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PHYSIOLOGUS
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PHYSIOLOGUS , the See also:title usually given to a collection of some fifty See also:Christian allegories much read in the See also:middle ages, and still existing in several forms and in about a dozen Eastern and Western See also:languages. As nearly all its imagery is taken from the See also:animal See also:world, it is also known as the Bestiary. There can, be hardly a doubt about the See also:time and See also:general circumstances of its origin. Christian teachers, especially those who had a leaning towards Gnostic speculations, took am See also:interest in natural See also:history, partly because of certain passages of Scripture that they wanted to explain, and partly on See also:account of the divine See also:revelation in the See also:book of nature, of which also it was See also:man's sacred See also:duty to take proper See also:advantage. Both See also:line's of study were readily combined by applying to the See also:interpretation of descriptions of natural See also:objects the allegorical method adopted for the interpretation of Biblical texts. Now the See also:early Christian centuries were anything but a See also:period of scientific See also:research. Rhetorical accomplishments were considered to be the' See also:chief See also:object of a liberal See also:education, and to this end every See also:kind of learning was made subservient. Instead of See also:reading See also:Aristotle and other naturalists, See also:people went' for See also:information to See also:commonplace books like those of See also:Aelian, in which scraps of folk-See also:lore, travellers' tales and fragments of misapprehended See also:science were set forth in an elegant See also:style. Theological writers were not in the least prepared to question the See also:worth of the marvellous descriptions of creatures that were current in the See also:schools on the faith of authorities vaguely known as " the history of animals," " the naturalists," and " the naturalist " in the singular number (4vvco)t5yos):1 So they took their notions of See also:strange beasts and other marvels of the visible world on See also:trust and did their best to make them available for religious instruction. In some measure we find this practice adopted by more than one of the Fathers, but it was the Alexandrian school, with its pronounced See also:taste for symbolism, that made the most of it. See also:Clement himself had declared that natural lore, as taught in the course of higher Christian education according to the See also:canon of truth, ought to proceed from " See also:cosmogony " to " the theological See also:idea," 2 and even in the little that is See also:left of the See also:works of See also:Origen we have two instances of the proceeding in question. And yet the fact that these reappear in the Physiologus would not suffice to See also:stamp the See also:work as a See also:series of extracts from Alexandrian writings, as See also:parallels of the same kind can he adduced 1 Origen, Sel. in Jerm xvii. II, ev rf wept ~46v iaTOplp.; Epiphan. ,Adv. haer. i. 3, p. 274 (ed. D. Petay.), 6'n ¢ao v of 4uQaabyoL; Origen, See also:Horn. xvii., in Gen. xliv. 9, "nam physiologus de catulo leonis scribit." 2 Strom., iv. p: 564 (ed. See also:Potter), 7J See also:gas KaTa See also:rap rigs 8.av9etas Kav6va yvworudjs wapa56aews ¢vowAoyia, µaXMv &l Ero,reia, iK rot, wept sov,Noyovtas if prrjra1 X6-you, tm%vSE hvaliaivovaa Ew2 rb Beohoyucbv e15os.from See also:Epiphanius (loc, cit.) and Ephraem Syrtis (Opp. Syr. ii 17, 130). See also:Father Cahier would even trace the book to See also:Tatian, and it is true that that heresiarch mentions a See also:writing of his own upon animals. Still, the context in which the See also:quotation occurs makes it evident that the subject-See also:matter was not the nature of particular See also:species nor the spiritual lessons to be See also:drawn therefrom, but rather the See also:place occupied by animal beings in the See also:system of creation. On the other See also:hand, the See also:opinion of See also:Cardinal Pitra, who referred the Physiologus to the more orthodox though somewhat See also:peculiar teaching of the Alexandrians, is fully See also:borne out by a See also:close examination of the irregularities of See also:doctrine pointed out in the Physiologus by Cahier, all of which are to be met with in Origen. The technical words by which the See also:process of allegorizing is designated in the Physiologus, like ip,unveta, Bewpta, avaycwyi, liXXrryopta, are See also:familiar to the students of Alexandrian exegesis. It has, moreover, been remarked that almost all the animals mentioned were at See also:home in the See also:Egypt of those days, or at least, like the See also:elephant, were to be seen there occasionally, whereas the structure of the See also:hedgehog, for instance, is explained by a reference to the See also:sea-See also:porcupine, better known to See also:fish-buyers on the Mediterranean. The fables of the See also:phoenix and of the conduct of the See also:wild See also:ass and the See also:ape at the time of the See also:equinox owe their origin to astronomical symbols belonging to the See also:Nile See also:country.3 In both chapters an See also:Egyptian See also:month is named, and elsewhere the See also:antelope bears its Coptic name of " antholops."
