Job 39:13
Ver. 13. [Gavest thou] the goodly wings unto the peacocks?.... Rather "ostriches", as the Vulgate Latin and Tigurine versions render it; some render it, "the wing of those that exult is joyful", so Montanus; that is, of the ostriches; who, in confidence of their wings, exult and glory over the horse and his rider, Job 39:18; for peacocks are not remarkable for their wings, but for their tails; whereas the wings of the ostrich are as sails unto them, as several writers observe {k}; and with which they rather run, or row, than fly: hence it is called by Plautus {l} "passer marinus", the sea sparrow: and the feathers of it are more goodly than those of the wings of the peacock; and besides, it is a question whether the peacock was where Job lived, and in his times; since it is originally from the Indies, and from thence it was brought to Judea in the times of Solomon; and was not known in Greece and Rome {m} until later ages. Alexander the Great, when he first saw them in India, was surprised at them; and yet Solon {n} speaks of them in his time as seen by him, which was at least two hundred years before Alexander; though at Rome not common in the times of Horace {o}, who calls a peacock "rara avis"; and speaks of them as sold for a great price; but ostriches were well known in Arabia, where Job lived, as is testified by Xenophon {p}, Strabo {q}, and Diodorus Siculus {r}. Moreover, what is said in the following verses is only true of the ostrich, and that only is spoken of here and there, as it follows;
or wings and feathers unto the ostrich; or whose wings and feathers are like the storks; and so Bochart renders the words, truly they have "the wing and feather of the stork"; the colours of which are black and white, from whence it has its name pelagrov {s} in Greek; and so Leo Africanus {t} says of the ostriches, that they have in their wings large feathers of a black and white colour; and this was a creature well known in Arabia {u}, in which Job lived.
{k} Xenophon. de Expedit. Cyri, l. 1. Aelian. de. Animal. l. 2. c. 77. {l} Persa, Act. 2. Sc. 2. v. 17. {m} Aelian. de Animal. l. 5. c. 21. {n} Laert. Vit. Solon. l. 1. c. 2. {o} Sermon. l. 2. Sat. 2. v. 25, 26. Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 20. Macrob. Saturnal. l. 3. c. 13. {p} Ut supra. (Xenophon. de Expedit. Cyri, l. 1.) {q} Geograph. l. 16. p. 531. {r} Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 133. {s} Suidas in voce pelagrov. {t} Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 766. {u} Diodor. Sicul. ut supra. (Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 133.)