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Library / Commentaries and Disputations on Genesis, Volume II

Book Eleven — the things that were in the ark

TENTH DISPUTATION. On the non-carnivorous and smaller animals

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TENTH DISPUTATION. On the non-carnivorous and smaller animals.

DECIMA DISPUTATIO. De non carnivoris et minoribus animalibus.

RESTAT tertium genus animalium terrestrium et quadrupedum, quod, ut superiora, non est carnivorum, sed est tamen multo infra ea et corporis magnitudine et robore. Quorum animalium hae numerantur species. 1 HERINACIUS. 2 HYSTRIX, hanc generat India et Africa, spina contectam, herinacei similem: sed hystrici longiores aculei, et cum intendit cutem, missiles, ora urgentium figit canum et paulo longius iaculatur; hibernis se mensibus condit. 3 CUNICULUS domesticus. 4 CUNICULUS ferus. 5 MELIS. Appellatur autem melis, quod animal sit mellis avidissimum et alveariis semper infestum, in cavernis vivens, asperum, mordax, vulpis magnitudine, colore felis.
There remains the third kind of terrestrial and quadruped animals, which, like the foregoing, is not carnivorous, but is yet much below them both in size of body and in strength. Of which animals these species are reckoned. 1. THE HEDGEHOG. 2. THE PORCUPINE (hystrix): India and Africa breed this, covered with spines, similar to a hedgehog; but the porcupine has longer quills, and, when it stretches its skin, missile [ones]: it fixes them in the mouths of dogs pressing upon it, and shoots them a little farther; in the winter months it hides itself. 3. THE DOMESTIC RABBIT. 4. THE WILD RABBIT. 5. THE BADGER (melis). It is called “melis” because it is an animal most greedy of honey (mel) and always hostile to beehives, living in caverns, rough, biting, of the size of a fox, of the color of a cat.1
6 GLIS. 7 SCIURUS. Alia solertia in metu melibus, inquit Plinius: sufflata cutis distentu ictus hominum et morsus canum arcent. Praevident tempestatem et Sciuri: obturatisque, qua spiraturus est ventus, cavernis, ex alia parte aperiunt fores. De cetero ipsis villosior cauda pro tegumento est. Sciurum, ait etiam Iulius Scaliger, Gliremque temere quidam confudere. Sciurus cauda tegit se, fulvo colore est, mansue[scit]…
6. THE DORMOUSE (glis). 7. THE SQUIRREL. “Another ingenuity, in fear, is in badgers,” says Pliny: “by the distension of their inflated skin they ward off the blows of men and the bites of dogs. Squirrels too foresee a storm: and, having blocked up their caverns on the side from which the wind is about to blow, they open doors on the other side. For the rest, their rather shaggy tail serves them as a covering.” “The Squirrel,” says Julius Scaliger too, “and the Dormouse some have rashly confused. The Squirrel covers itself with its tail, is of a tawny color, grows ta[me]…”2
…mansuescit, scurriliter et gannit et ludit. Glis cinereus est et esculentus, ‘Eleios’ ab Aristotele dici, quem nos Sciurum [appellamus], non quod caudam invertat aut flectat, sed quia in cavis arborum involvat sese, ubi dormiens pinguescat, ut est in octavo Historiarum. Haec Scaliger.
“…grows tame, chatters and plays in a buffoonish way. The Dormouse is ash-colored and edible, and is called ‘Eleios’ by Aristotle — which we call the Squirrel — not because it inverts or bends its tail, but because it wraps itself up in the hollows of trees, where, sleeping, it grows fat, as is in the eighth [book] of the Histories.” This [says] Scaliger.3
9 MACHLIS. Alce, inquit Plinius, ni proceritas aurium et cervicis distingueret, iumento esset plane similis. Item nota in Scandania insula, nec unquam visa in hoc orbe, multis tamen narrata, Machlis, haud dissimilis illi, sed nullo suffraginum flexu: ideoque non cubans, sed acclivis arbori in somno; eaque incisa, ad insidias capitur, alias velocitatis memorandae. Quod autem subdit Plinius esse labrum ei superius praegrande, ob idque retrogradi eam in pascendo, ne in priora tendens involvatur — hoc Solinus Alci, non Machli, tribuit. Pliniana descriptio Machlis simillima est Caesarianae descriptioni Alces, ut, optima coniectura, putaverit Scaliger idem esse genus bestiae, Alcen Caesari atque Machlin Plinio.
