Beast

Sources : Lion

Aesop's Fables [6th century BCE +] (Ass, Cock, and Lion; Perry 82) A donkey and a rooster lived together on a farm. A lion who had noticed the donkey crept up and was about to pounce when the rooster let loose a squawk. This frightened the lion (for they say that lions are terrified of the rooster's crowing) and he turned tail and ran. The donkey was elated at the thought of the lion running away from a rooster. He took off in pursuit of the lion but when the donkey had gone some distance away from the farm, the lion turned around and ate him. - [ Gibbs translation]

Herodotus [c. 484 – c. 425 BCE] (Histories, Book 3.108) ...the lioness, a very strong and bold beast, bears offspring but once in her life, and then but one cub; for the uterus comes out with the cub in the act of birth. This is the reason of it: - when the cub first begins to stir in the mother, its claws, much sharper than those of any other creature, tear the uterus, and as it grows, much more does it scratch and tear, so that when the hour of birth is near seldom is any of the uterus left whole. - [Godley translation]

Aristotle [ca. 350 BCE] (De animalibus Book 1, 1.15; 2, 1.1; 3, 8.2; 6, 28.1; 8, 7.4; 9, 2.11; 9, 31.1-3): [Book 1, 1.15] Others, as the lion, are liberal, noble, and generous. [Book 2, 1.1] The lion has one bone in the neck, but has no vertebrae, and when laid open its internal parts are like those of a dog. [Book 3, 8.6] Some animals do not appear to have any marrow at all in their bones, as the lion, whose bones are very small and Blight: or there may be marrow in a few of its bones, as in those of the thigh and fore leg; otherwise, in the lion, the bones are particularly solid, for they are sufficiently hard to emit fire like stones on concussion. [Book 6, 28.1] It has already been observed that the lion both copulates and makes water backwards. They do not copulate and produce their young at all seasons of the year, though they produce annually. The young are produced in the spring. The female generally produces two, never more than six, and sometimes only one. The fable which says that the uterus is ejected in parturition is a mistake. It has arisen from the rarity of the animal, those who invented the fable being ignorant of the true state of the case. The race of lions is rare, and not to be found in every place, but only in the country between the Achelous and the Nessus in the whole of Europe. The young of the lion are very small at their birth, so that they can hardly walk at two months old. The Syrian lions produce five times ; at first five cubs, and then one less every time. After this they produce no more, but continue barren. The lioness has no mane, though the lion has. The lion only sheds its four canine teeth, two above and two below. They are shed when the animal is six months old. [Book 8, 7.4] The lion, like all other wild animals with pointed teeth, is carnivorous; it devours its food greedily, and swallows large pieces without dividing them; it can afterwards, from its repletion, remain two or three days without food. It drinks very little. [Book 9, 31.1] The lion in his manner of feeding is very cruel; but when he is not hungry, and is full fed, his disposition is gentle. [Book 9, 2.11] The lion and jackal are foes, for both are carnivorous, and live on the same substances. [Book 9, 31.1] The lion in his manner of feeding is very cruel; but when he is not hungry, and is full fed, his disposition is gentle. He is not either jealous or suspicious. He is fond of playing with and affectionate towards those animals which have been brought up with him, and to which he has become accustomed. When hunted, he has never been seen to retreat or be alarmed; and if compelled to yield to the numbers of his hunters, he retreats slowly and leisurely, and turns himself round at short intervals. If overtaken in a thicket, he flies rapidly till he reaches the open plain, and then again he withdraws slowly. If compelled by numbers to retreat openly on the plain ground, he runs at full stretch, and does not leap. His manner of running is continuous, like that of a dog at full stretch. When pursuing his prey, he throws himself upon it when he comes within reach. [Book 9, 31.2] It is, however, true, as they say, that the lion is afraid of the fire, as Homer also writes, "The burning faggots which he fears when urged against him", and that he observes the person who strikes him and attacks him; and if a person aims a blow at him without hitting him, the lion, if he can rush upon and seize him, does not do him any injury, nor tear him with his claws, but shakes and frightens him, and then leaves him. They are more disposed to enter towns and attack mankind when they grow old; for old age renders them unable to hunt, from the disease which attacks their teeth. They live many years; and a lame lion has been captured which had many of its teeth broken, which some persons considered as a sign that it had lived many years. For this could not have happened except by the lapse of time. [Book 9, 31.3] There are two kinds of lions. One of these has a round body and more curly hair, and is a more cowardly animal. The other is of a longer form, has straight hair, and is more courageous. Sometimes, when retreating, they stretch out their tails like dogs; and a lion has been at times observed, when about to attack a hog, to retreat when that animal erected its bristles. The lion is weak if struck in the belly, but will bear many blows on other parts of the body, and its head is very strong. If they bite or tear anything, a large quantity of yellow serum flows from the wound, which can never be stopped by bandages or sponges. The mode of healing is the same as in the bite of a dog. - [Cresswell translation, 1887]

