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EMBLEMA CXIX.

Opulentia tyranni, paupertas sub-
iectorum.

A wealthy ruler means poor subjects

Humani quod splen est corporis, in populi re
Hoc Caesar[1] fiscum dixerat esse suum.
Splene aucto, reliqui tabescunt corporis artus,
Fisco aucto, arguitur civica pauperies.

It was a saying of Caesar that the imperial treasury has the same relation to the people as the spleen has to the human body: if the spleen is enlarged, all the other members of the body waste away. A swollen treasury is proof of poverty among the citizens.

Das CXIX.

Reich Herrn, arm Underthanen.

Das ins Menschen Leib sMiltz ist diß
In den Regimenten ist gwiß
Der Oberkeit Schatzkammer schwer
Wie gsprochen hat der Keyser
So sich das Miltz mehrt nemmen ab
All ander Glieder biß ins Grab
So sich mehrt der Schatz in der Rennt
Würd der Bürger armut erkennt.

Notes:

1.  The Emperor Trajan (as clarified in the commentary), one of the five ‘Good Emperors’. See Aurelius Victor, Epitome de Caesaribus, 42.21; Erasmus, Apophthegmata, 8.

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    Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [E6v]

    IN RECEPTATORES
    siccariorum.

    Those who harbour cut-throats

    Deer with a man's face being attacked by dogs
    [Click on image to enlarge]

    Latronum furumque manus tibi saeva[1] per urbem,
    It comes, & diris cincta cohors gladiis.
    Atque ita te mentis generosum prodige censes,
    Quod tua complureîs allicit olla malos.
    En novus Actaeon qui postquam cornua sumpsit,
    In praedam canibus se dedit ipse suis.[2]

    A fierce band of ruffians and thieves accompanies you about the city, a gang of supporters armed with lethal swords. And so, you wastrel, you consider yourself a fine lordly fellow because your cooking pot draws in crowds of scoundrels. - Here’s a fresh Actaeon - he, after he grew his horns, became the prey of his own hunting dogs.

    Notes:

    1.  Other editions read scaeva, ‘evil-minded’. The capital letter in some editions suggests that the Latin word could be taken as a proper name in the vocative case, i.e addressing one Scaeva.

    2.  For the story of Actaeon turned into a stag and killed by his own hounds, see Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.138ff. Similarly, the hangers-on will destroy the one who has fed them.

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