Anonymous, Michael J. Curley (translator) · c. 2nd c. AD (Greek); trans. 1979 · PDF · Calibre ID 4597
Resurfaced in Ill-Favored Black Unicorns (2026-10-03).
Role in the triad
Source: the type without the animal. The unicorn Polo expected and had to correct.
Why this book
The book behind the unicorn Polo carried to Java, and the strongest case of a type that needs no specimen (‘never intended to be a treatise on natural history’). Eco quotes Polo correcting its virgin’s-lap legend; Curley’s note traces the legend to reports of the rhinoceros. Duplicate record 7449.
Quotations
Verified against the book’s own text on the day of the reading.
- “The monoceras, that is, the unicorn, has this nature: he is a small animal like the kid, is exceedingly shrewd, and has one horn in the middle of his head.” (ch. XXXVI, p. 51)
- “The unicorn has one horn because the Savior said, “I and the Father are one” [John 10: 30].” (ch. XXXVI, p. 51)
- “We never stop to ask that animal stories be zoologically accurate, for that would be missing their point.” (Curley, Introduction, p. ix)
- “Physiologus was never intended to be a treatise on natural history. For that purpose, the Middle Ages had Pliny.” (Introduction, p. xv)
- “The elephant has no knee joints enabling him to sleep lying down if he wanted to.” (ch. XX, p. 30)
- “The legend of the unicorn arises out of reports concerning the rhinoceros.” (Curley, notes to ch. XXXVI, p. 86)
Themes
allegory · bestiary · Christology · nature · rhinoceros · taxonomy absent · unicorn