Sed et ipsum coelum a veteribus ovum dici solitum, et hominem  quoque ceu quandam coeli parvam imaginem comperias, Hermolaus[1]. Democritus et Pythagoras primi videntur ovi nomine coelum appellasse. Sed et Plato ex Ciceronis[2] interpretamento: Deus (inquit) coelum ita tornavit, ut vel nihil, vel parum asperitatis haberet, nihil offensionis, ut in volucrum cernimus ovis. Quin hominem quoque coelum esse dictum comperimus: quia sit coeli simulacrum quoddam, etsi parvum, Caelius. Mirum est in re tam parva, mundi permixtionem intelligi quandam. Ovum quippe elementis consurgere ac compingi quatuor, veterum medicorum assertione traditum scimus. Nam crustae modo {circuniectum} <circumiectum> obductumque putamen, terrae imagine quadam, arescentis in frigore vim naturae praefert. Humor autem frigens humectusque, aquam exhibet plane. Sicuti aerem quod inest spiritosum, calens humensque. At in meditullio luteum fixum, mediocritatem caloris obtinens, et aridioris naturae, igni compar facile colligitur. cui calculum adiecerit et color: si quid tamen eiusmodi adesse igni creditur. An non et globata suffragatur figura? Quid, quod inest ovo vitalis vis, veluti et mundo? Idem ex libro secundo problematum Aphrodisiensis. Sed hic paulo aliter quaedam: Vitellus (inquit) ignem repraesentat. plus enim calidus, minus siccus, quasi vitellus etiam, (non calidissimus quidem ut ignis: sed calidior quam siccior sit.) Denique orbis universi, quem mundum vocamus, speciem in ovo dixeris demonstrari. nam ex quatuor constat elementis. et in sphaerae faciem conglobatur, et vitalem potentiam obtinet, Haec illi.

But the sky itself by ancients was usually called egg, as also man, as if you discover in it a small image of the sky, Ermolao Barbaro. Democritus and Pythagora seem to be the first ones to have called the sky with the name of egg. But also Plato, according to the translation of Cicero, said: God shaped the sky in so round way so that it didn't show few or anything irregular, nothing against which to bang, as we clearly see in the eggs of the birds. In truth we discover that also the man has been called sky: since it would be, so to speak, a portrait of the sky, even if small, Lodovico Ricchieri. It is marvellous that in such a small thing is realized, so to say, a mixture of the world. In effects we know the fact that, as affirmation of ancient physicians, it has been handed down that the egg bases and founds itself on four elements. In fact the shell is placed around and it encircles as being a crust, with the aspect almost of the earth which desiccates when it is cold and overcomes the strength of nature. For the damp, which is cold and humid, clearly produces water. As does the air with what there is inside of volatile, warm and humid. But in the central part easily is gathering some yellow which doesn't move, endowed with moderate heat, and rather dry type, comparable to a fire. To which also the color will have added a little stone: even if nevertheless something of this kind is believed to be close to the fire. Do it is not perhaps reasserted also a spherical image? Why, what is inside the egg is a vital strength, as it also happens for the world? Still Lodovico Ricchieri from the second book of the Problems of Alexander of Afrodisia. But the latter in this passage soon after adds some things and says: The yolk represents the fire. In fact it is more warm, less dry, almost as also the yolk is (nevertheless not warmest as the fire, but it is more warm than dry). Finally you could say that in the egg the aspect of the whole terrestrial globe reveals itself, that we call world. In fact it turns out to be constituted by four elements and is gathered in a spherical aspect, and it possesses a vital strength, these things say Alexander of Afrodisia and Lodovico Ricchieri.

Nec importune elementis de quibus sunt omnia, ovum comparaverim. <In> omni enim genere animantium, quae ex coitione nascuntur, invenies ovum aliquorum esse principium instar elementi. In gradientibus enim, lacertae et similia ex ovo creantur. Quae serpunt, ovi nascuntur exordio. Volantia universa de ovis prodeunt, excepto uno quod incertae naturae est, (vespertilione.). Natantia pene omnia de ovis oriuntur generis sui, crocodilus vero etiam de testeis qualia sunt volantium. Et ne videar plus nimio extulisse ovum elementi vocabulo, consule initiatos sacris Liberi patris: in quibus hac veneratione ovum colitur, ut ex forma tereti ac pene sphaerali, atque undique versum clausa, et includente intra se vitam, mundi simulacrum vocetur, Disarius apud Macrobium Saturn. 7. 16.[3]

And in a quite suitable way I would like to compare the egg to the elements by which all the things are constituted. In fact in whatever type of living beings that are born from a mating you will find that the egg of some of them is equivalent to the principle of the element constituting it. In fact in those are walking, the lizards and similar animals are created starting from an egg. Those are crawl, are born having an egg as starting point. All those are flying come out from an egg, except one who is of uncertain nature (the bat). Almost all those are swimming originate from eggs of their belonging species, and in truth also the crocodile originates from eggs endowed with shell as those of the birds. And so that I don't seem to have exalted the egg more than it is due with the word of the element constituting it, consult the initiates to the sacred things of Liber father: in which the egg is revered with so much veneration as to be called image of the world according to the rounded and almost spherical shape, and closed however you turn it, and since it contains in itself the life, Disarius in Saturnalia of Macrobius VII,16.

