explains the following medal as referring to the trial of Socrates, stating that the other two heads are those of his accusers, Anytus and Melitus; that the elephant's head, and the caduceus in the trunk, denote the strength of his wisdom, and that the legend means Confidently." The Greek word does not bear this interpretation; and is probably the name

66

of the artist*. We subjoin a copy of this medal as a mere curiosity, without attempting to solve the disputes regarding its meaning.-The inquiry is probably as worthless as many other antiquarian puz

*See Cuper de Elephantis, Ex. i. chap. x.

zles, which have occupied scholars in discussions not the most useful to mankind.

66 The

The Persians have a festival, according to Chardin, to commemorate the wonderful sagacity, or rather inspiration, of an elephant, when Abraha, a prince of Yemen, marched an army to destroy the Kaaba of Mecca, the sacred oratory which Abraham built in that city. Before the birth of Mohamed the Arabians reckoned from this epoch, which they called the year of the coming of the elephants. Sale's version of this story is amusing. Meccans, at the approach of so considerable a host, retired to the neighbouring mountains, being unable to defend their city or temple. But God himself undertook the defence of both. For when Abraha drew near to Mecca, and would have entered it, the elephant on which he rode, which was a very large one, and named Mahmud, refused to advance any nigher to the town, but knelt down whenever they endeavoured to forcé him that way, though he would rise and march briskly enough if they turned him towards any other quarter; and while matters were in this posture, on a sudden a large flock of birds, like swallows, came flying from the sea-coast, every one of which carried three stones, one in each foot and one in its bill; and these stones they threw down upon the heads of Abraha's men, certainly killing every one they struck*" The notion that the elephant was a religious animal has been very general, not only in the East, but amongst the enlightened nations of antiquity. In Kircher's description of China there is a plate of an elephant worshipping the sun and moon, copied from one of the sacred pictures of the Chinese:

* Sale's Koran, vol. ii. p. 510.

The editor of the French translation of the Natural History of Pliny engages to prove that the name of the elephant, in all languages, signifies child of the sun, or animal consecrated to the sun. The only instances he gives in support of this assertion are, that in the Sclavonic language the animal is called slon, the sun being slonce; and in some oriental tongues oriflan, from which olifante and elephant. The Roman superstition of the religion of the elephant is mentioned by Plutarch, Elian, and Pliny. We extract the passage from the latter:

"We find in him qualities which are rare enough amongst men-honesty, prudence, equity; religion also, in his worship of the sun and moon. Authors

say, that in the forests of Mauritania, the elephants, at the sight of the new moon, descend in troops to a certain river called Anelo, where they solemnly wash themselves, and after having rendered their homage to the star, return to the woods, supporting the young ones that are fatigued*." There is a Neapolitan

medal, supposed to be antique, representing an elephant standing before the tripod of Apollo, on which the sacrificial fire is burning

*

Cardinal Zabarella caused a coin to be struck, representing the pretended religion of the elephant. All these superstitions have evidently grown out of an exaggerated notion of the animal's sagacity; and they have been spread amongst mankind by that love of the marvellous which always accompanies a very small degree of knowledge.

CHAPTER IX.

EMPLOYMENT OF ELEPHANTS IN THE WARS OF MODERN ASIA.

THE horse, the camel, and the elephant, are each intimately connected with the history of mankind. The use of the first is unquestionably the most universal. In every stage of civilization in which the animal has been known, has he been found of the most paramount utility. In peace or in war,-for luxury or for necessity,—with the Arab of the desert or the European of the town,-are his services equally required. He was as necessary to the outfit of armies, when "the light-armed troops" of the Parthian city,

66 flying, behind them shot

Sharp sleet of arrowy showers against the face
Of their pursuers, and o'ercame by flight,"

as at the last mighty battle that exhibited the fierce and foolish hatred of the most refined nations of the world. The employment of the camel is limited to particular regions, where his strength and his powers of endurance supply the only link by which nations, separated by nature, are enabled to interchange the products which are essential to their common welfare. The elephant of the present day holds an inferior rank in the scale of usefulness to either the horse or the camel. He is valuable, but not indispensable. But there was a long period in the history of the Asiatic nations, and a briefer one in that of the Greeks and Romans, when elephants not only

*Paradise Regained.