The first consideration that we touched on concerning animals is the abilities that the Creator gave them for maintaining themselves, since nothing has life that does not have its proper sustenance with which to sustain it, which office lasts as long as that life lasts. We shall begin, then, with the sheep and with the lamb its child, with whom the Savior was pleased to be compared, and with these let us join all the animals that graze grass. Therefore all these in a pasture, where a thousand differences of herbs are born, some healthful and some poisonous, and all of one same color, by natural instinct know the one and the others, and graze the good ones, and do not touch the bad ones, although they suffer great hunger, as we already said. Which exceeds the faculty of human understanding, which does not attain this, but not the divine, which governs them. And thus Sulpicius Severus writes, in his Dialogue, of a holy hermit who maintained himself on herbs of the field, who, since he lacked this knowledge, suffered great pains of the stomach because of the bad herbs that he ate, so much that at times he ceased to eat in order not to suffer such pains. And as he asked remedy from the Lord, for whose love he suffered that, he sent him a stag with a bundle of herbs in its mouth, which, casting them on the ground, separated the bad ones from the good, and in this manner the saint remained taught by the brute animal what he by himself could not know. The sheep also has another discretion, with all its simplicity: that at the mouth of winter it gives itself great haste to eat with an insatiable hunger, making use of the occasion of the time so as not afterward to find itself weak and fleshless in the time of cold and of less pasture. O if men with all their discretion did what this simple animal without it does, which is to make use of the occasion and preparation that in this life they have for doing good works, so as not to find themselves naked and poor in merits in the other, because in this manner there would not happen to them what Solomon says: “For love of the cold the lazy man did not wish to plow, and therefore he shall go begging in the time of summer, and there will be no one who gives him!”
The lamb also, though being an animal no less simple than its mother, when among the whole herd it loses her from sight, goes through all of it bleating, and she with love of mother responds to him in the same tone so that he may know where she is, and he among a thousand bleatings of similar sheep recognizes the proper one of his mother and, passing through many other mothers, leaves them all, because he wants his mother alone, and wishes to maintain himself on her milk alone. And the mother also, among many thousands of bleatings and of lambs of one same tone and of one same color, recognizes only her child. The shepherd many times errs in this knowledge, but the lamb and the mother never err.
There is also another marvelous providence in the fabric both of this animal and of all the others that ruminate, as are oxen, and goats, and camels, and other such. Which is that, besides the crop, where the pasture is digested, which corresponds to our stomach, they have another bosom, where the pasture is received in first instance before it goes to the
stomach, where it is to be digested, and from this first bosom they draw the food that they have eaten, and by night or by day, when they rest, they bring it to the mouth and are there at leisure ruminating it, preparing it in this manner to send it to the crop, where it is to be cooked and digested. This was a work of divine providence, because seeing that the days of winter are small and the nights long, if these animals grazed and ruminated together, little would be the pasture that they would enjoy. Therefore for this they graze by day and ruminate by night, and in this manner the night serves them no less for their sustenance when they ruminate, than the day when they graze.
Let us come to the domestic birds, which are better known. The rooster always goes seeking some grain to eat. And, when he finds it, he calls with a certain call to his hens and, as a good married man, takes the food from himself, and shares it with them. Which the capon does not do, who keeps continence, and for this reason, while the rooster goes thin, he is fat and well treated, because he has no account except with himself alone, teaching us with this the difference that the Apostle places between the married and the continent. For the good married divide the labors and the time between God and the care of their wives, but the good continent, free from these burdens and obligations, give themselves wholly to God, and for that reason are more profited and advanced in the spiritual life.
The hen also, which rears her chicks, always goes scratching with her feet in the dunghills and, finding something, calls the little children with great haste, and as a good mother she fasts in order to give them to eat. And what is more: one manner of call she has when she calls them to eat, and another when she calls them so that they may put themselves beneath her wings, and another when she warns them to flee and hide from the kite, when she sees it coming. And they, newly born, without doctrine and without teacher, perfectly understand all these languages that we would not understand, and thus they obey with great haste what by them is commanded them. And I even noted another thing, seeing food thrown to a hen with her chicks: that if those of another mother came near to eat of her ration, with pecks she cast them from there, so that they should not lessen the food of her children. Therefore what more would this bird do, if she had reason? For it seems that by the work she was saying: “this food belongs to my children, and the greater part you eat of it, so much the less will fall to them. Therefore I have not to consent that others’ children eat the food of mine.”