Pliny the Elder [1st century CE] (Natural History, Book 8, 17-19): [Book 8, 17] The lion is specially high-spirited at the time when neck and shoulders are clothed with a mane — for most. this occurs at maturity in the case of those sired by a lion, though those begotten by leopards always lack this characteristic; and the females likewise. Sexual passion is strong in this species, with its consequence of quarrelsomeness in the males; this is most observed in Africa, where the shortage of water makes the animals flock to the few rivers. There are consequently many varieties of hybrids in that country, either violence or lust mating the males with the females of each species indiscriminately. This is indeed the origin of the common saying of Greece that Africa is always producing some novelty. A lion detects intercourse with a leopard in the case of an adulterous mate by scent, and concentrates his entire strength on her chastisement; consequently this guilty stain is washed away in a stream, or else she keeps her distance when accompanying him. But I notice that there used to be a popular belief that the lioness only bears a cub once, as her womb is wounded by the points of its claws in delivery. Aristotle, however, whose authority I feel bound to cite first as I am going in great part to follow him on these subjects, gives a different account. [Book 8, 18] He states that there are two kinds of lions, one thickset and short, with comparatively curly manes — these being more timid than the long, straight-haired kind; the latter despise wounds. The males lift one leg in making water, like dogs. Their smell is disagreeable, and not less their breath. They are infrequent drinkers, and they feed every other day, after a full meal occasionally abstaining from food for three days; when chewing they swallow whole what they can, and when their belly will not contain the result of their gluttony, they insert their clenched claws into their throats and drag it out, so that if they have to run away they may not go in a state of repletion. From the fact that many specimens are found lacking teeth he infers that they are long-lived. Aemihanus's companion Polybius states that in old age their favorite prey is a human being, because their strength is not adequate to hunting wild animals; and that at this period of their lives they beset the cities of Africa, and consequently when he was with Scipio he saw lions crucified, because the others might be deterred from the same mischief by fear of the same penalty. [Book 8, 19] The lion alone of wild animals shows mercy to suppliants; it spares persons prostrated in front of it, and when raging it turns its fury on men rather than women, and only attacks children when extremely hungry. Juba believes that the meaning of entreaties gets through to them: at all events he was informed that the onset of a herd of lions in the forests upon a woman of Gaetuha who was captured and got away again had been checked by a speech in which she dared to say that she was a female, a fugitive, a weakling, a suppliant to the most generous of all the animals, the lord of all the rest, a booty unworthy of his glory. ... Lions indicate their state of mind by means of their tail, as horses do by their ears: for Nature has assigned even these means of expression to all the noblest animals. Consequently the lion's tail is motionless when he is calm, and moves gently when he wishes to cajole — which is seldom, since anger is more usual; at the onset of which the earth is lashed, and as the anger grows, his back is lashed as if for a mode of incitement. A lion's greatest strength is in the chest. Black blood flows from every wound, whether made by claw or tooth. Yet when lions are glutted they are harmless. The lion's nobility of spirit is detected most in dangers, not merely in the way that despising weapons he protects himself for a long time only by intimidation, and protests as it were that he is acting under compulsion, and rises to the encounter not as if forced by danger but as though enraged by madness; but a nobler indication of this spirit is this, that however large a force of hounds and hunters besets him, in level plains and where he can be seen lie retires contemptuously and constantly halting, but when he has made his way into brushwood and forest he proceeds at top speed, as if aware that the he of the land conceals his disgrace. When pursuing he advances by leaps and bounds, but he does not use this gait when in flight. When lie has been wounded he marks down his assailant in a marvelous way, and knows him and picks him out in however large a crowd. Yet a person who discharges a weapon at him but fails to wound him he seizes and whirling him round flings him on the ground, but does not wound him. It is said that when a mother lion is fighting in defense of her cubs she fixes the gaze of her eyes upon the ground so as not to flinch from the hunting spears. Otherwise hons are devoid of craft and suspicion, and they do not look at you with eyes askance and dislike being looked at in a similar way. The belief has been held that a dying lion bites the earth and bestows a tear upon death. Yet though of such a nature and of such ferocity this animal is frightened by wheels turning round and by empty chariots, and even more by the crested combs and the crowing of cocks, but most of all by fires. The only malady to which it is liable is that of distaste for food; in this condition it can be cured by insulting treatment, the pranks of monkeys tied to it driving it to fury; and then tasting their blood acts as a remedy.. (Book 10, 83): But whereas all those above bear their offspring fully formed, these produce them unfinished — in this class being lionesses and bears... [Book 11,115]: The lion's breath contains a severe poison... - [Rackham translation]

