Dion Cassius speaks of the Rhinoceros killed in the circus with a
Hippopotamus in the show given by Augustus to celebrate his victory over
Cleopatra; he says that the Hippopotamus and this animal were then first
seen and killed at Rome. The Rhinoceros then slain is thought to have
been African, and two-horned.
The Rhinoceros clearly described by Strabo, as seen by him, was
one-horned. That noticed by Pausanias as "the Bull of Ethiopia," was
two-horned, and he describes the relative position of the horns.
Wood, in his "Zoography," gives an engraving of the coin of Domitian
(small Roman brass), on the reverse of which is the distinct form of a
two-horned Rhinoceros: its exhibition to the Roman people, probably of
the very animal represented on the coin, is particularly described in
one of the epigrams attributed to Martial, who lived in the reigns of
Titus and Domitian. By the description of the epigram it appears that
a combat between a Rhinoceros and a Bear was intended, but that it was
very difficult to irritate the more unwieldy animal so as to make him
display his usual ferocity; at length, however, he tossed the bear from
his double horn, with as much facility as a bull tosses to the sky the
bundles placed for the purpose of enraging him. Thus far the coin and
the epigram perfectly agree as to the existence of the double horn; but,
unfortunately, commentators and antiquaries were not to be convinced
that a Rhinoceros could have more than one horn, and have at once
displayed their sagacity and incredulity in their explanations on the
subject.
Two, at least, of the two-horned Rhinoceroses were shown at Rome in the
reign of Domitian. The Emperors Antoninus, Heliogabalus, and Gordian
also exhibited Rhinoceroses. Cosmas speaks expressly of the Ethiopian
Rhinoceros as having two horns, and of its power of moving them.
The tractability of the Asiatic Rhinoceros has been confirmed by
observers in the native country of the animal. Bishop Heber saw at
Lucknow five or six very large Rhinoceroses, of which he found that
prints and drawings had given him a very imperfect conception. They
were more bulky animals, and of a darker colour than the Bishop
supposed; though the latter difference might be occasioned by oiling
the skin. The folds of their skin also surpassed all which the Bishop
had expected. Those at Lucknow were quiet and gentle animals, except
that one of them had a feud with horses. They had sometimes howdahs, or
chaise-like seats, on their backs, and were once fastened in a carriage,
but only as an experiment, which was not followed up. The Bishop,
however, subsequently saw a Rhinoceros (the present of Lord Amherst to
the Guicwar), which was so tamed as to be ridden by a Mohout quite as
patiently as an elephant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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