Selected Quotations from the Eternal Corporeal Encyclopedia
Selected quotes from the Eternal Corporeal Encyclopedia (originally published in Latin as Encyclopædia Corporea Æterna), an encyclopedia mainly on animal behaviour, published by the mysterious Council of Forty in the late 16th century. The encyclopedia was arranged rather unusually, in an order described by the authors as "perfect", but is seemingly random as historians to this day have not determined a logic to this ordering. We have arranged these quotes selected from the book in the order they appear in the book.
The original copy of the encyclopedia is housed in the Underground Library.
On Nobility
It has been known to many zoologists that the squirrel is the noblest beast. The second noblest beast is the hound, and the third noblest beast is the moth.
Noscitur à multis zoologis quod sciurus bestia nobilissima est. Secunda nobilissima bestia canis est & tertia nobilissima bestia tinea est.
On Paucity
Paucity is both a great evil and an enormous good. A paucity of bread may lead to a constant need to replenish it, however a paucity of grain may give space for other crops and livestock. A paucity of water will make a man thirst, yet a paucity of wisdom cannot lead to the thirst for knowledge.
Paucitas magnus malus atque enorme bonum est. Panis paucitatis necessitatem assiduam replentis ducat, det autèm frumenti paucitas locum ad aliam segetem et pecus. Aquæ paucitas hominem sitire facit ac tamen sapientiæ paucitas sitim scientiæ non potest ducere.
On Misdeeds
A man may do misdeeds unto his fellow man; a cogwheel may fail against its fellow cogwheel, and a beast may fail unto man, but a beast's actions unto another beast are never wrong.
Faciat homo ad ejus hominem æqualem maleficia; rota dentata contra ejus rotam æqualem deficiat & deficiat ad hominem bestia, sed facta bestiæ ad aliam bestiam numquàm prava sunt.
On Aquatic Life
Among the beasts of the seas, there appears to be a hierarchy of wisdom. The clam is not as wise as the crab, and the crab is not as wise as the prawn, and the prawn is not as wise as the mullet, and the mullet is not as wise as the salmon, and the salmon is not as wise as the shark, and the shark still is not as wise as the dolphin. The most foolish of all marine animals, by weight, is the eel.
Apud bestias marum, ordo sapientiæ videtur. Chama tàm sapiens quàm cancer non est & cancer tàm sapiens quàm squilla non est & squilla tàm sapiens quàm mugil non est & mugil tàm sapiens quàm salmo non est & salmo tàm sapiens quàm vulpes non est & vulpes adhùc tàm sapiens quàm delphinus non est. Stultissimus animal marinum, pondò, anguilla est.
The eel's bumbleheadedness is to be attributed to its absent virile glands, which in men raise forth the necessary energy for rational thought. It is believed that what an eel might consider "thought" we might consider the ratio of a circumference to a diameter, which is of course irrational.
Inscitia anguillæ ejus glandulis virilibus absentibus attribuitur, quibus in hominibus energiam necessariam ad cogitationem rationalem excitant. Creditur quod istud anguilla cogitationem consideretur esse nos consideremus divisionem circumferentiæ per diametrum, quam nempè irrationalis est.
On Nausea
It is known that nausea has many causes. A common emetic procedure of the Greeks was to insert two stones, one small and one great, into the back of the patient's throat. This method has fallen out of practice due to the difficulty of finding stones of the right sizes in the modern world.
Cognitur quod nausea multas causas habet. Communis ratio emetica Græcorum erat insere petras duas, unam parvam unam magnamque, in tergum faucium ægri. Hæc ratio excercere desitus est proptèr difficultatem parandi petras magnitudinum rectarum in mundo moderno.
On Marriage
The ichneumon wasps have a highly complex ritual of marriage. It is said that the ritual lasts twenty hours and involves formal dress, vows and donation of gifts to the bride. The ichneumon wasps are also known to be very proud of their ritual, and even deride other species of insect on this basis. Man can learn much from these insects.
Ichneumones cærimoniam nuptialem valdè involutam habent. Dicitur quod cærimoniam viginti horas durat et habitum formalem votaque donationemque ad nympham implicat. Cognitur quod ichneumones valdè superbos eorum cærimonia sunt, etiàm genera muscæ ob hoc derident. Homo ab his muscis multum reperiat.