I
Let us pass to another thing less known and more admirable, which Basil and Ambrose recount. The crab is very fond of the flesh of oysters and, in order to have this food, places itself like a spy secretly in the place where they are, and at the time when they open their shells to receive the rays of the sun, the thief comes out from the ambush where it was, and what does it do? A thing certainly in appearance incredible: because in the meanwhile that it runs, lest the oyster close its doors and it remain mocked, before it arrives it throws a stone at it, so that it cannot close its doors well, and then it with its claws opens it and takes possession of it. Therefore who could have expected from so little an animalcule such industry? And who could give it to it, except that Lord who gives food to all flesh, and gives ability and art to seek it?
Therefore what shall I say of the abilities that the fox has for this? Here comes to purpose what Isaiah says: “Woe to you, who rob others! Perchance will you not also be robbed?” The crab steals the flesh of the oyster, and the fox steals that of this crab, and not with less artifice. Witness of this is a mountain that there is in Biscay, which enters a piece into the sea, in which there are many foxes. And the cause of this is the convenience that they have there for fishing. But in what manner do they fish? They imitate the fishermen with rod, and wit and industry are not lacking to them for it, because they put almost the whole body in the tongue of the water, and extend the tail, which serves them there as rod and line for fishing. And as the crabs that go swimming there do not understand the ambush, they bite at it: then she shakes it with great haste, and casts the crab on land, and there she leaps, and tears it to pieces and eats it. Therefore who could discover this new invention and art of fishing? But this is not her only ability, because she also knows how to provide herself with sustenance for another day, because after having leapt into some poultry yard, and killed as many as she finds, and drunk their blood, she makes a hole, and buries them there in order to have provision for another day. This is very notorious, and more so is what I shall say, although it may not come so much to purpose, since I have made mention of this animal, which, although bad and harmful, still discovers with its craftiness much of divine providence, which seems to have wished to represent to us in it what he says in the Gospel: “that the children of this age are more prudent in their dealings and businesses than the children of light.” This animal, then, has artifice to drive fleas away from itself, when they trouble it. But in what manner? It takes in its mouth a little branch, and entering into the water of some river or of the bank of the sea, and drawing itself from the water little by little backward, the fleas, fleeing from the part of the body that is becoming wet to that which is dry, proceed in this manner, she putting herself little by little into the water until they all come to place themselves on her head, which she also ducks into the water in such manner that nothing remains for her outside except the eyes and the mouth. Then, they leaping onto the little branch that we said she had in her mouth, she releases the branch, and leaps out of the water, already free from the enemies that fatigued her. This artifice so exquisite, who could teach it to a brute animal except the Creator? Therefore, Lord, what is it to you that fleas are troublesome to a fox, since she is so troublesome to us? It matters much, he will say, because although little matters to me for that little animal, much is involved in men understanding by this and by other examples how perfect and how universal is my providence, since there is nothing so small to which it does not extend and to which it does not provide remedy, although it be as small as that one. Of this instrument with which the fox fishes the mouse also makes use in another different matter. For it puts its little tail into the oil cruet that it finds, and afterward licks what by this so ingenious artifice it was able to draw from it.
But returning to the matter of foods, no less admirable is the manner in which a certain bird is maintained, which cleans the teeth of the crocodile, among which there enter many little splinters of the flesh that it has eaten, which give it pain, and such is divine providence, that it provided this animal with a toothpick, which is a certain little bird, which, he opening his mouth, does in one journey two errands, which is to clean his teeth, and maintain herself with what she draws from them. Is there a more loving, more regal, and compendious providence than this? O admirable God in all his works, who by so strange an artifice provides for two necessities with one single work! Therefore what shall I say of the manner in which certain birds are maintained, which those who sail to the East Indies many times see, which is that they always go in pursuit of others, and gather in the beak the
excrements of those they follow, and with it maintain themselves? Who could believe this, if he did not see it? The name of these birds I do not put here, because it is conformed to the food on which they maintain themselves.
