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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [B7r]

IN ILLAUDATA LAU-
DANTES.

Praising the wrong things

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [B7v]

Armour hanging on tree and elephant
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Ingentes Galatum semerini [=semermi] milite turmas,
Spem praeter trepidus fuderat Antiochus.[1]
Lucarum cum saeva boum vis,[2] ira proboscis,
Tum primum[3] hostiles corripuisset equos.
Ergo trophea locans Elephantis imagine pinxit,
Insuper & sociis occideramus ait.
Bellua servasset ni nos foedissima barrus,
Ut superasse iuvat, sic superasse pudet.

Antiochus, in spite of his fears, had beyond all expectation routed the huge squadrons of Galatians with his light-armed troops, when the savage might of elephants, their raging and their trunks, for the first time ever fell upon the enemy’s cavalry. So when he set up the trophy, he adorned it with the picture of an elephant and furthermore said to his troops: “We would have fallen, if this revolting beast, the elephant, had not preserved us. Pleasing as it is to conquer, it is galling to conquer like this”.

Notes:

1.  For this incident, see Lucian, Zeuxis sive Antiochus 8-11. In 276 BC Antiochus I won against fearful odds by directing his sixteen elephants against the Galatian horsemen and scythed chariots. Not only did the horses turn in panic and cause chaos among their own infantry, but the elephants came on behind, tossing, goring and trampling. Although he had won an overwhelming victory, Antiochus did not consider it a matter for congratulation.

2.  ‘Might of elephants’, lit. ‘might of Lucanian cattle’, supposedly so called by the Romans because they first saw these strange beasts in Lucania in south Italy, when King Pyrrhus of Epirus made use of them in his defeat of the Romans at the battle of Heraclea in 280 BC. See Pliny, Natural History 8.6.16.

3.  ‘For the first time ever’. The Galatians, Celtic tribes who had invaded Asia Minor, had never seen elephants before. Elephants had often been used in battle on other occasions.

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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [K4v p152]

Louange non louable.

An elephant beside some armour and weapons.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Oultre esperance avoit Antiochus,[1]
A peu de gens les Galathes vincuz:
Ses elephans par leur trompe ayant mis
Tous les chevaux à mort, des ennemis.
Parquoy paignant l’Elephant en trophée,
Nous estions mors (dit il à son armée)
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [K5r p153] Si ne nous heust saulvéz celle orde beste.
Victoire est bonne, & si n’est pas honneste.

Utilité bien souvent est preferée à hon-
nesteté, & le proffit à l’honneur, mesme
en fait de guerre, ou l’on ne regarde
sinon à obtenir victoire, soit par proues
se, ou par astuce, par vaillance, ou par machine.

Notes:

1.  For this incident, see Lucian, Zeuxis sive Antiochus 8-11. In 276 BC Antiochus I won against fearful odds by directing his sixteen elephants against the Galatian horsemen and scythed chariots. Not only did the horses turn in panic and cause chaos among their own infantry, but the elephants came on behind, tossing, goring and trampling. Although he had won an overwhelming victory, Antiochus did not consider it a matter for congratulation.

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