The Ape & The Monkey
Part 2 of 2
In the first post, I discussed St. Isidore’s description of various kinds of apes and their relationship to the moon. In this post, I will explore apes and “aping” and how they are related to the Devil.
Section 3 - Aping People
The term “aping” comes from the ape’s propensity to mimic human beings. In his Natural History, Pliny writes that he is amazed by the shrewdness of the ape and its ability to mimic people. He describes the ape imitating hunters by smearing themselves with bird-lime, a glue-like substance made from plants, to capture birds as well as learning how to distinguish different pieces on a chess board.
“Their shrewdness is quite wonderful. It is said that, imitating the hunters, they will besmear themselves with bird-lime, and put their feet into the shoes, which, as so many snares, have been prepared for them. Mucianus says, that they have even played at chess, having, by practice, learned to distinguish the different pieces, which are made of wax.”
A note further explains how the bird-lime works:
“The hunters, when they see an ape sitting on a tree, place within sight of it a dish full of water, with which they rub their eyes; and then, slyly substituting another in its place, full of bird-lime, retire and keep upon the watch. The animal comes down from the tree, and rubs its eyes with the bird-lime, in consequence of which the eyelids stick together, and it is unable to escape."
In the Middle Ages, the ape was a symbol of man’s bestial nature. As we have discussed, they are known to ‘ape’ or parody human behavior; they imitate with no understanding. In Medieval art, they were often depicted carrying fruit in the mouths as a symbol of Original Sin or making lewd or obscene poses. They are clever, but they do not have reason in the same way humans do.
T. H. White includes an ancient bit of folklore in his bestiary highlighting their stupidity:
“Such is the nature of a monkey that, when she gives birth to twins, she esteems one of them highly but scorns the other. Hence, if it ever happens that she gets chased by a sportsman she clasps the one she likes in her arms in front of her, and carries the one she detests with its arms round her neck, pickaback. But for this very reason, when she is exhausted by running on her hind legs, she has to throw away the one she loves, and carries the one she hates, willy-nilly.”
Pliny also provides a slightly more favorable story, though it still hints at the ape’s simplicity:
“Females, which have been domesticated, and have had young ones, carry them about and shew them to all comers, shew great delight when they are caressed, and appear to understand the kindness thus shewn them. Hence it is that they very often stifle their young with their embraces.”
Here, stifle means smother.
Since they love to imitate humans, it was thought that it was pretty easy to trick an ape and capture it. All a hunter had to do was show himself lacing up his boots in front of the creature and then hide with the boots within it’s sight. The monkey, full of curiosity, cannot resist putting the boots on. Once the monkey is trapped in the laces, the hunter has caught him. How, specifically, the monkey was caught in the laces, is left up to the reader’s imagination.
Section 4 - Apes & the Devil
The Aberdeen Bestiary associates the ape with the Devil:
“The ape does not have a tail. The Devil has the form of an ape, with a head but no tail. Although every part of the ape is foul, its rear parts are disgusting and horrid enough. The Devil began as an angel in heaven. But inside he was a hypocrite and a deceiver, and he lost his tail, because he will perish totally at the end, just as the apostle says: 'The Lord shall consume him with the spirit of his mouth.' (2 Thessalonians, 2:8)”
The Physiologus states:
The monkey represents the very person of the devil
since he has a beginning but has no end (that is, a tail).
In the beginning, the devil was one of the archangels,
but his end has not been found…
It is fitting also that, in addition
to not having a tail, the monkey lacks beauty also. And
he is quite ugly in the region where he lacks a tail. Just
so the devil has no good end.
Depicting the Devil as an ape (as opposed to a monkey with a tail) makes sense if the ape is viewed as a parody of humanity, as we covered before. It is the bestial nature of man with no reason or grace. What’s even more interesting is the connection T. H. White makes in his bestiary:
“A monkey has no tail (cauda). The Devil resembles these beasts; for he has a head, but no scripture (caudex). Admitting that the whole of a monkey is disgraceful, yet their bottoms really are excessively disgraceful and horrible. In the same way, the Devil had a sound foundation when he was among the angels of heaven, but he was hypocritical and cunning inside himself, and so he lost his cauda-caudex as a sign that all of him would perish in the end.”
White connects cauda, tail, with caudex, Scripture. The ape has been cut loose from the foundation of all things and his colorful rump, like a gaping wound, shows the proof of that separation. Caudex is also a botanical term meaning the main axis or stem of a plant or the trunk of a tree. The Devil has been severed from the Trunk, cut from the root, the source of all things, which is God. He mocks man by parodying his actions, but since he has cut himself from the Logos, the source of all reason, he is terribly stupid.
His rear end is the most horrid part, because the Devil cannot create anything beautiful, all he can do is produce shit.
To conclude this essay series, I have included Aesop’s fable, The Fox & The Monkey. The fox and monkey have been considered rival animals since the time of Aesop and that tradition has continued to the present day in various stories.
The Fox & the Money
At a great meeting of the Animals, who had gathered to elect a new ruler, the Monkey was asked to dance. This he did so well, with a thousand funny capers and grimaces, that the Animals were carried entirely off their feet with enthusiasm, and then and there, elected him their king.
The Fox did not vote for the Monkey and was much disgusted with the Animals for electing so unworthy a ruler.
One day he found a trap with a bit of meat in it. Hurrying to King Monkey, he told him he had found a rich treasure, which he had not touched because it belonged by right to his majesty the Monkey.
The greedy Monkey followed the Fox to the trap. As soon as he saw the meat he grasped eagerly for it, only to find himself held fast in the trap. The Fox stood off and laughed.
"You pretend to be our king," he said, "and cannot even take care of yourself!"
Shortly after that, another election among the Animals was held.
For readers interested in seeing the rest of the Beinecke Library's Rothschild Canticles, please see the digitized version online at https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2002755.