After these five chapters, in which some order was carried in treating this matter, I shall add this one, in which some extraordinary things of the animals will be recounted, so that as well in these as in those already said we may see the splendors and the wisdom of that powerful hand that filled all this world with marvels and with as many witnesses and preachers of his glory as there are creatures in it, because the insensibility of our heart had need of all these testimonies.
And let us begin first with a thing so rare and so extraordinary as is the Phoenix bird, whose nature Saint Ambrose describes by these words: “They say that this bird dwells in the region of Arabia, and that it reaches five hundred years of life, which, feeling that the end of its days approaches, makes a kind of sepulcher or ark of incense and myrrh and other fragrant things, and enters into the midst of it, and there dies. And from the flesh of its dead body a worm is born, which little by little goes growing until it comes to have wings like the bird from whose flesh it was engendered, and thus comes to be renewed and to recover the same form and figure that it had in its origin. It confirms us in the faith of our resurrection, which divine providence wished us to hope for and believe. And for this it ordained that this bird should have this so new manner of restoring itself, to confirm us in this faith. So that this novelty is for us, and speaks with us, since man was not created for love of the birds, but the birds for love of man.” Let this example serve us, then, so that we may understand that the Creator must not consent that his saints perish eternally, since he did not consent that, this bird dying, it should perish altogether. Then who, let us see, was he who denounced to this bird the day of its death so that it should make its sepulcher, and fill it with suave odors, and enter into it, and there end its life, where with the suavity of the good odors the bad odor of the rotted flesh should be taken away? What has been said is from Saint Ambrose.
Then by this example we shall understand how many and how different manners divine Wisdom has for conserving the species of its creatures, since here it uses this so new and so extraordinary manner, and this accompanied with such new circumstances as has been declared. And no less must it be noted here that, it being a natural thing for many worms to be bred in rotted flesh, from this one no more than one is born, so that the Phoenix bird may be one alone. And no hunter or crossbowman has succeeded in shooting this bird, nor will they ever succeed, because divine providence will here supply, so that the species that he created may never be lacking in the world, although there be in it no more than one single individual.
Let us pass from here to the animals that we know, in many of which divine Goodness, lover of virtue, gives us examples of many virtues, because to move us to love and succor our neighbors in their necessities, which pertains to the virtue of charity, Eusebius of Emesa alleges the example of the deer, which, in order to pass some great river by swimming, all place themselves in one row, and each one for relief of the work carries its head placed on the haunches of the one that goes ahead, and thus they help one another: only the one that guides the procession carries its head in the air, suffering this labor in order to relieve that of its companions. But after it is tired, from first it becomes last, and the one that was going after it succeeds in the office with the same charity. And if neighbors thus helped one another, how much more rested our life would be!
There is another example of charity similar to this, which Aristotle noted of the cranes, of which Tully makes much account. Who says that, when the cranes travel over the sea to seek warm places, flying they make the form of a triangle, with which they cut and divide the air that is contrary to them, helping themselves with their wings as with oars to pursue their way. And for greater rest, those that go behind incline their heads on the backs of those that go before. And because the one that goes in the front guiding them has no one on whom to recline its head, when it grows tired, it returns to the backs, and from first becomes last, so as to have something on which to rest, and the one that was beside it succeeds in the same charge.
Nor even do the wolves (though being animals so faithless) lack another similar industry, because that divine President provided for everything. For when they pass some impetuous river, so that the current may not carry them after itself, they seize strongly with the mouth upon the tails of one another, and thus, the forces of all joined as in a squadron, they resist the current and pass safely. This same example of charity we have in other animals, although fierce, which caress and lick one another’s wounds, as oxen, dogs, cats, lions, and bears do. And likewise they scratch one another when they cannot do it by themselves. Concerning which I shall not fail to recount what I saw in two animals unworthy to be named here, of which the one with its tusks and teeth scratched all the body of the other from end to end. And the one that received this benefit seems to have had a great itch in one leg, which it stretched outward. And the benefactor, understanding what this signified, at once attended to this need, and scratched that leg for it. And this done, the benefactor, wishing to receive the same benefit, stretched himself out, placing his hands and snout on the ground, and then the one that had received it satisfied it with the same office, paying in the same coin the good work received. Then what is this except a great example with which the Creator condemns the little charity and gratitude of men?
What is this except to open our mouths so that, considering how far his providence extends, we may say with the seraphim that heaven and earth are full of his glory?
Let us pass from charity to chastity, of which we have an example in other animals. Aelian writes that the king of the Scythians had a very beautiful mare and a very generous horse, her son. And since no horse so choice as this one was found to put to the mare, they agreed to cover the mother in such a way that the son would not know her, and thus generation might be had from her. This done, when they, the coverings removed, knew the incest committed, both threw themselves down and killed themselves. In which is seen how rooted the Creator wished the law of honesty to be in our hearts, since even in the brute animals he wished to imprint it. Queen Semiramis, mother of Ninus, king of Babylon, was not so chaste, but he gave her with death the payment that such a purpose and such wickedness deserved. Similar is the example that the same author recounts of a camel and its mother, because the shepherd who kept them covered the mother in such a manner that the son would not know her. But after, the covering removed, the son knew the incest committed, he grew fierce against the shepherd in such manner that he rushed at him, and with his teeth and with his feet tore him to pieces and he himself, also grown fierce against himself, killed himself and threw himself down. For it is a certain thing that the camel never joins itself in this manner with its mother. And still another honesty it has, according to the same author relates, that it never takes the female in the presence of anyone who sees it, but in secret, as the elephant also does. In which this animal shows more honesty and shame than the peoples of the Massagetae, who came to such an extreme of shamelessness that they publicly use their women. In which is seen that barbarous men and without knowledge of God come from cast to cast to destroy in such manner the gifts of nature, that they come to make themselves more bestial than the brute animals.
And no lesser example of chastity is that of the turtledove, which, after the husband is dead, remains in perpetual widowhood, without admitting another. Upon which Saint Ambrose says: “Learn from here, women, how great is the grace and honor of widowhood, which even in birds is praised. Then who (says this Saint) gave this law to the turtledoves? If I seek men, I do not find them, because no man gave this law to women, since not even Saint Paul dared to give it, rather he says: ‘It is good for women to remain in chastity, but if they cannot do this, let them marry, because it is better that they marry than that they burn.’ Saint Paul desires in women what perseveres in the turtledoves. And in another place he counsels women that they marry, if they cannot imitate the chastity that is found in these birds. Then according to this the Creator was he who imprinted in these birds this inclination and this effect of continence, who alone can make laws that all follow. The turtledove does not burn with the flower of its youth, but, tempted with the delights of marriage, does not break the faith given to the first husband, because it knows how to keep chastity.” Thus far Ambrose. By what has been said it appears how much the Creator is a friend of every virtue, since he left us so many examples of it in all the animals. For the hawks teach us nobility, the lions generosity, the elephants subjection and obedience, the horses boldness and effort (as we shall presently see), dogs faith and loyalty toward their lords, deer charity, as we have already said, bees the concert and order of republic, ants providence, the children of storks respect and service of parents, and finally chastity this bird of which we treat.
But among so many differences and properties of animals, I cannot fail to make mention of the favor of divine providence in having created civet cats, which serves for the composition of all fragrant ointments, which without it would be imperfect. And besides this, because it is very hot, it is medicinal for many illnesses. It is, then, to be known that this animal has a pouch between the two places by which the belly is purged, divided into two hollows, and in them it discharges little by little this mass so esteemed, so that, every four days, it is necessary to discharge this pouch with a little ivory spoon, because when this is not done, it itself drags itself along the ground to cast off from itself this load, which gives it pain because it is very hot. And in this manner every month an ounce of civet is drawn from it, which in this present age is worth ten and twelve ducats in Lisbon. And I shall add more here one thing that, if it were not so public, I would not dare to write it: which is that in this same city there is an entailed estate, which a father left to his son, of twenty-one civet cats, which, the cost of their maintenance being made, yield him every year six hundred thousand maravedis. And the institution of this entailed estate is with a clause that this number of cats always be whole, under penalty of three thousand ducats applied to the Hospital of Mercy. Then who does not see in this the perfection and favor of divine providence, which created so many things, not only for our profit, but also for our delight? And who does not see the diversity of the means that it invented for this? For who would think that from the sweat or from the excrements of this animal there could proceed a mass so precious as this, and that it should have its pouch in which it might be gathered so that it should not be wasted? But this benefit, who does not see it to be made more for the use of man, whom all things serve, than for the animal that gives it, which does not serve itself from it? But it is an ancient thing, and much used, for men to profit from the gifts of God without ever lifting their eyes to the giver, as if everything were owed to them by right and inheritance.
