Commentary on the emblem 'In deo laetandum'

In Deo laetandum. Emblema IIII

[60] Consilium nostrum fuit in hac[1] qualicunque explicatione,[2] primum quidem fontem emblematis ex insigniore quodam scriptore petere, usumque indicare sententiae, quam peritus noster artifex non modo animo committit, sed etiam ob oculos ponit. Ne tamen videar, quod

Emblem 4, 'We should rejoice in God'[1]

[60] It was my intention in this commentary whatever its quality, to seek first a source for the emblem from some fairly well known writer, and to point out the application of the meaning which our skillful author not only conveys to the mind but even places before our eyes. However, in order not to seem, as

[61] faciunt alii nonnulli, nimiam lectionis diligentiam ostentare, non semper initio tam ambitiose, ut[3] ita loquar, originem indicabo, sed postquam quaedam praefatus ero, de iis quae ad subiectum argumentum necessaria videbuntur. Sed iam mature me[4] recipio ad huius carminis ingeniosi sententiam, si quaedam prius vice praeludii et quasi disputationis anticiparo.[5] Universam poesim aenigmatum esse plenam docet Plato in Alcibiade 2[6] [Poesis pene tota aenigmatum plena.[7]] quippe quae non sit cuivis intellectu facilis, quod rerum veritas quibusdam verborum involucris obtegatur. Huiusmodi autem figmenta tribus modis explicari possunt, ut plerumque veterum monimentis deprehendimus: quidam enim physicen, alii ethicen considerant:[8] nonnulli etiam rei theologicae rationem habent, uti Caelius Rhodiginus annotavit ex doctrina Platonicorum, libro 18 capitulo 6.[9] Sic enim Homerus ingeniorum ille vertex[10] quatuor illa prima στοιχεῖα inter se pugnantia, et sese mutuo producentia effinxit sub nominibus Iovis, Iunonis, Neptuni et Plutonis. [Quatuor elementa totidem deorum nominibus intellecta.] Ad mores autem traducitur[11] allegoria, ut cum Palladem cum Marte dissidia et pugnas ciere aiunt, eam nempe animi partem, quae sit rationis expers, in superiorem[12] sese attolere intelligimus, virtutique vitium adversari. [Cur Pallas cum Marte dissidiat.] Quo de genere est ea, quam nunc sumus explicaturi, fabula.[13] Ad theologicam vero rationem nonnulla referuntur,[14] ut cum caelum suo motu tempus producat, quaeque gignat perpetuo absumens, imaginem quandam intelligimus esse Dei,[15] Caelum, Rheam atque Saturnum filios devorantem: [Saturnus. Rhea. Macrobius X. Saturnalia[16]] in quibus Caelus (vel Caelius) essentiam divinam praefert, Rhea vitam, Saturnus autem eiusdem mentem. Quae ante visum est operaepretium admonere,[17] ut maturius ad nostri emblematis ἐπιμύθιον deveniamus, poetasque veteres, quantum fieri poterit, ab iniuria vindicemus.[18] Eos enim tale quippiam in fabulosis narrationibus observare voluisse crediderim, quale priores illi iurisperiti (vt Marcus Tullius in libris De oratore[19] memorat) observarunt, qui ut auctoritatem assequerentur et augerent,[20] artem suam vulgarem esse noluere, nisi cum Gnaeus Flauius primus eam propalavit, qui eam ob rem dictus est cornicum oculos confixisse. [Quem ad finem, poetae figmentis usi sint.] Eodem plane modo veteres illi poetae sub aliquo cortice obscuro,[21] fabulosisque ornamentis res suas occultarunt, ut imperitam plebeculam a mysteriis illis sapientiae[22] reconditioris arcerent. Quod et aperte Lactantius[23] indicat,

[61]some others do, to be too scrupulous in picking this out, I shall not always give the source at the start so ambitiously,[2] so to speak, but after I have prefaced it with some remarks about whatever seems necessary for the subject that follows. But I can come back opportunely to the meaning of this ingenious poem if I have first anticipated some points by way of preface and, as it were, argument.

Plato teaches in book II of his Alcibiades that all poetry is full of enigmas [Almost all poetry is full of enigmas].[3]] and certainly not easy for everyone to understand,[4] for the truth of things may be hidden in certain verbal wrappings.[5] But compositions of this sort can be explained in three ways, as we observe commonly from the writings of the ancients, for some consider them physically, others ethically, and many even have discussions about theological meaning, as Caelius Rhodiginus noted in the teachings of the Platonists (Book 18, ch. 6).[6] Thus Homer, that greatest of geniuses, represented the first four elements, fighting among themselves and producing each other, under the names of Jove, Juno, Neptune, and Pluto. [The four elements intended in four names of gods.] The allegory is interpreted morally as when they talk of Pallas quarelling and fighting with Mars, and we understand - do we not? - that part of the mind which lacks reason in revolt against the higher part, and vice opposed to virtue. [Why Pallas quarrels with Mars.] The myth which we are about to explain is of this sort. Some are applied to theological ideas; for example, since the heavens by their motion produce time, perpetually consuming whatever they engender, we understand Caelus, Rhea and Saturn[7] eating his sons to be an image of God. [Saturn. Rhea. Macrobius, Saturnalia X.] In these figures Caelus (or Caelius) represents the divine essence, Rhea life, and Saturn the divine mind.

