooth without hayre: the face is very round, yet sharp and piked, having the breasts of women, and their favor, or visage, much like them: In that part of the body which is bare with out haire, there is a certaine red thing rising in a round circle, like millet seed, which giveth great grace & comeliness to their coulour, which in the middle part is humaine: Their voice is very like a man’s, but not articulate, sounding as if one did speake hastily, with indignation or sorrow. Their haire browne, or swarthy coulour. They are bred in India, and Ethiopia. In the promontory of the farthest Arabia neere Dira, are Sphinges, and certaine Lyons, called Formicæ, so, likewise, they are to be found amongest the Trogloditæ.

“As the Babouns and Cynocephali are more wilde than other Apes, so the Satyres and Sphynges are more meeke and gentle, for they are not so wilde that they will not bee tamed, nor yet so tame, but they will revenge their own harmes; as appeared by that which was slayne in a publike spectacle among the Thebanes. They carrye their meat in the store houses of their own chaps or cheeks, taking it forth when they are hungry, and so eat it.

“The name of this Sphynx is taken from ‘binding,’ as appeareth by the Greek notation, or else of delicacie and dainty nice loosnesse, (wherefore there were certain common strumpets called Sphinctæ, and the Megarian Sphingas was a very popular phrase for notorious harlots), hath given occasion to the poets to faigne a certaine monster called Sphynx, which they say was thus derived. Hydra brought foorth the Chimæra, Chimæra by Orthus, the Sphynx, and the Nemæan Lyon: now, this Orthus was one of Geryon’s dogges. This Sphynx they make a treble formed monster, a Mayden’s face, a Lyon’s legs, and the wings of a fowle; or, as Ansonius and Varinus say, the face and head of a mayde, the body of a dogge, the winges of a byrd, the voice of a man, the clawes of a Lyon, and the tayle of a dragon: and that she kept continually in the Sphincian mountaine; propounding to all travailers that came that way an Ænigma, or Riddle, which was this: What was the creature that first of all goeth on foure legges; afterwards on two, and, lastly, on three: and all of them that could not dissolve that Riddle, she presently slew, by taking them, and throwing them downe headlong, from the top of a Rocke. At last Œdipus came that way, and declared the secret, that it was a man, who in his infancy creepeth on all foure, afterward, in youth, goeth upon two legs, and last of all, in olde age taketh unto him a staffe which maketh him to goe, as it were, on three legs; which the monster hearing, she presently threwe down herselfe from the former rocke, and so she ended. Whereupon Œdipus is taken for a subtill and wise opener of mysteries.

“But the truth is, that when Cadmus had married an Amazonian woman, called Sphynx, and, with her, came to Thebes, and there slew Draco their king, and possessed his kingdom, afterwards there was a sister unto Draco called Harmona, whom Cadmus married, Sphynx being yet alive. She, in revenge, (being assisted by many followers,) departed with great store of wealth into the mountaine Sphincius, taking with her a great Dogge, which Cadmus held in great account, and there made daily incursions or spoiles upon his people. Now, ænigma, in the Theban language, signifieth an inrode, or warlike incursion, wherfore the people complained in this sort. This Grecian Sphinx robbeth us, in setting up with an ænigma, but no man knoweth after what manner she maketh this ænigma.

“Cadmus hereupon made proclamation, that he would give a very bountifull reward unto him that would kill Sphinx, upon which occasion the Corinthian Œdipus came unto her, being mounted on a swift courser, and accompanied with some Thebans in the night season, slue her. Other say that Œdipus by counterfaiting friendshippe, slue her, making shew to be of her faction; and Pausanius saith, that the former Riddle, was not a Riddle, but an Oracle of Apollo, which Cadmus had received, whereby his posterity should be inheritors of the Theban kingdome; and whereas Œdipus, being the son of Laius, a former king of that countrey, was taught the Oracle in his sleepe, he recouvered the kingdome usurped by Sphinx his sister, and, afterwards, unknown, married his mother Jocasta.

