On the Usefulness of the Parts, Vol. II

and in this way, the hands are instruments appropriate for a wise animal. For it is not because he had hands that he was the wisest, as Anaxagoras used to say, but because he was the wisest, he possessed hands, as Aristotle says, 5 recognizing this most correctly. For the hands did not teach man the arts, but rather reason did. The hands are an instrument, like the lyre for the musician or the tongs for the smith. Just as the lyre did not teach the musician, nor the tongs the smith, but each of them is a craftsman 10 because of the reason within him, and cannot act according to the art without instruments, so too every soul has certain powers due to its own substance, but it is impossible for it to do what it is naturally meant to do without instruments. And it is possible to see clearly that it is not the parts of the body that persuade 15 the soul to become cowardly, brave, or wise, by observing newborn animals attempting to act before they are fully developed in their parts. For my part, I have often seen a calf butting before it grew horns, a horse foal kicking while its hooves were still soft, and a very small piglet attempting to defend itself 20 with jaws bare of large teeth, and a newborn puppy stretching out to bite with teeth that are still tender. For every animal has an untaught perception of the powers of its own soul and the advantages within its parts. Or why, when it is possible 25 to bite with its small teeth, does the small piglet...