Section: SCIENCE. View all emblems in this section.
Link to an image of this page [P3r p229]
Eloquence est plus excellente que force.[1]
Probleme.
Masse en main dextre, en senestre arc cornu,
Et du Lyon la peau couvrant corps nu,
C’est d’Hercules la forme, Mais tel art
Pas ne convient: qu’il soit chaulve, & vieillard.
La langue aussi de chainetes persée,
D’ond par l’oreille attraict gent, non forcée,
Link to an image of this page [P3v p230]
Est ce pourtant que par faconde voix,
(Et non par force) aulx peuples donna loix?
Armes font place aux lettres. Car des coeurs
(Tant soient ilz durs) Eloquens sont vinqueurs.
C’est la description Lucianicque de Hercu-
les le Francois, Par
laquelle estoit figuré.
que Hercules avoit tant de peuples mis en son
obeissance, & tant de monstres,
& tyrans
surmontéz par vive eloquence, & savoir le
gitime, & constitution de justes loix, Toutes
lesquelles choses les Grecz hont depuys de-
guisée [=deguisées]
en faictz
d’armes, & appropriées à
leur Hercules Grec, filz d’Alcmena.
1. This epigram is closely based on Lucian’s essay, The Gallic Hercules.
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- tools, aids, implements ~ crafts and industries (with NAME) [47D8(CHAIN)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Hercules Gallicus: he captivates his audience with a golden chain going from his mouth to their ears [94L73] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- Power of Eloquence; 'Forza sottoposta all'Eloquenza' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52D31(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Strength, Power; 'Fortezza', 'Fortezza d'Animo e di corpo', 'Fortezza del corpo congiunta con la generosità dell'animo', 'Fortezza & valore del corpo congiunto con la prudenza & virtù del animo', 'Forza' (Ripa) [54A7] Search | Browse Iconclass
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Link to an image of this page [E4r]
IN ADULATORES.
Flatterers
De Chameleonte vide Plinium naturalis historia
libro. VIII. Cap. XXXIII.
Link to an image of this page [E4v]
Semper hiat, semper tenuem qua vescitur auram[1],
Reciprocat chamaeleon[2].
Et mutat faciem varios sumitque colores,
Praeter rubrum vel candidum.[3]
Sic & adulator populari vescitur aura,[4]
Hiansque cuncta devorat.
Et solum mores imitatur principis atros.
Albi & pudici nescius.
The Chameleon is always breathing in and out with open mouth the bodiless air on which it feeds; it changes its appearance and takes on various colours, except for red and white. - Even so the flatterer feeds on the wind of popular approval and gulps down all with open mouth. He imitates only the black features of the prince, knowing nothing of the white and pure.
1. Corrected from the Errata and by hand in this copy.
2. This creature was supposed to feed only on air, keeping its mouth wide open to suck it in. See Pliny, Natural History 8.51.122. For the chameleon cf. Erasmus, Parabolae pp.144, 241, 252.
3. ‘except for red and white’. See Pliny, ib.
4. ‘the wind of popular approval’. This is a common metaphor in Latin, e.g. Horace, Odes 3.2.20, ‘at the behest of the wind of popular approval.’
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- Prolixity, Verbosity, Loquacity; 'Loquacit�' (Ripa) [52D4] Search | Browse Iconclass
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