Paradoxographus Vaticanus

1[1] Hagesias of Megara says that the cranes, whenever they are about to fly away from Thrace, are all besprinkled in purification by one of their number: then, when that one cries out, they rise up from the ground as if at the command of a boatswain, while the one that purifies them remains there. [2] Whenever they fly over the sea, two of them stretch out their wings, while one that has become tired rests by sitting on them. 

2 Dalion says, in Book 1 of his Aithiopika, that there is a beast in Ethiopia called the krokotta; when it approaches farmsteads, it eavesdrops upon those who are chatting, in particular on the names of the children. Coming by night, it speaks the names and, when the children come out, they are devoured by it. 

3 Polites says that the young tuna (pelamys) in the Euxine Sea are generated from mud (pelos), and he says that they get their name because of this. 

4[1] Aristotle says in his works on animals that all land animals breathe that have lungs, but that the wasp and bee do not breathe. [2](5) Those that have bladders also have intestines, but not all that have intestines have bladders. 

5(6) Many animals are bloodless, but in general those that have more than four feet. 

6(7) Fish do not have a gullet: because of this, the stomach of larger fish falls forward into their mouths when they chase smaller ones.  

7(8)[1] Snakes have thirty ribs. [2] And if one pricks their eyes out, they grow back again, just like those of the swallow. 

8(9) The bones of lions are so hard that when struck repeatedly they kindle fire. 

9(10)[1] Polycleitus says that tortoises are found even in the Ganges, whose shells can hold five medimnoi. [2] Agatharchides [says] that they use †many† shells to roof their chambers. 

10(11) The Scamander bleaches hair, for which reason it is also called Xanthus by Homer. 

11(12) Antigonus says that the hot water in Hieropolis petrifies everything, and itself when undergoing cooking turns to stone. 

12(13) Theopompus says that among the Lyncestae there is a pungent water which intoxicates those who drink from it. 

13(14)[1] Heracleides says of the lake among the Sauromatians that none of the birds fly over it, but that any that approach die from the smell. [2] He thinks that this also happens about Avernus in Italy. 

14(15) They record that in a certain part of Olympus at Prusa, Daphne was swallowed up as she was pursued by the lusting Apollo; and even now, laurel leaves are to be found intermingled with the stones. 

15(16) In a certain part of the area down from Olympus there are trees like the thin-leaved willow, which they say had been maidens: these were turned into trees as they fled from the lustful Boreas. And even now, if one touches their leaves, they say that the wind grows angry and at once blows strongly and scarcely stops for three days.  

16(17) The river Mestus in Thrace is used to test adultresses, after the men have given them to drink from its waters and said: “if you have not committed adultery, you will bear a male child, but if you have, a female.” 

17(18) For the Germans, too, the Rhine is used as a test: for when a child is thrown in, if it is the result of adultery, it dies, but if not, it lives. 

18(19) Perinthus is a river in Thrace, where there is also the city of Perinthus: if anyone drinks from it, their guts swell up. The reason is that drops from the head of the Gorgon flowed into it when it had been carried off by Perseus. 

19(20) The river Marsyas is in Celaenae in Phrygia. If it ever hears an aulos, it roars noisily; if a cithara, it flows in silence; since Marsyas the aulos-player was drowned in it.  

20(21) Tauromenius is a river in Sicily alongside the city of the same name: it is frightened when it hears thunder and sinks down into the earth, but if the thunder stops, it rises up again from the earth like a spring. 

21(22) A cold river called 〈Acis〉 flows through Sicily: this has muddy water in the summer but in winter it is beautiful and transparent. 

22(23) Among the Lyncestae there is a spring, from which anyone who drinks becomes intoxicated. 

23(24) In Egypt there is a statue of Memnon which, when the sun rises, sings as if it were greeting it. 

24(25) The Celts, whenever there is dearth or plague, punish their women as being responsible for the evils. 

25(26) There is a people among the Iberians who, at a certain festival, honour those of their women who at that time can demonstrate that they have woven the most numerous and beautiful cloaks. 

26(27) Among the Crobyzi, it is the custom to lament when an offspring is born but to consider happy one who dies. 

27(28) Among the Nasamonians in Libya it is the custom for a bride to have intercourse on the first day with all who are present and to receive gifts from them, and after this to have sex with the bridegroom alone. 

28(29) The Sauromatian women do not marry before they have killed a man of the enemy.  

29(30) The Persians give food to their domestic dogs, such as they would to the wealthy and famous. 

30(31) Pherecydes of Syros, after drinking water from a certain spring in the island of Syros, became exceedingly prophetic and foretold earthquakes and other things. 

31(32) Teiresias son of Eueres, on seeing two serpents having sex, killed them, and instantly became a woman, and not long afterwards a man. He was selected to be, in the presence of Zeus and Hera, an adjudicator of the pleasure taken by the woman and the man in sex: he said that that of the woman was much greater. 

32(33) In Homer, Proteus used to be transformed into everything, just as Thetis was in Pindar, and Neleus in Stesichorus, and Mestra 〈in Hesiod〉. 

33(34) Ariston the Peripatetic says that there is a stream of water in the island of Cia, from which those drinking become insensible. 

34(35) There is a lake in India which †accepts† everything except gold and silver. 

35(36) Hellanicus says that there is a spring in India called Sila, in which even the lightest objects sink. 

36(37) In Hieropolis there is a place called Charonius in which no animal whatsoever will go: for it dies instantly. 

37(38) The river Selemnus flows through Arcadia and its water is an aphrodisiac drug. 

