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Animal Rights History Timeline » [BCE-CE] Antiquity » Pliny

Pliny the Elder

Natural History: Natural History of Terrestrial Animals

Combats of Elephants

[1st c.] Pliny the Elder, "Combats of Elephants," chap. 7 in Nature of Terrestrial Animals Book 8 of The Natural History, trans. by John Bostock & Henry Thomas Riley (London, 1855; Online at Persues). [First English Edition: The Historie of the World. Commonly called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus, Translated by Philemon Holland (London, 1601; Online at Tufts University: Perseus Digital Library)

"The agonized trumpetings," often quoted as part of Cicero's letter to M. Marius, are actually related by Pliny in his Natural History.

When, however, the elephants in the exhibition given by Pompeius had lost all hopes of escaping, they implored the compassion of the multitude by attitudes which surpass all description, and with a kind of lamentation bewailed their unhappy fate. So greatly were the people affected by the scene, that, forgetting the general altogether, and the munificence which had been at such pains to do them honour, the whole assembly rose up in tears, and showered curses on Pompeius.