Aelianus [170-230 CE] (On the Characteristics of Animals, Book 4, 34; 5, 39): [Book 4, 34] There is no season of the year in which [the lion] abstains from coupling, and the lioness is pregnant for two months. Five times does she give birth, at the first birth to five cubs, at the second to four, after that to three, after that to two, and finally to one. [Book 5, 39] And when he has eaten more than enough, he empties himself by lying quiet and abstaining from food, or alternatively he catches a monkey and eats some of it, voiding and emptying his belly by means of its flesh. - [Scholfield translation]

Gaius Julius Solinus [3rd century CE] (De mirabilibus mundi / Polyhistor, Chapter 27.13-20): [Chapter 27.13] Many beasts, indeed, are in Africa’s interior, but it is principally held by lions, which, as Aristotle holds, alone of that type they call “toothed”, can see as soon as they are born. These may be broken into three sorts: the smaller, which have curly manes, are generally cowardly and unwarlike; the larger, which have smooth hair, are more fierce. But those which are produced by leopards lack manes and remain undistinguished. All equally refrain from gorging. They do so because they drink and catch food on alternate days; oftentimes, if they do not enjoy good digestion, they postpone their usual repast another day. [Chapter 27.14] If the consumed flesh is greater than what is right, and they are weighed down, they put their claws into their mouths and voluntarily bring it to light. [Chapter 27.15] They also do the same when fleeing in a state of satiety. Weakness of the teeth indicates old age. The indications of mildness are many: they spare those who prostrate themselves, and they rage against men rather than women. They do not kill children except in great hunger. Neither are they separated from mercy: in fact, it is well known by many examples that they have been lenient; when many captives were exposed to several lions, they were repatriated untouched. [Chapter 27.16] They mate behind, as do lynxes, camels, elephants, rhinoceros and tigers. [Chapter 27.17] At the first birth, lionesses bring forth five cubs, then they melt away the number by one with the years passing, and at last the maternal fecundity recedes to one. Then they become barren for eternity. [Chapter 27.18] The tail and the forehead indicates the courage of a lion, just as the mettle of a horse is to be understood by its ears: Nature gave these marks to each noblest beast. Lions’ greatest strength is in their breasts, and they have especial firmness in the head. When pressed by dogs, they scornfully withdraw and sometimes halt in doubtful retreat, and feign fear. [Chapter 27.19] They do this if hemmed in in naked and open plains, but if in woody places, as though not shrinking from witness of their cowardliness, they take themselves away in flight as fast as they can. When they give chase, they aid their pursuits by leaping. When they flee, they cannot leap. When they walk, they close the sharp points of their claws in the sheaths of their paws, lest their sharpness be blunted by the abrasion. In this they are scrupulous to such a degree that they do not run without withdrawing their little curved blades. [Chapter 27.20] Surrounded by hunters, they gaze at the ground in contemplation, so they might be the less terrified by the sight of the hunting spears. They never look aslant and wish least that they should themselves be observed. They fear the songs of domestic poultry, and the noise of wheels, but fear fire more. - [Arwen Apps translation, 2011]

Saint Ambrose [4th century CE] (Hexameron, Book 6, 3.14; 6, 4.26): [Book 6, 3.14] The lion, proud in the fierceness of his nature, will not brook mingling with other wild animals. Like a king, he disdains association with them. He scorns the food of the previous day. He turns away even from the fragmentary remains of his meal. What wild beast would venture to associate with him whose roar of itself inspires such terror that many animals who could outrun him will quail on hearing it, as if struck dumb by some strange force. [Book 6, 4.26] A lion is in dread of a cock, especially of one white in color. ... A sick lion searches for an ape which, when devoured, restores him to health. - [Savage translation, 1961]

Isidore of Seville [7th century CE] (Etymologies, Book 12, 2:3-6): [Book 12, 2.3] The term 'lion' [leo] is of Greek origin but is declined in Latin, for it is called leon in Greek, and it is a mongrel term, because it is partly corrupt. But 'lioness' [leaena] is completely Greek, just as 'dragoness' [dracaena] is. It is a usage among poets that leaena is called lea. And the Greek word leo is translated as 'king' in Latin, because he is the ruler of all the beasts. [Book 12, 2.4] His kind is said to be of three types. Of these the small ones with curly manes are peaceful, and the long ones with straight manes are fierce. Their foreheads and tails reveal their spirit. Their strength is indicated in their chest, their steadfastness in their head.When surrounded by hunters they look at the ground so as not to be frightened by the sight of hunting spears. They fear the rattle of wheels, but they fear fire even more. [Book 12, 2.5] Even when they are sleeping their eyes are watchful. When they walk their tail brushes away their tracks, so that a hunter cannot find them. When they bear their cubs, the cub is said to sleep for three days and nights, and then after that the roaring or growling of the father, making the den shake, as it were, is said to wake the sleeping cub. [Book 12, 2.6] Around humans, the lion's nature is such that unless they are hurt they are unable to become angry. Their tender-heartedness is obvious from continual examples, for they spare those who are lying prone, they allow captives whom they meet to return home, and they never kill a human except in great hunger.

