Figurative uses of animal names in Latin and their ... - mura di tutti

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40 destinatis, non solum equi eliduntur et homines, sed etiamr hostium machinamenta franguntur."^ Ballistae et onagri, si a peritis diligentissime temperentur, universa praecedunt, a quibus nee virtus ulla nee munimina possunt defendere bellatores. Nam more fulminis quicquid percusserit aut dissolvere aut inrumpere con- suerunt.'^''* It is clear that the basis of the transfer of meaning lies in the similarity between the motion of the arm of the onager in discharging missiles and the animal's use of its hind legs. The relation of cause and effect was again obscured by the Romans, who emphasized the likeness in results. The Greek ovaypm as a ballista is late and evidently reflects Latin usage. Procopius speaks of it as though it were rather unfamiliar : a-tfievSovy Se avral (at firj-xâvai) eiaiv ifi~ ipepsK Kal ovaypoi iiriKaKovvTai.^''^ The ovaypoi of Suidas were defensive machines to seize assailants, the figure being due to the biting of the animal Svaypoi firj'xavjjfiaTa, oi Xeyofievoi apvaye;, o'Cye apirdêiv tow irpoviovra'i eirtâWofievoi el'xôv. Instead of the horse, the ancients regularly used as beasts of burden and for menial tasks animals of the same genus as the onager, and so had ample occasion to note their freedom with their heels. Pliny recommends the adminis- tering of frequent potions of wine to check the familiarity of the mule in this respect : Mulae calcitratus inhibetur vini crebriore potu.^®" In the same chapter, he pays his respects- to the unusually hard hoofs of the animal: duritia eximiapedum. Its dangerous heels enabled the wild-ass to make an al- liance with the lion : @rip7i
41 It is quite possible that it is the hoofs of the ass and mule, as well as those of the horse, whose imprint we see in the Latin recalcitro, and the English descendant, recalcitrant. EQUULEUS (ECULEUS), A Little Horse; transf.. An Instrument of Torture. While the equuleus is not properly included under the Machinae Bellicae, it was sometimes used in camp life as; Curtius shows : Tot conscii, nee in eculeum quidem inpositi, verum fatebuntur?^^^ Prudentius refers to the equuleus as a noxialis stipes, evidently a piece of timber of stout body, which assisted per- haps by converging supports, somewhat similar to stocky legs, roughly resembled a horse. ^** Isidore, however, assigns another reason for the transfer, attributing it to the method of inflicting torture : Equuleus autem dictus quod extendat.-'^* The transfer in meaning is made easy by the fact that the horse is an animal traditionally associated with torture. Among the early Achaeans, says Murray, " if a woman attempted to bear a child to any man but her special master, she was apt to be burned alive, or torn asunder by horses."^*^ In speaking of the mutilation of the corpse of Hector, " A far worse story was really handed the same author says : down by the tradition. There are fragments of the rude unexpurgated saga still extant, according to which Hector was still alive when his enemy tied him to the chariot rail and proceeded to drag him to death. Sophocles, always archaic in such matters, explicitly follows this legend {Ajax, 1031). So does Euripides {Androm. 399). Evea so late a writer as Vergil seems to adopt it."^*® The Vergil passage runs as follows: "^ Curt, vi, 10, 10. Cf. also Amm. xiv, 5, 9. "°Cf. Vaulting-horse, wood-horse. "* Isid. Orig. v, 27, 21. "" Murray, The Rise of the Greek Epic, p. 75. ' Murray, id. p. 118.
Page 3: Cornell University Library The orig
Page 7 and 8: FIGURATIVE USES OF ANIMAL NAMES IN
Page 9 and 10: PREFACE. The writer first became in
Page 11 and 12: Figurative Uses of Animal Names IN
Page 13 and 14: He found it both convenient and nec
Page 15 and 16: Much homely wisdom and many shrewd
Page 17 and 18: •dignified, may be inferred from
Page 19 and 20: Catus. Machinam quandam parvam, qua
Page 21 and 22: II . . . adventaret, prominentem ei
Page 23 and 24: . 13 peated attacks. The similarity
Page 25 and 26: 15 TOW reixow iwl ttjv iXeiroXiv /x
Page 27 and 28: : 17 Greeks of the term ram to an i
Page 29 and 30: 19 animals. A hint of this might po
Page 31 and 32: 21 In Athenaeus there appears the s
Page 33 and 34: 23 êX&vai eXa^paC ' light tortoise
Page 35 and 36: 25 equipped with wheels; finally pr
Page 37 and 38: 27 obrutis eius oculis, infestantia
Page 39 and 40: 29 ' walking ' is very apropos for
Page 41 and 42: 31 had only two, and they were mani
Page 43 and 44: 33 GRUS, Gk. ye'pavoi, Crane; trans
Page 45 and 46: 35 ultimately achieved a signal vic
Page 47 and 48: 37 tleinde latior procedit et adver
Page 49: 39 Vergil uses the adjective arbore
Page 53 and 54: 43 Analogous to this use of equuleu
Page 55 and 56: 45 Pliny informs us that Cato, in o
Page 57 and 58: : 47 While the second alternative d
Page 59 and 60: 49 appendage and the threating arm
Page 61 and 62: SI from the breaking on board of he
Page 63 and 64: S3 In spite of the statement of Var
Page 65 and 66: 55 tion is due to the burden rather

Figurative uses of animal names in Latin and their ... - mura di tutti

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