Transcription
Est monoceros monstrum\ mugitu horrido, equino\ corpore elephantis
pedibus, cau\da simillima cervo. Cornu\ media fronte eius protenditur\
splendore mirifico, ad mag\nitudinem pedum quatuor, ita\ acutum
ut quicquid impe\trat [A: impetat] facile ictu eius foretur.\ Vivus
non venit in homi\num potestatem, et interimi quidem potest, capi
non potest.\ De urso\ Ursus fertur dictus\ quod ore suo for\met
fetus quasi orsus.\ Nam aiunt eos in \ formes generare\ partus et
carnem\ quandam nasci. Quod\ mater lambendo\ in membra componit.
Sed hoc inmaturitas facit partus.\ Denique tricesimo die generat,
unde evenit ut precipitata\ fecunditas informis procreatur. Ursorum
caput invalidum,\ vis maxima in brachiis et lumbis, unde interdum
erecti\ insistunt. Etiam medendi industriam non pretermittunt.\
Siquidem gravi affecti corde [A: caede] et sauciati vulneribus mederi\
sibi sciunt. Herbe cui nomen est flomus, ut greci appellant,\ ulcera
subicientes sua, ut solo curentur a tactu. Ursu\ erger formicas
devorat. Numidi ursi ceteris prestant dum\ |
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Translation
The monoceros is a monster with a horrible bellow, the body of a
horse, the feet of an elephant and a tail very like that of a deer.
A magnificent, marvellous horn projects from the middle of its forehead,
four feet in length, so sharp that whatever it strikes is easily
pierced with the blow. No living monoceros has ever come into man's
hands, and while it can be killed, it cannot be captured. Of
the bear The bear is said to get its name because the female
shapes her new-born cub with her mouth, ore, giving it, so
to speak, its beginning, orsus. For it is said that they
produce a shapeless fetus and that a piece of flesh is born. The
mother forms the parts of the body by licking it. The shapelessness
of the cub is the result of its premature birth. It is born only
thirty days after conception, and as a result of this rapid fertility
it is born unformed. The bear's head is not strong; its greatest
strength lies in its arms and loins; for this reason bears sometimes
stand upright. Bears do not neglect the business of healing themselves.
If they are afflicted by a moratl blow and injured by wounds, they
know how to heal themselves. They expose their sores to the herb
called mullein - flomus, the Greeks call it - and are healed
by its touch alone. When sick, the bear eats ants. The bears of
Numidia stand out from other bears
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