Basil: letters, hexaemeron - II. WORKS

57 cf. Jerome to Pammachius against Jn of Jerusalem, § 7 (in this edition vol. 6,p. 428) and Origen’s Homily on Genesis, preserved in the Translation of Rufinus.

58 (Ps 18,1 Ps 18,

59 Bened.

60 (Ps 148,7 Ps 148,

61 kalon mevn ou\n eAEotin o) a)n dj au Jreto;n o)n eAEpaineto;n h\ h) o) a)n aAEgoqo;n o)n h Jdu; h\ o)ti aAEgaqovn. Arist., Rhet. 1,9.

cf. E. Burke (On the Sublime and Beautiful, 3,§ 6): "It is true that the infiinitely wise and good creator has, of his bounty, frequently joined beauty to those things which he has made useful to us. But this does not prove that our idea of use and beauty are the same thing, or that they are in any way dependent on each other." Dr. Johnson instances a painting on a coffee-cup as beautiful, but not useful. "Boswell," Ann. 1772. St. Basil’s idea is in accord with that of Ruskin (Mod P. chap. vi).. "In all high ideas of beauty it is more than probable that much of the pleasure depends on delicate and untraceable perception of fitness, propriety, and relation, which are purely intellecutal, and through which we arrive at our noblest ideas of what is commonly and rightly called ’intellectual beauty.’"

62 cf. Rm 1,20).

1 krou`ma. properly "beat," "stroke," is used of the blow of the plectrum on the string, and hence of the not produced.

2 cf. Plato, Rep. 3,18, ad init., and his reference to the ialqako;" aivcuhthv" of Homer, II. 17,586. The same subject is treated of the Laws ii.§ 3 and 5 and 7,

3 cf. Ar., Nub. 16, oAEneioopoleiAE i]ppou" and 27, oAEneiropolei` kai; kaqeudwn ippikhvn. So Claudian, De 6,Cons. Hon. 1, sq.:

Omnia quae sensu volnuntur vota diurno,

 Pectore sopito reddit amica quies.

Venator defessa toro cum membra reponit,

 Mens tamen ad sylvas et sua lustra redit.

Fudicibus lites, aurigae somnia currus,

 Vanaque nocturnis meta cavetur equis.

4 (Is 40,22, LXX.

5 (Gn 1,9, 10).

6 (Qo 1,6, 7.

7 (Jr 5,22 Jr 5,

8 i.e. the Mediterranean.

9 Geminum mare. . . quod Rubrum dixere nostri. . . in duos dividitur sinus. Is qui ab oriente Persicus est. . . altero siau Arabico nominato. Plin. 6,28.

10 This illustration is taken from the work on which Basil has been so largely dependent, the Meterology of Aristotle (i. 14, 548). Pliny (vi. 33) writes "Daneos Portus, ex quo navigabilem alveum perducere in Nilum, qua parte ad Delta dictum decurrit 62,mill. D. Pass. intervallo, quod inter flumen et Rubrum mare inter est, primus omnium Sesostris Aegypti rex cogitavit; max Darius Persarum; deinde Ptolemaeus sequens." Herodotus (ii. 158) attributes the canal to Necho. Strabo (xvii. 804) says Darius, in supposing Egypt to lie lower than the sea, was yendei` peisqeiv". The early canal, choked by sand, was reopened by Trajan, and choked again. Amron, Omar’s general, again cleared it, but it was blocked a.d. 767. The present Suez Canal, opened in 1869, follows a new course.

11 i.e.Cadiz, a corruption of Gaderia, which, like Geder and Gadara, is connected with the Phoenician Gadir, an enclosure).

12 Pliny (vi. 15) shared a common error that the Caspian flowed into a Northern Sea. The eastern part was known as the Hyrcanian, the western as the Caspian. Strabo 11,507, et sq.

13 The obelus (†) is used by Jerome to mark superfluous matter in the lxx). cf. Jr p. 494, in Canon Fremantle’s Translation. The addition in question appears neither in the Vulgate, nor in Aquila, or Symmachus, or Theodotion. Ambrose, however, in Hexaem. 3,5 approves of it.

14 (Gn 1,10).

15 (Gn 1,10).

1 (Gn 1,11 Gn 1,

2 Empedocles, according to Plutarch (peri; tw`n aAErevsk, etc. v. 342) prw`ta tw`n zwvwn ta` devndra eAEk gh`" aAEnadu`naiv fhsi, pri;n to;n h[lion periaplwqh`nai kai; pri;n h Jmevran kai; nu;kta diakriqh`nai.

