[343] DE CAPO

Cap. XVII.

CHAPTER XVII

THE CAPON

Haud immerito fortassis separatim de Capo scribemus, quod propter corporis immutatam temperiem, testiculis nempe privatus nomen immutaverit, pullorum propagationi prorsus inidoneus factus, et ad mensae usum duntaxat propter carnis praestantiam serviat.

Perhaps I will rightly write separately about the capon, since, because of a changed temperament of the body, that is, having been deprived of testicles, it would have changed its name, because it became quite unfit for reproduction of chicks, and it would serve only for table use because of the excellence of its flesh.

SYNONIMA.

SYNONYMS

Sunt qui Barbur[1] Hebraicam vocem Capum interpretentur: sed hi Capum cum Gallo confuderint, ut alii etiam nonnulli parum Latini fecerunt, ut suo loco admonuimus[2], cum tamen, teste M. Varrone[3] in Gallinaceo genere villatico Capi semimares dicantur, quod sint castrati. Quare inepte ab Isidoro[4] scriptum est, Gallum a castratione vocari. Nititur autem eo solum argumento, quod veteres abscissos vocarent Gallos, vel ex male intellecto Martiale[5], qui alibi ait, sub lemmate Capo:

Ne nimis exhausto macresceret inguine Gallus.

Amisit testes, nunc mihi Gallus erit.

hoc est castratus, ut erant Cybeles sacerdotes, Galli appellati, unde idem rursus[6].

Succumbit sterili frustra Gallina marito,

Hanc  matris Cybeles esse decebat avem.

Hoc est, hanc potius Cybelae dicare debebant, nempe castratum, cuius castrati etiam essent sacerdotes, quam Gallum: non autem, ut Ornithologus[7] exponit, haec potius, et proprie debebat vocari Gallus.

There are some people translating the Hebrew word barbur as capon: but these people would have confused the capon with the rooster, as also did some others who were not very Latin, as I have remembered at proper time, while however, as Varro testifies, in courtyard gallinaceous genus the capons are called half-males because they are castrated. Hence by Isidore it has been wrongly written that the rooster is so called from castration. For he relies on the sole argument that ancients called the cocks as castrated, or because he misunderstood Martial who elsewhere under the heading Capon says:

The cock, lest he should grow too thin having dried up the lower belly,

gave up his testicles, now he will be for me a Gallus.

That is a castrated, as were the priests of Cybele, called Galli, hence he still once more:

In vain the hen is bending to the sterile husband.

It was worthwhile that this bird would have been of the mother Cybele.

That is, it was better they devoted this bird to Cybele, that is, a castrated, because her priests were castrated too, rather than a rooster: in fact, not as the Ornithologist is relating, that this bird had rather and properly to be called rooster.

Haud me tamen latet, Capum a Petronio Arbitro[8] Poeta antiquissimo Gallum dici, sed cum additione spadonis. Quod modo ad nomenclaturam Graecam attinet, nullam prorsus reperio[9]. Latini Capum dicunt, aut Caponem. Longolius Capum rectius dici asserit: En tibi, inquit in dialogo eius Pamphilus interlocutor, Capones, ut evirati neque vocem edunt, neque Gallinis molesti sunt: ubi mox ipse Longolius: Ego illos non Capones, sed cum Varrone, et Columella[10] libentius Capos vocaverim. Ex recentioribus quidam Capum Gallinaceum dixit: at per pleonasmum. Sat est enim Capum dixisse. Apud T. Vespasianum Strozzam eiusmodi periphrasis de Capo legitur.

Tum Gallinarum pulli, quos villica lapso

Reddidit eunuchos anno, cristasque recidit<.>

Quod vero Albertus Gallinaceum[11] (intelligit autem Capum) veteribus Paponem dici scribit, id somniasse videri potest, quando apud nullum classicum scriptorem tale reperire sit. Italice nominatur Cappon, seu Cappone: Gallice Chappon, Germanice Kappun, Kapaun, Kaphan; Anglice Capon: lingua Abissina Capi dicuntur Aroazes.

I am not unaware however that by the very ancient poet Petronius Arbiter the capon is called rooster, but with the addition of eunuch. As far as Greek nomenclature is concerning, I  find nothing at all. Latins say capus or capo. Gisbert Longolius affirms that it is more correctly said capus. In his dialogue the interlocutor Pamphilus says: Here are the capons, which like the emasculated men neither utter a voice, nor are troublesome to hens; at this point Longolius himself immediately replies: I would not call them capones, but with Varro and Columella. I preferably would call them capos. One of most recent authors said capus gallinaceus: but resorting to a pleonasm. For it would have been enough that he said capus. In Tito Vespasiano Strozzi we can read about the capon such a periphrasis:

Then the chicks of the hens, which the plough-girl

made eunuchs last year, and whose combs she has cut off.

But because Albertus writes that the rooster (he means the capon however) is said papo by ancients, we can realize that he dreamed this up, since such a thing is found in no classical writer. In Italian it is called cappon or cappone: in French chapon, in German Kappun, Kapaun, Kaphan, in English capon, in Abyssinian language the capons are called Aroazes.

GENUS. DIFFERENTIAE.

GENUS - DIFFERENCES

Quot Gallorum genera sunt, totidem etiam Caponum esse possunt. Etenim omnes castrari queunt. Sola etiam castratione Capi a Gallinaceis differunt. Capis tamen iuba est maior, quam Gallis, et caudae pennae longiores. Vox demissior, et rauca. Scaliger[12] testatur, sese Capum habuisse insigni magnitudine, ac propterea certum convivam, qui cum ater fuisset totus, anno quarto factus fuit candidus, quanquam erant alii, quibus nulla pluma nigra fuerat{,}<.> An vero Capis pennarum colores immutari quid peculiare sit, an vero id, quod Scaliger scribit de suo Capo, fortuito evenerit, quod magis credo[13], quispiam dubitare possit.

There can be as many genera of capons as there are of roosters. In fact all of them can be castrated. Moreover capons differ from roosters only for castration. However the capons have their hackle which is larger than in roosters, and tail’s feathers are longer. The voice is lower and hoarse. Giulio Cesare Scaligero states that he had a very large capon, and therefore doomed to turn into a sure table’s companion, which although was totally black, in its fourth year of life became white as snow, as they were the other ones, which didn't have any black feather. Whoever could doubt whether it is a peculiarity of the capons that feathers’ colors can change, or, to say the truth, whether what Scaligero writes about his capon did happen casually, which I am more believing.