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EMBLEMA CXCII [=191] .

In vitam humanam.

On human life

Plus solito humanae nunc defle incommoda vitae,
Heraclite: scatet pluribus illa malis.
Tu rursus (si quando alias) extolle cachinnum
Democrite: illa magis ludicra facta fuit.
Interea haec cernens meditor, qua denique tecum
Fine fleam, aut tecum quomodo splene iocer.[1]

Weep now, Heraclitus, even more than you did, for the ills of human life. It teems with far more woes. And you, Democritus, if ever you laughed before, raise your cackle now. Life has become more of a joke. Meanwhile, seeing all this, I consider just how far I can weep with you, how laugh bitterly with you.

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Das CXCII [=191] .

Vom Menschlichen Leben .[2]

Two men sitting at a table, one crying, the other laughing.
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Heraclite du alter greiß
Thu jetzt beweinen mit mehr fleiß
Deß Menschlichen Lebens unglück
Dann es steckt voller böser tück
Du aber widerumb erschell
Democrite dein glechter hell
Dann lecherlicher zu keiner zeit
Gewesen ist als jetzt die geit
Dieweil ich aber dieses sich
Betracht ich bey mir fleissiglich
Ob ichs mit dir beweinen sol
Oder mit dir verlachen wol.

Notes:

1.  This is a translation of Anthologia graeca 9.148. For Heraclitus, cf. Emblem 37 ([A67a037]). For the contrast between the despairing tears of Heraclitus (who withdrew from human society) and the sardonic laughter of Democritus when faced with the folly of men, see, among many sources, e.g. Juvenal, Satires 10, 28ff.

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

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Nil reliqui.

Nothing left

A grasshopper or locust.
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Scilicet hoc deerat, post tot mala denique nostris
Locustae ut raperent, quidquid inesset, agris.[1]
Vidimus innumeras euro[2] duce tendere turmas,
Qualia non Atylae castrave Xerxis erant.[3]
Hae foenum, milium, corda omnia consumpserunt;
Spes & in angusto est, stant nisi vota super.

This was all it needed - that after so many misfortunes, finally locusts should seize whatever was in our fields. We have seen countless squadrons encamped, led by Eurus, hosts such as Attila and Xerxes never had. These creatures have eaten up all hay, millet and later crops. There is little scope for hope unless our prayers prevail.

Notes:

1.  Referring to a plague of locusts in North Italy in 1541/2 .

2.  Eurus was the wind from the East.

3.  Attila the Hun and Xerxes, King of Persia, were leaders who invaded the Roman Empire and Greece with vast armies in mid fifth century AD and 480 BC respectively. Xerxes’ invasion and Attila’s first invasion both came from the east.

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