The Incantation of Circe

xiv. Lice are a common companion to its kind. xv. It has a specific voice for mating. xvj. original: "xxj." The original text contains a numbering error; this should be 16. The female is more vocal than the male. xvij. It rages most fiercely during the time of mating. xviij. It is the most fertile of many animals. xix. It is not consistent in a single type of food. xx. It easily becomes accustomed to all kinds of food. xxj. It rejoices most in the change and variety of its fodder. xxij. The meat of one that has been fed on acorns tastes better and more pleasant. xxiij. It is divided into domestic and wild species. xxiiij. It lives most delightfully wherever it finds mud. It is entirely brutish.

Since the pig has so many identifying marks of its own, who could not easily recognize it—no matter how much it hides within a human form? If it pleases you, Mistress, let us pursue the rest with a single, more fitting sign: for it seems better to touch lightly on many things than to try to grasp only one or two. CIRCE. So it shall be done.

FIRST QUESTION.

MOERIS. Concerning the many kinds of dogs I see, and setting aside the rest, what of this biting kind which is properly called "Cynic" The term "Cynic" comes from the Greek word "kynikos," meaning dog-like. While it refers to a school of philosophy, Bruno uses it here to describe a snarling, critical temperament. and is no less famous than the pig itself? How could I have recognized that lazy kind of dog under a human figure? CIRCE. That is the very race of barbarians which condemns and carps at whatever it does not understand; just as lazy dogs, recognized by their very appearance, bark at all strangers.