59. If that which it has
pleased us to know is within reach, and if such knowledge is open to
all, declare to us,3811
| 3811
So the ms.; but all edd. except Hild. and
Oehler omit nobis. |
and say how and by what means showers
of rain are produced, so that
water is held suspended in the
regions
above and in mid-
air, although by
nature it is apt to glide away, and
so ready to flow and
run downwards. Explain, I say, and tell what
it is which sends the hail whirling
through the air, which makes
the rain fall drop by drop, which has spread out rain and feathery
flakes of
snow and sheets of
lightning;
3812
| 3812
So the ms., reading folgora
dilatarit, followed by LB. |
whence the
wind rises, and what it is;
why the changes of the
seasons were established, when it might have
been
ordained that there should be only one, and one
kind of climate,
so that there should be nothing wanting to the
world’s
completeness. What is the cause, what the reason, that the waters
of the
sea are
salt;
3813
| 3813
Salsa, corrected from the ms. sola. |
or that, of those on
land, some are
sweet, others
bitter or cold? From what
kind of material have the
inner parts of men’s bodies been formed and built up into
firmness? From what have their
bones been made solid? what made
the intestines and veins shaped like
pipes, and easily passed
through? Why, when it would be better to give us
light by several
eyes,
to guard against the risk of
blindness, are we restricted
to two? For what purpose have so infinite and
innumerable kinds
of monsters and
serpents been either formed or brought forth? what
purpose do owls serve in the
world,—falcons, hawks? what other
birds3814
| 3814
Alites et volucres; i.e., according to Orelli, the birds from
whose flight auguries were drawn, as opposed to the others. |
and winged
creatures? what the
different kinds of ants and
worms springing
up to be a bane and pest in various ways? what fleas, obtrusive
flies,
spiders, shrew, and other mice, leeches,
water-spinners? what
thorns,
briers,
wild-oats, tares? what the
seeds of
herbs or shrubs, either
sweet to the nostrils, or disagreeable in smell? Nay more, if you
think that anything can be known or comprehended, say what
wheat
is,—spelt,
barley, millet, the chick-pea, bean, lentil, melon,
cumin, scallion, leek, onion? For
even if they are useful
to you, and are ranked among the different kinds of
food, it is not a
light or easy thing to know what each is,—why they have been
formed with such shapes;
whether there was any necessity that
they should not have had other
tastes, smells, and colours than those
which each has, or whether they could have taken others also; further,
what these very things are,—
taste, I mean,
3815
| 3815 So
Heraldus, whose punctuation also is here followed, omitting id est
sapor—“that is, taste,” which Meursius and LB.,
followed by Orelli, amend, ut est—“as taste
is” in each thing. |
and the
rest;
and from what
relations they derive their differences of quality. From the
elements, you say, and from the first beginnings of things. Are
the elements, then, bitter or sweet? have they any odour
or
3816
| 3816
Vel is here inserted in all edd., most of which read, as above,
oloris, which is found in the ms.,
in later writing, for the original,
coloris—“colour,” retained by Ursinus, LB.,
and Oehler. |
stench, that
we should believe that, from their uniting, qualities were implanted in
their products by which sweetness is produced, or something prepared
offensive to the senses?
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