9. THE MACHLIS. “The Elk (Alce),” says Pliny, “if the height of its ears and neck did not distinguish it, would be plainly similar to a beast of burden. Likewise [there is] in the island of Scandania a [creature] known but never seen in this [part of the] world, yet narrated by many — the Machlis — not unlike that [elk], but with no bending of the hams: and therefore not lying down, but leaning against a tree in sleep; and the tree being cut, it is caught by an ambush — otherwise of memorable swiftness.” But what Pliny adds, that it has a very large upper lip, and on that account walks backward in feeding, lest, tending forward, it be entangled — this Solinus attributes to the Elk, not to the Machlis. The Plinian description of the Machlis is most similar to the Caesarian description of the Elk, so that, by the best conjecture, Scaliger has thought it to be the same kind of beast — the Elk to Caesar, and the Machlis to Pliny.4
Caesar enim ad hunc modum describit Alcen: Sunt item quae appellantur Alces. Harum est consimilis capri figura et varietas pellium, sed magnitudine paulo antecedunt; mutilaeque sunt cornibus, et crura sine nodis articulisque habent; neque quietis causa procumbunt, neque, si quo afflicta casu conciderunt, erigere sese aut sublevare possunt. His sunt arbores pro cubilibus, ad eas se applicant, atque ita paulum modo reclinatae quietem capiunt: quarum ex vestigiis cum est animadversum a venatoribus quo se recipere consueverint, omnes eo loco aut a radicibus subruunt aut abscindunt arbores, tantum ut summa species earum stantium relinquatur; huc cum se consuetudine reclinaverint, infirmas arbores pondere affligunt, atque una ipsae concidunt. Haec Caesar.
For Caesar describes the Elk in this manner: “There are likewise [animals] which are called Elks. Their shape and the variety of their hides are like a goat's, but they exceed it a little in size; and they are mutilated as to horns [hornless], and have legs without knots and joints; nor do they lie down to rest, nor, if struck down by any chance they have fallen, can they raise or lift themselves up. To them trees serve as beds; they lean against them, and thus, reclining only a little, take their rest: and when from their tracks it has been noticed by hunters where they are accustomed to betake themselves, they either undermine all the trees in that place at the roots, or cut them through, only so far that the upper appearance of them standing is left; and when [the elks] by habit have reclined against these, they bring down the weak trees by their weight, and themselves fall down together with them.” This [says] Caesar.5
10, 11, 12, 13. OVIUM et ARIETUM, tam de mansuetis quam de feris et agrestibus, quatuor species leguntur. In Adimayn Libyae solitudinibus animal est formae arietinae et aselli magnitudinis, sessoris patiens — tametsi non eum ad usum, sed propter lac, habetur. Contra quam nostratibus, feminis cornua sunt, maribus nulla. Si videbitur hoc esse specie diversum ab aliis, numeretur haec 14 species. 15 MUS, cuius variae sunt species. Plura murium genera, inquit Plinius, sunt in Cyrenaica regione, alii enim lata fronte, alii acuta, alii herinaceorum genere pungentibus pilis. Idem: Conduntur hyeme et Pontici mures, hi duntaxat albi. Conduntur et Alpini, quibus magnitudo melium est. Sunt his pares et in Aegypto: similiterque resident in clunes, et binis pedibus gradiuntur, prioribusque ut manibus utuntur. Sed fere omnes citra discrimen ex sui similibus et ex putri materia generari possunt, quamobrem id genus animalis in arca conservari necessarium non fuit.
10, 11, 12, 13. Of SHEEP and RAMS, both of the tame and of the wild and field kinds, four species are read. In the deserts of Adimayn in Libya there is an animal of ram-like form and the size of a small ass, tolerant of a rider — although it is kept not for that use, but for its milk. Contrary to ours, the females have horns, the males none. If this shall seem to be different in species from the others, let it be reckoned the 14th species. 15. THE MOUSE, of which there are various species. “There are several kinds of mice,” says Pliny, “in the Cyrenaic region — some with a broad forehead, others with a sharp one, others of the hedgehog kind with pricking hairs.” The same: “The Pontic mice too hide themselves in winter, these only white. The Alpine ones too hide themselves, which are of the size of badgers. Equal to these are also [some] in Egypt: and similarly they sit on their haunches, and walk on two feet, and use their front [feet] as hands.” But almost all [mice], without distinction, can be generated both from their like and from putrid matter; wherefore that kind of animal was not necessary to be preserved in the ark.6
16 LEPUS. 17 LEPUS candidus, in Alpibus degens. 18 DASYPUS, ex leporum genere. De his Plinius ad hunc modum scribit: Leporum plura sunt genera. In Alpibus candidi, quibus hybernis mensibus pro cibatu nivem credunt esse; certe liquescente ea rutilescunt annis omnibus; et est alioqui animal intolerandi rigoris alumnum. Leporum generis sunt et quos Hispania Cuniculos appellat, fecunditatis innumerae, famemque Balearibus insulis populatis messibus afferentes.
16. THE HARE. 17. THE WHITE HARE, dwelling in the Alps. 18. THE DASYPUS, of the hare kind. Of these Pliny writes in this manner: “There are several kinds of hares. In the Alps [there are] white ones, which they believe to have snow for food in the winter months; certainly, when it melts, they grow ruddy every year; and it is otherwise an animal nourished in intolerable cold. Of the hare kind are also those which Spain calls ‘Cuniculi’ (rabbits), of innumerable fecundity, and bringing famine to the Balearic islands by ravaging the harvests.”7
…populatis messibus afferentes. Benigna circa hoc natura, innocua et esculenta animalia fecunda generavit. Lepus, omnium praeda nascens, solus praeter Dasypodem superfetat, aliud educans, aliud in utero pilis vestitum, aliud implume, aliud inchoatum gerens pariter.
…by ravaging the harvests. Nature, kindly in this regard, has generated harmless and edible animals fecund. The hare, born the prey of all, alone besides the Dasypus superfetates — rearing one [young], while bearing at the same time another clothed with hair in the womb, another unfledged, another [only] begun.8
19 SIMIA. 20 CAEBUS. 21 CYNOCEPHALUS, sive CANICEPS. 22 CERCOPITHECUS. Hae sunt quatuor simiarum species. Vide Aristotelem in libro de Historia animalium. Lubet, ad illustriorem huius generis animalium expositionem et lectoris oblectationem, commemorare hoc loco quae scripta reliquit Scaliger: Hominis magnitudinem (alloquitur Cardanum) attribuis Cercopitheco, tantum neque vidi, neque legi, neque audivi: nisi tu Conopam fortasse, cum haec scriberes, memoria repetitum metiebare. Sine cauda simias plures vidimus, quantum puer est annorum octo, marem quoque ac feminam cum prole. Filiolus si quid videretur desiderare, manu pugnoque feminam a marito, tanquam malae tractationis ream, etiam addita vultus acerbitate castigari: nempe supercilio, rictu, murmure, irati patris atque reprehensoris mariti animum prae se ferre.
19. THE APE (simia). 20. THE CAEBUS. 21. THE CYNOCEPHALUS, or “Dog-head.” 22. THE CERCOPITHECUS (long-tailed monkey). These are the four species of apes. See Aristotle in the book On the History of Animals. It pleases [me], for a more illustrious exposition of this kind of animals and for the reader's delight, to recall here what Scaliger has left in writing: “You attribute to the Cercopithecus the size of a man (he addresses Cardano), which I have neither seen nor read nor heard — unless you, perhaps, when you wrote these things, were measuring the Conopas recalled from memory. We have seen several tailless apes, as big as a boy of eight years, the male too and the female with their offspring. If the little son seemed to want anything, the female would be chastised by the husband with hand and fist, as though guilty of bad treatment, with even an added sourness of countenance: namely, by brow, gape, [and] murmur, displaying the temper of an angry father and a reproving husband.”9
Multa leguntur in libris itinerariis (sic enim inscribuntur): in India mediterranea ingentes corpore, audacia civiles, ultro citroque — non solum per agros, sed etiam per oppida, in mercatibus — sine maleficio aut offensione civium commeare. Tot earum sunt species, forma, colore, cauda, iubis, magnitudine differentes, ut non parum negotii facessat historiae ordinem meditanti. Hoc tamen in Aristotelicis libris, ut opinor, satis scite praestitimus. In Troglodytica iubata sunt, Leonum modo, maximi veruecis proceritate. Cynocephalum unum barbatum vidimus, foedum aspectu, nigrum, maleficum, moribus infamem; Magorum genus illud maximum Galli vocant. In aula regis unus fuit, qui diu bipes deambulabat, amictus sagulo militari, ensiculo accinctus; in sella iussus, continuit se pernox aut perdius publico spectaculo, ita ut non deessent qui homuncionem putarent verum.
“Many things are read in books of travels (for so they are entitled): that in the interior of India [apes] huge in body, bold yet civil, pass to and fro — not only through the fields but also through the towns, in the markets — without harm or offense to the citizens. There are so many species of them, differing in form, color, tail, manes, and size, that it gives no little trouble to one meditating the order of [their] natural history. This, however, in the Aristotelian books, as I think, we have rendered well enough. In the Troglodyte country they are maned, after the manner of Lions, of the height of a very large wether. We saw one bearded Cynocephalus, foul in aspect, black, mischievous, infamous in habits; the Gauls call that kind ‘the great Magus.’ In the king's court there was one who for a long time walked on two feet, clothed in a little military cloak, girt with a little sword; bidden [to sit] on a chair, it kept itself [there] all night or all day, for a public spectacle, so that there were not lacking those who thought it a real little man.”10
Simiam Mauri Bugiam vocant, nos Monam. Cercopithecorum tanta varietas est ut memoriam confundat. Catos Maimones appellamus subvirides, malignos. Hos vidimus sibi ipsis caudarum exedere extremas partes; hoc aiebant ab iis solis committi qui gustassent aliquando carnes. Albi dicuntur esse alicubi. Nos nigros cum maculis albis vidimus, sono vocis graviore; croceos, fulvos, furvos, parvos, magnos, mediocres, agiles omnes atque maleficos. Imitatores maximi ingeniosissimique omnium, qui bene olent. De eorum natura media, qua bipes quadrupedi commistus sit, satis apud Aristotelem. Haec Scaliger.
