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Prudentes.
The Wise.
VIII.
Iane bifrons, qui transacta futuraque calles,
Quique retro sannas sicut & antè vides,
[1]
Tot te cur oculis, tot fingunt vultibus? an quòd
Circunspectum hominem forma fuisse docet?
Two-headed Janus, you know about what has already happened and what is yet to come, you see the jeering faces behind just as you see them in front. Why do they represent you with so many eyes, why with so many faces? Is it because this form tells us that you were a man of circumspection?
1. quique retro sannas, sicut et ante, vides, ‘you see the jeering faces behind just as you see them in front’, a line based on Persius, Satirae, 1.58-62.
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- Prudence, 'Prudentia'; 'Prudenza' (Ripa) ~ one of the Four Cardinal Virtues [11M41] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Precaution (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52A24(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Janus' head, two-faced head [96A128(JANUS' HEAD)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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MATURANDUM.
All in good time
Emblema. 20.
Maturare iubent properè, & cunctarier omnes,
Ne nimium praeceps, neu mora longa nimis.
Hoc tibi declaret connexum aecheneide[1] telum:
Haec tarda est, volitant spicula missa manu.
Everyone tells us to deal with things quickly, but they also tell us to hold back - not to be impetuous, nor yet to wait too long. A missile linked with a sucking-fish can demonstrate this for you: the fish is slow, but arrows fly fast when they leave the shooter’s hand.
1. ‘linked with a sucking fish’. The sucking-fish (echeneis or remora) was a creature believed by the ancients to have the power of slowing the course of ships to which it attached itself. See Pliny, Natural History 32.1.2-6. He describes it as about six inches long and like a slug. See also [A15a081].
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- groups of birds (+ flying animal(s)) [25F31(+5262)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- 'remore', 'echeneis remora' (fabulous fish) (+ animal rotating, twisting) [25FF64(+75253)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- groups of trees [25G11] Search | Browse Iconclass
- groups of plants (herbs) [25G13] Search | Browse Iconclass
- rocks [25H112] Search | Browse Iconclass
- boulder, stone [25H1124] Search | Browse Iconclass
- prospect of city, town panorama, silhouette of city [25I12] Search | Browse Iconclass
- obelisk, needle [25I153] Search | Browse Iconclass
- landscape with ruins [25I9] Search | Browse Iconclass
- archer's weapons: arrow [45C15(ARROW)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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- Maturity (+ emblematical representation of concept) [51FF511(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Swiftness, Speed; 'Agilità', 'Celerità', 'Velocità' (Ripa) (+ symbolical representation of concept) [51M11(+3)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Swiftness, Speed; 'Agilità', 'Celerità', 'Velocità' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [51M11(+4):51MM11(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Slowness, Tardiness; 'Tardità' (Ripa) (+ symbolical representation of concept) [51MM11(+3)] Search | Browse Iconclass
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