“But the true morall of this poetical fiction is by that learned Alciatus, in one of his emblems, deciphered; that her monstrous treble formed shape signified her lustfull pleasure under a Virgin’s face, her cruell pride, under the Lyon’s clawes, her winde-driven leuitye, under the Eagles, or birdes feathers, and I will conclude with the wordes of Suidas concerning such monsters, that the Tritons, Sphinges, and Centaures, are the images of those things, which are not to be founde within the compasse of the whole world.”

Apes

Sluper, who could soar to the height of delineating a Cyclops, is equal to the occasion when he has to deal with Apes, and here he gives us an Ape which, unfortunately, does not seem to have survived to modern times – namely, one which wove for itself coarse cloth, probably of rushes; had a cloak of skin, and walked upright, with the aid of a walking-stick, and was so genteel, that, having no boots, he seems to have blacked his feet. And thus he sings of it:

 
“Pres le Peru par effect le voit on,
Dieu a donné au Singe telle forme.
Vestu dejonc, s’appuyant d’un baston,
Estãt debout, chose aux hõmes cõforme.”
 

Before quitting the subject of Apes, I cannot refrain from noticing another of this genus mentioned by Topsell, and that is the Arctopithecus or Bear Ape: – “There is in America a very deformed beast, which the inhabitants call Haut or Hauti, and the Frenchmen Guenon, as big as a great Affrican Monkey. His belly hangeth very low, his head and face like unto a childes, and being taken, it will sigh like a young childe. His skin is of an ashe-colour, and hairie like a Beare: he hath but three clawes on a foote, as longe as foure fingers, and like the thornes of Privet, whereby he climbeth up into the highest trees, and for the most part liveth of the leaves of a certain tree, beeing of an exceeding heighth, which the Americans call Amahut, and thereof this beast is called Haut. Their tayle is about three fingers long, having very little haire thereon; it hath beene often tried, that though it suffer any famine, it will not eate the fleshe of a living man, and one of them was given me by a French-man, which I kept alive sixe and twenty daies, and at the last it was killed by Dogges, and in that time when I had set it abroad in the open ayre, I observed that, although it often rained, yet was that beast never wet.²⁷ When it is tame, it is very loving to a man, and desirous to climbe uppe to his shoulders, which those naked Amerycans cannot endure, by reason of the sharpnesse of his Clawes.”

Animal Lore

We are indebted to Pliny for much strange animal lore – which, however, will scarcely bear the fierce light of modern investigation. Thus, he tells us of places in which certain animals are not to be found, and narrates some very curious zoological anecdotes thereon. “It is a remarkable fact, that nature has not only assigned different countries to different animals, but that even in the same country it has denied certain species to certain localities. In Italy, the dormouse is found in one part only, the Messian forest. In Lycia, the gazelle never passes beyond the mountains which border upon Syria; nor does the wild ass in that vicinity pass over those which divide Cappadocia from Cilicia. On the banks of the Hellespont, the stags never pass into a strange territory, and, about Arginussa, they never go beyond Mount Elaphus; those upon the mountains, too, have cloven ears. In the island of Poroselene, the weasels will not so much as cross a certain road. In Bœotia, the moles, which were introduced at Lebadea, fly from the very soil of that country, while in the neighbourhood, at Orchomenus, the very same animals tear up all the fields. We have seen coverlets for beds made of the skin of these creatures, so that our sense of religion does not prevent us from employing these ominous animals for the purposes of luxury.

