¶De Orice. cap. 80.
ORix, as the Glose saith super Esay. is an vncleane beast, and not accor∣ding to sacrifice: and the seuentie trans∣lated and made this translation, Quasi Beta seminocta: & all ye other transla∣ted in this wise, Sicut Onix illaqueatus, as Orix is snarled: and Orix is called Tho in Hebrue, and is accounted in the lawe among vncleane beastes, and is a beast lyke to a water mouse, or to cer∣taine mice yt are called Glires, & haue ye name, for sléeping maketh them fat, and they sléepe all, the winter long, and laye egges vnmoueable as they were dead, & quicken againe in Summer, and so O∣rix is a beast like to such mice: and it séemeth that the letter of Isa. toucheth the same, and accordeth with Plini. that saith in this manner: In Aegypt they call a beast Orix, that standeth against the starre Canicula and the rising there∣of, the seuenth daye before, in the begin∣ning of Summer, and beholdeth on the starre as he would worship it, and that he doth when he is awaked after long sléeping. And this nowne Orix is deely∣ned Orix, cis, after that it is said Sorex, cis, and Orix, cis, and such other. But Iuuenall meneth, that Orix is a certain bird, that is most fat, and he blunteth & dulleth the knife with his fatnesse, as he saith lib. 3. there he saith, that olde Orix blunteth yron, and there by the meaning of this place the Expositors meane, that Orix is like to an hen of Affrica, or such an Hen, and so it is sayde after Briton, Orix, gis. And after the rule of Grecis∣mus, the nowne that endeth in ix, shall giue the Genetiue ease in cis, or in gis, as Fex, cis, Lex, gis, except Nox, Nix, Senex, and Suppellex, and therefore it is sayd, that Orix is that beast, that is accounted in lawe cleane to eating. Deu∣teronomeum. 14. there it is sayd in this manner: Thou shalt eate Orix & Ca∣meleopardalus, but it is accounted vn∣cleane to sacrifice. And libro. 8. capit. 3. de Animalibus somniferis, Plinius sai∣eth in this manner: Wilde Goates be shapen in many manner likenesses and shapes, for among them are some called Ilices, and be wonderful light, and leape downe of high rockes and cragges, and fall vpon their owne hornes. They are great and mightie, with the horne theyr heads be charged: and some be Origes, and their haire groweth and stretcheth toward the head, against the kinde of o∣ther beasts: and some be called Dame, and some Pigrasti, and many other such, and come of mountaines, and from be∣yond the sea, and so for to speake, Orix is a wilde Goate, and in this significa∣tion it is not taken in Esa. there he spea∣keth of beastes that men do dreame off in euill sléepe and dreames, for it accor∣deth not to the proportion and compari∣son: For Aristotle saieth, that euerye wilde Goate is wakefull by kinde, and sléepeth but little, and is soone awaked, for it is a fearefull beast: and so Orix is taken for a beast in Deuterono, and for another in likenesse in Esa. as many men meane.
(Orix a certaine wilde beast in A∣frike. The latter writers are in doubt, what this Beast should be, some sup∣pose a kinde of wilde Goate, some the Unicorne, some the Rinoceros, &c.)