Chapter IV.
On the remarkable nature of certain animals in avoiding harm to themselves and pursuing what is beneficial, and on the natural virtues that we ought to imitate in them.
However, there is also in the nature of quadrupeds a prophetic speech that exhorts us to imitate, by which example we avoid laziness and do not turn away from the study of virtue due to the smallness or weakness of the body, nor are we drawn back from the magnitude of any purpose. For even the ant is small, yet it dares with its own strength to undertake greater things; nor is it compelled to work by servitude, but it prepares future supplies of food for itself by its own foresight. The Scripture urges you to imitate the industry of the ant, saying: Consider the ant, O sluggard, and imitate its ways, and be wiser than it (Proverbs, 6:6). For the ant possesses no property, and does not have someone to force it or act as its master. Yet it prepares food by storing the harvest of your labors for itself; and while you often lack, it does not. It has no closed granaries, no impenetrable protections, no inviolable storehouses. The guard watches but dares not prevent thefts: the owner sees his losses and does not seek retribution. The prey is carried through the fields in a black column, the roads sizzle with the crowd of wayfarers, and large quantities of grain that cannot be contained by a wide mouth are pushed with their shoulders. The master of the harvest observes these things and is ashamed to deny the profits of honest industry.
17. But what shall I say about the dogs, to whom it is ingrained by a certain nature to show gratitude and pretend anxious guard for the safety of their masters? Hence Scripture cries out against those ungrateful for kindness and lazy and idle: 'Dumb dogs, who cannot bark' (Isaiah 56:10). So there are dogs who know how to bark for their masters, who know how to defend their own dwelling places. Therefore, you too learn to raise your voice for Christ, when heavy wolves invade the sheepfold of the Church. Learn to hold the word in your mouth, so that you do not seem to have abandoned the custody of faith like a mute dog with the silence of transgression. Such a dog is a traveler and companion of angels, whom Raphael in the prophetic book thought it was not without purpose to join to himself and to the son of Tobias, when he went to chase away Asmodaeus and to strengthen the conjugal bond (Tob. VI, 1, and XI, 9). For with the grace of a mindful affection, the demon is driven away and the marriage is established. The holy angel Raphael, in the guise of a mute beast, instructed the young Tobias, whom he had taken upon himself to protect, about the experience of grace. For who would not be ashamed not to repay gratitude to those who deserve it well, when even beasts are seen to shun the crime of ingratitude? And those animals preserve the memory of the bestowed nourishment, do you not preserve the memory of the received salvation?
18. Although the bear, as the Scripture says (Lamentations 3:10), is a crafty animal, it is known to give birth to shapeless offspring and then mold them with its tongue into its own likeness. Are you surprised by the acts of a wild animal with such a loving disposition, which expresses its nature through kindness? Therefore, just as the bear molds its offspring to resemble itself, can you not mold your own children to be like you?
19. Moreover, he did not neglect the practice of healing. For when deeply affected by a wound, he knows how to heal himself with a certain herb called φλόμος by the Greeks, applying it to his sores; they are cured by contact with the herb alone. Likewise, the snake repels blindness by feeding on fennel, except when it is already afflicted. Therefore, when it feels its eyes starting to dim, it seeks the well-known remedies and is not deceived by their effects. The tortoise, having eaten the innards of a snake, exercises the medicine of its own health when it perceives the poison trying to spread; even though it is submerged in marshy waters, it nevertheless knows how to cure itself with its own antidote, and it proves that the powers of herbs themselves can know how to support its health. You see also a fox with a tearful little pine tree healing itself, and with such a remedy prolonging the time of impending death.
The Lord Himself cries out in the book of Jeremiah: The turtle dove and the swallow and the field sparrows have kept the times of their coming: but my people have not known the judgments of the Lord (Jer., XVIII, 7). The swallow knows when it comes, and when it returns. The pious bird also knows how to announce its coming with the testimony of true signs. The ant also knows how to explore the times of tranquility; for when it perceives that its fruits are moistened by the wet rain, it carefully examines the air to determine when it can preserve a constant temperature, it opens its storehouses and carries out supplies from their caves on its shoulders; so that its own grain may be dried by the constant sun. Finally, you will not see rains breaking from the clouds on all those days, unless the ant has gathered its own grain in its storehouses. Cows, with rain impending, have learned to keep themselves at the mangers. Likewise, when they have observed the change of the sky with their natural sense, they look outside and stretch their necks beyond the mangers, all in the same manner, so as to show that they want to come out. The sheep, under the approach of winter, greedily snatch the grass for food, because they anticipate the roughness of the upcoming winter; in order to stuff themselves with grass beforehand, before all the grass fails when the frost sets in. This hedgehog, which is commonly called a sea-urchin, when it senses any danger, closes itself up with its spines and gathers its weapons around itself, so that whoever touches it is wounded. And the same hedgehog, foreseeing the future, provides itself with two ways to breathe; so that when it senses that the North wind will blow, it blocks the Northern passage, and when it knows that the clouds of the air will be cleared by the South wind, it moves towards the North, so that the winds may veer away from it and not harm it.
