Transcription
torum consonantia quicquid eis adversi acciderit, quasi quodam\ salubri
temptamento [A: teperamento] temperare solent, et velud duobus cornibus
ful\ti, bona que perpetrant veteris testamenti ac evangelice lectionis
attes\tatione sustentant.\ De Yena\ Est animal qui\ dicitur
yena, in se\pulchris mortu\orum habitans, eorum\que corpora vescens.\
Cuius natura est ut ali\quando masculus\ sit, aliquando fem\ina, et
ideo est immun\dum animal. Cui\ cum spina riget, con\tinua unitate\
flecti nequid nisi toto corporis circumactu. Solinus multa mira\ de
ea refert, primum quod sequitur stabula pastorum, et circuit domos\
per noctem, et assiduo auditu addiscit vocamen, quod exprimere\ possit
imitationem vocis humane, ut hominem astu accitum\ nocte seviat. Vomitus
quoque humanos [intitur] falsisque singultibus\ sic sollicitatos canes
devorat. Qui forte si venantes umbram\ eiusdem dum sequitur contigerint,
latrare nequeunt voce perdita. Ea\dem yena inquisicione corporum sepultorum
busta eruit. Huic as\similantur filii Israel, qui ab initio deo vivo
servierunt. Postea divitiis\ et luxurie dediti ydola coluerunt. Ideo
propheta comparavit sy\nagogam in mundo [A: inmundo] animali dicens:
Facta est michi hereditas\ mea quasi spelunca yene. Quicumque igitur
inter nos luxurie et\ avaricie inserviunt, huic belue comparantur
cum nec viri nec\ |
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Translation
who are accustomed to manage whatever problems they encounter, with
the harmony of the two Testaments as if with a sound constitution;
and, supported as by two horns, they sustain the good they do with
the testimony of readings from the Old and New Testament. Of the
hyena. There is an animal called the hyena, which inhabits the
tombs of the dead and feeds on their bodies. Its nature is that it
is sometimes male, sometimes female, and it is therefore an unclean
animal. Since its spine is rigid, all in one piece, it cannot turn
round except by turning its body right around. Solinus recounts many
marvellous things about the hyena. First, it stalks the sheepfolds
of shepherds and circles their houses by night, and by listening carefully
learns their speech, so that it can imitate the human voice, in order
to fall on any man whom it has lured out at night. The hyena also
[imitates] human vomit and devours the dogs it has enticed with faked
sounds of retching. If dogs hunting the hyena accidentally touch its
shadow behind, they lose their voices and cannot bark. In its search
for buried bodies, the hyena digs up graves. The sons of Israel resemble
the hyena. At the beginning they served the living God. Later, addicted
to wealth and luxury, they worshipped idols. For this reason the prophet
compared the synagogue to an unclean animal: 'My heritage is to me
as the den of a hyena.' (see Jeremiah, 12:8) Therefore those among
us who are slaves to luxury and greed, are like this brute, since
they are neither men nor
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