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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [k3r p149]

Remedia in arduo, mala in
prono esse.

Remedies are hard, damage is easy

XCII.

Three old women with staffs following after a winged figure with bird claws for feet
[Click on image to enlarge]

Aetheriis postquàm deiecit sedibus Aten
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [k3v p150]Iuppiter,[1] heu vexat quàm mala noxa viros.
Evolat haec pedibus celer & pernicibus alis,
Intactumque nihil casibus esse sinit.
Ergo Litae proles Iovis hanc comitantur euntem,[2]
Saturae [=Sarturae] quicquid fecerit illa mali.
Sed quia segnipedes strabae[3], lassaeque senecta,
Nil nisi p̣st longo tempore restituunt.

Once Jupiter had cast Ate down from the heavenly abode, what an evil bane thereafter assailed poor man! Ate flies out fleet of foot with fast-beating wing and leaves nothing untouched by mishap. So Jove’s daughters, the Litae, accompany her as she goes, to mend whatever ill she has brought about. But they are slow-footed, poor of sight and weary with age, and so they restore nothing until later, after long passage of time.

COMMENTARIA.

Ate, Dea fingitur noxae, inimicitiarum, o-
mnisque destuctionis pernix ac volucris, quae
postquam de Coelo eiecta fuit, protinus in
terris hominum mentes seducere variisque ma
lis implicare coepit, pergitque celerrimo vola-
tu, loca omnia foedans atque perturbans.
Huic autem opponuntur eamque comitantur
Litae Iovis filiae, praecatrices & reconciliatri-
ces amicitiarum dissutarum. Eae quod Ate in-
ter mortales turbat conantur reficere, sed
quoniam strabis oculis, claudis pedibus, &
ob senectam lassae defatigataeque lentè admo-
dum incedunt, vix Aten illam velocem asse-
qui possunt: idcirco nihil confestim, sed tardè
denique restaurant. ut ingeniosè commenta-
tus est Homerus Iliades 9. Significans offensas
quidem veloces esse, reconciliationes veṛ
tardissimas.

Notes:

1.  ‘Jupiter had cast Ate down’. See Homer, Iliad 19. 125ff.

2.  ‘the Litae accompany her’. See Homer, Iliad 9.502ff. Ate means ‘Mischief’, Litae, ‘Prayers’. Ate was cast out of Olympus to bring harm to mankind, a personification of humans being led astray. The Litae were a personification of prayers offered in repentance.

3.  Textual variant: luscae.

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  • Slow Motion (+ emblematical representation of concept) [51MM1(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Viciousness, Naughtiness (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57AA6(+4):54D4(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Revenge, Requital, Retaliation; 'Vendetta' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [57AA741(+4):54DD4(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Jupiter seizes Ate by her hair and hurls her down from Olympus, possibly because of the delayed birth of Hercules (+ variant) [92B143(+0)] Search | Browse Iconclass

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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [E6r]

ELOQUENTIA FORTITU-
dine praestantior.[1]

Eloquence superior to strength

Figure of Hercules with a chain attached to his tongue leading men.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Arcum leva 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,
Queîs fissa facileîs allicit aure viros.
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [E6v]An ne quod 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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  • Europeans (with NAME) [32B311(FRENCHMEN)] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • 'litterae', symbolic representations, allegories and emblems ~ literature; 'Lettere' (Ripa) [48C90] Search | Browse Iconclass
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  • 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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