Locust, Rochester Bestiary, c.1230

The locust is an insect known for its long back legs, which allow it to leap great distances, resembling a long spear. Besides locusts, other similar insects include cicadas, which are said to be born from cuckoo spittle and are found abundantly near the city of Rhegium, the modern Reggio Calabria in Italy. Locusts are considered clean animals and can be eaten; they have four legs, four feet and wings.

The lifecycle of a locust begins as a larva, brūchus. As it grows wings, it is first called attĕlăbus or attăcus and once it has been able to fly fully, it is known as a locust. Of these stages, the brūchus is the most destructive because it lacks wings and remains stationary, devouring everything around it.

To control locusts, people dig ditches to bury them, preventing them from being carried off by the wind into the sea and back to land, where even dead larvae can reproduce. This practice is echoed in Isaiah's words: "And the spoils will be gathered like the caterpillar is collected when the ditches are full of it."

The locust is famously associated with the biblical plagues in the Old Testament, particularly in the Book of Exodus. This connection made the locust a symbol of divine punishment and devastation. In medieval Christian thought, locusts were seen as instruments of God’s wrath against sin and disobedience.

They also symbolised the devil or demons, reflecting their ability to bring chaos and destruction. The swarming behaviour of locusts was likened to the way evil can spread and overwhelm.

It was often used as a warning to encourage repentance and spiritual vigilance. The devastation wrought by locusts served as a vivid reminder of the consequences of failing to live a righteous life.

Locusta est. et terrestris et maritima. et dicitur

The locust is both a land and water worm and is called

locusta quasi longa hasta. eoquod crura que retro
sunt; longa sunt. Et longiora sunt crura que re-
tro sunt per que psaltum facit. Alie autem sunt cica-
de; quam locuste. Cicade enim nascuntur; ex cuculorum
sputo. Hec in italia apud reginos multe sunt. nec usquam
alibi. Locusta quatuor habet crura et quatuor pe-
des. et mundum animal est. et ideo commedi potest. alas
habet. Et locusta brucis nascitur. et quousque alas
habeat sic vocatur. Cum atuem bruco ale crescere
ceperint; attelabus sive attacus dicitur. Cum autem
plene volare ceperit; dicitur. Nocet vero brucus plusquam
attelabus. et attelabus plusquam locusta. quia brucus
alis caret nec moveri potest. et sic omnia devorat
et nichil relinquit ubi insederit. Ideo fiunt fosse et
obruuntur locuste. Ne si non obruerentur; et cooperirentur;
a vento in mare raperentur. et ad terram reiecte. ex
ovis que vive conceperant; etiam mortue brucos gigne-
rent. De huiusmodi fossis mentionem facti ysaias dicens.
Et congregabuntur spolia ura sicut colligitur brucus
velut cum fosse plene fuerint de eo.

locust as if it were a long spear: the legs that are at the back are long. The legs that are at the back are longer, for it uses them to leap. However, there are other insects similar to locusts, the cicada, for example. Cicadas are born from the spittle of cuckoos. These in Italy, among the Regini[1], are numerous but nowhere else. The locust has four legs and four feet and is a clean animal. It can be eaten and has wings. The locust is born from the brūchus, a larva[2] and as long as it has wings, it is called a locust. When the brūchus starts to grow wings, it is called attĕlăbus or attăcus. When it begins to fly completely, it is called a locusta. The brūchus is more harmful than the attĕlăbus and the attĕlăbus more harmful than the locust, for the brūchus lacks wings and cannot move. Thus, it devours everything and leaves nothing behind wherever it is situated. Therefore, ditches are dug so locusts can be buried. If they were not buried and completely covered, they would be carried off to the sea by the wind and cast back to the land. From the eggs they have laid, even dead larvae, brūchi, would be produced. Isaiah mentions such ditches and says, "And the spoils will be gathered like the caterpillar[3] is collected when the ditches are full of it”[4].

Further Reading

David Badke, The Bestiary Blog: Animals in the Middle Ages, Locust, November 6 2023, https://bestiary.ca/beasts/beast106142.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] Inhabitants of Rhegium, the modern Reggio Calabria, in Calabria, Southern Italy.

[2] A kind of locust without wings.

[3] The confusion arises from the fact that the term brūchus is used in the text but the corresponding biblical reference in Isaiah uses the term caterpillar in many English translations. The discrepancy lies in how ancient and medieval writers might have used similar or overlapping terms differently than we do today.

[4] Isaiah NKJV 33:4: "And your plunder shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar; as the running to and fro of locusts, he shall run upon them."