But let us leave the cats, and come to the dogs. For since the Creator formed these for the familiar service of man, who is a rational creature, he gave them inclinations so conformable to reason that, after the elephant (which in this part exceeds all), there is no animal that participates more in this ability. Aelian and Pliny write notable things of the faith and friendship of dogs. But among other abilities of theirs, this alone I shall recount, which Aelian tells. A servant of a merchant was going to do business at a fair, and, drawing apart from the road to purge the belly, a purse that he carried with his money fell from him, without his noticing this. And he continuing his way, the dog that he carried with him stayed in guard of the purse. But having arrived to do business at the fair, when he found himself without money, he returned by the same steps that he had traveled, and found the money, and the dog in guard of it, so wasted already with hunger, that when the young man had finished arriving, it died. In which is seen how firm and constant are the inclinations that the Creator gave to the animals for the offices to which he deputed them. But what shame in men being conquered in this faith that the animals keep toward their lords!
I
We placed at the beginning as foundation of this matter that the Creator, in place of the reason that man alone has, provided all the animals with inclinations for what was fitting for them, equivalent to reason. And according to this Aristotle said, as above
we touched, that the works of the animals were very similar to those of men. To this we now add more: that not only in works, but also in the affections and movements of the heart they resemble men, which is seen not only in the wrath and love and hatred that we see in them every hour, which are lower and more material affections, but in others more generous and more spiritual, such as are those that I shall here recount. The purebred greyhound knows its generosity and nobility, and going through a street, and as many curs as there are coming out to bark at it and molest it, it neither stops, nor defends itself, nor barks, as an animal that feels its generosity and that it does not suit it to take up with people so low, nor to make account of them, teaching in this magnanimous and valiant men that they should make no account of the voices of the barbarous and bestial vulgar, nor desist because of them from their good purposes and designs. And to this purpose I shall recount what they tell of that valiant captain Fabius Maximus, whom the common crowd of the soldiers called cowardly, because he delayed, not wishing to give battle to Hannibal. But the good captain made no account of these voices, because he knew well what he was doing. And to such men he responded that he who did not have spirit to despise the voices of the vulgar, would also not have it to face the enemy. In consequence of this, I shall recount a thing that a person worthy of faith told me, which he saw not without much admiration: a beautiful greyhound being near the shore of the sea, a cur came up to it, and began to bark at it, and surround it, and attack it on all sides. And during all this time the greyhound made no change. But so great was the importunity of the cur, that the patience of the greyhound was conquered, and thus it determined to take vengeance on it. But in what manner? It did not wish to bloody its arms in so low a race, but took it by the skin and put it under the water, and held it thus so long until it drowned. These and other such marvels are expected from that highest providence and wisdom.
The horse also recognizes its generosity, and when it is a choice horse and well cared for, and comes out rested from the stable, it scarcely fits in an entire street, sidling now to one side, now to another, and attempting to want to run or leap, putting the head into the breast in order to appear better bridled and beautiful. And what is more: it also feels the beauty of the trappings, when they are such, and with them shows more spirit and elegance. At least of Bucephalus, horse of Alexander the Great, Aelian writes that, being harnessed, he did not suffer anyone to ride on him except Alexander alone, and at the time of mounting he lowered himself, so that he might more easily climb upon him, but the trappings removed, he suffered any stable boy. God created this animal more for war than for work, although it serves for everything. And for this reason he gave it all the properties that were required for this. For it is an animal proud, spirited, daring, faithful, warlike, and strenuous. In which properties the artifice of divine wisdom shines forth so much, that the Lord himself who created it sets himself to describe them very deliberately, speaking with holy Job, by these words: “Will you perhaps be powerful to give the horse the fortitude that I gave it? With its feet it digs the earth, it rejoices with its boldness and effort, and goes out to the encounter against armed men. It makes no account of dangers, nor turns back with fear of the sword. Upon it the quiver will sound, the lance and the shield will brandish. Boiling and foaming it swallows the earth, and makes no account of the sound of the trumpet. It rejoices when it hears the horn, and from afar it scents the war, and the exhortation of the captains, and the shouting of the army.” All these are words of God, who so deliberately writes the properties of this animal, which, besides what has been said, is very loyal, is apt to do, if there is someone to teach it. It also learns to
silence, when they go by night to make some raid, as the frontiersmen of Africa recount.
