So admirable are the works of that sovereign artificer, that the one seem to compete with the others over which of them will be more admirable, because all of them, each one in its manner, are so, and in this account enters the worm that spins silk. Of its fruit we already said how all the elegance of the world and all the ornament of the churches is the work of this little animal, but of the artifice with which it spins it, Jerome Vida, most elegant poet, wrote two books in verse. The sum of what he says there I shall recount here: these worms are engendered from certain very small little eggs, which their female lays. Which, placed in the sun, or put in the breasts, with either of these heats, in less space than three days are animated and receive life with all the senses that are required for it, which Saint Basil alleges in order to make credible to us by this example the mystery of the general resurrection. For he who can give life to so small a seed in so brief a space, will also be able to give it to the dusts and bones of our bodies, wherever they may be. These little animals being born, they at once begin to eat with great hunger, and eating they grow and become larger. And having already eaten some days, they sleep, and after having slept their sleep, in which that sustenance is digested and converted into their substance, they awaken, and return to eating with the same hunger and agony. And the noise that they make when they eat, breaking the herb with their little teeth, is such that it resembles the noise that water makes when it rains on the rooftops. This they do three times, because so many times do they eat, and so many times do they sleep, until they become large. Having now become such, they cease to eat,
and begin to work and to pay their host the reckoning for the food. And for this they lift up their necks, seeking some branches where they can fasten the threads from one part to another, which they draw from their own substance. And the branch being occupied with this thread, they then begin to make in the midst of it their house, which is a cocoon. For joining some threads with others, and others over others, and these very stuck together among themselves, they come to make a wall as fixed and firm as if it were of parchment. And just as men, after the walls of a house have been fabricated, whitewash them, so that they may be smooth and beautiful, so they, this dwelling having been fabricated, burnish it all within with the little snout that they have over the mouth, very smooth and very accommodated for this effect, with which the cocoon remains so taut that, throwing it into water, it goes swimming on top, without being penetrated by it. And this is a singular providence of the Creator, because, were it not so, all this work would be without fruit, because in this manner, the cocoon being whole and taut, throwing it into hot water, the thread can very well be gathered, one thread separating and unsticking itself from another with the heat. Which could not be done if the cocoon were penetrated by the water, and swelled with it. With this boiling water the officer who fabricated that house dies, and this is the payment that is given him for his work. But to the worms that they wish to keep for breed, they do not do this injury. But they, not suffering so narrow an enclosure, open with their little mouths a little gate by which they go out, and they go out already advanced and increased, because they go out with little horns and wings, made from worms into birds. There are among them males and females and, with all being so similar among themselves, the males know the females, and join themselves by the little tails with them, and persevere in this joining for the space of four days, in which it appears that they have in bodies so small their distinct sexes, as males and females. These days finished, the male dies, and the female gives birth to those little eggs that we said at the beginning and, this done, she also dies, leaving that seed with which afterward she may return to renew and resurrect her lineage. In which is seen how for this end alone divine providence created this little animal, since this office finished, without anyone killing them, they at once die, testifying with their natural and accelerated death that for this office alone they were created, which finished, they finish life together with it.
In this work it is clearly seen how that sovereign Lord created all things for man, since these animals so profitable for our service were not born nor lived for themselves, but for man, since this service finished, they finished life together with it. Where it seems that with their ending they are saying to man: I was not born nor did I live for myself, but for you, and for that reason, this service ended, I take leave of you. And this is seen still more clearly, because that house that these little animals fabricated with so much work does not serve for their habitation, but for man, since upon finishing making it, they at once breach it and forsake it, without using it any more, as a building that they did not fabricate for themselves, but for us. In which are seen the riches and the favor of divine providence, which, not content with having provided for our clothing the wool of sheep, and the hides of animals, with other such things, also wished to provide this so precious and so delicate clothing for whoever should have need of it.
