Hippopotamus in eodem flumine ac solo nascitur, equino dorso et juba et hinnitu, rostro resimo, ungulis bifidis, aprugineis dentibus, cauda tortuosa. Noctibus segetes depascitur, ad quas pergit aversus astu doloso, ut fallente vestigio revertenti nullæ insidiæ præparentur. Idem quum distenditur nimia satietate, arundines recens cæsas petit, per quas tamdiu obversatur, quoad stirpium acuta pedes vulnerent, ut profluvio sanguinis levetur sagina: plagam deinde cúno oblinit, usque dum vulnus conducatur in cicatricem. Hippopotamos et crocodilos primus Romam Marcus Scaurus invexit.

The hippopotamus is nurtured by this same land and river. It has a horse-like back, mane and neigh, a turned-up nose, cloven hooves, tusks like a wild boar’s and a twisty tail. In the night, it lays waste the grain-fields. With crafty cunning, it proceeds towards these backwards, so that when it goes to return, its deceptive footmarks ensure no ambush is prepared for it. When overfull with excessive feasting, it seeks newly cut reeds, and walks to and fro through them for so long a time, that the sharp ends of the plants wound its feet, and its satiety is lightened by the flow of blood. Then it plasters the area with mud, until the wounds heal into scars. Marcus Scaurus was the first to bring hippopotami and crocodiles to Rome.