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].
Related Emblems
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Relating to the image:
- 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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