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Poetry · Chapter
XV explained
A brief aphoristic chapter comparing the ostrich's instinct to hide its head when pursued with a man's instinct to conceal his property, suggesting an innate understanding of an enemy's intentions.
What happens
A brief aphoristic chapter comparing the ostrich's instinct to hide its head when pursued with a man's instinct to conceal his property, suggesting an innate understanding of an enemy's intentions.
Key passages
“When an ostrich is pursued he conceals his head in a bush; when a man is pursued he conceals his property. By instinct each knows his enemy’s design.”
Both the ostrich and man, when threatened, hide what is most vulnerable to them—the ostrich its head, a man his possessions—because each instinctively understands the predator's goal.
This chapter draws a parallel between animal and human behavior, highlighting a shared instinctual response to threat.