21. Therefore, Prophet offered a worthy praise to the Lord, saying: How magnified are your works, O Lord! You have done everything with wisdom (Ps. CIII, 24). Divine wisdom penetrates and fills everything: this is more clearly understood from the senses of irrational creatures than from the reasoning of rational creatures. For the testimony of nature is stronger than the argument of doctrine. For an animated being, it is unknown how to safeguard its own well-being: if it has strength, by resisting; if it has speed, by fleeing; if it has cleverness, by taking precaution? Who taught us the knowledge of using medicinal herbs? We are humans, and often deceived by the appearance of herbs, and usually the ones we think are beneficial, we discover are harmful. How many times has a deadly food slipped among the sweet feasts, and during the very watchful guard of royal attendants, has a deadly meal penetrated the vital organs of kings? Wild animals know how to distinguish between harmful and beneficial by smell alone: no advance testing, no taster takes a bite of the herb, nor does it harm. Nature is indeed the best teacher of truth. Without the guidance of anyone, it infuses the sweetness of health into our senses, and teaches us to avoid the bitterness of pain. Hence life becomes sweeter, and death becomes more bitter. Nature encourages lionesses to care for their cubs, and softens the wild beast with maternal affection. Nature tames the fierceness of tigers, and turns their attention away from imminent prey. For when a stolen brood has been found, she immediately follows the footprints of the thief. But he, though carried by a swift horse, seeing that he could surpass the speed of the wild animal, and that no aid of escape could be available to him, contrives a trick of this kind. When he sees it near him, he throws a glass sphere: but it is deceived by the illusion of itself, and believes it to be its offspring, and recalling its attack, it desires to gather its offspring. Again, with the empty appearance retained, it pours out all its strength to seize the horseman, and, spurred on by anger, it threatens the fleeing one with even greater swiftness. He again delays the object of the sphere; yet he does not exclude the memory of his mother's diligence from his mind: he turns the empty image around and dwells as if on a lactating fetus. Thus deceived by his own piety, he loses both vengeance and offspring.
22. What Scripture offers us, which says: Children, love your parents; parents, do not provoke your children to anger (Colossians 3:20). Nature instills this in animals, that they love their own young, they cherish their offspring. They do not know stepmotherly hatred, nor are parents corrupted by changing partners, nor do they know how to prefer the children of a later union and neglect those of a previous one. They know their own offspring, they do not know the difference of love, the incentives of hatred, the divisions of offenses. The nature of wild animals is simple, they do not know the calumnies of truth. For God has so arranged all things, that to those to whom He has given less reason, He has granted more indulgence of emotions. Which wild animal would not offer itself primarily for the death of its own offspring? Which wild animal, even though its offspring may be besieged by countless wedges of armed men, does not protect them with its own entrails? Although a multitude of weapons may threaten, it still provides its little ones, enclosed by the wall of its own body, with immunity from danger. What does a man say who neglects a command, he denies his nature! A son despises his father, a father disowns his son; and they think this is right, where fertility is condemned: rather the father condemns himself, who renders what he begot void. And this is considered authority, where the nature of sterility is mutilated.
23. No one doubts that the dog is an example of reason; however, if you consider the intensity of its senses, you may think that it acquires the power of reasoning through its keenness of perception. In fact, what few individuals who have spent their entire lives in schools were barely able to comprehend, namely to weave together the connections of syllogisms, this a dog can easily estimate through its natural learning. For when it discovers the track of a hare or a stag, and it reaches a crossroads on the path, and a certain junction where the path is divided into many parts; silently, it examines the beginnings of each path, as if emitting a syllogistic voice by the keenness of its sense of smell, deducing. Either he turned in this direction, he said, or in that; or certainly he turned into this winding path: but he did not enter that path, nor this one either: therefore it remains that without hesitation he turned into this path. What humans assemble with lengthy meditation of an arranged art, dogs possess by nature; that they detect lies before, and after rejecting falsehood, they find the truth. Don't philosophers spend whole days dividing propositions for themselves in the dust, marking each one with a ray, and since out of the three it is necessary for one of them to be true, they first eliminate the two that agree with falsehood as if they were lies, and thus they define that the force of truth adheres to what remains? Who can be so steadfast in their benevolence and mindful of gratitude? Considering they know how to leap upon robbers for their master, and to prohibit the nocturnal approach of strangers, and to die for their masters, and to die alongside their masters. Often, even the evidence of inflicted death dogs have revealed clues to expose the guilty; so much so that their testimony is usually believed.