It seemed worthwhile to recall these things first so that we can come better prepared to the commentary of our emblem, and protect the ancient poets, as much as possible, from injustice. For I would think that they tried to respect in their mythical stories something such as was maintained by those early lawyers (as Cicero relates in the De oratore), who, in order to acquire authority and to increase it, refused to allow their art to be common knowledge, until Gnaeus Flavius divulged it - for which deed he was said to be sharper than the sharpest.[8] [For what purpose the poets used figures.] In just the same way those ancient poets hid their meanings under some dark shell and mythical ornaments, in order to keep ignorant common folk away from these mysteries of more recondite wisdom. This is what Lactantius is referring to clearly

[62] libro 1 capitulis 11 et 19,[24] cum poetas ait, quae vere gesta sunt, in aliquas species obliquis figurationibus cum decore aliquo conversa traduxisse, et mendacium non in factis, sed in nominibus admisisse. [Allegoriae poeticae ratio.] Quamobrem inepti et plane ἄμουσοι sunt, qui in poeticis narrationibus et figmentis explicandis,[25] ipsas tantum voces, nudaque vocabula, aut etiam simplices γνώμας considerant, nec ea potius eliciunt, quae sensum aliquem abstrusiorem contineant:[26] ut qui in picturis diiudicandis colores aliquos, aut operum lineas quasdam conspiciunt, aut ut qui mercibus involutis appositas imaginum tesserulas admirantur, nec quid intus lateat, aut inclusum esse possit, animadvertunt.[27] [Laus poetica.] Habet enim divinum hoc studium nescio quid latens et reconditum, quod aeque omnibus pervium non sit et apertum, sed ei tantum,[28]

Ingenium cui sit, cui mens divinior,

ut Flaccus[29] loquitur, sicuti non obscure aliquot disputationibus est a divino Platone traditum.[30] Sed et ut hoc adiiciam, poetas ipsos philosophis sapientia neutiquam posteriores, aut inferiores fuisse, praeter alios quosdam platonicos contendit[31] Maximus Tyrius.[32] [An poetae philosophis posteriores.] Hi enim sese videntur populari aurae, et infimae plebeculae accommodasse, dum fabulosa eiusmodi prodiderunt, quae divinis rationibus accommodarunt, rem quidem aperta ratione abstrusiorem, aenigmatis autem clariorem, aequaliter a scientia atque inscitia distantem, fidem sibi facientem propter id quod iucundum est, et admirationem, aliaque non satis vulgo persuasa:[33] adhaec quae animum ad rerum existentium pervestigationem, et eorum quae remota sunt, inquisitionem diligentem concitet. Qua in re praestanda hi sane homines magnum quiddam effecere: quandoquidem auribus humanis insidias quasdam sunt commenti, ii quidem re ipsa philosophi, nomine autem poetae, [Poetae nomine, re philosophi.] rem invidiosam ad eam artem revocarunt, quae populum admodum demulceat. Sese enim perinde habet erga multitudinem popularem philosophus, atque dives aliquis in eos qui premuntur inopia.[34] Sic autem videmus natura comparatum, ut qui vitio sunt alicui addicti, virtutem contrariam non sustineant, nisi eam superinductus aliquis fucus adumbrarit. [Poetae se vulgo facilius accommodant.] Habetur autem poeta mollis et facilis, propterque delectationem diligitur, et propter virtutem nequaquam, aut saltem raro cognoscitur. Ita enim medici salubre consi-

[62] (Book I, chs 11 and 19) when he says that the poets transferred things that had really happened into certain sorts of images by means of figures which were in some way apt, and to have allowed a lie, not in fact but in word.[9] [Allegorical method in poetry.] For this reason people are inept and quite silly when, in explicating poetic tales and fictions, they consider only the words themselves and the bare vocabulary, or even the aphorisms by themselves, and do not rather bring out those elements which may contain some deeper meaning - like people who, when judging of pictures, look only at certain colours, or certain lines of the works, or who admire the fragments of pictures stuck on the outside of parcels and pay no attention to what may lie within or be wrapped up inside. [Praise of poetry.] For this divine study has something mysterious and recondite about it which is not accessible and open to all equally, but only to that person 'who has gifts inborn, who has a soul divine ...' - in the words of Horace;[10] and quite clearly in a number of discussions by the divine Plato. But I would add this as well: Maximus of Tyre[11] contends that the poets themselves are in no way secondary in wisdom to the philosophers or inferior, with the exception of certain other Platonists. [Whether poets come after philosophers.] For these poets seem to have accommodated themselves to popular favour and to the meanest people, producing mythical tales of a sort which they adapted to divine ideas, something which is rather obscure in plain reason, but clear enough in terms of enigmas, equally distant from both knowing and not knowing, creating confidence and wonder because of its agreable quality, and other things of which ordinary folk are not sufficiently convinced; moreover something which could stimulate the mind to the exploration of manifest things, and to diligent inquiry into those which are hidden. In giving proof of this, these men achieved much indeed; in that they thought out certain sorts of snares for human ears, these men, philosophers in fact but poets in name, [Philosophers in fact but poets in name.] brought an enviable quality to that art which could seduce people completely. For the philosopher is considered, with respect to the popular crowd, just like some rich man with respect to those who are oppressed by poverty. But so we see nature wills that those who are given to some vice cannot bear the contrary virtue, unless some covering mask has disguised it. [Poets adapt themselves more easily to ordinary folk.] The poet however is considered gentle and easy, and is enjoyed because of the pleasure he gives and is never, or rarely, known for his virtue. Thus doctors spread some sweet liquid on a healthy antidote