Hildegard von Bingen [1098-1179 CE] (Physica, Book 7.3): The lion recognizes a human being. If, in its fury, the lion injures a person, it grieves afterward. When the lion mingles with the lioness in coitus, it forgets its strength and beastial nature, mingling with her decently. When the lioness does not sense that the cubs in her are alive, she becomes sad, and she is hostile to the lion, because she does not know that she has conceived. After she has given birth to the cubs, she thinks they are dead, and goes away from them. The lion, seeing her, understands that she has given birth to the cubs, and immediately smells them. He runs to them, roaring, and regathers the powers he had lost in mingling with the lioness. He sends forth such loud roars that they waken the cubs. After the cubs are roused, they emit such loud roars that the lioness hears them and happily runs up to them. She chases the lion from them, warms them, and makes them get up. She does not allow the lion near them again while they are growing. Adam and Eve did not shout in lamentation before a person was born. After the first child was born, it immediately lamented by crying out to the height and depth of the many elements. Hearing it as an unknown sound, Adam ran up and shouted out with the same sound of lamentation, and Eve with him, just as the lion and lioness and the cub roar together when they awake. - [Throop translation]

Aberdeen Bestiary [circa 1200 CE] (folio 7r-8r):They fear the rumbling sound of wheels, but are even more frightened by fire. ... Those who study nature say that the lion has three main characteristics. The first is that it loves to roam amid mountain peaks. If it happens that the lion is pursued by hunters, it picks up their scent and obliterates the traces behind it with its tail. As a result, they cannot track it. Thus our Saviour, a spiritual lion ... concealed the traces of his love in heaven until ... he redeemed mankind, which was lost. ... The second characteristic of the lion is that when it sleeps, it seems to have its eyes open. Thus our Lord, falling asleep in death ... was buried, yet his divine nature remained awake ... The third characteristic of the lion is that when a lioness gives birth to her cubs, she produces them dead and watches over them for three days, until their father comes on the third day and breathes into their faces and restores them to life. Thus the Almighty Father awakened our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead on the third day ... Where men are concerned, it is the nature of lions not to grow angry unless they are harmed... The compassion of lions is apparent from endless examples. They spare those whom they have brought down. They allow captives whom they encounter to return home. They vent their rage on men rather than women. They do not kill children except in time of great hunger. Equally, lions refrain from over-feeding. First, because they drink and feed on alternate days; and often, if their food remains undigested, they postpone the next feed... [Lionesses, when] they first give birth, bear five cubs. In the years which follow, they reduce the number by one at a time. Afterwards, when they are down to one cub, the fertility of the mother is diminished; they become sterile for ever. ... A sick lion seeks out an ape to devour it, in order to be cured. The lion fears the cock, especially the white one. King of the beasts, it is tormented by the tiny sting of the scorpion and is killed by the venom of the snake.

