On the Usefulness of the Parts, Vol. II

keep these idle for the sake of fighting, but desires to use those he does not yet have? 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 you were to take three eggs—one of an eagle, one of a duck, and one of a snake—and warm them appropriately until they hatch, you would see the resulting animals attempting to use their wings even before they are able to fly, and the snake writhing and eager to crawl, even if it is still soft and incapable. And if, after raising them in one and the same house, you were to take them to an open space and let them go, the eagle would fly up toward the heights, the duck would fly down to a lake, and the snake would creep into the ground. Then, I suppose, the one will hunt without having been taught, the other will swim, and the snake will go into a hole. "For the natures of animals are untaught," says Hippocrates. In this, it seems to me that the other animals perform certain crafts more by nature than by reason: bees build, ants create certain storehouses and labyrinths, and spiders spin and weave. I infer this from the untaught nature of these acts.

Ch. IV. 8

"But man, just as he is naked of weapons in his body, so too is he destitute of arts in his soul. For this reason, instead of the nakedness of the body, he received hands; and instead of the lack of art in the soul, he received reason. Using these, he arms and guards his body 26 in every way, and adorns his soul with all the arts."