“The Moors call the ape ‘Bugia,’ we call it ‘Mona.’ Of the Cercopitheci there is such variety that it confounds the memory. We call the greenish, malignant ones ‘Maimon cats.’ These we have seen gnaw off for themselves the extreme parts of their tails; this, they said, was done only by those which had at some time tasted flesh. They are said to be white in some places. We have seen black ones with white spots, of a graver tone of voice; saffron-colored, tawny, dark, small, large, middling — all agile and mischievous. The greatest imitators, and the most ingenious of all, [are] those which smell well. Of their middle nature, whereby the biped is mingled with the quadruped, [there is] enough in Aristotle.” This [says] Scaliger.11
Non est omittendum hoc loco quod de CERCOPITHECO tradit Cardanus: Est, inquit, formae rara Cercopithecus, magnitudine et forma hominis: siquidem cruribus, virili membro, facieque, hominem dixeris agrestem, quia totus est pilo obsitus. Omnium maxime animalium praeter hominem stando perseverat, amat pueros et mulieres more hominum, eorumque amplexus et concubitus appetit, ut nos vidimus. Attamen ferum est animal, sed tanta industria ut multi de barbaris hominibus minus ingenio valere videantur. Ita Cardanus. 23 ALLOPECOPITICON Graeci vocant animal in Aethiopia nascens, anteriore parte vulpi, cauda et posteriore parte Cercopitheco, pedibus anterioribus humanis, auribus vespertilioni simile, quasi crumenam habens sub ventre, qua catulos gerit, nec dimittit nisi cum lactare vult.
It must not be omitted here what Cardano relates of the CERCOPITHECUS: “The Cercopithecus,” he says, “is rare in form, of the size and form of a man: since by its legs, its virile member, and its face you would call it a wild man, because it is all covered with hair. Of all animals most, except man, it persists in standing; it loves boys and women after the manner of men, and seeks their embraces and intercourse, as we have seen. Yet it is a wild animal, but of such cleverness that many among barbarous men seem to be less strong in intelligence.” So Cardano. 23. The Greeks call ALLOPECOPITICON an animal born in Ethiopia, in its front part [like] a fox, in tail and hind part [like] a Cercopithecus, in the forefeet [like] human ones, in the ears similar to a bat; having, as it were, a pouch under its belly, in which it carries its young, and does not let them out except when it wishes to suckle [them].12
24 CHIURCA. Fert India Occidentalis Chiurcam e mustelino genere; est viverrae facie ac magnitudine, capite vulpino. Sub terra habitat, mirae fecunditatis; duodenos parit exiguos; cauda tenuis, paene glabra, ipsa pilo atro; catulos in bursa sub alvo obtensa secum fert. 25 TATO. In Brasilia vocatur porcellus, rostro paulo contractiore et latiore. Testis scutulatus, loricatus ad ventrem usque, quae retrahens sese componit in orbem, item sicut Herinaceus; cauda integmina est longissima ac veluti lacertacea, in tessellis incrustata.
24. THE CHIURCA. The West Indies bring forth the Chiurca, of the weasel kind; it has the face and size of a ferret, with a fox-like head. It lives under the earth, of wonderful fecundity; it bears twelve tiny [young]; its tail is slender, almost hairless, itself of black hair; it carries its young with it in a pouch stretched under its belly. 25. THE TATO. In Brazil it is called a “little pig,” with a snout somewhat more contracted and broader. Shell-covered [with little plates], armored down to the belly, which, drawing itself back, composes itself into a ball, just like a Hedgehog; its tail-covering is very long and, as it were, lizard-like, encrusted in little squares.13
SEQUUNTUR octo aut etiam plures Caprarum species: ut sit 26 Capra domestica, 27 (ex feris) quae communiter dicitur Caprea, 28 RUPICAPREA, 29 IBEX, 30 ORYX, 31 DAMA, 32 PYGARGUS, 33 STREPSICEROS. De his Plinius: Caprae, inquit, in plurimas similitudines transfigurantur. Sunt capreae, sunt Rupicapreae, sunt Ibices pernicitatis mirandae, quanquam onerato capite vastis cornibus gladiorumque vaginis: in haec se librant, ut tormento aliquo rotati, in petras, potissimum e monte aliquo in alium transilire quaerentes, atque recussu pernicius quo libuerit exultant. Sunt et Oryges, soli quibusdam dicti contrario pilo vestiti et ad caput verso. Sunt et Damae et Pygargi et Strepsicerotes, multaque alia haud dissimilia, sed illa Alpes, haec transmarini situs mittunt.