Thomas of Cantimpré [circa 1200-1272 CE] (Liber de natura rerum, Quadrupeds 4.54): The lion, as Jacobus and Solinus say, is said to be the king of animals. The race of lions is divided into three: most of them are short and with curly manes, but they are lazy and weak. There are also lions which breed with the pard, but they are lowly and degenerate, and lack manes. But the lions which are longer and have simple hair, are noble and sharp; they are devoid of guile and do not look suspiciously with their eyes and want to be looked at in the same way. Their strength is in their chest, and in their forelegs, and in their tail, and their firmness in their chest. Augustine: When it gives birth, the cub is said to sleep for three days, until it is awakened by the roar of its approaching father. And this is the reason why it is born dead: the lion is a very dry animal, the violence of which dryness causes the moisture of the brain to thicken and become viscous. Therefore, the orifices and beginnings of the nerves being cut off by viscosity, through which the animal spirit must be transmitted to the instruments of the senses, although the animal has been vivified, yet it lies as if dead, because the spirit has neither sensation nor motion because of the obstruction. And although the heat is strong in it, because the animal is very hot, yet because of the excessive dilation of the pores, the effect of the heat in the maternal womb is weakened, so that it cannot dissolve the viscous fluid and cause quickening of the nerves. Therefore, coming out of the womb, the pores are constricted by the coldness of the air, and the heat is strengthened in the interior. On the first day and the second, the heat begins to act on the moisture to dissolve it; but on the third day, because the animal is very hot, from the movement of the animal the heat is most fully strengthened. But when the father lion, whose nature is exceedingly warm, comes up, making a strong roar, its breath warms the air with heat; which, by the grace of similitude and violence of impulse, entering the ears and nostrils of the little one, co-operates with the natural warmth, which doubles, nay, triples, enriches the moisture; it opens the access of the senses, and immediately the movement and sensation are perfected, and the animal is quickened. If, however, it is asked whether a female lion can do the same to a young child, it is said that it is cannot, because the female is by nature the moister sex, and its breath would rather thicken the fluids than dissolve them. Solinus: A lion is not easily angered unless it is injured, but when further provoked, it completely crushes its opponent; it spares the prostrate man, permits the captives to escape, and does not destroy a man except in a great famine. As he says [i.e. Liber rerum], it affects men more than women and this more in those who have known men than boys or girls. When it sleeps, as Andelmus says, its eyes keep watch. As Pliny says, despite the ferocity of lions they do not fight with each other, but they are peaceful with each other. Solinus: When it is pressed by hounds in the hunt, it retreats contemptuously, and sometimes stops, and conceals its fear by a sharp retreat. And this it does if it is forced into open fields. But in wild places, as a witness, it does not fear cowardice, and retreats with as much flight as it can. When chasing prey, it helps the effort by leaping; but when it flees, it is not able to jump. Solinus: When it walks, it also closes the tips of its nails in the sheath of its body like a mouse, so that the sharp points do not fall off. Aristotle: A lion lifts its legs like a dog when it urinates. When it opens its mouth, a strong odor comes out of it. The swiftest lion is naturally heavy in strength, and this is because of difficult digestion. When it runs, it powerfully crosses the span of the intended course, and this is because it cannot restrain itself from the force of its spirit. And it is strange, as Ambrose says: Many animals, which by their speed could have escaped its attack, fail at the sound of the roaring, as if stunned by force, and defeated. The lion is proud of its ferocity by nature: it does not know how to mix with other kinds of beasts, but like a certain king it disdains the company of the plebeians. It also loathes yesterday's food, and even the very remains of its own food is opposed. [Liber rerum:] But even though the lion is formidable to all beasts, yet it is agitated by the sting of a little scorpion, and wherever it sees it, it flees as if it were an enemy to its life. Solinus: The lion caught by the hunters is frightened. It is afraid of the noise of wheels, but more of fire. Pliny: The anger of a captured lion is calmed by such art as this: the cub is beaten before him, and it believes by its example that it ought to fear a man, whom it sees as powerful in the company of a dog. Lions are never found fat or laden with food but practice abstinence; If digestion has not occurred, they stick their claws in their mouths, digesting the flesh further. The lion hunts the onager and by