Greek passages split into sentences with English translation
| Passage | Sentence | Greek | English | Era | Skepticism |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.21.1 | 1 | εἶδον δὲ καὶ ἄλλον Τρίτωνα ἐν τοῖς Ῥωμαίων θαύμασι, μεγέθει τοῦ παρὰ Ταναγραίοις ἀποδέοντα. | I also saw another Triton among the marvelous sights of the Romans, smaller in size than the one at Tanagra. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.1 | 2 | παρέχονται δὲ ἰδέαν οἱ Τρίτωνες· ἔχουσιν ἐπὶ τῇ κεφαλῇ κόμην οἷα τὰ βατράχια τὰ ἐν ταῖς λίμναις χρόαν τε καὶ ὅτι τῶν τριχῶν οὐκ ἂν ἀποκρίναις μίαν ἀπὸ τῶν ἄλλων, | Tritons have an appearance as follows: upon their heads is hair resembling that of marsh frogs, similar in color and in that none of the individual hairs can be separated from the others. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.1 | 3 | τὸ δὲ λοιπὸν σῶμα φολίδι λεπτῇ πέφρικέ σφισι κατὰ ἰχθὺν ῥίνην. | The rest of their bodies are covered by thin scales, as rough as those found on a shark. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.1 | 4 | βράγχια δὲ ὑπὸ τοῖς ὠσὶν ἔχουσι καὶ ῥῖνα ἀνθρώπου, στόμα δὲ εὐρύτερον καὶ ὀδόντας θηρίου· | Beneath their ears they possess gills, the nose is like that of a human, but the mouth is wider and furnished with teeth like those of a wild beast. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.1 | 5 | τὰ δὲ ὄμματα ἐμοὶ δοκεῖν γλαυκὰ | Their eyes seem to me to be greenish-grey. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.1 | 6 | καὶ χεῖρές εἰσιν αὐτοῖς καὶ δάκτυλοι καὶ ὄνυχες τοῖς ἐπιθέμασιν ἐμφερεῖς τῶν κόχλων· | They have hands, fingers and nails shaped similarly to the shells of sea-snails. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.1 | 7 | ὑπὸ δὲ τὸ στέρνον καὶ τὴν γαστέρα οὐρά σφισιν ἀντὶ ποδῶν οἵα περ τοῖς δελφῖσίν ἐστιν. | From beneath their chest and belly extends a tail instead of feet, like those of dolphins. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.2 | 1 | εἶδον δὲ καὶ ταύρους τούς τε Αἰθιοπικούς, οὓς ἐπὶ τῷ συμβεβηκότι ὀνομάζουσι ῥινόκερως, ὅτι σφίσιν ἐπʼ ἄκρᾳ τῇ ῥινὶ ἓν ἑκάστῳ κέρας καὶ ἄλλο ὑπὲρ αὐτὸ οὐ μέγα, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς κεφαλῆς οὐδὲ ἀρχὴν κέρατά ἐστι, | I saw also Ethiopian bulls, which are called rhinoceros from their distinctive feature: each has one horn at the tip of the nose and another smaller one above it, but on the head there are no horns at all. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.2 | 2 | καὶ τοὺς ἐκ Παιόνων---οὗτοι δὲ οἱ ἐκ Παιόνων ἔς τε τὸ ἄλλο σῶμα δασεῖς καὶ ἀμφὶ τὸ στέρνον μάλιστά εἰσι καὶ τὴν γένυν--- | I saw also bulls from Paeonia—these Paeonian bulls are shaggy over their entire body, particularly around the chest and the jaw. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.2 | 3 | καμήλους τε Ἰνδικὰς χρῶμα εἰκασμένας παρδάλεσιν. | I also saw Indian camels colored similarly to leopards. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.3 | 1 | ἔστι δὲ ἄλκη καλούμενον θηρίον, εἶδος μὲν ἐλάφου καὶ καμήλου μεταξύ, γίνεται δὲ ἐν τῇ Κελτῶν γῇ. | There is an animal called the elk, shaped somewhat between a deer and a camel, which lives in the land of the Celts. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.3 | 2 | θηρίων δὲ ὧν ἴσμεν μόνην ἀνιχνεῦσαι καὶ προϊδεῖν οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνθρώπῳ, σταλεῖσι δὲ ἐς ἄγραν ἄλλων καὶ τήνδε ἐς χεῖρά ποτε δαίμων ἄγει· | Of all the animals we know, it alone cannot be tracked or seen beforehand by man, though hunters sent out in pursuit of other game are sometimes led by divine fortune to capture the elk as well. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.3 | 3 | ὀσφρᾶται μὲν γὰρ ἀνθρώπου καὶ πολὺ ἔτι ἀπέχουσα, ὥς φασι, καταδύεται δὲ ἐς φάραγγας καὶ σπήλαια τὰ βαθύτατα. | For the elk senses the odor of man even from a great distance and, as people say, immediately withdraws into the steepest ravines and caverns. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.3 | 4 | οἱ θηρεύοντες οὖν, ὁπότε ἐπὶ βραχύτατον, σταδίων τὴν πεδιάδα χιλίων ἢ καὶ ὄρος περιλαβόντες, τὸν κύκλον μὲν οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως διαλύσουσιν, ἐπισυνιόντες δὲ ἀεὶ τὰ ἐντὸς γινόμενα τοῦ κύκλου πάντα αἱροῦσι τά τε ἄλλα καὶ τὰς ἄλκας· | Therefore, whenever hunters, forming a circle around a plain of about a thousand stades or even encircling a mountain, draw very close to one another, they never break their formation, but always continuously narrowing their circle, they capture all animals enclosed inside, including the elk itself. