Gnat and mosquito, Rochester Bestiary, c.1230
Gnats (cĭnĭphes) are elusive, minuscule insects that are virtually invisible to the naked eye. Despite their size, they deliver a painfully sharp sting, particularly around sensitive areas. This subtle yet irritating behaviour serves as a metaphor in art and dialectics for the way minute, elusive troubles can torment the mind, leading it astray through unseen and complex deceptions. In biblical terms, gnats were responsible for the third plague of Egypt, while the cynomya, or carrion fly, caused the fourth. Morally speaking, these two types of flies are seen as analogous.
Mosquitoes (cŭlex), known for their painful sting and the incessant buzzing sound they produce, are notorious for their irritation, especially in hot summer nights. They have a specialized mouthpart that functions as a sting, which they use to both irritate and draw blood. Unlike the mosquito, the horsefly (oestrum), also called ăsīlus or tăbānus, is known for its painful bites that affect livestock. The mosquito, therefore, symbolises a troublesome and seditious figure akin to Barabbas from the Gospel, representing a persistent and irritating disruptor.
tia. sed ita subtilia et minuta; et oculi visum nisi acute
cernentis effugiant. Corpus tamen cui insederint; acerbissimo
tenebrant stimulo. Ut quos volantes quis videre non valet;
sentiat stimulantes. Hoc animalium genus art dialectice
comparatur. que minutis et subtilibus cerborum stimulis;
animas tenebrat. et tanta caliiditate circumvenit; ut
deceptus nec videat nec intelligat; unde decipiatur;
Et nota quod cyniphes fecerunt terciam plagam egyp-
ti. musca autem que dicitur cinomia fecit quartam.
Et quantum ad moralem intellectum; idem sunt cyniphes
et musca que dicitur cinomia;
Culex ab aculeo dicitur quo sanguinem fugit acerbissi-
me; sonum in volando faciens donec nude carni insederit.
et maxime in noctibus estatis et calidi temporis nocet. Habet
in ore fistulam in modum stimuli. qua carnem tenebrat;
ut sanguinem sugat. et differt ab oestro; qui latine dicitur
asilus. et vulgo dicitur taunus. qui est armentis moles-
tissimus aculeo. Nomine igitur culicis significatur latro ille et
seditiosus barrraban. de quo in evangelio dicitur ad iudeos.
Gnats, cĭnĭphes[1], are creatures that hang from the male genitalia and fly in the air. They are so thin and small that their vision escapes anyone who does not see very sharply. Nevertheless, they inflict the most painful sting to the body. Thus, although one cannot see them while they are flying, they can still feel their stings. This type of animal is compared in art and dialectics to those that torment the soul with minute and subtle stings of the brain, misleading it with subtle tricks that the victim neither sees nor understands and thus is deceived. Note that the cĭnĭphes caused the third plague of Egypt, whereas the fly called cynomya caused the fourth. From a moral point of view, cĭnĭphes and cynomya are the same.
The mosquito, cŭlex, is named after its sting, draws blood painfully, produces a buzzing sound while flying until it lands on bare flesh. It is especially harmful during the summer nights and hot weather. It has a pipe-like structure in its mouth serving as a sting, which it uses to irritate the flesh and suck blood. It differs from the horsefly, oestrum[3], known in Latin also as ăsīlus[4] and commonly called tăbānus, whose sting annoys cattle. The term cŭlex thus symbolises that troublesome and seditious thief Barabbas[5], similar to how it is described in the Gospel concerning the Jews.
Further Reading
David Badke, The Bestiary Blog: Animals in the Middle Ages, Gnat, November 6 2023, https://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast106213.htm
Josh Goldenberg (BA 2012) and Matt Shanahan (BA 2014, Logeion, November 2022, https://logeion.uchicago.edu/
Castiglioni, L. and Mariotti, S. (1996). Vocabolario della Lingua Latina: Latino-Italiano Italiano-Latino. Terza Edizione. Loescher Torino
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Wikipedia: The Elephant, 28 November 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant
Matthews, J. and Matthews C., (2010), The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures, HarperCollins UK, London
Curley, M. J., Physiologus: A Medieval Book of Nature Lore (University of Chicago edition 2009)
Rackham, H., M.A., Pliny Natural History Volume III, Libri VIII-XI (London: William Heinemann Ltd, 1949)
Collins, A. H., M.A., Symbolism of Animals and Birds (New York: McBride, Nast & Company, 1913)
Henderson, C., The Book of Barely Imagined Beings (London: University of Chicago Press, 2013)
White, T. H., The Bestiary: A Book of Beasts (New York: G.P Putnam’s Sons, 1960)
Barney, S. A., Lewis, W. J., Beach A., Berghof O., The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006)
Endnotes
[1] There is no exact translation for the word cĭnĭphes. It could be translated as louse or gnat but lice do not fly whereas gnats do. In the text, cĭnĭphes were able to fly and caused the third plague. The lice that caused the third plague in Egypt did not fly. These lice are typically understood to be similar to modern lice, which are small, wingless, parasitic insects that crawl rather than fly.
[2] The Bible does not specify the type of flies that caused the plague. It might have been the carrion flies, Cynomya Mortuorum, seeing that plague and death are being discussed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynomya_mortuorum
[3] Horsefly or gadfly
[4] Horsefly and robber fly
[5] John 18:40 (NKJV): "Then they all cried again, saying, 'Not this Man, but Barabbas!' Now Barabbas was a robber."
Mark 15:7 (NKJV): "And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion."