The circumstance I
have marked of his opening his plumes to the sun is true. Expandit
colores adverso maxime sole, quia sic fulgentius radiant. Plin. l.
x. c. 20.
34 Thyanus (de Re Accip.) mentions a hawk that flew from Paris to
London in a night.
And the Egyptians, in regard to its swiftness, made it their symbol
for the wind; for which reason we may suppose the hawk, as well as
the crow above, to have been a bird of note in Egypt.
35 The eagle is said to be of so acute a sight, that when she is so
high in air that man cannot see her, she can discern the smallest
fish under water. My author accurately understood the nature of the
creatures he describes, and seems to have been a naturalist as well
as a poet, which the next note will confirm.
36 The meaning of this question is, Knowest thou the time and
circumstances of their bringing forth? For to know the time only was
easy, and had nothing extraordinary in it; but the circumstances had
something peculiarly expressive of God's providence, which makes the
question proper in this place.
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