Therefore what shall we say of the craftinesses that the octopus uses to seek food? In which it seems the Creator wished to represent to us the arts of the men whom we call of two faces, doubled, feigned, and dissemblers, because this fish comes to attach itself to some rock that is in the water, taking its color, and hiding its own; then the sardines and other little fish, as simple folk, are deceived with that lying color, and come near to it. The traitor then comes to them, and seizes them with those its branches with which it fishes. And from here was born the proverb of the Latins, who say that false and deceitful men have the conditions of octopuses.
Another craftiness Tully refers of a bird, although it is accompanied with force and violence. For he says that there is a bird by name platalea, which seeks its food by pursuing the birds that dive in the sea and, when they come out carrying some fish in the mouth, it bites them on the head so strongly that it makes them release what they carry, with which this bird is maintained. And of the same bird he writes that it fills the crop with some shells of the sea and, having recognized them in the crop, comes to vomit them, and chooses from them what is to eat. But another more artful thing he himself refers of the sea frogs, which cover themselves with sand and move themselves next to the water, and as the little fish undertake to wish to bait themselves on them, they then uncover themselves, and seize them, and in this manner they fish and maintain themselves, all of which declares to us the greatness of that infinite Wisdom that knew and could invent so many modes for maintaining the animals that he created.
A common and known thing is what a little goldfinch does, which being captive upon a board, and having hung from it two very small buckets, one with water, and another with the grain that it is to eat, when it has hunger it lifts with the little beak the one that has the food, and when it wishes to drink, it raises in the same manner the one that has the water. But another thing I saw more artful than this, because the bucket of water is empty, but below there is a little chest full of water, and when it wishes to drink, it puts the little bucket into this little chest, and gives it so many turns with the beak, that finally it gathers water, and then raises it to the height and drinks. Therefore who will not marvel? Who will not give thanks to the Creator, seeing in so small a little body such industry, which the Creator and necessity, teacher of all things, teaches?
The hedgehog also with all its heaviness knows its artifice for supplying itself with sustenance, because, finding at the foot of an apple tree the fallen apples, it rolls itself in them, fastening them with its spines, and thus carries them with itself, and of them makes deposit to maintain itself. And if anyone wishes to harm it, it encloses itself within its prickles, and thus shelters itself with them from the enemy.
More admirable is the faculty and artifice that a fish has that is called tremelga, which knows how to defend itself and also maintain itself with two strange properties that the author of nature gave it. The one is that, putting itself beneath the mud, it makes the little fish that come near to it fall asleep, which is what is usually said of sorcerers; then this marine sorcerer comes out from beneath the mud, and takes possession of them and maintains itself on them. The other ability is not
less strange, because, being touched with the fisherman’s hook, it has so much power that by the line and by the rod it climbs up to the fisherman’s arm and numbs it in such manner that he releases the rod, and the fish goes away free: in so much variety of things did the Creator wish to show his providence.
Not only weak animals, but also strong ones, help themselves with their industries and artifices to seek food. Of the tiger (to whom neither forces, nor arms, nor swiftness are lacking) Aelian refers that it goes to the place where there is abundance of female monkeys, of whose flesh it is fond, and stretches itself on the ground beneath a tree where they usually come, and places itself there in the figure of a dead one, without stirring itself, nor seeming to breathe. They, being on high in the tree, suspecting it, send ahead a spy so that, approaching somewhat to it, they may see if it is alive or dead, but with such caution that they do not trust it. Afterward the spy returns a second and third time, approaching somewhat more, until altogether it persuades itself that it is dead. And giving report to the others, they descend securely, and leap upon it, triumphing joyfully over their enemy. Then the dead one, seeing itself surrounded by the prey that it was awaiting, with great haste rises again, and with teeth and claws tears to pieces as many as it can, and turns their feasts into weeping, they paying for their mad daring.