[63] lium[35] dulci aliquo liquore aspergunt, ne deterreatur aeger saporis aut succi acrioris amaritie.[36] Eodem plane modo de philosophia illa veteri sentiendum, quae sententiis suis figmentorum ac carminum, tanquam veste cultuque magnifico tectis, priscorum hominum animos primum cepit atque delinivit:[37] neque secus id quidem, quam dissimulata disciplinae modestia[38] ad institutionem et morum feritatem cicurandam illexit. [Poetica eadem ac philosophia.] Nec est autem quod in dubium revoces, utri melius de divinis tractarint, philosophine an poetae: quin potius studium utrumque tanquam inito foedere, mutuo sese complecti deprehendas, ut eadem[39] non diversa putes. Cum enim philosophum ais, poetam etiam intelligis: et cum poetam, philosophum quoque comprehendis.[40] Haec et multa alia Tyrius, quae huc conferre placuit, ne in sequentibus repetere subinde cogar, quod semel admonuisse satis erit, ut quantum[41] poetis debeamus, philologus intelligat, nostrumque[42] consilium in narrationibus mythologicis, et poeticis allegoriis planum aliquando[43] faciamus. Si enim fabulam nudam aut historiam attexere satis esse ad commentationes has, quanquam tenues, existimassemus,[44] ansam ridendi,[45] carpendique haec, tanquam poetarum deliria et nugamenta praeberemus: (nonnulli enim sunt, et fuere iam olim, qui poeticum hoc studium ut plane nugatorium aspernentur)[46] et maxime hoc de Ganymede figmentum, quod reprehendit Lactantius,[47] Dominus Augustinus De civitate 18 capitulo 13[48] et ipse Plato 1 De legibus[49] sub persona Atheniensis hospitis, nimirum ob insanum paederastiae flagitium. [Ganymedis fabula varie accepta.] Sed quia non video quam sit necesse singula tam anxie persequi, quin potius ad finem[50] me continuo recipere, per Ganymedem[51] ab aquila raptum, [Quid per Ganymedem intelligimus.] animam humanam intelligimus, quae, ut ait Plotinus,[52] tum condere caput intra caelum dicitur, cum relicta quasi corporis secretione, caelestia mentis oculo contemplatur: quod sane absque raptu quodam fieri non potest.[53] Plato etiam in Phaedone[54] et Theateto,[55] cum iubet animam a corpore segregare, non loco segregandam esse[56] intelligit, sed monet ne corpori animus adhaerescat, neque ob corporis commercium a mente superiore fiat alienus, coneturque, quantum fieri poterit, subditam sibi animae speciem ad superiora perducere. [Unde Emblema ductum.] Videtur[57] autem sumptum emblema ex Xenophontis Symposio,[58] qui[59] concinne et apposite Ganymedis ἔτυμον explanat. Ait enim

[63] lest the sick person is put off by the bitterness of a taste or of some sour juice. We should think in exactly the same way of this ancient philosophy which first captured and charmed the minds of early men with the meanings of its images and verse as if decked with splendid dress and elegance; and, no differently, by disguising the annoyance of discipline it attracted men to learning and to taming the wildness of their behaviour. [Poetry the same as philosophy.] But there is no reason why you should call in doubt which of the two, philosophers or poets, have dealt better with divine subjects, but rather you should grasp that each method embraces the other as in an active alliance, so that you cannot think of them as different. For when you say 'philosopher', you mean 'poet' too, and when you say 'poet', you also imply 'philosopher'. Maximus of Tyre says these things and many more, which it seemed right to set down here so that I am not obliged to repeat time and again in what follows what it will be enough to have indicated once, so that the student of letters may understand how much we are in debt to the poets, and so that I may make clear once and for all my ideas on mythological stories and poetic allegories. For if I thought that it was enough to attach the literal fable or story to these commentaries, however thin they may be, I would be offering an opportunity for laughter and criticism of them as the ravings and trivia of poets (for there are, and were already long ago, some who rejected this poetic method as entirely trivial), and especially of this fiction about Ganymede which is reproved by Lactantius,[12] Augustine (The City of God, 18.13)[13] and Plato himself (Laws, 1[14]) in the person of the Athenian host, no doubt because of the monstrous vice of pederasty. [The story of Ganymede variously understood.]
However, since it does not seem so necessary to prosecute particular cases with such rigour that I should not come back consistently to my purpose, [What we understand by Ganymede.] let us say that by Ganymede snatched up by the eagle we understand the human spirit which, as Plotinus has it, is said to keep its head in the clouds when, released by a sort of separation from the body, it contemplates heavenly things with the eye of the mind - which plainly cannot occur without some sort of ravishment. When Plato too, in the Phaedo and the Theaetetus, commands the mind to escape from the body, he does not mean that it is to be separated spatially, but is warning that thought should not adhere to the body or be alienated from the higher mind by the activity of the body, and should try as far as possible to control the looking of the mind and lead it to higher things. [Source of the emblem.] It seems however that the emblem is taken from the Banquet of Xenophon, who explains the etymology of 'Ganymede' concisely and aptly.[15] For he says

[64] deos et heroas animae amicitiam multo pluris facere, quam usum qui ex corpore percipitur. [60] Iupiter enim quarum[61] formam (cum essent mortales) amavit, has ipsas mortales esse sivit: quorum vero animas est amore prosecutus, hos immortalitate donavit; de quorum numero Hercules, Castor ac Pollux esse dicuntur, cum aliquot[62] aliis, quos Heroas appellabant.[63] Sic etiam asseverat[64] Ganymedem non corporis, sed animi gratia a Iove in Olympum fuisse raptum. Cuius quidem rei et testimonium ex ipso nomine colligamus licet. Habetur enim alicubi apud Homerum, γάννυται δέ τ̕ ἀκούων,[65] laetatur audiendo: et alibi, etiam πυκινὰ ϕρεσὶ μήδεα εἰδώς, id est sapientia plena mente consilia sciens. Ex ambabus igitur his vocibus, non corporis, sed mentis deliciarum nomen Ganymedes referens, inter deos est relatus. Sed dum vacat, huc ascribam verba philosophi, ut aliquo tandem onere candidatos linguae Graecae levare possim: Ἐπιθυμῶ δέ σοι, [ἔϕη] ὧ Καλλία, καὶ μυθολογῆσαι, ὡς οὐ μόνον ἄνθρωποι ἀλλὰ καὶ θεοὶ καὶ ἣρωες τὴν τῆς ψυχῆς ϕιλίαν περὶ πλείονος ἣ τὴν τοῦ σώματος χρῆσιν ποιοῦνται. Ζεύς τε γὰρ ὅσων[66] μὲν θνητῶν οὐσῶν μορϕῆς ἠράσθη, συγγενόμενος εἴα αὐτὰς θνητὰς εἶναι· ὄσων δὲ ψυχαῖς ἀγασθείη, ἀθανάτους τούτους ἐποίει· ὧν Ἡρακλῆς μὲν καὶ Διόσκοροί εἰσι, λέγονται δὲ καὶ ἄλλοι· καὶ ἐγὼ δέ ϕημι καὶ Γανυμήδην οὐ σώματος, ἀλλὰ ψυχῆς ἕνεκα ὑπὸ Διὸς εἰς Ὄλυμπον ἀνενεχθῆναι. μαρτυρεῖ δὲ καὶ τοὔνομα αὐτοῦ· ἔστι μὲν γὰρ δήπου καὶ Ὁμήρωͺ,

