How Long Each Creature Carries Its Young and the Wisdom of Athens

Our Rabbis taught: an unclean fish spawns living young, a clean fish lays eggs. Every creature that bears live young nurses, and every one that lays eggs gathers food for its young, except the bat, which though it lays eggs also nurses. Dolphins reproduce and multiply like human beings. What are dolphins? Rav Yehudah said: children of the sea. Any creature whose sexual organ is external bears live young; whose is internal lays eggs. Any creature that mates by day bears young by day. What practical difference does this make? It bears on the ruling of Rav Mari son of Rav Kahana, who said: if one examined a hen's nest on the eve of a Festival and found no egg, and the next morning rose early and found an egg, it is permitted to eat it on the Festival. But did he not examine it? Say that most of it had already emerged the day before and gone back in. For Rabbi Yochanan said: an egg, most of which emerged on the eve of a Festival and then went back in, is permitted to eat on the Festival. Any creature that mates by day gives birth by day, the hen; whose mating is by night gives birth by night, the bat; whose mating is both by day and by night gives birth both by day and by night, the human being and all like it. Any creatures whose mating and gestation periods are alike can bear and rear offspring from one another; those whose mating and gestation are not alike cannot. The hen [hatches] in twenty-one days, and corresponding to it among the trees is the almond. The dog in fifty, corresponding to the fig. The cat in fifty-two, corresponding to the mulberry. The pig in sixty, corresponding to the apple. The fox and all sorts of creeping things in six months, corresponding to grain. A clean small animal in five months, corresponding to the vine. A clean large animal in nine, corresponding to the olive. An unclean large animal in twelve months, corresponding to the date palm. The wolf, the bear, the lion, the leopard, the panther, the elephant, the ape, and the porcupine in three years, corresponding to the wild fig. The viper in seventy years, corresponding to the carob; the carob from the time of planting to the year its fruit fully ripens is seventy years, and its period of gestation is three years. The serpent in seven years, and for that wicked one [the serpent] we have found no companion of equal term. And some say the muksasin too. From where do we derive these matters? Rav Yehudah said in the name of Rav, and they attributed it in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua: "Cursed are you above all cattle" (Genesis 3:14). If it was cursed more than cattle, then surely more than wild beasts. Rather, it tells you: just as cattle are cursed more than wild beasts by a ratio of one to seven, and what is this? the donkey compared to the cat, so was the serpent cursed more than cattle by one to seven, which gives it seven years. Say rather: just as the wild beast was cursed more than cattle by one to three, and what is this? the lion compared to the donkey, so was the serpent cursed more than the wild beast by one to three, which would give it nine years. But is it written "above all wild beasts and above all cattle"? It is written "above all cattle and above all wild beasts" (Genesis 3:14), meaning it is cursed by being measured from cattle, which were themselves cursed more than the wild beast. And say rather: just as cattle were cursed more than wild beasts by one to three, what is this? the goat compared to the cat, so was the serpent cursed more than cattle by one to three, which would give it fifteen months. They raised the objection: it is written "above all cattle." And they raised a further objection: it is a curse; cast the curse upon the curse [compound the two]. The Caesar said to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananyah: in how long does the serpent conceive and bear? He said to him: in seven years. But the elders of the academy of Athens mated them and they bore in three. Those had been pregnant already from before for four years. But they were observed copulating. They too copulate as humans do, without conceiving. But the elders of Athens are wise. We are wiser than they. If you are so wise, go, defeat them, and bring them to me. He said to him: how many are they? He said: sixty mighty scholars. He said: make me a ship that has sixty cabins, and in each cabin place sixty cushions. He made it for him, and so on, until when he arrived they said to him: who has made you [come]? He said to them: I am one of the wise men of the Jews, and I have come to learn wisdom from you. They said to him: if so, let us ask you a matter. He said: very well; if you defeat me, do to me whatever you wish, and if I defeat you, come eat bread with me on the ship, and so on, until he defeated them. He brought them, and each one, when he saw the sixty cushions, thought all his colleagues had come there. He said to the sailor: cast off your ship. As they came aboard, the dust of their own land came with them. When he reached the place of the swallowing sea he drew a jug of water from there. When he came he set them before Caesar, who saw that they were emaciated. He said to him: these are not the ones. He took some of their own dust and threw it upon them, and they hardened their faces against the king. He said to him: they have been delivered to you; do with them whatever you wish. He brought that water that came from the swallowing place and poured it into a vessel; he said to them: fill it and go your way. They poured it in before him, and it kept swallowing them down. They filled it until their shoulders were torn from them, and they were consumed and perished.