II
Some cats, great hunters, use this same artifice, because in an orchard that I saw, one of these stretched itself among the trees and the vegetables, and stretched and extended itself in such manner that it seemed dead, and there it persevered without stirring itself, awaiting its fortune. The simple little birds, then, being deceived with this figure, came near to it securely, and then the thief, with one leap, caught them and ate them.
And since I made mention of the cat, I shall also say of it what each day we see, but not all of us note in this, the care of divine providence, which in infinite manners is discovered to us. It created this animal so that it might defend our houses and pantries from the harms and troubles of mice. And we all see the industries and instruments of claws and swiftness that they have for this, and above all this, as we already said, they see by night, which is the time of their hunting. And because, this animal being necessary for what has been said, it would have been inconvenient for the house to smell badly with the purgation of its belly, it seeks for this its most remote corners, and (what none of as many animals as there are does) with its claws it digs in the earth, and covers what it purged. And to see whether it is covered, it applies the sense of smell and, if it finds that it still smells badly, it returns again to scratch and cover it better. So that what God commanded the children of Israel to do, when they dwelt in the desert, with a little spade that they carried with themselves, this animal does without having that law or example of any other that does such a thing. This we see each day, and we do not see the regalement of divine providence toward man, giving order how he may have his house clean and free from bad odor. For since he was doing him this benefit in giving him this hunter that should clean his lodging for him, it should not be given to him on the other hand with this tribute of dirtying it for him.
Therefore the craftinesses and ambushes that the cat has for hunting and for stealing, each day we see. It well knows at times how to remove the cover of the pot that has just been set on the fire, and put in the claws, and draw out the meat, and flee with it. But I am witness of another craftiness that
I shall say here. It was going along the top of the back of a wall after a little lizard, which, fleeing from it, put itself beneath a roof tile that by chance was there mouth down. What did it then do? It made this account: if I put my hand in here, it has to flee from me by the other mouth of the tile. Therefore I shall attend to that. But in what manner? It placed one hand at the narrower mouth of the tile, and through the wider one put in the other, and in this manner, as between doors, reached the prey that it sought. Therefore what more would it do, if it had reason?
Strange also are the arts that wolves have for maintaining themselves. But one alone I shall recount, which Aelian writes, which in part responds to a question that is usually posed, which is: how are there so few wolves, the female bearing many little wolves, while on the other hand there are so many rams and lambs, the sheep bearing no more than one, and so many being killed each day for our sustenance? This author says, then, that when the wolves have nothing to eat, a band of many of them joins together, and they go running around like a ring, some after others, and the first one that, its head made dizzy, falls, comes to be food for all the others. And this is one of the causes of there being fewer wolves, because they eat one another. Where much must be noted the style of divine providence, which impedes by its ways and paths the multiplication of the animals that were to be prejudicial and harmful to us, as is seen in the birth of the scorpion, because the female bears eleven eggs, of which she eats the ten, and leaves one alone, which, after being born, seems not to have so much account of the benefit of the mother as of the death of its brothers, and thus takes vengeance on her, killing her and eating her.
Nor is what is recounted of a most poisonous snake that is found in Brazil less illustrious testimony of divine providence, which infallibly kills him whom it bites, if the member where it bit is not immediately cut off, which the Creator ordered thus so that by the remedy for this danger he might declare to us this care of his providence, which especially is known by the remedies that he provides for our evils. And the remedy for this is to have created this bad beast with a manner of little bell on the head, so that the sound of it may warn the careless of this danger. Therefore who does not recognize here the care of divine providence both in the remedy of our dangers and in the diversity of the means that it invents for this? And of the viper Saint Basil says that she tears open her belly when she gives birth. And of the lioness he says that with her claws she also breaks her belly at the time of birth. In this manner the Creator, on one part, conserves the species of things, and on the other gives order so that, as is usually said, “of enemies, the fewer.”
