Hrabanus Maurus on Pardus
Patrologia Latina Cursus Completus LXIII, 220A – 220B
Pardus secundus post panteram, genus est varium ac velocissimum, et præceps ad sanguinem; saltu enim ad mortem ruit. Pardus autem mystice significat Diabolum diversis vitiis plenissimum, vel peccatorem quemlibet maculis scelerum et diversorum errorum aspersum. Unde dicit propheta: Æthiops non mutavit pellem, et pardus varietatem suam (Jer. XIII). Item pardus Antichristus malitiæ varietate aspersus, ut in Apocalipsi: Et bestia, quæ ascendebat de mari, similis erat pardo (Apoc. XIII) ; de illis dicit, qui in nigredine peccatorum et varietate perseverant. Alibi tamen scriptum est: Habitabit lupus cum agno, et pardus cum hædo cubabit (Isa. XI). #220B# Quod in adventu Christi completum est, quando illi, qui antea feroces fuerunt, cum innocentibus vitam ducunt, et qui errorum maculis polluti erant, pœnitentiam agentes ad veritatem fidei convertuntur. Leopardus ex adulterio leæne et pardi nascitur, et tertiam originem efficit: sicut et Plinius in naturali Historia dicit, leonem cum pardo aut pardum cum leæna concumbere, et ex utroque coitu degeneres partus creari, ut mulus ex equo et asina.
Paraphrase and commentary
As Hrabanus provided little information about the physical appearance of this animal it is not certain if he had in mind the cheetah. The clues that confirm this supposition is the spotted pelt of the animal, its swiftness and way of killing its pray (with a leap) and the mentioning that the leopard is a beast having mixed characteristics between those of the cheetah (as for the spotted pelt) and the lion (as for the stature).i
- Second after the panther is the pard, an extremely fast spotted animal. Yearning for blood it kills its pray with a leap.
- In a mystical sense the pard can signify the devil with his various vices or the sinner who is marked with the stains of misdeed and different sins. Therefore the prophet says: The Ethiopian do not change his skin and the leopard his spots.i Next the leopard (also signifies) the Antichrist marked with the spots of evil as in the Revelation [where it is said that] the beast that rised out of the sea was like the leopard.ii In another place it is written: The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid (Isa. 11:6). That shall be accomplished when Christ come, for then those who were fierce before will live together with the innocents and those who were defiled with the stains of sins by being penitent will convert to the truth of faith.
- The leopard is born out of the adultery between a lioness and a pard, so that a third specie is created. So says and Pliny in the Natural History that, when a lion mate with a pard or a pard with a lioness, the outcome of both these mating is a cross-breading, like the mule being a mongrel of a horse and an ass.
Footnotes
i See for example the illumination in MS London, British Library, Harley 4751, fol. 6r. (Bestiary from the 13th c.)
ii Originally a conditional clause: si mutare potest Aethiops pellem suam aut pardus varietates suas et vos poteritis bene facere cum didiceritis malum(Jer. 13:23). King James' version: Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?
iii Not an exact quotation combining two verses from Revelation 13:1,2
- 1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
- 2And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