nature hates it. The lion, as Ambrose says, when ill eats an ape so that it may be cured. A lion cures its illness by drinking the blood of a dog. Philosophus: When the lion fights for its cubs, it fixes its sight on the ground so as not to be frightened by the hunters. The meat of the lion, and especially the heart, gives heat to those who eat it, and for this reason it is given as a remedy for intemperate colds. Its bones are so hard that fire is sparked out of them as if from flint. Aristotle: For its bones are especially hard and larger than the bones of other animals, and for this reason when they collide with each other, fire flashes. But in the bones themselves there is very little concavity, and there is no marrow in them except the rarest, and this only in the bones of the hips. As the Experimentator says, the fat of a lion is the a cure for poison. If a man is anointed with wine and the fat of a lion it drives away all the beasts; it also drives away snakes. Its fat is hotter than the fat of all four-footed animals. The lion almost always has a fever, and this for a quarter; and then it eats chiefly the flesh of an ape, that it may be healed. To its roar all the animals halt their steps, even those who have never seen or experienced it, and this being commanded by domineering nature; for nature has instilled in them the fear of lions. A lion, when it treads on hard and stony ground, spares its claws as if it were its teeth. Pliny: The fat of a lion mixed with rose oil protects the face from spots and brightens it with whiteness and heals it. The bone of the lion's neck is continuous, but the flesh of the neck is cartilaginous and like one nerve; hence it cannot bend its neck to the back or to the side. Liber rerum: Some, however, thought that this was because of indignation or stupidity, not knowing the cause is the continuous bone in the neck. Aristotle: Its insides are in every way likened to the insides of a dog. It teeth are like the teeth of a dog, though they are larger. Its molar teeth, on the other hand, are wider on the inside. - [Badke translation/paraphrase]

Guillaume le Clerc [ca. 1210 CE] (Bestiaire, Chapter 1): The lion is a wild beast / And bold in a great degree. / Three principal natures has / The lion which is so brave. / Each one shall be fully told you: / The first is that by its nature / It frequents the great mountains. / When by chance it happens / That it is pursued by the hunter / Of his spear it has great dread / If so be that he gets near it, / From afar it smells on the mountain / The smell of the hunter who follows it. / Then it covers its tracks with its tail, / That he may not see them or reach / Its lair, where it will lie up. / Its other nature is wonderful / For when it sleeps its eyes are awake, / When sleeping it has its eyes open / Clear and brilliant and alert. / Its third nature likewise / Is marvellously strange / And affords a wonderful example. / For when the female gives birth, / The cub falls on the ground dead. / Of life it will have no consolation / Until on the third day the father / Breathes upon and licks it lovingly. / In such manner it gets its breath, / Nor could it have other physician. / In such way it comes to life. / / The lion acts in a very noble way, / For to no poor man does he do hurt / If he meet him in his path. / What’s more, unless keen hunger drive him, / To no man will he do hurt, / Unless he has first provoked him. / The lion which is so bold / Bears all his strength in his breast. / When he is approached by the hunter / Of his spear he has great dread. / He fears the creaking of wheels; / It astonishes me how it comes about / That he is so afraid of a white cock, / Do what he will, he will not face it. - [Druce translation]

Bartholomaeus Anglicus [13th century CE] (Liber de proprietatibus rerum, Book18.64; 18.65): [Book 18.64] Lion in Gréeke, is called Leo in Latine, a King in English, and is called Leo, king, for he is king & Prince of all beasts, as si[dore]I sayth li. 12. And some Lions are short with crispe haire and maane, and these Lions fight not: and some Lions have simple haire of mane, & those Lions have sharp & fierce harts, & by their forheads and tailes their vertue is known in the best, and their stedfastnes in ye head. And when they be beset with hunters, then they beholde the earth, for to dread the lesse the hunters, and their gins, that do beset them about, & he dredeth noyse & rushing of whéeles, but he dreadeth fire much more: & when they sleepe, their eyen be open, and when they go forth or about, they heale & bide their fores and steps, for hunters should not finde them. And it is supposed, that the Lions whelpe, when he is whelped, sleepeth thrée dayes and thrée nights: & it is sayd that the place of ye couch trembleth and shaketh by roring of the Father, that waketh the whelpe that sléepeth. It is the kinde of Lions, not to be wroth with man, but if they be grieved or hurt. Also their mercie is known by many and oft ensamples: for they spare them that lye on the ground, and suffer them to passe homeward that be prisoners, and come