That the substance of the Physiologus was borrowed from commentaries on Scripture4 is confirmed by many of the sections opening with a See also:text, followed up by some such See also:formula as " but the Physiologus says." When zoological records failed, Egypto-Hellenic ingenuity was never at a loss for a fanciful invention distilled from the text itself, but which to succeeding copyists appeared as See also:part of the teaching of the See also:original Physiologus. As a typical instance we may take the See also:chapter on the See also:ant-See also:lion—not the See also:insect, but an imaginary creature suggested by See also:Job. iv. r1. The exceptional See also:Hebrew for a lion (layish) appeared to the See also:Septuagint translators to See also:call for a See also:special rendering, and as there was said to exist on the Arabian See also:coast a, lion-like animal called myrmex " (see See also:Strabo xvi. 774', Aelian, N.A., vii. 47) they ventured to give the See also:compound noun " myrmekoleon." After so many years the commentators had lost the See also: Ambrosii nomine signatus, apocryphus," and See also:evidence has even been offered that a similar See also:sentence was pronounced a See also:century before. Still, in spite of such See also:measures, the Physiologus, like the Church History of See also:Eusebius or the Pastor of See also:Hermes, continued to be read with general interest, and even See also:Gregory the See also:Great did not disdain to allude to it on occasion. Yet the See also:Oriental versions, which had certainly nothing to do with the Church of See also:Rome, show that there was no systematic revision made according to the See also:catholic a Cp. Leemans on Horapollo i. 16, 34. Including the Apocrypha. See the Icelandic account of the elephant, also a decidedly Alexandrian fragment upon the 1zhpyos, founded upon 4 See also:Mace. i. 3, which has got into the scholia upon the Odyssey xviii. 2 (ii. 533, ed. See also:Dindorf, See also:Oxford, 1855). See also:standard of doctrine. The book remained essentially the same, albeit great liberties were taken with its details and outward See also:form. There must have been many imperfect copies in circulation, from which people transcribed such sections as they found or See also:chose, and afterwards completed their MS. as occasion served. Some even rearranged the contents according to the See also:alphabet or to zoological See also:affinity. So little was the collection considered as a See also:literary work with a definite text that every one assumed a right to abridge or enlarge, to insert ideas of his own, or fresh scriptural quotations; nor were the See also:scribes and translators by any means scrupulous about the names of natural objects, and even the passages from See also:Holy See also:Writ. Physiologus had been abandoned by scholars, and left to take its See also:chance among the tales and traditions of the uneducated See also:mass. Nevertheless, or rather for this very See also:reason, its symbols found their way into the rising literature of the vulgar See also:tongues, and helped to quicken the See also:fancy of the artists employed upon church buildings and See also:furniture. The history of the Physiologus has become entwined from the beginning with that of the commentaries on the account of creation in See also:Genesis. The See also:principal See also:production of this kind in our See also:possession is the Hexaemeron of See also:Basil, which contains several passages very like those of the Physiologus. For instance, in the seventh See also:homily the See also:fable of the nuptials of the See also:viper and the conger-See also:eel, known already to Aelian and See also:Oppian, and proceeding from a curious misreading of Aristotle (Hist. An. v. 4, 540 b, Bekk.), serves to point more than one moral. Notwithstanding the difference in See also:theology, passages of this kind could not but be welcome to the admirers of the Alexandrian allegories. In fact a medley from both Basil and the Physiologus exists under the title of the Hexaemeron of See also:Eustathius; some