But someone will say more: for what did he create these species of animals enemies of nature? This was the argument of Epicurus, who denied providence (as Tully refers), saying: “If God created all things for love of man, for what did he create vipers?” To this it is answered that in a perfect republic there are also gallows, and prisons, and whips, and executioners for punishment of evildoers, and it was not reason that in the great republic of this world, in which God presides, executioners and executors of his justice should be lacking. And thus he punished the children of Israel in the desert, sending them serpents that should bite them, because they also bit with tongues of evil-speakers the ministers that God had given them. And he punished the Egyptians with locusts and biting flies and mosquitoes that cruelly wounded them, and thus he created great whales in the sea, and great and frightful
dragons on the earth, of whose greatness many histories treat, which he did in order to show the greatness of his power, and with it to put dread and fear in human hearts, and to declare to us how great an evil it would be to come to stop in the throats of the infernal dragon, who with his tail drew after him the third part of the stars of heaven.
And returning to the purpose of the sustenance of animals, we see how much diversity there is both in them and in the faculties that the Creator gave them to seek it. In which the wisdom of his providence marvelously shines forth, because, if all had one same food and one manner of ability to seek it, this would not appear so admirable a thing. But there being so many differences of foods, and so many and so diverse faculties and instruments of the members to seek them, it is a thing that at every step is crying out and preaching the care and the wisdom of this highest providence, and provoking us to admiration and reverence for it. We see, then, that among animals some seek their food on the earth, others in the water, and others in the air, and of these some maintain themselves on blood, others on grass, others on grain, and others on other things without count. Therefore the Creator formed all of them with such bodies and members that they should serve them to seek their food. For the lion and the tiger and other similar ones he created with very strong teeth and claws, and with swiftness to follow the hunt, and with a brave and generous spirit so as not to fear dangers nor the forces of others, as the lion has it, of whom Solomon says: “The lion, which is the strongest of the beasts, does not fear the encounter of anyone.” Therefore this one “with his cubs goes out by night, as the Psalm says, roaring in order to rob, and to ask God to give him to eat.” And conformably to this generosity he has this property, that as a great lord he does not eat of the hunt that remained to him from the day before. Of whom Aelian writes that, after by age he is weak and heavy, and thus unfit for hunting, he goes out with his cubs, and awaits them at a certain post, and they bring to the old father the prey that they found, whom he embraces when they come, and licks their faces in sign of gratitude and love. And after this loving reception, they all sit down to eat of the prey. Therefore what more would they do, if they had reason like men? And even in this piety they surpass them, since we see many children very scant and inhuman toward their poor and old parents, which does not fit even among fierce animals.
The artifice of divine providence also shines forth in the abilities and instruments that it gave to birds of prey for hunting and with this seeking their sustenance. In these the beak is very artful, and very different from that of the other tame birds. For the upper part of it is sharp and curved in order to fix into the flesh and draw pieces from it, and the lower is like a razor, and comes to meet and fit into the higher, and thus cuts and lops what the beak of the upper part raises. Therefore who will be able to imagine that a thing so proportioned and so accommodated for this office was made by chance, and not with great artifice? Which appears still clearer with the correspondence of all the other faculties and instruments that serve for this, as are the claws so sharp and strong for seizing the prey, and also for retaining it, the front claws closing with the rear one in order to hold it so tightly that it cannot go from them. They also have great heat in the stomach, so that hunger makes them more covetous and swift for the hunt. They also have an animous and trusting heart, since a wild falcon in very few days becomes so domestic and so faithful that you send it to the clouds after a heron, and call it and command it to come to your hand, and thus it does. For since the Creator formed these birds
not only so that they might maintain themselves, but also so that they might help to maintain and recreate man, as goshawks do, such arms and such spirit and such confidence he had to give them. And because he did not give this to the kite, although arms and wings are not lacking to it, it swoops down upon the weak little chicks, because it has no heart for more, representing in this the baseness of villainous and pusillanimous men, who, being so cowardly toward those who can do something, are most cruel toward those who can do nothing, wronging the poor and maintaining themselves on their sweat.