[64] the gods and heros value friendship of the mind much more highly than the use which is gained from the body. For Jupiter left as mortals all those women whom he loved for their beauty (because they were mortals), but those people whom he loved for their minds he endowed with immortality. Among their number, it is said, were Hercules, Castor, and Pollux, with a few others who were called heros. So too he declares Ganymede was taken up to Olympus by Jove not for the sake of his body, but of his mind. For this we may find testimony from the name itself. You can find somewhere in Homer 'gannytai de t'akoúōn', 'he is delighted to hear', and elsewhere 'pykina fresi mēdesi eidoōs', that is, 'having wise purposes in mind'. Since, from these two words, the name 'Ganymede' means the pleasures, not of the body, but of the mind, he was taken up among the gods. But while there is time let me add here the words of the philosopher [ie. Xenophon] so that I may relieve students of the Greek language of some of their load:

My heart is set on showing you, Callias, on the basis of olden tales, also, that not only humankind but also gods and demi-gods set higher value on the friendship of the spirit than on the enjoyment of the body. For in all cases where Zeus became enamoured of mortal women for their beauty, though he united with them he suffered them to remain mortal; but all those persons whom he delighted in for their souls' sake he made immortal. Among the latter are Heracles and the Sons of Zeus [the 'Dioscuri', Castor and Pollux]; and tradition includes others also. And I aver that even in the case of Ganymede, it was not his person but his spiritual character that influenced Zeus to carry him up to Olympus. This is confirmed by his very name. Homer, you remember, has the words, 'He joys to hear'; that is to say, 'he rejoices to hear'; and in another place, 'harbouring shrewd devices in his heart'. This, again, means 'harbouring wise counsels in his heart'. So the name Gany-mede, compounded of the two foregoing elements, signifies not physically but mentally attractive; hence his honour among the gods.[16]

This is what Xenophon says. It would be quite easy for me to report the story of the statue, from Pliny if I am not mistaken, who says in book 34, chapter 8 [Passage from Pliny]: Leocras[17] portrayed the eagle as knowing what he was responsible for in Ganymede, and who he was carrying him to, sparing him by sticking his claws through his clothes, and so on. It would be easy to do likewise from the scholiast of Homer on book IV of the Homeric Iliad. But what need is there to use so many words in such a small book? In fact Alciato applies this notion of ravishment to those who by devout meditation and ardent devotion of the mind, enter, as it were, into the very house of God, and take such pleasure in those things that are pleasing to God that, even in this life, they experience something of the joys of eternal blessedness. [What Jupiter is.] The scholiast of Homer on Iliad IV does not disagree with this, saying that by the name Jove is meant 'first understanding', and by the name of Ganymede

[65] eum qui consiliis divinis gaudeat. τοῦτον γὰρ ὁ Γαννυμήδης, ὡς ὁ νοῦς ἔχει οἰκεῖον τὸ τοῖς μήδεσι γάννυσθαι. [Felices qui.] Sed[74] et Grammatici non modo, quin etiam philosophi non postremi nominis beatos seu felices, quos εὐδαίμωνας καὶ μακαρίους appellant, non alio sensu iis id impositum nomen putant, quod habeant aliquem cum diis consensum. Nam et εὐδαιμονεῖν Aristotelis interpretantur εὖ ζῆν nonnulli etiam θεωρεῖν. Μακαρίους autem a μὰ, καὶ τοῦ χαίρω. Locus Aristotelis est Moralia ad Nicomachum 7.[75]

[65] 'he who rejoices in divine counsel'. [Who the blessed are.] And not only grammarians but philosophers even, and not the least of that name, think that this term, the blessed or happy, whom they call in Greek eudaimones and makarioi, was attributed to them in no other sense than that they have some conformity with the gods. For some even interpret Aristotle's 'eudaimonein' [to be fortunate] as 'eu Zēn theō rein' [to behold Zeus happily], and 'makarios' as from 'ma[la]' [exceedingly] and 'xairō' [to rejoice]. The place in Aristotle is the Nichomachian Ethics, book 7.

Iovis alite.] Aquilae περίϕρασις. Hanc avium reginam appellant, crediditque antiquitas eam Iovi tela ministrare et fulmen. Horatius 4 Carmina.[76] [Avium regina aquila, & Iovis ales.]

Qualem ministrum fulminis alitem

Cui rex deorum regnum in aves vagas

Perrmisit expertus fidelem

Iupiter in Ganymede flavo.

Phornutus eam Iovi sacram esse vult, quod volandi pernicitate aliis avibus excellat. ἱερὸς δ᾽ ὄρνις, inquit, αὐτοῦ ὁ ἀετὸς λέγεται εἶναι, διὰ τὸ ὀξύτατον τοῦτον εἶναι τῶν ἄλλων πτηνῶν. [77] Lege Plinium libro 10 capitulis 4 et 5.[78] Pierium Valerianum libro 19 Hyerogliphicôn.[79] Sunt qui alio convertunt aquilam, per quam navem[80] intelligunt, cuius insigne aquila esset, aut legionem militum, qua legione raptus esse putatur.[81] Lactantius libro 1 capitulo 10.[82] Fulgentius Mythologica 1.[83]

the bird of Jove: Circumlocution for the eagle, which is called the queen of birds, and antiquity believed that it bore the arrow and the thunderbolt for Jove. See Horace, Odes, book 4: [The eagle, queen of the birds, and Jupiter's bird.]

Like the winged bearer of the lightning, to whom the king of gods gave dominion o'er the roving birds, having found him faithful in the case of fair-haired Ganymede ... [18]

Phornutus would have it that this bird is sacred to Jove, because it exceeds other birds in its speed of flight. See Pliny, book 10, chs 4 and 5; Pierio Valeriano, Hieroglyphics, book 19. There are some who interpret the eagle in another way, understanding it to be a ship whose figurehead is an eagle, or a legion of soldiers, by which he [Ganymede] was seized. (Lactantius, book I, ch. 10[19]; Fulgentius the Mythographer, book I.)

