[54] ARISTOTLE, _De Animal_, lib. ii. ch. i. It is curious that Taylor, in his translation of this passage, was so strongly imbued with the “grey-headed errour,” that in order to elucidate the somewhat obscure meaning of Aristotle, he has actually interpolated the text with the exploded fallacy of Ctesias, and after the word reclining to sleep, has inserted the words “_leaning against some wall or tree_,” which are not to be found in the original. [55] Ζῷον δὲ ἄναρθρον συνιέναι καὶ ῥυθμοῦ καὶ μέλους, καὶ φυλάττειν σχῆμα φύσεως δῶρα ταῦτα ἅμα καὶ ἰδιότης καθ’ ἕκαστον ἐκπληκτική. (ÆLIAN, _De Nat. Anim._ lib. ii. cap. xi.) [56] EGINHARD, _Vita Karoli_, c. xvi. and _Annales Francorum_, A. D. 810. [57] “Sed idem Julius, unum de elephantibus mentiens, falso loquitur; dicens elephantem nunquam jacere; dum ille sicut bos certissime jacet, ut populi communiter regni Francorum elephantem, in tempore Imperatoris Karoli, viderunt. Sed, forsitan, ideo hoc de elephante ficte æstimando scriptum est, eo quod genua et suffragines sui nisi quando jacet, non palam apparent.” (DICUILUS, _De Mensura Orbis Terræ_, c. vii.) [58] _Cotton MSS._ NERO. D. i. fol. 168, b. [59] _Arundel MSS._ No. 292, fol. 4, &c. It has been printed in the _Reliquiæ Antiquæ_, vol. i. p. 208, by Mr. WRIGHT, to whom I am indebted for the following rendering of the passage referred to:— in water ge sal stonden in water to mid side ðat wanne hire harde tide ðat ge ne falle niðer nogt ðat it most in hire ðogt for he ne haven no lið ðat he mugen risen wið, etc.