¶ Στόλος ὀμφαλώδης dicitur, id est umbilicaris appendicula, in ovis imperfectis adhuc, in parte acuta: quae ovo amplius increscente, obtenditur latius atque minuitur, perfectoque, mucro exitum complet, Caelius.

¶ They say stólos omphalødës, that is small umbilical appendix, in case of still unfinished eggs at the acute side:  this appendix, as soon as the egg becomes bigger, is spreading in width and decreases, and once is completed the point fills the opening, Lodovico Ricchieri.

¶ Ovi album nominatur a Celso[4], ovi candidum et albumen (ut quidam citant, ego plerumque semper ovi candidum ab eo nominari invenio) a Plinio[5], albus liquor Columellae[6], albor ovi Palladio[7]. Apicius[8] albamenta ovorum dixit. Candida si croceos circumfluit unda vitellos, Martialis[9]. Recentiores quidam e Graecis transferentes ovi aquatum, et tenuem ovi liquorem nominarunt. Indoctiores albuginem, cum albugo proprie sit in oculo macula sive cicatrix altiuscula, sicut utique in summo nubecula, ut probi authores docent. Legimus et ovi albi (lego album) succum apud Plinium[10] in ramicosi infantis remedio: ut apud Serenum[11] quoque candidum ovi succum. Germani vocant das klar oder wyß imm ey, Galli de blanc d’ung oeuf, aubun d’oeuf. Itali volume de lovo. Aristoteli dicitur τὸ λευκόν τοῦ ὠοῦ. Sunt qui hunc liquorem lac gallinae appellarint.

¶ By Cornelius Celsus is said ovi album - the egg white, by Pliny egg white and albumen (as some people are quoting, most often I find that by him it is always called egg white), white liquid in Columella, whiteness of the egg in Palladius. Apicius said albamenta ovorum - egg whites. If a snow-white wave flows around the saffron yolks, Martial. Some more recent authors, while translating from Greeks, called it egg’s watery solution and egg’s thin fluid. Those less skilful albugo - leucoma, but whereas in fact the albugo is a patch present in the eye, either a rather raised scar, anyway at the most like a little cloud, as trustworthy authors point out. In Pliny, in a remedy for an infant suffering from hernia, we read also white juice of the egg (I read the white): as also in Serenus Sammonicus snow-white egg’s juice. The Germans call it das klar oder wyß imm ey, the French de blanc d’ung oeuf, aubun d’oeuf. The Italians volume de lovo. In Aristotle is said tò leukón toû øoû - the egg white. There are some people who would have called hen's milk this liquid.

¶ Vitellus et luteum ovi (ut Plinius[12] vocat) interior eius lutei coloris liquor est. Recentiores quidam vitellum etiam genere neutro efferunt, ut et Gaza quandoque, contra veterum authoritatem. Vitellus a vita dictus est, pars ovi rubra, quod ex ea vivat pullus. Nihil ne, inquit, de vitello? Id enim <ei> ex ovo videbatur aurum declarasse, reliquum argentum, Cicero 2. de Divinat.[13] Hinc vitellinus. integram famem ad ovum affero. itaque usque ad assum vitellinum opera perducitur, Cicero[14]. quidam deductum hoc adiectivum esse volunt a vitulo, ut sit genus edulii. quo veteres mensas claudebant, nam ab ovis eas incipere certum est. Vetus exemplar habet vitulinum, quod placet. Candida si croceos circumfluit unda vitellos, Martialis. Itali vitellum appellant tu<o>rlo de l’ovo: Galli le moyen d’un oeuf, le iaulne: Germani todter vel tutter: forte quia mamillam tutten appellant. alitur autem pullus vitello intra ovum, succo eius attracto, ut infans in lucem editus lacte mamillae. Ozonab, id est vitellus ovi, Sylvaticus.