copies of the first See also:bear as a title Ilepi ¢uoioXo'yias, and in a See also:Milan MS. the " morals " of the Physiologus are ascribed to Basil. The See also:Leyden See also:Syriac is supplemented with literal extracts from the latter, and the whole is presented as his work. Other copies give the names of Gregory Theologus, Epiphanius, See also:Chrysostom and Isidore. As far as can be judged, the emblems of the original Physiologus were the following: (1) the lion (footprints rubbed out with tail; sleeps with eyes open; cubs receive See also:life only three days after See also:birth by their father's breath); (2) the See also:sun-See also:lizard (restores See also:French Sensuyl le besiiaire d'amours. The See also:prose Physiologus was its sight b looking at the sun); ( the charadrius (Dent', xiv. I done into Old High See also:German before 1000, and afterwards into See also:rhyme by g 3) ( in the same See also:idiom; since Von der See also:Hagen (1824) its various forms have found careful editors among the leading Germanists. The Icelandic, in a See also:Copenhagen MS. of the 13th century, was printed by See also:Professor Th. See also:Mobius in his Analecta norroena (end ed., 1877) ; at the same time he gave it in German in Dr Hommel's Aethiopic publication. Some Anglo-Saxon metrical fragments are to be found in Grein's Bibliothek, vol. i. The Provencal (c. 125o), published in Bartsch's Chrestomathie provencale, omits the "morals,' but is remarkable for its peculiarities of form. Before this there had been See also:translations into French dialects, as by Philippe,de Thaun (1121), by See also:Guillaume, " clerc de Normandie," also, about the same period, by See also:Pierre, a clergyman of See also:Picardy. All the Old-French materials have not yet been thoroughly examined, and it is far from improbable that some versions of the book either remain to be detected or are now lost past recovery. A full account of the history of the Physiologus should also embrace the subjects taken from it in the productions of Christian See also:art, the parodies suggested by the original work, e.g. the Bestiaire d'amour by See also:Richard de Fournival, and finally. the traces left by it upon the encyclopaedical and literary work of the later middle ages. Nearly all the information now obtainable is to be found in the following works and such as are there quoted: S. Epiphanius ad physiologum, ed. See also:Ponce de See also:Leon (with woodcuts) (Rome, 1587); another edition, with See also:copper-plates (See also:Antwerp, 1588) ; S. Eustathii in hexahemeron commentarius, ed. See also:Leo Allatius (See also:Lyons, 1629; cf. H. See also:van Herwerden, Exercitt. Critt., pp. 180-182, See also:Hague, 1862) ; Physio- logus syrus, ed. O. G. Tychsen (See also:Rostock, 1795) ; Classici auctores,
ed. See also:Mai, vii. 585–596 (Rome, 1835); G. Heider, in Archiv
See also:fur Kunde osterreich. Geschichtsguellen ii. 545 seq. (See also:Vienna, 1850);
Cahier and See also: 55 seq. (1856) ; Cahier, Nouveaux to kill it); (26) the See also:ichneumon (covers itself with mud to kill melanges (1874), p. 1o6 seq.; J. B. Pitra, Spicilegium solesmense 0.1. the See also:dragon; another version of No. 25); (27) the See also:crow (takes but I xlvii. seq., 338 seq., 416, 535 (Paris, 1855); Maetzner, Altengl. Sprach- proben (See also:Berlin, 1867), vol. i. pt. I. p. 55 seq.; J. See also:Victor See also:Carus, Gesch. der Zoologie (See also:Munich, 1872), p. I09 seq.; J. P. N. See also:Land, Anecdota
syriaca (See also:Leiden, 1874), iv. 31 seq., 115 seq., and in Verslagen
en Mededeelingen der kon. Akad. van Wetenschappen, 2nd series,
vol. iv. (See also:Amsterdam, 1874) ; Mobius and Hommel in their