3 Triticum repens.

4 On the history of this doctrine, of which Linnaeus was the latest great exponent, and its contradiction in Darwin, see Haeckl’s Schöpfungsgeschichte, vol. 1,ch 2).

5 "To me the meanest flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears." Wordsworth, Ode on Immortality.

6 Literally, knee - Latin geniculum). f. Xen., Anab. 4,5, 26, and Theoph. 8,2, 4. "Knee-jointed" is a recognised English term for certain grasses.

7 "Taurinus recens inter venena est." Plin. 11,90 Taurinus recens inter venena est).  2d. 28,41). cf. Dioscorid. in Alexiph. 25).

8 cf. Galen). De Simp. Pac. iii.

9 o J mandragovra" tou" aAEnqrwvpou" koimivzei. Xen., Symp. 2,24.

10 cf. Arataeus, De Morb. Aent. 2,11.

11 The Black Hellebore, or Christmas Rose, is a recgnised alterative. Whether this is the plant of Anticyra is doubtful.

12 purov"=wheat. The root, which has nothing to do with pu`r, is found by Curtius in the Slavonic pyro=rye, the Bohemian pyr=quitch grass, the Lettish purji =wheat, and the Lithuanian pyragas=wheaten bread. (L. & S). in loc).

13 cf. Virg., Georg. 1,93: "Aut Borcae penetrabile frigus adurat." Ov). M. 14,763, Frigus adurat poma, and in Greek Arist., Meteor. 4,5.

14 (Mt 4,26–28.

15 cf). Horrescunt segetes. Virgl, Georg. 3,39.

16 (Gn 1,11 Gn 1,

17 aAEmfivkomoi kai; dasei`"). cf. Milton, "With frizzled hair implicit." P.L. 7,

18 cf. Milton, P.L., B. iv., "Flowers of all hue and without thorn the rose," and August). De Genesi contra Manichaeosi. 13).

19 cf. S. Jn 15,1-6.

20 (Is 5,1 Is 5,

21 (Mt 21,33 Mt 21,

22 (Ps 34,7 Ps 34,

23 cf. 1 Cor. 12,28.

24 (Ps 52,8 Ps 52,

25 The phenomenon has been observed in later days, though Basil may be at fault in his account of the cause. When pines have been cleared away in North American forests young oaklings have sprung up. The acorn lay long hid, unable to contend against the pine, but, when once the ground was clear, it sprouted. This upgrowth of a new kind of tree had been accounted for partly by the burial of germs by jays, rooks, and some quadrupeds; partly by the theory of De Candolle and Liebig that roots expel certain substances which, though unfavourable to the vitality of the plant excreting them, are capable of supporting others. So, on the pine pressure being removed, the hidden seeds sprout in a kind of vegetable manure). cf. Sir Charles Lvell’s Travels in the United States and Rough’s Elements of Forestry, p. 19).

26 Ambrose, Hexaem. 3,13 writes: Amygdalis quoque hoc genere medicari feruntur agricolae, ut ex amaria dulces fiant fructus, ut et terebrent ejus radicem arboris, et in medium inserant surculum ejus arboris quam Graeci peuvchn , nos piceam dicimus: quo facto succi amaritudo deponitur.

27 On the argument from design, cf. Aristotle, De Part. Antim. 3,1, as quoted and translated by Cudworth, III. 38,3: "A carpenter would give a better account than so, for he would not think it suffcient to say that the fabric came to be of such a form becasue the instruments happened to fall so and so, but he will tell you that it is because himself made such strokes, and that he directed the instruments and determined their motion after such a manner, to this end that he might make the whole a fabric fit and useful for such purposes." On the strength and weakness of the argument from design, in view of modern speculation, suggestive matter is contained in Dr. Eagar’s Buther’s Analogy and Modern Thought, p. 49 et sq.

28 cf. Jr 17,6. LXX.

29 "(Ac mihi quidem videtur, cum duae sententiae fuissent verterum philosophorum, una eorume qui censerent omnia ita fato fieri, ut id fatum vim necessitatis afferret, in qua sententia Democritus, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Aristoteles fuit; altera eorum, quibus viderentur sine ullo fato esse animorum motus voluntarii: Chrysippus tanquam arbiter honorarius, medium ferire voluisse. . . quanquam assensio non possit fieri nisi commota visa, tamen cum id visum proximam causam habeat, non principalem hanc habet rationem, ut Chrysippus vult, quam dudum diximus, non, ut illa quidem fieri possit, nulla vi extrinsecus excitata, necesse est enim assensionem viso commoveri, sed revertitur ad cylindrum, et ad turbinem suum, quae moveri incipere, nisi pulsa non possunt: id autem cum accidit suapte natura, quod superest et cylindrum volvi, et versari turbinem putat." (Circ., De fato. xviii).