To the vultures also, which maintain themselves on flesh, the Creator gave a marvelous instinct, with which they guess the destructions and deaths of men, on whose flesh they maintain themselves, and thus they follow armies, sensing the slaughter that is to be in them. And what is a more admirable thing, from fifty miles they smell dead bodies, as the Commentator says, book two On the Soul.
III
In the storks the Creator represented to us a most perfect image of piety of parents toward their children, and of children toward their parents. For the parents, besides maintaining their children in the nest, as the other birds do, use this piety with them, that when the sun burns in such manner that it could be harmful to the tender little young, they extend their wings, on which they receive the rays of the sun, and with this make shade for them, being cruel to themselves, because they are pious to the children. In which he represents to us those pious entrails and love of the Eternal Father toward his spiritual children, to whom the Psalmist attributes this same piety, saying that with his shoulders he will make shade for them, and will gather and guard them beneath his wings. And no less do they represent the greatness of the charity of the Son of God, who received upon his most sacred shoulders the lashes that our sins deserved, paying (as he said) what he did not owe. Therefore this charity that the storks have toward their children when they are little, the children have toward their parents when they are old and unfit to seek food. For they pay in the same coin the benefit that they received, maintaining their old parents in the nest with all care. And when it is necessary to move to another part, the good and grateful children, extending their wings, take the old ones upon themselves and move them to the place where they are to dwell, in which they also represent to us the charity and mercy of that sovereign Father toward his children, of whom the Prophet says that “as an eagle he extended his wings, and brought them upon his shoulders.”
To the birds that maintain themselves on grain or on grass, as to the hen and other such, he gave sharp beaks, which serve them not only to eat with them, but also as arms when they fight with one another, and feet with toes and claws to scratch with them, and unearth the grain beneath the earth. But on the contrary, to those that seek their food in the water, as swans and ducks and drakes, he gave the feet extended like a paddle of an oar, with which they marvelously row and swim, bracing themselves with the soles upon the water, and passing forward with the body, from which art, imitator of nature, learned to row, because these natural oars were before the artificial ones. He also formed the beak in another manner, not sharp, but flat like a shovel, and with some little teeth like
a saw, so that the fish, which are smooth and slippery, might be detained and seized in them.
To the birds that have large legs, large necks were also given, so that they might easily reach the food of the earth. And the same was done with the animals that are high at the withers, as are camels, to which the large neck was given so that they might easily seek their pasture on the earth. And another thing I noted in them: that, men and all the brutes having two principal joints in the legs, one in the knees and another in the hip of the thigh, these animals, because they are very tall, have three, distributed in such manner that their legs appear as made of hinges: thus they bend and gather them in order to lower themselves to receive the load, or to stretch themselves on the earth, when they wish to sleep. But because for the elephant, which is much taller, it was not fitting to give so great a neck with which it might be able to reach to graze, there was given to it in place of it that trunk of cartilaginous flesh, which it serves itself with as with a hand not only for eating but also for drinking, because it is hollow within, and through it it drains a pillar of water, and at times for playfulness sprinkles with it those standing around.
Of the fabric of the legs of this animal Saint Basil marvels, considering “how accommodated they are for sustaining the weight of that so great body, because they are like some strong columns, proportioned to sustain that so great load, and in the lower part of the feet it does not have joints and distribution of bones, for greater firmness. From here it is that we see them in battles carry upon themselves wooden castles, which appear animated towers or mountains made of flesh, and rush with all this load with so great impetus into the enemy ranks, and fight spiritedly for their own. And it is a thing of admiration to see that, with this animal being so great and so powerful, it comes to be subject and obedient to man, so that, if we teach it, it learns, and if we punish it, it suffers. In which it is seen that God created it for the service of man, because man had been created in the image of God. And with all this service it lives three hundred years, and more.” Thus far Basil.