There follow eight or even more species of Goats: so that there is 26. THE DOMESTIC GOAT, 27. (of the wild kinds) the one commonly called the ROE (caprea), 28. THE CHAMOIS (rupicaprea), 29. THE IBEX, 30. THE ORYX, 31. THE DAMA (fallow deer), 32. THE PYGARGUS, 33. THE STREPSICEROS. Of these Pliny [says]: “Goats are transfigured into very many likenesses. There are roes, there are chamois, there are ibexes of wonderful swiftness, although their head is loaded with vast horns like the sheaths of swords: upon these they balance themselves, as if whirled by some catapult, onto the rocks — especially when seeking to leap across from one mountain to another — and by the rebound they bound more swiftly wherever they please. There are also Oryges, said by some to be alone clothed with hair turned the contrary way and toward the head. There are also Damae and Pygargi and Strepsiceroses, and many others not unlike, but the Alps send the former, transmarine regions the latter.”14
Verum hanc Plinii narrationem, ut nimia brevitate plus aequo restrictam et exilem ac ieiunam, Scaliger amplificat atque illustrat, multiplex caprarum genus subtilius ac distinctius enarrans: cuius orationem (et minime prolixam, eruditaque ac iucunda varietate conditam, lectorique placituram) libitum mihi est hoc loco adscribere. PLINIUS, inquit ille, dum studet nihil intactum relinquere, importuna festinatione praeceps, pro epulis apponit titulos convivis; vel de caprarum pecore quae perstringit, non tam rerum desiderium quam confusi iudicii fastidium relinquunt. Id nos, ut potuimus, ita digessimus. Capra a Barbaris Sylvestris Capricornus dicitur, apud Latinos generis nomen est; et Rupicapra, cuius species duae: Ibex, et quae dicitur caprea (vulgus camucia vocat, Varro appellat Rotas, quod audaciores corrupere, auctis elementis, dum legi iubent Platycerotas).
But this narration of Pliny, as restricted by excessive brevity more than is fair, and meager and dry, Scaliger amplifies and illustrates, recounting the manifold kind of goats more subtly and distinctly: whose discourse (by no means prolix, seasoned with learned and pleasant variety, and likely to please the reader) it has pleased me to append here. “Pliny,” says he, “while he is eager to leave nothing untouched, headlong with importunate haste, sets before the guests, in place of dishes, [mere] titles; or the things he touches on briefly about the herd of goats leave behind not so much a desire of the subjects as a distaste at the confused judgment. This we have, as we could, so arranged. The Goat is called by the Barbarians ‘Wild Capricorn’; among the Latins it is a name of the genus; and [there is] the Chamois (Rupicapra), of which there are two species: the Ibex, and the one called ‘caprea’ (the common people call it ‘camucia,’ Varro calls it ‘Rotae’ — which bolder [scholars] have corrupted, with the letters increased, when they bid it be read ‘Platycerotae’).”15
Est in Ibicum historia et multiplex et iucunda subtilitas. Prima: nisi habitet loca frigida, occaecari. Altera: vetulorum cornu pependisse pondo duo de viginti; in quibusdam numerati nodi sunt quatuor et viginti, totidem annorum coniectura; quod cervo non contingit, etenim post annum sextum nihilo numerosius ramificant; quin senibus ii desunt rami qui prima statim prodeunt aetate. Tertia subtilitas: deprehensas Ibices, aperto atque libero loco capacique cursu, in venatorem irruere eumque deiicere de rupe; quare operam dant ut, obiectu scopulorum tecti, de improviso appareant; tum, ibicum impetendi non sit locus, animum despondent ac facile cedunt. Quarta: cum ea incredibili corporis libratione atque iaculatione superent altissimas rupes, intervalla vel solo aspectu formidabilia securo transmittunt saltu.
“In the natural history of Ibexes there is a subtlety both manifold and pleasant. The first: that unless it dwells in cold places, it goes blind. The second: that the horn of old ones has weighed eighteen pounds; in some, the knots counted are twenty-four, by conjecture as many years — which does not happen to the deer, for after the sixth year they branch no more numerously; indeed, the old ones lack those branches which come forth at the very first age. The third subtlety: that Ibexes, caught in an open and free place and with room to run, rush upon the hunter and cast him from the rock; wherefore [hunters] take care that, covered by the screen of crags, they may appear suddenly; then, there being no room for the ibexes to attack, they lose heart and easily yield. The fourth: since by that incredible balancing and hurling of the body they surpass the highest rocks, they cross over by a secure leap intervals formidable even by the mere sight.”16
CAPREAE longe minores, aestate pilo fulvo, hyeme cinereo. Non sunt eae Cemades, ut putarunt quidam vocum umbratilium sectatores. Cemas est in Cervis sicut in Bubus Iunix et Iuvencus, sive Bucula sive vitulus; Franci Faones vocant. Capreis quoque saltus incredibiles. Mira earum comperta nobis prudentia: ubi errabundae quaerunt novas sedes aut pascua, perspecta proxima rupe, proiecto pede saepe periclitantur eius fidem, nempe mobilis ne sit, an fortasse lubrica. Illud festinum: in aula patrui Bonifacii vidimus cicures assilire ad aulaea pendentia, in quibus similes essent intexta fera. Aiunt cornuum mucronibus — id quod capras quoque facere videmus — tergum scabere. Creditum est tanta eas illo in proritu perfundi voluptate ut extremum cornu fastigium in corium eo usque adigatur unde retrahi nequeat; quocirca aut ex altissimis ruere locis atque afflictari, aut a venatoribus forte deprehensas proculve observatas capi, aut interire fame.
