Qui rem altius repetunt, quam oportet, notantur hoc versu Horatiano[1]. Nec gemino bellum Troianum orditur ab ovo. Ἐξ ὠοῦ ἐξῆλθεν, ex ovo {prodidit}[2] <prodiit>: aiunt dici solitum de magnopere formosis, ac nitidis, quasi neges communi hominum more natos, sed ex ovo more Castoris, et Pollucis. Siquidem est in poetarum fabulis, Ledam {Tyndaris[3] <Tyndari>} <Thestii> filiam ex Iovis concubitu duo peperisse ova, e quorum altero prodiere gemini Castor, et Pollux insigni forma iuvenes: ex altero nata est Helena, cuius species literis omnium est nobilitata. Ovo prognatus eodem: hoc fortassis simpliciter dictum <est> ab Horatio.[4] Quandoquidem ad fabulam quoque respicit Ledae, quae gravida ex Iove in Cycnum conversum ovum peperit, unde gemini prognati, et Castor, et Pollux, ut diximus. Hoc vero ovum Pausanias[5] refert ostendi apud Lacedaemonios suspensum taeniis a testudine templi.

Those who go back to a thing more far off than necessary, they are branded by this verse of Horace: Nor we must begin to speak of the Trojan war starting from the twin egg - that with two yolks from which Helen was born. Ex øoû exêlthen, He came forth from an egg: they say that it is usually said of very beautiful and attractive young people, as if you were denying that they are born in the usual way for human beings, but rather from an egg as Castor and Pollux. Since in the fables of the poets it is found that Leda, daughter of Thestius - wife of Tyndarus, from an intercourse she had with Jupiter gave birth to two eggs, from one of which the twins Castor and Pollux were born, boys of outstanding beauty: from the other egg Helen was born, whose appearance has been extolled by literary works of everybody. Born from the same egg: this proverb perhaps has been said only by Horace. Since it also concerns the fable related to Leda who, made pregnant by Jupiter who had turned himself into a swan, gave birth to an egg from which the two twins Castor and Pollux were born, as we said. Pausanias reports that this egg is exposed among Spartans and that it is kept suspended with bandages down from the vault of a temple.

Verum si quis hoc dictum deflectat {ad} <ab> iisdem natos parentibus, aut ab eodem eruditos praeceptore aut ita consimilibus ingeniis, ut eodem ovo nati videri possint, aeque fuerit proverbiale, veluti, si dicas, Vultus, ingenium, mores, facta, ac prorsus omnia sic huic cum hoc conveniunt, ut iures eodem prognatos ovo. Aristoteles quidem ostendit iuxta naturam fieri posse, ut ex eodem ovo duo pulli nascantur[6].

In truth if someone were changing this axiom into born from the same parents, or educated by the same tutor, or into so similar for temperament that it could be thought that they were born from the same egg, it would be equivalent as proverb, as if you should say: Face, temperament, behavior, deeds, and in short for all the characteristics they are corresponding each other to such an extent that you would be ready to swear that they were born from the same egg. For Aristotle shows that according to nature it can happen that from a same egg two chicks are hatched.

Extant apud authores aliquot similitudinis adagia, quorum de numero est. Non tam ovum ovo simile de rebus indiscretae similitudinis. Hinc dicebat Tullius[7]: Vides ne ut in proverbio sit ovorum inter se similitudo? {Tamen hoc accepimus Deli fuisse complures, qui Gallinas alere quaestus causa solerent: ovum cum inspexerant, quae id Gallina peperisset, discernere novisse.} <Tamen hoc accepimus, Deli fuisse complures salvis rebus illis, qui gallinas alere permultas quaestus causa solerent: ei cum ovum inspexerant, quae id gallina peperisset dicere solebant.> Idem proverbium refertur a F. Quintiliano. Usurpatur, et a Seneca[8] in libello, quem in Claudium Imperatorem lusit. Ovorum vero inter se miram, ac prope indiscretam similitudinem saepenumero apud animum meum non sine stupore perpendi. Alium enim alii si compares, fallitur examen, hebescitque intuentis obtutus: tanta prorsus parilitas est, tantaque geminitudo[9]. Ὠΐου πολύ λευκότερον, id est, ovo multo candidius, Sappho dixit Apud Athenaeum[10].

There are extant among authors some adages referring to the similarity, to the crowd of which is belonging this one: After all an egg is not so similar to an egg, concerning things of an indistinguishable similarity. Therefore Marcus Tullius Cicero said: Are you aware how the likeness of one egg to another is proverbial? Nevertheless we have been told what follows, that at Delos, without damage for those things, a great number of people were in the habit of keeping large numbers of hens for profit purposes. Whenever they looked at an egg they used to tell which hen laid it. The same proverb is reported by Marcus Fabius Quintilian. It is also employed by Seneca in a satirical pamphlet he delighted in writing toward the emperor Claudius. Very often I have meticulously weighed in my mind not without amazement the astonishing and almost perfect similarity of the eggs each other. In fact if you compares them each other the needle of the balance is deceived and the sight of whom is looking is weakened: absolutely so great is their likeness and so great is their equivalence. Øíou polý leukóteron, that is, Very more snowy than an egg, Sappho said in Athenaeus.

