A riddle from the Precepts of Chiron attributed to Hesiod associates four animals and the Nymphs as beings endowed with great longevity, in an increasing multiplicative ratio which has been variously calculated. These five verses, which feature the first mention of the phoenix in ancient literature, quickly gained proverbial status from Greece to Rome. The assonances of animal names being more pronounced in Latin than in Greek (cornix, ceruus, coruus, phoenix), the numerous authors citing these verses (51: 21 Greek, 30 Latin, almost 75 references), in whole or in part, such as Lucretius, Ovid, Horace, Pliny the Elder, Martial, Juvenal, Ausone and Symphosius for the Romans, play with more or less virtuosity different variations on this theme, in particular Ausone in two of his poems (Gryph on the number 3 and Idylle, 18, "On the age of animals"). - [Abstract]

Language: French