Qui naturam eius seu causam effectricem constituunt, aiunt, animal hoc a natura calidissimum, et in appetendo [205] in primis et nutriendo avidum ob calorem quidem insitum cibum acceptum citius concoquere: itaque ob aviditatem, naturae appetitum suum significare, quasi pascentem se invitet, et excitet. Alii, qui rem quamlibet alicui certo sideri dicatam esse volunt, non aliter ac lotum herbam, solarem esse existimant, indeque fieri, ut Gallus, sub solis exortum canat, eodem modo, quo lotus, eo exoriente, folia sua pandit, et occidente, contrahit, quasi occulta quadam, et naturali ratione, redeunte ad ortum duce suo, uterque gaudeat: atque haec quidem eorum est sententia, cuius opinionis etiam Cardanus fuit, quod scilicet Solis robur sequatur. Albertus vero eius fuit sententiae, ut Gallum ideo horas cantu suo distinguere crediderit, quod aurae mutationes ex motibus solis contingentes facile sentiat.

Those who define his nature, or creative principle, say that this animal, very warm by nature, avid first of all both in wishing and in nourishing himself because of the heat indeed located in himself, he digests more quickly the food he swallowed: thus because of his avidity he shows the peculiar instinct of his nature, as inviting and exciting himself to eat. Others, who claim that whatever thing is dedicated to a certain star, so are thinking that the lotus herb is solar, and hence the cock sings towards the sunrise likewise the lotus spreads its leaves when the sun is rising and closes them when it is setting, as they were both enjoying because of an inner and natural reason, being that their leader is rising again: at any rate their opinion, shared also by Gerolamo Cardano, is as follows, i.e. that he runs after the solar power. On the contrary Albertus thought that the rooster is even beating the hours by means of his song because he easily senses the changes of the air occurring because of the movements of the sun.

Alii rursus ad naturam avis referunt, et salacitati eius eiusmodi eventum ascribi oportere contendunt: cantu nempe veneris appetentiam significari: idque inde probare nituntur, quod antequam usui venereo sufficiat, conticescat, peracto subinde cucu<r>riat, tum eo magis opinionem suam astruunt, quod etiam nonnullae aliae aves proclivitatem, ac lubentiam ad initum quolibet praeeant cantu, quemadmodum alibi attestatur etiam Plinius[1], tum vero, ubi ait, Perdices faeminas concipere supervolantium afflatu, saepe voce tantum audita masculi. Contingere autem Gallinaceis autumant, quod fere caeteris usu venire compertum est, ut peracto cibo, refecto per quietem corpore, ac inde maxime vegeto libidinis titillentur pruritu: intervulsus autem somnus, ac identidem repetitus cantus frequentiae causam facile suggerat. Huius opinionis adagiorum author[2] ab amico suo Leone acceptam adducit pro miraculo, ut ait Scaliger[3]. Leo vero ille, quem adagiorum author citat, causam in tria haec reijcit, quod scilicet per noctem cibum depellens, eumque in omne corpus dividens modificetur, quieteque plurima satietur, ut Democrito apud Ciceronem[4] visum esse ait: secundo quod avis sit salacissima, et intercepti, et frequentis somni: tertio ut Gallinarum foetificatio sit plenior et foecundior.

Others newly refer to the bird’s nature, claiming that such an event must be ascribed to his lustiness: for the lust is just showed through the song: and therefore they try hard to demonstrate that before devoting himself to sexual intercourse he keeps silent, and immediately after having done it he starts to sing, and so much more they uphold their point of view because also some other birds reveal in advance with whatever sing the bent and the pleasure for mating, as afterwards elsewhere also Pliny indeed testifies when saying that female partridges conceive through the breath of the males that fly over them, often through the only heard voice of the male. They think that to the roosters it happens what in almost all other birds for experience is well-known to happen, that is, after the food has been digested and the body has been refreshed through the rest and being so very lusty, it is then that they are titillated by the itch of sexual desire: the interrupted sleep, and as much times resumed, would easily furnish the reason of the frequency of the song. As Julius Caesar Scaliger says, the author of the Adagia – i.e. Erasmus of Rotterdam, who is sharing this opinion, adds that he learned it from his friend Ambrogio Leone as an extraordinary thing. That Leone, quoted by the author of Adagia, is placing the cause in these three situations, that during the night removing the food and sharing it through the whole body he restores his equilibrium and that he satisfies himself by a very abundant rest, like, as far as he is affirming, it seemed to Democritus in Cicero: second, because he is a very lustful bird of interrupted and frequent sleep: third, so that the hens’ eggs laying is more abundant and fertile.

Mihi eorum sententia plurimum arridet, qui ad occultam cum Sole amicitiam confugiunt: siquidem alimenti desiderio non canere docemur, quod (ut Scaligeri verbis utar) etiam satur canat: nec Gallinae, quoniam canit a coitu: deinde canit praesente illa, quam tunc non init, nec noctu, cum alioqui multas secum confertas habeat iacentes, et immotas, quibuscum tamen non coit.

I am quite in favor of the point of view of those resorting to a hidden friendship with the sun: for we have the demonstration that he is not singing for food’s desire, because (to use Scaliger’s words) he sings even if he is replete: neither for desire of the hen, because he sings after the coitus: finally he sings while she is present and he is not mounting her, nor at night when however he has quite a lot of them perching close to him, and motionless, with whom he nevertheless doesn’t copulate.

