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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [Aa8r f260r]

Mentem, non formam, plus pollere.

Intelligence matters, not beauty

Emblema clxxxviii.

Fox sitting under a tree holding a mask
[Click on image to enlarge]

Ingressa vulpes in Choragi pergulam,
Fabrè expolitum invenit humanum caput,
Sic eleganter fabricatum, ut spiritus
Solùm deesset, caeteris vivisceret.
Id illa cùm sumpsisset in manus, ait,
O quale caput est! sed cerebrum non habet.[1]

A fox, entering the store-room of a theatrical producer, found an actor’s mask, skilfully shaped, so finely fashioned that the spirit alone was missing, in all else it seemed alive. Taking it up, the fox addressed it - What a head is this, but it has no brain!

PErmultos non rarò videre est excellenti forma
& dignitate corporis homines, qui ingenio pla-
nè stolido & penè nullo sunt, ut revera simulachra
quaedam esse citiùs quam homines videantur. Quò
spectat Cleanthis illud, ἀπαιδέυτους μόνῃ τῇ
μορφῇ θηρίων διαφέρειν.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [Aa8v f260v]

Que l’entendement est bien plus à estimer
que non pas la beauté.

DEdans l’ouvroir d’un statuaire
Un Regnard ne sachant que faire,
Va incontinent adviser
Une teste humaine parfaitte,
Et de tous poincts autant bien faite
Que lon la pourroit deviser.
Il la manie, & si l’admire,
Et n’y trouve rien à redire,
Voyant un ouvrage si beau,
Et où rien que la voix ne reste:
Mon Dieu, dit-il, la belle teste,
Mais elle n’a point de cerveau.

ON voit assez souvent des hommes beaux
de corps, qui ont l’esprit fort lourd, ou
n’en ont point du tout, de maniere qu’il
semble à veoir que soyent plustost statues.
A quoy se rapporte le dire de Cleanthes,
que les ignorans ne different des bestes sinon
du seul visage.

Notes:

1.  See Phaedrus, Fables 1.7 (also in iambic senarii); Aesop, Fables 43.

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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [C5r]

MENTEM NON FORMAM
plus pollere.

Intelligence matters, not beauty

Fox holding a mask
[Click on image to enlarge]

Ingressa vulpes in Choragi pergulam,
Fabre expolitum invenit humanum caput.
Sic eleganter fabricatum, ut spiritus
Solum deesset, caeteris vivesceret,
Id illa cum sumpsisset in manus ait,
Hoc[1] quale caput est, sed cerebrum non habet.[2]

A fox, entering the store-room of a theatrical producer, found an actor’s mask, skilfully shaped, so finely fashioned that the spirit alone was missing, in all else it seemed alive. Taking it up, the fox addressed it - What a head is this, but it has no brain!

Notes:

1.  Textual variant: O.

2.  See Phaedrus, Fables 1.7 (also in iambic senarii); Aesop, Fables 43.

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