Link to an image of this page [A6r p11]
Potentissimus affectus Amor.
Love, the all-powerful emotion
Aspice ut invictus vires auriga leonis
Expressus gemma pusio vincat Amor.
Utque manu hac scuticam teneat, hac flectat habenas,
Utque sit in pueri plurimus ore decor.[1]
Dira lues procul esto, feram qui vincere talem
Est potis, à nobis temperet an ne manus? [2]
Look - here’s Love the lad, carved on a gem. See how he rides triumphant in his chariot and subdues the lion’s might. How in one hand he holds a lash, with the other he guides the reins, and on his countenance rests the loveliness of youth. - Dread pestilence keep far away. Would one who has the power to conquer such a beast keep his hands from us?
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- beasts of prey, predatory animals (with NAME) [25F23(LION)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees [25G3] Search | Browse Iconclass
- (high) hill [25H113] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm raised upward (+ holding something) [31A2511(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm stretched forward (+ holding something) [31A2512(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- blindfold [31A3191] Search | Browse Iconclass
- looking downwards [31B6212] Search | Browse Iconclass
- youth, adolescent (+ nude human being) [31D12(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- charioteer, 'auriga' [43C21311] Search | Browse Iconclass
- reins [46C131613] Search | Browse Iconclass
- two-wheeled vehicle drawn by two animals [46C1422] Search | Browse Iconclass
- whip [46C1463] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Cupid disarming the strong; the Power of Love [92D151] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- plague [31A4621] Search | Browse Iconclass
- ornaments, jewels [41D266] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Strength, Power; 'Fortezza', 'Fortezza d'Animo e di corpo', 'Fortezza del corpo congiunta con la generositàdell'animo', 'Fortezza & valore del corpo congiunto con la prudenza & virtù del animo', 'Forza' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of con [54A7(+4):56F2(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- 'Forza d'amore, Forza d'amore si nell'acqua come in terra' (Ripa) [56F2515] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Section: FIDES (Good faith). View all emblems in this section.
Link to an image of this page [B1v p18]
Non vulganda consilia.
Keep counsels secret
Limine quod caeco, obscura & caligine monstrum[1]
Gnosiacis clausit Daedalus in latêbris:
Depictum Romana Phalanx in praelia gestat,
Semiviroque nitent signa superba[2] bove.
Nosque monent, debere ducum secreta[3] latêre
Consilia. autori 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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- (story of) the Minotaur (+ variant) [95A(MINOTAUR)7(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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