30 cf. Ps xcii. 13.

1 In the Theatrum spectators might be covered). cf. Mart. xiv. 29:

"In Pompeiano tectus spectabo theatro;

Nam ventus populo vela nagare solet."

cf. Dion Cassius 59,7. These passages may, however, indicate exceptional cases.

2 cf. Greg., In Ez.: Propter bonos auditores malis doctoribus sermo datur: et propter malos auditores bonis doctoribus sermo subtrahitur).

3 "By night an atheist half believes in God." Young, N.T. v. 177). cf. also Cic., De nat. Deor. ii. 38: Quis enim hunc hominem dixerit, qui tam certos coeli motus, tam ratos astrorum ordines, tamque omnia ister se connexa et apta viderit, neget in his ullam inesse rationem, eaque casu fieri dicat, quae quanto consilio gerantur, nullo consilio assequi possumus

4 cf. Cic., De Nat. Deor. 2,62). (Est enim mundus quasi communis deorum atque hominum domus, aut urbs utroumque. Soli etiam ratione utentes, jure ac lege vivunt. Bp. Lightfoot quotes in illustration of Ph iii. 20, Philo, De Conf. I. 416, M). patrivda me;n to;n ouAEravnion cw`ron eAEn w\ politeuvontai xevnon de; to;n perivgeion eAEn w\ parwvkhsan nouivzousai. So Clem. Alex., Strom. 4,26, levgousi ga;r oiv Stwi)koi; to;n me;n ouAErano;n kurivw" povlin tu; de; eAEpi; gh`" eAEntau`qa ouAEk e)ti povlei", levgesqai ga;r, ouAEk ei\nai dev, and Plato, Rep. 9,592, B). eAEn ouAEranw` i[sw" paravdeigma (th`" povlew") aAEnavkeitai tw` boulomevw o Jpa`n kai; o Jrw`nti e Jauto;n katoikivzein.

5 cf. Ac 3,15.

6 cf. Ml 4,2.

7 (Gn 1,14 Gn 1,

8 Fialon quotes Bossuet (5th elev. 3d week): "Ainsi il a fait la lumière avant que de faire les grands luminaires où il a voulu la ramasser: et il a fait la distinction des jours avant que d’avoir créé les astres dont il s’est servi pour les régler par faitement: et le soir et le matin ont été distingués, avant que leur distinction et la division parfaite du jour et de la unit fût bien marquée; et les arbres, et les arbustes, et les herbes ont germé sur la terre par ordre de Dieu, avant qu’il eût fait le saleil, qui devait être le père de toutes ces plontes; et il a détaché exprès les effects d’avec leurs causes naturelles, pour montrer que naturellement tout ne tient qu’à lui seul, et ne dépend que de sa seule volonté."

9 fau`si", the act of giving light, LXX.

10 fwtismov". the condition produced by fau`si".

11 cf. Ph 2,15.

12 (Ps 29,7).

13 (Gn 1,14 Gn 1,

14 St. Mt 16,3.

15 pavnth ga;r kaqarh` ke mavlj eu[dia tekmhvraio, pavnta dj eAEreuqomevnh dokevein aAEnevmoio keleuvqou", a[lloqi dj a)llo melainomevnh dokevein u;etoi`o. Aratus 70.

16 cf. Verg., Georg. 1,424:

(Si vero solem ad rapidum lunasque sequentes

Ordine respicies, nunquam te crastina fallet

Hora, nequ insidiis noctis capiere serenae.

17 Basil seems to be confusing Jl ii. 31 and Mt 24,29.

18 UAEpevr ta; eAEskammevna ppda`n is a proverbial phrase for going beyond bounds). cf. Lucian., Gall. 6,and Plat., Crat. 413, a.

