Section: PERFIDIA (Treachery). View all emblems in this section.
Link to an image of this page [D7v p62]
Ei qui semel sua prodegerit, aliena
credi non oportere.
Others’ property should not be entrusted to a person who has once squandered his own
Colchidos in gremio nidum quid congeris? eheu
Nescia cur pullos tam malè credis avis?
Dira parens Medaea suos saevissima natos
Perdidit, & speras parcat ut illa tuis?[1]
Why do you build your nest in the bosom of the woman from Colchis? Alas, ignorant bird, why do you entrust your nestlings so mistakenly? That frightful mother, Medea, in her savagery slew her own children. Do you expect her to spare yours?
1. This is based on Anthologia graeca 9.346, a much-translated epigram, on the subject of a swallow that built her nest on a representation of Medea. Colchidos, ‘of the woman from Colchis’, refers to Medea, from Colchis on the Black Sea, who slew her children by Jason, leader of the Argonauts, to avenge his unfaithfulness. See further [A50a078].
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- birds (+ animals nesting; making nests, lodges, webs, etc.) [25F3(+4712)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- birds (+ postures, positions of animal(s)) [25F3(+53)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- groups of trees [25G11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- mountains [25H11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- public road [25I14] Search | Browse Iconclass
- monument, statue [25I152] Search | Browse Iconclass
- landscape with tower or castle [25I5] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clouds [26A] Search | Browse Iconclass
- chest, bust (+ nude human being) [31A222(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm raised upward (+ holding something) [31A2511(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm or hand held in front of the body (+ holding something) [31A2516(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- head slanting to the left - AA - female human figure [31AA245] Search | Browse Iconclass
- standing, leaning, sitting or lying with legs crossed - AA - female human figure (+ standing) [31AA2627(+51)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- child (+ nude human being) [31D112(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult woman [31D15] Search | Browse Iconclass
- violent death by sword [31E234631] Search | Browse Iconclass
- castle [41A12] Search | Browse Iconclass
- the usual house or row of houses [41A141] Search | Browse Iconclass
- skirt (+ women's clothes) [41D232(+82)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- woman (showing herself) undressed, quasi-nude [41D92] Search | Browse Iconclass
- mother and baby or young child [42A3] Search | Browse Iconclass
- killing a child (absence of parental love) [42B29] Search | Browse Iconclass
- hacking and thrusting weapons: sword [45C13(SWORD)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- other architectural details (with NAME) [48C168(NICHE)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- piece of sculpture, reproduction of a piece of sculpture [48C24] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Medea kills her two children; she flees from Corinth in a chariot drawn by winged dragons (+ variant) [94A74(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- Squandering, Extravagance, Prodigality, Waste; 'Prodigalità ' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [55C11(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Misplaced Trust, False Confidence, 'Pax Falsa'; 'Speranza fallace' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [56D29(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Link to an image of this page [k5r p153]
In receptatores sicariorum.
Those who harbour cut-throats
XCIIII.
Latronum furumque manus tibi Scaeva[1] per urbem
It comes, & diris cincta cohors gladiis.
Atque ita te mentis generosum prodige censes,
Quòd tua complureis allicit olla malos.
En novus Actaeon, qui postquàm cornua sumpsit
In praedam canibus se dedit ipse suis.[2]
An evil-minded band of ruffians and thieves accompanies you about the city, a gang of supporters armed with lethal swords. And so, you wastrel, you consider yourself a fine lordly fellow because your cooking pot draws in crowds of scoundrels. - Here’s a fresh Actaeon - he, after he grew his horns, became the prey of his own hunting dogs.
COMMENTARIA.
Actaeon filius Aristei, venationibus pluri-
mum delectabatur, ideoque canes quamplures
domi suae alebat. Cùm verò semel post vena-
tionem defatigatus ad fluvium quendam secre-
tum lavandi recreandique gratia sese contulisset,
ibi fortuitu vidit Dianam (venationis deam
castitatis & solitudinis amicam,) nudam se Link to an image of this page [k5v p154]
lavantem, quae ob illud indignata statim illum
in cervum transmutavit, cumque domum redi-
re vellet à Canibus suis propriis laniatus &
discerptus fuit, ut elegantissimè Ovidius lib. 3.
Metamorphoseon. Idemque breviter. lib. 2. de tristibus.
Inscus Actaeon vidit sine veste Dianam:
Praeda suis canibus non minus ille fuit.
Sic etiam nonnulli vel ideo se generosos, li-
berales, & magnanimos putant, quòd latro-
nes homicidas, proditores & huius farinae ho
mines fovent, nutriunt, eisque comitibus superbè
incedunt: cum hi prodigi potius sint nihilque
aliud quàm novum Actaeonem repraesentent.
1. Scaeva, ‘evil-minded’. The capital letter suggests that the Latin word could be taken as a proper name in the vocative case, i.e addressing one Scaeva.
2. For the story of Actaeon turned into a stag and killed by his own hounds, see Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.138ff. Similarly, the hangers-on will destroy the one who has fed them.
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- antlers; horn �� KEY (332) TO 25F animals [25F(+332)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- groups of trees [25G11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- monsters with animal head [31A4511] Search | Browse Iconclass
- monsters ~ hoofed animals (+ head or (parts of) face) [31A4524(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- violent death, being killed; being mishandled and maltreated; seeking death [31E23] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dog [34B11(+5733)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dog (+ audible means of communication of animal(s): roaring, crying, singing, barking, mewing, neighing, chirping, etc.) [34B11(+949)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dog (+ fighting animals; aggressive relations) [34B11(+951)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dog (+ movements of animal(s)) [34B11(+952)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- clothes covering the entire body (+ men's clothes) [41D2+(81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- gear for legs and feet (+ men's clothes) [41D233(+81)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- hunting dogs [43C1147] Search | Browse Iconclass
- hunting horn [43C11482] Search | Browse Iconclass
- casting weapons: spear [45C11(SPEAR)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Actaeon changed into a stag: as punishment for seeing her bathe, Diana changes Actaeon, the hunter, into a stag (Ovid, Metamorphoses III 193) [97C1] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Actaeon as a stag is devoured by his own dogs [97C11] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- murderer [44G5110] Search | Browse Iconclass
- thief [44G54] Search | Browse Iconclass
- hacking and thrusting weapons (with NAME) [45C13(SWORD)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Danger; 'Pericolo' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54DD51(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Greed, Covetousness, Cupidity; 'Cupidità ' (Ripa) [55CC11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Sociality (+ emblematical representation of concept) [59A1(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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