(32) the See also:diamond (powerful against all danger); (33) the See also:swallow (brings forth but once; misreading of Aristotle, His'. An. v. 13); (34) the See also:tree called peridexion (protects pigeons from the See also:serpent by its See also:shadow); (35) the pigeons (of several See also:colours; led by one of them, which is of apurple or See also:golden See also:colour); (36) theantelope (or hydrippus; caught by its horns in the thicket); (37) the See also:fire-flints (of two sexes; combine to produce fire); (38) the magnet (adheres to See also:iron); (39) the saw-fish (sails in See also:company with See also:ships) ; (40) the See also:ibis (fishes only along the See also:shore); (41) the See also:ibex (descries a See also:hunter from afar) ; (42) the diamond again (read " See also:carbuncle "t, found only by See also:night) ; (43) the elephant (conceives after partaking of See also:mandrake; brings forth in the See also:water; the See also:young protected from the serpent by the father; when fallen is lifted up only by a certain small individual of its own kind); (44) the See also:agate (employed in See also:pearl-fishing); (45) the wild ass and ape (See also:mark the equinox) ; (46) the See also:Indian See also: P. N. Land's Anecdota syriaca; See also:thirty-two chapters with the " morals " left out in a very late Vatican copy, published by Tychsen; and about the same number in a late MS. of the See also:British Museum (Add. 25878). In ArmenianPitra gave some thirty-two chapters from a Paris MS. (13th century). The Aethiopic exists both in See also:London and Paris, and was printed at See also:Leipzig by Dr Hommel in 1877. In Arabic we have fragments at Paris, of which See also:Renan translated a specimen for the Spicilegium solesmense, and another version of thirty-seven chapters at Leiden, probably the work of a See also: 1022-1035). From this was imitated the Old-See also:English fragment printed by Th. See also:Wright, and afterwards by Maetzner; also the Old- 16; presages recovery or See also:death of patients); (4) the See also:pelican (recalls its young to life by its own See also:blood); (5) the See also:owl (or nyktikorax; loves darkness and solitude) ; (6) the See also:eagle (renews its youth by sunlight and bathing in a See also:fountain); (7) the phoenix (revives from fire); (8) the See also:hoopoe (redeems its parents from the ills of old See also:age); (9) the wild ass (suffers no male besides itselfl; (1o) the viper (See also:born at the cost of both its parents' death); (II) the serpent (sheds its skin; puts aside its venom before drinking; is afraid of man in a See also:state of nudity; hides its See also:head and abandons the See also:rest of its body); (12) the ant (orderly and laborious; prevents stored See also:grain from germinating; distinguishes See also:wheat from See also:barley on the stalk); (13) the See also:sirens and onocentaurs (Isa. xiii. 21, 22; compound creatures); (14) the hedgehog (pricks grapes upon its quills) ; (15) the See also:fox (catches birds by simulating death) ; (16) the See also:panther (spotted skin; enmity to the dragon; sleeps for three days after meals; allures its See also:prey by sweet odour); (17) the sea-See also:tortoise (or aspidochelone; mistaken by sailors for an See also:island); (18) the See also:partridge (hatches eggs of other birds); (19) the See also:vulture (assisted in birth by a stone with loose See also:kernel); (20) the ant-lion (able neither to take the one See also:food nor to See also:digest the other); (21) the See also:weasel (conceives by the mouth and brings forth by the See also:ear); (22) the See also:unicorn (caught only by a virgin); (23) the See also:beaver (gives up its testes when pursued); (24) the hyaena (a hermaphrodite) ; (25) the See also:otter (enhydris; enters the See also:crocodile's mouth one See also:consort in its life); (28) the turtle-See also:dove( same nature as No. 27); (29) the See also:frog (either living on land and killed by See also:rain, or in the water without ever seeing the sun); (3o) the See also:stag (destroys its enemy the serpent); (31) the See also:salamander (quenches fire); publications quoted above. See also Lauchert, Geschichte See also:des Physiologus (See also:Strassburg, 1889) and E. - See also:Peters, Der griechische Physiologus and See also:seine orientalischen Ubersetzungen (Berlin, 1898). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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