On the Usefulness of the Parts, Vol. I

keeps them idle for the fight, but desires to use those it does not yet possess? How then is it possible to say that animals are taught the uses of their parts by the parts themselves, when they appear to know them even before they possess them? If, for instance, you take three eggs—one of an eagle, one of a duck, and one of a snake—and hatch them by warming them appropriately, you will see the animals born of them attempting to use their wings even before they are able to fly, while the snake slithers and hastens to creep, even while it is still soft and incapable. And if, after raising them in one and the same house, you then take them to an open place and release them, the eagle will fly up toward the heights, the duck will fly down to some pond, and the snake will slip into the earth. Then, I believe, the one will hunt without having been taught, the second will swim, and the third will burrow. "For the natures of animals are untaught," says Hippocrates. In this way, it seems to me that other animals perform certain skills more by nature than by reason: bees build, ants create storehouses and labyrinths, and spiders spin and weave. I infer this from their being untaught.

Chapter IV. But man, just as he is naked of weapons in his body, is likewise devoid of arts in his soul. For this reason, he received hands in place of the nakedness of his body, and reason in place of the lack of art in his soul; by using these, he arms and guards his body.