out of thraldome, and eate not a man, nor slaye him, but in great hunger, Huc usque Isid[ore]. li. 12. Li. 8. ca. 17. Pliny. speaketh of the Lion & saith, that the Lion is in most gentlenesse and nobilite, when his necke and shoulders be healed with haire and maane, and he that is gendered of the Parde, lacketh that nobilitie. The Lion knoweth by smell, if the Parde gendreth with the Lionnesse, and réeseth against the Lionnesse that breaketh spousehood, & punisheth hir full sore, except she wash hir in a river, and then it is not knowen to the Lion. And when the Lionnesse whelpeth, hir wombe is rent with the clawes of hir whelpes, & whelpeth therfore not oft. And Arist[otle] saith as Plin[y] saith, that the Lionesse whelpeth first five whelps, and afterward foure, and so each yeare lesse by one, & mereth barren when she whelpeth one at last: and she whelpeth whelpes evill shapen & small in quantitie of a wesell in ye beginning. And he saith also, ye whelps of vi. monthes maye uneth be whelped, & whelps of 2 mo¯ths, may uneth move: & the Lion heaveth by his leg when he pisseth, as an hound doth, & the urine that he pisseth, stinketh right foule, and when he eateth once inough, afterward he is meatlesse, 2. dayes or 3. And if he néedeth to flye when he is ful, he casteth up his meate into his mouth, and draweth it out with his clawes, to be in that wise the more light to runne and to flye. The Lion liveth most long, and that is knowen by working or wasting of his téeth: and then in age he réeseth on a man, for his vertue and might faileth to pursue great beasts & wilde: and then he besiegeth Cities, to ransack and to take men: but when the Lyons be taken, then they be hanged, for other Lyons should dread such maner paine. The olde Lyon réeseth woodly on men, and onely grunteth on women, and réeseth seldome on children but in great hunger. By the tayle the boldnesse & heart of the Lyon is knowen, as the Horse is knowen by the eares: for when the Lion is wroth, first he beateth the Earthe with his tayle, and afterwarde, as the wrath increaseth, he smiteth and beateth his owne backe: and out of eache wounde, that the Lyon maketh, with clawe or with téeth, runneth sharp and sower bloud, as Isido[re] saith. Also in perrill the Lyon is most gentle and noble, for when he is pursued with houndes and with hunters, the Lyon lurketh not nor hideth himselfe, but sitteth in fieldes where he may be séene, and arayeth himselfe to defence, and runneth out of wood & covert, with swifte running & course, as though he would account vile shame to lurke and to hide himselfe. And he hideth himselfe not for dread that he hath, but he dreadeth himselfe somtime, onely for he would not be dread: and when he pursueth man or beast in lands, then he leapeth when he réeseth on him: and so when he pursueth man or beast, he useth to leape, and so doeth he not when he voydeth & flyeth. When he is wounded, he taketh wonderfull héed, & knoweth them that smiteth him first, & réeseth on the smiter, though he be in never so great a multitude: and if a man shoote at him, the Lyon chaseth him, and throweth him downe, and woundeth him not, nor burieth him. When the Lyon dyeth, he biteth the earth, and teares fall out of his eyen: and when he is sicke, he is healed and holpe with the bloude of an Ape, and he dreadeth greatlye the crowing and the combe of a Cocke: and he is a right kinde beast, and knoweth, and loveth him that doth him good, as it sayde in ensamples, that Plinius setteth there. Huc usque Plin[y]. li. 8. ca. 12. And li. 2. Arist[otle] speaketh of the Lyon and saith, and Avicen[na], saith also, that ye Lion hath a necke as it were unmoveable, and is full grimme, and hath entrailes & bowells as an hound, and moveth alway first with the right foote, and afterward with the lefte foote, as the Camell doth: and hath lyttle marrow in his bones, & his bones be so hard, that by smiting of them togethers, fire springeth out thereof. Also li. 16. the Lyon hath many cleftes in his féete, and gendereth therefore blinde whelpes, as the Hound doth, & the woolfe also: for he hath sawie teeth, and gendereth therefore unperfect whelpes, as hée sayth, and Solinus also, that saith. That the Lyon dredeth, when he séeth or heareth a whelpe beaten. His whelpes are borne blinde, as ye whelpes of all beasts, that have the féete departed, be whelped unperfect because of gluttonie. He hideth himselfe in high mountaines, and espieth from thence his pray, and when he séeth his pray, he roareth full lowde, & at the voyce of him other beasts dred & stint sodainly, and he maketh a circle all about them with his taile, and all the beasts dread to passe out over the line of the Circle, and the beasts stand astonyed and afeard, as it were abiding ye hest and commaundement of theyr King. When the Lyon passeth rough places & hard, he clyncheth in his clawes, and draweth them toward the foote, for them he useth in stéede of a sword, and hideth them therefore within softe places and fleshie, that they be not hurte, nor made blunt: and he is ashamed to eate alone the pray that he taketh: therefore of his grace of free hart, he leaveth some of his pray, to other beastes that follow him a farre, as he saith: and is so hot of his complection, that he hath alway the feaver quartane, and hath kindly this evill to abate his fiercenesse, and his flesh passeth in heate, and is therefore grievous to eating, as he saieth, and Plin[y] libro. 