FABULA.

LEGEND

Lucianus[11], et ex eo Caelius {Rhodoginus} <Rhodiginus>[12], iuvenem quendam nomine Alectryonem vocatum, hoc est, Gallum, Marti adeo familiarem factum fuisse fabulantur, ut cum eo subinde commessaretur, foretque amorum illius conscius. Sicubi ergo ad Venerem itaret Mars, adfuisse comitem Alectryonem. Quia vero suspectum, praecipue habebat solem, ne rem conspicatus Vulcano renunciaret, pro foribus excubare adolescentem iussisse, ut ubi comparuisset sol, indicaret. Forte autem evenisse, ut cum sopitus excubias proderet adolescens, fieretque speculatio caeca, ac superveniente clam Sole, Mars Venusque complexi deprehenderentur, in utramque quod dicitur, aurem Alectryonis fiducia decumbentes. Factum itaque certiorem Vulcanum catenis praetenuibus utrumque mox illaqueasse, irretisseque[13], quas ad eum usum diu antea erat commolitus: sed emissum denique e vinculis eiusmodi Martem, in Alectryonem prorsus factum commotiorem, nec prius iram deferbuisse, quam in eius nominis avem deformasset male fidum, custodem, atque ita ut crista videretur celsus, sicuti cum hominem ageret, galeam gestaret.

Lucian, and Lodovico Ricchieri gathering it from him, tell the fable of a certain youth named Alectryon, that is, Rooster, who became such a great friend of Mars that straightaway he became his table companion and aware of his love affairs. Therefore, since Mars was often repairing to Venus, Alectryon had to act as companion. Since Mars above all had the suspicion that if the Sun had realized the thing would report it to Vulcan, ordered the youth to take over facing the entrance, so that as soon as the Sun had appeared he was notifying this. But casually it happened that, since the youth who fell asleep had failed in taking over and the watch had become blind, and that with the arrival of the Sun without their knowledge Mars and Venus were caught hugged each other, since they say that they were lying in bed relying on both the ears of Alectryon. Vulcan, turned even more certain, later on trapped and enmeshed both with very thin chains he had previously reworked for a long time for such a purpose: but finally when Mars was freed from such chains he turned himself just rather irritated towards Alectryon, and he didn’t cool down his anger before having transformed in a bird with his own name the bad trustworthy keeper, and in such a way that he seemed fierce of his comb as when living as man he was flaunting the helmet’s crest.

Atque hinc Gallos ex antiqui admissi memoria, ut se Deo expurgent, illatique damni formula satisfaciant, morem perpetuo servare diu ante ut praecinant, ubi mox oriturum praesenserint solem: unde Ausonius[14]

Ter clara instantis Eoi

Signa canit serus, deprenso Marte, satelles.

Hence the roosters, to apologize to God because of the memory of the ancient misdeed, and to pay the punishment on the model of the brought damage, forever they must to observe the custom of singing long before, as soon as they have had the presentiment that the sun is about to rise: whence Ausonius:

After Mars has been caught, the dumb bodyguard sings thrice the ringing signals of pressing Aurora.

APOLOGI.

FABLES

Canis et Gallus - Canis, et Gallus inita societate iter faciebant, vespere autem superveniente, Gallus conscensa arbore dormiebat, at canis ad radicem arboris excavatae. Cum Gallus, ut assolet, noctu cantasset, vulpes, ut audivit, accurrit, et stans inferius, ut ad se descenderet rogabat, quod cuperet, {commendabili} <commendabile> adeo cantu animal complecti. Cum autem is dixisset, ut ianitorem {potius} <prius> excitaret ad radicem dormientem, ut cum ille aperuisset, descenderet. Et illa quaerente, ut ipsum vocaret, canis statim prosiliens, eam dilaceravit. <Affabulatio.> Fabula significat prudentes homines {inimico} <inimicos> insultantes ad fortiores astu mittere. <Aesopus.>

The dog and the cock - A dog and a rooster, after they allied each other, went on a journey together, and when the evening came, the rooster slept on a tree on which had climbed, but the dog near the root of a hollow tree. Since the rooster, as accustomed, crowed during the night, the fox, as heard him, rushed, and standing below begged him that he went down at her, because she craved to embrace such a praiseworthy animal because of the song. But the rooster said that before she should wake up the doorkeeper sleeping at the root, so that when this fellow had allowed he could come down. And while she was asking that he himself called him, the dog immediately jumped out and tore her to pieces. Moral. The fable means that judicious persons when insulting enemies, they give the task to stronger people by resorting to a stratagem. Aesop.