BOOK I

THE BOOK OF YEA




EXORDIUM

THE ABBOT MILO _URBI ET ORBI_, CONCERNING THE NATURE OF THE LEOPARD


I like this good man's account of leopards, and find it more pertinent
to my matter than you might think. Milo was a Carthusian monk, abbot of
the cloister of Saint Mary-of-the-Pine by Poictiers; it was his
distinction to be the life-long friend of a man whose friendships were
few: certainly it may be said of him that he knew as much of leopards as
any one of his time and nation, and that his knowledge was better
grounded.

'Your leopard,' he writes, 'is alleged in the books to be offspring of
the Lioness and the Pard; and his name, if the Realists have any truth
on their side, establishes the fact. But I think he should be called
Leolupé, which is to say, got by lion out of bitch-wolf, since two
essences burn in him as well as two sorts. This is the nature of the
leopard: it is a spotted beast, having two souls, a bright soul and a
dark soul. It is black and golden, slim and strong, cat and dog. Hunger
drives a dog to hunt, so the leopard; passion the cat, so the leopard. A
cat is sufficient unto himself, and a leopard is so; but a dog hangs on