Roes (Capreae) [are] far smaller, in summer of tawny hair, in winter of ashen. These are not “Cemades,” as some pursuers of shadowy words have thought. The “Cemas” is among Deer what among Oxen are the “Iunix” and the “Iuvencus,” or the “Bucula” or the calf [i.e., the young]; the Franks call them “Faones.” Roes too [have] incredible leaps. Their wonderful prudence has been ascertained by us: when, wandering, they seek new abodes or pastures, having examined the nearest rock, with a foot put forward they often test its trustworthiness — namely, whether it be loose, or perhaps slippery. This [shows their] eagerness: in the hall of my uncle Boniface we saw tame ones leap up at the hanging tapestries, on which were woven similar wild beasts. They say [they scratch], with the points of their horns — which we see goats too do — their back. It is believed that they are flooded with such pleasure in that scratching that the very tip of the horn is driven into the hide so far that it cannot be drawn back; wherefore they either fall from the highest places and are dashed to pieces, or, perhaps caught by hunters or observed from afar, are taken, or perish of hunger.17
Ab hac parum distat Dama, quippe solo cornuum flexu, antrorsum enim spectant huic; quibus adminiculis, tanquam unco, apprehendere prominentes rupes, neque aliter inaccessas verrucas montium superare. Toto genere diversi Strepsicerotes, ovilis generis, surrectis cornibus claviculatim torosis. Nec Tragelaphus fabula est, quippe Hircus facie et cornibus, Cervus magnitudine, pilo, cauda, clunibus; pectus villorum frequentia tectum, ut et hinc hircus sit, quasi in eos abierit Arunchus. Si Philosophus Hippelaphi sui cornua describeret, intelligeremus an idem esset cum Tragelapho aut Tarando. Sic Scaliger.
From this the Dama (fallow deer) differs little, only in the bending of the horns, for these point forward; with which supports, as with a hook, [it is said] to grasp the projecting rocks, and not otherwise to surmount the inaccessible warts (crags) of the mountains. Wholly different in kind are the Strepsiceroses, of the sheep kind, with erect horns knotted like little tendrils. Nor is the Tragelaphus a fable, since [it is] a He-goat in face and horns, a Deer in size, hair, tail, [and] haunches; its chest is covered with a thickness of hairs, so that thence too it is a he-goat — as if the Arunchus had passed into them. If the Philosopher [Aristotle] were to describe the horns of his Hippelaphus, we should understand whether it were the same as the Tragelaphus or the Tarandus. So Scaliger.18
34 FERTUR esse animal varii generis incertaeque naturae, nec dum certo aliquo nomine appellatum, quod se oculis suis spectasse et considerasse testatur Cardanus; quocirca descriptionem eius animalis ex Cardano sumptam hic apposui: Animal, inquit, vidimus Papiae varii admodum generis incertaeque naturae, vulpis magnitudine aliquanto longius, ore et rictu leporino cum pilis longis, duobusque dentibus praelongis (siquidem digiti humani longitudine prominentibus ad modum Sciuri), oculis serpentinis (quippe qui angulis carerent et nigri essent). Pileus inerat capiti hircina barba simillimus, sed non aliter quam crista Pavoni. Pilus mustellinus et pulcher, nisi quod super collum velut lana candida videbatur; anteriores pedes ut Taxi, aures et posteriores pedes nihilo differentes ab humanis, nisi quod pedibus ungula ursi pro humana erat.
34. There is said to be an animal of various kind and uncertain nature, not yet called by any fixed name, which Cardano testifies that he beheld and considered with his own eyes; wherefore I have here appended the description of that animal taken from Cardano: “We saw at Pavia,” he says, “an animal of a quite various kind and uncertain nature, somewhat longer than the size of a fox, with a hare-like mouth and gape with long hairs, and two very long teeth (projecting, indeed, the length of a human finger, after the manner of a Squirrel), with serpentine eyes (since they lacked corners and were black). There was on its head a cap most like a goat's beard, but no otherwise than the crest [is] to a Peacock. Its hair was weasel-like and beautiful, except that over the neck it appeared like white wool; its forefeet like a Badger's, its ears and hind feet differing in nothing from human ones, except that on its feet there was a bear's claw in place of a human [nail].”19
In dorso postremaque parte spina circiter centum, instar Hystricis, quarum quaedam in apice curvabantur, prominebant, alioquin immobiles, nec (ut de Hystrice ferunt) emissaria: cum moveretur, strepitum, dum se colliderent, edebant. Cauda anserina, sed in spinas pluma finiebantur. Si reliqua non videres, anserem diceres: candidis ac cinereis plumarum sedibus latoque lumine anserem aemulantibus; vox subobscura et rauca, quasi latrantis canis. Iracundum animal, sed quod facile tamen a circulatore tractaretur. Canes odio prosequebatur maximo. Sexus erat, quod vidi, feminei, aetate iuvenili. Potus ei nullus; cibus, panis aqua madefactus. Animal hoc sui generis vix esse crediderim, sed ex Hystrice alioque, velut urso, generatum. Haec Cardanus.
