Swan, Rochester Bestiary, c.1230

The medieval bestiary suggests swans can sing sweet songs because of their long curved necks, and that it is said they will gather and sing in harmony when they hear the bards sing while playing stringed instruments.

Sailors see them as a good omen, and they swim with their neck high like a proud man (Barber 2008).

Transcription

Translation

Cignus latine; olor grece. Et dicitur olor quod sit
totus albus plumis. Nullus enim unquam vidit cig-
num nigrum. Olo enim grece; totum latine. Cignus;
a canendo est appellatus. eo quod carminis dulcedi-
nem modul vocibus fundit. Unde ad vada menan-
dri; concunt albus olor. Hec avis contra pericula in-
minentis sibi morits; dulcissimis vocibus sonat. Ideo
autem suavissime cignum canere dicunt; quod collum
longum et inflexum habet. et necesse est. eluctantem vo-
cem per longum et flexuosum iter; varias reddere mo-
dulationes. Ferunt autem in hiperboreis partibus precinentibus
citharedis; olores plurimos advocari. apteque ad-
modum concinere. Dicunt tamen quidem quod olor
latinum nomen est. Nam greci; cignus dicunt. Naute
vero sibi hunc; bonam prognosum facere dicunt.
Sicut emilianus ait. Cignus in auspitiis semper letis-
simus ales. Hunc optant naute; quia se non mer-
git in undis. Cignus in levitico inter inmundas
aves; reputatur. Quia nullus imitari debet con-
templativum cuius lectio est de celestibus et vita de ter-

Swan in Latin; ___ Greek. And it is said that it is always white with feathers. For no one has ever seen a black swan. For I swear in Greek; all in Latin. Swan; He was called by his singing, because he pours out the sweetness of the song with his voice. Whence to the fords of Menander; I smell a white burn. This bird dies against the dangers that threaten it; it sounds in the sweetest voice. Therefore they say that the swan sings very sweetly; that he has a long and bent neck, and it is necessary that he utters a voice through a long and winding journey; render various modulations. And in the Hyperborean parts they are brought to the precincts of harps; many scents to be invoked, and to be very aptly composed. They say, however, that smell is a Latin name. For the Greeks; say the swan. But the sailor had this for himself; They say it has a good prognosis. As the Emilian says. The swan is always the happiest wing in the auspiciousness. This is what the sailors want; because he does not immerse himself in the waves. A swan in Leviticus among unclean birds; it is considered Because no one should imitate a contemplative whose reading is about the heavenly and whose life

54v

renis. In profundis terrenitatis et vitiorum sibi cibum queritantem. habentem spetiem mundicie et verba sane doctrine. seipsum tamen in inferioribus terre inmergentem.

is about the earthly. In the depths of earthiness and vices he begs for food for himself, having a want of purity and words of sound doctrine, yet drowning himself in the lower parts of the earth.