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EMBLEMA CXIX.

Opulentia tyranni, paupertas sub-
iectorum.

A wealthy ruler means poor subjects

Humani quod splen est corporis, in populi re
Hoc Caesar[1] fiscum dixerat esse suum.
Splene aucto, reliqui tabescunt corporis artus,
Fisco aucto, arguitur civica pauperies.

It was a saying of Caesar that the imperial treasury has the same relation to the people as the spleen has to the human body: if the spleen is enlarged, all the other members of the body waste away. A swollen treasury is proof of poverty among the citizens.

Das CXIX.

Reich Herrn, arm Underthanen.

Das ins Menschen Leib sMiltz ist diß
In den Regimenten ist gwiß
Der Oberkeit Schatzkammer schwer
Wie gsprochen hat der Keyser
So sich das Miltz mehrt nemmen ab
All ander Glieder biß ins Grab
So sich mehrt der Schatz in der Rennt
Würd der Bürger armut erkennt.

Notes:

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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    DOLUS IN SUOS.[1]

    Treachery against one’s own kind.

    Emblema. 50.

    Several birds diving into a net held by men behind a tree
    [Click on image to enlarge]

    Altilis allectator anas, & caerula pennis,
    Assueta ad dominos ire redire suos.
    Congeneres cernens volitare per aera turmas,
    Garrit, in illarum se recipitque gregem,
    Praetensa incautas donec sub retia ducat:
    Obstrepitant captae, conscia at ipsa silet.
    Perfida cognato se sanguine polluit ales,
    Officiosa aliis, exitiosa suis.[2]

    The well-fed decoy duck with its green-blue wings is trained to go out and return to its masters. When it sees squadrons of its relations flying through the air, it quacks and joins itself to the flock, until it can draw them, off their guard, into the outspread nets. When caught they raise a protesting clamour, but she, knowing what she has done, keeps silence. The treacherous bird defiles itself with related blood, servile to others, deadly to its own kind.

    Notes:

    1.  For this emblem the picturae for Emblems 47 and 50 have been printed one on top of the other. The Iconclass description has been done on the basis of the 1550 edition from which the engravings appear to be derived.

    2.  Cf. Aesop, Fables, 282, where the decoy birds are pigeons.

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