§121.18Producit fetus suos natura, non abicit.
\nNature produces her offspring, she does not abandon them.
Et quia tutela certissima ex proximo est, sibi quisque commissus est.
And because the most certain protection comes from what is closest, each one is committed to oneself.
Itaque, ut in prioribus epistulis dixi, tenera quoque animalia et materno utero vel ovo modo effusa, quid sit infestum, ipsa protinus norunt et mortifera devitant.
Therefore, as I said in my earlier letters, even tender animals, just poured forth from their mother's womb or egg, immediately know what is harmful and avoid deadly things.
Umbram quoque transvolantium reformidant obnoxia avibus rapto viventibus. Nullum animal ad vitam prodit sine metu mortis. §121.19"Quemadmodum," inquit," editum animal intellectum habere aut salutaris aut mortiferae rei potest? "Primum quaeritur, an intellegat, non quemadmodum intellegat.
They even dread the shadow of those flying over them, being vulnerable to birds that live by plunder.\nNo animal comes forth to life without fear of death.\n\n"How," he says, "can a newborn animal have an understanding of either a salutary or a deadly thing?" First, the question is whether they understand, not how they understand.
Esse autem illis intellectum ex eo apparet, quod nihil amplius, si intellexerint, facient.
Moreover, that they have understanding is apparent from this, that they would do nothing more if they did understand.
Quid est, quare pavonem, quare anserem gallina non fugiat, at tanto minorem et ne notum quidem sibi accipitrem? Quare pulli faelem timeant, canem non timeant? Apparet illis inesse nocituri scientiam non experimento collectam; nam antequam possint experisci, cavent. §121.20Deinde ne hoc casu existimes fieri, nec metuunt alia quam debent nec umquam obliviscuntur huius tutelae et diligentiae;
What is the reason why a hen does not flee from a peacock or a goose, but flees from a hawk which is so much smaller and not even known to her? Why should chicks fear a cat but not a dog? It is apparent that there is in them a knowledge of what will harm them, not collected by experience; for before they can gain experience, they guard themselves.\n\nNext, lest you should think this happens by chance, they neither fear things other than they ought, nor do they ever forget this protection and diligence; their flight from what is destructive is always constant.
aequalis est illis a pernicioso fuga. Praeterea non fiunt timidiora vivendo. Ex quo quidem apparet non usu illa in hoc pervenire, sed naturali amore salutis suae.
Furthermore, they do not become more timid by living.\nFrom which indeed it is apparent that they do not arrive at this by experience, but by a natural love of their own safety.
Et tardum est et varium, quod usus docet; quicquid natura tradit, et aequale omnibus est et statim. §121.21Si tamen exigis, dicam quomodo omne animal perniciosa intellegere conatur? Sentit se carne constare;
What experience teaches is slow and variable; whatever nature hands down is both equal for all and immediate.\n\nIf, however, you demand it, shall I tell you how every animal attempts to understand harmful things?
itaque sentit, quid sit, quo secari caro, quo uri, quo opteri possit, quae sint animalia armata ad nocendum; horum speciem trahit inimicam et hostilem.
It feels that it consists of flesh; therefore, it feels what can cut, burn, or crush flesh, and what animals are armed to do harm; it conceives their appearance as hostile and adversarial.
Inter se ista coniuncta sunt; simul enim conciliatur saluti suae quidque et iuvantia petit, laesura formidat.
These things are connected with one another; for at the same time, each thing is reconciled to its own safety and seeks what helps, while dreading what will hurt.
Naturales ad utilia impetus, naturales a contrariis aspernationes sunt; sine ulla cogitatione, quae hoc dictet, sine consilio fit, quidquid natura praecepit.
Impulses toward useful things are natural, and turnings away from contrary things are natural; without any thought to dictate this, without deliberation, whatever nature has commanded takes place.\n\nDo you not see how great is the subtlety of bees in fashioning their dwellings, how great the harmony from all sides in sharing the labor to be undergone?
§121.22Non vides, quanta sit subtilitas apibus ad fingenda domicilia, quanta dividua laboris obeundi undique concordia? Non vides, quam nulli mortalium mutabilis illa aranei textura, quanti operis sit fila disponere, alia in rectum inmissa firmamenti loco, alia in orbem currentia ex denso rara, qua minora animalia, in quorum perniciem illa tenduntur, velut retibus implicata teneantur?
Do you not see how that web of the spider cannot be changed by any mortal, how great a task it is to arrange the threads, some sent straight in place of a support, others running in a circle from dense to sparse, so that the smaller animals, for whose destruction they are stretched, may be held as if entangled in nets?\n\nThat art is born, not learned.
§121.23Nascitur ars ista, non discitur. Itaque nullum est animal altero doctius.
Therefore, no animal is more learned than another.
videbis araneorum pares telas, par in favis angulorum omnium foramen.
You will see equal webs of spiders, and an equal opening of all angles in honeycombs.
Incertum est et inaequabile, quidquid ars tradit; ex aequo venit, quod natura distribuit.
Whatever art hands down is uncertain and unequal; what nature distributes comes from equality.
Haec nihil magis quam tutelam sui et eius peritiam tradidit, ideoque etiam simul incipiunt et discere et vivere. §121.24Nec est mirum cum eo nasci illa, sine quo frustra nascerentur.
Nature has handed down nothing more than the protection of oneself and the skill for it, and therefore they begin both to learn and to live at the same time.\n\nNor is it surprising that they are born with that without which they would be born in vain.
Primum hoc instrumentum in illa natura contulit ad permanendum, conciliationem et caritatem sui.
Nature has conferred this first instrument upon them for survival: reconciliation and love of oneself.
Non poterant salva esse, nisi vellent.
They could not be safe unless they wished to be.
Nec hoc per se profuturum erat, sed sine hoc nulla res profuisset.
Nor was this to be of benefit by itself, but without this nothing would have been of benefit.
In nullo deprendes vilitatem sui, ne neglegentiam quidem.
In no animal will you detect a self-depreciation, nor even neglect.
Tacitis quoque et brutis, quamquam in cetera torpeant, ad vivendum sollertia est.
To the silent and dumb also, although they may be sluggish in other things, there is skill for living.
videbis, quae aliis inutilia sunt, sibi ipsa non deesse.
You will see that those things which are useless to others are not lacking to themselves.
Vale.
Farewell.