Puerum Iliacum.] Ganymedem, ab Ilio Troiae civitate, qui Troem patrem habuit Troiae regem: et a poetis dicitur ab aquila raptus, et in caelum sublatus, ut deorum praeficeretur aqualiculis.[84] Martialis libro 1:[85] [Homeri Iliadis ϒ.[86]]

Aethereas aquila puerum portante per auras
Illaesum tumidis unguibus haesit onus

the Iliacan boy: Ganymede, from Ilium, the city of Troy, whose father was Tros, king of Troy, and who is said by the poets to have been carried off by an eagle and born up into heaven to superintend the drinking bowls of the gods. Martial, book 1; Homer, Iliad, book 20:

While the eagle was bearing the boy through the airs of heaven, its burden clung unscathed to those timorous talons.[20]

Quisne Iovem tactum puerili, etc.] Puerilem simplicitatem, id est, innocentiam et mentis puritatem Deo gratissimum esse passim testantur sacrae literae.[87] Quo illud Servatoris[88] referendum: Sinite parvuli ad me veniant. Et, Nisi efficiamini sicut parvuli, etc. [Puerilis simplicitas Deo grata.]

Who [would believe] that Jove is affected by pueril ...: Holy scriptures testify in many places that childlike simplicity, that is innocence and purity of mind, is most pleasing to God. In this connection the saying of the Saviour should be mentioned: 'Suffer the little ones to come to me', and 'Unless ye become like little children ...' and so on. [Childlike simplicity is pleasing to God.]

Maeonius finxerit unde senex.] Homerus, qui Maeonius caecutiens appellatur a Martiano Capella libro 1 De nuptiis Philologiae,[89] a Maeone rege a quo educatus fertur, ita cognominatus. [Homerus cur Maeonius dictus.] Thersagoras apud Lucianum in Demosthenis encomio,[90] ita de Homero verba facit: πατέρα δὲ Μαίονο τὸν Λυδὸν, ἢ ποταμὸν, καὶ μητέρα Μελανώπου [91] ϕασὶν ἣ νύμϕην τῶν Ὑδριάδων.[92]

Whence the old Maeonian will have conceived ...: Homer, who is called the blind Maeonian by Martianus Capella (Marriage of Philology and Mercury, book 1),[21] nicknamed thus after the king Maeon by whom it is said he was brought up. [Why Homer is called 'Maeonian'.] Thersagoras has the following words about Homer in Lucian's eulogy of Demosthenes:

... his father was Maeon, the Lydian, or a river ... and his mother was the daughter of Melanopus, or ... a Water Nymph.[22]

[66] Consilium, mens atque Dei, etc.] Μυθολογία est, in qua advertendum, quam graphice et commode Ganymedei nominis vim exprimat. [Ganymedis nomen unde.] Γάνυμι enim, vel γάννυμαι, laetor est: respondetque his quae dixit, gaudia praestant: et μήδεα consilia unde γάννυσθαι μήδεσι τοῦ διὸς, emblematis et figmenti sensum explanat.

[66] Counsel, and the mind of God ... This is a myth, in which we should note how graphically and appropriately it expresses the significance of the name of Ganymede. [Derivation of the name Ganymede.] For 'ganymi' or 'gannymai' means 'I rejoice', and corresponds to what he said: 'Joys excel'. And 'mēdea' means 'counsel', whence 'gannysthai mēdesi tou dios' [rejoices in the counsels of God] explains the meaning of the emblem and the figure.

1 1583, p. 33: fuit hac [back]

2 1583: commentatione [back]

3 1583: ambitiose, vel superstitiose potius, ut [back]

4 1583: Statim enim me [back]

5 1573, p. 46: Lacks 'Consilium ... anticiparo'. [back]

6 147B-C. The Alcibiades is now generally regarded as spurious. [back]

7 The 1577 edition has summary marginal notes, presumably provided by Plantin, which are inserted here in the Latin text - and translated in the English - in square brackets. [back]

8 1583, p. 34: inspiciunt [back]

9 1583: habent, ut ex doctrina Platonicorum plerique docti viri.

Ludovicus Caelius Rhodiginus (Lodovico Ricchieri, Richerius), Lectionum antiquarum libri XXX (Basle, 1542), pp. 679-81 (earlier editions such as the first - Venice, Aldus, 1516 - have only 16 books), lib. 18, cap. 6, entitled 'Triplici semita incedere, qui fabulas allegorice interpretentur'.
... Fabularum allegorias tribus metimur modis: aut enim physice interpretamur, aut ethice, aut theologice. Ac physicam quidem allegoriam intelligimus, ubi ad naturam fabulamenta reflectimus. Sicuti quum deos compugnantes Homerus effingit, elementorum nobis dissidentem innuit naturam ... Moralis vero allegoria est, quum sit ad mores relatio, ut si Pallada dicamus cum Marte dissidia agitare, nimirum rationis impotem animae partem adversus rationalem potentiam attolentem caput intelligamus: quodque bonum est, obluctari malo ... Theologica vero allegoriarum ratio ea fere traditur, quum dicimus nomina deorum masculina significare in divinis actum efficientem, foeminina autem potentiam capientem. Praeterea quod caelum suo motu tempus producat, absumens perpetuo quae gignat, imago quaedam est, referens deum Caelum & Rheam atque Saturnum filios devorantem: (in quibus Caelus essentiam praefert divinam, Rhea eiusdem vitam significante, Saturno vero eiusdem mentem. Nam Saturni filios idea rerum scienter interpretamur, inteliigentia divina intus genitas, quae sicuti producuntur a mente, ita et in eandem revocantur, illas in se quodammodo absorbentem. [back]

10 1583: ingeniorum vertex [back]

11 1583: Ad mores traducitur [back]

12 1573: cum superiore [back]

