l. ii. c. 48, is "to ask earnestly." And since there
were ravens on the bank of the Nile more clamorous than the rest of
that species, those probably are meant in that place.
30 There are many instances of this bird's stupidity: let two suffice.
First, it covers its head in the reeds, and thinks itself all out of
sight,
Stat lumine clauso
Ridendum revoluta caput, creditque latere
Quae non ipsa videt.
Claud.
Secondly, they that go in pursuit of them, draw the skin of an
ostrich's neck on one hand, which proves a sufficient lure to take
them with the other.
They have so little brain, that Heliogabalus had six hundred heads
for his supper.
Here we may observe, that our judicious as well as sublime author,
just touches the great points of distinction in each creature, and
then hastens to another. A description is exact when you cannot add,
but what is common to another thing; nor withdraw, but something
peculiarly belonging to the thing described.
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