Sed iam disputatio illa de universo usque ad generationem homi(7)num nobis proposita finem paene suum adepta videtur.
Ceterarum vero animantium ge(8)nerationem quatenus duntaxat necessitas postulat, paucis perstringemus.
Sic enim mo(9)dum in hac disputatione tenere sibi quisque videbitur.
Verum de his iam ita dicamus.
Qui(10)cunque virorum iniusti timidique vixerunt, quemadmodum probabilis ratio nobis ostendit, (11) in generatione secunda in feminas sunt conversi.
Quo quidem tempore hanc ob causam (12) dii coitus amorem machinati sunt. Igitur in viris unum quiddam, in feminis alterum vi(13)tae et animae compos ita composuerunt.
Ipsum potus discursum, quo per pulmones sub (14) renes in vesicam defluens et spiritui mixtus elisusque depromitur, dii in fistulae modum in (15) compactam medullam a capite per cervicem et spinam derivaverunt, quod quidem Sperma, (16) id est semen, in superioribus nuncupavimus.
Hoc autem utpote animatum ac respirans, qua (17) parte spirat, per eandem vitale effluendi desiderium gignit atque ita generandi amorem nobis (18) inservit.
Quocirca pudendorum naturae in viris insita vis, inoboediens atque imperiosa, et (19) quasi animal non exaudiens rationem furiosarum libidinum violentia subicere sibi cuncta (20) conatur.
Vulva quoque matrixque in feminis eadem ratione
animal avidum generandi, quan(21)do procul a fetu per aetatis florem aut ultra diutius detinetur, aegre fert moram ac plu(22)rimum indignatur,
passimque per corpus oberrans meatus spiritus intercludit, respirare (23) non sinit, extremis vexat angustiis, morbis denique omnibus premit,
quousque utrorumque (24) cupido amorque quasi ex arboribus fetum fructumque producunt, ipsum deinde decerpunt,
(25) et in matricem velut agrum inspargunt, hinc animalia primum talia ut nec propter par(26)vitatem videantur necdum appareant formata, concipiunt,
mox quae conflaverant, expli(27)cant, ingentia intus enutriunt, demum educunt in lucem animaliumque generatione perfi(28)ciunt.
Mulieres hunc in modum et femina omnes sunt genitae.
Avium autem genus ex (29) nostro ita est apte formatum, ut pro pilis pennas acciperet.
In hoc illi homines transeunt (30) qui simplices et innocentes cum sint, leves tamen sunt et frustra in rebus sublimibus cu(31)riosi, quive adeo fatui sunt, ut oculorum iudicio confisi, hoc altissima quaeque firmiter demon(32)trari posse non dubitent.
Gressibilium vero ferarum genus ex his natum hominibus, qui (33) a philosophia penitus alieni ad coelestia nunquam oculos erexerunt,
ex eo quod volutio(34)nibus illis quae in capite peragi solent usi nunquam sunt, sed illas animae partes secuti quae in (35) ventre et pectore dominantur.
Ex his utique studiis anteriora membra et capita ob ipsam (36) cognitionem humi penitus defixerunt, in longum productum ac diversum corporis ver(37)ticem tenuere,
quandoquidem ibi propter desidiam singulorum collisi sunt et confracti (38) circuitus,
et ideo quod quatuor pedum ac etiam plurium est instituta figura, ut insipientio(39)ribus deus maiorem ex pedibus multis atque progressu occasionem praestet, per quam ma(40)gis etiam deflectantur ad terram.
Eos autem qui horum insipientissimi erant corpusque in (41) terram penitus prosternebant, quasi nihil ultra pedibus opus foret, in corporea carentia pe(42)dibus et humi serpentia permutarunt.
