PREFACE.

...that [I have added illustrations], which act like masters who point as if with a finger to those things treated in the Histories. I have arranged them in their proper places, not merely so that the reader might be a spectator, but so that by comparing both—namely, the reading and the inspection—they may carry into their mind and fix in their memory true knowledge of birds, both internal and external. This should be done while despising mere curiosity and the useless pleasure of sight. For it is absurd, and supported by no reason, to look upon images of natural things more willingly just to admire the talent and skill of those who made them (the painter and the engraver), rather than to pursue and embrace the contemplation of the things of nature, created with such miraculous genius and study, so that we might be able to investigate their causes. Furthermore, to these illustrations I have added lifelike figures of many plants and animals upon which these birds are accustomed to feed, or in which they take delight, or which they use to preserve or recover their health. Indeed, how much such illustrations contribute to explaining the matter itself is manifest from the fact that many things described concisely and briefly by the ancients—and neglected as if they were too common—are today either still unknown to us or produce the greatest obscurities. If these had been expressed in illustrations, they would have removed all labor from us. Perhaps considering the difficulty of this matter in former times, King Euax A legendary King of the Arabs to whom a treatise on the medicinal properties of stones was attributed. did not only describe plants exactly but also took care to have them depicted; he sent them, thus depicted and described, to Nero Caesar The Roman Emperor (reigned 54–68 AD). as a mark of honor.

Furthermore, most kind Reader, you will have a History of Birds that is not simple, but rather like copious commentaries, including many corrections not only of the ancients but also of the moderns who have written about animals and whom we have been able to see thus far. These include especially the labors of Aristotle, Pliny, Aelian, Oppian, Athenaeus, the authors on rural affairs The Scriptores Rei Rusticae, such as Columella and Varro., Albertus Magnus, and any others. Therefore, so that our Ornithology might benefit not only Philosophers and Physicians, but also students of any other faculty—and so that the minds of readers might find at least something in this manifold and varied reading that could instruct or stimulate their genius—I have seen fit to admit, alongside our own observations, a "forest" A common Renaissance term for a collection of diverse materials, from the Latin sylva. of Classical Greek, Latin, and Arabian writers. Among these, besides Philosophers and Physicians, are also Theologians, Jurists, and many Poets, both ancient and more recent. Having collected the little flowers and roses of all these from here and there at various times whenever the occasion presented itself—and having rejected the thorns and useless bits—I have adorned this work using a proper order and method. And "as bees in the flowery glades sip everything," original: "Floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant," a quote from Lucretius's De Rerum Natura (III.11). we likewise pluck all these golden things; and just as those bees, seeking flowers to accumulate honey, make their own what was just now another's, and by their industry convert it to their own use, so we—through study, labor, and what is most important, long experience—have ruminated upon and digested those things taken from others, and converted them, as it were, into the "juice and blood" An idiomatic expression meaning the very essence or lifeblood of the work. of this, our offspring. The Reader ought to be warned of this, lest they think the passages of authors have been thrown together and stuffed in haphazardly. To anyone here finding an opportunity to accuse me of fraud because I do not always remember those from whom I occasionally borrow something, I respond with Saint Jerome. When he had transferred many things from the writings of Origen into his own books and was therefore criticized by his rivals, he defended himself by saying he had kept silent about those things to relieve the reader's boredom, as it was enough to have hinted at it once in the preface. I too have remained silent sometimes for the same reason, and especially because what I excerpted from them was drawn from the primary classical sources, and because the same spirit that instilled those things in them could also instill them in me. However, lest I seem to attribute too much to myself arrogantly—since it is a matter of honest shame, as Pliny says, to confess through whom you have made progress A reference to Pliny the Elder's Preface to his Natural History.—I shall place the names of all the authors I have used in this Ornithology in their proper place. Truly, the names of those men who helped me by sending birds or by performing dissections, I recount here, just as in my other Histories I celebrate all those who enriched my "microcosm" Referring to his massive museum and collection in Bologna. with some new birth of nature. I do this so that I do not appear ungrateful to them (than which, as the Mime-writer Likely referring to Publilius Syrus. says, the earth creates nothing worse), and also to stimulate their minds and spur them on to send and impart other things.

It is not hidden from me that there may be many things in this work that cannot escape the just reproach of a severe and attentive Reader; if learned men should warn me of these and prove them, I shall consider it a benefit to have made progress through them. For I am human; I think nothing human is alien to me. original: "Homo sum; humani nihil a me alienum puto," a famous line from the Roman playwright Terence. To err, to slip, and to be deceived is human; and in such an immense variety of nature, I know many things remain undiscovered by us. I shall not blush to learn these if anything clearer regarding them can be made known, either by the speech or writings of others. And truly, I am one who holds nothing so dear or precious that I do not desire to contribute it even voluntarily for the common good, provided I understand it will benefit good and studious men. For I think nothing is so unworthy of a good man as to wish to hide what could profit and help many. Yet we see in this age of ours an all too abundant crop of mortals who hide under a bushel A reference to the Gospel of Matthew 5:15. what, according to the Evangelical sentence, they ought to have placed upon a mountain and brought into the light. Thus it is confessed that many excellent authors are missed everywhere today and are gnawed by moths because those who possess them are of such a sordid mind. There is no one who does not see this, since we are not born for ourselves alone, but rather born especially for this: that some may benefit others, and that we may bring common utilities into the open, fostering human society by giving and receiving. I do not doubt there will be some (for as Aelian says, not all things please everyone) who will approach these things with a desire for accusation rather than a mind for right judgment. For it is innate in most to prefer to seem clever regarding another's work rather than to benefit others in teaching and understanding. Even the unskilled wish to reproach and damn; only the prudent and excellently learned can judge and properly weigh, for whose judgment I have always thought I must strive. I ask only this one thing from the fair judges of my labor: that they reject what seems less approved to them more gently and placidly, without the bitterness of contention and insults, after estimating the difficulty of the whole matter. For I know that many things will remain even after our observations, which—having been either omitted by me or not sufficiently noticed (for sometimes even the eyes of the perceptive grow dim, and "sometimes the good Homer nods" original: "quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus," a quote from Horace's Ars Poetica meaning even the greatest can make mistakes.)—require sharper judgments. From those who are moved neither by hatred nor envy, I shall easily obtain pardon (if I am not mistaken) or a calm argument. I hope, however (let there be no ill-will in the saying), that these labors of mine will bring some utility to students and professors of all arts whatsoever; indeed, they will be a very great help to them for more easily understanding all authors, both sacred and profane.