And here it is much to consider that, the threads of this cocoon being thinner than hairs, and made of a matter so delicate and weak as is the humor and slime of these worms, they come to be so strong that they can easily be reeled anew, and wound, and woven, and pass through a thousand martyrdoms before silk is made from them, so that it may be seen how admirable and
how provident that heavenly Master is in all his works. And no less does he here declare the greatness of his power, since he gave ability to a little worm that is born in two days, and lives two months, to make a work so precious and so delicate, that all human wits would not succeed in making it.
But among these I shall not fail to refer here to Pliny, who, treating of these little animals, says that of the clothing that was made of silk, and of threads so thin, in ancient times women alone made use, and afterward men too came to use it, who were so unaccustomed to wearing mail-coats clothed, that they could not suffer these common garments, and for that reason came to take those of women.
Of Other Little Animals Small And Harmful To Man
At the end of this chapter, where we have treated of these small little animals, someone will ask for what cause he who created all things for the service and good of man created many of these little animals that not only serve man, but rather molest and maltreat him, as are flies, mosquitoes, fleas, and other similar ones, which often impede us from that little piece of the time of sleep (in which we rest from the cares and labors of the day), and keep us awake and take from us this little repose. To that I respond that, just as the hardships and labors and fatigues of this life, together with death, came to us through the first sin, in which all the children of that first man were comprehended, so also the plagues of these little animals came to us through it, and very justly. For just as man (who compared with God is less than a little flea or a mosquito) rose up against God, and disobeyed, so he wished that the mosquito and the flea and other similar little animals should rise up against him, and molest and humble him, seeing that such vile creatures were powerful to disturb a creature so generous as man is, without his being party enough to defend himself from them. But in all things God is good, in all things merciful. For this penalty in such manner is penalty, that it is also medicine, because this as well as other infinite miseries and hardships of this life are like aloes, which our heavenly Father places on the breasts and milk of this world so that we may despise and abhor it, and draw near to the breasts of that Lord, which the Bride found sweeter than wine, that is, than all the delights of the world. Which is true to such a degree, that Eucherius could say that he did not know which was the greater motive to bring men to God, either the bitterness of the evils with which this world lays us waste, or the sweetness of the goods with which our heavenly Father invites us.
And since we have now declared in this chapter how admirable God is in the fabric of these little animals so small, it will be reason also to declare how much he is so in the fabric of the great ones, so that thus it may be seen how in all his works both great and small he is admirable, and it may be understood with how much reason that angel responded to him who asked him for his name, saying: “Why do you ask for my name, which is admirable?” For this I could bring here those two fierce beasts, whose greatness the Creator himself describes in chapters 40 and 41 of holy Job under these names, Behemoth and Leviathan. And likewise that of whales, which is very notorious. But leaving this apart, I shall recount here the strange greatness of a fish that in the year one thousand five hundred and seventy-five, on the twenty-second day of April, came to the beach of Peniche, which the sea cast on land already dead. This was
one of the great things that were seen, because it had forty cubits of length, and the hide along the back was black, and along the belly white, and the length of the tail from point to point was five cubits, and in breadth it had fifteen spans. It was so corpulent, that from one side to another two men of great stature could scarcely be seen. The eyes each had one cubit of length. And it is to be noted that the head it had raised four cubits high, and it did not have the mouth in the head, as the other fish, but in the belly. The tusks were each eight cubits. It also had in the mouth sixteen teeth on each side, and each tooth had half a cubit around, and from one tooth to another there was a span of breadth. I wished to put here the figure of it, which was brought to King Don Henry, who is in glory.
In the fabric of this fish the artifice of divine providence must be noted, because the head it raised on high so that the eyes might be in it as in a watchtower, to see the fish on which this beast had to maintain itself. And because the distance from the head to the water was great, he provided that the mouth should be in the low part, so as to be nearer and more at the point of fishing what the eyes from their watchtower might discover to it. I have also heard that this fish has in the belly a grease that is very medicinal and of great price.