Rursus non desunt, qui nisi statutis horis canere Gallum dicant: quinim<m>o Cardanus[5] totum naturalem diem in octo partes dividere illum, author est, non tamen oriente sole canere, sed cum accedit ad aurorae terminos, sic et ante meridiem. Verum eiusmodi opinionem prorsus erroneam esse Iulius Scaliger tam in excubiis, quam in lucubrationibus suis expertus testatur: et revera alios etiam aliis frequentius interdiu potissimum canere observamus, nullo servato tempore. Etsi vero veteres eorum cantu tempora sua dividerent, haud tamen ideo credendum est, ea tam exacte, et minutim distinxisse, ut horarum pulsus facit, sed circiter idem tempus fere avem occin<u>isse.

Moreover there are those who affirm that the rooster doesn’t sing if not at fixed hours: or rather Cardano claims that he splits the whole natural day into eight parts, and that nevertheless he doesn’t sing when the sun is rising, but when it is approaching to boundaries of the dawn, as well as before midday. On the contrary Julius Scaliger, skilled in his night parties out of home as well as in his nighttime jobs, affirms that such an opinion is completely wrong: and in fact we observe that some are singing more often than others chiefly during the day, without observing whatever time. Truly, even if the ancients divided their own time by their song, nevertheless it is not necessary therefore to believe that they split it so exactly and minutely as the pulsation of the clocks does, but that the bird nearly was singing approximately at the same moment.

Cum itaque ex nocturno Galli cantu tanta hominibus utilitas, qualem diximus, cedat, haud desunt tamen, qui {ob[6]} vocem eam quoties audiant, Gallo malam crucem imprecentur, pigri nempe, et desidiosi homines, qui somno tantum, et ventri student: quales olim Sybaritae fuere, qui Gallos, ut Athenaeus[7] refert, in civitate haberi non permittebant. Erant autem gens mollissima, effaeminata, ac adeo delicata, ut non solum hanc alitem in urbe nutriri prohiberent, sed omnes etiam artes quae strepitum faciunt, veluti fabrorum omnium, reijcerent. Ut vero et delicatis huiusmodi homuncionibus consulamus, ut Gallum domi alere possint, qui neque cantet, neque strepitum edat, inquimus, duobus id modis praestari posse, nulla tamen illi allata noxa. Plinius[8] enim circulo e {sarmentis} <ramentis> addito collo non cantaturum promittit: Albertus capite, et fronte oleo inunctis. Haec experti, si vera eorum authorum praecepta invenerint, Gallum ob futuram prolem nutrire poterunt, ut ea saepius saturi somno commodius indulgere queant. Praeterea castratus cantare desinit: idem victus facit tanquam pudibundus: denique cum ovis incubat, ut Aelianus[9] testatur, quasi eiusmodi officium virum dedecere non ignoret.

Therefore, although from nighttime’s song of the rooster is following to mankind such a great utility as that I said, nevertheless there are those who, whenever hear that voice are whishing the rooster to be ruined, of course lazy and idle persons, who are devoting themselves only to sleep and greed: as once had been the Sybarites who, as Athenaeus tells, didn’t allow the roosters to be kept in the city. On the other hand they were a very floppy people, effeminate and to such an extent delicate that they not only prohibited that this bird was raised in the city, but they also refused all the activities that make a noise, as those of all the artisans. But, in order to come across also such delicate munchkins, so that they can raise at home a rooster which neither crows nor cackles, I say that this can happen in two ways, without however any damage is brought to it. For Pliny promises that it won’t sing when you place on its neck a necklace done with specks of gold: Albertus, if its head and face will be greased with oil. After they tested these things, in recognizing as true the precepts of such authors, they could raise the rooster for a future offspring, so that sated with it they can more often and pleasantly abandon themselves to slumber. Furthermore, if he is castrated, he stops to sing: and when has been won he behaves like an ashamed: finally, when he sits on eggs, as Aelian bears witness, it is like he is aware that such a task is not suitable for a male.

SALACITAS. COITUS. PARTUS.

Incubatus. Generatio. Exclusio.

LUSTFULNESS - MATING - EGGS LAYING

Incubation - Generation - Hatching

Salacissimum animal Gallum esse quamvis ut Albertus scribit, ad unum ovum foecundandum multoties cum eadem Gallina coeat, Oppianus[10] prodidit. Quod sane, etsi aliae item dentur volucres, quarum libido apud authores magis celebratur, ut in Aquilae historia diximus, cuius congressu Martis et Veneris adulterium indicabant[11], et Passer etiam strenuissimus in hac venerea pal<a>estra habeatur athleta, verum esse videbimus, si Galli libidinem cum earum libidine conferamus.

Oppian of Apamea handed down that the rooster is a very lustful animal although, as Albertus writes, he is mating several times with the same hen in order to fecundate only one egg. In fact, even if other birds are existing whose sexual instinct by writers is more extolled, as I said in the chapter of the eagle, with whose copulation they symbolized the adultery between Mars and Venus, and even if the sparrow itself is thought a tireless athlete in this gym of love, we will see that it is corresponding to the truth if we compare the lust of the rooster with their sensuality.