Section: ARBORES (Trees). View all emblems in this section.
Link to an image of this page [O4v p216]
Abies.
The fir tree
Apta fretis abies in montibus editur altis:
Est & in adversis maxima commoditas.[1]
The fir tree that is fit to sail the sea grows high up on the hills. Even in hard circumstances, there is great advantage to be found.
1. This is because it grows strong by withstanding the gales and harsh weather. Contrast Anthologia Graeca, 9.30ff, 105, and the much-translated 376 for an opposing view of the fir tree: “how can the fir, storm-tossed while growing on land, resist the gales at sea?” 9.31 was translated by Alciato (Selecta epigrammata, p. 98).
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Relating to the image:
- trees: fir (+ plants used symbolically) [25G3(FIR)(+1)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- trees: fir (+ bearing fruit) [25G3(FIR)(+34)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- water (one of the four elements) [21D] Search | Browse Iconclass
- mountains [25H11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Worth, Value (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54B6(+4):54FF11(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Section: ARBORES (Trees). View all emblems in this section.
Link to an image of this page [O6r p219]
Hedera.
Ivy
Haud quaquam arescens hederae est arbuscula, Cisso[1]
Quae puero Bacchum dona dedisse ferunt:
Errabunda, procax, auratis fulva corymbis,
Exterius viridis, caetera pallor habet.
Hinc aptis vates cingunt sua tempora sertis:[2]
Pallescunt studiis, laus diuturna viret.
There is a bushy plant which never withers, the ivy which Bacchus, they say, gave as a gift to the boy Cissos. It goes where it will, uncontrollable; tawny where the golden berry-clusters hang; green on the outside but pale everywhere else. Poets use it to wreathe their brows with garlands that fit them well - poets are pale with study, but their praise remains green for ever.
1. Κισσός is the Greek word for ‘ivy’. For the story of Cissos, beloved of Bacchus, and his transformation into the ivy, see Nonnus, Dionysiaca, 12.188ff.
2. vates cingunt sua tempora, ‘Poets use it to wreathe their brows’. See Pliny, Natural History, 16.62.147: poets use the species with yellow berries for garlands.
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- plants and herbs: ivy (+ bearing fruit) [25G4(IVY)(+34)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- colours, pigments, and paints (with NAME) [22C4(GOLD)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- colours, pigments, and paints (with NAME) [22C4(GREEN)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Fame ~ writer, 'poeta laureata' [48C921] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Industriousness, Assiduity; 'Assiduità', 'Industria', 'Zelo' (Ripa) [54A11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- attributes of Bacchus (with NAME) [92L18(IVY)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- single named nymphs (with NAME) [92L32(CISSOS)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- love-affairs of Bacchus ~ males homosexual, love-affair [92LL12] Search | Browse Iconclass
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