Link to an image of this page [Iii1r p865]
Hedera.
Ivy
EMBLEMA CCV.
Haudquaquam arescens Hederae est arbuscula, Cisso[1]
Quae puero Bacchum dona dedisse ferunt:
Errabunda, procax, auratis fulva corymbis,
Exterius viridis, caetera pallor habet.
Hinc aptis vates cingunt sua tempora sertis:[2]
Pallescunt studiis, laus diuturna viret.
There is a bushy plant which never withers, the ivy which Bacchus, they say, gave as a gift to the boy Cissos. It goes where it will, uncontrollable; tawny where the golden berry-clusters hang; green on the outside but pale everywhere else. Poets use it to wreathe their brows with garlands that fit them well - poets are pale with study, but their praise remains green for ever.
1. Κισσός is the Greek word for ‘ivy’. For the story of Cissos, beloved of Bacchus, and his transformation into the ivy, see Nonnus, Dionysiaca, 12.188ff.
2. vates cingunt sua tempora, ‘Poets use it to wreathe their brows’. See Pliny, Natural History, 16.62.147: poets use the species with yellow berries for garlands.
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- plants and herbs: ivy (+ plants used symbolically) [25G4(IVY)(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- wreath, garland ~ festive activities «« KEY (12) TO 43A festivities [43A(+12)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- lyre, cithara, psaltery [48C7321] Search | Browse Iconclass
- scroll [49L71] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- colours, pigments, and paints (with NAME) [22C4(GOLD)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- colours, pigments, and paints (with NAME) [22C4(GREEN)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Fame ~ writer, 'poeta laureata' [48C921] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Industriousness, Assiduity; 'Assiduità', 'Industria', 'Zelo' (Ripa) [54A11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- attributes of Bacchus (with NAME) [92L18(IVY)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- single named nymphs (with NAME) [92L32(CISSOS)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- love-affairs of Bacchus ~ males homosexual, love-affair [92LL12] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Section: ARBORES (Trees). View all emblems in this section.
Link to an image of this page [O8r p223]
Morus.
The mulberry
Serior at Morus nunquàm nisi frigore lapso
Germinat:[1] & sapiens nomina falsa[2] gerit.
On the other hand, the mulberry is late, and never until the frost is past does it shoot; though wise, it bears a false name.
1. See Pliny, Natural History, 16.25.102: “the mulberry is the last of domesticated trees to shoot, and only does so when the frosts are over; for that reason it is called the wisest of trees”.
2. nomina falsa, ‘a false name’, reference to a supposed ‘etymology by opposites’: Latin morus ‘mulberry’ was equated with Greek μῶρος ‘fool’, but the tree was considered wise: see note 1.
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- trees: mulberry-tree (+ plants used symbolically) [25G3(MULBERRY-TREE)(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees: mulberry-tree (+ bearing fruit) [25G3(MULBERRY-TREE)(+34)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- frost, freezing weather [26D] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Precaution (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52A24(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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