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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [I4r p135]

Receptateurs d’homicides.

XCIIII.

A man with a stag's head and foot lies on the ground. Beside him is a spear and he is being attacked by three dogs.
[Click on image to enlarge]

Gents apres toy avec espees,
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [I4v=p136] (Dont plusieurs ont gaigné le pendre,
Ou d’avoir oreilles couppees)
Te font cornes au chef estendre:
Mais il t’en pourra ainsi prendre,
En nourrissant tels ruffiens,
Qu’à Acteon, qui (faict Cerf tendre)
Fut mangé par ses propres chiens.[1]

commentaires.

Alciat a faict cest embleme contre un qu’il ap-
pelle Scaeva en son epigramme Latin. Il l’accompare
à Acteon, fils d’Aristee, lequel estant merveilleuse-
ment addonné à la chasse, nourrissoit plusieurs chiens
en sa maison. Un jour, apres s’estre bien lassé &
travaillé à la chasse, il arriva à une fontaine fort ca-
chee pour s’y laver & recreer. Mais de malheur il y
rencontra Diane, Deesse de la chasse, & de chasteté,
& amie de la solitude, accompagnee de quelques unes
de ses nymphes, qui se lavoyent toutes nues en ladite
fontaine. Estans irritees contre luy, de ce qu’il les a-
voit surprises ainsi nues, elles luy jecterent de l’eau,
peut estre non sans quelque imprecation, si que le
povre Acteon commença à prendre cornes & à de-
venir cerf tout à faict: tellement que voulant retour-
ner à sa maison, ses propres chiens le deschirerent &
devorerent. Ainsi void on souvent, que plusieurs s’e-
stiment grands Seigneurs, liberaux, & magnanimes,
pource qu’ils nourrissent, fomentent, & ont ordinai-
rement à leur suite des larrons, meurtriers, desloyaux,
Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [I5r p137] & autres semblables garnements: mais tant s’en faut
que celà les annoblisse, qu’au contraire ils se peuvent
asseurer, que tost ou tard ces gents de meschante vie
les ruineront de corps & de biens, ne plus ne moins
que les chiens d’Acteon devorerent leur maistre.

Notes:

1.  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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Link to an image of this page  Link to an image of this page  [G2r p99]

In receptatores sicariorum.[1]

Those who harbour cut-throats

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

Latronum furumque manus tibi Scaeva[2] per urbem
It comes, & diris cincta cohors gladiis.
Atque ita te mentis generosum prodige censes,
Quod tua complureis allicit olla malos.
En novus Actaeon, qui postquàm cornua sumpsit,
In praedam canibus se dedit ipse suis.[3]

An evil-minded 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.  From the 1536 Wechel edition onwards, the woodcut is revised so that the horns look more like a deer’s antlers.

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

3.  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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