And besides this it is the most showy and beautiful of all the animals of great bodies, and of most beautiful and different colors. For some there are from the point of the foot to the head as white as snow, others are painted with diverse colors, others bay of the color of gold, and others of diverse colors. They have their gallant manes, which serve them as natural plumes. And what is more: though being a great animal, and so fierce and so proud, it is at times as tamable and as gentle as a sheep, and thus lets itself be subjected by man, and obeys, turning and returning, running, walking, and stopping as its owner wishes. Then how just it would be that man should learn from his horse to obey his Creator, since the horse, thus in all and through all, obeys him! How just it would be that, since this animal by divine providence serves him for roads, for labors and for dangers, and to honor and authorize the one who goes on it, he should give thanks to the one who created it for all these services of man! Our heart stops at the gifts, and forgets the giver, they having been created so that we might go to him. We detain ourselves so much on the road, that we never arrive at the end of it. And what is worse: we take occasion from the beauty of a horse to go very vain and mad upon it.
The lion too is a generous animal, and knows and prizes its effort so much that, as Aelian relates, when they pursue it, it does not turn its back in flight, but goes step by step slowly looking face to face at its pursuers, threatening them with its fierce roars.
But when it passes behind some hill, where those who pursue it do not see it, it flees very swiftly, seeming to it that in this case it does not lose reputation because it is not seen. It also has another greatness, which is not to eat of the hunt that was left over from the past day, and another greater one, which is to use clemency with the prostrate (which is proper virtue of generous hearts, which are not, like women, vengeful) and likewise, as Solinus says, it is more pious with women than with men, and much more with children, whom it does not touch, except when it suffers great hunger. For necessity conquers all laws.
II
Of The Peacock
Among these generous animals, the one that most clearly seems to know its beauty is the peacock, since we see that it itself makes a display of its beautiful feathers, with that wheel so showy, that however many times we may see it, we always rejoice to see it and to feel the pride with which it extends those feathers, prizing itself on its gentility and making this demonstration of it. Which it does most often when it has the female present, in order to make her more fond with this. And when it already wishes to undo the wheel, it makes a great clamor with the wings, to show at once valor with the beauty. In all which we see an imitation of the things that pass in human life.
The beauty of this bird is worthy of great admiration, but daily custom takes from great things their due admiration, because men of little knowledge do not marvel at great things, but at new and rare ones, as we have already said. And even this is proved with the example of this same bird, which, brought from the Indies to Greece (where it had never been seen), caused so much admiration that, as Aelian relates, the man who brought it went about earning money by showing it. And of a principal man the same author says that he gave a thousand drachmas, which is a great sum of money, for a pair of them, male and female, in order to make breed. And Alexander the Great commanded that no one should be so bold as to kill this bird: so sacred a thing did that so new and so extraordinary beauty seem to him. Then since it is true that in the most excellent things the wisdom of that sovereign artificer shines forth more, it will not be outside the purpose to detain myself a little in describing the condition and beauty of this bird.