“On its back and hindmost part [there were] about a hundred spines, like a Porcupine's, some of which curved at the tip, and projected, otherwise immovable, nor (as they report of the Porcupine) missile: when it moved, they made a noise as they collided with each other. Its tail was goose-like, but the feathers ended in spines. If you did not see the rest, you would call it a goose: with white and ashen settings of feathers and a broad eye rivaling a goose; its voice somewhat obscure and hoarse, as of a barking dog. An irascible animal, but one which nevertheless was easily handled by the mountebank. It pursued dogs with the greatest hatred. It was of the female sex, as I saw, of youthful age. It had no drink; its food was bread moistened with water. This animal I should scarcely believe to be of its own kind, but generated from a Porcupine and some other [creature], as it were a bear.” This [says] Cardano.20
35 MARMOTA est Melis magnitudine et pilo, cauda item nulla paene, similiter et crura brevia, aures brevissimae auriculis curtissimis atque ad aspectum nullis…
35. THE MARMOT is of the size and coat of a Badger, with almost no tail likewise, and similarly short legs, very short ears, with the little ears very stubby and to the sight none…21
…nullis. Ungues longi, acuti, firmi, unci, robusti, nigri. Hoc tantum cum muribus commune habent, quod, ut Sciuri, sedentes pedibus anterioribus utuntur ad officia manuum. Capite leporum non dissimiles, diuturnitate somni cum gliribus convenientes: namque hybernos paene totos menses transigunt sopore. Murium et Leporum dentes aemulantur; non nisi irritata saeviunt. Earum vox a Leporina recedit in Soricinam, aut potius in Cercopithecinam. Haec Scaliger.
…none. Their claws [are] long, sharp, firm, hooked, sturdy, black. This only they have in common with mice: that, like Squirrels, sitting up, they use their forefeet for the offices of hands. In head not unlike hares, in length of sleep agreeing with dormice — for they pass almost the whole winter months in slumber. They resemble the teeth of mice and hares; they are not fierce unless provoked. Their voice departs from the hare's into the shrew's, or rather into the monkey's. This [says] Scaliger.22
36 EST in Iaponicis insulis animal, mihi quidem de nomine ignotum, admirandi ingenii et naturae. Terrestre est, corporisque magnitudine ac figura non dissimile canis, mollissimo pilo et suavissimis ad edendum carnibus. Hoc animal certo quodam tempore mira incessit cupido mare adeundi atque frequentandi: in quo identidem natans et sese mersans, paulatim per partes et membratim pisces efficitur, quoad, exuta prorsus terrestris animantis figura, totus tandem in piscis similitudinem et naturam commutatur. Diximus de hoc in libro quinto nostrorum Commentariorum in Danielem, in disputatione de transmutatione regis Nabuchodonosor in bestiam. Vidimus nos hoc animal, sed mortuum, Pontificatu Gregorii XIII Romam allatum, nec dum ex toto, sed aliquot tantum partibus piscem factum, cetero nativam terrestris animantis figuram habitumque corporis retinens.
36. There is in the Japanese islands an animal — unknown to me indeed by name — of admirable instinct and nature. It is terrestrial, and in size and shape of body not unlike a dog, with very soft hair and flesh most pleasant for eating. This animal, at a certain time, is seized by a wondrous desire of going to and frequenting the sea: in which, repeatedly swimming and plunging itself, it gradually, part by part and limb by limb, becomes a fish — until, the shape of a land animal being wholly put off, it is at last entirely changed into the likeness and nature of a fish. We have spoken of this in the fifth book of our Commentaries on Daniel, in the disputation on the transmutation of king Nebuchadnezzar into a beast. We ourselves saw this animal, but dead, brought to Rome in the Pontificate of Gregory XIII — not yet wholly, but only in some parts made a fish, in the rest retaining the native shape and bodily habit of a land animal.23
37 AIOTOCHELI. In nova Hispania, iuxta Aluaradum flumen, nascitur hoc animal quadrupes, nec fele maius, rostrum habens anatis, pedes Hericii, collum longum: tegitur instar phalerati equi corticibus invicem insertis, non una ut testudines; collum et caput eisdem testis contectum habens, ut sola aures promineant: unde Hispanis Armatum sive Contectum appellatur. Sunt qui referant grunnire ut suem, rostroque suis esse, et ungula bifida sed quasi equina. Significat id nominis Indorum lingua Cuniculum Cucurbitalem. Haec Cardanus.