19 "On doit d’autant plus louer le grand sens de Saint Basilequi s’inspire presqu’ entièrement d’Origène et de Plotiu, sans tomber dans leur erreur. En riant toute espèce de relation entre les astres et les actes de l’homme, il conserve intacte notre liberté." Fialon, p. 425. "Quale deinde judicium de hominum factis Deo relinquitur, quibus coelestis necessitas adhibetur cum Dominus ille sit et siderum et hominum. Aut si non dicunt stellas accepta quidam potestate a summo Deo, arbitrio suo ista decernere, sed in talibus necessitatibus ingereudis illius omnino jussa complere, ita ne de ipso Deo sentiendum est, quod indignissimum visum est de stellarum voluntate sentire. Quod si dicuntur stellae significare potius ista quam facere, ut quasi locutio sit quaedam illa positio praedicens futura, non agens (non enim mediocriter doctorum hominum fuit ista sententia) non quidem ita solent loqui mathematici, ut verbi gratia disunt, Mars ita positus homicidam significat, sed homicidam non facit." August., De C. Dei. n. 1.

20 (1Co 15,52).

21 "]Elege de;. . . tou;" novmou" toi`" aAEracnivoi" o Jmoivou" : kai ga;o eAEkei`na eAEa;n me;n eAEmpevsh ti kou`fon kai; aAEsqene;" stevgein, eAEa;n de; mei[zon, diakovyan oi[cesqai. Solon, in Diog. Laert. 2,1).

22 (Gn 1,14 Gn 1,

23 i.e. throwing a shadow only one way at noon, - said of those who live north and south of the tropics, while those who live in the tropics cast a shadow sometimes north, sometimes south, vide Strabo ii. 5. § 43. It was "incredible" to Herodotus that Necho’s Phoenician mariners, in their circumnavigation of Africa, had "the sun on their right hand." Her. 4,42

24 i.e. Arabia). cf. Lucan., Phars. 3,247:

 Ignotum vobis Arabes venistis in orbem,

Umbras mirati nemorum non ire sinistras.

25 "Simili modo tradunt in Syene oppido, quod est super Alexandriam quinque millibus stadiorum, solstitii die medro nullam umbram faci; puteumque ejus experimenti gratia factum, totum illuminari." Pliny 2,75). cf. Lucan., Phars. 507, "atque umbras nunquam flectente Syene."

26 Gen 1,14.

27 (Ps cxxxvi. 8, 9.

28 The Syrians and Macedonians had also an intercalary thirteenth month to accommodate the lunar to the solar cycle. Solon is credited with the introduction of the system into Greece about 594 b.c. But the Julian calendar improved upon this mode of adjustment.

29 (Gn 1,16 Gn 1,

30 "Tertia ex utroque vastitas solis aperitur, ut non sit necesse amplitudinem ejus oculorum argumentis, atque conjectura aniuri scrutari: immensum esse quia arborum in limitibus porrectarum in quotlibet passuum millia umbras paribus jaciat intervallis, tanquam toto spatio medius: et quia per aequinoctium omnibus in meridiana plaga habitantibus, simul fiat a vertice: ita quia circa solstitialem circulum habitantium meridie ad Septemtroinem umbrae cadant, ortu vero ad occasum. Quae firi nullo modo possent nisi multo quam terra major esset ." Plin. 2,8.

31 Plavtwn kata; sunauvgeian, tou` me;n eAEk tw`n oAEfqalmw`n fwto;" eAEpi; poso;n aAEporAEr Jevonto" eiAE" to;n o Jmogenh` aAEevra, tou` de; aAEpo; tou` swvmato" feromivnou aAEporAEr Jei`n : to;n dev metaxu; aAEe;ra euvdiavcutou o[nta kai;eu[trepton, sunekteivnonto" tw purwvdei th`" o[yew", au[th, levgetai platwuikh; suuauvgeia. Plut). peri; tw`n aAEresk. iv. 13. The Platonic theory of night is explained in the Timaeus, Chap. xix.

32 Plato (Phaed. § 133) makes the same comparision). |Eti toivnon, e[fh, pavmmegav te ei\nai auAEtov kai; h Jma`" oivkei[n tou;" mevcri Jhrakleivwn sthlw`n aAEpo; Favsido" e Jn smikrw tini; mopivw w[sper pepi tevlma muvrmhka" h) batravcou" peri; th; n qavlattan oAEikou`nta". Fialon names Seneca (Quaest. Nat. 1,praef. 505) and Lucian (Hermotimus 5,and Icaromenippus xix). as following him. To these may be added Celsus "katagelw`n to; jIoudaiwn kai; Cristianw`n geno"" in Origen, C. Cels 4,517, B).