And treating first of the end that he who created it had, it appears that, just as in the fabric of those very small little animals that we said, he wished to show us the subtlety and greatness of his power and wisdom (which in so small a matter could form so many things), so in the beauty of this bird he wished to give us a small sample or shadow of his infinite beauty. The reason that moves me to this is to see that this plumage so great, which is a vara and a half long, serves neither to cover the body of this bird, since it exceeds the measure of it so much, nor does it help to fly, because rather it impedes with its excessive load. And since we must assign in this work some end, I see no other except the one that has been said. For, since the principal thing that God asks of man is love, and beauty is so powerful to enamor hearts, from here is born his having created in this world many very beautiful things, so that through them (as the Wise Man says) we might in some manner trace the beauty of the Maker, as further on we shall declare. And because in no kind of things should there be lacking some shadow or trace of his beauty, he also created for this many birds very well painted with diverse colors, among which this one has the first place, which we said to have been created for this end alone.
And to say something of it, it will be necessary, for those who do not know philosophy, to presuppose two sentences that serve for this. The first is that all corporeal things are composed of matter and form, which are the essential parts of them, and the matter is the subject that receives the form, but the form is the principle and the cause of all the accidents and properties and works that each thing has. But in the creatures that have soul, the soul is the form, and the body is the matter. And thus we see that in man the soul is the principle and cause of all the properties and works that there are in him, and for that reason at the point when it is lacking, all is lacking. The second: it is fitting to presuppose that this soul is the one that digests the food that animals eat, and converts it into their substance. But from the excrements of this food, which are like the remnants and leavings of it, it profits itself to produce in birds the feathers, and in the other animals the hairs or the wool with which they are clothed, and in man the hair, the nails, and the hairs of the beard and, according as these excrements are few or many, so are more or fewer the hairs that from here are engendered. And thus it is written of that glorious Saint John of Egypt that he had very few hairs in the beard, because as his abstinence was very great, almost nothing was left over from what he ate to produce them.
Then coming to our purpose, the soul of the peacock is its form, and it is the one by whose virtue, by means of the instruments that it has for this, it converts the food into the flesh and substance of the peacock, and what is left over from this food, which are the excrements and superfluities that we said, it employs in all that plumage so beautiful that we see, especially in the feathers of the neck and of the tail: but the marvel of this is that in such manner does the soul divide these excrements, that although they are of one same substance, it makes them take such diverse colors and figures in diverse parts of the feathers, and these not confused, like those that we see in jasper, but ordered and proportioned to paint those figures shaded with every diversity of such fine and beautiful colors, that they put in admiration whoever sees them. Where it is also to be noted the likeness that all the feathers of the tail have among themselves, in which it appears that these colors are not divided by chance as they happen to fall, but that they have a fixed and permanent cause that distributes and divides them with this conformity, so that those figures may result from them.
And leaving those branches or hairs that go accompanying the shaft of the feathers of the tail until their end, which are all variegated and of beautiful colors, let us come to that eye that is at the end of them, formed with so much variety of colors, and these so fine and so showy, that no kind of the dyes that men have invented will be able to equal the luster and fineness of these. For in the midst of this eye there is an oval figure of a very clear green, and within it there is another almost of the same figure and of a most fine purple color, and these are surrounded by other most beautiful circles, which have great likeness with the colors and figures of the bow that is made in the clouds of heaven, to which there succeeds around the beautiful hair, also of diverse colors, in which the feather is finished. And in this eye or circle that we say there is another thing no less admirable, and it is that the hairs or branches of which this figure is composed are so stuck one with another, and so even and equal in their composition, that it does not seem that that figure is composed of diverse threads, but that it is like a piece of continued silk that is there.
Then what shall I say of the beauty of the neck that rises from the breast to the head, and of that green color that surpasses the fineness of all the greenness of the world? And what puts more admiration is that all those little feathers that clothe this neck are so even and so equal among themselves, that not even one alone is disordered in being greater or less than another, from which results that that greenness appears more a piece of green silk (as we said) than composed of all these little feathers. Nothing was lacking here except a royal crown for the head of this bird, but in place of it it has those three little feathers that make a kind of diadem, and are the finish of the beauty of this bird. And since these three little feathers have so much grace, and serve for nothing more than for its beauty, it is clearly seen that the Creator set himself on purpose to painting this bird so beautiful. What has been said here will be understood better by whoever sets his eyes on one of these feathers, because sight serves more for this than words. And it must not be cast into oblivion that the beauty and colors of all this plumage is not like that of flowers, which in brief withers, but is perpetual and stable, and for that reason serves for other things that are made from them.
