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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [l2r p163]

Doctos doctis obloqui nefas
esse.

It is wicked for scholars to wrangle with other scholars

XCIX.

Bird flying to its nest inside a ruined building with food
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Quid rapis heu Progne vocalem saeva Cicadam,
Pignoribusque tuis fercula dira paras?[1]
Ac stridula stridulam[2], vernam verna, hospita laedis
Hospitam, & aligeram penniger ales avem?
Ergo abice hanc praedam, nam musica pectora summum est
Alterum ab alterius dente perire nefas.

Alas, Procne, why, cruel bird, do you sieze on the melodious cicada and prepare a dreadful banquet for your young? A whistler yourself, you harm the shrill singer; a summer visitor, you hurt another fine-weather caller; a guest, you harm a guest; a feathered bird, you hurt another winged creature. So let this prize go. It is the greatest sin for hearts devoted to the Muses to perish by one another’s tooth.

COMMENTARIA.

Increpat hirundinem avem, cicadam rapien-
tem, his verbis quid rapis dira Progne cantan
tem Cicadam, quid escam adeò crudelem tuis
pullis paras? tu stridens stridentem aestivalis
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [l2v p164]aestivalem, hospita hospitam, volans volantem.
Avis denique avem perdis? quin potius proiice
dimitteque huiusmodi praedam, iniquum enim
est & iniuriosum eiusdem conditionis musi-
cos animos invicem insidiari. Quomodo au
tem Progne in hirundinem sit mutata, dictum
est suprà in Embl. 44.[3] ex Ovidii lib. 6. Metamorphoseon.
Hirundines hyeme discedere videmus, & re-
fert Plinius lib. 18. cap. 31. pariter & Cicadas fri-
goris tempore evanescere. Idem lib. 11. cap 26.
Utraeque etiam adventu aestatem praesagiunt.

Notes:

1.  The reference is to the legend of Procne’s metamorphosis into a swallow. See [A56a274]. For swallows catching cicadas, see Aelian, De natura animalium 8.6.

2.  Textual variant: Stridula stridentem.

3.  See [A56a044]

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  • discussion, dialogue, dispute ~ scholar, philosopher [49C40] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • scholar or scientist with muse [49L(+101)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Similarity, Likeness [51B2] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Eloquence; 'Eloquenza', 'Fermezza & Gravit� dell'Oratione' (Ripa) [52D3] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Disagreement, Discord; 'Discordia' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [54EE31(+4):51B3(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Malevolence, Maliciousness; 'Malevolenza', 'Malignit�', 'Malvagit�' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57AA7(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • (story of the) Muses; 'Muse' (Ripa) [92D4] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Philomela, Procne and Tereus changed into nightingale, swallow, hoopoe (or hawk): Tereus seeks to kill Philomela and Procne for having slain his son; in their flight the two sisters are changed into a nightingale and a swallow; Tereus is changed into a ho [97DD23] Search | Browse Iconclass

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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [Fff4r f412r as 410]

ELOQUENTIA FORTITUDINE
praestantior.[1]

Eloquence superior to strength

Emblema 179.

Figure holding a bow and a club attached to a group of men by a string from his tongue to their ears.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Arcum laeva tenet, rigidam fert dextera clavam,
Contegit & Nemees corpora nuda leo,
Herculis haec igitur facies? non convenit illud
Quod vetus, & senio tempora cana gerit
Quid quod lingua illi levibus traiecta cathenis,
Queis fissa facileis allicit aure viros?
Anne quòd Alciden lingua non robore Galli
Praestantem, populis iura dedisse ferunt?
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [Fff4v f412v as 410] Cedunt arma togae,[2] & quamvis durissima corda
Eloquio pollens ad sua vota trahit.

His left hand holds a bow, his right hand a stout club, the lion of Nemea clothes his bare body. So this is a figure of Hercules. But he is old and his temples grizzled with age - that does not fit. What of the fact that his tongue has light chains passing through it, which are attached to men’s pierced ears, and by them he draws them unresisting along? The reason is surely that the Gauls say that Alceus’ descendant excelled in eloquence rather than might and gave laws to the nations. - Weapons yield to the arts of peace, and even the hardest of hearts the skilled speaker can lead where he will.

Notes:

1.  This epigram is closely based on Lucian’s essay, The Gallic Hercules.

2.  Cf. Cicero’s notorious line, Cedant arma togae, concedat laurea linguae, ‘Let weapons yield to the arts of peace, let laurels yield to eloquence’ (quoted in Quintilian, Institutio oratoria 11.1.24).

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  • extinct, 'historical' peoples (with NAME) [32B2(GAULS)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • 'litterae', symbolic representations, allegories and emblems ~ literature; 'Lettere' (Ripa) [48C90] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Power of Eloquence; 'Forza sottoposta all'Eloquenza' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52D31(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Strength, Power; 'Fortezza', 'Fortezza d'Animo e di corpo', 'Fortezza del corpo congiunta con la generosità dell'animo', 'Fortezza & valore del corpo congiunto con la prudenza & virtù del animo', 'Forza' (Ripa) [54A7] Search | Browse Iconclass

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