33 (Si 27,11 Si 27,

34 cf. Alcman (ap. Plut., Sympos. 3,10) who calls the dew Dio;" qugavthr kai; Selavna"; and Plutarch himself in loc. Virg., Georg. iii. 337, ""Roscida Luna", and Statius, Theb. I. 336:

"Iamque per emeriti surgens confinia Phaebi

Titanis, late mundo subvecta silenti

Rorifera gelidum tenuaverat aera biga."

35 The baleful influence of "iracunda Dianna" (Hor., De Art. Poet. 454) is an early belief, not yet extinct). cf. the term selhvniasmov" for epilepsy, and "lunaticus" for the "moonstruck" madman). Vide Cass., Quaest. Med. 25,1. Perowne on Ps 121,6 notes, "De Wette refers to Andersen’s Eastern Travels in proof that this opinion is commonly entertained. Delitzsch mentions having heard from Texas that the consequence of sleeping in the open air, when the moon was shining, was mental aberration, dizziness, and even death."

"Dass auch der Mond in heller Nacht dem ohue gehörigen Schutz Schlafenden schaden köhlen Nächte wegen leicht möglich. Vgl. Carne ’Leben und Sitten im Morgenl.’" Ewald, Dichter des A.B. 2,266.

36 A fact, however explained. Plutarch (Sympos. Prob. 3,10) discusses the question Dia; tiv ta; kreva shvpetai ma`llon u Jpo; th;n selhvnhn h) to;n h[lion, and refers the decomposition to the moistening influence of the moon. "Air, moisture, and a certain degree of warmth, are necessary to the decay of animal bodies. . . where moisture continues present - even though warmth and air be in a great measure excluded - decay still slowly takes place." J. F. W. Johnston, Chemistry of Common Life, 2,273).

37 i.e. the Atlantic). cf. Ovid., Met. 11,258, "Hesperium fretum."

38 Pytheas, of Marseilles, is first named as attributing the tides to the moon. Plut). peri; aAEresk. k.t.l. iii. 17 On the ancient belief generally vide Plin. ii. 99.

39 "Invent jam pridem ration est praenuntians horas, non modo dies ac noctes, Solis Lunaeque defectuum. Durat tamen tradita persuasio in magna parte vulgi, veneficiis et herbis id cogi, emaque num faeminarum scientiam praevalere." Plin. 25,5,So it was a custom to avert the spells of sorceresses, which might bring the eclipsed moon to the ground, by beating brass and shouting). cf. Juv., Sat. 6,443,

Tam nemo tubas, nemo oera fatigat,

Una laboranti poterit succurrere lunae,"

and the "aera auxiliaria lunae" of Ov., Met. 4,333.

40 cf. 1 Cor. 12,7.

1 LXX. creeping things.

2 (Gn 1,20).

3 Plants are neither zw`a nor e[myuca.

4 LXX. creeping.

5 Basil uses the classical greek form oi J patavmioi i[ppoi, as in Herod. and Arist. The dog-Greek hippopotamus, properly a horse-river, is first found in Galen.

6 cf. Arist., De Part. Anim.. 3,6). diovper tw`n me;n iAEcquvwn ouAEdei;" e[cei pneuvmona aAEllj aAEnti; touvtou bravgcia kaqavper ei[rhtai eAEn toi`speri aAEnapnoh`" : u[dati ga`r poiei`tai th;m katavyuxin, ta; dj aAEnapnevonta e[cei pneuvmona aAEnapnei[ de; tu; pezu; pavnta.

7 Here Basil is curiously in contradiction to ancient as well as modern experience. Martial’s epigram on Domitian’s tame fish, "qui norunt dominum, manumque lambunt illam qua nihil est in orbe majus" (iv. 30) is illustrated by the same author’s "natat ad magistrum delicata muraena" (x. 30), as well as by Aelian (De animal. 8,4). "Apud Baulos in parte Baiana piscinam habuit Hortensius orator, in qua muraeuam adeo dilexit ut exanimatam flesse credatur: in eadem villa Antonia Drusi muraenae quam diligebat inaures addidit." Plin. 9,71. So Lucian ou|toi de (icqne" kai; oAEnovmata e[couai kai; e[rcontai kalouvmenoi. (De Syr. DEA 45). Jn Evelyn (Dairy 1644) writes of Fontainebleau: "The carps come familiarly to hand. There was recently a tame carp at Azay le Rideau).

