lest it produce apoplexy, nature has cut the skull into various sutures; but it also divided the entire bone of the suture with certain small holes, through which the vapor, as if being strained and flowing through and remaining in the membrane around the skull, wondrously generates the louse. It is generated thus, but it is brought to birth by the countless hairs on the head; for these hold for it the role both of midwives and of bodyguards, at once joining things together and warding off external harm. And man, the most beautiful of creatures on earth, has his origin from seeds, which indeed at first decay and are transformed and are distributed into channels and confluences and has a manifold beginning of its generation. But for the louse, not the decay of seed lays the foundation for its generation, but the finest and purest part of its nourishment; for what is by nature more unsubstantial or lighter than vapor? So then, the exhalations of the earth generate shooting stars and comets, but those of our stomach, the louse. Therefore just as the vapor in us has some relation to that of the earth, so indeed also the louse to the light of comets; so in the upper sphere wonderful phenomena are born, but in the circle of our head nothing other than this creature. And, at which one paying attention might be more astonished, while there are many and various parts of the body—indeed one cannot say how great and how many—the creature as it were disdains the others, and makes the head alone the instrument of its generation. For from there it also approaches the other parts and again returns, like one running from east to west and coming back to its own place. But as I heard from a certain man who had philosophized very well, not in vain was the roundness of the head so fashioned by nature, but for the sake of the indwelling of the mind, which indeed, loving the spherical shape of the circularly moving body, runs to this also as to its own, and for these reasons is established therein. Therefore both of these desire the head, the mind breathed in from above and the louse generated from below; but the one is both from within and has rule over the creature as if from an acropolis, while the other grows around it from without. Do you wish then that I declare to you another, somewhat more secret doctrine about the louse? But do not suppose me to be superfluous and unmethodical because I have chosen to be serious about unserious things and have been eager to join the incomparable. But, to that which the motion of my soul has led me, I hear from the philosophers that the mind is twofold: the one within the sphere, where indeed Plato also placed the Ideas, the other beyond all body. I shall not dare to say anything more, lest someone indict me on a charge of bad taste, except so far as the creature outside the head is concluded to be superior to the mind within. But this creature has not put forth one form, but one is precisely white and gleams in color, while the other is dark-gleaming and like the black sea. For whatever of its kind inhabits the temples and whatever is naturally hairless is somewhat foamy in appearance and is similar to a silvery sea; but that which inhabits the more northern part of the skull (for let it be so called), is seen to be blacker and stronger. So it is, as has been said, that the whole body is for it both accessible and a thoroughfare, but the head has been established for it as a dwelling place, like a palace set apart for some queen. The neck and chest, back and arms and the parts down to the feet are hills and plains, and the creature inhabits the whole as if it were the inhabited world. And when there is a calm, it goes out, having opened the doors, and enjoys the springtime with its own beauties; but if something is stirred up to annoy it, it has prudently returned to its ancient dwelling and, having occupied the high ground of the head like some tyrant, it lets the hands besiege the walls, while it is guarded tower-like by the rampart of the head. And the creature is hard to capture there; for just as wheat is indestructible by all attacks