Let this suffice of the beauty of this bird, but of its properties this alone I shall say: that the peacock is very fond of the company of the female, for which reason, if he finds the eggs upon
which she wishes to sit, he breaks them, because by this occasion he may not lack her company. But divine providence, which in nothing is lacking, also provided here a remedy, where we shall note that in many things it consented that there should be some necessities, so that in the remedy of them the provision of its providence might be seen more clearly, as is seen in this case. For the female seeks some very hidden place, where she lays the eggs, so that the father may not find them. And even to deceive him, she uses a marvelous artifice, and it is that, when she wishes to go out to eat, she gives a flight as far as she can from the nest, and this she does silently. But when she returns to the nest, she returns crying, so that the husband may believe that there is the nest from which she departed, and thus she mocks and bewilders him so that he may not find the nest. Then who will not see here the inventions that that sovereign Lord seeks so that we may recognize and adore his wisdom and providence, and turn to him in all our necessities, trusting that he will not fail man, who does not fail the things that he created for the service of man?
But returning to the beauty of this bird, we said above that the Creator fabricated it so beautiful so that by it we might lift up our spirit to the contemplation of the beauty of him who created it for this end. We also said that the principal thing that God asks of man is love, and that beauty moves much more to this love, not only corporeal beauty, but much more the spiritual, such as is that of the angels and of the souls that are in grace. For just as the will is moved by the representation of the good, so love by beauty. For which reason the Creator, who so much desires to be loved by his creatures, wished that in all of them, beginning from heaven to the entrails of the earth, there should be some trace or shadow of his infinite beauty. Which first shines forth in the starry heaven on a serene night, where we see all that great cape and vault of heaven shine with so great a number of lights clearer than all diamonds and precious stones, and these in so great a number, that only he who created them can count them. It also shines forth in the two principal stars Sun and Moon, of whose virtue and beauty we already treated. It also shines forth in the greenness of the fields, in the freshness of the fountains, in the diversity of flowers that beautify the green meadows, in which you will not know at what you marvel more, whether at the diversity of the colors, or at the very fine works with which they are wrought. Then what shall I say of the beauty of the pearls and most precious stones, of so many colors and virtues and of so great value? What of the metals, and especially of silver and gold, which in all nations, however barbarous they may be, is so prized for its great splendor and beauty? What of the beauty of human bodies, and especially of some, such as were those that holy Scripture refers, as were Joseph, Absalom, Tamar, Judith, and Esther? For I do not wish to make mention here of Queen Helen, for whom Troy was lost. In which it appears that in all the species of creatures the Creator wished that a spark of his beauty should be seen, since even in the gold and precious stones that are bred in the entrails of the earth, he wished traces of it to be found. But above all this, what shall I say of the beauty of the souls that are in grace? What of that of those sovereign spirits, in whom the beauty of the Creator shines forth so much, since the sight and splendor of one alone made the prophet Daniel fall to earth from fright alone, who are more in number than the stars of heaven?”
Then all these beauties that we see, and other innumerable ones that we do not see, are in the Creator in a much more excellent manner. For, just as the master has in his understanding the science that he teaches to his disciples more perfectly than they, so he who gave his beauty to all visible and invisible creatures must necessarily have in himself in a more excellent manner what he gave to them, since no one gives what he does not have. And according to this, what will be the blessedness of those who see all these beauties in the face of God, with other infinite ones that are proper to him, which were communicated to no creature? And if the apostle Saint Peter remained so alienated and so outside himself when he saw one single spark of this beauty in the transfiguration of the Lord, that, carried away and as if made drunk with the greatness of that joy, he did not know what he was saying, what will those glorious souls feel when they enter into the joy of their Lord, and drink from that stream so swollen with his delights? And if the beauty of some creature, which is no more than a little white or colored skin that appears on the outside, often suffices to overturn the sense of a man, and to make him fall into bed, and at times lose life, what do you think the sight of that infinite Beauty of which all these enjoy will work in those glorious souls? Happy indeed are those who shall arrive here, since they will enjoy such goods, that neither eyes have seen, nor ears heard, nor human understanding can comprehend.