Gratiam referendam.

Show gratitude.

Aërio insignis pietate Ciconia nido,
Investes pullos pignora grata fovet.
  Link to an image of this page  [a8r p15]Taliaque expectat sibi munera mutua reddi,
Auxilio hoc quoties mater egebit anus.
Nec pia spem soboles fallit, sed fessa parentum
Corpora fert humeris, praestat & ore cibos.[1]

The stork, famed for its dutiful care, in its airy nest cherishes its featherless chicks, its dear pledges of love. The mother bird expects that the same kind of service will be shown her in return, whenever she needs such help in her old age. Nor does the dutiful brood disappoint this hope, but bears its parents’ weary bodies on its wings and offers food with its beak.

Inter omnes aves Ciconia pietatis symbo-
lum gerit: nam parentes senecta defectos
vicissim alit, & volandi impotentes humeris
gestat, ut Athenaeus attestatur & Homerus
lib. 4. Iliadis Isidorus in lib. de natura Avium.
Item de immensa Ciconiarum pietate Plinius
lib. 10. cap. 23. & pulchrè Aristophanes in
avibus, Ciconiae magna: cura alunt vicissim
parentes iam aetate deficientes, sola bonitate
naturae ad id agendum impulsae, inquit Ae-
lianus lib. 15. cap. 4. Ideoque Ciconiae imaginem
exsculpi olim solitam super sceptris re-
gum quò eorum pietas atque
Iustitia indicaretur, refert
Crinitus libro 4.
cap. 13.