History of All Cloven-Hoofed Quadrupeds

[...first] stomach, but he speaks of those having several: wherefore either Aristotle did not notice the opening, which Mercuriale says reaches into the reticulum; or it is false that a path is given from the mouth to the reticulum which does not first reach the first stomach. To me, such a path seems by no means necessary. For I have said, following Aristotle, that the tunic of the first stomach is rough, and therefore suited both to retain and to grind down fodder poorly ground in the mouth; since this is so, once ground again in the mouth and made slippery, it will not be able to be retained or delayed by its own roughness, and consequently will immediately glide into the second stomach, or reticulum. However it may be, a diligent anatomical inspection will settle the controversy. When they ruminate, they require rest; for although they ruminate even in the fields, and wherever they endure moderate labors, nevertheless for the most part (I speak of tame animals) they perform this duty in their enclosures: they lie down (says Aristotle) especially when they ruminate, and are accustomed to ruminate chiefly in the winter months. Those that are nourished under cover do this for nearly seven months. Those in herds ruminate more lightly and for less time, because they pasture outdoors.

Why ruminants lie down.

Lib. 10. c. 73

Which Pliny rendered thus: Besides those already mentioned, the deer among wild animals ruminate when they are fed by us. Moreover, all do so while lying down rather than standing, and more in winter than in summer, for nearly seven months. But as to why they ruminate while lying down rather than standing, Mercuriale provides this reason, as if from the same authors (among whom, however, it is not read), though otherwise it is not entirely to be rejected: because (he says) while they lie down, the stomach is compressed by the ground, and being compressed, it more easily repels the same back into the mouth, just as we see those vomiting do it easily if they compress the stomach with the hand. They also ruminate especially in the summer time while the sun is burning, or at midday itself, but they seek out shade, just as Dante elegantly expressed for us using the example of goats in his aforementioned Purgatorio:

Cant. 27.

As the goats, having been swift and bold
Upon the peaks before they fed,
Become gentle while ruminating.
Silent in the shade while the Sun burns,
Watched by the Shepherd, who upon his staff
Has leaned, and leaning serves them.
Ruminate, O my flock, in the summer shade
On the grazed herbs.

Ah, unhappy maiden, now thou wanderest in the mountains;
He, his snowy side cushioned by soft hyacinths,
Ruminates on the pale herbs beneath a dark ilex.

Why they ruminate in winter.

This is, as Servius explains, either dry herbs, or those which have lost their own greenness through the heat of the stomach. From which passage of Virgil, as if from an archetype and a model, Calpurnius drew these verses of his:

Seek now these willows, and turn toward the left-hand elms,
For when the meadows are hot, there our bull
Loves to rest, and lies stretched out in the cool shade,
And recalls the morning herbs.

But why they ruminate more in winter than at other times of the year, this reason might perhaps be assigned: because at that time they are fed only on hard and dry fodder, which is changed with difficulty, whereas on the contrary, very tender fodder, such as the herbs that flourish in summer time, is changed most easily; which reason the Philosopher himself also seems to hint at when he says that those which pasture in herds and outdoors ruminate more lightly and less than those which dwell in stables. The same Philosopher is the authority that animals whose custom it is to ruminate profit and delight no less in ruminating than in eating: explaining which passage, Giovanni Emiliano says it denotes that not only is an equal pleasure perceived from the rumination itself, but even a much greater one, since the taste cannot exactly and perfectly perceive the flavors of the nourishments in the form they are in when first devoured by ruminants, but those which have already been smoothed by the benefit of rumination insinuate themselves into the narrowest passages of the tongue and strike the instruments of taste more powerfully.

Delighting in rumination. Syntag. 2.

Suckling animals do not ruminate. 7. de animal. cap. 4.

It should be noted, however, that animals of this kind do not ruminate while they are still nourished by milk: because milk (says Mercuriale) is easily cooked, prepared, and liquid, so that it glides through the common opening with the reticulum into it from the stomach. Albertus Magnus feels that ruminants ruminate after the seventh month of age. But Mercuriale thinks this man was deceived by a poor understanding of Aristotle’s words, who, as was said, writes only that ruminants do this for seven months [of the year]. Indeed, it is certain that they ruminate before that time, as soon as they graze on herbs, and Galen also noted this where he recounts the history of a kid very recently brought into the light. But (he says) it is worthy of far greater admiration that after it had devoured both leaves and tender twigs, a little later it began to ruminate, etc. Yet I do not think Albertus is to be accused, who speaks of those younglings, so to speak, for whom maternal milk is always abundantly available up to that time. For, as the same Mercuriale also adds, animals begin rumination after lactation: and that is at nearly the seventh month.

6. de loc. affec. cap. 6.

3. Hist. 21.