
In receptatores sicariorum.
Those who harbour cut-throats
EMBLEMA LII.
Latronum, furumque manus tibi, Scaeva[1], per urbem
It comes, & diris cincta cohors gladiis:
Atque ita te mentis generosum, prodige, censes,
Quòd tua complures allicit olla malos.
En novus Actaeon, qui postquàm cornua sumpsit,
In praedam canibus se dedit ipse suis.[2]
An evil-minded band of ruffians and thieves accompanies you about the city, a gang of supporters armed with lethal swords. And so, you wastrel, you consider yourself a fine lordly fellow because your cooking pot draws in crowds of scoundrels. - Here’s a fresh Actaeon - he, after he grew his horns, became the prey of his own hunting dogs.
1. Scaeva, ‘evil-minded’. The capital letter suggests that the Latin word could be taken as a proper name in the vocative case, i.e addressing one Scaeva.
2. For the story of Actaeon turned into a stag and killed by his own hounds, see Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.138ff. Similarly, the hangers-on will destroy the one who has fed them.
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- prospect of city, town panorama, silhouette of city [25I12] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head bent backwards [31A243] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched forward [31A2512] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm held downwards (+ holding something) [31A2515(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- crawling, going on all fours [31A2712] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- monsters ~ hoofed animals (+ head or (parts of) face) [31A4524(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- dog (+ fighting animals; aggressive relations) [34B11(+951)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- gear for legs and feet (+ men's clothes) [41D233(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- hunting horn [43C11482] Search | Browse Iconclass
- casting weapons: spear [45C11(SPEAR)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Actaeon changed into a stag: as punishment for seeing her bathe, Diana changes Actaeon, the hunter, into a stag (Ovid, Metamorphoses III 193) [97C1] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Relating to the text:
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Maledicentia.
Evil speaking
Emblema. li.
Archilochi[1] tumulo insculptas de marmore vespas
Esse ferunt,[2] linguae certa sigilla malae.
They say that on the tomb of Archilochus wasps were carved in marble, sure figures of an evil tongue.
SImile quid legitur in 3. Graecorum epigramma-
ton. Vespae autem tumulo Archilochi affixae, ef-
frenis linguae petulantiam arguunt. Quod torqueri
facilè potest in scriptorem quendam maledicum,
quíque alios fuerit insana quadam obtrectandi li-
centia infectatus. Vespae sunt raucae & mordaces:
acriter enim pungunt, sed neque mel, neque ceram
fingunt: ita maledicis unum carpendi, convician-
díque studium, in caeteris inutiles & inepti.

Mesdisance.
SUr le tombeau d’Archilochus assises
Les Guespes sont, qui servent de devises,
Pour demonstrer son eguillon cuisant,
Et qu’il fut trop poignant & mesdisant.
LE semblable se trouve au 3. des epigram-
mes Grecs, Les Guespes mises sur le
tombeau d’Archilochus, denotent une lan-
gue mauvaise & pleine de malledicence.
Ce que se peust aussi accommoder à l’encon-
tre d’un escrivain mesdisant, & qui n’a faict
autre estat que detracter des autres avec
licence du tout desbordee. Les Gues-
pes sont rauques & poignantes: car elles pic-
quent fort serré: cependant elles ne font ny
miel ny cire: tels sont les mesdisans, qui se
contentent seulement de mordre & poindre.
Mais en toutes autres choses ils sont inuti-
les & ineptes.
1. Archilochus was an eighth-century BC poet, author of much (now fragmentary) verse, including satire. This last was considered in antiquity to be excessively abusive and violent. See Horace, Ars Poetica, 79; also Erasmus, Adagia, 60 (Irritare crabrones).
2. ferunt, ‘they say’: words suggested by Anthologia Graeca, 7.71, an epigram concerning the tomb of Archilochus.
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Relating to the text:
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