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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [E4v]

DULCIA QUANDO-
que amara fieri.

Sweetness turns at times to bitterness

Young child (Cupid?) being stung by bees, running to his mother.
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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [E5r]

Matre procul licta paulum secesserat infans,
Lydius[1], hunc dirae sed rapuistis apes.
Venerat hic ad vos placidas ratus esse volucres,
Cum nec ita imitis vipera saeva foret.
Que [=Quae] datis ah dulci stimulos pro munere mellis,
Proh dolor, heu sine te gratia nulla datur.[2]

A Lydian babe had strayed some way off, leaving his mother at a distance, but you made away with him, you dreadful bees. He had come to you, thinking you harmless winged creatures, yet a merciless viper would not be as savage as you. Instead of the sweet gift of honey, ah me, you give stings. Ah pain, without you, alas, no delight is granted.

Notes:

1.  This is based on Anthologia graeca 9.548 , where a baby, called Hermonax, is stung to death. See also Anthologia graeca 9.302 for another epigram treating the same incident.

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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [N3v p198]

Remedia in arduo, mala in
prono esse.

Remedies are hard, damage is easy

XCII.

Three old women with staffs following after a winged figure with bird claws for feet
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Aetheriis postquàm deiecit sedibus Aten
Iuppiter,[1] heu vexat quàm mala noxa viros.
Evolat haec pedibus celer & pernicibus alis,
Intactumque nihil casibus esse sinit.
Ergo Litae proles Iovis hanc comitantur euntem,[2]
Sarturae quicquid fecerit illa mali.
Sed quia segnipedes, strabae[3], lassaeque senectâ,
Nil nisi pòst longo tempore restituunt.

Once Jupiter had cast Ate down from the heavenly abode, what an evil bane thereafter assailed poor man! Ate flies out fleet of foot with fast-beating wing and leaves nothing untouched by mishap. So Jove’s daughters, the Litae, accompany her as she goes, to mend whatever ill she has brought about. But they are slow-footed, poor of sight and weary with age, and so they restore nothing until later, after long passage of time.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [N4r p199]

Maulx viennent promptement,
et biens a difficulté.

XCII.

Attey de Juppiter chassée
Pour nuyre, vola sur la terre.
Et n’y fait pas une passée,
Sans rendre feu, fain, peste, ou guerre.
Lites apres vont, non grand erre,
Car vieilles sont, & mal trotans:
Dont l’on ne peult leur bien acquerre,
Fors apres longue espace, & temps.

Notes:

1.  ‘Jupiter had cast Ate down’. See Homer, Iliad 19. 125ff.

2.  ‘the Litae accompany her’. See Homer, Iliad 9.502ff. Ate means ‘Mischief’, Litae, ‘Prayers’. Ate was cast out of Olympus to bring harm to mankind, a personification of humans being led astray. The Litae were a personification of prayers offered in repentance.

3.  Textual variant: luscae.

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  • Slow Motion (+ emblematical representation of concept) [51MM1(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Viciousness, Naughtiness (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57AA6(+4):54D4(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Revenge, Requital, Retaliation; 'Vendetta' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57AA741(+4):54DD4(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Jupiter seizes Ate by her hair and hurls her down from Olympus, possibly because of the delayed birth of Hercules (+ variant) [92B143(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass

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