8 Narrated by Aelian (Anim 1,16) of the "glaucus," a fish apparently unknown.

9 Mauronvsioi). cf. Strabo. 2,33.

10 e.g. Arist., De Anim. 8,2 and Aelian, 2,54.

11 cf. Pericles 2,i.

3 Fish. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.

I Fish. Why, as men do a-land; the great ones eat up the little ones.

12 oAEstrakovdermo".

13 Fialon quotes Le Fontaine Le Rat et l’Huitre:

Parmi tant d’huitres toutes closes,

Une s’ééouverte, et baillant au soleil,

Par un doux Zéphyr réjouie,

Humait l’air, respirait était épanouie,

Blanche, grasse, et d’un goût, à la voir, sans pareil.

14 Pliny 9,48, says of the octopus: "imposito lapillo extra corpus ne palpitatu ejiciatur: ita securigrassantur, extrahuntque carnes."

15 cf. Theog. 215:

pouvlupou oAErgh;n i[sce poluplovkou o)" poti` pevtrh

th` prosomilhvsei toio" iAEdei`n eAEfavnh.

Nu`n me;n th`" eAEfevpou, pote; djaAElloi`o" cpova givgnou,

kraipnovn toi sofivh gignetai euAEtropivh".

Greg. Naz., Or. xxxvi.: polla;" metalam bavnwn crova" w)sper tu; tw`n petrw`n eiv poluvpode" ai\" a\n oAEmilhvswsi, and Arist., Hist. An. 9,37: kai; qhreuvei touv" icqu`" to; crw`ma metabavllwn kai; poiw`n o[moion oi\" dh plhsiavzh livqoi").

16 cf. Mt 7,15

17 (So the Cod. Colb. and Eustathius, who renders Justus hihil habet fictum sicut Job. The Ben. Ed. suspect that Bail wrote Jacob and Jb Four mss. support Jacob alone, who, whatever may be the meaning of the Hebrew in Gn 25,27, is certainly a)plasto" only in the LXX., and a bad instance of guilelessness.

18 (Ps 68,6 Ps 68,

19 (Ps 104,25 Ps 104,

20 cf. Cudworth, Int Syst. 3,37,23: "Besides this plastick Nature which is in animals, forming their several bodies artificially, as so many microcosms or little worlds, there must also be a general plastick Nature in the macrocosm, the whole corporeal universe, that which makes all things thus to conspire everywhere, and agree together into one harmony. Concerning which plastick nature of the universe, the Author De Mundo writes after this manner, kai; to;v o)lon kovsmon, diekovsmhse miva hAE dia; pavntwn dihvkousa duvnami", one power, passing through all things, ordered and formed the whole world. Again he calls the same pneu`ma kai; e)myucon kai; govnimon ouAEsivan, a spirit, and a living and Generative Nature, and plainly declares it to be a thing distinct from the Deity, but subordinate to it and dependent on it. But Aristotle himself, in that genuine work of his before mentioned, speaks clearly and positively concerning the Plastick Nature of the Universe, as well as that of animals, in these words: ’It seemeth that as there is Art in Artificial things, so in the things of Nature, there is another such like Principle or Cause, which we aourselves partake of: in the same manner as we do of Heat and Cold, from the Universe. Wherefore it is more probable that the whole world was at first made by such a cause as this (if at least it were made) and that it is still conserved by the same, than mortal animals should be so: for there is much more of order and determinate Regularity in the Heavenly Bodies that in ourselves; but more of Fortuitousness and inconstant Regularity among these mortal things. Notwithstanding whihc, some there are, who though they cannot but acknowledge tat the Bodies of Animals were all framed by an Artificial Nature, yet they will need contend that the System of the Heavens sprung merely from Fortune and Chance; although there be not the least appearance of Fortuitousness or Temerity in it.’ And then he sums up all into this conclusion: w)ste ei;nai fanero;n o)ti e)sti ti toiou`ton o) dh; kai; kalou`men fuvsin. ’Artificial,’ "Methodical,’ and Plastick Nature in Animals, by which their respective Bodies are Framed and Conserved, but also that there is such a General Plastick Nature likewise in the Universe, by which the Heavens and whole World are thus Artificially Ordered and Disposed."

21 cf. Pr 22,28).

22 cf. Arist., Hist. Animal. 7,12 and 13, and note on p. 70.

23 cf. Arist. and Theophrastus.

