In all genera in which the distinction of male and female is found,
Nature makes a similar differentiation in the mental characteristics
of the two sexes. This differentiation is the most obvious in the case
of human kind and in that of the larger animals and the viviparous
quadrupeds. In the case of these latter the female softer in
character, is the sooner tamed, admits more readily of caressing, is
more apt in the way of learning; as, for instance, in the Laconian
breed of dogs the female is cleverer than the male. Of the Molossian
breed of dogs, such as are employed in the chase are pretty much the
same as those elsewhere; but sheep-dogs of this breed are superior to
the others in size, and in the courage with which they face the
attacks of wild animals.
Dogs that are born of a mixed breed between these two kinds are
remarkable for courage and endurance of hard labour.
In all cases, excepting those of the bear and leopard, the female is
less spirited than the male; in regard to the two exceptional cases,
the superiority in courage rests with the female. With all other
animals the female is softer in disposition than the male, is more
mischievous, less simple, more impulsive, and more attentive to the
nurture of the young: the male, on the other hand, is more spirited
than the female, more savage, more simple and less cunning. The traces
of these differentiated characteristics are more or less visible
everywhere, but they are especially visible where character is the
more developed, and most of all in man.
{BK9|CH1 ^paragraph 5}
The fact is, the nature of man is the most rounded off and complete,
and consequently in man the qualities or capacities above referred to
are found in their perfection. Hence woman is more compassionate than
man, more easily moved to tears, at the same time is more jealous,
more querulous, more apt to scold and to strike. She is, furthermore,
more prone to despondency and less hopeful than the man, more void of
shame or self-respect, more false of speech, more deceptive, and of
more retentive memory. She is also more wakeful, more shrinking, more
difficult to rouse to action, and requires a smaller quantity of
nutriment.
As was previously stated, the male is more courageous than the
female, and more sympathetic in the way of standing by to help. Even
in the case of molluscs, when the cuttle-fish is struck with the
trident the male stands by to help the female; but when the male is
struck the female runs away.
There is enmity between such animals as dwell in the same localities
or subsist on the food. If the means of subsistence run short,
creatures of like kind will fight together. Thus it is said that seals
which inhabit one and the same district will fight, male with male,
and female with female, until one combatant kills the other, or one is
driven away by the other; and their young do even in like manner.
All creatures are at enmity with the carnivores, and the carnivores
with all the rest, for they all subsist on living creatures.
Soothsayers take notice of cases where animals keep apart from one
another, and cases where they congregate together; calling those that
live at war with one another 'dissociates', and those that dwell in
peace with one another 'associates'. One may go so far as to say that
if there were no lack or stint of food, then those animals that are
now afraid of man or are wild by nature would be tame and familiar
with him, and in like manner with one another. This is shown by the
way animals are treated in Egypt, for owing to the fact that food is
constantly supplied to them the very fiercest creatures live peaceably
together. The fact is they are tamed by kindness, and in some places
crocodiles are tame to their priestly keeper from being fed by him.
And elsewhere also the same phenomenon is to be observed.
The eagle and the snake are enemies, for the eagle lives on snakes;
so are the ichneumon and the venom-spider, for the ichneumon preys
upon the latter. In the case of birds, there is mutual enmity between
the poecilis, the crested lark, the woodpecker (?), and the chloreus,
for they devour one another's eggs; so also between the crow and the
owl; for, owing to the fact that the owl is dim-sighted by day, the
crow at midday preys upon the owl's eggs, and the owl at night upon
the crow's, each having the whip-hand of the other, turn and turn
about, night and day.
{BK9|CH1 ^paragraph 10}
There is enmity also between the owl and the wren; for the latter
also devours the owl's eggs. In the daytime all other little birds
flutter round the owl- a practice which is popularly termed 'admiring
him'- buffet him, and pluck out his feathers; in consequence of this
habit, bird-catchers use the owl as a decoy for catching little birds
of all kinds.
The so-called presbys or 'old man' is at war with the weasel and the
crow, for they prey on her eggs and her brood; and so the turtle-dove
with the pyrallis, for they live in the same districts and on the same
food; and so with the green woodpecker and the libyus; and so with
the kite and the raven, for, owing to his having the advantage from
stronger talons and more rapid flight the former can steal whatever
the latter is holding, so that it is food also that makes enemies of
these. In like manner there is war between birds that get their living
from the sea, as between the brenthus, the gull, and the harpe; and so
between the buzzard on one side and the toad and snake on the other,