LIBER VIII · CAPUT 9
THE METHOD BY WHICH THEY ARE TAMED
Latine · Mayhoff 1906
Elephantorum generis feminae multo pavidiores. domantur autem rabidi fame et verberibus, elephantis aliis admotis, qui tumultuantem catenis coerceant. et alias circa coitus maxime efferantur et stabula Indorum dentibus sternunt. quapropter arcent eos coitu feminarumque pecuaria separant, quae haut alio modo quam armentorum habent. domiti militant et turres armatorum in dorsis ferunt magnaque ex parte orientis bella conficiunt: prosternunt acies, proterunt armatos. iidem minimo suis stridore terrentur vulneratique et territi retro semper cedunt, haut minore partium suarum pernicie. Indicum Africi pavent nec contueri audent, nam et maior Indicis magnitudo est.
English · Bostock & Riley 1855–57
Elephants of furious temper are tamed by hunger and blows, while other elephants are placed near to keep them quiet, when the violent fit is upon them, by means of chains. Besides this, they are more particularly violent when in heat, at which time they will level to the ground the huts of the Indians with their tusks. It is on this account that they are prevented from coupling, and the females are kept in herds separate from the males, just the same way as with other cattle. Elephants, when tamed, are employed in war, and carry into the ranks of the enemy towers filled with armed men; and on them, in a very great measure, depends the ultimate result of the battles that are fought in the East. They tread under foot whole companies, and crush the men in their armour. The very least sound, however, of the grunting of the hog terrifies them: when wounded and panic-stricken, they invariably fall back, and become no less formidable for the destruction which they deal to their own side, than to their opponents. The African elephant is afraid of the Indian, and does not dare so much as look at it, for the latter is of much greater bulk.