37. THE AIOTOCHELI. In New Spain, beside the river Alvarado, is born this quadruped animal, no bigger than a cat, having the snout of a duck, the feet of a hedgehog, a long neck: it is covered, like a caparisoned horse, with shells inserted one into another — not with one [shell], like tortoises — having its neck and head covered with the same shells, so that only its ears project: whence by the Spaniards it is called “the Armored” or “the Covered.” There are those who report that it grunts like a pig, and has the snout of a pig, and a cloven hoof but as it were equine. That name signifies, in the language of the Indians, “Gourd-Rabbit.” This [says] Cardano.24
HACTENUS septem et triginta species animalium neque Carnivororum nec magni corporis collegimus. Sed propter aliquas fortasse hic praetermissas, augeamus eum numerum usque ad quadraginta; atque omnium quae sunt huius generis magnitudinem redigamus ad mensuram magnitudinis ovium. Nimirum paucissima huius generis paria sunt ovibus, nedum maiora, minora vero pleraque: censeantur igitur omnes huius generis species quasi quadraginta paria ovium.
Thus far we have collected thirty-seven species of animals neither Carnivorous nor of great body. But on account of some perhaps here omitted, let us increase that number up to forty; and let us reduce the size of all that are of this kind to the measure of the size of sheep. For very few pairs of this kind are equal to sheep, much less larger, but most are smaller: let all the species of this kind therefore be reckoned as, so to speak, forty pairs of sheep.25

Translator’s notes

  1. §76. The smaller-animal catalogue begins. Margins: Pliny, bk. 8, ch. 35; Melis. ↩
  2. §77. Margins: Squirrel; Scaliger, Exercitationes 210. Continues on p. 270. ↩
  3. Conclusion of the Scaliger passage (glis/sciurus). Margin: Aristotle. (Species 8 is not numbered in the original.) ↩
  4. §78. Margins: Pliny, bk. 8, ch. 15; Machlis; Solinus, ch. 23; Scaliger, Exercitationes 206; Caesar, Gallic War, bk. 6. (The unjointed-leg elk is a recurring ancient fable.) ↩
  5. §79. Caesar's account of the joint-less elk. Margin: Alces. ↩
  6. §80–81. Sheep/rams and mice (mice excused from the ark, as spontaneously generable). Margins: Scaliger, Exercitationes 217; Pliny, bk. 8, ch. 57. ↩
  7. §82. Margins: Pliny, bk. 8, ch. 52; Dasypus. Continues on p. 271. ↩
  8. Conclusion of §82 (the hare's superfetation). ↩
  9. §83. The four ape-species and Scaliger's anecdotes. Margins: “Four kinds of apes”; Aristotle, Hist. anim. ch. 8; Scaliger, Exercitationes 213. ↩
  10. Scaliger on the apes of India and the Troglodyte country, and a courtly cynocephalus. ↩
  11. Conclusion of Scaliger's ape-discourse. ↩
  12. §84–85. The man-like cercopithecus (Cardano) and the ‘Allopecopiticon’ (a marsupial). Margins: Cardano, On Subtlety, bk. 10; Allopecopiticon. Continues on p. 272. ↩
  13. §85 (cont.)–86. The opossum-like ‘Chiurca’ and the armadillo (‘Tato’) of the New World. Margins: Scaliger, Exercitationes 206; Cardano, On Subtlety, bk. 10; Chiurca; Tato. ↩
  14. §87. The goat-kinds (Pliny). Margins: Pliny, bk. 8, ch. 53; “Eight species of goats, several of them admirable.” ↩
  15. §88. Scaliger's expansion of Pliny on goats. Margins: Scaliger, Exercitationes 207; “Wonders about Ibexes.” ↩
  16. Scaliger's four ‘subtleties’ about ibexes. Continues on p. 273. ↩
  17. §89. Scaliger on roe-deer. Margin: Caprea. ↩
  18. §90. Dama, strepsiceros, and the (real, not fabulous) tragelaphus. Margins: Tragelaphus; Aristotle, Hist. anim. bk. 2, ch. 1. ↩
  19. §91. Cardano's eyewitness ‘animal of uncertain nature’ at Pavia. Margins: Cardano, On Variety, bk. 7; “Uncertain animals, but of a quite wonderful nature.” ↩
  20. Conclusion of §91 (the porcupine-like ‘mystery animal’). ↩
  21. §92. The marmot begins. Margin: Scaliger, Exercitationes 202. Continues on p. 274. ↩
  22. §92 (concluded): the marmot, completing the entry begun on p. 273. Margin: Marmota. ↩
  23. §93. The ‘Japanese animal’ said to turn into a fish. Margins: “Japanese animal”; Dan. 4. ↩
  24. §94. The armadillo (‘Aiotocheli’) of New Spain. Margins: Cardano, On Variety, bk. 7, ch. 33; Aiotocheli. ↩
  25. End of the smaller-animal catalogue: 37 species, rounded to ‘40 pairs of sheep.’ ↩