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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [H2v]

In Astrologos.

Against astrologers

Icarus falling into the sea
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Icare per superos qui raptus & aëra, donec
In mare praecipitem cera liquata daret.[1]
Nunc te cera eadem fervensque resuscitat ignis,[2]
Exemplo ut doceas dogmata certa tuo,
Astrologus caveat quicquam praedicere, praeceps
Nam cadet impostor dum super astra vehit[3].

Icarus, you were carried through the heights of heaven and through the air, until the melted wax cast you headlong into the sea. Now the same wax and the burning fire raise you up again, so that by your example you may provide sure teaching. Let the astrologer beware of prediction. Headlong will the imposter fall, as he flies beyond the stars.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [H3r]

Contre Astrologues.

Icarus cheut dedans la mer
Par trop grand exaltation:
Cil qui veult le ciel entamer,
Est trop plain de presumption:
Donques sur ceste fiction,
Doibvent garder les astrologues,
Que leur haulte discussion,
Les mette ou dieu reduit tous rogues.

Notes:

1.  Cf. Anthologia graeca 16.107, a poem on a bronze statue of Icarus, translated by Alciato at Selecta epigrammata (Cornarius, ed.) p.333. Icarus and his father Daedalus ([FALa008] notes) escaped from King Minos of Crete on wings of feathers and wax. Icarus was over-bold and flew too near the sun; when his wings melted, he crashed into the Icarian Sea and was drowned. See Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.183ff. Icarus, like Phaethon ([FALa064]) was a type of those who do not keep to their proper station.

2.  ‘same wax...fire’: a reference to the cire perdue method of casting statues.

3.  Textual variant - 1550 has volat

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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [H3v p118]

A minimis quoque timendum.[1]

Beware of even the weakest foe

Scarab beetle fighting an eagle
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Bella gerit Scarabaeus, & hostem provocat ultrò,
Robore & inferior, consilio superat.
Nam plumis Aquilae clam se neque cognitus abdit,
Hostilem ut nidum summa per astra petat:
Ovaque confodiens, prohibet spem crescere prolis,
Hocque modo illatum dedecus ultus abit.[2]

The scarab beetle is waging war and takes the challenge to its foe. Though inferior in physical strength, it is superior in strategy. It hides itself secretly in the eagle’s feathers without being felt, in order to attack its enemy’s nest across the lofty skies. It bores into the eggs and prevents the hoped-for offspring from developing. And then it departs, having thus avenged the insult inflicted on it.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [H4r p119]

Des petitz se doibt lon doubter.

Laigle eust au cerf volant debat:
Dont elle fait bien peu de compte,
Comme petit pour son combat.
Mais laultre emmy ses plumes monte.
Ainsi porte fut de esle prompte
Au nid, ou tous les oeufz il casse.
Moins fort de corps, par art surmonte.
Souvent nuyt condition basse.

Notes:

1.  Before the 1536 edition, Wechel editions used an earlier version of the woodcut in which the beetle had no horns.

2.  For the feud between the eagle and the beetle, see Aesop, Fables 4; Erasmus, Adagia 2601, Scarabaeus aquilam quaerit.

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