The Ornithology of Shakespeare Part 4

The supposition that the eye of the eagle is green must be regarded as a poetic license. In all the species of this genus with which we are acquainted, the colour of the iris is either hazel or yellow. But it would be absurd to look for exactness in trifles such as these.

[Sidenote: POWER OF FLIGHT.]

The power of flight in the eagle is no less surprising than his power of vision. Birds of this kind have been killed which measured seven or eight feet from tip to tip of wing, and were strong enough to carry off hares, lambs, and even young children. This strength of wing is not unnoticed by Shakespeare:--

"This was but as a fly by an eagle."

_Antony and Cleopatra_, Act ii. Sc. 2.

And--

"An eagle flight, bold, and forth on, Leaving no track behind."

_Timon of Athens_, Act i. Sc. 1.

This last line recalls to mind the following allusion to the flight of the Jerfalcon:--"Then p.r.o.ne she dashes with so much velocity, that the impression of her path remains on the eye, in the same manner as that of the shooting meteor or flashing lightning, and you fancy that there is a torrent of falcon rushing for fathoms through the air."[26]

Spenser, in the fifth book of his "Faerie Queene" (iv. 42), has depicted the grandeur of an eagle on the wing:--

"Like to an eagle in his kingly pride Soring thro' his wide empire of the aire To weather his brode sailes."

But notwithstanding his great powers of flight, we are reminded that the eagle is not always secure. Guns, traps, and other engines of destruction are directed against him, whenever and wheresoever opportunity occurs:--

"And often, to our comfort, shall we find The sharded beetle in a safer hold Than is the full-wing'd eagle."

_Cymbeline_, Act iii. Sc. 3.

[Sidenote: A GOOD OMEN.]

With the Romans, the eagle was a bird of good omen. Josephus, the Jewish historian, says the eagle was selected for the Roman legionary standard, because he is the king of all birds, and the most powerful of them all, whence he has become the emblem of empire, and the omen of victory.[27]

Accordingly, we read in _Julius Caesar_, Act v. Sc. 1:--

"Coming from Sardis, on our former ensign Two mighty eagles fell; and there they perch'd, Gorging and feeding from our soldiers' hands."

This incident is more fully detailed in North's "Plutarch," as follows:--"When they raised their campe, there came two eagles, that flying with a marvellous force, lighted upon two of the foremost ensigns, and alwaies followed the souldiers, which gave them meate and fed them, untill they came neare to the citie of Phillipes; and there one day onely before the battell, they both flew away."

The ensign of the eagle was not peculiar, however, to the Romans. The golden eagle, with extended wings, was borne by the Persian monarchs,[28] and it is not improbable that from them the Romans adopted it; while the Persians themselves may have borrowed the symbol from the ancient a.s.syrians, on whose banners it waved until Babylon was conquered by Cyrus.

As a bird of good omen, the eagle is often mentioned by Shakespeare:--

"I chose an eagle, and did avoid a puttock."

_Cymbeline_, Act i. Sc. 2.

The name "Puttock" has been applied both to the Kite and the Common Buzzard, and both were considered birds of ill omen.

[Sidenote: THE BIRD OF JOVE.]

In Act iv. Sc. 2, of the same play, we read,--

"I saw Jove's bird, the Roman eagle, wing'd From the spungy south to this part of the west, There vanish'd in the sunbeams."

This was said to portend success to the Roman host. In Izaak Walton's "Compleat Angler," we are furnished with a reason for styling the eagle "Jove's bird." The falconer, in discoursing on the merits of his recreation with a brother angler, says,--"In the air my troops of hawks soar upon high, and when they are lost in the sight of men, then they attend upon and converse with the G.o.ds; therefore I think my eagle is so justly styled Jove's servant in ordinary."

"For the Roman eagle, From south to west on wing soaring aloft, Lessen'd herself, and in the beams o' the sun So vanish'd: which foreshadow'd our princely eagle, The imperial Caesar, should again unite His favour with the radiant Cymbeline, Which shines here in the west."

_Cymbeline_, Act v. Sc. 5.

[Sidenote: THE ROMAN EAGLE.]

In a paper "On the Roman Imperial and Crested Eagles,"[29] Mr. Hogg says,--"The Roman Eagle, which is generally termed the Imperial Eagle, is represented with its head _plain_, that is to say, _not crested_. It is in appearance the same as the attendant bird of the 'king of G.o.ds and men,' and is generally represented as standing at the foot of his throne, or sometimes as the bearer of his thunder and lightning. Indeed he also often appears perched on the top of his sceptre. He is always considered as the attribute or emblem of 'Father Jove.'"

A good copy of this bird of Jupiter, called by Virgil and Ovid "Jovis armiger," from an antique group, representing the eagle and Ganymedes, may be seen in Bell's "Pantheon," vol. i. Also "a small bronze eagle, the ensign of a Roman legion," is given in Duppa's "Travels in Sicily"

(2nd ed., 1829, tab. iv.). That traveller states, that the original bronze figure is preserved in the Museum of the Convent of St. Nicholas d'Arcun, at Catania. This Convent is now called Convento di S.

Benedetto, according to Mr. G. Dennis, in his "Handbook of Sicily," (p.

349); and he mentions this ensign as "a Roman legionary eagle in excellent preservation."

[Sidenote: THE ENSIGN OF THE EAGLE.]

From the second century before Christ, the eagle is said to have become the sole military ensign, and it was mostly small in size, because Florus (lib. 4, cap. 12) relates that an ensign-bearer, in the wars of Julius Caesar, in order to prevent the enemy from taking it, pulled off the eagle from the top of the gilt pole, and hid it by placing it under cover of his belt.

In later times, the eagle was borne with the legion, which, indeed, occasionally took its name, "_aquila_." This eagle, which was also adopted by the Roman emperors for their imperial symbol, is considered to be the _Aquila heliaca_ of Savigny (_imperialis_ of Temminck), and resembles our golden eagle, _Aquila chrysaetos_, in plumage, though of a darker brown, and with more or less white on the scapulars. It differs also in the structure of the foot. It inhabits Southern Europe, North Africa, Palestine, and India. Living examples of this species may be seen at the present time in the Gardens of the Zoological Society.

[Sidenote: HABITS AND ATt.i.tUDES.]

Sicilius, in _Cymbeline_ (Act v. Sc. 4), speaking of the apparition and descent of Jupiter, who was seated upon an eagle, says,--

"The holy eagle Stoop'd, as to foot us: his ascension is More sweet than our blest fields: his royal bird Prunes the immortal wing, and cloys his beak, As when his G.o.d is pleas'd."

"_Prune_" signifies to clean and adjust the feathers, and is synonymous with _plume_. A word more generally used, perhaps, than either, is _preen_.

_Cloys_ is, doubtless, a misprint for _cleys_, that is, _claws_. Those who have kept hawks must often have observed the habit which they have of raising one foot, and whetting the beak against it. This is the action to which Shakespeare refers. The same word occurs in Ben Jonson's "Underwoods," (vii. 29) thus:--

"To save her from the seize Of vulture death, and those relentless _cleys_."

The verb "to cloy" has a very different signification, namely, "to satiate," "choke," or "clog up." Shakespeare makes frequent use of it.

In "Lucrece" it occurs:--

"But poorly rich, so wanteth in his store, That, _cloy'd_ with much, he pineth still for more."

And again, in _Richard II._ (Act i. Sc. 3):--

"O, who can hold a fire in his hand, By thinking on the frosty Caucasus?

Or _cloy_ the hungry edge of appet.i.te, By bare imagination of a feast?"

See also _Henry V._ Act ii. Sc. 2.