ἀποπληξίας ποιῇ εἰς διαφόρους ῥαφὰς τὸ κρανίον ἡ φύσις κατέτεμεν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐκ τῆς ἁρμονίας σύμπαν ὀστοῦν τρηματίοις διεῖλε τισί, δι' ὧν ἡ ἀτμὶς ὥσπερ διηθουμένη καὶ διαρρέουσα καὶ τῷ περικρανίῳ ὑμένι ἐναπομένουσα τὴν φθεῖρα παραδόξως γεννᾷ. Γεννᾶται μὲν οὕτως, μαιεύεται δὲ ταῖς ἐν τῇ κεφαλῇ ἀπείροις θριξίν· αὗται γὰρ ὀμφαλητόμων τε λόγον ταύτῃ καὶ δορυφόρων ἐπέχουσιν, ὁμοῦ τε συναρμόζουσαι καὶ τὴν ἔξωθεν βλάβην ἀπείργουσαι. καὶ ἄνθρωπος μέν, τὸ κάλλιστον τῶν ἐπὶ γῆς ζῷον, ἐκ σπερμάτων ἔχει τὴν γένεσιν, ἃ δὴ σήπεταί τε τὰ πρῶτα καὶ μεταβέβληται καὶ πρὸς ὀχετηγίας καὶ συρροίας διαμερίζεται καὶ ποικίλην ἔχει τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς γενέσεως. τῇ δέ γε φθειρὶ οὐ σῆψις σπέρματος τὴν γένεσιν ὑποστρώννυσιν, ἀλλὰ τὸ λεπτότατόν τε καὶ καθαρώτατον τῆς τροφῆς· τί γὰρ ἀτμοῦ κουφότερον ἢ ἐλαφρότερον πέφυκεν; αἱ μὲν οὖν τῆς γῆς ἀναφοραὶ τοὺς διᾴττοντας καὶ τοὺς κομήτας ἀπογεννῶσιν, αἱ δὲ τῆς γαστρὸς ἡμῶν τὴν φθεῖρα. ὥσπερ οὖν τινα λόγον ἡ καθ' ἡμᾶς ἀτμὶς πρὸς τὴν τῆς γῆς κέκτηται, οὕτω δὴ καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν κομητῶν αὐγὴν ἡ φθείρ· ἐν μὲν οὖν τῇ ἄνω σφαίρᾳ τὰ φαινόμενα θαυμάσια τίκτεται, ἐν δὲ τῷ τῆς ἡμετέρας κεφαλῆς κύκλῳ οὐδὲν ἕτερον ἢ τοῦτο τὸ ζῷον. Καί, ὃ μᾶλλον ἄν τις ἐκπλαγείη προσέχων τὸν νοῦν, πολλῶν ὄντων μερῶν καὶ διαφόρων τοῦ σώματος, οὔμενουν ἔχει τις εἰπεῖν ἡλίκων καὶ ὅσων τὰ μὲν ἄλλα ὥσπερ ἀπαξιοῖ τὸ ζῷον, μόνην δὲ τὴν κεφαλὴν ὄργανον γενέσεως τίθεται. ἐκεῖθεν γὰρ καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς πρόσεισι μέρεσι καὶ αὖθις ἐπάνεισιν, ὥσπερ ἐξ ἑῴας πρὸς δύσιν δραμοῦσα καὶ εἰς τὸ οἰκεῖον σημεῖον ἐπανακάμπτουσα. ὡς δὲ ἐγώ τινος ἤκουσα ἀνδρὸς εὖ μάλα φιλοσοφήσαντος, οὐ μάτην οὕτω τῇ φύσει τὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς ἐξειργάσθη περιφερὲς ἀλλὰ τῆς τοῦ νοῦ ἕνεκα ἐνοικήσεως, ὃς δὴ τὸ σφαιροειδὲς τοῦ κυκλοφορικοῦ σώματος ἀγαπῶν ὡς πρὸς οἰκεῖον καὶ τοῦτο τρέχει καὶ διὰ ταῦτα ἐγκαθίδρυται. ἄμφω οὖν ταῦτα ποθεῖτον τὴν κεφαλήν, νοῦς ἄνωθεν ἐμπνεόμενος καὶ φθεὶρ γεννωμένη κάτωθεν· ἀλλ' ὁ μὲν ἔσωθέν τέ ἐστι καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἔχει τοῦ ζῴου ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀκροπόλεως, ἡ δὲ ἔξωθεν αὐτῇ περιφύεται. Βούλεσθε οὖν ὑμῖν ἕτερον περὶ τῆς φθειρὸς ἐξαγγείλω θεώρημά τι ἀπορρητότερον; ἀλλὰ μή με περιττὸν καὶ ἀμέθοδον ὑπολάβητε ὅτι τε περὶ τῶν ἀσπουδάστων σπουδάζειν προῄρημαι καὶ συνάπτειν τὰ ἀσύγκριτα προτεθύμημαι. ἀλλά, πρὸς ὅ με ἡ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐνήγαγε κίνησις, διττὸν ἀκούω παρὰ τοῖς φιλοσόφοις τὸν νοῦν· τὸν μὲν ἐντὸς τῆς σφαίρας, ὅποι δὴ καὶ τὰς ἰδέας ὁ Πλάτων κατέταξε, τὸν δὲ παντὸς ἐπέκεινα σώματος. οὐ τολμήσω τι πλέον εἰπεῖν, ἵνα μή μέ τις ἀπειροκαλίας γραφὴν γράψηται, πλὴν ὅσον τὸ ἐκτὸς τῆς κεφαλῆς ζῷον κρεῖττον συνάγεται τοῦ ἔνδοθεν νοῦ. Τὴν δὲ ἰδέαν οὐ μίαν τουτὶ τὸ ζῷον προβέβληται, ἀλλ' ἡ μέν τις ἀκριβῶς ἐστι λευκὴ καὶ στίλβει τῷ χρώματι, ἡ δὲ κυαναυγής ἐστι καὶ πόντῳ μέλανι ἴκελος. ὅσον μὲν γὰρ τοῦ γένους αὐτῆς τά τε κροταφιαῖα μέρη καὶ ὅσον ἄτριχον πέφυκε νέμεται, ὑπαφρίζει πως τῇ θέᾳ καὶ ὑπαργυριζούσῃ θαλάττῃ παρεμφερές ἐστι· τὸ δ' ὅσον βορειότερον τοῦ κρανίου (λεγέσθω γὰρ οὕτως) νέμεται, μελάντερόν τε καὶ ἀλκιμώτερον εἴδεται. Ἔστι μὲν οὖν, ὥσπερ εἴρηται, πᾶν αὐτῇ τὸ σῶμα βάσιμόν τε καὶ ἄμφοδον, ἀλλ' ἡ μὲν κεφαλὴ οἰκητήριον οἷον αὐτῇ καθέστηκεν ὥσπερ τινὶ βασιλίδι ἀφωρισμένον ἀνάκτορον. αὐχήν τε καὶ θώραξ, νῶτά τε καὶ βραχίονες καὶ τὰ μέχρι ποδῶν γήλοφά τε καὶ πεδιάδες εἰσὶ καὶ ὥσπερ οἰκουμένην τὸ πᾶν νέμεται ζῷον. καὶ νηνεμίας μὲν οὔσης ἔξεισι τὰς θύρας ἀναπετάσασα καὶ ἐνεαρίζει τοῖς οἰκείοις κάλλεσιν· εἰ δέ τι πρὸς ἐπηρείαν αὐτῇ κινηθῇ, ἡ δὲ ἐχεφρόνως πρὸς τὸ ἀρχαῖον αὐτῆς ἐπανέζευξεν οἴκημα καί, τὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς μετέωρον ὥσπερ τις τύραννος καταλαβοῦσα, τειχομαχεῖν ἀφῆκε τὰς χεῖρας, ἡ δὲ πυργηδὸν τῇ τῆς κεφαλῆς φρουρεῖται περιβολῇ. ἔστι δὲ δυσάλωτον ἐνταῦθα τὸ ζῷον· ὥσπερ γὰρ τὸν πυρὸν ἀνάλωτον πάσαις ἐμβολαῖς