Canst thou number the months [that] they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?
Ver. 2. Canst thou number the months they fulfil?] Eight months, Aristotle saith (the elephant is said to go above eight years), but who can tell the instant when, or why not sooner or later? Dost thou exactly observe and count those months, as I do, to a moment? Sola hic Deo providentia elucet.