Quartum genus aquaticum est, ex illis natum qui (43) stolidissimi et imperitissimi fuerant, quos nostri illi transformatores pura respiratione di(44)gnos idcirco non iudicaverunt,
quia propter extremae transgressionis iniquitatem animam (45) impurissimam prorsus habebant. Ideo ex tenui ac pura aeris illa respiratione in aquae re(46)spirationem profundam turbidamque merserunt.
Unde piscium et ostrearum ac denique (47) aquatilium omnium orta est multitudo, in qua certe mutatione illi ex sedium extremarum (48) habitatione inscitiae quoque extremae dant poenas.
Hunc in modum et olim et nunc in se (49) invicem animalia migrant, dum mentis et dementiae iactura vel adeptione mutantur.
[We have spoken of the origin of man. Women and the other animals were generated on this wise. Cowardly and unjust men became women in the second generation.] Thus our original design of discoursing about the universe down to the creation of man is nearly completed.
A brief mention may be made of the generation of other animals, so far as the subject admits of brevity;
in this manner our argument will best attain a due proportion.
On the subject of animals, then, the following remarks may be offered.
On the subject of animals, then, the following remarks may be offered.
And this was the reason why at that time the gods created in us the desire of sexual intercourse, contriving in man one animated substance, and in woman another, which they formed respectively in the following manner.
The outlet for drink by which liquids pass through the lung under the kidneys and into the bladder, which receives and then by the pressure of the air emits them, was so fashioned by them as to penetrate also into the body of the marrow, which passes from the head along the neck and through the back, and which in the preceding discourse we have named the seed.
And the seed having life, and becoming endowed with respiration, produces in that part in which it respires a lively desire of emission, and thus creates in us the love of procreation.
Wherefore also in men the organ of generation becoming rebellious and masterful, like an animal disobedient to reason, and maddened with the sting of lust, seeks to gain absolute sway;
and the same is the case with the so-called womb or matrix of women;
the animal within them is desirous of procreating children, and when remaining unfruitful long beyond its proper time, gets discontented and angry,
and wandering in every direction through the body, closes up the passages of the breath, and, by obstructing respiration, drives them to extremity, causing all varieties of disease,
until at length the desire and love of the man and the woman, bringing them together and as it were plucking the fruit from the tree,
sow in the womb, as in a field, animals unseen by reason of their smallness and without form;
these again are separated and matured within; they are then finally brought out into the light, and thus the generation of animals is completed.
[Simple-minded men passed into birds; those who were the slaves of passion into beasts; the most foolish into reptiles; the most ignorant and impure into fish.] Thus were created women and the female sex in general.
But the race of birds was created out of innocent light-minded men,
who, although their minds were directed toward heaven, imagined, in their simplicity, that the clearest demonstration of the things above was to be obtained by sight; these were remodelled and transformed into birds, and they grew feathers instead of hair.1
The race of wild pedestrian animals, again, came from those who had no philosophy in any of their thoughts, and never considered at all about the nature of the heavens,
because they had ceased to use the courses of the head, but followed the guidance of those parts of the soul which are in the breast.
In consequence of these habits of theirs they had their front-legs and their heads resting upon the earth to which they were drawn by natural affinity;
and the crowns of their heads were elongated and of all sorts of shapes, into which the courses of the soul were crushed by reason of disuse.
And this was the reason why they were created quadrupeds and polypods: God gave the more senseless of them the more support that they might be more attracted to the earth.
And the most foolish of them, who trail their bodies entirely upon the ground and have no longer any need of feet, he made without feet to crawl upon the earth.
The fourth class were the inhabitants of the water: these were made out of the most entirely senseless and ignorant of all, whom the transformers did not think any longer worthy of pure respiration,
because they possessed a soul which was made impure by all sorts of transgression; and instead of the subtle and pure medium of air, they gave them the deep and muddy sea to be their element of respiration;
and hence arose the race of fishes and oysters, and other aquatic animals, which have received the most remote habitations as a punishment of their outlandish ignorance.
These are the laws by which animals pass into one another, now, as ever, changing as they lose or gain wisdom and folly.