It also has a natural shame, by which it uses the female in a hidden place and, if by chance someone passes there, it receives so great anger that it makes him pieces. And with all this it has other noble respects. Those who come from the East Indies recount a notable thing about this animal. When it goes in heats, it is most fierce. Going, then, through a street with this fury, it encountered a nursing child, which it took with the trunk, and put upon
a roof to free it from danger, which child wept and gave cries at seeing itself in that place. Then the elephant, having pity on the child, turned around, and took it with the same trunk, and returned it to put it in the same place where it was: so great is the sense that the Creator placed in this animal, because thus it was more able for the service of man. Other strange things are recounted of it, of which the books of diverse authors are full, where those who wish will be able to see them, because for my purpose what has been said suffices.
The eagle also, because its nature is to fly in high flight, as queen of the birds, which dwells in the highest place, the Creator provided with a singular sight, so that from there it may see the prey on which it is to maintain itself. And thus the same Creator says of it to holy Job that “it dwells among the crags and on the high cliffs, where no one can reach, and from there it sees the prey that is below.” Nor is industry lacking to it together with force for the hunt, because, if it happens to take a tortoise, or freshwater turtle, it raises it very high in its claws, and lets it fall upon some stone so that there its shells may be broken, and it may tear it to pieces safely. And it is even written that by this occasion the distinguished poet Aeschines died, because he, being bald, and having his head uncovered, an eagle, believing that it was some stone, let the turtle fall upon it, and from this wound he died.
The hunt also serves for the sustenance not only of the birds of prey, but much more of men, wherefore that holy Patriarch loved his son Esau more than Jacob, because he ate of the hunt that he brought him. And thus, wishing to give him his blessing, he commanded him to take his bow and his quiver, and go to the hunt and, from what he killed, make him a meal in the manner that the youth knew, so that, having finished eating, he might give him his blessing. Therefore for this hunt many differences of dogs greatly serve, which the Creator created for this, without the hunters for that giving him many thanks. But just as there are many differences of hunting, so there are also of dogs, because there are hounds of beautiful bodies and generous hearts that undertake against wild beasts; there are greyhounds no less beautiful and swift, which follow hares; there are other more vile ones, which eat rabbits; there are mastiffs, which serve for the guarding of the flocks; there are scent hounds, which with the liveliness of their smell discover the wild beasts, and find them after they are wounded; there are partridge dogs, which with the same smell find the partridges in such manner that nothing is lacking to them except to show them with the hand; there are water dogs, which swimming enter through the lagoons to draw out the bird that you wounded, and bring it to you in the hand. Therefore all these species of animals the Creator formed with these abilities for help of the sustenance of men, besides the birds of prey, which also serve him
for this. For since he created the hunt for the sustenance of man, he also had to provide instruments with which he might be able to hunt it.
IV
But since the necessity of sustenance obliged us to treat of dogs, I shall add here another thing, which will serve, not for all, but for those who yearn for the perfection of the Christian life, which I saw represented so properly in a hound, that there was no more to know nor to desire. For in it I saw these three things that I shall say. The first: that never ever, ever did it separate itself from the company of its lord. The second: that when at some time the lord commanded one of his servants to separate it from him, it growled and howled and, if they took it in arms to separate it, it kicked with feet and hands, defending itself from the one who did this. The third thing that I saw was that, this lord traveling in the month of August, three leagues already gone before eating, the hound was panting with thirst. Then the lord commanded a groom that he should take it by force to an inn that was near, and give it to drink. I was present, and saw that, at every two swallows of water that it drank, it turned its eyes to the road to see if the lord appeared, so that, even drinking, it was not wholly where it was, because the heart, and the eyes, and the desire were with its master. But at the point when it saw him appear, without finishing drinking, and without being able to be detained a point, it leaps and runs to accompany its lord. There was much to philosophize upon this. For the Creator not only formed animals for service of our bodies, but also for teachers and examples of our life, as is the chastity of the turtledove, the simplicity of the dove, the piety of the children of the stork toward their old parents, and other such things. But returning to our purpose, if the lover of perfection had toward his Creator these three things that this animal so grateful had toward the lord who gave it to eat by his hand, he would have arrived at the summit of perfection.
