Link to an image of this page [n3v p198]
Sapientia humana stultitia
est apud Deum.[1]
The Wisdom of Man is folly to God
XXVII.
Quid dicam? quonam hoc compellem nomine monstrum?
Biforme quod non est homo, nec est draco:[2]
Sed sine vir pedibus, summis sine partibus anguis,
Vir anguipes dici, & homiceps anguis potest.
Anguem pedit homo, hominem eructavit & anguis,
Nec finis hominis est, initium nec est ferae.
Sic olim Cecrops[3] doctis regnavit Athenis,
Sic & gigantes terra mater protulit.
Haec vafrum species, sed relligione carentem,
Terrena tamtum quique curet,[4] indicat.
What shall I say? By what name call this monster? a two-fold thing that is neither man nor snake? A man without feet, a snake without its upper parts - this can be called a snake-footed man, a man-headed snake. The man farts a snake, the snake has vomited a man, the man has no end, the beast no beginning. In such a form did Cecrops once rule in learned Athens, in such a form did Mother Earth once bring forth the Giants. This is an image of clever men, but indicating one without religion, who cares only for the things of the earth.
1. This epigram is based on Anthologia Graeca, 16.115-6, descriptions of a hippocentaur, the second of which was translated by Alciato at Sel. Ep. p.335. Metre: dactylic hexameters paired with iambic senarii.
2. Variant reading, ‘monstrum Biforme quod...’, ‘ two-fold monster that is neither ...’.
3. Cecrops, the mythical wise first king of Athens, the city of Pallas Athene, the goddess of wisdom. Cecrops, like the Giants (l.8) was born of the earth and was represented as half-man, half snake.
4. Terrena tantum quique curet, ‘who cares only for the things of earth’. See Macrobius, Saturnalia, 1.20.9: the fact that the Giants’ bodies terminated as snakes shows that they had not a single thought that was right or elevated, but that their life in all its comings and goings tended to what was base.
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- Deity, God (in general) ~ Christian religion [11A0] Search | Browse Iconclass
- giants, colossi [31A421] Search | Browse Iconclass
- monsters ~ snakes [31A4542] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Wisdom; 'Sapienza', 'Sapienza humana', 'Sapienza vera' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52A51(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Folly, Foolishness; 'Pazzia', 'Sciocchezza', 'Stoltitia' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52AA51(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Worldliness; 'Appetito' (Ripa) (+ 'exemplum', representation of exemplary (historical) event) [57AA661(+5)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- names of cities and villages (with NAME) [61E(ATHENS)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- epistles of Paul to the Corinthians (with BOOK CHAPTER:VERSE) (+ variant) [73F412(1:20)(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Cecrops: half man - half serpent, first king of Attica specific aspects, allegorical aspects, as patron of [95A(CECROPS)7] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Cecrops: half man - half serpent, first king of Attica veneration, honoured by [95A(CECROPS)79] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Link to an image of this page [n4v p200]
Ilex.
The holm-oak
XXXVII.
Duritie nimia[1] quòd sese rumperet ilex,
Symbola civilis seditionis habet.
Because the holm-oak splits spontaneously through excessive inflexibility, it provides symbols for civic discord.
1. Duritie nimia, ‘excessive inflexibility’. Cf. Pliny, Natural History, 16.73.186 (tota ossea est ilex, ‘the holm-oak is entirely bone-like’).
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- 'Seditio'; 'Rebellione', 'Seditione civile' (Ripa) [44F0] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Hardness [51G4] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Destruction [58AA1] Search | Browse Iconclass
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