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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [E2r f21r]

EMBLEMA XXX.

Silentium.

Silence

Cum tacet, haud quicquam differt sapientibus amens
Stultitiae est index linguaque voxque suae.
Ergò premat labias, digitoque silentia signet:
Et sese Bharium [=Pharium] vertat in Harpocratem[1].

When he is silent, the fool differs no whit from the wise. It is tongue and voice that betray his stupidity. Let him therefore put his finger to his lips and so mark silence, and turn himself into Egyptian Harpocrates.

Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [E2v f21v]

Das XXX.

Lob deß schweigens.

A scholar with a finger to his lips in front of an open book, in a small room
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So zu gleich schweigt der Weiß und Thor
Kein underschied man hat bevor
Wann sie reden aber all beid
So macht die red ein underscheid
Darumb ein jeder kluger Mann
Sein lefftzen halten thue im zaum
Und leg den finger auff den Mund
Werd gleich Harpocrati zu stund.

Notes:

1.  Harpocrates, also known as Horus, was the son of the Egyptian divinity Isis. He avenged the murder of his father Osiris by Set/Typhon. He is often represented as an infant with his finger held to his mouth as a sign of silence and economy of words. See Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride 68.

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  • Wisdom; 'Sapienza', 'Sapienza humana', 'Sapienza vera' (Ripa) [52A51] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Ignorance; 'Ignoranza', 'Ignoranza di tutte le cose', 'Ignoranza in un ricco senza lettere' (Ripa) [52AA5] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Folly, Foolishness; 'Pazzia', 'Sciocchezza', 'Stoltitia' (Ripa) [52AA51] Search | Browse Iconclass
  • Taciturnity; 'Secretezza', 'Secretezza overo Taciturnità' (Ripa) (+ emblematical representation of concept) [52DD3(+4)] Search | Browse Iconclass

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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [A6v p12]

Non vulganda consilia.

Keep counsels secret.

Roman army banner with letters SPQR showing a satyr (bearded man with goats legs)
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Limine quod caeco obscura & caligine monstrum[1]
Gnosiacis clausit Daedalus in latebris:
Depictum Romana phalanx in praelia gestat,
Semiviroque nitent signa superba[2] bove,
Nosque monent, debere ducum secreta[3] latere
Consilia, auctori cognita techna nocet.

The monster that Daedalus imprisoned in its Cretan lair, with hidden entrance and obscuring darkness, the Roman phalanx carries painted into battle; the proud standards flash with the half-man bull. These remind us that the secret plans of leaders must stay hid. A ruse once known brings harm to its author.

Notes:

1.  ‘The monster that Daedalus imprisoned’, i.e. the Minotaur, the half-man, half-bull monster kept in the famous Labyrinth at Knossos, which Daedalus, the Athenian master-craftsman, constructed for King Minos.

2.  According to Pliny, Natural History 10.5.16, before the second consulship of Marius (104 BC) Roman standards bore variously eagles, wolves, minotaurs, horses and boars. Marius made the eagle universal.

3.  Cf. Festus, De verborum significatu (135 Lindsay): the Minotaur appears among the military standards, because the plans of leaders should be no less concealed than was the Minotaur’s lair, the Labyrinth.

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