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.3 | 5 | εἰ δὲ μὴ τύχοι ταύτῃ φωλεύουσα, ἑτέρα γε ἄλκην ἑλεῖν ἐστιν οὐδεμία μηχανή. | But if it does not happen to dwell within the area thus enclosed, there is no other possible way to take an elk. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.4 | 1 | θηρίον δὲ τὸ ἐν τῷ Κτησίου λόγῳ τῷ ἐς Ἰνδοὺς---μαρτιχόρα ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰνδῶν, ὑπὸ δὲ Ἑλλήνων φησὶν ἀνδροφάγον λελέχθαι---εἶναι πείθομαι τὸν τίγριν· | The beast described in Ctesias' account of India—called by the Indians a martichora, but by the Greeks, he says, a man-eater—I am convinced was the tiger. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.4 | 2 | ὀδόντας δὲ αὐτὸ τριστοίχους καθʼ ἑκατέραν τὴν γένυν καὶ κέντρα ἐπὶ ἄκρας ἔχειν τῆς οὐρᾶς, τούτοις δὲ τοῖς κέντροις ἐγγύθεν ἀμύνεσθαι καὶ ἀποπέμπειν ἐς τοὺς πορρωτέρω τοξότου ἀνδρὸς ὀιστῷ ἴσον, ταύτην οὐκ ἀληθῆ τὴν φήμην οἱ Ἰνδοὶ δέξασθαι δοκοῦσί μοι παρʼ ἀλλήλων ὑπὸ τοῦ ἄγαν ἐς τὸ θηρίον δείματος. | As for the claim that it has triple rows of teeth on each jaw and spines on the tip of its tail, with which it strikes nearby targets and shoots at distant ones as accurately as a bowman with an arrow, that story, it seems to me, is an untrue report passed among the Indians themselves out of their great fear of the beast. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.5 | 1 | ἠπατήθησαν δὲ καὶ ἐς τὴν χρόαν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ὁπότε κατὰ τοῦ ἡλίου φανείη σφίσιν ὁ τίγρις τὴν αὐγήν, ἐρυθρός τʼ ἐδόκει καὶ ὁμόχρους ἢ ὑπὸ τῆς ὠκύτητος ἢ ---εἰ μὴ θέοι--- διὰ τὸ ἐν ταῖς ἐπιστροφαῖς συνεχές, ἄλλως τε καὶ οὐκ ἐγγύθεν γινομένης τῆς θέας. | They were deceived also regarding its color; when the tiger appeared to them in sunlight, due to the brightness it seemed both red and of uniform color, either because of its swiftness or—if it were not running—due to its continual turning about, especially since their observation was not made at close quarters. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.5 | 2 | δοκῶ δέ, εἰ καὶ Λιβύης τις ἢ τῆς Ἰνδῶν ἢ Ἀράβων γῆς ἐπέρχοιτο τὰ ἔσχατα ἐθέλων θηρία ὁπόσα παρʼ Ἕλλησιν ἐξευρεῖν, τὰ μὲν οὐδὲ ἀρχὴν αὐτὸν εὑρήσειν, τὰ δὲ οὐ κατὰ ταὐτὰ ἔχειν φανεῖσθαί οἱ· | I suppose indeed that if someone from Libya, India, or the land of the Arabs went to the farthest extremes with the intent of discovering all the animals found among the Greeks, he would find some not existing at all there, and others appearing to him not quite as they are described. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.6 | 1 | οὐ γὰρ δὴ ἄνθρωπος μόνον ὁμοῦ τῷ ἀέρι καὶ τῇ γῇ διαφόροις οὖσι διάφορον κτᾶται καὶ τὸ εἶδος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ τὸ αὐτὸ ἂν πάσχοι τοῦτο, | Indeed, it is not only mankind that acquires a variety of forms according to the differing qualities of air and earth, but other creatures would experience the same effect as well. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.6 | 2 | ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ θηρία αἱ ἀσπίδες τοῦτο μὲν ἔχουσιν αἱ Λίβυσσαι παρὰ τὰς Αἰγυπτίας τὴν χρόαν, τοῦτο δὲ ἐν Αἰθιοπίᾳ μελαίνας τὰς ἀσπίδας οὐ μεῖον ἢ καὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἡ γῆ τρέφει. | For even among wild beasts, the snakes in Libya differ from those in Egypt in respect to their coloring; and in Ethiopia the land nurtures snakes that are black, no less than it does humans. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.6 | 3 | οὕτω χρὴ πάντα τινὰ μήτε ἐπίδρομον τὴν γνώμην μήτε ἀπίστως ἔχειν ἐς τὰ σπανιώτερα, | Therefore, one should neither adopt a hasty judgment nor display skepticism toward rarer phenomena. | ? | ? |
| 9.21.6 | 4 | ἐπεί τοι καὶ ἐγὼ πτερωτοὺς ὄφεις οὐ θεασάμενος πείθομαι· πείθομαι δὲ ὅτι ἀνὴρ Φρὺξ ἤγαγεν ἐς Ἰωνίαν σκορπίον ταῖς ἀκρίσιν ὁμοιότατα πτερὰ ἔχοντα. | Indeed, although I myself have not seen winged serpents, I find it credible that they exist; for I do trust that a Phrygian man brought into Ionia a scorpion having wings closely resembling those of a locust. | ? | ? |