Link to an image of this page [T10r f202r]
Consiliarii Principum.
Counsellors of princes
Emblema cxlv
Heroum genitos, & magnum fertur Achillem
In stabulis Chiron erudiisse suis.[1]
Semiferum doctorem, & semivirum Centaurum,
Assideat quisquis Regibus, esse decet.[2]
Est fera, dum violat socios, dum proterit hostes:
Estque homo, dum simulat se populo esse pium.
It is said that Chiron brought up in his stables the sons of heroes and the great Achilles. He shows us that anyone who sits in counsel with kings must be a teacher who is half a beast, a centaur who is half a man. He is the beast when he attacks supporters and tramples on enemies. He is the man when he feigns compassion for the people.
CHiron Centaurus superiore sui parte homo,
equus inferiore, datus creditur Achilli paeda-
gogus: ex quo notantur Regum & Principum Con-
siliarii, qui ferinam naturam induunt, cùm Princi-
pi prava consilia suggerunt, vel populares suos pe-
cuniis emungunt, speciem humanitatis habent, cùm
iustitiae & pietatis imagine populum sibi devinciunt.
Link to an image of this page [T10v f202v]
Les Conseilliers des Princes.
ON dit que de Chiron monstrueux personnage
Achille, & maints Seigneurs prindrent apprentissage,
Luy Centaure my-homme, & demy-beste estant.
Ce que monstre, & nous va couvertement notant
Quel est le Conseillier des grans Roys & Monarques,
Et ses deportemens, & plus insignes marques.
A le bien prendre en soy, il est homme à demy,
Beste il semble par bas, de visage est amy,
Quand il foulle les siens, il est beste au possible,
Et quand aux ennemis il se monstre terrible:
Mais à l’homme il ressemble, estant devotieux,
Ou feint que des sujets il est fort soucieux.
CHiron le Centaure estant homme par
le hault, & cheval par le bas, fut baillé
pour pedagogue à Achilles, ainsi qu’on dit:
ce que monstre quels sont les conseilliers
des Roys & Princes, qui portent une natu-
re comme de bestes, quand ils donnent à
leurs Princes des conseils pernicieux, ou
quand ils rançonnent les pauvres sujets: ils
ont faces d’hommes, quand ils se font aymer
du people soubz pretexte de zele, qu’ils fei-
gnent avoir à la religion & à justice.
1. Chiron, the wise centaur entrusted with the education of Achilles, Aesculapius, and other noble figures. Centaurs were creatures combining the physical and mental characteristics of a man with those of a horse. They were wild and uncontrolled, and came to symbolise humanity descending to savagery. Even the civilised Chiron, the educator, retained violent potential.
2. Variant reading in 1550, esse docet, ‘He shows us that anyone who sits in counsel with kings is ...’
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Link to an image of this page [Q7r p253]
La richesse du tyran, c’est la povreté
Link to an image of this page [Q7v p254]
des subjects.
XCVII.
Ce qu’est la rate au corps, l’Empereur[1]
disoit estre
Le sien fisque à l’endroit du menu populaire:
La rate grossissant, le corps devient phtisique,
Ainsi, le fisque accreu, decheoit la republique.
Commentaires.
La richesse d’un tyran, fait les subjects
belistres:
& au corps humain, si la rate s’enfle & s’accroist,
les autres parties du corps seichent & deviennent
rabides. Tibere, meschant
Prince, dit encor ceste
bonne sentence: Le Prince peut tondre son troupeau,
mais il ne le doit pas escorcher. Ceux qui veulent à
tousjours affermir le revenu de leur fisque, s’y doy-
vent tellement porter, que tout exces en soit banni: de
peur qu’il ne vienne à tarir, pource qu’il a esté cruelle-
ment recueilli. Trajan a esté grandement loué, pource que
sous luy souvent le fisque perdoit son
proces. Or ne
le perd-il jamais, que sous un bon Prince. L’empereur
Constans disoit, que les
richesses publiques estoyent
beaucoup mieux entre les mains de plusieurs, que non
pas au seul coffre du Prince. C’est un vray argument
pour asseurer qu’un Prince a sainctement regné,
quand on void que par son soing & diligence son
peuple s’est enrichi.
1. The Emperor Trajan (as clarified in the commentary), one of the five ‘Good Emperors’. See Aurelius Victor, Epitome de Caesaribus, 42.21; Erasmus, Apophthegmata, 8.
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