24. They say that in a remote part of Antioch, a man was murdered at twilight, who had a dog attached to him. A certain soldier had arisen as a servant of plunder: he had withdrawn to other parts covered in the same darkness at the dawn of the day: the unburied corpse lay, a crowd of spectators stood around, the dog wept with a mournful howl over his master's misfortune. By chance, the one who had inflicted the death, as is the cunning of human nature, in order to gain the belief of innocence by daring to move in the midst of authority, approached that circle of watching people and, as if pitying, came near to the funeral. Then the dog, having temporarily taken on the role of a mediator, with a mournful cry, took up the weapons of revenge, and seized the apprehended and, like a kind of tragic ending, turned everyone into tears, brought forth evidence for the sake of proving his loyalty, which he alone maintained among many, and did not let go. Ultimately, the disturbed man was unable to refute the accusation any longer, as he could not dismiss the clear evidence of the matter, without any motive of hatred, enmity, envy, or injury. Therefore, he pursued revenge, because he could not provide a defense. What do we, who feed on the nourishment of our Creator, consider worthy of Him, as we overlook injuries and often offer feasts to the enemies of God, those same ones we received from God?
25. What is simpler than little lambs, whom we compare to the innocence of small children? Often from these, a little lamb wanders throughout the entire flock, searching for its mother, and when it is unable to find her, it calls out with frequent bleating to summon her response, so that it may follow her wandering footsteps until it hears her voice: even though it may be surrounded by a multitude of sheep, it recognizes the voice of its parent, hastens to its mother, and seeks out the familiar sources of mother's milk: though it may be filled with desire for food and drink, it nevertheless passes by the full udders of other mothers, even though they overflow with milk; it seeks only its own mother, and by desiring the poor juices of its mother's udder, it indicates that they are abundant for it alone. Among the many thousands of lambs, she also knows only her own son; one cries the most, the same species; however, she distinguishes her own offspring from the others and recognizes her only son with a silent testimony of affection. The shepherd errs in the discernment of sheep, but the lamb does not know how to err in recognizing its mother. The shepherd can be deceived by appearance: but the sheep is not deceived by affection. One smell for all, but nevertheless it has its own domestic smell that the dear offspring seems to emit with a certain special property.
26. Nature has its uses, and household senses. Barely beginning to break through teeth, even an infant already knows how to test its own weapons. Not yet with teeth like a dog, and yet it seeks revenge with its own mouth. Not yet with horns like a deer, and yet it playfully threatens with its forehead, and the weapons it hasn't yet experienced. If a wolf sees a human first, it takes away their voice, and with the voice taken away, it despises them like a victorious one. Likewise, if it senses that it has been foreseen, it abandons its fierceness, it cannot run. The lion fears the rooster and especially the white one. The injured goat seeks a medicinal herb and removes the arrows from the wound. The animals also know their remedies. The sick lion seeks a monkey to devour, so that he may be healed. The leopard drinks the blood of the wild goat and avoids the force of illness. Every sick wild animal is healed by drinking the blood of a dog. The sick bear devours ants. The deer chews on olive twigs.
27. Therefore, wild beasts know how to seek those things that are advantageous to themselves; you, o man, are ignorant of your remedies! You do not know how to snatch virtue from your opponent, so that, like a wolf overcome by surprise, he cannot escape, so that with the eye of your mind you may detect his treachery, and impede the course of his words beforehand, dull his impudence and the sharpness of his argument. But if he should get ahead of you, he takes away your voice; and if you remain silent, he strips off your cloak, so that you may release your speech. And if a wolf rises against you, take the rock, and flee. Your rock is Christ. If you take refuge in Christ, the wolf will flee and cannot terrify you. This rock was sought by Peter when he staggered in the waves, and he found it; for he embraced the right hand of Christ.
28. Why, I ask, do people find pleasure in garlic, and take as food that which even a leopard avoids? In any case, if anyone believes that garlic should be rubed, a leopard leaps from it and does not resist. This venomous beast cannot bear the smell, but you take it as food and pour it into your inner organs? But it is sometimes used to cure pain. It should be taken as medicine, not as food: it should be taken by the sick, not by those who are feasting. You seek a remedy and avoid fasting, as if you could find a better remedy. If a fasting person's saliva is consumed by a snake, it dies. You see the great power of fasting, that a person can kill an earthly serpent with their own saliva, and rightly so, a spiritual one.
29. The Lord has also infused wisdom into little creatures! The turtle covers its nest with leaves so the wolf doesn't attack its chicks. It knows that wolves are accustomed to fleeing from such leaves. The little fox knows how to nurture its offspring, but you are ignorant, you disregard how to have a safer future against the spiritual wolves of this life's wickedness.