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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [N2v f85v]

EMBLEMA CXXXII.

In detrectatores.[1]

Against his detractors

Audent flagriferi matulae, stupidique magistri
Bilem in me impuri pectoris evomere:
Quid faciam? reddamne vices? sed nonne cicadam
Ala una obstreperam corripuisse[2] ferar?
Quid prodest muscas operosis pellere[3] flabris?
Negligere est satius, perdere quod nequeas.

Those cane-wielding, empty-headed, thick-skulled teachers dare to spew out on me the bile of their foul minds. What am I to do? Return like for like? But surely I would then be said to have seized the dinning cicada by the wing. What is the good of driving flies away with tiresome swipes? It is better to ignore what you cannot get rid of.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [N3r f86r]

Das CXXXII.

Wider die Verleumbder.[4]

Die Kerffenfeger, drutten Köng
Die tollen losen Meister ring
Understehn in mich zgiessen auß all
Ir unreins Hertzens bitter Gall
Was sol ich machen oder thon?
Sol ichs in gleich vergelten schon?
Würd ich nicht leiden daß mich rürt
Mit eimFlügel die Cicad und irt?
Was hilffts das mit grosser mühe doch
Man dMucken vertreiben thut noch?
Es ist weger du lassest ston
Das du nicht kanst außreuten thon.

Notes:

1.  Other versions read ‘Detractores’.

2.  cicadam / Ala una...corripuisse, ‘to have seized the...cicada by the wing’. See Erasmus, Adagia, 828 (Cicadam ala corripuisti): if you hold a cicada by the wing, it will only chirp more loudly.

3.  muscas...pellere, ‘driving flies away’. See Erasmus, Adagia, 2660 (Muscas depellere): driving flies away is a waste of effort as they simply return.

4.  The German in certain parts of this emblem is particularly puzzling.

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    Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [N2v f85v]

    EMBLEMA CXXXI.

    Inanis impetus.

    Antagonism that achieves nothing

    Lunarum [=Lunarem] noctu (ut speculum)[1] canis inspicit orbem:
    Seque videns, alium credit inesse canem,[2]
    Et latrat: sed frustra agitur vox irrita ventis,
    Et peragit cursus surda Diana suos.[3]

    A dog at night is looking into the moon’s disk as into a mirror and seeing himself, thinks there is another dog there; and he barks - but the sound is carried away, ineffectual, on the winds. Diana, unhearing, pursues her course.

    Das CXXXI.

    Vergebne mühe.

    Als den Mon sach der Hund zu nacht
    Und sich drinn als im Spiegel gdacht
    Er es wer eins anderß Hunds Bild
    Sprang ubersich und stalt sich wild
    Aber sein bellen gieng in lufft
    War vergebens und gar ein dufft
    Der Mon dannoch sein lauff verricht
    Last in bellen als ghör ers nicht.

    Notes:

    1.  For the theory of the moon’s disk as a mirror reflecting things on earth, see Plutarch, De facie in orbe lunae, Moralia, 920ff.

    2.  Variant reading: altum credit inesse canem, ‘thinks there is a dog up there’.

    3.  Diana is of course goddess of the moon.

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