38(39) Theopompus says that there is a spring in Thrace, from which those drinking undergo a change in life. 

39(40) Acilius the Roman historian says that before the flood, Sicily was not an island as it is today but was part of the mainland, joined to what was later Italy: from the inundation of the streams it was torn away by the roots from the Apennines, when the land-mass was fractured (rhageises) at Scylla, and established as an island; and because of this the side facing Italy was called Rhegium. 

40(41) The Persians condemn to death those who do damage to a fire or who urinate or wash themselves in a river. 

41(42) They say that the Getae bang drums against the thunder of Zeus and shoot arrows into the air to keep away the god. 

42(43) Among the Padaei, an Indian people, the most intelligent of those present presides over the sacred rites: nothing else is asked of the gods but righteousness. 

43(44) Alexander the son of Philip 〈ruled〉 the Macedonian empire for fourteen years. He defeated the Persians at Granicus on the 24th [day]: because of this he greatly honoured the day and sacrificed to the gods, since on this ‘fourth’ his greatest achievements had clearly been done. And if ever he wished to do something, he used to wait for the fourth day. 

44(45)[1] With the Galatae, if anyone flees after committing a serious crime, he is pardoned if he gives over a horse or a trumpet. [2](46) This people, when taking counsel concerning war, do so in common with their women, and whatever the women think, this prevails; but if they are worsted in battle, they cut off the heads of those women who advocated making war and throw them outside the land. 

45(47) The Liburnians have their women in common and raise their children communally until the age of five: then, in their sixth year, all the children are brought together and compared to the men in likeness, and to each they give the one which is most like him, and from then on he has him as a son. 

46(48)[1] The Dardanians, an Illyrian people, are washed thrice in their lives – when they are born, when they are married and when they die. [2] Whenever they are sending a herald to their enemies, they bring a lamb and a branch of a tree: and if the enemy accepts a treaty, they leave that which they brought there, but if not, they carry them back. 

47(49) The Scythians called cannibals drink from human skulls; they fashion the skin of their enemies’ heads and use it as a napkin, while they flay the rest of the body with their nails and throw it on their horses. 

48(50)[1] The Sauromatians eat to satiety for three days. [2] They obey their women in everything, and they themselves wear female clothes. [3] If an enemy flees towards the fire in the hearth and dirties his face with the coals, they no longer do him any injury, as a household slave. [4] They do not have a maiden living with a man before she has slain an enemy. 

49(51) Among the Phrygians, if anyone kills a farm ox or steals a piece of agricultural equipment, he is condemned to death. 

50(52)[1] The Lycians honour their women more than their men and are called after their mothers, not their fathers. They leave their inheritances to their daughters, not to their sons. [2] If a free man is convicted of theft, he becomes a slave. [3] They do not provide witnesses in their lawsuits straight away, but after a month. 

51(53) The Assyrians sell their maidens in the agora to those who wish to live with them; first the most well-born and beautiful, then the rest of them in turn. When they come to the plainest, they ask how much someone would take to live with them, and the price brought in from the good-looking ones is paid over along with these [maidens]. 

52(54)[1] The Persians do not speak of that which they may not do. [2](55) Among the Persians, whoever thinks up a new pleasure gets gifts. [3](56) [Among the Persians], whoever is judged unfavourably by the king is sorrowful throughout his life and drinks from a stone cup. [4] When the king dies, all charges are dropped and they seize whatever they want and act against the law for three days, until they come to the royal doors and demand a king who will relieve them of the lawlessness. [5](57) [Among the Persians], if the king orders someone to be whipped, he rejoices as though he had chanced upon some good.  

53(58) Among the Indians, whoever maims the hand or eye of a craftsman is sentenced to death.  

54(59) Among the Egyptians, it is not permissible for an illiterate to bear witness.  

55(60) The Atarantes of Libya judge those of their daughters best who have remained virgins for the greatest length of time.  

56(61) Among the Carthaginians, it is not allowed for those who have not been soldiers to wear a gold earring: they always wear as many earrings as the campaigns they have served in. 

57(62)[1] The Lakedaimonians feel shame before their elders no less than their fathers. [2] There are gymnasia of maidens like those of the men. [3] It is not permitted for a foreigner to live in Sparta nor for a Spartiate to live abroad. [4] They order their women to get pregnant by the most handsome men, both citizens and foreigners.   

58(63)[1] The Cretans were the first of the Greeks to have laws after Minos set them up: Minos claimed to have learnt them from Zeus by going to a certain mountain for nine years, which is called the Cave of Zeus. [2](64) The Cretan children congregate in common with one another, becoming hardened and learning the martial arts, carrying out hunts and uphill races barefoot and toiling in the martial “Pyrrhic” dance, which Pyrrhichus first invented.   

59(65) The Ligyes throw their parents down a precipice when they are no longer of any use because of old age.   

60(65) 〈The Tauri, a Scythian people, bury along with the king his closest friends.〉 When a friend dies, the king cuts a little bit away from his ear: if the deceased was more closely related, he takes more. And when the closest of all dies, [he cuts off] 〈the entire ear〉.   

61(66) Some Scythians distribute the [flesh of the] dead as meat and having salted it, dry it in the sun: after this, they thread the flesh on a cord and fasten it to their own neck. And taking a knife, they cut the flesh and give it to whomever of their friends they come across. They do this until they have used it all up.  

62(67) The Athenians, when they carry the dead to the tomb, used to put all sorts of pulses on it, as a symbol of their discovery of all manner of fruits.    

F2 = Antigonus F3