
NON VULGANDA CON
SILIA.
Keep counsels secret.

Limine quod caeco obscura & caligine monstrum[1],
Gnosiacis clausit Daedalus in latebris.
Depictum Romana phalanx in praelia gestat,
Semiviroque nitent signa superba[2] Iove.
Nosque monent debere ducum secreta[3] latere,
Consilia auctori cognita techna nocet.
The monster that Daedalus imprisoned in its Cretan lair, with hidden entrance and obscuring darkness, the Roman phalanx carries painted into battle; the proud standards flash with the half-man bull. These remind us that the secret plans of leaders must stay hid. A ruse once known brings harm to its author.
1. ‘The monster that Daedalus imprisoned’, i.e. the Minotaur, the half-man, half-bull monster kept in the famous Labyrinth at Knossos, which Daedalus, the Athenian master-craftsman, constructed for King Minos.
2. According to Pliny, Natural History 10.5.16, before the second consulship of Marius (104 BC) Roman standards bore variously eagles, wolves, minotaurs, horses and boars. Marius made the eagle universal.
3. Cf. Festus, De verborum significatu (135 Lindsay): the Minotaur appears among the military standards, because the plans of leaders should be no less concealed than was the Minotaur’s lair, the Labyrinth.
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- chest, bust (+ nude human being) [31A222(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm held downwards [31A2515] Search | Browse Iconclass
- index finger forwards, pointing, indicating [31A25552] Search | Browse Iconclass
- monsters ~ domestic animals [31A4521] Search | Browse Iconclass
- beard [31A534] Search | Browse Iconclass
- banner, standard (as symbol of the state, etc.) (+ nation; national) [44A31(+2)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- (military) flags and standards [45D1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- walking (horse in motion) (+ variant) [46C13181(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- inscription [49L8] Search | Browse Iconclass
- names of cities and villages (with NAME) [61E(ROME)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- proverbs, sayings, etc. (with TEXT) [86(SPQR)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- governmental and representative bodies [44B20:53B2(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Secret [52DD11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Taciturnity; 'Secretezza', 'Secretezza overo Taciturnità§ (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52DD3(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Counsel; 'Consiglio' (Ripa) [52E3] Search | Browse Iconclass
- geographical names of countries, regions, mountains, rivers, etc. (names of cities and villages excepted) (with NAME) [61D(CRETE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- specific aspects, allegorical aspects of Bacchus; Bacchus as patron [92L717] Search | Browse Iconclass
- (story of) Daedalus [95A(DAEDALUS)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- (story of) the Minotaur (+ variant) [95A(MINOTAUR)7(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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AMICITIA ETIAM POST
mortem durans.[1]
Friendship lasting even beyond death

Arentem senio, nudam quoque frondibus ulmum,
Complexa est viridi vitis opaca coma.[2]
Agnoscitque vices naturae & grata parenti,
Officii reddit mutua iura suo,
Exemploque monet, tales nos quaerere amicos,
Quos neque disiungat foedere summa dies.
A vine shady with green foliage embraced an elm tree that was dried up with age and bare of leaves. The vine recognises the changes wrought by nature and, ever grateful, renders to the one that reared it the duty it owes in return. By the example it offers, the vine tells us to seek friends of such a sort that not even our final day will uncouple them from the bond of friendship.
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- trees: elm (+ dead, withered plant) [25G3(ELM)(+371)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- vine [47I422] Search | Browse Iconclass
- vine-tendril, leaf [47I4221] Search | Browse Iconclass
- bunch of grapes [47I4222] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- young versus old age; young and old [31D5] Search | Browse Iconclass
- life versus death [31E5] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Necessity of Mutual Co-operation [54E11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Fidelity in Friendship; 'Confermatione dell'Amicitia', 'Fede nell'Amicitia' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [56F231(+4):31E] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Mortality, Extinction of Life [58BB1] Search | Browse Iconclass
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