“When hares have been brought to Ithaca, they die as soon as ever they touch the shore, and the same is the case with rabbits, on the shores of the island of Ebusus; while they abound in the vicinity, Spain namely, and the Balearic isles. In Cyrene, the frogs were formerly dumb, and this species still exists, although croaking ones were carried over there from the Continent. At the present day, even, the frogs of the island of Seriphos are dumb; but when they are carried to other places, they croak; the same thing is also said to have taken place at Sicandrus, a lake of Thessaly. In Italy, the bite of a shrew-mouse is venomous; an animal which is not to be found in any region beyond the Apennines. In whatever country it exists, it always dies immediately if it goes across the rut made by a wheel. Upon Olympus, a mountain of Macedonia, there are no wolves, nor yet in the isle of Crete. In this island there are neither foxes nor bears, nor, indeed, any kind of baneful animal, with the exception of the phalangium, a species of spider. It is a thing still more remarkable, that in this island there are no stags, except in the district of Cydon; the same is the case with the wild boar, the woodcock, and the hedgehog.”

He further tells us of animals which will injure strangers only, as also animals which injure the natives only.

“There are certain animals which are harmless to the natives of the country, but destroy strangers; such as the little serpents at Tirynthus, which are said to spring out of the earth. In Syria, also, and especially on the banks of the Euphrates, the serpents never attack the Syrians when they are asleep, and even if they happen to bite a native who treads upon them, their venom is not felt; but to persons of any other country they are extremely hostile, and fiercely attack them, causing a death attended with great torture. On this account the Syrians never kill them. On the contrary, on Latmos, a mountain of Caria, as Aristotle tells us, strangers are not injured by the scorpions, while the natives are killed by them.”

He also throws some curious light, unknown to modern zoologists, on the antipathies of animals one to another. He says: – “There will be no difficulty in perceiving that animals are possessed of other instincts besides those previously mentioned. In fact, there are certain antipathies, and sympathies among them, which give rise to various affections, besides those which we have mentioned in relation to each species, in its appropriate place. The Swan and the Eagle are always at variance, and the Raven and the Chloreus seek each other’s eggs by night. In a similar manner, also, the Raven and the Kite are perpetually at war with one another, the one carrying off the other’s food. So, too, there are antipathies between the Crow and the Owl, the Eagle and the Trochilus; between the last two, if we are to believe the story, because the latter has received the title of ‘the king of birds;’ the same, again, with the Owlet and all the smaller birds.

“Again, in relation to the terrestrial animals, the Weasel is at enmity with the Crow, the Turtle-dove with the Pyrallis, the Ichneumon with the Wasp, and the Phalangium with other Spiders. Among aquatic animals, there is enmity between the Duck and the Seamew, the Falcon known as the ‘Harpe,’ and the Hawk called the ‘Triorchis.’ In a similar manner, too, the Shrew-mouse and the Heron are ever on the watch for each other’s young; and the Ægithus, so small a bird as it is, has an antipathy for the Ass; for the latter, when scratching itself, rubs its body against the brambles, and so crushes the bird’s nest; a thing of which it stands in such dread, that, if it only hears the voice of the Ass when it brays, it will throw its eggs out of the nest, and the young ones, themselves, will, sometimes, fall to the ground in their fright; hence it is that it will fly at the Ass, and peck at its sores with its beak.

“The Fox, too, is at war with the Nisus, and Serpents with Weasels and Swine. Æsalon is the name given to a small bird that breaks the eggs of the Raven, and the young of which are anxiously sought by the Fox; while, in its turn, it will peck at the young of the Fox, and even the parent itself. As soon as the Ravens espy this, they come to its assistance, as though against a common enemy. The Acanthis, too, lives among the brambles; hence it is that it also has an antipathy to the Ass, because it devours the bramble blossoms. The Ægithus and the Anthus, too, are at such mortal enmity with each other, that it is the common belief that their blood will not mingle; and it is for this reason that they have the bad repute of being employed in many magical incantations. The Thos and the Lion are at war with each other; and, indeed, the smallest objects and the greatest, just as much. Caterpillars will avoid a tree that is infested with Ants. The Spider, poised in its web, will throw itself on the head of a Serpent, as it lies stretched beneath the shade of the tree where it has built, and, with its bite, pierce its brain; such is the shock, that the creature will hiss from time to time, and then, seized with vertigo, coil round and round, while it finds itself unable to take to flight, or so much as to break the web of the spider, as it hangs suspended above; this scene only ends with its death.”