Chapter XVI.
How storks set out, and are led and defended by crows. The hospitality of the same crows is praised, and human negligence is criticized. Finally, our lack of piety towards parents is opposed to the benevolence of storks.
53. Storks are said to set out in a gathered flock, if they think there is somewhere they must go, and they are carried along together to many places around the East, and they move as if all at once with a military token. You would think the army was marching with its standards, that is how all of them preserve the order of traveling together and going ahead. But the crows escort and direct them, and they follow as if attending certain Trojan troops; to such an extent that they are believed to contribute some assistance to the storks fighting against enemy birds, and to undertake others' battles at the risk of their own. The indication of this matter is that no one is found to reside in those places for any period of time; and that when they return with wounds, they speak with a clear voice of their own blood and with other indications that they have undergone the conflicts of serious battles. Therefore, who imposed punishment for their desertion? Who prescribed terrifying penalties for those who abandon military service, so that no one tries to escape from pursuing hospital troops, but all strive eagerly to fulfill the duty of being escorted?
54. Let people learn to observe the rights of hospitality, and from birds let them understand what duties are to be shown to guests, what services are to be assigned to them, and how crows are not accustomed to deny their own dangers. Therefore, we close our doors to those to whom birds even entrust their souls; and those whom they accompany in their separation, we deny shelter; and to those for whom they undertake wars, we frequently wage wars. I am lying if this was not the cause of punishment for the Sodomites: or if an Egyptian madness in attempting to wage war against a hospitable nation, paid the penalty of its treacherous shipwreck by the destruction of the people.
However, the kindness and wisdom of this bird's mercy are worth considering, which not even one of us could imitate, even after an example of irrationality. For it, the offspring, surrounding the naked limbs of their aged father, keeps them warm with the coverings of its long-established wings and the motion of its own feathers. And what shall I say? It feeds them with collected food, and even repairs the losses of nature itself, so that by supporting the old man here and there with the support of its wings, they may exercise him in flying and revive the limbs of their pious father, which have now fallen into disuse, for their former uses. Who among us would not hesitate to relieve a sick father? Who would not place a weary old man on their shoulders, which is hardly believable in the very history itself? Who, in order to be pious, does not assign this duty to their servants? But truly, it is not burdensome for birds, for it is full of piety: it is not burdensome, as it is fulfilled by the debt of nature. Birds do not refuse to feed their father, which many humans have also refused out of fear of punishment. Birds are not taught, but born with their law. Birds have no rules for this duty, but natural gratitude is their duty. Birds are not ashamed to carry the limbs of a revered old man; for it is the transportation of piety, which has become so well known by frequent testimony, that it has found fitting reward of remuneration. For by Roman custom, a pious bird is called. And what is said to have been hardly granted to one emperor with the advice of the senate, these birds have deserved in common. Therefore, these birds have the decree of the fathers as a sign of their own mercy. For it is fitting that the pious sons of the fathers be praised in a previous judgment. They also have the approval of all; for the repayment of favors is called 'antipelargesis', because the stork is called 'pelargos'. Therefore, virtue has received its name from them, since the relationship of gratitude is expressed by the word 'ciconia'.