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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [L8v f75v]

EMBLEMA CXV.

In victoriam dolo partam.

On victory won by guile.

Virtue sitting crying and tearing her hair on a tomb.
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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [M1r f76r]

Aiacis tumulum lachrymis 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.

Das CXV.

Von Sig durch betrug bekommen.

Ich die Tugend mit zehern naß
Wasch deß Helden Ajacis Graß,[3]
Allda er dann begraben ligt
Und rauff auß mein schönes Har dick
Dann das allein noch ubrig war
Das ich beym Griechischen Richter zwar
Das Recht gewesn, aber es gilt
Mehr dann das recht der betrug milt.

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’s subsequent suicide, see Emblem 66 [A67a066].

2.  See Anthologia graeca 7.145.

3.  While ‘Gras’ (Engl.: grass) is a possible reading, ‘Grab’ (Engl.: grave), although it disturbs the rhyme, is more likely: an interesting confusion between ‘b’ and the German ‘ß’.

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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [F6r p91]

Captivus ob gulam.

Caught by greed

Mouse with its head caught in an oyster shell
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Regnator penus, & mensae corrosor[1] herilis
Ostrea mus summis vidit hiulca labris.
Queis teneram apponens barbam falsa ossa momordit,
Illa recluserunt[2] tacta repente domum.
Depraensum & tetro tenuerunt carcere furem,
Semet in obscurum qui dederat tumulum.[3]

A mouse, king of the pantry, nibbler at the master’s table, saw oysters with their shells just slightly open. Applying his sensitive whiskers, he nibbled the deceptive bone. The oysters, when touched, suddenly slammed shut their house and held the thief, caught red-handed, in a noisome prison, a thief who had put himself into a lightless tomb.

Notes:

1.  Textual variant: Regnatorque penus, mensaeque arrosor.

2.  Textual variant: Ast ea clauserunt.

3.  This poem is a translation of Anthologia graeca 9.86.

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  • Gluttony, Intemperance, 'Gula'; 'Gola', 'Ingordigia', 'Ingordigia overo Avidità', 'Voracità' (Ripa) ~ personification of one of the Seven Deadly Sins [11N35] Search | Browse Iconclass
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  • Intemperance, Immoderation (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54AA43(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass

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