Lac Gallinaceum ὀρνίθων γάλα, dicitur in opulentos, et quibus quidvis rerum suppeditat, ut copiae cornu, aut dicitur de raris inventu, atque ob id pretiosis, ut sit hyperbole significans nihil omnino deesse. Plinius in praefatione historiae mundi, irridens Graecorum deliciosas quasdam, et magnificas inscriptiones. {Cerion} <Cerium – Κηρίον>[1], inquit, inscripserunt, quod volebant intelligi favum, alii κέρας Ἀμαλθείας, quod copiae cornu, velut lactis Gallinacei sperare possis in volumine haustum. Meminit eiusdem Aristophanes[2].

Ἐγὼ γὰρ οὐδ’ἂν ὀρνίθων γάλα

Ἀντὶ τοῦ βίου λάβοιμ’ἂν οὗ με νῦν ἀποστερεῖς, id est.

Non lac Hercule Gallinaceum

Hacce pro vita capiam, quam mi adimis in praesentia.

Eustathius[3] citat hoc adagium ex Anaxagorae {fabula} <Physicis>[4], cui titulus Ὠά.

Orníthøn gála, milk of hens, is said towards the rich people and for those having anything superabundant, as the cornucopia, or it is said about rarely found things, and then precious, as if it were a hyperbole meaning that nothing at all is lacking. Pliny, in the preface of world’s history, deriding some delicious and marvelous titles of Greeks says: They gave the title këríon because they wanted to indicate the honeycomb, others kéras Amaltheías - the horn of the goat Amalthea - which is the cornucopia, so to let you hope that in that book you can drink milk of hen. Aristophanes mentioned the same thing:

Egø gàr oud’àn orníthøn gála

Antì toû bíou láboim’àn oû me nûn apostereîs, that is:

By Hercules, I won’t take milk of hen

for this life, of which you now deprive me.

Eustathius quotes from the work About nature of Anaxagoras. this adage, whose title is Øá, The eggs.

Legitur et aliud apud eundem Aristophanem[5] hoc modo:

Δώσομεν ὑμῖν | Ἀυτοῖς, παισί, παίδων παισίν | Πλουθυγίειαν, εὐδαιμονίαν, | Βίον, εἰρήνην, νεότητα, γέλωτα, | Χορούς, θαλίας, γάλατ’ὀρνίθων. | Ὤστε παρέσται ὑμῖν κοπιᾷν | Ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγαθῶν. id est.

Dabimus vobis ipsis, filiis, filiorum filiis,

Opulentiam bonae valetudinis,

Felicitatem, facultates, pacem,

Iuventam, risum, choros,

Festa, Lac Gallinarum,

Ut sitis prae bonorum copia laboraturi.

Another one is also read still in Aristophanes which sounds as follows:

Døsomen hymîn

Autoîs, paisí, paídøn paisín

Plouthygíeian, eudaimonían,

Bíon, eirënën, neótëta, géløta,

Choroús, thalías, gálat'orníthøn.

Øste paréstai hymîn kopiâin

Hypò tôn agathôn. that is:

We shall give you yourselves, children, children of children,

an abundance of conditions of good health,

happiness, wealth, peace,

youth, laughter, dances,

feast days, milk of hens,

so that you will grow weary of abundance of good things.

Strabo[6] Samiorum agros, quod omnium rerum ampliter feraces essent, extollens, illud vulgo de illis iactatum esse addit, quod lac etiam ferrent Gallinaceum, testaturque hoc adagium apud Menandrum[7] Comicum inveniri.

Strabo, when praising the fields of Samians since they were extremely fruitful in every kind of products, adds what was the common boast about such a subject, that is, they also produced milk of hen, and there is proof that this adage is also found in the comedy writer Menander.

Athenaeus[8] ex mediae {comaediae} <comoediae> scriptore quodam Mnesimacho Senarios hos adducit.

Καὶ τὸ λεγόμενον, | Σπανιώτερον πάρεστιν ὀρνίθων γάλα, | Καὶ φασιανός ἀποτετιλμένος καλῶς. id est.

Lac suppetit res rara Gallinaceum, ac

Plumis revulsis Phasianus adprobe.

Et rursum eodem libro adducit ex {Numenio} <Nicandro>[9].

Ἠδ’ὅπερ ὄρνιθος καλέεται γάλα, id est.

Atque quod Gallinae dicitur Lac.

Alibi etiam Aristophanes[10] Pisthetaerum Herculi loquentem inducit ita.