28. And his flesh is good in medicines, in many manner wise, and his greace is contrarie to venimme, so that who so be anoynted therewith, shall not dread that time biting of Serpents, nor créeping wormes. Also his greace medled with Oleo rosaceo, kéepeth and saveth ye skin of the face from wennes and vices, and kéepeth whitenes, and healeth burnings, and swageth swellyng of eyen. His gall medled with water, sharpeneth and cléereth the sight, and helpeth against infecting evills, and against falling evills: his heart taken in meate, destroyeth the Feaver quartane, Huc usque Plin[y]. li. 28. cap. 8. And the Lion is hunted in this wise: one double cave is made one fast by that other, and in the seconde cave is set a Whitche, that cloaseth full soone, when it is touched: and in the first den and cave is a Lambe set, and the Lyon leapeth therein when he is an hungred, for to take the Lambe. And when he séeeth, that he may not breake out of ye den, he is ashamed, that he is beguiled, and would enter into the second den to lurk there, and falleth into it, and it cloaseth anone, as he is in, and letteth him not passe out thereof, but kéepeth him fast therin untill he be taken out and bound with chaines till he be tame. This toucheth Ier. super Ezech. cap. 19. super illum locum, Miserunt cum in Caveam, &c. [Book 18.65] The Lionesse is called Leena, and is a right lecherous beast, and loveth alwaye the déede of lecherie, and is therefore more cruell than the Lyon & namely when she hath whelpes: for she putteth hir selfe in perill of death for hir whelpes, and for defence of them, shée dredeth not nor spareth the shot of hunters. And she whelpeth moe whelps in the first whelping, then she doeth afterward, for by sharpnesse of the clawes of hir whelpes, hir mother is grieved, & hurt, and so from yeare to yeare, shee wexeth barren, as Aristotle saith. And Plinius sayeth in this wise, as Isidore saith lib. 12. Beasts with sharp clawes, may not ofte whelpe, for in them ye mother is grieved and hurt within by mooving of the whelpes, and therefore the Lionesse may not abide whelping, untill the perfect complishment of hir young, but she delyvereth hir of hir whelpes, & whelpeth ere hir young be perfect and complete, and is compelled thereto by great ache and sorenesse, and fervent lecherie. The Lyonesse meddeleth in lecherie with the Parde, but after the déed of lechery with ye Parde, she dredeth the Lion, for ye Lyon knoweth such a fowle medlyng by odor & smell, but if the Lyonesse be washed of the spouse breaking in a river ere she come to the Lyon, as Plinius saith. When he knoweth that she is guiltie, he punisheth hir anone, & therefore she flyeth anone, and commeth not to hir make, but if she be first washed. There is a lyttle beast that the Lion and the Lionesse dreadeth wonderfully, and that beast is called leontophone, for that beast beareth a certain venime which slaieth the Lion and the Lionesse. Therefore this sayd beast is taken, and afterward burnt, and the flesh is sprong with the ashes, and layd and set in méeting of wayes, shall slay and destroy the Lions which eate thereof, as Isid[ore] sayth lib. 12. cap. 1. Avicen[na] saith, that the Lyon is a beast of great gluttonie, and coveteth and desireth much meate, and is a devourer of meate therefore without chewing, and casteth up therefore the meate that he eateth, and eateth it afterwarde, and he eateth right much, so that he is heavie by meate, and fasteth afterward by the space of two daies and two nightes, and voydeth not his dirte but once in two daies or in thrée, and his dirte is drye without moysture, and stinketh right fowle, and so doeth his urine. And also out of his wombe issueth & commeth an evill smell, when it is cut and opened: and his breath stinketh, & is right infectious and contagious, & infecteth other things, and his biting is deadly and venemous, and namely when he is woode: for the Lyon wexeth wood as the Hound doth, as Arist[otle] sayth & Avicen[na] also. And is cruell and wood when he is wroth, and biteth and grieveth him selfe for indignation, when he is wroth, and gnasheth with his téeth, and namely when he hungreth, and spieth and lyeth in awayle, to take beasts, which passe by the waye. He hideth himselfe in previe caves, and reeseth on beasts unware, and slayeth them with his téeth & clawes, & breaketh all their members, and eateth them péece meale: & if he see any come against him to take away his pray, then he beclippeth the pray, and grunteth and smiteth the earth with his tayle, and if he commeth nigh him, he lepeth on him, and overcommeth him, and turneth to the pray. First he drinketh and licketh the bloud of the beast that he slaieth and renteth and haleth the other deale lim meale, and devoureth and swaloweth it. - [Batman]