Note 131 — Chapter II · THE CAPTIVES.

The fact of the elephant exhibiting timidity, on having a long rod pointed towards him, was known to the Romans; and Pliny, quoting from the annals of Piso, relates, that in order to inculcate contempt for want of courage in the elephant, they were introduced into the circus during the triumph of Metellus, after the conquest of the Carthaginians in Sicily, and driven round the area by workmen holding blunted spears,—“Ab operariis hastas præpilatas habentibus, per circum totum actos.” (Nat. Hist. lib. viii. c. 6.)