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Eloquentia fortitudine praestantior.[1]

Eloquence superior to strength

EMBLEMA CLXXXI.

Figure holding a bow and a club attached to a group of men by chains.
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Arcum laeva tenet, rigidam fert dextera clavam,
Contegit & Nemees corpora nuda leo.
Herculis haec igitur facies? Non convenit illud
Quòd vetus, & senio tempora cana gerit.
Quid quòd lingua illi levibus traiecta catenis,
Queis fissa facileis allicit aure viros?
Anne quòd Alciden lingua, non robore Galli
Praestantem populis iura dedisse ferunt?
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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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [E6v]

FIDEI SYMBOLUM.

The symbol of good faith

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [E7r]

Figure of Cupid standing between figures of Honour and Truth
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Stet depictus honor tyrio velatus amictu,
Eiusque iungat nuda dextram veritas.
Sitque amor in medio castus,[1] cui tempora circum,
Rosa it, Dyones pulchrior cupidine.[2]
Constituunt haec signa fidem, reverentia honoris,
Quam fovet, alit amor, parturitque veritas.

Let Honour stand depicted, clothed in a garment of Tyrian purple, and let naked Truth hold his right hand. Between them, let chaste Love be represented, his brow garlanded with roses, but fairer than Cupid, Dione’s boy. These images constitute good faith, which the reverence due to Honour fosters, Love feeds, Truth brings to birth.

Notes:

1.  Amor...castus, ‘chaste love’ (Anteros), for which see [A31a072] and [A31a080].

2.  ‘Dione’s boy’. Strictly Dione was the mother of Venus, but was often identified in poetry with Venus herself, the mother of Cupid.

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