13 1573: Lacks 'fabula' [back]

14 1573: Lacks 'nonnulla' [back]

15 1573: Deum [sic] [back]

16 Macrobius, Saturnalia, 1.10 where Saturn and Ops [not Rhea] are said to represent heaven and earth. Saturn is mentioned as swallowing his children and therefore being identified with time in I.9. The cult of Rhea-Cybele, wife of Cronus and mother of the Olympian gods, was introduced into Rome at the end of the third century BC and associated with that of Maia or Ops. [back]

17 1573: Quae praelibare placuit [back]

18 1583: ab ineptam quorundam sciolorum contumelia vindicemus [back]

19 De Oratore, 1.41.186; but Mignault is almost certainly thinking of Pro Murena, 11.25, since it is there that Cicero applies the saying Cornicum oculos configere to Gnaeus Flavius. [back]

20 1583: auctoritatem aliquam obtinerent, eamque augerent [back]

21 1583: sub aliquo quasi velo certe obscuro [back]

22 1583: mysteriis sapientiae [back]

23 1583: & Lactantius [back]

24 1573: the reference is in the margin. [back]

25 1573: in poeticis interpretandis [back]

26 1573: quae sensum abstrusiorem requirant [back]

27 1573: lateat, attendunt [back]

28 1583: pervium & apertum non sit, sed ei dumtaxat homini [back]

29 Horace, Satires, 1.4.43 [back]

30 1573: non obscure multis in locis tradidit Plato. In addition to the spurious Alcibiades, Mignault may be thinking of the Phaedrus and the Ion. For a convenient account of Platonist theory in the Renaissance see Bernard Weinberg, A History of Literary Criticism in the Italian Renaissance (University of Chicago Press, 1961), vol. 1, chs 7 and 8. [back]

31 1573: praeter alios contendit [back]

32 Maximi Tyrii Philosophi Platonici Sermones (1517), Sermo 29, 'Utri melius de diis tractarint poetae ne an philosophi'. From this point to the second mention of Maximus below, Mignault reproduces loosely a passage on fo. o iv v of this edition. [back]

33 1573: facientem propter iucundos numeros, propter admirationem parum creditam [back]

34 1573: qui pauperie premuntur [back]

35 1573: salubre remedium. 1583: salubre quoddam alexipharmacum [back]

36 1573: saporis amaritudine [back]

37 1573, p. 49: tanquam veste tectis priscos illos animos primum cepit [back]

38 1573: Sic. 1573 and 1583, p. 35: molestia [back]

39 1583: 1573: complecti eadem [back]

40 1573: 1583: quoque innuis [back]

41 1573: cogar, quantum [back]

42 1573: debeamus, nostrumque [back]

43 1573: planum deinceps [back]

44 1573: satis fuisset [back]

45 1577: videndi (sic). 1583, p. 36: ridendi [back]

46 1573: poetarum deliria relinqueremus (without any bracket) [back]

47 Divine Institutes, 1.10 and 11. See the English, note 12. [back]

48 the title and chapter reference are in the margin. See the English, note 13. [back]

49 See the English, note 14. [back]

50 1583: ad propositum finem [back]

51 1573: paederastiae facinus. Itaque per Ganymedem. 1583: recipere iam tandem par sit: age vero, per Ganymedem [back]

52 Enneades, 4.3.12: κάρα δὲ αὐταῖς ἐστήρικται ὑπεράνω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ... but their heads are firmly set above in heaven. (Translation by A. H. Armstrong - Loeb IV, 74-5). At this point Plotinus is in fact talking about the desecent of the soul into the body. [back]

53 1573: raptu quodam non fit. 1583: fieri minime potest [back]

54 64E-65C and 82D-83E. [back]

55 176A-B [back]

56 1573: quam iubet animam a corpore segregare, non loco segregare. 1583: cum iubet animam a corpore seiungere, non loco segregandam esse [back]

57 1583: Constat [back]

58 Xenophon, Banquet, 8.28-30 [back]

59 1583: quo loci [sic] [back]

60 1573: quam corporis usum [back]

61 1583: quorum [back]

62 1583: aliquod [sic] [back]

63 1573: cum aliis quibusdam [back]

64 1573: assero [back]

65 1577: γάννυται δ̕ ακούων [sic] 1583: γάννυται τ̕ ἀκούων [back]

66 1577: ὅσον [sic]: 1583: ὅσων [back]

67 Mignault omits τοῦτο δ̕ αὖ λέγει σοϕὰ ϕρεσὶ βουλεύματα εἰδώς [back]

68 Naturalis historia, 34.79. [back]

69 Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem. Ad fidem exempli Romani editi. Ed. T. Stallbaum (Lipsiae, 1829), vol. 4, 154, at Υ [Upsilon], v. 219 (ie. Iliad, 20. 232-5) [back]

70 1583: tam multis? [back]

71 1573: inter Deos est relatus. Haec ferme Xenophon. Caeterum ... In Mignault's 'Supplementa quaedam seu posteriores notae' of 1573, p. 523: 'Admonui emblematis huius originem ex Xenophontis convivio petitam esse. Verba philosophi sic habent, ut onere aliquo candidatos linguae Graecae levemus' (followed by the quotation). [back]

72 1573: cogitatione votoque Dei [back]

73 Not found. But see Maximus Tyrius, LXXVII r: Dii Jovem esse antiquissimum, principemque mentem. [back]

74 1583: γάννυσθαι. Hoc pene sensu dixit Naumachius, vetus poeta, pulcrum esse virginem puris semper cogitationibus delectari, id est (nam Graeca perbelle conveniunt huic Ganymedis etymo) - - καλὸν / παρθενικήν καθαροῖσιν ἀεὶ μελεδήμασι χαίρειν. Sed ...
Naumachius, probably of the second century AD, is known only in a few fragments preserved in Stobaeus; this passage is in the latter's Eclogues, ch. 22, part 2, no 32; in the edition by Otto Hense (Weidmann, 1974), IV, 514-5. The full text is:

Καλὸν μὲν δέμας ἁγνὸν ἔχειν ἀδμῆτά τε μίμνειν
παρθενικήν, καθαροῖσί τ᾽ ἀεὶ μελεδήμασι χαίρειν ... [back]

75 1573: experiantur. Lege Caelium Rhodiginum libro 3 capitulo 8. Nicomachean Ethics, 7.11.2 [back]

76 Odes, 4.4.1-4 [back]

77 I.e. Cornutus, Lucius Annaeus, Theologiae graecae compendium, 10.15-16, ch. 9 (Teubner, 1881, p. 10, ll. 16-18) [back]

78 Naturalis historia [back]

79 In the Lyon 1602 edition, p. 194 [back]

80 1573: aquilam, per quam legionem. 1583: aquilam: navem enim [back]

81 1573: esset, aut navem [back]

82 Divine Institutes, 1.11 (not 10. See the English, note 19): He is said to have carried away Ganymede by an eagle; it is a picture of the poets. But he either carried him off by a legion, which has an eagle for its standard; or the ship on board of which he was placed had its tutelary deity in the shape of an eagle, just as it had the effigy of a bull when he seized Europa ... (Ibid., p. 21) [back]

83 Mythologies, 1.20
1573: Mythologica 1 & Baptistus Pius Annotationes posteriores capitulo 98 [back]

84 1573, p. 51: ut Deorum pincerna efficeretur [back]

85 Epigrams, 1.4 [back]

86 Iliad 20. The reference appears to be to lines 232-5, though Homer does not mention the eagle. [back]

87 Matt.19:4; Mark 10:14; Luke 18:6; Matt. 18:3 [back]

88 1583: illud sacri oraculi [back]

89 1.3 [back]

90 Pseudo-Lucian, Demosthenis encomiun, 9. [back]

91 Μεναλώπην (sic) [back]

92 1573: the passage from a Maione rege to Ὑδριάδων is absent.
1577: δρυάδων (sic). [back]

1 Sánchez de la Brosas, whose edition of Alciato's Emblems also appeared in 1573 (Lyon, G. Rouille), relates the title to the well known exhortation of St Paul, Phil. 4:4 ('Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice'), but since the Latin in that case is 'Gaudete in Domino semper, iterum dico, gaudete', it would seem that Alciato did not wish to evoke it directly. [back]

2 1583 adds: 'or rather so superstitiously'. These first three sentences, not present in 1573, are probably a response to Sánchez de la Brosas. In his comments on the dedication to Peutinger (pp. 5-6), the Spaniard had said: 'In this [ie. explaining the emblems] I had set myself one aim in particular: that I should indicate whence each emblem is derived, for I believe that this is of great importance for the explanation of anything.' [back]

3 See the Latin text, note 7. [back]

4 Mignault is paraphrasing slightly. Socrates says: 'For poetry as a whole is by nature inclined to riddling (ἡ σύμπασα αἰνιγματώδης), and it is not every man who can apprehend it'. (Translation by W. R. M. Lamb, Loeb, p. 260-1) [back]

5 This does not, of course, contradict the statement in the 'Syntagma' (p. 42) that the emblem is not a riddle; the emblem is there treated as the pictorial symbol, which may or may not have a poem associated with it. Here and almost everywhere in his commentaries, Mignault is concerned with the epigram as poetry, and the 'enigmas' are the images of this poetry. [back]

6 The following is the translation of the passage from Rhodiginus (see the Latin text, note 9): Those who interpret myths allegorically take a triple pathway ... We judge mythical allegories in three ways: we interpret them physically, ethically or theologically. We understand an allegory as physical when we apply the narration to nature, as when Homer pictures the gods fighting together and means elemental nature at variance with us ... Allegory is moral when there is an application to conduct, as when for example we say that Pallas is engaged in a disagreement with Mars we understand indisputably that the part of the soul which lacks reason raises its head against the rational power, and that what is good strives with evil ... The sense of allegories is generally said to be theological when we say that the masculine names of the gods mean the efficient act in divine terms and the feminine names the power which is capable of acting. Furthermore, the fact that the heavens by their movement produce time and continually re-absorb what they produce is represented by a certain image of the god Caelus and Rhea and Saturn devouring his children. Of these Caelus represents the divine essence, Rhea means its life and Satrun its mind. For we rightly interpret the children of Saturn as the archetype of things which exist, which are engendered by the divine intelligence within itself, and which, just as they are produced by the mind so they are called back into it as it somehow re-absorbs them into itself ...
See also Book IV, which is a defence and discussion of poetry. Rhodiginus insists on the idea of the poet as a good and wise man, underlines the power of allegory as a pedagogical device, and envisions two agents of control, the church and the philosophers (cf. Mignault's citation of Lactantius and Maximus Tyrius). Plato's condemnation of poetry is seen as limited. See Bernard Weinberg, A History of Literary Criticism in the Italian Renaissance (University of Chicago Press, 1961), I, 257-60. [back]

7 The figures of Saturn, Rhea, and Caelus all appear also in chapter 11 of Lactantius, quoted below, but with different meanings. [back]

8 'cornicum oculos configere': literally 'to pierce the eyes of crows'. See Erasmus, Adagia, I iii 75. [back]

9 Divine Institutes, 1.11: The poets did not therefore invent these transactions, for if they were to do so they would be most worthless; but they added a certain colour to the transactions. For it was not for the purpose of detraction that they said these things, but from a desire to embellish them ... it is the business of the poets with some gracefulness to change and transfer actual occurrences into other representations by oblique transformations ... The accounts of the poets, therefore, are true, but veiled with an outward covering and show ... The poets transfer many things after this manner, not for the sake of speaking falsely against the objects of their worship, but thet they may by various coloured figures add beauty and grace to their poems. But they who do not understand the manner, or the cause, or the nature of that which is represented by figures, attack the poets as false and sacrilegious. (Translation by the Rev. William Fletcher in The Ante-Nicene Fathers / Grand Rapids, Wm B. Eerdmans, 1985 - vol. 7, p. 21)
1.19: For the falsehood of the poets does not consist in the deed, but in the name. (Ibid., p. 32) [back]

