2
And sea-dogsAelian, op. cit., ii. 55; Moralia, 982 a; for the kinds of γαλεοί (a species of shark), see Mair’s note on Oppian, Halieutica, i. 379 (L.C.L.). are a very good example, for they bring forth their young alive within their bodies,That is, they are viviparous. but permit their offspring to emerge and forage, and then take them back again and enfold them in their vitals and let them sleep there.
2
And the she-bear, cf. Aelian, op. cit., ii. 19; Aristotle, op. cit., 579 a 24: ἀδιάρθρωτα τὰ σκὲλη καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν μορίοων. the most savage and sullen of beasts, brings forth her young formless and without visible joints, and with her tongue, as with a tool, she moulds into shape their skin cf. Aulus Gellius, xvii. 10. 3.; and thus she is thought, not only to bear, but to fashion her cub.
2
And in Homer Il., xvii. 134-136. the lion - Whom hunters meet leading his young within A wood; he glares with valour and draws down His eye-lids till they hide his eyes - does he look like a beast that has any notion of making terms with the hunters for his children’s lives? For, in general, the love of animals for their children makes the timid bold, the lazy energetic, the voracious sparing; like the bird in Homer Il., ix. 324; cf.Moralia, 80 a. which brings to her nestlings Whatever morsels she can catch, though she Fares ill herself, for she feeds her young at the cost of her own hunger, and, though she has laid hold of food for her belly, she withholds it and presses it tightly with her beak, lest she gulp it down unawares; or As a bitch bestrides her tender pups, and barks At one she does not know, and longs to fight,Homer, Od., xx. 14-15; cf.De Vita et Poesi Homeri, 86 (Bernardakis, vol. vii. p. 375). acquiring, as it were, a second courage in her fear for her young.
