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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [b3r p21]

In Victoriam dolo partam.

On victory won by guile.

IX.

Virtue sitting crying on the tomb marked D M AIACIS
[Click on image to enlarge]

Aiacis tumulum lacrymis ego perluo virtus,
Heu misera albentes dilacerata comas.
Scilicet hoc restabat adhuc, ut iudice Graeco[1]
Vincerer, & causa stet potiore dolus.[2]

I, Virtue, bedew with tears the tomb of Ajax, tearing, alas, in my grief my whitening hairs. This was all it needed - that I should be worsted with a Greek as judge, and that guile should appear to have the better cause.

COMMENTARIA.

Virtus ipsa eiulans, Aiacis deflet sepulchrum.
(quod est prope Sigaeum promontorium
Troiae, Plinius lib. 5. cap. 30.) obid nimirum, quòd
illa dolo suppressa & victa fuerit, quodque
Graeci contra eam iniquè iudicaverint. Hoc
ideo quia cùm Aiax fortissimus heros, inter-
fecti Achillis arma peteret (quae meritò sibi
ob strenua sua facta virtutesque eximias, de
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [b3v p22] quibus apud Homerum, cessissent). Ulysses
fraude & calliditate sua tantum effecit, ut
Graeci Iudices, spreto Aiace, sibi arma illa ad-
iudicaverint, quod adeò molestè tulit Aiax
ut ad insaniam pervenerit, ac tandem ob iram
& verecundiam semetipsum necaverit, per-
pulchrè Ovidius lib. 13. Metamorphoseon. Sic doli causa
potior fuit quàm ipsius virtutis: quod qui-
dem & hodie haud rarum est, virtutique flendi
ansa datur frequentissima.

Notes:

1.  The Greek assembly awarded the arms of the dead Achilles to the cunning and eloquent Ulysses, not the brave and straight-forward Ajax. For Ajax’ subsequent suicide, [A56a038].

2.  See Anthologia graeca 7.145.

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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [C1v p34]

Πῆ παρέβην; τί δ’ἔρεξα; τί μοι δέον οὐκ ἐτελέσθῆ;

Where have I transgressed? What have I committed? What thing incumbent on me has been left undone?

EMBLEMA XVII.

A man (Pythagoras) pointing at some cranes flying overhead
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Italicae Samius sectae celeberrimus auctor[1]
Ipse suum clausit carmine dogma brevi:
Quò praetergressus? quid agis? quid omittis agendum?[2]
Hanc rationem urgens reddere quemque sibi.
Quod didicisse Gruum volitantum ex agmine fertur,
Arreptum gestant quae pedibus lapidem:[3]
Ne cessent, neu transversas mala flamina raptent.
Qua ratione, hominum vita regenda fuit.

The famous Samian founder of the Italian sect himself put his essential teaching into a short verse: Where have you overstepped the mark? What are you doing? What are you leaving undone that ought to be done? - urging each man to make this reckoning in his own mind. He is said to have learnt this from a skein of flying cranes, which seize a stone and carry it in their claws, to prevent themselves from making no headway, and to stop adverse gusts of wind carrying them off course. Man’s life was ever to be lived on this principle.

Notes:

1.  Italicae Samius sectae...autor, ‘Samian founder of the Italian sect’, i.e. Pythagoras. Born in Samos, he emigrated in 531 BC to Croton in South Italy, where he founded a religious/philosophical sect.

2.  This is a version of the Greek text in the motto, which is recorded in Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Philosophers, 8.20.

3.  Cranes wisely carrying stones as ballast are likened to men of foresight in Suidas (i.e, the Suda), s.v. geranos. Other reasons were suggested by ancient writers for this habit.

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