10 See the Latin, note 29. Translation by H. Rushton Fairclough (Loeb, pp. 52-3), adapted to Mignault's sentence. [back]

11 The original Greek text is to be found in the Teubner edition, Maximi Tyrii philosophumena, ed. H. Hobein (Leipzig, 1910), no IV, pp. 46-47. The following is the English translation, from the Greek, by M. B. Trapp (Maximus of Tyre: The Philosophical Orations - Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1997 - Oration 4, p. 37):
6. It was their realization of this truth that led the poets to invent the device by which they play on the soul in their discussions of the gods: namely, the use of myths, that are less clear than explicit doctrine, yet more lucid than riddles, and occupy the middle ground between rational knowledge and ignorance [position assigned to dóxa in Plato, Republic, 476E ff]. Trusted because of the pleasure they give, yet mistrusted because of their paradoxical content, they guide the soul to search for the truth and to investigate more deeply [cf. Plutarch, De E apud Delphos, 385D; Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis, 5.4.24.1-2 and 6.15.126.1]. What has for the most part gone unnoticed is that these men, with their cunning designs on our attention, are really philosophers. They may be called poets, but that is only because they have accepted a reputation for crowd-pleasing skill in place of one for something less congenial [cf Strabo 1.2.8.ad fin]. A philosopher is a difficult and unpleasant thing for most people to listen to, just as a rich man is an unpleasant sight to paupers, a prudent man to the profligate, and a hero to cowards: vices cannot abide virtues preening themselves in their midst. A poet on the other hand makes more soothing and popular listening; he is cherished for the pleasure he gives, while his virtues go unremarked. When doctors are faced with patients who make problems about taking their medicine, they immerse their bitter drugs in pleasant food and thus conceal the unpleasantness of the cure. In just the same way, the philosophy of the distant past entrusted its message to myths and metre and poetic form, blending the unpleasantness of its teachings with a coating of entertainment [cf Lucretius, I,936-50; Plato Laws 659C-660A; Xenophon, Memoralia, 4.2.17] So do not ask whether it is the poets or the philosophers who have produced the better account of the gods. Call a truce and arrange a ceasefire between these pursuits, for it is in fact about just the one single and coherent art that you are enquiring. If you use the name 'poet' you are also saying 'philosopher'; if you use the name 'philosopher' you are also saying 'poet'.
Mignault may have been inspired to quote Maximus by Lilio Gregorio Giraldi, Historiae poetarum dialogi (Basle, Isengrinius, 1545), Dialogue 1. Giraldi says, p. 73: Extat Max. Tyrii philosophi Platonici oratio pulcherrima, qua poeticae maiestatem adeo celebrat, ut eam philosophiae praestat vetustate, eandem re esse, nomine diversam licet, asseveret ...
There is extant a very fine oration of Maximus Tyrius the Platonic philosopher, in which he honours the dignity of poetry so highly, since it exceeds in antiquity that of philosophy, that he asserts that it is the same thing, though different in name.
Mignault would have found ample support for his argument in this dialogue which, as Weinberg notes (I, p. 105), represents a full scale defense of poetry and statement of principles, quotes recent apologies of Petrarch, Boccaccio, Budé, and Pontano; it defines poetry as a first theology and first philosophy; and describes its civilising function, its uses in sacred writing, the hidden meanings of all poetry, and its essentially allegorical nature. [back]

12 Lactantius ch.10: But he [Jupiter] reached the height of impiety and guilt in carrying off the royal boy. For it did not appear enough to cover himself with infamy in offering violence to women, unless he also outraged his own sex. This is true adultery, which is done against nature. Whether he who committed these crimes can be called Greatest is a matter of question, undoubtedly he is not the Best; to which name corrupters, adulterers, and incestuous persons have no claim; unless it happens that we men are mistaken in terming those who do such things wicked and abandoned, and in judging them most deserving of every kind of punishment. (p. 20).
ch. 11: For what other conclusion does the image of Ganymede and the effigy of the eagle admit of, when they are placed before the feet of Jupiter in the temples, and are worshipped equally with himself, except that the memory of impious guilt and debauchery remains for ever? (p. 22) [back]

13 But then, whoever the men were who invented the legend that the most beautiful boy Ganymede was carried off to be the paramour of Jove, a crime committed by king Tantalus which a fable attributed to Jove ... words cannot express the poor opinion they imply of human intelligence, to take it for granted that men could patiently put up with such lies. (Translation by E. M. Sandford and W. M. Green - Loeb V, 408-9) [back]

14 And we all accuse the Cretans of concocting the story about Ganymede. Because it was the belief that they derived their laws from Zeus, they added on this story about Zeus in order that they might be following his example in enjoying this pleasure [characterised in the previous sentence as 'contrary to nature'] as well. (Translation by R. G. Bury - Loeb pp. 40-41) [back]

15 Mignault paraphrases Xenophon, and then reproduces the whole passage. [back]

16 Translation by O. J. Todd in Xenophon, Memorabilia, Oeconomicus, Symposium, Apology (Loeb, pp. 623-5). Mignault omits the phrase translated as 'This, again, means "harbouring wise counsels in his heart"'. O. J. Todd remarks that the two phrases mentioned by Xenophon do not occur in these exact forms in extant Homeric poems. [back]

17 Leochares, as he is usually called, worked for Alexander and was one of the sculptors of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassos. [back]

18 Translation by C. E. Bennet (Loeb, p. 295) [back]

19 He is said to have carried away Ganymede by an eagle; it is an image of the poets. But he either carried him off by a legion, which has an eagle for its standard; or the ship on board of which he was placed had its tutelary deity in the shape of an eagle, just as it had the effigy of a bull when he seized Europa ... (p. 21) [back]

20 Translation by Walter C. A. Ker (Loeb I, 34-5), who corrects Mignault's tumidis to timidis. [back]

21 In the translation by William Harris Stahl and Richard Johnson (Columbia University Press, 1977), p. 5. [back]

22 Translation by M. D. Macleod (Loeb VIII, 247) [back]