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EMBLEMA CXXXVII.

Insani gladius.

The madman’s sword

Setigeri medius stabat gregis ensifer Aiax,[1]
Caede suum, credens caedere Tantalidas,[2]
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [N5v f88v]Hostia sic tamquam sus succedanea[3] poenas
Pro Laërtiade,[4] pro caveaque dabat.
Nescit obesse suis furor hostibus, errat ab ictu,
Consiliisque impos in sua damna ruit.

Ajax was standing sword in hand in the midst of the bristled herd, thinking that in killing the pigs he was killing the descendants of Tantalus. The victim, like the substitute pig, was paying the penalty for the son of Laertes and for the assembled crowd. Madness does not know how to disadvantage its real foes; it misdirects its blows, and, lacking judgement, rushes headlong to its own destruction.

Das CXXXVII.

Eines unsinnigen Waffen.

Soldier killing pigs with his sword.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Damitten underm hauffen Schwein
Stund der Held Ajax biß und grein
Das börstig Vich zerheuwt, zerstuckt
Meint wer ob Tantalis Nefen ruck
Also ward für Laerts Son hafft
Und die gantz Griechisch Ritterschafft
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [N6r f89r] Gleich als ein versön Opffer frey
Geschlachtet die wolgmeste Seuw
Das grimm wüten weng schaden bringt
Dem Feind, sonder dem der da ringt
Hader und schlagen unbedacht
Hat manchen in groß unglück bracht.

Notes:

1.  See Emblem 66 ([A67a066]) for Ajax’ madness and suicide. In his madness, he slaughtered a herd of sheep, thinking them to be the Greeks. The two largest rams he took to be Agamemnon and Menelaus. See Zenobius, Proverbs, 1.43; Horace, Satires, 2.3.197-8; Erasmus, Adagia, 646 (Aiacis risus) - Erasmus makes the animals pigs, which Alciato here follows.

2.  Tantalidas, ‘the descendants of Tantalus’ i.e. Agamemnon and Menelaus, whom Ajax blamed for his humiliation.

3.  A substitute animal was sacrificed when the first offering was rejected by the gods or, as here, in place of the proper victim. See Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae, 4.6.5.

4.  pro Laërtiade, ‘for the son of Laërtes’, i.e. Odysseus, to whom the Greek assembly awarded the splendid armour of the dead Achilles, not to Ajax.

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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [O1r p209]

Fureur & rage.

XLIX.

Ce bouclier un lion porte plein de fureur,
Le lion, lequel est des humains la terreur:
De ce bouclier estoit Agamemnon le maistre,
Le plus fort & vaillant qu’aucun autre eust peu estre.[1]

Commentaires.

Anciennement la plus part des Princes & grands
Seigneurs, ne chargeoyent leurs armoiries de chose
qui ressentist sa superbe ou cruauté: mais l’expedition
de Godefroy de Bouillon en la terre saincte, remplit
les armoiries des Rois & Princes d’Aigles, de Gry-
phons, de Lions, & autres furieux animaux. Le Roy
de France presque seul entre tous retint ses blanches
fleurdelis. Mais, helas! & jadis, & de nostre siecle,
plusieurs Seigneurs font sentir & experimenter à
leurs peuples la tyrannie & cruauté des animaux
qu’ils portent en leurs armoiries. Peu, ou peut estre,
pas un, n’aspire à acquerir le surnom d’Aristide. Le
bouclier d’Agamemnon a demeuré quelque temps
pendu au temple Olympique.

Notes:

1.  This poem is based on Pausanias, Periegesis, 5.19.4. For the ‘raging lion’. Cf. Emblem 63,‘Ira’ ([FALc063]). For Agamemnon’s savage temper, see e.g. Homer, Iliad, 1.103-4.

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