§34Cur Zephyrus ventorum omnium celerrimus vulgo fertur, et Homerus:
"Nos quoque cum Zephyri curramus flatibus una?"
An quod aere perpurgato et minime nebuloso, fiare soleat? aeris enim densitae et impuritas ventorum cursum non mediocriter impedit.
Why is Zephyrus commonly said to be the swiftest of all winds, and Homer also [says]: "Shall we also run together with the blasts of Zephyrus?" Is it because it is accustomed to blow when the air is thoroughly cleared and least cloudy? For the density and impurity of the air hinder the course of the winds in no small measure.
An quod sol radiis suis fiatum frigidum perstringens, quo velocius feratur, auctor est? Quicquid enim frigidi ventorum vi contrahitur, id a calore veluti hoste supcratum, longius et citius propelli credendum est.
Or is it because the sun, touching the cold blast with its rays, is the cause of its being carried more swiftly? For whatever of cold is contracted by the force of the winds, that, being overcome by heat as if by an enemy, must be believed to be propelled further and faster.
§35Cur apes fumum ferre nequeant?
Quod meatus spiritus vitalis sane quam angustos habeant.
Why can bees not bear smoke? Because they have extremely narrow passages for the vital breath.
At is fumo interceptus et conclusus angit et propemodum ad mortem apes adigit.
But this, being intercepted and shut in by smoke, chokes them and almost drives the bees to death.
An acredo amaritudoque fumi in causa eεt: gaudent enim dulcibus apes neqae alio nutrimento uluntur: itaque ut contrariam et noxiam rem propter amaritudinem, fumum detestantur.
Or is the sharpness and bitterness of smoke the cause? For bees rejoice in sweet things and use no other nourishment; therefore they detest smoke as a contrary and harmful thing because of its bitterness.
Qua de causa mellarii quum fumum abigendis apibus faciunt, amaras herbae, ut cicutam et centanrium, incendere solent.
For which reason, when bee-keepers make smoke to drive away the bees, they are accustomed to burn bitter herbs, such as hemlock and centaury.
§36Cur apes citius pungunt qui stuprum dudum fecerunt?
An quod animal est munditiae et elegantiae perquam studiosum; praeterea olfactus sensu valet plurimum? Quum itaque impuri congressus propter impudicitiam et immoderatam libidinem soleant esae immundiores: et citius ab apibus deprehenduntur et odium vehementius adversus illos concipiunt.
Why do bees more quickly sting those who have recently committed unchastity? Is it because it is an animal exceedingly studious of cleanliness and elegance; besides, it is very strong in its sense of smell? Since, therefore, impure congresses, because of unchastity and immoderate lust, are accustomed to be more unclean, they are both more quickly detected by the bees, and the bees conceive a more vehement hatred against them.
Unde apud Theocritum jocose Venus ad Anchisen a pastore ablegatur, uti apum aculeis propter adulterium commissum pungatur:
"
Te confer ad Idam,
confer ad Anchisen, ubi quercus atque cypirus
crascit, apum strepit atque domus mellifiua bombis. "
Et Pindarus:
Parvula favorum fabricatrix, quae Rhoecum pupugisti aculeo, domans illius perfidiam. §37Cur lupae certo anni tempore omnes intra duodecim dies pariunt?
An quia neque cogitatione comprehendere quicquam nec reminisci (quibus solus homo virtutibus valet) potest? itaque quum mente non discernat a quo injuria fuerit illata, id tantum.
Hence in Theocritus, Venus is jokingly sent away by a shepherd to Anchises, so that she may be stung by the stings of bees on account of the adultery committed: "Betake yourself to Ida, betake yourself to Anchises, where oaks and galingale grow, and the home of bees hums with sweet-flowing buzzings." And Pindar: "Little builder of honeycombs, who stung Rhoecus with your sting, taming his perfidy." Why do all female wolves give birth within twelve days at a certain time of the year? Is it because it [the dog] can neither comprehend anything by thought nor remember (in which virtues man alone is strong)?
quod ob oculos minaciter versatur, inimicum esse existimat deque eo vindictam sumere parat.
Therefore, since it does not discern with its mind by whom the injury was inflicted, it considers only that which moves threateningly before its eyes to be an enemy, and prepares to take vengeance upon it.
An lapidem, dum per terram mittitur, ferarn aliquam esse autumans, pro ingenio hanc prius capere conatur, deinde quum viderit se opinione sua frustrari, hominem rursus invadit? An quod ad id quod missum fuerit, et hominem ipsum aequaliter odit, et id quod proximius est, insectatur?
Or is it because, thinking the stone, while it is sent through the ground, to be some wild beast, it endeavors according to its nature to catch this first, and then, when it sees itself frustrated in its expectation, attacks the man again? Or is it because it hates both that which was thrown and the man himself equally, and pursues that which is closer?
§38Quare canes relicto homine qui jecit, lapidum morsu insectantur?
Antipater in libro de Animalibus partum lupas projicere adaerit, quum glandiferae arbores fiorem abjiciunt, quo gustato, uteri illarum reserantur: quum ejus copia non est, partum in ipso corpore emori, nec in lucem venire posse: praeterea regiones illas a Iupis non vastari, quae glandium quercuumque feraces non sunt.
Why do dogs, leaving the man who threw [the stone], pursue the stones with biting? Antipater in his book On Animals asserts that female wolves cast their young when acorn-bearing trees cast their blossom, which being tasted, their wombs are opened; when there is no abundance of it, the offspring dies in the body itself and cannot come to light; furthermore, those regions are not ravaged by wolves which are not fertile in acorns and oaks.
Quidam ad fabulam Latonae referunt; quae quum uterum ferret nec uspiam tuta prae Junone esae posset, duodecim diebus, quibus in Delum proficiscebatur, in lupum a Iove mutata, ut deinceps omnes lupae eo ipso tempore parere possint, impetravit.
Some refer this to the story of Latona; who, when she was carrying her womb and could not be safe anywhere because of Juno, having been changed into a wolf by Jupiter during the twelve days in which she was traveling to Delos, obtained that thereafter all female wolves should be able to give birth at that very time.
§39Cur aqua in summa parte alba, in fundo vero nigra spectatur?
An quod profunditae nigredinis mater est, ut quae solis radios prius quam ad eam descendant, obtundat et Iabefactet? Superficies autem, quoniam continuo a sole afficitur, candorem luminis recipiat oportet.
Why is water seen as white in its uppermost part, but black at the bottom? Is it because depth is the mother of blackness, as that which dulls and weakens the rays of the sun before they descend to it? But the surface, since it is continually affected by the sun, must receive the brightness of light.
Quod ipsum et Empedocles approbat:
"
et niger in fundo fiuvii color exstat ab umbra,
atque cavernosis itidem spectatur in antris. "
An limo plerumque oppletus fluminum marisque fundus, talem de se colorem per solis refiexum parit, quali utique is praeditus est? An probabilius est, aquam minime, quae illis est, puram et sinceram esse, sed terrea qualitate (utpote quae continuo, qua currit vel agitatur, aliquid ex ea advehat) imbutam, quum ad fundum residet, turbidiorem et minus perspicuam efficit?
Which very thing Empedocles also approves: "and a black color exists at the bottom of a river from the shadow, and likewise it is seen in cavernous caves." Or does the bottom of rivers and the sea, being for the most part filled with mud, produce such a color from itself through the reflection of the sun, as indeed it is endowed with? Or is it more probable that the water is by no means pure and unmixed, but imbued with an earthy quality (since it continually, wherever it runs or is agitated, brings something from it), which, when it settles at the bottom, makes it turbid and less transparent?