Καταστήσω σ’ἐγὼ | Τύραννον, ὀρνίθων παρέξω σοι γάλα.[11]

Athenaeus quotes these senarii from Mnesimachus, a writer of middle comedy:

Kaì tò legómenon,

Spaniøteron párestin orníthøn gála,

Kaì phasianós apotetilménos kalôs. that is:

<And using a hackneyed phrase,>

As a rare thing it is enough the milk of hen,

and a pheasant with very well plucked feathers.

And still in the same book he quotes from Nicander – not from Numenius of Heraclea:

Ëd’hóper órnithos kaléetai gála, that is:

Also that which is said milk of hen.

As well elsewhere Aristophanes lets Pisthetaerus - Companion-swindler - turned to Hercules, saying these words:

Katastësø s'egø | Týrannon, orníthøn paréxø soi gála,,
I will make you sovereign, I will give you hens' milk.

Ubi[12] Scholiastes hoc proverbium locum habere ait in iis, qui admodum fortunati sunt, et nihil non possident, ita ut etiam circa res impossibiles aliquid lucrentur. Etenim nequit fieri, ut unquam lac e Gallinis habeatur. At fortunati homines id quoque, si voluerint, comparare sibi possunt. Meminit et Suidas<.> Βούλοιντο μὲν ἂν καὶ τῶν ὀρνίθων γάλα παραχεῖν, <Synesius in epistolis.>[13]

On this point the scholiast of Aristophanes says that this proverb fits those who are quite fortunate and possessing everything, so much as they succeed in drawing something from impossible things. And in fact never it can happen that milk from hens is drawn. But fortunate men could get also this if they whished. Also the lexicon Suidas mentions this. Boúlointo mèn àn kaì orníthøn gála paracheîn, If in fact they want to pour on also the hens' milk, Synesius of Cyrene in the letters.

Cum vero in harum alitum ovis magis, quam in aliis eluceant, quae passim de ovis ab authoribus tradita sunt, itaque et proverbia, quae ab ovis proferuntur, hoc loco subijcere placuit, ne lector studiosissimus ulla re, quae avium historiam illustrare, amplificare, ac explicare possit, defraudetur. Ὠόν κολλήεις (si recte legitur, malim κολλᾷς) id est, ovum glutino compingis. Refertur a Diogeniano[14]. Ridicule laborat, qui fractum ovi putamen glutino sarcire, et coagmentare conetur. Dicetur in eos, qui frustra ex impossibilibus possibilia reddere conantur, quales sunt, quos vulgus alchymistas appellat, qui nimirum ex iis, quae aurum non sunt, aurum facere elaborantes, aurum, quod ante possidebant, et oleum, et operam perdunt. Ab ovo usque ad mala proverbiali figura dixit Horatius[15], pro eo, quod est, ab initio convivii usque ad finem. Ait autem.

Si collibuisset ab ovo

Usque ad mala citaret{, lo} <io> Bacche modo summa

Voce, modo hac resonat quae chordis quatuor ima.

Since data given by authors here and there about eggs are more conspicuous for the eggs of these birds than for other eggs, therefore it seemed proper to me to set down here also the proverbs taking origin from eggs, so that the reader is not deprived of anything which may illustrate, amplify and explain the search about birds. Øón kollëeis (if it is exactly reported, I would prefer kollâis), that is, You weld the egg with glue. It is reported by Diogenianus of Heraclea. He who would try to patch up and rejoin with glue a broken eggshell is performing a labor in a ridiculous way. It shall be said towards those who are uselessly striving to make possible things out of impossible ones, as they are those whom common people call alchemists, who exactly, applying themselves in getting some gold from those things which are not gold, are losing the gold they possessed before, and oil, and exertion - they waste time and energies. From egg to apples - from hors d’oeuvre to fruit - said Horace proverbially in a figurative way to indicate from the beginning at the end of a banquet. For he says:

If he was in the proper mood

he would have begun to sing “hurray Bacchus" from egg to apples, now with the whole voice he possesses,

now with this lowest note resounding with the tetrachord.

Antiquitus etenim caenam ab ovis auspicabantur, malis finiebant. Nos ab acetariis ordimur, at saltem in eo cum illis convenimus, quod malis, aut {pyris} <piris> eam finiamus. Erit venustius, si longius trahatur, ab ovo usque ad mala: id est, toto colloquio, tota navigatione, [275] aut toto opere.

And in fact in antiquity they began the banquet with eggs and ended with apples. We start from salad dressed with vinegar, but at least we agree with them since we finish it with apples or pears. It will be more pleasant the longer it is extended, from egg to apples: that is, for the whole conversation, for the whole navigation, or for the whole activity.