Chap. VII.—Of All the Parts of the Body.

God therefore connected and bound together the parts which strengthen42    Solidamenta corporis.   the body, which we call bones, being knotted and joined to one another by sinews, which the mind might make use of, as bands,43    Retinaculis.   if it should wish to hasten forward or to lag behind; and, indeed, without any labour or effort, but with a very slight inclination, it might moderate and guide the mass of the whole body. But He covered these with the inward organs,44    Visceribus.   as was befitting to each place, that the parts which were solid might be enclosed and concealed. Also He mixed with the inward organs, veins as streams divided through the whole body, through which the moisture and the blood, running in different directions, might bedew all the limbs with the vital juices; and He fashioned these inward organs after that manner which was befitting to each kind and situation, and covered them with skin drawn over them, which He either adorned with beauty only, or covered with thick hair, or fenced with scales, or adorned with brilliant feathers. But that is a wonderful contrivance of God, that one arrangement and one state exhibits innumerable varieties of animals. For in almost all things which breathe there is the same connection and arrangement of the limbs. For first of all is the head, and annexed to this the neck; also the breast adjoined to the neck, and the shoulders projecting from it, the belly adhering to the breast; also the organs of generation subjoined to the belly; in the last place, the thighs and feet. Nor do the limbs only keep their own course and position in all, but also the parts of the limbs. For in the head itself alone the ears occupy a fixed position, the eyes a fixed position, likewise the nostrils, the mouth also, and in the teeth and tongue. And though all these things are the same in all animals, yet there is an infinite and manifold diversity of the things formed; because those things of which I have spoken, being either more drawn out or more contracted, are comprehended by lineaments differing in various ways. What! is not that divine, that in so great a multitude of living creatures each animal is most excellent in its own class and species?—so that if any part should be taken from one to another, the necessary result would be, that nothing would be more embarrassed for use, nothing more unshapely to look upon; as if you should give a prolonged neck to an elephant, or a short neck to a camel; or if you should attach feet or hair to serpents, in which the length of the body equally stretched out required nothing else, except that being marked as to their backs with spots, and supporting themselves by their smooth scales, with winding courses they should glide into slippery tracts. But in quadrupeds the same designer lengthened out the arrangement of the spine, which is drawn out from the top of the head to a greater length on the outside of the body, and pointed it into a tail, that the parts of the body which are offensive might either be covered on account of their unsightliness, or be protected on account of their tenderness, so that by its motion certain minute and injurious animals might be driven away from the body; and if you should take away this member, the animal would be imperfect and weak. But where there is reason and the hand, that is not so necessary as a covering of hair. To such an extent are all things most befittingly arranged, each in its own class, that nothing can be conceived more unbecoming than a quadruped which is naked, or a man that is covered.  

But, however, though nakedness itself on the part of man tends in a wonderful manner to beauty, yet it was not adapted to his head; for what great deformity there would be in this, is evident from baldness. Therefore He clothed the head with hair; and because it was about to be on the top, He added it as an ornament, as it were, to the highest summit of the building. And this ornament is not collected into a circle, or rounded into the figure of a cap, lest it should be unsightly by leaving some parts bare; but it is freely poured forth in some places, and withdrawn in others, according to the comeliness of each place. Therefore, the forehead entrenched by a circumference, and the hair put forth from the temples before the ears, and the uppermost parts of these being surrounded after the manner of a crown, and all the back part of the head covered, display an appearance of wonderful comeliness. Then the nature of the beard contributes in an incredible degree to distinguish the maturity of bodies, or to the distinction of sex, or to the beauty of manliness and strength; so that it appears that the system of the whole work would not have been in agreement, if anything had been made otherwise than it is.  

CAPUT VII. De omnibus corporis partibus.

0030B Deus igitur solidamenta corporis, quae ossa dicuntur, nodata et adjuncta invicem nervis alligavit atque constrinxit, quibus mens, si excurrere, aut resistere velit, tanquam retinaculis uteretur; et quidem nullo labore, nulloque conatu: sed vel minimo nutu totius corporis molem temperaret ac flecteret. Haec autem visceribus operuit, ut quemque locum decebat, ut quae solida essent, conclusa tegerentur. Item visceribus ipsis venas admiscuit, quasi rivos 0031A per corpus omne divisos, per quas discurrens humor, et sanguis, universa membra succis vitalibus irrigaret; et ea viscera, formata in eum modum, qui unicuique generi ac loco aptus fuit, superjecta pelle contexit, quam vel sola pulchritudine decoravit, vel setis adoperuit, vel squamis munivit, vel plumis insignibus adornavit. Illud vero commentum Dei mirabile, quod una dispositio, et unus habitus, innumerabiles imaginis praeferat varietates. Nam in omnibus fere, quae spirant, eadem series et ordo membrorum est. Primum enim caput, et huic annexa cervix. Item collo pectus adjunctum, et ex eo prominentes armi, adhaerens pectori venter. Item ventri subnexa genitalia. Ultimo loco femina pedesque.

0031B Nec solum membra suum tenorem ac situm in omnibus servant, sed etiam partes membrorum. Nam in uno capite ipso certam sedem possident aures, certam oculi, nares item, os quoque, et in eo dentes, et lingua. Quae omnia cum sint eadem in omnibus animantibus, tamen infinita et multiplex diversitas figuratorum est; quod ea quae dixi, aut productiora, aut contractiora lineamentis varie differentibus comprehensa sunt. Quid, illud nonne divinum, quod in tanta 0032A viventium multitudine, unumquodque animal in sui genere et specie pulcherrimum est? ut si quid vicissim de altero in alterum transferatur, nihil impeditius ad utilitatem, nihil deformius ad aspectum videri necesse sit: ut si elephanto cervicem prolixam tribuas, aut camelo brevem; vel si serpentibus pedes, aut pilos addas, in quibus porrecti aequaliter corporis longitudo nihil aliud exhibeat, nisi ut maculis terga distincti, et squammarum laevitate suffulti, in lubricos tractus sinuosis flexibus laberentur. In quadrupedibus autem, idem opifex contextum spinae a summo capite deductum longius extra corpus eduxit, et acuminavit in caudam, ut obscoenae corporis partes, vel propter foeditatem tegerentur, vel propter teneritudinem munirentur, ut animalia quaedam minuta et nocentia motu 0032B ejus arcerentur a corpore: quod membrum si detrahas, imperfectum fit animal, ac debile. Ubi autem ratio, et manus est, tam non est id necessarium, quam indumentum pilorum: adeo in suo quaeque genere aptissime congruunt, ut neque nudo quadrupede, neque homine tecto excogitari quidquam turpius possit.

Sed tamen cum ipsa nuditas hominis mire ad pulchritudinem valeat, non tamen etiam capiti congruebat; 0033A quanta enim in eo futura deformitas esset, ex calvitio apparet. Texit ergo illud pilo; et quia in summo futurum erat; quasi summum aedificii culmen ornavit: qui ornatus non est in orbem coactus, aut in figuram pilei teres factus, ne quibusdam partibus nudis esset informis, sed alicubi effusus, alicubi retractus pro cujuslibet loci decentia. Frons ergo vallata per circuitum, et a temporibus effusi ante aures capilli, et earum summae partes in coronae modum cinctae, et occipitium omne contectum, speciem miri decoris ostentant. Jam barbae ratio incredibile est quantum conferat, vel ad dignoscendam corporum maturitatem, vel ad differentiam sexus, vel ad decorem virilitatis ac roboris; ut videatur omnino non constatura fuisse totius operis ratio, si quidquam aliter esset effectum.