¶ The vitellus - the yolk - and the yellow of the egg (as Pliny calls it) is its more inner fluid of yellow color. Some more recent writers report also vitellum in the neuter, as sometimes Gaza does against the model of the ancients. The vitellus has taken the name from the life, the red part of the egg, since from it the chick takes life. Cicero in the II book of De divinatione writes: He says: "Really nothing regarding the yolk? " In fact it seemed that this had pointed out the gold from the egg, the remainder is silver. From this phrase comes vitellinus: I bring the hunger intact up to the egg: and therefore this activity lasts until the roast veal, Cicero. Some are of the opinion that this adjective has been deduced from vitulus - the calf, being a type of food with which they closed the courses, since it is ascertained that they started from the eggs. The ancient edition reports vitulinum, which pleases me. If a candid wave flows around the saffron colored yolks, Martial. Italians call the yolk tuorlo de l'ovo, French le moyen d’un oeuf, le iaulne, the Germans todter or tutter, perhaps because they call tutten the breast. In fact the chick when is inside the egg is fed by the yolk after having attracted to itself its juice, as does a newborn with the milk of the breast. Ozonab, that is the yolk of the egg, Matteo Silvatico.

¶ Est etiam vitellus a vitulo diminutivum, unde et assum vitellinum forte apud Ciceronem. C. Valerio, M. Herennio coss. maris vituli quum exta demerentur, gemini vitelli in alvo eius inventi, Iul. Obsequens[15].

¶ The term vitellus is also a diminutive derived from vitulus - calf, then perhaps in Cicero we find roasted vitellinus. When they were consuls C. Valerius and M. Herennius - 93 BC - while the entrails of a sea calf were removed - of a seal, in its abdomen two twins of seal have been found, Julius Obsequens.

¶ Vitellum ovi Graeci modo lecython, modo chrysòn vocant, Hippocrates etiam chloròn, (τὸ χλωρόν τοῦ ὠοῦ, in libro de natura pueri,) Hermolaus. Aristoteles ὠχρόν vocat[16]: et alibi[17] λέκυθον foeminino genere ut et Dioscorides[18]. Τῶν ὠῶν τὰ χρυσᾶ, apud Athenaeum invenio[19]. Et ὠοῦ τὸ πυῤῥόν apud Suidam in Νεοττόν. Veteres ovi luteum etiam νεοττόν vocabant, id est pullum: nimirum quod pullum ex illo nasci formarique existimarent. καὶ τεττάρων ὠῶν μετὰ τοῦτο φιλτάτη τὸν νεοττόν, Menander[20]. Clearchus[21] pulli genituram esse scribit ἐν τῷ λευκῷ, καὶ οὐκ ἐν τῷ καλουμένῳ νεοττῷ. διεψεύσθησαν γὰρ οἱ πρῶτοι τοῦτο φήσαντες, καὶ ἔστι τὸ ὠχρόν περίττωμα τοῦ σπέρματος. Chrysippus in libro de oraculis scribit, quendam somnium suum, quo ova a lecto suo pendentia viderat, ad divinatorem retulisse: audiisseque ex illo, inventurum se ubi foderet thesaurum. Et cum vase in quo aurum argentumque erat invento, ad vatem argenti nonnihil attulisset: dixisse illum, Τοῦ δὲ νεοττοῦ οὐδὲν μοι δίδως; hoc est, De vitello vero nihil ne mihi dabis? Suidas in Νεοττόν. Lusit autem is pulchre circa somnium ovorum, in quibus candidum et luteum continetur, illud ad argentum, hoc ad aurum referens, [453] cum in somnii interpretatione, tum magis argenti tantum parte muneri oblata.

¶  The Greeks call the vitellus of the egg now lécython now chrysòn, Hippocrates also calls it chloròn (tò chlørón toû øoû - the yellowish, the blond of the egg, in De natura pueri xxx), Ermolao Barbaro. Aristotle calls it øchrón - the yellow, and elsewhere lékython - yolk - in the feminine gender, as also Dioscorides. In Athenaeus I find tøn øøn tà chrysâ. And in the lexicon Suidas øoû tò pyrrhón - the burning red of the egg - at the voice Neottón - birdie, yolk. The ancient people also called neottón the yellow of the egg, that is chick: without doubt since believing that from it the chick was born and took shape. Kaì tettárøn øøn metà toûto philtátë tòn neottón - and my dearest after this the yolk / the chick of four eggs, Menander. Clearchus writes that the seed of the chick is located in the egg white, and not in what they call neottón - yolk. In fact those people who first said this were wrong, and the yellow is a residue of the seed - en tøi leukøi, kaì ouk en tøi kalouménøi neottøi. diepseústhësan gàr hoi prøtoi toûto phësantes, kaì ésti tò øchrón períttøma toû spérmatos. Chrysippus in the book about oracles writes to have reported to a diviner a dream of himself in which he had seen some eggs hanging from his bed: and that he had heard from the former that where he had started to dig he would have found a treasure. And since after having found a vase, in which there was gold and silver, he brought a little bit of silver to the prophet, the latter said toû dè neottoû oudèn moi dídøs? that is, but won't you give me nothing of the yolk? The lexicon Suidas reports this at the voice Neottón. In effects he joked in an appropriate way on the dream of the eggs, in which the white and the yellow are contained, referring the first one to the silver, the second to the gold, since in the interpretation of a dream in those times to the diviners was given as gift only a piece of silver.