Sunday, July 23, 2023
The Elephant and the Pig
Procopius, History of the Wars 8.14.35-37 (tr. H.B. Dewing):
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[35] When Chosroes and the Medic army were storming the fortifications of Edessa, one of the elephants, mounted by a great number of the most warlike men among the Persians, came close to the circuit-wall and made it seem that in a short space he would overpower the men defending the tower at that point, seeing they were exposed to missiles falling thickly from above, and would thus take the city. [36] For it seemed that this was, in fact, an engine for the capture of cities. The Romans, however, by suspending a pig from the tower escaped this peril. [37] For as the pig was hanging there, he very naturally gave vent to sundry squeals, and this angered the elephant so that he got out of control and, stepping back little by little, moved off to the rear. Such was the outcome of that situation.
