
EI QUI SEMEL SUA PRO-
degerit aliena credi non
oportere.
Others’ property should not be entrusted to a person who has once squandered his own
Cholchidos in gremio nidum quid congeris? heu
Nescia cur pullos tam male credis avis.
Dira parens Medaea suos saevissima natos,
Perdidit, & speras parcat ut illa tuis.[1]
Why do you build your nest in the bosom of the woman from Colchis? Alas, ignorant bird, why do you entrust your nestlings so mistakenly? That frightful mother, Medea, in her savagery slew her own children. Do you expect her to spare yours?
1. This is based on Anthologia graeca 9.346, a much-translated epigram, on the subject of a swallow that built her nest on a representation of Medea. Colchidos, ‘of the woman from Colchis’, refers to Medea, from Colchis on the Black Sea, who slew her children by Jason, leader of the Argonauts, to avenge his unfaithfulness. See further [A31b034].
Related Emblems

Hint: You can set whether related emblems are displayed by default on the preferences page
Iconclass Keywords
Relating to the image:
- arm stretched forward (+ holding something) [31A2512(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- arm or hand held in front of the body (+ holding something) [31A2516(+933)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- infant, baby ~ the ages of man [31D111] Search | Browse Iconclass
- child (+ nude human being) [31D112(+89)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- adult woman [31D15] Search | Browse Iconclass
- violent death by dagger, knife [31E234632] Search | Browse Iconclass
- dress, gown (+ women's clothes) [41D211(+82)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- mother and baby or young child [42A3] Search | Browse Iconclass
- killing a child (absence of parental love) [42B29] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Medea kills her two children; she flees from Corinth in a chariot drawn by winged dragons (+ variant) [94A74(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Relating to the text:
- birds (+ animals nesting; making nests, lodges, webs, etc.) [25F3(+4712)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- monument, statue [25I152] Search | Browse Iconclass
- piece of sculpture, reproduction of a piece of sculpture [48C24] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Squandering, Extravagance, Prodigality, Waste; 'Prodigalit�' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [55C11(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
- Misplaced Trust, False Confidence, 'Pax Falsa'; 'Speranza fallace' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [56D29(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
Hint: You can turn translations and name underlining on or off using the preferences page.