24 Otiosa mater est nugarum noverca omnium virtutum. St. Bernard.

25 "Tradunt saevitiam maris praesagire eos, correptisque opperiri lapillis, mobilitatem pondere stabilientes: nolunt volutatione spinas atterere, quod ubi videre nautici, statim pluribus ancoris navigia infraenant." Phin. 9,5). cf. Plut., De Solert. an. 979, Oppian, Halieut. 2,224, and Aelian, Hist. An. 7,33.

26 cf. Pr 15,3: "The eyes of the Lord are in every place," and Ps cxxi. 3. So Hesiod, pavnta idwvn Dio;" oAEfqalmo;" kai; pavnta nohvsa". Hes). Works and Days, 265

27 (Ep 5,25 Ep 5,

28 The fable is in Aelian, Hist. An. 9,66, and is contradicted by Athenaeus, who says (vii. p. 312): jjAndreva" de; eAEn tw` peri; twn yeudw`" pepistenmenwn yeudov" fhsin ei\nai to; Muvrainan e)cii) mivgnusqai prosercomevnhn eAEpi; to; tenagw`de", ouAEde` gar eAEpi; tenavgou" e[cei" nevmesqai, filhdou`nta" limwvdesin eAEphmivai". Swvstrato" de; eAEn toi`" peri; Zwvwn sugkatativqetai th` mivxei).

29 The Pinna is a bivalve with a silky beard, of which several species are found n the Mediterranean. The beard is called by modern naturalists byssus. The shell of the giant pinna is sometimes two feet long.

30 (Gn 1,21 Gn 1,

31 "Tamen omnia haec, pariterque eodem impellentia unus ac parnus admodum pisciulus, echeneis appellatus, in se tenet. Ruant venti licet, et saeviant procellae impreat furori, viresque tantas compescit, et cogit stare navigia: quod no vincula ulla, non anchorae pondere, irrevocabili jactae. . . Fertur Actiaco marte tenuisse navim Antonii properantis circumire et exhortare suos donec transiret in aliam. . . . Tennit et nostra memoria Caii principis ab Astura Antium renavigantes." Plin. 32,1. The popular error was long lived.

"Life is a voyage, and. in our life’s ways,

Countries, courts, towns, are rocks or remoras." Donne, To Sir Henry Wotton.

32 Pliny (ix. 72) says it is sometimes five inches long. Aelian (LHist. An. 1,56) calls the wound incurable.

33 Pliny (ix. 72) calls it tactu pestilens, and says (xxxii. 3) that no ohter fish eats it, except the mullet.

34 (Ct 5,2 Ct 5,

1 Codex Colb. I has the title "about creeping things and beasts."

2 Gen 1,24).

3 zwhv.

4 yuchv.

5 See note on p. 90.

6 (Is 1,3 Is 1,

7 cf. Lv 17,11.

8 upovstasi".

9 It may be supposed "that the souls of brutes, being but so many eradiations or effuxes from that source of life above, are, as soon as ever those organized bodies of theirs, by reason of their indisposition, become uncapable of being further acted upon by them, then to be resumed again and retracted back to their original head and fountain. Since it cannot be doubted but what creates anything out of nothing, or sends it forth from itself, by free and vountary emanation, may be able either to retract the same back again to its original source, or else to annihilate it at pleasure. And I find that there have not wanted some among the Gentile philosophers themselves who have entertained this opinion, whereof Porphyry is one, luvetai e Jkavoth duvnami" a[logo" ei" th;n o)lhn zwhn zwnhn tou` pavnto"." Cudworth, 1,35).

10 Empedocles is named as author of the lines:

h(dh ga;r potj eAEgw; genovmhn kouvrhte kovro" te,

Qavmno" tj oiAEwnov" te kai; eiAEn aAEli; e[llopo" iAEcquv".

cf. Diog. Laert. 8,78 and Plutarch, D Solert. An. 2,964. Whether the "faba Pythagorae cognata" of Hor., Sat. 2,6, 63, implies the transmigration of the soul into it is doubtful). cf. Juv., Sat. 15,153. Anaximander thought the human beings were originally generated from fish. Plut., Symp. 8,8.

11 (Gn 1,20 Gn 1,

12 Fialon quotes Bosseut, 1st Elev. 5th week: "Qui a donné aux oiseaux et aux poissons ces rames naturelles, qui leur font fendre les eaux et les airs? Ce qui peut être a donné lieu à leur Créateur de les produire ensemble, comme animaux d’um dessin à peu près semblable: le vol des oiseaux semblant, etre une espèce de faculté de nager dans une liqueur plus subtile, comme la faculté de nager dans les poissons est une espèce de vol dans une liqueur plus épaisse ."

