XXVIII. WHY, OF ALL WILD BEASTS, DOES NOT THE BOAR BITE THE TOIL, ALTHOUGH BOTH WOLVES AND FOXES DO THIS? Is it because his teeth stand so far within his head, that he cannot well come at the thread? For his lips, by reason of their thickness and largeness, meet close before. Or does he rather rely on his paws and mouth, and with those rend the toil, and with this defend himself against the hunters? His chief refuge is rolling and wallowing; therefore, rather than stand gnawing the toil, he rolls often about, and so clears himself, having no occasion for his teeth. XXIX. WHAT IS THE REASON THAT WE ADMIRE HOT WATERS ( i. e. BATHS) AND NOT COLD; SINCE IT IS PLAIN THAT COLD IS AS MUCH THE CAUSE OF ONE SORT AS HEAT IS OF THE OTHER? IT is not (as some are of opinion) that heat is a quality, and cold only a privation of that quality, and so that an entity is even less a cause than a non-entity. But we do it because Nature has attributed admiration to what is rare, and she puts men upon enquiry how any thing comes to pass that seldom happens. As Euripides saith, Behold the boundless Heaven on high, Bearing the earth in his moist arms,— what wonders he brings out by night, and what beauty he shows forth by day!... The rainbow and the varied beauty of the clouds by day, and the lights which burst forth by night... XXX. WHY ARE VINES WHICH ARE RANK OF LEAVES, BUT OTHERWISE FRUIT- LESS, SAID τραγᾶν ? Is it because very fat goats ( τράγοι ) are less able to procreate, nay, scarce able to use coition, by reason of their fatness Seed is the superfluity of the aliment which is allotted to the body: now, when either an animal or a plant is of a very strong constitution and grows fat, it is a sign that all the nourishment is spent within, and that there is little and base excrement, or none at all. XXXI. WHY DOES THE VINE IRRIGATED WITH WINE DIE, ESPECIALLY THE VERY WINE MADE FROM ITS OWN GRAPES? Is it as baldness happens to great wine-bibbers, the heat of the wine evaporating the moisture? Or, as Empedocles saith, the putrefied water in the wood becomes wine beneath the bark, ... thus, when the vine is outwardly irrigated with wine, it is as fire to the vine, and destroys the nutritive faculty. Or, because wine is obstructive, it gets into the roots, stops the passages, and so hinders any moisture from coming to the plant to make it grow and thrive. Or, it may seem contrary to Nature that that should return into the vine which came out of it; for whatsover moisture comes from plants can neither nourish nor be again a part of the plant.