Among which the first is that he never separate himself from him, but that all the time, as much as may be humanly possible for him, he always walk in his presence, so that he neither ever lose him from sight, nor lose the actual union of his spirit with him, doing in his manner on the earth what the angels do in heaven, which is to be always actually loving, and reverencing, and adoring, and praising that sovereign Majesty. If he does this, he will have arrived at the ultimate perfection and happiness of the Christian life. This perfection Saint Augustine asked of our Lord in one of his meditations by these most devout words: “In you, Lord, may I always think by day, in you may I dream sleeping by night, to you may my spirit speak, and with you may my soul always converse. Blessed are those who love no other thing, wish no other, and know to think no other, except you. Blessed are those whose hope you are, and whose life is a perpetual prayer.” This, then, is the first work of perfection that that animal teaches us, which never separated itself from its lord.
The second is that, as this animal felt so much the separation from him, so the lover of perfection should feel much all that separates him from this most happy union with God, as the blessed Saint Gregory Pope felt it, who, seeing that the occupations of the pastoral office diverted him somewhat from this actual union with God, laments and complains of himself at the beginning of his Dialogues by these words: “The miserable one of my soul,
wounded with the wound of the occupations that the pastoral office brings with itself, remembers that quiet life that it enjoyed in the monastery: how then it had beneath its feet all the goods of this life; how it was higher than all the things that roll with fortune; how it knew how to think of nothing more than the things of heaven; how it desired death, which is painful to all, in order to go to enjoy eternal life.” You see, then, here expressed the second thing that this dog represents to us, when it howled and kicked because they separated it from its lord. But the third is the most arduous, and in which all the force of this business lies: which is that, just as this dog renounced the taste that it received in drinking, so as not to lose a point of the company of its lord, so the perfect servant of God has to cut through all tastes, and affections, and cares, and covetousnesses, and businesses, and excessive occupations that may be an impediment to this most blessed union, unless it be when obedience or the necessity of charity obliges him to it, and even in this time he has to labor all that is possible not to turn the eyes of the soul away from the presence of his Lord. This third thing David shows that he did, when he said that “his soul had renounced all the consolations of the earth, and occupied itself in thinking on God, with whose memory it had received so great consolation, that his spirit fainted with it.”
This is properly to die to the world in order to live to God; this is to leave everything in order to find everything in him alone. And if this dog did this for a piece of bread that it received from the hand of its lord, what will it be reason that you do, unknown man, for that Lord who created you in his image and likeness, and conserves you with the benefit of his providence, and redeemed you with his very blood, and has his glory prepared for you, if you do not lose it by your fault?
And since in this chapter we signaled all the species of dogs, I cannot cease marveling at the sweetness and regalement of divine providence in having created another very different species of dogs, which are little lapdogs, which no one can deny to have been created by the hand of the Creator. For, given the case that one individual is begotten from another individual, as one dog from another dog, yet such or such a species of dogs or of other animals, only the omnipotence of God can create. Therefore what greater indication of that immense goodness and sweetness than to have wished to create this manner of regalement, of which queens and princesses and all noble women make use? For this little animal is so small that it serves for no other thing of those that here we have referred, except for this alone. So that, just as he created a thousand differences of most beautiful flowers and pearls and precious stones, many of which serve for no other thing than to recreate the sight, and give us notice of the beauty of the Creator, so he created this species of little animals for an honest recreation of women. For since they have been formed to regale and caress the little children that they rear, when these are lacking to them, they employ this animal affection in caressing these little puppies, which have so much faith with their ladies, that they do not wish to separate themselves from them, and feel much when they go out of the house, and rejoice and make them great festivity when they return, and seek them through the whole house when they disappear, and do not rest until they find them. For which a very virtuous and noble lady told me that a little puppy she had confounded her, seeing that she herself did not seek God with as much care as the little puppy sought her. The Creator saw, then, that the human heart could not live without some manner of recreation and delight, and because this inclination, which is very powerful, should not carry it to poisonous delights, he created infinite things for honest recreation of men, so that recreated and baited with them, they might despise and abhor the ugly and dishonest ones. And with this we shall give an end to this first chapter of the sustenance of animals.