The theory of evolutionists is, as is well known, that birds developed out of reptiles and reptiles from fish). Vide E. Haeckel’s monophyletic pedigree in his History of Creation.

13 doepaniv", i.e. sickle-bird.

14 These are the terms of Aristotle, Hist. An. 1,5.

15 cf. Arist., Hist. An. 8,3.

16 Whence the proverb koloio;" poti; koloio;n. Arist., Eth. Nic. I. 8,6).

17 "Super omnia humanas voces reddunt, posittaci quidem sermocinantes." Plin. x. 53.

18 Arist., Hist. An. 9,10.

19 Arist., Hist. An. 5,21, and Plin. 11,17. "Ecce in re parva, villisque nostra annexa, cujus assidua copia est, non constat inter auctores, rex nullumne solus habeat aculeum, majestate tantum armatus: an dederit eum quidem natura, sed usum ejus illitantum negaverit. Illud constat imperatorem aculeo non uti."

20 (Rm 12,17, 21.

21 The ancient belief was that honey fell from heaven, in the shape of dew, and the bee only gathered it from leaves. So Verg., Ec. 4,30, "roscida mella," and Georg. 4,1, "aerii mellis coelestia dona." cf. Arist., H. A. v. 22 meli; de; to; pivpton eAEk tou` aAEevro", kai mavlista tw`n a[strwn aAEnatolai`", kai; o[tan kataskhvfh h J iri", and Plin. 11,12). Sive ille est coeli sudork sive quaedan siderum saliva, sine purgantis se aeris succus, . . . magnam tamen coelestis naturae voluptatem affert." So Coleridge (Kubla Khan):

"For he on honey dew hat fed

And drunk the milk of Paradise."

22 (Pr 6,8, lxx. The reference to the bee is not in the Hebrew.

23 cf. Aelian. 5,13.gewmetrivan de; kai; kavllh schmavtwn kai; w Jraiva" plavsei" auAEtw`n a[neu tevcnh" te kai; kanovnwn kai; tou` kaloumevnou nAEpo; tw`n sofw`n diabhvtou, to; kavlliston schmavtwn eAExagwnovn te kai; e Jxavpleuron kai; iAEsogwvnion aAEpodeivknuntai aiAE mevlittai.

24 The mathematical exactness of the bee is described by Darwin in terms which make it even more marvellous than it appeared to Basil. "The most wonderful of all known instincts, that of the hive bee, may be explained by natural selection having taken advantage of numerous slight modifications of simpler instincts; natural selection having by slow degrees more and more perfectly led the bees to sweep equal spheres at a given distance from each other in a double layer, and to build up and excavate the wax along the planes of intersection." Origin of Species, ii. 255, ed. 1861 According to this view the beings from whom hive bees, as we know them, are descended were gifted with certain simple instincts capable of a kind of hereditary unconscious education, resulting in a complex instinct which constructs with exact precision the hexagonal chamber best fitted for the purpose it is designed to fulfil, and then packs it. And it is interesting to note how the great apostle of abstract selection personifies it as a "taker" of "advantage," and a "leader."

25 Arist., Hist. An. 9,10.

26 From pelargov". On the pious affection of the stork, cf. Plato, Alc. 1,135 (§ 61), Arist., H.A. 9,13, 20, Aelian, H.A. iii. 23 and 10,16, and Plin. 10,32. From pelargo;" was supposed to be derived the Pythagorean word pelarga`n Diog. Laert. 8,20), but this is now regarded as a corruption of pedarta`n.

27 "Hirundines luto construunt, stramine roborant: si quando inopia est luti, madefactae multa auqa pennis pulverem spargunt.: Plin. 10,49). cf. Arist., Hist. An. 9,10.

28 "Chelidoniam visui saluberriman hirundines monstravere, vexatis pullorum oculis illa medentes." Plin. 8,41). cf. Aelian, H.A. 3,25. Chelidonia is swallowwort or celandine.

29 "Foetificant bruma, qui dies halcyonides vocantur, placido mari per eos et navigabii, Siculo maxime. Plin. 10,47). cf. Arist., H.A. 5,8, 9, and Aelian, H. N.. 1,36. So Theoc. 7,57:

 jX aAElkuovne" storeseu`nti ta; kuvmata, tavn te qavlassan

Tovn te novton tovntj eu\ron o)" e[scata fukiva kinei).


Basil: letters, hexaemeron - II. WORKS